Position in chronology
OSP 2, 019
About this tablet
A small receipt from Nippur in the Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly 2300 BCE, recording a quantity of gold — just under seven shekels, about 55 grams. The gold is earmarked for 'a right arm and a left thigh', most likely the gilding or fittings of a divine statue in a temple. A junior gudu-priest named Bani-la is involved on one side and a man named Puzrum signs for receipt, giving a rare glimpse of how precious metal for cult images was accounted for in the Sargonic temple administration.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a receipt for 6¾ shekels of gold of the kind called kirrat. It is the gold set aside for one right arm and one left thigh — presumably parts of a statue — and this is the whole amount on hand. The note records it as a delivery: it was handed over on the account of Bani-la, the junior gudu-priest, and a man named Puzrum took receipt of it.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 7 shekels less one-quarter (shekel) of kirrat-gold, 2. (that) belonging to 1 right arm and 1 left thigh; 3. (this is) the total in hand. 4. Delivery. 5. For the ṣibtu of 1 Bani-la, the junior gudu-priest, 6. Puzrum 7. received (it).
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
7(asz@c) _gin2 la2 igi-4(disz)-gal2_ kir-ra-at _ku3-sig17_ szu-ut 1(disz) _a2-zi-da u3 1(disz) ur2 gab2_ szu szunigin _mu-kux(DU)_ a-na s,i2-ib-ti 1(disz) ba-ni-la _gudu4-tur_ puzur4-ru-um im-hur
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 019. 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: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P216170) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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