Position in chronology
BIN 08, 217
About this tablet
This is a short delivery list from the Old Akkadian period (about 2300–2150 BCE). It records a supply of fresh fish, including two large carp, and bundles of garden vegetables and herbs: onions, coriander and other greens. Where it was written is not known. The list probably records food going to or coming from an institutional kitchen or household. There is no date, name or heading, so we can't tell who received the food or what it was for. Even so, it is a small, concrete record of what people in Mesopotamia ate from their rivers and gardens.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The list begins with 24 fresh fish, marked "du5", and then 7 more "du5" of fresh fish. We don't know what that word means here. Next come two large fresh carp. Then there are four entries for 20 bundles each: a garden plant called sar-lu-a, fine šum-sikil onions, coriander, and long bundles of a plant whose name is partly broken. The list ends there. It has no name, date or purpose.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 24 fresh fish, du5 2. 7 du5, fresh fish 3. 2 large fresh suḫur-fish 4. 20 bundles of sar-lu-a (a garden plant) 5. 20 bundles of šum-sikil onions 6. 20 bundles of šelu (coriander) 7. 2[0] long bundles of SU[...]
Our translation engine — Opus 5.5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
2(u) 4(disz) ku6-duru5 du5 7(disz) du5 ku6-duru5 2(disz) ku6 suhur-duru5-gal 2(u) sa sar-lu-a 2(u) sa szum2-sikil 2(u) sa sze-lu2 2(u)# sa gid2 SU#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — BIN 08, 217. 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 (P212761) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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