Position in chronology
ARET 03, 142
About this tablet
A fragment of a textile-distribution account from the palace archives of Ebla in northern Syria, around 2400 BCE. The scribes recorded standardized sets of clothing — a cloak, a tunic, and a kilt — issued to foreign dignitaries, here the king of the city-state of NIrar and his elders. Thousands of such records survive at Ebla; together they map the diplomatic and commercial network of one of the earliest great cities outside Mesopotamia.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a clothing-issue ledger, broken at both ends. After a lost opening entry listing cloaks, tunics, and multicoloured kilts, it records deliveries connected with the city of NIrar: the standard three-piece set — one double-quality 'a-da-um cloak, one aktum tunic, and one fine multicoloured kilt — was given to the king; two multicoloured kilts went to his elders; and another full three-piece set (with a slightly better kilt) went to a recipient whose name is lost. The rest of the tablet is broken away.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(beginning broken) [... n] 'a-da-um cloaks of double (quality), [n] aktum-tunics, [n] multicoloured kilts (with triple wrapping) (gap) (for the people of) NIrar. 1 'a-da-um cloak of double (quality), 1 aktum-tunic, 1 fine multicoloured kilt (with triple wrapping): (for) the king; (gap) 2 multicoloured kilts: (for) his elders. 1 'a-da-um cloak of double (quality), 1 aktum-tunic, 1 fine multicoloured kilt (with quadruple wrapping) [...] (remainder 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] 'a3-da-um 2(disz@t) [n] _aktum_ [n] _|IB2+3(DISZ@t)| dar tug2_ [...] NI-ra-ar 1(asz@c) 'a3-da-um 2(disz@t) 1(asz@c@90) _aktum_ 1(asz@c) _|IB2+3(DISZ@t)| dar sa6 tug2_ _en_ [...] 2(asz@c) _ib2 dar tug2_ _abba2_-su3 1(asz@c) 'a3-da-um 2(disz@t) 1(asz@c@90) _aktum_ 1(asz@c) _|IB2+4(DISZ@t)| dar sa6 tug2_ [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — ARET 03, 142. 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 (P242331) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
Related tablets
Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
A window into the world's first total state. The Ur III administration tracked every animal, every worker, every shekel — for a population in the millions. The level of paperwork was not exceeded until the modern era.