Position in chronology
Nik 1, 159
About this tablet
This is a small cushion-shaped administrative tablet from Girsu (ancient Tello), dated to the reign of Lugalanda, ruler of the city-state of Lagash in the mid-24th century BCE. It records the delivery of twelve male sheep as a 'maš-da-re-a' — a customary offering or due, here designated for the 'ki-a-nag,' a ritual place where libations were poured for deceased ancestors or former rulers. The tablet names a shepherd, Ur-sag, as the person to whom (or through whom) the ruler had the sheep delivered, showing how the palace administration tracked livestock earmarked for royal ancestor cult. It is one of hundreds of such day-to-day economic records from the archive later published as Nikolski I, documenting the routine bookkeeping of Lagash's temple-and-palace economy.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Twelve rams were handed over as a customary offering, earmarked for the libation-place where offerings were made to the dead. Ur-sag the shepherd was the party involved; Lugalanda, ruler of Lagash, had the full amount measured out and delivered to him. The entry closes with a single numeral, likely a docket or tally mark for the transaction.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine12 male sheep, (as a) maš-da-re-a offering — it belongs to (i.e., is destined for) the ki-a-nag (the libation-place, the offering-place for the dead). Ur-sag, the shepherd — (to him) Lugalanda, ruler (ensi2) of Lagash, set (it) at the full measure (za3 bi2-šu4), (and) gave (it) to him. 1 (docket/count notation).
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) udu-nita masz-da-re-a ki-a-nag!-kam ur-sag sipa-ra lugal-an-da ensi2 lagasz-ke4 za3 bi2-szu4 e-na-szum2 1(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 159. 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 (P221928) — 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.