Position in chronology
SAA 14 468. Urdu-Inurta Buys 11 Hectares of Land in Huli (ADD 1185)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Instead of] his seal he impressed his fingernail. (2) [Fi]ngernail of Inurta-na'di, owner of the field being sold. (stamp seal impressions) (3) An estate of 2 hectares of land adjoining the field of [...] adjoining the road that le[ads] to Enati. (5) An estate of 1 hectare 6 decares of field adjoining Man[nu-ki-Adad], adjoining the field of Ṭab-bel. (6) An estate of 1 [hectare of field] adjoining Ter-dala, adjoining [NN], adjoining the steppe road. (8) An estate of 1 he[ctare of field] adjoining [...]..., adjoining [...]. (10) An estate of 5 decares of field in the wadi o[f ...]…
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/P335965/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[ku-um] ⸢NA₄⸣.KIŠIB-šú ṣu-pur-šú iš-kun-nu / ⸢ṣu⸣-pur mdMAŠ-i EN A.ŠÀ SUM-ni / É 02 ANŠE A.ŠÀ SUḪUR A.ŠÀ ša* [x x x] / SUḪUR KASKAL ša ina URU.IGI.2-MEŠ DU-[u-ni] / É 01 ANŠE 6(bán) A.ŠÀ gab-di mman-[nu—ki—dIM] / SUḪUR A.ŠÀ ša mDÙG.GA—d.EN É 01 [ANŠE A.ŠÀ] / gab-di mte-er—dal SUḪUR mDINGIR—⸢x⸣+[x x x] / gab-di KASKAL EDIN É 01 ⸢ANŠE⸣ [A.ŠÀ] / gab-di [x x]+⸢x-zu⸣ gab-di [x x x x x] / É 5(bán)…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335965.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Raija Mattila, Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part II: Assurbanipal Through Sin-šarru-iškun (State Archives of Assyria, 14), 2002. Lemmatised by Melanie Groß, 2010–2011, as part of the FWF-funded research project "Royal Institutional Households in First Millennium BC Mesopotamia" (S 10802-G18) directed by Heather D. Baker at the University of Vienna. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P335965/..
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/P335965/.
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.