Position in chronology
Nik 1, 066
About this tablet
This is a small, thick 'pillow'-shaped administrative tablet from Girsu (ancient Tello), part of the Early Dynastic III archive published as Nik 1. It records a disbursement of barley — 2 gur and 5 ban2 measured by the large 'sag-gal' standard — issued as a regular (daily) ration covering three days to an official named Ur-igi-ama, who held the rank of nu-banda3 ('overseer' or 'captain'), drawn from a facility called the 'New House' or new granary. Such texts are the bureaucratic backbone of the great Lagash temple households, tracking exactly how much grain left storage, for whom, and for how long — everyday accounting from one of the world's oldest administrative systems.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records that 2 gur and 5 ban2 of barley (measured by the large 'sag-gal' standard) — a regular ration — was issued to cover three days' worth of provisions for Ur-igi-ama, an overseer, drawn from the storeroom called the 'New House.' A short notation at the end, likely a scribal tally or check figure ('3 placed... 8'), closes out the entry, though its exact accounting purpose isn't fully certain.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine2 gur 5 ban2 barley (in the sag-gal / "large-head" measure) — barley for regular offerings/rations, for 3 days, for Ur-igi-ama, the overseer (nu-banda3), from the New House (granary) — was issued/set out. (Tally notation:) 3 placed(?) — 8 (numeral sign).
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
2(asz@c) 5(ban2@c) sze gur saggal sze sa2-du11 u4 3(disz@t)-sze3 ur-igi-ama-sze3 nu-banda3 e2 gibil-ta e-ta-gar 3(disz@t) gar-am6 8(|ASZxDISZ@t|)*
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 066. 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: State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (P221835) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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