Position in chronology
RIME 3/1.01.07.048, ex. add092
About this tablet
This is a short royal dedicatory inscription of Gudea, ruler (ensi) of Lagash around 2100 BCE, likely inscribed on a brick, door socket, or similar object from the temple complex at Girsu. It commemorates Gudea's construction of a subsidiary shrine, the 'E-PA,' described as 'his house of seven corners,' built as an offering for the god Ningirsu, the tutelary warrior-deity of Lagash and son of Enlil. Such inscriptions were embedded in the temple's fabric itself, meant to be read by the gods and by posterity as proof of the king's piety and building works.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This inscription honors Ningirsu, the mighty champion of the god Enlil and Gudea's own divine lord. It records that Gudea, ruler of Lagash — the same king who built Ningirsu's great temple, the Eninnu — also built for him a smaller shrine called the E-PA, described as 'his house of seven corners.' The text is a standard temple-building dedication, naming the king, the god he served, and the specific structure he raised in the god's honor.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[For Ningirsu], [the mighty warrior] of En[lil], his master (lord): Gudea, ruler of Lagash, the one who built the E-ninnu of Ningirsu — [the E-PA, his house of seven corners (niches),] he built for him.
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
[nin-gir2-su] [ur-sag kal-ga] en-[lil2-la2-ra] lugal-a-[ni] gu3-de2#-[a] ensi2# lagasz#[-ke4] lu2 e2#-[ninnu] nin-gir2-[su-ka] [in-du3-a] [e2-PA e2-ub-imin-a-ni] [mu-na-du3]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Lagash II (ca. 2200-2100 BC)) — RIME 3/1.01.07.048, ex. add092. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: WCMA 20.1.03 (Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA) — from Girsu (mod. Tello) ? — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P424370). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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