Position in chronology
DP 262
About this tablet
An administrative receipt from Girsu, the capital district of the Sumerian state of Lagash, dated to the first year of the reformer-king Urukagina (c. 2350 BCE). It records that two wool sheep were taken out of the flock managed by the shepherd En-DU and formally received at the palace by Sasa, the queen — who under Urukagina's reforms administered the estate of the goddess Baba. It is a small but vivid piece of evidence for how the royal household and the temple economy of Baba were run day to day, with the queen herself named as the responsible official.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Two wool sheep were withdrawn from the flock in the month called 'barley for the sheep of Ningirsu.' They came out of the herd tended by En-DU, the shepherd in charge of the wool sheep, and were formally received at the palace by Sasa, wife of Urukagina, king of Lagash. The document notes that the animals belong to the goddess Baba's estate, and it is dated to the first year of Urukagina's reign as king of Lagash.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine2 wool-bearing sheep, in the month '(when) barley (is given) to the sheep, of Ningirsu': from En-DU, the shepherd of the wool sheep, they were culled (set apart). Sasa (Ša(g)ša(g)), the wife of Urukagina, king of Lagash, received them into the palace. (They are) sheep, the property of (the goddess) Baba. Urukagina, king of Lagash. Year 1.
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
2(asz@c) udu siki iti udu-sze3 sze a nin-gir2-su-ka-ka en-DU sipa udu siki-ka-da na ba-da-ri sa6-sa6 dam URU-KA-gi-na lugal lagasz-ka-ke4 e2-gal-la szu-a bi2-gi4 udu u2-rum ba-ba6 URU-KA-gi-na lugal lagasz 1(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 262. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220912) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.
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.