Position in chronology
MAD 5, 022
About this tablet
A short Old Akkadian administrative order from Kish, written around the 23rd–22nd century BCE. It concerns one man, Ilum-dan, a land registrar who belongs to a chain of dependency: he is attached to Šu-ilīsu and is the servant of a merchant, Ilum-bāni, who is in turn the servant of Šarati-gubisin. That last name is a Gutian royal name, so the note may reflect the period when Gutian rulers dominated parts of Mesopotamia. The tablet orders that Ilum-dan, who is lodging with Adi-ilum, be brought in, and it names the official, An-gu, responsible for carrying out the order.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Ilum-dan is staying with Adi-ilum. He is a land registrar who belongs to Šu-ilīsu's household and serves Ilum-bāni the merchant, who in turn serves Šarati-gubisin. Have him brought here. The official in charge of this is An-gu.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. Adi-ilum — 2. with (him) 3. (is) 1 Ilum-dan, 4. the one of Šu-ilīsu, 5. the land registrar, 6. servant of Ilum-bāni, 7. the merchant, 8. servant of Šarati-gubisin, 9. is staying. 10. Let them bring (him) here! 11. An-gu 12. (is) the commissioner.
Our translation engine — Opus 5.5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
a-di3-dingir isz-te4 1(asz@c) dingir-kal szi szu-i3-li2-su _sa12-du5_ _ARAD2_ dingir-ba-ni _dam-gar3_ _ARAD2_ szar-a-ti-gu-bi-si-in u-sza-ab li-ru-nim an-gu2 _maszkim_
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — MAD 5, 022. 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: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK (P215348) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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