Position in chronology
SAA 06 043. Šumma-ilani Loans Three Minas of Silver (684-I-10) (ADD 0019)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) 3 minas and 10 shekels of sil[ver] belonging to Šumma-ilani, at the disposal of Bel-ašared. (4) It shall increase by a fourth. (5) Witness Sin-zeru-ibni, 'third man.' (6) Witness Nabû-ahu-uṣur, royal bodyguard. (7) Witness Misu, scribe. (8) Witness Milkaya. (9) Witness Nabû-le'ani, 'third man.' (10) Month Nisan (I), 10th day, eponym year of Manzarnê.
Source: Kwasman, T. & Parpola, S. 1991. Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part I: Tiglath-Pileser III through Esarhaddon. SAA 6. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa06/P334971/
Why it matters
Transliteration
03* MA.NA 10 GÍN KUG.⸢UD⸣ / ša mšum-mu*—DINGIR-MEŠ-ni / ina IGI mEN—SAG.KAL / a-na 04-tú-šú i-rab-⸢bi⸣ / IGI md30—NUMUN—DÙ 03-šú / IGI mdPA—PAB—PAB LÚv.qur-bu-ti / IGI mme-i-su LÚv.A.BA / IGI mmil-ka-a.a / IGI mdPA—ZU-a-ni 03-šú / ITI.BARAG UD 10-KÁM / lim-me mman-za-ár-né-e
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P334971.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334971). source
Translation excerpted from Kwasman, T. & Parpola, S. 1991. Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part I: Tiglath-Pileser III through Esarhaddon. SAA 6. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa06/P334971/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.