Position in chronology
DP 271
About this tablet
An administrative record from the city of Girsu in southern Iraq, around 2370 BCE, from the household of Baranamtara — the powerful wife of Lugalanda, ruler of the state of Lagash, who ran her own economic establishment, the 'women's house'. It records butter drawn from the storehouse and butter delivered by goat herders, all handed over to a perfumer named Il to be worked into scented oil. It is a small window into luxury production at an early Mesopotamian court, and into a queen acting as head of a major economic institution in her own right.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Ten jars of ghee, minus four liters, were taken out of the storehouse, and the goat herders delivered another four jars of ghee. All of it was handed over to Il, the perfumer, to be made into scented oil. The transfer was made by Baranamtara — wife of Lugalanda, ruler of Lagash — out of the stores of her own household, the 'women's house'. Dated to the third year (of Lugalanda's reign).
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse: 10 jugs less 4 sila of butter (ghee) were brought out from the storehouse; 4 jugs of butter the goat herders poured (delivered). In order to process it into aromatic (scented) oil, to Il, the perfumer, Baranamtara, Reverse: the wife of Lugalanda, the ruler of Lagash, delivered it (all) from the women's household. 3rd (year).
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
1(u@c) dug la2 4(asz@c) sila3 i3 nun e2-nig2-gur11-ta e-ta-e3 4(asz@c) dug i3 nun sipa ud5-ke4-ne i3-de2 i3-ir-a ra2-de3 il2 i3-ra2-ra2-ra bara2-nam-tar-ra dam lugal-an-da ensi2 lagasz-ka-ke4 e2-munus-ta e-na-ta-gar 3(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 271. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220921) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.