Position in chronology
OSP 2, 153
About this tablet
A small administrative account from Nippur in the Old Akkadian (Sargonic) period, roughly 2300 BCE, tracking onions and garlic — a staple seasoning and ration item. The scribe records several varieties (crushed onions, the choice 'sikil' kind, and 'gamgam' onions), issued for a journey, as monthly provisions over a stretch of several months for a man named Lugal-GAN2-zi, and finally drawn from the stock of an official called Lugal-nigbedu. Humble as it is, the text shows how carefully even vegetables were measured and charged to named individuals in a temple-city economy.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The top of the tablet is gone. What survives is an onion account: some quantity of crushed onions; 90 liters of the fine 'sikil' onions; onions set aside for a trip; 180 liters of another type for Lugal-GAN2-zi. Then a running allowance — 120 liters of onions per month, from the 'brick-moulding' month through the month Ku-ŠIM — as regular provisions, which someone (name lost) used up. A line about 'gamgam' onions is damaged. Finally, 40 liters of crushed onions and 60 liters of sikil-onions were taken out, and the whole lot was booked as issued from the stock of Lugal-nigbedu.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(Beginning destroyed) 1. [...] onions, [crushed], 2. 1 barig 3 ban of sikil-onions (= 90 sila), 3. onions for the journey; 4. 3 barig of [...]-onions, 5. (for) Lugal-GAN2-[zi]; 6. [onions] at 2 barig each (per month), 7. from the [month 'bricks] placed in the mould' 8. to the [month] 'Ku-ŠIM', 9. for the regular provisions, 10. [...] consumed. 11. [...] gamgam-onions; 12. 4 ban of crushed onions, 1 barig of sikil-onions: 13. he took (them). 14. From Lugal-[nig-bedu] 15. it was expended.
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
[...] szum2 [gaz] 1(barig) 3(ban2) szum2-[sikil] szum2 kaskal#-[sze3] 3(barig@c) szum2-[...] lugal-GAN2-[zi] [szum2] 2(barig)-ta [iti sig4-]u4#?-szub-gar-ta [iti ku3]-SZIM#-sze3 [sa2]-du11#-sze3 [...]-e ib2-gu7 [...] szum2 gam-gam 4(ban2@c) szum2 gaz 1(barig@c) szum2-[sikil] na-mu#-[dab] ki lugal#-[nig2-be-du10]-ta al-zi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 153. 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 (P216307) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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