Position in chronology
AOAT 440, 197-198 BM 97939
About this tablet
An Old Babylonian farm-account tablet, probably from Sippar in northern Babylonia (early second millennium BCE), recording the running costs of plow agriculture. It lists eighteen plow-teams and then itemizes barley and flour issued to keep the operation going: pay for the man guiding the breaking-plow, food rations for the workers, and fodder for the draft oxen and the goats. It is a snapshot of the everyday logistics behind Mesopotamian grain farming — animals and men alike had to be fed out of the estate's stores.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is an expense sheet for a plowing operation. Eighteen plow-teams are on the books. The man who handles the breaking-plow gets 2 barig (about 120 liters) of barley as his allowance. The crew's food ration comes to 2 ban 4 sila (about 24 liters) of flour. The rear oxen of the teams get 3 ban 3 sila (about 33 liters) of barley as fodder, and another 1 ban 5 sila (about 15 liters) of barley goes to feed the goats.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine18 plow-teams (iniātum) — the registration (talpittu). 2 barig of barley: the holder of the harbu-plow. 2 ban 4 sila of flour: their food ration. 3 ban 3 sila of barley: fodder for the rear ox(en). 1 ban 5 sila of barley: for the goats.
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
1(u) 8(disz) i-ni-a-tum ta-al-pi2-it!-ti 2(barig) _sze_ mu-ki-il ha-ar-bi 2(ban2) 4(disz) _sila3 zi3-da_ ku-ru-ma-su2-nu 3(ban2) 3(disz) _sila3 sze_ _sza3-gal gu4_ wa-ar-ki-i 1(ban2) 5(disz) _sila3 sze_ a-na _masz2 hi-a_
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — AOAT 440, 197-198 BM 97939. 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: BM 097939 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Sippar-Yahrurum (mod. Tell Abu Habbah) ? — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P370930). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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