Position in chronology
OAIC 21
About this tablet
A tiny Old Akkadian memorandum from Ešnunna (modern Tell Asmar, east of Baghdad), written around 2300–2200 BCE. Someone records a small issue of fine flour — three sila (roughly three litres) plus three one-sila portions earmarked for a barber, an individual or item called Kubabbar-sa, and an old female donkey — and notes that the whole lot was handed over to a woman named Šunītum. It is a scrap of everyday household or estate bookkeeping, and one of the earliest documents written in the Akkadian language rather than Sumerian.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Three litres of fine flour. One litre for the barber, one litre for Kubabbar-sa, one litre for the old she-donkey. That is what I handed over to Šunītum. A short receipt-style note: the writer is recording a small batch of flour, broken down by recipient, and naming the woman to whom the whole amount was given.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 3 sila of fine flour, 2. 1 sila (for) the barber, 3. 1 sila (for) Kubabbar-sa, 4. 1 sila (for) the old she-donkey, 5. that which to 6. Šunītum 7. I gave.
Our translation engine — Fable 5.1. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
3(disz) _sila3 zi3-gu_ 1(disz) _sila3 szu-i_ 1(disz) _sila3 ku3-babbar_-sa 1(disz) _sila3 ansze-libir-munus_ szu a-na szu-ni-tum a-di3-na
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OAIC 21. 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 (P215893) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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