Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 021
About this tablet
An administrative receipt from Adab (modern Bismaya, Iraq), dating to the Akkadian Empire period, roughly the 23rd–22nd century BCE. It records an identical issue of goods — a ceremonial bala-robe, a quantity of bitumen earmarked for an ox-stall, and a leather bag — allocated to two men with Akkadian names, Ḫulium and [U]ṣium. Both are identified as officials of an institution called the nig₂-mul, affiliated with the city of Lagaš, and they appear to have arrived from a place called Zira before the delivery was formally logged. The tablet is a routine piece of imperial bookkeeping, capturing the coordinated movement of personnel and supplies across the Akkadian state's southern heartland.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Ḫulium received: one ceremonial robe, one batch of bitumen for the ox-stall, and one leather bag. [U]ṣium received the same three items. Both men were officials of the nig₂-mul institution, based in Lagaš. They had traveled from Zira, the goods were brought and formally handed over, and the receipt was duly recorded. The transaction took place in the month of Šesagkalga.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 bala-garment, 1 (unit of) bitumen (for) the ox-stall of the house, 1 leather bag — (for) Ḫulium; 1 bala-garment, 1 (unit of) bitumen of the house, 1 leather bag — [U]ṣium; Men of the nig₂-mul (institution), (of) Lagaš, from Zira — they brought [it there]; they received (it). Month: Šesagkalga.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
1(asz@c) tug2 bala 1(asz@c) esir5 gu4 e2-ba 1(asz@c) ummux(|EDIN.A.SU.A|) hux(RI)-li-um 1(asz@c) tug2 bala# 1(asz@c) esir5# e2-ba# 1(asz@c) ummux(|EDIN.A.SU.A|)# [u]-s,i-um lu2#? nig2#-mul#-a lagasz# zi#-ra-ta# mu-de6-esz2-[sza?] szu ba-ti-[esz2] iti sze-sag-kal-ga-am3#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 021. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CL 323 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472321). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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