Position in chronology
SAA 14 107. A Court Decision on Behalf of Aššur-šallim (*638-IV) (ADD 0163)
About this tablet
A Neo-Assyrian court record from the seventh century BCE, settling a dispute between two men, Aššur-šallim and Ṣalmu-aḫḫē, over a slave named Šulmu-ēreš. The case went before Šēp-šarri, the sartinnu — the Assyrian chief judge, one of the highest judicial officers of the empire — who assessed a payment of one and a half minas of silver; one mina was actually handed over, and the parties declared themselves at peace. A clause threatens anyone who reopens the matter with the wrath of the gods Aššur and Šamaš and a fine of ten minas of silver. Five witnesses and the scribe Nabû'a close the document, dated to the month of Du'ūzu in the eponym year of Aššur-gimilli-terre, around 638 BCE.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This is the settlement of a suit brought by Aššur-šallim against Ṣalmu-aḫḫē over Aššur-šallim's slave Šulmu-ēreš. The two men took their dispute to the chief judge, Šēp-šarri, who set the damages at one and a half minas of silver. Ṣalmu-aḫḫē paid Aššur-šallim one mina, and the parties are now reconciled. If either side reopens the case, the gods Aššur and Šamaš will prosecute him and he must pay ten minas of silver. Signed in the fourth month, in the year of the eponym Aššur-gimilli-terre, before the witnesses Libbusu, Nabû-aḫu-uṣur, Ubru-Nabû, Lā-qēpu and Il-qīsu; written by Nabû'a.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineLawsuit of Aššur-šallim with Ṣalmu-aḫḫē concerning Šulmu-ēreš, the servant of Aššur-šallim, about which they litigated. They brought (the case) before Šēp-šarri, the sartinnu (chief judge). The sartinnu imposed 1½ minas of silver. Ṣalmu-aḫḫē gave 1 mina of silver to Aššur-šallim. There is peace between them. (Whoever) breaks (this agreement) — Aššur (and) Šamaš shall be his adversary at law; he shall give 10 minas of silver. Aššur is his adversary at law. Month of Du'ūzu (IV), eponym year of Aššur-gimilli-terre (638*). Witness Libbusu. Witness Nabû-aḫu-uṣur. Witness Ubru-Nabû, (and) Lā-qēpu. Witness Il-qīsu. Nabû'a (scribe).
Our translation engine — Opus 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.
Engine notes
read from photo6 uncertain terms ↓
- LÚ.<sar>-tin / sartennu — A high judicial official; conventionally rendered 'prefect' in SAA 14 translations, but 'chief justice' or 'vizier' appear in older literature. The angled brackets indicate the sar sign is restored or partly damaged in the transliteration.
- mDI-mu—KAM-eš — Personal name read Šulmu-šarreš; DI-mu = šulmu ('well-being'), KAM-eš = šarreš ('the king'). The identification is standard for this corpus but the name element KAM-eš is unusual orthography.
- ⸢DI*-mu* ina* bir*⸣-tú*-šú-nu GIL-u-ni — Heavily damaged line; restoration based on standard Neo-Assyrian legal formulae 'should one reopen the lawsuit between them.' The asterisks and half-brackets indicate uncertain/damaged signs. The verb GIL (turru/šanû, 'to turn back/reopen') is conventional in such penalty clauses.
- mSUḪUŠ—dPA — Personal name; SUḪUŠ = išdu ('foundation/root'); read Ištarēnu or Išdu-Nabû depending on interpretation of SUḪUŠ logogram in this context. Uncertain whether SUḪUŠ should be read as Ištar-ēnu or Išdu-Nabû.
- mdPA-u-a — Final name in witness list; read Nabû-aya (or Nabû-ûa). The name may also be Nabûaya, a scribe's subscription. It is not entirely clear whether this is a final witness or the scribe's colophon.
- TAv* — Uncertain sign; possibly an abbreviated or defective writing of itti ('with/against'), indicating the opposing party. The asterisk flags that the sign form is irregular in the source.
Reasoning ↓
Visual examination of the photograph (British Museum tablet, scale bar confirming small Neo-Assyrian case-tablet ca. 4–5 cm): The image shows a multi-face photograph of a small pillow-shaped clay tablet with an envelope or case visible in the upper portion and a rectangular inner tablet below. The upper face of the case shows dense cuneiform wedges in several lines consistent with a Neo-Assyrian legal caption; large circular seal impressions are visible on the case face, partially obscuring the text. The lower rectangular piece (inner tablet) shows tightly packed Neo-Assyrian cuneiform in approximately 13–15 lines, legible in general structure but too small at this resolution to verify individual signs with certainty. Partial signs consistent with KUG.UD (silver determinatives) and personal name signs can be detected in the middle lines. The reverse and lower edge images confirm witness formulae lines. Photo/transliteration agreement is plausible but most individual signs cannot be verified at this resolution. The text belongs to the well-documented SAA 14 corpus of Neo-Assyrian legal documents from Aššur; ADD 163 (P335114) is a standard lawsuit-resolution record. The term 'sartennu' (LÚ.sartin) has been rendered 'prefect' following standard SAA practice; some scholars prefer 'chief justice'.
Generated by Claude Sonnet 4.6 · prompt 2026-05-11/v3-conventions · May 11, 2026 · 3394 in / 1183 out tokens
Transliteration
de-e-nu ša maš-šur—šal-lim / TAv* mṣal-mu—PAB-MEŠ / ina UGU mDI-mu—KAM-eš ARAD-šú / ša maš-šur—šal-lim / id-bu-bu-u-⸢ni⸣ / ina IGI mGÌR.2—MAN LÚ.<sar>-tin / iq-ṭar-bu 01 1/2 MA.NA KUG.UD / LÚ.<sar>-tin e-te-me-di / 01 MA.NA KUG.UD mṣal-mu—PAB-MEŠ / a-na maš-šur—šal-lim id-din / ⸢DI*-mu* ina* bir*⸣-tú*-šú-nu GIL-u-ni / aš-šur ⸢dUTU*⸣ EN de-ni-šú 10 MA.NA KUG.UD SUM-an / ⸢d*aš-šur⸣ EN—de-ni-šú / ITI.ŠU lim-mu maš-šur—ŠU—GUR / IGI mli-bu-su / IGI mdPA*—PAB—PAB / IGI mSUḪUŠ—dPA o* mla—qe-pu / IGI mil—qi-su / mdPA-u-a
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335114.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P335114). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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