Position in chronology
Nik 1, 200
About this tablet
This small clay tablet is a household administrative record from the archive of Baranamtara, wife of Lugalanda, ruler of the city-state of Lagash in southern Iraq around 2350 BCE — one of the best-documented palace-and-temple economies of the Early Dynastic period. It logs the disposition of two working animals, a mule-foal and a donkey belonging to a courier named Girnun, which after a formal inspection were placed in the charge of a plowman (or plow-team overseer) named Inimanizi. Texts like this, part of the large 'Nik 1' group excavated at Tello (ancient Girsu), give historians an extraordinarily granular picture of how draft animals, personnel, and labor were tracked by the ruling household's bureaucracy.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This tablet records a routine transfer within the palace household's livestock office. A mule-foal and a trained donkey — animals belonging to Girnun, a courier — were, following an official inspection, handed over to (or placed under the responsibility of) Inimanizi, a plowman. The transaction is filed under the administration of Baranamtara, wife of Lugalanda, the ruler of Lagash, and dated to year 6 — the kind of everyday bookkeeping entry that kept track of who had custody of which working animal in the ruler's estate.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 mule-foal (dur3-kunga2), a broken-in donkey (ansze dun-a) — (belonging to) Girnun, the courier (gab2-kas4). After the inspection (egir4 gurum2-ma-ta), (by/to) Inimanizi, the plowman (sag-apin), it was placed/assigned (ba-gar). (Under) Baranamtara, wife of Lugalanda, ruler (ensi2) of Lagash: year 6.
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(asz@c) dur3 kunga2 ansze dun-a gir2-nun gab2-kas4-kam egir4 gurum2-ma-ta inim-ma-ni-zi sag-apin-ke4 ba-gar bara2-nam-tar-ra dam lugal-an-da ensi2 lagasz-ka 6(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — Nik 1, 200. 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 (P221969) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
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