Position in chronology
DP 412
About this tablet
A short timber record from the temple estate at Girsu (modern Tello, southern Iraq), about 2350 BCE. It dates from the first year of Urukagina (also read Uru-inimgina) as ruler of Lagash. The tablet notes fir trees suited for long timbers going into an orchard and some coming back out. Record-keeping of this kind shows how closely the Lagash household of the goddess Bau and the god Ningirsu tracked its trees and wood, which were scarce in southern Mesopotamia.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Fifty-two tall fir trees, good for long timbers, went into the orchard, and ten were taken back out. The record is dated under Urukagina, ruler of Lagash, in the month of Ningirsu's malt-eating festival. A closing note says someone gave instructions about it. This is Urukagina's first year.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse: 52 long-timber fir trees (u3-suh5) were brought into the orchard. 10 long-timber fir trees were taken out (of it). Urukagina (Uru-inimgina), ruler (ensi) of Lagash Reverse: month: 'Festival of Eating Malt of Ningirsu'; he gave instruction (na e-ma-ri); year 1.
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
5(u@c) 2(asz@c) u3-suh5 gesz gid2-da kiri6 e2-ku4 1(u@c) u3-suh5 gesz gid2-da e-ta-e11 URU-KA-gi-na ensi2 lagasz-ke4 iti ezem munu4 gu7 nin-gir2-su-ka-ka na e-ma-ri 1(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 412. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P221062) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.