Position in chronology
SAA 06 056. Šumma-ilani Buys a Boy (ADD 0319)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (seal impression) (1) [NN, ser]vant [of NN and ...]-ilišu — (3) [Š]umma-ilani [has contracted and] bought him [from] these men [for] 30 minas of copper. (6) The money is paid completely. That boy is purchased and acquired. Any revocation, lawsuit, or litigation is void. (10) Whoever in the future, [at] any time, lodges a complaint, whether these men or [their] sons [or grand]sons, and [seek]s [a lawsuit or litiga]tion [against Šumma]-ilani, [his sons] and grandsons, [shall pay] two minas of [silver to the god ... residing in ...]. (Break) (e. 1) Witness Mu[...], (e. 2) Witness [NN].
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/P335264/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[mx x x x x] ⸢ARAD⸣-šú-nu / [ša mx x x x x x x]—DINGIR-šu* / [ú-piš-ma m]⸢šum⸣-ma—DINGIR-MEŠ-ni / [ina ŠÀ] 30* MA.⸢NA⸣ URUDU-MEŠ / [TAv] IGI LÚ-MEŠ-e an-nu-te / il-qi kas-pu gam-mur / ta-din TUR šu-u-a-te / za-rip la-qi tu-u-a-ru / de-nu DUG₄.DUG₄ la-áš-šú / man-nu ša ina ur-kiš [ina] ma-te-ma / i-za-qup-an-ni lu-u / LÚ-MEŠ-e an-nu-te / lu-u DUMU-[MEŠ-šú-nu DUMU]—DUMU-MEŠ-šú-nu / [de-e-nu…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335264.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335264). 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/P335264/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.