Bad (cuneiform)

Digitized cuneiform sign for bad, bat, be, etc., and 5 sumerograms in Epic of Gilgamesh. (see text)

Near Eastern cylinder seal
(Walters 42699; see clay impression below)
signs read down from top: column left (line no. 1), 3rd sign is the bad sign.
Note line no. 1 appears as "line 3", until printed in the clay, and then appearing as "line no. 1".

The cuneiform bad, bat, be, etc. sign is a common multi-use sign in the mid 14th-century BC Amarna letters, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Epic it also has 5 sumerogram uses (capital letter (majuscule)). From Giorgio Buccellati (Buccellati 1979) 'comparative graphemic analysis' (about 360 cuneiform signs, nos. 1 through no. 598E), of 5 categories of letters, the usage numbers of the bad sign are as follows: Old Babylonian Royal letters (71), OB non-Royal letters (392), Mari letters (2108), Amarna letters (334), Ugarit letters (39).^[1]

The following linguistic elements are used for the bad sign in the 12 chapter (Tablets I-Tablet XII) Epic of Gilgamesh:^[2]

bad (not in Epic)

bat

be

mid

mit

sun

til

ziz

sumerograms:

BE

IDIM

TIL

ÚŠ

ZIZ

The following usage numbers for the linguistic elements of sign bad in the Epic are as follows: bad, (0 times), bat, (61), be, (16), mid, (7), mit, (8), sun, (1), til, (11), ziz, (8), BE, (2), IDIM, (2), TIL, (1), ÚŠ, (2), ZIZ, (1).^[3]

Instead of a large horizontal, as seen in the (digitized form, but one type of "bad") , the sign is seen in the Amarna letters as composed of two opposite facing (triangles), the wedges. It can be seen here , Amarna letter EA 153-(lines 153:4, 11), for "King-Lord-mine", "LUGAL, Be-li-ia", or Be-lí-ia", where "bēlu" is Akkadian for "lord".^[4]

Literature examples

Amarna letters

Amarna letter EA 362-(Reverse, lines 31-65), Rib-Haddi to Pharaoh, titled "A Commissioner Murdered".^[5]

The vassal city-state letters to the Pharaoh often reference the King (Pharaoh), as: "King, Lord-mine", where king is represented by LUGAL (king Sumerogram), for Akkadian language šarru-(sometimes LUGAL-ri, represented as "ŠÁR-ri", for king, ŠÁR=LUGAL). For the reverse of EA 362, Rib-Hadda to Pharaoh (plus lines 66-69 on clay tablet side), cuneiform sign be is used for "lord", Akkadian "bēlu".^[6] In EA 362, be is only used for the spelling of "lord".

The entire topic of EA 362 is developed on the reverse side, (starting halfway on obverse). The listing of be uses, 10-times, on the reverse (and side lines of 66-69), are as follows:^[7]

For "King, Lord-mine" (and partials):

(line 32)--LUGAL

(39)--LUGAL be-li-ia

(40)--be-li

(42)--be-li

(46)--LUGAL

(48)--LUGAL be-li

line 51

(51)--ù be-li i-di i-nu-ma

line 51

"And..Lord know, ..now ("now at this time")..."

"And..Lord know, ..[that] "now at this time"..." (a segue to the letter's ending!)

(53)--be-li-ia

(60)--LUGAL be-li-ia

(64)--LUGAL be-li-ia

(65)--LUGAL

(66)--LUGAL be-li

(68)--LUGAL be-li-ia

Besides be in EA 362, bat is used on the letter's obverse (two adjacent lines).

External links

• Use of be, for Akkadian "Lord", specifically "King, Lord-mine"., (Amarna letter EA 153, lines 153:4, 11)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bad (cuneiform).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cuneiform signs, Amarna letters.

• Buccellati, Giorgio. Comparative Graphemic Analysis of Old Babylonian and Western Akkadian, from Ugarit-Forschungen 8, (Neukirchen-Vluyen).
• Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. 393 pages.(softcover, ISBN 0-8018-6715-0)
• Parpola, 197l. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, 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.(softcover, ISBN 951-45-7760-4)-(Volume 1)
• Rainey, 1970. El Amarna Tablets, 359-379, Anson F. Rainey, (AOAT 8, Alter Orient Altes Testament 8, Kevelaer and Neukirchen -Vluyen), 1970, 107 pages.