Position in chronology
DP 412
About this tablet
This is a small Presargonic (Early Dynastic IIIb) administrative tablet from the state economy of Lagash/Girsu, dated to the reign of Urukagina (also read Uruinimgina), the last independent ruler of Lagash before the Sargonic conquest and famous for his social reform texts. Here he appears not as a reformer but as a working administrator: the tablet tracks shipments of u'suh-wood — a conifer, probably fir or pine — cut into long timber lengths, coming from an orchard or garden attached to a palace/temple storehouse. Such timber accounts were routine bookkeeping, tracking construction-grade wood moving through the palace economy, dated by the local cultic calendar (here a month named for a barley-malt festival of the city god Ningirsu).
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Fifty-two pieces of u'suh-wood, cut as long timber, are recorded from the garden attached to the storehouse. A further ten pieces of the same long timber were taken out (issued or removed) from there. The record is dated under Urukagina, ruler of Lagash, in the month of the 'Malt-Eating Festival' of the god Ningirsu. The tablet itself was then deposited or filed — noted here simply as '1,' likely a docket count for the record.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine52 u'suh-wood(s), long timber — (from) the garden of the storehouse (e2-ku4). 10 u'suh-wood(s), long timber — were brought/taken out. Urukagina, ruler (ensi2) of Lagash. Month: 'Festival of Malt-Consumption' of Ningirsu. The tablet/document was deposited (na e-ma-ri): 1.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 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-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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