Lagash Rations Tablet

This cuneiform tablet reveals how the ancient Babylonians wrote. It was discovered among the 30,000 or more cuneiform tablets at the site of ancient Lagash, one of the oldest cities in ancient Sumer and later became part of Babylonia. According to scholars some believe that Lagash was the largest city in the world during the third millennium BC. Cuneiform was the script of the Sumerians and all the other inhabitants of Mesopotamia all the way up to the first century BC. The name cuneiform comes from the Latin word "cuneus", meaning wedge. Cuneiform was originally written with a reed or stick stylus but this was quickly developed into a precision tool. We have derived virtually all our knowledge of the Babylonians from texts written in cuneiform on clay tablets. From these tablets we have been able to learn their law, business, administration, religion and all other aspects of Babylonian civilization. Without these texts we would know little about the Babylonians. The Lagash Rations Tablet is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology because it shows us a clear text written in ancient cuneiform script.

"Is this not Babylon that I have built…" –Daniel 4:30

Material - Cuneiform tablet 
1st Dynasty of Lagash
Date: 2350-2200 BC
Height: 13.1 cm 
Width: 13.3 cm 
Depth: 
Tello (ancient Girsu), southern Iraq
Excavated by: 
Location: British Museum, London
Item: ANE 102081
Room: 55, Early Mesopotamia

British Museum Excerpt

Cuneiform tablet recording barley rations

1st Dynasty of Lagash, about 2350-2200 BC
From Tello (ancient Girsu), southern Iraq

Payment by the temple of the goddess Bau

This cuneiform tablet is a record in Sumerian of the distribution of barley as rations to about two hundred workmen and their children by the Temple of Bau. The goddess Bau (or Baba) was the wife of Ningirsu, the supreme god of the city Lagash. The temple referred to here was at Girsu, a town within the city-state of Lagash.

Temples were the largest employers at this time, often with hundreds of workers farming the land or weaving textiles. The text tells us that adults received a ration of thirty or forty sila (pints) per month, while children got twenty. According to the text, this was the fourth such distribution in the fourth year of Uruinimgina, king of Lagash (reigned about 2351-2342 BC). His wife Shasha played a major role in the administration of the Temple of Bau. 

The British Museum

Prince Gudea of Lagash