Position in chronology
OIP 014, 167
About this tablet
A small livestock receipt from the city of Adab in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian period (around 2300 BCE). It lists single sheep and lambs handed over one at a time by named townspeople — shepherds, a builder, a cupbearer, and the wives of two men — and records that an official named Lugal-e took them into his charge, probably as a delivery or levy from the citizens. It is a snapshot of how a city administration collected animals from ordinary households, and it names otherwise-forgotten people and their trades.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
One sheep came from the wife of Lugal-DU the shepherd; one sheep from Lu-dingira, who herds donkeys; one lamb from Uda, another donkey herder; one sheep from the wife of Iri-namzu; one sheep from Ur-dingir-tur the builder; one lamb from Lugal-itida; a sheep from the porters; a sheep from Subira, the man of a place now lost; and a lamb from the cupbearer. The total line is damaged but counts the sheep and lambs together — animals delivered by the citizens of the town. Lugal-e took them in charge.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 sheep — 2. (from) the wife of Lugal-DU, the shepherd; 3. [1] sheep — Lu-dingira, the donkey herder; 4. 1 lamb — Uda, the donkey herder; 5. 1 sheep — the wife of Iri-namzu; 6. 1 sheep — Ur-dingir-tur, the builder; 7. [1] lamb — Lugal-itida; 8. [1 sheep?] — the porter(s) [...]; 9. [1 sheep?] — Subira, the man of [...]; 10. [1 lamb? ...] — the cupbearer. 11. [Total: 4(?)] 2 sheep (and) 3 lambs 12. [...] (of) the sons of the city (citizens); 13. Lugal-e 14. took (them) in charge.
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 dam lugal-DU sipa [1(asz@c)] udu# lu2-dingir-ra sipa ansze 1(asz@c) sila4 u2-da sipa ansze 1(asz@c) udu dam iri-nam-zu 1(asz@c) udu ur-dingir-tur szitim [1(asz@c)] sila4 lugal-iti!-da [1(asz@c) udu?] ug3#-IL2 [...] [1(asz@c) udu?] su#-birx(|SZIMxNIG2|)-a lu2-[...] [1(asz@c) sila4? ...] sagi [szunigin 4(disz)?] 2(asz@c) udu 3(asz@c) sila4 [...] dumu iri-ke4-ne lugal-e2-e i3-dab5
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 167. 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 (P216023) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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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.
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