Prostration formula
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Line 5, "7 times (and) and 7 times...", (7-šu 7-ta-an, (5 cuneiform characters)), "I bow down" (line 6: 2 signs: am-qut).[1]
In 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. Often the letters are from vassal rulers or vassal city-states, especially in Canaan but also in other localities.
The formula is often repetitive, or multi-part, with parts seeming to repeat and can go forward in a typical standard format. However, the prostration formula may also be duplicated in a similar format at the end of a letter, or a foreshortened part of the formula may be entered, for effect, in the middle of a letter.
Biridiya letter 242, no. 1 of 7: title: "Request granted"
The letters EA 242 and 246 are from Biridiya of Magidda-(Megiddo), (EA for 'el Amarna').
- Say to the king-(i.e. pharaoh), my lord and my Sun: Message-('um–ma') of Biridiya, the ruler of Magidda, the loyal servant of the king. I prostrate myself at the feet of the king, my lord and my Sun, 7 times and 7 times. I herewith give what the king, my lord, requested: 30 oxen, [x sheep and Goats, x bi]rds [ ... ] ... [ ...And in]deed, [the ...] ... of the [l]and are at peace, but I am at war. —EA 242, lines 1-17 (complete, but with lacunae)
See: Amarna letters for the phrase "7 times and 7 times".
Biridiya letter 246, no. 5 of 7: title: "The sons of Lab'ayu"
- Say to the king, my lord and my Sun: Message of Biridiya, your loyal servant. I fall at the feet of the king, m[y] lord and my Sun, 7 times and 7 times.
- I have heard the mes[sage] o[f] the ki[ng ...] .... (lacuna)
Reverse:
- and [ ... ], and indee[d ...] you ar[e ...]. May the king, my lord, know. The two sons of Lab'ayu have indeed gi[v]en their money to the 'Apiru and the Suteans in ord]er to w[age war again]st me. [May] the king [take cognizance] of [his servant]. —EA 246, 1-9, reverse 1-11 (complete, but with lacunae)
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