Position in chronology
BIN 08, 213
About this tablet
This is a short account from the Old Akkadian period (roughly 2300–2150 BCE). It records dates, probably bought or sold for silver, at a flat rate of one gur of dates for one shekel of silver. Each entry gives the quantity of dates, its value in silver, and the person responsible: Lugal-kalzi, Adda, Lugal-šag and his brother, a cupbearer, and a land-registrar. The document shows that silver was in use as a standard of value in everyday dealings in foodstuffs well before coinage existed. The findspot is unknown.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Here is the list of dates and what they cost in silver. Lugal-kalzi took 3 gur of dates for 3 shekels. Adda took 2 gur for 2 shekels. Lugal-šag, his brother, took 2 barig for half a shekel. Enlila and Nintu took 1 gur for 1 shekel. Lugal-kalzi took another 10 gur for 10 shekels, and this batch is recorded as belonging to the land-registrar. Someone whose name is damaged, the cupbearer, took 2 barig for half a shekel. The final total is broken, and only 'two-thirds' can still be read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 3 gur of dates: 2. it is (for) 3 shekels of silver — 3. Lugal-kalzi. 4. 2 gur, 2 shekels of silver: Adda. 5. 2 barig, it is (for) half (a shekel): Lugal-šag, his brother. 6. 1 gur, it is (for) 1 shekel: Enlila, 7. Nintu. 8. 10 gur, it is (for) 10 shekels of silver — 9. Lugal-kalzi; 10. it is (that) of the land-registrar. 11. 2 barig, it is (for) half (a shekel): Lu-x-x, 12. the cupbearer [...]. 13. Total: 2/3 [...]-x [...]
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) zu2-lum gur 3(disz) ku3 gin2-kam lugal-kal-zi 2(asz@c) gur 2(disz) ku3 gin2 ad-da 2(barig@c) bar-kam lugal-sza3 szesz-a-ni 1(asz@c) gur 1(asz@c) gin2-kam en-lil2-la2 nin-tu 1(u@c) gur 1(u@c) ku3 gin2-kam lugal-kal-zi sa12-du5-kam 2(barig@c) bar-kam lu2-x-x sagi [...] szu-nigin2 2/3(asz@c)# [...]-x
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — BIN 08, 213. 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 (P212757) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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