The

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

ia sign 𒅀, is a combined sign, containing i (cuneiform) ligatured with a (cuneiform); it has the common meaning in the suffix form ''-ia'', for the meaning of "-mine". In the Amarna letters, the letters written to the Pharaoh of Egypt (Mizri/Misri in the letters), the Pharaoh is often referenced as "Lord-mine", or especially: ''King-Lord-mine'': "My King, My Lord". In Akkadian, the form is "Šarru-Bēlu-ia"-(King-Lord-mine), since the spelling in some Amarna letters is sometimes ŠÁR- RI for Šarru, ( LUGAL = ŠÁR). ''Ia'' is also used in the ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

''. It is listed in Parpola's Glossary (Parpola, 1971), for

Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218–280 was an East Semitic language that is attested ...

words: meaning ''"mine"'', ''"(to) me"'', and ''"me"'', and one usage for the word "battering ram", ''iašubů''.

Amarna letter usage of "ia"

Besides the usage of

words beginning with ''ia'', the common examples of — ''iāši'', "(to) me", ''iāti'', "me", ''iā'u'', "mine", and ''iānu'', "there is not", (often ia- a- nu), "ia" is used in the ''Introduction Paragraph'', to the Pharaoh. The statement is often in the possessive form as a suffix, -ia-(''iYa''), starting at the very beginning of the letter, and sometimes repeated in lines to follow, or in later paragraphs: :"To ''"King-Lord-mine"'', God-(s)-mine, God-Sun-mine, (added "God-Sun from Sa-me"-(Akkadian "šamů", heaven))... Message Xxxxx (PN, personal name)...." The suffix form is common throughout all sections of the Amarna letters. Specific examples of the suffix form can be especially seen in letters from Alashiya, and Tushratta, the king of

Mitanni Mitanni (–1260 BC), earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, ; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or in Ancient Egypt, Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian language, Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria (region), Syria an ...

, (Tushratta letters EA 19, EA 26, and EA 28; Alashiya letter EA 35). In those letters, the suffix ''-ia'' is used especially with the word 'brother': "Brother-mine", the cuneiform for brother being used as the

sumerogram A Sumerogram is the use of a Sumerian cuneiform character or group of characters as an ideogram or logogram rather than a syllabogram in the graphic representation of a language other than Sumerian, such as Akkadian, Eblaite, or Hittite. Th ...

ŠEŠ (brother Sumerogram) The cuneiform ŠEŠ sign, as a capital letter (majuscule), is a Sumerogram for Akkadian language ''ahu,'' for "brother". It is the cuneiform sign for ŠEŠ (cuneiform), ŠEŠ, as it can be used for a variety of lower case syllabic values, u ...

, since šeš (cuneiform) in the

is also used for: ''sis'', ''šes'', ''šeš'', ''šiš'', and "ŠEŠ (brother Sumerogram)".

References

* Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ) * Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian

'', 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 of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and studies based on them. Its headquarters are in Helsinki in Finland. State Archives ...

, c 1997, Tablet I thru Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages. * Rainey, 1970. ''El Amarna Tablets, 359-379,'' Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, ''Alter Orient Altes Testament 8'', Kevelaer and Neukirchen -Vluyen), 1970, 107 pages. ---- File:Mesopotamian - Cylinder Seal with Human-Headed Griffin Attacking a Horse - Walters 42444.jpg, Impression in clay of "horizontal cuneiform" (requiring a reversed

'stencil' form on

cylinder seal A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in width, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...

). File:Mesopotamian - Cylinder Seal with Human-Headed Griffin Attacking a Horse - Walters 42444 - Side B.jpg, Mesopotamian

-(view Side B), with a "stamping form" for cuneiform signs, requiring the cuneiform text be inscribed "in reverse" to 'roll-stamp' the correct cuneiform direction. Cuneiform signs