Position in chronology
OAIC 53
About this tablet
A short business letter in Old Akkadian from Eshnunna (Tell Asmar, east of Baghdad), written in the twenty-third or twenty-second century BCE, when the dynasty of Sargon of Akkad ruled Mesopotamia. A man named Ikūnum writes impatiently to Ilum-alsu, asking why an outstanding balance is still unsettled after he has already written, and orders him to get on the road. A damaged passage then reports that a field was handed over to a third man, Su-bēlī, and that someone has failed to produce the flour owed. It is a glimpse of ordinary debt-chasing and estate management among the Akkadian-speaking townspeople of the period.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Message from Ikūnum to Ilum-alsu: Why, after I already wrote to you and made my demand, is the balance still outstanding? Get moving and come. The next two lines are too broken to read. Then: the field was handed over to Su-bēlī, but his flour allotment has not been prepared.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. Thus (says) 2. Ikūnum 3. [t]o Ilum-alsu: 4. Why, 5. (although) I wrote 6. (and) I ... to you (a-ni-er3-kum), 7. (does) the remainder (still stand)? 8–9. Take the road (i.e. set out)! 10. [......] 11. [......]-da-ba 12. The field to Su-bēlī 13. he [g]ave; 14. his flour-ration (zi3-ba) 15. he has not made/prepared.
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
en#-ma i-ku8-num2 [a]-na# dingir-al-su mi#-szum asz2#-t,u2-ru a#-ni-er3-kum si#-tum ha-ra-nam a-hu-za#-am# [...] [...]-da#-ba _GAN2_ a-na su4-be-li2 [i]-di3-in _zi3-ba_-su u3-la e-pi5-isz
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — OAIC 53. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P215925) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5-1 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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