Position in chronology
OIP 014, 131
About this tablet
A small dairy account from the city of Adab (modern Bismaya, southern Iraq) in the Old Akkadian period, around 2300 BCE. A scribe records amounts of ghee (clarified butter) and dried cheese set against two men, Ur-teš and Ur-Mama, then adds up the totals. It is a glimpse of the routine bookkeeping that kept a Mesopotamian household or temple estate supplied with preserved dairy products; the final line, which probably named the purpose or official responsible, is lost.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Ur-teš is down for 5 sila of ghee and 2 ban of cheese. Ur-Mama is down for 2 sila of ghee and 1 ban of cheese. Altogether that makes 7 sila of ghee and 3 ban of cheese. One last line followed, but it is broken away and cannot be read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. [5] sila of ghee, 2. 2 ban of cheese: 3. Ur-teš. 4. 2 sila of ghee, 5. 1 ban of cheese: 6. Ur-Mama. 7. [To]tal: 7 sila of ghee. 8. [To]tal: 3 ban of cheese. 9. ... [...] (rest broken)
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
[5(disz)] sila3 i3-nun 2(ban2@c) ga-ar3 ur-tesz2 2(disz) sila3 i3-nun 1(ban2@c) ga-ar3 ur#-ma-ma [szu]-nigin2 7(disz) sila3 i3-nun [szu]-nigin2 3(ban2@c) ga-ar3 x [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 131. 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 (P215987) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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