Position in chronology
SAA 06 044. Envelope of the Preceding Text (684) (ADD 0020)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Se]al of Bel-ašared. 3 minas and 10 shekels of silver, capital, (blank seal space) (3) [bel]onging to Šummu-ilani, at the disposal of Bel-ašared. He has taken it as a loan. It shall increase by a fourth. (4) Witness Sin-zeru-ibni, 'third man.' (5) Witness Nabû-ahu-uṣur, royal bodyguard. Witness Misu, scribe. (6) Witness Milkaya. Witness Nabû-le'ani. (7) Witness Ya'lâ. (r 1) [Month Nisan (I), 10th day], eponym year of [Manzar]nê.
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/P334972/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[NA₄].KIŠIB mEN—SAG.KAL 03 MA.NA 10 GÍN o* KUG.UD SAG.DU / ⸢ša⸣ mšúm-mu*—DINGIR-MEŠ-ni / ina IGI mEN—MAŠ* a-na pu-u-ḫi it-ti-ši a-na 04-⸢tú⸣-šú / i-rab-bi IGI md30—NUMUN—DÙ LÚ.03.U₅ / IGI mdPA—PAB—PAB LÚ.qur-buti IGI mme-i-su LÚ.A.BA / IGI mmil-ka-a.a IGI mdPA—ZU-a-ni / IGI mia-aʾ-la-a / [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 P334972.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334972). 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/P334972/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.