AmarnaLetterOfMarriageNegotiation-BritishMuseum-August19-08

Amarna letter EA 19 is a tall

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets ( Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a styl ...

letter of 13 paragraphs, in relatively pristine condition, with some minor flaws on the clay, but a complete enough story that some included words can complete the story of the letter. Entitled "Love and Gold", the letter is about gold from Egypt (gold mine production), love between father-king ancestors and the current relationship between the King of Mitanni and the Pharaoh of Misri (Egypt), and marriage of women from King Tushratta of Mitanni to the Pharaoh of Egypt. Besides the Double Line Ruling, for paragraphing (7 paragraphs on ''obverse''), an overwritten Single Line Rule is at clay tablet left margin, as well as cuneiform characters inscribed upon a vertical right margin line of Single Line Rule. (see left margin here

The

Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...

, about 300, numbered up to EA 382, are a mid 14th century BC, about 1386 BC and 45 years later, correspondence. The initial corpus of letters were found at

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth D ...

's city Akhetaten, in the floor of the

Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh The building known as the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh (also known as the Records Office) is located in the 'Central City' area of the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten, known as Amarna in modern times. The city was the short-lived capit ...

; others were later found, adding to the body of letters.

The letter

EA 19: ''Love and gold''

Letter three of thirteen between Tushratta and the Pharaoh of Egypt (named Misri in the letters). (Obverse only, Paragraphs I-VII): :(Para I, 1-8)–Say to Nimmureya, Great King, the king of Egypt (Misri), y

brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-famili ...

, my son-in-law, who loves me, and whom I lov Message of Tushratta, Great King,

our Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regulato ...

father-in-law, who loves you, the king of Mitanni, your

. For me all goes well. For you may all go well. For your household, for my sister, for the rest of your wives, for your sons, for your chariots, for your horses, for your ''warriors,'' for your country, and for whatever else belongs to you, may all go "very, very well"-(''"

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

-is,

-is"''). : :(Para II, 9-16)–As far back as the time of your ancestors, they always showed love to my ancestors. You yourself went even further and showed very great love to my father. Now, in keeping with our constant and mutual love, you have made it ten times-(Akkadian: '' a-na 10 šu''—"for ten times") greater than the love shown my father. May the gods grant it, and may Tessup, my lord, and Aman and Tessup, my lord, and Aman make ''flour sh' for evermore, just as it is now, this mutual love of ours. : :(Para III, 17-24)–When my

sent Mane, his messenger, saying, ("um-ma")-''"Send your daughter here to be my wife and the mistress of Egypt,"'' I caused my

no distress and ''immediately'' I said, ("um-ma")-''"Of course!"'' The one whom my

requested I showed to Mane, and he saw her. When he saw her, he praised her greatly. I will ''l a'' her in safety to my brother's country. May Shaushka and Aman make her the image of my

's desire. : :(Para IV, 25-29)–Keliya, my messenger, ''brou ht' my

's words to me, and when I heard (them), they were very pleasing, and I rejoiced very, very much, saying, ("um-ma")-''"'Certainly' there is this between us: we love each other.-(?!)"'' Now, with such words let us love (each other) forevermore. : :(Para V, 30-33)–When I wrote to my

, I said, (" um- ma")-''"Let us love (each other) very, very much, and between us let there be friendship."'' I also said to my

, ("um-ma")-''"May my

treat me ten times better than he did my father.''" : :(Para VI, 34-38)–I also asked my

for much gold-( KU3-SIG17. MEŠ), saying: (" um- ma")-''"May my

grant me more than he did by father and send it to me. You sent my father much gold. You sent him large gold jars and gold jugs. You se t himgold bricks as if they 'were (just) the equivalent of' copper.''" : :(Para VII, 39-42)–When I sent Keliya to my brother, I asked for

uch Uch ( pa, ; ur, ), frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf ( pa, ; ur, ; ''"Noble Uch"''), is a historic city in the southern part of Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexand ...

gold saying, ("um-ma")-''"May my

treat me en timesbetter than he did my father, and may he send much gold that has not been worked.''" –EA 19, Obverse, lines 1-42, mostly complete (minor lacunae, restored)

Gold, Akkadian language ''hurāṣu''

In letter EA 19, ' gold' is referenced 21 times. It is used in connection with other gift names in the closing paragraph, P. XIII, as examples: '1 gold goblet', and '19 pieces of gold, its centerpiece being of genuine lapis lazuli set in gold.' The entire list contains ten items, ending with: '10 teams of horses; 10 wooden chariots along with everything belonging to them; and 30 women (and) men.' The first mention of 'gold',

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic ...

''hurāṣu'', occurs on the obverse, EA 9 (photo above), in paragraphs VI and VII. Unlike EA 9 (from

Burna-Buriash II Burna-Buriaš II, rendered in cuneiform as ''Bur-na-'' or ''Bur-ra-Bu-ri-ia-aš'' in royal inscriptions and letters, and meaning ''servant'' or ''protégé of the Lord of the lands'' in the Kassite language, where Buriaš (, dbu-ri-ia-aš₂) is a ...

of Babylon) which just uses the sumerogram KUG.GI for 'gold' (sumerogram KUG.GI = ''hurāṣu''), EA 19 uses the plural form in some of the

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system, script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East, Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is nam ...

signs. For lines 34, 37, Para VI, and line 41, Para VII the form is KUG. GI. MEŠ. Of note KUG is used infrequently in the Amarna letters (Buccellati, 1979). ''GI'', or ''gi'' is used more commonly (probably mostly as a syllabic) in the Amarna letters (Buccellati, 143 times) An example of its Amarna letter usage is a letter from Jerusalem, stating intrigues of people and surrounding cities. It is used in Jerusalem letter

Amarna letter EA 289 Amarna letter EA 289, titled: ''"A Reckoning Demanded,"''Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. ''The Amarna Letters.'' EA 289, ''A Reckoning Demanded'', p. 332-333. is a moderately tall, finely-inscribed clay tablet letter, approximately 6.5 in tall, fr ...

, titled ''A Reckoning Demanded'', for the name of Tagi ( Ta- gi, first usage tablet obverse, line 11).

Photo links, including EA 19

British Museum image gallery for E29791, EA 19

Amarna letters (photos)

King of Babylon:

see: Karaduniyaš Tushratta:
EA 19-(Obverse)
Tushratta

with '' ''Black'' Hieratic''
Article
(

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

); see: Shaushka
EA 28-(Obverse)
see: Pirissi and Tulubri

Alashiya Alashiya ( akk, 𒀀𒆷𒅆𒅀 ''Alašiya'' -la-ši-ia uga, 𐎀𐎍𐎘𐎊 ''ẢLṮY''; Linear B: 𐀀𐀨𐀯𐀍 ''Alasios'' -ra-si-jo, also spelled Alasiya, also known as the Kingdom of Alashiya, was a state which existed in the Middle ...

letters
EA 34-(Obverse)
See: EA 34 Rib-Hadda letters:
EA 126-(Obverse)
See: Salhi (region)
#1: EA 153-(Obverse)#2: EA 153-(Obverse)-2nd
see: Abimilku Abdi-Tirši:
EA 228-(Obverse)//(228,330,299,245,252)
(EA 330, for Šipti-Ba'lu)
ArticlePic writeup

Biridiya Biridiya was the ruler of Megiddo in the 14th century BC. Biridiya authored five of the Amarna letters correspondence. The name 'Biridiya' is also mentioned in the corpus Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus ...

:
EA 245-(Obverse)EA 245-(Reverse)

Hannathon Hannathon, and of the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters, Hinnatuna, or Hinnatuni/Hinnatunu, is the Biblical city/city-state of Hannathon, (meaning: ''"the Gift of Grace"''); in the Amarna letters correspondence as ''Hinnatuna'', it is a site in southern ...

/'' Hinnatuna'' Labaya:
EA 252-(Obverse)
see Labaya Others:
EA 299-(High Res.)(Obverse)
see Yapahu
EA 369-Front/Back-(Click on each)
see:

Milkilu Milkilu, and more properly Milk-ilu, or Milku-ilu, with an alternate version of Ili-Milku (letter 286, by Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem), was the mayor/ruler of ''Gazru'' (Gezer) of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Adda-danu, and Yapah ...

Letters

*Letter: EA 147
EA 147-(Obverse)
*Letter: EA 153
#1: EA 153-(Obverse)#2: EA 153-(Obverse)-2nd

Articles

(

Sea peoples The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the Eastern Mediterranean, East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 Common Era, BCE).. Quote: ...

, Abimilku letter)

References

* Buccellati, Giorgio. ''Comparative Graphemic Analysis of Old Babylonian and Western Akkadian'', from ''Ugarit-Forschungen 8'', (Neukirchen-Vluyen). *

Moran, William L. William Lambert Moran (August 11, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American Assyriologist. He was born in Chicago, United States. In 1939, Moran joined the Jesuit order. He then attended Loyola University in Chicago, where he received hi ...

''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, {{ISBN, 0-8018-6715-0) * Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh'', Parpola, Simo,

Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project is an international scholarly project aimed at collecting and publishing ancient Assyrian texts and studies based on them. Its headquarters are in Helsinki in Finland. State Archives of Assyria State Archives ...

, c 1997, Tablet I thru Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages. *Ugarit Forschungen (Neukirchen-Vluyn). UF-11 (1979) honors

Claude Schaeffer Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher ...

, with about 100 articles in 900 pages. pp 95, ff, "Comparative Graphemic Analysis of

Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Camb ...

and Western Akkadian", ( i.e. Ugarit and

Amarna Amarna (; ar, العمارنة, al-ʿamārnah) is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site containing the remains of what was the capital city of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the ...

(letters), three others, Mari, OB,Royal, OB,non-Royal letters). See above, in text. Image:Cuneiform letter to Amenhotep III.jpg, ''Reverse'',
Para VIII-XIII,
Para VIII, lines 43-48, (6)
Para IX, lines 49-53, (5)
Para X, lines 54-58, (5)
Para XI, lines 59-70, (12)
Para XII, lines 71-79, (9)
Para XIII, lines 80-85, (6). File:AmarnaLetterOfMarriageNegotiation-BritishMuseum-August19-08.jpg, ''Obverse'',
Para. I-VII,
Para I, lines 1-8, (8)
Para II, lines 9-16, (8)
Para III, lines 17-24, (8)
Para IV, lines 25-29, (5)
Para V, lines 30-33, (4)
Para VI, lines 34-38, (5)
Para VII, lines 39-42, (4) Amarna letters Mitanni Middle Eastern objects in the British Museum