Amarna letter EA 367, titled ''From the Pharaoh to a Vassal,'' is a medium-small, square

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets ( Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a sty ...

Amarna letter 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 ...

Endaruta Endaruta was the ruler of Achshaph-(''Akšapa'' of the letters), in the 1350- 1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Endaruta was the author of EA 223, ( EA for 'el Amarna'), of the letters. He is only referenced in two other letters EA 366 an ...

of Achshaph, (Akšapa of the letters), one of only about 10 letters of the el-Amarna corpus, that is from the Pharaoh of Egypt to his correspondent. (Two of the Pharaonic letters are lists, and not a 'letter' per se.) The letter is distinctive in that, 1- there are basically no spaces between 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 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-sh ...

signs, (lines 3, 4, 5 (end Para I scribe-line), and lines 6, 7, and 8), on the letter, and, 2- only a few

segue A segue (; ) is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next. The term is derived from Italian ''segue'', which literally means "follows". In music In music, ''segue'' is a direction to the performer. It means ''continue (the next ...

-spaces (sections with no signs, except at the end of some text lines – no segue spaces in the middle of the text, tablet obverse). And, some text extends to the right (the cuneiform starts at the left margin) into the right side of the clay tablet's pillow shaped thickness, and further into the reverse side, which would appear upside down in the text of the reverse. (See photo of

Amarna letter EA 9 Amarna (; ar, العمارنة, al-ʿamārnah) is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site containing the remains of what was the capital city of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Ph ...

, bottom right of reverse, (line 6 from obverse, upside-down).) EA 367 is about 3 in wide x 3.5 in tall, and is made of a dark clay. One trait of the letter is that the scribe uses some signs that have multiple alphabetic uses (

um (cuneiform) The cuneiform alphabetic um sign, also dup, tup, ṭup, and DUB, the Sumerogram (logogram), for Akkadian language "ṭuppu",Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh'', Glossary, pp. 119-145, ṭuppu, p. 144. (= the clay tablet ...

-for ''umma'' ("message-thus"), also ''ṭup'' (=to 'um') of ''ṭup-pa'' for "tablet"), and ''gáb'', for the

, "gabbu", ''all'' ("everything"), and where ''gáb'' is the same sign for ''káb'', in the spelling of some specific verbs. Letter EA 367 is one of the Amarna letters, about 300, numbered up to EA 382, mid 14th century BC, about

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 D ...

and 25? years later, correspondence. The initial corpus of letters were found at

Akhenaten 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 D ...

's city Akhetaten, in the floor of the

Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh The building known as the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh (also known as the Records Office) is located in the 'Central City' area of the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten, known as Amarna in modern times. The city was the short-lived capit ...

; others were later found, adding to the body of letters.

Text of EA 367

The following

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

text, and Akkadian is from

Rainey Rainey is a name of British-Irish origin. People with the surname * Bobby Rainey (born 1987), American National Football League player * Chuck Rainey (born 1940), American bassist * David "Puck" Rainey (born 1968), American reality TV personalit ...

, 1970, ''El Amarna Tablets, 359-379'': English: :(Line 1)--To Intaruta the ruler (man) (of) Akšapa :(2)--speak! Thus (says) The King: (i.e. Pharaoh) :(3)--Now this tablet (i.e. tablet letter) have I sent to you to speak :(4)--to you; and guard! — — may you be on guard over :(5)--the place(region) of the king that is assigned to you. (!) :(end Paragraph I,

scribal A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

-line) :(6)--Now, the king has sent to you :(7)--Hani son (of) Mairēya, :(8)--"chief of the stable" of the king in

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

; :(9)--and to what he says to you listen :(10)--very carefully lest the king find in you :(11)--an evil deed. Every word :(12)--that he says to you listen to it very carefully, :(13)--and carry (it) out explicitly. :(14)--And guard! guard! Do not be slack; :(15)--and be sure that you prepare in anticipation :(16)--of the king's archer troops plenty of food, :Reverse :(17)--(and) plenty of wine (and) everything else. :(18)--Now he will reach you :(19)--very, very quickly; :(20)--and he will cut off the head :(21)--of the enemies of the king. :(Para II-III scribal-line) :(22)--and may you be apprised that :(23)--the king is fine (well) like the "sun" :(24)--in "heaven"; his infantry (and) his chariotry :(25)--are very, very well indeed! Akkadian: :(Line 1)-- a- na ^IIn-Da- Ru-TÁ (amēl) LÚ ^uruAK- ŠA- PA :(2)-- qí- bil(bí)- ma um- ma

LUGAL Lugal ( Sumerian: ) is the Sumerian term for "king, ruler". Literally, the term means "big man." In Sumerian, ''lu'' "𒇽" is "man" and ''gal'' " 𒃲" is "great," or "big." It was one of several Sumerian titles that a ruler of a city-state coul ...

- MA :(3)-- a- nu- ma ṭup- pa a- na- a uš- te- bi- la- ku :(4)-- a- na ka- a- ša ù uṣ- ṣur lu- ú na- ṣa- ra- ta :(5)-- aš- ru

ša it- ti- ka :(end Paragraph I,

-line) :(6)-- a- nu- um- ma

um- te-eš-še- ra- ku :(7)--^I Ha- A- NI DUMU ^I Ma- i- Re- iYa :(8)--"^{lú

Lugh or Lug (; ga, label=Irish language, Modern Irish, Lú ) is a figure in Irish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a group of supernatural beings, Lugh is portrayed as a warrior, a king, a master craftsman and a savior.Olmsted, Ga ...}(akil tarbaṣi)( PA. TUR)" ša

i- na ^kur Ki- Na-aH-Hi (i.e.

) :(9)-- ù ša i- qáb--bá- ku ši- ma- aš-

šu The cuneiform šu sign is a common, multi-use syllabic and alphabetic sign for ''šu'', ''š'', and ''u''; it has a subsidiary usage for syllabic ''qat''; it also has a majuscule-(capital letter) Sumerogram usage for ŠU, for Akkadian language ...

:(10)--damqiš(SIG₅^iš)

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

-níš la- a i-kaš- ša-dak- ku :(11)--

ar- na a- wa- ta gáb-bá :(12)-- ša i- káb--bá- ku ši- ma- aš-

damqiš(SIG₅^iš)

-níš :(13)-- ù e- pu-uš damqiš SIG₅^iš)

-níš :(14)-- ù uṣ- ṣur ṣ ṣur la- a tá- mé-ek- ki :(15)-- ù lu- ú

- ra-tá a- na pa- ni :(16)--ṣābē( ERIM.^meš) pí- ṭa- ti

akalu( NINDA("bread, loaf")) ma- a- ad :Reverse :(17)--karānu( GEŠTIN) gáb-- bu mi- im- ma :(18)-- a- nu- um- ma i-kaš- ša-dak- ku :(19)--ar-hi-iš ar-hi-iš :(20)-- ù i- na-ak- ki-ís qaqqad(SAG^ad) :(21)-- a- ia-bé- e ša

:(Para II-III scribal-line) :(22)-- ù lu- ú ti- i-dì i- nu- ma :(23)-- ša- lim

ki- ma ^d

UTU Utu (dUD "Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. ...

- aš :(24)-- i- na ^ANsa- me- e ṣābē( ERIM.^meš)-

^gišnarkabātu( GIGIR^meš) :(25)-- ma- a- du ma- gal ma- gal šul- mu

Obverse photo, EA 367, ''The Ancients in Their Own Words''

A recent historical overview book (Kerrigan, 2009), ''The Ancients in Their Own Words'', presents 104, steles, monuments, personal items, etc. (example the Kilamuwa Stela of King Kilamuwa). Each bi-page, opens to the next item (208 pages for 104 items). The Amarna letters cover one of these bi-pages with a historical discussion of the Amarna letters'

text corpus In linguistics, a corpus (plural ''corpora'') or text corpus is a language resource consisting of a large and structured set of texts (nowadays usually electronically stored and processed). In corpus linguistics, they are used to do statistical ...

. One photo occurs, the obverse of EA 367, where the entire compact text can be seen; the only

space, occurs at the end of Paragraph I (line 5), with the scribe line below separating Para I from Paragraph II. The photo sits next to a letter text, a 'free-form, non-linear translation' (2009?) of a letter from Gintikirmil's mayor, Tagi to the Pharaoh; the letter is Amarna letter EA 264, titled ''The Ubiquitous King''.

External links

KC Hanson English language letter clay tablet letter translation–Note, some English words represent multiple clay tablet characters, and may not be in ''sequential character-to-character'' order, and are meant to represent the meaning of the intent of the letter.

References

*Kerrigan, 2009. ''The Ancients in Their Own Words,'' Michael Kerrigan, Fall River Press, Amber Books Ltd, c 2009. (hardcover. ) * Moran, William L. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, ) * Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian

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 with ...

'', Parpola, Simo, Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, c 1997, Tablet I thru Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages. *

, 1970. ''El Amarna Tablets, 359-379,'' Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, ''Alter Orient Altes Testament 8'', Kevelaer and Neukirchen -Vluyen), 1970, 107 pages. {{Louvre Museum Near East and Middle East antiquities of the Louvre Amarna letters Canaan

Text of EA 367

Obverse photo, EA 367, ''The Ancients in Their Own Words''

See also

External links

References