Position in chronology
SAA 06 348. Remanni-Adad Buys Slaves (ADD 0297)
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Remanni-Adad has contracted and bou]ght them [from] Il-ta[kâ, the ... of] Esaggil [for x minas of silver]. (3) The mone[y is pa]id [completely]. [Those] people [are pur]chased and ac[quired. Any revocation, la]wsuit, or litiga[tion is void]. (7) [Who]ever in the fut[ure breaks the contract], whether Il-tak[â or his sons] or grandsons, [and seeks a law]suit or liti[gation] against Remanni-Adad, shall return [the mon]ey ten[fold to its owner. He shall contest] in [his] law[suit] and not suc[ceed]. (r 3) Witness Zarutî, [chariot driver] of the pri[nce]. (r 5) Witness Haba[sti, chief porter]. (r 6) Witness Sin-na'id, [...]. (r 7) Witness Ṣil[laya, merchant]. (r 8) Witness Adad-[......]. (Rest destroyed)
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/P335242/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[TAv IGI m]⸢DINGIR—ta⸣-[ka?-a LÚv.x x x] / [ša] ⸢É*⸣.SAG.⸢ÍL*⸣ [ina ŠÀ x MA.NA KUG.UD] / [il]-qi kas-⸢pu⸣ [gam-mur] / ⸢ta⸣-din UN-⸢MEŠ⸣ [šu-a-tu] / [za]-ar-pu ⸢la⸣-[qi-u tu-a-ru] / ⸢de⸣-e-nu DUG₄.[DUG₄ la-áš-šú] / [man]-nu ša ina ⸢ur⸣-[kiš GIL-u-ni] / lu-u mDINGIR—ta-⸢ka?⸣-[a lu-u DUMU-MEŠ-šú] / lu-u DUMU—DUMU-MEŠ-šú ša [TAv mrém-an-ni—dIM] / [de]-⸢e⸣-nu DUG₄.[DUG₄ ub-ta-u-ni] / [kas]-⸢pu⸣ a-⸢na⸣…
Scholarly note
Neo-Assyrian legal transaction at the royal court of Nineveh, edited by Theodore Kwasman & Simo Parpola (SAA 6, 1991). ORACC text P335242.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P335242). 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/P335242/.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.