Position in chronology
SAA 06 062. Bahianu Loans 4 Homers of Barley (696-V-18) (ADD 1159)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) 4 homers of barley — (2) Garruṣu has taken it as a loan from Bahianu. (r 1) Month Ab (V), 18th day, eponym year of Šulmu-beli.
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/P335941/
Why it matters
Transliteration
04 ANŠE ⸢ŠE⸣.PAD-MEŠ / ⸢m⸣ga-ru-ṣu / TAv IGI mba-ḫi-a-ni / ina pu-u-ḫi ÍL-ši / ITI.NE UD 18*-KÁM / lim-mu mDI-mu—EN
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335941.
Attribution
Image: BM 099027 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335941). 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/P335941/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.