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 Gold", the letter is about gold from Egypt (gold mine production), love between father-king ancestors and the current relationship between the King of Mitanni and Misri (Egypt), and marriage of women from King Tushratta of Mitanni to the Pharaoh of Egypt.

The Amarna letters, about 300, numbered up to EA 382, are a mid 14th century BC, about 1350 BC and 20 years later, correspondence. The initial corpus of letters were found at Akhenaten's city Akhetaten, in the floor of the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh; others were later found, adding to the body of letters.

Letter three of thirteen between Tushratta and the Pharaoh of Egypt (named Misri in the letters). (Obverse only, Paragraphs I-VII):

In letter EA 19, 'gold' is referenced 21 times. It is used in connection with other gift names in the closing paragraph, P. XIII, as examples: 1 gold goblet, and 19 pieces of gold, its centerpiece being of genuine lapis lazuli set in gold. The entire list contains ten items, ending with: 10 teams of horses; 10 wooden chariots along with everything belonging to them; and 30 women (and) men.

The first mention of 'gold', Akkadian language "hurāṣu" occurs on the obverse, EA 9 (photo above), in paragraphs VI and VII. Unlike EA 9 (from Burna-Buriash II of Babylon) which just uses the sumerogram KUG.GI for gold (sumerogram KUG.GI = hurāṣu), EA 19 uses the plural form in some of the cuneiform signs. For lines 34, 37, Para VI, and line 41, Para VII the form is KUG.GI.MEŠ. Of note KUG is used infrequently in the Amarna letters (Buccellati, 1979).GI, or gi is used more commonly (probably mostly as a syllabic) in the Amarna letters (Buccellati, 143 times) An example of its Amarna letter usage is a letter from Jerusalem, stating intrigues of people and surrounding cities. It is used in Jerusalem letter Amarna letter EA 289, titled A Reckoning Demanded, for the name of Tagi (Ginti mayor), as Tagi, (Ta-gi, first usage tablet obverse, line 11).

...
Wikipedia