Position in chronology
SAA 14 349. (no title) (ADD 1174+)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [...], son of Aissi, (2) [...] Arihi, (3) [...], son of N[aṣ]anni, (4) [...]i, smi[th ...], (5) [...], son of [NN], (6) [...]..., [NN], (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/P335955/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x] DUMU ma-is?-si / [x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ma-ri-ḫi / [x x x] DUMU m⸢na?-ṣa?⸣-an-ni / [x x x]-i LÚ.⸢SIMUG⸣ [x x] / [x x x] ⸢DUMU*⸣ m*d*[x x x x] / [x x x x] ⸢x⸣ m[x x x x] / [x] u [x x x x x] i ma [x] / [x] ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x] ⸢um?⸣ [x] / [x] ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x x] / [x] ⸢x⸣+[x] ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x]-aš
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335955.
Attribution
Image: BM 099115 + BM 099120 (British Museum, London, UK) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335955). 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/P335955/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.