Position in chronology
SAA 14 144. Purchase of a Workroom (650?) (ADD 0342)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Seal of Ab[...], (2) seal of A[...], (3) owner of the workroom [being sold]. (stamp seal impressions) (Break) (r 1) [Witness ...]lâ, [...]. (r 2) Witness Bel-natan, [...]. (r 3) Witness Ululayu, [...]. (r 4) Witness Kutî, [...]. (r 5) Witness Amurrî, [...]. (r 6) Witness Susî. (r 7) Witness Nabû-šarru-uṣur. (r 8) Witness Nabû-eriba. (r 9) Witness Akkullanu, [...]. (r 10) Witness Sangû-Issar. (r 11) Witness (blank). (e. 1) [Month ..., xth day, eponym year of Bel-šad]u'a.
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/P335286/
Why it matters
Transliteration
NA₄.KIŠIB mab-[x x x] / NA₄.KIŠIB MÍ.a-⸢x⸣+[x x x] / EN É—ŠU.2-[MEŠ ta-da-ni] / [IGI mx x x]-la-a [x x x] / IGI mEN—na-tan LÚ.[x x x] / IGI mITI.KIN-a.a LÚ.[x x x] / IGI mku-ti-i LÚ.[x x x] / IGI mIM.04-i LÚ.[x x x] / IGI msu-si-i / IGI mdPA—MAN—PAB / IGI mdPA—SU / IGI mak-kul-la-nu LÚ.[x x x] / IGI mSANGA—15 / IGI mo* / [ITI.x UD x-KÁM lim-mu mEN?—KUR?]-u-a
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335286.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Raija Mattila, Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part II: Assurbanipal Through Sin-šarru-iškun (State Archives of Assyria, 14), 2002. Lemmatised by Melanie Groß, 2010–2011, as part of the FWF-funded research project "Royal Institutional Households in First Millennium BC Mesopotamia" (S 10802-G18) directed by Heather D. Baker at the University of Vienna. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P335286/..
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/P335286/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.