Position in chronology
SAA 14 261. Purchase of an Estate of 60 Hectares (ADD 0410)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) An estate of 60 hectares [...] (2) the best part of the town Ki[...] — [NN has purchased and acquired] from Nashur-[..., from] Remut-ili (and) from [...], for 3 mi[nas of silver], (6) adjoining the road that [leads] to [...], (7) adjoining the border [...], (8) adjoining the road that [leads] to [...]. (9) The money is pa[id] completely, [that field] is purchased and acquired. Any re[vocation, lawsuit, or liti]gation is v[oid]. (Break) (r 4) [Witness NN, ch]ariot driver. (e. 1) Witness Ubru-Adad, [...] scribe. (e. 2) Witness Sallim-Ea, [...] scribe. (e. 3) Witness Bel-emuranni, [...].
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/P335353/
Why it matters
Transliteration
É 60? ANŠE [x x x x x] / SAG URU.ki-⸢x⸣+[x x ú-piš-ma mx x x] / TAv pa-an mNÍGIN—[x x x TAv pa-an] / mrém-ut—DINGIR TAv ⸢pa⸣-[an x x x] / ina ŠÀ-bi 03 MA.[NA KUG.UD il-qe] / SUḪUR KASKAL ša a-na [x x x DU-u-ni] / SUḪUR ta-ḫu-me [x x x x x] / SUḪUR KASKAL ša a-na ⸢x⸣+[x x x DU-u-ni] / kas-pu ga-mur ta-[din A.ŠÀ šú-a-tú] / za-rip laq-qi ⸢tu⸣-[a-ru de-nu] / [DUG₄].⸢DUG₄ la⸣-[aš-šú x 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 P335353.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) ? — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335353). 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/P335353/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.