Position in chronology
Nik 1, 288
About this tablet
This is a small Early Dynastic III administrative tablet from Girsu (modern Tello), part of the archive of the temple household of the goddess Baba in the state of Lagash. It records deliveries of wooden or fitted items — likely tongue-shaped wooden fittings or seed-funnel parts associated with seed-plows — to two storerooms, the 'house of manu-wood' and the 'house of the courtyard,' under the authority of the official En-iggal, a well-attested overseer (nu-banda3) active under the rulers Lugalanda and Enentarzi of Lagash around 2400 BCE. Such texts are typical of the meticulous bookkeeping of the Baba temple economy, tracking equipment tied to agricultural labor month by month.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet is a receipt logging two deliveries of wooden items — 56 tongue-shaped pieces, described as 'set' or 'fitted,' and 64 tongue-shaped seed-funnel pieces — into the storeroom known as the 'house of manu-wood.' A separate entry records 18 units of plow-labor (or plow equipment) delivered to the 'house of the courtyard.' Both transactions were overseen by the official En-iggal, in the month of the Malt-Eating Festival of the goddess Nanše. A closing note ties the two storerooms together, confirming that goods were received on two occasions.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine56 eme-tug, siga (tongue-shaped [cloth/wool] items, set/placed) — 64 eme-numun (tongue-shaped seed[-funnel] items) — (of) the house of manu-wood — were delivered (ba-kux/DU). 18 (20 less 2) labor-units of plow(-work) — (of) the house of the courtyard — were delivered. En-iggal, the overseer (nu-banda3). Month: "Festival-of-malt-eating," of Nanše. The house of the courtyard (and) its house of manu-wood: delivered — 2 (units/occasions).
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
5(u@c) 6(asz@c) eme tugx(LAK483) si-ga 1(gesz2@c) 4(asz@c) eme numun e2 ma-nu-ka ba-kux(DU) 2(u@c) la2 2(asz@c) a2 apin e2 ki-sal4-la-ka ba-kux(DU) en-ig-gal nu-banda3 iti ezem-munu4-gu7 nansze-ka e2 ki-sal4-la e2 ma-nu-bi i3-kux(DU) 2(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 288. 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 (P222057) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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