Position in chronology
SAA 06 196. Purchase of Slaves (681-VIII-14) (ADD 0279)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 6(1) Seal of Bel-Harran-k[uṣur]ani, owner of the people being sold. (two stamp seal impressions) (3) [At]ar-šumki, his servant, [......] — (5) [...]ni [has contracted] and bought them [from Be]l-Harran-[ku]ṣurani [fo]r 30 [minas of silver, by the mina of Carchemi]sh. (Break) (r 1) He shall contest [in his law]suit and not succeed. (r 2) [Witness] Kandalanu. (r 3) Witness Radimu. (r 4) Witness Haruṣâ. (r 5) Witness Bel-Harran-duri, singer. (r 6) Witness Il-gabbê. (r 7) Witness Nabû-ahu-uṣur. (r 8) Month Marchesvan (VIII), 14th day, [epon]ym year of Nabû-ahu-ereš, governor of Sam'al. (Aramaic caption: Deed of Atar-š[umki].)
State Archives of Assyria, volume 6 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
NA₄.KIŠIB mEN—KASKAL—⸢ku⸣-[ṣur]-⸢a*⸣-ni* / EN UN-MEŠ SUM-⸢ni⸣ / [ma]-⸢tar*—šúm*-ki*⸣ ARAD-šú / [x x x x x x x x] / [ú-piš-ma mx x x x]-⸢ni⸣ / [TAv IGI m]⸢EN—KASKAL⸣—[ku]-ṣur-a-ni / [ina ŠÀ] ⸢x⸣ 30* [GÍN KUG.UD] / [ina ša URU.gar-ga]-⸢mis*⸣ TI-[qí] / [ina*] de-ni-šú DUG₄.DUG₄-ma là ⸢TI⸣ / IGI mkan-dàl-a-nu / IGI mra-di-mu / IGI mḫa-ru-ṣa-a / IGI mEN—KASKAL—BÀD LÚv*.NAR / IGI mDINGIR—gab-e / IGI mdPA—PAB—PAB / ITI.APIN UD 14-KÁM / lim-mu mdPA—PAB—KAM-eš / LÚv*.GAR.KUR URU.sam-al-li
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335226.
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/P335226/..
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/P335226/.
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.