Position in chronology
ARET 03, 279
About this tablet
A fragment of an administrative record from the palace archives of Ebla in western Syria, written around 2350 BCE. It logs disbursements of valuables — a metal plaque and fine textiles, including a multicoloured kilt — to named individuals, part of the vast bookkeeping system by which the Ebla palace tracked gifts and rations of cloth and metal. Thousands of such tablets were found burned in the palace ruins, and together they reveal the economy and personal names of one of the earliest urban states outside Mesopotamia.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is a torn page from a palace ledger. One entry issues a single metal plate — probably a gold plaque, weighed out as payment or gift — in connection with two men, Išma-zikir and Itium; the details around it are broken away. After a gap, another entry issues one fine garment and one multicoloured kilt to Adaginu and Addamadu. The rest of the tablet, including whatever came before and after these entries, is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine1 plate (of gold) ... [...] Išma-zikir Itium (Break) 1 fine (garment), 1 multicoloured kilt (íb-III textile): Adaginu Addamadu (Break — remainder lost)
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) _dib_ x [...] isz-ma2-zi-kir i-ti-um [...] 1(asz@c) _SAL_ 1(asz@c) _|IB2+3(DISZ@t)| dar tug2_ a-da-gi-nu ad-da-ma-du [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — ARET 03, 279. 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 (P242472) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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