Position in chronology
SAA 06 265. A Court Decision on Behalf of Sangu-Issar (679-XII-10) (ADD 0161)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 6(1) Seal of Nabû-tariṣ, servant of Ṣapanu. (blank seal space) (3) He stole 4 persons, servants of Sangû-Issar. The latter took him before the vizier, who imposed upon him 210 minas of copper (as a fine). (6) In lieu of his fine, the copper, he has given .... (7) Whoever pays 210 minas of copper to Sangû-Issar shall redeem his servant. (9) Whoever violates the agreement, Aššur and Šamaš shall be his prosecutors. He shall place 10 minas of silver and 10 minas of gold in the lap of Mullissu. (13) Witness Nabû-eṭir, scribe of the [vi]zier. (14) Witness Ibašši-ilu, president of the court of Calah.…
State Archives of Assyria, volume 6 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
NA₄.KIŠIB mdPA—LAL-iṣ / ARAD ša mṣa-pa-nu / 04 ZI-MEŠ ARAD-MEŠ šá mSANGA—d15 / is-si-riq ina IGI LÚ.SUKKAL uq-ṭar-ri-ib-šú / 02 me 10 MA.NA URUDU-MEŠ e-te-mì-is-su / ku-um sa-ar-ti-šú URUDU-MEŠ TAv* SI* / it-ti-din man-nu 02 me 10 MA.NA URUDU-MEŠ / a-na mSANGA—d15 id-dan-u-ni / ARAD-šú ú-še-ṣa man-nu šá ib-bal-lak-kàt-u-ni / aš-šur ù dUTU EN—de-né-e-šú / 10 MA.NA KUG.UD 10 MA.NA KUG.GI / ina…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335112.
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/P335112/..
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/P335112/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.