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 wedge-sha ...

ŠEŠ sign, as 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 writing ...

), is a Sumerogram for

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 ...

''ahu,'' for "brother". It is the cuneiform sign for

ŠEŠ 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, as it can be used for a variety of lower case syllabic values, using š + vowel + ...

, as it can be used for a variety of lower case syllabic values, using š + vowel + š, (or replacement s+vowel+s). Sumerogram ''ŠEŠ'' has a high usage in the mid-14th century BC, ~1350-1330 BC

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 ...

from the brother kingdoms to the Pharaoh's Egypt (Egypt named ''Mizri'' in the letters). The brother kingdoms were Babylon, Alashiya, and

Mittanni 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'' i ...

, where King

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 si ...

authored 13 El Amarna letters. The Sumerogram ''ŠEŠ'', and its syllabic uses (''sis'' through ''šiš'') are also found in the ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, 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 ...

'', with usage numbers as follows: ''sis''-(3 time), ''šes''-(6), ''šeš-(3), ''šiš''-(1), ''ŠEŠ''-(6). As an example of the high usage of sumerogramic use in the Amarna letters,

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 G ...

from

, for 13 paragraphs averages about three uses per paragraph, 40 uses of ''ŠEŠ'' in the entire letter. For letter EA 35 from the King of Alashiya, for a total of thirteen paragraphs, the Sumerogram is used 27 times.

Construction of the sign

The ''ŠEŠ'' sign is constructed by the addition of two wedges (an upper wedge positioned above a lower wedge), at the end of the cuneiform sign for "man",

LÚ (man Sumerogram) The cuneiform sign LÚ () is the sign used for "man"; its complement is the symbol for woman: '' šal'' (). Cuneiform ''LÚ'', (or ''lú'' as rendered in some texts) is found as a Sumerogram in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. It also has a common ...

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 and studies based on them. Its headquarters are in Helsinki in Finland. State Archives of Assyria State Archives ...

, c 1997, Tablet I through Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages. ---- Akkadian language Cuneiform signs, Amarna letters {{Semitic-lang-stub