Chapter 03 · 2334 – 2154 BCE
Akkadian Empire
Sargon brings rival city-states under imperial rule.
~2270 BCE · CL 054 — Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain
Lippmann Coll 158
In plain English
Inventory count: 75 caps, some of them old stock. Sixty baskets are on hand. Forty-two of the caps are newly made, five are old. The copper order has been completed. Seventeen spear-shafts (wooden poles) go to the Emah temple, and separately there are thirty-five more shafts, of which thirty-one old ones are assigned to the general storehouse. In short: a stocktaking of caps, baskets, finished copper goods, and spear-shafts, split between two storage points in the city of Adab.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“75 caps, old caps. 60 baskets in stock (available). 42 new caps, 5 old caps. Copper — the work (is) finished. 17 (i.e. 20 minus 3) spear-shafts (long-wood) — (for) the Emah. 35 spear-shafts, 31 old shafts (wood) — (for) the storehouse (E-nigur).”
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware) · claude-sonnet-5 · medium confidence
Read the full tablet entry~2270 BCE · CL 168 — Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain
Lippmann Coll 163
In plain English
The record tallies 68 units of old garlic and 32 units of new garlic, for a total of 100. This batch was issued to the scribe, under the entry recorded here. The transaction is dated to the month of the barley harvest.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“68 old garlic — 32 new garlic — total: 100 [garlic] — its name (designation) — to the scribe it was given. [Month]: harvest of barley (barley-cutting).”
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware) · claude-sonnet-5 · medium confidence
Read the full tablet entry~2270 BCE · CL 291 — Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain
Lippmann Coll 165
In plain English
This record tracks garlic issued from a storehouse in Adab. Three units went to a man named Mes-[...]; four units went to a household or institution whose name is now lost; eleven units and then three more (the latter described as coming 'from the well' or a place by that name) went to parties no longer legible; a note marks 'year 2'; and a final three units went to someone identified only by a name ending in '-na.' Adding it all up, the scribe records a total of 24 units of garlic distributed. But the account isn't settled — a line notes that a deficit remains unpaid, and the tablet closes with a year-name that is now broken away.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“[3 units of garlic] — Mes-[...], 4 units — the house/institution of [...], 11 units — [...], 3 units — from the well (or: at the cistern), year 2, 3 units — in the hand of [PN]-na, Total: 24 units of garlic. The deficit has not been cleared. Year: [...].”
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware) · claude-sonnet-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~2270 BCE · CL 028 — Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain
Lippmann Coll 166
In plain English
This tablet is a monthly expense report for garlic or onions issued from a storehouse at Adab. Twenty units went to Ur-Usu the scribe, ten to Ur-mah, five to Ur-Enlil, six to Dada, and an unknown amount to a group called 'Ebabbar,' who are noted as the accountants in charge of the records. Another thirteen units went to Adda, another scribe, apparently handed over to the group named just before. Adding it all up, the total comes to 54 units of garlic, and the scribe notes that this whole amount has been formally written off the books as spent. The transaction is dated to the harvest month.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“20 (units) garlic/onions — Ur-Usu, the scribe. 10 — Ur-mah. 5 — Ur-Enlil. 6 — Dada. [n] — Ebabbar — they are the registrars (sa12-du5). 13 — Adda, the scribe — given to them(?). Total: 54 (units) garlic. Garlic — it is a disbursement (booked-out expenditure). Month: 'Grain-harvest.'”
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware) · claude-sonnet-5 · medium confidence
Read the full tablet entry~2270 BCE · CL 239 — Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain
Lippmann Coll 169
In plain English
This record tracks a handful of food items — some cumin, a flour called zizānu, and quantities of groats and another flour — being issued out in gur and sila measures. Several people are named as parties to these transactions: a man called Egi, someone associated with a pork or sausage product, and finally a brewer and a man named Lugal-hegal. A couple of lines in the middle are too damaged to read. It reads like a routine tally from a storehouse, keeping account of who received what.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“[n] cumin, 1 (unit), [n] sila; 5 sila of zizānu-flour (a wheat/emmer product); Egi; the man of the sausage/pork-product; [...] (broken, two signs illegible) [...]; 2 gur, ma-sim-measure of groats; 2 gur, ma-sim-measure of zizu-flour; 4 gur 2 barig; Naba(?)lu; the brewer; Lugal-hegal.”
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware) · claude-sonnet-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~2270 BCE · CL 162 — Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain
Lippmann Coll 171
In plain English
This note records four items handed over or logged in an account: one unit of carded wool marked as 'sur'-grade, one hide of select quality also marked 'sur', one leather nose-strap (likely for an animal harness), also 'sur'-grade, and one garment — a black belt or sash. The record is signed off with the name Ur-gibil, presumably the official or workman responsible for these goods.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“1 (unit): carded wool, sur(-quality) 1 (unit): hide, select/front-grade, sur 1 (unit): leather nose-strap, sur 1 (unit): garment — black belt/sash (recipient/responsible party:) Ur-gibil”
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware) · claude-sonnet-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~2270 BCE · CL 289 — Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain
Lippmann Coll 172
In plain English
The surviving lines are a stretch of an inventory list. It records 68 dates packed in standard 3-ban2 containers, two garments of the 'igi-dim' type and some 'bar-dul5' cloth credited to a weaver, ten hoes, and then forty units of something now illegible. After a gap, the text resumes with fifty fish set aside for an offering table, two cartloads of goods delivered to (or from) a place or office called the 'house of allotment,' and ten items described as bronze and copper — possibly tool-heads or fittings. The beginning and a middle section of the tablet are broken away, so we don't know who compiled this account or for what larger purpose.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“[...] 68 dates (measured in) gurdub-containers of 3 ban2 (each) 2 igi-dim garments, bar-dul5 (garments), (from) the weaver 10 hoes 40 [...] (illegible) [...] 50 fish, (for) the offering table 2 wagon-loads of goods — the 'house of allotment' 10 pa-nig2(?), (of) bronze (and) copper”
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware) · claude-sonnet-5 · low confidence
Read the full tablet entry~2270 BCE · CL 013 — Carl L. Lippmann Collection, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, Spain
Lippmann Coll 174
In plain English
Adda: 39 minas of wool. Ursu: 23 minas of wool. This is palace wool that has been formally received into stock. For the weaver — Ašdarra gave it to him.
AI-generated reading paraphrase; compare with the translation below.
“39 minas of wool — Adda 23 minas of wool — Ursu Wool of the palace [which] has been brought in: for the weaver — Ašdarra gave to him”
Source: engine:claude-sonnet-4-6 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware) · claude-sonnet-4-6 · medium confidence
Read the full tablet entry