Position in chronology
ARET 03, 071
About this tablet
A fragment of an administrative textile account from the palace archives of Ebla in northern Syria, written around 2350 BCE. It records sets of garments — cloaks, fine cloth, and colourful kilts — issued in connection with the king ('en') and to named individuals such as Puzur-ra-malik and Enna-malik. Thousands of such texts from Ebla show how the palace used standardized garment sets as payments, gifts, and diplomatic tokens, making them a key window into the earliest bureaucratic economy of Syria.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a clothing-issue record from the palace: an outer garment charged to the king's account, followed by a list of recipients — Surda-mahu, Puzur-ra-malik, and Enna-malik. After a gap where the tablet is broken, the account continues with a matched set of goods: four gu-dùl cloaks, four fine garments, and four multicoloured kilts, issued to a man whose name begins with Iš- but is otherwise lost. The rest of the text is broken away.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineGarment(s and) outer-wrap — of the king (en); Surda-mahu, Puzur-ra-malik, Enna-malik, [Break] 4 gu-dùl cloaks, 4 fine garments, 4 multicoloured kilts, Iš-...[...] (rest broken)
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
TUG2 BAR EN sur2-da-ma-hu PUZUR4-ra-ma-lik en-na-ma-lik [...] 4(asz@c) _gu-dul3_ 4(asz@c) _SAL_ 4(asz@c) _|IB2+3(DISZ@t)| dar tug2_ isz-x-[...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — ARET 03, 071. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: National Museum of Syria, Idlib, Syria (P242256) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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