Position in chronology
OSP 2, 157
About this tablet
A small administrative note from Nippur, in southern Iraq, dating to the Sargonic (Old Akkadian) period, roughly 2300–2200 BCE. It records a few units of garlic issued to several named people — including a scribe — and charged against the account of an official named Lugal-nigbe-du. Humble as it is, it shows how even small quantities of foodstuffs were tracked by name in the temple-city's bookkeeping.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Three units of garlic, checked and measured, go to KA-ku the scribe. Two units go to A-Enlil-ta, and one to Sag-abtuku-a. A further recipient whose name ends in -Enlil-la is listed, and then a broken line that seems to sum up the group ("they are ..."). The whole lot was issued from the stock of Lugal-nigbe-du and booked out of his account.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 3 (units of) garlic, kab-ku (measured/checked), 2. (for) KA-ku, the scribe; 3. 2 (units) — A-Enlil-ta; 4. 1 (unit) — Sag-abtuku-a; 5. [... En]lil-la; 6. [...] ... they are. 7. From Lugal-nigbe-du 8. it was expended (booked out).
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
3(asz@c) szum2 kab2-ku5 KA-ku3 dub-sar 2(asz@c) a2-en-lil2-ta 1(asz@c) sag-ab-tuku-a [... en]-lil2-la2 [...] x-me ki lugal-nig2-be-du10-ta al-zi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 157. 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 (P216311) — 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.