Position in chronology
SAA 14 322. Land Lease (ADD 0633)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [... he]ctares [...] (2) [...] son [of ...] (3) [......] estate [...] (4) [has contracted and bought it for x] shekels of [silver]. (5) He shall have the usuf[ruct] of the field [for a number of y]ears. (6) He shall enjoy it [for x cr]op years. (7) [Whoeve]r transgresses shall pay [x] mina of silver. (r 1) [Witness] Nabû-eriba. (r 2) [Witness] Ahû'a-amur. (r 3) [Witness] Li-qipu. (r 4) [Witness] Ša-la-ili-mannu. (r 5) [Witness Z]ibbu. (r 6) [Witness A]hi-duri. (r 7) [Witness Ki-M]ama. (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/P335548/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x] ⸢ANŠE?⸣ [x x x] / [x x x x x x] DUMU? [x x x] / [x x x x x x x]-a.a É [x x x] / [x x x x x x] GÍN-MEŠ KUG.[UD il-qi] / [a-na MU].AN.NA-MEŠ ⸢KÚ⸣ / [x x me]-⸢re⸣-ši KÚ / [man-nu] ⸢ša⸣ i-bal-kàt-u-ni / [x] MA.NA KUG.UD i*-dan / [IGI] mdPA—SU / [IGI] mPAB-u-a—a-mur / [IGI] mli—qi-pu / [IGI m]šá—la—DINGIR—ma-nu / [IGI m]⸢zi⸣-ib-bu / [IGI m]⸢PAB⸣—BÀD / [IGI mki]—⸢ma⸣-ma
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P335548.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335548). 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/P335548/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.