Position in chronology
ARET 03, 089
About this tablet
A fragment of an administrative textile account from the palace archives of Ebla in Syria, around 2350 BCE. It records shipments of fine garments, multicoloured kilts, and wool sent to foreign destinations — including the king of Kakmium, one of the city-states in Ebla's diplomatic network. Such deliveries of luxury cloth were the currency of Bronze Age diplomacy, binding allied courts to Ebla through regular gifts. The tablet is broken, so only part of the ledger survives.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a page from a palace shipping ledger. Goods sent out to the city of ...rar: at least four fine garments and at least four multicoloured kilts. A section of the account is then lost to a break. When the text resumes, it records a delivery for the king of Kakmium: thirteen standard measures of wool. The rest of the transaction details — dates, intermediaries, further items — are broken away.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineto [the city of] ...rar (a toponym, sign LAGAB×UŠ₂ + ra-ar), [n +] 4 fine garments, [n +] 4 multicoloured kilts (íb-III textiles), (Break) [for] Kakmium, the king (en); 13 kin-measures of [wool].
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
si-in |LAGABxUSZ2|-ra-ar [n] 4(asz@c) _SAL_ [n] 4(asz@c) _|IB2+3(DISZ@t)| dar tug2_ [...] kak-mi-um _en_ 1(u@c) 3(asz@c) KIN [SIKI]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — ARET 03, 089. 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 (P242274) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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