Position in chronology
OIP 014, 124
About this tablet
A small livestock account from Adab (modern Bismaya, in central Iraq), written in the Sargonic/Old Akkadian period, roughly 2300 BCE. Two men, Lugal-keš and A-ni-ta, each supply a handful of sheep — fifteen in all — which are recorded as having 'gone out from the city', and an official named Ur-ME takes them into his charge. The closing note that this is the 'fourth time' shows that such transfers were being tracked as a running series, a glimpse of how an Akkadian-period provincial administration kept tabs on its herds.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Eight sheep from Lugal-keš and seven sheep from A-ni-ta: fifteen sheep altogether. These are the sheep that were sent out from the city. Ur-ME has taken them into his custody. This is the fourth such delivery.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 8 sheep — 2. Lugal-keš; 3. 7 sheep — 4. A-ni-ta. 5. Total: 15 sheep, 6. sheep that went out from the city. 7. Ur-ME took charge (of them). 8. (This is) the 4th time.
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) udu lugal-kesz3 7(asz@c) udu a2-ni-ta szunigin 1(u@c) 5(asz@c) udu udu iri-ta e3-a ur-ME i3-dab5 a-ra2 4(disz@t)-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 124. 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 (P215980) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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