Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 031
About this tablet
An administrative disbursement tablet from Adab (modern Bismaya, central Iraq), dating to the Akkadian period, roughly 2300–2150 BCE. It records the issue of oil rations, a garment, and leather goods to several named individuals, with a further oil allocation earmarked for lubricating a chariot belonging to an official named Da-da. Two of the recipients bear Akkadian personal names (Naspāru and Pīrāum), reflecting the bilingual administrative culture of the era. The tablet closes with the standard Sumerian bureaucratic sign-off — 'oil expenditure: this is its designation' — certifying the entries as an authorized withdrawal from institutional stores.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a record of supplies issued from institutional stores. Three liters of oil and one garment went to Naspāru; two liters of oil and fifteen leather gu-tum items followed. Two entries in the middle are illegible. One liter of oil was allocated to Da-da's chariot — most likely as axle lubricant — and half a liter to Du-du and Pīrāum. The document closes with a formal certification: 'oil expenditure — that is the name of this record.'
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine3 sila of oil; 1 garment — Naspāru; 2 sila of oil; 15 leather gu-tum items; [x x — illegible]; 1 sila of oil (signs damaged); chariot of Da-da; ½ sila of oil; Du-du; Pīrāum — oil expenditure: this is its designation.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
3(asz@c) i3 sila3 1(asz@c) tug2 na-as-pa2-<ru> 2(asz@c) i3 sila3 1(u@c) 5(asz@c) kusz gu-tum x x 1(asz@c) i3# sila3# gigir2 da-da 1/2(asz@c) i3 sila3 du-du pi-ra-um i3 zi-ga mu-ni-kam
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 031. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CL 193 (Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain) — from Adab (mod. Bismaya) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P472331). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
Related tablets
Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.