Position in chronology
ARET 03, 125
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 the handing-out of garments to named individuals, with the transaction supervised by Ibrium — the powerful vizier who effectively ran the Eblaite state under its kings. The mention of Dusigu is striking, since a woman of that name was the influential mother of Ebla's last king. Even in this broken state, the tablet shows the meticulous bookkeeping behind one of the Bronze Age's great trading powers.
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. One gu-dul robe and one fine garment went out in connection with Ada-ur, associated with Dusigu; the text notes that they were duly handed over. After a gap, the record names the official responsible for the transaction: the overseer Ibrium. Then one more fine garment is booked to a man named Gugulanu. The rest of the entries are lost where the tablet breaks off.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 gu-dul textile, 1 fine garment — Ada-ur (of?) Dusigu he gave (it) to him. [...] (break) The overseer: Ibrium. 1 fine garment: Gugulanu. [...] (text breaks off)
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) _gu-dul3_ 1(asz@c) _sal_ a-da5 urx(HUB2) du-si-gu2 _in-na-szum2_ [...] _maszkim_ ib-ri2-um 1(asz@c) _sal_ gu2-gu2-la-nu [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — ARET 03, 125. 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 (P242313) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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