Position in chronology
SAA 14 427. Inurta-šarru-uṣur Lends 15 Star-Patterned Birds (*627-II) (TIM 11 12)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) 15 sta[r(-patterned bird)s] belonging to Inurta-šarru-[uṣur], at the disposal of Nabû-[...]. (stamp seal impressions) (4) He has tak[en] them as a loan. (5) He shall give the sta[r(-patterned bird)s] back on the new moon day o[f the month ...]. (r 1) [I]f he does [no]t p[ay], they shall in[crease by the s]ame amount. (r 3) [Month] Iyyar (II), [...th day, epon]ym year of Marduk-šarru-uṣur. (r 5) [Wi]tness Šumma-Nabû. Witness [...]. (r 6) Witness Adi-mati-Nabû. Witness [...]. (r 7) Witness Pan-Nabû-[......].
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/P224954/
Why it matters
Transliteration
15 kak-kab-[nat?.MUŠEN?] / ša mdMAŠ—MAN—[PAB] / ina IGI mdPA—[x]-DU?-[x] / ina pu-u-ḫi it-ti-[ši] / ina SAG.DU DINGIR GIBIL ⸢ša⸣ [ITI.x] / ⸢kak⸣-kab-[nat?] ⸢SUM-an⸣ / [šum]-⸢ma⸣ la ⸢id⸣-[din] / [ana] ⸢mit⸣-ḫar i-[rab-bi] / [ITI].GUD [UD x-KÁM] / [lim]-me mdŠÚ—MAN—PAB [o] / ⸢IGI⸣ mšum-ma—dPA IGI [mx x x x] / IGI mEN—mat—dPA IGI [mx x x x] / IGI mIGI—dPA—⸢x⸣+[x x x x]
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Raija Mattila (SAA 14, 2002). ORACC text P224954.
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/P224954/..
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/P224954/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.