Position in chronology
DWJ 2, 019-021
About this tablet
A private letter from the Old Babylonian fortress town of Dūr-Abī-ēšuḫ, named after King Abī-ēšuḫ of Babylon (17th century BCE). A man named Lugal-gubbani writes to Sîn-magir, opening with a blessing in the name of Enlil, chief god of nearby Nippur. The body of the message is too damaged to follow, but the tablet also carries the seal inscription of Lāqīpum, a gudu-priest of Enlil and royal servant — a glimpse of the priestly personnel displaced to this garrison town after Nippur's decline.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Dear Sîn-magir — greetings from Lugal-gubbani. May Enlil keep you in good health, and may everything that has been scattered come back together! I'm writing about someone who has stopped working, and something involving two and a half units of some commodity — but the middle of the letter is too damaged to read. The tablet is stamped with the seal of Lāqīpum, a purification priest of Enlil in royal service, son of Ninurta-nīšu and servant of King Abī-ēšuḫ.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obverse) To Sîn-magir speak: thus (says) Lugal-gubbani: May Enlil keep you in good health! May the scattered be gathered! The one who(?) had ceased(?) (work) for 2½ ... [broken] ... [illegible] ... (seal legend / closing lines) Lāqīpum(?), gudu-priest of Enlil, the king's contract-agent(?), son of Ninurta-nīšu, servant of Abī-ēšuḫ.
Our translation engine — Fable 5. 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
a-na suen-ma-gir qi2-bi2-ma um-ma lugal-gub-ba-ni-ma en-lil2 li-ba-al-li-it,#-ka sa3-ap-hu-li-ip-hur sza#? ip#?-<pa?>-ar-ku ina 2(disz)# 1/2(disz) szi-x x x x a bur x x la#-qi2#?-[pu?]-um#? gudu4 en-lil2-la2 lu2! ka-kesz2? lugal dumu nin-urta-ni-szu ARAD a-bi-e-szu-uh-ke4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — DWJ 2, 019-021. 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: Kress 005 (private: anonymous, Germany) — from Dūr-Abī-ēšuḫ (mod. uncertain) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P272792). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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