Position in chronology
OIP 014, 106
About this tablet
An administrative receipt from the Sargonic (Old Akkadian) period, about 2300 BCE, from the city of Adab in southern Iraq. It records a batch of copper objects — eight heavy rings, the pegs that go with them, and some small dagger fittings — weighed out and totalled, and credits the whole lot to a smith named Lugal-ku. It is a glimpse of how a city workshop kept its metal under tight control: every piece was weighed, and the sum (just over 22 minas, roughly 11 kilograms) had to add up — and it does.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Eight copper ḫar-an rings, weighing 21⅓ minas altogether. One mina less five shekels of copper went into the pegs for those rings. Another third of a mina of copper went into the copper rivets for daggers. The grand total comes to 22½ minas and 5 shekels of copper, received and checked in. Responsible party: Lugal-ku, the smith.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 8 copper ḫar-an (rings), 2. their weight: 21 mina (and) 1/3 (mina); 3. 1 mina minus 5 shekels of copper 4. for pegs (nails) for the ḫar-an (rings); 5. 1/3 (mina) of copper: 6. copper dagger-pegs (rivets). 7. [Total: 22 1/2] mina 5 shekels of copper, 8. returned to hand (received/accounted for). 9. Lugal-ku, the smith(?).
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
8(asz@c) har-an uruda# ki-la2-bi 2(u) 1(disz) ma-na 1/3(disz) 1(asz@c) ma-na la2 5(asz@c) gin2 uruda gag har-an-sze3 1/3(disz) uruda gag# gir2 uruda [szunigin 2(u@c) 2(asz@c) 1/2(asz@c)] ma#-na 5(asz@c) gin2 uruda szu-a gi4-a# lugal-ku3 simug#?
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 106. 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 (P215963) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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