Position in chronology
BE 01/1, 011
About this tablet
A textile account from Nippur in southern Iraq, written in the Sargonic period in a Semitic (Old Akkadian) hand. It itemizes garments — plain cloths, waistcloths, sashes — issued in the names of five or six individuals, then totals them at ninety-two pieces. The closing lines say whose property they were: they belonged to the household of a person named AD₂-tu-PI-in, and a woman handed them over to an associate named Eš-ḪAR-rin. It is a small but complete record of a private transfer of cloth, and it shows women handling substantial household wealth in textiles.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The tablet lists garments person by person: twelve for Ekuḫina, eight for Ḫešluḫina, six for Edammu, five for Gimṣiḫina, thirty of a better grade, two for Rabatum, then twenty-three waistcloths across three entries, four of another type, and two sashes. The scribe adds them up: ninety-two garments in all, of mixed kinds — and the arithmetic is exact. The last three lines record the transaction itself: all of this came from the household of AD₂-tu-PI-in, and she handed it over to her associate Eš-ḪAR-rin.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 12 garments: Ekuḫina; 2. 8 garments: Ḫešluḫina; 3. 6 garments: Edammu; 4. 5 garments: Gimṣiḫina; 5. 30 garments: ḪE₂-sag (of first quality?); 6. 2 garments: Rabatum; 7. 10 ib₂-garments (waistcloths): Edammu; 8. 10 ib₂-garments (waistcloths): Ḫešlukina; 9. 3 ib₂-garments (waistcloths): Edammu(?)-u; 10. 4 ḪE₂-DU garments; 11. 2 nig₂-la₂ garments (sashes/bindings); 12. Total: 92 assorted garments. 13. These (are) of the household of AD₂-tu-PI-in; 14. to Eš-ḪAR-rin, her/his companion, 15. she gave (them).
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
_1(u@c) 2(asz@c) tug2_ e2-ku-hi-na _8(asz@c) tug2_ he-esz2-lu-hi-na _6(asz@c) tug2_ e2-dam-mu _5(asz@c) tug2_ gi-im-s,i-hi-na _3(u@c) tug2_ HE2-sag _2(asz@c) tug2_ ra-ba-tum(LAK494) _1(u@c) tug2 ib2(LAK497)_ e2-dam-mu _1(u@c) tug2 ib2(LAK497)_ he-esz2-lu-ki-na _3(asz@c) tug2 ib2(LAK497)_ e2-dam-mu!?-u3 _4(asz@c) tug2 HE2-DU_ _2(asz@c) tug2 nig2-la2_ _szunigin 1(gesz2@c) 3(u@c) 2(asz@c) tug2 hi-a_ szu-ut _e2_ AD2-tu-PI-in a-na esz2-HAR-ri-in ib-ri2 ta2-di3-in
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — BE 01/1, 011. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P263580) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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