Position in chronology
SAA 12 039. Fragment of Aššur-etel-ilani Grant (NARGD 20)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [NN, king of Assyri]a, e[xempted (from taxes) and] sealed [with his royal seal, which is not to be altered], and gave it [to NN, cohort commander of the chief eun]uch, the son of Babilayu. (r 4) The corn taxes [of these fields, ... and people shall not be collected, the straw taxe]s shall not be gathered. [These people] shall not be called up [for labour and corvée service or for the le]vy of the land; [they] are free [from quay, crossing and gate dues] on land or water; (r 8) [in all the temples ......]; [they are] fr[ee from "boat and cr]ossbar"; (Rest destroyed)
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/P336265/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[mAN.ŠÁR—NIR.GÁL—DINGIR-MEŠ LUGAL KUR—aš-šur].⸢KI ú⸣-[zak-ki-ma] / [a-na mx x x x LÚ.GAL—ki-ṣir ša LÚ.GAL]—⸢SAG⸣ DUMU m⸢KÁ.DINGIR.RA.KI-a⸣.a / [ina NA₄.KIŠIB LUGAL-ú-ti-šú ša la šu-un-né-e] ik-nu-uk-ma id-din-⸢šú⸣ / [ša A.ŠÀ-MEŠ x x x x x x x x x x] ŠE.nu-sa-ḫi-ši-na / [la in-na-su-ḫu ŠE.IN.NU-ši]-⸢na⸣ la iš-šab-ba-⸢áš⸣ / [ù UN-MEŠ šu-a-tu-nu ina il-ki tup-šik-ki di]-⸢ku⸣-ut KUR la ir-red-du-⸢ú⸣…
Scholarly note
Royal grant, decree or gift inscription of the Neo-Assyrian period, edited by Laura Kataja & Robert Whiting (SAA 12, 1995). ORACC text P336265.
Attribution
Image: BM 098647 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336265). 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/P336265/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.