Position in chronology
DP 266
About this tablet
This is a small lentil-shaped Early Dynastic (Presargonic) accounting tablet from Girsu (modern Tello), part of the 'Documents Présargoniques' corpus (DP) published by Allotte de la Fuÿe and now held in the Louvre. It records the movement of pig fat (lard), a household commodity, measured in sila (about 1-liter units): an initial 6 sila entry, a further 13 sila allotted to or through a woman named Nin-e-an-su, and finally 10 sila withdrawn again from the stock. Texts like this belonged to the palace/temple household economy of Lagash — likely the archive tied to the ruling family's estate — where scribes tracked small quantities of oil and fat moving in and out of storage under named intermediaries.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This little tablet is a bookkeeping note about pig fat. Six sila of lard is recorded, marked as the third such entry. It was received through someone's own agent or courier. Then thirteen sila more is logged for a woman named Nin-e-an-su, again brought in through an agent, and this amount is said to be held on deposit with her. Out of that stock, ten sila of pig fat was later taken out or issued. The tablet ends with a bare numeral '3,' written in a different number notation, which may be a subtotal or remainder — but its exact meaning is lost to us.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine6 sila of pig fat (lard). The fat — its designation: the 3rd (time). Via his (own) agent it was received (giri3-ni ba-dab5). 13 sila (for/of) Nin-e-an-su. Via [his] (own) agent it was received (giri3#-[ni]-ba-dab5#-da), it is at his disposal (deposited with him). From within it: 10 sila of pig fat was carried out/withdrawn. 3 (in the ASZxDISZ notation).
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Engine notes
read from photo6 uncertain terms ↓
- i3 szah2 — Literally 'fat of pig' — rendered as 'lard'; the precise product (rendered fat, fresh fat, or oil) is debated, but 'lard/pig fat' is the standard translation in Girsu administrative texts.
- i3 mu-ni 3(disz@t)-kam — 'Its name is the 3rd' — this phrase marks the third in a series of installments or ration issues. 'mu-ni' can mean 'its name' or function as a deictic label marker in early administrative Sumerian. Some scholars read this as a date or sequence marker rather than a literal 'name.'
- giri3-ni-ba-dab5 — Personal name, literally 'he seized his footstep/path' — the name of the responsible official. The reading is standard for Girsu ED texts but the name element giri3 (foot/path) plus ni-ba-dab5 admits slight phonological variation in sign choice.
- e-da-gal2 — 'It is present/available with [him/her]' — a standard phrase in ED Girsu texts indicating that the commodity is on hand and accounted for. Alternative: 'it is held together with [it]'.
- e-ma-ta-de6 — Verbal chain: 'it has been brought out from there' — the prefix chain e-ma-ta- marks motion outward from an interior/source. Confident reading but the precise nuance of 'from there' vs. 'therefrom' depends on context.
- 3(|ASZxDISZ@t|) — The notation at the end of the tablet for a third installment or sequence marker, written with the complex sign ASZ times DISZ with superscript t (a tally marker). Standard in early Dynastic Girsu administrative documents.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a composite display of several clay tablet pieces bearing the museum number AO 13474; the central piece is the main tablet face. The wedge impressions are visible in two registers separated by a horizontal line, with further text on the oblong edge pieces (the 'case' envelope fragments that surround the inner tablet). The resolution is moderate: individual signs on the main face are discernible — I can make out numeral clusters (the large Winkelhaken groups corresponding to 6 and 10+3 sila), and signs consistent with i3, sza(h2), and compound verbal chains in the lower register. The transliteration's structure matches the two-register layout visible in the photo. The side pieces carry additional text (likely the edge lines of the envelope), consistent with the full transliteration provided. I cannot verify every individual sign from the photo at this resolution, particularly the personal name Girinibadab and Nin-e-an-su in detail. 'i3 szah2' (lard/pig fat) is a well-attested Early Dynastic commodity term from Girsu. 'sila3' is the standard capacity measure (~1 litre). The verbal forms 'e-ma-ta-de6' (has been brought out from there) and 'e-da-gal2' (it is present/available) are standard early Dynastic Sumerian administrative idioms. The reading '3(|ASZxDISZ@t|)' for the 3rd installment/occurrence marker at the end is standard for these texts.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 16, 2026 · 2218 in / 1176 out tokens
Transliteration
6(asz@c) sila3 i3 szah2 i3 mu-ni 3(disz@t)-kam giri3-ni-ba-dab5 1(u@c) 3(asz@c) sila3 nin-e-an-su giri3#-[ni]-ba-dab5#-da e-da-gal2 sza3-bi-ta 1(u@c) sila3 i3 szah2 e-ma-ta-de6 3(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 266. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220916) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.