Position in chronology
OIP 014, 142
About this tablet
A small accounting tablet from the Sumerian city of Adab (modern Bismaya, southern Iraq), written in the Old Akkadian period, around 2300 BCE. It records three animals — two young goats and one sheep — delivered by named individuals, among them a man called Ur-Enlil and a farmer, as mašdaria, a customary contribution of livestock owed to a temple or palace on festival occasions. It is a glimpse of the routine obligations that bound ordinary households to the great institutions of a Mesopotamian city.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
One kid, from Kuli. One kid, from Ur-Enlil, son of Šuše. One sheep of the bar type, delivered by the provisioner [...]-Enlila, the farmer (part of his name is lost). Total: one bar sheep and two kids, handed over as the customary mašdaria livestock contribution.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 kid — 2. Kuli; 3. 1 kid — Ur-Enlil, 4. son of Šuše; 5. 1 sheep, bar (-category), (for) the provisioner (ua); 6. [...-En]lila, the cultivator. 7. [To]tal: 1 sheep, bar (-category), 2 kids — 8. mašdaria-offering(s).
Our translation engine — Fable 5.1. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
1(asz@c) masz2 ku#-li 1(asz@c) masz2 ur-en-lil2 dumu szu-sze3 1(asz@c) udu bar u2-a [...-en]-lil2#-la2 engar [szu]-nigin2 1(asz@c) udu bar 2(asz@c) masz2 masz2-da-ri-am3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 142. 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 (P215998) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
A surviving administrative record of named people and livestock in the Ur III period. Together with other archives, such accounts reveal the work of managing animals, deliveries and institutional responsibility.