Position in chronology
Adab 0979
About this tablet
A small Sargonic-period (c. 2300–2200 BCE) delivery note from the Sumerian city of Adab, modern Bismaya. It lists food brought in: baskets of dates, a batch of fish supplied by the fishermen, and a measure of flour associated with Agade, the imperial capital of the Akkadian kings. Its closing word, 'delivered', marks it as a receipt for goods entering an administrative household. The Agade connection hints at the provincial economy supplying, or being supplied by, the imperial centre.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Delivery received: two baskets of choice dates (the entry names E-un), fifty ordinary fish and ten gamgam-fish, supplied as the fishermen's provisions, and one ban less one sila of dabin-flour from Agade. One line near the end is broken away. The note closes by recording that all of this was delivered.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse 2 gurdub-baskets of dates, E-un, choice (quality); 50 fish, 10 gamgam-fish: niĝdu-provisions of the fishermen. 1 ban minus 1 sila of dabin-flour of [Aga]de. [...] Delivered (mu-kux).
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
2(asz@c) gurdub zu2-lum e2-un ni-is-qu2 5(u) ku6-a 1(u) ku6 gam-gam nig2-du7 szu-ku6 1(ban2@c) la2 1(disz) sila3 dabin [a-ga]-de3 [...] mu-kux(DU)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Adab 0979. 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 (P217603) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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