Position in chronology
SAA 06 139. Sin-šarru-uṣur, Prefect, Loans 4 Minas of Silver (693) (ADD 0032)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) 2 minas of silver, capital, belonging to Sin-sarru-uṣur, prefect, at the disposal of Ahû-eriba. (4) It shall bear interest by 4 shekels of silver per mina per month. (6) [He sa]id the other mina shall not bear interest. (7) Month [...], 12th [day], eponym year of Iddin-ahhe. (r 1) Witness B[el-em]uranni. (r 2) Witness Qu[rd]i-Harran. (r 3) Witness Šum[ma]-ahhe. (r 4) Witness Aššur-[al]ik-pani, prefect. (r 5) Witness Z[ar]utu. Witness Nabû-ahu-iddina.
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/P334984/
Why it matters
Transliteration
02 MA.NA KUG.UD SAG.DU / ša m30—MAN—PAB LÚv.GAR-nu / ina IGI mPAB-u—SU / 04 GÍN-MEŠ KUG.UD a-na 01 MA.NA / ša ITI-šú GAL-bi / ⸢ma*-a⸣ 01 MA.NA šá-ni-u la GAL-bi / ⸢ITI⸣.[x UD] 12-KÁM / lim-[mu m]AŠ—PAB-MEŠ / IGI m⸢EN*—IGI*⸣.LAL*-a-ni / IGI m⸢qur*-di?⸣—URU.KASKAL / IGI mBE*-[ma]—⸢PAB*⸣-MEŠ / IGI mdaš-šur—[a]-⸢lik*⸣—IGI LÚv.GAR-⸢nu⸣ / IGI m⸢NUMUN⸣-u-⸢tú⸣ IGI mdPA—PAB—AŠ
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P334984.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334984). 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/P334984/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.