Position in chronology
ARET 03, 043
About this tablet
A small administrative fragment from the palace archives of Ebla in western Syria, written around 2400 BCE. It records the handing out of metal bracelets — prestige objects of silver, some finished with gold — to named individuals, including men attached to the households of officials. Thousands of such records survive from Ebla, and together they map the gift economy by which the palace rewarded and bound its personnel.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a disbursement note from the palace accounts. One silver bracelet, weighing two-thirds of a unit, was issued for one man — a member of Išma-damu's household, under Aha-LUM's man. After a gap in the text, a second entry records that two bracelets of silver and gold, of the same weight, were given out to a man named Iriig-malik. The rest of the tablet is broken away.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 bracelet of two-thirds (a shekel) of silver — (for) 1 man, the man of Išma-damu, the man of Aha-LUM. (Break) 2 bracelets of two-thirds (a shekel each) of silver (and) gold (to) Iriig-malik he gave. (Break)
Our translation engine — Fable 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) gu2-li-lum szanapi _ku3:babbar_ 1(asz@c) _gurusz_ _lu2_ isz-ma2-da-mu _lu2_ a-ha-LUM [...] 2(asz@c) gu2-li-lum szanapi _ku3:babbar ku3-sig17_ i-ri2-ig-ma-lik _i3-na-szum2_ [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — ARET 03, 043. 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: National Museum of Syria, Idlib, Syria (P242228) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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