Position in chronology
SAA 14 018. Ninuayu Buys a Slave (ADD 0182)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 14(1) [S]eal of Isbuṭu, son of Musallamu, gardener of the palace, owner of the man being sold. (seal impressions) (3) Šamaš-ila'i, bought slave, servant [o]f Isbuṭu, gardener of the palace — (5) Ninuayu, eunuch of the king, has contracted and [bou]ght him [for] one mina of silver by (the mina) of Carchemish. (7) The money is paid completely. That [man] is purchased and acquired. Any revocation, [la]wsuit, or litigation is void. (Rest destroyed)
State Archives of Assyria, volume 14 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
⸢NA₄⸣.KIŠIB mis-bu-ṭu A mmu-sa-la-mu / ⸢LÚ⸣.NU.GIŠ.SAR ša É.GAL EN LÚ ta-da-ni / [m]dUTU—DINGIR-a.a LÚ.ŠÁM ARAD-šú / ⸢ša⸣ mis-bu-ṭu LÚ.NU.GIŠ.SAR šá É.GAL / ú-piš-ma mNINA.KI-a.a LÚ.SAG—MAN / [ina ŠÀ] 01 MA.NA KUG.UD ina ša URU.gar-ga-mis / [il]-qi kas-pu gam-mur ta-din / [LÚ] šu-a-tú za-rip laq-qi tu-a-ru / [de]-e-nu DUG₄.DUG₄ la-áš-[šú]
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335132.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P335132). source
Translation excerpted from Mattila, R. 2002. Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part II: Assurbanipal through Sin-šarru-iškun. SAA 14. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa14/P335132/.
Related tablets
Related sources
An early example of administrative writing from Uruk. Its fragmentary numerical entries and commodity signs document record-keeping during the formative period of writing.
An early surviving historical monument that joins named rulers, a territorial dispute and religious oaths. It shows how a city-state turned victory into a lasting public claim, without establishing that this was the first recorded conflict.
Among the oldest surviving written law collections. It provides an early witness to royal justice and specified compensation, rather than a starting date for law itself.