Position in chronology
SAA 06 101. Partial Duplicate of the Previous Text (ADD 0474+)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [in the town ...; Abdi-Ku]bu[bi, his wife and two sons, a total of 4 per]sons [belonging to Haruranu and Sal]ila[nu] — (4) [Aplaya has contracted and bou]ght (said property) from them [for x minas of silver]. (5) The money [is paid] comple[tely]. The tower together with the fie[lds and Abdi]-Kububi together with [his] people [are paid for, purchased and acquired]. Any revocation or litigation [is void]. (9) [Whoever] at any time in the [future] comes forward, whether Haruranu or Salilanu, whether they or their sons, grandsons, brothers or nephews, or a prefect,…
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/P335413/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[ina URU.x x x x mab-di—ku]-⸢bu⸣-[bi] / [MÍ-šú 02 DUMU-MEŠ-šú PAB 04 LÚv].⸢ZI-MEŠ⸣ / [ša mḫa-ru-ra-a-nu ù msa]-⸢li⸣-la-a-[nu] / [ú-piš-ma mDUMU.UŠ-a].⸢a⸣ TAv ŠU.2-šú-⸢nu⸣ / [ina ŠÀ x MA.NA KUG.UD] ⸢il⸣-qí kas-pu ⸢gam⸣-[mur] / [ta-din URU].⸢i*⸣-si*-tú a-di A.⸢ŠÀ⸣.[GA-MEŠ] / [mab-di]—ku*-bu-bi a-di UN-[MEŠ-šú] / [ap]-⸢lu*⸣ [zar-pu laq]-⸢qí⸣ tu-a-ru ⸢DUG₄*⸣.DUG₄ [la-áš-šú] / [man-nu] šá ina…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335413.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335413). 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/P335413/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.