Position in chronology
OSP 2, 174
About this tablet
A small accounting tablet from the Sargonic (Old Akkadian) period, roughly 2300 BCE, excavated at Nippur in southern Iraq. It records deliveries of garlic — measured in the large 'lidga' unit and its barig and ban subdivisions — handed in by several named men, one of them a porter, and totalled up before a man named He-sa formally received the lot from Gal-sar. It is a glimpse of the everyday bookkeeping behind a temple or estate kitchen, where even bulbs of garlic were weighed, named, and signed for.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Garlic, in lidga measures: 3 from Lu-sa; 2 and 1 barig from E-mes; 1, 2 barig and 2 ban from Ur-tir the porter; 2 barig from Lugal-uri, son of Mes-e; and 3 from Kabku, obtained from Gissu, with Ur-sa, son of Lugal-ennu, also listed. All together that comes to 8 lidga of garlic less 1 barig. He-sa took receipt of this garlic from Gal-sar.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 3 lidga of garlic: 2. Lu-sa; 3. 2 (lidga) 1 barig: E-mes; 4. 1 (lidga) 2 barig 2 ban: Ur-tir, 5. the porter; 6. 2 barig from Lugal-uri, 7. son of Mes-e; 8. 3 (lidga): Kabku, 9. from Gissu; 10. Ur-sa, 11. son of Lugal-ennu. 12. Total: 8 less 1 barig lidga of garlic. 13. From Gal-sar 14. He-sa 15. received (it).
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
3(asz@c) szum2 lid2-ga# lu2-sa6 2(asz) 1(barig) e2-mes 1(asz) 2(barig) 2(ban2) ur-tir ug3-IL2 2(barig@c) ki lugal-uri3 dumu:nita mes-e2 3(asz@c) kab2-ku5 ki gissu-ta ur-sa6 dumu lugal-en-nu szunigin 8(disz) la2 1(barig@c) szum2 lid2-ga ki gal-sar-ta he2-sa6 szu ba-ti
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 174. 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 (P216328) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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