Position in chronology
DP 308
About this tablet
This is a small Early Dynastic administrative tablet from Girsu (ancient Tello), part of the large archive documenting the household economy of Baba, wife of the reforming king Uru-KA-gina (Urukagina) of Lagash. It records a delivery of 2,400 split carp-fish, caught by fishermen working the fresh-water canals, brought in and received by the official En-iggal, Baba's estate manager, and logged into a fish storage facility. Tablets like this one, part of thousands from the so-called 'Baba archive,' are invaluable for reconstructing the economy, personnel, and administrative practices of a Sumerian temple household around 2350 BCE.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This record logs a delivery of 2,400 split carp fish. The fish came from a place called House-DU-DU-DU-DU, connected to the E-igara-su building, and were brought in by fishermen who work the fresh-water waterways. En-iggal, the household's manager, took delivery of them at the fish-storage house. The catch is recorded as produce belonging to Baba, wife of King Uru-KA-gina of Lagash. The scribe Sa6-sa6 wrote up the account, dated to year 4 (of the king's reign).
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine4(gešʼu) split eštub-carp — fish of the E2-DU-DU-DU-DU (house/place "DU-DU-DU-DU") — (from/of) the E2-igara-su building — the fishermen of the fresh (sweet) water — delivered (it). En-iggal, the manager, received (it) into the fish-house (fish-loft). Fish, the yield — (for) Baba. Sa6-sa6 (the scribe). Wife of Uru-KA-gina, king of Lagash. Year 4.
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.
Transliteration
4(gesz'u@c) esztub dar-ra ku6 e2-DU-DU-DU-DU-ka-kam e2-i3-gara2-su3 szu-ku6 a du10-ga-ke4 mu-de6 en-ig-gal nu-banda3 e2-ur3 ku6-ka i3-kux(DU) ku6 u2-rum ba-ba6 sa6-sa6 dam URU-KA-gi-na lugal lagasz-ka 4(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 308. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P220958) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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.