Position in chronology
OIP 014, 182
About this tablet
A small administrative tablet from the city of Adab in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian period (around 2300 BCE), when Sargon's dynasty ruled Mesopotamia. It itemises foodstuffs — bread, doves, dates, emmer wheat and pulses — grouped under the names of high officials: a lumaḫ priest, the chief governor, the administrator of the temple of the storm-god Iškur, the chief cupbearer and a nueš priest. The closing note labels the whole as a 'consignment' and marks it as the first in a series, so it was the opening entry of a running account of goods moving between the city's temple and palace establishments.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a delivery note. Ten loaves of large first-fruit bread are booked under the lumaḫ priest. Ten doves and ten of the a-tu items follow, then two baskets of dates under the chief governor. Two baskets of emmer wheat are entered for the administrator of Iškur's temple. Ten baskets of emmer and one basket of large pulses go under the chief cupbearer, and five loaves of porters' bread under the nueš priest. The whole lot is recorded as a consignment, and the scribe notes that this is the first delivery of its kind.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 10 loaves of bread, large first-fruit offering — 2. the lumaḫ priest; 3. 10 doves, 4. 10 a-tu — 5. 2 baskets of dates — 6. the ensi-gal (chief governor); 7. 2 baskets of emmer — 8. the temple administrator of Iškur; 9. 10 baskets of emmer, 10. 1 basket of large pulses — 11. the chief cupbearer; 12. 5 loaves of bread (for) the porters — 13. the nueš priest. 14. Consignment (sent as gift). 15. It is the first time (first delivery).
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) ninda ne-sag gal lu2-mah 1(u) tu 1(u) a-tu 2(asz@c) gurdub zu2-lum ensi2-gal 2(asz@c) gurdub imgaga3 sanga iszkur# 1(u) gurdub imgaga3# 1(asz@c) gurdub gu2-gu2 gal sagi-mah 5(asz@c) ninda ug3-IL2 nu-esz3 nig2-szu-tak4-a a-ra2 1(disz@t)-a-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OIP 014, 182. 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 (P216038) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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