Position in chronology
SAA 06 241. Note of Two Camels Owed to Dannaya (674-VII-14) (ADD 0117)
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Two double-humped camels belonging to Dannaya, at the disposal of Yahuṭu, Ilu-kenu-[uṣur], and Adad-aplu-[iddina]. (7) They shall give the camels back on the 1st of [Marchesvan] (VIII). (r 2) If they do not give them, they shall pay 6 minas of silver. (r 3) Month Tishri (VII), 14th day, eponym year of Šarru-nuri. (r 5) Witness Siqi-Issar. Witness Šulmu-šarri. (r 6) Witness Adad-dan. (e. 1) [I]f they do not pay the silver, it will increase by 2 shekels per mina.
Source: 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/P335068/
Why it matters
Transliteration
02 ANŠE.A.<<A>>.AB.BA / ša 02-a.a kar-ru-u-ni / ša mdan-na-ia / ina IGI mia-ḫu-ṭu / ina IGI mDINGIR—GIN—[PAB] / ina IGI m10—A—[AŠ] / ina UD 01-KAM ⸢ša⸣ [ITI.APIN] / gam-mal id-du-[nu] / šúm-mu la id-din-nu 06 MA.NA / KUG.UD id-du-nu ITI.DU₆ UD 14-KAM / lim-mu mMAN—nu-ri / IGI msi-qi—d15* IGI mDI—MAN / IGI m10—KALAG-an / ⸢šúm⸣-mu KUG.UD là SUM / [o] 02 GÍN a-na 01 MA.NA / i-GAL*-bi
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335068.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335068). source
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/P335068/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.