Position in chronology
OSP 2, 155
About this tablet
A small accounting tablet from Nippur in southern Iraq, written in the Old Akkadian period (roughly 2300–2150 BCE). It records amounts of onions or garlic — measured by the large 'lidga' unit — issued to a handful of named individuals, some identified by their father's name, and closes by noting that the goods were drawn from the stock of an official called Lugal-nigbedu. Such tablets are the routine paperwork of a temple or palace storehouse, and they preserve the names of otherwise forgotten ordinary people.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a list of onion (or garlic) allotments. Aga-kiag gets 1 gur and 2 barig, measured in the big lidga unit; Dada gets 1 gur; Ur-tir, son of E-ku, gets 2 barig; and E-geš, the man of U-..., also gets 2 barig. The next three entries are too damaged to read. Then Namu-dab receives 2 ban, and KA-ku, son of U-muni-zal, receives an amount whose figure is lost. All of it was drawn out of the supplies held by Lugal-nigbedu.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 (gur) 2 barig of onions/garlic, (in the) lidga (measure): 2. Aga-kiag. 3. 1 (gur): Dada. 4. 2 barig: Ur-tir, 5. son of E-ku. 6. 2 barig: E-geš, the man of U-[...]. 7. [...]-x-ḫa-[...] 8. [...]-x-[...] 9. [...]-en-[...] 10. 2 ban: [Na]mu-[dab]. 11. [n]: KA-ku, 12. son of U-muni-[zal]. 13. From Lugal-nigbedu 14. it was withdrawn.
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
1(asz@c) 2(barig@c) szum2 lid2-ga aga-ki-ag2 1(asz@c) da-da 2(barig@c) ur-tir dumu e2-kux(KWU636)# 2(barig@c) e2-gesz lu2-u-[...] [...]-x-ha#-[...] [...]-x-[...] [...]-en#-[...] 2(ban2@c) [na]-mu#-[dab5] [n] KA#-ku3# dumu# u3#-mu#-ni#-[zal] ki# lugal#-nig2#-be-du10-ta al#-zi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 155. 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 (P216309) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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