Position in chronology
DP 426
About this tablet
This is a timber record from the state of Lagaš in southern Iraq, written at Girsu around 2360 BCE, in the sixth year of the ruler Lugalanda. It lists roof beams and trimmed branches taken from a grove belonging to the Women's Household, the estate run by the ruler's wife. The ruler himself is named as the person who ordered the work, so even the cutting of trees from the queen's estate needed his approval. Good roofing timber was scarce in Sumer, which is probably why it was counted so carefully.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Timber from the grove of the Women's Household: 183 selected lower sections of roof beams, 60 more beam sections of a second grade or type, and 23 lopped-off branches and treetops from the beams. Lugalanda, ruler of Lagaš, gave the order for them. Recorded in his sixth year.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineObverse 183 bases of roof beams, selected (?); 60 bases of roof beams, (of the) za3-gu2-la2 (type); 23 cut-off branches (and) crowns of roof beams: (from) the grove of the Women's Household. Reverse Lugalanda, ruler of Lagaš, ordered [them] (to be cut) (?). Year 6.
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
3(gesz2@c) 3(asz@c) ur2 gesz-ur3 suh5-ha 1(gesz2@c) ur2 gesz-ur3 za3-gu2-la2 2(u@c) 3(asz@c) pa-ku5 aga3 gesz-ur3 tir e2-munus-ka lugal-an-da ensi2 lagasz-ke4 na ba-ni-ri 6(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 426. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P221076) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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