Position in chronology
Subartu 02, 089
About this tablet
A small clay account tablet from Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada) in northeastern Syria, written about 2350 BCE, in the Semitic administrative dialect used in that region. It records barley issued as fodder for the donkeys of the local ruler over a two-day period, plus a smaller allotment charged to a man named Il-e-i-šar, with the entries dated by two month-names. Tablets like this are how the palace at Nabada kept track of feeding the draft and chariot donkeys that were the backbone of transport and prestige in an early Syrian city-state — bookkeeping so routine that it survives in dozens of near-identical copies.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Filed under Lu-geš-DU. Month of Utu: 7 gur, 7 barig and 3 ban of barley issued as feed for the ruler's donkeys, covering two days. Fifteen teams. A further 2 gur of barley as feed, booked to Il-e-i-šar. Month of Beli-ZI: 8 barig and 4 ban. In short, a two-month fodder ledger for the palace donkey herd, with the quantities recorded to the exact measure.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineLu-geš-DU. In the month Utu: 7 gur 7 barig 3 ban2 of barley, fodder for the donkeys of the ruler, for 2 days. 15 (work-teams). 2 gur of barley, fodder — (for) Il-e-i-šar. In the month Beli-ZI: 8 barig 4 ban2.
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
lu2-gesz-DU in# iti-sar utu 7(asz@c) gur 7(barig@c) 3(ban2@c) sze gu7# ansze en in 2(disz@t) u4 1(u@c) 5(asz@c) <erin2> 2(asz@c) gur sze gu7 il2-e-i-szar in iti-sar be-li2-ZI 8(barig@c) 4(ban2@c)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — Subartu 02, 089. 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, Der-ez-Zor, Syria (P227268) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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