Position in chronology
SAA 14 463. Purchase of Land (ADD 1242)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Instead of their seals they impressed their fingernail. (fingernail impressions) (2) [...] an estate of 4 hect[ares ...] (3) [...] the estate of Šamu[...]-ila'i (4) [...] in cultivation [...] (5) [...] vegetable [garde]n [......]... — (6) [NN] has contr[acted and] bought [...]... for [...] their [...] from [these men]. (9) The money [is pa]id [completely. ...] and field, house, garden, 2 wells [are purchased and] acquired. Any revocation, [lawsuit], or litigati[on is v]oid. (13) [Whoever] in the future, and at any t[i]me, [whether] these [men] or their sons (or) their [grandson]s or any…
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/P336005/
Why it matters
Transliteration
ku-um NA₄.KIŠIB-šu-nu UMBIN-šú-nu GAR-nu / [x x x]+⸢x⸣ É 04 ⸢ANŠE? x x x⸣ / [x x x]+⸢x⸣ URU.ša-mu-⸢x⸣—DINGIR-a.a [o] / [x x x] ina ma-⸢az-ru⸣-ti [x x x] / [x GIŠ].⸢SAR⸣ za-am-ri ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ e ú?-⸢piš⸣-[ma mx x x] / [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ tab ina ŠÀ-bi ⸢x⸣+[x] / [x x]-šú-nu TA IGI [LÚ-MEŠ-e] / [an-nu-te] il-qi kas-pu o* / [gam-mur ta]-⸢din*⸣ A.ŠÀ É GIŠ.SAR 02 PÚ-MEŠ / [zar-pu] TI-ú…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P336005.
Attribution
Image: BM 098539 + BM 098726 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336005). 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/P336005/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.