Position in chronology
SAA 06 200. Purchase of a House (ADD 0337)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Seal of Šamaš-abu'a son of Kaki from Maganuba, owner of the house being sold. (cylinder seal impression) (4) [...] house, a barn (5) [...] water ... dung heap (6) adjoining the house of Bahianu and the house of Daniati-ilu, (8) a vacant lot 30 (cubits) long [...] in the town Maganuba (Break) (r 1) shall place [two minas of sil]ver and one mina of gold [in the lap of Mul]lissu, and shall tie [two] white [horses] to the feet of Aššur [residing in Ešarra]. [He shall con]test [in his lawsuit] and [not suc]ceed. (r 7) [Witness NN], chariot fighter of the lady of the house of the crown prince. (r 8) [Witness NN], son of [...]unu. (r 9) [Witness NN], son of Mari'. (r 10) [Witness NN, son of Ahu'a-eriba. (r 11) [Witness NN, ...] of Hatayate. (Rest destroyed)
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/P335281/
Why it matters
Transliteration
NA₄.KIŠIB mdUTU—AD-u-a / DUMU mka-a-ki ša URU.ma-ga-ni-⸢ib*⸣ / EN É ta-SUM-ni / ⸢x x⸣ É tal-pi-te / [x x x]+⸢x⸣ 01 A*-MEŠ bi il? kan na ki-qí*-il-te / [SUḪUR É] mba-ḫi-a-ni / [SUḪUR É] mda-ni-ia-ti—DINGIR / [kaq-qi-ri] ⸢pu*⸣-ṣe-e 30 GÍD*.⸢DA*⸣ / [x x x x ina] URU.ma-⸢ga⸣-[ni-ib] / [x x x x x x x x] di [x x x] / [02 MA.NA KUG].UD 01 MA.NA KUG.GI / [ina bur-ki d]⸢NIN*⸣.LÍL GAR-an / [02…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335281.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335281). 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/P335281/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.