Position in chronology
SAA 14 390. Fragment of a Conveyance Text (ADD 1277)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [...]...[...] (2) [Whoeve]r in the f[uture, at any time], lodges a [complaint and] see[ks a lawsuit or] litigation [against ..., his] sons (and) [his grandsons], (6) shall place [x minas of silver] (and) one mina of [gold in the lap of DN]. (9) [.....] (r 1) of [.....] (r 2) to Illil [...]. (r 3) Witness [......]. (r 4) Witness [......]. (r 5) Witness [......]. (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/P336034/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x] a ⸢PAB⸣ [x x x x x] / [man]-⸢nu⸣ šá ina* ⸢ur⸣-[kiš ina ma-te-ma] / ⸢i-zaq⸣-[qu-pa-ni de-nu] / DUG₄.DUG₄ [TA mx x x] / DUMU-MEŠ-[šú DUMU—DUMU-MEŠ-šú] / ub-ta?-[ʾu-u-ni x MA.NA KUG.UD] / 01 MA.NA [KUG.GI ina bur-ki ša dx] / GAR-an [x x x x x x] / za-[x x x x x x] / ša a-[x x x x x x] / ana dBE [x x x x x] / IGI m⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x] / IGI m⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x] / IGI m⸢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 P336034.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336034). 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/P336034/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.