Position in chronology
OSP 2, 148
About this tablet
A small administrative note from Nippur in southern Iraq, from the Old Akkadian period (around 2300 BCE), the era of Sargon's dynasty. It records several lots of onions — one batch described as crushed, another grown on a sluice-watered plot — handed over by named individuals, each transaction vouched for by an official called a maškim, a kind of commissioner or deputy. Texts like this show how even humble produce such as onions was tracked by the temple and palace bureaucracy, with a chain of responsibility running from the grower to the household overseer.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two gur of crushed onions [...]; Nam-zi was the official in charge. Two gur: Lugal-itida handed them over to E-tumal, the household overseer. Two gur from Ur-[...]; the next line, naming Lugal-gur, is damaged; Ug-IL, the son of the household overseer, was the official in charge. Three gur of onions from the sluice plot came from He-sasa, son of the smith Ur-Ninmada; E-da was the official in charge. The last entry begins with the name Lu-sa, and then the tablet breaks off.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 2 (gur) crushed onions [...] 2. Nam-zi (was) the commissioner (maškim). 3. 2 (gur): Lugal-itida 4. to E-tumal, 5. the household overseer, gave (it). 6. 2 (gur): Ur-[...] 7. [...] Lugal-gur [...] 8. Ug-IL, son of the household overseer, 9. (was) the commissioner. 10. 3 (gur) onions of the kab-ku (sluice-plot): 11. He-sa-[sa], 12. son of Ur-Nin[ma]da, the smith; 13. E-da (was) the commissioner. 14. Lu-sa [...] (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(asz@c) szum2 gaz# [...] nam-zi maszkim 2(asz@c) lugal-iti-da e-tum-al ugula-e2 i3-na-szum2 2(asz@c) ur-[...] [...] lugal#-gur8# [...] ug3-IL2 dumu ugula-e2 maszkim 3(asz@c) szum2 kab2-ku5 he2-sa6-[sa6] dumu ur-nin#-[ma]-da simug e2-da maszkim# lu2-sa6 [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 148. 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 (P216302) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
A surviving administrative record of named people and livestock in the Ur III period. Together with other archives, such accounts reveal the work of managing animals, deliveries and institutional responsibility.