Position in chronology
OSP 2, 115
About this tablet
A small accounting tablet from Nippur in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, around 2300 BCE, when the city was under the rule of the kings of Agade. It lists a handful of barley disbursements: a portion received by a man named Duni, a larger amount set aside as the regular offerings to Ninurta, Nippur's great warrior-god, and a ration for a cupbearer named Ur-Damu. The note that the grain was measured 'of Agade' shows the imperial capital's standard being used in the old religious city — a small trace of how the Akkadian empire imposed uniform measures on its provinces.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two ban of barley, measured by the Agade standard, went to Ur-[...]; Duni signed for it. Two barig were set aside as the regular offerings for the god Ninurta. Three ban went to Ur-Damu, the cupbearer. One ban went to someone whose name begins An-[...]; the rest of that line, and whatever followed, is broken off.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObv. 1. 2 ban of (barley) — Ur-[...], 2. (measured by the standard) of Agade; 3. Duni received (it). 4. 2 barig — the regular offerings 5. of Ninurta. 6. 3 ban — Ur-Damu, 7. the cupbearer. 8. 1 ban [...] An-[...] (rest broken)
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(ban2@c) ur-[...] a-ga-de3[] du-ni szu ba-ti 2(barig@c) sa2-du11 nin-urta-kam 3(ban2@c) ur-da-mu sagi 1(ban2) [...] an-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 115. 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 (P216269) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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