Position in chronology
SAA 14 211. Remut-Adad Buys Land in the Village of Maṣi-ilu (ADD 0409)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [......] (2) [adjoining the f]ield of Sininu.., (3) [...] one exit, (4) [adjoi]ning the garden of Ahu-ittabši, (5) [...] of Ištar of Arbela (6) [...] ... (7) [...] threshing floor, field, (8) grazing land in the village of Maṣi-ilu — (9) Remut-Adad [has contracted and] bought them [for x mi]nas of silver. (11) [...] silver of his seal, [from ...]tê. (r 2) [The money] is paid [comp]letely. [...] house, threshing floor, [...], stone structure, (and) grazing land [are purchased and ac]quired. Any revocation, [lawsuit or litigation is void]. (r 6) Whoever in the future, [at any time, lod]ges a complaint, (Rest destroyed)
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/P335352/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x] nu [x x x] / [gab-di A].ŠÀ msi-⸢ni⸣-nu-⸢x⸣ / [x x x]+⸢x⸣ 01 mu-ṣu-u / [gab]-di GIŠ.SAR ša mPAB—tab-ši / [x x x x]-te ša d15 ša URU.arba-ìl / [x x x] É du*-gu-li* / [x x x] ad-ri A.ŠÀ.GA / [tab]-⸢ri*⸣-ú ina URU.ŠE—mma-ṣi—DINGIR / [ú-piš-ma] mrém-ut—dIM / [ina ŠÀ x x MA].NA KUG.UD-MEŠ / [x x x KUG].UD ša NA₄.KIŠIB-šú / [TAv IGI mx]+⸢x⸣-te*-e il-qi / [kas-pu gam]-mur SUM-ni / [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 P335352.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335352). source
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/P335352/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.