Position in chronology
BIN 08, 145
About this tablet
This is an inventory from the Akkadian (Sargonic) period, about 2300–2150 BCE. It lists fourteen metal objects: basins, mirrors, a small vessel or pipe, a long pipe or flute, and several items whose names we cannot yet identify. They were the responsibility of a cupbearer, a household servant who handled drinks and serving ware, and were kept with a man named Baranni. Tablets like this show how carefully the elite households of the first Mesopotamian empire kept track of valuable bronze tableware and toiletry items.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Inventory of bronze items: three copper basins, three mirrors, two *šà*-pieces, two *šu*-pieces, one *šu-lá*, one *kun-dù*, one small *alal*-vessel and one long pipe. That makes fourteen bronze pieces in all. They are the cupbearer's responsibility and are kept with Baranni.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 3 copper *zaḫum*-basins, 2. 3 mirrors, 3. 2 *šà*-objects, 4. 2 *šu*-objects, 5. 1 *šu-lá*-object, 6. 1 *kun-dù*-object, 7. 1 small *alal*-vessel (or pipe), 8. 1 *gi-gíd* (long pipe / flute); 9. total: 14 bronze (objects), 10. (in) the charge of the cupbearer, 11. with 12. Baranni 13. they are (kept).
Our translation engine — Opus 5.5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
3(asz@c) _uruda za-hum_ 3(asz@c) mu-sza-lum 2(asz@c) _sza3_ 2(asz@c) _szu_ 1(asz@c) _szu-la2_ 1(asz@c) _kun-du3_ 1(asz@c) _alal tur#_ 1(asz@c) _gi-gid2_ szunigin 1(u@c) 4(asz@c) _zabar#_ szu _sagi_ isz-te4 bara2-an-ni i-ba-szi4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — BIN 08, 145. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Nies Babylonian Collection, Yale Babylonian Collection, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (P212691) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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