Lippmann Coll 044

About this tablet

An administrative distribution list for dates, from the city of Adab in central Iraq, dating to the Akkadian imperial period (roughly 2350–2150 BCE). Measured in the capacity units bariga and ban, dates — a dietary staple — were allocated to a small group of named individuals, including a temple or estate manager named Giri-gen-na. A grand total at the foot confirms this was a formal accountancy document tracking real disbursements. Records of this type from Adab illustrate how the Akkadian bureaucracy managed agricultural commodities at the local institutional level.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

This tablet records the distribution of dates to a group of named individuals. The top portion is broken, and at least two or three entries are missing or illegible. Of the entries that survive: Ka-[...] received one bariga; Amur-um received two bariga; Giri-gen-na, the house steward, received one bariga and two ban; and Igi-si4 received three ban. The grand total for the full distribution came to 1 gur 3 bariga 1 ban of dates — roughly 490 liters by later Mesopotamian standards. The final two lines are too damaged to read.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

[n (barig of)] dates [...]-x-x [n (for)] Lugal-itida [n (for)] Ur-mes 1 barig — Ka-[x] 2 barig — Amur-um 1 barig 2 ban — Giri-gen-na, šabra of the household 3 ban — Igi-si4 Total: 1 gur 3 barig 1 ban of dates [...] kal# [...] [...] x x

Lecture indicative — traduit sans photographie. Générée à partir de la translittération seule, sans examen de l'original. À lire comme une mise en bouche accessible, non comme une entrée de catalogue vérifiée.

Our translation engine — Sonnet 4.6. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.

Transliteration

[n] zu2#-[lum]
[x]-x-x
[n] lugal-iti-da
[n] ur#-mes
1(barig@c) ka-x
2(barig@c) a-mur-um
1(barig@c) 2(ban2@c) giri3-gen-na
szabra e2
3(ban2@c) igi-si4
szunigin 1(asz@c) 3(barig@c) 1(ban2@c) zu2-lum gur
x x kal# x
[...] x x

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (Old Akkadian (ca. 2340-2200 BC)) — Lippmann Coll 044. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).

Attribution

Image: CL 276 (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, P472344). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).

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