Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 269
About this tablet
This is a small administrative receipt from Adab, dating to the Sargonic (Old Akkadian) period, recording quantities of rope and cordage (measured by weight in mina) along with a unit of bitumen and a leather plow-rope. The materials were received by a man named Ili-ahi, described as a servant (official) of the city governor (ensi), and the transaction is connected to the workshop or business of a seal-cutter — a craftsman who carved cylinder seals and stone objects. Texts like this one are the mundane bookkeeping of a Bronze Age palace or temple economy: someone had to track exactly how much rope and leather went out the door, to whom, and why.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a short inventory receipt. It lists cordage and materials issued from storage: one rope of a type called 'dur-ab-sag' weighing 2 mina, a unit of bitumen weighing a third of a mina, four ropes of another type (the name is partly broken), and two more ropes of a type called 'a-an' weighing a combined 26 mina, plus a leather plow-rope. These goods were received by a man named Ili-ahi, who worked as an official under the city governor, and the transaction was returned or settled in connection with the affairs of a seal-cutter (a craftsman who engraved stone seals). The record is dated to the month of Šugar.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 rope: dur-ab-sag (type) its weight: 2 mina 1 (unit) bitumen its weight: 1/3 (mina) 4 ropes: ...-da (type) [n] 2 ropes: a2-an (type) [its weight]: 26 mina 1 leather plow-rope received — by Ili-ahi, servant of the governor. Returned to hand (repaid). It is the matter of the seal-cutter. Month: Šugar.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 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) esz2-dur#-ab2-sag ki#-la2#-bi# 2(asz@c) ma-na 1(asz@c) esir4# ki#-la2#-bi# 1/3(asz@c)# 4(asz@c)# esz2 x-da# [n] 2(asz@c) esz2#-a2-an#? [ki-la2]-bi# 2(u@c)# 6(asz@c) ma#-[na] 1(asz@c) kusz esz2# apin# szu# ba-ti#-[a] i3#-li2#-a#-hi# ARAD2 ensi2# szu-a gi4#-[a] bur-gul#-[kam] iti szu-[gar]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 269. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CL 271 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472569). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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