Position in chronology
OSP 2, 109
About this tablet
A small accounting tablet from Nippur in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly 2300–2200 BCE. It records amounts of garlic — a staple crop and seasoning in Mesopotamia — assigned to or coming from several named individuals, with the chief gardener (or a man so titled) acknowledging receipt. Garlic accounts like this one show how even humble produce was tracked by the administrators who ran the city's gardens and storehouses. The tablet survives in two pieces now rejoined in Philadelphia.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a receipt for garlic. Ur-Enlil is down for one barig (about 60 liters). Then, under the heading 'garlic of Ur-gu', come five more entries: Adda with 2 barig 2 ban, Gubbani with 1 barig 3 ban, Gissu with 2 barig, Ka'a with a small lot of 1 ban 5 sila, and Dasa with 1 barig 4 ban. The chief gardener signed off that the garlic was received.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 barig of garlic: 2. Ur-Enlil. 3. Garlic (of) Ur-gu: 4. 2 barig 2 ban — Adda; 5. 1 barig 3 ban — Gubbani; 6. 2 barig — Gissu; 7. 1 ban 5 sila — Ka'a; 8. 1 barig 4 ban — Dasa, 9. the chief gardener, 10. received.
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(barig@c) szum2 ur-en-lil2 szum2 ur-gu 2(barig) 2(ban2) ad-da 1(barig) 3(ban2) gub-ba-ni 2(barig@c) gissu 1(ban2)# 5(disz) sila3 ka5-a 1(barig) 4(ban2) da-sa6 gal-sar szu ba-ti
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 109. 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 (P216263) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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