Position in chronology
Adab 0726
About this tablet
An accounting tablet from the city of Adab in southern Iraq, written during the Akkadian period (around 2300 BCE). It records two barge-loads of barley — 480 gur in all, a very large quantity — issued from the stores of Dada, a steward, and shipped by boat, apparently in connection with Nippur. A scribe named Lu-lal drew up the balanced account, and a final note records that the amount was not charged against Dada's ledger. It is a vivid glimpse of bulk river transport and bookkeeping controls in one of the world's earliest bureaucracies.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two barge shipments of barley are on the books: 240 gur (roughly 60,000 liters) on En-ane's boat, and another 240 gur on Inima's boat — a grand total of 480 gur, all measured by the official standard, drawn from the stores of Dada the steward. After a gap in the text, the reverse notes that the grain was handed over, in connection with Nippur. Lu-lal the scribe drew up the balanced account, and the closing note is an accounting decision: this amount was not debited against Dada the steward — he was not held liable for it on his ledger.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineOBVERSE: 240 (4 × 60) gur of barley, in the standard measure — the boat of En-ane; 240 (4 × 60) gur of barley — the boat of Inima. Total: 480 (8 × 60) gur of barley [in the standard measure], from Dada the steward. (Break) REVERSE: ... Nippur ... it was given to him. Lu-lal, the scribe: the account was made for him. Against Dada the steward it was not deducted (charged).
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
4(gesz2) sze gur si-sa2 ma2 en-an-ne2 4(gesz2) sze gur# ma2 inim-ma szunigin 8(gesz2) sze gur [si-sa2] ki da-da agrig#-[ta] [...] nibru [...] an-na-szum2# lu2-lal3 dub-sar nig2-ka9 ba-na-ak da-da agrig-ra nu-na-zi
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Adab 0726. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (P217510) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.