Position in chronology
ARET 03, 273
About this tablet
A fragment of an administrative tablet from the great palace archive of Ebla in western Syria, written around 2400–2300 BCE. It belongs to the vast textile bookkeeping of the Eblaite chancery: the standard three-piece outfit — a cloak, a tunic, and a fine multicoloured kilt — is being issued, here in connection with a group of 'brothers,' a son, and the town or person Ibal, together with fine oil (likely for anointing). Thousands of such records show how the Ebla court used garments and oil as formal gifts and payments binding people and towns to the palace.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a scrap of palace paperwork. It logs an issue of first-quality oil — the kind used for anointing the head — along with entries for 'his brothers' and a male son; a break in the tablet then swallows some lines. When the text resumes we are at Ibal, and the clerk records a standard clothing set handed out: one double-style ʾadaum cloak, one aktum tunic, and one fine multicoloured wrap-kilt. The rest of the record is lost where the tablet is broken.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our enginefirst-quality oil, (oil for) the head, his brothers, male son[(s)] [...] (break) Ibal. 1 ʾà-da-um cloak of double format, 1 aktum-tunic, 1 íb+III kilt, multicoloured, fine quality, [...] (break)
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
_i3-gesz sag_ _szesz-szesz_-su3 _dumu# nita_ [...] ib-al6 1(asz@c) 'a3-da-um 2(disz@t) 1(asz@c@90) _aktum_ 1(asz@c) _|IB2+3(DISZ@t)| dar sa6 tug2_ [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — ARET 03, 273. 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 (P242466) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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