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The
File:Ayyab letter mp3h8880.jpg,
(Note, for ab, the second pair of horizontals are at different angles.)
Cuneiform signs
{{Semitic-lang-stub
The cuneiform
Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...
sign (π) for the syllable ab also represents that for ap, or the vowel and consonant usages of a, b, or p: in the Akkadian language
Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218β280 was an East Semitic language that is attested ...
"b" is unaspirated, formed with the lips, and "p" is aspirated, with the breath). In the Akkadian language "b" and "p" are interchangeable; also, in cuneiform texts, any vowel (a, e, i or u: there is no "o" in Akkadian) can be interchanged with any other. The ab/ap sign also has a corresponding capital letter (majuscule
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally '' majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing syste ...
) usage as a 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, Eblaite, or Hittite. Th ...
, as found in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh
The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...
'' for AB, the Akkadian language for ''Ε‘Δ«bu'', meaning "elder".
In the corpus of the Amarna letters, where ab/ap is also commonly found, the names occur of the authors of letters to the Pharaoh, for example Labaya
Labaya (Labayu or Lib'ayu) was the ruler of Shechem and warlord in the central hill country of southern Canaan during the Amarna Period (c. 1350 BC). He lived contemporaneously with Pharaoh Akhenaten. Labaya is mentioned in several of the Amarna L ...
and Ayyab
Ayyab was a ruler of AΕ‘tartu (present day Tell Ashtara) south of Damascus. According to the Amarna letters, cities/city-states and their kings in the region β just like countries to the north, such as History of the Hittites, Hatti of the Hitti ...
, in both of which the syllabic use of "ab is found.
The usage numbers for the "ab" cuneiform sign in Tablets I-XII of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh
The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...
'' are as follows: ab - 11, ap - 28 and sumerogram AB - 12. For ', Akkadian language for ''elder'', only two spellings use "AB"; six other spellings of ' are syllabic/alphabetic.
References
* Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ) * Parpola, 1971. ''The Standard BabylonianEpic of Gilgamesh
The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...
'', 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 of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and studies based on them. Its headquarters are in Helsinki in Finland.
State Archives ...
, c 1997, Tablet I thru Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119β145), 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.
Ayyab
Ayyab was a ruler of AΕ‘tartu (present day Tell Ashtara) south of Damascus. According to the Amarna letters, cities/city-states and their kings in the region β just like countries to the north, such as History of the Hittites, Hatti of the Hitti ...
's letter to Pharaoh, Amarna letter EA 364
Amarna letter EA 364, titled ''Justified War,'' is a clay tablet letter from Ayyab, ruler of AΕ‘tartu, to Pharaoh Akhenaten (1350sβ1330s BC).
It is one of the Amarna letters, 382 in total, dating from Amarna letters#Chronology, c. 1360 β c. ...
. His name is spelled in (line 2)--" um- ma A- iYa-aB, "...message (speaking), Ayyab..."(Note, for ab, the second pair of horizontals are at different angles.)