Position in chronology
BIN 08, 260
About this tablet
This is a short Sargonic-period inventory, from about 2300–2150 BCE, of fine wooden beds. Each entry names the wood of the bed frame and the wood of its carved feet: vine-wood, boxwood, azalum-wood, almond-wood and ḫaluppu-wood (probably a kind of oak). One entry is tied to an ereš-dingir, a high priestess of the goddess Ninšubur, and another perhaps to a woman named Sallazitum. The list suggests these were luxury furnishings for a temple or an elite household. It also shows that Akkadian craftsmen chose and combined imported and local woods with care.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The list begins with a vine-wood bed with carved feet. Its first line ends in an unclear note that may mention its long reed(s), and the bed is linked to the high priestess of the goddess Ninšubur. Next come a bed of azalum-wood with carved feet and another vine-wood bed with carved feet, listed under the name Sallazitum. The fifth entry is damaged: it is another bed, and almond-wood may be mentioned. Two boxwood beds follow. One has feet of ḫaluppu-wood (probably oak), and the other has feet of a material written NE-DU, which we cannot identify. The last entry is a vine-wood bed with feet that are probably almond-wood.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 1 bed of vine(?)-wood, (with) feet, for(?) its long reed(s)?; 2. the ereš-dingir priestess of Ninšubur. 3. 1 bed of azalum-wood, (with) feet; 4. 1 bed of vine(?)-wood, (with) feet, Sallazitum; 5. [1] b[ed] of ...... almond(?)-wood; 6. [1] bed of boxwood, (with) feet of ḫaluppu-wood; 7. 1 bed of boxwood, (with) feet of NE-DU; 8. [1 bed] of vine(?)-wood, (with) feet of almond(?)-wood.
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
1(asz@c)# gesz-nu2 gesztin umbin gi-gid2-bi-sze3? eresz-dingir nin-szubur 1(asz@c) gesz-nu2 a-za-lum umbin 1(asz@c)# gesz-nu2 gesztin umbin sal4-la-zi-tum [1(asz@c) gesz]-nu2# x x x lam [1(asz@c)] gesz-nu2 taskarin umbin ha-<<SU>>-lu-ub2 1(asz@c) gesz-nu2 taskarin umbin NE-DU [1(asz@c) gesz-nu2] gesztin umbin lam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — BIN 08, 260. 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 (P212804) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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