Position in chronology
SAA 14 471. Manageress Lends Barley (ADD 0137)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) 200 barley, capit[al], belonging to the harem manageress of [...], at the disposal of Il-amara, chie[f of granaries]. (4) In the month of Ab (V), [...] (5) in Dur-Šarruken [...] (stamp seal impressions) (6) he shall give [...] (Break) (stamp seal impressions) (r 1) [[Witness]] (r 2) Witness Terik-[...]. (r 3) Witness Šarru-ila'[i, ...]. (r 4) Witness Qur[di-...]. (blank space of one line) (r 5) Month Tam[muz (IV), ...]th [day, eponym year of ...]. (r 6) Witness Nabû-ašare[d, ...]. (stamp seal impressions)
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/P335088/
Why it matters
Transliteration
02 me ŠE.PAD-MEŠ SAG.⸢DU⸣ / ša MÍ.šá-kín-tu ša [x x x] / ina IGI mDINGIR—a-mar LÚv.⸢GAL⸣—[kar-ma-ni] / ina ŠÀ-bi ITI.NE ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / ina URU.BÀD—MAN—GIN [x x x] / [x x] ⸢x⸣ SUM-an / <$IGI$> / IGI mte-rik—[x x] / IGI mLUGAL—⸢DINGIR*-a*⸣.[a x x x] / IGI mqur*-[di*—x x x] / ITI.⸢ŠU⸣ [UD x]-KÁM [lim-mu mx x x] / IGI mdPA—šá*-⸢rid*⸣ [x x x]
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335088.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335088). 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/P335088/.
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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The earliest historical document in human history.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.