Position in chronology
Subartu 02, 090
About this tablet
A small round accounting tablet from Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada) in north-eastern Syria, written around 2400 BCE in the mixed Sumerian-Semitic scribal system used there. It records an official visit: the 'lord' arrived, stayed three days, and the palace had to feed his donkey teams — twelve teams plus two individual animals — at a cost of 1 gur 3 barig of barley. Beydar produced one of the largest Early Dynastic archives in Syria, and the bulk of it is exactly this: fodder issued to donkeys, the trucks and taxis of the third millennium. Documents like this one let historians reconstruct travel, hospitality and the logistics of power across the Khabur plains.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
Record of the lord's visit, dated to the crescent-day of Belim. He arrived and remained three days. Feed issued for his transport animals: twelve donkey teams, plus two additional donkeys. Total barley consumed: 1 gur 3 barig. A short expense note from the palace storehouse, closing out the cost of putting up a visiting dignitary and his animals.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineCrescent-day(?) of Belim: the lord (en) came; three(?) days he stayed. Donkeys: 12 teams, 2 donkeys — barley consumed: 1 gur 3 barig.
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
u4-sar be-lim en ba#-gen# 3(disz@t)#? u4# al-tusz ansze 1(u@c) 2(asz@c) erin2 2(asz@c) ansze sze gu7 1(asz@c) gur 3(barig@c)
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Ebla (ca. 2350-2250 BC)) — Subartu 02, 090. 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 (P227269) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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