Basic Metadata

NaBuCCo ID
1094
Museum No.
BM 32184
CDLI P-Identifier
Place of issue
Broken
Type and Content
Purchases
Archive
Egibi/Nūr-Sîn
Dossier
None
Period
NB
Year BCE
558
Editio princeps
Wunsch 2000

Content

Paraphrase
Purchase of land: revision and allocation of shares in the light of a previous contract.
The text begins by recalling a business deal that took place in Šabāṭ (XI) of Nebuchadnezzar’s 30th year, when A – governor of Babylon (šākin ṭēm Bābili) – purchased 23;2.3 Kor (137250 m2) of agricultural land (zēru) from B, through his proxy C (ina našpartu). It was a field in the open country (eqel ṣēri), consisting partly of a cultivated date garden (kirû gišimmarē zaqpi) bearing fruit (iṣṣi bilti), and partly of cultivated as well as newly cleared land (eqlu mērešu u taptû); the land was located above and below the New Canal, in front of the Enlil Gate in the district (pīhatu) of Babylon.
A payed 19 minas and 30 shekels of silver for this land; at the moment of the purchase, he sealed (kanāku) a document in which it was stated that if the field would have been found smaller or larger than what was originally calculated, the parties would satisfy each other’s claims (ahāmeš apālu ) in accordance with its price (kî mahīri). However, they never came nor measured the field.
The second half of the tablet, that records the new purchase and the consequences of the revision of the previous deal, is unfortunately severely damaged. One reads that, according to the king’s instruction, A, in his role of governor (šākin ṭēmūti) of the inhabitants of Babylon (mārē Bābili), had [...] and promised to the inhabitants of Babylon to give it (the field?) back [...].
Fifteen years after the first purchase, in the accession year of the king Neriglissar, D acquires (mahāru) this field (eqlu šuati), 23;2.3 Kor (137250 m2) of agricultural land (zēru), from A’s four sons E1, E2, E3 and E4. He pays 22 minas and 20 shekels of silver, and confirms that F owns a half share (ahi zitti ša F šakānu).
The rest of the tablet is too broken to allow a correct reconstruction of its contents: from what can still be read in the final clauses one infers that the full price has been received (eṭēru) and that there will be no opportunity to come back to the issue.  Names of 6 witnesses and 2 scribes.
The first half of this tablet refers to a purchase also recorded in BM32640+, BM48351 and BM41399.
 
A = Marduk-ēṭir/Marduk-zēru-ibni//Ēṭiru, šākin ṭemi of Babylon; B = Mušēzib-Bēl/Šamaš-unammir//Basia; C = Aplāya/Iqīša-Marduk//Sîn-nādin-šumi; D = Nabû-ahhē-iddin/Šulāya//Egibi; E1 = Marduk-šākin-šumi/Marduk-ēṭir//Ēṭiru; E2 = Iqīša-Marduk/Marduk-ēṭir//Ēṭiru; E3 = Nabû-bān-ahi/Marduk-ēṭir//Ēṭiru; E4 = Nabû-ēṭir-napšāti/Marduk-ēṭir//Ēṭiru; F = Nergal-ušallim/Šumu-iddin//Ile''i-Marduk
Transliteration
None
Babylonian Date (year-month-day):
Ner. yy-IX-dd

further information

Imported (Person, Date)
Stefania Ermidoro 20/12/2016
Legacy NaBuCCo ID
7190