Position in chronology
DP 217
About this tablet
This is a small clay account tablet from the temple administration at Girsu, in the Lagash state, roughly 2400 BCE — part of the well-known archive of Baranamtara, wife of the ruler Lugalanda. It records a single ewe delivered as a regular offering ('mashdaria') from the household of a temple official's wife to the shrine called the Abzu, at the canal bank, during the month of sheep-shearing. The animal was slaughtered and eaten, and the tablet names the officials responsible for overseeing the transaction — a fattening-official, a minister, and a squad of enforcers who verified it. It is a routine bookkeeping entry, but it opens a rare window onto the daily ritual economy of a Sumerian city-state temple.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
One ewe was handed over as a regular offering from the wife of the sanga-priest of the Ebabbar temple, delivered to the Abzu shrine at the canal bank by Baranamtara. During the month of sheep-shearing, the animal was slaughtered and eaten. Enku was the official in charge of livestock fattening for this transaction, and Niglu the minister oversaw it as well. Five enforcement officials (maszkim) were assigned to certify that everything was properly recorded.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 ewe — (as) mashdaria-offering, (from) the wife of the sanga-priest of Ebabbar, to the Abzu at the bank of the canal, (delivered by) Baranamtara. In the month 'House-of-sheep-shearing,' it was struck down (slaughtered) (and) consumed. Enku is the fattening-official (in charge). Niglu, the minister (sukkal), (is responsible). Its enforcers (maszkim): 5.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Transliteration
1(asz@c) u8 masz-da-re-a dam sanga e2-babbar2-ka-kam abzu gu2 i7-ka-sze3 bara2-nam-tar-ra iti ga2-udu-ur4-ra-ka gesz be2-tag gu7-a en-ku3 kuruszda-kam nig2-lu2 sukkal maszkim-bi 5(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 217. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220867) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-05-28/v6-glossary-aware).
Related tablets
Related sources
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.