Position in chronology
SAA 12 079. Fragment of a Decree? (NARGD 53)
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 12(1) [NN, ..., mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria, overseer]; [son of NN, mighty king], king [of the world, king of Assyria, overseer]; [son of NN, migh]ty [king], king [of the world, king of Assyria, likewise overseer]. (4) [......], the chosen one [of Enlil ...]. (Space with a royal seal impression) (Rest destroyed)
State Archives of Assyria, volume 12 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
[x x x LUGAL dan-nu LUGAL ŠÚ LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI PA-lum] / [x x x LUGAL dan-nu] ⸢LUGAL⸣ [ŠÚ LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI PA-lum] / [x x x LUGAL dan]-nu LUGAL [ŠÚ LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI PA-lum] / [x x x] ⸢am-ru⸣ ni-iš [IGI.2-MEŠ dEN.LÍL x x x]
Scholarly note
Royal grant, decree or gift inscription of the Neo-Assyrian period, edited by Laura Kataja & Robert Whiting (SAA 12, 1995). ORACC text P336289.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P336289). source
Translation excerpted from Kataja, L. & Whiting, R. 1995. Grants, Decrees and Gifts of the Neo-Assyrian Period. SAA 12. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa12/P336289/.
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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.
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The earliest historical document in human history.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.