Position in chronology
OSP 2, 143
About this tablet
A small accounting tablet from Nippur in the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly 2300–2200 BCE, recording the distribution of garlic counted in bundles. The entries name the recipients — a scribe, a cupbearer named Ur-Šubur, and the en-priest of the moon-god Nanna — and close with a batch of crushed garlic booked out by an official called Lugal-ḫe-a-[...]. Garlic was a staple seasoning and ration item in Mesopotamia, and tablets like this show how even such modest goods moved through institutional hands with careful bookkeeping.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The opening lines are damaged, but they record some bundles of garlic for a scribe. Forty bundles of garlic went to Ur-Šubur the cupbearer. Another forty bundles were carried to the en-priest of Nanna by a courier whose name is lost. Finally, sixty bundles of crushed garlic — the amount on standing allocation to him — were issued by Lugal-ḫe-a-[...], whose full name is also broken off.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse (?) 1. [n bundles of garl]ic 2. [......] 3. [the scr]ibe. 4. 40 bundles of garlic: 5. Ur-Šubur, the cupbearer. 6. 40 bundles of garlic, 7. conveyed by (giri3) [PN], 8. to the en-priest of Nanna 9. were brought. 10. 60 bundles of crushed garlic, 11. his standing (allocated) amount; 12. Lugal-ḫe-a-[...] 13. [has] expended (them).
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
[n szum2 sa] [...] [dub]-sar 4(u) szum2 sa ur-szubur sagi 4(u) szum2 sa giri3 [...] en nanna mu-szi-de6-a 1(gesz2) szum2 gaz sa gub-ba-ni lugal-he2-a-[...] [i3]-zi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 143. 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 (P216297) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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