Position in chronology
HSS 05, 055
Translation — curated editorial
EditorialEditorial entry — translation cited from: CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P393543.
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Middle Babylonian (ca. 1400-1100 BC)) — HSS 05, 055. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: SM 1998.02.034 (Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) — from Gasur/Nuzi (mod. Yorgan Tepe) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P393543). source
Translation excerpted from CDLI raw catalogue, no published translation. P-number P393543..
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history. Before this, we have lists, accounts, and dedications. Here, for the first time, a ruler tells us what happened — with names, places, and consequences.
The oldest surviving law code in human history. The principle that the state — not the wronged family — defines and enforces justice begins here.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.