Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 285
About this tablet
This is a barley ration list from an institutional household at Adab, dating to the Akkadian (Sargonic) period. It tabulates monthly grain allotments — measured in barig and ban2 — for a workforce of female and male laborers, boys, girls, and nursing infants, dividing them into an 'old' roster (long-standing personnel) and a 'new' roster (recently added dependents, likely newborns or new hires), followed by rations for specialist workers such as fullers/launderers and a doorkeeper. Texts like this survive by the hundreds from Sargonic Adab and give historians precise, quantified evidence of how large temple or palace households fed their labor force, tracked personnel growth, and distinguished skilled tradespeople from general laborers.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a payroll ledger for grain rations. Eighty-four women receive one barig of barley each; three men receive one barig and two ban2 each. Various groups of boys and girls get smaller shares — a barig, two ban2, or just one ban2 for nursing infants — and the list is split into two rosters: the 'old' (established) dependents and the 'new' children recently added to the household's books. After the children come specialist workers: two fullers (launderers) and seven workers of another type each draw one barig two ban2, a single doorkeeper is also recorded, and a further pair of fullers at a higher grade close out the account under the heading 'the chief fuller.' In short, it's a detailed staff-feeding record from a large Akkadian-period institution at Adab, breaking rations down by age, sex, tenure, and job.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1. 84 female laborers (geme2): 1 barig (each) 2. 3 male laborers (gurusz): 1 barig 2 ban2 3. 3(+n) boys (dumu-nita): 1 barig 4. 4 boys (dumu-nita): 2 ban2 5. 2 girls (dumu-munus): 2 ban2 6. 7 suckling boys (dumu-nita-ga): 1 ban2 7. 6 suckling girls (dumu-munus-ga): 1 ban2 8. "(These are) the old (ones)" — libir-me 9. 42 boys (dumu-nita): 1 barig 10. 5 suckling boys (dumu-nita-ga): 1 ban2 11. 4 suckling girls (dumu-munus-ga): 1 ban2 12. "(These are) the new children" — dumu gibil-me 13. 2 fuller-men (lu2 azlag2): 1 barig 2 ban2; 7 SIG7 za3-szu4 (workers): 1 barig 2 ban2; 1 doorkeeper (i3-du8) 14. 2 fuller-men (lu2 azlag2), 10 SIG7 (grade/unit): 1 barig 2 ban2 15. "(These are entries for) the chief fuller" — lu2 azlag2-gal
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(gesz2@c) 2(u@c) 4(asz@c) geme2 1(barig@c) 3(asz@c) gurusz 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) 3(asz@c)# [n] dumu#-nita# 1(barig@c) 4(asz@c) dumu-nita# 2(ban2@c) 2(asz@c) dumu-munus 2(ban2@c) 7(asz@c) dumu-nita-ga 1(ban2@c) 6(asz@c) dumu-munus-ga 1(ban2@c) libir-me 4(u@c) 2(asz@c) dumu#-nita# 1(barig@c) 5(asz@c)# dumu-nita-ga# 1(ban2@c) 4(asz@c)# dumu-munus-ga 1(ban2@c) dumu# gibil-me 2(asz@c)# lu2 azlag2 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) 7(asz@c) SIG7 za3-szu4 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) 1(asz@c) i3-du8 2(asz@c)# lu2 azlag2 1(u@c) SIG7 1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) lu2 azlag2-gal
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 285. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CL 125 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P472585). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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