Position in chronology
SAA 06 055. Šumma-ilani Buys a Donkey Driver (ADD 0196)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (blank seal space) (1) Issar-tariba, donkey-driver, servant of Bel-ibni and Kiṣ[ir-...] — (3) Šumma-ilani has contracted and bought him from Bel-ibni and [Kiṣir-...] for 1 1/2 minas of silver by the (mina) of the king [...]. (6) The money is p[aid] comple[tely]. That man is purchased and acqui[red. Any revocation], lawsuit, or litigation is vo[id]. (9) Whoever in the future, at any ti[me], whether Bel-ibni o[r Kiṣir-...], or their brothers o[r ......] (Break) (r 1) Wi[tness ......]. (r 2) Witness [NN, ...] of [...]. (r 4) Witness Zer-ketti-lešir, [...]. (r 5) Witness Nuhšaya, [...]. (r 6) Witness [NN, scribe]. (Rest destroyed)
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/P335143/
Why it matters
Transliteration
md15—ta-SU LÚ.UŠ—⸢ANŠE⸣-[MEŠ] / ARAD ša mdEN—DÙ šá* mki-⸢ṣir*⸣—[x x] / ú-piš-ma mšum-ma—DINGIR-MEŠ ina ⸢ŠÀ⸣-[bi] / 01 1/2 MA.NA KUG.UD ina ša LUGAL ⸢ina*⸣ [x x] / TAv IGI mdEN—DÙ TAv IGI m[ki-ṣir—x x] / il-qí kas-pu gam-[mur] ta-[din] / LÚ šu-a-⸢tú⸣ za-rip laq-⸢qí⸣ [tu-a-ru] / de-e-nu DUG₄.DUG₄ la-áš-[šú] / man-nu šá ina ⸢ur⸣-kiš ina ⸢ma-te-e⸣-[ma] / lu-u mdEN—DÙ ⸢lu⸣-[u mki-ṣir—x x] / lu-u…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335143.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335143). 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/P335143/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.