Position in chronology
DP 273
About this tablet
A dairy inventory from the city-state of Lagash in southern Iraq, around 2360 BCE, drawn up under En-entarzi, the ruler of the city. Two men, Nam-dam and Me-sag-nu-di, each account for jugs of butter-oil from milk cows and quantities of cheese, which a scribe totals up and declares to be the ruler's own private property, inspected at the palace. It is a vivid glimpse of how a Sumerian ruler's household audited even its butter and cheese — the state and the ruler's personal estate intertwined in everyday bookkeeping.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Inventory of dairy goods. Nam-dam delivered five jugs of oil from the stall-fed cows plus one gur and one barig of cheese (large-gur measure); Me-sag-nu-di delivered four jugs of oil and one gur of cheese. Grand total: nine jugs of cow's butter-oil and two gur, one barig of cheese. All of it is the personal property of En-entarzi, governor of Lagash. The audit was carried out at the palace, in his fourth year.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine5 jugs of oil of stall-fed cows, 1 gur (and) 1 barig of cheese, in the gur-saggal measure: (from) Nam-dam. 4 jugs of oil, 1 (gur) of cheese: (from) Me-sag-nu-di. Total: 10 less 1 (= 9) jugs of cow's oil, 2 gur (and) 1 barig of cheese, in the gur-saggal measure. Cow's oil, the private property of En-entarzi, the ruler (ensi) of Lagash. In the palace its inspection was carried out. 4th (year).
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
5(asz@c) dug i3 ab2 se3-ga 1(asz@c) 1(barig@c) ga'ar gur saggal nam-dam 4(asz@c) dug i3 1(asz@c) ga'ar me-sag3-nu-di szu-nigin2 1(u@c) la2 1(asz@c) dug i3 ab2 2(asz@c) 1(barig@c) ga'ar gur saggal i3 ab2 u2-rum en-en3-tar-zi ensi2 lagasz-ke4 e2-gal-la gurum2-bi e-ak 4(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 273. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220923) — 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.