Position in chronology
SAA 06 226. Silim-Aššur Rents an Estate (676-X-12) (ADD 0629)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Seal of Hanan, owner of the land being sold. (blank seal space) (3) An estate of 3 hectares of cultivated land according to the seah of 10 'litres,' exempt land in the town of Hatâ, adjoining the side road to Šur[i ...], the road to Šur[i ...], and the field of Puṭ[i...], the commander-of-fifty — cul[tivated] land with no corn taxes — (11) Silim-Aššur, the [...], has [contracted and] bought it for 1/2 mina 4 shekels [of silver]. (13) He shall have the usufruct of it for years. [He shall enjoy it for] 4 crop years and 4 fallow years. (15) (When) he comp[letes] his cultivation, he (i.e.…
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/P335544/
Why it matters
Transliteration
⸢NA₄⸣.KIŠIB mḫa-na-⸢nu⸣ / EN A.ŠÀ SUM-ni / É 03 ANŠE A.ŠÀ ma-az-ru-⸢te⸣ / ina GIŠ.BÁN šá 10 qa A.ŠÀ za-ku-te / i-na URU.ḫa-ta-a / SUḪUR AMA šá URU.šu-⸢ri*⸣ [x x] / SUḪUR KASKAL šá URU.šu-⸢ri*⸣ [x x] / SUḪUR A.ŠÀ šá mpu-ṭi-[x x] / LÚ.GAL—50 A.ŠÀ ina ⸢ma⸣-[az-ru-te] / la ŠE.nu-sa-ḫi ú-[piš-ma] / msi-lim—aš-šur LÚ.šá—[x x x] / ina ŠÀ 1/2 MA.NA 04 GÍN-[MEŠ KUG.UD] / TI-qí a-na MU.AN.⸢NA⸣-[MEŠ] / KÚ…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335544.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335544). 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/P335544/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.