Position in chronology
SAA 12 014. Fragment of Tiglath-Pileser III Land Grant (NARGD 07)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [These fiel]ds, buildings and pe[ople Tigla]th-Pileser (III), [king of Assyria, ex]empted (from taxes) and [gave to NN]. (r 4) The corn taxes of these fields and orchards [shall not be collected], the straw taxes shall no[t be gathered]. (r 7) [B]y Aššur, Adad, [Ber, the Assyrian Enlil] and the As[syrian] Ištar — future [prin]ce: [do not cast aside] the wording of [this] tablet. (r 10) [Month Marche]svan (VIII), 7th day, eponym year of Bel-[lu-dari, pre]fect of Till[ê] (730 B.C.).
Source: Kataja, L. & Whiting, R. 1995. Grants, Decrees and Gifts of the Neo-Assyrian Period. SAA 12. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa12/P336254/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[A.ŠÀ].⸢GA⸣-MEŠ É-MEŠ ⸢UN⸣-[MEŠ šu-na-tu-nu] / [mTUKUL]-⸢ti⸣—DUMU.UŠ—É.ŠÁR.⸢RA⸣ [LUGAL KUR—aš-šur] / [ú]-⸢zak⸣-ki-ma a-na md[x x x x x x id-din] / [ša A.ŠÀ].GA-MEŠ GIŠ.SAR-⸢MEŠ⸣ [ša-a-ti-na] / ⸢ŠE⸣.nu-sa-ḫi-ši-na [la i-na-su-ḫu] / [ŠE].IN.NU-ši-na ⸢la⸣ [iš-šab-ba-áš] / ⸢MU⸣ daš-šur dIM [dbe-er dEN.LÍL aš-šur.KI-ú] / ⸢d⸣IŠ.TAR ⸢aš⸣-[šu-ri-tu] / ⸢NUN⸣-ú EGIR-ú ša pi-i dan-ni-[te šu-a-tú la tú-šam-sak] / [ITI].⸢APIN?⸣ UD 07-KÁM lim-mu mEN—[lu—dà-ri] / [LÚ.GAR].KUR URU.til-[e?]
Scholarly note
Royal grant, decree or gift inscription of the Neo-Assyrian period, edited by Laura Kataja & Robert Whiting (SAA 12, 1995). ORACC text P336254.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336254). source
Translation excerpted from Kataja, L. & Whiting, R. 1995. Grants, Decrees and Gifts of the Neo-Assyrian Period. SAA 12. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa12/P336254/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.