Position in chronology
SAA 06 227. Silim-Aššur Buys a Boy (675-XII-l) (ADD 0186)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 6(1) Seal of Ilu-ereš, owner of the boy being sold. (blank seal space) (3) Aya-ṭuri, servant of Ilu-ereš — (5) Silim-Aššur has contracted and bought him for 30 shekels of silver. (6) The money is paid completely. That boy is purchased and acquired. Any revocation, lawsuit, or litigation is void. (9) Whoever in the fut[ure], at any t[ime, lodges a com]pl[aint] (Break) (r 1) Witness Sin-ila'i. (r 2) Witness Eriba-[Adad]. (r 3) Witness Abdî. (r 4) Witness Atanha-šamaš. (r 5) Witness Adad-nagi. (r 6) Witness Natunu. (r 7) Witness Rahimî. (r 8) Witness Issar-na'id. (r 9) Witness Marduk-šumu-uṣur, scribe. (r 10) Month Adar (XII), 1st day, eponym year of Nabû-ahhe-iddina, chief treasurer.
State Archives of Assyria, volume 6 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
NA₄.KIŠIB mDINGIR—KAM-eš EN / TUR ta-da-a-ni / ma.a—⸢ṭu⸣-ri ARAD-šu ša / mDINGIR—KAM-eš ú-piš-ma / msi-lim—aš-šur ina ŠÀ 30 GÍN-MEŠ / KUG.UD TI-qí kas-pu gam-mur / ta-ad-din TUR šu-a-tú za-rip / TI-qí tú-a-ru de-e-nu / DUG₄.DUG₄ la-áš-šú man-nu šá ina ur-[kiš] / [ina] ⸢ma⸣-[te]-⸢ma⸣ [i]-⸢za*-qu*⸣-[pa-an-ni] / IGI m⸢d30—DINGIR-a.a⸣ / IGI mSU—d[IM] / IGI mab-di-i [o] / IGI ma-tan-ḫa—d⸢UTU⸣ / IGI…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335136.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Theodore Kwasman and Simo Parpola , Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part I: Tiglath-Pileser III through Esarhaddon (State Archives of Assyria, 6), 1991. 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/P335136/..
Translation excerpted from Kwasman, T. & Parpola, S. 1991. Legal Transactions of the Royal Court of Nineveh, Part I: Tiglath-Pileser III through Esarhaddon. SAA 6. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa06/P335136/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The earliest historical document in human history.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.
Not the first law code, but the most complete and the most famous. Inscribed on a black diorite stele over two meters tall, displayed in a public place — law made visible, law made monumental.