Position in chronology
Nik 1, 075
About this tablet
This small square tablet, one of the Nikolski texts from Girsu (ancient Lagash), is a routine administrative record from the great temple-household economy of the mid-third millennium BCE. It logs a disbursement of barley — for human and ox rations — and garments, tied to fieldwork, handled by two named officials: Ur-Ninpirig, who delivered the goods, and Enigal, a manager (nu-banda3) who issued them from a storehouse called 'the house of the courtyard.' Tablets like this, by the hundreds, formed the bookkeeping backbone of Lagash's temple estates under the Early Dynastic rulers.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a supply record: three gur of barley (a large-capacity measure) were allotted, part of it as fodder for the oxen, along with a batch of 'si-ga' garments, all charged to the account covering the full survey of the fields. The recipient was Ur-Enki, the ox-herder, and the delivery was made to him by Ur-Ninpirig during the month called 'Guranabimu.' The manager Enigal signed off on the transaction, releasing the goods from the storehouse known as the 'house of the courtyard.' A running total of 3 closes out the entry.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine3 gur barley (saggal-standard measure). Barley for the oxen to eat; 'si-ga' garments (tugx). For the (surveyed) total of the field(s): Ur-Enki, the ox-herdsman — Ur-Ninpirig (in) the month 'Guranabimu' (oxen-fattening month) delivered (it) to him. Enigal, the overseer, from the storehouse of the courtyard issued (it). Total: 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.
Transliteration
3(asz@c) sze gur saggal sze gu4-re6 gu7 tugx(LAK483) si-ga [GAN2] nigin2-na-sze3 ur-en-ki sipa gu4-ra ur-nin-pirig-ke4 iti gu4-ra2-bi2-mu2 e-na-de6 en-ig-gal nu-banda3 e2 ki-sal4-la-ta e-ta-gar 3(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 075. 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 (P221844) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
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.