Position in chronology
OSP 2, 166
About this tablet
A short accounting tablet from Nippur in the Akkadian (Sargonic) period, around 2300–2200 BCE, when the kings of Agade ruled Mesopotamia. It records a stock of onions held in an institutional storehouse: the full amount on hand, and the large portion that had since been issued out. The final line dates the document by a year name referring to the wall of Agade, the dynasty's famous capital whose site has still never been found — a small bureaucratic trace of a vanished city.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Running total: 58 gur, 1 barig and 2 ban of onions, measured by the lidga standard. That is the grand total of onions placed in storage. Out of that stock, 36 gur, 4 ban and 5 sila of onions, by the same measure, have been issued and deducted. Dated to the year of the wall of Agade.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. Total: 58 (gur) 1 barig 2 ban of onions, (by the) lidga(-measure); 2. grand total: 3. it is (the) onions deposited (in store). 4. Therefrom: 5. 36 (gur) 4 ban 5 sila of onions, (by the) lidga(-measure), 6. were booked out (expended) from it. 7. Year: (the) wall of Agade.
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
szunigin 5(u) 8(asz) 1(barig) 2(ban2) szum2 lid2-ga gu2-an-sze3 szum2 gar-kam sza3-bi3-ta 3(u) 6(asz) 4(ban2) 5(disz) sila3 szum2 lid2-ga ab-ta-zi mu bad3 a-ga-de3
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 166. 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 (P216320) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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