OSP 2, 083

About this tablet

A small accounting tablet from Nippur in the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly 2300–2200 BCE, recording garlic. Each line pairs a count of garlic units (heads, bunches or strings) with a man's name and the volume of garlic that count amounts to, measured in ban and sila; the whole lot is tied to a plot called the 'Small Field'. It is a glimpse of how the city's administrators tracked a humble but valuable crop, converting counted produce into standard capacity measures man by man — probably a harvest or delivery record from garlic growers.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

Garlic account. Seventy kab2-ku5 garlic (units), amounting to 1 ban (about 10 liters) of garlic — from Nig-...-pa'e. Thirty-five from Lu-sa, 1 ban. Thirty-five from Dingir-bani, 1 ban. One hundred fifty from Lugal-e'ana, 9 sila (about 9 liters). One hundred twelve from Ur-e, 1 ban and 2 sila. Two hundred ten from Adda (no volume given). One hundred sixty from Lugal-shud, 1 ban. All from the Small Field.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

1. 1(gesz2) 1(u) (= 70) garlic (szum2) kab2-ku5, 2. its garlic: 1(ban2) (= 1 ban); 3. Nig2-|U.SZA|-pa-e3. 4. 3(u) 5(asz) (= 35): Lu2-sa6 — 1(ban2); 5. 3(u) 5(asz) (= 35): Dingir-ba-ni — 1(ban2); 6. 2(gesz2) 3(u) (= 150): Lugal-e-a2-na — 1(u) la2 1(disz) sila3 (= 10 less 1 = 9 sila); 7. 2(gesz2) la2 8(asz) (= 120 less 8 = 112): Ur-e2 — 1(ban2) 2(disz) sila3 (= 1 ban 2 sila); 8. 3(gesz2) 3(u) (= 210): Ad-da; 9. 3(gesz2) la2 2(u) (= 180 less 20 = 160): Lugal-szud3 — 1(ban2); 10. GAN2-banda3 (the "Small Field").

Indicative reading — translated without a photograph. Generated from the transliteration alone, without examining the original. Read it as an accessible first taste, not as a verified catalogue entry.

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(gesz2@c) 1(u@c) szum2 kab2-ku5
szum2-bi 1(ban2@c)
nig2-|U.SZA|-pa-e3
3(u@c) 5(asz@c) lu2-sa6 1(ban2@c)
3(u@c) 5(asz@c) dingir-ba-ni 1(ban2@c)
2(gesz2@c) 3(u@c) lugal-e-a2-na 1(u) la2 1(disz) sila3
2(gesz2@c) la2 8(asz@c) ur-e2 1(ban2@c) 2(disz) sila3
3(gesz2@c) 3(u@c) ad-da
3(gesz2@c) la2 2(u@c) lugal-szud3 1(ban2@c)
GAN2-banda3

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 083. 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 (P216237) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).

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