The

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedg ...

sign ib, (or ip) is a common-use sign 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 ...

'', the Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. Its common usage is syllabic for ''ib'' (or ''ip''), or alphabetic for ''i'' or ''b''/''p''; the "i" is also exchanged for "e" when spelling specific words in 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 ...

. Cuneiform ''ib'' also can be found as

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 ...

''URTA'', (a 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 ...

)), and for example it is used in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' for the god's name:

Ninurta , image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png , caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from ...

, spelled ^DNIN.URTA.

''Epic of Gilgamesh'' usage

Cuneiform ''ib'' has other sub-uses in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. The following can be found: ''eb''--(4) times, ''ep''--(9), ''ib''--(114), ''ip''--(45), and ''URTA''--(4) times.

Similar cuneiform forms

The cuneiform ''ib''

character (no. 535) is built in a 'rectangular box form', sitting upon a long horizontal stroke. It contains the 2-verticals at right and 1-vertical at left. Three other signs are similarly built, cuneiform '' ur'' is the mirror image of "ib"/"ip", but with the two verticals at left. The "lu (cuneiform)" sign is identical to "ib", but instead of 1-short vertical in the center, ''lu'' contains 3-short verticals in the center. Another sign is similar to ''lu'', but has only 1-vertical, left and right,

ku (cuneiform) Ku, KU, or Kū may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Ku (fictional language), a constructed language created for the 2005 film The Interpreter * Esther Ku, a Korean-American comedian * Kumi Koda, Japanese pop star nicknamed Ku or Kuu * In an a ...

, and the Amarna letters is usually so compact, that hardly any of the individual strokes can be easily identified. Another sign is similar in this group to cuneiform '' ur'', but the center is replaced by 2 stokes, one angled down, and the other a wedge (at extreme right vertical), and is the ''

gáb The cuneiform sign gáb, (also qáb), is an uncommon-use sign of the Amarna letters, and other cuneiform texts. It is possibly an equivalent sign for the later version of DAGAL (extensive Sumerogram), , with '' an'', , replacing the earlier ...

'' sign. In the Amarna letters it is often used for English "all", or "all (of us)",

, ''gabbu''. (Amarna letters EA 153, EA 287, EA 288, and EA 267)

References

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 his ...

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 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. * 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:British Museum Room 10 cuneiform.jpg, Cuneiform ''ib''/''ip'', 7th row, middle cuneiform sign. Cuneiform signs