Position in chronology
OAIC 51
About this tablet
A small legal record from Ešnunna (Tell Asmar in the Diyala region of Iraq) during the Akkadian (Sargonic) period, around 2300–2200 BCE. It notes that several named men swore an oath at the gate of Tišpak, the city's patron god — the usual place where solemn declarations were made in the presence of the divine. A commissioner (maškim) is involved, and the men are counted off one by one, so the tablet is essentially a memorandum of who took the oath and under whose supervision. The beginning is broken, so the matter at issue — probably a dispute or a disputed claim — is lost.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The opening is broken, but it mentions an official, a commissioner. The record then states that the following people took an oath at the Gate of the god Tišpak: Ili-bani, Lu-ba-...-na (the middle of his name is lost), and Ilulu, son of Ibibi, with a further damaged word after him. The last lines name Darsuba and Gaziru in connection with the oaths — apparently the parties or witnesses to the sworn statement. What the oath was about is not preserved.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. [......] the commissioner (maškim), 2. [at the Gate of] Tišpak 3. they swore (an oath). 4. [1: I]li-bani, 5. 1: Lu-ba-[...]-na, 6. 1: Ilulu, 7. son of Ibibi, ... (SAG-x), 8. Darsuba and 9. Gaziru 10. of the oaths.
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
[...] _maszkim#_ [ka2]-tiszpak [it]-ma2-u3 [1(asz@c) i3]-li2-ba-ni 1(asz@c) lu#-ba-[...]-na 1(asz@c) i3-lu-lu _dumu_ i-bi2-bi2 _sag-x_ dar#-su-ba u3 ga-zi-ru ma#-ma2-tim
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OAIC 51. 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 (P215923) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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