Position in chronology
OSP 2, 056
About this tablet
A fragment of a field-sale record from Nippur in the Sargonic (Old Akkadian) period, roughly 2300–2200 BCE. Someone sold a small plot of farmland — one eše, about two hectares — for a payment in silver, and the tablet then lists the people present at the transaction. This is the ancient equivalent of a property deed: the price in silver is stated, and witnesses are named so the sale could be upheld later. Only the opening and the first few names survive.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
One eše of farmland, the plot known as the Ab-za[na] field, was sold. Its price came to one-third (of a unit) of silver. Ḫe[šer]da is named first — probably the seller or the chief party — and then the tablet lists further people, each counted as 'one': a name now lost, another lost, then Lugal-ša and Lugal-[...]. These are the witnesses or parties to the sale. The lines in between and the rest of the tablet are broken off.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 eše of field, 2. field in which (the field called) Ab-za-[na] is located (lit. 'the Ab-za-[na] field that is there'), 3. its purchase price: 4. 1/3 (shekel? / mina?) of silver. 5. Ḫe-[šer]-da 6. 1 [......] 7. [......] 8. 1 Lugal-ša(?) 9. 1 Lugal-[......]
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
1(esze3@c) GAN2 GAN2# ab2-za-[na] gal2-la nig2-sa10-bi 1/3(asz@c) ku3 he2-[szer7]-da# 1(asz@c) [...] [...] 1(asz@c) lugal-sza3? 1(asz@c) lugal-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OSP 2, 056. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P216210) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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