Position in chronology
Lippmann Coll 042
About this tablet
A date-distribution record from Adab (modern Bismaya, southern Iraq), written during the Akkadian imperial period, roughly 2300–2100 BCE. A large consignment of dates — over four gur, packed into thirty baskets — was handed to a man named Amur-um for delivery to Agade, the Akkadian capital. In a separate transaction recorded on the same tablet, smaller portions of prime dates were given to two local men, Uri-Enlil and Ur-Dumuzi-da, whose Sumerian theophoric names reflect the religious culture of the city. The tablet is a small but vivid piece of Akkadian provincial administration: agricultural produce flowing outward from a regional center toward the imperial capital.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Four gur and 3 ban2 of dates were packed into thirty large baskets and handed over to a man named Amur-um, who was responsible for getting them to Agade, the capital — he received them and took delivery. In a separate transaction, a further 3 ban2 of prime-cut dates were brought in and distributed: 3 ban2 went to Uri-Enlil and 3 ban2 to Ur-Dumuzi-da, and both men received their allotted shares.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine4 gur 3 ban2 of dates — 30 gurdub-baskets; was given. To Amur-um, to Agade, he gave to him. 3 ban2 of dates — first-cut [dates]; was brought. 3 ban2 (to) Uri-Enlil, 3 ban2 (to) Ur-Dumuzi-da: he gave to them.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
4(asz@c) 3(ban2@c) zu2-lum gur 3(u@c) gurdub ab-szum2 a-mur-um-ra a-ga-de3-sze3 e-na-szum2 3(ban2@c) zu2-lum sze-sag11-ku5 ab-de6 3(ban2@c) uri3-en-lil2 3(ban2@c) ur-dumu-zi-da e-ne-szum2
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 042. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: CL 173 (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, P472342). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
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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.