Position in chronology
OSP 2, 025
About this tablet
An inventory of silver objects from Nippur in the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly the 23rd century BCE. A scribe lists precious items — worked silver pieces, belts and vessels — and then totals their metal weight, apparently at several talents, before noting where the objects 'are', that is, in whose house or storeroom they are kept. Such lists show how temple or palace treasuries kept track of valuables, counting both the objects and the bullion they represented.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two worked silver pieces of the GAN₂ kind, two silver tusān-objects, four silver belts, six silver dal-vessels, some further silver item whose name is lost, and one more silver object of uncertain name. Their silver weighs in total about 6 talents and 20 minas. Two lines are then lost. The text ends by stating that these things are held in the house of a certain person, with another name (ending in -mati-) qualified as 'the small one' — in other words, this is where the silver is currently kept.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 2 silver manufactured objects (nig₂-dim₂) of the GAN₂-type, 2. 2 tusān(-objects) of silver, 3. 4 belts of silver, 4. 6 dal-vessels of silver, 5. [...] ... of silver, 6. [1] ...-GIR-... of silver; 7. [its silver]: 6(?) talents 20 minas. 8. [...] 9. [...] 10. in the house of ... [...] 11. [...]-mati-..., the small(er) one, 12. they are (present).
Our translation engine — Fable 5.1. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
2(asz@c) _nig2-dim2 ku3-babbar gan2_ 2(asz@c) tu3-sa-an _ku3-babbar_ 4(asz@c) _ib2-la2 ku3-babbar_ 6(asz@c) _dal ku3-babbar_ [...] x _ku3-babbar_ [1(asz@c)] x-GIR-x _ku3-babbar_ [_ku3-babbar]-bi_ 6(asz@c)#? _gu2_ 2(u@c) _ma-na#_ [...] [...] in# _e2_ x [...] [...]-ma-ti-x _tur_ i-ba-szi4-u3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 025. 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 (P216176) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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