Position in chronology
BuB 1, 203-208
About this tablet
This is a short business letter from the Old Akkadian period (around 2300–2150 BCE). It is probably from Girsu in southern Iraq and is now in the Hermitage in St Petersburg. A man called Naṣrum tells a colleague to hand over 6 gur of seed barley, probably more than 1,500 litres, to a man named Puzur-ḫarim, who is to bring half a mina of silver. The letter shows that people in the time of the Akkadian empire used written orders to move grain and silver between each other. It also shows barley and silver being traded against each other, probably ahead of the sowing season.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
From Naṣrum to ŠEŠ.ŠEŠ-abi: Seed barley, 6 gur of it, is to go to Puzur-ḫarim. Puzur-ḫarim will bring half a mina of silver to him. He should give him barley to the value of that price.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(1) Thus (says) Naṣrum (2) to ŠEŠ.ŠEŠ-abi: (3–4) Barley for seed — (5) KI(?) 6 gur of barley — (6) to Puzur-ḫarim (7) let him give. (8) And 1/2 mina of silver (9) Puzur-ḫarim (10) will bring to him. (11) Its price (in) barley (12) let him give him.
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
en-ma na-as,-ru-um a-na szesz-szesz-a-bi2 _sze_ a-na _sze-numun_ _ki#? 6(asz@c) sze gur_ a-na# puzur4-ha-ri2-im li-di3-in u3 _1/2(disz@c) ma-na ku3-babbar_ puzur4-ha-ri2-im u-ba-lu#-szum _sa10_-su _sze_ li#-di3#-szum
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — BuB 1, 203-208. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P214938) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5-5 (2026-09-20/v8-evolved).
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