Part 27 (2/2)

He is strong, and none are saved from him, nor any from the chiefs of the army of the land of the _Hitt.i.tes_. The proud _Edagama_(295) of the city _Ciidzi_ (Kadesh on Orontes, the capital of the Southern Hitt.i.tes, now _Kades_) and _Aziru_ have fought-they have fought with _Neboyapiza_; they have come to the regions of _Zimridi_. Lo! he gathers s.h.i.+ps of soldiers against me from the fortresses of _Aziru_. And lo! they have grievously opposed my Lord's subjects, and all will break out. Let the King give countenance to his servant, and let him leap forth to go out a conqueror”

(or ”to the region”).

28 B. M.-”To the King my Lord my Sun my G.o.d thus (says) _Abimelec_ thy servant; seven and seven (times) at the feet of the King my Lord I bow. I am the dust beneath the feet. Consider me O King my Lord. The King my Lord (is) like the Sun; like the air G.o.d (or Adonis) in heaven art thou. Let the King advise his servant: the King my Lord confides in me. I watch the city of _Tyre_ the handmaid of the King. And I send a hasty letter to the King my Lord, and no order does he return to me. I am the _Paka_(296) (chief) of the King my Lord, and I have diligently followed what was ordered. But as to our silence to the King my Lord let the King be a.s.sured. As a subject I guard his city. And let me plead (or strive) before the King my Lord, and let him see his face. Who shall preserve one born a subject? Lo there has gone forth no command from the hands of the King his Lord; and he may not know when the King sends to his servant. He may never know. As for me ...”

The letter is here too broken to read consecutively. It refers to the ”west,” and apparently to ”burning,” to _Aziru_, and to someone, perhaps a king's messenger, called _Khabi_. The letter becomes readable on the back of the tablet.

”... by _Elisaru_ the messenger it is confirmed that the city of _Simyra_ is _Aziru's_. And is not the King nourished by his city of _Tyre_, by his country? Lo! if I shall be destroyed the King is destroyed. But thus his fortress has been wasted, and there has been great fear, and all the lands have feared; for he has not walked after (_i.e._, obeyed) the King my Lord. O King know: desolation has remained with me-with the _Paka_ in the city of _Tyre_. _Zimridi_ is gone to the city _Irib_.(297) He has escaped from slavery; and there is no water or wood for us; and alas! there is none remaining to stand up for me. The chief is helpless. And let the King my Lord advise his servant by a letter he sends to me, whom you thus hear.

And _Zimrida_ of the city of _Sidon_ has sent to the King, and _Aziru_ is a man sinful against the King, and the chiefs of the city _Arada_ (Arvad) destroy me,(298) and (everything is altered?) through their ravages; and they will gather their s.h.i.+ps, their chariots, their foot soldiers, to seize the city of _Tyre_ the King's handmaid. She has been very constant to the King's hand, and the city of _Tyre_ has been crushed by them. Were they not violent in taking the city of _Simyra_? They took from the hands of _Zimrida_ him who bore the King's order to _Aziru_; and I sent a letter to the King my Lord, and he returns me not an order for his servant. They have fought (for a long time?) against me. There are no waters(299) and no trees. Let there be ordered a letter for his servant, and let me plead, and let me see his face, and the King ... to his servant, and to his city, and not ... his city and his land. Why do they ... the King our Lord from the land, and ... and he has known that I honor the King's power, who ...

no ... to my letter-a subject before the King my Sun, my Lord; and let the King answer his servant.”

LETTERS FROM ACCHO

93 B.-_Surata_, chief of _Acca_, sends the usual formula of compliment, and continues: ”What chief is there who when the King his Lord sends to him will not hear? As this is sent out by desire of the Sun-G.o.d from heaven, so now it is promised him.”

32 B. M., a short letter from _Zitatna_, of Accho, merely says that he bows seven times and seven times at the King's feet.

94 B., another short letter by the same, states that he listens to the King's wishes.

95 B.-”To the King my Lord my ... the Sun from heaven thus says _Zatatna_ chief of the city of _Acca_, thy servant, the King's servant, and the dust at the feet trampled under the feet of the King my Lord-the Sun-G.o.d from heaven: seven times and seven times he bows both heart and body. The King my Lord shall hear the message of his servant; the woman my wife ... He has left from ... _Neboyapiza_ ... with _Suta_ ... of the King, in the city of _Acca_ ... to say anything ... him. She has urged (that) soldiers of the King my Lord shall go out with her from the city _Magid_ ... No word is mentioned as to him or explanation before me; and now we two are sending. My reason (is) to a.s.sure her-_Ziza_ the woman my wife-as to _Neboyapiza_, and she has not slept because of him. Behold the city of _Acca_ like the city of _Makdani_(300) (is) with the Land of Egypt, and the King will not refuse ... and will send ... before me, and is it not that the King my Lord ... his _Paka_, and let him empower him.”

LETTERS FROM HAZOR

48 B. M.-”To the King my Lord by letter thus says _Iebaenu_ (Jabin) chief of the city _Khazura_ (Hazor) thy servant. At the feet of the King my Lord I bow, who behold am one of the faithful servants of the King my Lord; and all those who guard the city of _Hazor_(301) with her fortresses belonging to the King my Lord; and let him expect this. Let him recall to the King my Lord all that the city _Hazor_-thy city, and thy servant is made to suffer.”

47 B. M.-”To the King my Lord thus (says) the King of the city of _Hazor_: I bow at the feet of my Lord. Lo! I am guarding the fortresses belonging to the King my Lord, until the arrival of my Lord my G.o.d; and lo! I hear all these messages, and I am departing O Sun-G.o.d my G.o.d ... and I am being brought low: the ... that they have taken is increased, and the G.o.ds have nodded to his revolt over me, and now I am causing all to be despatched till the coming of the King my Lord. Behold this, lo! they come ... your envoy ... very much ... my Lord ... safety ... the city of _Hazor_ ...

when the land ... and all ... Lo ... Moreover behold ... and my place ...

with soldiers.”

Unfortunately King Jabin does not mention the nationality of the enemy.

From the Tyre letters he seems to have been an enemy of the Phnicians, being perhaps on the side of Aziru; but the date of the present letters is not fixed by any reference to persons mentioned in the other letters. It is quite possible that the Hebrews, and not the Hitt.i.tes, were his foes, since the Hebrew conquest took place in the lifetime of _Yankhamu_ and _Suta_, who are noticed in the northern letters also. If he was a friend of _Aziru's_, the enemy, though enemies of Egypt, could not well have been Hitt.i.tes or Amorites; and the name of the King is that of Joshua's enemy, Jabin of Hazor. It is clear that the Egyptians, though expected, were not in Hazor at the time. The kings of Hazor ruled lower Galilee, where they had a force of chariots a century later. In Joshua's time (Josh. xi.) there were also many chariots in and near Hazor.

It is remarkable that none of the letters from Tell Amarna refer to central Palestine. There is no mention of any town in lower Galilee or in Samaria, except Zabuba and Megiddo. Taanach, Shechem, Jezreel, Dothan, Bethel, and other such places are unnoticed, as well as Heshbon, Medeba, Rabbath-Ammon, Ramoth Gilead, and other places in Moab and Gilead. The Egyptians probably had no stations in these wild mountains, where their chariots could not pa.s.s. The Egyptian traveller mentions no town between Megiddo and Joppa in the time of Rameses II, and no towns in the regions of Samaria or Gilead or Moab occur in the list of places taken by Thothmes III; nor were there any stations in the Hebron mountains.(302) On the other hand, many places in Sharon and Philistia, and in the lower hills to the east, and in the Negeb hills south of Hebron, were conquered by the last-mentioned king, and are again mentioned by the traveller of the time of Rameses II, and these occur in the present letters. We are thus at once transported to the south of the country.

Southern Palestine

LETTERS FROM JOPPA

No. 57 B. M.-”To the King my Lord my G.o.d my Lord of Hosts, by letter thus (says) _Yabitiri_ (Abiathar?) thy servant, the dust of the feet of the King my Lord my G.o.d my Lord of Hosts. Seven times and seven times I bow.

As thou seest I am among the faithful servants of the King my Lord. I am arraying. But if I am arraying has not he been furious? and I am arraying before the King; and he has been furious. Shall the brick (letter) hide it under deceptions? But I will not conceal under deep sayings (_emiki_) to the King my Lord. And the King my Lord shall ask _Yankhamu_ his _Paka_.

Lo! I am a warrior, and I am casting down the rebellion, O King my Lord, and I am sending out from the pa.s.s belonging to the King my Lord. And let the King my Lord ask his _Paka_ ('head man'). Lo! I am defending the pa.s.s (or great gate) of the city of _'Azati_ (Gaza) and the pa.s.sage of the city of _Yapu_ (Joppa), and I myself and the soldiers (_bitati_) of the King my Lord have marched to the lands. I myself (am) with them, and now, and lo!

now, I myself (am) with them. The yoke of the King my Lord (is) on my neck and I will bear it.”

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