Position in chronology
DP 267
About this tablet
This is a small administrative tablet from Girsu (modern Tello), part of the huge archive of the so-called 'women's household' (é-munus/é-mí), the great institutional estate at Lagash once run under the queen and, at this period, administered by the official Eniggal. It records a modest delivery of ten jars of scented oil, handled by named oil-pressers and a courier, dated by a local month name tied to the agricultural calendar. Thousands of tablets just like this one — logging oil, grain, wool, and labor moving through the household — survive from Early Dynastic Lagash, and together they let historians reconstruct one of the earliest bureaucracies on earth.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Ten jars of pressed, scented oil were delivered — brought by a man named Illu — to the oil-pressing workers, and receipt of the goods was confirmed and handed over. This happened in the month called 'leading out the oxen.' Eniggal, the overseer of the women's household, is named as the official in charge, and the record closes with a final tally of 4 (units of oil poured out or accounted for).
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine10 jars of scented (pressed) oil, via Illu — the oil-pressers: was returned/delivered into (their) hand. Month: "Gu4-ra2-bi2-mu2-a" (the month of leading out the oxen). Eniggal, the overseer, (is responsible for/of) the women's household. Oil poured out: 4.
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
1(u@c) dug i3-ir-a giri3 il2 i3-ra2-ra2-be2 szu-a bi2-gi4 iti gu4-ra2-bi2-mu2-a en-ig-gal nu-banda3 e2-munus-a i3-de2 4(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 267. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220917) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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