Position in chronology
DP 061
About this tablet
This is a small administrative memorandum from the household economy of Bara-namtara, the wife of Lugalanda, ruler (ensi2) of the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, around 2400 BCE. It tracks a single ram brought in from an outlying district called Abzu-gu, its transfer through the governor's official (a 'šagan'), its formal marking or branding on arrival, and its final designation as an animal for consumption, all under the responsibility of a livestock officer named Enku, whose title was 'fattener' — someone who managed animals being raised for the temple or palace table. Texts like this belong to one of the best-preserved bureaucratic archives from early Mesopotamia, revealing just how closely herds, officials, and even individual animals were tracked by the state.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This record logs one ram that came in from the Abzu-gu area. It belonged to the governor's estate, specifically under the charge of his šagan-official. When the animal arrived, it was handed over to Bara-namtara's household and given a mark — essentially checked in and tallied — as an animal set aside to be eaten rather than kept for breeding or wool. The transaction was processed by Enku, the official in charge of fattening livestock. The tablet closes with a total figure of two, likely tying this single entry into a larger running count.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 ram, returning — belonging to (the district of) Abzu-gu. (Property) of the governor (ensi₂), for the holdings of his šagan-official, when it came — for Bara-namtara, a mark was applied [branded/tallied]; a ram for consumption. Enku is the fattener (kuruszda). Total: 2.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
1(asz@c) udu gur-ra abzu gu2-ka-kam ensi2 nig2 szaganx(AMA)-na-sze3 e-gen-na-a bara2-nam-tar-ra gesz be2-tag udu gu7-a en-ku3 kuruszda-kam 2(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 061. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220711) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (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.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.