Position in chronology
SAA 06 105. Aplaya Buys an Estate of 30 Hectares (690-XII-9) (ADD 1152)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Instead of their seals they impressed their fingernails. (fingernail impressions) (3) Fingernail of Šamaš-yada', fingernail of Danunî, owners of the land being sold. (5) An estate of 30 hectares of land, a house in its entirety, [a wa]di, a well, a house, a courtyard, orchards, [......] (9) [......] Nabû-nammir (Break) (r 1) Witness [......]. (r 2) Witness Yahuṭu. Witness Abi-sun[...]. (r 3) Witness Mannu-ki-metina. Witness Ahu-iddina. (r 4) Witness Šimanu. Witness Habil-ken. (r 5) Witness Lu-ahi. A total of 9 witnesses. (r 6) Witness Issaran-mesi. Witness Adad-kašir. (r 7) Witness…
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/P335934/
Why it matters
Transliteration
ku-um NA₄.KIŠIB-šú-nu ṣu-⸢pur-šú⸣-nu / iš-kun / ṣu-pur mdšá-maš—ia-da-aʾ / ṣu-pur mda-nu-ni-⸢i⸣ o* / EN A.ŠÀ ta-dan-a-ni / É 30 ANŠE A.ŠÀ É a-na gi-mir-ti-šú / ⸢na*-ḫal* PÚ É TÙR⸣ GIŠ*.SAR*-MEŠ / [x x x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x x x x m]⸢d⸣PA—ZÁLAG-ir / IGI md⸢x⸣+[x x]+⸢x x x⸣+[x x] / IGI mia-ḫu-u-⸢ṭu⸣ IGI mAD—ÚR*-⸢x⸣+[x] / IGI mman-nu—ki—me-ti-i-na IGI mPAB—⸢AŠ*⸣ / IGI mši-ma-a-nu…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335934.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Theodore Kwasman and Simo Parpola , Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part I: Tiglath-Pileser III through Esarhaddon (State Archives of Assyria, 6), 1991. Lemmatised by Melanie Groß, 2010–2011, as part of the FWF-funded research project "Royal Institutional Households in First Millennium BC Mesopotamia" (S 10802-G18) directed by Heather D. Baker at the University of Vienna. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P335934/..
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/P335934/.
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.