Position in chronology
ARET 03, 097
About this tablet
A fragment of a textile-distribution record from the palace archives of Ebla in northern Syria, around 2400 BCE — one of thousands of such accounts kept by the city's central administration. It logs standard sets of garments (a cloak, a tunic-like aktum cloth, and a fine multicoloured kilt) issued to named individuals, including Dubi-damu, a son of the reigning king of Ebla. These dry ledger entries are precious because they name members of the royal family and show how the palace used fine clothing as payment, gift, and marker of rank.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a page from the palace clothing ledger. Some coarse gu-mug cloth went to the wife of Azadu. Another entry issues an aktum tunic and a kilt (details broken off). Then a full deluxe set — a double-grade cloak, an aktum tunic, and a triple-grade kilt in multicoloured fine fabric — is charged out to Dubi-damu, the king's son. After a gap, a shipment goes 'to' someone or somewhere whose name is damaged, consisting of a single-grade cloak and an aktum tunic; the rest of the entry is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine[n] gu-mug textiles: the wife of 'A-za-du. 1 aktum-textile, 1 kilt of [n]-quality [...] 1 'a-da-um cloak of double (quality), 1 aktum-textile, 1 kilt of triple (quality), multicoloured, of fine cloth: (for) Du-bi-damu, son of the king (en). [...] to ...-NE-[...] (place or person, broken). 1 'a-da-um cloak of single (quality), 1 aktum-textile [...] (rest broken)
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
[n] _gu-mug_ _dam_ 'a3-za-du 1(asz@c) _aktum_ 1(asz@c) _|IB2+n(DISZ@t)|#_ [...] 1(asz@c) 'a3-da-um 2(disz@t) 1(asz@c@90) _aktum_ 1(asz@c) _|IB2+3(DISZ@t)| dar sa6 tug2_ du-bi2-da-mu _dumu-nita_ _en#_ [...] si-in x-NE-[x] 1(asz@c) 'a3-da-um 1(disz@t) 1(asz@c@90) _aktum_ [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — ARET 03, 097. 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 (P242282) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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