Position in chronology
OIP 014, 144
About this tablet
A short accounting tablet from the city of Adab in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, around 2300 BCE. It tallies a few sheep, a goat kid and some nineteen minas of wool that were handed out to palace officials — couriers, the chief courier, the estate administrator — and then charged as a shortfall against the shepherds who worked for the city governor. It is a glimpse of how herders were held personally liable for animals and wool that left their flocks, a routine but revealing piece of provincial bookkeeping.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
One sheep and six minas of wool went to Lugal-itida the courier, through Lugal-entarsu. Another sheep and six minas of wool went to the chief courier, through Gissu. The chief courier also received two minas of wool, and the estate manager four minas. One goat kid, under Iškur's name, was used up by the household as a consumption item, handled by Lu-kalla. In all, that comes to two sheep, one kid and nineteen minas of wool, and the whole amount is booked as a shortfall owed by the governor's shepherds.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 sheep, 6 minas of wool: 2. Lugal-itida, the courier (sukkal), 3. (via/for) Lugal-entarsu. 4. 1 sheep, 6 minas of wool: 5. the chief courier (sukkal-maḫ), 6. (via/for) Gissu. 7. 2 minas (of wool): the chief courier (sukkal-maḫ). 8. 4 minas (of wool): the household administrator (šabra of the estate). 9. 1 kid: Iškur — consumed by the household as a niĝ-ku (consumption item), 10. (via) Lu-kalla. 11. Total: 2 sheep, 1 kid, 20 minus 1 (= 19) minas of wool — 12. the arrears (deficit) of the shepherds of the governor.
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) udu 6(disz) ma-na siki lugal-iti-da sukkal lugal-en3-tar-su3 1(asz@c) udu 6(disz) ma#-na siki sukkal-mah gissu 2(asz@c) ma-na sukkal-mah 4(asz@c) ma-na szabra e2 1(asz@c) masz2 iszkur e2-e nig2-ku3 gu7-a! lu2-kal-la szunigin 2(asz@c) udu 1(asz@c) masz2 2(u@c) la2 1(asz@c) ma-na siki la2-ia3 sipa ensi2-ka-ke4-ne
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 144. 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 (P216000) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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