Position in chronology
NMS A.1978.439
About this tablet
A food-and-drink account from Mesopotamia in the time of the Akkadian empire (around 2300–2150 BCE). It lists rations of bread and beer handed out to named individuals and to groups of workers — a boatman, the crew of a large cargo boat, a 'man of the steppe', and a small party of Amorite singers — and then totals the bread and records flour and barley used for brewing. The mention of Amorite musicians and of 'Akkad flour', a flour type named after the imperial capital, gives a small glimpse of the mixed population and supply system of the Sargonic state.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Ur-Nintu gets about 60 loaves of bread plus beer, measured out in jugs of set sizes. Šu-ilīsu receives 60 loaves (perhaps for the table), Lu-lugal-pa'e 60, and the boatman 60. Four portions go to the Amorite singers, five-sixths of a portion to a man from the steppe, and 18 to the crew of the big cargo boat. The bread totals 214 loaves, of which about 50 are baked. Further entries note jars of beer, a jug of beer and flour, a little over four ban of 'Akkad' flour, and two barig of barley set aside for brewing. The closing line gives a time span — apparently five months and twenty-five days, with the year figure lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse / Reverse (no section markers supplied in the source) 1. [60?] (loaves of) bread, 1 (jar of) beer, 1 barig 1 ban (capacity) jug(s); 2. 120? (units of) beer, 4-ban jug(s): 3. Ur-Nintu. 4. 60 (loaves of) bread, (for the) table?: Šu-ilīsu. 5. 60: Lu-lugal-pa'e. 6. 60: the boatman. 7. 4: the Amorite singer(s). 8. 5/6: the man of the steppe. 9. 20 minus 2 (= 18): the men of the (large) cargo-boat, bread from ...[x]... 10. Total: 3×60 + 30 + 4 (= 214) (loaves of) bread, 50? baked; 11. 1? (jar of) beer, 1? barig (n) jug(s); 12. 1 (jar of) beer, flour, jug; 13. 4 ban 3? sila of Akkad-flour; 14. 2 barig of barley (for) beer. 15. [n] year(s)?, 5 months, 25 days.
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Transliteration
[1(gesz2@c)?] ninda# 1(asz@c) kasz 1(barig@c) 1(ban2@c)#? dug# 2(gesz2@c)#? kasz 4(ban2@c) dug ur-nin-tu 1(gesz2@c) ninda banszur? szu-i3-li2-su 1(gesz2@c) lu2-lugal-pa-e3 1(gesz2@c) ma2#-lah5 4(asz@c) nar mar-tu 5/6(disz) gurusz edin 2(u@c) la2 2(asz@c) lu2-ma2-gur8 ninda kum2?-x-ta? szunigin 3(gesz2@c) 3(u@c) 4(asz@c) ninda 5(u)? du8 1(asz@c)? kasz 1(barig@c)#? (n) dug 1(asz@c) kasz zi3 dug 4(ban2@c) 3(disz)#? sila3 zi3 a#-ga-de3 2(barig@c) sze kasz n mu 5(disz) iti 2(u) 5(disz) u4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — NMS A.1978.439. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (P453063) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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