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Giš (cuneiform)
The cuneiform giš sign, (also common for is, iṣ, and iz), is a common, multi-use sign, in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', the Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. It also has a major usage as a sumerogram, GIŠ, (capital letter (majuscule)) for English language ''"wood"'', and is used as a determinative at the beginning of words, for items made of wood. The 12 Chapters (Tablets) of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' lists 16 named items beginning with ''"GIŠ"''. For ''giš''/(''is/iz/iṣ'') in the construction of words it is used syllabically for ''giš'', and syllabically for the three other constructs; also for ''eṣ/ez''. Besides "giš", it can alphabetically be used for: ''e'', ''i'', ''s'', ''ṣ'', or ''z''. ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' sign usage The usage numbers for ''giš'' in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' are as follows: ''eṣ''-(2) times, ''ez'', (3), ''giš'', (1), ''is'', (46), ''iṣ'', (77), ''iz'', (17), and ''GIŠ'' (355) times. Epic words with determinative ''GIŠ'' T ...
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Sumer Gis
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. Like nearby Elam, it is one of the cradles of civilization, along with Egypt, the Indus Valley, the Erligang culture of the Yellow River valley, Caral-Supe, and Mesoamerica. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, a surplus of which enabled them to form urban settlements. The world's earliest known texts come from the Sumerian cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and date to between , following a period of proto-writing . Name The term "Sumer" () comes from the Akkadian name for the "Sumerians", the ancient non- Semitic-speaking inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia.Piotr Michalowski, "Sumerian," ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages." Ed. Roger D. Wooda ...
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B024 Hittite Ka
B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It represents the voiced bilabial stop in many languages, including English. In some other languages, it is used to represent other bilabial consonants. History The Roman derived from the Greek capital beta via its Etruscan and Cumaean variants. The Greek letter was an adaptation of the Phoenician letter bēt . The Egyptian hieroglyph for the consonant /b/ had been an image of a foot and calf , but bēt (Phoenician for "house") was a modified form of a Proto-Sinaitic glyph adapted from the separate hieroglyph Pr meaning "house". The Hebrew letter bet is a separate development of the Phoenician letter. By Byzantine times, the Greek letter came to be pronounced /v/, so that it is known in modern Greek as ''víta'' (still written ). Th ...
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Amarna Letter EA 19
Amarna letter EA 19 is a tall clay tablet 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, about 300, numbered up to EA 382, are a mid 14th century BC, around 1386 BC and 45 years later, correspondence. The initial corpus of letters were found at Akhenaten's city Akhetaten, in the fl ...
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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 and southeast Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) with Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni, linguistic and political influences. Since no histories, royal annals or chronicles have yet been found in its excavated sites, knowledge about Mitanni is sparse compared to the other powers in the area, and dependent on what its neighbours commented in their texts. The Hurrians were in the region as of the late 3rd millennium BC. A king of Urkesh with a Hurrian name, Tupkish, was found on a clay sealing dated at Tell Mozan.Salvini, Mirjo. "The earliest evidences of the Hurrians before the formation of the reign of Mittanni." Urkesh and the Hurrians Studies in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen. Urkesh/Mozan Studies Bibliotheca Mesopotamic ...
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Tushratta
Tushratta ( Akkadian: and ) was a king of Mitanni, 1358–1335 BCE, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III and throughout the first half the reign of Akhenaten. He was the son of Shuttarna II. Tushratta stated that he was the grandson of Artatama I. His sister Gilukhipa (Gilu-ḫepa in Hurrian) and his daughter Tadukhipa (Tadu-ḫepa in Hurrian) were married to the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III; Tadukhipa later married Akhenaten, who took over his father's royal harem. He had been placed on the throne after the murder of his brother Artashumara. He was probably quite young at the time and was destined to serve as a figurehead only, but he managed to dispose of the murderer. A tablet was found in a Mitanni building at Tell Brak which stated it was witnessed "in the presence of Tushratta, the king" and had a seal of an earlier king Shaushtatar on the reverse, which was a common practice. Name Recorded in three distinct spellings—, , —Tushratta's name is an Akkadian ...
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City-state
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, Carthage, Athens and Sparta and the Italian city-states during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, such as Florence, Venice, Genoa and Milan. With the rise of nation states worldwide, there remains some disagreement on the number of modern city-states that still exist; Singapore, Monaco and Vatican City are the candidates most commonly discussed. Out of these, Singapore is the largest and most populous, and is generally considered to be the last real city-state left in the world, with full sovereignty, international borders, its own currency, a robust military, and substantial international influence in its own right. ''The Economist'' refers to it as the "world's only fully functioning city-state". Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a ...
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Vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. The rights and obligations of a vassal are called vassalage, while the rights and obligations of a suzerain are called suzerainty. The obligations of a vassal often included military support by knights in exchange for certain privileges, usually including land held as a tenant or fief. The term is also applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies. In contrast, fealty (''fidelitas'') was sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch. European vassalage In fully developed vassalage, the lord and the vassal would take part in a commendation ceremony composed of two parts, the Homage (feudal), homage and the fealty, including the use of Christian sacraments to show its sacred importance. According to Eginhard's brief description, ...
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Amarna Letter EA 364
Amarna letter EA 364, titled ''Justified War,'' is a clay tablet letter from Ayyab, ruler of Aštartu, to Pharaoh Akhenaten (1350s–1330s BC). It is one of the Amarna letters, 382 in total, dating from Amarna letters#Chronology, c. 1360 – c. 1332 BC. The initial Text corpus, corpus of letters were found at the city of Akhetaten, Amarna, founded by Akhenaten, in the floor of the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh. The letter is a reply to the pharaoh referring to a letter from the pharaoh's messenger Tahmassi. In it, Ayyab, ''governing-man'' (often—("who/which"-(ša (cuneiform), ša))-"LÚ (man Sumerogram), man, URU (city Sumerogram), city")-Ashteroth Karnaim, Aštartu, who is in control of one of the city-states in Canaan, is stating his commitment to guarding the city (and the region), after three cities in the region were taken in attacks by Habiru raiders. The tablet measures about 4 in x 2.3 in and is in relatively pristine condition. Because of its narrowness, each l ...
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Ayyab
Ayyab was a ruler of Aštartu (present day Tell Ashtara) south of Damascus. According to the Amarna letters, cities/city-states and their kings in the region — just like countries to the north, such as History of the Hittites, Hatti of the Hittites, fell prey to a wave of attacks by ʿApiru raiders. The Amarna correspondence Text corpus, corpus covers a period from 1350 BC, 1350–1335 BC. Another ruler of Aštartu cited in the Amarna letters is Biridašwa. The letters do not clearly indicate their title, leading some scholars to describe them as kings of Damascus (Dimašqu) while others believe they were high Egyptian officials, possibly mayors.Wayne Thomas Pitard''Ancient Damascus: A Historical Study of the Syrian City-State from Earliest Times Until Its Fall to the Assyrians in 732 B.C.E.''Eisenbrauns, 1987. p. 67. Ayyab's letter EA 364 Ayyab is the author of only one letter to the Ancient Egypt, Egyptian pharaoh, letter EA 364-(EA (el Amarna), EA for 'el Amarna'). Title: ' ...
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ša (cuneiform)
The cuneiform ša sign is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for ''ša'', and an alphabetic sign used for ''š'', or ''a''; it is common in both the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters. Besides ''ša'' usage in word components of verbs, nouns, etc., it has a major usage between words. In Akkadian, for English language ''"who"'', it is an interrogative pronoun; in the Akkadian language as ''ša'', (as "that", "what"; ("that (of)", "which (of)"), in English it used for ''who, what, which, etc.''. Ša, and Ka, the stroke differences The difference in the construction of the signs ''ka'' and ''ša'' are as follows: "ka" when scribed in the Amarna letters often shows the distinctiveness of the right section of the sign, versus the left section. For ''ša'', the right section is constructed with two wedge strokes (one scribed above the other), between the two verticals, at right. For ''ka'', the right side mostly, in the Amarna letters ...
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Ka (cuneiform)
The cuneiform ka sign is a common, multi-use sign, a syllabic for ''ka'', and an alphabetic sign used for ''k'', or ''a''; it is common in both the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' over hundreds of years, and the 1350 BC Amarna letters. Cuneiform "ka" is nearly identical to a similar 'mid-size' to larger cuneiform sign, ša (cuneiform); because both ''ka'', and ''ša'' have two separate specific uses, once these usage sites are identified on a specific Amarna letter, for example, the difference between the two can be followed. Cuneiform ''ka'' has a secondary use as the pronoun suffix, ''-yours''. For Ayyab's letter, EA 364 (pictured), after addressing the Pharaoh, part of the ''Introduction'', is to state ''"...Servant-yours, ...."'' Specifically, Ayyab is from one of the vassal states/city-states/towns in Canaan, thus the relationship to the Pharaoh in the Amarna letters often state a relationship of being the Pharaoh's servant. This is dramatically juxtaposed against the Amarna let ...
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ARAD (servant Sumerogram)
ARAD, (also ÌR or NITÁ) is the capital letter-(majuscule) Sumerogram for the Akkadian language word ''"ardu"'',Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh'', Glossary, pp. 119-145, p. 121, ardu, for "servant". for ''servant''. It is used especially in the introduction to the Pharaoh: for example ''"To King, Lord-mine (of Gods(pl)-mine, Sun-god-mine), message thus Xxxxxx, "Servant-yours"''-(271). It is also used extensively in Amarna letter texts, the author, usually the "man of a city", (or scribe), where there is a constant reminder that he is a "servant", or "servant-yours"-(of the Pharaoh). Many letters are giving city-state status reports, but many are also requesting help with the Egyptian army troops-(Archers (Egyptian pitati), supplied by the Pharaoh). Epic of Gilgamesh The cuneiform character for ARAD, ÌR, and NITÁ: in the Epic of Gilgamesh is used in the following numbers: ARAD-(2), ÌR-(2), and NITÁ-(2) times. It is used numerous times in the Am ...
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