Position in chronology
SAA 06 278. Šamaš-šallim Buys 35 Hectares of Land (674-X-25) (ADD 0383)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Seal of Nabû-le'i, owner of the land being sold. (stamp seal impressions) (3) An estate of 35 hectares of land in cultivation by the seah of 9 'litres' in the city of Sairu, adjoining Irṣiṣu, the field of Šamaš-šarru-uṣur, the field of Šamaš-šallim, and the fatteners — (9) Šamaš-šallim has contracted and bought (said property) for five minas of silver. (11) The money is paid completely. The land is purchased and acquired. Any revocation, lawsuit, or litigation is void. (14) Whoever in the future, at any time, breaks the contract, whether Nabû-le'i or his sons or brothers, and seeks a…
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/P335327/
Why it matters
Transliteration
NA₄.KIŠIB mdPA—ZU / EN A.ŠÀ SUM-a-ni / É 35 ANŠE A.ŠÀ ina ma-za-ru-te / ina GIŠ.BÁN ša 09 qa / ina URU.sa-i-ri SUḪUR mir-ṣi-ṣi / SUḪUR A.ŠÀ šá mdUTU—MAN—PAB / SUḪUR A.ŠÀ šá mdUTU—šal-lim / SUḪUR mu-sa-kil-a-te / ú-piš-ma mdUTU—šal-lim / ina ŠÀ 05 MA.NA KUG.UD TI / kas-pu gam-mur ta-din / A.ŠÀ za-rip la-qi tú-a-ru / de-e-nu DUG₄.DUG₄ la-áš-šú / man-nu ša ina ur-kiš ina ma-te-ma / GIL-u-ni lu…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335327.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335327). 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/P335327/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.