Position in chronology
DP 372
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221022.
Translation · AI engine
read from photo361 bundles of combed/selected rope — palace rope. 272 bundles of twist-spun rope — from the garden/orchard strip-work. From the gesz-AN-tur (a specific location or orchard type), excellent quality — wife of Uruinimgina, king of Lagash, has approved/accepted (them). 2 (units).
6 uncertain terms ↓
- sa gu suh5-ha — 'Bundle of combed/selected rope' — suh5 can mean 'to comb, select, or card'; the precise processing technique denoted is debated. Some translate as 'plucked rope' or 'selected-quality rope.'
- sa gu sar sur-ra-kam — 'Bundle of twist-spun rope from the sar/sur' — sar may refer to a garden plot or orchard strip; sur-ra could indicate a spinning/twisting process. The compound is not always consistently translated.
- gesz-AN-tur-ta — Likely a place name or orchard/grove designation ('from the gesz-AN-tur'), but the precise referent is uncertain. Could be a named estate or a specific type of tree grove.
- URU-KA-gi-na — The conventional reading is Uruinimgina (also older Urukagina). The sign sequence is clear but the exact phonological rendering of the name has been debated; 'Uruinimgina' is currently preferred in Sumerological literature.
- mu-SIG7 — Literally something like 'the name is good/green' or 'approved'; functions here as an acceptance/quality-approval formula. The precise administrative meaning — whether it is a verb form, a notation of approval, or a quality grade — is contextually inferred and not universally agreed upon.
- 2(|ASZxDISZ@t|) — The numeral 2 with a specific sign form; its referent in this context (2 units of what?) is not fully clear from the text alone.
Reasoning ↓
The photograph shows a small, lenticular ('bun-shaped') clay tablet — the characteristic form of Early Dynastic administrative documents from Girsu — photographed from multiple angles (obverse, reverse, and two edges), with the museum label AO 13578 clearly visible. The obverse face (centre-top image) shows cuneiform signs arranged in ruled columns and rows; the surface is moderately worn but the wedge impressions are still legible in several places. I can make out numerical notations (including what appear to be large sexagesimal signs consistent with gesz2 and asz values), and sign clusters consistent with SA GU and E2-GAL in the upper register, broadly confirming the transliteration's first two lines. The lower register shows denser sign clusters that are harder to resolve at this resolution but are consistent with personal name signs and a verbal form at the end. The reverse (lower images) appears largely uninscribed, consistent with a short administrative text on the obverse only. The reading of URU-KA-gi-na as Uruinimgina is standard for this ruler (also rendered Urukagina in older literature); the transliteration's mu-SIG7 2(|ASZxDISZ@t|) is interpreted as an approval/acceptance formula with a count of 2, though the exact function of mu-SIG7 in this context (lit. 'name is good/green'?) is somewhat uncertain. The glossary entries provided reflect a proto-cuneiform context but this tablet is ED IIIb, where sign values are more securely established; the glossary entries for GI, MU, SIG are thus of limited applicability here. Cannot fully verify the numerical values gesz2@c quantities from the photo at this resolution.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-12/v4-interpretation · May 16, 2026 · 2125 in / 1196 out tokens
Transliteration
6(gesz2@c) 1(u@c) 1(asz@c) sa gu suh5-ha gu e2-gal-kam 4(gesz2@c) 3(u@c) 2(asz@c) sa gu sar sur-ra-kam gesz-AN-tur-ta sa6-sa6 dam URU-KA-gi-na lugal lagasz-ka-ke4 mu-SIG7 2(|ASZxDISZ@t|)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — DP 372. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Louvre Museum, Paris, France (P221022) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P221022..
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.
Marks the boundary between proto-writing and writing. We can see signs being used systematically — but not yet phonetically. The leap to recording speech itself comes a few centuries later.
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.