Position in chronology
SAA 14 210. Nergal-ahu-uṣur Buys Land in Farmer Town (ADD 0413)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) An estate of 1 hectare [of land, adjoining the road that] leads [to GN]. (2) in all [......] (3) for 40 minas of copper [...] (4) on high ground, an estate of [...] (5) In all an estate of 7 hectares of land [......] for 72 minas of copper (6) All together [x hectares of] field in cultivation by the copper seah of 9 'litres,' a threshing floor, together with a house in Farmer Town — (9) Nergal-ahu-uṣur has [contra]cted and bought them from Ubru-šarri, for 200 (minas of) copper. (10) The money is paid completely. That field, house, and threshing floor are purchased…
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/P335356/
Why it matters
Transliteration
É 01 ANŠE [A.ŠÀ SUḪUR KASKAL ša a-na URU.x x x] / DU-u-ni PAB [x x x x x x] / ina ŠÀ-bi 40 MA.NA URUDU-[MEŠ x x x x x] / ina mu?-le-e É [x x x x x x] / PAB É 07 ANŠE A.[ŠÀ x x x x x] / ina ŠÀ-bi 72 MA.NA URUDU-MEŠ PAB-ma [x x x] / A.ŠÀ ma-za-ru-te ina GIŠ.BÁN ša 09 qa URUDU-[MEŠ] / ad-ru É i-se-niš ina URU.ENGAR-MEŠ / [ú]-⸢piš⸣-ma mdU.GUR—PAB—PAB TAv IGI mSUḪUŠ—LUGAL / ina 02 me URUDU-MEŠ il-qi…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335356.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335356). 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/P335356/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.