Position in chronology
ARET 03, 286
About this tablet
A fragment of an administrative account from the palace archives of Ebla in western Syria, around 2400 BCE. It records the distribution of luxury textiles — cloaks, sashes, and fine garments, along with first-quality oil — to named individuals such as Enna-BE, Manuwad, and Banah. Thousands of such textile-disbursement records survive from Ebla; together they show how the palace used fine cloth as payment, gift, and diplomatic currency across northern Syria.
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's clothing ledger. Enna-BE and Manuwad received a set of garments — some aktum-cloths and a fine multicolored sash; a title or note follows their names but is damaged. Banah received one gu-dul garment, a multicolored sash, and a portion of top-grade oil, apparently in connection with a place or account called AN-ŠE-GU. The list continues with bulk items: twelve guzitum garments and double cloaks, fourteen of something now lost, one zara robe, and one further item before the tablet breaks off. The rest is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engine(obverse) [...] textiles, [n] aktum-garments, 1 fine multicolored belted sash: (for) Enna-BE (and) Manuwad, the GIŠ-DUG-DU(-official?) ... [...] 1 gu-dul garment, 1 multicolored belted sash, first-quality oil: (for) Banah (of/at) AN-ŠE-GU. 12 guzitum-garments (and) ʾa-da-um cloaks, 14 [...], 1 zara-garment, 1 ... [...] (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
[...] TUG2 [n] _aktum_ 1(asz@c) _|IB2+3(DISZ@t)| dar sa6 tug2_ en-na-BE ma-nu-wa-ad GISZ-DUG-DU x-[x] 1(asz@c) _gu-dul3_ 1(asz@c) _|IB2+3(DISZ@t)| dar tug2 i3-gesz sag_ ba-na-ah AN-SZE3-GU2 1(u@c) 2(asz@c) gu#-zi-tum# 'a3-da-um[] 1(u@c) 4(asz@c) [x x] 1(asz@c) _zara6#[]_ 1(asz@c) x [...]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — ARET 03, 286. 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 (P242479) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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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.