The

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic writing system, script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East, Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is nam ...

as sign, also aṣ, and az, is found in both the 14th century 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 ...

and the '' Epic of Gilgamesh''. As ''as'' and ''az'' in the Amarna letters it appears identical in form in both Amarna letters EA 365, and EA 362. In the photo of the bottom half of

Amarna letter EA 365 Amarna letter EA 365, titled ''Furnishing Corvée Workers,'' is a squarish, mostly flat clay tablet, but thick enough (pillow-shaped), to contain text that continues toward the right margin, the right side of the obverse side, and also to the r ...

(subject

corvée Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year. Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...

farm work), it is used to name the workers as: LÚ- MEŠ-(plural)– ma-as-sà- meš-(plural), (amēlu-massu) In the Epic of Gilgamesh, (Tablets I-XII) it is used as follows: as, 26 times, aṣ, 25, and az, 21.

Amarna letters usage

In the Amarna letters, it is rendered differently from the electronic, digitized version. The description for both usages, on letters EA 365, and EA 362 is as follows: the inside sub-parts are found outside the 2-pairs of horizontal strokes; also the right stroke pair, shows the bottom stroke angled down-to-the-right (providing a space for the 2-angled strokes, instead on 362 and 365, a 'coupled-horizontal-sub-pair'). The ending, right 2-strokes made for the 4+4+2 stroke sign, are following the sign, and between the right 2 paired horizontal strokes (in the space between; stroke ten is placed upon stroke 9, making a coupled last two strokes, by final right position). The 4-vertical, short strokes can be seen to lie upon, and between the bottom left-horizontal (its end), and the beginning of the right-horizontal stroke; consequently, either the final group of 4-strokes, or the 'final' 2-strokes, make up the last strokes in the making of the sign. Being that the sign is in a sub-group of "coupound signs", (signs 'added-to', 'surrounded-by' (enclosed-within) other strokes), it may be assumed the usage of the ''sa cuneiform'' is for more specialized, or unique situations. In Amarna letter EA 362,

Rib-Hadda Rib-Hadda (also rendered Rib-Addi, Rib-Addu, Rib-Adda) was king of Byblos during the mid fourteenth century BCE. He is the author of some sixty of the Amarna letters all to Akhenaten. His name is Akkadian in form and may invoke the Northwest Semi ...

to Pharaoh, a long discussion involves the 'territories' (

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 since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

s), and other individuals, and unrest in the region surrounding

Byblos Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 880 ...

. The sign is used in the word "falsehood", ('lie'), (ka-az-bu-te), line 53, Rib-Hadda claiming he is not lying, (or misleading) the Pharaoh. Amarna letter 362, lines 51, and following: :"... (51) And my lord knows that (52) I do not write words (53) of falsehood ( ka-az- bu- te) to my lord. (54) And all the city rulers (55) do not like it that (56) archer-troops come forth, ..."Rainey, 1970. ''El Amarna Tablets, 359-379,'' ''EA 362, Rib-haddi to the King,'' pp. 14-19.

References

* Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ) * Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh'', 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. Cuneiform signs