DP 064

~2400 BCE·Early Dynastic·P220714

About this tablet

A small clay account from Girsu in southern Iraq, written around 2350 BCE for the household of Bara-namtara, queen of Lagash and wife of the ruler Lugal-anda. It records three sheep offered to three goddesses — Nindar, Nin-MUŠ-bar and Nin-MAR.KI — on the occasion of a god being installed in his newly built temple. The sheep were then eaten at the feast, and the animals were charged to Enku, the palace fattener, in the second year of the reign. Tablets like this one come from the great archive of the queen's estate, which gives us an unusually detailed picture of how a Sumerian royal woman ran her own economy of flocks, festivals and offerings.

Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.

Written in modern English

Three animals issued: one ram for the goddess Nindar, one sheep for Nin-MUŠ-bar, one sheep for Nin-MAR.KI. The occasion was the god's entry into his new temple, and the offering was made by Bara-namtara, wife of Lugal-anda, the ruler of Lagash. The sheep were consumed at the ceremony. They came from the stock of Enku the fattener. Second year of the reign. Several passages in the middle of the text are broken and have been restored from the standard wording of these offering records.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — our engine

Our engine

Medium confidence

1 ram — (for) Nin-[dar]; 1 sheep — (for) Nin-[MUŠ₃]-bar(?); 1 sheep — (for) Nin-[MAR.KI]. [When(?) Nindar(?)] [was brought into] his new [temple], [Bara]-namtara, wife of Lugal-anda, ruler [of Lagash], performed the offering. (reverse) Sheep consumed. Enku, the fattener. (Year) 2.

Our translation engine — Opus 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-nita
nin-[dar]
1(asz@c) udu# nin-[musz3]-bar!?
1(asz@c) udu nin-[mar]
[u4? nin-dar?]
[e2] gibil-na [i3-lah5-a]
[bara2-nam]-tar-ra
dam lugal-an-da
ensi2
[lagasz-ke4]
gesz be2-tag
udu gu7-a
en-ku3
kuruszda-kam 2(|ASZxDISZ@t|)

Scholarly note

Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 064. 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: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220714) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).

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