Position in chronology
SAA 14 109. Mušezib-Nabu Buys a Vacant Lot (*637) (ADD 0351)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 14(1) Seal of Ša-ili-tazzaz, son of Nabû-nadin-ahhe, owner of the vacant lot being sold. (stamp seal impressions) (5) A lot, 5 cubits long and 5 cubits wide adjoining the house of Mušezib-Nabû, adjoining the house of Nabû-mar-šarri-uṣur, adjoining a wall, and adjoining the house of Dadî — (11) Mušezib-Nabû has contracted and bought it for [......]. (r 2) [The money is p]aid [completely]. [Tha]t [vacant lot] is purc[hased and acquired]. (r 5) [Month ..., ...th day], eponym year of [Za]baba-eriba. (r 6) [Witness] Ṣalmu-ahhe. (r 7) [Witness] Bel-abu'a. (r 8) [Witness ...]ru. (r 9) [Witness ...]kiri, baker. (r 10) [Witness ...]-zaqip. (r 11) Witness Ahu-eriba. (r 12) Witness Ahu-lamur. (e. 1) Witness Nabû-balassu-iqbi. Witness Ilu-šezib.
State Archives of Assyria, volume 14 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
NA₄.KIŠIB mša—DINGIR—ta*-za-⸢az*⸣ / A mdPA—SUM—PAB-MEŠ / É kaq-qir pu-ṣe-e / SUM-an-ni / kaq-qir 05 ina 01 KÙŠ GÍD.DA / ⸢05*⸣ ina* 01 KÙŠ DAGAL / gab-di É mmu-še-zib—dPA / gab-di É mdPA—A—MAN—PAB / gab-di BÀD gab-di / É mda-di-i / ú-piš-ma mmu-še-zib—dPA / ina ŠÀ-bi [x x x x] / il-qí* [kas-pu gam-mur] / ⸢ta⸣-din [x x x x] / [šu-a]-tú* pat*-[(x) x]+⸢x⸣ / [x x x x x] lim-me m⸢d?⸣[za?]-⸢ba₄?-ba₄⸣—SU…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335295.
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/P335295/..
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/P335295/.
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.