Position in chronology
OSP 2, 119
About this tablet
A small administrative note from the city of Nippur in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian period (roughly 2300–2150 BCE). It records deliveries of garlic and onions by two men, Lugal-amu and Namzi, meant to supply the household table of the local governor over a six-month stretch from autumn to the barley harvest. It is a glimpse of how a provincial court was provisioned: even the governor's kitchen onions were counted, checked, and written down by a scribe.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Thirty strings of garlic, checked and counted, delivered by Lugal-amu and Namzi; also a quantity of sikil-onions, the figure now lost, reckoned at three strings apiece. These supplies cover the period from the month of Du-ku through the month of the barley harvest — that is, the seventh to the twelfth month of the year — and are destined for the governor's table.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 30 (strings of) garlic, [checked (kab₂-ku₅)]; 2. Lugal-amu; 3. Namzi; 4. sikil-onions [...], at 3 (strings) each; 5. from the month Du-ku (VII) 6. to the month Še-sag-ku (XII): 7. (for) the table of the governor (ensi).
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
3(u) szum2 [kab2-ku5] lugal-a-mu nam-zi# szum2-sikil [...] 3(disz)-ta iti du6-ku3-ta iti sze-sag11-ku5-sze3 banszur ensi2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 119. 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 (P216273) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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