Position in chronology
Nik 1, 178
About this tablet
This is a small Early Dynastic administrative tablet from Girsu (modern Tello), recording the disbursement of two young goats to two named individuals, Lugal-ki and En-udana, during the month of the Festival of Baba — the patron goddess of Girsu/Lagash. The overseer Ur-igi-ama and a household connected to a 'man of the measuring-rope' (a surveyor's office) are involved in the transaction, which is noted as 'returned into hand,' a common ED Lagash phrase for a completed transfer or repayment. A final entry names Ur-nigar and closes with a disbursement total of 6. Texts like this are the routine bookkeeping of a third-millennium BCE temple or palace household, tracking small livestock allocations to named staff.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
One young goat went to Lugal-ki, and another young goat went to En-udana. This happened in the month of the Festival of Baba. The animals were handled through Ur-igi-ama, the overseer, connected to the household of the surveyor's office, and the transaction is recorded as settled — the goats were 'returned into hand,' meaning the exchange was completed. A man named Ur-nigar is listed at the end, along with a closing total of 6. In short: this is a simple herd-accounting slip logging two goat allocations and a final tally, kept by temple or estate administrators at Girsu.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 kid (goat) — Lugal-ki. 1 kid (goat) — En-udana. Month: “Festival of Baba.” Delivered/for(?) Ur-igi-ama, the overseer, (of) the house of the man of the measuring-rope (the surveyor's house). Returned/restored into hand. Ur-nigar. Disbursed: 6.
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) masz lugal-ki 1(asz@c) masz en-u4-da-na iti ezem-ba-ba6 mu-ra ur-igi-ama-sze3 nu-banda3 e2 lu2 esz2-gid2-[ka] szu-a bi2-gi4 ur-nigar ba-ra 6(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 178. 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 (P221947) — 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.