Position in chronology
SAA 14 077. Aduni-ih’a Lends Three Homers of Wheat (660-II) (ADD 0148)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) 3 homers of wheat according to the Judean seah, belonging to Aduni-ih'a, at the disposal of Attar-suri, servant of Padî. (6) He shall pay it in its original amount in the month of Elul in Nineveh. (r 2) If he does not pay, it shall increase 5 seahs per homer. (r 4) Month Iyyar (II), (eponym year of) Gir-Ṣapunu. (r 5) Witness Abi-ummi. (r 6) Witness Issar-tazi. (e. 1) Witness Bir-Šamaš. (e. 2) 2 harvesters.
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/P335099/
Why it matters
Transliteration
03 ANŠE ŠE.GIG o* / ina GIŠ.BÁN ša* KUR.ia-ú-di / ša ma-du-ni—iḫ*-a* / ina IGI ma-tar—su-ri / ARAD* ša mpa-di-i / ina ITI.KIN a-na SAG.DU-šá / ina URU.ni-nu-a SUM-an / šúm-mu* là SUM-ni / a-na 01* ANŠE 5(bán) GAL-a* / ITI.GUD mgi-ri—ṣa-pu-ni / IGI ma-bi—um-me / IGI m15—ta-a-zi / IGI mbir—dšá-maš / 02 LÚ.ŠE.KIN.KUD
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335099.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335099). 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/P335099/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.