Position in chronology
OSP 2, 167
About this tablet
A small accounting note from Nippur in the Sargonic period (about 2300 BCE), the age when the kings of Agade ruled Mesopotamia. It records garlic and onions handed out from the stores of an official named Lugal-nig-be-du to a courier, a scribe, and a man about to travel to the capital, Agade. Documents like this show the capital being supplied with provisions from the old religious centre of Nippur, and remind us that garlic and onions were staple travel rations of the ancient Near East.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Five lidga of garlic went to Ur-teš the courier, for Kalamba; it was issued to him. Another two lidga of garlic went to Ur-teš the courier, this being his second allocation. Two barig of garlic went to KA-kù the scribe. Two barig of šum-sikil onions and one barig of crushed garlic went to Sag-dingir-tuku for his trip to Agade, to be used at daybreak; it was issued to him. All of this was debited from the stock held by Lugal-nig-be-du.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 5 lidga of garlic, 2. (for) Ur-teš, the courier (sukkal), 3. for Kalamba — 4. was given to him. 5. 2 lidga of garlic, 6. (for) Ur-teš, the courier, 7. for the second time. 8. 2 barig of garlic: KA-kù, 9. the scribe. 10. 2 barig of šum-sikil onions, 1 barig of crushed garlic: 11. Sag-dingir-tuku, 12. for (the journey to) Agade, 13. for daybreak — 14. was given to him. 15. From (the account of) Lugal-nig-be-du it was withdrawn.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
5(asz@c) szum2 lid2-ga ur-tesz2 sukkal ka3-lam-ba-sze3 an-na-szum2 2(asz@c) szum2 lid2-ga ur-tesz2 sukkal 2(disz@t)-kam-ma-sze3 2(barig@c) szum2 KA-ku3 dub-sar 2(barig@c) szum2-sikil 1(barig@c) szum2 gaz sag-dingir-tuku a-ga-de3-sze3 u4-zal-la-sze3 an-na-szum2 ki lugal-nig2-be-du10-ta al-zi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 167. 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 (P216321) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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