SAOC 44, 67

About this tablet

A silver loan contract from the city of Nippur, drawn up during the reign of Rim-Sin of Larsa (early 2nd millennium BCE). A man named Anne-babdu borrows a single shekel of silver from one Suen at the standard Babylonian interest rate of 20 percent, promising repayment by the brick-making month, with two witnesses on hand. It is a tiny, everyday piece of ancient credit paperwork — and its year-name incidentally records the king's building of a temple to the god Enki in Ur.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

Anne-babdu has borrowed one shekel of silver from Suen. Interest is set at one-sixth of a shekel plus six grains per shekel — the standard 20 percent. The loan is to be paid back in the month of Bricks (early summer, when brick-making began). Witnessed by Suen-rabi and Ur-dukuga. Dated to the month of Abu, in the year King Rim-Sin built the temple of Enki in Ur.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

1 shekel of silver — as interest, 1/6 shekel and 6 grains (per shekel) will be added. From Suen, Anne-babdu received it. In the month of Bricks (Simanu) it is to be repaid. Before Suen-rabi; before Ur-dukuga. Month: NE-NE-gar (Abu). Year: Rim-Sin the king built the temple of Enki in Ur.

Indicative reading — translated without a photograph. Generated from the transliteration alone, without examining the original. Read it as an accessible first taste, not as a verified catalogue entry.

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(disz) gin2 ku3-babbar
masz2 1(disz) gin2 igi-6(disz)-gal2 6(disz) sze
dah-he-dam
ki suen-ta
an-ne2-ba-ab-du7-ke4
szu ba-an-ti
iti sig4-a-ka
szum2-mu-dam
igi suen-ra-bi
igi ur-du6-ku3-ga
iti NE-NE-gar
mu ri-im-suen lugal-e e2 en-ki sza3 uri5-ma mu-du3-a

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC)) — SAOC 44, 67. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format). [year-name] Dated to Rim-Sin I y1 — Rim-Sin became king based on canonical year-name formula in the transliteration.

Attribution

Image: IM 057849 (National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq) — from Nippur (mod. Nuffar) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P224367). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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