Position in chronology
SAA 14 020. Ninuayu Buys Three Slaves (ADD 0254)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (stamp seal impressions) (1) Mullissu-ummi, his maid (and) his 2 sons, in all 3 persons — (3) Ninuayu, eunuch of the king, has contracted and bought the people from Abdî for half mina of [silver] by the copper mina. (8) The money is paid [completely]. Those people are purchased and acquired. Any revocation, lawsuit, or [l]itigation is void. (r 1) [Whoe]ver breaks the contract, shall give [x] minas of silver to redeem the [people]. (r 4) [Witness] Abdi-Se. (r 5) Witness Šamaš-killanni. (r 6) Witness Nabû-šallim. (r 7) Witness Nabû-takilka-šatbi. (Rest destroyed)
Source: 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/P335201/
Why it matters
Transliteration
MÍ.dNIN.⸢LÍL⸣—AMA GÉME-šú / 02 DUMU-MEŠ-šú PAB 03 ZI-MEŠ / ú-piš-ma mURU.NINA.KI-a.a / LÚ.SAG—MAN UN-MEŠ TAv* IGI / mab-di-i / ina ŠÀ-bi 1/2 MA.NA [KUG.UD] / ina 01 MA.NA-e URUDU*-[MEŠ] / il-qi kas-pu [gam-mur] / SUM-ni UN-MEŠ šu-a-tú / zar-pu là-TI / tu-a-ru de-nu / ⸢DUG₄⸣.DUG₄ la-áš-šú / [man]-nu šá GIL-u-ni / [x] MA.NA KUG.UD SUM-an / [UN-MEŠ] ú-še-ṣa / [IGI] mab-di—se-eʾ / IGI mdUTU—ki-la-a-ni / IGI mdPA—šal-lim / IGI m⸢d*PA*⸣—UR-ka—ZI
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335201.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335201). 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/P335201/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.