Lady of the Lions
Encyclopedia
NIN-UR.MAH.MEŠ, named the "Lady" of the Lions, was the author of two letters to the pharaoh
, the King of Ancient Egypt
, in the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters
correspondence
. Her name is a representation of the original written script characters of Babylonian 'Sumerogram
s' , "NIN
- + UR.MAH + (plural:MEŠ)", and means, "woman–lion–plural", namely: "Lady (of the) Lions". (See: NIN
for "lady"). The Amarna letters are mostly written in Akkadian
cuneiform
, with local words/phrases/etc due to various city-state
s or countries.
The name, and location of her city/city-state is unknown(?).
').
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
, the King of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, in the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters
Amarna letters
The Amarna letters are an archive of correspondence on clay tablets, mostly diplomatic, between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru during the New Kingdom...
correspondence
Text corpus
In linguistics, a corpus or text corpus is a large and structured set of texts...
. Her name is a representation of the original written script characters of Babylonian 'Sumerogram
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 or Hittite....
s' , "NIN
NIN (cuneiform)
The Sumerian word NIN which can denote a "queen" or a "priestess".. Many goddesses are called NIN, such as DNIN.GAL "great lady", DÉ.NIN.GAL "lady of the great temple" or DEREŠ.KI.GAL, DNIN.TI....
- + UR.MAH + (plural:MEŠ)", and means, "woman–lion–plural", namely: "Lady (of the) Lions". (See: NIN
NIN (cuneiform)
The Sumerian word NIN which can denote a "queen" or a "priestess".. Many goddesses are called NIN, such as DNIN.GAL "great lady", DÉ.NIN.GAL "lady of the great temple" or DEREŠ.KI.GAL, DNIN.TI....
for "lady"). The Amarna letters are mostly written in Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
cuneiform
Cuneiform
Cuneiform can refer to:*Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC*Cuneiform , three bones in the human foot*Cuneiform Records, a music record label...
, with local words/phrases/etc due to various city-state
City-state
A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...
s or countries.
The name, and location of her city/city-state is unknown(?).
The two Amarna letters
The two letters by the 'Queen Mother', (of her unnamed location), are both minimally short and concise EA letters (26 lines and 19 lines) and are topically about the takeover of regional cities, by the attacking bands of people: the Hapiru, (EA for 'el AmarnaAmarna
Amarna is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site that represents the remains of the capital city newly–established and built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the late Eighteenth Dynasty , and abandoned shortly afterwards...
').
EA 273: "From a queen mother"
- "Say to the king-(i.e. pharaohPharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
), my lord, my god, my Sun: Message of fNIN (cuneiform)The Sumerian word NIN which can denote a "queen" or a "priestess".. Many goddesses are called NIN, such as DNIN.GAL "great lady", DÉ.NIN.GAL "lady of the great temple" or DEREŠ.KI.GAL, DNIN.TI....
NIN-UR.MAH.MEŠ, your handmaid. I fall at the feetProstration formulaIn the 1350 BC correspondence of 382–letters, called the Amarna letters, the Prostration formula is usually the opening subservient remarks to the addressee, the Egyptian pharaoh. The formula is based on Prostration, namely reverence and submissiveness...
of the king, my lord, 7 times and 7 times. May the king, my lord, know that war has been waged in the land, and gone is the land of the king, my lord, by desertion to the 'ApiruHabiruHabiru or Apiru or ˁpr.w was the name given by various Sumerian, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hittite, Mitanni, and Ugaritic sources to a group of people living as nomadic invaders in areas of the Fertile Crescent from Northeastern Mesopotamia and Iran to the borders of Egypt in Canaan...
. May the king, my lord, take cognizance of his land, and may the [k]ing, my lord, kn[ow] tha[t] the 'Apiru wrote to AyyalunaAjalonAjalon was a place in the lowland of Shephelah in the ancient Land of Israel, identified today as Yalo at the foot of the Bethoron pass, a Palestinian Arab village located southeast of Ramla in the West Bank. Its name is Hebrew for "place of gazelles".The place may have been the site of several...
and to Sarha, and the two sons of MilkiluMilkiluMilkilu, and more properly Milk-ilu, or Milku-ilu, with an alternate version of Ili-Milku-, was the mayor/ruler of Gazru- of the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence...
barely escaped being killed. May the king, my lord, know of this deed." -EA 273, lines 1-26 (complete)
EA 274: "Another city lost"
- "Say to the king, my lord, my god, my Sun: Message of fNIN (cuneiform)The Sumerian word NIN which can denote a "queen" or a "priestess".. Many goddesses are called NIN, such as DNIN.GAL "great lady", DÉ.NIN.GAL "lady of the great temple" or DEREŠ.KI.GAL, DNIN.TI....
NIN-UR.MAH.MEŠ, your handmaid, the dirt at your feetProstration formulaIn the 1350 BC correspondence of 382–letters, called the Amarna letters, the Prostration formula is usually the opening subservient remarks to the addressee, the Egyptian pharaoh. The formula is based on Prostration, namely reverence and submissiveness...
. I fall at the feet of the king, my lord, 7 times and 7 times. May the king, my lord, save his land from the power of the 'ApiruHabiruHabiru or Apiru or ˁpr.w was the name given by various Sumerian, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hittite, Mitanni, and Ugaritic sources to a group of people living as nomadic invaders in areas of the Fertile Crescent from Northeastern Mesopotamia and Iran to the borders of Egypt in Canaan...
..–lest it be lost. Sapuma has been take[n]. For the information of the king, my lord." -EA 274, lines 1-19 (complete)