Position in chronology
OAIC 11
About this tablet
A short Old Akkadian letter from Ešnunna (Tell Asmar in eastern Iraq), written around 2300–2200 BCE, during the period of the Akkadian empire. It opens, as such letters often do, by naming four men as witnesses, then has the sender Ginunu dictate to the recipient a set of dimensions in reeds and cubits — length, width, a rear part and a thinner head end — for some object or structure to be made or measured. The closing lines, badly broken, mention the governor and a man named Ilī-diri. It is a glimpse of ordinary technical instructions passing between officials under the early Akkadian administration.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Warassuni, Babuzum, Sadium and Warad-Inanna — these four are the witnesses. Ginunu writes to ...-ratum: the length is 2 reeds, the width is 4 cubits and a half-cubit; the back part is 3 cubits, and the head end, the narrow part, is 3 cubits. The last two lines are broken; what survives says something like 'if ... the governor' and ends with the name Ilī-diri.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. Warassuni, 2. Babuzum, 3. Sa[di]um, 4. Warad-Inanna — 5. [total: 4] witnesses (are) these. 6. [Thus (says)] Ginunu 7. [to ...]-ratum: 8. 2 reeds (is) the length, 9. 4 cubits (and) a half-cubit (is) the width; 10. for the rear part (urkum), 11. 3 cubits; 12. 3 cubits for the head (top end), 13. (which is) the thin part. 14. [...] if ... the governor (ensi) 15. [...] ... Ilī-diri.
Our translation engine — Fable 5.1. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
ARAD2-su2-ni ba-bu3-zum sa-[di3]-um _ARAD2 inanna_ [szunigin 4(asz)] _abba2_ szu-ut [en-ma] gi-nu-nu [a-na ...]-ra-tum 2(disz) gi USZ 4(disz) _kusz3 szu-BAD dagal_ a-na ur-ki-im 3(disz) _kusz3_ 3(disz) _kusz3_ a-na ra-si-im qu3-ut-nu-um [...] szum-ma-sa _ensi2_ [...] al i3-li2-diri
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OAIC 11. 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: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P215883) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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