Position in chronology
OIP 014, 166
About this tablet
A small wool receipt from Adab (modern Bismaya, southern Iraq) in the Old Akkadian period, around 2300 BCE. It records measured quantities of black and white wool handed over to two people, Nammaḫni and Kiag, part of it drawn from a man named Enannatum and part booked as an outstanding shortfall from sheep fleeces. Two witnesses — a fuller named Enlil and a woman called Nammaḫni, his wife — vouch for the transfer, showing that even routine textile-workshop transactions were formally witnessed.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Nammaḫni received 3 minas (about 1.5 kg) of black wool and 3 minas of white wool, of low grade. Then a further batch: so many minas of wool still owed from sheep fleeces, so many minas held by Enannatum, and so many minas of wool for the New Year, two-thirds of something — the figures are broken away. All of this came from Enannatum, and Kiag received it. The witnesses to the deal were Enlil the fuller and Nammaḫni, his wife.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 3 minas of black wool, 2. 3 minas of white (wool), 3. low-grade (sig-ga), 4. Nammaḫni 5. received. 6. [n mi]nas of wool, deficit, (from) sheep fleeces; 7. [n mi]nas from Enannatum; 8. [n] minas of wool for the New Year, 2/3 ...; 9. from Enannatum 10. Kiag received. 11. Enlil, the fuller, 12. Nammaḫni, (his) wife — 13. they are the witnesses.
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
3(asz@c) ma-na siki ge6 3(asz@c) ma-na babbar sig-ga nam-mah#-ni szu# [ba]-ti [n ma]-na# siki la2-ia3 bar udu [n ma]-na ki en-an-na-tum2 [n] ma-na siki za3-mu 2/3(disz)-ha ki en-an-na-tum2-ta ki-ag2-e szu ba-ti en-lil2 lu2 azlag2 nam#-mah-ni dam lu2-ki-inim-<ma>-me
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 166. 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 (P216022) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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