הגלוסות במכתבים האכדיים מאוגרית

The scribes from Ugarit made common use of the 'Glossenkeil' in the Akkadian texts which they transcribed. The use of this nomenclature was intended to emphasize some feature of the word (or part of the word) occurring immediately after this special sign. The Ugaritic scribes (like their counterparts from Canaan) did not, however, use this device consistently. Its main functions (when used) were as follows: a) as word divider; b) to indicate that the previous word is to be continued on the next line (similar to the use of the modern hyphen); c) to introduce the Akkadian equivalent of a logogram; potential competitors, etc. Political marriages were also used for binding vassals, peoples and tribes to the Kingdom. There were also other reasons for such marriages. From the mythos of Martu, for example, we see, that by the marriage of the God Martu with the daughter of the Sumerian god Numušda, Martu of west semitic origin entered the Sumerian family of gods. The same mythos can also be an allegory for the receiving of the nomads into civilization. The letters EA No. 1-4 give us in detail the correspondence between Kadašman-Enlil, King of the Babylonian Kassite dynasty, and Amenḫotep III (1402—1364 B.C.E). From the opening sentences of the letters, one can conclude that they are speaking as brothers. But nevertheless, it is clear that the Egyptian ruler is the more important one, since he doesn't discuss sending his daughter to the Babylonian King. This matter he summed up in EA No. 4, lines 6-7: 'From the distant past, the daughter of the kings of the Egyp[tian] land has not been given to anybody'. Kadašman-Enlil has heavy claims to the Egyptian King, but he agrees to send him his daughter, actually under certain conditions that he appointed. Summarizing we can say that we find in these letters clarification for some of the reasons and of the conditions for political marriages between Kings' dynasties in Ancient Times.