Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 275
About this tablet
This is a small administrative roster from the Sargonic-period city of Adab (in what is now central Iraq, c. 2300–2200 BCE), listing groups of female workers by name and the number assigned to each. Such texts were routine bureaucratic paperwork from institutional households or temple estates, which organized labor gangs — usually women doing textile or milling work — and tracked how many were allotted to a supervising official. The closing line names an overseer, Adda, to whom this batch of workers was formally assigned, and the whole tablet is a tiny window into how the Akkadian empire's administrators managed dependent labor at a provincial level.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a work-crew tally. It lists nine groups of women workers, each entry naming an individual (sometimes standing for a small team) and how many are counted under her: two under Mamummi, two under Geme-Enlil, two under Aštar, one under Taniya, two under Nin-adgal, two under Nig-banda, two under Nin-nigzu (partly broken), two under Sebetum, and one final worker, Me-nigin-ta. Altogether the tablet totals 16 female workers. The record closes by stating that these workers were assigned — 'given' — to a man named Adda, apparently the official now responsible for them.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine2 female workers (geme2): Mamum[mi] 2 female workers: Geme-Enlil 2 female workers: Aštar 1 female worker: Taniya 2 female workers: Nin-adgal 2 female workers: Nig-banda 2 female workers: Nin-[nigzu] 2 female workers: Sebe[tum] 1 female worker: Me-nigin-ta Total: 16 female workers. (To) Adda were given (i-na-šum2).
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
2(asz@c) geme2 ma-ma-um#-[mi] 2(asz@c) geme2-en-lil2 2(asz@c) asz-dar 1(asz@c) ta2-ni2#-a 2(asz@c) nin-ad2-gal# 2(asz@c) nig2-banda3#[] 2(asz@c) nin-[nig2-zu] 2(asz@c) se-be2-[tum] 1(asz@c) me-nigin3-ta# szunigin 1(u@c) 6(asz@c) geme2 ad-da e#-na#-szum2#
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 275. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CL 217 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472575). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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