Position in chronology
Nik 1, 150
About this tablet
This small pillow-shaped clay tablet from Girsu (ancient Lagash) is a bookkeeping record from around 2400 BCE, listing two sheep of a particular category disbursed for the 'malt-eating festival' of the god Ningirsu, one recorded for Ningirsu and one for the goddess Baba. An official named Sasage authorizes or registers the disbursement, and Ur-du6, a chief herdsman (šuš3), is named as the responsible party, with a final tally closing the account. Tablets like this — barely larger than a thumb — were the everyday paperwork of a Sumerian temple economy that tracked every animal consumed at religious festivals.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a small receipt from the temple herds of Girsu: one sheep, of the 'bar-nigin' type, was issued for the god Ningirsu, and a second sheep of the same type was issued for the goddess Baba. Both animals were consumed at the malt-eating festival held in Ningirsu's honor. The official Sasage recorded or authorized the allotment, and Ur-du6, the herdsman in charge of the flock, is listed as responsible, with the tablet closing on a one-line total tally.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 sheep, bar-nigin2 (portion/category) — (for) Ningirsu. 1 sheep, bar-nigin2 — (for) Baba. At the malt-eating festival of Ningirsu: Sasage — allotted (it) (lit. "struck the wood"). Sheep consumed. Ur-du6, the chief herdsman (šuš3) — total: 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
1(asz@c) udu bar nigin2-na nin-gir2-su 1(asz@c) udu bar nigin2-na ba-ba6 ezem munu4 gu7 nin-gir2-su-ka-ka sa6-sa6-ge gesz be2-tag udu gu7-a ur-du6 szusz3-kam 1(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 150. 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 (P221919) — 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.