The cuneiform sign KÃÂ, for gate is the Sumerogram-(logogram) used in the Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh; as just KÃÂ it means "gate" or "doorway", Akkadian language, "bÃÂbu"; as "Gate-Great", KÃÂ.GAL for City-Gate, it is from Akkadian "abullu", ("(city) gate"). Both uses are in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Epic, it is only used as the sumerogram, a total of 19 times, (7 times for 'abullu', city gate). In the Epic, all spellings for city gate use KÃÂ.GAL; for gate ('bÃÂbu') only one spelling uses the alphabetic letters for b-a-b-u; the rest use KÃÂ along with other added cuneiform signs (KÃÂ-x-x, or KÃÂ-x, etc.).
Similar usage of KÃÂ for gates is also attested in administrative texts from the Old Babylonian period, showing its continuity in Mesopotamian writing.
In the Amarna letters, the topic of Amarna letter EA 296, Under the Yoke, is the guarding of two cities, at the city gate; also the man authoring the letter, Yabitiri-(Yahtiru)-(governor?) of City? is called a "gatekeeper", lines 24 and 31: LÃÂ.PA.KÃÂ.à  U, Man-Gate-"hand". à  u (cuneiform), (shaped like a 'hand'), has the secondary meaning besides à ¡u, for Akkadian language qat, for "qÃÂtu", 'hand' (as à  U, a sumerogram), and used for 9 of about 15 spellings of 'qÃÂtu' in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
In letter EA 296, the text is as follows: (reverse side of letter)
The city gate is also discussed in the Amarna letter from Tjaru.