Position in chronology
OIP 014, 101
About this tablet
A small beer-issue receipt from the city of Adab in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian period (around 2300–2200 BCE). The palace or temple storehouse recorded beer handed out in two grades: a jar of the good stuff and a jar of ordinary beer for the cupbearer Igmulum, and four jars of ordinary beer for a party of Gutians — mountain people from the Zagros who would later overrun the Akkadian state. An official named E'a-muda, acting as commissioner, delivered the beer, and the whole disbursement was booked under the administrator Mesag, a figure who appears across the Adab archives.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Beer dispensed from the stores: one jar of premium beer and one jar of standard beer went to Igmulum, the cupbearer. Four jars of standard beer went to the Gutians. E'a-muda, serving as commissioner (part of his entry is broken), brought the beer over. Totals: one jar of premium beer and five jars of standard beer. This was charged to the account of Mesag. Dated to the month Še-sag-saga.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 (jar) of good-quality beer, 2. 1 (jar) of ordinary beer: 3. Igmulum, the cupbearer; 4. 4 (jars) of ordinary beer: 5. the Gutians — 6. E'a-muda 7. [...], the commissioner (maškim), 8. brought (it). 9. Total: 1 (jar) of good-quality beer; 10. total: 5 (jars) of ordinary beer. 11. Expenditure of Mesag. 12. Month: Še-sag-saga.
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
1(asz@c) kasz saga 1(asz@c) kasz du ig-mu-lum sagi 4(asz@c) kasz du gu-ti-um-me e2#-a-mu-da [...] maszkim i3-de6 szunigin 1(asz@c) kasz saga szunigin 5(asz@c) kasz du zi-ga me-sag7 iti sze-sag-sa6-ga
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 101. 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: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P215958) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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