ERIM is the capital letter-(

majuscule Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writi ...

)

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 or Hittite. Sumerograms are no ...

for the

Akkadian language Akkadian (, 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 is an extinct East Semitic language th ...

word ''

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

'', or "troops". The akkadian language word for army is ("ṣābu"-using s-dot, the special s); consequently the cuneiform character for ERIM is also equivalent to ''sab'', ''zab'', etc.-(also using s-dot). The cuneiform-compound for the enclosed use of the 'army' cuneiform character is the akkadian language word for ''battle'', or ''warfare'', akkadian "tāhāzu"-(also a sumerogram: MÈ-no. 098, Parpola). In the Yašdata letter with the place-name for

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 ...

, the

determinative A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they ma ...

is used at the beginning of the word battle, then tāhāzu is spelled ta-ha-(zu).

Epic of Gilgamesh

The cuneiform character for "army"-''sab'' is used 19 times in the

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, and is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins wit ...

tablets-(chapters). It is used only once as ''zab''; also only once as ERIM, for "armies" in Chapter XI, as ERIM-mesh(the plural), for "men, troops".

Amarna letter usage

In the

1350 BC Events and trends * c. 1356 BC – Amenhotep IV begins the worship of Aten in Ancient Egypt, changing his name to Akhenaten and moving the capital to Akhetaten, starting the Amarna Period. * c. 1352 BC – Amenhotep III ( Eighteenth ...

Amarna letters, the army sumerogram ERIM is used in the formulaic introduction to the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

of ancient Egypt-(mostly

Amenhotep IV 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 Dy ...

-''Akhenaten'', or his father Amenhotep III). The addressing is towards the 'good health'-

Shalom ''Shalom'' ( he, שָׁלוֹם ''šālōm''; also spelled as ''sholom'', ''sholem'', ''sholoim'', ''shulem'') is a Hebrew word meaning ''peace'', ''harmony'', ''wholeness'', ''completeness'', ''prosperity'', ''welfare'' and ''tranquility'' and ...

-(Akkadian language ''šālāmu''-"to be safe") of the list of pharaoh's charges, and near the end of the list his "troops", or armies are addressed: as ERIM-mesh; (mesh is the plural as "s", in the Akkadian language). The more notable kings used this formal introduction to the pharaoh, for example

Tushratta Tushratta (Akkadian: and ) was a king of Mitanni, c. 1358–1335 BCE, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III and throughout the reign of Akhenaten. He was the son of Shuttarna II. Tushratta stated that he was the grandson of Artatama I. His ...

Mitanni Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or '' Naharin'' ...

, the "King of

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 ...

"-(now known as the island

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

); also the king of Babylon,

Burna-Buriash 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 ...

; also

Kadashman-Enlil I Kadašman-Enlil I, typically rendered m''ka-dáš-man-''dEN.LÍL in contemporary inscriptions (with the archaic masculine determinative preceding his name), was a Kassite King of Babylon from ca. 1374 BC to 1360 BC, perhaps the 18th of the dyna ...

of Babylon. A more distinctive use of the army cuneiform character in the Amarna letters, is in the cuneiform-compound for the word 'battle', as a determinative in Amarna letter no. 245, concerning a story about Yašdata, with the subject being the

Habiru Habiru (sometimes written as Hapiru, and more accurately as ʿApiru, meaning "dusty, dirty"; Sumerian: 𒊓𒄤, ''sagaz''; Akkadian: 𒄩𒁉𒊒, ''ḫabiru'' or ''ʿaperu'') is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile Cr ...

man,

Labaya Labaya (also transliterated as Labayu or Lib'ayu) was a 14th-century BCE ruler or warlord in the central hill country of southern Canaan. He lived contemporaneously with Pharaoh Akhenaten. Labaya is mentioned in several of the Amarna Letters (abb ...

References

* {{cite book , author= Parpola, Simo, with Mikko Luuko, and Kalle Fabritius , title=The Standard Babylonian,

, publisher=The

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 ...

, year=1997 , isbn=951-45-7760-4 , id=(Volume 1) in the original Akkadian cuneiform and transliteration; commentary and glossary are in English

Epic of Gilgamesh

Amarna letter usage

References

See also