Position in chronology
OIP 014, 170
About this tablet
A field-survey record from Adab in southern Iraq, written under the kings of Akkad around 2300 BCE. Surveyors measured plots of farmland by their short 'front' sides and their long sides, converted these into areas in iku (roughly a third of a hectare each), and listed the men connected with each plot — two of them merchants, others with Sumerian and Akkadian names like Ur-Ninmada and Nabium. It is a glimpse of how land was measured, recorded and assigned in one of the earliest territorial states, with the mixed Sumerian-Akkadian population of the period visible in the names.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a land survey. The first plot, after a lost beginning, has a frontage of 10 rods (and another figure of 10 minus something) with total long sides of 200 rods; it is tied to Dada the merchant. Then a plot of 1 1/2 iku called the 'BAD3' field, connected with Ur-Ninmada. Another plot has a frontage of 15 rods and 14 rods, long sides totalling 235, and belongs to Ilala the merchant. A 2 1/2 iku field 'BAD3-su' and a 1 1/4 iku field of Nabium follow. The last plot measures 6 rods and 2 1/2 rods on its front, 170 rods along its long sides, and is assigned to a man named Ur-su... and to Lugal-hili. Both ends of the tablet are damaged, so some figures and names are gone.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. [...] 10 (ninda) front (width); 10 less [...] 2. 200 (ninda) — the various lengths; 3. Dada, the merchant. 4. 1 1/2 iku field: BAD3-[...] 5. Ur-Ninmada [...] 6. 15 (ninda) front (width); 14 [...] 7. 240 less 5 (= 235 ninda) — the various lengths; 8. Ilala, the merchant. 9. 2 1/2 iku field: BAD3-su4; 10. 1 1/4 iku field: Nabium. 11. 6 (ninda) front (width); 2 1/2 [...] 12. 180 less 10 (= 170 ninda) — the various [lengths]; 13. Ur-su4-x [...] 14. Lugal-hili.
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(u) sag 1(u) la2 [...] 3(gesz2) 2(u) us2 hi-a da-da dam-gar3# 1(iku@c) 1/2(iku@c) GAN2 BAD3@s [...] ur-nin-ma-da [...] 1(u) 5(disz) sag 1(u@c) 4(asz@c) [...] 4(gesz2) la2 5(asz@c) us2 hi-a i3-la-la dam-gar3 2(iku@c) 1/2(iku@c) GAN2 BAD3@s-su4 1(iku@c) 1/4(iku@c) GAN2 na-bi2-um 6(disz) sag 2(asz@c) 1/2(disz) 3(gesz2) la2 1(u) us2 [hi-a] ur-su4-x [...] lugal-hi-li#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 170. 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 (P216026) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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