Position in chronology
DP 536
About this tablet
This small cushion-shaped tablet is a barley-disbursement record from the palace/household administration of Lagash (modern Tello), dated to the 2nd year of the reign of Uru-inimgina (Uru-KA-gina), one of the last kings of the Lagash I dynasty, famous for his social 'reform' texts. It records twelve gur of barley — some earmarked as seed grain, some as fodder for oxen — delivered by a named official (Di-Utu, a gendarme) to the edge of a field, with the transaction ultimately authorized or allotted by Sasa, the king's wife, who managed the queen's household economy at Girsu. Texts like this belong to a large administrative archive documenting how the royal household issued grain to workers, officials, and agricultural operations in this period around 2350 BCE.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Twelve gur of barley, measured by the standard saggal unit, were issued: some as seed grain, some as fodder for the plow-oxen to eat. The barley went to Saga-tuku'a and to Sag-apin. Di-Utu, a guardsman, carried it out to the edge of the field near Kišiga and delivered it there. This was barley from the grain store, allotted under the authority of Sasa, wife of King Uru-inimgina — the record dates to Lagash, year 2 (of the king's reign).
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine12 gur of barley, saggal-measure — seed barley, barley for the oxen to eat — (for) Saga-tuku'a, (and for) Sag-apin, (by) Di-Utu the gendarme (aga₃-us₂), to the edge of the field, at Kišiga, he delivered (it). Barley of the threshing-floor(-store) (u₂-rum) — was allotted — (by) Sasa, wife of Uru-KA-gina, king [of Lagash]. Year 2.
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
1(u@c) 2(asz@c) sze gur saggal sze-numun sze gu4-re6 gu7-de3 sag-ga2-tuku-a sag-apin-ra di-utu aga3-us2-e GAN2 da kiszi17-ga-sze3 e-na-de6 sze u2-rum ba-ba6 sa6-sa6 dam URU-KA-gi-na lugal [lagasz] 2(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 536. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P221186) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.