OAIC 25

About this tablet

A field-survey record from Ešnunna (modern Tell Asmar in eastern Iraq) in the Old Akkadian period, around 2300–2200 BCE. A surveyor has paced out the four sides of a plot with the standard 'rope' and 'reed' measures, naming the neighbour on each side — among them an exorcist-priest — and then computed its area in iku. The tablet shows how land was defined before cadastral maps existed: by its length on every edge, by who held the adjoining ground, and by a landmark such as the weir on the local canal.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

North boundary: 4 ropes 16 reeds, bordering the land of KA-mama the exorcist. South boundary: 3 ropes 15½ reeds, bordering Ezem's land. The next (probably east) boundary: 3 ropes minus 2 reeds, bordering Arukum's land. West boundary: 4 ropes 5½ reeds, bordering the land of MUŠ-[...] and Allulu. Total area of the plot: [so many] plus 9 iku. A line is lost here. The plot is also described as belonging to, or adjoining, KA-beli and Ziba, and it lies at the weir of the Rigitum canal.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

1. 4 ešgid (ropes) 16 gi (reeds) — north side — (adjoining) KA-mama, the exorcist (maš-maš). 2. 3 ešgid 15½ gi — south side — (adjoining) Ezem. 3. 3 ešgid less 2 gi — (east?) side (im ur) — (adjoining) Arukum. 4. 4 ešgid 5½ gi — west side — that of MUŠ-[...] (and) Allulu. 5. [Its field: n (+)] 9 iku. 6. [...] 7. that of KA-beli; 8. that of Ziba; 9. at the weir (miḫrum) of the Rigitum (canal).

Indicative reading — translated without a photograph. Generated from the transliteration alone, without examining the original. Read it as an accessible first taste, not as a verified catalogue entry.

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

4(disz) _esz2-gid2_ 1(u) 6(disz) _gi im mer_ KA-ma-ma masz-masz
3(disz) _esz2-gid2_ 1(u) 5(disz) 1/2(disz) _gi im u5 ezem_
3(disz) _esz2-gid2 la2 2(disz) gi im ur_ a2-ru-kum
4(disz) _esz2-gid2_ 5(disz) 1/2(disz) _gi im# mar#-tu_ szu _MUSZ_-[...] al#-lu-lu
[_a-sza3-bi_ n] 9(asz@c) _GAN2_
[...]
szu KA#-be-li2
szu zi-ba
in mi#-ih-ri2 ri2-gi-tim

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OAIC 25. 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 (P215897) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).

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