Position in chronology
SAA 14 010. The Lady Urkittu-tašmanni Buys a Girl (667-XI-2) (ADD 0315)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (blank seal space) (1) Nabû-ramat, their servant of 3 spans — (3) Urkittu-tašmanni has contracted and bought her for 9 shekels (of silver) from these men. (5) The money is paid completely. That girl is purchased and acquired. Any revocation, lawsuit, or litigation is void. (8) Whoever in the fu[ture], at any time, break[s the contract] (Break) (r 1) Witness [NN]. (r 2) Witness [NN]. (r 3) Witness [NN], [...]. (r 4) Witness Inurta-taklak, porte[r]. (r 5) Witness Nabû'a, scribe. (r 6) Month Shebat (XI), 2nd day, eponym year of Gabbaru, governor of Dur-Sin-ah[he-ri]ba.
Source: Mattila, R. 2002. Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part II: Assurbanipal through Sin-šarru-iškun. SAA 14. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa14/P335260/
Why it matters
Transliteration
MÍ.dPA—ra-mat GÉME-šú-nu / 03 ru-ṭu tu-piš-ma / MÍ.dur-kit—ḪAL-a-ni i-na ŠÀ / 09 GÍN-MEŠ <KUG.UD> TAv IGI LÚ-MEŠ o* an-nu-te / tal-qi kas-pu gam-mur ta-din / MÍ.TUR šu-a-tú zar-pat la-qi-at / ⸢tú*⸣-a-ru de-e-nu DUG₄.⸢DUG₄⸣ / la-áš-šú man-nu šá i-na ⸢ur⸣-[kiš] / ⸢i-na ma-te-ma GIL⸣-[u-ni] / [x x x x x] ⸢x x⸣ [x x x x x] / IGI [mx x x x x x x x] / IGI m⸢x⸣ [x x x x x x x x] / IGI m⸢x⸣ [x x x x x]…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335260.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Raija Mattila, Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part II: Assurbanipal Through Sin-šarru-iškun (State Archives of Assyria, 14), 2002. Lemmatised by Melanie Groß, 2010–2011, as part of the FWF-funded research project "Royal Institutional Households in First Millennium BC Mesopotamia" (S 10802-G18) directed by Heather D. Baker at the University of Vienna. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P335260/..
Translation excerpted from Mattila, R. 2002. Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part II: Assurbanipal through Sin-šarru-iškun. SAA 14. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa14/P335260/.
Related tablets
Related sources
One of the earliest specimens of human writing. Not literature, not law — accounting. The need to keep track of grain in a temple bureaucracy is what pushed marks-on-clay into a system that could one day carry epics.
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.