Position in chronology
Erm 14335
About this tablet
This small cushion-shaped tablet is a receipt from the household administration of Bara-namtara, wife of Lugal-anda, ruler of the city-state of Lagash (Girsu), around 2350 BCE. It records a delivery of fish — 50 head of one type and 12 carried by porters — handed over by a fisherman named A-ses and processed by the overseer En-iggal into the palace's 'women's household,' the domestic economic unit Bara-namtara personally managed. Hundreds of such tablets survive from her archive, making her one of the best-documented women of the ancient world; this is one small entry in that vast bookkeeping system.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a delivery record: fifty head of a particular fish (or fish-type animal) and twelve fish brought in by porters, credited to a man named Lugal-me-gal-gal and supplied by the fisherman A-ses. It happened in the month called 'sheep-for-barley-and-water of Ningirsu.' The overseer En-iggal took the goods in and logged them into the women's household — the domestic estate run by Bara-namtara, wife of Lugal-anda, the ruler of Lagash. The tablet is dated to year three (of Lugal-anda's reign).
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine50 head of si-U-NU (a fish/animal designation), 12 gab₂-il₂ (carriers) of fish — (for) Lugal-me-gal-gal, (from) the fisherman A-ses. Month: 'sheep-for-barley-and-water of Ningirsu.' En-iggal, the overseer, into the women's household delivered (it). Bara-namtara, wife of Lugal-anda, ruler (ensi₂) of Lagash. Year 3.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Engine notes
read from photo8 uncertain terms ↓
- si-U-NU — The precise meaning of this designation for the 50 persons is unclear; it may be a professional title, ethnic designation, or institutional category. The sign U within SI-U-NU is uncertain in reading.
- gab2-il2 — A type of fish or a profession connected with fish; the exact species or role is debated in the literature.
- szu-ku6 — Literally 'hand of the fish(-pond/fishery)' — conventionally interpreted as 'fisherman'; the compound is well-attested in Lagashite texts but nuances of the role vary.
- a-ses-ke4 — A personal or institutional name in the genitive; 'A-ses' could be a personal name or a place/institution. The -ke4 marks genitive-agent. Identity not firmly established.
- iti udu-sze3 — Literally 'month of sheep-grass' or 'the barley-month of sheep'; interpretation as a month name is standard for Early Dynastic Lagash calendars, but the precise equivalence to a month number is debated.
- e2-munus-a — Literally 'house of the woman' or 'women's house'; could refer to the gynaeceum of the palace, or a specific institutional household managed by the governor's wife.
- 3(|ASZxDISZ@t|) — The final notation — three tally marks — may indicate three entries, three tablets in a dossier, or a summary count. Interpretation as a tablet/dossier number is plausible but not certain.
- nu-banda3 — Conventionally rendered 'overseer' or 'commander'; in the Lagashite administrative hierarchy it sits below the ensi2 and above ordinary foremen. Exact functional scope varies by context.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a small, lenticular tablet (museum number 14335 is legible on the label in the top panel) photographed from multiple angles: obverse, reverse, top edge, and two sides. The obverse (second image in the composite) is the most legible face: several clear wedge clusters are visible, arranged in two column registers separated by a ruled line, with approximately six to seven lines per register. Individual sign clusters are discernible — the large numeric notation in the top-left register, what appear to be fish-determinative signs (KU6) in the upper right, and personal name signs further down. The reverse (bottom large image) shows fewer lines, with sign clusters visible on the lower half — consistent with the short seal phrase and governor-title lines of the transliteration. The left and right edge views show a small number of signs consistent with an edge notation or overflow line. Photo resolution is insufficient to verify each individual sign reading, but the overall layout (two-column obverse, short reverse, lenticular format) is fully consistent with a Girsu Early Dynastic administrative tablet of this type. The transliteration is accepted as the primary source; photo broadly confirms its structure without contradicting it. The reading 'bara2-nam-tar-ra' (Bara-nam-tara) as wife of Lugal-anda governor of Lagash is consistent with the well-documented archive of this couple from Girsu (cf. Bauer, Altsumerische Wirtschaftstexte). The sign kux(DU) for 'bring in / deliver' is standard in Lagashite administrative texts. Cannot verify the precise sign forms of '5(u@c) sag si-U-NU' and 'gab2-il2' from the photo at this resolution.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 16, 2026 · 2446 in / 1288 out tokens
Transliteration
5(u@c) sag si-U-NU 1(u@c) 2(asz@c) gab2-il2 ku6 lugal-me-gal-gal szu-ku6 a-ses-ke4 iti udu-sze3 sze a nin-gir2-su-ka-ka en-ig-gal nu-banda3 e2-munus-a i3-kux(DU) bara2-nam-tar-ra dam lugal-an-da ensi2 lagasz-ka 3(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Erm 14335. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P225743) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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