Position in chronology
SAA 02 004. Accession Treaty of Esarhaddon (JCS 39 187)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 2(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [...... t]ower[s ...] I shall tell [...] to [... and] trav[ellers, I shall send messengers] to the south and [the north ...]. (r 4) Should I he[ar an ug]ly word about him [from the mou]th of his progeny, [should I hear it] from the mouth of one of the magnates or [governors], [from the mouth of one o]f the bearded or from the mouth of [the eunuchs], I will tell it to Esarhaddon, my lord; (r 8) I [will] be [his servant] and speak good of him, I [will be] loyal to him and [... the fa]ce of Esarhaddon my lord, [...]; (r 10) I will [keep] the oath [of this treaty…
State Archives of Assyria, volume 2 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x x x x]-⸢lu-ni⸣ [x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x] ⸢i⸣-si-⸢ta⸣-[te x x x]+⸢x⸣ a-na ⸢LÚ⸣.[x x x] / [x x x a-na a]-⸢lik⸣ ḫu-li a-qab-bi [x x x x a]-na ZAG ⸢ù⸣ [KAB a-šap-par] / [ù šúm-ma a-na]-⸢ku⸣ a-bat-su la ⸢de-iq-tú⸣ [TAv pi]-i NUMUN-šú a-šam-mu-[u-ni] / [ú-la-a šúm-ma] TAv pi-i ša 01-en ⸢TAv⸣ [ŠÀ] ⸢LÚ⸣.GAL-MEŠ [LÚ.NAM-MEŠ] / [TAv pi-i 01-en] ⸢TAv⸣ ŠÀ LÚ.šá—ziq-ni ú-la-a TAv pi-⸢i⸣…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian treaty or loyalty oath, edited by Simo Parpola & Kazuko Watanabe (SAA 2, 1988). Binding agreement invoking divine sanction. ORACC text P314346.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Simo Parpola and Kazuko Watanabe, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths (State Archives of Assyria, 2), 1988. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2016, as part of the research programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair in the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at LMU Munich (Karen Radner, Humboldt Professorship 2015). The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P314346/..
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. & Watanabe, K. 1988. Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths. SAA 2. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa02/P314346/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history.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.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.