Canaan in The Second Millennium B.C.E PDF

Canaan in the Second Millennium B.C.E.
Canaan in the
Second Millennium B.C.E.
Collected Essays
Volume 2
Nadav Naªaman
Winona Lake, Indiana

Eisenbrauns
2005
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Naªaman, Nadav.
Ancient Israel and its neighbors : interaction and counteraction : collected
essays / by Nadav Naªaman.
v. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57506-108-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Jews—History—To 70
A.D. 2. Palestine—History—To 70 A.D.
3. Jews—History—953–586 B.C. 4. Assyria—History, Military. I. Title.
DS121.3.N33 2005
933—dc22
2005009376
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Ameri-
can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. †‘
Dedicated to the memory of my father
Prof. Shlomo Na’aman

Contents
Preface .....................................................................................................................ix
Acknowledgments .................................................................................................xi
List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................... xiii
1. The Hurrians and the End of the Middle Bronze Age in Palestine........... 1
2. The Egyptian-Canaanite Correspondence ................................................. 25
3. Ammishtamru’s Letter to Akhenaten (EA 45) and
Hittite Chronology.......................................................................................... 40
4. Looking for the Pharaoh’s Judgment........................................................... 50
5. The Origin and the Historical Background of Several
Amarna Letters............................................................................................... 65
6. Biryawaza of Damascus and the Date of the Kāmid el-Lōz
‘Apiru Letters................................................................................................... 82
7. Praises to the Pharaoh in Response to His Plans for Campaign
to Canaan.......................................................................................................... 99
8. The Canaanites and Their Land...................................................................110
9. Four Notes on the Size of Late Bronze Canaan ........................................ 134
10. The Network of Canaanite Late Bronze Kingdoms and the
City of Ashdod.................................................................................................145
11. Canaanite Jerusalem and its Central Hill Country Neighbors in the
Second Millennium BCE............................................................................... 173
12. Yeno‘am........................................................................................................... 195
13. Rubutu/Aruboth............................................................................................ 204
14. Economic Aspects of the Egyptian Occupation of Canaan .....................216
15. Pharaonic Lands in the Jezreel Valley in the Late Bronze Age ............. 232
16. On Gods and Scribal Traditions in the Amarna Letters ......................... 242
17. Ḫabiru and Hebrews: The Transfer of a Social Term to the
Literary Sphere.............................................................................................. 252
18. The Town of Ibirta and the Relations of the ‘Apiru and the Shasu....... 275
19. Amarna ālāni pu-ru-zi (EA 137) and Biblical ‘ry hprzy/hprzwt
(“Rural Settlements”)................................................................................... 280
20. The Ishtar Temple at Alalakh...................................................................... 285
vii
viii Canaan in the Second Millennium BCE
21. A Royal Scribe and His Scribal Products in the Alalakh IV Court........ 293
22. Literary and Topographical Notes on the Battle of Kishon
(Judges 4–5) .................................................................................................... 303
23. The “Conquest of Canaan” in the Book of Joshua and in History..........317
Index of Ancient Personal Names .................................................................... 393

Index of Places..................................................................................................... 398
Index of Biblical References .............................................................................. 407
Preface
This volume is the second in a series of three, each containing a number
of my articles that deal with particular well-defined periods and themes. The
present volume focuses on the theme of the Land of Canaan in the second
millennium BCE.
Most of the articles deal, at least in part, with the Canaanites and their
land, but a few focus entirely on the history of northern Syrian kingdoms
(nos. 3, 20-21). One article deals with the transition from the Middle Bronze
Age to the Late Bronze Age (no. 1); two discuss themes of the early Iron Age
(nos. 22-23); and the rest are devoted to problems of the Late Bronze Age, in
particular, the Amarna period. The variegated themes discussed include po-
litical history, geographical history, historiography, literature, economy, soci-
ety, administration, cult and religion. One article discusses in detail the con-
quest tradition of the Book of Joshua (no. 23), and another is devoted to the
literary and topographical problems of the battle of Kishon (no. 22). Others
deal with the relationship of Canaanite and biblical terms, such as Canaan
and the Canaanites in the second millennium documents and the Bible, and
the ancient Near Eastern Ḫabiru and biblical Hebrews (nos. 8, 17, 19). The
choice of period and theme is meant to lend the collection a certain coher-
ence. There is some overlap, because articles discuss related matters. This is
due to the length of time over which the collected articles were written, as
new archaeological and documentary evidence came to light and new ques-
tions arose that called for new discussions of old problems.
The articles were published beginning in the mid-1970s; the earliest were
written nearly thirty years ago. The question always arises, in these circum-
stances, of whether or not to revise the articles to take account of more re-
cent works and the present state of knowledge. I have decided against revi-
sion, except in a few instances, and the revisions are acknowledged in the
first note to a few articles (nos. 16, 21). Similarly, I did not update the bibli-
ography either, except for a few cases in which I considered it necessary to
point out a more recent innovative work on the subject under discussion. As
is well known, not only the state of knowledge has changed in the last de-
cades, but also the fundamental approach to texts, whether biblical or Near
Eastern. Leaving the articles unrevised should enable readers not only to
read them in the state of knowledge in which they were originally published,
ix
x Canaan in the Second Millennium BCE
but also to look into the more general developments that have taken place in
the study of the ancient Near East and the Bible in recent years.
All the articles in the volume were edited according to a unified style for
references and bibliography. The system selected was that of Tel Aviv, so only
articles previously published in this journal did not receive some modifica-
tions. In many articles, this has meant changes in the enumeration of the
footnotes, because strictly bibliographical references that appeared in the
original publications are now included in the text.
The preparation of the book for publication was made with the generous
financial support of the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies of Tel Aviv
University, and its directors, Prof. Yair Hoffman and Prof. Ziva Shamir.
It remains for me to thank those who have helped me carry out the proj-
ect. The initiative to collect the articles came from Dr. Oded Lipschits — my
former student and now colleague — who was also instrumental in bringing
current technology into this endeavor. Ms. Liat Steir undertook the task of
unifying the style for references and bibliographies. Ms. Susan Efrat prepared
a camera-ready version of the volume. Ms. Rachel Yurman prepared the indi-
ces. Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Jim Eisenbraun for accepting the book
for publication and for bringing the project to fruition.
Nadav Na’aman Tel Aviv University

Acknowledgments
Thanks are due as indicated below for permission to republish the follow-
ing articles:
To the Council for British Research in the Levant for 1. The Hurrians and
the End of the Middle Bronze Age in Palestine, Levant 26 (1994), 275–291.
To the Johns Hopkins University Press for 2. The Egyptian-Canaanite
Correspondence, in R. Cohen and R. Westbrook (eds.), Amarna Diplomacy: The
Beginnings of International Relations, Baltimore and London 2000, 125–138.
To the editor of Aula Orientalis for 3. Ammishtamru’s Letter to Akhenaten
(EA 45) and Hittite Chronology, Aula Orientalis 14 (1996), 251–257.
To the editors of Revue d’Assyriologie for 4. Looking for the Pharaoh’s
Judgment, Revue d’Assyriologie 90 (1996), 145–159.
To the editors of Ugarit-Forschungen for 5. The Origin and the Historical
Background of Several Amarna Letters, Ugarit- Forschungen 11 (1979), 673–684;
6. Biryawaza of Damascus and the Date of the Kamid el-Loz ‘Apiru Letters,
Ugarit-Forschungen 20 (1988), 179–194; 8. The Canaanites and Their Land,
Ugarit-Forschungen 26 (1994), 397–418; 10. The Network of Canaanite Late
Bronze Kingdoms and the City of Ashdod. Ugarit-Forschungen 29 (1997), pp.
599–626; 11. Canaanite Jerusalem and its Central Hill Country Neighbours
in the Second Millennium B.C.E., Ugarit-Forschungen 24 (1992), 275–291; 13.
Rubutu/Aruboth, Ugarit-Forschungen 32 (2000), 373–383; and 16. On Gods and
Scribal Traditions in the Amarna letters, Ugarit-Forschungen 22 (1990), 247–
255.
To Eisenbrauns Publishers for 7. Praises to the Pharaoh in Response to
his Plans for a Campaign to Canaan, in T. Abusch, J. Huehnergard and P.
Steinkeller (eds.), Lingering Over Words. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature
in Honor of William L. Moran, Atlanta 1990, 397–405.
To the Publication Office of the American Schools of Oriental Research
Publications for 9. Four Notes on the Size of the Land of Canaan. Bulletin of the
American Schools of Oriental Research 313 (1999), 31–37.
To the editor of Tel Aviv for 12. Yeno‘am, Tel Aviv 4 (1977), 168–177.
To Israel Exploration Society for 14. Economic Aspects of the Egyptian
Occupation of Canaan, Israel Exploration Journal 31 (1981), 172–185; and 23. The
xi
xii Canaan in the Second Millennium BCE
“Conquest of Canaan” in the Book of Joshua and in History, in I. Finkelstein

and N. Na’aman (eds.), From Nomadism to Monarchy, Jerusalem 1994, 218–281.
To Peeters Publishers for 15. Pharaonic Lands in the Jezreel Valley in the
Late Bronze Age, in M. Heltzer and E. Lipiński (eds.), Society and Economy in the
Eastern Mediterranean (c. 1500–1000 B.C.), Leuven 1988, 177–185.
To the University of Chicago Press for 17. Ḫabiru and Hebrews: The
Transfer of a Social Term to the Literary Sphere, Journal of Near Eastern Studies
45 (1986), 271–286; and 20. The Ishtar Temple at Alalakh, Journal of Near
Eastern Studies 39 (1980), 209–214.
To the managing editor of Göttinger Miszellen for 18. The Town of Ibirta and
the Relations of the Apiru and the Shosu, Göttinger Miszellen 57 (1982), 27–33.
To the editor of Zeitschrift für Althebraistik for 19. Amarna ālāni pu-ru-zi
(EA 137) and Biblical ‘ry hprzy/hprzwt (“Rural Settlements”), Zeitschrift für
Althebraistik 4 (1991), 72–75.
To the editor of Oriens Antiquus for 21. A Royal Scribe and His Scribal
Products in the Alalakh IV Court, Oriens Antiquus 19 (1980), 107–116.
To the editor of Vetus Testamentum for 22. Literary and Topographical
Notes on the Battle of Kishon (Judges 4–5), Vetus Testamentum 40 (1990), 423–
436.
List of Abbreviations
AASOR Annual of the American Schools of JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
Oriental Research JPOS Journal of the Palestine Oriental
AfO Archiv für Orientforschung Society
AJA American Journal of Archaeology Kbo Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi 1916–.
AJSL American Journal of Semitic Leipzig and Berlin
Languages and Literature KUB Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi 1912–.
ANET Pritchard, J. B. ed. 1955. Ancient Near Berlin
Eastern Texts. Princeton. MDOG Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient
AnOr Analecta Orientalia Gesellschaft
AnSt Anatolian Studies MVAG Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatisch-
AOAT Alte Orient und Altes Testament Ägyptischen Gesellschaft
ARM Archives Royales de Mari. New Enc Arch. Exc. Encyclopedia of
ARMT Archives Royales de Mari Archaeological Excavations in the Holy
Transcrites et Traduites Land. Jerusalem 1993
ArOr Archiv Orientálni OLZ Orientalistische Literaturzeitung
BA Biblical Archaeologist Or Orientalia
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of PEFQSt Palestine Exploration Fund,
Oriental Research Quarterly Statement
BIES Bulletin of the Israel Exploration PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly,
Society; continuation of BJPES continuation of PEFQSt
BiOr Bibliotheca Orientalis PJb Palästinajahrbuch
BJPES Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine QDAP Quarterly of the Department of
Exploration Society Antiquities in Palestine
BMB Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth RA Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archéologie
CAD Assyrian Dictionary of the University Orientale
of Chicago RB Revue Biblique
CAH Cambridge Ancient History RHA Revue Hittite et Asianique
EI Eretz-Israel RLA Reallexikon der Assyriologie
Enc. Miqr. Encyclopaedia Miqra’it VT Vetus Testamentum
(Encyclopaedia Biblica). Jerusalem WO Die Welt des Orients
(Hebrew) ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie
ICC International Critical Commentary ZAS Zeitschrift für die ägyptische Sprache
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal und Altertumskunde
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche
Society Wissenschaft
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen
JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology ZDPV Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-
Vereins
xiii
The Hurrians and the End of the
Middle Bronze Age in Palestine1
Introduction
In Palestine, the transition from the Middle Bronze II to the Late Bronze
Age was marked by a severe settlement crisis. All urban centers were de-
stroyed, some were abandoned and resettled only much later, and others suf-
fered serious regression. The destruction was particularly severe in the hill
country. Of 120 Middle Bronze II settlements in the northern section of the
north-central hill country, only about twenty-one survived into Late Bronze
II (“hill country of Manasseh”; Zertal 1986:199–203; 1990:59–60; Bunimovitz
1989:112–117). Five LB II settlements, among eighty-seven MB II sites, were
discovered in the southern section of the north-central hill country (“hill
of Ephraim”; Finkelstein 1988:119–204; 1990:109–110; Bunimovitz 1989:117–
118). One settlement (Jerusalem) out of forty-two remained in the central sec-
tion of the hill country (“hill of Benjamin”; Bunimovitz 1989:119; Finkelstein
1993). Three settlements, compared with eight, were discovered in the south
hill country (“hill of Judah”; Kochavi 1972:20, 83; Bunimovitz 1989:120; Ofer
1990:196–198). Altogether, about thirty Late Bronze II sites, out of 257 Middle
Bronze II sites, have been recorded in the central hill country. Eighteen LB
II sites, compared with fifty-six MB II, were discovered in the Lower Galilee
(Broshi and Gophna 1986:75–76, 86; Bunimovitz 1989:106–109; Gal 1990:29–
56, 101–104). Four or five LB II settlements, compared with twelve MB II, were
located in the Upper Galilee (Broshi and Gophna 1986:75; Bunimovitz 1989:
105–106). There was rural decline in the Lebanese Beqa‘ between the Middle
Bronze and the Late Bronze (Marfoe 1979, 12).
Throughout the country there is a dramatic decrease in the number of
settlements during the transition from the Middle Bronze II to Late Bronze
II. Even in the coastal areas and the northern plains, where destruction was
relatively less severe than in the other parts of the country, about 60–65% of
the sites were abandoned (Gonen 1984; Bunimovitz 1989:81–86). The num-
1. Reprinted with permission. Levant 26 (1994), 175–187.
1
2 Canaan in the Second Millennium BCE
ber of settlements in certain parts of the country (the coast, the Shephelah
and the northern plains) approached the Middle Bronze II level only in the
thirteenth/twelfth centuries BCE (Gonen 1984:66–69; Bunimovitz 1989:86–
89). In other areas, the process of re-settlement took much longer. All these
data are an indication of the severe crisis during the transition from Middle
Bronze II to Late Bronze II and the long enduring outcome of the destruction
and abandonment that took place during this transitional period.
The traditional explanation for the destruction and abandonment of the
Middle Bronze II urban system is that it was mainly the result of the Egyptian
campaigns during the early decades of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The conquest
of Palestine was regarded as the continuation of the war with the Hyksos di-
rected against their Canaanite allies, and this conquest culminated in the es-
tablishment of the Egyptian Empire in Asia under Thutmose III. Several early
Eighteenth Dynasty documents referring to Egyptian campaigns into Asia
were thought to provide textual support for the assumption of a gradual con-
quest. This hypothesis was formulated long before the overall picture of de-
struction of the Middle Bronze II urban system was fully understood. At that
time, scholars were aware only of the destruction and temporary abandon-
ment of several cities. The Late Bronze Age city-state system, as reflected
in both documents and archaeological research, was regarded by scholars
as the direct continuation of the urban culture of the Middle Bronze II. The
Egyptians (and, in particular, Ahmose), who are known to have been the lords
of Canaan from the time of Thutmose III onward, therefore were the natu-
ral candidates for the destructions (Albright 1949:96; Wright 1961:91; Kenyon
1973:555–56; Aharoni 1978:115). However, Kenyon (1973:531) was well aware
of the precarious stratigraphic situation and wrote: “There are no certain cri-
teria for connecting the stratigraphical sequence in most sites with the re-
conquest of Palestine by the Egyptian rulers of the Eighteenth Dynasty.”
The many new excavations and the extensive surveys of the hill coun-
try have demonstrated the true nature of the MB/LB transition, but the tra-
ditional explanation for the transition was uncritically sustained, and the
Egyptian military campaigns of the early Eighteenth Dynasty were regarded
as the major (or even exclusive) cause for the utter destruction of hundreds
of settlements throughout Palestine in the sixteenth-early fifteenth centu-
ries BCE (Weinstein 1981:1–12; 1991; Gonen 1984:61, 70; Dever 1985:69–74;
1987:173–75; 1990).
Recently, several scholars have criticized this interpretation: Redford
(1973:224–25; 1979a) and Hoffmeier (1989; 1990; 1991) demonstrated that there
is not enough textual support for the assumption of widespread devastation
of cities and villages all over Palestine by the Egyptians. Kempinski (1983:222–
23) suggested that several Palestinian sites had already been destroyed at the
The Hurrians and the End of the Middle Bronze Age in Palestine 3
end of the seventeenth century BCE. Seger (1975) suggested that the conclu-
sion of the Middle Bronze II was gradual and extended over nearly a century.
Recently, Bunimovitz (1989:11–34) systematically examined forty-two Middle
Bronze II sites all over the country, suggesting that they were destroyed over a
period of more than a century and that the settlement crisis was a continuous,
locally differentiated phenomenon. He attributed some of the destruction to
internal Canaanite conflicts, also emphasizing the possibility of an economic
crisis resulting from the growth of the Middle Bronze population in the hill
country (Bunimovitz 1989:34–40; 1990:264–66, 272–73). The concept of a long
process involving a combination of factors (internal strife, conflicts between
neighboring states, the Egyptian campaigns, economic crisis, etc.) increas-
ingly is gaining a foothold among historians and archaeologists of Palestine
(Bienkowski 1986:127–28; Hoffmeier 1989:190; 1990:87; 1991:122; Finkelstein
1993); due to the flexibility, this concept offers a much better explanation for
the MB/LB transition than the one-sided “Egyptian hypothesis.”
Missing in these new suggestions is a convincing answer to the intriguing
question of how the MB II urban system began to break up. What happened
in the course of the sixteenth century BCE to start the chain of events at the
end of which so many large and small sites were destroyed and abandoned?
The main advantage of the “Egyptian hypothesis” — simplistic and one-sided
as it might be — is that it supplies some explanation both for the beginning
of the process (Ahmose’s struggle with the Asiatics), and for its progress and
historical results: the establishment of the empire under Thutmose III (see
Dever 1990). Inner strife, inter-state conflicts and economic crises are not
documented and present only a very general explanation for the destruction
of so many sites. A better solution should be sought for the deep urban crisis
at the end of the Middle Bronze Age.
In what follows I will dismiss the “Egyptian hypothesis” and, instead, sug-
gest a different reconstruction for the course of events. I will try to demon-
strate that there is a coherent historical-archaeological explanation for the
destructive nature of the MB/LB transition in the sixteenth century BCE.
The Hurrian Infiltration into the Land of Canaan
The earliest indication of the presence of “northern” (i.e., Hurrian and
other elements of northern origin) people in the Land of Canaan came from
several cuneiform tablets unearthed in Palestine (Anbar and Na’aman 1986–
1987:7–11). A few names appear on an envelope fragment from Gezer (Shaffer
1970), one on a letter from Shechem (Birashena) (Shaffer 1988), one on an ac-
count tablet from Hebron (Intu) and probably one on a legal document from
Hazor (Ḫanuta). The overall number of names from seventeenth century
Palestine is too small for any definite conclusion, but it is clear that the ma-
jority of names were West Semitic (Amorite) and that elements of northern
origin are nevertheless detected in all four Palestinian cities in which cunei-
form tablets were uncovered. We may conclude that the infiltration by north-
ern groups into Canaan had begun by the late-Middle Bronze IIB and that the
newcomers mingled with the autochthonous Semitic population (Anbar and
Na’aman 1986–1987:10-11).
In this context, one may further mention the group of metal objects from
Shiloh, which have clear northern associations (Finkelstein and Brandl 1985).
The archaeological conclusion that “This should apparently be connected
with the presence of northern groups in Canaan in that period” (ibid., 25)
agrees nicely with the documentary evidence.
In the sixteenth century BCE, there is a gap in documentation, and when
the mist lifts once more in the second half of the fifteenth century BCE,
we find that the number of people of northern origin in the population of
Palestine has increased significantly. About one-third of the personal names
in the Taanach tablets are of northern, mainly Hurrian origin (Gustavs 1927;
1928; Albright 1944; Landsberger 1954:59 nn. 123–124; Glock 1971; Na’aman
1988a). The presence of a distinctive Hurrian elements in the neighborhood of
Taanach is indicated by the name of the addressee of letter TT 1 (Eḫli-Teshub)
and by the appearance of Hurrian words in letters sent to the king of Taanach
(zarninu, uppašiannu (Na’aman 1988a:179). A document from Shechem attrib-
uted to the same period also indicates an appreciable presence of migrants
of northern origin (Böhl 1926:322–25; Albright 1942:29–30; Landsberger 1954:
59 n. 123). It is hardly accidental that, from the time of Thutmose III onward,
the Egyptians applied the tern Ḫ3rw (i.e., Ḫurru) to the inhabitants of Syria-
Palestine and that Ḫ3rw as a geographical name is known since the time of
Thutmose IV (Gardiner 1947:180–187; Helck 1971:269–270; Vernus 1978).
The penetration of large numbers of Hurrians into Canaan was dominant
enough to justify the designation “Ḫurru” for the land and its inhabitants.
The term Ḫ3rw is sometimes used quite vaguely, particularly after the time
of the Eighteenth Dynasty. As a geographical name, Ḫ3rw usually designated
the Asiatic territory under Egyptian control, i.e., the Land of Canaan, and was
parallel to the older geographical names of Djahi and Retenu. The thousands
of Ḫurru-people mentioned in the booty list of Amenophis II apparently were
captured in Canaan (Spalinger 1983). Thutmose IV mentioned Ḫurru-peo-
ple who were captured at Gezer and settled in Egypt. These and other exam-
ples make it clear that the people of Canaan were sometimes regarded by the
Egyptians as “Hurrians” (see Edel 1953:172–173).
The best-known examples of individuals bearing “northern” names in the
Land of Canaan are the rulers mentioned in the Amarna letters. The north-
ern origin of many of these names has been recognized since the beginning
on research of the Amarna tablets, and this origina provided the foundation
for the well-known hypothesis of the Hyksos invasion and the establishment
of their Asiatic empire. It is now clear that the entry of these northern immi-
grants into Syria and Canaan had nothing to do with the Hyksos (Landsberger
1954:51–61; Alt 1959:72–85; Redford 1970:1–17). Many of the names that ap-
pear in the Amarna tablets have been regarded, for many years, as derived
from an Indo-Aryan language (O’Callaghan 1948:59–63; Albright 1975:108–
109; Hess 1989). By linguistic and cultural analysis, however, it has been dem-
onstrated that there are relatively few Indo-Aryan names in ancient Near
Eastern documents and that various names regarded in the past as Indo-
Aryan are either Hurrian or of unknown northern origin (Kammenhuber
1968; 1977; Diakonoff 1972; Mayrhofer 1974). There are a few distinct Indo-
Aryan linguistic elements among the names of rulers of Canaan in the Amarna
Age (Mayrhofer 1966:29–30; 1974:29), but Indo-Aryan groups played no part
in the history of Syria and Canaan. Splinter-groups speaking an Indo-Aryan
language may have played a certain role in the prehistory of the kingdom of
Mitanni, but these were quickly absorbed into the Hurrian-speaking society
of northern Mesopotamia (Wilhelm 1982:23–27). In the following discussion,
I will not use the term Indo-Aryan and refer instead to “northern” names in
general (i.e., Hurrian, Indo-Aryan, etc.), as against the term West Semitic, re-
served for group of names derived from the local Canaanite language.
There are relatively few names of ordinary citizens in the Amarna letters,
most of them located on the coast of Lebanon. Names of rulers, on the other
hand, are known from all parts of Canaan and, by an analysis of this corpus
of names, we may draw a general picture of the linguistic makeup of Canaan
in the Amarna Age. Helck (1971:477–482) and Hess (1989) systematically cor-
related names with locations and language families, and, with the help of
Moran’s analytical repertoire of personal names in the Amarna letters (1987:
573–590), we can accurately delineate the linguistic distributional map of rul-
ers’ names in the Amarna Age.
To introduce the discussion, we may note that within the royal houses of
the Amarna kingdoms there is a remarkable consistency in the selection of
names according to language family. This may be demonstrated by an anal-
ysis of the fourteen cities in which there are at least two rulers known by
name. Of these cities, the names of rulers of ten cities clearly belong to the
same language family:
Ugarit — Niqmaddu, Ammishtamru

Amurru — ‘Abdi-Ashirta, Aziru (Aziru’s three brothers — Pu-Ba‘lu, Ba‘luya
and Bet-Ili — also bore West Semitic names).
Byblos — Rib-Adda, Ili-rapiḫ
Beirut — Yapaḫ-Hadda, Ammunira

Sidon — Yab/p[. . .], Zimredda
Acco — Surata, Satatna
Nuḫašše — Taku, Teshup-nirari
Damascus — Ḫa[š?-x-]-tar, Shutarna, Biryawaza
Gezer — Milkilu, Yapaḫu, Ba‘lu-shipṭi2
Lachish — Zimredda, Shipṭi-Ba‘lu
The city of Ḫasi may fall within this group if one follows my sugges-
tion (Na’aman 1988b:189 n. 41) to derive the ruler’s name AN-da-a-a from
a “northern” language (for other suggestions, see Moran 1987:580; Hess
1990:212). The name of Ḫasi’s other ruler is Mayarzana, clearly a “northern”
name.
The name of the ruler of Shamḫuna is Shum-Adda son of Balume, both
names being West-Semitic. Shum-Adda, however also mentions the name of
one of his ancestors, Kusuna, possibly derived from a non-Semitic language
(EA 224:17). Ayyab of Ashtaroth apparently was succeeded by Biridashwa
(Na’aman 1988b:181–182), the two names belonging to two different lan-
guage families.3
Further, one may note that the ruler of Taanach in the Amarna Age was
Yashdata, whereas one of his predecessor was Rewashur, the addressee of TT
1–4, the names of both rulers being non-Semitic. Zalaya of Damascus, who is
the addressee of one of the Kāmid el-Lōz letters, like his predecessors to the
throne of Damascus has a non-Semitic name (Na’aman 1988b). We may con-
clude that the tradition of assigning certain names to offspring of the royal
house was very much alive in the Amarna Age, the family language possibly
indicating the origins of the family reigning in the respective kingdoms.
The following may be said of the distribution of names according to re-
gion and family language:
1. Rulers on the Lebanese coast, from Ugarit in the north down to Tyre
in the south, had exclusively West Semitic names, with only one exception
(Miya of Arashni).
2. The identity of the ruler whose name is written dIM.DI.KUD (EA 292–293) and his re-
lation to the addressee of letter EA 294 is debated among scholars. See Moran 1987:522–523,
with earlier literature in n. 1.
3. I have suggested (Na’aman 1979:676–682) that ‘Abdi-Ashtarti who sent letters EA 63–
65 and 335 was the heir of Shuwardata of Gath. Provided that the association of the two rul-
ers is correct, then we have another case of a ruler bearing a West Semitic name who suc-
ceeded a ruler with a “northern” name.
2. The rulers of the Acco plain (Surata, Satatna, Endaruta) were known by
names of “northern” origins.
3. “Northern” names predominate in the cities of the Lebanese Beqa‘ and
further north (Na’aman 1988b:188). A clear exception is the Egyptian name
Amanḫatpi (of Tushulti). ‘Abdi-risha (of Enishazi) is probably West Semitic,4
but the name of another ruler, Shatiya, is “northern” (Na’aman 1988b:188
n. 42). The name Bieri (of Ḫashabu) may possibly be compared with biblical
names like b’ry, b’r’, b’rh, but is more likely to be a hypocoristic form of the
noun/adjective bira/biriya common in “northern” names (Gelb, Purves and
MacRae 1943:245; Landsberger 1954:125 n. 294, 130; Gröndahl 1967:298).
4. All names in the area east of the Anti-Lebanon are “northern” (Ḫaš-x-
tar, Shutarna, Biryawaza, Arzawiya, Tewati).
5. Four out of five names in the Bashan area (Biridashwa, Artamanya,
Amayashe, Rusmanya) are of “northern” origin, the only exception being
Ayyab, which is a West Semitic name. The sixth name, ÌR-LUGAL (of Shasḫimi),
preferably should be regarded as a “northern” name and be transcribed ÌR-
sharri, rather than ‘Abdi-Milki (as it was transcribed by Moran 1987:440, 574).
6. ‘Abdi-Tirshi of Hazor and Mut-Baḫlu of Piḫilu bore West Semitic names.
Seven out of nine names of north Palestinian-south Syrian rulers whose place
of residence is either missing or unknown are “northern” (Teḫu-Teshup,
Bayawa, Ḫibiya, Baduzana, Shutarna [of Mushiḫuna], Zitriyara and Wiktasu).
The names Dagan-takala and Balu-mer are West Semitic.
7. In the Jezreel Valley. the rulers of the western towns (Megiddo and
Taanach) had “northern” names, but the ruler of Shamḫuna, which lies east
of the Kishon river, had a West Semitic name. The neighboring western ruler
of Ginti-kirmil had a Hurrian name (Tagi). Two other neighboring rulers,
whose residence is unknown, had West Semitic names (Shipṭuriṣa, Bayadi).
The main kingdom in the plain of Sharon was Gath-padalla and, although the
decipherment of its ruler’s name (dIM.UR.SAG) is uncertain (Rainey 1968:11;
Na’aman 1975:34, 14* n. 25; Moran 1987:475), it may well represent a West
Semitic name.
8. In the hill country, Lab‘ayu of Shechem had a West Semitic name. Ba‘lu-
meḫir, possibly his neighbor, also had a West Semitic name. Another possible
neighbor, Dashru, bore a name of unknown origin. ‘Abdi-Ḫeba of Jerusalem
had a Hurrian name.
9. Almost all the south Palestinian rulers had West Semitic names. The
only exceptions are Shuwardata of Gath and Shubandu. Whether the name
4. Moran (1987:574, 593) regarded it as a West Semitic name (with a unique divine
name Rishu). Hess suggested (1989, 212 n. 22) combining the second element with the West
Semitic r’š “head.”
S/Zurashar is West Semitic (see Moran 1987:585) or “northern” is uncertain.

It is not clear whether Turbazu, who bore a non-Semitic name, was a city-
state ruler or a local prince (EA 288:41; 335:10).
We may conclude that there is a marked predominance of “northern”

names on both sides of the Syro-African rift, i.e., in the Bashan and the Anti-
Lebanon areas to the east, as well as in the Lebanese Beqa‘ and south of it,
including the western Jezreel Valley and the Acco plain, to the west. The
names of most of the inland southern Syrian and northern Palestinian rul-
ers are of “northern” origin, with relatively few exceptions (notably the rul-
ers of Hazor, Piḫilu and Ayyab of Ashtaroth). On the coast of Lebanon and
in southern Palestine, on the other hand, there is a great majority of West
Semitic names, with only few exceptions (notably Shuwardata of Gath and
Shubandu). The names in the central hill country are mixed, but the number
of names known from this area is too small for “statistics.” Few other West
Semitic names appear in the Sharon plain and the Lower Galilee.
Are there signs of solidarity among rulers of common background? This
question has no unambiguous answer. A remarkable case that may support
the hypothesis of solidarity is the coalition that was formed among the rulers
of the Acco plain (Surata and Endaruta), the Shephelah (Shuwardata) and the
southern hill country (‘Abdi-Ḫeba), all having distinctive “northern” names,
against the “‘Apiru” (EA 366) (Thureau-Dangin 1922:98–99; Alt 1924:26–30;
Na’aman 1975:120–121). Lab’ayu and his sons made an alliance with the rulers
of Piḫilu and Gezer, who both had West Semitic names, and their adversaries
were the rulers of Megiddo, Taanach and Acco, all having “northern” names.
Moreover, the latter three rulers took part in the operation in the course of
which Lab’ayu was captured and killed (EA 245). On the other hand, pressure
by ‘Abdi-Ḫeba in the Shephelah region was opposed by a coalition that in-
cluded Milkilu of Gezer, Tagu of Ginti-kirmil and Shuwardata of Gath (EA 289–
290). Tagu of Ginti-kirmil, incidentally, was also the father-in-law of Milkilu of
Gezer (EA 249). We may conclude that a common background may have played
some role in political relations, but other factors doubtlessly played no lesser
role in the complicated political situation of the Amarna Age.
Is there archaeological evidence for the entry of these northern groups
into Canaan in the sixteenth century BCE? The problem of “pots and people”
(Kramer 1977) was much discussed recently, and it is clear that there are no
firm rules for their inter-relation: In some cases immigrants can easily be de-
tected by their material culture (e.g., the Khirbet Kerak-people, the Hyksos,
the Philistines), and in others there are only scanty archaeological traces of
the new-comers (e.g., the Assyrian merchants in Cappadocia, the Assyrian
exiles of the eighth-seventh centuries BCE). Archaeological evidence may
corroborate the presence of such groups, but lack of positive evidence is not
enough to deny migration to a certain place.
The best evidence that I can offer comes from Late Bronze I tombs at
Megiddo and Taanach. Gonen (1987:89) has indicated several unusually rich
tombs from Megiddo, suggesting that these were the burial places of the town
nobility. Similar rich tombs were uncovered at Taanach, and at both sites the
rich offerings were deposited not long after extensive destruction of the cit-
ies, when settlement at the sites had significantly decreased (Bunimovitz
1989:158). Differences in burial customs are sometimes an indication of the
arrival of new population groups, and I would suggest (with all due caution)
that the tombs unearthed at Megiddo and Taanach may belong to the new
northern nobility who conquered and destroyed the two cities, subsequently
becoming lords of the rebuilt towns.
The Migration of Northern Groups into the Land of Canaan — The Broader
Context
To understand the southward migration of these northern groups, we
must look more closely at the history of northern Syria and Mesopotamia
in the Old Babylonian period. A network of kingdoms whose rulers were
called by West Semitic names spread in the Mari Age from Babylonia along
the Fertile Crescent as far as southern Canaan. The population of northern
Mesopotamia and Syro-Canaan consisted mainly of West-Semitic; Hurrian-
speaking groups at that time were situated in Upper Habor, eastern Tigris
and eastern Anatolia (Kammenhuber 1977; Kupper 1978; Wilhelm 1982:17–
21). Hurrian groups later migrated into northern Mesopotamia and north-
ern Syria, until at the time of Level VII at Alalakh about half of all attested
names in the local archive were Hurrian (Draffkorn[-Kilmer] 1959:17, 117–
18; Gelb 1961:39). Hurrian elements also appear at Alalakh in the pantheon
and cult terminology (Draffkorn[-Kilmer] 1959; Haas and Wilhelm 1974:138–
139). Ḫalab (Aleppo) was the most powerful kingdom of northern Syria and
northern Mesopotamia in the Late Old Babylonian period; Ḫalab’s popula-
tion, religion and cult were apparently similar to Alalakh. Members of the
royal house of Ḫalab and Alalakh bore West Semitic names, as the society and
culture in both kingdoms were an Amorite-Hurrian mixture. Two powerful
Hurrian kingdoms, Urshum and Ḫashum, emerged in eastern Anatolia. A bloc
of Hurrian or Amorite-Hurrian kingdoms, thus, was established west of the
Euphrates, and small Hurrian kingdoms flourished in Upper Mesopotamia
(Kupper 1973:36–39; Astour 1978:5–9; Wilhelm 1982:21–23).
The campaigns of Ḫattushili I and Murshili I into eastern Anatolia and
northern Syria brought in their wake profound changes in the political sit-
uation. The Hittite rulers conquered and annexed the Hurrian kingdoms of
eastern Anatolia, destroyed the great kingdom of Ḫalab and attacked the
Hurrian principalities east of the Euphrates. Bloody wars of succession weak-
ened the Hittite kingdom and prevented the emergence of a major power in
the regions conquered by Ḫattushili and Murshili. Several kingdoms in the
area regained their independence, with wars of attrition between the Hittites
and rulers of eastern Anatolia continuing for a long time (Gurney 1973a:239–
251; 1973b:659–668; Wilhelm 1982:28–32, with earlier literature; Kempinski
1983:14–57).
It is my opinion that these long and devastating wars during the Old
Hittite period provided the impetus for the large-scale migration that pushed
northern population groups into many parts of the Near East, reaching as far
as the Land of Canaan. In the region of eastern Anatolia and northern Syria,
many cities were destroyed and large population groups were uprooted. In
their search for subsistence, they spread to neighboring regions, despoiling
their cities and villages and forcing other groups to move on — in what may
be called a “domino effect.” Small northern groups may have migrated as far
as Egypt, as indicated by a few names in Egyptian documents of the Second
Intermediate period (notably Śmqn) (Helck 1971:100–101).
The large-scale migration and nomadization of large groups of popu-
lation inter alia led to the cessation of writing in many parts of the ancient
Near East, thus, starting the period called by Landsberger (1954) “ein dunkles
Zeitalter.” When did it start, and how long did it last? The observant reader
may have noticed that in the above discussion no dates have been suggested
for the chain of events; this is due to the present state of chronological re-
search of the Old Babylonian period. On the one hand, Huber (1982; 1987)
has demonstrated that the low and middle chronologies are wrong and that
a strong scientific case can be make out in favor of the high chronology, ac-
cording to which Ammiṣaduqa year 1 = 1701. The campaigns of Hattushili
and Murshili, accordingly, were conducted in the first half of the seventeenth
century BCE. On the other hand, Egyptologists now agree that the most likely
date for the accession of Thutmose III is 1479 (Hornung 1987:27–32; Kitchen
1987:40–41; 1989:155, 158) and that the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty
is either 1550 or 1539 (Hornung 1964:14–23; 1987:31–32; Kitchen 1987:42–43,
52; 1989:158). The date of Shuppiluliuma’s accession was brought forward to
the 1340s (Boese and Wilhelm 1987:79–95, 117); likewise, the beginning of
the Alalakh IV archive was advanced to the second half of the fifteenth cen-
tury BCE (Kühne 1982:210–224; Stein 1989:56–60). It is difficult to accommo-
date the high dates of the Old Babylonian period with the low dates of the
Late Bronze Age, or to account for the gap in documentation of about 200
years between the archives of Alalakh levels VII and IV and for the histori-
cal and archaeological synchronisms among the various parts of the ancient
Near East. The problems involved with the assumed long “dark age” must be
investigated in detail before any conclusions are drawn. In the present state
of research, it is better to avoid exact dating and to speak in general chron-
ological terms on the date of arrival of these northern groups into the Land
of Canaan.
The historical process of the emergence and consolidation of the king-
dom of Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia is not my concern here (see
Klengel 1978; Wilhelm 1982:33–40). The profound changes in the political
set-up of northern and central Syria took place during the transition from
the Old Babylonian to the Late Bronze Age. The great kingdom of Ḫalab in
northern Syria and the kingdom of Qatna in central Syria were replaced by
a network of new kingdoms. In the 15th century, the area of northern Syria
was divided among the kingdoms of Alalakh, Niya, Nuḫašše and Ḫalab, when
this last lost its hegemonic standing in the area. Qadesh was the most impor-
tant kingdom in central Syria, and other prominent kingdoms were Tunip
and Qatna (Klengel 1969:18–177; Astour 1978, 8–22, with earlier literature).
The majority of the population in these kingdoms, as well as their rulers and
the elite class, were Hurrians. The Alalakh tablets indicate that profound
changes were taking place in the structure of society, institutions and econ-
omy during the transition from Level VII to Level IV. A military elite known
by the name Mariannu appeared in the regions where the majority of inhab-
itants was Hurrian; many of the Mariannu acquired horses and chariots and
occupied central positions in the army. There were other important changes
in religion, cultic practices and culture. The few documents known to us from
these kingdoms indicate that the native language of the scribes was Hurrian.
This large bloc of Hurrian kingdoms had a clear “northern” orientation and
played an important role in the Great Powers’ struggle over the hegemony in
Syria during the fifteenth-fourteenth centuries BCE.
It is against this background that we can better appreciate the presence
of northern groups in the interior of southern Syria and northern Palestine.
It has already been noted that the Canaanite rulers called by “northern”
names were located on both sides of the Syro-African rift, whereas the coast
of Lebanon and southern Palestine remained almost entirely West Semitic.
A similar situation is known from northern and central Syria, where the
Hurrian states were located on both sides of the Syro-African rift, whereas
the coast south of Alalakh remained mainly Semitic. Thus, we may suggest
that the Hurrian migration mainly flowed along the Syro-African rift, i.e., on
both sides of the Orontes river and the Lebanese Beqa‘ as far as the Upper
Jordan Valley. The new migrants reached the Acco plain by the road run-
ning from the Jordan Valley through the plains of Jezreel and Beth-shean,
reaching the central hill country by way of the middle Jordan Valley, and this
would clarify the distribution of “northern” names in the plain of Acco, in the
western Jezreel Valley and in the central hill country. Other groups reached
the areas of Damascus and Bashan. We may conclude that the distribution of
“northern” names, as is evident from both the Amarna archive and from the
tablets of Taanach and Shechem, is explained fully by the “Syro-African rift
migration” hypothesis.
Two additional migrations into Palestine from Anatolia via the Orontes
and the Jordan Valley may be recalled in this context, both having a signif-
icant impact on the urban life of the land. The first is that of the Khirbet
Kerak-people, whose origins are in Transcaucasia and east Anatolia (Mellart
1966:173–189; Yakar 1990, with earlier literature in 99* n. 1). There is little
doubt that this was a massive migration, in the course of which northern peo-
ple brought architecture, pottery and various other artifacts to the ‘Amqi, the
Orontes valley, the Golan heights and northern Palestine. Although the effect
of the migration on Palestine remains unknown, due to the total lack of doc-
umentation from this period, one could assume that the flourishing of urban
culture in the Gilead, the Golan heights and northern Palestine in the Early
Bronze III may be attributed to these northern people, who possibly took the
leadership and became the ruling class in the major cities; they may well have
established a powerful central kingdom in these regions with its capital lo-
cated at Beth Yerah.
The second migration is that of the “Sea Peoples” and other groups of
northern origin. The “Sea Peoples” reached Palestine by the coastal roads
and by sea, and the other groups — notably including the Hittites, Hivites,
Girgashites and Jebusites — migrated along the Syro-African rift (destroying
cities and villages on their way) and reached Palestine via the Jordan Valley
(Mendenhall 1974:142–163; Görg 1976; Mazar 1981:76–79). Subsequently, they
settled in the mountainous parts of the land (and the Jezreel Valley? see Beck
1990:442–444) and were gradually absorbed into the local Semitic population
of the hill country. Examining the longue durée discloses that the massive mi-
gration of the sixteenth century along the Syro-African rift to Palestine was
not an isolated phenomenon and that, at various historical periods, other
groups did the same, settling sites along this natural “channel” of migration,
sometimes establishing kingdoms and gaining power over vast areas.
As suggested above, the migration of northern elements to Canaan al-
ready had begun in the seventeenth century BCE. This coincides well with
the assumed date of the beginning of the wars between the Hittites and the
Hurrian states in eastern Anatolia and northern Syria. Therefore, one may
assume that the migration was at first slow and gradual and that the earlier
newcomers were at least partly absorbed within the autochthonous popu-
lation of Canaan. Larger northern groups who entered the country later on,
probably in the course of the sixteenth century BCE, became major factors in
internal relations; this is suggested in the discussion below.
Egypt and the Middle Bronze II/Late Bronze I Transition

I believe the penetration of northern groups into various parts of
Palestine started the historical process that brought about the destruction
of the Middle Bronze II urban civilization. Middle Bronze IIB Palestine must
have been a highly organized political and economic system, with a devel-
oped network of supply; with symbiotic relations between the urban and
rural populations, including neighboring pastoral groups; with intensive ex-
ploitation of agricultural and grazing lands; and with a developed organi-
zation of commerce. Such a highly organized system was dependent on the
network of roads and paths that connected the cities and villages, and the
disruption of traffic over a protracted time span must have brought serious
consequences. There are enough analogies from ancient Near Eastern docu-
ments to illustrate the dynamics of the process: such was the fall of the Third
Dynasty of Ur, as a result of the penetration of the Amorites (Jacobsen 1953;
Buccellati 1966; Wilcke 1969; 1970; Gadd 1971:609–617, 625–628), or the de-
cline of the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms, due to the penetration of
the Arameans in the eleventh-tenth century BCE (Brinkman 1968:387–389;
Postgate 1974:233–240; Wiseman 1975:460–471; Neumann and Parpola 1987).
Other internal factors, such as the rivalry between neighboring city-states
or between mountain and lowland dwellers, may well have contributed to
the destruction. The process must have been long, probably starting with the
gradual devastation and abandonment of the countryside and continuing
with the destruction of numerous urban centers.
What is the relationship between the Egyptian campaigns into Asia of the
early eighteenth Dynasty and the destruction of towns by northern groups?
The problem of the Egyptian campaigns was recently discussed in great
detail (Redford 1979a; Hoffmeier 1989; 1990; 1991; Dever 1990; Weinstein
1991) and will be discussed here only briefly. We may assume that Ahmose’s
first Asiatic campaign was conducted when the urban system in Palestine
was already suffering from decline — when parts of the countryside were
deserted and numerous towns had been sacked and/or destroyed. The
Egyptian conquest of Sharuhen (better Shir/lḥon; see Albright 1924:134–
135; Na’aman 1980:147–148),5 the capital of the major Canaanite kingdom
5. Tell el-‘Ajjul is located far west of the boundaries of the kingdom of Judah and
should be dissociated from biblical Sharuhen/Shilhim, which was included in the town
list of Simeon/Judah (Josh. 15:32; 19:6) (Na’aman 1980:147–148). It is preferable to adopt
of southern Canaan in the seventeenth-sixteenth centuries (today Tell el-

‘Ajjul)6 (Kempinski 1974; 1983:146–148), significantly weakened the system
of Canaanite cities. Until then, southern Palestine had remained outside the
flow of migrants of northern origin and was able to maintain its integrity
and prosperity. The destruction of the city of Shir/lḥon and other neighbor-
ing towns and villages deprived the Palestinian urban system of its richest
and most prosperous entity.
However, it would be a mistake to assume that, following the conquest of
Shir/lḥon, the Egyptians conquered the rest of Palestine (Weinstein 1981, 1–
12; 1991; Dever 1985:71–74, 79–80; 1987:173–175; 1990). There is no evidence
to support such a claim, and all written sources indicate instead that the
pharaohs of the early Eighteenth Dynasty concentrated their efforts on the
coast of Lebanon and in the interior of Syria. The a-priori assumption that the
Egyptian conquest of the Lebanese coast and of the Syrian interior necessar-
ily implied an early conquest of Palestine (Dever 1990, 76–79) ignores the his-
torical lesson that must be learned from the longue durée.
During the time of the third Dynasty, Egypt established close relations
with Byblos and until the end of the Old Kingdom maintained a perma-
nent presence on the coast of Lebanon. Close economic (and political?) re-
lations also existed between Egypt and Syria (Drower and Bottéro 1971, 343–
51; Scandone-Matthiae 1982). In the time of the third-sixth Dynasties, on the
other hand, Egyptian artifacts are almost non-existent in Palestine, and this
indicates the severance of close relations between the two countries (Ben-Tor
1982, with earlier literature; Ben-Tor 1986). A similar pattern of relations de-
veloped in the early twelfth Dynasty: Egypt established close relations with
Byblos at the beginning of the twentieth century BCE and sent expeditions to
the coast of Lebanon for timber, precious metals, agricultural products and
luxurious items. On certain occasions, the pharaohs also dispatched armed
forces, and two military expeditions can be attributed to the first kings of the
Dynasty (Farag 1980; Posener 1980). Egyptian artifacts from the time of the
twelfth Dynasty, on the other hand, are very rare in Palestine. The first known
Albright’s old proposal and read the name of the Canaanite city “Shir/lḥon,” thereby sepa-
rating it altogether from the biblical town.
6. The Soleb, Aksha and Amarah topographical lists were recently discussed in de-
tail by Edel (1980). Hoffmeier’s discussion of the Amarah list (1991, 119–20) should be up-
dated in light of Edel’s work. The lists are not based on itineraries, as is evident, for exam-
ple, from the mention of Ashkelon after Taanach, of Socoh before Joppa and the separate
recording of Taanach and Megiddo. It is clear that Shir/lḥon is mentioned with a group of
sites situated along the main road from northern Sinai to the Jezreel and the Beth-shean
plains (Weinstein 1991:106); its location, however, can hardly be decided on the basis of
these lists.
Egyptian campaign into Palestine was conducted at the time of Sesostris III,
and Palestinian cities are mentioned in the Egyptian Execration Texts of the
late twelfth/early thirteenth Dynasties (Posener 1940; Posener, Bottéro and
Kenyon 1971:540–541, 544–549, 555–558; Helck 1971:38–76). It seems that dur-
ing the twelfth Dynasty, Palestine played only a secondary role in the overall
Egyptian commercial and diplomatic activity in Asia (Helck 1976; Weinstein
1975; Scandone-Matthiae 1984). The Egyptian main efforts were concen-
trated on the coast of Lebanon and the inner Syrian interior, with Byblos
serving as the point of departure for all these activities.
In the time of the New Kingdom, the Egyptian kings often sailed as far as
the Lebanese coast and launched campaigns from there, via the Nahr el-Kebir
(Eleutheros), to the Orontes river and northward (Alt 1950; Helck 1971:137–
156). Travelling by sea, they shortened the travel time and avoided exhaus-
tion of their forces in a long march from the Egyptian border to the battle-
field in Syria. Only the occupation of a few ports along the coast was essential
for these operations, and control of inner Palestine was hardly necessary. The
same policy is known from the time of the Saitic (Twenty-sixth) Dynasty. The
Egyptian campaigns under Psammetichus I and Necho II into northern Syria
and the Euphrates were conducted by sea up to the Lebanese coast and then
along the Orontes river and northward (Yoyotte 1960:372, 375); indeed there
are clear indications for Egyptian domination of the Lebanese coast during
the late years of Psammetichus and the early days of Necho (Spalinger 1977:
227–229, with earlier literature). Egypt may well have gained control over
the coast of Palestine at that time, but it is hardly conceivable that Egypt ef-
fectively dominated the inner regions of the land (Na’aman 1991, 38–41, 51–
55, with earlier literature). Finally, in the time of the Libyan (Twenty-second)
Dynasty, Egypt established close relations with Byblos and dispatched forces
to the battle of Qarqar (853 BCE).
An examination of the longue durée clearly indicates that only the occu-
pation of the Lebanese coast and a few ports in Palestine was necessary for
conducting campaigns into inner Syria. Moreover, in various historical situa-
tions Egypt occupied the coast of Lebanon prior to the conquest of Palestine,
controlling the former area without effectively dominating the latter. We
may conclude that the references to Egyptian campaigns into the coast of
Lebanon and inner Syria in the early Eighteenth Dynasty and the absence
of such references to Egyptian campaigns into the interior of Palestine ac-
curately reflect the overall Egyptian activity in the Land of Canaan at that
time. Egypt conquered and held Shir/lḥon (Tell el-‘Ajjul), as well as neighbor-
ing areas on the southern part of the coast, and may have conquered some
other towns along that coast, but its efforts were mainly concentrated on the
Lebanese coast and inner Syria. Only with the campaign of Thutmose III (c.
1457) was Palestine conquered and effectively controlled by the Egyptians for
the first time.
Thutmose III’s campaign into Canaan was conducted against a coalition
of Syro-Canaanite kingdoms headed by the king of Qadesh and supported by
Mitanni and her allies (Helck 1971:118–119); this coalition threatened to drive
Egypt back beyond the Sinai peninsula. The antecedents to the Egyptian cam-
paign are described in a damaged passage that was discussed several times by
scholars (Redford 1979b; Murnane 1989, with earlier literature). The passage
has recently been restored to read (Murnane 1989:186–188):
Now for a long period of years con[ten]ti[ousness was in Asia], plundering, each man
showing hostility towards his neighbour [. . .]. (But) it was in the times of others that
it happened (that) the troops that were there (were) in the town of Shir/lḥon; while
(the region) from Yurza to the end of the earth had fallen into rebelling against his
Majesty.
In my opinion, Redford (1979b) was correct in his assumption that the an-
archic conditions described in the first (damaged) part had developed in Asia
and has nothing to do with the Hyksos. When reconstructed in this way, there
is a direct continuity between the two past events: both refer to historical sit-
uations “there,” i.e., in Asia, where Thutmose launched his campaign, and the
two-part passage fits the literary parallels suggested by scholars much better
(Redford 1979b:340; Murnane 1989:186–187). The first part coincides with the
days of the early Eighteenth Dynasty and, in my opinion, it refers to the an-
archy caused by the destruction of cities by northern groups and the strug-
gle for survival of the local rulers. The second part refers to the consolidation
of the coalition under the hegemony of Qadesh and the efforts of the north-
ern groups to unite their forces to defeat Egypt and drive her out of the Land
of Canaan.
Details of the campaign are not my concern here, but the topographical
list of Thutmose III is of the utmost importance for understanding its main
outlines (Aharoni 1967:143–152; Helck 1971:120–135). The sources from which
the list was drawn must have been the records of the surrendered, despoiled
or destroyed cities: records that were written by the scribes who accompanied
the task-forces sent by the Pharaoh. It is essential to adhere to the concept
of a main force under the king plus various task forces sent to different parts
of the land (Kitchen 1973:442–447). The structure of the topographical list,
which is made up of a short itinerary (no. 60–71) plus toponyms grouped by
geographical regions (Aharoni 1967:144–145) exactly matches this concept.7
7. Redford’s suggestion (1982:56–60) that Thutmose’s topographical list was drawn

from itineraries is, in my opinion, untenable. First, the suggestion is methodologically
Remarkable in the topographical list is the absence of cities situated in

the Shephelah (with the exception of Gezer) and the central hill country. This
is hardly accidental and may reflect the destruction and desolation in these
areas at that time. The majority of toponyms are located in the same areas
where rulers of “northern” origin were in power in the Amarna Age, and it
is evident that the coalition under the leadership of Qadesh mainly included
those towns in which “northern” rulers were in power. This may well explain
the exclusion of the towns on the Lebanese coast, where West Semitic rulers
had remained in power. The quick surrender of large parts of Canaan to the
Egyptians also indicates that the area was militarily weak and not well forti-
fied. It was a country already desolated and exhausted that Thutmose III con-
quered following his decisive victory at Megiddo. The Pharaoh was quick to
take advantage of the situation, subjugate the land and establish the founda-
tions for permanent Egyptian rule in the conquered area.
Conclusions
The conquest of Canaan by Thutmose III came at the end of a long period
during which the urban culture of Palestine had gradually crumbled. The in-
filtration of northern groups since the seventeenth century, and in particu-
lar during the sixteenth century BCE, was a major factor in the collapse of the
Canaanite urban system. The newcomers gradually sacked and ruined towns
and villages in the inner parts of Canaan, blocked the roads and disrupted
trade, despoiled the crop of the fields and finally conquered and destroyed
major Canaanite centers. The fall of the Hyksos Dynasty, a close ally of the
south Canaanite centers of Palestine, and the conquest of the city of Shir/lḥon
problematic, because the most controversial section of the list (no. 92–101) was selected
to prove the assumption. There are dozens of identifiable sites in Canaan that are in-
cluded in the list, and even a superficial examination will show that they were not re-
corded in sequential order (as is necessary for the itinerary hypothesis). Second, no other
Egyptian topographical list is drawn from an itinerary; they may reflect the principle of
“main force plus flying columns” (Kitchen 1973:445) or may even be arranged in haphazard
order. Third, Redford’s suggestion (1982:60–74) that toponyms nos. 90–101 are arranged in
a north-to-south order along the Transjordanian “King’s Highway” is not beyond doubt.
Toponyms nos. 92–101 were identified either by similarity of names with sites that have no
Late Bronze I remains or with Late Bronze Age sites whose names are different. In no site is
there both similarity of name and Late Bronze I pottery (cf. Knauf 1984; Lenzen and Knauf
1987:59–62). Fourth, the Transjordanian town of Piḫilu (no. 33) is not included in this sec-
tion of the list. Suggesting the identification of central Transjordanian sites with toponyms
mentioned in Thutmose III’s list is no more than a possibility (for different suggested iden-
tifications, see Görg 1979:168–173) and can hardly support the assumption that the list was
drawn from itineraries.
(Tell el-‘Ajjul) by Ahmose further contributed to the collapse of the Canaanite

urban system. Inner Canaan, however, remained outside the area conquered
and dominated by the Egyptians in the time of the early Eighteenth Dynasty.
Pharaonic efforts in these years were mainly concentrated on the
Lebanese coast and inner Syria. The collapse of the state system of the Old
Babylonian period in inner Syria enabled them to expand their territories up
to its northern parts. There they encountered the growing power of Mitanni
and its Syrian allies, and, despite initial success, they were defeated and
pushed back to the south. Mitanni gained supremacy in northern Syria and
apparently operated in the Canaanite areas through the center of Qadesh,
a kingdom whose ruler was the strongest in the area. With the support of
Mitanni, the king of Qadesh was able to organize a vast coalition whose mem-
bers were mainly rulers of northern origin. A prominent member was the
king of Megiddo, whose city served as headquarters for the coalition. This
alliance succeeded in pushing Egypt back into southern Canaan and threat-
ened to drive the Egyptians all the way back to their homeland. This expan-
sion occurred during the reign of the Egyptian queen Hatshepsut and forms
the background for Thutmose’s first Asiatic campaign (c. 1457 BCE).
Thutmose’s success in the campaign brought Canaan under Egyptian
domination for the first time, and after that Canaan became an Egyptian
province. But it was a weakened, partly desolated and ruined country that
the Pharaoh was able to conquer and subdue. The central hill country, for-
merly densely populated and strongly fortified, was sparsely inhabited at
that time and fell into Egyptian hands without a battle. The same is true of
the Shephelah region (with the exception of the area of Gezer). Details are
missing and nothing, for example, is known of the urban situation at Hazor,
formerly the foremost kingdom in Canaan.
Dever (1990:76, 78) suggested that “All archaeological evidence points to a
long, homogenous, peaceful period of development and expansion through-
out the Middle Bronze Age in Palestine (phases IIA-C) of nearly 500 years,
with the zenith at the very end”; and that “a major cultural-historical change
had taken place by the end of the fifteenth century BCE, when Palestine . . .
was completely subdued, pacified, and actually incorporated into the New
Kingdom empire.” Not only that the assumed 500 years assigned by Dever to
the Middle Bronze Age may be significantly reduced in light of new data ob-
tained from the excavations at Tell ed-Dab‘a (Bietak 1984; 1989), but the as-
sumedly peaceful end of the Middle Bronze II is questionable in light of the
evidence offered here. The crisis in the urban system of Palestine started
during the sixteenth century and lasted for many years, possibly culminat-
ing with the Thutmose campaign of c. 1457 BCE. Each destruction of a Middle
Bronze IIB city in Palestine should be examined in its own right before a def-
inite date is suggested; no a priori date should be assigned in light of an as-

sumed overall Egyptian conquest.
Once the destruction of the urban system of Palestine is detached from ei-
ther the campaigns of Ahmose or Thutmose III, it is difficult to assign an exact
date for the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. Thus, for example, Megiddo IX
is certainly the city conquered by Thutmose III in his campaign, and Megiddo
X is apparently the city conquered by the “northern” ruler whose heir fought
the Egyptians at Megiddo c. 1457. The date of the latter event is unknown,
and the same is true for many other cities in Palestine conquered during this
period. The best point of departure for a chronological discussion is the de-
struction of Shir/lḥon (Tell el-‘Ajjul), which occurred in the time of Ahmose.
Terminologically, the entire period of 100–120 years during which the urban
system of the Middle Bronze IIB was gradually destroyed is best treated as
one unit, to be called Late Bronze I. The term Middle Bronze should be re-
served for the period from the re-establishment of cities in Palestine in the
second millennium and until the beginning of the collapse of the Canaanite
culture some time in the sixteenth century BCE.
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The Egyptian-Canaanite Correspondence1
Introduction
Although the two sides to the correspondence are symmetrically pre-
sented in the title of the chapter, there is a marked difference in the num-
ber of their respective letters. Only six or seven Pharaonic letters sent to his
vassals are known from the archive (EA 99, 162–163, 190, 367, 369–370), as
against hundreds of letters sent by the vassals to Pharaoh and his officials.
Moreover, there is a unified form to most of the Pharaonic letters (save for
EA 162), as against a great variety among the vassal letters. Most of our infor-
mation of the Egyptian diplomacy in negotiating with its Asiatic province is
gained from the vassal letters.
Details of the Egyptian messages are known from direct and indirect ref-
erences in these letters. The many citations of written and verbal orders are
due to the scribal practice of citing them briefly and then referring to them in
detail. These references match the extant royal letters in word and contents,
indicating that they accurately reflect the nature of the Egyptian correspon-
dence with its vassals.
When reading the letters, it becomes clear that a considerable part of the
relationship between Egypt and Canaan was conducted by verbal orders and
verbal negotiation. We may ask, when did the Egyptian court find it neces-
sary to send written messages rather than verbal orders? Did the king sent
letters routinely, with no particular message, or did he sent them only for a
purpose, each letter carrying a specific message to the addressee? Also, how
many letters did each vassal receive during a reign? Was the reception of
royal letter a frequent occurrence, or was it quite infrequent and an “event”
for the recipient?
A new line of investigation of the vassal letters was outlined recently by
Liverani (1990a:337–48). He suggested what he calls a “procedure paradigm”
in the historical interpretation of the letters. Rather than written occasion-
ally, whenever the situation demanded such action, there was a seasonal pat-
1. Reprinted with permission. In Cohen, R. and Westbrook R. eds., Amarna Diplomacy:

The Beginning of International Relations. Baltimore and London (2000), 125-138, 252-253.
25
tern for the correspondence. “The seasonal (or modular) patterning is based
on the assumption that the administrative procedure into which the let-
ters are set was basically a yearly procedure” (Liverani 1990a:39). The key to
the procedure was the preparation of goods in Canaan and their transfer to
Egypt. The preparation of the tribute and specifically requested items would
have taken place in the spring and their transfer in the late summer. Liverani
calls letters preparing the collection tour “spring letters” and those closing
the procedure “late-summer letters.” He recognized that there existed other
occasions for epistolary contacts than the standard collection tour, but, in
his opinion, these were less frequent, and they, too, were assimilated into the
standard tour in their epistolary language and procedure.
In the same volume in which Liverani published his thesis, I (1990:397–
405) suggested an entirely different interpretation for a certain part of the
assumed group of “spring letters.” My analysis was based on chronological
considerations and on the contents and literary expressions common to this
group of letters. In my opinion, these letters refer to a specific event, the
preparation of an Egyptian campaign to Asia in the late years of Akhenaten.
It remains to be seen whether most of the Amarna letters were written on a
routine seasonal basis, or whether they were drafted occasionally, whenever
the rulers found it necessary to send a message to their lord.
The letters of Byblos pose a special problem. Their number far exceeds
that of other cities, and most of them are long and detailed. We may ask,
could the corpus of Byblian letters serve as a model for other Canaanite cen-
ters? Or does this corpus, with its narrative patterns and personal tone, re-
flect mainly the exceptional historical relations of Byblos with Egypt and the
personality of its author, Rib-Hadda?
Another problem is the enormous difference in language, cultural back-
ground and ideology between Egypt and Canaan. The divergence of the two
sides of the correspondence raises the problem of communication. Did the
Canaanite rulers fail to understand the intention of the Pharaonic letters and
thus, interpreted them in a way that was markedly different from that of
their author? Are there clear examples of misunderstandings of messages?
Or did they understand the Egyptian messages quite well, and what looks like
a misunderstanding is a deliberate representation of the situation? Also, how
did the differences in ideology and perspective between Pharaoh and his vas-
sals influence their perception of their mutual obligations? Were there con-
siderable gaps in the interpretation of the obligations, and, if there were, in
which specific areas can they be located?
These problems, which are crucial for the interpretation of the vassal cor-
respondence and the diplomatic measures taken by both sides, will be sys-
tematically analyzed below.
The Egyptian-Canaanite Correspondence 27
Frequency of Royal Letters

Of the six or seven letters sent to vassals by Pharaoh, two order the prep-
aration of supplies or troops before the arrival of Egyptian army (EA 367,
370); one orders the dispatch of a bride with her dowry (EA 99); and one
deals with the acquisition of female cupbearers (EA 369). Two letters were
written to Aziru, reflecting the Egyptian diplomatic pressure on the king of
Amurru (EA 162–163). The seventh letter, sent either to Damascus or Qadesh
(EA 190), is fragmentary, but possibly deals with the preparations for a mili-
tary campaign. Two royal letters sent to the rulers of Damascus and Shazaena
and dated to the post-Amarna age were discovered at the Egyptian center of
Kumidi (Kāmid el-Lōz). They order the deportation of groups of cApiru from
Canaan to Nubia (Edzard 1970:55–60; Na’aman 1988:179–193). Evidently, all
royal letters carried a specific message to the addressee.
Pharaonic letters are often cited or alluded to by the vassals. The best
known are the commands to be on guard or to guard oneself, to guard the
place where the vassal is, and to obey the Egyptian commissioner (Moran
1992:xxx-xxxi). Similar commands appear in all the Pharaonic letters, but in
addition to these elements, all the extant royal letters have a distinct message.
We may ask, did the Egyptian court also send nonspecific letters that included
nothing more than stereotyped phrases? The answer to this question is linked
to another — on what occasions were royal letters sent to the vassals?
The Egyptian court expected answers to its letters, so there is a good
chance that we will be able to identify clear references to lost royal letters. It
goes without saying that the investigation is marked by uncertainty, because
it is founded mainly on inferences from something that is lost. However, I
believe that even though some of the inferences may be disputed, the over-
all picture that emerges is sufficiently unified to justify clear answers to the
above questions.
Before starting the analysis, something must be said about the use of
the verb šapāru in the Amarna letters. The verb has two basic meanings: “to
write” and “to send” (CAD Š/1 430–448). In the current translations of the let-
ters, the verb usually is rendered in the sense of “to write,” except in passages
where this interpretation is excluded by the context. This rendering gives the
impression that the Egyptian court sent a large number of letters to its vas-
sals. However, in many references in which the object of the verb is missing,
the translation “to send (a message)” suits the context better than the com-
mon translation “to write (a letter).”2
2. For example, among the Amarna references cited in CAD Š/1 444a, at least four
(EA 280:7; 53:60; 234:23; 82:12) should be translated “to send (a message)” rather than “to
We may further note that on many occasions, vassals sent several let-
ters in response to a single royal letter. This is typical of the correspon-
dence of Rib-Hadda, but may easily be demonstrated in the dossiers of
other Canaanite rulers (e.g., Abi-Milki, Ammunira, Aziru, Yidya, Milkilu,
Shuwardata, Shubandu).
An analysis of the letters of Rib-Hadda indicates that he alludes to no
Pharaonic letter in his correspondence with Amenophis III. Evidently, Pharaoh
did not reply to the stream of Byblian letters. However, unlike his heir,
Akhenaten, he showed no annoyance at the flood of letters. During Akhenaten’s
reign, Rib-Hadda received a few royal letters, each sent for a purpose. Many or-
ders and instructions were received verbally through messengers.
The examination of many other letters from the coast of Lebanon and
Palestine supports this conclusion. Royal letters arrived infrequently and,
when dispatched, were always designed for a specific purpose. Apparently,
yhey were sent only when the Egyptian court sought to emphasize the im-
portance of a particular command. Routine messages were delivered ver-
bally by Egyptian officials. Remarkably, the news of Amenophis III’s death
and Akhenaten’s accession were not delivered in writing. The main group of
royal letters concerns the preparation for the arrival of the Egyptian archers.
Only on that occasion were letters sent to all quarters of the Egyptian prov-
ince in Asia, and direct answers arrived from southern Canaan (EA 65, 292,
324–325, 337), from northern Canaan (EA 55, 191, 193, 195, 201–206, 216–218,
227, and possibly 213), and from the coast of Lebanon (EA 141–142, 144, 147,
153, 362, and possibly 223 and 233). Other royal letters instructed the execu-
tion of certain military missions, the transfer of information, or the dispatch
of special commodities to Egypt. Letters of admonition were addressed to rul-
ers whose deeds endangered the stability of the Egyptian province in Asia
(e.g., Lab’ayu and Aziru).
It is clear that most of the letters were written at the vassals’ initiative.
This conclusion may help explain the difference in the number of letters sent
by individual vassals. No vassal received more than a few letters throughout
his reign. Some rulers preferred to send only what was necessary, that is, re-
sponses to royal letters and sometimes also a reference to the visit of (im-
portant?) Egyptian officials. As a result, the number of their letters is mini-
mal. Others took the opposite course and, for their own reasons, sent many
write.” Also, in Rib-Hadda’s early letters, the verb šapāru sometimes refers to verbal mes-
sages rather than to writing (e.g., EA 73:26; 74:30; 92:35-40). When the verb šapāru appears
with no object, context alone is our guide for deciding which translation should be pre-
ferred. My analysis is based on this contextual approach.
letters to the Pharaoh. Most remarkable is Rib-Hadda of Byblos. Other exam-

ples are the letters sent by Abi-Milki of Tyre and ‘Abdi-Ḫeba of Jerusalem,
both educated in Egypt and enthroned by the Pharaoh, thus, having connec-
tions in the court and trying to make the best of it. It goes without saying that
the number of letters does not necessarily reflect the political importance of
Canaanite rulers. Some strong and influential rulers (i.e., those of Shechem,
Hazor and Damascus) sent only a few letters, whereas others, less important,
sent quite a number of letters to the Pharaoh.
Seasonal Procedure and the Vassal Correspondence

Are the payments of tributes and gifts to Egypt the key to the distribution
of the vassal letters? To answer this question, I will first analyze the data con-
cerning tributes and gifts in the vassal letters.
A remarkable feature in the correspondence of Rib-Hadda is the almost
total absence of references to tributes and gifts. A payment of copper is prob-
ably mentioned in EA 69:25–30 and a request for copper and ingots? (sinnu) is
discussed in EA 77:6–15.3 It is, rather, Rib-Hadda who, again and again, asks
for silver and provisions for subsistence, and for troops and horses to guard
his city. It is hardly conceivable that he expected Egypt to send him all these
for nothing. His words should be interpreted as a request for provisions in re-
turn for payment.
Ammunira of Beirut and Zimredda of Sidon do not mention either trib-
ute or gift. At the request of the Pharaoh, Abi-Milki of Tyre sent one hun-
dred shekels of glass to Egypt. In another letter he reports sending a tribute
(five talents of copper and mallets) and a gift (a whip) (EA 151). The elders of
Arwad, in contrast, ask the king to send them a gift as a sign of favor (EA 100).
Somewhat exceptional is Aziru of Amurru. He undertook to send everything
requested by Pharaoh and his officials (EA 157:25–27; 158:17–19) and pre-
pared a rich tribute to be sent to Egypt (EA 160:14–19, 41–44; 161:55–56). On
his visit to Egypt, he brought a special gift to Pharaoh (EA 168:9–10) and re-
ceived in exchange a royal gift, about which he complained that half of it was
unlawfully taken by an Egyptian official (EA 161:41–46).
The place of tributes and gifts in Aziru’s correspondence is easily ex-
plained. He started from a low position and sought the Pharaoh’s recogni-
tion. Later on he expanded, gained political and military strength, and occa-
sionally operated against the Egyptian interests. He tried to appease Pharaoh
3. EA 126:4 should, in my opinion, be rendered SI.LA (for SI.IL.LA) = piqittu, “delivery (of
goods).” The letter does not refer to an Egyptian request of taskarinnu wood, as scholars as-
sumed on the basis of Knudtzon’s decipherment (gišK[U-m]a). See Moran 1992:206, n. 2.
by sending him rich gifts, thereby emphasizing his loyalty. The same policy
was followed by his father, ‘Abdi-Ashirta (EA 60), and by Lab’ayu of Shechem
(EA 253–254), both of whom expanded their territories and tried to appease
Pharaoh by emphasizing that they were fulfilling all their obligations to
Egypt. Aziru’s policy of sending contributions did not go unnoticed by other
rulers. Thus, Ili-rapiḫ of Byblos wrote to Pharaoh as follows: “The king is to
take no account of whatever Aziru sends him. The property that he sends is
things that he coveted. It is property belonging to royal mayor(s) whom he
has killed that he sends you.” (EA 139:33–39).
Tribute and gifts are rarely mentioned in the letters of north Canaanite
rulers. An unknown ruler (EA 173) sent 10 prisoners of war. The ruler of
Enishazi sent his daughter to Pharaoh (EA 187), probably after receiving a
letter similar to EA 99. Almost all the reports to prepare for the arrival of the
archers refer to the planned Egyptian campaign to Canaan.
Finally, in a letter sent from Shamḫuna, its ruler protested against an im-
position of grain tax, claiming that it had not been imposed on his city since
old time (EA 224).
Tribute and gifts are more frequently mentioned in letters from southern
Canaan. A series of letters report the preparation of unspecified commodities
at the request of Pharaoh (EA 247, 267, 275–278). Four letters report the prep-
aration of glass at the request of Pharaoh (EA 314, 323, 327, 331). The internal
textual identity in each group is remarkable, and it seems that either a single
scribe wrote them, or that the Egyptian messenger dictated all these reports.
Many other letters report the arrival of an Egyptian official, but preparations
at his command are only sporadically mentioned (EA 302, 329).
Biridiya of Megiddo sent cattle and sheep, “what the king, my lord, re-
quested” (EA 242). Tagi of Ginti-kirmil prepared a caravan (EA 264) and sent
a gift (equipment for a chariot; EA 266) to the Pharaoh. Milkilu sent vari-
ous kinds of servants (EA 268) and complained about the extortion of the
Egyptian commissioner, who had requested 2000 shekels of silver (EA 270).
‘Abdi-Ashtarti sent women (EA 64). ‘Abdi-Ḫeba sent a caravan that was robbed
(EA 287), and secondly gave the commissioner(s) various kinds of servants
(EA 288). Shubandu sent girls and cattle (EA 301). Another ruler sent silver
and servants (EA 309). And a southern ruler (possibly Shubandu) paid four-
teen hundred shekels of silver as compensation for murdered Egyptian mer-
chants (EA 313).
Summing up the discussion, it is clear that the payment of tribute does
not play a major role in the letters. It appears sporadically throughout the
correspondence and is more frequent in the south Canaanite letters than
from other parts of the Egyptian province. There is not enough data in
the Amarna archive to build a picture of the contributions imposed by the
Egyptians on their vassals (Na’aman 1981:172–185). Moreover, it seems that

the routine payments of tribute were left out of the correspondence. What
we have are reports of irregular payments, sent either after a special request
from the Pharaoh, after a certain delay in the delivery of the tribute, or in an
effort to gain the favor of the Pharaoh and his officials.
Redford (1990:40–42; 1992:209) suggested that the tax-system imposed
on the Canaanites was that of Egypt transported abroad. Egyptian proce-
dures were extended to Asia, and the Canaanite mayors, like their Egyptian
counterparts, were obliged to hand over their personal gifts (inw) every New
Year’s day, as well as to give a portion of the product of their labor. However,
there is no evidence for this assumption in the Amarna letters. The Canaanite
rulers were neither part of the regular Egyptian system of tax collection nor
were they part of the Egyptian redistributive organization. Liverani (1990b:
259) is certainly correct when he suggests that there seems to be
an opposition between directly administered areas, whose revenues are regular in
amount and time; and an external area with its own political authorities, from which
goods come to Egypt more or less frequently . . . but cannot be planned ahead of time
in amount, in time, or in their substance.
Indeed, the expression “year by year” does not appear in the Egyptian-
Canaanite correspondence. I would question the assumption that the contri-
butions to Egypt were paid on a yearly basis. True, the inw-contributions of
Asia were presented in the parade of tribute offered by foreign emissaries on
New Year’s day, but the yearly display does not indicate the regularity of the
payment of contributions. The criteria according to which the Egyptians im-
posed tribute in the different areas of Canaan remain unknown.
These conclusions contradict the assumption that the correspondence re-
flects a seasonal procedure of any kind. There is no evidence that the letters refer
to a yearly preparation of the tribute or to any other periodical procedure. On the
contrary, the correspondence is mainly concerned with the irregular and reflects
the reaction of the vassals either to unexpected events in their immediate neigh-
borhood or to verbal and written instructions from Pharaoh and his officials.
The Vassal Correspondence as “Business” Letters

The Akkadian title used to describe the local rulers of Canaan is ḫazannu,
“mayor,” which is the equivalent of Egyptian ḫ3ty-c, a mayor of an Egyptian
town. It goes without saying that Egypt and Canaan were separate enti-
ties and that the vassals were never regarded as Egyptian mayors in the full
meaning of the term. The court administration treated them as Egyptian
mayors in one important aspect: They held full responsibility for everything
that happened in the town (or rather city-state) in their charge.
The self-image of the Canaanite rulers was quite different. They consid-
ered themselves to be kings (šarru) in their relations with their subjects and
with their neighbors and sometimes applied the title unintentionally either
to other city-state rulers or to themselves.4 Even the kings of Babylonia (EA 8:
25) and Mitanni (EA 30:1) called them kings. However, the Egyptian concep-
tion of the Canaanite rulers was strictly maintained in all the formal contacts
with Egypt and is reflected in the official aspects of the correspondence.
The most prominent obligation of the mayors was the defense of the city
put in their charge by the Pharaoh. There are innumerable variants of the
reports of guarding the city and its territory. But the statements of guard-
ing are only one aspect of the theme of defense. All the complaints of vas-
sals about encroachments on their territories and their neighbors’ expan-
sion, about attacks by the ‘Apiru and Sutu and the general insecurity in the
land, and statements about the expected arrival of Egyptian archers and gar-
risons — all these are aspects of the major theme of guarding. The vassals in-
terpreted the obligation to defend their towns and territories in a very broad
sense and developed it as a central theme around which they directed all
their complaints concerning the state of insecurity in their territory and in
neighboring areas.
Closely related to the theme of defense is another: the mayor as a loyal
servant (arad kitti) of Pharaoh. Moran (1985:173–181) has convincingly dem-
onstrated that the ideal of loyalty unifies the entire correspondence of Rib-
Hadda. Such self-presentation appears in many other letters, though not
expressed in so many words and details or in such a dramatic tone as in Rib-
Hadda’s letters. Even rulers who operated against the Egyptian interests in
Canaan praised their own loyalty and condemned the treachery and faith-
lessness of their enemies. No ruler ever admits his disloyalty, no matter what
he has actually done. To judge from their letters, all the mayors were loyal
servants, devoted to their posts in their towns, and it was their enemies who
conspired against Egypt and broke their oath to the Pharaoh.
If guarding the city and territory was the major theme in the vassal let-
ters, some other obligations, all derived from their status as mayors, are spo-
radically mentioned. These include the payment of contributions, the hous-
ing and feeding of Egyptian troops and officials, the dispatch of military units
and ships to help the Egyptians in their campaigns northward, the safe pas-
sage of foreign caravans, the cultivation of the lands of the Egyptian garri-
son cities, and the guarding of certain installations therein. Most (if not all)
4. Na’aman 1988:182-183, n. 18. For the correspondence of Ugarit with the Phoenician
coast, see Arnaud 1992:179-194, with earlier literature.
of these obligations were performed on irregular basis, and their execution is

mentioned in the letters.
With this background in mind, it is possible to define the circumstances
in which vassals may have written to the Pharaoh. A letter from Pharaoh was
answered immediately, and we may assume that the messenger who brought
it carried back the reply. The execution of verbal orders may have also been
reported. However, unexpected events in their neighborhoods were the most
important motive for writing. The vassals believed that the theme of guard-
ing was reciprocal and all-inclusive, comprising all aspects of security and
territorial integrity. They also knew that their rivals might send a contradic-
tory account of the new event. They, therefore, dispatched their own version
of the episode in an effort to justify themselves, to emphasize that they were
the victims of aggression, and if possible to persuade Pharaoh to intervene in
their favor (or at least to gain his neutrality). They learned from experience
that attracting the attention of Pharaoh was not an easy task. They, therefore,
aggrandized the episode and emphasized that what looked like a local event
was a threat to the Egyptian control of the land. Some vassals repeated the
same message in several consecutive letters, much like the repetition of a sin-
gle message in the modern mass media.
We may conclude that local events were the main impetus for dispatching
letters to Egypt. The vassal letters are mainly genuine “business” dispatches,
written in an effort to deliver certain messages and, if possible, to gain the
support (or, in other instances, the neutrality) of Pharaoh and his officials.
This would explain why, unlike the international correspondence, they refer
so often to political and military events.
Egyptian Obligations: Two Conflicting Viewpoints

As is well known, Egypt adhered to a mono-centric ideology, in which
Pharaoh occupied the central position. Liverani (1990b:230–239) has demon-
strated that, in accordance with its ideology, Egypt conceived its relation-
ship with its vassals to be one-sided, the latter being regarded as outsiders
to the Egyptian system. The supply of nourishment was confined only to the
Egyptian redistributive organization. Indeed, all vassals acknowledged their
status as outsiders; the only requests for provisions from Egypt appear in the
letters of Rib-Hadda of Byblos. It is possible, of course, that in situations of se-
vere famine and shortage of grain, some vassals would also appeal to Pharaoh
for help. After all, even the king of Hatti, by then an ally of Egypt, appealed to
Pharaoh in such a situation. But these would have been ad-hoc requests and
did not reflect an effort to be integrated into the Egyptian distributive sys-
tem. Egypt and Canaan were separate economic entities, and the vassals were
never regarded as Egyptian mayors in the full meaning of the term.
Of the many differences in ideological and political outlook between

Pharaoh and his vassals, the one that had the most important consequences
for their relationship was the disagreement on the guarding issue. As Liverani
(1990b:205–266) has shown, there was a large gap between the Egyptians’ and
the vassals’ perception of the relationship. The latter’s interpretation of
the theme of guarding as reciprocal and all-inclusive was not agreeable to
Pharaoh. This is clear from the correspondence of Rib-Hadda, in which the
impatience of Akhenaten with the former’s requests is vividly expressed.
Liverani suggested that the vassals misunderstood the Egyptian viewpoint
due to linguistic differences: the divergent connotations of the Akkadian verb
naṣāru (“to guard” “protect”) and its equivalent in Egyptian (s3w). “The bu-
reaucratic pressure of Egyptian origin was completely misunderstood as we
can see in the answers” (Liverani 1983:49–51 [cited from p. 51]).
The evidence presented in support of this argument is taken entirely
from the correspondence of Rib-Hadda, but Rib-Hadda’s rhetoric is excep-
tional and does not properly represent the corpus of vassal letters. The let-
ters of other mayors answered the command to guard in clear terms and oc-
casionally elaborated on it, for the reasons explained above. As far as I can
see, there is no evidence to support the assumption that by the verb naṣāru
the Egyptian bureaucracy meant anything other than “to guard.” Moreover,
the order to guard was part of a formula that appears again and again in
pharaonic letters and in official verbal instructions. It is inconceivable that
this formal request, which carried no operative command, remained unclear
to any mayor in Canaan.5
The administrative measures taken by Egypt to rule Canaan were already
about a century old in the Amarna period. After such a long experience, the
Canaanites must have become well acquainted with the Egyptian system of
government and its requests. Egyptian orders were delivered mainly verbally,
by officials, and even royal letters were brought by experienced messengers,
who were able to elaborate on obscure points. Given this situation, I very
much doubt the assumption that, due to cultural and ideological gaps, the
vassals frequently misunderstood the Egyptian orders (occasional slips are
self-evident). What looks like a misunderstanding is no more than deliberate
manipulation by the vassals, who tried to get the maximum results from their
correspondence with Egypt, while refusing to adopt the Egyptian mono-cen-
tric view of the relationship.
5. For a systematic discussion of Liverani’s arguments and an entirely different inter-

pretation of the evidence, see Moran 1995:559-572. Unfortunately, Moran’s article (whose
conclusions on this point are similar to my own) was available to me only after this article
was sent for publication.
Finally, it is evident that the Pharaoh’s silence about local matters does
not always means “no.” There is evidence for Egyptian intervention in local
affairs (e.g., EA 92:30–37; 126:4–6; 155:35–45; 245; 280:36–40), and this may
be the result of either verbal instructions of the royal court in Egypt (mes-
sages exchanged between the royal court and the Egyptian commissioners in
Canaan did not come down to us), or of the initiative of local commissioners
in Canaan. How indifferent the Egyptian court was to vassals’ complaints can-
not accurately be established.
Egyptian Officials as Translators of the Royal Commands

The Egyptian commissioners (rābiṣu) played a central role in the negotia-
tions with the local rulers. Royal letters being infrequent, they were respon-
sible for the transmission of orders and their implementation. To carry out
their mission they traveled from the Egyptian garrison cities to the seats of
the vassals, conveying messages or collecting contributions. Other messen-
gers arrived from Egypt, and, after transmitting their messages, they returned
home. These agents translated the Pharaonic policy and commands into ac-
tion, and their role as mediators gave them much power and influence.
This is not the place to discuss the role of the commissioners in the chain
of events, or to analyze the opposing stands that they adopted in local con-
flicts. What matters are the reports of the vassals on the functioning of those
agents and how the vassals reacted to situations in which they did not see eye
to eye with the Egyptian authorities.
On many occasions, vassals reported to Pharaoh about particular instruc-
tions they had received from officials. Such reports must have had a double
message: on the one hand, to confirm that they obeyed the transmitted or-
ders and thereby manifested their loyalty, and on the other hand, to check
on the commissioner. Accusations against certain officials, or efforts to per-
suade Pharaoh to reverse their decisions, appear quite frequently in the cor-
respondence. The best-known examples are the many accusations raised by
Rib-Hadda against Egyptian officials who operated in his area. Rib-Hadda’s
letters are exceptional and have been extensively discussed; thus, I will re-
strict my analysis to letters sent by other mayors.
‘Abdi-Ḫeba of Jerusalem was in conflict with the Egyptian authorities in
southern Canaan (Addaya, Puwuru, Yanḫamu), and his whole correspon-
dence is overshadowed by these muddy relationships. The bone of conten-
tion was the Egyptian garrison stationed in his town. Following the conflict,
the garrison was transferred to Gaza and later sent back to Egypt (EA 285;
286:25–33; 287:32–52, 71–75; 289:30–36), and ‘Abdi-Ḫeba was denounced be-
fore Pharaoh (286:16–21). He fought back by denouncing the Egyptian com-
missioners (notably in the words in EA 286:17–19 “I say to the commissioner
of the king, my lord: ‘Why do you love the cApiru but hate the mayors?’”) and
recounted in detail his version of the garrison’s episode. He further empha-
sized that he had been elevated to the throne of Jerusalem by the interven-
tion of Pharaoh, that he bore Egyptian titles, and that he was a loyal servant
of Pharaoh (Moran 1975:155–156). Thanks to his background, he had former
connections in the Egyptian court. Four of his letters have postscripts ad-
dressed to the royal scribe, asking him to support his case before the Pharaoh.
Finally, he strove to appear before his lord in order to bypass the barrier of
the Egyptian authorities in Canaan (EA 286:39–47; 288:30–32).
The complaints of Abi-Milki of Tyre are associated with the coastal town
of Usu, once in the possession of Tyre and later captured by Zimredda of Sidon
(EA 149:47–53). The conquest severed the island of Tyre from the continent,
depriving it of its sources of water, grain and wood. Abi-Milki of Tyre wrote
again and again to the Pharaoh, asking him to restore his captured town. He
emphasized the severe situation of his city, deliberately using words and im-
ages derived from the Egyptian vocabulary (EA 147:65–66; 148:11–13; 150:14–
21; 151:37–40; 155). He further tried to denounce his enemy, Zimredda, accus-
ing him of conspiring against the king’s land and against the city of Tyre (EA
147:66–69; 148:38–45; 149:57–70; 151:64–67; 152:7–8; 154:11–23). When at last
Abi-Milki of Tyre appeared before the Pharaoh, the latter ordered the res-
toration of the town to Tyre. However, his order was not carried out by the
commissioner, and Abi-Milki of Tyre reported the non-performance of the
command to his lord (EA 155:7–13, 31–46).
Another set of complaints came from the stylus of vassals who operated
against Egyptian interests in Canaan. In an effort to vindicate themselves,
they blamed certain commissioners of slandering them before Pharaoh. The
accused rulers are ‘Abdi-Ashirta (EA 62:42–49), Aziru (EA 158:20–31; 161:4–
10, 35–46; 171), and Lab’ayu (EA 252:13–16; 254:10–19). Each of the three had
a commissioner who supported him and who was cited as a witness to his in-
nocence. Thus, ‘Abdi-Ashirta was supported by Paḫamnata (EA 60; 135:34–36;
132:41), and Lab’ayu by an unnamed rābiṣu (EA 253:32–35; 254:10–15). Aziru
was supported by Ḫaip, who was accused of treacherous deeds by the mayors
of Byblos and Tyre (EA 131:47–48; 132:42–43; 149:37–40).
Several letters reflect disputes between mayors and commissioners and
the efforts of the former to persuade Pharaoh that they were justified. The
points of disagreement vary: a failure to execute a commissioner’s order (EA
207) and the arbitrary decisions or unlawful deeds of particular commission-
ers (EA 234, 239, 270, 292, 294). Some of these accusations suggest corruption
on the part of Egyptian officials (EA 161:41–46; 270; 292:41–52; 294:16–26).
However, it is difficult to verify accusations, and, in some situations, we can
do no more than present the conflicting claims of the two rivals.
The many charges directed against the Egyptian officials reflect, above
all, the complexity of the situation in Canaan, where so many elements were
involved in the chain of events. The commissioners were caught in the mid-
dle of many local and external powers, and there was no likelihood that their
decisions would be accepted by all parties to the conflicts. The contradictory
positions of officials on various issues, and the denunciations or approval of
their decisions voiced by rival vassals, were the direct result of this situation.
Corruption and incompetence, which are inseparable from any bureaucracy,
were secondary to the basic problems that emanated from the structure and
political culture of Canaan at that time.
Conclusions
The complex nature of the Egyptian-Canaanite relationship sometimes
worked in favor of those who were able to manipulate it and make the most
of their remoteness from the center of government. It enabled some vassals
to expand their territories and strengthen their power. Pharaoh was slow to
react, but once he made up his mind and decided to operate, he was able to
implement his decision with no real opposition. Following such a decision,
‘Abdi-Ashirta was caught and killed, and ṣumur was restored to Egyptian
hands. At roughly the same time, Lab’ayu was caught and killed on his way
to Egypt. On the other hand, when Egypt was less determined, as in the early
years of Akhenaten, some rulers were able to gain power and even dared
to contact a rival empire (i.e., Hatti). The number of internal conflicts in-
creased at that time, in particular in southern Canaan. Again, once Pharaoh
decided to operate and start organizing a campaign to Asia, internal conflicts
abruptly ended. Only the northernmost vassals were able to carry out their
former plans then, though not openly, because they could rely on the power
of another empire (Hatti). Real power was in the hands of Egypt, and its pol-
icy decided the internal affairs in Canaan.
Egypt concentrated on major issues and the exploitation of its province,
ignoring minor episodes that occurred in many parts of Canaan. The lack of
response to so many vassal letters exactly reflects the order of priorities at
the Egyptian court. The perspectives of the ruler of the empire were entirely
different from those of his vassals, and differences of political perspective,
combined with a unique ideology and distinctive cultural tradition, produced
conceptual gaps between the two sides of the correspondence.
Royal letters played a secondary role in the current administration of
Canaan. They were sent infrequently, when it was deemed necessary to em-
phasize the importance of a message. Verbal orders by officials played a cen-
tral role in the administration of the province, but the majority of these re-
main unknown, other than orders to which vassals referred in their letters.
The Egyptian officials operated at the juncture of two different cultural

and administrative systems. The center of government was in Egypt, and
these officials functioned as Egypt’s ears and eyes and executed its orders.
The province of Canaan was divided among many entities, each with its own
interests and policy. Each city-state had its social structure, economic re-
sources and cultural background. The set of prohibitions incumbent upon the
vassals was oral and subject to different interpretations and political manipu-
lations. The vassals were able to bypass certain officials, either by direct com-
munication with Pharaoh or through the support of other officials. In such a
multicenterd system, with so many players and no strict rules of the game, it
is no wonder that conflicting voices were always heard and that there was no
consensus about the officials and their functioning.
Different officials sometimes implemented their missions in opposite di-
rections. The job of these officials must have been quite difficult, and the let-
ters clearly illustrate the many problems that confronted the Egyptian au-
thorities in Canaan.
Vassals had a direct line of communication to the Pharaoh, but this line
was quite ineffective in view of the Pharaoh’s silence. Ostensibly, they could
appear before him and submit their claims in person. However, there are no
indications that the direct approach was effective. Also, a long absence from
home might have been dangerous, as is evident from letter EA 263, in which
a mayor complains that he was robbed of everything when he appeared be-
fore Pharaoh. The complaints of many vassals that they were unable to leave
their towns to appear before the Pharaoh, on account of external or internal
threats, are quite understandable. Appearance before Pharaoh and the recep-
tion of gifts might bring prestige in external and internal relations, but dip-
lomatically, it was quite ineffective.
What effective channels were open to the vassals? No single channel
could guarantee success, and vassals operated by combining all channels,
but probably with little illusion. The dispatch of tributes and gifts to Pharaoh
and his officials might occasionally have been effective, but there is no con-
crete data to evaluate its effect on decisions. Moreover, this channel was open
to every ruler, and the gift of one could be neutralized by that of his adver-
sary. The situation invited all kinds of manipulations, and reading the letters
makes it clear that some rulers found their way in spite of the many obsta-
cles, whereas others lost their way and paid the full price for their failure.
References
Arnaud, D. 1992. Les ports de la ‘Phénicie’ à la fin de l’âge du Bronze Récent (XIV-XIII
siècles) d’après les textes cunéiformes de Syrie. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 30: 179–
194.
Edzard, D.O. 1970. Die Tontafeln von Kamid el-Loz. In: Edzard, D.O. et al. eds. Kāmid el-Lōz
–Kumidi. Bonn: 55–62.
Liverani, M. 1983. Political Lexicon and Political Ideologies in the Amarna Letters. Berytus
31: 41–56.
Liverani, M. 1990a. A Seasonal Pattern for the Amarna Letters. In: Abusch, T. Huehnergard,
J. and Steinkeller, P. eds. Lingering over Words: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature in
Honor of William L. Moran. (Harvard Semitic Series 37). Atlanta: 337–348.
Liverani, M. 1990b. Prestige and Interest. International Relations in the Near East ca. 1600–1100
B.C. Padova.
Moran, W.L. 1975. The Syrian Scribe of the Jerusalem Amarna Letters. In: Goedicke, H. and
Roberts, J.J.M. eds. Unity and Diversity. Essays in the History, Literature and Religion of the
Ancient Near East. Baltimore and London: 146–166.
Moran, W.L. 1985. Rib-Hadda: Job at Byblos? In: Kort, A. and Morschauser, S. eds. Biblical
and Related Studies Presented to Samuel Iwry. Winona Lake: 173–181.
Moran, W.L. 1992. The Amarna Letters. Baltimore and London.
Moran, W.L. 1995. Some Reflections on Amarna Politics. In: Zevit, Z. Gitin, S. and Sokoloff,
M. eds. Solving Riddles and Untying Knots. Biblical, Epigraphic, and Semitic Studies in Honor
of Jonas C. Greenfield. Winona Lake: 559–572.
Na’aman, N. 1981. Economic Aspects of the Egyptian Occupation of Canaan. IEJ 31: 172–
185.
Na’aman, N. 1988. Biryawaza of Damascus and the Date of the Kāmid el-Lōz ‘Apiru Letters.
UF 20: 179–193.
Na’aman, N. 1990. Praises to the Pharaoh in Response to his Plans for a Campaign to
Canaan. In: Abusch, T. Huehnergard, J. and Steinkeller, P. eds. Lingering over Words:
Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature in Honor of William L. Moran. (Harvard Semitic
Series 37). Atlanta: 397–405.
Redford, D.B. 1990. Egypt and Canaan in the New Kingdom. (Beer-Sheva IV). Beer-sheva.
Redford, D.B. 1992. Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. Princeton.
Ammishtamru’s Letter to Akhenaten (EA 45) and
Hittite Chronology1
I
The Amarna letter EA 45 was sent by Ammishtamru I, king of Ugarit, to
an unnamed Pharaoh. Some scholars dated it to the late years of Amenophis
III (Kitchen 1962:34–35; Klengel 1969:340; Astour 1981:17–19; Drower 1975:
133). Kitchen (1962:34–35, 40) and Astour (1981:17–19; 1989:72) attributed it
to the time of Shuppiluliuma’s “first Syrian foray.” Houwink Ten Cate (1963:
272–273), on the other hand, attributed it to Shuppiluliuma’s “second Syrian
foray,” hence, to the early years of Akhenaten.
The main problem in the discussion of EA 45 is its fragmentary condition.
Knudtzon (1915) restored LUGAL KUR [ḫa-at-te] in lines 22 and 30, a restora-
tion that makes a good sense and was accepted by other scholars.2 Further ad-
vance in the study of the letter was made by Huehnergard [1989 (see index)]
and by Moran (1992:117–118). I believe that some other parts of the letter
may be reasonably restored and that these restorations may contribute to a
better understanding of its contents and a re-evaluation of its place in the in-
ternational relationships of the Amarna period.
In what follows, I shall suggest first a transcription and translation (fol-
lowed by textual notes) for letter EA 45 (except the introductory lines, which
are omitted), and then examine the letter’s place in the Egyptian-Hittite rela-
tions of the 14th century BCE.
12. [x x x ]x-ni-šu-nu ak-š[u-ud-šu-nu]

13. [ù a-k]ánan-na-am a-na-ku [aq-ta-bi-(ma)]
14. [an]-nu-tu4 šu-nu LÚmeš [KUR Amurri?]
15. am-mi-ni-im-ma a-na [KUR Ḫatti? Illiku?]
16. ù u-še-ser9 an-n[u? -tu4? a-na? . . .]
17. ù i-ra-aš-ši x [. . . ù]
18. ad-din-šu-nu-ma a-[na dUTU-ši EN-ia]
19. ù DUMU ši-ip-ri á[š-ta-par ? ù]
20. a-na pa-ni DUTU-ši [EN-ia . . .]
1. Reprinted with permission. Aula Orientalis 14 (1996), 251–257.

2. A different opinion was expressed by Liverani 1962:24.
40
Ammishtamru’s Letter to Akhenaten (EA 45) and Hittite Chronology 41
21. i-na-an-na ad-di[n-šu-nu]

----------------------------------------
22. [ša]-ni-ta 5 LUGAL KUR [Ḫatti iš-pur-ma]
23. am-mi-ni-mi [LÚmeš an-nu-tu?]
24. ta-ṣa-bat-mi [ù DUMU ši-ip-ri-šu]
25. iš-pur-ma 2-šu [a-na ia-ši?]
26. ù ki-ia-am iq-[ta-bi a-na KUR Mitanni]
27. ù a-na KUR mi-iṣ-r[i LÚmeš an-nu-tu?]
28. šum-ma-mi tu-še-bá-[al ù a-na-ki-ir-ka]
29. a-nu-um-ma [ÌR] a-[n]a d[UTU-si EN-ia a-na-ku]
------------------------------------------------------------
30. ša-ni-ta 5 as-sú-ri-im-[ma LUGAL KUR Ḫatti]
31. it-ti-ia i-na-ki-ir [ . . . dUTU-ši EN-ia]
32. TI.LAmeš ba-la-a-ṭá ša-a [uzuZI-ia ù uzupi-šu?]
33. li-iq-bi TI.LAmeš uzuZ[I-ia ù dUTU-ši EN-ia]
34. lu-ú i-de4-mi šum-ma-mi [i-na-ki-ir KUR Ḫatti]
35. [a-n]a KUR URUu-/ga/–/ri/-[ta . . .]
[. . . they . . .] them for me (and) I ho[ld them]. [And] I myself [said a]s follows: “These
men are the sons [of Amurru?]. Why should [they go] to [the land of Ḫatti?]? So I shall
prepare th[ese? for . . . ] and acquire a [ship? . . . , and] hand them over t[o the Sun, my
lord].” So I am s[ending] a messenger to the Sun, [my lord, and] now [indeed?] I shall
han[d them over].
Moreover, the king of [Ḫatti wrote thus]: “Why do you seize [these men.” And] he sent
[his messenger to me] a second time and he sp[oke] thus: “If you sen[d these men to
Mitanni] or to Egy[pt, then I will turn against you].” Now I am [a servant] to the S[un,
my lord].
Moreover, heaven forbid that [the king of Ḫatti] turn against me. [May the Sun, my
lord, send me] the life of [my spirit and may his mouth] speak the life of [my] spi[rit].
[And] may [the Sun, my lord], know (this): If [Ḫatti shall turn against] Ugar[it . . .
Notes:
Line 12: The signs ak-š[u] are quite clearly seen in Schroeder’s facsimile
(1915:Pl. 17). The first sign in the line is certainly not an [i]n (as suggested by
Knudtzon). Tentatively, it may be read as a [d]u and, thus, restored — (with a
big question mark) — [ir?-(te)?-d]u?-ni-šu-nu (“pursued them for me”).
Lines 14–15: The extradition to Egypt indicates that the men must have
come from one of its vassal kingdoms. Amurru is, therefore, the one possi-
ble candidate for a country whose messengers could have been detained on
their way by the king of Ugarit and extradited to Egypt and whose extradi-
tion could have pushed the king of Ḫatti to utter such violent threats. In this
light, I restore “Ḫatti” as the assumed destination of the Amurrite delega-
tion.
Line 17: The last broken sign may tentatively be read GI[Š] (i.e., a deter-
minative for “ship”).
Lines 23, 27: In place of [an-nu-tu], it is possible to restore [KUR Amurri].
Line 25: The restoration was suggested by Huehnergard 1989:200.
Line 26: Mitanni is the other possible destination for the extradition, as
well as Egypt.
Line 28: The restoration [a-na-ki-ir-ka] is self-evident in view of Ammish-
tamru’s fears, as expressed in line 31.
Line 29: Another instance in which the king of Ugarit expresses his subor-
dination to the Pharaoh appears in letter EA 46:22–26. I suggest restoring the
broken passage thus: “O Sun, my lord: J[ust as] (k[i-ma]) [formerly] my ances-
tors [sent things] and the Sun (was) th[eir] lord (be-li-š[u-nu]), [so] I am a ser-
vant of the Su[n, my lord, and] to the Sun, my lor[d I will send things].” For
the kima . . . kinanna . . . pattern, see CAD K 380b. For the restoration of unūtê
(“things”) in lines 23 and 26, see line 12; for the restoration of the verb šūbulu
(“to send”) at the end of these lines, see line 13.
Assuming that the suggested restorations are acceptable, the following
scenario may be proposed: The ruler of Amurru sent messengers to Ḫatti, and
they were detained by Ammishtamru I of Ugarit. He started organizing their
extradition to Egypt. News of their detention reached the king of Ḫatti, who
then sent two urgent messages to Ammishtamru, warning that he would at-
tack him if the messengers were extradited either to Mitanni or to Egypt. As
a result of these warnings, Ammishtamru became afraid and sent a full report
to the Pharaoh, seeking his help against a possible Hittite assault.
II
What is the date of Ammishtamru’s letter, and under what circumstances
was it written? As noted in the introduction, some scholars dated it immedi-
ately after the Hittite campaign against Mitanni, mentioned in letter EA 75.
As the date and historical background of EA 75 are disputed by scholars, I will
analyse them in some detail.
First to the text of lines 35–42: Of the various attempts to clarify this dif-
ficult passage,3 Moran’s translation (1992:145–146) makes the best sense. My
translation will follow that of Moran, with some minor changes.
May the king be informed that the king of Ḫatti has seized all the countries (KUR.KUR)
(that are) the ‘dwelling (KUŠ = āsibāt) of life’ (TI.TI = balāṭi) of the king of Mitta<ni>.
3. For a survey, see Singer 1990:124-125.

Behold, the king of Nah<ri>ma [loses?] the land of the Great Kings (LUGAL.LUGAL),
[whereas] ‘Abdi-Ashirta, [the servant] and dog, is tak[ing the land of the king].
For the writing of balāṭu by the logogram TI in Rib-Hadda’s early letters,

see EA 74:15 and 89:14 (sic!). The exceptional writing of balāṭu by TI.TI does
not differ from the exceptional writing of šarrāni by LUGAL.LUGAL. The noun
balāṭu has the double connotation of “life” and “nourishment.”4
The restoration “[loses]” in line 39 is ad sensum. Did the scribe intention-
ally play on the similarity of sounds of the verbs ḫalāqu and leqû? Be that as it
may, the reference to the defeat of the king of Mitanni was deliberately cho-
sen by Rib-Hadda to emphasize the misdeeds of his arch-enemy, ‘Abdi-Ashirta
of Amurru.
What is the date of the Hittite victory over Mitanni mentioned in EA
75? Some scholars erroneously dated it to the early years of Akhenaten.5
However, by the late 60s, Moran isolated a group of letters, all dated to the
time of Aziru, in which Rib-Hadda recalls the campaign conducted by the
Pharaoh’s father (i.e., Amenophis III) against ‘Abdi-Ashirta and urged the
young king to treat Aziru as his father treated ‘Abdi-Ashirta (EA 108:28–33;
117:21–28; 121:41–44; 131:30–34; 132:12–18; 138:28–34; 362:16–20; note also
116:61–62).6 This point was noted in my Ph.D. dissertation as the safest an-
chor point for dating Rib-Hadda’s letters (and, by inference, many other
Amarna letters).7 The earliest of these letters is EA 108, in which the follow-
ing passage (lines 25–33) appears :
Who are they, the dogs, that they should res[ist] the archers of the king, the Sun? I
wrote to your father (ana abika), and he he[eded] my words, and he sent archers. Was
not ‘Abdi-Ashirta taken to h[im]?
Letter EA 108 was written after the appointment of Yanḫamu as com-

missioner of Ṣumur, when the sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta started blockading this
Egyptian garrison city. Also noteworthy are lines 8–10: “Moreover, is it pleas-
ing in the sight of the king, who is like Ba‘al/Haddu and Shamash in the sky,
that. . . .” Evidently, news of the religious reform had not yet arrived, and Rib-
Hadda innocently mentions the classical pair of the storm god and the sun
god. In his later letters, however, only the sun god is mentioned.8
4. For a detailed discussion, see Liverani 1983:51-53; 1990:230–239.

5. Kitchen 1962:26-27, 41; Klengel 1964:71 n. 79; 1969:39, 186–187, 256; Astour 1981:19-
20; Wilhelm and Boese 1987:85-86; Bryce 1989:22-23; Singer 1991:148.
6. Moran 1969:98*; see recently, Moran 1992:xxxv-xxxvi, n. 127.
7. Na’aman 1975:207 (Hebrew); English summary p. xv.
8. See Na’aman 1990:250–252; Galan 1992:289-291. For a late reference to Akhenaten’s
accession, see EA 116:63-64.
Letter EA 104, on the other hand, was still dispatched to Amenophis III.
This is indicated by lines 24–29:
Previously (pānānu), they would take cities of your mayors, and you did nothing. Now
they have driven out your commissioner and taken his cities for themselves.
Rib-Hadda complains about the Egyptian impotence that enabled Pu-

Ba‘lu, the son of ‘Abdi-Ashirta, to conquer the Egyptian garrison city of Ullasa
and drove many coastal towns to cooperate with the sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta
(lines 6–13, 30, 40–43). The words “previously, they would take . . . and you
did nothing” were necessarily directed to Amenophis III and do not apply to
his young heir, Akhenaten. It was only after the death of Amenophis III (1353
BCE) that Rib-Hadda made him an example of leadership, urging Akhenaten
to do the same and launch a campaign against Amurru.
Letter EA 106 was probably sent to Akhenaten, as suggested by the king’s
annoyance at the influx of Rib-Hadda’s letters (lines 13–16, 30–32). This is a
distinctive mark of Akhenaten’s messages to Rib-Hadda (note e.g., EA 117:8–
9; 124:35–37), unlike his predecessor, Amenophis III, who showed no annoy-
ance at the flood of letters.9
In lines 16–18 of EA 106, Rib-Hadda wrote as follows: “Look, in my case,
there has been a war against me for five years. Accordingly I keep writing to
my lord.” The reference to five years of hostility may be compared to similar
statements in two of Rib-Hadda’s earlier letters:
(a) “Since he has attacked me three times this year, and for two years I have been re-
peatedly robbed of my grain, we have no grain to eat.” (EA 85:8–11).
(b) “For three years I have been constantly p[lundered] of our grain.” (EA 86:38–39).
Letters EA 85–86 were written immediately after the arrival of the troops
of Mitanni in Amurru (EA 85:51–55; 86:8–12; see below), shortly before the
dispatch of an Egyptian task force to Amurru, to put an end to ‘Abdi-Ashirta’s
reign. It goes without saying that Rib-Hadda’s references to time spans
should not be taken literally.10 Yet the difference of two years between the
events mentioned EA 85–86 and those mentioned in EA 106 fits all the known
data quite well. This is indicated by an analysis of Rib-Hadda’s letters written
in the period between these letters.
9. The different reactions of Amenophis III and Akhenaten to Rib-Hadda’s letters is a

clear indication of their personal involvement (or, at least, of Akhenaten’s involvement) in
the vassal correspondence.
10. The words of EA 85:8–10 show a clear literary pattern, a play on a graduating nu-
merals of three and two.
The following episodes occurred between the Egyptian campaign against

Amurru (which, as noted above, took place shortly after the dispatch of let-
ters EA 85–86), and the beginning of Akhenaten’s reign (i.e., the writing of
letter EA 106):
(a) The return of the archers to Egypt (EA 105:17–21).

(b) The establishment of ‘Abdi-Ashirta’s sons in Amurru and the resumption
of their offensive (EA 103:8–13; 104:10–13).
(c) The capture of the garrison city of Ullasa by Pu-Ba‘lu, son of ‘Abdi-Ashirta
(EA 104).
We may conclude that the reign of ‘Abdi-Ashirta ended about 1355 BCE.11
Amenophis III lived one or two years more and, when he died, was succeeded
by his son Akhenaten (1353 BCE). Letter EA 75 was doubtless written in the
last years of Amenophis III, as correctly suggested by Campbell in his work on
the chronology of the Amarna letters (Campbell 1964:77–89, 134).
Letter EA 75, together with EA 17, should be dated to an early stage of
the struggle between Ḫatti and Mitanni. Following the loss of some of his
territories (“the king of Ḫatti has seized all the countries . . . of the king of
Mitta<ni>“), the king of Mitanni conducted campaigns to Syria, in an effort
to curb rebellions and to re-establish his power and prestige in the kingdoms
under his rule, reaching southward as far as the land of Amurru (EA 85:51–55;
86:10–12; 90:19–22; 95:27–31; 101:6–10). Evidently, neither Ḫatti nor Mitanni
won a decisive victory at that time. Ḫatti remained a remote power that did
not make a great impression on the Egyptian vassals in Canaan. This is indi-
cated by two letters of Rib-Hadda, in which he draws a negative comparison
between the deeds of ‘Abdi-Ashirta and those of the kings of two great north-
ern powers, Mitanni and Babylonia (EA 76:14–16; 104:17–24), while ignoring
the king of Ḫatti.
Following Shuppiluliuma’s victories over Mitanni in Rib-Hadda’s late
years, the political situation was entirely changed, and Ḫatti won a place of
honor in the great powers’ “club.” This newly acquired prestigious position is
indicated in two letters (EA 116:70–71; 129:74–79), in which the deeds of the
sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta are again compared with those of the kings of the great
powers, including Ḫatti.
11. The dates attributed by Singer (1991:141, 148) for the death of ‘Abdi-Ashirta and his
sons’ accession must be raised by ten years.
It remains unclear whether letter EA 75 refers to events in the reign of

Shuppiluliuma, or to the time of his predecessor, when he was commander
of the troops under his father. The Hittite victory mentioned in EA 75 had no
lasting results and was reversed shortly afterward by the campaigns of the
king of Mitanni; thus, it is unlikely that the messengers of Amurru were sent
to Ḫatti on that occasion. Houwink ten Cate (1963:271–273) was correct in dat-
ing letter EA 45 later than EA 17 (and later than EA 75 as well). The episode dis-
cussed in EA 45 is best dated some time after the death of ‘Abdi-Ashirta. For its
historical background, we must look into the reign of Aziru of Amurru.
The treaty concluded between Aziru and Niqmaddu II of Ugarit includes
the following passage (lines 5–19) (Nougayrol 1956:284–286):
The claims of Aziru against Ugarit, those formerly of Niqmepa against Ammishtamru,
those of Ba’luya against Niqmaddu, against ‘Abdi-Ḫebat (and) against Siannu, will not
be in force from the day the oath is sworn. Of all claims, just as the Sun is pure, so
Aziru is clean concerning Niqmaddu and ‘Abdi-Ḫebat, concerning Ugarit and concern-
ing Siannu. Moreover, 5,000 (shekels) of silver are paid to Aziru and he is as clean as
the Sun.
Ba’luya was probably Aziru’s son, who, with his brother Beti-Ili, con-
ducted the affairs of Amurru when Aziru was held in Egypt (EA 170). That
Beti-Ili was Aziru’s son is evident from EA 161:20, where Aziru mentions that
“my brothers and Beti-Ili were at his service” (Izre’el 1991:18). It seems to me
that the two brothers were originally mentioned, together with their father,
in letter EA 165:5–9:
What m[ore should I seek]? I seek [the sweet and] gracious face of the king, my lord. [I
am your servant] forever and [Beti-Ili] and Ba’luya are [yo]ur [servants].12
To judge from EA 170, Ba’luya was the senior of the two brothers, so he
must have sent letter EA 169 (note the references to “your father” in lines
19, 32).13
In letter EA 170, the two brothers report to Aziru of the military cam-
paign of the Hittite general Lupakku and that another general, Zitana, with
90,000 infantrymen, is about to arrive to Nuhašše. If the report of the arrival
of Zitana is verified, “I (i.e., Ba’luya) will send Beti-Ili to him.” Amurru’s dele-
12. For recent treatments of EA 165, see Izre’el 1991:40-43; Moran 1992:252–253. The
facsimile published by Schroeder (VS 11, 1915, Pl. 89) indicates that the lines are longer
than the two scholars assume. The text of lines 6–9 may be restored as follows: (6) pa-
ni LUGAL EN-i[a DÙG.GA-ta ù] (7) ba-nu-ta ú-ba-’-[i a-na-ku ÌR-ka] (8) a-di da-ri-ti ù [mbe-ti-
DINGIR] (9) ù mba-a-lu-ia LÚmeš [ÌR-k]a. For the restoration of line 6, compare EA 164:6.
13. For different suggestions, see Klengel 1964:75 n. 102; 1969:280–281; Izre’el 1991:18.
gation to the Hittite general would be headed by a senior personage, Beti-Ili,

the son of Aziru.
In this light, we may interpret the above-cited passage from the treaty
of Aziru and Niqmaddu. The claim of Aziru against Niqmaddu of Ugarit and
‘Abdi-Ḫebat of Siannu in reference to Ba’luya probably refers to an episode in
which Aziru’s son was either killed in battle or detained in Siannu and later
extradited by Niqmaddu to Egypt. I believe that the episode of Ammishtamru
I and Niqmepa is the one mentioned in letter EA 45. Niqmepa must have been
Aziru’s brother, who headed a delegation to Ḫatti and, following his deten-
tion, was extradited to Egypt.14 The treaty refers to two members of the fam-
ily of Aziru who suffered from the intervention of the rulers of Ugarit and
Siannu, hence, the compensation of 5,000 shekels of silver that Aziru received
in return for dropping his claims against the two kingdoms.
Dating letter EA 45 is important because it marks the earliest stage in
Amurru’s contacts with Ḫatti. I agree with Singer (1990:124–128) that the
shift in Amurru’s allegiance did not occur before Aziru’s time. The natu-
ral date for the letter is after Shuppiluliuma’s decisive campaign against
Mitanni, a campaign that is mentioned in several Amarna letters.15 This cam-
paign must have taken place not long after the accession of Akhenaten (1353–
1337), as not many years passed between his accession (shortly after the writ-
ing of letter EA 104) and the first explicit mention of the Hittite offensive in
Rib-Hadda’s letter EA 126:51–52 (“<A>nd16 the Hittite troops have indeed set
fire to the countries”). Ammishtamru I must have died shortly afterward and
was succeeded by Niqmaddu II. The latter’s entanglement with Ba‘aluya must
be dated to the late years of Akhenaten, toward the end of the Amarna let-
ters.
As for the chronology of Shuppiluliuma, much depends on our evalua-
tion of letters EA 17 and 75. Scholars who attribute them to an early stage in
the career of Shuppiluliuma should accordingly date his accession to the late
years of Amenophis III. Conversely, those who attribute them to the reign
of Shuppiluliuma’s predecessor should date his accession to the early years
14. Nougayrol (1956:282) suggested that Niqmepa was an older brother of Aziru who
ascended the throne of Amurru after the death of ‘Abdi-Ashirta. He is perhaps included in
the general denomination “the sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta.” A similar opinions were expressed by
Houwink ten Cate (1963:273) and by Klengel (1969:204–205). Astour (1989:72), on the other
hand, suggested that “it is more plausible to view Niqmepa not as the successor but the
predecessor of ‘Abdi-Ashirta in the earlier part of the fourteenth century.”
15. See the references in Moran 1992:390, s.v. Ḫatta/i.
16. The sign in question (see Moran 1992:207, n. 8) is probably a ù, whose first part was
omitted due to haplography.
of Akhenaten. It is clear that the date for Shuppiluliuma’s accession (1344

or 1343 BCE) attributed by Wilhelm and Boese (1987:105–109) and by Bryce
(1989:30) is too low. His offensive against Mitanni took place not many years
after the accession of Akhenaten, so that his accession to the throne pre-
ceded it by, at least, some years. Thus, Shuppiluliuma must have ascended
the throne either in the late years of Amenophis III or in the early years of
his heir, Akhenaten.
References
Astour, M.C. 1981. Ugarit and the Great Powers. In: Young, G.D. ed. Ugarit in Retrospect:
Fifty Years of Ugarit and Ugaritic. Winona Lake: 3–29.
Astour, M.C. 1989. Hittite History and Absolute Chronology of the Bronze Age. Partille.
Bryce, T.R. 1989. Some Observations on the Chronology of Šuppiluliuma’s Reign. AnSt 39:
19–30.
Campbell, E.F. 1964. The Chronology of the Amarna Letters. Baltimore.
Drower, M.S. 1975. Ugarit. The Cambridge Ancient History II/2. 3rd edition. Cambridge:
130–160.
Galán, J.M. 1992. EA 164 and the God Amun. JNES 51: 287–291.
Houwink ten Cate, P.H.J. 1963. Review of K.A. Kitchen. Suppiluliuma and the Amarna
Pharaohs, Liverpool 1962. BiOr 20: 270–277.
Huehnergard, J. 1989. The Akkadian of Ugarit. (Harvard Semitic Studies 34). Atlanta.
Izre’el, S. 1991. Amurru Akkadian: A Linguistic Study I. (Harvard Semitic Series 40).
Atlanta.
Kitchen, K.A. 1962. Suppiluliuma and the Amarna Pharaohs: A Study in Relative Chronology.
(Liverpool Monographs in Archaeology and Oriental Studies). Liverpool.
Klengel, H. 1964. Aziru von Amurru und seine Rolle in der Geschichte der Amarnazeit.
Mitteikungen des Instituts für Orientforschung 10: 57–83.
Klengel. H. 1969. Geschichte Syriens im 2. Jahrtausend v.u.Z. Teil 2 — Mittel- und Südsyrien,
Berlin.
Knudtzon, J.A. 1915. Die El-Amarna-Tafeln mit Einleitung und Erläuterungen I-II.
Liverani, M. 1962. Storia di Ugarit nell’età degli archivi politici. Rome.
31: 41–56.
Liverani, M. 1990. Prestige and Interest. International Relations in the Near East ca. 1600–
1100 B.C. Padova.
Moran, W.L. 1969. The Death of ‘Abdi-Aširta. Eretz Israel 9: 94*–99*.
Na’aman, N. 1975. The Political Disposition and Historical Development of Eretz Israel
According to the Amarna Letters. (Ph.D. Thesis). Tel Aviv University. (Hebrew).
Na’aman, N. 1990. On Gods and Scribal Traditions in the Amarna Letters. Ugarit-
Nougayrol, J. 1956. Le Palais Royal d’Ugarit IV. Textes accadiens des Archives Sud (Archives
Internationales). (Missions de Ras Shamra IX). Paris.
Schroeder, O. 1915. Die Tontafeln von el-Amarna. (Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler der
Königlischen Museen zu Berlin XI-XII). Leipzig.
Singer, I. 1990. Aziru’s Apostasy and the Historical Setting of the General’s Letter.
In: Izre’el, S. and Singer, I. The General’s Letter from Ugarit. A Linguistic and Historical
Reevaluation of RS 20.23 (Ugaritica V, No. 20). Tel Aviv: 113–183.
Singer, I. 1991. A Concise History of Amurru. In: Izre’el, S. Amurru Akkadian: A Linguistic
Study II. (Harvard Semitic Series 41). Atlanta: 134–195.
Wilhelm, G. and Boese, J. 1987. Absolute Chronologie und die hethitische Geschichte
des 15. und 14. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. In: Åstrom, P. ed. High, Middle or Low (Acts of
an International Colloquium on Absolute Chronology Held at the University of
Gothenburg 20th–22nd August 1987). Gothenburg: 74–117.
Looking for the Pharaoh’s Judgment1
In the vassal letters from Amarna, the noun dīnu (“verdict, case, claim”)
appears only in the correspondence of Rib-Hadda of Byblos.2 It appears eight
times in reference to the dispute over the property of Rib-Hadda, which has
been seized by Yapaḫ-Hadda of Beirut, and the appeal to the Pharaoh to in-
tervene and settle the matter (EA 105:34,80; 117:64; 118:13; 119:45; 120:30,39).
An isolated reference appears in letter EA 89 (line 14). Knudtzon read it ú-ul
di-na a-na-ti-šu-nu (“Nicht würden ihre Vergehen gutgeheissen sein”). Ebeling
read it ú-ul ki-na a-na TI-šu-nu, and translated lines 13–14 “O König, sind
meine Worte nicht recht? Wenn der König fur ihr Leben sorgt, so . . .” (Weber
in Knudtzon 1915:1591). In their article on letter EA 89, Albright and Moran
(1950:165) read line 14 ú-ul ki-na a-na-ti-šu-nu (“Their words are not true”),
suggesting a scribal error of na for wa. This interpretation was accepted by
other scholars (Youngblood 1961:322, 330–331; Moran 1992:162; Rainey 1996:
174). However, the sign in Schroeder’s facsimile is definitely di, as Knudtzon
read it. In my opinion, line 14 should be rendered ú-ul di-na a-na TI (balāṭi)-
šu-nu, and translated as a rhetorical question: “Is there no judgment on their
lives?” Rib-Hadda requests that the Pharaoh intervene and punish the mur-
derers.
In what follows I shall analyze the two episodes in an attempt to clar-
ify their course and shed more light on the way the Pharaoh handled the re-
quests when making decisions in political-judicial incidents.
The Coup d’état in Tyre

Letter EA 89 was studied in detail by Albright and Moran (1950:163–168;
see Weber in Knudtzon 1915:1178–1181). According to their analysis, the
prince of Tyre married Rib-Hadda’s sister and is described either by the title
1. Reprinted with permission. Revue d’Assyriologie 90 (1996), 145–159.

2. For the publication of the Amarna letters see Knudtzon 1915. The second volume is
a commentary by Weber and glossaries by Ebeling, with additional remarks by Knudtzon.
A facsimile of the texts from Berlin was published by Schroeder 1915. A new translation of
the Amarna letters, with many notes and remarkable progress in the decipherment and
understanding of the letters, was published by Moran 1987. The English translation pub-
lished five years later (1992) is the basis for the translation offered in this article.
50
Looking for the Pharaoh’s Judgment 51
“mayor” (ḫazannu) or as “my brother.” His wife and sons were also killed, but
“the daughters were valuable property and, hence, presumably escaped the
massacre.” Rib-Hadda gives his own version of the event and warns the king
against accepting the version emanating from the usurper and his followers.
However, some of their readings and part of the interpretation are not
free of doubts. First, they render lines 22–24 thus: “My sister’s daugh<ter>s (a-
ḫa-<ti>-ia) I had sent to Tyre away from ‘Abdi-Ashirta.” How could Rib-Hadda
send his sister’s daughters from his town to the island of Tyre, the place
where they were born and lived safely, away from ‘Abdi-Ashirta? Second,
in lines 39–42, Rib-Hadda wrote thus: “But if you make inquiry about my
brother, then the city will say: This man is not a mayor! Inquire, O king, about
him!” How should we interpret the city’s claim that the murdered ḫazannu
(who is called “brother,” according to Albright’s and Moran’s interpretation)
is not a mayor?
These difficulties disappear once it is understood that the Tyrians had
murdered both their ruler and his family and Rib-Hadda’s brother, who was
staying then in the town. The former is called by the title ḫazannu and once
(line 33) by the appellation aḫu (a ruler of equal status; see EA 92:44; 106:15,20;
137:13); the latter is called by the familial affiliation aḫu (lines 13,22,39). Line
22 should not be corrected (as did Knudtzon and his followers), but read a-ḫa-
ia (“my brother”). The misunderstanding of the text is due to the use of the
noun aḫu in two different meanings and by the omission of the sign u (“and”)
in lines 13 and 22. Indeed, there is a relatively large number of small errors in
this letter, as will be apparent from the rendering of the text.
Following is a new translation of the letter (except the introduction) and
a commentary. These will be followed by an analysis of the letter and the pre-
sumed reaction of the Pharaoh to the act of usurpation.
(7–17) [Though] I keep writing like this [to the pal]ace, my words are not [taken to
he]art, and they go utterly un[hee]ded. Look at the deed in Tyre. On this account I am
afraid. Even now the king makes no inquiry about his mayor <and> my brother. May
the king h<eed> my words. Is there no judgment on their lives? If the king makes in-
quiry, we will devote ourselves to your service.
(17–32) I made connubium with Tyre; they were on good terms with me. Behold, they
have killed their mayor, together with my sister and her sons <and> daughters. I had
sent my brother to Ty[re], away from ‘Abdi-A[shirta, and they killed] him alo[ng with . . .
If the king remains silent about my brother, then all lands will be joined to the ‘Apiru??.
But if] the king [makes inquiry about my brother], then all lands [will be joined to the
king, my lord].
(33–39) Will the king not [make inquiry] about [my] brother, [for] the <c>ity (<U>RU)
[is] without a g[rown heir] (e[ṭ-lu]). [Indeed], he sent again and again to the king, [but
h]is words went unheeded. And so he died. I know it!
(39–43) But if you make inquiry about my brother, then the city will say: “This man is
not the mayor. Inquire, O King, about him. We are unable to do anything.” And they
are afraid of me!
(44–59) Will the king not make inquiry about the mayor of Tyre? For his property is as
great as the sea. I know it! Look, there is no mayor’s residence like that of the residence
in Tyre. It is like the residence in Ugarit. Exceedingly great is the wealth in it. May the
king heed [the word]s of <his> servant. May he send [P]N? that he will stay [in the l]and,
and [appoint a man] ([šu-ku-un LÚ]) for the office of mayor (a-na ḫa-za-nu-ti). May [no]
property be handed [over to] them.
(59–63) Also [make inquiry? about the com]missioner of the king. He is t[aking fr]om
the king [the property] of the lands [of the king]. I know <it>!
(63–67) Does the king approve [that ‘Abdi-A]shirta has taken the sea [in] front of them,
and so they are at peace? May the king [ter]rify them! Do I not continue to write about
<the>ir crime to the king?
Notes to the text:

Line 14: The subject of the plural pronoun -šunu is the mayor of Byblos
and Rib-Hadda’s brother mentioned in line 13.
Line 25: It is possible that some other members of the brother’s family
have been killed and were listed after qa[du].
Lines 26–32: The long restoration, which is naturally quite uncertain, is
based partly on the similarity in structure to lines 33–43 and partly on the
stock of phrases repeated many times in the letters of Rib-Hadda.
Line 33: To judge from Schroeder’s facsimile, it is possible that the signs a-
ḫi are written over an erased ḫa-za.
Lines 34–35: I restore [ù i-ba-ša-at] URU i-na ba-li e[ṭ-lu ù]. The URU sign
was mistakenly written without the first vertical wedge (compare the URU
sign in line 41). For ibaššat in reference to a town, see EA 84:38; 105:10; 116:
9,20. The noun eṭlu appears in another letter of Byblos (EA 74:26) and was dis-
cussed by Moran in his edition (1992:144, note 7; cf. EA 29:154). It refers in the
Amarna letters to a young man, who is grown up and able to sit on the throne
(see Moran’s note 1 to EA 17), like ta/erd/tennu in the texts of Nuzi, Ugarit and
Ḫattusha (see Wilhelm 1970:277–282).
Lines 54–57: For the restoration, see EA 107:11–24. The two texts deal
with a similar situation, the appointment of someone to a vacant post. In let-
ter EA 107, Rib-Hadda advises the Pharaoh about the nomination of a com-
missioner in Ṣumur: “May miḫripita (i.e., the archer-commander) stay (yizziz)
in Ṣumur . . . and then . . . appoint (šukun) as its commissioner someone re-
spected by the king’s mayors.” For the verb šakānu in reference to nomina-
tion to the office of mayor, see EA 161:51–53.
The plural noun “mayors” (ḫazannūti) is consistently preceded in the

Amarna letters by LÚMEŠ.3 Only two references lack it (EA 89:57; 124:22), and
they refer to the office of mayor (ḫazannūtu; CAD Ḫ 165b–166a). The passage
in EA 124:20–22 is broken, but may be restored thus: “Who is t[his fellow, ser-
vant (and) dog], that he has taken the ci[ties of the king for himself], and
[has cancelled?] the mayorship?” Moran translated “and (even) mayor[s has
killed].” But Aziru is never accused by Rib-Hadda of killing mayors. The accu-
sation appears only in the letters of Ili-rapih, Rib-Hadda’s brother and heir
to the throne of Byblos, who deceitfully attributed to Aziru some misdeeds of
his father, ‘Abdi-Ashirta (EA 139–12–15; 140:10–12).
Lines 59–62: The corrupt mayor is probably Paḫamnata, the commis-
sioner of Ṣumur, who supported ‘Abdi-Ashirta and whom Rib-Hadda accused
of treacherous deeds (see EA 131:34–36; 132:41).
Lines 63–67: The translation and restoration follow Moran’s edition.
Letter EA 89 is well constructed and Rib-Hadda’s case is clearly stated. He

opens with a general account of the event, asking for an inquiry and judg-
ment. He then goes into details and relates how many members of the royal
families of Tyre and Byblos have been killed. Investigation and punishment
are necessary, because if the murder is left unpunished, more towns may fol-
low the example and attack their mayors (compare EA 73:23–33; 74:25–29; 75:
25–34).
Of the following three passages, the first and second discuss the possi-
ble results of two opposite reactions of the Pharaoh: if he does not hold an
inquiry, and if he does hold one. The first refers to the situation in Tyre,
which is left without a grown heir; the second describes the embarrass-
ment of the city, in view of the murder of a foreign prince and its fear of
Rib-Hadda’s vengeance. In the third passage, Rib-Hadda alludes to what
the Pharaoh may gain from an intervention in the succession. He em-
phasizes the wealth of the ruler of Tyre, whose residence is “like the res-
idence of Ugarit,” and calls on the Pharaoh to instruct his officer to come
3. Izre’el (1991:118–119) suggested that the final vowel i in LÚMEŠ ḫa-za-nu-ú-ti (EA 162:
13) marks a singular ending. In this light, he translates lines 12–13 as follows: “He was
staying in Sidon, and you have appointed him mayor (lit. you have given him to mayor-
alty) at your initiative.” However, in the next line the Pharaoh wrote thus: “Were you igno-
rant of the treacherousness of the men.” “The men” (LÚMEŠ) doubtless refer back to LÚMEŠ
ḫazannūti, indicating that it is a plural form. Also, an accusation of Aziru of actually ap-
pointing somebody as mayor is unlikely. It is evident that the distinction between plural
and singular forms of the noun, established by Izre’el for the Amurru Akkadian, is not ap-
plicable to Egyptian Akkadian.
to Tyre and set a new king on the vacant throne. Citizens who killed their
lord should neither enthrone their own candidate nor gain any profit from
their crime.
The last two paragraphs are directed against his arch-enemy, ‘Abdi-
Ashirta of Amurru, and against his supporter, the commissioner of Ṣumur.
Rib-Hadda creates an artificial link between the citizens of Tyre and ‘Abdi-
Ashirta by suggesting that they enjoy his misdeeds and closes the letter with
a reminder of their crime.
At the center of the letter is Rib-Hadda’s plea for judgment on the mur-
derers, who must have been his political opponents. His letter has a distinct
political aspect, namely, a request to promote some other candidate than the
one suggested by the conspirators.
The title ḫazannu (“mayor”), by which the local Canaanite rulers are called
in the correspondence, lacks the concepts of dynasty and succession. There
was only one king, the Pharaoh, and according to Egyptian ideology, he could
nominate his own candidate for every vacant throne. In reality, the dynas-
tic principle was kept in almost every instance, and the Pharaoh would have
confirmed the succession of the heir to the throne. Only in exceptional cases
would the Pharaoh intervene and nominate (through his officials in Canaan)
his own candidate. Such was the situation after the Egyptian campaign to
Amurru and the death of ‘Abdi-Ashirta. His heir, Aziru, appeared with his
brothers in Damascus before the Egyptian authorities (EA 107:26–28). Only
after negotiations and an agreement, which included the dispatch of his two
sons as hostages to Egypt (EA 156), and the nomination of Yanḫamu to su-
pervise his actions from Ṣumur (EA 157; 171), was Aziru able to occupy his fa-
ther’s throne. His recognition as mayor is expressed in one of his letters (EA
161:51–53): “But this is the land of my lord, and the king, my lord, made me
(iškunanni) one of the mayors.” His rival, Rib-Hadda, describes the nomina-
tion in negative terms (EA 103:8–10): “The war of the sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta
against me is harsh. They have entered (the throne) of Amurru, and the en-
tire country is theirs.” (For this interpretation of erēbu, see EA 286:13; 316:20;
cf. EA 102:11).
Another example of Egyptian intervention in an unusual succession is re-
flected in letter EA 220. The writer’s father was killed when the city was at-
tacked, and he anxiously awaited the arrival of a commissioner to examine
the case and decide whether to approve his reign. ‘Abdi-Ḫeba, the mayor of
Jerusalem, spent his youth in Egypt and was nominated by the Pharaoh, pos-
sibly when circumstances invited a royal intervention in the succession to
the throne (Moran 1975:165–166).
What was the Pharaoh’s reaction to the crisis of succession in Tyre? It
seems to me that the murdered king was [. . .]-DI.KUD, the author of let-
ter EA 295,4 and that his successor was Abi-Milki of Tyre, the author of let-
ters EA 146–155 (Na’aman 1979:673–676). Indeed, in several letters Abi-Milki
of Tyre emphasizes that he was nominated by a Pharaoh. For example: “My
presence will be as pleasing to the king, my lord, as when the king, my lord,
charged me (ipqidni) with guarding his city” (EA 148:18–22; compare 149:9–
10; 151:6–7; 155:49–51). Abi-Milki of Tyre was a scion of the reigning dynasty
of Tyre (EA 150:34–37),5 and his enthronement took place under Amenophis
III (EA 147:57–60).6 He designates himself by two Egyptian titles: rābiṣu (EA
149:14, 47–48) and “soldier” (EA 149:21; 151:69). Moreover, some of his let-
ters, in particular EA 147, show an Egyptian influence in their vocabulary
and phraseology.7 It may be assumed that Abi-Milki of Tyre was raised in
Egypt, possibly as a hostage (compare EA 156:9–12; 198:27–29; 254:30–35; 296:
23–29), and that, following the murder of the ruler of Tyre, was selected by
Amenophis III and nominated as the city’s mayor. How much he paid for that
from his property, which, according to Rib-Hadda, was “as great as the sea,”
remains unknown. We may also assume that the murderers were punished,
though this cannot be verified. Rib-Hadda’s requested “judgment on their
lives” must have been carried out, and so he got his revenge for the murder
of his relatives.
4. Letter EA 295 possibly refers to the conquest of the town of Usu by Yab[ni- . . . ],
Zimredda’s predecessor on the throne of Sidon. Lines 12–18 may tentatively be restored
thus: “May the king, [my] lord, be i[nformed] of the de[ed that] Yab[ni- . . . , the ruler of
S]idon [d]id to me. W[hen he plotte]d ( i]-[nu-ma i-la-mi-n]a) evi[l, he . . . ] and attacked [the
town of Usu?] along with Ka[lbu, the ruler of Hazor??], along with his brothers [ . . . ].” For
the association of the rulers of Sidon and Hazor, see EA 148:38–44.
5. EA 150 is, in my opinion, Abi-Milki of Tyre’s earliest letter and was sent to King
Amenophis III. It was written shortly after his enthronement, when the Pharaoh sent him
soldiers to guard the city (lines 4–7). In his late letters, on the other hand, Abi-Milki of Tyre
keeps complaining about the absence of the Egyptian military. Lines 33–37 may tentatively
be translated thus: “From the ti[me?] (i-na tar-[ṣi?]) [of P]N? [he br]ought trees. It is much,
O king, my lord, (what) you gave (in return) [t]o my fathers, [un]til my fathers br[ou]ght
across the c[ity’s] gods before the king, my lord.” Provided that the (highly tentative) res-
toration of line 31 is correct, it may be compared with EA 224, in which the author (Shum-
Adda of Shamḫuna) mentions Kusuna, one of his forefathers, in reference to a grain tax.
6. In letter EA 147:57–60 Abi-Milki of Tyre writes thus: “I indeed said to the Sun, the fa-
ther of the king, my lord, ‘When shall I see the face of the king, my lord?’“ For the date of
EA 150, see note 5.
7. For the Egyptian influence on Abi-Milki of Tyre’s letters, see Albright 1937:190–203;
Grave 1982:161–183. For a different opinion, see Gevirtz 1973:176–177; cf. Moran 1975:157,
n. 3.
Royal Judgment on Confiscation of Two Ships

Early in the period covered by the Amarna letters, the relationship of
Rib-Hadda with Yapaḫ-Hadda of Beirut was ordinary, though certainly not
cordial. Rib-Hadda sometimes complained about the collaboration between
Yapaḫ-Hadda and ‘Abdi-Ashirta and his followers (EA 83:24–26; 85:41–43). In
other letters, he accused the mayors of some coastal cities, including Beirut,
of disobeying the orders of the Egyptian authorities (EA 92:30–41; 101:20–25;
103:16–19; 106:18–21; 114:10–13). Following the dispute over the cargo of two
Byblian ships, the relationship grew into open enmity and did not change
until the dispute was settled. Shortly afterward, Yapaḫ-Hadda died and was
replaced by Ammunira. The latter became Rib-Hadda’s closest ally, with
whom he formed an alliance and in whose city he stayed after his throne was
usurped by his brother (EA 136–138).
What was the background of the dispute, and how did it develop? The
main obstacle to the discussion is the documentation. We have only the let-
ters of Rib-Hadda, who is notorious for his biased accounts of events and the
extremely one-sided picture he paints. A critical approach to Rib-Hadda’s let-
ters, as well as inferences drawn from other sources, are necessary to clarify
the background of the episode and to reconstruct the chain of events.
To introduce the discussion, I will translate sections of two letters in
which Rib-Hadda describes the early stages of the episode.
(A) Letter EA 105 was written some time after Yanḫamu was nominated
to replace the former dead commissioner of Ṣumur (EA 102; 106:21–22, 35–40;
107:11–24). Upon his arrival at Ṣumur, he ordered some neighboring rulers to
send their ships to the place. In the first part of EA 105:5–31, Rib-Hadda an-
swers that he is unable to get there, because of the blockade imposed by the
sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta and the ships of Arwada. A similar excuse appears in a
contemporary letter sent by Yapaḫ-Hadda of Beirut to Yanḫamu (EA 98).
The second part of the letter is partly broken. Following is a translation of
and comments on its text.
(31–45) Yapaḫ-Hadda is at war with me because of [my] property in his possession. Let
us put the case before Amman-m[a]di?, and DUMU-biḫa, and before Yanḫamu, for they
are the ones who know what is my due concerning m[y . . .]. Because my property in
his possession is considerable, therefore he has waged war against me. When I heard
[abo]ut Ullasa, I indeed sent [an offici]al? ([LÚGA]L?-mi to him, but he has [p]lundere[d]
[two] of m[y] sh[ips] ([UGU? 2 GIŠ]M[Á]-i[a]) and too[k t]hei[r property (la-q[a]-a [mi-im-
mi š]a-a-[š]u-ni). He has wa[ged war agai]nst me.
(46–78 broken)
(79–88 [May] the k[ing sen]d [a commissioner that w]e may put the case be[fore him].
May [an]y property of mine in his possession be taken for the king, and let the faith-
ful servant live for the king. The Egyptians who got out of Ullasa are now with me, but
there is no [gr]ain for them to eat. Yapaḫ-Hadda does not let my ships [in]to Yarimuta,
and I cannot send them to Ṣumur because of the ships of Arwada. Look, he says, “Rib-
[Hadda] ca[me forth?] (a-[ṣa/i]); [he t]ook it.” And so [he is at war?] against me.
Notes to the text:

Lines 34–35: The three commissioners were perhaps known for their sup-
port of Rib-Hadda. He did not mention Ḫaip, one of the commissioners of
Ṣumur, who supported Aziru, his main adversary.
Lines 40–41, 84–85: Ullasa was an Egyptian garrison city that was taken
by Pu-Ba‘lu, Aziru’s brother (EA 104; 109:12–15, 44–50). The Egyptians who
stayed in the town moved temporarily to Byblos, whose ruler was responsi-
ble for their supplies.
Lines 40–42: Rib-Hadda emphasizes his loyalty, as opposed to the disloy-
alty of his opponent, by noting that upon hearing of the fall of Ullasa, he tried
to cooperate with an Egyptian commissioner, whereas Yapaḫ-Hadda took ad-
vantage of the situation and plundered his ships.
Line 43: Half of the MÁ sign is clearly seen in Schroeder’s facsimile. The
restoration 2 elippātiya is supported by the parallel to EA 113:14 and by the ap-
pearance of the dual personal pronoun ša-a-šu-ni (see Moran 1973:50–53).
Line 79: The restoration is supported by EA 113:17; 117:66.
Lines 81–82: Compare EA 113:19–21; 117:67–69.
Line 88: The restoration is ad sensum. I assume that the episode is con-
cluded with words similar to those with which it opened, and restores [(i-ti-
pu-uš) nu-KÚR] at the end (compare lines 31–32, 39–40, 45).
(B) Letter EA 113 is the second of a two-tablet letter. It may have been sent
not long after EA 105. Only the relevant passage (lines 11–23) is translated here.
What have I done to Yapaḫ-Hadda that he plo[ts] evil upon evil against m[e]? Indeed,
he has plundered two of my ships, and my flocks and my property in his possession are
very great. May the king [se]nd his commissioner [to de]cide between the two of you.
[Everything] that [is ta]ken from him [belongs to the king]. [He (the commissioner)
should inquire] concerning [my] property [that] is in [his] possession, [and concern-
ing my? captured?] men. [I]f? ([šum-m]a?) Rib-Hadda [remains silent?, then] [all (of it)]
will be s[old] to the ‘Apiru. But there is no one who [can ta]ke anything belonging to
him from my [hand].
Notes to the text:

Lines 20–21: The restoration [a-na LUGAL] is supported by EA 105:82 and
117:69 and by the dual personal pronoun in line 18.
Lines 21–26: Moran’s translation runs thus: “Concerning [my] property

[that] is in [his] possession [he should inquire of] my [me]n . . . [. . . fr]om Rib-
Hadda [and] for the ‘Apiru has [all of it] be[en acquired].”
A detailed list of the seized “things” (unūtē) appears in letter EA 120:1–23.

The preciseness of the list shows that the cargo of the two ships was recorded
before they sailed. Moran translated line 19 “All of them pertain to [. . .],” and
suggested that it may be a summary remark. In this light, the lacuna may be
restored [GIŠMÁ], “. . . pertain to one [ship].” Of special interest is the note ap-
pended at the end of the list of “things” (lines 22–23): “90–100 maidservants
(and) manservants are missing.”8 In view of this, it may be suggested that one
ship (lines 1–19) carried only merchandise and the other (lines 20–23) carried
servants and some goods.
After the publication of Knudtzon’s edition and Weber’s analysis, in 1915,
the episode of the plunder of the two ships was never discussed in detail, and
the list of goods is missing from all investigations of the trade in the eastern
Mediterranean in the Late Bronze Age. The ships must have sailed to Egypt or
to Cyprus and stopped on their way in Beirut. The cargo list may be compared
with that found in the wrecks from Cape Calidonia and Ulan Burun. It illus-
trates the craft and metallurgy of Byblos and its exports in the 14th century
BCE, but investigation in these directions is beyond the scope of this article.
Rib-Hadda’s description of the episode makes little sense. He does not ex-
plain either why Yapaḫ-Hadda suddenly plundered his ships or why the com-
missioners refused to intervene on his behalf. His words “because my prop-
erty in his possession is considerable, he has accordingly waged war against
me” (lines 38–40) do not make sense. Moreover, his immediate willingness
to transfer his property to the Pharaoh does not suit an incident of piracy.
His request for arbitration and judgment also indicates that something other
than piracy is involved in this case.
Yapaḫ-Hadda’s ostensible explanation of the blockade is cited at the end
of letter EA 105: “Rib-[Hadda] ca[me forth?]; [he t]ook it.” The subject of “it”
is intentionally obscure. Yapaḫ-Hadda must have been afraid that Rib-Hadda
would retaliate, and in self-defense cooperated with Aziru, Rib-Hadda’s arch-
enemy.
What could have been the reason for Yapaḫ-Hadda’s aggression? I think
that it was his reaction to an unpaid debt that Byblos owed his city. Beirut
acted as an intermediary in the transport of grain from the land of Yarimuta
to Byblos and Ṣumur. Indeed, following its conflict with Beirut, there was
8. A different translation was suggested by Moran 1992:119–200, note 12.

a severe shortage of grain in Byblos. Note, for example, EA 114:54–59,

“Previously, my peasantry got provisions from the land of Yarimuta, but now
Yapaḫ-Hadda does not allow them out” (compare EA 105:83–87). Letter EA 98
further illustrates the role of Beirut in the transportation of grain. Yanḫamu,
the Egyptian commissioner, ordered Yapaḫ-Hadda to bring grain to Ṣumur.
The latter answered that Aziru stationed ships of Arwada south of Ṣumur, “so
grain cannot be brought into Ṣumur.”
A passage in letter EA 85:23–30 may further support this assumption.
Although it is broken, it may be restored with the help of a parallel passage
(EA 86:14–22). Letter EA 85 was sent to the Pharaoh, and EA 86 was sent, at
the same time, to the Egyptian officer Amanappa. The two passages are trans-
lated one after the other, so that the similarity of vocabulary and contents is
apparent immediately.
EA 85:25–30: As to Yanḫamu having said: “I [ga]ve grain to Rib-Hadda,” [I ga]ve him [a ser-
vant, and da-x-x an]d skins of . . . (KUŠ\ḫu-ta-ri-ma). [And] 40 men [consumed?] the grain.
W[ha]t did he give m<e>? And indeed, I deposited their money with Yapaḫ-Hadda.
EA 86:14–22: Be[hold], you have [ind]eed said: “Yanḫamu sent yo[u] grain.” Have not
you heard? I g[ave h]im a servant, and d[a-x-x and] skins for his [. . .]. There are not
ma[ny? troop]s? and not m[uch gold? and s]ilver in [my land]. (la ra-b[a-(a) ERÍNḪI.]A? ù la
m[a-id KÙ.GI? u K]Ù.BABBARMEŠ iš-t[u KUR-ia]).
The source of the grain brought from the land of Yarimuta9 was proba-
bly the Pharaonic lands in the Jezreel and Beth-shean valleys (Na’aman 1988:
177–185; Liverani 1990:238–239). The transport was organized by an Egyptian
commissioner and sent northward by Canaanite ships via the port of Acco.
Formerly, it was brought to the Egyptian garrison city of Ṣumur, and a cer-
tain amount of the grain was sold to Byblos (and possibly to other coastal
towns) (EA 85:33–39; 86:31–37). When Ṣumur was conquered by ‘Abdi-Ashirta,
the grain was shipped directly to Byblos. The transport under discussion was
brought to Byblos by the ships of Beirut. Rib-Hadda gave certain gifts to
Yanḫamu, who organized the transport, and paid for the grain to Yapaḫ-
Hadda of Beirut, who must have paid earlier for the delivered grain. Rib-
Hadda got his money back from his citizens.
The price of grain must have been quite high at this time, and Rib-Hadda
kept complaining that “our sons and daughters and the furnishings of the
9. For the land of Yarimuta, see Weber in Knudtzon 1915:1153, 1159; Helck 1971:253, n.
48; Pintore 1972:114–115. Yarimuta is probably a name for a large area in northern Palestine
and may be identified with the mount/land of Yarmuta, mentioned in Seti I’s stela of Beth-
shean (Wilson 1969:255). Its name possibly survived in the biblical toponym Jarmuth in the
inheritance of Issachar (Josh. 21:29).
house are gone, being sold in the land of Yarimuta for our provisions to keep
us alive” (EA 75:11–14; compare 74:15–18; 81:38–41; 85:12–15; 90:36–39). It is
evident that some peasants were even forced to give their wives and children
in payment of their debt for the purchased grain. This may explain the large
number of servants mentioned in letter EA 120 (and the large number of per-
sons sent from Canaan to Egypt, according to the Amarna letters) (Dossin
1934:132–133; Na’aman 1981:176–177). In the face of the grave situation, Rib-
Hadda was unable (or unwilling) to pay his debt to Yapaḫ-Hadda. The latter
responded by confiscating two Byblian ships anchored in his harbor, an act
that touched off the conflict between the two neighboring rulers.
This reconstruction, admittedly hypothetical, fits all the known data of
the episode well. It explains why the commissioners refused to intervene in
the dispute and why Rib-Hadda was willing to transfer the confiscated goods
to the Pharaoh. His position was weak, and to regain part of his property, he
was willing to make far-reaching concessions.
Rib-Hadda’s next letters reflect his failure to regain his property. EA 114:
15–17, 54–59 reiterates what had already been said in letters 105 and 113.
In letter EA 116:25–36, he resumes his request for a judicial decision by offi-
cials sent from Egypt. “May what is due to me [be gi]ven; it is very much . . .
If the king gives (it) to his servant, well and good! Or, on the other hand, let
the king take everything for himself ” (lines 28–29, 34–36). The same request
is repeated in letter 118:13–20. It is clear that Rib-Hadda, believing that the
Pharaoh was interested in obtaining his share of the confiscated property, did
not lose hope of regaining part of his property.
Letter EA 117 marks a change in Rib-Hadda’s diplomatic efforts. “I have
litigation with Yapaḫ-Hadda and Ḫa<ip>. May the king send a com[missioner
to] decide between us. Everything that is taken from them belongs to the
king. Let no one else take it for himself. May it please the king” (lines 64–71).
Ḫaip is one of the commissioners of Ṣumur who must have supported Yapaḫ-
Hadda or even decided the case in his favor. The court official who would
come from Egypt is asked to decide against the mayor of Beirut and the com-
missioner of Ṣumur. In view of this development, Rib-Hadda gave up all hopes
for regaining of his property and fought only for justification. The property is
due to the Pharaoh, provided the case was decided in his favor.
His new diplomatic line is clearly expressed in letter EA 119. “Now this
case (dīnu) is a case concerning my justice (dīn kittiya), which I have declared.
All (my) property — may the king, my lord, take [everything] for himself ”
(lines 44–49).
10. The restoration was suggested by Bonkamp 1939: 274, n. 1.

The arrival of ‘Abdi-Hadda, the Egyptian official who was to hear and de-
cide the case, is discussed in letters EA 119 and 120. To persuade him to de-
cide the case in his favor, Rib-Hadda put the following proposal (EA 119:49–
51): “[Bu]t my lord may give the small [things]10 to ‘Abdi-Hadda, for this is not
to be taken ( ù annû la laqê).”
At this stage, upon the arrival of the royal messenger, Rib-Hadda prepared
a detailed list of his things that were in Yapaḫ-Hadda’s possession (EA 119:55–
59; 120:1–23). The messenger was also sent to handle the sending of an un-
named woman, with her belongings, to Egypt (EA 120:23–37).
Lines 22–31 of EA 120 are badly broken, but may tentatively be restored
thus:
22 90 me SALÌRMEŠ ÌRMEŠ
23 ia-nu /i/-na pa-nu-te UR-ši-[n]a?
24 /at/-te-[e]r yi-tu-ra-na-ši
24 ù li-qi[t]ḪI.A NITAMEŠ
26 1 me KÙ.GI [ù?] la? -q[a? -(a)]
27 ḫa-ba-lu-ma zi-[ka? -re? ù/qa-du??]
28 a-ḫu-še [mIa-pa-dIM? ù]
29 dan-na u ia-nu [LÚ]
30 ša-a yi-pu-šu d[i-nu]
31 it-ta-šu mÌR-dIM [DUMU]
Notes to the transcription:

Line 23: The reading UR (bašta)-ši-[n]a was suggested by Bonkamp (1939:
275). An alternative reading is UR (bašta) S[I]G5 (damqa), “dignified (and)
good-looking (girl).”
Line 24: Bonkamp collated the tablet in 1900, and, in his book (1939:275,
n. 1), he read the third sign as [L]Ú, noting that “Die Niederschrift, die ich
mir damals anfertigte, zeigt ausser den Querkeilen besonders noch die drei
Senkrechten . . .” His observation supports my suggestion to read an ir sign.
For the verbal form attēr, see EA 148:36; 149:13, 31, 72.
Line 25: The mistaken verbal form yitūrāna is probably due to a conflation
of the verbal forms yitūra and yitūrūna.
Lines 26–27: Compare EA 254:16–17 yikalu karṣiya ḫabalūma (“He de-
nounces me unjustly”). See Moran 1992:307, n. 2.
Lines 27–28: The restoration is ad sensum. In letter EA 116, Rib-Hadda com-
plained of Yapaḫ-Hadda’s treatment to his messenger (lines 27–28): “when
my man arrived, he bound him.”
Line 31: As Bin-azimi played no part in the negotiations, I assume that he
was the father of ‘Abdi-Hadda.
Translation of lines 22–39:

90–100 maidservants (and) manservants are missing. Beforehand, I ordered the return
of the best-looking among them, to bring her back. And the gif[t]s of the men is one
hundred (shekels) of gold. [But Yapaḫ-Hadda] to[ok] unjustly the m[en, including?] her
brother, [and] he is powerful, and there is no [one] who will bring a c[ase] against him.
The king sent ‘Abdi-Hadda [son of] Bin-azimi to fetch her, that she will enter service
(tidaggalu pāna). And to ‘Abdi-Hadda the king said, “Send her things to her.” And the
king should know (y[i]-di), upon hearing [the case], no decision was announced.
The connection between the best-looking (or, dignified and good-looking) girl
and “her things” to the episode needs explaining. It seems to me that the girl was
selected as a means by which Rib-Hadda’s property, now in the hands of Yapaḫ-
Hadda, would be delivered to the Pharaoh. Moran (1992:200, n. 13) noted the re-
semblance of this episode to the royal letter EA 99, in which an unknown vassal
was ordered to prepare his daughter for the king. Along with the girl he was to
send her contributions: 20 first-class slaves, silver, chariots, and first-class horses.
The list of objects prepared by Rib-Hadda has exactly the same function: bride-
price (terḫatu) sent by Rib-Hadda with the girl, who is to enter the royal harem.
There was one obstacle to the execution of the plan: the judicial case
had not yet been decided. This is what Rib-Hadda states in line 37–39. There
should be an official hearing and a royal decision in his favor, and only then
can the girl and the property be sent to Egypt.
This is the last reference to the case in the correspondence of Rib-Hadda.
Obviously, the royal judgment was in his favor and so he obtained the justice
which, as he asserted, was the object of his efforts. He made the most of his
lost property: he gained the favor of the Pharaoh as a loyal vassal who sent
him a girl with a rich dowry (compare EA 99:16–20).
But the case did not end there. Yapaḫ-Hadda died shortly after the royal
decision and was replaced by Ammunira. In a letter sent to the Pharaoh, the
new mayor wrote as follows (EA 143:10–35):
The king, my lord, [sent] to his servant and his dirt at his feet. As to his order, wher-
ever that which was commanded by the king, my lord, the breath of my life, may be,
I shall search her o[ut] and send her on to the king, my lord, the breath of my life.
More[ove]r, note how, as soon as the ships of the king, my lord, [th]at have sailed to
Beirut come in, I shall send the maidservant of the king, my lord. Like one dardaraḫ-or-
nament (tar-[t]a-<ra>-aḫ) withi[n a . . .], so is Beirut to the king, my lord, and I am like
a warmer (LÚtaṣraḫu) of the horses of the king, my lord. [. . .] to the king, my lord. [Just
as the king, m]y [lord, the brea]th of my li[fe, ordered?], I shall s[end her i]n the sh[ips
of the king], my lord.
For the construction kima . . . kinanna . . . in lines 23–26, compare EA 105:
8–10; 139:8–9; 195:18–23; 232:16–20.
It is evident that the maidservant was still in Beirut a short time after
Yapaḫ-Hadda’s death. Ammunira, who had just ascended the throne and
whose position was delicate, was willing to obey the royal order and send the
maidservant to Egypt. Whether the promise included the whole bride-price,
or only a part of it, remains unknown.
Conclusions
The judgment of the Pharaoh in the affairs of his Canaanite vassals is well
illustrated by the two episodes under discussion. The king had his own order
of priorities and was not interested in the current affairs in his Asiatic prov-
ince. Those he left to his commissioners in Canaan. He may have intervened
in major events, or in affairs that could increase his property or prestige. Rib-
Hadda understood this, and tried to incite the Pharaoh to act by emphasiz-
ing the loss of prestige caused by his silence, in view of what happened in
Canaan. The two episodes discussed in this article show how Rib-Hadda tried
to entice the Pharaoh to make decisions by emphasizing the prospect of an
easy profit. In the first episode, he stressed the great wealth of Tyre, and in
the second he pointed out the way to deliver the confiscated property to the
king. No doubt this was the standard of the time,11 and Rib-Hadda was no dif-
ferent from other mayors in the region. The decisions of the Sun God were,
to a certain extent, motivated by the prospect of profit, and those who knew
how to manipulate him, and what to offer in a given moment, were able to di-
rect his judgment in their favor.
References
Albright, W.F. 1937. The Egyptian Correspondence of Abimilki, Prince of Tyre. JEA 23: 190–
203.
Albright, W.F. and Moran, W.L. 1950. Rib-Adda of Byblos and the Affairs of Tyre (EA 89). JCS
4: 163–168.
Bonkamp, B. 1939. Die Bibel im Lichte der Keilschriftforschung. Recklinghausen.
Dossin, G. 1934. Une nouvelle lettre d’el-Amarna. RA 31: 125–136.
Finkelstein, J.J. 1952. The Middle Assyrian šulmānu — Texts. JAOS 72: 77–80.
Gevirtz, S. 1973. On Canaanite Rhetoric. The Evidence of the Amarna Letters from Tyre.
Orientalia 42: 162–177.
Grave, C. 1982. Northwest Semitic ṣapānu in a Break-up of an Egyptian Stereotype Phrase
in EA 147. Orientalia 51: 161–182.
Helck, W. 1971. Die Beziehungen Ägyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. 2nd
11. A well-known Mesopotamian analogy is the sending of ṭātu, (“bribe”) or šulmānu

(“gift”), for political and judicial objectives. See Finkelstein 1952:77–80; Tadmor and Cogan
1979:499–502, with earlier literature in n. 34; Liverani 1982:61–63.
Izre’el, S. 1991. Amurru Akkadian: A Linguistic Study I-II. Atlanta, Georgia.

Knudtzon, J.A. 1915. Die El-Amarna-Tafeln mit Einleitung und Erläuterungen I-II. (Vorder-
asiatische Bibliothek 2). Leipzig.
Liverani, M. 1982. Kitru, Katāru. Mesopotamia 17: 43–66.
Liverani, M. 1990. Prestige and Empire. International Relations in the Near East ca. 1600–1100 B.C.
(History of the Ancient Near East/Studies 1). Padova.
Moran, W.L. 1973. The Dual Personal Pronouns in Western Peripheral Akkadian. BASOR
211: 50–53.
Moran, W.L. 1987. Les lettres d’el-Amarna. (Littératures Anciennes du Proche Orient 13).
Paris.
Na’aman, N. 1979. The Origin and Historical Background of Several Amarna Letters. UF 11:
673–684.
185.
Na’aman, N. 1988. Pharaonic Lands in the Jezreel Valley in the Late Bronze Age. In: Heltzer,
M. and Lipiński, E. eds. Society and Economy in the Eastern Mediterranean (c. 1500–1000
B.C.). (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 23). Leuven: 177–185.
Pintore, F. 1972. Transiti di truppe e schemi epistolari nella Siria egiziana dell’età di el-
Amarna. Oriens Antiquus 11: 101–131.
Rainey, A.F. 1996. Canaanite in the Amarna Tablets. A Linguistic Analysis of the Mixed Dialect
Used by the Scribes from Canaan II. (Handbuch der Orientalistik 1/25). Leiden.
Tadmor, H. and Cogan, M. 1979. Ahaz and Tiglath-pileser in the Book of Kings:
Historiographic Considerations. Biblica 60: 491–508.
Wilhelm, G. 1970. Ta/erdennu, ta/urtannu, ta/urtānu. UF 2: 277–282
Youngblood, R.F. 1961. The Amarna Correspondence of Rib-Haddi, Prince of Byblos (EA 68–96).
Ph.D. Thesis. Philadelphia.
The Origin and the Historical Background
of Several Amarna Letters1
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that a group of letters that
Knudtzon, in his edition of the Amarna tablets, assigned to the Phoenician
coast, belongs to the southern Palestinian region and that, in addition, one
of the letters assigned by Knudtzon to the Gezer correspondence actually
belongs to the Phoenician coast. Also, the implications of these re-locations
will be discussed in detail in light of the chronology and the history of the
Amarna letters.
I. An Additional Letter from Tyre (EA 295)

Knudtzon combined letter EA 295 with the Gezer correspondence of
d
IM.DI.KUD (transcribed by him as Adda-dāni2) on account of the name of its
sender (only partially preserved: [. . .]-DI.KUD). However, he himself noted
that the clay of the tablet is different from the clay of the other three tablets
that he assigned to Adda-dāni, EA 292–294 and is rather similar to the clay of
the Byblos letters (Knudtzon 1915:1345 n. 1). In addition to the type of clay,
we might adduce several other characteristics indicating that the tablet is of
northern origin or, more specifically, that it originated in the city of Tyre.
We shall discuss the revealing features of letter EA 295 in the following
four points.
(a) The arena in which the letter was written can be established from the
following reconstruction of lines 12–15:
ù l[i-il-ma-a]d mLUGAL-ru be-[li-ia] a-na i-pí-[ši ša yi-p]u-uš-mi mIa-ab/p-[. . . LÚ uru Ṣ]i! -

du-na[ki?] a-na ia-ši
“May the king, my lord, be informed of the deed which Yab/p[. . .], ruler of Sidon,
has done to me.”
1. Reprinted with permission. Ugarit-Forschungen 11 (1979), 673–684.

2. For the reading of the name, see most recently: Moran 1975b:153–155; Izre’el 1977:
161.
65
Knudtzon (1915:887 n. f) has observed two oblique scratches before the

sign du that were probably obliterated when Schroeder copied the tablet.
They might well belong to the end of the sign zi. uruZI-du-na was the common
way of writing the name of the city in the Amarna correspondence.
(b) The expression [ep-ru ša] šap-li 2 kušE.SÍR mLUGAL-ri EN-ia (lines 4–5) as
part of the introductory lines is found elsewhere only in the letters of Tyre
(EA 147:4–5; 149:1–5; 152:3; 154:4–5; 155:45).
(c) The appearance of the double Glossenkeil \\ (rev. line 7; see presently)
together with the single Glossenkeil \ (line 16) in one and the same letter is
known in the Amarna correspondence only from two letters of Tyre (EA 146
lines 15 and 20; 155 lines 10, 46 and 33).
The double Glossenkeil itself appears mainly in the area to the north of
Palestine (Artzi 1963:33–35). In Palestine, it is known only from tablet EA 65
(line 5) which, as I shall try to show, belongs to the southern Palestinian re-
gion. Also, the double Glossenkeil now appears in two tablets from Tel Aphek
that were written in the 13th century BCE (Rainey 1975:125ff; 1976:137ff).
We should also bear in mind that northern scribal influences were penetrat-
ing Canaan during the Amarna period. The clearest evidence of this comes
from a comparison of the Aziru letters with those of his father ‘Abdi-Ashirta
(Moran 1975a:158 n. 5). Letter EA 65 belongs to the last stage of the Amarna
letters from Palestine (see presently); thus, it is not impossible that the use
of the double Glossenkeil in this letter is due to the penetration of such north-
ern scribal traditions into Canaan. The Aphek tablets may well indicate that
the double Glossenkeil replaced the single Glossenkeil that was common in the
Palestinian Amarna letters sometime between the Amarna period and the
13th century BCE.3
(d) A close parallel between our letter and the letters of Abi-Milki of Tyre
emerges from the elucidation of rev. lines 5–7 of EA 295.4 Winckler (1896:356
n. 1) read in line 7 a-na na-ṣa-ri URUki and suggested that the following sign
is a Glossenkeil denoting a continuation from the end of the previous line.
Knudtzon (1915:889 n. c) read it as uru.kiGam-ti-e-ti, rejecting Winckler’s read-
ing on the grounds that a different kind of Glossenkeil already appears in line
16. Rainey (1970b:92 s.v. Ginti-’eti) has suggested that the signs ki+gam be
combined as a single sign, ginx (= ḪAR). However, the sign ḪAR on this tablet
3. Moran (1975a:159 n. 14) has observed that considerable changes seem to have taken
place along the Phoenician coast in the post-Amarna age with the appearance of northern
features in writing. The Aphek tablets corroborate his observation.
4. In lines 10–11 of EA 295 restore ki-[ma a-bu]-ti-ia iš-tu da-ri-ti “Like my ancestors from
of old.” For abbūtu in the Amarna letters see Knudtzon 1915:1361.
The Origin and the Historical Background of Several Amarna Letters 67
(rev. line 8) looks quite different. Moreover, as the syllable ginx does not ap-
pear in the Amarna letters from the Phoenician coast (Moran 1975a:151 and
162 n. 40), Rainey’s emendation cannot be accepted.
Winckler’s proposal must also be rejected, because the Amarna scribes
used the Glossenkeil to denote the continuation of a line for only a few signs at
the very end of the next line, but in this case, the Glossenkeil is in the middle of
the line. Kundtzon’s syllabic reading of the sign is problematic, too, because
the syllable gam first appears in Mesopotamian tablets dated later than the
Amarna period and is unknown in the West during the second Millennium
BCE (see von Soden and Röllig 1967: No. 210). We noted earlier that the two
kinds of Glossenkeils with exactly the same forms as those in our tablet appear
in two letters from Tyre. For this reason, it is better to regard the sign in ques-
tion as a Glossenkeil explaining the next word, ti-e-ti.
We shall now quote several parallel references from the Tyrian corre-
spondence to clarify the passage under discussion.
EA 148:13–16 littadin šarru bēliya 10 amēl(ūti) šēpē ana naṣāri ālišu

EA 149:17–19 liwaššir šarru 20 amēl(ūti) šēpē ana <na>ṣār ālišu
EA 151:14–16 liddinni šarru bēliya 20 amēlūti ana naṣāri āl šarri bēliya
EA 152:47–48 liddinni 80 amēl(ūti) w[i-i-ma] ana na-ṣ[a-ri] ti-e-ti-š[u?]5
EA 295: rev. 5–7 liddinme šarru bēliya 50 amēlūti . . . ana naṣāri āl (URUki) /
ti-e-ti a-[na šarri]
The similarity among all these passages is clear, but the meaning of the
word ti-e-ti that appears twice (once with a Glossenkeil) remains obscure.
Syntactically, ti-e-ti and āl ti-e-ti stand in place of ālišu (his city) and āl šarri
(the city of the king) in the other passages, and the word seems to denote an
appellation of the writer’s town. The letters from Tyre even contain an inter-
esting parallel of such an appellation. Several times in letter EA 155 the city
of Tyre is called āl míMayāti — “the city of Mayāti (= Merit-aten)”6 (lines 42,
50, 62). See, particularly, lines 49–51: šarru ipqidni ana naṣāri āl Mayāti bēltiya
(BE!-ti-ia) “The king appointed me to guard the city of Mayāti, my lady.”7
5. Following is a tentative translation of the broken passage EA 152 lines 45–50: (45)
And may [the king, my lord], give (46) [his attention(?)] forever to [me/his servant] (47)
[and l]et him give me eighty so[ldiers] (48) to gu[ard] h[is(?)] ti-e-ti [because] (49) the
enmi[ty is str]ong (50) again[st me].
6. For the name Mayāti see Albright 1937:191–194; 1946:16a No. 27; von Soden 1952:
432.
7. The continuation of line 51 is probably a-nu-[ta 5 iq]-bi “that is what he said.” It seems,
therefore, that it was the Pharaoh who called the city of Tyre “the city of Mayāti” in his let-
Unfortunately, the meaning of the word ti-e-ti escapes us.8 In the meantime,
the following translation is suggested for rev. lines 5–7 of EA 295: “May the
king my lord give fifty men with an officer x[xx] in order to guard the city of
xxx f[or the king] .”
Summing up the results of our study, it seems to us that there are several
links between letter EA 295 and the correspondence from Tyre. Therefore, we
suggest that [xx]-DI.KUD was Abi-Milki of Tyre’s predecessor on the throne of
Tyre.9 Abi-Milki of Tyre’s rule in Tyre began in the days of Amenophis III, as
is implied by letter EA 147 lines 57–60: “Thus I have said to the sun, the father
of the king, my lord: When shall I see the face of the king, my lord?” The let-
ter belongs to the time of the preparations for the Egyptian campaign against
Hatti and its allies in Syria and should be dated to the late years of Akhenaten
(Na’aman 1975:145–153). Accordingly, the king’s father is Amenophis III.10
It seems reasonable to assume that Abi-Milki of Tyre succeeded the anony-
mous ruler of Tyre who was killed during a rebellion mentioned in EA 8911 and
that our [xx]-DI.KUD is this unfortunate ruler. The hostility between Tyre and
Sidon, which is so well illustrated throughout the correspondence of Abi-Milki
of Tyre, began in the time of his predecessor (and probably much earlier). His
opponent in Sidon is Yab/p[xxx], the predecessor of Zimredda. The latter is
first mentioned in letter EA 83, which was dated to a very late stage in the ca-
reer of ‘Abdi-Ashirta (Campbell 1964:93). We must conclude, therefore, that EA
295 is one of the earliest letters in the Amarna archive and was certainly writ-
ten during the time of Amenophis III.
II. Shuwardata and the Correspondence of ‘Abdi-Ashtarti

The question of the origin of the three letters EA 63–65 has been the sub-
ject of extensive discussion ever since their publication. The name of the
ter, and Abi-Milki of Tyre repeats this appellation in his answer. The same writing, Mayāti
BE-ti-ia, appears again in line 29 (EA 155:27–30: “I will direct myself to serve him [and]
Mayāti, my lady, day and night”).
8. The appearance of a Glossenkeil before the word ti-e-ti indicates that it is a noun and
not a personal name. The writing ti-i-ti (ṭiṭṭu “mud”) in EA 148:34 does not help us solve the
problem at hand. Also, the legendary lady Elissa/Dido of Tyre mentioned in the Greek and
Latin sources (Meyer 1931:111; Katzenstein 1973:187f) can scarcely be considered here.
9. Campbell (1964:101) suggested that the name be restored as Yab[ni-ilu], the last ruler
of Lachish during the Amarna period. The discussion above shows that this reconstruction
no longer can be accepted.
10. Our date is contrary to Redford (1967:220), who wrote that “there is no possibility
that his (Abi-Milki of Tyre’s) rule overlapped with that of Amenhotep III.”
11. For EA 89, see Albright and Moran 1950:163–168.
sender is written in three different variations: Ab-di-aš-ta-<ar>-ti (EA 63:

3),12 ÌR dINNIN (EA 64:3), and Ad-ra-INNIN (EA 65:3). However, Knudtzon was
convinced that all three letters were sent by the same ruler, and, therefore,
he explained the element adra- as a metathesis of arda = abda and read the
theophorous logogram INNIN as Ashtartu.
Knudtzon (1915:1128–1130, 1329 n. 2) has noted the similarity in the clay,
script, and several expressions of these three letters and the late group of
letters of Shuwardata (EA 281–284). Nevertheless, on account of the resem-
blance of names between ‘Abdi-Ashtarti and ‘Abdi-Ashirta, the well-known
ruler of Amurru, Knudtzon decided to combine the three letters with the dos-
sier of the latter ruler by suggesting an exchange of the names of the god-
desses, Ashtartu and Ashera(t). The similarity to the letters of Shuwardata
was explained as the result of the possible movements of scribes from one
place to another.
While copying the whole group of Amarna letters belonging to the Berlin
Museum, Schroeder (1915:293f) noted the similarity of script and formu-
lae between letters EA 65 and 335. Inasmuch as the latter belongs to south-
ern Palestine, Schroeder assigned the former to that area as well, but did
not discuss the question of the origin of the other two letters, EA 63–64.
Schachermeyr (1932:5) noted briefly that the letters of ‘Abdi-Ashirta should
be separated from the letters of ‘Abdi-Ashtarti, and de Koning did like-
wise (1940:§274, §317). Campbell (1964:107, 110), following Schroeder, sep-
arated EA 65 from EA 63–64. He assigned the last letters to ‘Abdi-Ashirta,
and the first, together with EA 335, was connected to the correspondence of
Shuwardata, despite the obvious difference in names.
We must remember that the only argument adduced so far for assign-
ing the three letters to the correspondence of ‘Abdi-Ashirta is the similar-
ity of names. However, the name ‘Abdi-Ashirta is consistently written in the
Amarna letters as ÌR/ab-di-a-ši-ir-ta/i/u. The logographic writing INNIN and
the syllabic writing Ašta(r)tu for the same name proves only the equation
INNIN = Ashtartu. The two goddesses, Ashtartu and Ashera(t), were strictly
set apart in personal names.13 It is suggested, therefore, that the writing of the
goddess’ name Ashtartu by the logogram INNIN was a southern Palestinian
tradition. In any event, it is clear that there is nothing left to connect letters
12. Albright’s (1944:16 n. 20) reading of the theophorous element in this name as aš-ra-
ti is not justified by the original tablet (collated).
13. For the goddess Ashtartu see Herrmann 1969:6–52, and particularly p. 43 n. 157;
Loewenstamm 1971: 406–412. For the goddess Ashera(t) see Patai 1965:37–52; Bernhardt
1967:163–174.
EA 63–65 with the letters of Amurru. All the criteria mentioned so far (clay,
script, and language) point to a specific area, namely south Palestine, where
the four letters of Shuwardata (EA 281–284) and letter EA 335 originated.
To demonstrate the intimate relationships existing among the four let-
ters of Shuwardata and the four letters of ‘Abdi-Ashtarti, we shall tabulate
several expressions from the formulae at the opening of those letters. We
present the particular expression, its occurrences in our group, and (in pa-
rentheses) in other letters.
mila anna = 64:6; 283:5,15; 284:18

šibi mila = 65:4; 282:4; 284:4 (330:7)
šibi mila anna = 64:6; 283:5
maqtati = 63:6; 65:5; 282:4; 283:6 (336:5)
maqtiti = 64:5; 284:4,5,22 (138:4)
u kabatūma u ṣuḫrūrma = 64:7; 65:6; 335:4; 282:7; 284:5 (see. 306:11)
The above expressions, together with the other similarities, clearly show
that the same scribe wrote all of these tablets. We must now discuss whether
all of these letters were sent from the same place or whether the same scribe
served in two neighboring cities.
Our discussion will begin with a new transliteration, translation, and
commentary on letter EA 335.
[a-na mLUGAL-ri EN-ia qí-bí-ma]

[um-ma m Abdi-Aštarti ÌR-ka]
[a-na GÌRmeš EN-ia 7 ù 7 mi-la]
[ma-aq-ta-ti ù ka-ba-tu-ma ù] ṣú-uḫ-ru-<ma>
5. [a-na GÌRmeš mLUGAL-ri E]N-ia
[li-il5-ma-ad mLUGA]L-ri EN-ia
[ki-ma 1-en i-ba]-šu-ti
li-i[l5-ma-ad mLUGAL-r]i EN-ia
ki-ma G[AZ?m]eš \ mi-ḫi-ṣa
10. m
Tu-u[r-ba-zu ù?] mla-ap-ti-ḫa-da
ù nu-k[i-ir uru L]a-ki-ši
li-i[l5-ma-ad mLUG]AL-ri EN-ia
ù i[l5 -qé LÚ] ar-ni
gab-bi LÚ! MÍ! SIG5!-ia
15. li-il5-ma-ad
m
LUGAL-ri EN-ia ki-ma
na-ki-ra-at uru La-ki-ši
ù ṣa-ab-ta-at uru Mu-ú’-ra-aš-ti
ù [na-ki-r]a-at
20. [uruÚ?-ru?-sa?-l]imki
[ù yu-uš-ši-r]a mLUGAL-ri
[EN-ia ERÍNmeš pí-ṭá-ti?]
[Speak to the king, my lord; thus says ‘Abdi-Ashtarti, your servant. At the feet of the
king, my lord, I have fallen seven and seven times both on the stomach and] on the
back, [at the feet of the king], my lord.
[May the king], my lord, [be informed that] I am [the only one le]ft. May [the ki]ng,
my lord, be informed] that Tur[bazu and] Yaptiḫ-Hadda have been smitten and [the
city of L]achish has rebe[lled]. May the king, my lord, be informed] that the traitor has
t[aken] all my best men and women. May the king, my lord, be informed that the city
of Lachish has become hostile and the city of Mu’rashti has been taken and [the city of
Jerusa]lem?? has become hostile. [So, may] the king, [my lord, sen]d [task force . . .
Notes on the text

Lines 1–5: For the restoration see Schroeder 1915:293–294.
Lines 6–7: The restoration is based on several parallels from the letters of
Shuwardata (EA 282:8–9; 283:21; 284:6–8); see particularly EA 284:8–9 i-ba-šu-
ti 1-en. The combination of lilmad . . . kima/u is repeated several times in the
letter (lines 6–7, 8–9, 12–13, 15–16).
Line 9: In all the eight letters written by our scribe, u is never used as a
conjunction. Therefore, Winckler’s suggestion to read it as a Glossenkeil seems
preferable (see Knudtzon 1915:948 n. g). My restoration G[AZm]eš\mi-ḫi-ṣa is
based on the analogy to EA 288:41, 45 GAZ de4-ka and EA 245:14 da-ku-šu\ma-
aḫ-ṣu-ú.
Line 13: For amēl arni see CAD A/2 299a. It is not clear whether there is
enough room for the sign LÚ in the gap of this line.
Line 14: My restoration is based on the facsimile of Schroeder; amēlu and
sinništu are regarded here as collective nouns.
Line 17: For the problem of the identification of Mu’rashti with Biblical
Moresheth-(gath), see Weber in Knudtzon 1915:1356; Kallai 1971:249.
Line 20: For the tentative restoration [uruÚ-ru-sa-l]im, it should be noted that
the post-determinative ki does not follow the other place names in this letter.
Lines 21–22: For the restoration see EA 281:11–12, 27–28; 282:10–11; 283:
25–26; 284:16–17.
Letter EA 335 is closely connected with letter EA 288 of Jerusalem. For
comparison, the relevant passage in the Jerusalem letter (lines 34–47) is
translated here:
“The strong arm of the king seizes the land of Naḫrima and the land of
Cush; but now the ‘Apiru are seizing the cities of the king! There is not a sin-
gle governor (left) to the king; all are lost. Behold, Turbazu was slain at the
gate of Zilû (but) the king kept silent. Behold Zimredda, the (sons of) Lachish
smote him, slaves who have become ‘Apiru. Yaptiḫ-Hadda was slain at the
gate of Zilû (but) the king kept silent. Why does not the king call them to ac-
count?”
Both letters report to the Pharaoh the death of three rulers (Zimredda,
Turbazu, and Yaptiḫ-Hadda) and the rebellions in several towns in the
Shephelah region (Lachish, Zilû,14 Mu’rashti). Several south Palestinian let-
ters reflect the same state of affairs. Following are translations of the rele-
vant passages.
EA 271:9–21 (Milkilu of Gezer): “May the king, my lord, be informed that
the rebellion against me and Shuwardata is strong. So may the king, my lord,
deliver his land from the grasp of the ‘Apiru. If not, may the king, my lord,
send chariots to take us lest our servants smite us.”
EA 298:20–29 (Yapaḫu of Gezer): “May the king, my lord, be informed
that my younger brother rebelled against me and has entered Muḫḫazu and
he pledged himself (lit. gave his hands) to the ‘Apiru. And now [the city of
Ti]anna is hostile to me.”15
EA 299:17–26 (Yapaḫu of Gezer): “Now the ‘Apiru are prevailing over us. So
may the king, my lord, take me away (yi-it-ra-ni) from the hand of the ‘Apiru,
so that the ‘Apiru will not destroy us.”16
EA 300:10–22 (Yapaḫu of Gezer): “[Behold(?) the deed(?)] of [m]y
[broth]er(?) that l[os]t(?) is my land out of <my hands(?)>. And now nothing
14. Albright (1924:6–8) suggested that uru Zi-lu-ú of EA 288 be identified with the Sile sit-
uated on the Egyptian border east of Qantara and mentioned in the Egyptian sources. In
his opinion, ‘Abdi-Ḫeba wrote to the Pharaoh that “two Egyptian governors are slain at the
threshold of Egypt, at the very gate of Selle itself — yet the Pharaoh takes no steps to re-
store the impaired Egyptian prestige in Palestine.” But the fact that two independent rul-
ers, one in Jerusalem and the other in the Shephelah region, connected the death of these
two rulers with the death of Zimredda of Lachish clearly indicates that both belong to the
same area; therefore, it is preferable to locate Zilû somewhere in the Shephelah region,
perhaps even in the neighborhood of Lachish (see Weber in Knudtzon 1915:1341).
15. Notes on the text: For line 26 see Greenberg 1955:49. Lines 28–29: ù i-na-an-na [uruTi]-
an-na[k]i nu-kùr-tu4 UGU-ia. The city name [uruTi-a]n-naki in a similar context appears in EA
306:34 (see note 19 below). The restoration of the place name is based on EA 284:31 uruT[i]-
i[a-n]a on the one hand, and on the place name tnn (which Helck transliterated as tì-n-ni)
mentioned in Papyrus Petersburg, 1116 A, Recto on the other hand (Alt 1916:264f; Helck
1971:166; Artzi 1968:168). Letter EA 298 provides a clue to the location of Tianna: It was
only after Yapaḫu’s brother entered Muḫḫazu that Tianna rebelled. Muḫḫazu/Maḫḫazu
is generally located in the neighborhood of modern Yibneh (Alt 1925:17; Mazar 1963:140–
141; Kutscher 1970:5–18; Rainey 1970a:183–184). Tianna is to be sought in that same area.
We may reasonably assume that letters EA 298 and 306, which both tell of the rebellion of
Tianna (and probably also EA 284, where Tianna is mentioned in a badly broken passage),
were written approximately at that same time. Therefore, Tianna should be located on the
border between the kingdoms of Yapaḫu (Gezer), Shuwardata (Tell eṣ-Ṣafi), and Shubandu
(Ashkelon; see n. 26 below).
16. For this passage, see now Izre’el 1977:163–165;.Rainey 1978:96 s.v. tarû. However, the
fourth sign in line 22 is clearly ni over an erasure and certainly not nu (collated).
(is left) for me. So may <the king> send his task force. They [will xxx and] will
bring me back to may place. And may I be able to serve the king, my lord, like
my father and his companions.”17
EA 281:8–11,22–26 (Shuwardata): “May the king, my lord, be informed
that my towns have now rebelled against me . . . So may the king be informed
of the rebellion against me. Who will dare [to rebel] against the king; but
those dogs indeed dared [to rebel] against the king.”18
EA 282:8–14 (Yapaḫu of Gezer): “May the king, my lord, be informed (that)
I am the only one left. May the king, my lord, send a very great task force and
may he get me out.”
EA 283:18–27 (Yapaḫu of Gezer): “May the king, my lord, be informed that
thirty towns have rebelled against me. I am the only one left. The rebellion
against me is very strong. . . . May the king, my lord, send a, task force; may
the king, my lord, take me out.”
EA 272:10–17 (Shum-xxx): “May the king, my lord, be informed that lost
are the city-rulers who are in the cities of my lord and all the land of the king,
my lord, is going over to the ‘Apiru.”
EA 273:8–14 (‘Lady-of-the-lions’19): “May the king, my lord, be informed
that war is waged in the land and that the land of the king, my lord, is being
ruined by going over to the ‘Apiru.”
17. The translation is necessarily tentative due to the fragmentary state of the tablet.
The suggested restoration of lines 10–14 is as follows:
(10) [a-mur? ip-ši?] (11) [LÚ.ŠE]Š?-[i]a [i]-n[u-m]a (12) ti-[iḫ? -la?]-qa iš-tu <qati?> (13)
KUR-ia u a-<nu>ma ia-nu (14) m[i-im-m]a a-na ia-ši
Line 11: The facsimile of Schroeder (1915:pl. 171) favors the reading ÌR for the sec-
ond sign ([ša Ì]R-[i]a). The suggestion to read LÚ.ŠEŠ is based on letter EA 298:22 of
the same author.
Line 12: The tentative restoration ti-[iḫ-la]-qa is based on EA 274:14.
Line 18: The subject of the (grammatically mistaken form) tu-šu-ru-ba-ni is the ṣābē
piṭāti, which is regarded here as a fem. sing. (see Albright and Moran 1948:245f).
Further note to EA 300: In line 25 read u iš-ti-mu /gab!/ a-wa-temeš. The sign gab for gabbu
is found several times in the Amarna letters (see Knudtzon 1915:1408 s.v. gabbu and EA 286:
36, 287:4).
18. The suggested restoration of EA 281:23–26 is as follows:
(23) [me-i]a-mi (24) yi-pu-šu [ar-na] a-na LUGAL (25) ù UR.[GI7 a]n-nu-t[u] (26) |ù| t[i]-pu-
[š]u [ar-na] a-na LUGAL
For kalbu as a term of abuse in the Amarna letters see CAD K 72b.
19. For this lady’s name, written logographically as fNIN.UR.MAḪmeš, see Bauer 1920:
210–211. We should like to call attention to the name nṯt = nēšēti, the queen of Ugarit (see
Gröndahl 1967:345, 403). This name may reflect a plural form of Akkadian nēštu “lioness”
(see Weippert 1969:41). Could we read the name of the lady as Bēlit-nēšēti?
EA 274:10–16 (“Lady-of-the-lions”): “May the king, my lord, rescue his

land from the ‘Apiru. Let not the city of Ṣab/puma perish (be captured).”20
EA 306:12–18,28–35 (Shubandu): “Now the king, my lord, wrote: [‘send(?)]
your charioteers(?) an[d your xxx to the king, your lord’. [With what shall I
[guard(?) my city(?)]? Strong is the rebellion against the servant of the king,
who is inspecting the l[and] of the king, his lord, for [the king(?)] . . . And may
my lord be informed that they have burnt your towns and your places. [And
no]w [the city of Tia]nna [is hostile against] yo[ur servant].”21
Apart from the great similarity of words and expressions among these let-
ters, all of which originated in southern Palestine, there are also some con-
20. Knudtzon transliterated in lines 14–16 la-a te-eḫ-la-aq la-ki-ta uru Ṣa-bu-maki. Albright
(1943:15–17) suggested the reading la-a te-eḫ-la-aq URUki-ka URU Ṣa-pu-naki “Let not your
city, Zaphon, perish.” Accordingly, he suggested that the sender of this letter was located
in the Jordan Valley. However, such a reading involves several difficulties. Knudtzon (1899:
297; 1915:1328 n. 2) noted that the script and clay of these letters are close to the letters of
Milkilu (EA 267–271) and Shuwardata (EA 278–280). And indeed, letter EA 273 describes in
detail an event that took place on the border of Gezer, a very unlikely report on the part
of a ruler situated in the middle of the Jordan Valley. Furthermore, Albright dismissed the
reading la-ki-ta in line 15 by claiming that such a verb does not appear elsewhere in the
Amarna correspondence. However, this same verb in exactly the same form appears in the
letter of Shuwardata EA 284:7. This verb is derived either from West Semitic lakādu (Rainey
1970b:69) or from Akkadian laqātu (CAD L 101a). The verbs teḫlaq lak/qid/ta(t) may have
been repeated to give more weight to this sentence, which tells of the impending destruc-
tion of the writer’s city.
Therefore, it seems that Albright’s suggested emendations are baseless, and we will do
better to follow Knudtzon’s interpretation. Accordingly, Ṣab/puma should be located in the
Shephelah region, not far from the kingdom of Gezer.
21. The suggested transliteration for EA 306:12–18 is as follows:
(12) [i]-nu-ma ša-pár LUGAL b[e-lí] (13) |KEŠDA|-ka-m[e] |ù| [xxx a-na] (14) [LUGA]L be–
1[í]-k[a uššir ?? ištu?] (15) [m]a-an-[n]i e-[naṣṣar ?? āliya??] (16) da-n[a-a]t-[m]e KÚR-n[u a-na] (17)
ÌR LUGAL ša yi-mur K[UR] (18) LUGAL be-li-ia a-na [LUGAL/EN-šu?]
Notes on the transliteration:
Line 13: The first sign in the line (see the drawing in Knudtzon 1915:1007 No. 165) looks
similar to the two signs appearing in EA 107:42 and 108:15 (see the drawings in Knudtzon
1915:1003 Nos. 92, 93). Moran (1950:166) suggested that they be read as KEŠDA in the sense
of a “charioteer.” Such a meaning fits our passage as well. The enclitic -me here signifies
direct speech (citation from the king’s letter). The next sign, which Kundtzon read as ši,
might also be the beginning of an ù.
Lines 14–15: The restoration is based on several letters from Byblos (EA 112:10, 123:
31–32, 125:11–12), in which ištu manni inaṣṣaruna (“with what shall I guard?”) comes as an
immediate answer to a citation cited from the royal letter (Liverani 1971:262–264; Moran
1975a:165 n. 68).
Line 17: For the verb amāru in this sentence see CAD A/2 15b.
The suggested reading for line 31 is |KISLAḪ| (KI.UD) \ma-aš-ka-n[a-ti-k]a. The restora-
tion maškan[ātik]a was proposed by Albright (1975:106). My translation “places” (and not
crete facts that would place them in the same group. Milkilu, Shuwardata,
and Shubandu mention rebellions and disturbances in their kingdoms. ‘Abdi-
Ḫeba, ‘Abdi-Ashtarti, and the “Lady-of-the-Lions” describe troubles in neigh-
boring kingdoms, and all the city-states’ rulers bitterly complain of distress
and serious difficulties in their kingdoms and request that the Pharaoh come
immediately to their aid. Most of these letters call the offenders ‘Apiru. This
is not the place to enter into discussion of the vexed problem of their identity.
Suffice is to say that the accepted opinion of the ‘Apiru in the Amarna letters
should be re-examined in this particular context, because none of these let-
ters has ever been discussed as part of a group belonging to a specific period
and area (see Na’aman 1975:145–153).
Another indication of the seriousness of the situation is the disappear-
ance at this time of several rulers, all from the south of Palestine. Milkilu of
Gezer was replaced by Yapaḫu, whose letters reflect the same internal po-
litical difficulties. Zimredda, who was killed during the rebellion, was re-
placed by Shipṭi-Ba‘al. Shuwardata, Shubandu, ‘Abdi-Ḫeba, Shum-xxx, and
the “Lady-of-the-Lions” disappear from the political scene, and their fate is
unknown. In the next stage, which is characterized by reorganization of the
Egyptian order in Palestine and by preparations for an expected Egyptian
military expedition,22 the names of new city-state rulers appear (Ba‘lu-
shipṭi23 in Gezer, Yabni-ilu in Lachish, Yidya in Ashkelon, ṣi-x-ib? -ni in the
neighborhood of Gezer,24 Yaḫtiru, and Ḫiziru). The possibility that these new
rulers were the successors of the governors belonging to the former stage
should be kept in mind.25
“granaries” as Albright took it) is based on the parallelism to ālāni (line 30). For maškanu in
the sense of “site,” “place,” see CAD M/1 370f.
Lines 33–35: The restoration is based on a comparison to the roughly parallel passage
in EA 298:28–29, as was suggested by Knudtzon in his edition. For further discussion, see
n. 16 above.
22. For this problem, see Schulman 1964:51–69; Reviv 1966:45–51; Liverani 1971:259–
260 n. 41; Pintore 1972:101–131; 1973:299-318.
23. For the problem of the transcription of the name written logographically as
d
IM.DI.KUD, see Moran 1975b:155; Izre’el 1977:161; Winckler 1896:356 n.1.
24. Izre’el (1977:159–163) has recently suggested that the name of the author of EA 294
be read Ṣi-id-qí-lí. However, my collation of the original tablet (now in the British Museum)
shows that such a reading is impossible. (For the correct rendering of the signs see Moran
1975b:155.) The second sign looks like da or ri, and the third sign looks very much like ib.
However, I could not find parallels for the name ṣi-ri/da-ib-ni. (Reading the ṣi as zí seems un-
likely in this area; see Moran 1975b:160 n. 32.)
25. In my doctoral dissertation (1975:137–138), I suggested tentatively that Shubandu
was the predecessor of Yidya in Ashkelon. However, as can be seen from the discussion in
note 28 above, such a conclusion depends on whether Ashdod was a city-state during the
With this information as background, we may now discuss the relation-

ship between Shuwardata and ‘Abdi-Ashtarti. Shuwardata was in power in
the days of Lab’ayu (EA 366) and his sons (EA 278–280). Initially, he was an ally
of ‘Abdi-Ḫeba of Jerusalem (EA 366), but he later became an ally of Milkilu of
Gezer and an opponent of his former partner (EA 280, 290). The last stage of
his rule is marked by rebellions and disturbances, and his letters show dis-
tress and despair (EA 281–284). As for ‘Abdi-Ashtarti, letter EA 335 speaks of
the same period of rebellions. Two other letters, EA 63–64, refer in general
terms to internal political difficulties and troubles. Letter EA 65, on the other
hand, reflects a new situation. Following is a translation of the relevant pas-
sage (lines 7–14):
And in accordance with the words that the king, my lord, has sent to me, I have heeded;
all the words of the king, my lord, I have heeded. And I am verily guarding the places of
the king (which were) assigned to me. And I am preparing in anticipation of the task-
forces (ṣābē piṭāti) of the king, my lord, m[y Sun(?)].
Letter EA 65 clearly belongs to the group of letters dealing with the orga-
nization of the Egyptian campaign to the north, and, thus, it is later than the
other three letters of ‘Abdi-Ashtarti.
Summing up the chronological discussion, it is evident that the last
of the letters of Shuwardata is approximately contemporary with the
first letter of ‘Abdi-Ashtarti (EA 335). We, therefore, suggest that ‘Abdi-
Ashtarti was the heir of Shuwardata and that the same scribe who wrote
the late letters of Shuwardata remained in office in ‘Abdi-Ashtarti’s days.
Shuwardata presumably disappeared as a result of the rebellions of which
he complained so bitterly in his letters. ‘Abdi-Ashtarti faced the same dif-
ficulties after ascending the throne (EA 335, and to some extent EA 63–64),
but he survived those harsh times. It is interesting to note that Yapaḫu of
Gezer, who ascended the throne in that same period, apparently did not
succeed in establishing his throne and was replaced by Ba‘lu-shipṭi. Shipṭi-
Ba‘al of Lachish, who probably ascended the throne after the death of
Zimredda, also disappeared after a short reign and was replaced by Yabni-
ilu. These examples may well indicate how severe the situation was at that
time in southern Palestine.
The last problem we shall deal with is the location of Shuwardata’s and
‘Abdi-Ashtarti’s capital. Several sites were suggested in the early stages of
Late Bronze Age or only a port within the territory of Ashkelon (which would mean that
Ashkelon had a common border with the kingdom of Gezer). The clarification of this ques-
tion is far beyond the scope of this note.
research. Some scholars tried to locate it in Keilah (Qilti),26 but this sugges-
tion is impossible, because Keilah was a border town and not the capital of
Shuwardata. Albright (1942:37 n.31; 1969:487 n. 15) proposed Hebron as a pos-
sible location. Several scholars referred to letter EA 290 as a key to that prob-
lem. We translate the relevant passage (lines 5–13) thus:
Behold the hostile(?) (KUR) deed which Milkilu and Shuwardata committed against the
land of the king, my lord. They have ordered (mu-’ù-ru) troops of Gezer, troops of Gath
(Gimti) and troops of Keilah and they have captured the city of Rubutu. The land of the
king has gone over to the ‘Apiru.27
Riedel (1920:12), the first to discuss this passage, suggested that Milkilu
and Tagu were rulers of Gezer and Gath, respectively, and that, therefore,
Shuwardata was the ruler of Keilah. Bonkamp (1939:301 n. 4), on the other
hand, proposed that Shuwardata was ruler of the above-mentioned Gimtu
(Gath). He was followed by Aharoni (1969:141–145), who suggested locat-
ing this Gath at Tell eṣ-Ṣafi. This was accepted by other scholars (Kallai and
Tadmor 1969:144f; Rainey 1978:105).
A comparison of the lines above with a second and closely related letter
from Jerusalem (EA 289) clearly favors Riedel’s interpretation. Milkilu and
Shuwardata are accused of capturing Rubutu in EA 290. However, in letter EA
289, Milkilu and Tagu are accused of the same deed. Tagu was ruler of Gath-
carmel, and his capital was called either Ginti-kirmil (EA 289:18) or Gimti (EA
289:19). It is clear that this city is identical to the Gimti of EA 290.28
That this Gath was not the capital of Shuwardata is also proved by the end
of letter EA 290 (lines 25–28):
26. Ebeling in Knudtzon 1915:1568; Riedel 1920:13; Meyer 1931:95 n. 1. Weber (in
Knudtzon 1915:1330) and Alt (1924:27 = 1959:162) took a cautious position and without sug-
gesting a specific location, noted that Keilah was a town of Shuwardata.
27. Notes on the translation:
Line 5: Knudtzon in his edition omitted the sign KUR, but this sign is clearly visible in
the facsimile published by Schroeder (1915:No. 166). Furthermore, the same expression,
epšu KUR anni’u, is repeated in line 25 of this letter. KUR seems to be an adjective describ-
ing the “deed.” The translations of Knudtzon (1915:877) and Moran (1975a:152) take KUR
as mātu (“land”), but this does not fit well into the context. One should remember that
KÚR and KUR.KUR (Reading GUDIBIR2) both meaning nukurtu = “hostility.” It seems to me
that here the scribe confused the trio KUR (mātu), KÚR (nukurtu), and KUR.KUR (nukurtu).
Accordingly, epšu KUR is translated as “hostile deed.” A parallel semantic expression ap-
pears in letter EA 137: 95 from Byblos: epši marṣi annû “this evil deed.”
Line 8: For the correct understanding of the verb mu-’ù-ru, see Moran 1975a:151 and n. 42.
28. Aharoni (1969:144), confronting this difficulty, suggested that Tagu and Shuwardata
succeeded one another in the same place. However, such a proposal seems impossible, be-
cause both of them ruled in the time of Lab’ayu (EA 263:33–34,366) and his sons.
“This hostile(?) deed (was done) at the command of Milkilu and at the
command of [Shuward]ata [and wi]th Gath.”29
The passage clearly shows that the two allies, Milkilu and Shuwardata,
captured Rubutu with the aid of troops sent by Tagu of Gath-carmel.
The unfortunate conclusion, which was reached on the basis of the discus-
sion described above, was that Shuwardata’s capital is mentioned nowhere in
the Amarna letters. The point of departure for locating Shuwardata’s (and
‘Abdi-Ashtarti’s) capital is Keilah, situated on his border with the kingdom
of Jerusalem. This was the basis for Albright’s proposal to locate his seat in
Hebron. But the site of Hebron was hardly occupied during the Late Bronze
Age, and, therefore, it could not be considered as the center of a city-state at
that time (Hammond 1965; 1966; 1968). Furthermore, the survey conducted
in the Judean Hills showed that the whole region around Hebron was al-
most devoid of settlements during the Late Bronze Age (Kochavi 1972:20, 83).
Shuwardata, on the other hand, complained that thirty towns rebelled and
fought against him (EA 283:18–21). It is clear, therefore, that Shuwardata’s
territory was situated in a densely populated area, which eliminates the pos-
sibility of locating this territory in the hill country.
The close connection between Shuwardata and Milkilu of Gezer and their
partnership in the capture of Rubutu points to their geographical proximity
(although we must bear in mind that their third ally, Tagu, was apparently
situated far to the north). Also, Milkilu complains in EA 271:9–21 of strong
hostility against him and Shuwardata, which again alludes to their propin-
quity. Accordingly, Aharoni’s proposal to locate Shuwardata’s seat at Tell eṣ-
Ṣafi, an important site during the Late Bronze Age, seems acceptable.
Shuwardata’s and ‘Abdi-Ashtarti’s neighbors will then be: Gezer in the
north, Jerusalem in the north-east, Lachish in the south, and Ashkelon (and
Ashdod? see note 26 above) in the west.
29. Our transliteration and commentary on these lines is as follows:

(25) ep-šu KUR an-ni-ú (26) a-[n]a KA-i m Mil-ki-[li] (27) [ù] a-na KA-i [mŠu-ar-d]a-ti (28) [ù
it]-ti uruGinx-t[iki].
Line 25: see note 27 above.
Lines 26–27: The entity ana pí PN, “after the order of PN,” appears several times in the
Amarna letters (EA 79:11–12,22; 81:18; 138:116; 161:38). The closest parallel is letter EA 79:
11–12 of Byblos: a-na KA \ pi-í m Abdi-Aširta “according to the command of ‘Abdi-Ashirta.”
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Biryawaza of Damascus and the Date of the
Kāmid el-Lōz ‘Apiru Letters1
Introduction
The four letters unearthed at Kāmid el-Lōz (Kumidi) in the 1969 sea-
son were soon published by Edzard 1970:55-62 and discussed at length by
Hachmann (1970:63-94). Three more tablets were uncovered at the site dur-
ing later seasons and were published by Wilhelm (1973; 1982:123-129) and
Edzard (1976; 1980; 1982:131-135). Of the seven tablets discovered so far, the
two identical letters sent by the Pharaoh to Zalaya of Damascus and ÌR.LUGAL
of Shazaena are the most important, both for historical research and for dat-
ing the site. The historical background of these two letters was discussed and
clarified.2 Their date, however, is controversial and has yet to be decided. It is
the purpose of this article to discuss this at length, in an effort to shed more
light on the date and historical background of the letters.
At the focus of the historical and chronological discussion stands
Biryawaza, a ruler who is mentioned many times in the Amarna letters.
His role and, in particular, his seat are debated among scholars. Weber (in
Knudtzon 1915:1113-1114) regarded him as an Egyptian commissary, a sug-
gestion that was adopted by others (Edel 1953b:55; Redford 1967:219-220;
Goetze 1975:16). Other scholars identified him as ruler of Damascus (Campbell
1964:124; Helck 1971:179, 283-284; Albright 1975:101-102; Kühne 1973:62, n.
301). This suggestion was rejected by Hachmann (1970:73), who emphati-
cally concluded that “Seine Hauptstadt war Damaskus nicht, and Biriawaza
kann daher auch nicht als König yon Damaskus gelten.” Hachmann (1970:75-
76; 1982:151) generally defined Biryawaza as ruler of the land of Upi (Api), but
suggested no specific location for his seat. Such a noncommittal position was
also adopted by others (Klengel 1969:165; 1970:98: Pitard 1987:67-70).
In one of his letters (EA 194:9-10), Biryawaza mentions his forefathers.
Shutarna and Ḫa[š? . .]tar. Thus, Zalaya of Damascus, mentioned in the Kāmid
el-Lōz letters, could not have been his immediate predecessor. Identifying

2. Edzard 1970; Hachmann 1970; Ahituv 1973:87–89; Klengel 1977:230–231; Hachmann
1982:156–161; Schulman 1982:314–315.
82
Biryawaza of Damascus and the Date of the Kāmid el-Lōz ‘Apiru Letters 83
the seat of Biryawaza is crucial for establishing the date of Zalaya. Provided
that Biryawaza ruled outside Damascus, then Zalaya may be dated to any
time. On the other hand, if Damascus were Biryawaza’s seat, then Zalaya ei-
ther ruled long before him or was one of his successors.
The position of Biryawaza in the Egyptian government of Canaan and his
residency were discussed in great detail by Hachmann (1970:65-76; 1982:145-
151). His works will be taken as a point of departure for the historical dis-
cussion, in which an effort will be made to elaborate on Biryawaza’s histor-
ical role and, particularly, his place of residence. Moran’s new authoritative
translation (1987) (including many important philological notes) of all the
Amarna letters is the basis for all textual discussions in the article.
Biryawaza’s Residency and Zalaya of Damascus

1. Biryawaza’s reference to his forefathers (EA 194:5-11) in a badly bro-
ken letter is the first to be investigated. The key to the passage may be found
in a letter of Shechem (EA 253), where Lab’ayu answered a serious Egyptian
charge of disloyalty. He opened his defense by a reference to his ancestors
(lines 11-15): “Behold: I am the servant of the king, as was my father and my
grandfather, servants of the king from long ago.” Only then he answers the
Egyptian accusation, emphasizing his innocence (Campbell 1965:196-198:
Moran 1975a:147-151). Biryawaza opened his letter in almost identical words
(lines 5-11): “Behold, we are servants of the king from of old like Shutarna my
father (and) like Ḫa[š? ..]tar my grand[father].” This is an indication that, like
Lab’ayu, he answered serious Egyptian charges.3
What might have been these accusations? One may tentatively suggest
that he was accused of robbing the Babylonian caravan as mentioned in let-
ter EA 7:75. He opened his defense by emphasizing the loyalty of his dynasty
and continued (in the badly broken parts of the letter) to answer the charges,
claiming (inter alia) that he faithfully guarded the caravans sent from Egypt
to Mitanni (lines 22-23; compare EA 199, 255).4 If this analysis is correct. letter
EA 194 could be dated to the same time as the Babylonian letter EA 7.5
3. For a different interpretation of this passage, see Hachmann 1970:67.

4. A robbery of Babylonian caravan(s) by group(s) of pastoral nomads is probably de-
scribed in the fragmentary Amarna letter EA 200. The following restoration is suggested
for lines 7–11: “Behold what we have heard: [The Sut]û-Ahlameans [plundered? the cara-
vans? ([KASKALḫi].’a’) of the king of Babylon and the Ahlameans [ . . . t]o eat (compare 1 Sam
30:16)”.
5. For a possible date for letter EA 7, see Kühne 1973:60–72 and fig. 2.
2. One of Biryawaza’s opponents, according to the Amarna archive, is

called Biridashwa (EA 196:41; 197:7, 15, 33). Establishing his seat and histori-
cal role is important for the understanding of Biryawaza’s role in the land of
Bashan. Biridashwa was sometimes regarded as mayor of Yeno‘am (Weber in
Knudtzon 1915:129; Greenberg 1955:44; Hachmann 1970:71: Helck 1971:179,
480). However, his leading role in the Bashan area (EA 197:13-19, 33-34), his
ability to mobilize chariots of the city of Ashtaroth (EA 197:10-11) and his at-
tack on Biryawaza’s personal property (EA 196:26-33, 38-43) make it clear that
he ruled Ashtaroth, the most important kingdom in this region.
Biridashwa’s predecessor in Ashtaroth was Ayyab. who is mentioned
twice in the Amarna correspondence (EA 256 and 364). The first of these
letters was written by Mut-Baḫlu of Piḫilu, his southern neighbor. The let-
ter is probably a defense against an accusation that, with the collaboration
of Ayyab, he robbed a Babylonian caravan (lines 16-23: “Pray, ask Ben-elima;
pray ask Tadua; pray ask Yishuya, whether [for the construction of the sen-
tence, compare EA 198:11-17) after the robbery(?) [gán-ba; compare Hebrew
genēbāh] of Shulum-Marduk I did come to help the city of Ashtaroth when all
the towns of the land of Gari became hostile”).6 The rebellious land of Gari is
located along the Yarmuk river on its northern side, and it is evident that the
territory of Ashtaroth included these towns up to the river, which marked the
border with Piḫilu, its southern neighbor.
The territorial situation, as reflected in this letter, fits nicely into the con-
tent of Ayyab’s own letter (EA 364). The ruler of Ashtaroth complains that the
king of Hazor has taken three of his towns (lines 17-20). Thus, it is clear that
the two kingdoms bordered at a certain place, and, because the Golan heights
were hardly settled in the Late Bronze Age, their boundaries necessarily met
near the Yarmuk river.7 The other boundaries of Ashtaroth cannot be estab-
6. For the controversial passage (lines 19–21), see the discussion of Moran 1987:484,
n. 4, with earlier literature. Moran followed Knudtzon in deriving gán-ba from the West
Semitic verb gnb and tentatively translated the passage as follows: “Certes, après que
SILIM-dMarduk a pris à la dérobée Aštartu, je suis allé à la rescousse.” However, the seizure
of an important Canaanite city by a man of Babylon is historically problematic. A robbery
of a Babylonian caravan, on the other hand, was not uncommon in the Amarna period. This
would immediately explain the serious accusations raised against Mut-Baḫli (lines 6–7) and
his explicit denial (lines 7–14). I translated gán-ba as a noun, derived from the West Semitic
root gnb. Mut-Baḫli claims, if I understand it correctly, that immediately after the robbery
(which he tacitly assigned to Ayyab) he stopped supporting the ruler of Ashtaroth, the lat-
ter carrying on alone his offensive (see Moran’s translation of line 14) against the rebel-
lious cities of the land of Gari.
7. Na’aman 1975:52–54; 1986:476–478; 1988:22. Bienkowski’s recent discussion of the
city of Hazor in the Amarna letters (1987:55–60) contains many pitfalls. First, it is meth-
lished, though they may have bordered those of the kingdoms of Buṣruna and
Ḫalunni (see EA 197:13-16).
We may conclude that Ashtaroth was the central kingdom in the Bashan,
dominating a large territory and influencing its neighbors.
3. Letter EA 197 is important for understanding Biryawaza’s role within
the land of Upi (Api). The upper part of the tablet is broken and the damaged
text at the beginning may be reconstructed as follows: “[This is? what] he
said to [me when] your servant was in the city of E[drei?] (urua-[du?-ra?]).”8 The
restoration of the place name is based upon the vicinity of Edrei to Yeno‘am
(possibly Tell esh-Shihab), the next station in Biryawaza’s tour of the area
of Bashan (Na’aman 1977:168-177). The latter is certainly not a Palestinian
city, as scholars sometimes suggested,9 because it always appears alongside
Transjordanian towns and is never mentioned in a clear Cisjordanian con-
text. Its tentative identification with Tell esh-Shihab, on the Yarmuk river, is
based on the stela of Seti I found at this site and on Seti’s relief from Karnak
where a bush-lined river surrounds the city of Yeno‘am (Smith 1901:344-350;
odologically erroneous to draw conclusions from silence of documentation when dealing

with the Amarna archive (see Campbell 1964:32–36: Na’aman 1981:173–174). Second, the
number of letters sent by the kings of Hazor (2) is not exceptional. There is only one let-
ter from Ashtaroth, Hazor’s strong neighbor, three letters from Shechem and four letters
from Biryawaza (Damascus), the most important ruler in the areas of southern Syria and
Transjordan. Third, lack of records of the payment of tribute to Egypt is common to all
south Syrian and Transjordanian kingdoms, not only to Hazor. This may be explained on
the basis of the administrative division of the Egyptian province of Canaan in the Amarna
period (Na’aman, 1981:183–184). Fourth, Bienkowski’s analysis of letter EA 227 (1987:55–57)
is, in my opinion, not well founded. The letter is one of a series sent during the last stage
of the Amarna period by vassals in response to Egyptian orders to prepare everything that
was needed for a planned campaign to Canaan (Na’aman 1981:180–181, with earlier lit-
erature in n. 46; Na’aman 1990). Fifth, the title “king” in the letter of Hazor (EA 227:3) is
probably a slip of the local scribe, resulting from the fact that this was the common inner
Canaanite title for all city-state rulers (compare EA 8:25, 30:1, 70:20, 88:46, 92:32–34, 109:46,
139:14–15, 140:10–12, 147:67, 148:40–41, 197:14–15, 197:14–15, 41–42, 256:7–8, 306:24). The
kingdom of Hazor was not “a major Canaanite enclave” (Bienkowski 1987:59), but rather a
strong Canaanite territorial kingdom located outside the areas that were essential for the
Egyptian rule and trade in Asia. It is for this reason that the Egyptian involvement in the af-
fairs of Hazor (and in its strong neighbors in the north and south as well) was minimal. As
long as Hazor did not encounter the Egyptian interests in Canaan and as long as it obeyed
the orders of the Pharaohs, its king was left to administer its inner affairs without the in-
tervention of the Egyptian government.
8. For the transcription of the place name in the Egyptian topographical lists, see Görg
1974:3–18; Wilson 1969:676b (to p. 477c); Ahituv 1984:90–91.
9. For the suggestions to locate Yeno‘am in the Jordan Valley, see the literature cited by
Na’aman 1977a:168; cf. Ahituv 1984:198–200.
Wreszinski 1935:pl. 36). The next station on Biryawaza’s tour was probably
the city of [. . .]še, whose identification cannot be established (line 19).10
Provided that these site identifications are correct, one may easily recon-
struct the chain of events described in the letter. Biryawaza inspected the
southernmost areas of the Bashan along the Yarmuk river. When he was on
his way from Edrei to Yeno‘am, Biridashwa of Ashtaroth stirred a rebellion
and, with the help of the rulers of Buṣruna and Ḫalunni, tried to attack his
strong northern neighbor. “But I escaped from them and took a stand in [ . . .
in] the city of Damascus.” (lines 19-21).11 Biryawaza further accused Arzawiya
of Ruḫizzi, his northern neighbor, of attacking Shaddu, a city apparently sit-
uated on Upi’s northern border (lines 26-31). The letter ends with a conclud-
ing remark (lines 31-34): “And behold, Etakkama has destroyed the land of
Qidshu and now Arzawiya, with Biridashwa, is destroying the land of Api.”
We may conclude that the land of Upi included all the areas east of Mount
Anti-Lebanon mountain range, from the northern border of Canaan up to the
Yarmuk river. It is for this reason that Biryawaza’s enemies in the north (Arza-
wiya) and in the south (Biridashwa), who stirred up rebellions against him,
were accused of “destroying the land of Api.” Biryawaza was regarded as the
major power in this whole area, reaching the southernmost Bashan area on
the one side and the city of Kumidi, the only Egyptian garrison city in south
Syria, on the other side (lines 37-39).
4. The vast territory inspected by Biryawaza included his own kingdom
and city-states of lesser rank. The area of Bashan was divided into many
units, the most powerful of which was Ashtaroth. Six similar letters (EA 201-
206), all responding to the command of the Pharaoh to prepare for the ar-
rival of an Egyptian expeditionary force, were sent by rulers in the Bashan.
Significantly, these letters were written by the same scribe who wrote two of
Biryawaza’s letters (EA 195-196) (Moran 1987:433, n. 2). One may assume that
Biryawaza summoned the city-state rulers to his city to explain to them the
Egyptian orders, after which his scribe formulated these almost identical six
letters.
Few other kingdoms were located north of Damascus, near the northern
boundary of Canaan (Ruḫizzi, Lapana). Significantly, no kingdom except for
Damascus is known to have existed in the area between the Bashan in the
south and Ruḫizzi in the north. This must have been the territory of the king-
dom of Damascus, most probably governed by Biryawaza.
10. Knudtzon restored [māt tá]ḫ-še. But the passage deals with the Bashan area and not
with the district of Qadesh (Na’aman 1977a:169, n, 5).
11. For the restoration of lines 13–26. see Na’aman 1977a:169, n.5.
A king who governed such a large territory may well have had more than
one palace. This would immediately explain the situation portrayed in letters
EA 53 and 196, where disasters that befell Biryawaza during the last stages of
the Amarna period are described.
According to the fragmentary passage EA 53:24-34, Etakkama of Qidshu
(Qadesh) attacked the land of Upi, conquered a palace of Biryawaza and car-
ried away heavy booty. It is hardly conceivable that the city of Damascus is
referred to, particularly as Damascus is mentioned in this same letter as a
model of loyalty to the Pharaoh (line 63, see below).12 The conquered city
must have been on the northern boundary of the kingdom of Damascus, and
it is not impossible that the city mentioned in this broken passage is Shaddu,
described by Biryawaza as a place in the land of Upi that was conquered, with
the support of Qidshu and Amurru, by Arzawiya of Ruḫizzi (EA 197:26-31).
In another letter (EA 196), Biryawaza complained of “a deed such as none
has ever done” (line 32). The passage is badly broken, but it is clear that the
accused ruler is Biridashwa (compare lines 32-33 with lines 40-41), who cap-
tured dignitaries (and possibly property as well) of Biryawaza, including his
wives and concubines.13 Biryawaza sent the letter from his capital (lines 6-8
“I am being watchful and I am serving the king, my lord, in this place.”); thus,
it is clear that either a southern town, or even a caravan, was plundered. The
background of the entire episode is unknown, but it reflects the downfall of
Biryawaza, the former suzerain of the land of Upi.
We may conclude that Biryawaza ruled a large territorial kingdom that
apparently included more than one palace. These were built for the admin-
istration of the territory and for his own residence when he was inspecting
various remote places. One or two of these centers of government were cap-
tured in the latest stage of the Amarna period by Biryawaza’s enemies in the
north and south, though the city of Damascus apparently remained in his
hands.
5. The city of Damascus is mentioned three times in the Amarna archive,
always in indicative contexts. In letter EA 197:20-21, it is the place in which
Biryawaza “took a stand” after he had escaped from the Bashan. The pas-
sage is broken, but one is tempted to restore here “in [my palace/city in]
Damascus.” Such restoration would indicate, of course, that Damascus was
Biryawaza’s residency.
To express his loyalty to Egypt, Akizzi wrote the following (EA 53:63-65):
“My lord, just as Damascus in the land of Upi falls at your feet, so Qatna falls
12. For a different interpretation of this episode, see Hachmann 1970:71–75.

13. For the reconstruction of the text of letter EA 196. see Moran 1987:433–435.
at your feet.” Significantly, only places in Egypt (Ḫikuptaḫ = Memphis [EA

84:37; 139:8] and Magdali [EA 234:29]) and the city of Gaza, the important
Egyptian center on the southern border of Canaan (EA 289:17), are mentioned
in similar contexts. It is clear that the ruler of Qatna considered Damascus
as the center of loyalty and support for Egypt over the entire area of south-
ern Syria. Moreover, in another letter from the same ruler (EA 52:42-44), it is
Biryawaza who is regarded as the main supporter of the Egyptian interests,
standing side by side with the Pharaoh (“I will not withdraw from [the king],
my lord, and from Biryawaza”). When combining these two letters, one can
hardly escape the conclusion that Damascus was Biryawaza’s capital city.
Rib-Adda’s letter EA 107 was written soon after the Egyptian campaign to
the coast of Lebanon and the capture of ‘Abdi-Ashirta of Amurru.14 Aziru, son
of the deposed king, and his brothers appeared in Damascus (lines 26-28), cer-
tainly before Biryawaza, its strong ruler, who was involved both in the affairs
of the coast of Lebanon and also of northern Palestine (see below).
6. There are certain indications of Biryawaza’s military strength, as com-
pared with the Egyptian power in Canaan. Most important is Rib-Adda’s let-
ter EA 129:81-84.15 To understand the passage correctly, it must first be com-
bined with two other passages in the Byblian correspondence, EA 116:72-76
and 117:59-63.16 The two Egyptian officials referred to in all these passages
are Yanḫamu of Gaza (?) (EA 129:84 uru.ki A[z-za-ti]) and Piḫuru of Kumidi. Rib-
Adda suggested two alternative plans to the dispatch of an Egyptian expedi-
tionary force against the sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta: either to send the gover-
nors of the two Egyptian provinces of the land of Canaan (Yanḫamu and
Piḫuru), with their soldiers and the auxiliary troops of the vassals, or to send
Biryawaza, the powerful king of Damascus, with his troops. A similar solution
is raised in letter EA 250:21-27: Ba‘lu-UR.SAG suggested that the Pharaoh will
send one of his officers to Biryawaza and command him to march against the
rebellious sons of Lab’ayu. In both cases it is the military strength and politi-
cal standing of Biryawaza that made him fit for such delicate missions, which
would be accomplished without the direct intervention of the Egyptian au-
thorities in Canaan.
14. For the Egyptian campaign and the fate of the ruler of Amurru, see Moran 1969:94*–
99*; Altman 1977:1–11. For the text of EA 101, see Moran 1987:294–95. In line 20, one may
restore [ma-an]-ga (compare EA 84:21, 106:15, 362:15): “he (Rib-Adda) is distressed.” For EA
107. see Moran 1975a:155–56.å
15. For the passage, see Moran 1987:345, 347, nn. 29–31.
16. For a detailed discussion of the three passages, see Na’aman 1975:169–171. On the
basis of EA 117:61–62, one may restore in EA 116:74 [ḫa-za]-ni (rather than [qe-pa]-ni).
Letter EA 195 was sent by Biryawaza as an answer to a pharaonic letter

that commanded him to be prepared, with his troops, to participate in an
Egyptian campaign.17 All the letters that were dispatched at that time were
brought by Egyptian messengers, and, as suggested above, certain tablets
sent to the kingdoms of Bashan were distributed by the king of Damascus.
The pharaonic letters that ordered the deportation of the ‘Apiru to the land of
Cush (KL 69:277 and 69:279) were likewise distributed by the Egyptian authori-
ties of Kumidi.18 Does it reflect the time after the downfall of Biryawaza,
when Kumidi took over some of the functions formerly held by the ruler of
Damascus?
Letter EA 196 was written in an answer to the message transmitted by
[. . .]saya (line 6). It answers all the elements appearing in the Egyptian let-
ter of command: to listen carefully to the orders of the messenger (lines 5-
6), to guard the city and obey the Pharaoh (lines 6-7), and to prepare every-
thing that is necessary for the planned Egyptian campaign (lines 8-12 “When
the s[trong army] of the king, my lord, arrives [soon] to m[e, then ple]nty [of
food and] plenty [of everything else will be prepared] by me”).19
Summing up the discussion, it is clear that Biryawaza was a king who as-
cended his throne according to dynastic principle and operated in the land
of Canaan side by side with the Egyptian authorities. It is also evident that
Damascus is the logical candidate for his residency. All the documentary ev-
idence fits this location perfectly, whereas no other place in the land of Upi
can fill these requirements.
Chronologically, the letters that mention Biryawaza’s name cover almost
all the Amarna period. The earliest letters are EA 107 and 250, dated imme-
diately after the death of Lab’ayu of Shechem and ‘Abdi-Ashirta of Amurru.
The Egyptian expedition sent to capture ‘Abdi-Ashirta took place under
Amenophis III, as is witnessed by the group of Byblian letters in which Rib-
Adda reminds the Pharaoh (Akhenaten) of the campaign to Amurru under-
taken by his father (EA 108:28-33; 117:24-28; 121:41-44; 131:30-34; 132:12-
17. For the preparations in anticipation of an Egyptian campaign to Asia, see Na’aman
1975:52–54; 1981:173–174, 180–184; 1986:476–478; 1988:22. Bienkowski 1987:55–60; Campbell
1964:32–36.
18. There is a marked discrepancy between the early date assigned by Hachmann 1970:
90–91 to the two letters of Kāmid el-Lōz and his claim in 1982:139–44, 152–58 that Kumidi
became an Egyptian garrison city only in the time of Akhenaten. For a criticism of the sec-
ond claim see Na’aman 1988:21. n. 4.
19. For EA 196:5–12, see Moran 1987:433–434. My reconstruction of lines 10–11 is based
on the comparison to EA 367:16–17: (10) a-na i[a-ši ù ma-(a)]-ad [NINDA] (11) ma-a[d mi-im-
ma šu-ši-ra-ti].
18; 138:28-34; 362:16-20) (Moran 1969:98*; Na’aman 1975:19-20, 207-210).

Biryawaza is mentioned in the latest Amarna letters (e.g., EA 53, 151, 195-
197). His career covered the entire reign of Akhenaten and doubtless started
even earlier, in the time of Amenophis III.
With these conclusions in mind, one may discuss the possible date of
Zalaya of Damascus. First, we can now reject the proposal to assign his ten-
ure of kingship to the Amarna period and to combine the deportation of
the Cushites (KL 69:277, lines 5-11) to Akhenaten’s Nubian campaign of the
year 12 (Schulman 1982:314-315; see Klengel 1977:231). Hachmann’s (1970:
88-91) suggestion to date this letter to the early years of Amenophis III is
also doubtful. Biryawaza mentions his forefathers to the throne of Damas-
cus, and as he had ascended the throne during the days of Amenophis III,
his grandfather may well have reigned even before the coronation of the lat-
ter. Zalaya was either an early predecessor of Biryawaza, or one of his suc-
cessors.
ÌR-šarri (of Enishazi?)

Letter EA 363 was written by ÌR-ri-ša of e-<ni>-ša-zi and is one of four iden-
tical letters (the others are EA 174-176) sent at exactly the same time by four
city-state rulers of the land of ‘Amqi (Weippert 1970:267-272). The first ele-
ment of the name (meaning “slave,” “servant”) is always compounded either
with theophoric elements or with epithets that fill the same semantic role.
However, the theophoric or epithetic element ri-ša is unknown in the ancient
Near Eastern onomasticon.20 With all due caution, we would like to suggest
that ri-ša is a metathesis of ša-ri (šarri), which is a well-known element in
Hurrian names (borrowed from the Akkadian) meaning “king” (Gelb, Purves
and MacRay 1943:251-252; Gröndahl 1967:249). A transposition of the sylla-
bles of Milkilu into Ilimilku is known from a Jerusalemite letter (EA 286:36),
and we have suggested elsewhere that ia-ma, author of letter EA 230, is no
other than the Egyptian high official Maya.21 It may be noted further, that no
clear Semitic name appears among the rulers’ names of the Beqa‘ of Lebanon
20. The West Semitic theophoric element iršu/iršuna (see Weippert 1966:321–327;
Gröndahl 1967:101) has nothing to do with ri-ša, in particular because West Semitic names
are uncommon among the rulers of the Beqa‘ (see below). Weippert (1970:322) suggested
transcribing the name of the ruler of Hazor (EA 228:3) as ÌR-dir4-ši, i.e., ‘Abd-irši. The ma-
jority of scholars followed Knudtzon and rendered it ‘Abdi-Tirshi.
21. Clauss 1907:25–26 suggested that Ḫa-ra-bu (EA 250:44) is a metathesis of Ra-ḫa-bu,
i.e., the city of Raḫabu in the Beth-shean Valley, well known from Egyptian inscriptions of
the Late Bronze Age.
(i.e., Bieri, An/Ildaya,22 Yamiuta, Mayarzana, Amanḫatpi, Shatiya,23 Arašša)

(See Helck 1971:478-481). A Hurrian name for the ruler of Enishazi fits well
with this onomastic pattern.
The toponym Enishazi also requires some comments. In the Amarna let-
ters, it is written e-<ni>-ša-zi (EA 363:4) and e-ni-ša-ṣi-[i?] (EA 187:12). On the
basis of the transcription ‘Ain-Shasu from Kom el-Hēṭan, the mortuary tem-
ple of Amenophis III, Weippert (1970:259-272 Rainey 1975:13-16, with ear-
lier literature) suggested that both the Amarna town and toponym no. 6 in
the topographical inscription of Thutmose III should be transcribed in this
manner. The name “Spring of the Shasu” was called, according to this line of
thought, after the Shasu, i.e., nomadic elements that settled there.
However, this attractive suggestion is open to criticism. The name Shasu
is known exclusively from Egyptian sources and is a general term for the no-
madic groups living in the peripheral areas of Canaan, as well as the Egyptian
delta.24 The corresponding term in Akkadian is Sutu, which is known from cu-
neiform sources of the Old Babylonian period and which became a generic
term for nomads in the Akkadian literature (Kupper 1957:83-145: Heltzer
1985:59-70; Rowton 1976:16). By deciphering the toponym as ‘Ain-Shasu (i.e.,
“Spring of the Shasu”), one presupposes that Shasu was a well known designa-
tion among the population of Canaan. Until now, however, there is no evidence
that the name was in use outside Egypt, either as a generic term for nomads (as
it appears in the Egyptian documents) or as a tribal name for a certain group. It
seems more likely that the name Enishazi has nothing to do with the Egyptian
Shasu; the Egyptian orthography in the Kom-el-Hēṭan inscription represents
only an Egyptian popular etymology of its name (Ahituv 1984:58).
The ṣi sign is sometimes written as zi in peripheral Akkadian (e.g., EA 158:
37); the writing of this sign to designate si, on the other hand, is very rare
22. The name AN/il-da-a-a (EA 175:3) was interpreted as West Semitic (Il-dayyi) and
compared with the Ugaritic name ildy (Schult 1969:200; Moran 1987:580). The interpreta-
tion is, naturally, not clear of doubts. The elements ant and tai are well known from Hurrian
names (Gelb, Purves and MacRae 1943:201, 261); the name An-ta-a-a is known from Nuzi
(Gelb, Purves and MacRae 1943:21). For further references and discussion, see Landsberger
1954:56, n. 106; Weippert 1970:268, n. 38. Note also the Egyptian(?) name Daasharti (EA 162:
75) (but see Schult 1969:200).
23. Rainey (1975:15) suggested that the sender of letter EA 187 was called by the West
Semitic name Shadeya (ša-de4-ya) and compared it with the Ugaritic name šdyn. However,
Moran (1975b:151) demonstrated that, with the exception of the Jerusalem Amarna letters,
all occurrences of te = de4 in the Amarna archive are confined to forms of idû. The name of
the sender of letter EA 187 should be rendered as Shatiya (Moran 1987:426).
24. Giveon 1971; Ward 1972:35–60; Weippert 1974:265–280, 427–433; Görg 1976:424–428;
1979:199–202; Astour 1979:17–34; Na’aman 1982:27–33.
and does not appear in the western periphery (von Soden and Röllig 1967:No.
109). In light of the transcription e-ni-ša-ṣi-[i?], it seems preferable to tran-
scribe the toponym as Enishazi, although the transcription Enishasi is not
ruled out.
The second Kāmid el-Lōz letter (KL 69:279) was sent to ÌR.LUGAL of ša-za-
e-na. Eph‘al (1971:155-157) suggests identifying the town with the road sta-
tion Sazana mentioned in the Neo-Assyrian letter ABL 414 that was sent by
Bēl-iqbi, governor of the province of Ṣupite in the days of Sargon II. He iden-
tified the town at the junction of the Beqa‘’s road and the Beirut-Damascus
route.
Letter ABL 414 reflects the efforts of the governor of Ṣupite to build
road stations along the desert routes of his province. It is reasonable to as-
sume that Sazana was also located on the caravan road east of mount Anti-
Lebanon. Furthermore, none of the places mentioned in the Assyrian letter
is known from second millennium documents; they all were apparently small
frontier settlements built by the Assyrians as part of their control system
over the eastern Syrian routes (Eph‘al 1982:95-98). It should also be noted
that most of the territory of Ṣupite was part of the kingdom of Damascus in
the Amarna period and that there is hardly room for an independent city-
state in this area. Moreover, a place called Saza(e)na is not mentioned in the
entire corpus of the Egyptian topographical lists. In spite of the similarity
of names between Shazaena of the Kumidi letter and Sazana of the Assyrian
letter, the identities are far from clear. Sazana may well have been founded
by the Arameans only in the first millennium BCE and further built by the
Assyrians after the annexation of the Damascene area.
As suggested above, with all due reservation, letter EA 363 was sent by
ÌR-šarri of Enishazi. Letters EA 174-176 and 363 are dated to the last stage of
the Amarna period.25 Is it possible to identify ÌR-šarri of letter EA 363 with
ÌR.LUGAL the addressee of KL 69:279? The latter’s city is called ša-za-e-na.
Could it be the creation of the Egyptian scribe, who mistakenly wrote ša-za-
e-na for e-na-ša-za? This, of course, is no more than a hypothesis and cannot
be verified. Accepting it and identifying the author of letter EA 363 with the
addressee of KL 69:279 would lead to the conclusion that the two letters KL
69:277 and 6.9:279 were written not long after the Amarna period. Zalaya,
accordingly, would be considered as Biryawaza’s successor to the throne of
Damascus.
25. Kitchen 1962:31, 45; Campbell 1964:116–120, 135. The chronological relations of the
attack on the land of ‘Amqi at the end of the Amarna period to the Daḫamunzu affair de-
scribed in the Annals of Shuppiluliuma is not relevant to our discussion.
Dating the Kāmid el-Lōz Letters

Dating Zalaya and ÌR-šarri to the post-Amarna Age is not dependent only
on the identification of names and toponyms in EA 363 and KL 69:279. Such
a late date for the Kāmid el-Lōz letters remains plausible even if my argu-
ments concerning the assumed identity of personal names (ÌR-šarri) and top-
onyms (Enishazi) are not acceptable. Reluctance to accept the identification
will pave the way for the second alternative suggested above, namely, that
the letters were sent at an early date, prior to the time of Amenophis III. The
deportation of the Nubians and ‘Apirus, as reflected in the two letters, there-
fore, should be discussed in the light of the historical developments either in
the late 15th-early 14th century or the last third of the 14th century BCE.
The Egyptian border in Nubia in the 15th-14th centuries BCE reached
the Fourth Cataract, near the fortified town of Napata. Scholars agree that
subsequent to the conquest of this area, most, if not all, of the 18th Dynasty
expeditions to Nubia were directed not against the peaceful inhabitants of
the river valley, but against the predatory tribesmen on its periphery (Säve-
Söderbergh 1941:151; Hayes 1973:347). Thus, various operations undertaken
by the local Nubian authorities in reaction to the outbreak of violence in the
land, and royal campaigns, may all be the background for the deportation of
the Nubians.
The deportation of groups of tribesmen and ‘Apiru from the areas of the
Beqa‘ and east of the Anti-Lebanon, may well be connected to the armed
struggle of the great Powers over the hegemony of northern Canaan and cen-
tral Syria, as was the long struggle between Egypt and Mitanni in the second
half of the 15th century BCE. Indeed, a large scale deportation of the unstable
elements in the peripheral areas of Canaan is mentioned in the second booty
list on the Memphis stela of Amenophis II.26 This mass deportation is directly
linked with the Egyptian-Mitannian fighting that took place in these years.27
Curiously, according to the Amada stela of Amenophis II, one of the rulers of
Taḫshi was shipped to Nubia and hanged upon the enclosure wall of Napata.28
According to this hypothesis, the two Kāmid el-Lōz letters are contemporane-
26. For the controversy over the interpretation of the booty list of Amenophis II, see
Edel 1953a:170–173; Alt 1954:57–58; Janssen 1963:141–147; Helck 1971:344; Spalinger 1983:
92–101.
27. For the Egyptian-Mitannian struggle, see Edel 1953a:97–176; Alt 1954:33–62; Helck
1971:115–164: Drower 1973:417–462; Spalinger1983:89–101.
28. Wilson 1969:248a: Rainey 1973:71–74. The episode may well illustrate the motif of
transferring the rebellious prince from the northernmost border of the empire (Taḫshi) to
its southernmost limit (Napata).
ous with the Taanach letters and were written in the course of the mass de-
portation organized by the Egyptian king in the ninth year of his reign.29
According to the second alternative, the deportation of the ‘Apiru may be
combined with the Egyptian-Hittite struggle over central Syria in the post-
Amarna Age. The expedition to Nubia may be identified, tentatively, with
that conducted by Tutankhamun, as is attested to in the scene of the defeat
of the Nubians on the painted box from his tomb.30 As was noted above, this is
only one possibility; other operations conducted by the Viceroy of Nubia and
his officers against the peripheral tribesmen and by the Pharaohs of the late
18th Dynasty or their generals in the northernmost areas of Canaan may well
fit into the historical context of the Kāmid el-Lōz letters.
Addendum: Kāmid el-Lōz Glosses

(a) KL 69:100
Line 8: The ten-sign is identical in form to the Glossenkeils that are com-
mon in letters sent from all over southern Syria and northern Transjordan
(e.g., EA 183:4; 185:19, 32; 195:5, 9, 23; 207:21; 215:4; 216:16; 228:19; 256:7, 9).
See Artzi 1963:34-35. Also the syllabic writing a-la-ni appears only once in the
Amarna correspondence (EA 209:7) and is rather doubtful. The reading of the
line cannot be established with certainty.
Lines 12-16: a-mur-mi a-n[a-ku . . . .] ù ši-mi ia-[ši . . . ù] la-a ti7-il-qú-n[a . . .] iš-te URU AN
A [ . . . ù la-a] te-pu-šu-na [. . .].
Translation: “Behold, I [am your loyal servant] and listen to [me. Give? order? so that]
they will not take [. . .] from the city .. [. . . and] will [not] do [. . .].”
In this light we may tentatively restore also:
Lines 5, 7: ù a-na ma- [ni . . .] ù ti7- [il-qú-na . . .].

Lines 9-10: ù a-na m[a-ni . . . ù] te-pu-š[u-na . . .].
(b) KL 72:600
For lines 14-19. see Na’aman 1977b:238; for line 25 (ŠU.KAM.MA = erištu/
mēreštu), see Moran 1979:247-248.
29. For the date of the Taanach letters, see Albright 1944:12–14, 26–27; Glock 1971:17–
30; Rainey 1973:71-74.
30. Davies and Gardiner 1962:pl. 2; Schulman 1964:55–56 and n. 33.
(c) KL 74:300
Line 5: The sign maḫ in the Canaanite Amarna letters has only two vertical
wedges, at least one Winkelhaken before them and either a short horizontal
wedge or two Winkelhaken underneath (compare EA 88:2; 138:92, 124; 140:25;
273:4 and possibly also 92:48; 135:14; 249:11). See the autographs in the edi-
tion of Knudtzon and the sign list in Schroeder 1915. The reading of the sign
as maḫ cannot be considered as certain. It is not dissimilar to the sign É that
appears three times in the Amarna letters (EA 148:42; 151:55: 260:13. Compare
autographs nos. 108, 110, 145 in Knudtzon’s edition). The reading of the city
name remains problematic.
Lines 8-9: The unique combination šādē alāku may possibly be compared
with Akkadian eqlu alāku, “to perform ilku-service” (CAD A/1 313a).
Line 13: One would naturally assume that the sign DU stands for the ver-
bal form tillikū of line 8. That the scribe was trying to abridge the text can be
seen by reference to the noun bēlu: It was first written in its unabridged form
(line 1) and then written in a shortened form (lines 7, 13); see Moran 1987:
40, n. 82.
The addressee of the letter, if I understand it correctly, complains that his
men are going out with the king’s troops and, thus, should not take part in
the king’s work.
Line 16: On the basis of EA 145:10, 26 one may read here tú-ti-ra-ni (with
the rare syllable tú).
Tentative translation of the discussed passage (lines 5-17): “Behold, the
men of GN, a city of the king, my lord — should they go to the ‘field’? Behold,
I am your servant, my troops go with the troops of the king, my lord. Further,
you will send back an order and deliver (it) to me.”
[After the publication of the article, two additional tablets from Kāmid el-
Lōz were published. See Arnaud 1991; Huehnergard 1996].
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Praises to the Pharaoh in Response to His Plans for
Campaign to Canaan1
I
The Conquest of Canaan by Thutmose III was accompanied by adminis-
trative measures intended to consolidate Egyptian control in the newly cap-
tured territory. One of these measures was the storage of food supplies and
materials needed for future campaigns in bases situated along the coast of
Lebanon (Alt 1959:97–101; Pintore 1972:112–115; 1973:300–301, 316–317;
Ahituv 1978:96–98). Supplying the commodities was the task of the Canaanite
vassals. The list of these products (bread, olive oil, incense, wine, honey and
fruits) in Thutmose’ annals is similar to lists of food supplies that the local
rulers in Canaan were ordered to prepare for Egyptian troops, according to
several Amarna letters (EA 55:11–12; 324:12–14; 325:16–17; 367:1617) (Pintore
1973:300–301; Moran 1983:175–176).
One of these letters, EA 367, was intended to be sent to the ruler of
Achshaph, but for some unknown reason it was not dispatched and remained
in the Amarna archive. It announces the arrival of Egyptian troops (ṣābē
piṭāti) and commands Endaruta, king of Achshaph, to guard his city, to pre-
pare everything required, to listen carefully to the orders of the royal mes-
senger and to execute them in full. The other three tablets belong to a larger
group. In the letters of this group, the Canaanite rulers express their loyalty
to the Pharaoh, emphasizing that they are guarding their towns and are com-
plying with the orders of the king and his officials. They are also preparing
everything according to his command and are ready with their troops to join
the Egyptian campaign. Royal letter EA 367 is directly related to the vassal
letters: whatever is requested in it is to be obediently performed. Every single
order in the former is submissively approved in the other letters.
The resemblance of commodities mentioned in the inscriptions of
Thutmose III to those in the Amarna documents and the perfect accord be-
tween the royal and the vassal letters are sometimes regarded as evidence
1. Reprinted with permission. In: Abusch, T. et al. eds. Lingering Over Words. Studies in
Ancient Near Eastern Literature in Honor of William L. Moran, Atlanta 1990, 397–405.
99
that the latter reflect a particular occasion, namely, the planning of an

Egyptian campaign to Asia during the reign of Akhenaten (Bonkamp 1939:
256–260; Schulman 1964:58, 63–64; Reviv 1966:45–51; Na’aman 1975:133–135,
201–202, 210–213; 1981:180–181). According to this assumption (which will
be defended in what follows), the Canaanite rulers received strict orders and
reported back that they were fulfilling them from beginning to end. Others,
however, regard these documents as descriptions of routine measures re-
flecting the normal correspondence between the Pharaoh and his vassals
(Liverani 1971:257–263; Pintore 1972:115–117, 130). Model letters from the
Ramesside period, in which the same formulae appear in the Egyptian lan-
guage, were suggested as verification of the stereotyped character of these
documents. Recently, Liverani advanced this claim one step further, suggest-
ing that there was a misunderstanding in communication: the Canaanite rul-
ers misinterpreted the Egyptian text, which the royal scribes had botched
when translating into Akkadian (Liverani 1983:53–54). The routine request
that a contingent of Egyptian troops led by an officer was on its way and that
it was necessary to make preparations before its arrival was interpreted in
certain Canaanite city-states to mean that the rulers must be at the head of
the Egyptian troops to guide them.
Did the Amarna letters refer to a specific event, or were they routine cor-
respondence? This question can be answered only by chronological investi-
gation of the tablets. Provided that they were written at one particular his-
torical moment, we may safely assume that they refer to a specific episode,
whereas sporadic dates would mean that they refer to various episodes. To
clarify this question, we shall first define the scope of the group, then pres-
ent the chronological data of each letter briefly.
Only letters that accord with one of the following criteria will be assigned
to the group under discussion:
(1) Those referring to several subjects appearing in EA 367, the Egyptian
letter of command.
(2) Those referring to preparations (šūšuru/šutēšuru) before (ana pāni).
the arrival of the Egyptian troops (ṣābē piṭāti).
Twenty-four letters from 21 different places fulfil these criteria: Nos. 55,
65, 141–142, 144, 147, 153, 191, 193, 195, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 216, 217,
218, 227, 292, 324–325 and 337.
Letter EA 55 from Qatna is dated to the last stage of the Amarna archive,
when the Hittite army, with the help of Aziru of Amurru, sacked the towns
of the kingdom of Qatna (Kitchen 1962:44; Campbell 1964:135; Redford 1967:
216–221; Helck 1971:178–179). Tablet EA 191 was sent by Arzawiya of Ruḫizzi
and EA 193 by Tewati (ti4-wa-te) of Lapana. Both rulers cooperated with the
Hittite king and Aitakama of Qadesh in attacking the land of Upi (EA 55:35–
Praises to the Pharaoh in Response to His Plans for Campaign to Canaan 101
39, 56–57; 54:26–34), an event that occurred at the end of the Amarna period
(Campbell 1964:135; Redford 1967:220–221; Helck 1971:179, 183–184). The let-
ter of Tyre (EA 147) was written at a time when Aziru was generally regarded
as a traitor (lines 67–68), i.e., when he started negotiations with the Hittites
and attacked the vassals of Egypt. Abi-Milki of Tyre, thus, accused his own
enemy, Zimredda of Sidon, of reporting to the traitor Aziru regarding prepa-
rations for the impending Egyptian Asiatic campaign (lines 66–69).
The Beirut letters (EA 141–142) were written subsequent to the expulsion
of Rib-Adda of Byblos from his city (EA 142:18–24) and, therefore, date close
to the end of the archive. Moreover, Ḫan’i son of Maireya, who was sent to
the land of Canaan according to the royal letter (EA 367:7), is probably men-
tioned in both the tablet of Beirut (EA 142:7)2 and that of Hazor (EA 227:16).
Ḫan’i also figures in a letter sent by Aziru (EA 161:11–34) and in a royal letter
sent to him (EA 162:56–63), both written after the expulsion of Rib-Adda from
Byblos, when Aziru was ordered to appear before the Pharaoh (EA 162:42–54).
Ḫan’i’s missions to the land of Canaan can safely be dated to the last stage of
the archive (Albright 1946:11–13).
The Egyptian high official Maya was nominated as commissioner in
Canaan during the last stage of the archive (see below) (Campbell 1964:126–
130). He is mentioned in letters EA 216:13, 217:16, 218:14, 292:33, 337:26, all of
which may safely be dated to the end of the period. Māya appears side by side
with another Egyptian official, Rēanapa, in a letter of Ba‘lu-šipṭ i of Gezer (EA
292:33, 36); both were nominated to their posts in Canaan at the same time
(Albright 1946:19–20; Edel 1953:57; Campbell 1964:126). Rēanapa again figures
in one of the letters of Yidya of Ashkelon (EA 326:17), which must be assigned
to the close of the archive. Yidya is known from a broken royal letter (EA 370),
which is parallel to the letter sent to Endaruta (EA 367) and was intended
to direct him to prepare everything necessary for the campaign. Moreover,
Ba‘lu-šipṭ i of Gezer, Yidya of Ashkelon and ‘Abdi-‘Ashtarti of Gath(?) (the au-
thors of letters EA 292, 324–325 and 65) came to power only at the end of the
period of rebellions and disturbances in southern Canaan, once again during
the last stage of the archive (Na’aman 1979:676–682).
This short survey clearly indicates that all the datable letters in our group
were written during the final stage of the Amarna period. Two other rulers
whose letters have no particular clue for dating — Zimredda of Sidon and
Biryawaza of Damascus — are also attested at this historical moment. No
ruler sending one of the tablets enumerated above is known to have been re-
2. EA 142:6–7: [ištem]e awāte ṭuppi ša uštēšir <ina> qāt (ŠU) [m Ḫa-n]i šarri bēlija, “I have
heard the words of the tablet that the king, my lord, has sent <by> the hand of Ḫan’i.”
placed before this time. Therefore, we may conclude that the entire group of
letters dates to one and the same time and may safely assume that they deal
with preparations in anticipation of a specific Egyptian campaign to Canaan.
As noted above, the texts of these vassal letters echo the contents of the
royal letters. This was bureaucratic routine: the vassals regularly responded
with words and sentences borrowed from their overlord’s messages. The pro-
cedures involved in preparing for military campaigns has been discussed at
length by others (Reviv 1966:30, 45–51; Pintore 1972:106–31; 1973:299–315).
Only one point needs to be elaborated: the role of the messengers.
The emissaries who delivered the royal letters and orders to the vassals
were often of high rank. Thus, Ḫan’i, for example, held the title “chief of the
stable of the king” (EA 367:7–8).3 Iriyamašša (EA 370:8–9) possibly had the
same title.4 The participation of Egyptian officials in the organization of the
campaign is mentioned either alongside their names (EA 142:7; 216:12–14;
217:13–13; 218:13–14; 227:1517; 337:24–30) or anonymously (EA 55:14–15; 147:
17, 30–31; 292:20–22). Consequently, it is difficult to accept Liverani’s sugges-
tion that the Canaanite rulers misunderstood the royal orders (Liverani 1983:
31, 54). Misinterpretation of certain Egyptian concepts and expressions is
certainly possible, but, in this particular case, messengers were sent deliber-
ately to avoid any such confusion. It seems that the northern Canaanite rul-
ers were ordered to participate in the expedition (just as the Hittites mobi-
lized their vassals on similar occasions), and they understood this command
perfectly well.
Most prominent among the Egyptian officials involved with the prepara-
tions for the campaign was Māya (Albright 1946:5, 15; Edel 1953:57; Campbell
1964:75–77, 126–30; Redford 1990:14–16). Possibly, he replaced Yanḫamu at
that time as governor (Campbell 1964:90–101). The seven letters mention-
ing his office (EA 216, 217, 218, 292, 300, 328, 337) are distributed in southern
and northern Canaan. Another letter (EA 230), whose author so far has not
been identified, might also be assigned to him, although his name was mis-
takenly written ia-ma, i.e., a metathesis of ma-ia. As far as I am aware, this is
the only cuneiform diplomatic exchange between the pharaonic court and
Egyptian officials in Asia that has come down to us. The routine correspon-
dence was certainly recorded on papyrus by hieroglyphic signs (Alt 1936:30–
31). Following is a translation of the letter.
3. For the high position sometimes held by persons bearing the titles “charioteer” or
“groom” both in Ḫatti and in Egypt, see Singer 1983:9–13, 21.
4. Gordon (1947:5) restored /LÚ.MAŠKIM/ š[a . . .] in EA 370:7. He was followed by
Rainey (1978:44–45). The traces on the tablet, however, hardly justify this reading. One may
tentatively suggest restoring /LÚ.PA.TUR3/ š[a šarri], parallel to EA 367:8.
Speak to the king my lord; thus says Māya your servant. At your feet I have fallen.
Behold, I am your servant at the place where I am. Behold, the places where I am (are)
all your cities; I, your servant, will protect all your city rulers. If your soldier comes to
me, then I will protect him. And all the cities where I am I will protect for you. And you
may ask your city rulers whether I am protecting (them). And may you be informed
that all your cities are well.
The cuneiform writing points to a Syrian provenience (Moran 1975:151).

The end of the text (lines 20–22) is an imitation of the typical endings of the
pharaonic letters (compare, e.g., EA 99:21–26; 162:78–79; 367:22–24) and has
parallels in the vassal letters (EA 208:13–14; 267:15–20; 330:17–21). Māya was
responsible to the Pharaoh for numerous cities and their rulers of a vast ter-
ritory. He is reporting that all is well in the area under his authority. We may
safely assume that Māya’s role was not restricted to the organization of the
Asiatic campaign.
II
In addition to the above-discussed routine responses, the letters of this
group have a remarkable feature that has not been considered previously.
These are the vassals’ expressions of enthusiasm and happiness upon hearing
of the impending campaign, accompanied by praises to the Pharaoh who is
initiating it. Unlike the stereotyped nature of the reports of preparation and
obedience, these parts of the letters are most unusual, including rare words
and exceptional expressions. We shall translate some of these passages and
discuss them briefly.
The letter of Abi-Milki of Tyre (EA 147) is a long eulogy to the Pharaoh,
extolling him with lofty words for his decision to make the campaign.5 The
rising of the sun in heaven and its celestial effects are compared with the
coming forth of the king and the immediate effects on the land and its inhab-
itants. The response of the king of Tyre to the orders of the royal letter is in-
terwoven with long poetic sections, but every single request of the Pharaoh
finds its approving answer. The tenor of the letter makes it clear that Abi-
Milki believed that the king would personally participate in the expedition
(compare in particular lines 57–60); his enthusiastic and jubilant words were
intended to welcome the king’s anticipated arrival in the land of Canaan.
My lord is the Sun who rises over the countries day after day according to the ordi-
nance of the Sun God, his gracious father, who gives life with his sweet breath and re-
5. For letter EA 147, see Bonkamp 1939:256–257; Albright 1937:190–203; 1967:123–125;

Gevirtz 1973:162–177; Eyre 1976:183; Grave 1980a:205–218; 1982:161–183; cf. Moran 1975:
157, n. 3.
turns with his northwind,6 who places the entire country in a state of peace by the
strength of his arm, who gives his cry from heaven like Ba‘al so that every country
takes fright at his cry (lines 5–15).
This (is) what the servant has written to his lord when he has heard the gracious mes-
senger of the king who reached his servant, and the sweet breath that has come forth
from the mouth of the king, my lord, to his servant, and his breath has returned. Before
the arrival of the messenger of the king, my lord, the breath did not return, my nose
was stopped up.7 Behold, now that the breath of the king has come forth to me, I rejoice
greatly and I celebrate? day by day because I rejoice. Did not the (entire) land prosper?
(ti-[ši-i]r) since it has heard of the gracious messenger from my lord, and all the coun-
try is reverent before my lord since it has heard of the sweet breath and the gracious
messenger who reached me (lines 16–35).
When the king, my lord, has said, “prepare (ku-na) before the great army,”8 the servant
has said to his lord, “Aye, aye.” On my belly and on my back I am carrying the command
of the king, my lord. He who listens to the king, his lord, and serves him in his places,
to him the Sun rises and the sweet breath returns from the mouth of his lord. But he
who does not heed the word of the king, his lord, his city is destroyed, his house (i.e.,
dynasty and family) is lost and his name shall not exist in the entire world forever.
Behold, the servant who has listened to his lord, his city is well, his name endures for-
ever (lines 35–51).
You are the Sun that rises to me and a wall of bronze that is erected for me (text: him).
And on account of the strong arm of the king, my lord, I rest secure (lines 52–56).
This I have said to the Sun, the father of the king, my lord: “When shall I see the face of
the king, my lord?” But now, I am guarding Tyre, the capital city, for the king, my lord,
until the mighty arm of the king come forth to me, to give me water to drink and wood
to warm me (lines 57–66).
The other passages, though not as remarkable as the one from Tyre, are
worth quoting in full nonetheless.
EA 141:8–17 (Ammunira): Furthermore, I have heard the words of the tablet of the king,
my lord, my Sun, my god, the breath of my life, and the heart of your servant, the dust
under the feet of the king, my lord, my Sun and my god, the breath of my life, was very,
6. For the interpretation of ṣapānu, see the comprehensive discussions of Grave (1980b:
221–229; 1982:161–83).
7. For this translation, see Grave 1980a:205–218.
8. The routine phrase šūšuru/šutēšuru ana pāni ṣābē piṭāti (CAD E 358a, 359a) inter-
changes in our letter with the variant ku-na ana pāni ṣābē rabiti (lines 35–36). The verbal
form ku-na is Canaanite, as is indicated by the Glossenkeil, and like šūšuru was translated ad
sensum “to prepare.” One of the meanings of the biblical verb kwn in hiphil is “to prepare”
(Koehler and Baumgartner 1974:443b); Canaanite kwn G may have the same connotation.
For a different interpretation of the phrase, see CAD K 171 b, s.v. kânu B.
very happy, since the breath of the king, my lord, my Sun, my god, came forth to his
servant and the dust under his feet.
EA 142:5–10 (Ammunira): Furthermore, I have heard the words of the tablet which the
king, my lord, sent <by> the hand [of Ḫan]’i. 9 And when I heard the words of the tablet
of the king, my lord, my heart rejoiced and my eyes became very bright.
EA 144:13–18 (Zimredda): And when I have heard the words of the king, my lord, that
he wrote to his servant, and my heart rejoiced and my head was lifted and my eyes be-
came bright upon hearing the words of the king, my lord.
EA 195:16–23 (Biryawaza): My lord is the Sun in the sky and like the rising of the Sun
from the sky, so the servants await the coming forth of the words from the mouth of
their lord.
EA 227:5–18 (king of Hazor): Behold I have guarded the [cit]ies of the king, my lord,
until my lord comes to m[e]. And when I have heard these words of yours and the ris-
ing of the Sun to me and when it was heard . . . and my exultation went forth . . . and
the gods looked upon me (favourably)?10 And now, I have prepared everything for the
arrival of the king, my lord. Behold, when your messenger [Ḫan]’i arrived my heart be-
came very [happy and my [ ] joy.
EA 292:8–17 (Ba‘lu-šipṭi): I looked here and I looked there but there was no light; then I
looked to the king, my lord, and there was light. A brick may slip out from beneath its
fellows, but I will never defect from beneath the feet of the king, my lord.11
Most of the letters under discussion refer only to the arrival of the
Egyptian troops (ṣābē piṭāti) under the leadership of officers. Ḫiziru, though
announcing his hope for the arrival of the king (EA 337:13–18: “May the god
of the king, my lord, grant that the king, my lord, come forth with his great
army and may he learn about his lands”), nevertheless prepares in anticipa-
tion of the arrival of the troops (lines 8–12, 19–23).12 Only the rulers of Tyre
(EA 147) and Hazor (EA 227) assume that the Pharaoh will participate in per-
son, thus, expressing their desire and happiness for the future meeting with
the “Sun God.”
9. For the text, see note 2 above.

10. For EA 227:8–13, see Rainey 1975:421–422. For line 10, see Bonkamp 1939:288–289.
11. For identical passages in other Amarna letters, compare EA 266:9–15, 19–25 and 296:
11–12. The date of these two letters is not clear (Campbell 1964:100, 134). An expedition of
Egyptian troops is mentioned in the latter (lines 33–35: “And I will be with the troops of
the king, my lord; wherever they go I will go”). But we cannot be sure that it refers to the
planned campaign discussed above.
12. For the correct understanding of these passages, see Moran 1983:175–177.
Finally we may ask whether the planned campaign was accomplished or

not. The latter alternative was taken for granted by scholars, on the grounds
that nothing further is known regarding such a campaign (Schulman 1964:
58; Reviv 1966:30, 51). However, the absence of any documentation in such a
case must be considered with caution. As suggested above, preparations for
the expedition were being made at the close of the archive. Moreover, just as
the tablets that were necessary for future correspondence were brought to
Akhetaten (Amarna) from the previous capital, other tablets were certainly re-
moved from Akhetaten at the time of its abandonment (Riedel 1939:145–148;
Campbell 1964:32–36; Na’aman 1981:174). Our sources for the last years of the
Amarna correspondence, perforce, are meagre, and only a handful of tablets
can be dated later than those dealing with preparations for this campaign.
An indication that the plans for the expedition continued may be in-
ferred from the correspondence of Aziru of Amurru. During the reign of
Amenophis III, Aziru’s father, ‘Abdi-Ashirta, was engaged in a large-scale of-
fensive against his neighbors in northern Canaan, even attempting to cap-
ture the city of Byblos. At last, the Egyptians sent a task force to Amurru to
seize him, and he was captured and taken to Egypt.13 His subsequent fate is
unknown, but it is reasonable to assume that he was executed (see below).
This was an important lesson for his son and heir to the throne, Aziru. As
long as there was no immediate danger, he continued the policy of expan-
sion initiated by his father. The plans for an Asiatic campaign, however, en-
tirely changed the situation. Aziru was well aware of the preparations tak-
ing place in Egypt and Canaan (see EA 147:66–70). Moreover, he received, on
that occasion, an Egyptian letter (EA 162) ordering him to appear before the
Pharaoh to explain his deeds and warning him that, by pursuing his policy,
he was risking his life.
EA 162:33–41: If you become a servant of the king, your lord, what would the king not
do for you? If for any reason you prefer to do evil and if you place evil (and) treacherous
plans in your heart you will die by the king’s axe together with all your family. Thus, be
a servant to the king, your lord, and you will live. And you know that the king does not
want (to go) to the entire land of Canaan when he is angry.
The anticipated arrival of the Egyptian troops is explicitly referred to in

this passage. The threat of execution was alluding to the fate of Aziru’s father,
‘Abdi-Ashirta, who was probably beheaded under similar circumstances.
13. Moran 1969:94*–101*; Altman 1977:1–11. The Egyptian military expedition to cap-
ture ‘Abdi-Ashirta is mentioned in a group of letters (EA 108:28–33; 117:23–28; 121:41–44;
131:30–34; 132:10–18; 138:28–34; 362:16–20), in which Rib-Adda reminds Akhenaten of the
campaign to Amurru undertaken by his father; see Moran 1969:97*, n. 20.
Fear of the impending campaign is, in my opinion, the logical explana-

tion for Aziru’s unexpected willingness to go to Egypt (EA 168–170). Under no
other circumstances can one explain his sudden readiness to appear before
the Pharaoh, a visit that he dreaded and, therefore, postponed as long as pos-
sible (EA 162:42–54; 164:1844). One may conclude that preparations for the
military expedition steadily continued: the arrival of the troops was regarded
in the land of Canaan as imminent.
We may further recall S. Izre’el’s recent redating of the “General’s let-
ter” (RS 20.33; Nougayrol 1968:No. 20) to the Amarna period (Izre’el 1988).
According to this tablet, the army under the commander guarded the
coastal plain along Nahr el-Kabir against an anticipated Egyptian campaign
(Nougayrol 1968:69–79; Rainey 1971:131–114, with earlier literature). The an-
ticipated Egyptian attack may well be equated with the planned campaign
discussed in this article. Thus, one cannot rule out the possibility that the
Egyptian troops embarked on an expedition to Asia at the very last stage of
the Amarna archive.14
This short study of the Amarna period is presented to Professor William
L. Moran, the leading authority of our generation on many aspects of the
Amarna tablets. I was fortunate to have the opportunity of examining many
of these letters together with him during my post-doctoral stay in Boston in
the winter of 1978. Certain results of our reading are acknowledged in the
footnotes; many more appear in this and other studies. I hope that he will
enjoy this small contribution, just as I was inspired upon reading his major
contributions to Amarna studies.
References
Ahituv, S. 1978. Economic Factors in the Egyptian Conquest of Canaan. IEJ 28: 93–105.
203.
Albright, W.F. 1946. Cuneiform Material for Egyptian Prosopography 1500–1200 B.C. JNES
5: 7–25.
Alt, A. 1936. Neues aus der Pharaonenzeit Palästinas. PJb 32: 8–33.
14. For the wars in the time of Akhenaten, see Schulman 1964:51–69; 1982:299–318,
with earlier literature; Murnane 1985:127–128, 241–242.
Altman, A. 1977. The Fate of Abdi-Ashirta. Ugarit-Forschungen 9: 1–11.

Bonkamp, B. 1939. Die Bibel im Lichle der Keilschriftforschung. Recklinghausen.
Eyre, C. 1976. Egyptianism in the Amarna Letters? JEA 62: 183–184.
Edel, E. 1953. Weitere Briefe aus der Heiratskorrespondenz Ramses’ II.: KUB III 37 + KBo I 17
und KUB III 57. In: Albright, W.F. et al. eds. Geschichte und Altes Testament. Festschrift für
A. Alt. (Beiträge zur Histotorischen Theologie 16). Tübingen: 29–63
Gevirtz, S. 1973. On Canaanite Rhetoric: The Evidence of the Amarna Letters from Tyre.
Gordon, C.H. 1947. The New Amarna Tablets. Orientalia 16: 1–21.
Grave, C. 1980a. On the Use of an Egyptian Idiom in an Amarna Letter from Tyre and in a
Hymn to the Aten. Oriens Antiquus 19: 205–218.
Grave, C. 1980b. The Etymology of Northwest Semitic ṣapānu. Ugarit-Forschungen 12: 221–
229.
Grave, C. 1982. Northwest Semitic ṣapānu in a Break-up of an Egyptian Stereotype Phrase
in EA 147. Orientalia 51: 161–182.
Helck, W. 1971. Die Beziehungen Ägyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. 2nd.
Izre’el, S. 1988. When was the “General’s Letter” from Ugarit Written? In: Heltzer, M.
and Lipiński, E. eds. Society and Economy in the Eastern Mediterranean (1500–1000 B.C.).
(Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 23). Leuven: 160–175.
Koehler, L. and Baumgartner, W. 1974. Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros. 3rd ed. Leiden.
Liverani, M. 1971. Le lettere del Faraone a Rib-Adda. Oriens Antiquus 10: 253–268. (= 1979.
Pharaoh’s Letters to Rib-Adda. Monographs on the Ancient Near East 1/5. Malibu: 3–13).
31: 41–56.
Moran, W.L. 1983. Note on igi-kar, “Provisions, Supplies.” Acta Sumerologica 5: 175–177.
Murnane, W.J. 1985. The Road to Kadesh. Chicago.
to the Amarna Letters. (Ph.D. Thesis). Tel-Aviv University (Hebrew).
185.
Na’aman, N. 1979. The Origin and the Historical Background of Several Amarna Letters,
Nougayrol, J. 1968. Ugaritica V. Nouveaux textes accadiens, hourrites et ugaritiques des archives
et bibliothèques privées d’Ugarit. (Mission de Ras Shamra 16). Paris.
Oppenheim, A.L. 1967. Letters from Mesopotamia. Chicago.
Rainey, A.F. 1971. A Front Line Report from Amurru. Ugarit-Forschungen 3: 131–149.
Rainey, A.F. 1975. Morphology and the Prefix-Tense of West Semityzed el-‘Amarna Tablets.
Rainey, A.F. 1978. El Amarna Tablets:359–379. Supplement to J.A. Knudtzon Die El-Amarna Tablets.
2nd revised edition. (AOAT 8). Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn.
Redford, D.B. 1967. History and Chronology of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Toronto.
Redford, D.B. 1990. Egypt and Canaan in the New Kingdom. (Beer-sheva IV). Beer-sheva.
Riedel, W. 1939. Das Archiv Amenophis’ IV. OLZ 42: 145–148.
Schulman, A.R. 1979. ed. L’Égyptologie en 1979. Colloques Intemationaux du Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique, No 595, II. Paris: 299–318
Singer, I. 1983. Takuḫlinu and Ḫaya: Two Governors in the Ugarit Letter from Tel Aphek.
Tel Aviv 10: 3–25.
The Canaanites and Their Land1
I. Introduction
Ever since the late 1960s, it seemed as if the long debate over the extent
of the land of Canaan in extra-biblical and biblical sources had reached a
point of scholarly consensus. This consensus may be illustrated by the sum-
mary works of Aharoni (1967:61–70), de Vaux (1968; 1978:125–139), Weippert
(1976–80) and Stolz (1988:539–545). It was suggested that Canaan, in Late
Bronze texts, covered most or even the entire area of the Egyptian province
in Asia and that the Promised Land, in a group of biblical historiographical
texts, covered roughly the same area. Thus, it was concluded that Israelite
authors, when describing the history of the nation, had adopted an old his-
torical name and presented it — with or without significant changes — as the
land that YHWH had promised to their ancestors (Maisler 1930:54–74; 1946;
Elliger 1936; Baldi 1950–51; Saebø 1974; Kallai 1975; Na’aman 1986:39–73).
Scholars further observed that another, territorially more limited, use
of the name also appears in certain biblical texts. Canaan, in these texts, re-
fers to the Phoenician coast whose inhabitants are the Canaanites. This sense
would have reflected the usage current in the time of the authors who pro-
duced these texts (Maisler 1930:63–66; de Vaux 1968:30; Weippert 1976–80:
354). De Vaux explained the shift from a broad to a more limited territorial
extent: “The name may have become more limited in its geographical appli-
cation when the name Canaanite was restricted to the inhabitants of those
parts of Canaan that had not been subjugated . . . or when the part in which
they lived was restricted to Phoenicia” (1968:30; 1978:131). At the same time,
“Canaan” also became a synonym for “trader” because trade occupied a cen-
tral role in the economy of the Phoenician coast, the “new Canaan.”
However, scholarly consensus was disrupted with the appearance of N.P.
Lemche’s The Canaanites and Their Land (1991). Lemche suggests that the use of
the name Canaan in second millennium BCE texts was imprecise and ambig-
uous and may have designated anything from a vast territory that includes
southeastern Anatolia to a small area in Lower Galilee. Nobody in Western
110
The Canaanites and Their Land 111
Asia regarded himself as Canaanite or defined his land as Canaan. Canaanite

was a name used by scribes to designate a person who did not belong to the
local society or kingdom, and Canaan was considered to be a country dif-
ferent from one’s own. However, in biblical historiography, Canaan some-
times refers to a geographical extent coterminous with the Land of Israel,
and Canaanites were the inhabitants of that land. Thus, argues Lemche, there
is no apparent connection between Canaan and Canaanites in second millen-
nium documents and their cognates in the Bible. Biblical historiographers
derived their ideas of Canaan and Canaanites from the reality of their own
time. They applied the terms to the entire Land of Israel and described the
Canaanites as the former inhabitants of the land whom their own ancestors
had defeated, dispossessed and inherited.
It is the purpose of this article to re-examine in detail the references to
Canaan and the Canaanites in second millennium BCE sources. Following this,
the extent of the biblical Promised Land and its relationship with the Canaan
of the Late Bronze documents will be examined. I will try to show that, in
many instances, Lemche’s analysis is inadequate or even entirely mistaken
and that his conclusions are not justified by the textual evidence.
II. The Second Millennium BCE Documents

1. The Mari Letters
The earliest published reference to the Canaanites is in a letter from Mari
dated to about the middle of the 18th century BCE. It was sent by Mutu-bisir
to Shamshi-Addu I on the occasion of the dispatch of troops from Mari to
help Ishḫi-Addu of Qatna suppress a rebellion that had erupted on his south-
ern border (Dossin 1973; Durand 1987:219–220; Charpin 1992:3). Mutu-bisir
was camped in Dubbâ, a town whose exact location is unknown, “over against
Rāḫiṣum.” After a broken passage, the letter continues with the words “It is in
Rāḫiṣum that the brigands (ḫabbātum) and the Canaanites (Kinaḫnum) are sit-
uated. We and they are watching one another.” (rev. lines 9’–11’).
The location of Rāḫiṣum is the key to understanding the territorial situa-
tion. Rainey (1979; 1982:343–344) and Durand (1987:219–220) have indepen-
dently identified Rāḫiṣum of the Mari letters with Rūḫiṣu of the Amarna let-
ters (see Moran 1992:391 s.v. Ruḫizzi). Rāḫiṣum/Rūḫiṣu was located on the
northeastern border of the Late Bronze Egyptian province in Asia. In the Old
Babylonian period, it was a town near the southern border of Qatna where
brigands who fled southward found refuge. There are numerous examples
in the Amarna letters for groups of ‘Apiru bands staying in Canaanite cities
under the protection of local rulers (note in particular EA 185–186). Mutu-
bisir made the obvious distinction between Canaanites (Kinaḫnum), the
local inhabitants of the territory south of Qatna, and the outlaw refugees
(ḫabbātum) who fled there from the kingdom of Qatna.
According to Charpin (1992:4 notes 20–21), there are more unpublished
references to the Canaanites and to Rāḫiṣum in the Mari letters, all appar-
ently referring to the same historical episode and to the same territory on
the southern border of Qatna. Thus, it is evident that in the mid-18th cen-
tury BCE, people called “Canaanites” lived south of the kingdom of Qatna, i.e.,
in the same area in which they are located in the Late Bronze Age (Na’aman
1982:147–149).
2. The Texts from Alalakh

According to the inscription of Idrimi, king of Alalakh, he left the city of
Emar, crossed the desert and arrived at the city of Ammiya, which is located
“in the land of Canaan.” There he met other refugees from his former king-
dom, became their leader and formed a band of ‘Apiru. Ammiya is mentioned
in the Amarna letters and is located not far from the northwestern border
of the Late Bronze Egyptian province in Asia. Thus, whereas Rāḫiṣum is lo-
cated near the northeastern border of the future Egyptian province and out-
law refugees of northern origin (i.e., from Qatna) found shelter there in the
mid–18th century BCE, Ammiya is located near its northwestern border and
outlaw refugees of northern origin (i.e., from Ḫalab, Alalakh, Niya and Amae)
found shelter there in the 15th century BCE. The fact that the author of this
profoundly literary inscription chose to emphasize that Ammiya was located
“in the land of Canaan” may well indicate that he regarded the town as the
northernmost Canaanite center along the coast.
Four other documents from Alalakh mention Canaan, all referring to indi-
viduals from that land. One tablet (AT 154) is still unpublished. Tablet AT 181
is a list of ‘Apiru (Wiseman 1954:11; Greenberg 1955:21) in which the origin of
some is mentioned. All the specified places are towns, while the only “land”
(mātu) that is mentioned is Canaan. This indicates that Canaan was a well-
defined territorial-political entity that could serve to register the origin of
a person. Tablet AT 188 (Dietrich-Loretz 1970:101) has a list of muškēnu, with
the origin of three of them defined by land (mātu): Alashiya, Nuḫašše and
Canaan. Again, it is evident that Canaan was a well-defined territory, similar
to Alashiya (Cyprus) and Nuḫašše. Finally, tablet AT 48 is a contract in which
a hunter is called a “Canaanite.”
We may conclude that Canaan was regarded in Alalakh as a foreign land
whose name sufficed to define the origin of individuals either in a contract
or in lists of names.
3. The Amarna International Letters

In the discussion of the Amarna letters, first I will analyze those sent
by rulers of great powers and, afterwards, those exchanged between the
Pharaoh and his vassals.
(a) Letter EA 8 was written by Burnaburiash, king of Babylonia, to
Akhenaten. Burnaburiash relates that his merchants “were detained in
Canaan for business matters.” He complains that later they were robbed
and killed “in Ḫinnatūna of the land of Canaan” by the rulers of Acco and
Shamḫuna. He then continues (Moran 1992:16 lines 25–29):
Canaan is your country, and [its] kings [are your servants]. In your country I have been
despoiled. Bring [them] to account and make compensation for the money that they
took away. Put to death the men who put my servants to death, and so avenge their
blood. And if you do not put these men to death, they are going to kill again, be it a
caravan of mine or your own messenger, and so messengers between us will thereby
be cut off.
The words of the text are clear: What looks like a local event actually en-
dangers the relationship of the two great powers. The Pharaoh is the lord of
the land of Canaan and is responsible for everything that happens within its
confines. It is from this principle that his responsibility for punishing the evil-
doers and the compensation of the despoiled merchants are derived (compare
Klengel 1980). Thus, “Canaan” is used to refer to a particular territory under
the dominion of the Egyptian Pharaoh (contra Lemche 1991:33, 39).2
(b) Letter EA 9 was sent by Burnaburiash to Tutankhamun. The relevant
passage runs as follows (Moran 1992:18, lines 19–29):
In the time of Kurigalzu, my ancestor, all the Canaanites wrote here to him, saying,
“C[om]e to the border of the country so we can revolt and be allied [wi]th you.” My an-
cestor sent them this (reply), saying, “Forget about being allied with me. If you become
enemies of the king of Egypt, and are allied with anyone else, will I not then come and
plunder you? How can there be an alliance with me?”
The Babylonian king, in an effort to break the growing ties between

Assyria and Egypt, mentions a past event in which one of his ancestors,
2. Lemche restricts the extent of Canaan mentioned in letter EA 8 to the area in which
the episode took place, hence, his conclusion (p. 33) that “the deplorable events which this
letter describes happened in Canaan, which in this case embraced Galilee.” The following
examples are sufficient to disprove his interpretation. Gen. 23:2 “And Sarah died at Kiriath-
arba (that is Hebron) in the land of Canaan.” Gen. 33:18 “And Jacob came safely to the city
of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. . . .” Gen. 35:6 “And Jacob came to Luz (that is
Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan. . . .” Canaan is neither the area around Hebron nor
the areas around Shechem or Bethel. It was a vast territory whose extent cannot be estab-
lished by the names of individual towns included therein.
Kurigalzu, honored his alliance with Egypt and not only refused to join an
anti-Egyptian rebellion, but threatened to fight the rebellious Canaanite
kings. Now he is urging the Pharaoh to operate in the same spirit in dealing
with his own enemy, the king of Assyria. Burnaburiash claims that “all the
Canaanites” wrote to his ancestor; in saying this, he is asserting that all the
kings of Canaan, the vassals of Pharaoh in the province under his rule, sought
his ancestor’s aid. The historical background of the episode and the identity
of those who actually wrote to Kurigalzu are irrelevant to my discussion.
(c) Tablet EA 30 originally served as a kind of “passport” apparently
handed by Tushratta of Mitanni to one of his messengers. I will cite it in full
(Moran 1992:100):
To the kings of Canaan, servants of my brother: Thus the king. I herewith send Akiya,
my messenger, to speed posthaste to the king of Egypt, my brother. No one is to hold
him. Provide him with safe entry into Egypt and hand (him) over to the fortress com-
mander of Egypt. Let him go on immediately, and as far as his pre<sents> are con-
cerned, he is to owe nothing.
The addressees are the “kings of Canaan,” a collective reference to all the vas-
sals of Pharaoh in Canaan. No Canaanite king through whose territory the mes-
senger passes should detain him or exact any payment from him. On his way to
Egypt, the messenger is to have a free passage through the land of Canaan.
We may conclude that the kings of the “great powers” identified Canaan
with the area under Pharaoh’s rule and regarded it as the territory for whose
affairs he was responsible. Canaanites is a name for the inhabitants of this
area, the subjects of the king of Egypt.
4. The Amarna Letters from Byblos

Canaan is mentioned four times in the letters of Rib-Adda of Byblos:
(a) EA 109:44–49: “Previously, on seeing a man from Egypt, the kings of
Canaan fled bef[ore him, bu]t now the sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta make men from
Egypt prowl about [like do]gs.”
Rib-Adda refers in this passage to the capture of Ullasa (lines 14–15), an
Egyptian garrison city where Egyptian officials had formerly been stationed
and now, following its conquest, were forced to leave (see EA 104:27–30; 105:
84–85). The “kings of Canaan” is a collective name for the vassals of the
Pharaoh in Canaan.
(b) EA 110:48–49: “No ship of the [ar]my [is] to lea[ve] Can[aan].” The army
(miši) arrived at the Phoenician coast to capture ‘Abdi-Ashirta (EA 101; see
Lambdin 1953) and stayed there for some time. Its presence was a guarantee
of safety, and Rib-Adda opposes the idea of sending it back to Egypt. “Canaan,”
in this context, may be interpreted either as a name for the Phoenician coast
or as a general name for the Egyptian province in Asia.
(c) EA 131:59–61: “[If] he does not send [archers], they will take it (i.e.,
Byblos) and [all the (other) cities], and the lands of Canaan will not belong to
the king. [May the king ask] Yanḫamu about th[ese] ma<tt>ers.”
(d) EA 137:75–77: “If the king neglects the city (i.e., Byblos), of all the cities
of Canaan not one will be his. May the king not neglect this matter.”
The two letters display a characteristic that is typical of many other
Amarna letters: in an effort to gain the attention of the Pharaoh, the vassals
would describe local affairs as ominous for the entire Egyptian province in
Asia. The Pharaoh is urged to concern himself directly with what looks like a
local event because it harbors a threat to his control in the land (like a brick
whose removal may cause the whole building to collapse). In these two let-
ters, the fall of Byblos is portrayed as the first step leading to the capture of
all the cities under Pharaoh’s rule (= “all the cities of Canaan”) and the loss of
all the Egyptian territories (= “the lands of Canaan”). I would take issue with
Lemche’s suggestion (1991:38) that, on many occasions, Rib-Adda uses gen-
eral warnings but “is sometimes more specific when he mentions the cit-
ies of Canaan or the countries of Canaan.” The opposite is true: “the lands of
Canaan” and “the cities of Canaan” are all-inclusive designations and are no
more than literary variants of the common expression “all the lands of the
king.” The “kings of Canaan” in EA 109:46 is also a general designation and
does not refer solely to rulers in the area of Byblos (contra Lemche 1991:38).
5. Four Other Amarna Letters

(a) EA 367:8: Ḫan’i, the Egyptian envoy who was sent to Akshapa and
Amurru holds the title “overseer of the king’s stables in Canaan.” Service in
the prestigious chariot troops was a stage in the career of many Egyptian of-
ficials, but we are unable to identify Ḫanni with any known official of the
Amarna period (Redford 1990:13).
(b) EA 162:39–41: “So perform your service for the king, your lord, and you
will live. You yourself know that the king does not want (to go) against all of
Canaan when he rages.”
The background of this passage: Akhenaten has made extensive prepara-
tions for a campaign to Asia (Na’aman 1990). Aziru is warned to remain a loyal
servant, or otherwise he is due for capital punishment when the Pharaoh em-
barks enraged on his campaign against “all of Canaan.” The identification of
Canaan with the Egyptian province in Asia is self-evident.
The territorial and political relationship of Amurru to the land of Canaan
should be examined in brief. All scholars agree that Amurru was initially a small
rural state, governed by the Egyptians and, hence, situated within the boundar-
ies of Canaan. During the first half of the 14th century BCE, Amurru consolidated
into a well-defined geo-political unit, and, in the Amarna period, Amurru’s rul-
ers (‘Abdi-Ashirta and Aziru) conquered vast areas, partly located north of
Canaan. The result was that they dominated both Canaanite and non-Canaanite
areas. Current ambiguity concerning the place of Amurru in the boundary sys-
tems of the 14th–13th centuries BCE is the direct result of Amurru’s expansion
and the inclusion of variegated territories within its borders.
Letter EA 162 was written under the impression that Aziru was still an
Egyptian vassal. We may conclude that at that stage the Pharaoh regarded
Aziru’s kingdom as part of “all of Canaan.”3
(c) EA 148:43–47: “May the king be concerned about these treacherous fel-
lows. He has taken over the land of the king for the ‘Apiru. May the king ask
his commissioner, who is familiar with Canaan.”
The passage is another example of a local ruler (Abi-Milki of Tyre) who
warns the Pharaoh that the outcome of local affairs near his kingdom endan-
gers the Egyptian hold on the land. The “treacherous fellows” are the kings
of Sidon and Hazor. The commissioner “who is familiar with Canaan” is prob-
ably Yanḫamu (see above, EA 131:59–61). The designations “the land of the
king” (lines 39, 45) and “Canaan” (line 47) are clearly interchangeable, both
referring to the Asiatic areas under Egyptian rule (contra Lemche 1991:37,
39, 53).4
Up to this point, all the Amarna references to Canaan — including inter-
national and vassal letters — suggest a clear and coherent political and ter-
ritorial definition. However, a second letter of Abi-Milki of Tyre appears to
contradict this definition. It was this letter that served as a key reference
for Lemche’s re-evaluation of Canaan in the Late Bronze documents. Let us
closely examine the text of this letter.
(d) EA 151:49–51 opens with a citation from the royal letter: “The king,
my lord, wrote to me, ‘Write to me what you have heard from Canaan’.” Abi-
Milki then describes what has happened in eastern Cilicia (Danuna), along
the northern coast of Syria (Ugarit), in central Syria (Qadesh, Amurru and
Damascus), and on the Phoenician coast (Sidon).
3. Lemche (1991:35) correctly notes that “the Egyptian administration must have in-
cluded Amurru among the Canaanite kingdoms.” But he misunderstands the signifi-
cance of Aziru’s territorial expansion for the ambiguity concerning the place of Amurru
in the border delineation. He erroneously concludes that “Canaan comprised a territory
of greater extent than the one allotted to Canaan in the letters from the Babylonian king.”
The Canaan to which letter EA 162 refers is identical to the Canaan to which letter EA 8 re-
fers. They both refer to the Asiatic province under Egyptian rule.
4. Lemche unwarrantedly restricts the extent of Canaan mentioned in letter EA 148 to
the area where the episode took place, hence, his conclusion (p. 37) that “Canaan was con-
sidered by the Tyrian king to embrace the territory of Galilee as well as the adjacent terri-
tories to the north. . . .” For criticism, see note 2 above.
Did Canaan really encompass southern Anatolia and Syria? If there were
no other letter that mentioned Canaan, we might legitimately draw such a
conclusion. But with all the other references to Canaan in mind, a different
interpretation suggests itself. Abi-Milki interpreted the words of the royal
letter as a general request for information. He did not restrict his news to
Canaan and added some bits of information about Danuna and Ugarit. Yet,
most of the news that he sent referred to the Egyptian Asiatic province (=
Canaan) and, in particular, to the dangers that threatened its safety at that
time (lines 58–63).
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the congruency of Canaan
and the “land of the king,” i.e., the Egyptian province in Asia, finds clear ex-
pression both in letters of foreign powers and in letters sent/received by
local Canaanite rulers.
6. The Texts from Ugarit

Canaan is mentioned in two Ugaritic texts, one written in alphabetic let-
ters and one in cuneiform signs.
(a) KTU 4.96: A list of traders assigned to three royal estates. The first es-
tate was administered by Bn-Tbšn and had seven traders assigned to it — four
Ugaritians and three foreigners: an Ashdadite, an Egyptian and a Canaanite
(Rainey 1963; Astour 1970:125; 1975:293–294). It is evident that Canaan was a
well-defined foreign territory, like Egypt and Ashdad, and that Ugarit was lo-
cated outside its borders.
(b) RS 20.182 (Ugaritica V 111–113, 389 no. 36): A copy? of a letter of the
king of Ugarit to a Pharaoh (apparently Ramesses II) concerning the 3500 sil-
ver shekels paid by the “sons of the land of Ugarit” to the “foreman (aklu) of
the sons of the land of Canaan.” The latter must have been a corporate or-
ganization in Ugarit headed by a foreman and indirectly protected by the
Pharaoh (Astour 1975:294). The juxtaposition of the two groups — the sons of
the lands of Ugarit and Canaan — unequivocally indicates that Ugarit was lo-
cated outside of the boundaries of Canaan.
It is evident that Canaan was regarded at Ugarit as a foreign land whose
name was enough to define the origin of individuals and groups of people.
The conclusions reached from analysis of the Alalakh and Ugaritic tablets are
the same, both confirming the conclusions drawn from the Amarna tablets
regarding the extent of Canaan in the Late Bronze Age.
7. Tablets from Ashur and Ḫattusha

The “travel to Canaan” of an Assyrian official carrying clothes is men-
tioned once in a Middle Assyrian letter of the time of Shalmaneser I (1263–
1234 BCE) (Weidner 1959–69:38). Whether Canaan itself or Egypt was the
merchandise’s final destination is unknown.
Canaan is mentioned in five tablets from Ḫattusha: two of them are letters
exchanged between rulers, one fragmented tablet is a letter of a vassal to the
Hittite king and two are evocations (del Monte and Tischler 1978:208).
(a) An evocation contains an incantation to the “cedar Gods” in which
many foreign countries are enumerated (Goetze 1969:352). There is no clear
systematization in the text, although the first four countries may have been
regarded by the scribe as the most important (Klengel 1969:84). The scribe
evidently listed as many foreign countries as he was able to remember and
did not discriminate between large and small kingdoms. Thus, Nuḫašše is
mentioned together with small states that were included within its borders
(Ugulzit, Zunzurḫi), and Canaan is named along with small Canaanite states
(Sidon, Tyre and possibly Amurru, if the text was composed before its expan-
sion).
(b) In letter KBo XXVIII 1 sent by Ramesses II to Hattushili III (Edel 1960),
there is a plan for a meeting between the two kings. Ramesses suggested that
he would go to the land of Canaan to meet “his brother” and bring him to
Egypt.5
(c) Edel (1953a:32 line 12; 33 line 9; 50) suggests that Canaan was men-
tioned once in another letter (of which there are two copies: KUB III 37 + KBo
I 17; KUB III 57) sent by Ramesses II to Ḫattushili III. He restores the text thus:
“I wrote to Ataḫ[maya]?, the governor [in the city] of Ramesses-mai-Amun,
the city that is within the lan[d of Canaan]. . . .” His restoration is plausible,
but, unfortunately, the text of both copies of the letter is broken, and there
is no verification for it. On the basis of this reconstruction, Helck (1960:6–8;
1971:248–252) assumes that “Canaan” was the name of an Egyptian sub-prov-
ince. His assumption is accepted by some scholars (e.g., Aharoni 1967:146–
153; de Vaux 1968:27–28; Zobel 1984:231; Stolz 1988:541). However, there is no
evidence that the name “Canaan” in Late Bronze texts ever referred to a sub-
district within the Egyptian province in Asia (Na’aman 1975:7, 171). Canaan
was a name for the territory in its entirety, and all that the letter says (pro-
vided that Edel’s restoration is valid) is that Gaza (“the city of Ramesses-mai-
Amun”) is located within Canaan.
(d) Canaan is mentioned in another letter sent by Ramesses to Ḫattushili
(KBo I 15 + 19). According to Edel’s analysis (1950:206), the relevant passage
(lines 29–36) describes an Egyptian campaign conducted after the battle of
5. For the arrival of Hittite and Egyptian messengers to Megiddo (Makkitta) on their
way from Egypt to the Hittite territory, see Singer 1988b.
Qadesh but still during the reign of Muwatalli of Ḫatti. The Pharaoh arrived
“at the land of Canaan” (line 29), proceeding northward to Kinza (Qadesh)
and Ḫarita. That the Egyptian troops must have crossed Canaan, i.e., the
Egyptian province in Asia, on their way to Qadesh is self-evident.
We may conclude that in his correspondence with the Hittites (KBo
XXVIII 1; KBo I 15 + 19) and with his vassals in Canaan (EA 162) the Pharaoh
uses the name Canaan in the same political-territorial sense as did the rulers
of the other great powers (Babylonia and Mitanni), namely, as a designation
for the Asiatic areas under his rule.
8. The Egyptian Texts

Canaan is mentioned in 16 Egyptian texts dated from the XVIIIth Dynasty
onward (Görg 1982; Ahituv 1984:83–84).
(a) The oldest texts are the inscriptions of Amenophis II (1427–1401 BCE)
(Edel 1953b:123–124, 132, 167–170; Wilson 1969a:246b). The Canaanites are
listed among prisoners captured in the course of the Egyptian campaign to
Asia. The list includes 550 — Mariannu; 240 — their wives; 640 — Canaanites;
232 — rulers’ sons; 323 — rulers’ daughters; 270 — concubines of the rulers of
all the foreign countries. The Canaanites are obviously individuals who are
not included in the other groups. The list enumerates only those belonging to
high classes; thus, these “Canaanites” must have been rich citizens or crafts-
men of various Canaanite cities.
(b) Canaan appears in three topographical lists together with rpwḥ (=
Raphia) and šrḥn (= Sharuhen) (Edel 1980:67–68). Scholars have suggested
identifying the Canaan of these lists with the city of Gaza (Edel 1980:76, with
earlier literature). However, the order of listing in the lists is so vague that
any construction remains uncertain.
(c) In the time of the XIXth and XXth Dynasties the city of Gaza is some-
times referred to as “the Canaan” (p3-kncn) (Gardiner 1920:100, 104; Uehlinger
1988:7–8, with earlier literature). Gaza was the most important Egyptian cen-
ter in Canaan and, therefore, was called “the Canaan.” But Canaan encom-
passed a territory much larger than southern Palestine.
(d) The route from Sile to Gaza was called in Papyrus Anastasi I 27,1 “the
[foreign countries] of the end of the land of Canaan” (Wilson 1969b:478b).
Gaza was regarded in the sources of the XIXth Dynasty as the southern
coastal city of Canaan. Thus, the destination of the main road leading to it
from Egypt is properly called “the end of the land of Canaan” (see Na’aman
1986:239–244).
(e) Canaan is further mentioned in the famous “Israel stela” of Merneptah
(for recent studies and literature, see Fecht 1983; Yurco 1986; Singer 1988a).
The relevant passage is part of a ten-“line” unit introduced and enclosed by
the name and titles of the Pharaoh. The central section of this passage spec-
ifies the achievements of the Pharaoh in Asia. It opens with the sentence
“Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe” and concludes with
the words “Ḫurru has become a widow because of Egypt.” It is evident that
Canaan, like Ḫurru, is a name for the Egyptian territory in Asia (for Ḫ3rw/
Ḫurru, see Gardiner 1947:180–184; Helck 1971:269–270; Vernus 1978).
Lemche (1991:48) questions the validity of this conclusion on two
grounds: (i) because the sentence “Ḫurru has become a widow for Egypt” is
“a kind of summary of the whole passage quoted”; (ii) on account of the lim-
ited geographical horizon of Merneptah’s campaign. However, the sentence
about Ḫurru can hardly be regarded as a summary of a passage in which Libya
and Ḫatti are mentioned. Moreover, Lemche’s second claim reflects a misun-
derstanding of the genre of royal inscriptions, where the description of spe-
cific achievements is accompanied by general statements that claim much
more than what was really achieved. It would be a serious mistake to make an
inference regarding the extent of Canaan from the list of conquered towns.
The author of the text deliberately creates the impression that the names of
the captured towns are details within the overall successful campaign. Ḫurru
and Canaan were included in the passage to convey the message that dur-
ing his Asiatic campaign Merneptah subjugated their territory up to its far-
thest limits.
(f) The names Canaan and Ḫurru are again brought together in two ref-
erences that mention “Canaanite slaves from Ḫurru” (Papyrus Anastasi IIIA
5–6; IV 16,4). We may conclude that in Egypt, as in other Western Asiatic
kingdoms, the inhabitants of the Egyptian Asiatic province were sometimes
designated by reference to their land of origin, namely Canaan.
9. Canaan in Second Millennium Documents

The analysis of all the references to Canaan in the second millennium BCE
sources makes it clear that the name is used consistently by scribes of dif-
ferent Western Asiatic kingdoms. Canaan’s extent in the north and south,
according to all Late Bronze Age sources, is congruent with the borders of
the Egyptian province in Asia. Not a single text uses the name Canaan to de-
scribe either areas located outside of it or only part of its territory. Scribes in
Alalakh and Ugarit referred to Canaan as a land located outside their king-
doms; the kings of Babylonia, Mitanni and Egypt identified it with the terri-
tory under Egyptian rule. The rulers of Byblos and Tyre considered Canaan to
be “the land of the king,” as did all the neighboring and remote kingdoms.
Lemche (1991:50) has concluded that there is a “correspondence between
the imprecise and ambiguous Egyptian use of the geographical name Canaan
and the likewise imprecise understanding of Canaan displayed by the inhab-
itants of Western Asia themselves.” He suggests (p. 52) that “to the scribe of
ancient Western Asia ‘Canaanite’ always designated a person who did not be-
long to the scribe’s own society or state, while Canaan was considered to be
a country different from his own.” When discussing the local Amarna let-
ters, he concludes (p. 39) that “evidently the inhabitants of the supposed
Canaanite territory in Western Asia had no clear idea of the actual size of this
Canaan, nor did they know exactly where Canaan was situated.” And again on
p. 152: “The Canaanites of the ancient Near East did not know that they were
themselves Canaanites.”
How does Lemche reach conclusions that are diametrically opposite to
the plain and straightforward sense of all the sources? A partial answer may
lie in the way that he treats letter EA 151. For him, this letter is the point of
departure and the anchor point for judging all other documents. It leads him
to the erroneous idea that Canaan was an enormous territory and, hence, to
the conclusion that Canaan was an imprecise geographical name. In every
historical discussion, the scholar must distinguish between pivotal and sec-
ondary sources. Lemche selects the most ambiguous and least significant
document as the key text for his discussion. As a result, he is led to dismiss
the plain meaning of texts in favor of the conclusions he draws from this let-
ter (pp. 30–31, 39, 51–52).
A second fundamental mistake is that Lemche interprets the sense of
Canaan differently for each text under discussion. It goes without saying that
in defining a term, scholars look for the minimal semantic range that will
provide a definition broad enough to cover all textual variants. Lemche’s pro-
cedure is the opposite, and it results in the utmost fragmentation of mean-
ing. He, therefore, fails to arrive at a coherent interpretation for the name in
the texts under discussion.
Finally, Lemche fails to discuss some valuable references to Canaan (AT
188; EA 30; KBo XXVIII 1) and overlooks some key scholarly investigations
(e.g., as a result of ignoring Rainey’s and Durand’s identification of Rāḫiṣum
with Late Bronze Rūḫiṣu, he is unable to interpret properly the important
reference to the Canaanites in the letter from Mari). The failure to take ade-
quate account of the contributions of other scholars is not restricted to this
part of the book, and I will return to it in the next part of the article.
The relatively small number of local texts mentioning Canaan is no in-
dication of the popularity of the name among its inhabitants. It must be re-
membered that each vassal would try to present his case in the best light and
to depict his enemies as adversaries of the Pharaoh. Thus, local events play a
major role in the correspondence, and problems of the Egyptian province as
a whole are never discussed between the Pharaoh and his vassals. It is for this
reason that the majority of references to Canaan appear in the texts of neigh-
boring countries; these treat the Egyptian province as a whole, in contrast to

the local character of the Amarna letters.
The antiquity of the land of Canaan remains unknown. The Mari tablets
make it clear that Canaan was already a well-known entity in the mid–18th
century BCE. This fits the hypothesis that the overall area represented by the
Asiatic toponyms of the Execration Texts from Saqqara (c. 1800 BCE) is ap-
proximately the same as Canaan of the Late Bronze Age (Maisler 1947:67–68;
Na’aman 1982:146–149). The name Canaan for the area that is roughly identi-
cal to the extent of the Egyptian Asiatic province in the Late Bronze Age may
date to the emergence of the Middle Bronze urban culture in the 19th cen-
tury BCE. Whether it is even older has not yet been established.
Lemche suggests that Canaan was “a geographical entity of some sort”
whose northern and eastern borders were never defined in any precise way.
“Canaan was never united under the rule of one king — except when it was
governed by the king of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, etc.” (p. 154). He attributes
the alleged lack of borders to this political situation.
The early history of the name Canaan is unknown, which leaves us in the
dark concerning the emergence of the name and its original extent. In any
case, there are a number of ancient Near Eastern examples of territorial-
political names for certain regions and their inhabitants that were never
united under one king. Three Syro-Palestinian examples will suffice to dem-
onstrate the point:
(a) From the very beginning, Philistia was divided among four/five king-
doms and was never united under one king. Yet, it was called “Philistia” and its
inhabitants “Philistines” in the Bible and in Assyrian and Babylonian texts.
(b) The area of northern and central Syria, divided among a number of
Neo-Hittite kingdoms, was called Ḫatti in the Assyrian texts of the 11th–9th
centuries BCE. Its inhabitants are called “Hittites” in the Assyrian texts and in
the Bible (Josh. 1:4; Judg. 1:26; 1 Kgs. 10:29; 11:1; 2 Kgs. 7:6).
(c) “Sidonians” designates in biblical historiography and in Homer
(Muhly 1970:27 and n. 50) the inhabitants of the Phoenician coast, an area
that was never united under one king. It may also have been a local name, as
may be inferred from Hiram’s title “king of the Sidonians” on the Limassol
bowl (KAI 31).
It goes without saying that there are historical explanations for each of
these names. In any event, these examples should warn us against positing
general rules about the assignment of names in the ancient Near East (as
Lemche does 1991:152–154).
It seems clear that the land of Canaan in the Late Bronze Age was a ter-
ritorial-political entity. The political connotation is emphasized in interna-
tional correspondence in which “Canaan” refers to the Egyptian province in
Asia and also in the letters of Byblos and Tyre, which refer to “the land of the
king.” Also it seems to me that the local inhabitants of Canaan must have used
the name in self-designation, along with the more common name of the king-
dom whose citizens they were. Nowhere is this stated directly, but it may be
inferred, because they are called “Canaanites” in regular documents written
in neighboring kingdoms (Ugarit, Alalakh, Egypt). Foreign scribes used the
name to denote the origin of these people, which suggests that the source
for the name assignment must have been the individuals who were so des-
ignated. Thus, contrary to Lemche’s conclusion that nobody ever used the
name Canaan as self-definition, it seems to me that, sometimes, people from
Canaan would indeed have defined themselves as Canaanites.
Lemche’s most recent article on the Canaanites (1993) is entirely depen-
dent on the conclusions of his 1991 book, but one of its passages makes a
novel suggestion and requires a short note. On p. 88, he suggests that “the
Canaanites were the representatives of the government of the city-states of
Syria and Palestine already in the Late Bronze Age, who were considered to
be foreign intruders by the members of the local societies, all of which were
family-organized. . . .” As far as I am aware, there is no text that supports the
assumption that “Canaanites” was a social term in second millennium BCE
documents. There is no evidence that the Canaanites were regarded as “for-
eign intruders” by anybody. Note, in particular, the references to “Canaanite
slaves from Ḫurru” (Papyrus Anastasi IIIA 5–6; IV 16,4), which contradicts the
suggestion that the Canaanites were “the representatives of the government
of the city-states.” Note also the Alalakh texts where a hunter, a muškēnu and
an ‘Apiru are registered as Canaanites. Just as the inhabitants of all other
countries in the ancient Near East were referred to by the name of their re-
spective countries, so also “Canaanites” was a name for the local inhabitants
of Canaan, with no distinction of social background.
III. The Maximal Borders of Canaan in the Old Testament

The aim of this part of the article is quite limited: to examine the northern
and eastern borders of Canaan as they are delineated in various biblical texts
and to analyze Lemche’s work in this light. The sources for the discussion are
Num. 13:21; 34:2–12a; Josh. 13:2–6; Eze. 47:13–21; 48:1. The texts are quoted
from RSV, with some minor changes indicated by an asterisk*.
(a) This will be your northern boundary: from the Great Sea you shall mark out your
line to Mount Hor; from Mount Hor you shall mark it out to Lebo-hamath*, and the end
of the boundary shall be at Zedad; then the boundary shall extend to Ziphron, and its
end shall be at Hazar-enan; this shall be your northern boundary. You shall mark out
your eastern boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham; and the boundary shall go down
from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the boundary shall go down, and
reach to the side* of the sea of Chinnereth on the east; and the boundary shall go down
to the Jordan, and its end shall be at the Salt Sea (Num. 34:7–12a).
(b) So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near
Lebo-Hamath* (Num. 13:21).
(c) This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side, from the Great Sea by way
of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath*, and on to Zedad, Berothah, Sibraim (which lies on the
border between Damascus and of Hamath), as far as Hazer hatticon, which is on the
border of Hauran. So the boundary shall run from the sea to Hazar-enon, which is on
the northern border of Damascus with the border of Hamath to the north. This shall
be the north side. On the east side, the boundary shall run from Hazar-enon between
Hauran and Damascus; along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel; to the
eastern sea as far as Tamar. This shall be the east side (Eze. 47:15–18).
(d) These are the names of the tribes: Beginning at the northern border, from the sea
by way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath*, as far as Hazar-enon (which is on the northern
border of Damascus over against Hamath) . . . (Eze. 48:1).
(e) This is the land that yet remains: . . . all the land of the Canaanites <from>* Mearah
which belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, and the
land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baal-gad below
Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath*, all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon
to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians (Josh. 13:2a, 4–6a).
The fundamental study of the boundaries of Canaan in these texts was

written by Elliger (1936). His analysis of the toponyms and his discussion of
the history of these borders in older and later periods have been followed
by the majority of scholars (e.g., Maisler 1946; Simons 1959:98–103; Aharoni
1967:65–68, 215–217; de Vaux 1968:29–30; Saebø 1974:22–32; Kallai 1975;
Zimmerli 1983:528–532, 537; Na’aman 1986:39–60; for the history of research,
see North 1970–71).
The key identifications along the northern border are: (a) Hethlon =
Ḥeitela, northeast of Tripoli, about four km. south of Nahr el-Kebir; (b) “the
land of the Gebalites” is included in “the land that yet remains,” hence, the
border of Canaan is located north of it (Na’aman 1986:53–54); (c) Lebo-ha-
math = Lb’i of the Egyptian sources = Lab’u of the Assyrian texts = Libo/Lybo
of the Roman period = modern Lebwe (Elliger 1936:40–45; Maisler 1946; re-
cently Weippert 1992:59, n. 100); (d) Sibraim and Hazar-enon are both located
on the border between the provinces of Damascus and Hamath; (e) Zedad =
the village Sadad east of the Anti-Lebanon (Elliger 1936:38–40). The five bib-
lical texts cited above supply a unified and coherent border line. We may
safely conclude that the northern boundary of Canaan as delineated by these
sources passed along the line of Nahr el-Kebir — north of Mount Lebanon —
modern Lebwe and the old border between Damascus and Hamath — north of
the Anti-Lebanon — modern Sadad.
The eastern boundary of Canaan ran along the border between Hauran
and Damascus, in a line that is impossible to delineate. It reached the east-
ern side (“shoulder”) of the sea of Chinnereth, possibly running along the
Yarmuk River. From there the border ran southward along the Jordan River
“between Gilead and the land of Israel.” As has been noted by all scholars,
Transjordan is excluded from the limits of Canaan.
With these data in mind, let us examine Lemche’s discussion of Canaan’s
northern border. To introduce the discussion, he cites the text of Num. 34:2–
12, but does not discuss any of the toponyms enumerated along the borders.
Instead, he states that there are two solutions for the problem of Canaan’s
northern border — a “maximal” and a “minimal” — and he opts for the lat-
ter (pp. 79–81). This kind of “scientific” approach, by which one selects as
a matter of convenience and with no discussion the solution that fits one’s
own theory, is unacceptable. Moreover, Lemche selects an old solution (Van
Kasteren 1895; 1912; Noth 1935:235–248; 1953:75–77; 1966:215–216; North
1970–71), which was dismissed by scholars long ago (note in particular: Saebø
1974:24–26; Kallai 1986:230–231) and does not deal with any of the problems
entailed by the “minimal” solution.6 Further, he entirely ignores the descrip-
tion of “the land that yet remains” (Josh. 13:2–6). It is commonly accepted
by scholars that the “remaining land” describes the gap between the land of
Canaan and the borders of the twelve tribes (Aharoni 1967:215–217; Na’aman
1986:39–73, with earlier literature on p. 40 n. 2) and that the land of Canaan is
larger than the twelve tribes system. The description of the “remaining land”
stands in marked contrast to the “minimal” solution, according to which the
two boundary systems are identical.
Lemche also ignores the description of Canaan’s borders in Eze. 47:13–
18; 48:1. He does not try to explain how the border between Damascus and
Hamath (47:16, 17; 48:1) and the border between Damascus and Hauran (47:
18) fit the northern boundary of the twelve tribes. As for the location of the
tribe of Dan on Canaan’s northern border (Eze. 48:1), it was observed long ago
that the disposition of the tribes in Eze. 48:1–8 is entirely different from that
of the system of the twelve tribes (see the map in Zimmerli 1983:537; Kallai
6. Strangely enough, Lemche does not even mention either Noth’s detailed discussion
of the problem (1935:235–248) or North’s equally detailed analysis (1970–71). It seems that
his only source for the “minimal” solution was Noth’s commentary on Numbers 34 (1966:
215–216). Other fundamental works (e.g., the works of Elliger, Saebø, Zimmerli, Kallai) are
also missing from his discussion.
1983:77). The tribes in Ezekiel’s vision are arranged in a schematic north-

south row in the area west of the Jordan, and the tribe of Dan is the north-
ernmost in this schematic tribal “map.” Lemche’s claim (1991:81) that “the
Danite tribal territory hardly ever included the whole of southern Syria” is
historically correct, but is irrelevant in reference to Eze. 48:1.
IV. Second Millennium Canaan and The Biblical Promised Land

Let us now compare the extent of Late Bronze Age Canaan and the borders
of the biblical Promised Land.
The area of Nahr el-Kebir was the northern limit of the Egyptian prov-
ince in Asia in the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty. Ṣumur (today Tell Kazel), lo-
cated near the Mediterranean coast north of the river, was an Egyptian gar-
rison city and the center of Egyptian government of the nearby coastal area
(Helck 1960:6; Klengel 1984; Gubel 1990). In Papyrus Anastasi I, the town is
called “Ṣumur of Sessi (i.e., Ramesses II)” (Wilson 1969b:477a). The name in-
dicates that an Egyptian garrison was stationed there as late as the time of
the XIXth Dynasty. The northern border of Byblos in the first millennium BCE
was located south of Nahr el-Kebir, hence, near the border of the Promised
Land (Josh. 13:5; see above). The similarity of the limits of Bronze Age Canaan
and the biblical Promised Land of Canaan on the Phoenician coast is self- ev-
ident.
The border of the Egyptian province in central Syria passed south of
the kingdom of Qadesh. Qadesh on the Orontes (Tell Nebi Mind) supported
Mitanni in its struggle with Egypt and headed the coalition that fought
Thutmose III at Megiddo in 1457 BCE. When the armed struggle between
Egypt and Mitanni came to an end and the two powers became allies, the
frontier between their respective spheres of influence was fixed between the
Taḫshi region (the area around Qadesh) and the region of ‘Amqi (the Beqa‘).
This border between the two great powers, Egypt and Mitanni, continued to
exist in the early Amarna Age (Na’aman 1975:14–18; contra Helck 1960:3–4;
Klengel 1969:160).
When Shuppiluliuma conducted his campaigns against Mitanni and broke
its power, the latter’s vassals asked the Egyptian ruler (Akhenaten) for mil-
itary support and, in their letters, represented themselves as Egyptian vas-
sals (Nuḫašše — EA 51; Qatna — EA 52–55; Tunip — EA 59) (Na’aman 1975:
16–17). Aitakama of Qadesh, after attacking the Egyptian territories of ‘Amqi
and Upi, was afraid of an Egyptian counterattack and portrayed himself as a
loyal Egyptian vassal and as the victim of an attack (EA 189). All these king-
doms were conquered by Shuppiluliuma and became his vassals. That Qadesh
(Kinza) was formerly a Mitannian vassal is evident from Shuppiluliuma’s
words to Ḫani, the Egyptian envoy: “. . . but you suddenly did me evil. You
[came?] and attacked the man of Kinza whom I had [taken away?] from the
king of the Ḫurri-land” (Güterbock 1956:97 lines 1–4; 1960:58).
The place of Qadesh within the Hittite empire did not change in the time
of the XIXth Dynasty. The campaigns of Seti I and Ramesses II in central Syria
ended with no significant results. On his way northward to Qadesh in his fifth
year (1275 BCE), Ramesses and his army crossed the forest of Lb’i, on the wa-
tershed between the Liṭani and the Orontes Rivers (Rainey 1971:145–146,
149). Lb’i (biblical Lebo-hamath) was located in the time of the XIXth Dynasty
on the border zone between the territories of Egypt and Ḫatti.
The border between the kingdoms of Damascus and Hamath in the first
millennium roughly followed the old second millennium boundary between
Taḫshi (Qadesh) and ‘Amqi (the Beqa‘). Subsequent to the Assyrian conquest
and annexation of the two kingdoms, the boundary between the Assyrian
provinces in central Syria was marked along the same line. The provincial sys-
tem of the Assyrians was later adopted by the Babylonian and Persian empires;
hence, the biblical delineations of Canaan reflect the reality of the 6th–5th
century boundary system (for the territorial developments in this area, see
Elliger 1936:45–59). We may conclude that the borders of the Promised Land in
central Syria, whose anchor point is Lebo-hamath and which passed along the
border between Damascus and Hamath (Eze 47:16, 17), roughly followed the
northern limits of the Egyptian province in Asia in the Late Bronze Age.
The kingdom of Rūḫiṣu marked the northeastern limits of the Late Bronze
Egyptian province. Its exact location remains unknown. The Egyptian ter-
ritory was bounded in the Damascus area by the desert fringes on he east
and included all of Bashan. The toponyms along the border of the Promised
Land in the Damascus and Bashan areas (Ziphron, Hazar-enan/on, Shepham,
Riblah, ‘Ain) are unidentified, but since the border passed “between Hauran
and Damascus,” the Bashan was included in that land. With all due caution
we may conclude that there is a general correspondence between the extent
of the Egyptian province in the area east of the Anti-Lebanon and the bibli-
cal Promised Land.
Piḫilu, located south of the Yarmuk River, is the only Transjordanian city
that is mentioned in the Amarna letters. Transjordanian toponyms are rare
in the Egyptian topographical lists of the XVIIIth-XIXth Dynasties.7 It is ev-
7. Redford (1982) suggests that toponyms nos. 90–101 in Thutmose III’s topographical
list are arranged in north-to-south order along the “King’s Highway” in Transjordan. In
my opinion his reconstruction of the toponyms is quite uncertain (see Na’aman 1994:184,
n. 7, with earlier literature). I also very much doubt the assumed location of the six Shasu-
ident that Transjordan (except for the area around Piḫilu) was a peripheral
area of little importance for Egypt in the Late Bronze Age.
The omission of Transjordan from the Promised Land boundary system
is remarkable. Some scholars have explained it by the hypothesis that this
system overlaps the Egyptian province in Asia and was taken over by the
Israelites in very early times (Maisler 1946:93–96; Aharoni 1967:67–70; de
Vaux 1968:28–30; Weinfeld 1983:65–66). Lemche (1991:82–84) offers no expla-
nation for the omission of Transjordan from the boundaries of the Promised
Land and instead appends the following remark (1991:82): “In the opin-
ion of some Deuteronomistic writers, the land of Israel embraced some ter-
ritory lying east of the Jordan, while others considered Israel’s land to be
identified with the land of Canaan, that is, confined to the territory west of
the Jordan.” However, the concept that the Transjordanian areas remained
outside the land of Canaan is non-Deuteronomistic and rarely appears in
Deuteronomistic texts (de Vaux 1968:28; Weinfeld 1983). The Jordan River as
the eastern border of Canaan is an integral part of a complete boundary sys-
tem; an explanation for the omission of Transjordan must take into account
the overall extent of the Promised Land.
V. The Transfer of the Names Canaan and Canaanites

to the Historiographical Sphere
As has been established, Canaan is an old name for the territory that, in
the Late Bronze Age, was identified with the area under Egyptian rule. This
old name survived the crisis of the late second millennium BCE and reap-
peared in texts of the first millennium BCE. Mesopotamian royal inscriptions
of the first millennium BCE frequently use archaic territorial-political (e.g.,
Sumer, Akkad, Karduniash, Gutium, Magan, Meluḫḫa, Subartu, Ḫanigalbat,
Amurru) and tribal/people names (e.g., Sutû, Aḫlamû, Umman-manda) of
the third and second millennia BCE to describe the reality of their own times.
The survival of the names Canaan and Canaanites and their use in biblical
historiography to describe the land and its former inhabitants reflects simi-
lar scribal practice. What is new is the extremely inaccurate and tendentious
ways in which biblical authors used these names for their own historiograph-
ical and theological objectives.
lands of the Egyptian topographical lists in southern Transjordan (for the suggestion, see
recently Knauf 1988:50–51, with earlier literature; Redford 1992:272–273). The toponyms
were already mentioned in the time of Amenophis III and should be sought in northern
Sinai, the Negeb, and along Wādi Arabah.
Not only the country’s name, but some other isolated memories of Late
Bronze Canaan have survived in the Old Testament (Na’aman 1992:179).
These include:
(a) The division of the land into many entities, each headed by a king.
(b) The exceptional position of Hazor among the Canaanite kingdoms
(Josh 11:10).
(c) The description of certain entities as composed of a major city and its
villages (Josh. 15:45–47; 17:11, 16; Judg. 1:27).
(d) The coalition of kingdoms as a means of gaining strength.
(e) The chariots (though described anachronistically as built of iron) as
the main basis of Canaanite military power (Josh. 11:4, 6, 9; 17:16; Judg. 1:19;
4:3, 13).
The Song of Deborah (Judg. 5) is regarded by many scholars as the oldest
text contained in the Bible. Two distinctive features of Late Bronze Canaanite
society, namely the division of the land into entities and the coalition of kings
as a means of gaining power, are reflected in the song (Judg. 5:19): “The kings
came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan; at Taanach, by the wa-
ters of Megiddo, they got no spoils of silver.” Rainey (1981:64*) pointed out
that v. 19b refers to the distribution of spoils and awards in the military camp
ground after the battle. It was assumed that the forces under Sisera would
enjoy a division of the spoils (Judg. 5:30), but they suffered defeat and “got no
spoils of silver.” V. 19 reflects a genuine old memory of the actual situation in
the land in the pre-monarchial period.
Judg. 5:19 obviously contradicts Lemche’s conclusions about the Canaanites
in pre-monarchial time. Thus, he first (pp. 93–94) tries show that the early date
of the text is quite uncertain. Second, he proposes (p. 95) that “the mention
of the kings of Canaan in Judg. 5:19 owes its existence to a redactional note
in Judges 5, which was added to the text of the poem as part of its incorpora-
tion into the greater Deuteronomistic narrative in the Book of Judges.” Lemche
provides no textual analysis to support his assumption. So convinced is he of
the correctness of his thesis about the Canaanites that he apparently expects
any evidence that contradicts it to simply evaporate. It goes without saying
that the assumption is arbitrary and that v. 19 is an integral part of the origi-
nal Song of Deborah.
How can we account for the old memories of Canaan and the Canaanites
in the Old Testament and, in particular, for the close similarity between the
boundaries of the Late Bronze Egyptian province in Asia and those of the bib-
lical Promised Land? In a chapter that I submitted in March 1987 to a book
that has never been published, I suggested the following:
It should be emphasized that Canaanite elements remained in the land during the mo-
narchial period. These autochthonous elements retained many political and cultural
characteristics of the Late Bronze Age, even in the Iron Age. Even former boundaries
and the political structure based on Canaanite foundations survived in several Iron Age
kingdoms (i.e., the Phoenician and coastal Philistine kingdoms). It is apparently these
Canaanites of the Iron Age whose mixed image is reflected in biblical tradition and who
were able to transfer to Israelite scribes certain authentic Canaanite memories (i.e., the
past primacy of Hazor and the borders of historical Canaan).
It goes without saying that the history of Canaan and its civilization must
be studied from external sources and that the authenticity of biblical data
should always be examined against this background (Na’aman 1992:179).
The image of the Canaanites as it appears in the Old Testament and its heavy
theological overlay are certainly the product of biblical authors and are
quite divorced from historical reality. However, the idea that the Canaanites
were the former inhabitants of Palestine is not a literary construction, and
the description of their land is not a late scribal invention. Their memory
was rooted in the people’s consciousness, and their image was invoked by
Israelite scribes to convey a message according to their own historiographi-
cal objectives and didactic-theological aims.
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Four Notes on the Size of Late Bronze Canaan1
The debate over the size of the land of Canaan in second millennium BCE.
documents was revived in 1991 with the publication of Lemche’s work on
the Canaanites and their land. Lemche disagreed with the former scholarly
consensus, according to which Canaan in Late Bronze texts covered the en-
tire area of the Egyptian province in Asia (de Vaux 1968:25-28; 1978:127-128;
Weippert 1976-1980; Stolz 1988:539-545). On the basis of EA 151:49-67, a let-
ter from Abi-Milki of Tyre to the Pharaoh, Lemche proposed that the term
Canaan was used in an imprecise manner in second millennium Near Eastern
texts. When discussing other vassal letters, he noted (p. 39) that “evidently
the inhabitants of the supposed Canaanite territory in Western Asia had no
clear idea of the actual size of this Canaan, nor did they know exactly where
Canaan was situated.” In his opinion, this ambiguity is reflected in some other
Late Bronze texts that mention Canaan. He, therefore, concluded that there
is a “correspondence between the imprecise and ambiguous Egyptian use
of the geographical name Canaan and the likewise imprecise understand-
ing of Canaan displayed by the inhabitants of Western Asia themselves”
(Lemche 1991:50). He further suggested (p. 52) that “to the scribe of ancient
Western Asia ‘Canaanite’ always designated a person who did not belong to
the scribe’s own society or state, while Canaan was considered to be a coun-
try different from his own.”
These far-fetched conclusions did not remain unanswered. Rainey (1996)
correctly noted that the writer and recipient or user of the texts knew the
geographical and ethnic entities mentioned, and there was no need for them
to go into detailed definitions; hence, some texts do not give detailed infor-
mation on the size of Canaan and its inhabitants. However, there are consid-
erable numbers of texts from all over the ancient Near East that do give an ac-
curate picture of a geographical entity known to the ancients as Canaan and
of a people known to the ancients and to themselves as Canaanites. I have an-
alyzed previously, in detail, all references to Canaan in second millennium
BCE sources, showing how inadequate and sometimes faulty was Lemche’s
discussion of these sources (Na’aman 1994). My conclusions were as follows:
1. Reprinted with permission. BASOR 313 (1999), 31-37.
134
Four Notes on the Size of Late Bronze Canaan 135
It seems clear that the land of Canaan in the Late Bronze Age was a territorial-political
entity. The political connotation is emphasized in international correspondence where
“Canaan” refers to the Egyptian province in Asia and also in the letters of Byblos and
Tyre where it refers to “the land of the king.” Also it seems to me that the local inhab-
itants of Canaan must have used the name in self-designation, along with the more
common name of the kingdom whose citizens they were. Nowhere is this stated di-
rectly, but it may be inferred from the fact that they are called “Canaanites” in regular
documents written in neighbouring kingdoms (Ugarit, Alalakh, Egypt). The fact that
foreign scribes used the name to denote the origin of these people suggests that the
source for the name assignment must have been the individuals who were so desig-
nated. Thus, contrary to Lemche’s conclusion that nobody ever used the name Canaan
as self definition, it seems to me that people from Canaan would indeed sometimes
have defined themselves as Canaanites (Na’aman 1994:408).
Lemche responded in two articles (1996; 1998) in which he defended the

conclusions of his book. Let me cite his recent conclusions (1996:771):
Canaan is used in an ambiguous manner in the ANE texts from the 2nd millennium. If it
ever had a more precise meaning, this “Canaan” may have embraced the coastal plain
in Palestine south of the Carmel range, the Esdraelon plain and the Phoenician coast.
There is no evidence that it was ever used as the name of a specific state or area with
fixed and definable borders.
The sources for the discussion of Canaan and the Canaanites in the second
millennium were detailed in the above-cited works and will not be repeated
here. The current article instead discusses key sources — some of which are
hotly debated — to shed more light on the problem of the Canaanites and
their land in Late Bronze Age texts.
The Alalakh Legal and Administrative Texts

Canaan is mentioned in four documents from Stratum IV at Alalakh, all
of which refer to individuals from that land. One tablet (AT 154) is still un-
published. AT 181 is a list of ‘Apiru (Wiseman 1954:11; Greenberg 1955:21)
and AT 188 (Dietrich-Loretz 1970:101) is a list of muškēnu. All the places of
origin of the individuals mentioned in the two tablets are either towns or
well-defined lands (Alashiya and Nuḫašše). Hence, Canaan was likewise a
well-defined entity.
Tablet AT 48 is a legal document signed with the royal seal. A hunter
(LÚbāiru)2 from Canaan borrowed 24 shekels of silver from a local citizen of
Alalakh. He must repay an interest of 200 birds at the beginning of next year.
2. The translation “hunter” is required by context: the man pays for his loan an inter-
est of 200 birds (see CAD B 31b; Ṣ 161a; AHW 1397a). Rainey’s translation “soldier” (1996:3)
is erroneous.
His wife, his sons and his belongings are pledged for the return of the loan.
Four witnesses are mentioned by name at the end of the tablet.
The formal nature of legal documents and the precision of their details are
self-evident. It is clear that the legal authorities in late 15th-early 14th cen-
turies BCE. Alalakh considered Canaan, the hunter’s place of origin, to be a
well-defined entity, similar to the places of origin of all other non-Alalakhian
citizens who took part in legal matters conducted before the court of Alalakh
(AT 49:4-5; 50:3; 66:3; 67:4; 68:4-8; 69:5; 72:3-7; 74:5-8). The administrative and
legal authorities in Alalakh would surely have been surprised to hear that
someone from Hamlet’s country assumes that the term “Canaan” was an im-
precise or ambiguous territorial term. For them, this territorial definition
was entirely clear, and they treated it exactly as they treated all other names
of towns and lands.
The Letter from Tyre

Letter EA 151:49-67 was recently discussed in detail by Rainey (1996:9-11)
and Lemche (1998). In a response to the request of the Pharaoh for informa-
tion from Canaan (“Write to me what you have heard from Canaan”), Abi-
Milki of Tyre reports news from Danuna, Ugarit, Ḫatti, the northern border
of the Egyptian Empire (i.e., Qidšu’s and Amurru’s attack on Egyptian vassals)
and Sidon. The letter has been known for more than hundred years and there
are no problems about understanding its wording. Former students of EA 151:
49-67 made a clear distinction between the literal meaning of the Pharaoh’s
order and the way in which it was understood by Abi-Milki in his detailed re-
port to the Pharaoh (Astour 1965:4-5 is an exception). Lemche (1991:30-31,
39-40, 51-52; 1998), on the other hand, assumes that Abi-Milki’s reply is due
to a literal interpretation of the Pharaoh’s order, and Lemche equates the
land of Canaan with all the territories that Abi-Milki enumerates. From this
emerged Lemche’s “Great Canaan” hypothesis, which is supported only by
this text and never confirmed elsewhere.
Rainey (1996:9-11) suggested an attractive interpretation for the passage:
Abi-Milki understood the Pharaoh’s words as meaning news heard “from
within Canaan,” i.e., news that Abi-Milki had heard at his seat in Tyre. In sup-
port of his interpretation, he quoted three references from Taanach, Tyre and
Ugarit that refer to news heard from the place of the receiver (TT 1:15-18;
EA 149:54-57; KTU 2.10:15-19). Lemche (1998) responded by citing two letters
from Sidon (EA 145:23-26) and Tyre (EA 147:66-67), in which news requested
from certain places (Amurru, Egypt) was answered literally by the recipients
of the letters. In his opinion, it was the intention of the Pharaoh “that Abi-
Milki should report news from his homeland, which was according to the
Egyptians identical with Canaan” (Lemche 1998:21).
As far as I am aware, no second millennium BCE text supports the assump-

tion that the term Canaan refers exclusively either to Tyre or to the Lebanese
coast. The territorially limited use of the term Canaan appears for the first
time in the Bible (Maisler 1930:54-74; de Vaux 1968:30; 1978:131; Weippert
1976-1980:354), and Lemche must have taken it from this late source.
Moreover, an Egyptian request for information about the small island of Tyre
is unlikely, because the Pharaoh and his officials in Egypt tried to avoid local
incidents and dealt mainly with problems that affected the administration of
part or all of the Egyptian province in Asia.
The question to be discussed is how Abi-Milki interpreted and answered
the Egyptian request for information “from Canaan.” To answer this question,
we must first analyze the political situation in Western Asia at that time.
Letter EA 151 was written in the late years of Akhenaten, when Aziru
of Amurru and Etakama of Qadesh conducted a war against the northern-
most districts of the Egyptian province in Asia (see e.g., Kitchen 1962:44-45;
Campbell 1964:72, 135; Helck 1971:177-179). At this late time, Mitanni, the
Egyptian former ally, was defeated and disappeared from the Syro-Canaanite
arena. Its territories and its military and political positions were taken by
Ḫatti, which soon became an enemy of Egypt and a threat to the northern
districts of the Egyptian province in Asia. A number of kingdoms near the
northern border of the Egyptian Empire (i.e., Amurru, Qidšu, Ruḫizzi and
Lapana) took advantage of the situation and tried to expand their territo-
ries. In such a fluid situation, intelligence was of the utmost importance, and
Egyptian vassals and allies whose seats were located near the borders of the
Egyptian Empire frequently reported to Egypt on the current situation (e.g.,
EA 53-56, 59, 140, 173-176, 189, 196-197, 363).
It is against this background that we must analyze the text of EA 151:49-
67. Abi-Milki must have interpreted the words of the Pharaoh as a request for
information relevant to Canaan, i.e., the Egyptian province in Asia. He, thus,
reported what had happened in the coastal areas of the Hittite Empire (i.e.,
in Danuna and Ugarit), on the temporary absence of the Hittite troops, and
on the attack of Etakama of Qadesh and Aziru on the Egyptian northernmost
territories. As in many other letters (e.g., EA 147:66-69; 148:23-26, 38-45; 149:
54-70), Abi-Milki took advantage of this report to defame Zimredda, his arch-
enemy, by accusing him of cooperating with Aziru in the attack on his king-
dom.
We may conclude that a contextual approach is the best way to interpret
EA 151:49-67 and, furthermore, that a literal and rigid interpretation of texts
can sometimes lead scholars far from the historical reality.
The Letter of Alashiya

The beginning and the end of letter EA 36 are broken. In lines 5-7, the king
of Alashiya reports to the Pharaoh about the delivery of 120 talents of copper,
70 talents possibly in the forms of bars, each of which weighed 1 talent, and
50 talents of “colorful,” i.e., copper of inferior quality.3 This delivery and the
principle of reciprocity are discussed in the next passage (lines 8-13), which
ends with a request to send ships to carry the copper to Egypt (line 13).
Line 14 probably reads, “[As f]or me ([ia]-a-ti), just as [now?] I prepare cop-
per, they will p[repare??] grain [for me?].”
Next comes the controversial line 15. Approximately 18 signs appear in
each line of this letter, so that about third of the line (61⁄2 signs) has survived.
Knudtzon (1915:288) transcribed it [. . . p]i-ḫa-ti ša ki-na-ḫi [. . .]. There are no
fewer than four obstacles to this rendering: (a) the value /pi/ is rare in pe-
ripheral Akkadian; (b) pīhātu in the sense of “province” does not appear in
peripheral Akkadian; (c) the spelling Ki-na-ḫi (rather than Ki-na-aḫ-ḫi) is rare
and is known only from letter RS.20.182A+B from Ugarit;4 and (d) the prede-
terminative KUR is missing before the assumed geographical name (Na’aman
1975:2*, n. 19; Moran 1992:109-110, n. 1). Rainey (1996:7-8) has adopted
Knudtzon’s reading of the line and suggested explanations of each of these
difficulties (cf. Redford 1990:99 n. 253). Each explanation in itself is possible,
but the assumption that there are quite so many irregularities in a text of 61⁄2
signs is intriguing. Translating line 15 “[. . . p]rovince of Canaan [. . .]” is not
impossible, but should be accompanied by a big question mark.
Should we use the term “province of Canaan” to describe the Egyptian
Asiatic province? There has been a long scholarly debate on whether the
Egyptian Empire in Canaan was divided into districts. Some scholars sug-
gested a tripartite division (e.g., Helck 1960:5-8; 1971:248-252; Aharoni 1967:
146-153; de Vaux 1968:25-28); I have suggested a bipartite division (Na’aman
1975:166-172, 227; 1981:183-184); and Hachmann (1982) suggested a four-part
division. Redford (1990:32-35; 1992:201) correctly noted that we cannot speak
of “provinces” in the sense that is familiar from the Roman Empire. He as-
3. A tentative translation of lines 5-7: “[. . . I sea]rch[ed, and copper as much as they
prepared I sen[t. And now] I am sending (the rest) to my brother. 120 (talents) of copper re-
main (to be sent). 70 talents, one? tal[ent? by? one? talen]t?, everything you desire?? (mim-ma
ta-aḫ-pá-ṣí ); 30+[20 t]alents of ‘colorful’ copper, everything you desire?? (mim!-<ma> ta-a[ḫ!-
pá-ṣí?]).” It goes without saying that the derivation of the verbal form ta-aḫ-pá-ṣí from the
West Semitic root ḤPṢ is extremely tentative. CAD Ḫ 124a rendered it ta-aḫ-su-si.
4. In the inventory of Egyptian gifts (EA 14:II, 26), the spelling KUR Ki-na-aḫ-ḫi appears
(contra Rainey 1996:8).
serted, “when Egyptians alluded to the northern empire, they still spoke of
‘the land of Canaan (or Kharu, Djahi, etc.)’ and the cities therein each with
its own ‘territory’, never to the province so-and-so” (Redford 1992:201).
However, using the term “province of Canaan” to describe the Egyptian
Empire in Asia has become so common in scientific literature that there is no
point in giving it up, as long as we remember that the Egyptian administra-
tion of Canaan called it by other names.
Lemche (1998:23) dismissed the idea that Canaan was an Egyptian prov-
ince in the 14th century BCE. He draws a line between the time of the 18th
Dynasty and that of the 19th Dynasty, “when Canaan had been turned into an
administrative district with its center in Gaza, which could in itself be called
‘Canaan’.” The last statement should be qualified. Edel (1953; 1994, I:140-155;
II:219-229) combined two letters (KUB III 37 + KBo I 17 and KUB III 57), relat-
ing to the royal marriage between Ramesses II and a Hittite princess, and the
escorting of the princess to Egypt in the 34th year of Ramesses’ reign. The
latter assures the Hittite king that the princess will be properly received at
the border and that he has instructed the two Egyptian governors (šākin māti)
to escort the Hittite princess through their respective territories. The first
is Šuta, the governor of Upi, and the second is Ataḫ[maya], whose residence
is missing but should be located in Gaza (Edel 1953:50, 55-61; Singer 1983:18-
21, with earlier literature). In fact, this letter of the Ramesside period was
the point of departure for my suggestion that Canaan was divided into two
districts as early as the 18th Dynasty. Although Gaza was the main Egyptian
center of government under the Ramessides, there must have been a second
center in Upi, namely Kumidi, which was the seat of the second šākin māti
mentioned in the letter.
Lemche’s claim that Canaan became an Egyptian province only under
the 19th Dynasty is also unlikely. In support he cites Redford, who (so he as-
sumes) “simply doubts whether the concept of an Egyptian Empire in Asia
arranged in a number of provinces with stable provincial administration
and governors before the time of the Ramessides makes any sense at all”
(Lemche 1998:23). This is an inaccurate presentation of Redford’s position.
Redford (1990:202) actually writes: .” . . if the age of the great Amenophis III
had witnessed the inception of a regularized state department, the age of the
Ramessides (the 19th Dynasty) carried it to the logical stage of refinement.”
Neither Redford nor any other scholar doubts the emergence of an Egyptian
province (in the flexible sense defined above) in Asia during the 18th Dynasty.
Canaan had been an Egyptian province ever since its conquest by Thutmose
III, whereas the establishment of an Egyptian administrative apparatus and
the regularization of the levies and taxes developed gradually and reached its
zenith under the Ramessides.
The Letter from Ugarit

RS 20.182A+B are fragments of a letter probably sent by a high official of
Ugarit to the Pharaoh (Nougayrol 1968:111-113, 389). Rainey (1996:5-6) re-
cently edited the text. Unfortunately, he ignored the new joins to the tab-
let published by Lackenbacher (1994) and Van Soldt (1994), and his edition is
quite outdated. Thanks to the new joins, some lines have been restored and
the width of the tablet has been established. I will suggest a tentative resto-
ration of lines 4-15 of RS 20.182B+, with a translation, a few notes and an his-
torical discussion.
--------------------------------
4. [ša-ni-ta5? b]e-‘li aš-šum’ KASKAL-‘ni’ ša iṣ-ṣa-ba‘t?-ma? ’
5. [KÙ.BABBARMEŠ š]a DUMUMEŠ KUR Ú-ga-ri-it
6. [x (x) mi-š]i-il DUMUMEŠ KUR Ki-na-ḫi
7. [ù ú-š]al-lim-šu 1 GÚ.UN 5 me-at KÙ.BABBAR[MEŠ]
8. [zi?-it?-t]i? DUMUMEŠ KUR Ki-na-ḫi
9. [KÙ.BABBAR]MEŠ ša DUMUMEŠ KUR Ú-ga-ri-it ša-li-i[m na??-ši??]
10. [ù mB]ur5-ḫa-nu-wa a-kán-na iq-ta-bi-[(ma)]
11. [ma-a] ‘a-na’ na-ḫa-sí-ia-mi KÙ.BABBARMEŠ ri-ḫa-ti [. . .]
12. [ša] ir-te-eḫ i-laq-qí-mi
13. [a-n]a UGU KÙ.BABBARMEŠ-ia-ma iṣ-ṣa-bat-ta-ni m’Bur5-ḫa-nu-wa’
14. [K]Ù.BABBARMEŠ-ia-ma ù a-na-ku-ma ú-šal-lim-šu
15. [ù] KÙ.BABBARMEŠ-šu ú-[ša?-di?-n]a DUMUMEŠ KUR Ú-ga-ri-it ÌR MEŠ EN-ia
Translation:
[Moreover], my l[or]d, concerning the caravan which is seized, [the silver
o]f the sons of Ugarit – [about?? ha]lf (of the sum) of the sons of Canaan — [in-
deed] I paid him. One talent and 500 (shekels) of silver [is the part? paymen]t?
of the sons of Canaan. [The silve]r of the sons of Ugarit has been pai[d and
carried??. And] Purḫanuwa thus said (to me) [as follows]: “upon my return,
the rest of the silver [as? much? as?] remained he will take.” [Concerni]ng my
silver, Purḫanuwa indeed seized me, (and) my silver I indeed paid him. His
silver was [indeed] p[ai]d?. The sons of Ugarit, servants of my lord, [the king?
of Ugarit? . . .]
Notes:
Line 6: the rendering [. . . mi-š]i-il (rather than [. . . a-k]i-il) was suggested
by Lackenbacher (1994).
Line 7: for the restoration, see line 14.
Line 8: for the tentative restoration [zi-it-t]i, see CAD Z 146.
Line 15: Lackenbacher and Van Soldt rendered it KÙ.BABBARMEŠ-šu-ú-[ma
a-n]a. However, the pronominal suffix —šu appears in lines 7 and 14 without
an extra vowel. It seems to me that the author of the letter, seeking to em-
phasize that the silver was properly paid, deliberately uses legal forms (com-
pare my restoration at the end of line 9). For the verbal form šuddunu, see
CAD N/1 56a.
Background of the Episode

A Canaanite caravan was seized in the kingdom of Ugarit. Details of the
seizure and the legal procedure that followed are missing, and we do not know
in which court the case was decided. The role of Pariḫnawa (Purḫanuwa), an
Egyptian envoy of Ramesses II who is mentioned in the texts of Ḫattusha
(Nougayrol 1968:112 n. 3; for references, see Edel 1994:II, 364), may indicate
that the king of Ḫatti was involved in the case. The indemnity payment due
to the sons of Canaan from the sons of Ugarit probably amounted to 2 talents
and 1000 shekels of silver. There must have been some delay in payment and
the Egyptian king, probably Ramesses II, intervened by sending Pariḫnawa,
his messenger, to deal with the matter and by writing a letter to the Ugaritic
authorities. The letter under discussion deals with an episode that was pre-
viously negotiated, possibly at length, between the Egyptian and Ugaritic (or
Hittite) courts.
Letter RS 20.182A+B is the Ugaritic court’s answer to the Egyptian king’s
letter. The author of the letter reports that he has delivered half of the sum, 1
talent and 500 shekels of silver, to Pariḫnawa, and that the other half will be
paid on Pariḫnawa’s return from Egypt.
The involvement of the Pharaoh and his envoy in the case is not excep-
tional. It was agreed among the members of the “Club of the Great Powers”
in the 14th-13th centuries BCE that each Great King was responsible for what
happened in his and his vassals’ territories (Liverani 1990). Canaan was the
territory of the Pharaoh, and it was his responsibility to protect his vassals in
the other Great Kings’ lands and to defend their rights in foreign countries
(for similar procedures, see the literature cited in Rainey 1996:5; Na’aman
1998:66-67).
The extant text does not give the exact origin of the seized caravan. It
only mentions the payment to the “sons of Canaan.” The reason for select-
ing a comprehensive term rather than the name of a particular city-state is
clear: The letter was addressed to the Egyptian king, who was internation-
ally recognized as lord of the land of Canaan and its inhabitants, the “sons
of Canaan” (EA 8:25-26 reads, “Canaan is your land and [its] king[s are your
servants]”). Lemche (1998:23) suggested that “in such a text the distinc-
tion made between two groups of people might be no more than the opin-
ion of the writer of the text, whose place of origin was undoubtedly Ugarit.”
However, RS 20.182A+B is a diplomatic letter exchanged between the courts
of Ugarit and Egypt, and the author of the letter accurately reports to the
Pharaoh about the execution of a legal matter. The letter deals with inter-
state affairs, and personal opinion has no place in this diplomatic correspon-
dence. Lemche’s suggestion, therefore, is obviously wrong.
A man of Canaan is mentioned in a second text from Ugarit (KTU 4.96).
This is a list of merchants assigned to three royal estates (Astour 1970:125;
1975:293-294; Rainey 1996:4). Seven merchants are assigned to the first es-
tate. Four of them are from towns in the kingdom of Ugarit, and three are
foreigners: an Ashdadite, an Egyptian and a Canaanite. I recently suggested
an identification of the city of Ashdad mentioned in the Ugaritic texts with
Enkomi, the important Cypriote port city, and disassociating it from the
Philistine city of Ashdod (Na’aman 1997:609-611). We may conclude that in
letter RS 20.182A+B, and in the administrative text KTU 4.96, Canaan is men-
tioned as a well-defined entity, similar to the kingdoms of Egypt and Ugarit,
the city of Ashdad and the four Ugaritic towns.
In sum, Canaan was the political-territorial name for the Egyptian prov-
ince in Asia in the Late Bronze Age. Some texts mention Canaan without spec-
ifying an exact location because their authors did not consider it necessary to
specify something that was so well-known. But there are enough texts that
give accurate details on the size of the land and the identity of its inhabitants,
and there is not a single text that defines the size of Canaan differently. The
phantom of the “Great Canaan” should disappear from the scholarly litera-
ture, along with the erroneous arguments that were brought to support it.
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The Network of Canaanite Late Bronze
Kingdoms and the City of Ashdod1
Previous Discussions
The attempt to establish the exact number and delineate the borders of
the Canaanite Late Bronze kingdoms is a relatively late branch of historical
topographical research. The first stage in the study of the toponyms men-
tioned in Late Bronze sources was marked by an effort to identify their names
and locate their sites. Clauss (1907), for example, examined all the toponyms
mentioned in the Amarna letters systematically. He compared their names
with places mentioned in earlier and later sources and in the Bible and sug-
gested identifications for their locations. Dhorme (1908, 1909) examined the
corpus of Late Bronze toponyms and suggested new identifications for some
names. With the publication of Knudtzon’s edition of the Amarna tablets
(1915), the transcription of the letters was finally established, and the way
was open for further investigation of the number and power of the Canaanite
kingdoms and their relationships with their Egyptian overlords.
Alt (1939; 1953) discussed at length the network of Canaanite kingdoms
in his work on the settlement of the Israelites in Palestine. He noticed the
difference of scope, strength and policy between the kingdoms situated in
the highlands (e.g., Hazor, Shechem and Jerusalem) and those located in the
lowlands, and he used the differences as a point of departure for the dis-
cussion of the emergence of Israel in the early Iron Age. In another work
(1950), he made the important distinction between Canaanite city-states and
Egyptian garrison cities (Stützpunkte), and he tried to reconstruct the system
of Egyptian centers (Stützpunktsystem) in Asia. In a third article (1944), he ob-
served the changes that took place in the Egyptian system of government
during the XIXth-XXth Dynasties. In other works, he discussed new sources
that were published in the 1920s–1940s (Alt 1924; 1936; 1941; 1954). Alt’s his-
torical and topographical contributions have had a considerable impact on
all subsequent studies of the Canaanite kingdoms in the Late Bronze Age.
145
Many studies on the identification of Canaanite toponyms and their sig-

nificance for the historical research were published in those years (e.g., Jirku
1937; Abel 1938; Gardiner 1947), but it is not necessary to survey them here.
In his monumental work on the relationship between Egypt and Western Asia
in the second millennium BCE, Helck (1962; rev. ed. 1971) discussed, in some
detail, the network of Canaanite kingdoms and Egyptian government centers
in the Late Bronze Age. He was the first scholar to publish detailed maps of
the systems of Syrian and Canaanite kingdoms (1971:188, 309), but the bor-
ders drawn in his maps are schematic and take into consideration neither the
topographical features nor the archaeological data. Aharoni summarized the
work of his predecessors in his comprehensive book on the geographical his-
tory in the “Land of the Bible” (1967), but he did not try to delineate the sys-
tem of Canaanite kingdoms.
In my doctoral dissertation (Na’aman 1975), I tried both to set criteria for
establishing the number of Canaanite city-states and Egyptian centers and
to define their scope and borders. The list of city-states was composed on
the basis of the Amarna letters, supplemented by other Late Bronze sources
and the Bible. An analysis of the Amarna letters and identification of border
towns and neighboring cities was the point of departure for border demarca-
tions. I have suggested that neighboring kingdoms did not control sparsely
inhabited areas effectively and that their boundaries should not be rigidly
outlined. The archaeological evidence was taken into consideration, in par-
ticular the size and number of sites in each region. Early and late border sys-
tems were also taken into account. In light of all these data, I suggested a
detailed reconstruction of the array of Canaanite kingdoms in the areas of
Palestine. In later years, I published other works elaborating on the earlier
one (Na’aman 1982, 1986a; 1988a; 1988b; 1992).
Bunimovitz (1989) discussed the array of Palestinian city-states in his
doctoral dissertation on the socio-cultural changes in Late Bronze Age
Palestine. He first analysed the results of the archaeological excavations in
Middle Bronze and Late Bronze sites and collected all the archaeological data
discovered in surveys. By integrating historical documents, archaeological
evidence and an analysis of the regional systems’ rank-size distributions, he
suggested a reconstruction of the political map in the Middle and Late Bronze
Age. Although Bunimovitz utilized methodology and distribution model not
used in my writings, his map of Late Bronze Canaanite kingdoms is quite sim-
ilar to the system that I suggested.
For most of the north and northeastern areas of the land of Canaan, there
is not enough archaeological data for accurate border demarcations. In a pi-
oneering study, Marfoe (1979) analyzed the area of the Beqa‘ of Lebanon. By
examining the natural data, surveying the area and comparing settlement
The Network of Canaanite Late Bronze Kingdoms and the City of Ashdod 147
patterns from early and late periods, he was able to reconstruct the number
and size of the political units of the Beqa‘ in the Late Bronze Age.
Recently, Finkelstein (1996) suggested a new delineation for the array
of Canaanite kingdoms. According to his reconstruction, the entire area of
west Jordanian Palestine was shared among no more than 13–14 relatively
large kingdoms. These kingdoms effectively controlled all the areas — in-
habited and uninhabited — included in their territories. All other city-states,
including some that are explicitly mentioned in the Amarna letters (e.g.,
Aḫtiashna, Zuḫra, etc.), are left out of his list of kingdoms.2 More details about
Finkelstein’s methodology and results appear in the discussion below.
It is the purpose of this article to re-examine the system of Canaanite
kingdoms located in the bounds of Palestine in the Late Bronze Age. At the
beginning of the discussion, I suggest criteria for identifying city-states and
establishing borders and discuss the problem of drawing maps and making
demographic calculations. It seems to me that Finkelstein’s source analysis
should be revised and that the textual evidence does not justify his limited
system of kingdoms and his border delineations.
Criteria for Establishing the System of Canaanite Kingdoms

I start from a point of agreement with Finkelstein: Biblical data should
not be taken into account in drawing up the list of Canaanite kingdoms. The
Old Testament was written hundreds of years after the Late Bronze Age, at a
time when memories of the Canaanite city-state system were quite lost. Even
if some vague memories of that early period still persisted when the biblical
text was put in writing, they do not shed light on the system of Late Bronze
kingdoms.
In the past, I made ample use of biblical evidence for the establishment
of the borders of Canaanite kingdoms. In particular, I utilized the descrip-
tions of the inheritance of the twelve tribes for drawing the borders, assum-
ing a direct continuity between city-state borders and the tribal allotments
(Na’aman 1986a; 1988a: 21–26). In those years, many scholars believed that
historical writing began in Israel in the tenth century BCE (the time of the
United Monarchy). The composition of the tribal allotments was dated to the
tenth century BCE, about two centuries after the final collapse of the system
of Canaanite city-states (Alt 1927; Noth 1935; 1953; Aharoni 1967; Kallai 1986).
All areas of Palestine began to be settled in Iron Age I; thus, it was logical to
2. The omission of these kingdoms by Finkelstein is the more surprising because he

opens his discussion by stating that he “accepts the argument that individuals who wrote
to — or received letters from — Egypt were all rulers of city-states.”
assume a measure of continuity between the systems of city-states and tribal

allotments. However, it is clear now that the descriptions of tribal allotments
is a late, non-historical composition and was written hundreds years after
the final collapse of the system of Canaanite kingdoms. I, therefore, withdraw
all my former reconstructions of boundaries of Canaanite kingdoms based on
the tribal allotments, as well as the identifications of towns as city-states on
the basis of the biblical text.
The list of Canaanite kingdoms should, first of all, be composed on the
basis of the Amarna letters, because only the rulers of these political units
were allowed to correspond with the Pharaoh. The Akkadian title used to de-
scribe the local rulers of Canaan is ḫazannu, “mayor,” which is the equiva-
lent of Egyptian ḫ3ty-‘, a mayor of an Egyptian town. The court administra-
tion treated them as Egyptian mayors in one important aspect: They had full
responsibility for everything that happened in the city (or rather city-state)
that the Pharaoh gave into their charge. Thus, each vassal was personally re-
sponsible to the Pharaoh for the territory the vassal held, and, in his letters,
he reported back to Egypt that he had fulfilled all the obligations imposed
on his domain. We may conclude that each person who wrote either to the
Pharaoh or to his officials was a city-state ruler, regardless of the scope of his
territory or his political power.
If the Amarna archive were complete, the task of making a list of city-
states would have been easy. Unfortunately, this is not the case. On the con-
trary, the archive is a unique collection, differing in its assemblage from all
other ancient Near Eastern archives. The earlier tablets discovered in the ar-
chive had been brought from the previous capital, Thebes, to the new capital,
Akhetaten (Amarna), when the royal court moved there. We may assume that
certain letters were taken from Akhetaten at the time of its abandonment
(Riedel 1939; Campbell 1964:35–36; Na’aman 1981:173–174). The number of
letters transferred on both occasions is unknown, and we do not know how
many tablets were totally destroyed between the time the archive was dis-
covered and before the importance of the tablets was recognized (Knudtzon
1915:1–15). An illustration of the incomplete nature of the archive are the
four Amarna tablets that comprise the second part of the original two-tablet
letter (EA 101, 113, 245, 251): In no case was the first tablet found. Evidently,
only a portion of the original archive has come down to us.
I would like to propose a method for estimating how much of the orig-
inal archive has survived. In Akhenaten’s late years, the Egyptians planned
a campaign to northern Canaan and sent verbal and written orders to their
vassals, commanding them to prepare for the arrival of the Egyptian archers
(Na’aman 1990, with earlier literature). Only on that occasion were Egyptian
messengers carrying royal letters sent to all quarters of the Egyptian prov-
ince in Asia. Answers to the royal letters arrived from southern Canaan (EA
65, 292, 324–325, 337), from northern Canaan (EA 55, 191, 193, 195, 201–206,
216–218, 227, and possibly 213), and from the coast of Lebanon (EA 141–142,
144, 147, 153, 362, and possibly 223 and 233). There are indications in the let-
ters that the Canaanite rulers believed that the Egyptian army would arrive
soon and were anxious to affirm their participation immediately (Na’aman
1990: 404–405). Moreover, in light of the formal character of these letters,
most of these kings gave not only their own names, but also the names of
their cities, unlike the routine correspondence in which city names were
sometimes omitted (particularly in north Palestinian and south Syrian let-
ters). I suggest that answers came from all quarters of Canaan and that the
number of missing places may help us estimate the gap of documentation.
If this criterion is valid, it indicates that a considerable part of the origi-
nal archive is missing. Among the Palestinian rulers, only those of Ashkelon,
Gezer, Gath* (Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi),3 Hazor, and a few others whose seat is unknown
(Ḫiziru, Bayawa and the authors of letters EA 217–218) are mentioned. This
supports the conclusion that only part of the original archive has come down
to us.
Not only is the archive incomplete, but the seat of many rulers remains
unknown. First, many tablets are broken and the names of their authors and
their towns are missing. Second, the city of many rulers whose names appear
on tablets is not mentioned. In many cases, even the region from which the
tablets were sent is not known. In his edition of the Amarna letters, Knudtzon
supplied important details about the clay of the tablet, the form of the signs
and the similarity between groups of tablets, all of which may help in locat-
ing the letters. However, the origin of many tablets, in particular those sent
from small city-states, is unknown.
It is clear that the unique composition of the archive and the gaps in the
extant list of towns and rulers call for caution in discussing the evidence. In
particular, we should be careful not to draw conclusions on the basis of neg-
ative evidence.
Finkelstein (1996: 224), on the other hand, suggests that “the material
at hand enables a full or almost full reconstruction of the territorial map
of Late Bronze Canaan.” In support of this conclusion, he claims that “most
Canaanite city-states known by name are mentioned in several letters.” He
3. The name of Shuwardata’s capital is mentioned nowhere in the Amarna letters. His
seat was apparently in Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi, the place of Philistine Gath in the Iron Age. It may be as-
sumed that the place was called already by the name Gath in the Late Bronze Age, hence,
the name Gath* for Shuwardata’s and ‘Abdi-‘Ashtarti’s city in this article.
also notes that “when mapped, the information provided by the archive does
not leave empty territories.” However, exactly the opposite of the latter state-
ment is true. The Amarna archive supplies very few data for establishing the
borders between neighboring kingdoms.4 For this reason, early scholars of
the Amarna tablets did not try to draw borders. Maps with borders appeared
only after enough archaeological data had been assembled, supplementing
the scanty textual data. If Finkelstein’s maps do not leave empty spaces, it is
only because he deliberately drew the borders in this manner. Drawing the
borders differently will leave ample space for the missing city-states.
The statement that most Canaanite kingdoms known by name are men-
tioned in several letters is also incorrect. A glance at the index of Moran’s
translations of the Amarna letters (1992:388–392) shows that many city-states
are mentioned only once. For example, all the cities either in the Beqa‘ of
Lebanon or in the Bashan are mentioned only once (Ashtaroth alone is men-
tioned twice). All Palestinian city-states mentioned in the archive and omit-
ted by Finkelstein for no obvious reason (e.g., Aḫtiashna, Zuḫra, Na-x-ḫa-x,
[x-I]G-ma-te) are likewise mentioned only once, and their sites are unknown.
Even some major Canaanite kingdoms (e.g., Shechem, Hazor, Ashtaroth and
Damascus) are mentioned only a few times.
To illustrate the problem of preparing a list of city-states, let me give two
examples.
(a) Lab’ayu of Shechem and his sons are the best documented rulers in the
area of Palestine, and many details of their careers are known from the cor-
respondence. Yet, the name of their capital is not mentioned in Lab’ayu’s let-
ters, in the letters of other kings, or in Egyptian texts of the time of the New
Kingdom. Shechem (māt Šakmi) is mentioned once in a letter from Jerusalem
(EA 289:21–24), but the reference alone is not enough to identify the seat.
Fortunately, we are able to identify Lab’ayu’s and his sons’ capital thanks to
the many references to their offensive in the Amarna letters. Similar refer-
ences relating to many other rulers whose seats are not mentioned are miss-
ing, and the identities of their capitals remain unknown.
(b) Biryawaza held a central position in northern Canaan in the Amarna
period and acted on behalf of the Egyptian authorities in this area. His letters
do not name his city. Only with the help of the many references to his activ-
ity can we establish that Damascus was his capital (Na’aman 1988c, with ear-
lier literature).
4. Only the borders of Jerusalem with Gezer and Gath* are demarcated by concrete data
extracted from the Amarna letters. The northern border of Shechem may be delineated by
an analysis of letter EA 250 (see below). All other borders are drawn on the basis of envi-
ronmental and archaeological evidence.
In conclusion, the Amarna archive as it came down to us is incom-

plete, and part of it is missing. Most of the names of important kingdoms in
Palestine are known and their sites identified, but the locations of less im-
portant city-states mentioned in the archive remain unknown. Moreover, the
names of some city-states may be missing from the archive, but can be found
in other Late Bronze sources.
The Egyptian Execration Texts of the late XIIth-early XIIIth Dynasties
mention only kingdoms, each governed by its local ruler(s). Egyptian top-
ographical lists, on the other hand, may not be used uncritically to draw up
the list of kingdoms, because they include city-states and towns situated in
their territories. Some Egyptian historical and administrative texts that refer
either to events in which Canaanite kings participated, or to representatives
of Canaanite rulers who visit the Egyptian court, help to complete the list of
Canaanite kingdoms.
Cuneiform tablets unearthed in Canaanite sites indicate that these places
were the administrative seats, either city-states or Egyptian centers of gov-
ernment. This is particularly true of administrative texts written by profes-
sional scribes for the local authorities. The number of such tablets discovered
so far in Canaan is small, indicating the limited use of writing, except for cor-
respondence with the Pharaoh. This shows the tablets’ importance for the
identification of Canaanite administrative centers.
The Amarna archive covers less than thirty years, from ca. the 30th year of
Amenophis III to Tutankhamun’s third year. How many kings may on the av-
erage have ruled in each place in the course of that quarter of a century? The
Phoenician coast is amply documented, and an analysis of its letters indicates
that the number of kings in each place (with the exception of Achshaph) was
two.5 In two south Canaanite cities, Gezer and Lachish, three successive kings
are known. On the other hand, only one ruler may have ruled in some cities
during the quarter of century of the archive. An average of two kings for each
place may safely be assumed.
Bunimovitz (1989) and Finkelstein (1996) collected all the available
Late Bronze archaeological data relevant for the discussion. It is clear that
the major Late Bronze sites (Finkelstein’s categories C-E) were centers of
Canaanite city-states. However, the number of sites of category C (1.1–5 hect-
ares) far exceeds the maximum possible number of city-states. Finkelstein
5. These are the names of kings in each kingdom (see the index of proper names in
Moran 1992: 379–386): Amurru: ‘Abdi-Ashirta and Aziru; Gubla: Rib-Hadda and Ili-rapiḫ;
Beirut: ‘Abdi-Hadda and Ammunira; Sidon: Yabni- . . . and Zimredda; Tyre: . . . -šipṭi and
Abi-Milki; Acco: Surata and Satatna; Achshaph: Endaruta.
(1996: 226) noted that “from the demographical point of view, in order to be
able to execute large-scale building activities, the peer polities each needed
a minimal population of several thousands.” I very much doubt the correct-
ness of this statement. First, what may be true for large territorial king-
doms is not necessarily true for small city-states, which may have encom-
passed no more than a capital and a few villages. Second, unlike the cities of
the Middle Bronze, very few new fortifications were built in the Late Bronze
Age. As noted by Bunimovitz (1994a: 9): “The diminished population in Late
Bronze Age rendered impossible such large-scale building endeavors, and it
is doubtful if the cities could provide enough corvée labourers and craftsmen
to construct massive walls.” Indeed, the extent of public works in Late Bronze
Palestine was quite limited (Hazor is an exception), and some public buildings
were mainly rebuilding and enlargements of Middle Bronze edifices (e.g., the
temples at Shechem and Megiddo; the palace and gate at Megiddo). In light of
the limited scope of public works unearthed in Late Bronze Palestinian sites,
Bunimovitz (1994a) concluded that there was a shortage of manpower at that
time and that control of as much of the human resources as possible was a
major factor in the struggles among Canaanite kingdoms.
Third, territory should not be isolated from other resources of economic
revenues. A kingdom could control a relatively small territory, yet enjoy pros-
perity due to other economic resources and hire foreign workers for public
works. Thus, harbors (e.g., Ashkelon, Acco) or cities located on important
crossroads (e.g., Megiddo) might have controlled relatively small territories,
but profited from their location and used it for hiring manpower for work.
Fourth, the Egyptian Execration Texts (late XIIth-early XIIIth Dynasties)
mention four kingdoms (Acco, Achshaph, Mishal and probably Rehob; see
Kempinski 1986:70–72) that were then located in the Acco Valley. This density
of kingdoms in a relatively small territory shows the danger of making as-
sumptions of the size of territories based on calculated size factor and num-
bers of population for each unit.
Letter EA 249:5–18 sheds interesting light on the problem of manpower in
Palestinian city-states. Ba‘alu-UR.SAG complains before the Pharaoh thus:
May he (the Pharaoh) know that my m[en] are doing service in the day(s) of Mi[lkilu].
What have I done to Milkilu that he should treat my men (even) more unjustly than
his own servants? To Tagi, his father-in-law, he has handed over his own servants, and
what can they do? I am angry (ra-ub?) because I am a loyal servant of the king, and
[how] ([mi-na]-me) can the men serve you? [May] the king [rel]ease me. Who [forced
into servi]ce (ik-šu-u]š-mi) Milkilu and Lab’ayu, so that [ . . . ].6
6. For the verb kašāšu in the Amarna letters, see Rainey 1989–90:59a.
It seems that the Egyptian authorities had ordered Ba‘alu-UR.SAG to send

his men for corvée. He complained that his men were serving Milkilu, king of
Gezer, replacing the men of Gezer who had been sent to help Tagi, Milkilu’s
father-in-law, and asked to be released from his obligations to Egypt. Thus, it
is evident that allied rulers might help each other, whereas subordinate rul-
ers were sometimes obliged to work for their stronger neighbors.
Many variables played part in the historical growth and development of
Late Bronze Canaanite kingdoms. We know very little about these variables
and should avoid generalizing about the size and population of each king-
dom. The number and scope of kingdoms in each area should be studied in
the light of all the available data (admittedly partial and incomplete), avoid-
ing rigid laws derived from the study of peer-polity systems in other parts of
the world.
Finally, the problem of drawing maps and calculating the areas of king-
doms should be discussed. Maps have the advantage of clarity, greatly simpli-
fying complex pictures. However, when the information of a given political
system is minimal, it is legitimate to ask to what extent a nice-looking map
is based on solid foundations. Such is the case of Palestinian Canaanite king-
doms, where there are very few anchor points for drawing the borders and
where all these points are located in inhabited areas. Demarcating all other
borders rest on uncertain ground. Moreover, the site of several city-states is
unknown, and there is no way to include them in the map.
However, the problem is even more complicated. Let us examine for a mo-
ment the two maps drawn by Finkelstein. The reality of borders that pass
through inhabited areas is clear. They define the territory where kingdoms
imposed taxes, levied soldiers for war and workers for the corvée. But what is
the reality of borders that pass through the sparsely inhabited areas, where
there were no permanent settlements? Large parts of Palestine were gener-
ally unsettled in the Late Bronze Age, including the Upper and Lower Galilee,
the Golan Heights, the central hill country, the Lower Jordan Valley and the
Negeb. Can borders drawn through such areas represent political or economic
reality? It goes without saying that some “invisible” (in the archaeological
sense) population groups lived in these areas. But their relationships with the
authorities of neighboring kingdoms are unknown. There is no evidence ei-
ther that kings effectively dominated these sparsely inhabited areas or that
the kings considered them parts of their kingdoms. On the contrary, the
Amarna letters indicate that all the conflicts between neighboring kingdoms
involved villages and towns. I, therefore, question the validity of maps that di-
vide, without any gaps, the entire area of Canaan and give the impression that
there was a stable network of borders in which each king knew what belonged
to him and what to his neighbors. I also question the significance of calculat-
ing the kingdoms’ territories on the basis of these artificial borders. It seems
to me that portions of the sparsely inhabited territories were a kind of “no-
man’s land” and should not be considered integral parts of the kingdoms.
When preparing maps of Late Bronze Palestine, I suggest that exact bor-
derlines should be delineated only in the inhabited areas, where the control
over the areas had either economic or military significance. In my opinion,
partly demarcated maps give a more reliable picture of the Late Bronze city-
state system than detailed maps that artificially divide the entire country
into accurately-defined political units.
The System of Canaanite Kingdoms in South Palestine

The Amarna letters indicate that the most important kingdoms in south
Palestine were Ashkelon, Lachish, Gath* (Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi) Gezer and Jerusalem.
Their rulers corresponded with the Pharaoh and are mentioned in their
neighbors’ letters. The strongest and most influential kingdom in south-
ern Canaan was Gezer, which controlled the international road leading from
north to south and the internal latitudinal routes leading to the hill country.
Other Canaanite kingdoms, whose rulers corresponded with the Pharaoh, but
who are not mentioned by other rulers, are Yurza (EA 314–316), Zuḫra (EA
334), Aḫtiashna (EA 319) and Na?-x-ḫa-x (EA 272). Yurza is sometimes located
at Tell Jemmeh, on Naḥal Besor, the southern border of Canaan. Another pos-
sible site is Tel Haror, on Naḥal Gerar (for recent discussion and literature, see
Finkelstein 1996: 231–232). The location of the other city-states is unknown.
Some large south Palestinian sites, though Finkelstein dismisses their iden-
tification as centers of city-states (e.g., Tell Beit Mirsim, Tel ‘Eton, Khirbet
Rabud7), may perhaps be identified with these city-states.
The location and status of the city of Zilû also needs clarification. ‘Abdi-
Ḫeba, king of Jerusalem, wrote to the Pharaoh as follows (EA 288:39–47):
Not a single mayor remains to the king, my lord; all are lost. Behold, Turbazu was slain
in the city gate of Zilû. The king did nothing. Behold, Zimredda of Lachish, servants
who became ‘Apiru smote him (ik-kí-ú-šu).8 Yaptiḫ-Hadda was slain in the city gate of
Zilû. The king did nothing. Why has he not called them to account?
7. It is possible that the Canaanite town situated at Khirbet Rabud in the Late Bronze
Age had a different name than the Iron Age town. For the suggestion that Khirbet Rabud
was the site of a small Canaanite city-state in the 14th–13th centuries, see Na’aman 1992.
8. I suggest deriving the verbal form from Canaanite nkh “to smite” (ik-kí-ú-šu = yikke’u-šu).
The verb appears, with exactly the same connotation, in many biblical descriptions that refer
to revolts and the smiting of Israelite and Judean kings.
The death of the three mayors9 is described in letter EA 335:8–18 as fol-

lows (Na’aman 1979:627–28):
May [the kin]g, my lord, be in[formed] that the [. . . are . . .] and Tu[rbazu and] Yaptiḫ-
Hadda are slain, and that he (the rebel) smo[te the ruler? of L]achish (nu-k[i-mi? LÚ?
uru
L]a-ki-ši).10 May, the king, my lord, be in[formed] that [the r]ebel has [taken] all my
best men and women. May the king, my lord, be informed that Lachish is h[os]tile and
Mu’rashti has been seized. Also [Jerusal]em? [is hos]tile.
Albright (1924; see Rainey 1978:106; Moran 1992:391) identified uru Zi-lu-ú
with the Egyptian town of Silu, located at the border of eastern Delta. According
to his interpretation, ‘Abdi-Ḫeba complains that two Canaanite mayors were
slain on Egyptian soil, but the Pharaoh did nothing to restore order in the land.
However, locating Zilû on Egypt’s eastern border may perhaps fit the text of
EA 288, but is alien to the text of EA 335. What relevance has the slaying of two
Canaanite mayors in far-away Egypt to ‘Abdi-‘Ashtarti’s complaints about re-
bellions and a growing state of insecurity near his borders? The fact that rul-
ers in two different regions connected the death of Turbazu and Yaptiḫ-Hadda
with the slaying of Zimredda indicates that Zilû and Lachish are neighboring
towns. Zilû must have been either a small city-state or a border town, where
the two mayors met and were killed.
The town of Mu’rashti was possibly located on ‘Abdi-‘Ashtarti’s border
with Lachish. He complains that after the slaying of Zimredda, the rebel de-
spoiled one of his towns. The statement that “Lachish is hostile (nakirat) and
Mu’rashti has been taken (ṣabtat)” combines the rebellion and despoliation.
A similar structure and identical verbs appear in letter EA 256, where Mut-
Baḫlu reports that seven towns rebelled (nakru) against Ayyab of Ashtaroth,
his northern neighbor, and that two towns (Ḫayunu and Yabilima) had been
seized (ṣabtat). The latter towns must have been located in his territory,
near his northern border with the kingdom of Ashtaroth. Mu’rashti must be
sought near ‘Abdi-‘Ashtarti’s border with Lachish. Assuming that he ruled in
Gath* (see Na’aman 1979: 676–684), Mu’rashti may best be identified at Tell
Burnaṭ, near Naḥal Govrin, where Late Bronze pottery was found (Vargon
1990; Dagan 1992:154).
The seat of several south Canaanite rulers is unknown. In addition to
Turbazu and Yaptiḫ-Hadda (one of whom may have ruled Zilû), the list in-
9. That Turbazu and Yaptiḫ-Hadda were mayors is indicated by ‘Abdi-Ḫeba’s words:

“Not a single mayor remains to the king . . . all are lost.”
10. I suggest deriving the verbal form nu-k[i-mi] (line 10) from a D stem of nkh, “to
smite.” For the verbal form, compare EA 283:23 nu-di-ni (“has cast me”). The subject of the
verb (if it is a 3rd per. sg.) is the rebel (arnu) mentioned in line 12. Another possibility is to
restore nu-k[i-ú] and translate “they (the ‘Apiru) smote.”
cludes Ḫiziru (EA 336–337), Yaḫzib-Adda (EA 275–276), Yaḫtiru (EA 296) and
Ṣi-x-ib?-ni (EA 294).11 ‘Abdi-‘Ashtarti (EA 63–65, 335) must have been the suc-
cessor of Shuwardata, and Shubandu (EA 301–306) was the predecessor of
Yidia (Na’aman 1975:124–138; 1979:676–684). Two or three rulers are already
known in all major kingdoms of southern Canaan. Thus, the six rulers whose
capitals are unknown may have ruled either the small city-states of which
only one ruler is known (Yurza, Zuḫra, Aḫtiashna, Na?-x-ḫa-x), or other city-
states whose names do not appear in the extant Amarna letters.
The City of Ashdod in the Amarna Letters

The large prosperous Late Bronze city located at Tel Ashdod poses a spe-
cial problem for historical research. No city named Ashdod is mentioned ei-
ther in the Amarna letters or in any other Late Bronze Egyptian source.
Persons and products qualified as “Ashdadite(s)” are mentioned in the
Ugaritic and Akkadian tablets from Ugarit, and scholars have suggested that
they were merchants or goods named after the Canaanite town of Ashdod
(Cross and Freedman 1964; Astour 1970:123–126; 1975:255–258, 342, with ear-
lier literature).
Recently, Arnaud (1992) surveyed all the texts from Ugarit that mention
Canaanite port towns. The number of references to Sidon exceeds, by far, all
other Canaanite cities. It is clear that Sidon conducted extensive commer-
cial relations with Ugarit, far more than any other Canaanite city. Of the
Palestinian cities, only Acco and Ashkelon are mentioned, each one only
twice.12 Arnaud omitted (with no explanation) all the Ugaritic references to
the Ashdadites, suggesting that the city of Ashdod is mentioned once in an
Akkadian text. However, the separation of the Ugaritic from the Akkadian
references to the Ashdadites is unlikely, inter alia because Ashdadite clothes
are mentioned in both Akkadian (PRU VI 156) and Ugaritic (KTU 4.721) texts.
All references to the Ashdadites in Ugarit must be investigated as one group.
The most remarkable of these texts is KTU 4.635. At least 21 of the ex-
tant 62 persons named in this long list of names are called aḏddy (Ashdadite).
The rest are native Ugaritians designated by their residence, occupation, or
service. Astour (1970:125–126) suggested that all these persons were associ-
11. For discussion of his name, see Hess 1993:53, with earlier literature.
12. The assumed reference to Acco in RS 34.147 (Malbran-Labat 1991: No 5:15) is doubt-
ful. The city’s name was consistently written Akka (not Akku), and the context of the let-
ter (old boats of the king of Charchemish) does not fit a Canaanite city (the same is true for
the assumed mention of Sidon in line 8). Indeed, Arnaud (1992) did not include it in his list
of references to Acco (and to Sidon) in the texts of Ugarit.
ated with the city of Ma’ḫadu, the harbor of Ugarit, and possibly lived there.
An analysis of the names of the Ashdadites in this text indicates that most of
them (16 or 17 out of 21) are West Semitic.
A second text (KTU 4.352) lists persons who purchased large quanti-
ties of oil from royal estates. Among them are people from the kingdom of
Ugarit and three foreigners: an Alashiyan, an Egyptian and an Ashdadite. This
last’s personal name is broken. It is noteworthy that the Egyptian and the
Alashiyan are called by West Semitic names.
A third text (KTU 4.96) lists merchants who purchased the produce
of royal estates. Some of them are from places in the kingdom of Ugarit,
and three are foreigners: an Egyptian, a Canaanite and an Ashdadite. The
Egyptian and Canaanite are called by West Semitic names, whereas the name
of the Ashdadite is non-Semitic (Aryn) (Gröndahl 1967:220).
One alphabetical text (KTU 4.721) and a cuneiform text (PRU VI 156)
mention garments of Ashdad. Astour (1970:124) noted that “in ancient Near
Eastern texts, the designation of merchandise by the place of origin almost
invariably points to the latter’s foreign location, and this is also true for
Ugarit.”
Finally, an Ugaritic text (KTU 4.709) records the purchase of “seven tal-
ents of wool according to the talent of Ashdad, and according to the talent of
Ugarit five talents 1800 (shekels).” Liverani (1972) clarified the relationship
between the two weight systems and its significance for the commercial rela-
tionship between Ugarit and Ashdad.
Among the personal names in the texts from Ugarit are m Ašdudana and
f
Ašdada (Astour 1970:124 n. 1; 1975:255–256). It is a well-known phenomenon
that people who live in foreign countries have personal names derived from
gentilics. These names again indicate that people of Ashdadite origin lived in
the kingdom of Ugarit.
Where is the site of the foreign city of Ashdad that maintained such close
contacts with the kingdom of Ugarit? Identifying it with Ashdod, the south
Palestinian city, is unlikely in light of the above-mentioned distribution of
Canaanite cities in the texts from Ugarit. The names of important port towns
located along the Syrian and Lebanese coast in the Late Bronze Age are too
well known to insert another unidentified town. The many West Semitic
names among the Ashdadites preclude its identification with an Anatolian
city. With all due caution, I would suggest identifying Ashdad with the impor-
tant Cypriot port city of Enkomi.
Enkomi is the closest Cypriot harbor to Ugarit; their close relationship, as
indicated by the extensive archaeological excavations conducted on the two
sites, are too well known to require comment. Enkomi’s prosperity reached
its zenith in the 13th century, the time in which the Ashdadites are men-
tioned in the documents from Ugarit. The remarkable place of the Ashdadites
in the tablets from Ugarit, the different standard of weights and the export of
a special kind of garment — all fit Enkomi very well.
It is not clear whether the high percentage of West Semitic names among
the Ashdadites, as reflected in tablet KTU 4.635, represents either the gen-
eral population of the city or is typical only of the community that lived at
Ma’ḫadu. Either way, provided that the suggested identification of Ashdad
with Enkomi is acceptable, it indicates the migration of people of West
Semitic origin from the coast of Lebanon to Cyprus and the long preservation
of their cultural inheritance. The Late Bronze city of Enkomi may be com-
pared with Iron Age Kition, which for hundreds of years kept its Phoenician
cultural identity and was the main Cypriot port of trade with the Phoenician
cities (particularly Tyre) in the first millennium BCE.
The place name Ashdad is West Semitic. It is derived from the verb ŠDD
and is built according to the ’aqṭāl paradigm, like other second millennium
East Mediterranean harbors (e.g., Arwada, Achshaph, Akhlab, Ashkelon)
(Astour 1975:257).13 This is another indication that people who spoke a West
Semitic language founded the city.
A land called Alashiya is mentioned in various texts from East
Mediterranean second millennium kingdoms (Ḫatti, Mari, Alalakh, Ugarit
and Egypt) (see references in Knapp 1996). Letters sent from Alashiya ap-
pear in the Amarna and Ugarit archives. Alashiya is certainly identical with
Cyprus, all other suggestions being untenable (for discussions and literature,
see Muhly 1972; Catling 1975:197–203; Hellbing 1979; Knapp 1996a). It must
have been a name for a vast territory, most probably for the entire island of
Cyprus. Otherwise, its ruler would not have been considered a great king,
equal in international status to other members of the “club” of great powers.
Indeed, the name Alashiya usually appears with the KUR determinative, i.e.,
as a name for territory.
In a few texts, Alashiya appears with the URU determinative. It is well
known that scribes who worked in the peripheral kingdoms did not con-
sistently distinguish among determinatives, and sometimes used URU, or
KUR.URU, for KUR. An examination of all the references where Alashiya ap-
pears with the URU determinative reveals that no single text refers unequiv-
ocally to a city.14 A town named Alashiya is not borne out by the textual ev-
13. The suggestion of Lemche and Thompson (1994:13) that the name Ashdod is com-
posed of the element dwd is erroneous.
14. See Knapp 1996:4, with earlier literature. For the Mari references, see Sasson 1996;
for the Ugaritic text, see Walls 1996:40. It may be noted that the colophon in KTU 4.102 is
idence. We may conclude that Alashiya was a name either for the island of
Cyprus, or sometimes for a part of it, and that the claim that a certain city was
called Alashiya is yet to be confirmed.
Finally, there is new, as yet unpublished evidence (based on a petro-
graphic analysis of the Amarna tablets) that Enkomi is not identical with
Alashiya of the Amarna letters (in the meantime, see Artzy, Perlman and
Asaro 1976; Knapp 1996a:6). The new evidence suggests that Enkomi may
have been called by a name other than Alashiya. It fits my suggestion that the
city’s name was Ashdad in the 14th–13th centuries BCE.
What then was the name of the biblical Ashdod in the Late Bronze Age? As
noted above, no Late Bronze Egyptian source mentions Ashdod. Admittedly,
towns located on the Philistine coast rarely appear in Egyptian topographical
lists. Ashdod is mentioned for the first time in the Onomasticon of Amenope
from the reign of Ramesses XI (1099–1070), together with Gaza and Ashkelon.
M. Dothan (1992) suggested that during the New Kingdom, Ashdod was an
Egyptian center and the residence of an Egyptian governor (see Kitchen
1993). This may be true for the time of the XIXth-XXth Dynasties, when
Egypt greatly expanded its territory in Canaan, but is unlikely for the time
of the XVIIIth Dynasty. Moreover, all the Egyptian centers are mentioned in
the Amarna letters, but never Ashdod. Dothan’s suggestion does not solve
the problem.
Is it possible that the Late Bronze city was called by another name?
According to this hypothesis, a group that migrated from Enkomi in the 12th
century and settled in Tel Ashdod named it after their place of origin. I have
already noted that names of some Late Bronze city-states fell into obliv-
ion after the collapse of the system of Canaanite cities in the 12th century;
hence, the locations remain unknown. Moreover, many Canaanite cities that
are mentioned in Late Bronze Egyptian topographical lists are unidentified.
Some cities may have been renamed in late time and their old names fell into
oblivion.
Renaming a place when it has changed ownership is attested amply in the
Bible (Eissfeldt 1968). This must have been a well-known phenomenon, al-
though the scope of renaming is unknown. The assumption that Ashdod was
renamed in the early Iron Age at least has some parallels in other sources.
There is a great danger in drawing conclusions on the basis of lack of evi-
dence (i.e., the non-mention of Ashdod in the Amarna and Egyptian sources).
broken on both sides. It is possible either that a KUR sign appeared on the left side or that
a post-determinative KI sign appeared on the right side (as restored in KTU).
Nevertheless, I believe that a case may be made for the suggestion that Iron
Age Ashdod was called by a different name in the Late Bronze Age.
A certain place called Tianna is mentioned in letters of the rulers of Gezer
(EA 298), Ashkelon (EA 306) and Gath* (EA 284). I have already suggested
(Na’aman 1979: 679–681) that the three letters were written at about the
same time and reflect a situation in which rebellions and disturbances spread
through the south Canaanite kingdoms (for details, see Na’aman 1975:69–72,
102–104, 205–206, 208). The three (unfortunately partly broken) passages in
which Tianna is mentioned run as follows:
(a) EA 298:20–30: “May the king, my lord, be informed that my younger
brother, having become enemy, entered Muḫḫazu and pledged himself to the
‘Apiru. And now [Ti]anna ([uruTi]-an-na[k]i) is at war with me. So govern (milik)
your land.”15
(b) EA 306:28–35: “And may you, my lord, know that they have set fire
to your cities and your places. [And no]w [Tia]nna ([uruTi-a]n-naki) [is at war?
against? you]r? [servant?].”16
(c) EA 284:30–32: “ . . . uruT[i]-i[a-n]a, and n[ow?] he/they at[tac]ked? it (im-
[g]u-[g]u-m[i]-ši).” For the verb magāgu, see Kottsieper 1988.
The three letters indicate that rebellion broke out in the city of Tianna
and spread to neighboring areas and that its outcome endangered the king-
doms of Gezer, Gath* and Ashkelon. Who the rebels were is not related in
the letters. Muḫḫazu is located south of Gezer’s border and was sometimes
identified at Tell es-Sulṭan, near Nebi Rubin (Alt 1925:17; M. Dothan 1952). It
seems to me that Beya, the son of Gulatu, whose misdeeds were the subject of
the bitter complaints of Ba‘lu-shipṭi of Gezer (EA 292:41–52) and of Ṣi-x-ib?-ni
(EA 294:16–26), was the leader of a band of ‘Apiru that stayed at Muḫḫazu.17
The armed band used to capture travelers and release them for a high ransom
15. Rainey’s objection (1989–90:72) to the restoration Tianna lacks concrete foun-
dations. An almost complete ki sign is clearly seen on the tablet (collated). For the verb
malāku in the Amarna letters, see Renger 1988; Zaccagnini 1993.
16. The end of the an sign is clearly seen on the tablet (collated). Rainey’s restoration
(1989–90:72) of a lu sign is erroneous.
17. Albright (1946:19 No 46; 1969:489 n. 22; 1975:104) suggested that Peya was a minor
Egyptian officer and bore an Egyptian name (see Helck 1971:255; Hess 1993:123). However,
the name Beya is known from the texts of Emar, Assyria, Ḫatti (Hess 1993:123), Ugarit
(Gröndahl 1967:305, 330) and Alalakh (AT 199:31). Beya is also the name of a high Egyptian
official of Canaanite origin in the late years of the Egyptian XIXth Dynasty (Freu 1988; de
Moor 1990:136–151). His mother, Gulatu, had a West Semitic name (Hess 1993:68). I very
much doubt the Egyptian origin of his name. Be that as it may, Beya, the son of Gulatu,
must have been a local leader of a band that operated in the southern coast of Canaan in
the Amarna period.
(EA 292:47–51; 294:18–24). In a situation of internal disturbances (Tianna’s

rebellion), the rebellious prince sought the military support of the band of
‘Apiru in an effort to gain power and overthrow the elected king. Indeed,
Yapaḫu reigned for only a short time and was soon replaced by a Ba‘lu-shipṭi,
the author of letters EA 292–293 (Na’aman 1975:69–72).18
There is another source that refers to Tianna, not discussed until now in
scientific literature. In an Egyptian administrative text (Papyrus Petersburg
1116A) of the time of Amenophis II (1427–1401) (Redford 1965), there appear
two lists of “maryannu from Djahi” who received beer and corn from the ad-
ministrative authorities in Memphis (see Helck 1963:623 lines 67–77, 628 lines
183–190; 1971:166; Epstein 1963). The lists of Canaanite towns are almost
identical, although recorded in a different order. The names of the towns that
sent the envoys (designated by the honorary title maryannu) are as follows:
Megiddo, Chinnereth, Achshaph, Šmrn (i.e., Shamḫuna), Taanach, Mishal, Tnn
(Helck: tì-n-ni), Sharuna, Ashkelon, Hazor and “the small one from Htm.”19 An
envoy from Lachish is also mentioned in this text.
Most of the cities enumerated are known to have corresponded with the
Pharaoh in the Amarna period. We may safely assume that each envoy rep-
resented a city-state and was sent to Egypt by his lord (a secondary town
within a city-state would never send envoys to Egypt!). Their mission must
have been either political or ceremonial (i.e., to bring the inw-contributions
for the New Year’s parade), and their expenditures were covered, at least par-
tially, by the Egyptian court.
Where was the Tnn mentioned in the list of city-states? Alt (1916) identi-
fied it with the ti-en-ni mentioned in letter EA 260, and other scholars agreed
(e.g., Epstein 1963:52–53; Ahituv 1984:188). The text of EA 260 (lines 11–16)
runs as follows:
May the Great King take cognizance of his servant, for I reside in É-ti4 ti-en-ni. So may
the Great King, my lord, take cognizance of his servant.
The letter was undoubtedly sent from a Syrian town (Artzi 1968). The
city-states enumerated in Papyrus Petersburg are all located in Palestine, ex-
18. Letter EA 300 is Yapaḫu’s last letter. For translation and early literature, see Moran
1992. Lines 10–14 may tentatively be restored thus: “[May the king know about] m[y town]s
([URUdi]dli.ḫ[i-i]a), for they have been t[ak]en (ti-[il-te]-qa) from my country. And indeed I
have nothing left.” Line 10 is restored on the basis of the similarity of the fragmented signs
to line 19 (URUdidli.hi-ni-ia), as well as the words of lines 15–22, which indicate that he lose
his towns.
19. The statement referring to “the small one” is not clear. Helck (1971:166 n. 135) won-
dered if it had to do with the succession to the throne.
cept for Sharuna that is probably located in Bashan (see EA 241;20 Edel 1966:
13–14). Identifying the Tnn of the Egyptian text with the assumed toponym
mentioned in EA 260 expands the geographical scope of the list considerably.
Moreover, the reading Bit-tenni in letter EA 260 (as suggested by Moran 1992:
311) is not free of doubts. First, there is no URU sign before the assumed place
name. Second, the element bīt (“house of ”) is quite rare in second millen-
nium Syrian toponyms (for example, it does not appear among the toponyms
from Ugarit). Third, a toponym does not fit well the context of the passage, in
which the author (Balu-Mer) relates how dangerous his situation is.
Note, too, the similarity between the words in lines 13–14 and those of
‘Abdi-Ashirta’s letter:
EA 260:13–14: ù a-na-ku a-na É-tì ti-en-ni ú-ša-ab
EA 62: 17–18: šum-ma i-na a-šar É ni-iḫ aš-ba-ku (“Had I been staying in a place/house
which was calm”).
In light of the comparison, it would seem that the author of letter EA 260
made use of a descriptive expression (”For I reside in a . . . house/place”).
Akkadian tēnû means “substitute” (AHW 1347a) and is construed with bītu.
Did Balu-Mer compare his place to an adjoining house, not an integral part of
the main house where everyone else stayed? Or did he use a loan word to de-
scribe his place (compare EA 294:22 bīti šunūti)?
The identification of the Tnn of the Papyrus Petersburg with the city of
Tianna mentioned in the three Amarna letters is not fraught with difficulties.
Tianna is located near the borders of Gezer, Gath* and Ashkelon, and placing
it at Tel Ashdod, in between the three kingdoms, fits very well. With all due
caution, I suggest that Tianna was a south Canaanite city-state located in Tel
Ashdod. Muḫḫazu must have been a border town of Tianna, situated near its
northern border with the kingdom of Gezer.
Of the several south Canaanite rulers whose seat is unknown, Yaḫtiru,
who “guards the city gate of Gaza and the city gate of Joppa” (EA 296:31–33),
may have ruled Tianna (Tel Ashdod). Another candidate ruler for Tianna is Ṣi-
x-ib? -ni, the author of letter EA 294. This ruler complains that Beya, possibly
the leader of a band that stayed in Muḫḫazu (see above), captured the men
that he sent for service in Joppa. Placing his city south of Muḫḫazu, and as-
20. The second half of letter EA 241 is partly broken, but may tentatively be restored as
follows (lines 12–20): “And here and now the king, my lord, [the ‘Apiru??] are [m]an[y] ([m]a-
a-d[u]). O[ne (1-[en]) was caught?? near/in the ci]ty (‘URU’) of the king, my lord. Another
was smitten by my hand, for I am a loyal servant of the king, my lord.”
suming that his men were captured when they were on their way north to
Joppa, fits nicely with Tianna’s assumed location.
Tel Ashdod was destroyed in the early 12th century BCE, and among the
early settlers on the site there may have been people from Ashdad (Enkomi),
who renamed it after their town of origin.
I am fully aware of the uncertainty entailed in the two parts of my sug-
gestion, the identification of the city of Ashdad at Enkomi, and in particular
the identification of Tianna at Tel Ashdod. However, I believe that the argu-
ments given above are strong enough to encourage other scholars to enter
the discussion and either agree (at least partially) or suggest other solutions
for these complicated textual-archaeological problems.
The System of Canaanite Kingdoms in North Palestine

The Amarna letters indicate that Shechem was the strongest kingdom
in central Palestine, whereas Megiddo, Acco, Achshaph and Hazor were the
most important kingdoms in the north. Their rulers corresponded with the
Pharaoh and are mentioned also in letters of their neighbors. Hazor was the
most important kingdom in Canaan, although its prominence is not enough
indicated by the Amarna letters. Other kingdoms that are mentioned in the
Amarna tablets are Gath-padalla, Gath-kirmil, Taanach, [x-I]G-ma-te (EA
257),21 and Shamḫuna.22
Establishing the number of city-states in north Palestine is more compli-
cated than in the south, as each ruler sent only a few letters, and many rul-
ers did not mention their city. Moreover, in several letters we cannot even
decide whether they were sent from northern Palestine, or from areas north/
northeast of it.
Among the possible north Palestinian rulers whose seat is unknown are
Dashru (EA 261–262), Bayadi (EA 237–238), Baduzana (EA 239), ‘Abdina (EA
229), Shipturiṣa (EA 226), Y/Wiktasu (EA 221–222), Aḫi-y[a . . .] (EA 217),23 and
Bayawa (EA 215–216).
21. Rainey’s suggestion (1989:570–571; 1989–1990:70) to transcribe [uruKIN-t]i ma-gal in

line 21 must be rejected on paleographic grounds. Both Knudtzon’s transcription and the
facsimile of Schroeder are at variance with his proposed text alterations.
22. There is no indication in the Amarna correspondence that Shamḫuna was an im-
portant Canaanite city. The city and its rulers are mentioned only in Shum-Adda’s let-
ters, in reference to the plundering of a Babylonian caravan (EA 8). The city and its ruler
are not mentioned even in the episode of Lab’ayu’s slaying, that probably took place in
Shamḫuna’s territory. The relative small size of Tel Shimron in the Late Bronze Age (see
Portugali 1982:185–187) accords well with the evidence of the Amarna tablets.
23. For West Semitic parallels to the name Aḫi-ya . . . (“The divine brother is . . . ”), see
Zadok 1977: 355b.
Another ruler may possibly be mentioned in letter EA 238. Bayadi, the

author of letters EA 237–238, was an ally of Lab’ayu, king of Shechem, and
he complained that after his enemies (whose names are broken) captured
Lab’ayu, they attacked and conquered his towns. The passage EA 238:21–28 is
partly broken, but may tentatively be restored thus:
[They] hav[e attacked? Lab’ayu?] and the son of Ḫ[a]g[urru? (xxx)] and Ḫagurru (xx)],
and they have captured [Lab’ayu] and attacked m[e]. They have captured the cities of
the magnate, my lord.24
Ḫagurru, Lab’ayu’s ally, is another mayor whose seat is unknown.

Finkelstein questioned the status of Taanach as an independent city-state
in the Amarna letters. However, the archive of 13 cuneiform tablets discov-
ered on the site leaves no doubt that Taanach was a city-state in the late 15th
century. Its ruler (Rewashur) received letters from both neighboring kings
and from an Egyptian officer stationed at Gaza. The palace management
was administered partly in the Akkadian language. A messenger of Taanach
is mentioned in Papyrus Petersburg 1116A among the other Canaanite en-
voys. Excavations conducted on the site indicate that it was sparsely inhab-
ited in Late Bronze II (Glock 1993:1432). However, according to letter EA 248,
Taanach (Taḫn[ak]a) was the seat of an independent ruler (Yashdata), who
participated, with other rulers, in the pursuit after Lab’ayu (EA 245:11–18).
There can be no doubt that Taanach’s status as independent city-state was
maintained in spite of its (gradual?) downfall.
Maintaining the status of a city-state in spite of drastic downfall is il-
lustrated by the example of Ekron in the first millennium. During the early
Iron Age, Ekron was a large fortified city covering about 50 acres (Gitin and
Dothan 1987; T. Dothan 1989; Gitin 1989). Following its destruction in the
tenth century BCE, the city shrank, lost its fortifications, and covered only
the site’s summit. It was smaller and weaker than many fortified cities of
the neighboring kingdoms. Yet, Ekron remained a city-state, as indicated by
Amos 1:8 and by the recently discovered dedication inscription, which men-
tions the five ancestors of its early seventh century BCE ruler (Gitin, Dothan
and Naveh 1997). The prestigious status of Ekron in the early Iron Age did not
vanish even after the city’s utter decline.
24. The restoration of lines 21–22 is ad sensum. The restoration of line 25 is supported
by the text of EA 237. In line 23, Moran (1992) restored DUMU ms[à]-t[a-at-na]. However,
Surata, the father of Satatna, participated in the operation against Lab’ayu (EA 245), and
Satatna ascended the throne after Lab’ayu’s death. Moreover, Acco was an enemy, not an
ally, of Lab’ayu. I, therefore, restore in line 23 DUMU mḫ[a]-gu[r-ru (xxx)]. Like many princes
who participated in operations during their father’s reign, Ḫagurru’s son took part in the
operation side by side with his father.
Other city-states, not mentioned in the Amarna archive, are attested in

Egyptian royal inscriptions. Amenophis II, in his campaign to Canaan, relates
that on his return he brought with him Qaqa, the prince (wr) of Geba‘-śmn,
and appointed another ruler (wr) in his place (Edel 1953:123 lines 116–118,
135, 157; Wilson 1969:247). Two towns named Geba‘ appear in the topo-
graphical list of Thutmose III. The second Geba‘ (No. 114) is mentioned after
Jokneam (No. 113), and is safely identified at Tell Abu Shusheh (Schmitt 1987:
23–41, with earlier literature). The first Geba‘ (No. 41) is written Geba‘-śmn
and is identical with the city-state mentioned by Amenophis II. The city ap-
pears in the group Mishal (39), Achshaph (40), Geba‘-śmn (41), Taanach (42)
and Yibleam (43). It is apparently located in the western or southern Jezreel
Valley and was identified with Tell el-‘Amr or Tell Harbaj (Rainey 1973:74–75;
Schmitt 1987:42–48, with earlier literature). Regardless of its exact location,
Geba‘-śmn was doubtless a Canaanite city-state.
Amenophis II further relates that he plundered the city of Anaharath and
enumerates the booty he took from the place (Edel 1953: 123 lines 112–115, 134–
135, 157; Wilson 1969:247). Enumerating in the booty list are six sons of rulers
(wrw), 17 maryannu, seven horses and seven chariots. It is unlikely that princes,
a military elite and chariots would have been captured in a secondary town. It is
clear that Anaharath was also a north Palestinian city-state. It is identified at Tel
Rekhesh, dominating the basalt plateaus of the eastern Lower Galilee.
The cities of Mishal and Chinnereth appear in the list of envoys who
traveled to Egypt on an official mission in the time of Amenophis II.
Chinnereth is identified at Khirbet el-‘Oreimeh, and a Late Bronze I settle-
ment has been found in the recently conducted excavations of the site (Fritz
1993:211–212). A scarab of Tiye, consort of Amenophis III, was discovered
there (Hübner 1986:258–259, 264), indicating that Chinnereth was still set-
tled in the first half of the 14th century. Like Taanach, it might have been
an independent city-state until its abandonment in the second half of the
14th century BCE.
Mishal was already a city-state in the Middle Bronze Age, as indicated by
its mention in the Execration Texts (Posener 1940:71–72). The city must have
kept its political status in the Late Bronze Age. It is located, possibly, in one of
the mounds of the Acco plain (Tell Kisan? Tell en-Naḥl?).
The city of Rehob is not mentioned in the Amarna letters, but was doubt-
less a city-state, as indicated by Seti I’s inscription from Beth-shean. In de-
scribing the rebellion initiated by the leader of Hamath, the Egyptian king
noted that “he does not permit the prince (wr) of Rehob to go outside”
(Wilson 1969:253). Rehob is also mentioned in a letter from Taanach (TT 2:22)
and is safely identified at the large mound of Tell eṣ-Ṣarem. It was the major
Canaanite city in the Beth-shean Valley. The case of Rehob shows how erro-
neous is the assumption that all the major Canaanite city-states are men-
tioned in the extant Amarna archive.
Finally, there are some sites that might have been seats of local rulers,
even though their names are missing from the Amarna letters. We may note
Tel Dor, which, in the first millennium, was always an independent district
(see Na’aman 1986b:184–186), Tel Jokneam and Tel Qarnei-Ḥiṭṭin.
The Amarna letters tell us very little about the scope of the north
Palestinian kingdoms. The clearest example is letter EA 250, in which Ba‘lu-
UR.SAG relates that Lab’ayu attacked Shunem, Burquna and Ḫarabu, seized
Gath-rimmunima and “cultivated the fields? of the king” (lines 41–47).
Burquna and Ḫarabu are identified in the Dothan Valley (see locations and
literature in Finkelstein 1996: 236). Hence, the entire Dothan Valley, or a con-
siderable part of it, was situated outside Lab’ayu’s kingdom (Na’aman 1975:
45; Bunimovitz 1989:142). The Dothan Valley may have been the seat of a local
king, who naturally was a vassal of the strong king of Shechem.
The territory of Beth-shean must have included the Pharaonic lands in
the Jezreel Valley (Na’aman 1988d). Finkelstein suggested that “Egyptian
centers did not possess large territories beyond their immediate surround-
ings,” and that “the local population was considered to be under the jurisdic-
tion of the nearest Canaanite city-state.” The latter statement is implausible,
because this would have allowed neighboring rulers freedom to intervene in
the internal affairs of the Egyptian centers. Moreover, in one of his letters (EA
102:22–24), Rib-Hadda describes the local authorities of Ṣumur as made of “a
magnate (lúrabû) and the lords of the city (amēlūti bēle āli).” In Canaanite city-
states, the lords of the city were the urban institution that represented the
citizens before the king. In the Egyptian centers, these lords represented the
citizens before the local Egyptian authorities. In another letter (EA 62), ‘Abdi-
Ashirta reports that he guards the Egyptian centers of Ṣumur and Ullasa, and
adds: “I also guard the barley harvest of Ṣumur and of all the lands of the
king” (lines 26–28). Like all other Canaanite cities, Ṣumur had tracts of ara-
ble land in its vicinity. Each Egyptian center was no doubt a territorial unit
encompassing enough territory for the maintenance of the local population.
Finkelstein’s maps, in which all Egyptian centers were included within the
territory of the nearby Canaanite cities, are evidently wrong.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize the following five points:

1. In order to reconstruct territorial-political systems, it is necessary to
apply theoretical models and to take into account the geographical features
and archaeological data (i.e., settlement size and distribution, demography),
as well as the long-range perspectives. We may also apply a size factor for
the polity system and draw schematic boundaries between territories. Such
reconstruction works very well for illiterate societies, where there is no al-
ternative but to extract the data from non-documentary evidence. However,
scholars should never forget that reality may have been largely, or even en-
tirely, unlike the results of theoretical models, no matter how logical they
seem, because human activities do not follow any particular model. The de-
velopment of territorial-political systems involves many factors, and no
human mind is able to reconstruct them, unless detailed written sources
are available.
When documentary evidence is available, it must be taken into account
as a point of departure for the territorial discussion. The main problem with
Finkelstein’s reconstruction is his effort to force the evidence into a rigid
scheme that he made on the basis of theoretical considerations. He some-
times ignored unequivocal evidence that did not fit into his preconceived
territorial scheme and interpreted all other evidence in an effort to fit it into
his model. His maps, in which 13–14 relatively large kingdoms divide the en-
tire territory of Palestine, neither do justice to the complexity of the system
of Canaanite city-states and Egyptian centers, nor take into account the large
uninhabited parts of the country, which were not effectively controlled by
neighboring kingdoms.
2. The major Canaanite kingdoms along the coast of Palestine were Acco
and Ashkelon. Gezer, Gath* and Lachish were the most important kingdoms
in southern Palestine. Shechem was the major kingdom in the central hill
country, and Hazor dominated the area of Galilee. Megiddo and possibly
Rehob and Achshaph were the major city-states in the northern plains. Many
other kingdoms are attested as well, some of which cannot be located. In the
south were Yurza, Aḫtiashna, Zuḫra, Na-x-ḫa-x, and, possibly, Tianna and
Zilû. In central Palestine were Gath-padalla and, possibly, Gath-kirmil. In the
north were Taanach, Geba‘-śmn, Mishal, Shamḫuna, [x-I]G-ma-te, Anaharath
and, possibly, Chinnereth. Sites like Tell Beit Mirsim, Tel ‘Eton, Khirbet Rabud,
Dor, Tel Jokneam and Tel Qarnei Ḥiṭṭin may have been the seats of city-state
rulers. It is possible, of course, that some of the mayors whose seats are un-
known ruled in these places or that some cities were called by old names
whose identity remains unknown.
3. The overall number of city-states in Palestine was at least 25, proba-
bly more. The network of Canaanite kingdoms was composed of kingdoms of
higher and lesser rank. To a certain extent, the political affairs were dictated
by the major kingdoms, and some of the lesser city-states were dependent on
their stronger neighbors. The latter were able to dictate policy and intervene
in internal affairs. However, we must not forget that Egypt governed Canaan
and that real power was in the hand of the Egyptians. Egypt intervened when
internal developments endangered its interests, curbing and restraining the
power of ambitious rulers and, thereby, helping to maintain the delicate in-
ternal balance in its Asiatic province.
4. Only some internal borders — namely, those that passed through in-
habited areas — should be precisely demarcated. Remarkable features in the
settlement pattern of Palestine in the Late Bronze Age are the westward ad-
vance of the frontier (see Bunimovitz 1994b) and the growth of large un-
inhabited areas in the highlands, the Lower Jordan Valley and the Negeb.
Drawing a map that divides the entire land among territorial entities blurs
the territorial reality of the Late Bronze Age. Therefore, we should avoid
drawing boundary lines in unsettled areas. I would also suggest avoiding
exact calculations of the areas of kingdoms, unless located in inhabited re-
gions. Demographic calculations of vast areas can be made on the basis of the
number and size of settlements, but these calculations are highly uncertain
when applied to the assumed areas of individual kingdoms.
Ironically, it is easier to draw maps and make calculations for periods for
which there is no written evidence than for partly documented periods. For
the former, the selected model and the theoretical assumptions dictate the
results, to a certain extent. For the latter, there is no alternative but to work
with all the data and live with uncertainty. Better uncertainty and blanks that
may be filled by future discoveries than theories and models that produce
neat, but scientifically inaccurate, pictures.
5. Bunimovitz (1994) discussed in great detail the problem of human re-
sources in second millennium Canaan. He emphasized that the diminished
population in the Late Bronze Age rendered impossible such large-scale
building endeavors as the earth- and stoneworks constructed in the Middle
Bronze Age. The large number of Palestinian city-states and their relative
small size further aggravated the problem of manpower. It must have been
difficult for the small-scale kingdoms to mobilize enough people for public
works. Their size and the shortage of manpower may partly explain the rel-
ative poverty of important Canaanite centers during in the Late Bronze II,
as indicated in the archaeological excavations (e.g., Shechem, Jerusalem,25
Lachish, Gezer, Chinnereth and Taanach).
25. Finkelstein (1993:122–123; 1996) suggested that the territory of Late Bronze
Jerusalem extended over the entire highlands of Judah up to the Beer-sheba Valley. The
paucity of archaeological finds from Late Bronze Age II Jerusalem renders his suggestion
highly unlikely (for further details, see Na’aman 1992).
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Canaanite Jerusalem and its Central Hill Country
Neighbors in the Second Millennium BCE1
Introduction
The boundaries of the kingdom of Jerusalem and its northern and south-
ern neighbors in the second millennium BCE have been discussed by only
a few scholars. This is hardly surprising, as detailed territorial discussions
are dependent on written sources as well as reliable archaeological data.
However, for the history of the hill country of Judah and Benjamin in the sec-
ond millennium BCE, there is only one source — the Amarna archive — that
covers about a quarter of a century and is too incomplete for the delinea-
tion of a border system. Detailed archaeological data of the distribution of
settlements in the highlands of Judah was first published in the early 1970s
(Kochavi 1972), and much more data on the territory of Benjamin, the area
of Jerusalem, and the Judean hill country have recently been published in
preliminary reports and summary discussions (e.g., Mazar 1990; Ofer 1990;
see Finkelstein and Magen 1993). The new data, which were not available to
scholars in the past, can now be evaluated to obtain a better picture of the
border system of the central hill country in the second millennium BCE.
Alt (1925:5–6, 12–13; 1953:107–108) suggested that Late Bronze Jerusalem
was a small hill-country kingdom, about the same size as many other
Shephelah and northern plain kingdoms. He reached this conclusion by an
analysis of the Amarna letters and, to a certain extent, of later developments
in the area in the pre-monarchial and monarchial periods. Kallai and Tadmor
(1969:143–145), on the other hand, suggested that the boundaries of Jerusalem
encompassed the entire Judean hills and that the ruler of Jerusalem was one of
the important Canaanite kings of the Amarna period. They compared the sta-
tus of Jerusalem’s ruler to that of the rulers of Shechem who dominated an ex-
tensive territory and who extended their political influence on remote territo-
ries. Their conclusions are founded on an analysis of the Amarna letters and on
the biblical description of the king of Jerusalem as head of the Canaanite league
that fought Joshua near Gibeon (Josh. 10). I have suggested that Alt’s analysis
173
is better founded and that the combination of the source material with the re-
sults of the archaeological surveys (not yet published when Kallai and Tadmor
wrote their article) indicates that the territory of the kingdom of Jerusalem in
the Late Bronze Age was fairly modest and the political influence of its king
quite restricted (Na’aman 1975:104–114; 1986a:470–472; 1988:19–20). Recently,
Finkelstein (1993:122–123) supported Kallai and Tadmor, suggesting that in
the second millennium BCE, Jerusalem dominated the entire area between the
Beer-sheba Valley in the south and Bethel in the north.
My discussion will start with an analysis of the Amarna letters, our main
written source for the problem. Subsequently, I will analyze the archaeolog-
ical and documentary evidence of the second millennium BCE, and, finally, I
will present data concerning the political and administrative relationship of
Jerusalem with the southern Judean hill country in various historical periods.
It seems to me that the new archaeological data, when combined with the
documentary evidence and the analysis of the “longue durée,” may enable us
to reach a definite conclusion about the place of Canaanite Jerusalem within
the system of Canaanite kingdoms in the second millennium BCE.
1. An Analysis of the Amarna Letters

The six letters sent from the king of Jerusalem to the Pharaoh (EA 285–
290) are our main source for Jerusalem in the Amarna period. Numerous let-
ters sent to Egypt by the rulers of Gezer, Gath* (Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi)2 and others shed
further light on the scope and political relationship of the king of Jerusalem
vis à vis his western neighbors in the Shephelah.
Although the Amarna archive covers only about a quarter of a century, it
accurately reflects various aspects that either did not change at all for hun-
dreds of years or were transformed slowly in the course of time, i.e., the rel-
ative political and economic strength of the city-states, their scope, the
Egyptian system of garrison cities and administration, the relationship be-
tween the Canaanite rulers and the Egyptian Pharaoh, etc. Hence, the archive
is essential for establishing the position, strength and territorial scope of the
kingdom of Jerusalem in the Late Bronze Age.
2. For the problem of the location and name of Shuwardata’s city, see Kallai and
Tadmor 1969:144–145; Aharoni 1969:141–145; Na’aman 1979:682–684, with earlier litera-
ture. The city of Gath (Gimti) mentioned in letter EA 290:9, 28 is Ginti-kirmil, Tagu’s capi-
tal. Shuwardata’s seat was apparently at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi, but the name of his capital is nowhere
mentioned in the Amarna letters. As Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi was the place of Philistine Gath in the Iron
Age, it may be assumed that the place had been called by the name Gath in the Late Bronze
Age. Hence, the name Gath* for Shuwardata’s city in this article.
Canaanite Jerusalem and its Central Hill Country Neighbors 175
For my discussion, it is important to note that the Amarna archive is

a unique collection. It includes letters brought from the previous capital,
Thebes, to the new capital, Akhetaten (Amarna), at the time when the royal
court moved there, but lacks those letters taken from Akhetaten at the time
of its abandonment. The latter letters were apparently written at a relatively
late stage and were taken for further correspondence to the new seat of the
Pharaoh (Riedel 1939; Campbell 1964:35–36; Na’aman 1981:173–174). The
number of letters transferred in both cases is unknown, and we do not know
how many tablets were totally destroyed when the archive was discovered
and before the importance of the tablets was recognized (Knudtzon 1915:1–
15; Campbell 1964:32–35). An illuminating example of the incomplete nature
of the archive is the four Amarna tablets that comprise the second of origi-
nally two-tablet letter (EA 101, 113, 245, 251): In no case was the first tablet
found! It is evident that only a portion of the original Amarna archive came
down to us, and this must be taken into account in the historical discussion.
The Amarna letters reflect well the balance of powers within the land of
Canaan and the system of Canaanite kingdoms. Yet, the list of Canaanite city-
states isrepresented only partially. Not only is the archive incomplete, but the
seat of various rulers remains unknown. In southern Canaan alone, the seats
of Shubandu (EA 301–306), Yaḫzib-Adda (EA 275–276) and Ḫiziru (EA 336–337)
are unknown, and the locations of the city-states of Zuḫra (EA 334), Aḫtiashna
(EA 319) and possibly also Zilu (EA 288, 335) are yet to be found. Moreover, nu-
merous kingdoms mentioned in the Egyptian royal inscriptions (e.g., Rehob
in the Beth-shean Valley, Anaharath in southern Lower Galilee and Geba‘-śmn
in the Jezreel Valley [see Rainey 1973:74–75]) are absent from the archive.
However, one should be cautious in drawing conclusions on the basis of neg-
ative evidence. The unique composition of the archive and its polemical-ten-
dentious character require a careful and well-balanced discussion to properly
extract information from the letters.
The most important city-states located in the Shephelah were Gezer,
Gath* (Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi) and Lachish, the kingdom of Jerusalem having a common
border with the first two kingdoms. The town of Keilah, located on the bor-
der of Gath* and Jerusalem, was apparently a former subject of Gath*. This
is indicated by the continuity of letters EA 279 and 280. EA 279:11–13: “Shall
I move (and) advance to the town of Keilah, against the re[bels]?” (for the
translation, see Moran 1987:501). EA 280:9–15: “The king, my lord, sent me to
make war against Keilah. I have made war; everything is all right with me; my
town has been returned to me.” In the Amarna period, the sons of Keilah took
advantage of the struggles of neighboring kingdoms to maneuver and gain
independence. Jerusalem’s border passed northeast of Keilah, somewhere on
the margins of the Judean hill country.
Two other towns, Aijalon and Zorah, located near the western margins of
the hill country, were included in the territory of Gezer (EA 273). Manḫatu
(EA 292:26–40) was likewise a town of the kingdom of Gezer; its exact location
remains unknown (Albright 1942:36, n. 29; Kallai and Tadmor 1969:143). The
kingdom of Gezer’s eastern border passed near the foothills and Jerusalem
was its eastern neighbor.
The location of Rubutu is disputed among scholars (see Aharoni 1969:
137–141; Ahituv 1984:165–167, with earlier literature). ‘Abdi-Ḫeba, king of
Jerusalem, complains that his adversaries (the king of Gezer and his allies, the
rulers of Ginti-kirmil and Gath*) conquered Rubutu (EA 289:11–13; 290:11–15;
possibly also EA 287:4–11), but he does not state that Rubutu was one of his
towns. This is not accidental: In his letters ‘Abdi-Ḫeba keeps complaining of
“misdeeds” in places located outside — sometimes even far away — from his
borders (e.g., Zilu, Lachish, Beth-shean).
Rubutu is mentioned neither in the town list of Solomon’s second dis-
trict (1 Kgs. 4:9) nor the inheritance of Dan (Josh. 19:40–46) and must have
been located outside of these areas. It is mentioned in Shishak’s topograph-
ical list, which may be reconstructed thus: (11) Ge[zer]; (12) Ma[. . .?]; (13)
Rubutu; (26) Aijalon; (25) Gittaim; (24) Beth-horon (for the reconstruction,
see Kitchen 1973:435; Na’aman 1992:79–80, with earlier literature in notes 8–
10). This group of toponyms opens the list of conquered towns. All were lo-
cated within the territory of Israel, north of the border of Judah, near the
main road leading from the northern Shephelah to the ascent of Beth-horon
(Na’aman 1986b:6–7; 1992:81). It is clear that Rubutu should be sought on the
northern or northeastern border of the kingdom of Gezer. Like Keilah it must
have been a semi-independent town under the patronage of Gezer, the stron-
gest kingdom in the area, and for unknown reasons (did a group of ‘Apiru
find shelter in the town?) was conquered at that time by the king of Gezer
and his allies.
According to EA 290:14–18: “a town of Jerusalem, Bit-dNIN.URTA is its
name . . . has deserted after/with the men of Keilah.” The identity of the
Canaanite god whose name was written by the ideogram dNIN.URTA is dis-
puted among scholars, and various identifications with sites located in the
area of Jerusalem (e.g., Bethlehem, Beth-shemesh, Beth-horon etc.) have been
offered (see Kallai and Tadmor 1969:138–141, with earlier literature; Lipiński
1985:101). However, none of the suggested decipherments of the name of the
Canaanite god hidden under the “veil” of the Mesopotamian god Ninurta is
convincing (see Na’aman 1990:252–254), and the proposed identifications of
the site cannot be verified. Until further evidence for the decipherment of
d
NIN.URTA, the place (possibly located somewhere between Jerusalem and
Keilah) should be left out of the discussion of Jerusalem’s boundaries.
In summary, Jerusalem’s western border passed near the margins of the

hill country, and none of the places located in the Shephelah were included
in its territory.
The other borders of the kingdom of Jerusalem cannot be established
with the help of the Amarna letters. According to biblical tradition, there
were two Canaanite centers south of Jerusalem: Hebron and Debir (Josh. 10:
3,5,36–39; 12:10,13). However, the book of Joshua is not a reliable source for
either a historical or a territorial discussion of the Late Bronze Age, and its
evidence must be disregarded (see below, section 6).
As was mentioned in the introduction, some scholars have suggested
that the lack of mention of any Canaanite city-state south of Jerusalem in-
dicates that Jerusalem dominated the entire Judean hills. However, the ev-
idence for such a claim is inconclusive. It was pointed out that even cen-
tral Canaanite kingdoms located in the Valley of Beth-shean (Rehob) and
in southern Lower Galilee (Anaharath) are missing from the Amarna corre-
spondence and that the cities of numerous petty kings who ruled in south-
ern Canaan are unknown. One may further add the evidence from the Beqa‘
of Lebanon: Some twelve territorial units, each located in the center of a fer-
tile agricultural area, have been detected in the course of the detailed survey
conducted in the area (Marfoe 1979:12–14). However, only six city-states lo-
cated in the Beqa‘ (Guddashuna, Tubiḫu, Ḫasi, Tushulti, Enishazi, Kumidi) are
mentioned in the Amarna archive (Weippert 1970). The use of negative evi-
dence, which is always uncertain, is particularly hazardous in the context of
the Amarna archive. The problem of the territorial affinity of the southern
Judean hill country to the kingdom of Jerusalem must be examined in light
of the archaeological evidence and the relationship of the two areas as is evi-
dent from earlier and later sources.
2. Was Jerusalem Mentioned in the Execration Texts?

Not much is known of Canaanite Jerusalem, in spite of the extensive exca-
vations conducted at the site. This is due to the intensive building on the site
in later periods, each strata contributing to the destruction of its predeces-
sors. The Middle Bronze II city was fortified by a strong stone wall that was in
use until the end of the Late Bronze Age. Supporting walls and fills have been
discovered near the stone wall and at the top of the site (Kenyon 1974:88–97;
Shiloh 1984:26). The findings from the MB II and LB are quite poor and un-
impressive and do not add anything substantial to the discussion. The exca-
vations conducted in Jerusalem did not clarify the problem of the scope and
strength of the kingdom in the second millennium BCE.
It is commonly accepted by scholars that Jerusalem is mentioned in the
Egyptian Execration Texts. The ostensible mention of the city among the im-
portant Canaanite centers at the time of the XIIth Dynasty is the main basis
for the assumption that Jerusalem held an important place in the central hill
country from the 19th century BCE onward.
The early group of Execration Texts is inscribed upon bowls that were
smashed and buried. It includes fourteen place-names or regions in Canaan
and is dated to about the mid–19th century BCE (Sethe 1926; Posener 1966:
277–287; Helck 1971:44–50; Posener, Bottéro and Kenyon 1971:541, 548). Most
of the places are unknown from post-MB sources and represent either towns
that did not survive in later periods or names of tribes by which these regions
were called. Only five/six towns were identified: Byblos, Arqat and Ullasa on
the Lebanese coast and Ashkelon, Rehob (possibly Tel Kabri; see Kempinski
1986:70–72) and, seemingly, Jerusalem (rwš3mm) in Palestine. For each top-
onym there are names of several (usually three) rulers, which is typical to
tribal society.
The second group of texts is inscribed upon figurines in the form of pris-
oners; these figurines were smashed and buried. The text includes about sixty-
four names of towns or regions in Canaan and is dated to the late 19th or
early 18th century BCE (Posener 1940; Mazar 1947; Helck 1971:50–63; Posener,
Bottéro and Kenyon 1971:548, 557–558). Unlike the early group, most of the
towns in this group are well-known, as they appear in later sources. Of the
names of the early group, fourteen out of eighteen appear in the second group,
and among them is rwš3mm. For each place, we find one ruler (sometimes two).
The difference between the two groups reflects well the drastic change in
urban life that had taken place in Canaan since the early group of Execration
Texts was inscribed: Many new towns had been founded, and dynasties headed
by a single king had been established in most of the territorial units.
The distribution of the Palestinian towns in this group is significant: al-
most all are located in the coast, the Shephelah and the northern plains. Only
Shechem and, seemingly, Jerusalem are located in the central hill country.
This fits nicely the results of the archaeological excavations and surveys con-
ducted in Palestine, according to which, urban life in the Middle Bronze Age
began in the coastal areas and the northern plains and only slowly and grad-
ually spread to the other regions. Only in the 18th century BCE did the wave
of settlement in the hill country begin, reaching its zenith in the 17th century
when the highlands were extensively settled and held central place in the
country’s political and urban life (Gophna and Beck 1981; Broshi and Gophna
1986; Gophna and Portugali 1988; Bunimovitz 1989; Finkelstein 1988–89:140–
144; 1991:20–30, with earlier literature in p. 20, n. 6; Finkelstein 1993).
This is the background against which the ostensible mention of Jerusalem
in the Execration Texts must be examined. First, it is noteworthy that the
city’s name in all other sources has consistently contained an initial conso-
nant of waw/yod, unlike the rwš3mm of the Execration Texts. Second, only a
few important coastal cities are inscribed in the early group of the Execration
Texts. No single identifiable town located in the Shephelah, the northern
plains or the Jordan Valley is recorded. The mention of a marginal hill coun-
try city within this group of toponyms, therefore, is quite unlikely. Third, in
the Late Bronze Age, when Egypt ruled Canaan, Egypt’s main concern was
in the lowlands. For this reason, no hill country Palestinian town except for
Shechem is ever mentioned in the Egyptian inscriptions of the XVIIIth-XIXth
Dynasties. The distribution of toponyms in the Execration Texts fits this pat-
tern. On the other hand, the seeming appearance of Jerusalem within the
two groups of Execration Texts hardly conforms with this consistent second
millennium Egyptian pattern of interest. Fourth, it is not at all clear that the
city of Jerusalem had been built in the mid–19th century BCE (see Kenyon
1974:88–97; Shiloh 1984:26). Admittedly, the strata of second millennium
Jerusalem were preserved only in fragmentation. On the other hand, excava-
tions have been performed on a very large scale at the site of the Canaanite
city. The least that one can say is that no positive evidence for a 19th cen-
tury city was discovered in the excavations, and there is no corroborative
evidence even for the possibility that Jerusalem was mentioned in the early
group of the Execration Texts.
It seems, therefore, that a big question mark remains as to the identifica-
tion of Jerusalem with the rwš3mm of the Execration Texts. As is well known,
there are several ways to decipher words written in Egyptian transcription.
The first part of the name (rwš) may reflect West Semitic r’š (“head”); the
omission of the aleph is due to prononciation. It has excellent parallels in
the transcription of the toponym rwšqdš (Rosh-qidshi) in the Topographical
List of Thutmose III and in the Canaanite gloss ru-šu-nu (“our head”) in an
Amarna letter (EA 264:18) (see Helck 1971:126, 541; Rainey 1982:343, 352). The
second part may stand for Semitic rmm, “be exalted.” The name Rôsh-ramem
(“the exalted Head”) may semantically be compared with the toponym Rosh-
qidshi (“the holy Head”; see Ahituv 1984:162–163). It must be emphasized,
however, that my discussion is in no way dependent on the etymology of the
name. After all, we do not know the etymology of most of the toponyms men-
tioned in the Execration Texts. Rôsh-ramem? joins the majority of toponyms
in the early group that re-appear in the late group of Execration Texts, but
are not mentioned in any other post-Middle Bronze Age source, and whose
location or identity (i.e., whether they are towns or names of regions) remain
unknown.
We may conclude that Shechem is the only city located in the central hill
country that appears in the Execration Texts. This fits well the mention of
the “land of Shechem” in the stele of Khu-sebekh of the late 19th century BCE
(Helck 1971:42–43; Posener, Bottéro and Kenyon 1971:538, with earlier liter-
ature in n. 2). Shechem appears there as center of a large territorial entity,
consistent with its outstanding place in the central hill country throughout
the second millennium BCE. It is possible that Jerusalem was fortified during
the 18th century BCE, becoming the center of a kingdom (whose scope is yet
to be defined) only from this time onward.
3. The Settlement in the Hill Country of Judah and Benjamin in the Second
Millennium BCE
In the area of Benjamin, 42 sites of the MB and not a single LB site have
been discovered (Finkelstein 1991:29). Only eight MB settlement sites have
been discovered in the hill country of Judah (Ofer 1990:196; Finkelstein 1991:
29). Of the three LB sites that have been discovered in this area, one is cen-
tral (Kh. Rabûd = Debir) and the other two are small and short-lived (Beth-zur
and Kh. Fuqeiqis) (Bunimovitz 1989:196–198; Ofer 1990:196–198). The entire
rural area between Bethel in the north and Debir in the south was unset-
tled throughout the Late Bronze Age, the city of Jerusalem being an isolated
urban enclave within this large uninhabited area.
The main urban center in the hill country south of Jerusalem in the MB II
was Hebron (Tell er-Rumeideh) (Ofer 1989; 1990:190–194). The city was for-
tified by a massive wall and covered about 24 to 30 dunams. The date of its
foundation is still unclear. It flourished in the 17th–16th centuries and then
was destroyed and remained deserted throughout the Late Bronze Age. A sec-
ond MB city existed at Beth-zur (Funk 1975:263–267, with earlier literature).
It was surrounded by a wall and covered between 8 and 15 dunams. Its history
of settlement was quite similar to that of Hebron.
The main urban center of southern Judah in the LB II was Debir (Kh.
Rabûd) (Kochavi 1974). It covered an area of about 50 dunams and was pos-
sibly surrounded by a stone wall. Admittedly, the contact between the for-
tifications and the LB II walls was destroyed by later buildings, but they en-
close the internal walls and no ancient remains were detected beyond them
(Kochavi 1974:10).3 Four LB strata have been detected in the course of ex-
cavation and were dated by the excavator to the 14th–13th centuries BCE
(Kochavi 1974:10, 19–22).
There is a similarity between the location of Hebron in the hill country
south of Jerusalem in the MB II and that of Debir in the LB II. The two towns
were situated in the center of a sparsely inhabited area. The discovery of burial
3. For a different interpretation of the results of the excavations at Debir, see

Bunimovitz 1989:135; 1990:272, n. 67.
grounds with no settlement in their vicinity indicates the presence of a non-

sedentary component in the population (Ofer 1990:196–199; Finkelstein 1991:
29). Several MB II settlements were discovered in the area between Bethlehem
and Hebron, but no LB II settlement (save for Beth-zur for a short time) was
found. The two towns may each be described as a central city within a (par-
tial or entire) pastoral environment, an urban phenomenon well known from
different regions and periods all over Western Asia (Rowton 1973; 1976). The
question posed about the relationship of Jerusalem to the south Judean hill
country in the LB II is equally true for its position in the MB II.
The distribution of settlements in the hill country in the Early Bronze Age
may also be relevant for the discussion. The major city in the EB II-III was Ai
(Kh. et-Tell), which covered about 110 dunams. Many small settlements of
only a few dunams in size have been discovered to the north and south of
Ai (Broshi and Gophna 1984:46–47; Finkelstein 1991:21–23, with earlier liter-
ature). The major site of the Judean hills in the EB III was Ras Tawra, north-
east of Hebron (Ofer 1990:196). This fortified site, which covered about 60 du-
nams, was the center of a non-settled area. The pattern of a single central
town located within a pastoral environment is repeated threefold in the third
and second millennium BCE. The problem of the relation of Ras Tawra to Ai
in the EB III may be compared with the problem of the relationship of Hebron
in the MB II and Debir in the LB II to Jerusalem. There is, however, one impor-
tant reservation for the analogy. The primacy and outstanding position of Ai
in the hill country as indicated by archaeological finds may be compared with
that of Shechem in the second millennium, but was quite different from that
of Jerusalem (see section seven below). Thus, despite the similarity in the pat-
tern of settlement in the Judean hills in all three periods, the political posi-
tion of Ras Tawra vis à vis the central city of Ai may have been quite different
from that of Hebron and Debir vis à vis the second-rate city of Jerusalem.
The city of Bethel is located north of Jerusalem, on the outskirts of the
hill country of Ephraim. Bethel was surrounded by a strong wall in the MB,
possibly in the 17th–16th centuries, and then destroyed (Kelso 1968; Dever
1971:462–471). It was rebuilt and fortified in the LB II, possibly in the 14th
century (Kelso 1968:28–31). Admittedly, not many 14th century vessels have
been published in the excavation report. However, because most of the pot-
tery found in a destruction level belongs to a site’s final phase, the paucity of
14th century pottery is understandable.4
4. For the suggestion to date the foundation of Bethel to the 13th century BCE, see
Bunimovitz 1989:177–178, n. 2.
Bethel was the center of a densely inhabited rural area in the MB II. Some
of the settlements possibly antedated the emergence of the urban center, and
the inhabitants subsequently migrated and settled therein, whereas other
settlements continued their separate existence (Finkelstein 1988–89:140–
143). During the LB II, Bethel was an isolated town with no rural hinterland.
Was LB II Bethel a town of the kingdom of Jerusalem? Was it part of the king-
dom of Shechem, its powerful northern neighbor? Was it a small indepen-
dent city-state located between the boundaries of Shechem and Jerusalem?
Deciding among the three alternatives is not an easy task and will be dis-
cussed below (section 5).
4. The Territorial Relationship of Jerusalem to Mount Hebron in the Course of

History
For further clarification of the position of Jerusalem within the high-
lands of Judah, we must examine their relationship in the “longue durée.”
In his seminal study of the Israelite settlement in Palestine, Alt (1953:90–
92) emphasized the continuity of territorial frameworks and boundaries
and demonstrated the importance of a long-range perspective for bridging
the gaps of written sources (see also: Alt 1919:9–16; 1929:229–237; 1935:94–
111). Other scholars have followed his methodological approach and ap-
plied it within their works (e.g., Elliger 1936:45–59; Mazar 1946; Na’aman
1986a; Bunimovitz 1989:146–150, with earlier literature on p. 4). Preference
for the historical long-range perspective on short-term events is particu-
larly important for the “Territorialgeschichte,” because “throughout his-
tory territorial divisions, ultimately dependent on the lie of the land, are
extremely persistent; even changes of population hardly ever overthrow
them completely, but bring about at most, minor alterations.” (Alt 1953:
90). The history of the relationship of the southern Judean hill country to
Jerusalem from the Middle Bronze II onward will be examined to discern
whether there is a similar pattern of relations in different historical peri-
ods.
A cuneiform tablet was discovered during the recent excavations con-
ducted at Tell er-Rumeideh (Hebron) (Ofer 1989:91–93). It was found within a
fill of bones, sherds and ashes and was dated to the 17th century BCE (Anbar
and Na’aman 1986–1987). The left side of the tablet and its lower edge are
missing, which makes it difficult to understand fully. It is an account tablet
summarizing the number of sheep delivered to different people in the course
of an unknown span of time. The summary at the end of the tablet shows that
the sheep — partly or entirely — served for sacrifice. The frequent mention
of the word “king” indicates that it originally belonged to the royal archive.
In later times the tablet was thrown into a fill and, therefore, was discovered
out of its original context.
The fact that a cuneiform tablet written in the course of the daily life of
the palace was unearthed at Hebron is meaningful. Middle Bronze II cunei-
form tablets have been discovered only at Hazor, Shechem, Gezer and Peḫel
(Anbar and Na’aman 1986–1987:7–12, with earlier literature; Knapp 1987:4,
24). All these places were important Canaanite centers. The diffuse of cunei-
form writing in the daily life of MB II Canaan was quite limited and confined
only to capital cities. The Hebron tablet clearly indicates that the site was
the center of an independent kingdom and that the king mentioned therein
was the king of Hebron. The assumption that Hebron was a secondary town
of the kingdom of Jerusalem and that the tablet was written for the court of
the latter kingdom is highly unlikely, in light of what is known of the distri-
bution of cuneiform writing in second millennium Canaan. The excavations
conducted at Hebron, in which a strongly fortified MB II city — no less im-
pressive than the MB II city of Jerusalem — was unearthed (Ofer 1989; 1990:
190–194), supports and corroborates the evidence of the tablet. We may con-
clude that Hebron was a neighboring kingdom of Jerusalem in the MB II and
was governed by its own king.
When analyzing the biblical evidence of the pre-monarchial period,
we again find the same segregation of the areas of Jerusalem and Hebron.
According to biblical tradition, the Josephites settled in the areas of
Manasseh, Ephraim and Benjamin, whereas the tribe of Judah occupied the
land of Judah. Remarkable is the fact that Jerusalem was considered a town of
Benjamin and not of Judah (Josh 15:8; 18:16, 28). Following the destruction of
the Canaanite city, Jerusalem became a Jebusite town governing a small dis-
trict in its vicinity. An independent cluster of settlements developed at this
time in the southern Judean hill country. The most important sub-tribe that
settled in this area was Caleb, whose center was at Hebron, and another im-
portant clan was Othniel, which settled in Debir. Following the death of Saul,
the areas of the Judean hills and the Negeb were united under the leadership
of David, whose center was at Hebron. This entity apparently endured for
several years, until David transferred his capital to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 2:1–4; 5:
1–5). We may conclude that both in biblical traditions of the early history of
Israel and during the early Iron Age, Jerusalem (Jebus) is consistently sepa-
rate from the hill country of Judah and is connected with the area located on
its northern side.
David’s conquest of Jebus and its establishment as capital city of Israel
drastically changed the city’s history. Jerusalem became capital of the United
Monarchy and later the capital of the Kingdom of Judah. It must be em-
phasized that from David’s time until the Babylonian captivity, the city of
Jerusalem was the center of a kingdom that encompassed vast territory,

much larger than the Judean hills. However, in the kingdom’s administra-
tive framework, Jerusalem was the center of a small district (described as
sbyby/sbybwt yrwšlym), whereas the hill country of Judah was a large sepa-
rate district (called hhr) (Na’aman 1991:13–16). It is possible that the king-
dom of Judah was divided into four districts called by the names of towns
(Hebron, Ziph, Socoh and Mmšt) in the course of Hezekiah’s preparations for
war and siege on the eve of Sennacherib’s campaign to Judah (Yadin 1961:6–
11; Aharoni 1967:344–346; Na’aman 1986b:14–17). In this administrative di-
vision, Jerusalem was included in the northern district of Mmšt, whereas the
hill country of Judah was included in the districts of Hebron and Ziph. We
may conclude that Jerusalem was consistently separated from the hill coun-
try of Judah both in the settlement and early monarchial periods and in the
administrative divisions of the monarchial period.
After the Babylonian conquest and annexation, the hill country of Hebron
was removed from the province of Yehud and became a separate entity called
Idumea. Its northern limits bordered the province of Yehud south of Beth-zur,
and the Beer-sheba Valley and the Shephelah were included in its territory.
This border system survived throughout the Persian and early Hellenistic pe-
riods. Only in the time of John Hyrcanus (134–105 BCE), about 450 years after
its foundation, was Idumea conquered and annexed to the Hasmonean king-
dom as a separate administrative district. This administrative division re-
mained in power until the destruction of the Second Temple and apparently
continued even afterward. Septimus Severus turned Beth-gubrin into a Roman
colony in 200 A.D., naming it Eleutheropolis (its full title was Colonia Lucia
Septimia Severia Eleutheropolis) and annexed to its territory the entire district
of Idumea and one of the districts of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). In the admin-
istrative reform of Diocletian (284–305), the district of Eleutheropolis was left
unchanged, save for minor alterations. We may conclude that for more than a
thousand years — from the destruction of the First Temple and until the end of
the Byzantine period — Jerusalem and the southern Judean hill country were
included in separate administrative districts. Even the Hasmonean and Roman
conquests did not change the place of this area within the overall administra-
tive division of the Palestinian hill country and the Shephelah.
The administrative detachment of Jerusalem and the area of Hebron re-
mained intact until the early Ottoman period. The data concerning the post-
Byzantine periods will be presented only in the utmost brevity. In the early
Arabic period, Jerusalem and Beth-gubrin were sub-districts within the terri-
tory of Jund Philastine. In the time of the Crusades, Hebron was the center of a
seigniory. Jerusalem and Hebron were separate sub-districts (camaliya) within
the large district of Damascus in the Mamluk period. A change took place in
the early Ottoman period, when Jerusalem became the center of a district (san-
jak) that was divided into two sub-districts (nāḥiya) — Jerusalem and Hebron.
The Sanjak of Gaza was annexed in 1864 to the Sanjak of Jerusalem, and several
years later the expanded district (mutaṣariflik) of Jerusalem was detached from
the large district of Damascus, becoming an independent district. Hebron was
an important city in the hill country and the center of a sub-district (qaḍāa).
Since then, the situation has remained unchanged, and today Hebron is the
center of a sub-district within the administration of the hill country.
5. The Boundaries of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Amarna Period

Our historical survey has demonstrated that throughout history,
Jerusalem and Hebron were included in different political or administra-
tive entities. This is clear for the second millennium BCE when Hebron and
Jerusalem were independent city-states in the Middle Bronze II. Following
the destruction of the Canaanite cities in the late 13th-early 12th century, the
areas of Jerusalem and southern Judah developed independently. In the time
of the Israelite and Judean Monarchies, and under the Babylonian, Persian,
Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Roman empires, the areas of Jerusalem and the
southern Judean hill country formed parts of different administrative dis-
tricts. It was only under the Ottoman empire, about three millennia after
the Amarna period, that Hebron became a sub-district within the district
of Jerusalem. Examination of the “longue durée” clearly indicates that for
thousands of years, in various historical situations and under different polit-
ical powers, Jerusalem and Hebron were part of different — first political and
later administrative — entities.
The detailed archaeological surveys conducted in the Judean hills indicate
that the area between the cities of Jerusalem and Debir (about 40 km.) was en-
tirely uninhabited in the LB II. The two towns were territorially disconnected
one from the other. The location of Debir in the southern Judean hill coun-
try in the LB II is similar to that of Hebron in the MB II: a major city within a
partly or entirely non-sedentary area. Thus, it is clear that just as Hebron was
an independent city-state in the MB II, so was Debir in the LB II. We may con-
clude that all written and archaeological data indicate that the independent
city-state of Debir dominated the southern hills of Judah in the LB II.
The territories of the kingdoms of MB II Hebron and LB II Debir must have
encompassed the Beer-sheba Valley. It is suggested that the sites of Tel Masos
and Tel Malḥata in the south and Beth-zur in the north were secondary towns
within the MB II kingdom of Hebron. The territory of Debir, on the other hand,
was almost entirely uninhabited. Its economy was based on agriculture and
animal husbandry, and it kept close relationships with the pastoral groups lo-
cated in its highland and Negebite territories. Its close neighbors were the
city-states of Jerusalem in the north and Lachish in the west. Whether there
were other small city-states on its western border remains unknown.
The accurate delineation of the boundary between Debir and Jerusalem in
the LB II is problematic. Beth-zur is a key site near their border. It was a for-
tified, inhabited town in the MB II, located not far north from the center of
Hebron and most probably was one of its towns. Jerusalem’s boundary must
have passed somewhere north of it. Beth-zur was settled for only a short time
in the LB II, and it is impossible to establish whether it was included in the
territory of Jerusalem or Debir.
It was noted above that Ras Tawra was the main site of the Judean hills in
the EB III. It may have been the center of a small independent city-state lo-
cated near the border of the strong kingdom of Ai, the main center of the
central hill country in the EB II-III. This conclusion, however, must be treated
with caution. First, the leading role of Ai in the central hill country in the
third millennium BCE as indicated by archaeological excavations and surveys
is indeed remarkable, unlike the position of Jerusalem in the second millen-
nium. Second, the political formation of the land of Canaan in the third mil-
lennium is unknown. Schematic delineation of borders based exclusively
on the scope of sites and the pattern of settlement may be quite mislead-
ing without the aid of documentary evidence. Therefore, it is difficult to de-
cide whether Canaan was divided then among a few strong kingdoms that
dominated all other secondary places, or whether the political situation was
similar to that of the second millennium BCE, i.e., a network of kingdoms of
higher and lesser rank in which even the lesser city-states had, at least nom-
inally, an independent status. The relationship of Ai to Ras Tawra, thus, re-
mains unknown. The “long perspective” suggests that the assumption of a
small independent city-state dominating the Judean hills is the more proba-
ble, but who knows.
The place of Bethel within the border system of the kingdom of Jerusalem
should now be examined. As noted above, the city was strongly fortified in
the 17th–16th centuries BCE and was the center of a rural area densely inhab-
ited by small sites. Following its destruction, the site was deserted until the
14th century, when settlement was renewed. No small rural sites were dis-
covered in Bethel’s vicinity. Its close neighbors were Tell Sheikh Abu Zarad
(biblical Tappuah), ca. 20 km. north of the town, and Jerusalem, ca. 18 km.
south of it. LB II Bethel was an isolated town within a pastoral environment.
It seems quite unlikely that under such circumstances, the rulers of Shechem,
the major kingdom of the central hill country, would have been able to effec-
tively hold the place. According to the Amarna letters, the rulers of Shechem
were allies of Milkilu, ruler of Gezer, but in no place is there mention of an act
of hostility by Shechem against Jerusalem. The anti-Shechemite attitude of
‘Abdi-Ḫeba is explained well by the cooperation of Lab’ayu and his sons with
Gezer, Jerusalem’s bitter enemy in the Amarna period.
According to biblical tradition, there was a king at Bethel (Josh. 12:16) and
the city was conquered by the sons of Joseph (Judg. 1:22–26). The city was
included in Ephraim’s inheritance in the tribal boundaries. After the disso-
lution of the United Monarchy, Bethel became an important cult center of
the Northern Kingdom, and, following the Assyrian conquest, Bethel was in-
cluded in the province of Samaria. It was conquered by Josiah (2 Kgs. 23:15)
and was temporarily annexed to the kingdom of Judah (Josh. 18:22). Its loca-
tion in the southern outskirts of Mount Ephraim, high above the district of
Benjamin, explains well the city’s steady connections with the hill country on
its north and its segregation from Benjamin and the city of Jerusalem.
Bethel’s remoteness from Shechem, location between the territories of
Jerusalem and Shechem, and segregation from Jerusalem from the pre-mo-
narchial period onwards — these facts together may indicate that second mil-
lennium Bethel was a small independent city-state between the borders of
Shechem and Jerusalem. It was the center of a small rural area in the MB II
and was an isolated town in a mainly non-sedentary area in the LB II. It goes
without saying that Bethel played a minor role in the political and military
affairs of the hill country and was under the influence of its powerful north-
ern neighbor. I would like to emphasize, however, that whereas the evidence
for the existence of an independent city-state in the southern Judean hills is
quite conclusive, the case for the independence of Bethel is less strong and
rests mainly on an evaluation of the balance of evidence.
We are now in a position to draw the boundaries of Jerusalem in the LB II.
Its western border reached the foothills and touched the boundaries of Gezer
and Gath*. In the east, it probably reached the Jordan Valley, the town of Jericho
being included in its territory. In the north it encompassed the hill country of
Benjamin, and in the south it reached the area of Beth-zur and possibly the
line of Naḥal Elah. Most of these areas were uninhabited during the LB, and
Jerusalem’s effective control there was quite limited. It must be emphasized
that the delineation of borders as suggested here is only schematic, designed to
give a general idea of the scope of Jerusalem and its neighbors in this period.
The borders of MB II Jerusalem were roughly the same as in the LB II.
They included the area of Benjamin, which was densely inhabited (42 sites
have been discovered), and the area south of Jerusalem, which was relatively
empty at the time. The main problem is the position of the city of Jericho. It
5. For Jericho in the MB and LB, see Kenyon 1960–1983; 1976:561–564; Bienkowski
1986.
may have been an independent city that dominated the Lower Jordan Valley.
It is possible, however, that Jerusalem dominated this area and that Jericho
was a subordinate city within its territory.5
6. The Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Amarna Period

Before proceeding with the discussion, I would like to summarize my
counter-claims to the suggestion that Jerusalem dominated the southern
Judean hill country in the second millennium BCE.
(a) An analysis of the Amarna letters made it clear that the archive was
only partly preserved and that various Canaanite city-states, including im-
portant entities, are not mentioned. The claim that the entire area of the cen-
tral hill country was divided among Shechem and Jerusalem, because no other
city-state is mentioned in the archive, is methodologically unacceptable.
(b) The array of Canaanite city-states included a network of tangent city-
states, large and small, their rulers corresponding with the Pharaoh and en-
joying, at least nominally, an independent status. Dividing the land only
among the large entities is misleading in light of the evidence of the Amarna
archive and the Egyptian sources.
(c) Jerusalem is mentioned only in the Amarna letters, but is absent from
the Egyptian sources of the second millennium BCE. The assumption that it
appears in both the early and late groups of Execration Texts is not supported
by the analysis of the texts.
(d) It is quite misleading to apply to Jerusalem what is known about the
scope, power and political influence of Canaanite Shechem. The two king-
doms differed one from the other in all these aspects and played different
roles in the inner affairs of Canaan in the second millennium BCE (for further
detail, see section 7 below).
(e) Archaeological evidence from the excavations of the sites of ancient
Jerusalem, Hebron and Debir neither supports nor cancels the assumption of
the domination of Jerusalem in the hill country of Judah in the second mil-
lennium. All three sites were severely damaged at a later time, and too little
is known to make any definitive statement about their relative urban or eco-
nomic strength. Archaeology proves, however, that fortified urban centers of
considerable scope and strength were situated in the southern Judean hills
both in the MB II and the LB II periods. The pattern of settlement of both pe-
riods further supports the assumption that there was an independent entity
in the southern Judean hills in the second millennium BCE.
(f) The 17th century cuneiform tablet discovered at Hebron proves that
it served as the center of an independent city-state at that time. By examin-
ing the history of the Judean hill country from the 12th century BCE until the
beginning of the Ottoman period, it is evident that Jerusalem and the area
of Hebron consistently belonged to two different political or administrative
units. Examination of the “longue durée” strongly supports the suggestion
that the city of Debir formed an independent city-state in the Late Bronze II.
(g) The book of Joshua cannot be treated as a reliable source for the recon-
struction of the network of Canaanite cities or their relative strength in the
Late Bronze Age. Neither the mention of kings at Jericho, Ai, Bethel, Hebron
and Debir, nor the presentation of Jerusalem as head of a Canaanite coalition
can be taken as evidence for reconstructing the reality in the Late Bronze
Age. One should not select evidence at random from the biblical source to
support a theory. Conclusions must be drawn only on the basis of the early
sources and the archaeological evidence.
The picture of the kingdom of Jerusalem that emerged from the Amarna
letters fits well its limited territorial scope and power as suggested above.
‘Abdi-Ḫeba refers, in his letters, to various episodes that are connected to the
activity of his opponents, Milkilu of Gezer and his allies. But ‘Abdi-Ḫeba is
mentioned only in two letters of Shuwardata, king of Gath*. He is first men-
tioned in a letter that deals with a war conducted by a league of four rulers
against the “‘Apiru” (EA 366) and second in a letter that accuses him of inter-
vening in the affairs of Keilah (EA 280). This is contrary to the frequent men-
tion of the rulers of Shechem and Gezer by city-state rulers located all over
the country. The power of Jerusalem was felt only in neighboring areas, and,
as far as we know, did not extend beyond these areas.
‘Abdi-Ḫeba tried to expand westward, toward the fertile easternmost
areas of the Shephelah governed by his neighbors, Gezer and Gath*. His ef-
forts on the western border are explained well by the lack of rural settle-
ments in his territory and the desire to command the small villages and in-
crease the settled population in his kingdom.6 His offensive in the Shephelah
started immediately after the death of Lab’ayu of Shechem. Soon afterwards,
a league was formed, composed of the rulers of Gezer, Gath* and Ginti-kirmil.
They repulsed his offensive and succeeded not only to take Keilah, but also to
bring Bīt-NINURTA, a former town of Jerusalem, to the victor’s side.
In the latest of the letters to be dispatched among six discovered at
Amarna (EA 288; see Na’aman 1975:93–95, 102–103), ‘Abdi-Ḫeba expresses his
despair by the words (lines 23–28) “The land of the king is lost. All of it is at-
tacking me! (see Moran 1987:515, 516, n. 5). There is hostility against me unto
(adi) the land(s) of Shēri and unto (adi) Ginti-kirmil. All the city-state rul-
ers enjoy peace while there is hostility against me!” The king of Ginti-kir-
mil, a city possibly located in the Lower Carmel area (see Na’aman 1986a:466,
479; Bunimovitz 1989:141–143), was the father-in-law of Milkilu of Gezer and
his close ally. No wonder that his city was selected to illustrate the maximal
scope of the league that was hostile to Jerusalem. The land(s) of Shēri is usu-
ally identified with biblical Mount Seir. However, the combination adi . . . adi
. . . is unique in Akkadian, reflecting the influence of the local Canaanite lan-
guage on the scribe. This prepositional construction presents two places, the
second of which lies beyond the first and should best be translated “unto GN1
and unto (i.e., as far as) GN2” (compare Josh. 10:10; 16:3; 1 Sam. 17:52; Neh. 3:
16, 24, 31) (see Ginsberg 1951a; 1951b; Dorsey 1980:185–186; Demsky 1990:78–
81). It is evident that the land(s) of Shēri and Ginti-kirmil were located in the
same direction, the latter being more remote from the former, and that the
land(s) of Shēri must be disassociated from biblical Mount Seir.
It seems to me that the name “land(s) of Shēri” is a descriptive designation
for the wooded, mountainous uninhabited areas west of Jerusalem (Na’aman
1986c:284, n. 25). Two biblical references may support this claim. The descrip-
tive names Mount Seir (“the shaggy mountain”) and Mount Jearim (“the for-
ested mountain”) appear in Josh. 15:10 and are located on the line between
Kiriath-jearim and Beth-shemesh, in the rugged and rocky terrain of western
Judah. After the assassination of Eglon, king of Moab, Ehud escaped to Seirah
in Mount Ephraim (Judg. 3:26). Also, one of the towns of Ugarit was called Šcrt/
Shartu, and, as is evident from the ideographic spelling uruSÍG, the meaning of
the name is “wool, fleece” (Astour 1975:331–332, 365). It is clear that all these
toponyms, including the mountainous region of Edom (Seir), were so named
because of the wooded (“shaggy”) appearance of their landscape.
It seems that ‘Abdi-Ḫeba, while complaining of isolation and the misdeeds
of his western neighbors, mentions hostile acts directed against him by up-
rooted and pastoral elements situated in the rugged, “shaggy” areas of his
kingdom (Seir), on the one hand, and by the league of city-states whose re-
motest associate ruled Ginti-kirmil, on the other hand. The description re-
flects well the situation of Jerusalem in the Amarna period — a major town
within a non-sedentary area — and the dangers involved with this setting.
7. The Kingdom of Shechem and its Southern Neighbors

There was only one major kingdom in the central hill country in the sec-
ond millennium BCE, namely Shechem. It dominated the entire area from
the Jezreel Valley in the north up to Tappuah (Tell Sheikh Abu Zarad) in
the south and from the Jordan Valley in the east up to the western foot-
hills. Some small city-states (like Bethel) may have been situated on its bor-
ders and were controlled — either directly or indirectly — by their powerful
neighbor. Shechem, like Hazor in the north, should be regarded as a real ter-
ritorial kingdom, and not as a city-state, like the rest of the kingdoms in the
area west of the Jordan (Na’aman 1986a:466; 1988:18). In the third millennium
BCE, the city of Ai played a similar role in the central hill country. It domi-
nated the entire region, save possibly for small city-states (like Ras Tawra
and Tell el-Farcah) which may have enjoyed a semi-independent status vis-
à-vis their powerful neighbor. In the Iron Age, on the other hand, things de-
veloped differently. The urban center of the central hill country dominated
much larger areas on both sides of the Jordan; the districts of the new polit-
ical formation extended far beyond the scope of the political formations of
the third and second millennia BCE.
The development of only one major power in the central hill country is
borne out by the results of the surveys conducted in the area. 208 of the over-
all 248 sites of the Middle Bronze Age discovered in the surveys are located in
the lands of Manasseh and Ephraim (Finkelstein 1991:27–30). Moreover, ac-
cording to the calculation of Finkelstein (1993), 45% of the sites and 75% of
the estimated population lived in the area of Manasseh. About 25 of 29 of the
Late Bronze II sites discovered in the surveys are located in Manasseh and
Ephraim, and, according to Finkelstein’s estimation, two thirds of the sites
and the majority of the population lived in the area of Manasseh. The central-
ity of Shechem as indicated by documentary evidence finds its full support in
the data of the new surveys.
Two medium-size city-states developed in the areas of Benjamin and the
Judean hills in the Middle Bronze II and the Late Bronze II. The more impor-
tant of the two was Jerusalem, as is evident from both the Amarna letters
and the results of the surveys. 42 of the 50 Middle Bronze sites discovered
in the surveys of both areas were recorded in the hill country of Benjamin
(Finkelstein 1991:29). Only two major sites, Jerusalem and Debir, developed
in the area in the Late Bronze II. The relative strength of Jerusalem in rela-
tion to its southern neighbor is the direct result of the environmental condi-
tions of the two kingdoms. The area of Benjamin was suited for both agricul-
ture and animal husbandry and was densely settled in the MB II (and Iron Age
I as well). The Judean hills were more convenient for pastoral activity than
for agriculture and were sparsely inhabited by sedentary populations in the
second millennium (and Iron Age I as well) (Ofer 1990:196–202; Finkelstein
1991:23–30, 42–43). We may conclude that second millennium Jerusalem was
a city-state of small territory and limited power, being the dominant force
only in the Judean hills and trying to expand westward, toward the more fer-
tile and settled areas of the Shephelah. In the overall balance of power within
Canaan, Jerusalem had only local influence, unlike its northern neighbor,
the kingdom of Shechem, which held a central role in the affairs of Canaan
throughout the second millennium BCE.
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Yeno‘am1
Yeno‘am appears on the “Israel stele” of Merneptah, accompanied by
Ashkelon, Gezer and Israel, all situated on the western side of the Jordan.2
From the earliest days of research, Yeno‘am, therefore, was regarded as
being a Cisjordanian city. On the other hand, because Yeno‘am appears in an
Amarna letter and on a stele of Seti I side by side with cities of the Bashan,
several scholars have looked for an appropriate site in the Jordan Valley, the
two most commonly accepted identifications being based on the similarity
between Yeno‘am and names of the proposed sites. Clauss (1907:34–35) sug-
gested Tell en-Na‘ameh in the Ḥuleh Valley, and Albright (1925:12–13; 1926:
18–24; 1929:10), concurring in this view, contributed supportive argumenta-
tion. Saarisalo (1927:112–118), however, favored Tell en-Na‘am in the Jabneel
Valley, a suggestion followed by several others (Alt 1928:53; Jirku 1937:33 n.3;
Noth 1937:217–218; Gardiner 1947:146*; Helck 1968–69:28). Finally, Garstang
(1931:73–74) proposed identifying Yeno‘am with el-‘Abeidîyeh in the Jordan
Valley, south of the confluence of Wādi Jabneel with the Jordan. This proposal
was forgotten for many years, until it was revived by Aharoni (1957:125–129;
see 1967:30–31, 165–166) in his doctoral dissertation, in which he argued
that el-‘Abeidîyeh corresponds perfectly with all written sources in which
Yeno‘am is mentioned, as well as with the Karnak relief of Seti I depicting this
town by a river. His small-scale excavation of the tell also yielded ceramic evi-
dence compatible with the written sources regarding Yeno‘am.
Contrary to all these proposals, which would locate Yeno‘am west of the
Jordan, it is my opinion that this site should be sought in Transjordan, on the
periphery of the Bashan region. The following data support this suggestion:
In Amarna letter EA 197, Biryawaza, ruler of Damascus,3 complains be-
fore Pharaoh of the deeds of Biridashwa, in my opinion, the heir of Ayyab
1. Reprinted with permission. Tel Aviv 4 (1977), 168–177.

2. For the various suggestions for identifying Yeno‘am common in the early days of re-
search, see Gauthier 1925:169–170; 1926:146.
3. Some scholars held the opinion that Biryawaza was an Egyptian official (Edel 1953:
55; Redford 1967:219; Hachmann 1970:65, 75–76). However, it is evident from the Amarna
letters that Biryawaza was the ruler of Damascus, and his special position in the land of Upi
195
on the throne of Ashtaroth.4 Biridashwa was accused of inciting the city of

Yeno‘am against Biryawaza, removing chariots from Ashtaroth to give them
to his ‘Apiru, and collaborating with the kings of Buṣruna and Ḫaluni (two cit-
ies in the Bashan) who tried to kill Biryawaza.5 Yeno‘am appears in this letter
alongside cities in the Bashan, contraindicating a town west of the Jordan.
In a topographical list from the days of Amenophis III published by
Edel (1966:11–13; Helck 1971:260), the following toponyms appear: Taḫshi,
Yeno‘am, Damascus, Edrei, Buṣruna, Qanu, a group belonging entirely to
Syria; a Cisjordanian city is, therefore, out of the question.
Finally, in topographical list from the days of Ramesses II, Yeno‘am ap-
pears after Qatna and Taḫshi and before an unidentified site called [Qm]hn
(Kitchen 1965:6 No. 18; see Helck 1971:192), again in a Syrian context.
stems from his political power in that region and not from his delegation as an Egyptian of-
ficial; see: Helck 1971:184, 251, 303; Kühne 1973:62 n. 301.
4. Scholars have generally been of the opinion that Biridashwa was the ruler of
Yeno‘am (Weber in Knudtzon 1915:1291; Greenberg 1955:44; Hachmann 1970:71; Helck
1971:179, 480). However, Biridashwa’s central position in the Bashan, as well as his mobili-
zation of chariots from the city of Ashtaroth, shows that Ashtaroth, rather than Yeno‘am,
was his capital. It is to be noted that Ayyab, ruler of Ashtaroth according to EA 256 and 364,
belongs to an earlier period, i.e., the time of the sons of Lab’ayu (Campbell 1964:116, 134;
Na’aman 1975:41–43, 52–53), and letters EA 196–197, which mention Biridashwa, belong
to the last period of the Amarna correspondence, when Aziru of Amurru and Aitakama of
Qadesh gathered strength and, with Hittite support, threatened the Egyptian holdings in
central Syria (Campbell 1964:124, 135; Redford 1967:218 ff.).
5. Important parts of EA 197 were translated (in addition to Knudtzon’s main edition)
by Greenberg (1955:43–44); see also Moran 1973:50, 53. The passage concerning us (lines
7–26) is divided into two distinct parts; in lines 7–12 Biridashwa is accused of stirring up
Yeno‘am against Biryawaza while the latter was entering the town, probably in his status
as the person responsible to the Egyptian authorities for the land of Upi. For lines 13–26,
which are somewhat damaged, we suggest the following translation:
“When the king of Buṣruna and the king of Ḫalunni saw (this deed) they conducted
war with Biridashwa against me saying: ‘Let us go and kill Biryawaza and not let him
go to [. . .]. But I escaped from them and took a stand in the [land of Api and] the city of
Damascus. When [they saw t]hat [I] am serving [the king my lord] they said: ‘[We are
servants of the king of Ha]tti.’ But I said: ‘I am servant of the king of Egypt.’”
Regarding line 19: it should be noted that Knudtzon’s restoration [māt tá]ḫ-še does not
fit the geographical context of the passage, which clearly deals with the Bashan region and
not with the district of Qadesh.
Regarding the remainder of EA 197: Knudtzon’s restoration of line 2 as uru A-[pi] is to be
rejected; Api (Upi) appears in the Amarna letters as a region and not as a name of a town.
Lines 41–42 might be restored “the kings of [the land of Taḫshi and k] in[g] s of the land of
Api” by comparison to EA 189 (rev. 12) and the general context of the passage.
Yeno‘am 197
These three documents strongly indicate that Yeno‘am was east of the
Jordan, roughly in the southern Bashan. In this very same region stands a tell
that corresponds perfectly with all the archaeological and topographical data
concerning Yeno‘am: Tell esh-Shihab, situated west of Edrei on the Yarmuk
River, controlling the main road to Ashtaroth and Damascus. The site is stra-
tegically located on a high mound, surrounded almost completely by the
Yarmuk gorge, with a waterfall in the vicinity (Smith 1901:344–345). This lo-
cation accords well with the portrayal of the conquest of Yeno‘am on a Karnak
relief of Seti I, where a bush-lined river surrounds the town (Wreszinski 1935:
Pl. 36). Moreover, a stele of Seti I was found on this very tell (Smith 1901:344–
350), showing that it is one of the sites conquered by Seti in the course of
his campaign to this region. A survey of the tell by Albright (1925:16–17) re-
vealed sherds representing all the Bronze Ages, and Iron Age pottery is miss-
ing, thus, corroborating the historical records concerning Yeno‘am, which is
mentioned in Late Bronze Age documents — but not thereafter.
Let us now examine the other texts where Yeno‘am is mentioned:
Thutmose III’s references to Yeno‘am will be dealt with at the end of this
article, because they are of no assistance in identifying the town. On the
other hand, the inscriptions of Seti I are very indicative (see: Albright 1926:
20; Alt 1926:115–117; Noth 1937:210–229; Aharoni 1964; Helck 1971:191–193).
In his stele from Beth-shean (Wilson 1969:253; Gardiner 1961:254), Seti de-
scribes the rebellion against Egypt during which Hamath (a city of the Beth-
shean Valley) conquered the Egyptian center at Beth-shean while collaborat-
ing with Piḫilu, its ally on the other side of the Jordan. In retaliation, Pharaoh
sent troops to Beth-shean, Hamath and Yeno‘am; the troops suppressed the
rebellion in a “single day.” Piḫilu is mentioned; thus, it is clear that the revolt
spread to both sides of the Jordan and that troops were also sent to Yeno‘am
(Tell esh-Shihab) situated on the main road leading towards the Bashan. The
conquest of Yeno‘am was depicted on the above-mentioned Karnak relief of
Seti I (Wreszinski 1935:Pl. 36), but unfortunately, the accompanying inscrip-
tion did not survive. After the conquest, Seti erected his stele at Yeno‘am
(Smith 1901:344–350), analogous to the one he erected in Beth-shean during
the same campaign.
In addition, we have a number of topographical lists of Seti I, all arranged
roughly in parallel order based on a single Vorlage (Noth 1937:212–215;
Aharoni 1957:57–63; Helck 1971:192–193). The first four names in this list,
Piḫilu, Hamath, Beth-shean and Yeno‘am, appeared also on the stele from
Beth-shean, clearly indicating that this was the first real military action dur-
ing the campaign of Seti. Of other events connected with this campaign we
know nothing and can appreciate its overall dimensions only by analyzing
the names mentioned in the topographical lists.
Three places, qdr qrt-‘nb and hḏr, appearing in the same order at the end of
the list, are important for our inquiry. Qdr is described also on a relief of Seti I,
and it might be connected with dgr (metathesis) mentioned in Papyrus Anastasi
I and with the Hellenistic city Gadara south of the Yarmuk (Helck 1971:193). Qrt-
‘nb also appears in Papyrus Anastasi I, as well as among the towns of the Land of
Gari (written Ḫeni-anabi) in an Amarna letter (EA 256, line 26). Albright (1943:
14 n. 41) suggested locating it at Nāb or near the neighboring spring ‘En Nāb,
situated about 10 km. north of the confluence of Wādi Raqad and the Yarmuk.
In the village of Nāb, only Roman-Byzantine pottery was found (Epstein and
Gutman 1972:285 No. 162), but a tel was discovered at Khirbet ‘En Ṭaruk, situ-
ated some 3 km. southeast of Nāb, with Middle Bronze, Late Bronze and Iron
Age I pottery (Epstein and Gutman 1972:286 No. 177), and it is possible that here
is the site of Qrt-‘nb. Hḏr is, of course, Hazor of the Huleh Valley. It seems, there-
fore, that Geder and Qrt-‘nb were also conquered during the war conducted in
the vicinity of the Yarmuk on the way to Yeno‘am; the Egyptian army, after
completing its military actions in this area, turned back to the Jordan Valley,
continuing north to Hazor and then to the Phoenician coast.
Another document sometimes brought up by scholars in connection with
Yeno‘am is Papyrus Anastasi I (Wilson 1969:477; for detailed discussion, see
Aharoni 1957:123, 128–129). However, the toponym in the document, y‘n,
is not comparable with the Egyptian transcription of the name Yeno‘am.
Albright (1926:21) suggested rendering it as y‘m[u], but Egyptologists have
not followed suit (e.g., Wilson 1969:477; Helck 1971:316). In view of the uncer-
tainty concerning this name, it would best be dropped.
The latest source in which the name Yeno‘am appears is the Hymn of
Merneptah, where it follows Ashkelon and Gezer and precedes Israel (Wilson
1969:378; Helck 1971:224). Although this passage is of no assistance in iden-
tifying Yeno‘am, the above-suggested location of Yeno‘am may be an impor-
tant contribution in interpreting this text: Israel appears in the hymn just
after Yeno‘am and may refer to a confederacy of tribes sojourning at the time
in Transjordan and not necessarily to a Cisjordanian group of tribes, as schol-
ars have commonly held.
Finally, we must note the negative evidence: In the biblical descriptions
of the Israelite occupation and settlement, the absence of Yeno‘am is curious,
because the Merneptah stele proves that even at such a late date Yeno‘am was
still an important town. Its location in Transjordan solves the difficulty. It is
possible that Yeno‘am was one of the sixty cities of the Bashan “fortified with
high walls, gates and bars” that, according to the biblical tradition, were con-
quered by the Israelite tribes (Deut. 3:3–5).
Identifying Yeno‘am with Tell esh-Shihab enables us to resume the dis-
cussion of the two difficult passages of the annals of Thutmose III in which
Yeno‘am 199
Yeno‘am is mentioned. After the detailed list of booty taken from the city of
Megiddo appears the following: “List of what was carried off afterward by
the king from the household goods of that enemy (the king of Qadesh) which
were in Yeno‘am, ngs and ḥlnkr together with the property of these towns
which were in vassalage to him”; a list of the booty from the latter towns then
follows (Wilson 1969:237; Helck 1968–69:28). In a second inscription from the
temple of Karnak, Thutmose states that he presented the God Amon with
“three towns in upper Retenu — ngs the name of one, Yeno‘am the name of
another and ḥlnkr the name of another — taxed with annual dues for the di-
vine offerings of my father Amon” (Wilson 1969:237 n.42).
The main difficulty in interpreting these two passages stems from the in-
clusion of ngs. Gardiner (1947:168*–169*), who identified this ngs with the
northern Syrian kingdom of Nuḫašše, was forced to postulate that the three
towns were conquered only in the 34th year of Thutmose and that the two
passages were composed subsequently (see Noth 1938:63 n. 1). Helck, on the
other hand, accepted the commonly held opinion regarding the passage in
the annals as belonging to the Megiddo campaign of year 23 and accord-
ingly suggested dissociating this ngs from the kingdom Nuḫašše lying far
away in the north (Helck 1962:137). However, he later reversed his opinion,
arguing that ngs mentioned in our passage should indeed be identified with
the northern ngs = Nuḫašše, which appears in identical transcription in all
other Egyptian sources. He, therefore, suggested that these three towns, ngs,
Yeno‘am and ḥlnkr, were the respective capitals of the three principal dis-
tricts of the “empire” of Qadesh, with ngs Nuḫašše denoting the region north
of Qadesh, which Thutmose reached in the course of his first campaign (Helck
1968–69:28; 1971:133).
In another discussion (Na’aman 1974:270–271), I already rejected the
historical-geographical reconstruction suggested by Helck in the above-
mentioned article. Equally impossible is the hypothesis according to which
Thutmose reached Nuḫašše, north of Qadesh, during his first campaign.
Assuming that the two passages belong to the campaign of year 23, we
would be obliged to dissociate ngs of our passages from the northern king-
dom of Nuḫašše (the general consensus of scholars such as Breasted 1906:
187 n. 1 and Drower 1973:451). Moreover, the designation of Nuḫašše is
known from all written sources as the name of a kingdom but not as a city or
town (Klengel 1969:18–57), and ngs appears in the inscriptions of Thutmose
as a town. The location of the other two towns also suggests a southern lo-
cation for ngs: Yeno‘am is on the Yarmuk in Transjordan; Ḥlnkr (ḥa–l2-kú-
r, according to the transcription of Helck), probably to be identified with
ḥlkr appearing in the topographical list of Thutmose III (Albright 1926:19;
Jirku 1937:15 n. 7; Helck 1968–69:28; 1971:128), is located in the Bashan or in
southern Lebanon.6 Thutmose’s inscription refers to the three towns as sit-

uated in upper Retenu, a name denoting the mountainous region in north-
ern Canaan according to its use during the Middle Kingdom and onward
(Gardiner 1947:142*–143*; Helck 1971:266, 268). It would seem that while be-
sieging Megiddo, Pharaoh dispatched some of his troops to the north to sub-
due the Lebanon and the Bashan regions, resulting in the conquest of these
three towns.
Here we must deal with the problem of the special status of these three
towns, viz. ngs, Yeno‘am and ḥlkr, during the short period of Qadesh’s hege-
mony in southern Syria and Canaan. Thutmose’s annals distinguished be-
tween the property of the ruler of Qadesh in those three towns, which be-
longed to his private domain, and the property of other towns, which were
merely subject to him. There are numerous examples from the Mitanni em-
pire indicating that private ownership of territories situated in distant occu-
pied lands was commonly held by Mitanni. According to the Ishmeriga treaty,
nobles from Waššukanni (the capital of Mitanni) held estates in Ishmeriga
and Kizzuwatna (Kempinski and Košak 1970:215–216; Na’aman 1974:270). In a
letter from Nuzi (HSS IX No. 1), Sauštatar, king of Mitanni, granted estates to
his vassals in the distant kingdom of Arrapḫa, and it is clear that the trans-
ferred territories had belonged to him previously (Speiser 1929; Lewy 1942:
7–9, 33–34). With these examples in mind, we may assume that, after the con-
quest of Canaan by Mitanni and its main ally Qadesh (Na’aman 1974:268–272),
the king of Qadesh annexed the three towns to his own royal domain; after
the Egyptian re-conquest the ownership of these towns passed to the victor.
In view of this practice, one may ask: What was the status of Yeno‘am
after the Egyptian conquest? Was the town annexed into the Pharaonic do-
mains in Asia, or did she continue to exist as a Canaanite city, paying her
taxes to the temple of the god Amon, albeit not to the royal treasury? There is
no conclusive answer; we may only raise some arguments in order to clarify
the matter. First, it is to be remembered that no ruler of Yeno‘am is recalled
6. Tentatively, ḥlkr of Thutmose might be compared with the mountain Hukkurūna

mentioned in the inscriptions of Ashurbanipal in connection with his wars against the
Arabs east of Damascus (Weippert 1973:45 lines 15, 25; 80 lines 17, 32), most probably iden-
tical with the mountain of el-Leja (Weippert 1973:65–66, n. 99). Albright (1934:53) and
Edel (1966:76) showed that the first sign in ḥlkr has the phonetic value of ḥu (for a differ-
ent opinion see Helck 1971:554; but see Helck 1971:555 for the value ḥu); accordingly, the
Egyptian toponym could be transcribed as Ḥulkuru. It is possible that assimilation of l/
k occurred in Ashurbanipal’s inscriptions, with the common west-Semitic suffix -ōn at-
tached at the end. If this equation is valid, then the Egyptian town ḥlkr is located in the el-
Leja mountain, some 30–40 km. east of Tell esh-Shihab. (See Appendix).
Yeno‘am 201
in the Amarna documents (it has been shown above in note 4 that Biridashwa
was the king of Ashtaroth and not of Yeno‘am), but, admittedly, not all of
the names of the rulers of the city-states are known from the Amarna docu-
ments, and the seats of many rulers appearing in the epistolary are obscure.
Such argumentation, therefore, is not compelling. Second, there is a certain
degree of similarity between the attitude of Seti I toward Beth-shean, which
was an Egyptian garrison city (Stützpunkt) from the time of Thutmose III and
onward,7 and his attitude toward Yeno‘am: Seti sent troops to both cities, per-
haps because both were threatened or taken over by the rebels, and in each
of them he set up a stele commemorating his victory. (However, of course,
one may argue that Yeno‘am took an active part in the rebellion and was con-
quered and subjugated as a result). Finally, it is to be noted that Biryawaza,
ruler of Damascus, entered into the city of Yeno‘am (EA 197 lines 8–9). Upon
analyzing the Amarna letters, it is obvious that Biryawaza held a special po-
sition in southern Syria, including the right of inspection of the Egyptian
garrison-city of Kumidi (Hachmann 1970:65–84; Helck 1971:184, 251, 303;
Kühne 1973:62 n.301). Accordingly, it may be assumed that his entrance into
Yeno‘am was connected with his responsibilities of inspecting and guarding
Yeno‘am as an Egyptian garrison-city, although this does not necessarily pre-
clude the existence of a local ruler in the town, as would be the case with the
city of Kumidi (EA 198).
7. The suggestion of Alt (1926:110–117), according to which Beth-shean became an

Egyptian garrison-city (Stützpunkt) only late in the Amarna period, is not valid. Alt’s main
support was EA 289 lines 18–24, from which he drew the conclusion that Tagu, ruler of
Gath-carmel, had conquered the city of Beth-shean, in Alt’s opinion still a Canaanite city-
state. But the term maṣṣartu appearing in that passage is consistently used in the Amarna
letters to denote a garrison or a guard in the service of Egypt (Schulman 1964:17–18; Helck
1971:253–254); the passage, therefore, deals with the service of men from Gath-carmel in
the Egyptian garrison-city of Beth-shean (see parallel passages in EA 253, lines 32–35; EA
294, lines 18–22; EA 296, lines 30–33) and by no means with the conquest of the city. In the
above-mentioned passage (EA 289, lines 18–24) ‘Abdi-Ḫeba warns Pharaoh of impending
dangers to Beth-shean and the trade route passing in its vicinity from the encamping garri-
son of Gath-carmel (an ally of Gezer, Shechem and Piḫilu at the time). It is to be concluded,
therefore, that Beth-shean was an Egyptian garrison city even prior to the Amarna period;
in my opinion, it was Thutmose III who has founded the Egyptian center there (for detailed
discussion of the problem, see Na’aman 1975:189–193). There is also archaeological evi-
dence for the early date of the Egyptian hold over the city. Level IX is the first stratum in
which a great quantity of Egyptian material was found, including the stele of Mekal “lord
of Beth-shean” (Rowe 1930:11–17; Rowe 1940:X). One may suggest that the earlier level, Xa,
came to an end in year 23 of Thutmose III, and Stratum IX was then founded as an Egyptian
center. The newly established stronghold held a central position in the Egyptian militaris-
tic and administrative disposition in Canaan until the collapse of Egyptian rule in Canaan.
Contrary to all these arguments, it should be noted that Yeno‘am appears

in some Egyptian topographical lists side by side with the Canaanite city-
states (versus Egyptian garrison-cities) and that Yeno‘am is mentioned In the
stele of Merneptah as a rebellious city conquered by the Pharaoh. Pending the
discovery of new material on the subject, there is no definitive solution to the
obscure status of Yeno‘am either before or after its conquest by Seti I.
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Rubutu/Aruboth1
A city called Rbt/Rubutu is mentioned in Thutmose III’s and Shishak’s top-
ographical lists and in the Taanach and Amarna letters. From the early days
of modern research, scholars have suggested various locations for the city/
cities named in these sources. Sayce (1887/88:496) and Zimmern (1890:142)
suggested the identification of Rubutu of the Amarna letters (EA 289:13; 290:
11) with the town of Rabbah, which is mentioned in Josh. 15:60 beside Kiriath-
jearim (Tell Deir el-‘Azar in Abû Ghosh). Clauss (1907:49) accepted the equa-
tion of names and located it at Charbata, north of Beth ‘Ur. Müller (1907:28)
and Dhorme (1908:517) identified the Rubutu of the Amarna letters with the
Rbt (No.105) of Thutmose III’s topographical list, and Abel (1938:423) identi-
fied biblical Rabbah with the town mentioned in these sources.
Sellin (1904:98) suggested the identification of the Rubutu mentioned in
a letter from Taanach (TT 1:26) with the Issacharite town of Rabbith (Josh.
19:20), a suggestion that was accepted by Clauss (1907:49) and Weber (in
Knudtzon 1915:1342). Sellin (1904:98) considered the Rubutu of the Taanach
and Amarna letters as a single town, whereas Weber (in Knudtzon 1915:1342)
emphasized that they are two different towns. Müller (1907: 28 n. 2) identi-
fied the Rubutu of the Taanach letter with the Rbt (No.13) of Shishak’s topo-
graphical list. Finally, Abel (1938, 251) identified the Rubutu of the Taanach
letter with Aruboth, the center of Solomon’s third district (1 Kgs. 4:10).
In his discussion of the toponym Rbt (No. 105) in Thutmose III’s topo-
graphical list, Jirku (1937:16 n. 1) made the following observation:
Wohl das Rubute der Briefe von El-Amarna (EA, I, 289, 290), das auch in einem der zu
Ta‘anak gefundenen Keilschriftbriefe erscheint . . . In der Šošenq-Liste wird der Ort vor
Ta‘anak und Šunem genannt (vgl. XXV, 13).
The identification and location of the Rubutu of the Taanach letter was
discussed by Albright (1944:19 n. 36) in a long note. Due to the importance of
this note, I will cite it in full.
The town of Rubutu (so is the nominative) is mentioned twice in the letters of ‘Abdi-
Ḫeba of Jerusalem. Once (EA 289:13) Rubutu . . . is reported as having been occupied by
204
Rubutu/Aruboth 205
Milkilu of Gezer and Tagu, father-in-law of Lab’aya prince of Shechem, an (allegedly)

disloyal act which greatly alarmed ‘Abdi-Ḫeba. A second time (EA 290:11) ‘Abdi-Ḫeba
tells Pharaoh that Milkilu of Gezer and Šuwardatu (probably of Hebron . . .) have hired
men of Gezer, Gath (in the north, probably Tagu’s capital . . .) and Keilah, and have oc-
cupied the land belonging to Rubutu. Apparently the town itself was not captured at
this time, but fell later into the hands of Milkilu and Tagu. It must have been situated
in or near the Coastal Plain between the territory of Taanach and that of Gezer. This
rules out several identifications discussed by Weber in Knudtzon’s edition, p. 1342,
e.g., “Rabbith” in Issachar . . . and ha-Rabbah in northern Judah both drop out of the
picture. On the other hand, Rubutu is probably the R·b·t . . . of the Shishak List No. 11,
followed immediately by Taanach, Shunem and Beth-shan, since the order of names
points to a location southwest of Taanach near the eastern edge of the Coastal Plain.
It cannot be the Ra-bi-tu of the Thutmosis III list (No.105), which occurs immediately
after Qa-ḏi-ru and is probably somewhere in Eastern Palestine, between Gilead and
Damascus, as may be inferred from the names appearing in its vicinity, among which
are Edrei (No. 91), and ‘Ayyôna (. . .). It may well be that this Qa-ḏi-ru . . . is identical with
the Gazru of Ḥaurân(?) captured by Tiglath-pileser III (. . .). Another plausible identifi-
cation of Rubutu is with the Solomonic district capital of Arubboth (1 Kgs. 4:10), which
must have been somewhere in the neighborhood of modern Tûl Karem, northwest of
Samaria. . . . I no longer identify Arubboth with ‘Arrâbeh, Amarna Ḫarabu.
All scholars who later dealt with the identification of Rubutu disagreed
with Albright’s conclusions. They separated the Rubutu of the Taanach tab-
let from the Rubutu of the Amarna letters and located the latter town in the
northern Shephelah, not far away from the hill country of Judah.
Why was Albright’s suggestion so easily dismissed by other scholars?
The reason may be sought partly in B. Mazar’s analysis of the topographical
list of Shishak (1957:60–63). Mazar applied the principle of boustrophedon to
the first section of the list and obtained a sequence of Gaza (11), Gezer (12),
Rubutu (13), Aijalon (26), qdtm (25), Beth-horon (24), Gibeon (23) . . . Rehob
(17), Beth-shean (16), Shunem (15), Taanach (14), Megiddo (27). Tenth cen-
tury Rbt, which Mazar identified with the Rubutu of the Amarna letters, falls
within a group of northern Shephelah toponyms and, thus, was disassociated
from the Rubutu of the Taanach tablet.2
Mazar’s principle of boustrophedon was followed by some scholars (e.g.,
Aharoni 1967:285–288; 1969:137–141; Rainey 1976b:660–661; Giveon 1979:
135–137; Ahituv 1984: 21). It was criticized by Kitchen (1973:443–444) who
emphasized that the boustrophedon principle is not used in other Egyptian
topographical lists and that it cannot be carried through the first section
of the list. I also rejected the principle of boustrophedon and suggested in-
stead that Row II (Nos. 14–26) was mistakenly copied upside-down (Na’aman
2. An exception is Aharoni (1967:157), who identified the Rubutu of the Taanach and
Amarna letters and located it in the northern Shephelah, east of Gezer.
1992a:79). However, even this “minimalist” approach is redundant. Row III,

which opens with Megiddo (No. 27), mainly enumerates toponyms located
along the main road leading from Megiddo to Socoh. It does not differ from
some other parts of Shishak’s topographical list, which are mainly (but not
always) organized in geographically-defined small groups of toponyms, the
direct result of the mode of multiple operations conducted simultaneously by
the Egyptian troops (Noth 1938: 283–289; Kitchen 1973:446–447). Mazar’s hy-
pothesis of the boustrophedon principle should best be abandoned.
Whereas Mazar’s principle of boustrophedon was sometimes criticized, his
conclusion that the Rbt of Shishak’s list is part of a well-defined group of top-
onyms all located in the northern Shephelah and that it is identical with the
Rubutu of the Amarna letters was accepted by all scholars (see e.g., Aharoni
1959:229–230; 1967:286–287; Kallai and Tadmor 1969:143–144; Kitchen 1973:
434–435; Rainey 1976b; Ahituv 1984:165–167; Na’aman 1992a:79–80; 1992b:
277). Locating Rubutu in the northern Shephelah became a scholarly consen-
sus and was accepted in the two recent editions of the Amarna letters (Moran
1992: 391; Liverani 1998:90 n. 2, 468).
Aharoni (1969:137–141) suggested the identification of Rubutu at Khirbet
Bir el-Ḥilû (Khirbet Ḥamideh), a site near Laṭrun, where Late Bronze II and
Iron I-II pottery was found. Aharoni adopted the old equation of Rubutu with
the Rabbah of Josh. 15:60, thereby extending the district in which Rabbah is
included to the northern Shephelah (Aharoni 1959:229–230; 1967:299; 1969:
141). Although his suggestion was accepted by some scholars (e.g., Rainey
1976b; 1983:4; Ahituv 1984:166–167), Rabbah is clearly located in the hill
country of Judah, near Kiriath-jearim, and its placement in the northern
Shephelah is untenable.
Is it necessary to look for the Rubutu of the Amarna letters and for the
Rbt of Shishak’s topographical list in the northern Shephelah and disassoci-
ate it from the Rubutu of the Taanach letter? Let us re-examine the textual
evidence.
(1) ‘Abdi-Ḫeba, king of Jerusalem, accused his adversaries, Milkilu, king
of Gezer, and his allies, Tagi of Ginti-kirmil and Shuwardata of Gath (Tell eṣ-
Ṣâfi), of conquering Rubutu (EA 289:11–13; 290:11–15). According to his re-
port, the troops that participated in the attack of Rubutu arrived from Gezer,
Ginti(-kirmil) and Keilah (EA 290: 11–15, 25–28) (Na’aman 1979:682–683).
However, ‘Abdi-Ḫeba does not state that Rubutu was one of his towns. This
is not accidental. In his letters he keeps complaining of “misdeeds” in places
located outside — sometimes far away — from his borders (e.g., Zilu, Lachish,
Beth-shean). Moreover, his accusations of the capture of Rubutu in EA 289:
11–13 are followed by the complaint of the service of the men of Ginti-kir-
mil at Beth-shean (lines 18–20). Finally, Milkilu was involved in the efforts to
Rubutu/Aruboth 207
bring the sons of Lab’ayu into Piḫilu (EA 250:35–39; see Na’aman 1999), a city-
state located in northern Gilead, a plan that the allies were able to imple-
ment (see EA 255:12–21). I, therefore, suggest that the Rubutu mentioned in
the two letters was located not far from Ginti-kirmil, Tagi’s capital. Milkilu,
who was Tagi’s son-in-law (EA 249:8–9), and Shuwardata (assuming that
‘Abdi-Ḫeba’s accusations against him has some ground) must have helped
Tagi in conquering a town located near the borders of his kingdom. The con-
quest of Rubutu was part of the large-scale offensive of the Shechemite-
Gezerite coalition which, with the help of their allies, operated then in both
northern and southern Palestine.
Ginti-kirmil should be identified at the large mound of the village of Jett, lo-
cated in the eastern end of the plain of Sharon, as first suggested by Alt (1925:
48, n. 3) and accepted by Jirku (1930:143) and Helck (1971:185 n. 115; contra
Rainey 1968). The name of the modern village preserves the component Ginti
in the city’s old name. The petrographic and textual evidence for the location of
Ginti-kirmil at Jett will be discussed in detail by Y. Goren, I. Finkelstein and this
author in a forthcoming publication of our project on the Amarna tablets (see
now Goren, Finkelstein and Na’aman 2002). We may conclude that the Rubutu
of the Amarna letters must be sought not far from Ginti-kirmil’s borders.
(2) Like the topographical list of Shishak, the towns in Thutmose III’s
topographical list are mainly grouped according to geographical regions
(Aharoni 1967: 144–145; for a different opinion, see Redford 1982). The list is
not systematically organized according to regions, and towns located in the
same area are sometimes enumerated in different groups of toponyms. The
following regions may be defined: the southern Lebanese Beqa‘ (Nos. 3–9),
the Anti Lebanon and Hauran regions (Nos. 10–20), the Bashan (Nos. 21–30),
the northern Jordan Valley (Nos. 31–34), the Jezreel and Acco plains (Nos. 35–
47), the southern coastal plain and the Sharon (Nos. 60–72),3 the Taḫshi re-
gion (Nos. 73–85), the Yarmuk River and its tributaries (Nos. 87–96),4 and the
Carmel slopes (Nos. 112–117).
3. There is a marked similarity between toponyms Nos. 66–72 of Thutmose III’s list and
Amenophis II’s inscriptions that relate his campaign to Canaan in his ninth year. Thutmose
III’s list enumerates Aphek (66), Socoh (67), Yaḥam (68), Ḫbḏn (69), Gintu (70), Mktl (71) and
’ptn (72). Amenophis II’s inscription mentions Aphek, Socoh, Yaḥam, Mpśn, Ḫtsn, [Gintu?],
’trn and Mktlyn. It is tempting to identify Ḫbḏn and ’ptn of Thutmose’s list with the Ḫtsn
and Mpśn of the inscription of Amenophis and to regard them as inaccurate variant ren-
derings of the two toponyms. In this light, I suggest that Nos. 71–72 are part of the Sharon’s
group of toponyms.
4. Rḥb (No. 87) is the Canaanite city of Rehob, mentioned in a letter of Taanach (TT 2:
22) and in Seti I’s inscription and located at Tell eṣ-Ṣārem in the Beth-shean plain (contra
Ahituv 1984:164). ’qr is possibly the land of Gari mentioned in an Amarna letter (EA 256:
In this light, we may re-examine toponyms Nos. 104–111. Qḏr (No. 104) is,
no doubt, the city of Gezer. Rbt (No. 105) is the city of Rubutu. The place of
Mqr/lt (No. 106) is unknown. ‘mq (No. 107) is probably the Jezreel Valley, which
is mentioned for a second time in Shishak’s topographical list (No. 65 p3‘mq).
Śrt (No. 108) is probably the town of Sarid, located on the southern border of
Zebulun’s allotment (Josh 19:10, 12) (Barthélemy 1982:52).5 B’rt (No. 109) may
possibly be identified with the city of Berath/Beēroth, which appears in the
LXX text of Josh 19:19 among the towns of Issachar (Albright 1926: 229; Görg
1974:55). No. 110 is the city of Beth-shean. Btnt (No. 111) may be identified
with the city of Beten (Josh. 19:25), mentioned in the town list of Asher beside
Helkath, Hali and Achshaph. Its name might be rendered Betenath, i.e., Beten
+ the fem. suf. –at. No. 112 is the city of Helkath, No. 113 is Jokneam, and No.
114 is Geba‘ (Tell Abū Shūsheh; see Giveon 1981:33–35; Schmitt 1987:23–41).
Thus, it is evident that toponyms Nos. 107–117 are located in a well-de-
fined area, covering the Beth-shean and Jezreel plains up to the margins of
the Acco plain and the Carmel slopes. Rbt (No. 105) and Mqr/lt (No. 106) well
may be combined with this group, whereas Gezer either is an isolated top-
onym or forms, with No. 103 (Qpt = Gibethon?; Ahituv 1984:101), a small
northern Shephelah group (see next section).
(3) The toponyms in the topographical list of Shishak appear in the fol-
lowing order: G[xx] (11), M[xx(x)] (12), Rbt (13), Taanach (14), Shunem (15),
Beth-shean (16), Rehob (17), Hapharaim (18). The town of Rbt (13) safely may
be combined with the towns that follow it, all located in the Jezreel and Beth-
shean valleys. Its identification with the Rubutu of the Taanach letter (TT 1:
26) is self-evident.
As for the identity of the two broken toponyms that precede Rbt (Nos. 11–
12), toponym No. 11 was usually restored G[ḏt], i.e., Gaza (e.g., Kitchen 1973:
435; Ahituv 1984:98, n. 197). However, Shishak’s list of toponyms does not in-
dicate that he conquered Philistine towns. On the contrary, the Philistine cit-
23). Two toponyms in this group may be included among the land of Gari’s towns also. ’bl
(Nos. 90, 92) possibly may be identified with Yabilima (EA 256:28); and ‘yn (No. 95) is possi-
bly Ḫayuna (256:28). Some other toponyms in this group (Nos. 89, 91, 93, 94, 96, 98) are in-
cluded in a group of toponyms mentioned in the topographical list of Amenophis III and
situated in the Golan and Bashan. See the comparative tablet of toponyms published by
Görg 1979: 169. For the location of these toponyms, see Edel 1966:11–23; Ahituv 1981; 1984:
passim; Redford 1982: 60–62; Lenzen and Knauf 1987:59–62. Toponyms Nos. 87–96 seems to
have been located in a well defined area, between the Beth-shean plain in the west and the
tributaries of the Yarmuk River in the east.
5. Sarid is mentioned possibly one more time in the Song of Deborah (Judg. 5:13); see
Na’aman 1990: 424–425.
Rubutu/Aruboth 209
ies probably cooperated with the Egyptian troops who operated against their
rivals in central and northern Palestine as well as in the Beer-sheba Valley
and the Negeb Highlands. I suggested restoring No. 11 as G[ḏr], i.e., Gezer,
which was a border town of the northern Israelite kingdom and the natu-
ral first target of the Egyptian campaign (Na’aman 1992a:79–80). The detach-
ment of Gezer from some other towns of the northern Shephelah (Nos. 25–
26 – Aijalon and Gittaim6) is not exceptional in Shishak’s list. For example,
Mahanaim (No. 22) is detached from the other towns located near the Jabbok
River (Nos. 53–56); Gibeon (No. 23) and Zemaraim (No. 57) appear in different
rows. Some topographical lists indeed recorded the toponyms in groups ac-
cording to geographical regions, but the listing is not always systematic and
some isolated toponyms are also registered. This well may be true of the reg-
istration of Gezer (No. 104) in Thutmose III’s list (see above).
Whether the next town (M[xx(x)], No. 12) is the same as the Mqr/lt that ap-
pears after Rbt in Thutmose III’s list remains unknown.
(4) Rubutu is mentioned in Taanach tablet No. 1 (TT 1), which was sent by
Eḫli-Teshub, a neighboring ruler. Lines 24–30 of the letter run as follows (see
Glock 1983:60; Rainey 1999:156*):
And send back word concerning the servant girl, Kan[. . .], who is in the town of
Rubutu, concerning her welfare, and if it is acceptable, [s]ell /[I will s]ell her ([t]a-da-
an-ši or [a-n]a-da-an-ši) either for the ransom or to a master.7
Rewashur, ruler of Taanach, holds the slave girl in Rubutu. Hence, the
town was located within his kingdom. Unfortunately, the letter does not give
any clue for its exact location. The background for the enslavement of the girl
is unknown. Either she was captured by force and was being held until ran-
som was paid, or she was working in Rewashur’s household until a debt was
paid. Eḫli-Teshub suggests either giving her for ransom or selling her for ser-
vitude.
(5) The city of Aruboth was the center of the Solomonic third district (1
Kgs. 4:10). The district is described thus: “The son of Hesed in Aruboth; to
him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher.” Socoh was located in the
eastern plain of Sharon (Khirbet Shuweiket er-Râs), on the main road lead-
6. For the rendering of No. 25 (qdtm = Gittaim), see Na’aman 1992a: 80, with earlier lit-
erature.
7. For the translation of line 29, see CAD I 172b; CAD N/1 44a. Rainey’s rendering of the
verb in line 29 ([n]a-da-an-ši) and his translation of lines 28–30 (“and whether he is willing
to sell her for redemption money or to a husband”) is unlikely. First, he brings in to the text
someone (“he”) who is not mentioned elsewhere. Second, the alternative of selling for ran-
som or marriage looks odd. The obvious alternative is between receiving payment for ran-
som and selling the servant girl for money.
ing from the Shephelah to the plain of Jezreel. The land of Hepher proba-
bly encompassed the territory of the five districts of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah,
Milcah and Tirzah, which are referred to in the biblical text as “daughters”
of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher. It extended between Wadi el-Far‘ah (Naḥal
Tirzah) and the city of Samaria to the south, the plain of Jezreel to the north,
and the plain of Sharon to the west. The southern limit of the Solomonic
third district (i.e., the southern limit of the land of Hepher) is congruent with
the northern border of the first district (i.e., the northern limit of Mount
Ephraim) (Lemaire 1972; 1977:59–65, 287–289; Zertal 1984:65–78; Na’aman
1986:158–162). The third district included the mountainous areas called the
land of Hepher and a strip of the plain of Sharon marked by the city of Socoh
(for similar geographical conclusions, see Albright 1925:29; Wright 1967:62*–
64*; Mettinger 1971:113–116).
The analysis of all the available sources indicates that there is no compel-
ling evidence for the commonly held assumption of two different towns, des-
ignated by the same name, Rubutu, in southern and northern Palestine. On
the contrary, all references of Rubutu/Aruboth may be attributed to a single
site, probably located in the northern Samaria area, east of Ginti-kirmil (Jett)
and south of Taanach.
Rubutu must have been an important town, as it appears in all the major
extra-biblical geographical-historical sources that we have for the Late
Bronze Age and early Iron Age II (i.e., the topographical lists of Thutmose III
and Shishak and the Taanach and Amarna letters). It was a secondary town
within the Late Bronze kingdom of Taanach, as indicated by letter TT 1. It is
listed before the Jezreel Valley (No. 107 — ‘mq) in the topographical list of
Thutmose III, and before the city of Taanach (No. 14) in Shishak’s list. The at-
tack of Milkilu of Gezer, and his allies, Tagi and Shuwardata, on Rubutu (EA
289:11–13; 290:11–15) might indicate that it was located not far from Ginti-
kirmil’s eastern border. The conquest of Rubutu was part of the attack of
Shechem, Gezer and their allies on Yashdata, ruler of Taanach. The attack
brought about the capture of his towns (EA 250:41–47 — Burquna, Ḫarabu
and Ginti-rimûnima; for site identifications, see Rainey 1968: 7 notes 34–35,
37; Zertal 1992c: 68, 97–98) and his exile from his city (EA 248; see EA 245:1–
18). The kingdom of Taanach did not recover from the attack and soon after-
ward declined as evident from the archaeological excavations conducted on
the site (Glock 1993:1432, with earlier literature).
The identity of Canaanite Rubutu and biblical Aruboth (as suggested
by Abel and Albright) is self-evident, the omission of the initial vowel has
many parallels in Palestinian and ancient Near Eastern onomasticon (for ref-
erences, see Zadok 1978:164–165; 1982:124). The town was a district’s cen-
ter in the time of the Israelite monarchy. Albright (1925:28) linked the name
Rubutu/Aruboth 211
Aruboth with the present-day village of ‘Arrābeh, on the southeast corner

of the Dothan plain; both Mettinger (1971:114) and Lemaire (1972:16; 1977:
62) accepted his suggestion. However, the linkage of names is quite uncer-
tain, and my search for the site of Rubutu is not dependent on the similarity
of the two names.8
The name Aruboth is sometimes linked with the district of Arbatta/
Narbata/Nabrachta of the Second Temple and Roman periods (Möller and
Schmitt 1976:147–148, with earlier literature; Zertal 1992a; Tsafrir, Di Segni
and Green 1994:193, with earlier literature). However, most scholars have
placed the district of Narbata in the Sharon plain and have sought the city
of Aruboth in this area (Klein 1930; Alt 1932:31–34; Weippert 1966:288–291,
with earlier literature; Möller and Schmitt 1976:147–148, with earlier liter-
ature). Other scholars rejected the identification of Arbatta/Narbata with
Nabrachta, locating the first district in the plain of Sharon and searching
for the latter in the northern Samaria area (Grintz 1969:11–31; Safrai 1980:
48–51, 155–157). Although it is linguistically possible that the old name
Rubutu/Aruboth developed into the late form Arbatta/Narbata (Alt 1932:
32; Weippert 1966:289 n. 92), the relationship between the Canaanite and
Israelite town of Rubutu/Aruboth and the Second Temple city and district
of Narbata is highly uncertain. In light of this uncertainty, the two toponyms
should be discussed separately until new data, if found, changes the present
documentary evidence.
Rubutu/Aruboth should best be sought in the Dothan plain; its exact lo-
cation requires some consideration. Wright (1967:63*) looked for Aruboth in
the Dothan plain and mentioned Tell el-ḥafar or Tell el-Masallah as possible
candidates. Zertal (1984:72–76; 1992a) suggested locating Aruboth at Khirbet
el-Ḥamam, in the hilly area southwest of the plain of Dothan. However, no
Late Bronze pottery has been found in Zertal’s excavations of the site, and his
suggested identification is untenable.
There are six Late Bronze Age and Iron Age II sites in the plain of Dothan:
Burqîn, Tell el-Muḥafar, el-Khirab and er-Rujam on its northern side and
Tell Dothan and el-Meshattah on its south (Zertal 1984:154–156; 1992c:51–
52). Burqîn is doubtless the site of Canaanite Burquna, and Tell Dothan is the
place of biblical Dothan (Gen. 37:17; 2 Kgs. 6:13). Of the remaining sites, Tell
Muḥafar is the largest and most suitable for the location of Rubutu/Aruboth.
8. In another article, Albright (1944:19 n. 36) abandoned the identification of Aruboth

with ‘Arrābeh and followed Dhorme (1908:518) in identifying ‘Arrābeh with the town of
Ḫarabu (EA 250:44). Rainey (1968:7 n. 34) accepted this identification, whereas Zertal (1984:
61, 101; 1992:68) identified Ḫarabu with el-Khirab, located on the northwestern side of the
Dothan plain.
Zertal (1992b) equated it with biblical Hepher. However, a city named Hepher
is mentioned neither among the hundreds of toponyms that appear in sec-
ond millennium sources nor in post-biblical sources. Even in the Bible it ap-
pears only in the list of conquered Canaanite cities (Josh 12:17). Therefore,
I agree with Lemaire (1972:14–16; 1977:61–62) that Hepher was not a city’s
name, but rather the name of a vast region (1 Kgs. 4:10) whose five districts
are personified by the names of Hepher’s five granddaughters (Num. 26:32–
33; 27:1; Josh 17:2–3). Its essence as a district’s name explains why it sur-
vived in four places in the Dothan plain: Tell el-Muḥafar, Khirbet al-Muḥafar,
Khirbet Ḥafireh and Bīr el-Ḥafireh. The regional name Hepher was selected
by the author of Joshua 12 to represent the northern Samarian hill country,
which is not included in the conquest tradition of the Book of Joshua.9
In sum, combination of all the evidence points to the plain of Dothan as
the most likely location of Rubutu/Aruboth. In light of the importance of
Rubutu/Aruboth in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age II, I suggest locating it
at Tell el-Muḥafar, the largest mound in the plain of Dothan. The archaeolog-
ical survey conducted at the site indicates that it was settled from the Early
Bronze Age until the Roman period (Zertal 1984:98–99, Pls. 13–15; 1992c:108–
111). One hopes that the site will be excavated in the future, so that its ar-
chaeological data will join the historical information presented in this article
and amplify our outlook of this interesting Canaanite and Israelite city.
9. I deliberately ignore the bulla recently published by Deutsch (1997 No. 100), on
which appears the toponym h’rbt and which Heltzer (2000:106) identified with the city of
Aruboth (although its identification with the Judean city of Rabbah is more likely). It be-
longs to a group of eight different bullae that suddenly appeared in the 1990s on the an-
tique market (for references see Heltzer 2000) and whose authenticity is quite uncertain.
Rubutu/Aruboth 213
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Deutsch, R. 1997. Messages from the Past. Hebrew Bullae from the Time of Josiah through
the Destruction of the First Temple. Tel Aviv.
Dhorme, P. 1908. Les pays bibliques au temps d’el-Amarna. RB 5: 500–519.
Edel, E. 1966. Der Ortsnamenlisten aus dem Totentempel Amenophis III. Bonn.
Giveon, R. 1979. Remarks on Some Egyptian Toponym Lists concerning Canaan. In: Görg,
M., and Pusch, E. eds. Festschrift Elmar Edel. (Ägypten und Altes Testament 1). Bamberg:
135–141.
Giveon, R. 1981. Geba‘ (Urk. IV, 786, 114). Göttinger Miszellen 49: 33–36.
Glock, A.E. 1983. Texts and Archaeology at Tell Ta‘annek. Berytus 31: 57–66.
Glock, A.E. 1993. Taanach. New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy
Land 4. Jerusalem: 1428–1433.
Goren, I., Finkelstein, I. and Na’aman, N. 2002. The Seat of three Disputed Canaanite Rulers
according to Petrograpic Investigation of the Amarna Tablets. Tel Aviv 29: 221-237.
Görg, M. 1974. Untersuchungen zur Hieroglyphischen Wiedergabe Palästinischer Orts-
namen. Bonn.
Görg, M. 1979. Identifikation von Fremdnamen. Das methodische Problem am Beispiel
einer Palimpsestschreibung aus dem Totentempel Amenophis III. In: Görg, M. ed.
Festschrift Elmar Edel. (Ägypten und Altes Testament 1). Bamberg: 152–173.
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(Hebrew).
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2nd revised ed. Wiesbaden.
Heltzer, M. 2000. Some Questions Concerning the Economic Policy of Josiah, King of Judah.
IEJ 50: 105–108.
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1929. ZDPV 53: 136–166.
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für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 74: 369–380.
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147.
Economic Aspects of the Egyptian Occupation of
Canaan1
The question of the economic advantages gained for Egypt by holding the
land of Canaan permanently during the Late Bronze Age has, until recently,
been dealt with only in a general way.2 The isolation of the factors relating
exclusively to the problems of the Egyptian permanent occupation of the land
of Canaan and the Egyptian impositions on their vassals is so difficult that
scholars have usually withheld judgement.3 However, Albright (1975:106) ex-
pressed the opinion that “the regular tribute alone must have been a ter-
rific burden.” This view was combined with his earlier concept, according to
which “the wealth and culture of southern Canaan decreased rather steadily
under foreign misrule, until it reached an extremely low ebb in the thir-
teenth century” (Albright 1949:101; 1963:25).
In an article published recently, Ahituv (1978:93–105) reviewed this ques-
tion. As a basis for his study, he used the written documents available for
the whole period of Egyptian rule in Canaan, sorting the material according
to the different categories of commodities and estimating the value of each
item for Egypt. His conclusions are diametrically opposite to the views held
by Albright: “It is indeed probable that there was no economic interest in the
Egyptian conquest of Canaan, and if such an interest existed it was very lim-
ited” (Ahituv 1978:104).
This article will re-examine the economic aspects of the Egyptians’ occu-
pation of the Land of Canaan during the Late Bronze Age.
1. Reprinted with permission. Israel Exploration Journal 31 (1981), 172–185.

2. All the available economic information for the Egyptian relationships with Asia was
collected by Helck 1971:chap. 27. The material in this chapter is varied, belonging to differ-
ent periods, sources (documents, reliefs, paintings and vessels) and categories (booty, trib-
ute, gifts and commerce).
3. Alt 1950; Abdul Kader Mohammad 1959:105–137; Helck 1960:1–13; 1971:246–255;
Drower 1973: 467–483; Albright 1975:102–116; Kitchen 1969:80–82; de Vaux 1978:94–99;
Several 1972:123–133.
216
Economic Aspects of the Egyptian Occupation of Canaan 217
The Problem of the Source Material
The written sources available for our inquiry are the Amarna letters, sev-
eral Egyptian royal inscriptions and a handful of administrative and economic
texts. No Egyptian royal archive, other than that discovered at Amarna, has
been found. The administrative and economic texts were collected from var-
ious places and cover different reigns and subjects. Thus, it is clear that no
comprehensive picture of the type required by the subject of this article can
be drawn from them.
The royal inscriptions pose a different problem. Almost all the informa-
tion included there is connected with booty, and other kinds of income are
rarely recorded. However, the booty lists, important as they are for the study
of the economy of Canaan in the Late Bronze Age, should not be taken into
account in the present discussion. The establishment of a permanent body of
government and the imposition of taxes and duties on the conquered popu-
lation oblige the conqueror to maintain the security of that territory. Military
campaigns, whose primary object is to take the maximal amount of booty,
are destructive by nature, and their aim is the opposite of that of a perma-
nent government. It is my opinion that the mixture of booty and tribute (as
in Ahituv’s article) cannot contribute to the assessment of the more perma-
nent factors of Egyptian government in Canaan.
The Amarna letters are a very different case, because many aspects essen-
tial to the discussion are included there. The duration of the whole archive,
the place of many letters within the chronological framework, the origin of
most of the dispatches and the relative strength of the city-states mentioned
in the tablets are well known. A combination of all these data together may
help in the examination of the problem at hand.
The reigns of Amenophis III and Akhenaten were devoid of major military
campaigns. The lack of booty made it necessary to use peaceful means (com-
merce, gifts and tribute) to bring needed materials to Egypt. This is a clear ad-
vantage when one is trying to identify the possible contributions of the vas-
sals to the treasury of their overlord.
The Amarna letters are crucial for the discussion. Thus, it is important to
appreciate what has remained of the original archive. This unique collection
includes letters brought from the previous capital, Thebes, to the new cap-
ital Akhetaten (Amarna) when the royal court moved there, but lacks those
letters taken from Akhetaten at the time of its abandonment. The number
of letters transferred in both cases is unknown, and we don’t know the cri-
teria for their selection. One might conjecture that only those letters that
were necessary for future correspondence were brought to the new capital
and taken when the royal court left Amarna (Riedel 1939; Campbell 1964:32–
36; Na’aman 1975:2–3). Also, an unknown part of the archive was totally de-
stroyed when it was discovered and before the value of the tablets was rec-
ognized (Knudtzon 1915:1–15; Campbell 1964). Therefore, it should be kept in
mind that our main source for the discussion is only a part of the original ar-
chive of Amarna.
The time span of the archive is important for the discussion below. The ar-
chive covers the period from the thirtieth year of Amenophis III to the third
year of Tutankhamun, when the city of Amarna was abandoned. The time
span depends on whether there was co-regency between Amenophis III and
Akhenaten or not. The maximal period covered by the archive is 28 years
(8+17+3), and the minimal is 17 years (8+6+3).
The Economic Data of the Amarna Tablets

The tribute in the Amarna letters is hopelessly confused with the gifts,
and there is no way to distinguish between them. However, as vassals’ “gifts”
were usually not less obligatory than tribute in the ancient Near East, this is
not a real obstacle to the discussion.
The term for tribute in the letters is biltu. It appears in the combination
bilat šarri (EA 288:12; see EA 160:44) and bilat šamaš (EA 325:21). The terms for
gifts are tāmartu (EA 99:12, 19) and qīštu (EA 53:51, 100:33, 288:22).
The discussion of the economic data is divided into three main categories.
We shall examine the value of the items in terms of “money” whenever this is
possible, using the silver shekel as a standard.
Tributes and Gifts

The deliveries of both kinds will be grouped together by commodities.
Silver
EA 287:54 — 5000 shekels are sent from Jerusalem;4 EA 313:7–11 — 1400
shekels are sent from southern Palestine; EA 309:21 — 100 shekels are sent
from southern Palestine; EA 270 — Milkilu of Gezer is severely requested to
pay 2000 shekels; EA 99 — the ruler of Ammiya is ordered to send 20 shekels
as a part of the dowry of his daughter.
4. Knudtzon did not restore the end of this line. Albright (1969:488b) read: “Five thou-
sand [silver (shekels)].” The traces at the end of the line (see Schroeder 1915:No. 163, line
54) might represent broken KÙ.BABBAR signs, though the first sign looks more like a din
(which, however, would make no sense in this context).
Copper and Bronze

Bronze was used exclusively for manufacturing tools and vessels.
Therefore, whenever a heavy weight is mentioned, even if the Akkadian
word is siparru (“bronze”), it can only mean “copper” and not “bronze”
(Oppenheim 1969:241). EA 151:47 — 5 talents of copper are sent from Tyre; EA
69:25–30 — an unspecified amount of copper was taken from Byblos; EA 77:7–
8 — Rib-Adda of Byblos is requested to send copper and bronze tools.5 The re-
lationship of the value of silver to that of copper in Egypt at the time of the
18th Dynasty was 1:100 (Helck 1975:270; Janssen 1975:106–107). Copper was
cheaper in the northern countries, roughly 1:200–400.6
Glass
Four rulers, all from southern Palestine, sent raw glass (eḫlipakku) on the
same occasion (EA 314, 323, 327, 331).7 The ruler of Tyre sent the same mineral
(mekku — EA 148:5). The weights mentioned in the letters are 30 (EA 323:16), 50
(EA — 327:10) and 100 (EA 148:8), but it is not clear whether it designates the
shekel unit or not, and we cannot estimate the value of these consignments.
Wood
EA 160:14–19 — Aziru of Amurru sent 8 ships loaded with wood; EA 161:
55–56 the same ruler promised to send another transport of wood (and agri-
cultural products as well); EA 151:48 — an unknown kind of wood is sent from
Tyre to Egypt.
Manufactured Goods
EA 266:20–33 — Tagu of Ginti-kirmil sent a chariot with all its appurte-
nances;8 EA 151:48 — Abi-Milki of Tyre sent a whip to the Pharaoh; EA 168:9–
10 — Aziru of Amurru sent vessels (unūtu); EA 99 — the ruler of Ammiya is or-
dered to send chariots and horses (besides silver and slaves) as a dowry to the
Pharaoh. All the dispatches mentioned in this category are clearly gifts.9
5. For s/še-en-ni meaning bronze vessel, see Liverani 1971:261, n. 45; AHw 1164b, s.v.
šannu(m). It is not clear to me why the passage EA 69:8, 10, 13 was cited in AHw 1048a, s.v.
sinnu 1.
6. For Nuzi, see Eichler 1973:15; Heltzer 1978:30–31, 77–78.
7. For the identification of eḫlipakku as a raw glass, see Oppenheim 1973:259–266.
8. For this passage, see Na’aman 1977b.
9. “Thirty goblet[s of silver(?)] and gold” are mentioned in letter EA 219:25, but the tab-
let is so broken that the context in which the goblets appear remains obscure.
Cattle
EA 301:19 — Shubandu of south Palestine sent 500 cattle; EA 242:11 —
Biridiya of Megiddo sent 30 cattle. The price of an ox in Egypt at the time of
the 18th and 19th Dynasties was about a half dbn (=5 shekels) of silver (Helck
1975:271–272; Janssen 1975:176). The price of an ox in the northern countries
was 10–20 shekels of silver.10
Personnel
EA 64:20–23 — ‘Abdi-Ashtarti of south Palestine sent 10 maids of an un-
known description;11 EA 268:15–20 — Milkilu of Gezer sent 46 maidser[vants],
5 attendants and 5 aširūma. EA 287:54–55 — ‘Abdi-Ḫeba of Jerusalem sent x
prisoners (asirū) and x+8 caravan escorts; EA 288:16–22 — ‘Abdi-Ḫeba sent 21
maidservants, 10 slaves and 80 prisoners (asirū);12 EA 301:20 — Shubandu of
southern Palestine sent 20 girls; EA 309:19–24 — a southern Palestinian ruler
sent 10 maidservants and 10 slaves on one occasion and x + 1 on another;13 EA
99 — the ruler of Ammiya is ordered to send 20 slaves as part of the dowry of
his daughter to the Pharaoh.
The price of a maidservant, according to an Amarna letter (EA 369), was
40 shekels of silver. This fits well the prices in Egypt (Helck 1975:211) and the
north Syrian kingdoms in that period.14 Accordingly, the deliveries of slaves
10. Heltzer 1978:20–21, 74, n. 13. The average price of an ox at Nuzi was 10 shekels of
silver; Eichler. 1973:15.
11. See the discussions by Krahmalkov 1971:140–143; Loretz and Mayer 1974:493–494.
12. The suggested restoration for lines 16–18 is as follows: (16) [i-nu-ma PN lúMAŠKIM
šarri] (17) [k]a-ša-ad a-na mu-ḫi-ia la-a [a-nu-ma] (18) na-ad-na-ti 10 lúÌRmeš [a-na q]a-[t]i-[šu],
“When PN, the commissioner of the king, came to me, now did not I hand over to him ten
slaves?” The transport mentioned above in the text is actually a combination of two con-
secutive consignments from ‘Abdi-Ḫeba to the Pharaoh.
13. A tentative restoration of letter EA 309:19–24, partly based on the facsimile
(Schroeder 1915:No. 174), is as follows: (19) [ar?]-ki ša aš-[pu?-ru?] (20) [x+]1 ÌRmeš TUR[meš?]
(21) ù 1 M[E] KÙ.BABBAR[meš] (22) [a-n]a LUGAL EN-i[a] (23) 10 ÌRm[eš TUR?] [ù] (24) 10
mí
GEMEmeš [. . .]; “After that I have sent x+1 young slaves and 100 (shekels) of silver to the
king, my lord, [I have given(?)] 10 [young(?)] slaves and 10 maidservants.”
Notes to the restoration: Line 20: the meš sign, which was restored at the end of the
line, may be redundant. Line 23: the restoration is based on line 20. Line 24: It seems that
the line continues on the edge of line 25, where the remnant of a Glossenkeil is seen on the
facsimile. Granted that the restoration is correct, then two consecutive consignments were
sent to the Pharaoh, parallel to the two consignments sent in letter EA 288.
14. For Ugarit, see Mendelsohn 1955:68; Albright 1941:44–45. For Alalakh, see Klengel
1963:1–15. It is interesting to note that the average price of a slave at Nuzi was only 30 shek-
els; Eichler 1973:16.
and maids were of very high value. In letter EA 369, the Pharaoh sent his
envoy to buy 40 maids at their full price. As mentioned above, no major mili-
tary campaign was conducted in those years, and the dispatch of all kinds of
slaves seems to have been essential for the Pharaoh.
The group called aširū(ma) needs brief consideration. Rainey (1967:296–
301) suggested that they were a kind of military personnel. Astour (1972:
15–25), on the other hand, defined them as merchants organized in groups.
Without embarking on a detailed discussion, it seems to me that the material
from Canaan supports Rainey’s suggestion. Thus, in letter No. 5 from Taanach,
Amenophis orders the ruler of Taanach to send him tribute and troops, in
which aširū are also included.15 Milkilu of Gezer and ‘Abdi-Ḫeba of Jerusalem
sent transports to the Pharaoh, which included slaves, maidservants, atten-
dants, caravan escorts, prisoners and aširūma (EA 268:20). Merchants are out
of question in this context. The aširū(ma) may well be a kind of warrior, per-
haps even bodyguards of the rulers.
Pharaonic Territories and Their Products

Alongside the old Canaanite city-states, the Egyptians established a net-
work of garrison cities to administer the territories under their power, prob-
ably set up by Thutmose III. Four were situated on the coast, Gaza and Joppa
in the south and Ullasa and Ṣumur in the north; one city (or perhaps two)
was located on the major caravan-route linking Mesopotamia and Syria with
Palestine and Egypt (Beth-shean and possibly Yeno‘am; see Na’aman 1977a);
another such city, Kumidi, lay on the major crossroad of the Lebanese Beqa‘.
In all these places (except Kumidi) the city-state rulers were deposed and re-
placed by Egyptian officials who assumed administration of the city, in coop-
eration with the local urban institutions (see EA 102:22–2316).
The vassal city-state rulers were liable to corvée of different kinds, which
they fulfilled in the Egyptian garrison cities and the surrounding territories.
They garrisoned the cities (EA 60:20–25, 103:13–15, 289:18–20; see EA 190:4–
5, 197:37–39, 253:32–35), defended their walls and gates (EA 296:30–33) and
15. Taanach tablet No. 5, lines 4–15. There is no textual justification for Albright’s
translation (1944:23–24), which began a new sentence in line 8, thus, separating the aširū
from the preceding lines.
16. The passage is related to the Egyptian garrison-city of Ṣumur, and the official men-
tioned there was probably Appiḫa (EA 69:25,29, 100:12, 105:35; see EA 103:11–15, 106:21–22).
I cannot accept the opinion of A. Altman (1978:101) that the passage is related to the city
of Ambi; Ambi was under the sovereignty of Byblos and, as a subordinate town, was not di-
rectly supervised by an Egyptian official.
guarded special installations (EA 294:16–24). They were also liable to repair
damages (EA 160:26–28; 161:35–40).
The most instructive letters are those relating to the cultivation of the
Egyptian territories in the area of the garrison cities. Letter EA 365 is the
well-known episode of gathering corvée workers for cultivating the fields of
Shunem.17 It has been suggested that the fields of Shunem were incorporated
as a result of the destruction of the city by Lab’ayu (Alt 1924:34–41). However,
another solution seems preferable; in the annals of Thutmose III, after the list
of booty taken from three Transjordanian cities (Na’aman 1977a), the follow-
ing passage (Wilson 1969:238) appears:
Now the fields (3ḫw.t) were made into arable plots (‘ḥw.t) and assigned to inspectors of
the palace . . . in order to reap their harvest. List of the harvest which his majesty car-
ried off from the Megiddo arable plots (‘ḥw.t): 207,300 [+x] sacks of wheat, apart from
what was cut as forage by his majesty’s army.
The first part of the passage is related to the fields of the above-mentioned
three cities, which were reparcelled and assigned to the supervision of the
palace’s inspectors. The second part is related to the fields in the neighbor-
hood of Megiddo, using the same Egyptian term, ‘ḥw.t, as in the first sentence.
The word ‘ḥw.t (“arable plots”), in contrast to 3ḫw.t (“fields”), designates the
administrative status of the territory belonging to the state.18 Thus, the enor-
mous amount of reaped sacks of grain came from a large area of arable land
incorporated by the Pharaoh after the conquest of Megiddo. Therefore, one
may conjecture that the fields, including the area around Shunem, were su-
pervised by the nearby Egyptian garrison-city of Beth-shean, which was an-
nexed at that time.
Further light on these incorporated territories is gained from letter No. 2
of Taanach (Albright 1944:20–23, with earlier references; Rainey 1977:33–64).
The letter was sent by Aḫiyami, the ruler of Rehob, a city situated in the Beth-
17. For full bibliography, see Rainey 1978:28–31. The crux of the letter is lines 26–
29. The identification of uru Ia-puki with Japhia in Galilee (Rainey 1978:105; Röllig 1976–80:
260), in my opinion, should be abandoned. Not only has Late Bronze pottery never been
found at this site (Kallai 1967:157–158), but the place clearly belongs to the nearby city-
state of Shamḫuna. Doubtless, Yapû must be identified with the Egyptian garrison-city of
Joppa, appearing with the same writing in other Amarna letters, where workers were con-
centrated for the corvée. The second toponym, Nuribta, may possibly be identified with
Narbata, a Second Temple town situated to the east of Caesarea, on the main road leading
from Joppa to Shunem (see Avi-Yonah 1976:82). Tentatively, lines 26–29 of EA 365 might be
translated as follows: ‘They came here from the town of Joppa, from [your(?)] hand(?) (iš-tu
ŠU-[ka?]) and from the town of Nuribta’; see EA 245:35: i-na ŠU-ti-šu.
18. For ‘ḥw.t see Gardiner 1948:55.
shean valley (Albright 1944:23, n. 70) In one section (lines 13–16) he writes:
“Command your towns that they should do their (corvée) work. I am respon-
sible for anyone who stays in the town.”19
The responsibility of the ruler of Rehob for the corvée work of the towns
of Taanach is an exact parallel to the responsibility of Biridiya of Megiddo for
workers coming to Shunem from Joppa and Nuribta (EA 365). It seems that
rulers situated in the bordering areas were (in turn?) responsible for the cul-
tivation and harvesting of the Pharaonic fields in the Jezreel Valley and for
supervising workers originating from other city-states. The Jezreel Valley
was in all likelihood crown property at this time, as it was in later periods.20
The territorial scope of the other Egyptian garrison-cities is less clear.
Kumidi’s position in the Lebanese Beqa‘ is similar to that of Beth-shean in the
Jezreel Valley. Was the annexation of Kumidi combined with the incorpora-
tion of the nearby fertile fields? This may well be an important factor in the
foundation of an Egyptian garrison city in the Lebanese Beqa‘.
In letter EA 60, ‘Abdi-Ashirta of Amurru says: “And I had harvested the
grain of Ṣumur” (lines 26–27).21 Ṣumur was an Egyptian garrison city; thus, its
fields were cultivated by the neighboring vassals.
We know about royal granaries (šunuti) in the Egyptian garrison city of
Joppa from letter EA 294:22. What grain was brought there? One possibility is
that it originated from fields in the territory of vassals. However, apart from
a single case (EA 224), such imposts were always connected with the prepara-
tions for an Egyptian military campaign (see below). Therefore, another possi-
bility may be suggested: The grain came from incorporated territories located
near Joppa. Unfortunately, only late and indirect arguments can be brought
in support of this assumption. Joppa is absent from the conquered Canaanite
cities in Joshua 12 and is excluded from the territory of Dan (Josh. 19:40–46);22
this might indicate that Joppa was not annexed by the kingdom of Israel in
the tenth century BCE. Indeed, according to the annals of Sennacherib, Joppa,
with Beth-dagon, Bene-berak and Azor, belonged at that time to the kingdom
of Ashkelon. Ashkelon apparently seized the harbor of Joppa with its territory
to the east after the collapse of Egyptian rule in southern Palestine and held
19. For line 16, see EA 174:8–9 and 363:7–8: nīnu ibašânu ana māt Amqi, “we were in the
land of ‘Amqi.”
20. Alt 1924:34–41; 1937:79–83; Avi-Yonah 1966:136–137, 141–142; Kallai 1958:632–634.
21. The translation of CAD (E 340a) is not acceptable since it combines two compound
sentences with the same verb.
22. Josh. 19:40–46; see Kallai-Kleinmann 1958:134–160; Mazar 1960:65–77; Aharoni
1966:266–267.
it until the eighth century BCE.23 Granted this reconstruction, the territory to
the east of Joppa was an integral part of the Egyptian garrison-city.
The city of Gaza poses another problem. There is much textual and ar-
chaeological evidence for intensified Egyptian activity in southern Palestine
in the time of the 19th and 20th Egyptian Dynasties (see below). But the only
evidence known to me for the area out of Gaza during the 18th Dynasty is a
tablet unearthed at Tell el-Ḥesi (EA 333j.24 Inasmuch as the tablet was sent to
an Egyptian official (rabû), it seems that his seat was at Tell el-Ḥesi and that
the place may have belonged to the Egyptian center at Gaza.
Summarizing the discussion, it seems to me that Thutmose III an-
nexed not only the above-mentioned six garrison cities (as well as the
Transjordanian triad), but also considerable territory in their neighborhood.
The clearest case is for the Egyptian lands in the Jezreel valley, around Beth-
shean; the evidence for the other Egyptian garrison cities is more limited or
even obscure. The Canaanite vassals performed part of their corvée by culti-
vating these fields, whose produce was gathered in the cities. Part of the pro-
duce might well have been sent to Egypt, with the rest serving for the main-
tenance of the Egyptian troops and administration stationed temporarily or
permanently in the country.
Preparations for Egyptian Military Campaigns

Egyptian campaigns to the north were supported by extensive prepara-
tions undertaken by the vassals in Asia, relieving Egypt of the economic bur-
den usually involved in such campaigns. It is assumed that, as the commod-
ities needed for these campaigns were collected from Canaanite cities, they
formed an additional burden on the vassals of Thutmose III and his succes-
sors.
The steps taken by Thutmose III in organizing his campaigns to the north
are very well known. He collected food supplies and all the equipment and
materials needed for future campaigns at several bases situated along the
Phoenician coast (Alt 1950). Thus, for example, even the boats designed to
cross the Euphrates were prepared in the mountains of Lebanon, near the
Phoenician coast (Wilson 1969:240).
Thutmose III conducted his campaigns from bases located along the
Phoenician coast, and, therefore, only the maritime bases are mentioned in
his inscriptions. The Amarna letters (and letters Nos. 5–6 from Taanach as
23. For the historical continuity between the Egyptians and the Philistines, see Alt
1944:14–20. See also Mazar 1964: 5–6.
24. See the detailed discussion by Albright 1942:32–38.
well) reflect the preparation made in anticipation of an expedition travers-

ing Palestine and southern Syria.25 The products mentioned in many of the
Amarna letters (bread, grain, beer, wine, olive oil, honey, goats, cattle and
straw) are similar to the commodities collected in the port towns in the days
of Thutmose III (bread, olive oil, incense, wine, honey and fruit) (Wilson 1969:
239b). The vassals were also obliged to take part in the campaigns. It is rea-
sonable to suggest that, as in many other cases, it was Thutmose III who in-
vented this administrative device; his heirs followed the same pattern.
Comparative Material
To evaluate the data collected in the preceding paragraph, we shall
bring some comparative material from two other ancient Near Eastern
kingdoms.
The tribute paid by Ugarit to the Hittite kingdom was recorded in the
treaty of Shuppiluliuma and Niqmaddu (Dietrich and Loretz 1966:206–245).
The tribute consisted of 500 large shekels of gold, goblets of gold amount-
ing to 100 shekels, goblets of silver amounting to 180 shekels, 13 garments of
linen, 1300 garments of dark red wool and 1300 garments of light red wool.
The tribute paid by Aziru of Amurru to the Hittites is mentioned in the treaty
between Murshili II and Duppi-Teshub: 300 shekels of refined gold.26 The rate
of gold to silver in the contemporary northern states was 1:4–9 (Leemans
1957–71:512–513; Heltzer 1978:14, 27).
Other data concerning tribute are known from the Assyrian empire in the
first millennium BCE. The ruler of Bit Zamani (a north Mesopotamian state)
paid Ashurnaṣirpal II two minas of gold, 13 minas of silver, 1000 sheep and
2000 (measures) of barley (Luckenbill 1926:§475).
In the days of Shalmaneser III, the north Syrian kingdoms paid the fol-
lowing sums: Patina — 1 talent of silver, 2 talents of dark red wool and 200
logs of cedar; Carchemish — 10 minas of gold, 1 talent of silver and 2 talents
of dark red wool; Sam’al — 10 minas of silver, 200 logs of cedar and 1 homer
of cedar resin; Kummuh — 20 minas of silver and 300 logs of cedar (Luckenbill
1926:§601).
A partial list of the tribute imposed by Esarhaddon on Egypt after its con-
quest is also known (Borger 1956:114, II:13–19).
The annual payment of tribute (šattišam, “yearly”) is repeated innumera-
ble times in the Assyrian royal inscriptions; withholding tribute was always
25. For this campaign, see Schulman 1964:51–69; Reviv 1966:45–51; Liverani 1971:259–
260, n. 41; Pintore 1972:101–131; 1973:299–318.
26. Goetze 1969:203b. For the tribute of Cyprus, see Güterbock 1967: 77–78. 51.
considered a sign of rebellion. Therefore, it is quite surprising to find a rel-

atively small number of documents recording the payments of tribute, al-
though the royal archives of Assyria mostly have been discovered.27 The same
is true of the Hittites. It can be said that without the evidence of the royal in-
scriptions and treaties only a general and somewhat ambiguous picture of
the vassals’ tributes could have been drawn. This fact will be taken into ac-
count when the question of the Egyptian revenues from Canaan is discussed
below.
Conclusions
The discussion so far has shown how complicated is the problem at hand.
No clear-cut picture is to be expected under such circumstances, but certain
conclusions may be drawn from the evidence.
One of the main objects of a historical discussion is to judge properly
the balance of documentation. The Hittite and Assyrian royal archives illus-
trate the wide gap between the amounts of the annual tributes and the frag-
mentary evidence relating to the payments that was actually found in the
daily records. Only the royal inscriptions and treaties enable us to appreci-
ate the overall amount of the tributes. In Egypt, such information was not
included in the royal inscriptions, and only the partial archive from Amarna
has been found. The vassals were certainly obliged to pay their tribute on a
yearly basis, and an uninterrupted payment of the tribute was always con-
sidered an essential sign of loyalty to the Pharaoh (see EA 60:19–32, 254:
10–15). Apparently, however, only a relatively small part of the contribu-
tions to Egypt were mentioned in those letters. Most of the contributions
must have been collected by the Egyptian officials during their excursions
in the country without being recorded in the letters. Only on the occasion of
writing on other matters were the payments of tributes by the vassals men-
tioned, to emphasize their loyalty to the Pharaoh. The conclusion is inevi-
table: Even our main source, the Amarna letters, contains only a small part
of the whole set of contributions and must be used only as a guide to the
overall picture.
The sums paid by several south Palestinian vassals are quite remarkable.
Jerusalem sent (undoubtedly during a short time) two very valuable consign-
ments of 5000 shekels of silver and scores of different kinds of personnel.28
27. For the material concerning the Assyrian tributes and gifts, see Martin 1936;
Postgate 1974; Elat 1977.
28. One might express reservations about the high numbers included in letter EA
287:53–57, because the caravan was robbed on its way and did not reach Egypt. Thus, it
Milkilu of Gezer sent 50 persons of various kinds and was obliged to pay on
another occasion 2000 shekels of silver; 1400 shekels of silver were sent by an
unknown southern ruler, 100 shekels and 20 slaves by another, 20 maids and
500 cattle by Shubandu and 10 maids by ‘Abdi-Ashtarti. There are also the
four deliveries of raw glass from the same area. Several consignments were
sent from north Palestine and the Phoenician coast, but there is no record of
tribute from the south Syrian and Transjordanian cities.29
I have claimed elsewhere that Helck’s division of the Egyptian prov-
ince of Canaan into three administrative districts (Canaan, Amurru and
Upi in Helck’s terminology) (Helck 1971:248–252; see Aharoni 1967:146–
153; de Vaux 1968:25–28) is not acceptable. Rather, I have suggested that the
Phoenician coast and Palestine (apart from its northern parts) were one ad-
ministrative unit, and southern Syria (including the Bashan and the king-
dom of Hazor) was treated separately. This structure was apparently the out-
come of the events of the Middle Bronze Age, when southern Palestine and
the Phoenician coast were under Egyptian influence (though not necessarily
direct rule), and southern Syria and northern Palestine were grouped with
the Syro-Mesopotamian West Semitic kingdoms. These kingdoms, thus, ac-
quired an altogether different administrative and cultural tradition from the
other territories of Canaan, and was organized within a separate framework
(Na’aman 1975:166–172, 227).
The Egyptian policy in the two districts under their control might have
been different; the northern and less effectively controlled areas of Syria
were relieved, partially or even totally, from the burden of paying the yearly
tribute.
A comparison of the above-mentioned contributions to the tribute paid
by the much larger and richer north Mesopotamian and north Syrian states
to the Hittites and the Assyrians shows that the Egyptian burden was not
light at all. Admittedly, the Amarna letters mixed together tribute and gifts,
and the Hittite and Assyrian royal inscriptions and treaties mentioned mainly
(or even exclusively) tribute. On the other hand, the Amarna contributions
were only a portion of the levies imposed by the Egyptians on their vassals.
This point should be elaborated: The involvement of Egypt in the affairs of
can be argued that ‘Abdi-Ḫeba intentionally exaggerated, to reduce his future payments
(see lines 57–59: “Let the king, my lord, know that I cannot send a caravan to the king,
my lord.”).
29. Astour (1972:23) has suggested that a group of 10 aširūma were sent to Egypt from
one of the kingdoms situated in the land of Amqi (EA 173:13–14). But this letter dealt en-
tirely with military operations, and its sender was probably an Egyptian official, sending
the Pharaoh 10 prisoners of war (asirū).
Canaan was more profound than the Hittites’ and the Assyrians’ involvement
in their vassal states. Canaan under Egyptian rule might be described as half-
way between an incorporated province and a vassal state, with a balance be-
tween the local rulers with their city-states on the one hand and the Egyptian
troops and administration with their garrison-cities on the other hand. This
difference in the relationships of the empires with their vassal states should
be kept in mind when comparing the burden that they imposed.30
The nature of the tribute and gifts is also significant. Most of the con-
signments from Palestine were of silver, cattle and personnel, with extraor-
dinary dispatches of raw glass and a chariot. From the Phoenician coast were
sent wood, copper/bronze and special deliveries like raw glass and vessels. It
is clear, therefore, that all those contributions were actually directed to the
Egyptian court and not to the Egyptian garrison-cities in Canaan.
Apart from cattle, agricultural products are only sporadically mentioned.
Grain and oil appear only once, and wine, honey, and so forth, are absent.
However, because agricultural land was a part of the Egyptian garrison-cities’
territories, the products of that land might have been sent Egypt. Agricultural
products like wine and oil probably were sent from Canaan to Egypt either by
commerce or even as tribute, although it is not attested in our letters.31
The existence of a network of supply for the Egyptian army embarking
on military campaigns to the north, both along inland roads and along the
coast, was an important military and economic factor of the Egyptian occu-
pation of the land.
Byblos is an exceptional case. No less than 70 letters pertain to that city;
nevertheless, Rib-Adda is ordered only once to send copper and bronze to
Egypt (EA 77:6–15), and he answers that he has none. On another occasion,
he gave copper to the Egyptian messenger Appiḫa (EA 69:25–28).32 On the
other hand, Rib-Adda asks in many letters for provisions, stressing his dis-
tress. This situation might well explain the lack of contributions from Byblos,
and it is significant that his only payment (EA 69:25–29) is probably dated
just after the death of ‘Abdi-Ashirta of Amurru (Campbell 1964:80, 134). Was
the despondent tone of Rib-Adda a device to escape the payment of tribute
to Egypt?
There are several signs testifying to the intensification of the Egyptian oc-
cupation of Canaan, particularly in southern Palestine, during the time of the
30. For the Egyptian point of view, see Redford 1972:149–155.

31. For export of grain, oil and wine from Syro-Palestine to Egypt during the Ptolemaic
period, see Tcherikover 1937:20–23.
32. The apparent consignment mentioned in EA 126:4–6 is very doubtful and, therefore,
has been excluded from the above discussion.
19th and the beginning of the 20th Dynasties in Egypt. Alt was the first to ob-
serve this phenomenon, relying mainly on the written sources (Alt 1944). The
new excavations at Aphek, Lachish, Tel Sera‘, Tel Masos, Deir el-Balaḥ and
Timna33 support Alt’s proposal. This intensification of the Egyptian involve-
ment in Palestine might well have caused the flourishing of the above-men-
tioned Palestinian sites in the last stage of the Late Bronze Age. Thus, the opin-
ion that there was a collapse of the Canaanite culture in the thirteenth century
BCE should be abandoned. The intensified Egyptian activity in the country
may well have brought changes in the picture drawn above, which was mainly
based on evidence of the fifteenth-fourteenth centuries. However, the discus-
sion which is necessary in order to trace the main lines of the Ramesside pat-
tern of government in Canaan is beyond the scope of this article.
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Altman, A. 1978. Some Controversial Toponyms from the Amurru Region in the Amarna
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Astour, M. 1972. The Merchant Class of Ugarit. In: Edzard, D.O. ed. Gesellschaftsklassen im
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Campbell, E.F. 1964. The Chronology of the Amarna Letters with Special Reference to the
Hypothetical Coregency of Amenophis III and Akhenaten. Baltimore.
Dietrich, M. and Loretz, O. 1966. Der Vertrag zwischen Šuppiluliuma und Niqmandu. Eine
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Drower, M. 1973. Syria c. 1550–1400 B.C. The Cambridge Ancient History II/1, 3rd revised ed.
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Elat, M. 1977. Economic Relations in the Lands of the Bible c. 1000–539 B.C. Jerusalem.
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Gardiner, A.H. 1948. The Wilbur Papyrus. II. Commentary. Oxford.
Goetze, A. 1969. Hittite Treaties. In: Pritchard, J.B. ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to
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Pharaonic Lands in the Jezreel Valley
in the Late Bronze Age1
The Jezreel Valley was regarded as crown property that had a special
administrative and juridical status from ancient times to the period of the
Second Temple and even later. These royal estates had been maintained for
centuries and were transferred from one conquering power to another.2
When analyzing an Amarna letter (EA 365) concerning the cultivation of
the fields of Shunem by corvée workers arriving from various places, A. Alt
(1924:34–41) suggested that the fields where pharaonic land. According to
his reconstruction, they had been annexed by the Egyptians, following the
offensive of Lab’ayu, ruler of Shechem, and the destruction of the city of
Shunem (EA 250:41–47). Alt further assumed that the settlement of the sons
of Issachar in the plain of Jezreel was connected with the cultivation of these
crown lands. The description of Issachar (etymologically “man of hire”) as a
“strong ass” who “bowed his shoulder to bear and became a slave at forced
labour” (Gen. 49:14–15) was, in his opinion, derived from his status as a cor-
vée labourer of these fields.
Alt’s attractive hypothesis of the early settlement of the Issacharite fam-
ilies in the plain of Jezreel was recently refuted by Z. Gal (1982:79–86) on ar-
chaeological grounds. Furthermore, his reconstruction of the historical
background of the annexation of the lands in the Jezreel Valley (and of the
foundation of the Egyptian garrison city of Beth-shean as well) is open to de-
bate. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss this problem in greater detail,
basing the analysis on other Late Bronze Age documents that have not been
discussed so far in this context.
The point of departure for the investigation is letter no. 2 from Taanach
(TT 2). The Taanach tablets were discovered by E. Sellin in 1903-04 and were
subsequently published by F. Hrozný (1904:113–122; 1906:36–41). For many
1. Reprinted with permission. Heltzer, M. and Lipiński, E. eds. 1988. Society and
Economy in the Eastern Mediterranean (c. 1500–1000 B.C.). (Orientalia Lovaniensia
Analecta 23). Leuven: 177–185.
2. Alt 1937:81–84; Kallai 1958:628–634, with further bibliography; Avi-Yonah 1966:136–
137, 141–142.
232
Pharaonic Lands in the Jezreel Valley in the Late Bronze Age 233
years the tablets have been discussed on the basis of Hrozný’s decipherment.3
They were collated by E. I. Gordon and A. E. Glock in 1966, and the results of
the collation were published by Glock (1983:58–63). The grammatical traits of
the letters from Taanach were meticulously studied by A.F. Rainey (1977:33–
64). The considerable improvement in both the reading and the understand-
ing of the letters enables us to re-examine letter TT 2 and to suggest a new in-
terpretation for certain parts of it.
Here is a translation of the letter, accompanied by a commentary and an
analysis of its contents.
(1) To Rewashur, speak. (2) Thus says Aḫiyami: May the Lord of the Gods (3) protect
your life.
You are a brother (4) and beloved in that place, (5) and you are aware that (6) I have en-
tered (to rule) in an empty house.(7) So give me a few (things) (8) two wheels and a bow
(9) and two (sets of) harness(?); and (10) if the bow is finished (11), being manufactured
for me, then send it to me (12) by the hand of Purdaya.
(13) Another matter: command your towns (14) that they carry out their work. (15) I
am responsible for everyone (16) that stays in the towns. (17) Now, look at me, so that
(18) I will make an alliance with you.
(19) Another matter: if there are copper arrows, (20) then let them be given (to me).
(21) Another matter: let Ili-rāpi’ enter (22) into the city of Raḫābu and let (23) me send
my man to you (24) and let a marriage be arranged.
Commentary
Line 1: For the second element of the name, see Gröndahl 1967:298,
with earlier bibliography. The first element (either ri or tal) is problematic.
However, scribes from three different places consistently employed only one
sign rather than two; thus, the transcription ri was preferred. For the history
of the research of the name, see Glock 1983:59, n. 10.
Line 2: The translation follows that of Albright 1944:20, n. 45. The god
Ba‘lu is certainly referred to by the title “the Lord of the Gods.” For a different
translation and interpretation of the blessing, see Rainey 1977:50.
Line 4: The phrase “in that place” (ina ašri šuwat) refers to the city of the
addressee (i.e., Taanach). For a similar expression, compare TT 1:17 “from
there” (ištu ašrānum), which also refers to the place of the addressee.
3. For a comprehensive bibliography, see Borger 1967:198. See in particular, Albright

1944:12–27.
line 6: For the grammatical analysis of the phrase arbaku ina bīti rāqi (“I
have entered into an empty house”), see Rainey 1977:60. To understand
the phrase properly, it should be compared with similar expressions in the
Amarna letters. Rib-Adda of Byblos wrote to the Egyptian high commis-
sioner Yanḫamu, whose appointment at that time as governor of the garri-
son city of Ṣumur was described as follows (EA 102:11–12): tīrbu ana bīti rēqi
(“you will enter into an empty house”). The assumption of a new office is de-
scribed as “entering (into a house),” the city of Ṣumur is portrayed as “an
empty house.” Pu-Ba‘lu of Yurza wrote to the Egyptian royal scribe, thus, (EA
216:18–20): ianu mimma ina bītija ina iribiya ana šašu (“there was nothing in my
house when I entered it”). The city or the palace of Pu-Ba‘lu is referred to by
the words “my house,” the verb erēbu referring to the ruler’s accession to the
throne of Yurza, his preoccupation in this matter serving as an excuse for the
long delay in sending the gift. The verb erēbu has a similar meaning in letters
EA 103:9–10 and 286:12–13 and should be comprehended in all these passages
as an idiomatic expression for assuming a new office, and in particular, for
the accession to the throne.
Line 7: The noun ubānu (“finger”) appears in TT 1:20 and may be translated
“a little,” “a few” (i.e., a finger measure). A similar phrase appears in several
Amarna letters (EA 264:8,12; 273:22; cf. 287:73).
Line 9: túguppašianima is a Hurrian noun that is known from the Nuzi and
Alalakh tablets (AHW, p. 1424a uppaš/sannu “ein Lederteil am Wagen”). In two
Nuzi texts (HSS XIII: 227, lines 9–13; HSS XV: 95, lines 1–6) uppaš/sannu ap-
pears alongside ṣimittum “yoke” and in a third text (Pfeiffer and Speiser 1936:
No. 11, line 10) it appears together with iltēnutum “set (consisting of several
objects).” The translation “harness” is tentative, based on contextual similar-
ity with two other letters, one from Gath-carmel (EA 266:26–33) and the sec-
ond from Kāmid el-Lōz, in which the equipment of a chariot is recorded (see
Na’aman 1977a:238). CAD (K, p. 550b, and M/l, p.33–34) mistakenly rendered
this noun as kuppašianu.
Line 16: For bašû ana āli, compare EA 174:8–9 and 363:7–8 ninu ebašānu ana
māt ‘Amqi (“we were in the land of ‘Amqi”), where ana replaces ina.
Line 18: For the Akkadian expression ṭābuta epēšu, “to make a treaty,” see
Moran 1963:173–176; Fitzmyer 1967:73–74.
Line 20: For the vocalization of the toponym, see Albright 1934:48, no. 15.
The old shift of stressed ā to ō is attested in Canaan only from the Amarna pe-
riod and onward, whereas the Taanach letters may represent an earlier stage.
See Zadok 1977–78:38–41, with earlier bibliography.
Letter TT 2 may be interpreted as follows: Aḫiyami, who sent the letter to
the ruler of Taanach, has recently ascended the throne of Raḫābu. The city
is mentioned several times in Egyptian sources and is commonly identified
with Tell eṣ-Ṣārem, a site located south of the city of Beth-shean (Albright
1926:38–39; Aharoni 1967:112, 157, 165). The objects that Aḫiyami has re-
quested (wheels, a bow, arrows and sets of harness) are related to chariotry,
and it is not unlikely that the city of Taanach had a small chariot workshop at
that time. The ruler of Raḫābu further offered to make an alliance (or prob-
ably to renew an old one) with the king of Taanach and to strengthen it by
marriage between the two royal houses. He, therefore, suggested that either
Rewashur’s messenger (Ili-rāpi’) would come to his city or his own messenger
would be sent to Taanach to make arrangements for the wedding. All these
matters illustrate peaceful and mutually a good relationship between these
neighboring Canaanite rulers.
The words of Aḫiyami in lines 13–16 (“command your towns that they carry
out their work. I am responsible for everyone that stays in the towns”), on the
other hand, are exceptional. Certain questions come to mind: Under what cir-
cumstances was the ruler of Raḫābu, a city located in the Beth-shean Valley, re-
sponsible for the work of the inhabitants of the towns of Taanach? Before which
authority was he responsible for the workmen of the neighboring city-state?
To answer these questions, we may analyze letter EA 365, which reflects a
similar situation. A translation and interpretation of the letter are presented
below (Rainey 1978:28–31, with earlier bibliography).
(1) Say to the king, my lord and my sun: Message of Biridiya, the loyal servant of the
king. I fall at the feet of the king, my lord and my Sun, seven times and seven times.
(8) May the king, my lord, be informed concerning his servant and concerning his city.
In fact, only I am cultivating in the city of Shunem, and only I am furnishing corvée
workers (awīlī massa).
(15) But consider the mayors that are near me. They do not act as I do. They do not cul-
tivate in the city of Shunem, and they do not furnish corvée workers; Only I, by myself,
furnish corvée workers. (26) From the city of Joppa (uruIa-puki) they come here (an-ni
ki-ma), from [your(?)] hand (iš-tu ŠU-[ka?]), and from the city of Nuribta. (30) And may
the king, my lord, be informed concerning his city.
The location of the city of Ia-pu is the key for the proper understanding
of the problematic passage in lines 26–29. The city has, until now, generally
been identified with biblical Japhia, located on the southern border of the in-
heritance of Zebulun (Joshua 19:12) (Alt 1924:38; Aharoni 1967:161: Rainey
1978:105; Röllig 1976–80:260), which lies within the territory of the kingdom
of Shim‘on, Megiddo’s northeastern neighbor.4 However, if the town Japhia
4. The site of biblical Japhia is, unfortunately, unknown; its identification with the
Arabic village Yâfā does not accord well with the description of Zebulun’s southern border.
Thus, the antiquity of Japhia cannot archaeologically be examined.
was intended, the correct form would be Yapiḫu* rather then Yapu, whereas,
in fact, Yapu should be identified with the coastal city of Joppa, whose name
appears in exactly the same form in at least two Amarna letters (EA 294:20;
296:33; see also possibly EA 138:6) and in a letter from Ugarit discovered at Tel
Aphek (Owen 1981:7, line 17, and p. 12). Joppa had been an Egyptian garrison
city since its capture by Thutmose III (Broshi 1958:737–743, with further bib-
liography; Na’aman 1981a:177–180). Royal granaries were set up in the city
(EA 294:22), Egyptian officials resided there and vassal kings were responsible
for guarding the city gate and the royal granaries (EA 294:16–24; 296:30–33).
Line 27 has tentatively been restored as iš-tu ŠU-[ka] on the basis of a sec-
ond letter from Megiddo (EA 245:35) i-na ŠU-ti-šu (“in his hand”). Biridiya em-
phasized that the workers were sent to Megiddo (“here”) by the pharaonic
authority (“from your hand”), i.e., from a place under his direct control, be-
cause the city of Joppa was an Egyptian garrison city and, hence, a possession
of the pharaoh.
We may conclude that workers conscripted in the coastal region were
brought to the Jezreel Valley to work as forced laborers. The second city,
Nuribta, may tentatively be identified with the city of Narbata, which is men-
tioned in Second Temple sources and was located near the main road leading
from Joppa to Megiddo (Avi-Yonah 1976:82, with earlier bibliography). The
identification, however, is by no means certain.5
In both the letter of Raḫābu (TT 2) and that of Megiddo (EA 365), the rul-
ers of city-states near the Jezreel Valley were responsible for the work per-
formed by “imported” labor. Biridiya of Megiddo supervised corvée work-
ers who came from Joppa and probably the Sharon plain and complained
that his neighboring rulers refused to provide any man-power. Aḫiyami of
Raḫābu was responsible for the work performed by the subjects of the ruler
of Taanach. According to the Megiddo letter, the agricultural workers were
needed at Shunem, in the Jezreel Valley. Raḫābu lay south of the garrison
city of Beth-shean; therefore, the kingdom of Taanach was probably its clos-
est neighbor west of Beth-shean. We may well assume that the areas north of
Beth-shean, including the region of Shunem, were pharaonic lands on which
the above-mentioned workers were forced to work.
Further light on the status of these lands may be gained from another
source. Following the description of the battle of Megiddo and the cap-
ture of the town by Thutmose III, there appears a long list of the booty and
5. Narbata was recently equated with Arubboth of the third Solomonic district (1 Kgs.
4:10) and identified with Khirbet el-Ḥammam, some 5 km west of ‘Arrabeh, the large Arab
village near the Dothan plain. See Zertal 1984:72–76, 112–114, 133–136.
tribute taken from the city, as well as from three towns probably located
in Transjordan, namely Ngs, Ḥrnkr and Yeno‘am (Na’aman 1977b:171–172;
Spalinger 1983:99–100). Thutmose then describes the organization of the ar-
able lands near these towns as follows (Wilson 1969:238):
Now the fields (3ḫwt) were made into arable plots (‘ḥwt) and measured by controllers of
the palace — life, prosperity, health! — in order to reap their harvest. List of the harvest
which his majesty carried off from the Megiddo arable plots (‘ḥwt): 207,300 [+ x] sacks
of wheat, apart from what was cut as forage by his majesty’s army.
It seems that the fields (3ḫwt) had undergone a change in legal status, the
phrase “made into ‘ḥwt” designating this new administrative status of the
land, which is subsequently called “the Megiddo ‘ḥwt.” Measuring the fields,
probably for the reassessment of their potential crop yields for tax purposes,
was part of the procedure involved in changing their status (Goldwasser 1984:
86, n. 11, with further bibliography).
The enormous number — 207,300 [+ x] — of sacks of wheat came from the
‘ḥwt lands located in the vicinity of Megiddo. S. Ahituv (1978:98) calculated
that this amount of grain is approximately equal to 11,250 tons. Assuming an
average yield of 800 kg per acre, he concluded that the grain was harvested
from an area of about 12,500 acres. Whatever the exact size of the arable land,
it is clear that very large tracts in the Jezreel Valley changed their status at
that time and became pharaonic lands whose yields were the property of the
Egyptian authorities.
Combining the three sources, the following picture emerges: After the
battle of Megiddo and the capture of the city, the Egyptians took over large
tracts of arable land in the Jezreel Valley, including the fields of Shunem. The
city of Beth-shean became an Egyptian garrison city at that time, the super-
vision of these lands being part of its function. Responsibility for cultiva-
tion and harvesting was imposed, at least partially, on the rulers of the city-
states of the western Jezreel Valley (the land of Gina, see below) and the plain
of Beth-shean. Details of the distribution of both onus and responsibility
are lacking, however. Corvée workers may have been brought from remote
places, but probably only in cases of severe manpower shortage.
The offensive of Lab’ayu of Shechem against the “people of the land of
Gina” (EA 250:17,21) also reached Egyptian territory in this area. A. Alt (1926:
109–110) suggested that the lands of Shunem, as well as the city of Beth-
shean, were incorporated into Egyptian territory only at that time. As pro-
posed above, establishment of Egyptian hegemony and the territorial ar-
rangements in the Jezreel and Beth-shean valleys had already been effected
under Thutmose III and remained unchanged for a long time. Unfortunately,
it is not known whether Egyptian territory in the northern plains was ex-
panded during the XIXth and beginning of the XXth Dynasties, at the time
when large areas in southern Canaan were requisitioned by the Egyptians

and new administrative centers were built to consolidate their rule.6 The city
of Raḫābu is missing from the biblical tradition of the conquest and settle-
ment, “Beth-shean and its villages” representing the entire area of the val-
ley of Beth-shean (Josh. 17:11; cf. Judg. 1:27; 1 Kgs. 4:12). Does this mean that
Raḫābu’s position as the major center in the valley had been taken over by
Beth-shean in the 12th–11th centuries BCE? Only archaeological excavations
in the site of ancient Raḫābu or the discovery of new written sources can clar-
ify the history of the Beth-shean Valley and the Egyptian lands in the Jezreel
Valley in the final phase of the Egyptian rule in the Land of Canaan.7
Appendix
The Ancient Name of the Jezreel Valley

The valley near the city of Megiddo was called “the Qina Valley” in the an-
nals of Thutmose III and the wadi running through it “the Qina brook.” In an
Amarna letter (EA 250), the sons of Lab’ayu urge the ruler of Gath-padalla (a
city-state in the Sharon) to take action against Gina:
Commence hostilities against the people of the land of Gina because they slew our fa-
ther; and if you do not commence hostilities, then we will be hostile to you. And I an-
swered them: May the god of the king, my lord, deliver me from entering into hostili-
ties with the people of the land of Gina, the vassals of the king, my lord (lines 16–22).
The identity of those who slew Lab’ayu can be inferred from another let-
ter (EA 245), which is the second part of a long defense plea of Biridiya, ruler
of Megiddo, in answer to the pharaoh’s accusation blaming him for the kill-
ing of Lab’ayu. Biridiya is trying to clear himself and his ally, the ruler of
Taanach, from the accusation, by charging his other partners (whose names
are not mentioned) for the crime. The Jezreel Valley west of Naḥal Kishon
was apparently called “the valley/land of Gina” in the time of the XVIIIth
Dynasty. The sons of Lab’ayu accused the people of this region, most prom-
inent of which are the cities of Megiddo and Taanach, Lab’ayu’s main rivals,
for slaying their father.
6. Alt 1944:1–20; Weinstein 1981:17–28, with earlier bibliography; Na’aman 1981a:185;

1982:241–251; Beck and. Kochavi 1983:47–51; Goldwasser 1984:77–93; Oren 1985:183–199.
7. For the archaeological survey in the site of ancient Raḫābu (Tell eṣ-Ṣārem), see Zori
1962:176–178.
This interpretation accords well with the sources of the Second Temple
period, in which the village on the border of the Samaria hills and the Jezreel
Valley is called “Ginae,” and the wadi flowing nearby “the Ginae brook” (Avi-
Yonah 1976:62, with earlier bibliography). This village had preserved the
name of the valley, whose original name was replaced by the “Jezreel Valley.”
Whether other biblical toponyms, such as Beth-haggan (2 Kgs. 9:27) or En-
gannim (Josh. 19:21), were derived from the old name Gina is not known,
through it is by no means impossible.
Postscriptum
In his new French edition of the Amarna letters, W. L. Moran (1987) sug-
gested the following translation for EA 250:40–47:
And thus the two sons of Lab’ayu keep saying to me: Wage war against the king, your
lord, as our father did, when he attacked Shunem, Burquna and Ḫarabu, and deported
the evil ones, li[fti]ng up the loyal. He also seized Gath-rimmon and cultivated (yupatti)
the fi[el]ds (ugāri) of the king, your lord.
The mention of “the fields of the king” is another reference for the
Egyptian lands in the Jezreel Valley in the Amarna period.
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On Gods and Scribal Traditions
in the Amarna Letters1
The Amarna Letters, discovered more than a century ago, are still our
main source for the history and culture of Canaan in the Late Bronze Age.
Many details concerning the land and its inhabitants have been extracted
from these letters, and the overall picture, to a certain extent, is based on the
analysis of this source material. Due to its central position in scientific re-
search, the archive still deserves special attention, and progress in the under-
standing of difficult passages and terms could contribute to a better under-
standing of the historical and cultural situation. On the other hand, mistaken
interpretations may lead scholars to stray far from ancient reality, because in
certain cases, there are no other sources against which these conclusions and
inferences may be checked.
Four problems relating to gods and/or Canaanite scribal traditions will
be discussed in this paper. These problems are: (a) the passage referring to
Ummaḫnu in the letters of Rib-Hadda of Byblos, (b) the identity of the god
whose name is written d A, (c) the identity of the god whose name is written
d
NIN.URTA, and (d) the references to DINGIRmeš in the Amarna letters. W.L.
Moran’s authoritative new translation (including many important notes and
new readings) of the Amarna letters (1987) is the point of departure for all
textual discussions in this article.2
1. Ummaḫnu, Servant of the Lady of Byblos

In the correspondence of Rib-Hadda, ruler of Byblos, the episode of
Ummaḫnu is mentioned four times: three times at the end of letters sent to
the Pharaoh (EA 83:52–57; 84:42–44; 85:84–87) and once in the middle of a let-
ter sent to Amanappa (EA 86:23–30). All four passages are fragmented and
were restored only partially in former text editions. I will first suggest a re-
construction and translation of the four passages and then discuss the back-
ground of the episode.
1. Reprinted with permission. Ugarit-Forschungen 22 (1990), pp. 247–255.

2. One part of the original article was omitted.
242
On Gods and Scribal Traditions in the Amarna Letters 243
EA 85: (84) fUm-m[a-aḫ-nu] (85) [ù mu]-ut-ši mMil-ku-ru GÉME dN[IN ša] uruGub-
[la u] (86) [li-ib–1]u-uṭ LUGAL-ru a-di GÉME d[NI]N i-na [. . . ù] (87) [tu-d]a-na i-na qa-
at lúGAL [ša] dNI[N ša uruGub-la]; “Ummaḫnu — and her husband Milkuru — ser-
vant of the Lady of Byblos, and by the life of the king (I swear) that the servant
of the Lady is in [your country(?)] and may she be delivered to the hand of the
official of the Lady of Byblos.”
EA 83: (51) ù (52) Ii-ma-ad al-le-mi (53) fUm-ma-aḫ-nu ù m Mil-ku-ru (54) mu-
ut-še GÉME ša dNIN (SS) [ša ur]uG[ub-I]a [x (x)] KALA.GA (56) [ù tu-da-na i-na
qa-at lú]ra-b[u] (57) [š]a d[NIN ša uruGub-la]; “And may you be informed: surely
Ummaḫnu and Milkuru her husband — is a servant of the Lady of Byblos, the
powerful [. . .], and may she be delivered to the hand of the official of the Lady
of Byblos.”
EA 86: (23) [ù l]i-ma-[ad al-le-mi] (24) [fU]m-ma-aḫ-[nu ù mu-ut-ši] (25) [m Mil-
k]u-ru G[ÉME dNIN] (26) [ša] uruGub-[la x (x)] (27) [KALA.G]A a-na is-x [x (x)] (28) [ù]
qí-bi a-na LUGAL-r[i ù] (29) [t]u-da-na a-na dN[IN ù] (30) [ú]-ul ti-ka-li-s[i i-na . . .];
“And may you be informed: surely Ummaḫnu — and Milkuru her husband — is
a servant of the Lady of Byblos, the powerful [. . ., . . . ]; thus say to the king and
may she be delivered to the Lady and do not detain her [in your land(?)].”
EA 84: (42) [ša-ni-tam] a-mur fU[m]-ma-[aḫ-nu] GÉME d[NIN ša] (43) [uruGub-
la] mu-ut-ši m Mil-kur-[ru ù] (44) [a-na pa-a]n EZEN ye-ni uš-ši-r[a-ši] “Further,
lú
behold, Ummaḫnu servant of the Lady of Byblos — her husband is Milkuru —

and send her back before the wine festival.”
Notes: The reading ye-ni was noted by Moran (1987:268, n. 14). For the
Canaanite noun yēnu in a cuneiform tablet from Tel Aphek, see Rainey 1976:
138–139.
The four passages make it clear that Ummaḫnu, who had formerly served
in the temple of Ba‘alath of Byblos, and her husband Milkuru stayed some
time in Egypt. She probably served there in the temple of Hathor = Ba‘alath
of Byblos and was detained for a while. This may well be an indication of the
close cultic relations at that time between the temples of Ba‘alath at Byblos
and Egypt.3 Rib-Hadda requested her immediate return, emphasizing in one
of his letters that she should participate in the wine festival conducted in his
town. Unfortunately, nothing is known of the date and cultural background
of this local festival. The official in charge of the servant of the Lady of Byblos
held the title of rabû; his local Canaanite title remains unknown (compare
Ugaritic rb khnm).
3. For the antiquity of the cult of Ba‘alath of Byblos in Egypt, see Stadelmann 1967:5–
13, 142.
The results of Rib-Hadda’s urgent requests are not recorded, but as he

does not mention the matter in his later correspondence, we may assume
that the maidservant was returned to Byblos and performed her duties in the
service of the deity.
2. The God A (d A) in a letter of Aziru of Amurru (EA 161:40)

Letter EA 164 marks a turning point in the policies of Aziru of Amurru to-
ward Egypt. He promises that he would come to Egypt as soon as the danger
of the Hittite attack passed, but makes one condition: that the Pharaoh and
his officials swear a solemn oath not to conspire against him. He sent his god
with a messenger to Egypt concluding his request with the words (lines 39–
46): “And so you will take the oath in front of my god and the god A (d A).”
Knudtzon did not try to identify d A. Schroeder, however, (1915a:326–327)
suggested identifying him with Amon. The basis for the suggestion are sev-
eral letters of Rib-Hadda of Byblos in which Amon is called “the god of the
king” (EA 71:4; 86:3; see also EA 87:5; 95:3). The context of EA 164:40 requires
the name of the personal god of the Pharaoh; thus, Schroeder identified d A
with Amon, the Egyptian national god. Schroeder’s suggestion was also ad-
opted by other scholars (Rainey 1978:108; Moran 1987:403).
The identification suggested by Schroeder, however, is unacceptable.
Aziru’s preparation for the journey to Egypt took place in the later years of
Akhenaten (Kitchen 1962:17–18, 44; Campbell 1964:88–89, 135; Helck 1971:174–
78). At that time, the Sun-God Aten had been raised high above all other gods in
Egypt; Amon, having lost his former position as the Egyptian national god, was
certainly not the god in front of which Akhenaten would have taken the oath.
The god whose name was written dA can only be the Sun-God Aten who was, at
that time, the personal god of the king and the official god of the kingdom.
When did the god Amon disappear from the Amarna correspondence?
This problem will be discussed briefly, to provide a better understanding of
the reference to d A in the letter of Aziru.
Amon is mentioned in the letters of Kadashman-Enlil of Babylon (EA 1:
46), of Tushratta of Mitanni (EA 19:15,24,76; 20:26,74; 24:passim; and pos-
sibly EA 27:87), of Rib-Hadda of Byblos (EA 71:4; 77:3; 86:3; 87:5; 95:3) and
in a letter sent by the Pharaoh to Milkilu of Gezer (EA 369:29). The let-
ters of Kadashman-Enlil and most of the letters of Tushratta were sent to
Nimmuriya, i.e., Amenophis III. Letter EA 27, which was sent to Napḫururiya,
i.e., Akhenaten, poses a special problem. The date of the letter is disputed, but
4. For the discussion of the date of EA 27, see Redford 1967:144–146, 162–64; Kühne
1973:43–45, 127–29, with earlier literature; Moran 1987:53.
should best be dated in the second year of Akhenaten.4 The text in lines 87–88
is fragmented and what is left are the words “Teshub and [. . .] may direct that
I and my brother [. . .].” In light of parallel passages, one may expect that the
name “Amon” was written after the break in line 87 (EA 19:15,75–76; 20:74).
However, in his textual edition of the Amarna tablets, Knudtzon (1915:236, n.
g.) noted on the break in line 87 (after the ù sign): “Ob der Gottesname get-
ilgt gewesen ist, lässt sich nicht entscheiden, weil die Zeichen sehr verstüm-
melt sind.” In the facsimile of the tablet, Schroeder simply left a blank space
after the ù sign (Schroeder 1915b:No. 11, line 87). Thus, it remains unclear
whether the name of Amon was written (or even written and then erased) in
letter EA 27.
All the letters sent by Rib-Hadda, in which the name of Amon was writ-
ten, pre-dated the Egyptian campaign launched to capture ‘Abdi-Ashirta of
Amurru, which took place under Amenophis III — as is witnessed by the group
of Byblian letters in which the ruler of Byblos reminds Pharaoh Akhenaten of
the campaign conducted during the reign of his father.5 Thus, they can safely
be dated in the time of Amenophis III. The Egyptian letter to Milkilu of Gezer
(EA 369) certainly was written before the religious reform of Akhenaten, be-
cause, in all subsequent letters sent from Egypt to Canaan, Amon is omitted
from the concluding formula (EA 99, 162, 163, 367, 370).
We may conclude that the god Amon disappeared from the Amarna cor-
respondence shortly after the coronation of Akhenaten. This conclusion may
be corroborated by the analysis of the greeting formula in EA 102:5–8: “May
the Lady of Byblos, goddess of the king, my lord, give you dignity before the
king, your lord, the Sun of (all) the countries.” At the time of Amenophis III, it
was either the god Amon (EA 71:4–6; 86:3–5) or Amon and the Lady of Byblos
(EA 77:3–5) who were designated in greeting formulae “god(s) of the king.”
In letter EA 102, the name of Amon is omitted, and Ba‘alath alone is referred
to as “goddess of the king.” The letter was written after the nomination of
Yanḫamu as commissioner of Ṣumur, subsequent to the fall of Ullasa into the
hands of Aziru and his brothers (Na’aman 1975:208, 229). Thus, it is evident
that soon after the ascent of Akhenaten to the throne, Amon disappeared
from the Amarna correspondence.
Therefore, we may assume that both “great kings” and vassals were told,
probably verbally by the Pharaoh’s messengers, to stop using the name of
Amon in their letters. The assumption well explains the sudden disappear-
ance of the god’s name in letters written by all the addressees of the new
Egyptian king.
5. Moran 1969:98*; 1985:175–176, n. 9; Na’aman 1988:187, with earlier literature in n. 34.

It is not my task to discuss the many references to the Sun-God in the

Amarna letters from the time of Akhenaten. The god’s name is consistently
written dUTU (Šamaš/Šamši), and, in several letters, he is anonymously
called “your god” (EA 161:32; 179:23; 189:r. 14; 250:20,49; 337:14). The name
Aten never appears in the Amarna correspondence. The letter of Aziru dis-
cussed above (EA 164:30) may well be an exception. Aziru asks the Pharaoh
and his officials to take an oath before his and the Pharaoh’s personal gods.
He apparently tried to be as specific as possible and, therefore, uses the ab-
breviated proper name of the new Egyptian Sun-God, i.e., d A = Aten.
3. The Identity of the God NIN.URTA in the Amarna Letters6

The god NIN.URTA appears four times in the Amarna letters: twice as a
theophoric element in proper names (EA 84:39 — mÌR-NIN.URTA; 170:36 — mÌR-
d
<NIN.>URTA), once as a place name in the kingdom of Jerusalem (EA 290:16 —
É dNIN.URTA) and once probably as a name of a temple (EA 74:31 É NIN.URTA).7
The name mÌR-dNIN.URTA also appears on a tablet from Ugarit, which carries
the seal of “‘Abdi-NIN.URTA king of Siyannu” (Nougayrol 1956:230–231).
Which West Semitic god might have been the equivalent of the Mesopotamian
god Ninurta? In the early days of research, scholars sought the solution to this
problem in later Babylonian god lists.8 However, in a special study dedicated
to the identity of the god Ninurta in the Jerusalemite letter EA 290:16, Kallai
and Tadmor demonstrated that these lists are irrelevant to the problem of the
scribal tradition common in Canaan in the Late Bronze Age.9 They suggested
6. The problem of the identity of dNIN.URTA in the Amarna letters has been discussed
in greater detail in my doctoral dissertation (1975:105–108). A similar solution to the prob-
lem, although discussed only briefly, was reached by Astour 1979:21.
7. The suggestion by Kestemont (1971:49) to read EA 117:4 either uruŠal–l[u] or
uru
NI[N.URTA] is not acceptable. The sign NIN does not fit the traces in Schroeder’s facsim-
ile of EA 117 (Schroeder 1915b:No. 62, line 41), and a town called by the name of a deity is
without parallel. One may restore EA 117:40–42 as follows: (40) ú-ul š[ul-mu] (41) a-na ša-
šu-nu iš-tu uru Ṣ[u-mu-ra a-di] (42) uruUl-la-sà; “Are they not enjoying peace from the city of
Ṣ[umur to] the city of Ullasa.” For a comparison of EA 117:40–42 with EA 288:26–28, a pas-
sage from a letter of ‘Abdi-Ḫeba of Jerusalem, see Na’aman 1975:vol. 2, p. 43*, n. 56.
8. For the history of research and the various suggestions offered by scholars, see Kallai
and Tadmor 1969:139.
9. Kallai and Tadmor 1969:138–141. For the same reason, I cannot accept the sugges-
tion, by Lipińiski (1973:443–445), to identify the god Ninurta in EA 290:16 with the Hurrian
god Tašmiš. The rendering of Hurrian words by logograms is restricted to those areas
where Hurrian was the mother tongue of the scribes; however, the logographic writing
d
NIN.URTA appears in letters from Amurru, Byblos and Jerusalem, where West Semitic was
the mother language of the scribes.
identifying the god Ninurta with the god Ḥoron, one of the central West Semitic
deities of Syro-Canaan in the second millennium BCE. According to their analy-
sis of the literary sources, Ḥoron was first of all a war-god and, in this aspect, was
close to the Mesopotamian god Ninurta.10 Like other important West Semitic
gods (i.e., Ba‘al, Hadad, Rashap, Shamash), his name was written by a logogram.
The place name mentioned in letter EA 290:16 should be rendered Bīt-Horon
and, thus, can be identified with biblical Beth-ḥoron, a town located on the main
road leading from the northern Shephelah to the city of Jerusalem.11
However, this attractive solution to the problem of the identity of the
town mentioned in EA 290:16 is not free of doubts. First, Ḥoron had a dis-
tinctive chthonic character — as is evident from both the derivation of his
name, from the absence of his name in the offering texts in Ugarit and from
texts in which he fights the evil forces. He was not a war-god who partici-
pated in cosmic fighting against the enemies of nature and mankind, but,
rather, he was the protector of human beings from demonic forces.12 Second,
according to the god lists from Ugarit, Ḥoron did not rank high in the local
pantheon — unlike the god Ninurta in the Mesopotamian pantheon. Third,
and most important of all, Ḥoron does not appear as the theophoric ele-
ment in any Late Bronze Age proper name that has been published so far.13
Three out of the five references to d NIN.URTA are proper names; thus, his
identification with Ḥoron is unlikely. Needless to say, this constitutes an-
other distinctive difference between Ḥoron and Ninurta, who was a popu-
lar god whose name frequently served as the theophoric element in proper
names.
In the god lists of Ugarit, Ninurta is identified with Gasharu (Hallo and
Moran 1979:72, n. 23; Moran 1987:252, n. 10). The god Gasharu, however, is
entirely unknown in Canaan and can hardly have been referred to in the
Amarna letters under the name dNIN.URTA.
10. For the god Ḥoron in the second millennium BCE, see Albright 1936:1–12; 1941:
7–12; Posener 1945:20–42; Xella 1972:271–286, and further literature on p. 271, n. 1;
1988:55–58; Stadelmann 1967:76–88; Helck 1971:454–455, 471–472; Caquot 1979–80:
173–180.
11. Kallai and Tadmor 1969:141–147. It should be noted that the identification of
d
NIN.URTA with Ḥoron was suggested previously by Albright 1936:7, n. 20; 1968:120.
12. Stadelmann 1967:80–81; de Moor 1970:222; Caquot 1979–80:175–177; Xella, 1988:
55–57.
13. It must be recalled that the two assumed references to the god Ḥoron in Ugaritic
proper names (Gröndahl 1967:386) are mistaken. See Dietrich, Loretz and Sanmartín 1976:
KTU 4.350, line 13 and KTU 4.75, VI line 1. For the possible reasons for the unpopularity of
the god Ḥoron, see Xella 1988:57.
A possible solution to the identity of dNIN.URTA in the Amama letters may

be found in two Ugaritic edicts that refer to the political status of the king-
dom of Siyannu in the fourteenth century BCE. For many years, Siyannu was
part of the kingdom of Ugarit — until Murshili II, king of Hatti, confirmed the
secession of Siyannu from Ugarit and its transfer as a vassal state to the alle-
giance of Carchemish. Two documents that deal with the secession refer to
the same territory, around the town of Ḫarmana. One document (RS 17.170)
carries the seal of “Niqmepa son of Niqmaddu king of Ugarit” and calls the
other party ‘Abdi-‘Anati. The second document (RS 17.123) carries the seal
of “‘Abdi dNIN.URTA king of Siyannu” and calls the other party “the king of
Ugarit” (Nougayrol 1956:78 and 230–231). Though Nougayrol (1956:7, 244)
and Liverani (1962:151–152) treated ‘Abdi-‘Anati and ‘Abdi-dNIN.URTA as two
different kings, the two names may well refer to one and the same person.
‘Abdi-dNIN.URTA is not mentioned in any other document from Ugarit and,
with the omission of his name, the number of kings of Siyannu becomes iden-
tical to that of the kings of Ugarit at that time.14
Regarding the identification of Ninurta with ‘Anat, we may first of all note
that, in spite of the importance of the latter goddess in the West Semitic pan-
theon during the second millennium BCE, no logographic divine equivalent
for her name was ever discovered.15 Second, like Ninurta, ‘Anat is a war-god-
dess whose name is common as a theophoric element in proper names. Third,
toponyms combined with the divine name ‘Anat are known from Canaan in
the Late Bronze Age (Beth-‘Anath) and in the Iron Age (Beth-‘Anath and
‘Anathoth).16 The location of the Beth-‘Anath mentioned in EA 290:16 remains
unknown, although it may be sought, tentatively, not far from Keilah (EA 290:
14–18 “And now, moreover, a town of Jerusalem, Beth-‘Anath is its name, has
deserted with the city of Keilah”; see CAD A/2 415b).
Why was the name of a male god identified with a goddess (compare
Lambert 1969)? One may suggest that it was the result of the first element
of the name Ninurta, i.e., dNIN = bēltu = “lady.” The goddess ‘Anat, one of
the major goddesses in the West Semitic pantheon, has no fitting counter-
part among the Mesopotamian goddesses (Ishtar was already identified with
‘Ashtoreth); therefore, she was identified with the god of war and hunting,
14. For the territory of the kingdom of Siyannu, see Astour 1979:13–28.
15. For dIGI-at as a pseudo-logographic writing of the goddess name ‘Anat, see Gröndahl
1967:111.
16. See Ahituv 1984:75–76. The place-name Beth-anoth (Josh 15:59), on the other hand,
is the result of a scribal error: The original name was probably Beth-‘Anon. See Auld 1977:
85–86.
whose name has the element dNIN. The name of this great “lady” was usually
written syllabically, and sometimes by the logographic form dNIN.URTA.
4. DINGIRmeš in the Amarna Letters

From the early days of research into the Amarna letters, it has been rec-
ognized that some of the references to DINGIRmeš (ilāni) in the letters should
be translated as a singular, i.e., “god” (see Hartmann 1973–74:72–74). Thus, in
the most common introduction to the letters — “Speak to the king, my lord,
my god (DINGIRmeš-ia), my Sun . . .” — DINGIRmeš stands as a singular. Note also
EA 198:1–3 “Say to the king, my lord, my personal god (DINGIRmeš SAG.DU-ia).”
In the most common submission formula — “At the feet of the king, my lord,
my Sun, my god (DINGIRmeš-ia), seven time and seven times I have fallen” —
DINGIRmeš stands for the singular. In the greeting formula of letters EA 96:4–
7 and 97:3, the verbal form liš’al proves that DINGIRmeš should be translated as
singular. Thus, it is clear that ilāni — like Hebrew ’elôhîm — is sometimes a sin-
gular form (pluralis majestatum).
To demonstrate that the decision in the case of DINGIRmeš may be quite
complicated, I would like to add some further examples of DINGIRmeš as a sin-
gular form. Most of the examples suggested below are taken from passages
already discussed in this article.
Moran (1960:4, n.3; 1987:268, n.10) has pointed out that ilāni both in EA
84:35 (where it refers to dDA.MU-ia) and in EA 129:51 (ilāni balṭi) is singular
in meaning. The passage EA 77:30–35 has been restored by Moran (1987:257
and 258, n.8), and it is evident that DIN[GIRmeš] directly refers to the Lady of
Byblos and is a singular form. In EA 74:57 DINGIRmeš-nu is in apposition to the
Lady of Byblos, the passage (lines 56–57) may be translated “I will guard the
city loyal to him together with our lady, our goddess, for you.”
In letter EA 164 discussed above (see Part 2), Aziru expressed his will to
travel to Egypt and appear before the Pharaoh, but makes one condition: that
the latter and his officials first take an oath before his and the Pharaoh’s gods
not to conspire against him. It is clear that DINGIRmeš-ia (lines 31, 40) refers to
his personal god, which he had sent to Egypt together with his messenger.
Finally, it seems that in several letters the “god of the king” (i.e., the
Pharaoh) is written either in singular (DINGIR) or in plural (DINGIRmeš) form.
The singular form appears in letters EA 179:23, 250:20,49 and 337:14; the plu-
ral appears in letters EA 161:32 and 189:r. 14. dUTU in the latter texts is in ap-
position to DINGIRmeš-nu-ka, as is evident from EA 189;r. 13 which has the sin-
17. It is not clear whether Etaqqama refers here to a standard that was carried at the
head of the advanced army, or whether he used these words only as a metaphor for the
gular verbal form ellak. EA 189:r. 13–15 may be translated: “And I came (in
time), and your god, namely the Sun, went before me.”17 EA 161:32–33 “Your
god, namely the Sun, be my witness. . . .” As was noted in Part 2, all these five
references to the “god of the king” were written in the time of Akhenaten and
reflect the rise of the Sun-God to the status of the supreme god of the king-
dom and the personal god of the king.
In conclusion, we may note that in many cases ilāni is a singular form and
that sometimes it is quite difficult to decide whether it stands for the singular
or the plural. Understanding the context may be the key for the correct form;
each and every case should be analyzed in its own right.
References
Albright, W.F. 1936. The Canaanite God Ḥaurôn (Ḥôrôn). American Journal of Semitic
Languages and Literatures 53: 1–12.
Albright, W.F. 1941. The Egypto-Canaanite Deity Ḥaurôn. BASOR 84: 7–12.
Albright, W.F. 1968. Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan. A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting
Faiths. London.
Astour, M. 1979. The Kingdom of Siyannu-Ušnatu. Ugarit-Forschungen 11: 13–28.
Auld, A.G. 1977. A Judean Sanctuary of ‘Anat (Josh 15:59)? Tel Aviv 4: 85–86.
Caquot, A. 1979–80. Horon: revue critique et données nouvelles. Annales Archéologiques de
Syrie 29–30: 173–80.
Dietrich, M. Loretz, O. and Sanmartín, J. 1976. Die Keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit. (AOAT
24). Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn.
Hallo, W.W. and Moran, W.L. 1979. The First Tablet of the SB Recension of the Anzu-Myth.
JCS 31: 65–115.
Hartmann, B. 1973–74. Elōhīm als Singular. Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph 48: 67–76.
ed., Wiesbaden.
Kallai, Z. and Tadmor, H. 1969. Bīt Ninurta = Beit Horon: On the History of the Kingdom of
Kestemont, G. 1971. Le Nahr el-Kebir et le pays d’Amurru. Berytus 20: 47–55.
Liverpool.
asiatische Bibliothek 2). Leipzig
Kühne, C. 1973. Die Chronologie der internationalen Korrespondenz von El-Amarna. (AOAT 17).
great effect of the Sun-God on the success of his loyal vassal. For a detailed discussion, see
Na’aman 1975:193–197.
Lambert, W.G. 1969. The Reading of the God Name dKA.DI. ZA 59: 100–103.
Lipińiski, E. 1973. Beth-Schemesch und der Tempel der Herrin der Grabkammer in den
Amarna-Briefen. VT 23: 443–445.
Liverani, M. 1962. Storia di Ugarit nell’età degli archivi politici. (Studi Semitici 6). Rome.
de Moor, J.C. 1970. The Semitic Pantheon of Ugarit. Ugarit-Forschungen 2: 187–228.
Moran, W.L. 1960. Early Canaanite yaqtula. Orientalia 29: 1–19.
Moran, W.L. 1985. Rib-Hadda: Job at Byblos?. In: Kort, A. and Morschauser, S. eds. Biblical
and Related Studies Presented to Samuel Iwry. Winona Lake: 173–181.
Moran, W.L. 1987. Les letters d’EI-Amarna. Littératures anciennes du Proche-Orient 13. Paris.
to the Amarna Letters. Ph.D. Thesis. Tel Aviv University (Hebrew).
Na’aman, N. 1988. Biryawaza of Damascus and the Date of the Kāmid el-Lōz ‘Apiru Letters.
Nougayrol, J. 1956. Le Palais Royal d’Ugarit IV. Textes accadiens des archives sud (Archives
internationales). (Mission de Ras Shamra 9). Paris.
Posener, G. 1945. Houroun: nouvelles mentions de cette Divinité. JNES 4: 240–242.
Rainey, A.F. 1976. A Tri-Lingual Cuneiform Fragment from Tel Aphek. Tel Aviv 3: 137–140.
Rainey, A.F. 1978. El Amarna Tablets 359–379. Supplement to J A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln.
2nd revised ed. (AOAT 8). Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn.
Redford, D.B. 1967. History and Chronology of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Seven Studies.
Toronto.
Schroeder, O. 1915a. ilu A = ilu A-ma-na.” OLZ 18: 326–327.
Schroeder, O. 1915b. Die Tontafeln von el-Amarna. (Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler der
Stadelmann, R. 1967. Syrisch-palästinensische Gottheiten in Ägypten. Leiden.
Xella, P. 1972. Per una riconsiderazione della morfologia del dio Ḥoron. Annali dell’Istituto
Orientale di Napoli 32: 271–286.
Xella, P. 1988. D’Ugarit à Phénicie: Sur les traces de Rashap, Ḥoron, Eshmun. WO 19: 45–
64.
Ḫabiru and Hebrews: The Transfer of a
Social Term to the Literary Sphere1
The question of whether or not the Ḫabiru should be equated with the
Hebrews (‘ibrîm) has now been discussed for almost a century, but a schol-
arly consensus still has not been reached.2 The Ḫabiru were first discov-
ered in the Amarna letters, where their name is sometimes written with the
Sumerian logogram SA.GAZ. The Ḫabiru are mentioned as a source of trou-
ble and rebellion in many Canaanite city-states. The resemblance between
the names Ḫabiru and Hebrew, the proximity of their location, as well as
the close chronological relationship between the Amarna Ḫabiru and the
Israelites aroused the imagination of scholars, bringing about the immediate
equation of the two groups. The discovery of additional ancient Near Eastern
documents in which the Ḫabiru are occasionally mentioned, however, altered
this view. When it was definitely established that the term Ḫabiru is an appel-
lation representing a certain social element and that all existing documents
clearly support this view, certain scholars even went so far as to deny any
connection whatever between the two names.3 Others tried to solve the prob-
lem by claiming that the biblical term “Hebrew” is basically a social rather
than ethnic designation.4
1. Reprinted with permission. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 45 (1986), 271–286.

2. The two basic works that deal with the Ḫabiru problem are Bottéro 1954 and
Greenberg 1955. Both include a complete bibliography covering the period up to 1953. For
subsequent studies and bibliography, see Bottéro 1972–75:14–27, with earlier literature
on p. 14; Rowton 1976b:13–20, with earlier literature on p. 13 n. 2. For additional studies,
see Liverani 1965a:315–336; 1965b:267–277; 1979:65–77; Greenberg 1970:188–200, 279–281;
Mendenhall 1973:122–141; Cazelles 1973:1–28; de Geus 1976:182–187; Buccellati 1977:145–
147; Gottwald 1979:389–425, 435–485; Riesener 1979:115–127; Lemche 1979:1–23; Bottéro
1981:89–107. see also my articles 1982c:27–33; and 1979: 676–682.
3. This view was emphasized strongly by Borger 1958:121–132; see Landsberger 1954:
161; Koch 1969:68–71.
4. See, for example, Gray 1958:173–188, 193–196; Liverani 1965a:334–335; Cazelles 1973:
1–3, 21–24; Mendenhall 1973:135–138; Gottwald 1979:417–425, 493–497; see also Rowton
1976b:18–20.
252
Ḫabiru and Hebrews: The Transfer of a Social Term to the Literary Sphere 253
Anthropological research in the field of tribal society in ancient times5

has made a major contribution in clarifying the problem at hand.6 Documents
discovered at Mari and recently published also contribute to a better under-
standing of the meaning of the term “Ḫabiru” (see below) (Birot 1974:nos.
50, 72). Recent archaeological research in Palestine and, in particular, in the
hill country where the Israelites settled in the pre-monarchical period also
have helped eliminate certain erroneous notions about the Ḫabiru. This ev-
idence encourages new discussion of the relationship between the Ḫabiru
and Hebrews and may even offer somewhat different answers to these ques-
tions.
I. The Ḫabiru in Ancient Near Eastern Documents

The Ḫabiru are mentioned in more than 210 texts written in the course
of the second millennium BCE in many Western Asiatic kingdoms.7 The earli-
est documents in which they appear belong to the first half of the eighteenth
century BCE. The latest hieratic and cuneiform occurrences mentioning the
Ḫabiru are dated to the twelfth and eleventh centuries, respectively. At any
rate, it seems clear that Ḫabiru as a general Western Asiatic phenomenon dis-
appeared from the historical arena some time toward the end of the second
millennium BCE.
Common to all the people designated as “Ḫabiru” is the fact that they
were uprooted from their original political and social framework and forced
to adapt to a new environment. The different traits and social behavior of
the Ḫabiru in each area of Western Asia are the outcome of this adaptation to
new circumstances. Among the reasons for breaking off their former political
and social ties were wars, disasters, famine, debt, heavy taxes, prolonged mil-
itary service, and so on. Recent studies on tribes have shown that the poor-
est tribal elements, those whose livestock or land diminished to the point at
which it was no longer sufficient to sustain a family, often left their tribes to
seek a living elsewhere (Rowton 1976b:14). It should be emphasized that the
5. The term “tribe” is so deeply entrenched in discussions of ancient Western Asiatic

society, and particularly in the description of the early history of Israel, that, in spite of re-
cent suggestions not to use the term (see Fried 1975), one can hardly avoid it. For a conve-
nient definition of the expression “tribe,” see Kamp and Yoffee 1980: 88–89.
6. See the works of Mendenhall 1973; Rowton, 1976b; Gottwald 1979. For a complete
list of Rowton’s publications, see Rowton 1976:17–18, n. 4; 1981:25–36. For a criticism of
Rowton’s approach see Gottwald, 1979:889–894; Kamp and Yoffee, 1980:91–94.
7. For an updated list of documents, see Bottéro 1972–75:15–21; for additional notes on
the list, see Bottéro 1981:90–91, n. 4. Bottéro’s list of texts includes sources that concern the
ḫabbatu as well as others that mention only personal names.
tribal framework was basically territorial and included inhabitants of small

towns and villages as well as nomads.8 Tribal ties encompassed large areas
and functioned as a loose, social structure that united many groups and fam-
ilies of a diverse nature: farmers, nomads, and sometimes even members of
urban populations. Thus, the discussion of migrants from the tribal sector is
by no means restricted to people of nomadic background. Indeed, J. Bottéro
(1981:96–97) has demonstrated recently that most of the people designated
as “Ḫabiru,” insofar as their background can be established, actually came
from the sedentary population and not from among the nomads. They orig-
inated from the two major sectors of the “dimorphic society” of the ancient
Near East — the urban and the tribal — and were an intermediate social ele-
ment between these two groups.
As it happened, individuals sometimes moved from their homeland to
neighboring countries and served either in the public or private sector for
subsistence or wages. Usually, however, they did not migrate alone, but
formed a band. These bands were independent bodies and were restricted in
number and unified, often having a single prominent leader. No further hier-
archy or institutional organization was needed for this tiny social structure,
and it is for this reason that none of the institutions that typify either clan or
tribe ever appeared in connection with the Ḫabiru (Bottéro 1972–75:26; 1981:
94). The predatory nature of the bands was a direct outcome of their social
status. M.B. Rowton (1977:193) emphasized that “in tribal society the most
predatory elements were usually the small and poor tribes or tribal splin-
ter groups. These lacked the strength to assert their claim to pasture. As a re-
sult they would turn to brigandage.” This statement is even more true of the
groups of Ḫabiru who had neither tribal territory nor large fields and herds,
and they often became dangerous to sedentary society. On occasion, however,
they served as mercenaries to rulers in neighboring areas, and service in the
armies of established kingdoms opened the way for the re-integration of the
Ḫabiru into sedentary society and may have even been a stepping-stone to
a military career for a leader of a band (Rowton 1977:193). Further details
about the Ḫabiru-bands and their origin, organization, and activity can be
gleaned from the Bible, as I hope to show below.
The social status “Ḫabiru,” i.e., “uprooted migrants,” did not last very long
(Bottéro 1981:93–106). The stable organization of these bands, mainly based
on the personality of their leader and cohesion of their members, was short-
8. The importance of the territorial factor for the study of tribal society was empha-
sized by Mendenhall 1962: 69–71; see Mendenhall 1973:174–178; Gottwald 1979:294–298,
470, with additional bibliography.
lived. Sooner or later their members married, had children, and their number
expanded to a degree that necessitated support from a larger political group.
Thus, the bands appear to have re-integrated themselves either into tribal
society or (through military service) into urban society; they may have even
formed the nucleus of an entirely new tribe (Rowton 1977:194). It appears
that individual refugees often became re-integrated into society through
their service in ancient Near Eastern kingdoms. One may safely conclude
that the people designated as “Ḫabiru,” who appeared in different places at
different times in various Western Asiatic regions, had nothing in common,
apart from their similar social status. Each society had its own “Ḫabiru-peo-
ple.” In general, the phenomenon of the Ḫabiru can be described as a circular
process, one in which people were uprooted from the society in which they
were born, lived for a while as foreigners in another country, and then were
absorbed into their new environment.
The problem of the etymology and exact meaning of the term “Ḫabiru”
was clarified recently by the publication of newly discovered letters from
Mari. The verb ḫabāru appears in two of these tablets and was translated
by the editor, M. Birot (1974:nos. 50, 72, and p. 228) as “immigrer.” Bottéro
(1981:95 f), however, disagreed and suggested that the verb was derived from
the noun Ḫabiru and should be translated “est-devenu-ḫabiru.” It is note-
worthy that the single appearance of the same verb in a Cappadocian tab-
let (Stephens 1944:No. 226) is earlier than all other occurrences of the term
Ḫabiru. The inconsistency in the recording of the verb ḫabāru may well be
due to its West-Semitic origin. Be that as it may, the light that the new Mari
tablets can shed on the original concept of the appellation Ḫabiru is certainly
more important than its assumed etymological contribution. To demonstrate
this, I present the tablets in more detail below.
(1) ARM 14 50. A certain person, Ami-ibâl, came from the town of Nasher
in Ilānṣura and was accused of being registered as an elite soldier who had
defected from his unit, which was stationed at Ilānṣura. Ami-ibâl rejected
the accusation by claiming that four years before the assumed registration
he had migrated (verb ḫabāru) from Ilānṣura to Subartu (the reasons for the
move are not specified) and had returned to his homeland only recently be-
cause of the advance of Atamrum.9
It is clear from this letter that there was a markedly perceived difference
between a deserter (pāṭeru) and a migrant (Ḫabiru). Desertion was regarded
as a grave offence, and the government sought out deserters and punished
9. For the career of Atamrum see Rouault 1970: 110–118.

them severely when they were caught. Migration, on the other hand, was re-
garded as a legal, voluntary act.
(2) ARM 14 72. Addu-sharrum was a Babylonian and an overseer (wak-
lum) of a group of soldiers. He was accepted, together with his band, as a re-
placement in the kingdom of Mari. Eight months later, the Babylonians de-
manded his extradition, claiming that he had defected from the army after
the Babylonian troops came to Mari. To this claim Addu-sharrum answered
that he had fled from Babylonia to Mari and, thus, was a migrant (Ḫabiru)
who should not be extradited. Yaqqim-Addu, the governor of Saggaratum
who wrote the letter, sent Addu-sharrum to the king of Mari suggesting that
the latter should check to see “if this man fled from Babylonia or whether he
came up with the troops and then stayed” (lines 30–32).
The two letters reflect a similar problem, i.e., determining the legal sta-
tus of a man who is accused of being a deserter, but who states he is a migrant
and, thus, a Ḫabiru. If he is the latter, he has broken no law and should be nei-
ther punished nor extradited.
(3) ARM 14 73. This letter is closely connected with letter no. 72 above; un-
fortunately, only the second half is preserved. Yaqqim-Addu cites the words
of the group of replacements overseen by Addu-sharrum, saying: “Is there
a country which extradites its replacements? Not only us: a messenger who
was used to hearing the secrets of his lord, if he enters the service of another
king, he becomes the son of (that) country. Now, why should you extradite
us?” (rev. lines 5–12).
The second claim reminds us of the case of David, “the servant of Saul,
king of Israel,” who later joined Achish, king of Gath, and was with him “for,
days and years since he deserted” (1 Sam. 29:3). Migrating to a neighboring
kingdom and serving under its king is regarded in this letter as an acceptable
move, even if the migrant had previously served in the court of another king.
It should be emphasized, however, that these claims were raised by replace-
ments whose extradition had been requested (see rev. lines 13–14) and who
were desperately trying to escape this fate.
Keeping this background in mind, I can now attempt to define the differ-
ence between the Ḫabiru and munnabtum.10 The latter term seems to have had
a more general meaning, designating various types of runaways, even slaves
who ran away from their masters. In certain cases, therefore, people desig-
nated munnabtum were treated like the pāṭeru of the Mari tablets and were
prosecuted and extradited. The Ḫabiru, on the other hand, who were re-
10. For this problem, see Landsberger 1954:160–161; Buccellati 1977:145–47; Bottéro
1981:97–98.
garded as migrants, were immune from such acts of prosecution. Once their
status was recognized, they were allowed to remain (as aliens) in the ancient
Near Eastern kingdoms to which they had fled, and in no case were they cap-
tured or extradited. Thus, it is clear that Bottéro was justified in defining the
Ḫabiru as “réfugié,”11 in contrast with the prevailing definitions (e.g., “resi-
dent aliens,” “aliens,” “outlaws”), which emphasized the status of the Ḫabiru
subsequent to their migration. Hence, it appears that it is only the act of mi-
gration, and not any specific status resulting from conditions in the new en-
vironment, that defines the appellative designation “Ḫabiru” in Western
Asiatic societies of the second millennium BCE.
II. The Ḫabiru in the Amarna Letters: From Social Appellation to

Expression of Derogation
The largest single group of documents in which the term “Ḫabiru” is men-
tioned, the Amarna tablets, was the first to be discovered. Most of the tablets
were sent by Canaanite rulers to the Egyptian court during the first half of
the fourteenth century BCE. The Ḫabiru appear in these letters as a distinct
component of the population, scattered in all areas of Canaan. They had an
important effect on events that took place in the regions under Egyptian
rule. They were usually portrayed as a negative element wreaking havoc in
all areas of Canaan and a cause of concern to and complaints by the city-state
rulers. In only a few instances are the Ḫabiru referred to without this tone of
reproach and accusation.
The Amarna correspondence shows a marked development in the history
of the appellation “Ḫabiru.” On many occasions, the term went beyond its
original meaning (i.e., a designation for uprooted people) and became a de-
rogatory appellation for rebels against Egyptian authority.12 This is partic-
ularly clear in the letters from Byblos, where there is a similarity between
statements in which the Ḫabiru are mentioned and statements in which
‘Abdi-Ashirta or his sons appear.13 Also, the expression “to become Ḫabiru,”
which is repeated in many letters from all areas of Canaan, implies deser-
11. Bottéro 1954:191–198; see also Liverani 1965a:317.

12. See, for example, Greenberg 1960:15; Weippert 1971:71–74; Mendenhall 1973:122–
135; Liverani 1979:71, with additional bibliography in nn. 18–19.
13. Greenberg 1955:70–72; Mendenhall 1973:124–126. One of the supposed references
to Aziru as SA.GAZ (see Mendenhall 1973:124) should probably be read differently. In light
of several parallel passages (EA 76:17–19; 91:23–25; 132:19–21), letter EA 67:16–18 may be restored
as follows: “Now he has gathered all] (p[u!-ḫi-ir ka-li]) the Ḫabiru, runaway dog(s), and has
captured Ṣumur, the city of the Sun, my lord.”
tion from the Pharaoh and his representatives, the various rulers of the city-
states, and defection to the side of their opponents, who were regarded as
outlaws (Liverani 1979:65–77). The extension of the term “Ḫabiru” to denote
elements that were opposed to the Pharaoh and the rulers of the city-states is
certainly connected with the political nature of the Amarna correspondence:
The letters were diplomatic exchanges sent to the overlord, the Egyptian
Pharaoh, and, thus, every city-state ruler tried to justify his own deeds and
to denigrate his enemies. The use of the appellation “Ḫabiru” as a kind of de-
rogatory expression presupposes, of course, the actual presence of Ḫabiru -
bands, which were a major cause of disruption in the Egyptian province of
Canaan. The term “Ḫabiru” had a negative connotation in the Egyptian court.
Thus, it was extended to include all real, ostensible, or fabricated forces act-
ing against the Egyptian authorities. Of course, this must be taken into ac-
count when dealing with the Amarna correspondence, especially when try-
ing to determine the role of authentic Ḫabiru-bands and Ḫabiru-soldiers in
the political events and their effect on social and economic conditions of the
time.
Recent studies on the Amarna correspondence have made it clear that
the archive reflects no breakdown in the Egyptian rule of Canaan. Rather, the
letters portray a situation of “business as usual,” one in which the Egyptians
were strong enough to maintain their rule over their Asiatic provinces.14
From an Egyptian point of view, the Ḫabiru were regarded more as a dis-
turbing element than as a real threat to their rule in Asia. For the rulers of
the city-states, on the other hand, the Ḫabiru may have been a direct threat,
and the Amarna letters supply many indications of this. It is in this context
— taking into account the complicated problems involved in the evaluation
of the source material — that the historical role of the Ḫabiru in the land of
Canaan can be established.
What might the relationship have been between the Ḫabiru of the
Amarna period and the Israelites of the twelfth-eleventh centuries BCE? It
has been suggested in recent studies that the Canaanite city-state system
gradually decayed and finally collapsed during the fourteenth-thirteenth
centuries and that large population groups simultaneously withdrew from
the crumbling urban society, subsequently united with each other, and later
formed the nucleus of a confederacy of the Israelite tribes.15 Accordingly, the
14. See, among others, Schulman 1964:51–69; Several 1972:123–133; Na’aman 1981:172–
185; Weinstein 1981:15–17, with additional bibliography.
15. The hypothesis of an increasing withdrawal from the control of the central govern-
ment, in which the bands of Ḫabiru played an important role, is central in Mendenhall’s
masses of Ḫabiru withdrawing from the Canaanite cities during the Amarna
period could have played an important role in this scenario, because they
have been regarded as the link between the Ḫabiru of the Amarna period and
the Israelite tribes.16
There is enough evidence today, however, both from contemporary doc-
uments and archaeology, to call this theory into question. First, there are
no archaeological indications for large-scale settlement during the four-
teenth-thirteenth centuries BCE in the mountainous parts of Palestine, i.e.,
where the Israelites of the twelfth-eleventh centuries would have settled.
Furthermore, there is a clear cultural break in the settlement of these moun-
tain areas between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Also, there are clear
indications of the intensification of Egyptian involvement in Palestine at the
time of the Nineteenth and the beginning of the Twentieth Dynasties in
Egypt (Weinstein 1981:17–23, with additional bibliography; Na’aman 1982a:
241–255). It appears that the Egyptian occupation of southern Canaan in the
thirteenth and the first half of the twelfth centuries BCE was stronger, and
their involvement more intense, than it was during the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Finally, there is archaeological evidence that suggests that Canaanite culture
flourished in this last phase of Egyptian rule in Palestine, in marked contrast
to earlier concepts that characterized the thirteenth century BCE as a period
of extreme decline in Canaanite civilization. The picture of the gradual col-
lapse of the city-state system from the Amarna period on and the simultane-
ous gradual strengthening of the forces withdrawing from Canaanite society
is, in my opinion, untenable.
One may further ask whether a large-scale migration from the city
state system was actually taking place during the Amarna period at all
(Mendenhall 1962:71–84; 1973:122–38; Liverani 1965a:323–327). The assump-
tion that there was such a migration is based mainly on the letters of Rib-
Adda of Byblos, which, however, reflect a singular historical moment: the
foundation of the strong kingdom of Amurru. This event is exceptional for
Late Bronze Age Canaan, a period characterized by the stability of the city-
states. Also, the letters of Rib-Adda are well known for their polemical nature
and tendentious use of the term “Ḫabiru” (see above) (Liverani 1971: 253–268;
1974:175–205). The results of archaeological excavations conducted in many
Palestinian sites indicate that no important Canaanite city was abandoned
and Gottwald’s descriptions of the settlement of the Israelite tribes. See Mendenhall 1962:
71–84; 1973:chaps. 1, 5, 7, 8; Gottwald 1979:pt. 8.
16. For a criticism of Mendenhall’s early statements on the Ḫabiru-Hebrew problem,
see Weippert 1971:66, 82–102.
during the fourteenth century, but rather, several new settlements were
founded during this period along the Coastal Plain and in the Shephelah re-
gion. The continual rebuilding of Late Bronze Age towns on their earlier scale
clearly shows that the former population of these towns was in fact unwill-
ing to withdraw from urban society and that these inhabitants actually re-
turned to their hometowns. It is only later, in the thirteenth century, that
central Canaanite cities were destroyed and abandoned. The large-scale exit
from the city-states and the assumed adaptation of a nomadic way of life in
the peripheral areas of Palestine by large groups of people were probably the
result of the destruction of many Canaanite cities in the thirteenth-twelfth
centuries (Mendenhall, 1973:142–153; Liverani 1965a:326–327, 332–335). One
doubts, however, whether the deserters of the Amarna period played an im-
portant role in this assumed process of nomadization.
Thus, it seems that the Ḫabiru were part of the society of Canaan in the
Late Bronze Age, appearing because of certain political, social, and economic
conditions and then becoming reabsorbed and assimilated into the same
society. One may conclude that no direct link connects the Ḫabiru of the
Amarna period with the Israelites of the pre-monarchical period (twelfth-
eleventh centuries). The Ḫabiru of the Late Bronze Age, like all other groups
of Ḫabiru in the ancient Near East, should be studied in the context of the en-
vironment from which they emerged.
III. Hebrews and Israelites in the Old Testament Tradition
1. The Nature of the Problem

Given the background of the Ḫabiru and their historical role in the Western
Asiatic society of the second millennium BCE, I can now attempt to clarify the
relationship of the Ḫabiru to the biblical Hebrews (‘ibrîm). The etymological
relationship of the term (Ḫabiru) of the ancient Near Eastern texts and the
biblical term ‘ibrî can be established reasonably securely.17 The major obsta-
cle to equating the two terms is their difference in usage: the name “Hebrew”
served as an ethnicon for the Israelites in particular historical and social situ-
ations. The appellation “Ḫabiru,” on the other hand, was never used as a gen-
tilic designation; in fact the absence of a gentilic ending is one of its most re-
markable features and distinguishes it from all ethnic names. M. Greenberg
(1955:198; see Riesener 1979:115–127), in his discussion of the Ḫabiru-Hebrew
problem, correctly noted that “no scriptural passage gives explicit ground for
17. See the thorough philological discussion of the problem by Weippert 1971:74–82.
extending the scope of ‘ibrî beyond Israelites.” Indeed, one is justified in dis-
cussing the Ḫabiru-Hebrew equation only within the context of the history
of Israel. By accepting the identity of the two names, one would necessarily
have to assume that the term was transformed from a social appellation into
an ethnic term. The question that needs to be asked is how and for what rea-
sons did this shift occur in Old Testament tradition?
Before discussing these questions, which have both historical and liter-
ary aspects, we must first examine the relationship of the Israelites and the
Hebrews in biblical tradition.
2. Migration from Israelite Society in the Pre-Monarchical and Early

Monarchical Periods
The name ‘ibrî(m) occurs in the Bible mainly in the description of two his-
torical periods: the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt and Philistine-Israelite
relations. It is used many times by foreigners, for example, by the Egyptians
(Gen. 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exod. 1:16; 2: 6) and Philistines (1 Sam. 4:6, 9; 13:3, 19;
14:11; 29:3) and also by the narrator with reference to Israelites in the con-
text of Egyptians vis-à-vis Israelites (Gen. 40:15; Exod. 1:19; 2:7; 3:18; 5:3; 7:16;
9:1, 13; 10:3). It refers mainly to Israelites in the pre-monarchical period and is
used to distinguish them from other ethnic groups; it usually appears in un-
favorable contexts, thus, lacking the halo generally associated with the term
“Israelite.”
One should begin with the occurrences of the term in the books of Samuel,
because, of all the traditions relating to the early history of Israel, the stories
in these books were the first to be set down in writing. Moreover, only a rel-
atively short time separates the events described therein from the date of
their recording, and, in addition, the author(s) lived in the same area where
the reported events took place. Thus, the books of Samuel are doubtless the
best source for a historical study of the problem of the Hebrews, much better
than all other biblical sources.
The designation ‘ibrîm appears seven times in 1 Samuel.18 Scholars have
already noted that 1 Sam. 14:21–22 is the key to its proper understanding.19
With the help of the LXX, the passage may be translated thus:
Now the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines before that time and who had
gone up with them into the camp, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who
18. The 1 Sam. 13:7 passage was omitted from the discussion, because it is obviously
corrupt. See Driver 1913:99–100.
19. See, for example, Gray 1958:180–181; Weingreen 1967:64–65; Weippert 1971:88;
Gottwald 1979:422–423.
were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise, when all the men of Israel who had hid them-
selves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they too
followed hard after them in the battle.
The passage relates the joining of two different groups to the side of the
victor in the Battle of Michmash: the Hebrews who served in the Philistine
camp and the Israelites who hid themselves in Mount Ephraim (see 1 Sam. 13:
6). The narrator precisely defined the two groups, making it clear that the dif-
ference was not merely literary.
In the other six references, the name “Hebrews” is used by the Philistines
(1 Sam. 4:6, 9; 13:3,20 19; 14:11; 29:3). One may assume that by using this term,
the narrator intentionally emphasized the Philistines’ scorn of the uprooted
elements who were in their service and who were apparently considered an
inferior group. However, in five out of six references, the degrading appella-
tion is directed toward the Israelites, the rivals of the Philistines. The applica-
tion of the term “Hebrews” to the Israelites requires some explanation; some
background information about the activity of uprooted elements in the pre-
monarchical and the early monarchical periods is necessary.
As was recognized long ago, the bands of Jephthah and David were socially
identical with the Ḫabiru-bands of the second millennium BCE.21 The appel-
lation “Hebrews” is applied once to David and his band, who were scornfully
defined as such by the Philistine lords (1 Sam. 29:3). In fact, the best descrip-
tions of bands within the entire literature of the ancient Near East appear
in the biblical stories of Jephthah and David. They portray the background
of the flight, the emergence of the bands, their methods of survival, and the
manner in which they were re-integrated into Israelite society.
Jephthah was the son of a “harlot” and, as such, not entitled to an inher-
itance in his father’s house; he was obliged to migrate to a marginal terri-
tory (the Land of Tob). Known as a “mighty warrior,” he assembled a band
of “worthless fellows,” which he commanded. When the inhabitants of the
Gilead region were oppressed by the Ammonites, Jephthah was called by his
compatriots to lead, with his strong band, the armed forces of Gilead against
the aggressors. As a result of his success in the battles against the Ammonites,
he was able to acquire both wealth and authority in Gileadite society of the
eleventh century BCE (Judg. 11).
20. The 1 Sam. 13: 3 passage is emended in accordance with the version of the LXX. See
Driver 1913:98.
21. See, for example, Buccellati 1962:95–99; Mazar 1963:310–312; Mendenhall 1973:133,
135–136.
Even more instructive are the stories of David’s rise to power. Serving first
as a military commander under Saul, king of Israel, and married to the king’s
daughter, he was later obliged to flee from his father-in-law, who sought to
kill him. “David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and
when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there
to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt,
and everyone who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became cap-
tain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men” (1 Sam.
22:1–2). In contrast to this description are the words of Nabal, David’s enemy,
who refused to give them supplies, calling them slaves “who are breaking
away from their masters” and men “who come from I know not where” (1
Sam. 25:10–11). By his authority and personal influence, David was able to
attract not only his relatives, but also elements of a lower social status, men
who had complaints against the incumbent regime as well as others seeking
a new fortune, thus, becoming the leader of a powerful, well-organized mil-
itary force. The band also included a priest (Abiathar, 1 Sam. 22:20–23) and a
prophet (Gad, 1 Sam. 22:5). This reminds us of the story of Idrimi, who was
not only the captain of his band but also its diviner.22
The narrator describes in great detail how David, leading his band, was
able to escape pursuit of the king of Israel. He sought places of refuge in the
inaccessible desert borderlands and in hidden caves. Of particular interest
are the ways in which David was able to maintain and sustain his band. He de-
manded protection money from the wealthier landowners in his area, even
threatening death when anyone refused to pay (1 Sam. 25). David also mar-
ried women of southern Judean origin — Abigail of Carmel and Ahinoam of
Jezreel (see Josh. 15: 55–56) — and was certainly supported by his fathers-in-
law. Because of the dangers involved in wandering within Israelite territory,
David later moved to Philistia, becoming a vassal of the Philistine king of Gath,
Saul’s main enemy. The band under David’s command served as mercenaries
in the Philistine camp, even in campaigns directed against their countrymen
(1 Sam. 27: 1–6; 28: 1–2; 29). The king of Gath gave him Ziklag, and from there
he systematically raided groups of pastoral nomads situated on the southern
borders of Palestine (1 Sam. 27:7–11). Because Ziklag was located in the vicin-
ity of the land of Judah, David began to create political alliances by defending
the settlements of southern Judah against the pastoral nomads of the desert,
even sending them gifts from the spoil of their hated enemies (1 Sam. 30). It
22. For the most recent treatment of the story of Idrimi, see Dietrich and Loretz 1981:
201–269, with additional bibliography. A priest Ishḫara is likewise mentioned among the
Ḫabiru groups in the tablet from Alalakh Level IV (AT 180:20); see Mendenhall 1973:133.
was only after the death of Saul that David’s special position was recognized
by the inhabitants of the land of Judah, who anointed him as their king in
Hebron (2 Sam. 2:1–4). His band became the nucleus of the growing army of
the new kingdom.
The case of Abimelech, the son of Gideon, is different (Judg. 9). He started
his career by hiring “worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him”
(Judg. 9: 4) and, thus, came to power. However, he remained within the con-
fines of his clan and tribe and never became a Ḫabiru. Using uprooted ref-
ugees to help him gain political power, Abimelech resembles the Canaanite
city-state rulers who hired soldiers from among the Ḫabiru for similar rea-
sons (see Judg. 11:4–11).
Gaal and his “kinsmen,” on the other hand, were refugees, probably of
Israelite origin, who assembled as a band and found shelter in the city of
Shechem under the protection of the “lords” of Shechem (Judg. 9:26–29).
Later, they were expelled from the town as a result of Abimelech’s mili-
tary pressure (vv. 30–41). This situation finds an exact parallel in the case
of the band of Ḫabiru who stayed in the city of Tushulti under the patron-
age of its ruler (Amanḫatpi), until they were forced to leave after the attack
by Tushulti’s neighboring rulers (EA 185 and 186). In still another example,
David and his band stayed in the city of Keilah under the patronage of the
“lords” of the city until they heard of Saul’s expected campaign against the
city; they then were forced to escape (1 Sam. 23:1–13).
Another instance of a leader of a band who subsequently seized the
throne is Rezon, the son of Eliada (1 Kgs. 11:23–24). Although the precise de-
tails are not known, the story is not unlike that of David and his rise to power
in Israel. Rezon fled from his lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah, and became the
leader of a marauding band. After the defeat of Hadadezer, Rezon gradually
gained more and more power and finally became the king of Aram-Damascus
during the reign of Solomon.
A literary depiction of a band is portrayed in Judg. 18. The plot has been
correctly characterized as a “chronique scandaleuse” and is certainly a po-
lemic against the sanctuary and cult of the city of Dan (Noth 1962:68–77). The
migrating Danites are presented as a brigade of 600 armed men (Judg. 18:11,
16, 17), exactly like the bards of David (1 Sam. 23:13; 27:2; 30:9) and Rezon (1
Kgs. 11:24). The mood of the Danites is characterized by the term mārēi nepeš,
“angry fellows” (Judg. 18:25), an expression that also describes the mood of
the men who attached themselves to David after his flight from Saul (1 Sam.
22:2). On their way northward, the Danites took both the cult objects and the
priest of Micah’s temple by force and threatened to kill him if he tried to stop
them. Finally, they made a surprise attack on the peaceful city of Laish, anni-
hilated its population, and eventually settled there (see 1 Sam. 27:8–11). The
Danites’ behavior is more brigandish than that of a pastoral clan and is an ac-
curate literary reflection of the way of life of the bands of the pre-monarchi-
cal and early monarchical periods.
3. The Rebellion of Sheba (2 Sam. 20)

The revolt of Sheba ben Bichri follows, in the “succession narrative,” the
rebellion of Absalom and is described as the direct outcome of the latter (2
Sam. 19:41–44; 20:1–2). The two stories form a coherent literary unit and
should be discussed together. Some general introductory remarks on these
two episodes are essential before we try to connect Sheba’s rebellion with
the subject at hand.23
Reading the stories about Absalom and Sheba’s rebellions carefully (2
Sam. 15–20) and attempting to interpret them historically, one finds a re-
markable discrepancy between the terminology used to indicate the rebel-
lious elements and the actual participants in these revolts. Absalom was of
the tribe of Judah. He was proclaimed king in Hebron, the central city of
Judah, David’s former capital. His commander-in-chief was Amasa, a Judean;
and his advisor, Ahithophel of Giloh, was also Judahite. David was forced to
abandon Jerusalem, his capital, in great haste and to cross the Jordan because
of the advancing rebel army from Hebron. One can hardly doubt the initia-
tive and the decisive role played by the tribe of Judah in the revolt. For this
reason, the elders of Judah were afraid to contact David after the death of
Absalom and the quelling of the rebellion (2 Sam. 19:10–13). Yet, in contrast
to all these concrete data, the rebels are consistently called “men of Israel,”
“all the men of Israel,” and “all the elders of Israel.” The “men of Judah” and
the “elders of Judah” appear suddenly in the story at the start of the negoti-
ations that follow the crushing of the revolt.
A similar inconsistency is also reflected in the story of Sheba’s rebellion.
The participants in the revolt are Sheba and his followers, who were obliged
to find shelter in the far-off city of Abel of Beth-maacah. Moreover, there is
no sign of the formation of a military organization of any kind on the rebel
side; yet, it is related that “all the men of Israel withdrew from David and fol-
lowed Sheba the son of Bichri” (2 Sam. 20:2).
These remarkable internal contradictions in the two stories, in my opin-
ion, can be explained as the result of the bias of the Judean scribes who com-
posed the stories.24 The narrator was reluctant to blame his own tribe, which
23. For the rebellion of Sheba, see Crüsemann 1978:104–111, with bibliography; Tadmor
1982:247–150.
24. For other passages reflecting the bias of the Judean scribes, see Na’aman 1982b:
156–157.
was also the king’s tribe, for Absalom’s rebellion. Therefore, he systematically
used the all-inclusive designations “men of Israel” and “all the men of Israel”
for the followers of Absalom, until reaching the point in the story when the
tribe of Judah once again supported the king. Thereafter, he changed his ter-
minology and called them by their real name, “men of Judah.” Thus, an anal-
ysis of only the terminology used cannot help us determine the chain of
events.25 I would propose that until Absalom’s entrance into Jerusalem, only
the tribe of Judah was involved in the rebellion. The main issue discussed in
the meeting between Absalom and his followers in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 17:1–
14) was whether to attack immediately, backed only by the tribe of Judah, or
whether to broaden their base of support. It was only after the acceptance of
Hushai’s advice that the other Israelite tribes became involved in the rebel-
lion and, at least partially, participated on the side of the rebels.
The same explanation, namely, the bias of the Judean scribe, also applies
to the description of Sheba’s revolt. To further blur the earlier anti-Davidic
position of the tribe of Judah, the narrator intentionally magnified the im-
portance of this second revolt, transforming it into an all-northern Israelite
tribal act against David. The narrator, thus, wanted his readers to infer that
two general insurrections occurred at that time: one all-Israelite headed by
Absalom and a second northern Israelite headed by Sheba. In fact, there were
two rebellions: one mainly Judahite headed by Absalom and a second, local
one, headed by Sheba.
Sheba’s revolt started at an inopportune time for David, immediately after
the quelling of Absalom’s rebellion, when he began to show his preference
for Judah during the incident of the crossing of the Jordan (2 Sam. 19:12–16,
41–44). Sheba was trying to take advantage of the dissatisfaction among the
northern tribes and incite a second rebellion. There is no indication, however,
that he won them over, although the revolt caused much apprehension in
David’s camp (2 Sam. 20:6).
What might have been the background of Sheba ben Bichri? We are told
that he was of the tribe of Benjamin (2 Sam. 20:1), probably of the Benjaminite
clan of Becher (see 2 Sam. 16: 5, Shimei ben Gera) (Driver 1913:340); that he
lived in Mount Ephraim (2 Sam. 20:21); and that his followers are called kl
hbrym (2 Sam. 20:14). There is a marked inconsistency between Sheba’s two
designations — “a Benjaminite” and “of Mount Ephraim” — because the lat-
ter was located north of the tribal inheritance of Benjamin. All the places
that are explicitly located in Mount Ephraim (Timnath-serah, Ramah, Bethel,
25. See Crüsemann 1978:94–104, with additional bibliography; note also Langlamet’s
reviews of Crüsemann (1980:420–424); Tadmor 1982:239–249.
Mount Zemaraim, Shechem, Shamir) are situated north of Benjamin’s border.

Furthermore, two districts within the Solomonic administrative division are
called “Mount Ephraim” (1 Kgs. 4:8) and “Benjamin” (1 Kgs. 4:18), indicating
the separation of the two territories. No single reference supports the idea
that parts of Benjamin’s inheritance were ever included in Mount Ephraim.26
One might even propose that the name Benjamin (“son of the south”) for the
southern tribe of the House of Joseph was given on account of its position
south of Mount Ephraim, the seat of the tribe of Ephraim and part of the tribe
of Manasseh.27 How can we account for the fact that the rebel lived outside of
the territory of his tribal inheritance?
Mount Ephraim, where Sheba lived, especially its western slopes, was a
common hiding place for runaway peoples. This is evident from the descrip-
tion in 1 Sam. 13–14, where those escaping the Philistine’s attack hid them-
selves in Mount Ephraim (1 Sam. 14:22; see 13:6). Certain parts of Mount
Ephraim are explicitly called “Seirah,” i.e., a wooded (“shaggy”) area, in the
story of Ehud’s escape from the Moabites (Judg. 3:26–27; see also Josh. 15:
10).28 Assuming that Saul was of the clan of Becher (1 Sam. 9:1, Bechorath
probably represents Becher) (Marquart 1896:14; Cook 1899–1900:166, n. 46;
26. Kallai (1971:191–195) suggested that Mount Ephraim was originally a general desig-
nation for the mountainous area north of Jerusalem that may have included the territory
of Benjamin. He based his conclusion mainly on the sequence in 1 Sam. 9:4–5 suggesting
that the territories of Shalisha, Shaalim, Jemini (= Benjamin), and Zuph were all included
in Mount Ephraim, which headed the list of “lands.” The geographical description of the
search for the lost asses, however, should be explained differently. Saul started the search
from his birthplace, Gibeah. From Gibeah, he went northward to Mount Ephraim; (b) con-
tinued eastwards to the land of Shalisha; (c) proceeded southward to the land of Shaalim;
(d) passed westward to the land of Jemini (= Benjamin); and (e) went northward to the land
of Zuph, where the city of Ramah is situated (1 Sam. 1:1). It is clear that the narrator has
arranged the territories (“lands”) in a deliberate geographical sequence, emphasizing that
Saul, in the search for the lost asses, has made a vast circle around the city of Ramah before
at last entering the city according to the divine plan. One may further note that all sources
in which Mount Ephraim is mentioned were written only after the establishment of the
Israelite monarchy, thus, reflecting the territorial concepts common at that time. All bibli-
cal references to Mount Ephraim indicate that the northern boundary of Benjamin’s inher-
itance marks its southern border. Whether the term “Mount Ephraim” was originally asso-
ciated with other areas cannot be established.
27. For the northern border of Mount Ephraim, see Na’aman 1983:8–12.
28. See Astour 1975:331–332, 365; Soggin 1981:52. In light of Josh. 15:10 and Judg. 3:26,
one may also clarify the problems involved with the mention of mātāti še’eri in an Amarna
letter from Jerusalem (EA 288:26). The toponym can hardly refer to the region of Seir
(Edom), located far away, southeast of the area of Jerusalem. Seir (še’eri) is probably a de-
scriptive designation for the wooded mountainous areas where the bands of Ḫabiru, ‘Abdi-
Ḫeba’s enemies, found shelter. The passage in EA 288:26–28 may be translated thus: “Unto
Malamat 1968:171, n. 28), one may infer that Sheba, who was kin to the house
of Saul, was persecuted by David and, thus, was obliged to leave his family
and tribe to seek refuge in this mountainous area.
The followers of Sheba are called kl hbrym in the MT version, and various
suggestions have been offered to explain this enigmatic name.29 Taking into
account the variant kl h‘rym in several manuscripts (LXX and S), one may sug-
gest the reading kl h‘brym. Thus, 2 Sam. 20:14 could be translated as follows:
“And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah;
and all the ‘Hebrews’ assembled and followed him in.” The term “Hebrews”
fits nicely into the historical context of the episode, and one can easily ex-
plain how it became corrupt at a later date due to a misunderstanding.
With this in mind, we may reconstruct the chain of events. Sheba was a
refugee who stayed with his band of “Hebrews” in the inaccessible area of
Mount Ephraim. At a moment of political crisis following Absalom’s rebellion,
he tried to take advantage of the situation by inciting a revolt. The moment
selected for the revolt was not unlike those occasions on which Jephthah,
David, and Rezon rose to power. It is for this reason that David, who was per-
sonally acquainted with the dangers involved in this kind of situation, was
so anxious to put an immediate end to the rebellion (2 Sam. 20:4–6). Sheba,
however, unable to gain support from the northern tribes, was obliged to flee
with his band of “Hebrews” and sought refuge at Abel of Beth-maacah, prob-
ably part of the Danite enclave in Upper Galilee (1 Kgs. 15:20; see the LXX ver-
sion of 2 Sam. 20:18). The rebel hoped to find shelter there, depending upon
the close relationship between the Danites, who had emigrated from the
Shephelah northward (Josh. 19:47; Judg. 18), and the Benjaminites, their for-
mer neighbors. Sheba’s hopes for asylum were in vain: He was betrayed and
killed after a short siege (see the episode in 1 Sam. 23:1–13). Rowton (1977:
193) noted that “history has doubtless forgotten far more parasocial leaders
than those who did leave a mark in the chronicles or in local tradition. For
usually only those are remembered who met success.” Sheba is an exception;
he is remembered because of the role the episode played in the author’s de-
liberate presentation of the history of David.
the wooded (‘shaggy’) areas (and) unto Ginti-kirmil all the city-state rulers are at peace,
but there is a war against me.”
29. For the various proposals offered by scholars for 2 Sam. 20:14, see Crüsemann 1978:
110, n. 25, with further bibliography.
4. The Transfer of the Term “Hebrews” to the Sphere of Literature

With their status as uprooted people living on the margins of society, the
bands described in the books of Judges and Samuel are identical to the Ḫabiru
of the ancient Near Eastern texts. The term “Ḫabiru,” however, is an appel-
lation that has exclusively social connotations, whereas the term “Hebrews”
has both social and ethnic connotations and is used as a gentilic only for the
Israelites. How, then, did the social appellation Ḫabiru become a “social eth-
nonym”30 in the biblical tradition, and why was it applied in these stories to
the Israelites?
As was demonstrated above, the “Hebrews” originated from among Israelite
tribal society just as all other Ḫabiru-people originated from the neighboring
Western Asiatic societies of the second millennium BCE. Moreover, in cer-
tain historical moments, such as the struggles with the Ammonites or the
Philistines, groups of “Hebrews” cooperated with their compatriots and were
subsequently re-integrated into Israelite society. Thus, there was a kind of
ethnic connection between the Israelites and the Hebrews in the sense that
the latter were part of Israelite tribal society both at the beginning and the
end of their history. Even David, who established the kingdom and founded
the capital city and royal dynasty of Israel, was a “Hebrew.” It is no wonder
that the social appellation acquired an ethnic meaning and that the refugees
of Israelite origin were called “Hebrews.” Taking into account this specific
usage for the term “Hebrew,” the author of the stories of 1 Samuel used a sub-
tle literary device: in the description of the Philistine scorn for the Israelite
uprisings, the Philistines mockingly call their enemies “Hebrew,” the term for
the marginal groups who had come to their aid and, thus, we see the begin-
ning of the literary process that would culminate with a considerable differ-
ence in meaning between the terms “Ḫabiru” and “Hebrew.” This narrator,
however, certainly knew the difference between the designations “Israelite”
and “Hebrew”: it is only the Philistines who would use this degrading name to
denigrate their rivals, the Israelites. Nowhere does the narrator use the term
“Hebrews” as a gentilic for the Israelite tribes.
As shown above, the scribes of the Amarna letters used the appellation
“Ḫabiru” in a similar way — as both a derogatory term indicating scorn and
as a label for all real or ostensible rebels against the Egyptians and their allies
among the city-state rulers of Canaan.31 By the way, the scribes of the books
30. For the term “social ethnonym,” Rowton 1976b:15.

31. Weippert (1971:87–88) has noted correctly the resemblance between the descrip-
tion of the Israelites, who resisted the Philistine claim to supremacy, as “Hebrews” and the
analogous use of the term “Ḫabiru” in the Amarna letters. See Gottwald 1979: 421–422.
of Judges and Samuel — when describing the Israelite scorn for their rivals,
the Philistines — also had them derisively call their enemies by the humili-
ating name ‘arēlîm, “uncircumcised” (Judg. 14:3; 15:18; 1 Sam. 14:6; 17:26, 36;
31:4; 2 Sam. 1:20).
When the term “Ḫabiru “ vanished from the Western Asiatic historical
arena, partly because of the foundation of “national states” in the region of
the western Euphrates at the beginning of the first millennium BCE and partly
because it was replaced by another term,32 the appellation “Hebrew” contin-
ued to be used in Biblical Hebrew. When examining the remaining biblical
references in which the designation “Hebrew” is used, one recognizes two
distinct features characterizing the original social position of the Ḫabiru: (1)
their status as aliens who have migrated to places far from their homeland,
and (2) their low social status as enslaved and exploited workers. At least one
of these characteristics is prominent in all descriptions of the Hebrews in the
Bible, particularly in the stories of the migration to Egypt and their sojourn
there. These features alone, however, differentiate those Hebrews from the
Israelites. It is clear that the appellation “Hebrew” has been transformed in
these traditions to designate Israelites in exceptional situations.
To illustrate this, I cite a few examples below.
(1) “Hebrew” as a designation for Israelites migrating to a foreign country:
Joseph, who was brought by force from Canaan to Egypt is called “a Hebrew”
(Gen. 39:14) and “a young Hebrew” (Gen. 41:12). Regarding the Israelites who
stayed in Egypt and who were frequently called “Hebrews” in the stories of
Exodus, it is explicitly stated “for you were strangers in the land of Egypt”
(Exod. 23:9). The prophet Jonah, when leaving his homeland and fleeing to
a foreign country, calls himself “a Hebrew” (Jon. 1:9). Also, Abraham may
have been called “the Hebrew” (Gen. 14:13), because he was commanded by
the Lord “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to
the land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). The Gen. 14:13 passage may, how-
ever, reflect the later post-biblical ethnic usage of the term, meaning simply
“Israelite” (see below) (Weippert, 1971:93–101).
(2) ”Hebrew” as a designation for Israelites in a position of slavery: This
usage is common in the stories of the book of Exodus, in which it is applied to
Israelites who were enslaved and exploited by the Egyptians for hard labor.
In addition, in biblical law, the term “Hebrew slave” designates Israelites who
were enslaved (Exod. 21:2; Deut. 15:12; Jer. 34:9, 14).
32. The ethnic term “Sutean” probably evolved in the first millennium BCE into a social
ethnonym. See Rowton 1976b:16.
It seems clear that all biblical references to the “Hebrews” reflect some
traits borrowed from the image of the second millennium Ḫabiru. However,
one should not minimize the difference in the use of the two terms and the
changes that the appellation “Ḫabiru” underwent in the tradition of the Old
Testament. The distinct biblical term “Hebrew slave” may well illustrate this
transformation. The situation of a “Hebrew slave” has been compared many
times with that of the Ḫabiru-people in the contracts from Nuzi.33 However,
the latter were called “Ḫabiru” due to their status as migrants entering Nuzi
from neighboring countries. The “Hebrew slave,” on the other hand, was des-
ignated as such because of his social status as an Israelite who was enslaved
within his own society. The comparison clearly illustrates the development of
the term “Hebrew” within the biblical tradition and the increasing difference
that developed in the use of the terms “Ḫabiru” and “Hebrew.”
To what extent was the term “Hebrew” used in the colloquial language of
the time of the First Temple? Analysis of daily language on the basis of liter-
ary sources — and the Bible is a literary source — is extremely problematic.
However, from its occurrence in various parts of the Old Testament, it seems
reasonably clear that the term “Hebrew” was mainly restricted to the liter-
ary tradition. It rarely appears in the prophetic books (Jer. 34:9, 14; Jon. 1:9),
and only in the term “Hebrew slave” in biblical law, in both cases designat-
ing an individual. One may safely suggest that in the colloquial language the
term always referred to individuals. The application of the term “Hebrews”
to large groups of Israelites was probably confined exclusively to the liter-
ary sphere, possibly influenced by the stories in the books of Samuel. The
transfer of the term “Hebrew” to the field of literature brought about, in my
opinion, its separation from the historical appellation “Ḫabiru” — the term
“Hebrew” becoming an appellation unique to Biblical Hebrew.
The “literarization” of the term “Hebrew” in the tradition of the Old
Testament further affected the late development of the name in the post-
Old Testament period. As is well known, the designation “Hebrew” appears
in non-canonical Jewish-literature: Josephus, Philo, and the New Testament,
where it becomes a synonym of the ethnicon “Israelite” (Parzen 1932–33:
255–258; Lewy 1957:1; Gray 1958:188–193). The use of the term in these late
periods depends entirely on the terminology of the Old Testament, reflect-
ing the influence of biblical literary traditions on authors who could not
have been aware of the complicated background and changes that occurred
in the use of the term. Was the term applied indiscriminately to all Israelites
33. See, for example, Weippert, 1971:85–87, with earlier bibliography; Rowton, 1976b:
19, with further bibliography in n. 28; Lemche 1975:129–144.
because the destruction of the First Temple forced a large number of them
into exile?
IV. Conclusion
In summary, it seems that a change in the use of the term “Hebrew” in
the tradition of the Old Testament and its separation from the appellation
“Ḫabiru” occurred in two major stages. The first stage is evident in the books
of Samuel, which were composed at a time when the phenomenon of mi-
gration was still common in the growing Israelite society. The appellation
“Hebrew” was apparently used at this time as a social ethnonym, designat-
ing the uprooted Israelites who were obliged to leave their families and seek
their fortunes elsewhere. On a literary level, it became a derogatory term
for the Israelites, used by their main adversaries during that period, the
Philistines.
Later, when the phenomenon of the Ḫabiru/Hebrews entirely disap-
peared from daily reality, the term “Hebrew” was restricted, in the colloquial
language, to individual Israelites who were either migrants or slaves. In the
literary tradition, the term was further transformed and became a general
designation for groups of Israelites who were outside their homeland, that is,
living in oppression in foreign lands. This latter stage opened the way for the
post-Old Testament use of the ethnicon “Hebrew,” in which all traces of the
original meaning of the appellation disappeared, and the name simply be-
came another term for the Israelites.
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Rowton, M.B. 1976a. Dimorphic Structure and Topology. Oriens Antiquus 15: 17–30.
Rowton, M.B. 1976b. Dimorphic Structure and the Problem of the ‘Apirû-‘ibrîm. JNES 35:
13–20.
Rowton, M.B. 1977. Dimorphic Structure and the Parasocial Element. JNES 36: 181–197.
Rowton, M.B. 1981. Economic and Political Factors in Ancient Nomadism. In: Castillo, J.S.
ed. Nomads and Sedentary Peoples. Mexico City: 25–36.
Several, M.W. 1972. Reconsidering the Egyptian Empire in Palestine during the Amarna
Period. PEQ 104: 123–33.
Soggin, J.A. 1981. Judges: A Commentary. (Old Testament. Library). Philadelphia.
Stephens, F.J. 1944. Old Assyrian Letters and Business Documents. (Babylonian Inscriptions in
the Collection of J.B. Nies 6). New Haven.
Tadmor, H. 1982. Traditional Institutions and the Monarchy: Social and Political Tensions
in the Time of David and Solomon. In: Ishida, T. ed. Studies in the Period of David and
Solomon and Other Essays. Tokyo: 239–257.
Weingreen, J. 1967. Saul and the Habirū. Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies I. Jerusalem:
63–66.
Weinstein, J.A. 1981. The Egyptian Empire in Palestine: a Reassessment. BASOR 241: 1–28.
Weippert, M. 1971. The Settlement of the Israelite Tribes in Palestine. London.
The Town of Ibirta and the Relations
of the ‘Apiru and the Shasu1
In Knudtzon’s edition of the Amarna tablets, a city named Inamta ap-
pears twice, in letters EA 83:38 and 104:52. As F. Thureau-Dangin first recog-
nized, in the Amarna letters the sign NAM could also be read as bir5 (Thureau-
Dangin 1940–41:171; cf. Mendenhall 1947:123; von Soden and Röllig, 1967:11
no. 54). The syllable bir5 appears twice in the correspondence of Rib-Adda
of Byblos (EA 74:34 and 129:82), and the town’s name i-NAM-ta, accordingly,
may be read as i- bir5-ta.2 The name Ibirta may be analyzed as a derivative of
the Semitic verb ‘br, meaning “crossing (place).”
According to EA 104, Rib-Adda was frustrated by the fall of Ullasa, the
Egyptian garrison-city, into the hands of ‘Abdi-Ashirta’s sons and the gradual
increase of their power. He was even afraid to leave his own town to go to the
Egyptian garrison-city of Ṣumur, because “Gubla would become ‘Apiru. I will
be going to Ibirta and will seek to join the ‘Apiru.”3
The passage makes it clear that the town of Ibirta was an important ‘Apiru
center, so that the defecting people of Byblos would appeal to this particular
place to contact the ‘Apiru.
According to letter EA 83, a man of Ibirta was sent by Rib-Adda to Egypt
and was held there in the house of the Egyptian commissioner Yanḫamu
(lines 34–39). The man was probably called ‘Abdi-NIN.URTA and was the
Byblian envoy Puḫewa’s escort to Egypt (EA 84:39–41). Rib-Adda was ac-
cused by “his (‘Abdi-NIN.URTA’s) men” of sending ‘Abdi-NIN.URTA to Egypt
to detain him (EA 83:35–37). The fact that ‘Apirus were employed by Rib-
Adda as messengers is known from his own letter (EA 112:43–47). It may be
possible that an ‘Apiru leader from the town of Ibirta was detained in Egypt
after his arrival as a messenger so as to ensure the non-aggression of his fol-
lowers.
1. Reprinted with permission. Göttinger Miszellen 57 (1982), 27–33.

2. The writing Ibirta (instead of Inamta) had already been proposed by Liverani 1979:
74 no. 12.
3. For previous discussions and translations of the passage, see CAD E:216a; Greenberg
1955:38; Liverani 1979.
275
The “Satirical letter,” Papyrus Anastasi I, describes the area from Ṣumur
southwards, to the area of the Eleutheros (Nahr el-Kebīr). The scribe men-
tions first the city of Ḫalba, situated on the Tripoli-Ḥoms road, and then the
two cities of Qadesh and Tubiḫu, situated, respectively, on the northern and
southern branches of this road after it reached the Orontes river.4
In the next passage, the description focuses on a particular area, the “dis-
trict of the Shasu” (‘ n š3sw),5 emphasizing its difficulties and dangers. One
of the toponyms mentioned in this area, p3 mgr, was identified by Weippert
(1970:275) as the Grotto of Adonis, near the Lebanese town of Afqa. Next
comes Mount š3-w3, which is probably located east of the town of Tripoli.6
The third toponym in this passage is described thus (Wilson 1969:477a; Helck
1971:316): “Pray, let [me tell thee of . . .]-brt. You are hastened at its ascent
after you had crossed its stream above it.”
Helck has transcribed the toponym as . . .-bí-r-tá. The reading of the
r as sheva is evident from several other toponyms appearing in this pa-
pyrus, all using exactly the same writing for the r (i.e., Zarephath, Tyre,
Harnam, Jordan and also maryannu). One can hardly doubt the restoration
of the town’s name as [I]birta and its identity with the ‘Apiru’s town of the
Byblian Amarna’s letters. Its name was probably borrowed from the river
crossing, which, according to the Egyptian text, was located below the town.
The exact location of Ibirta still eludes us, although, tentatively, one may lo-
cate it east of Tripoli, at the foot of Mount Lebanon where Mount Shawe was
identified.
The above equation of the ‘Apiru’s town of the Amarna letters with the
Shasu’s town of the Egyptian document requires a short discussion of the
4. For the translation of Papyrus Anastasi I, see Wilson 1969:476–478; Helck 1971:315–
319. For the town of Ḫalba, see Rainey 1971:142–143.
5. The translation “the district of the Shasu” was first proposed by Gardiner 1911:63.
Following the publication of a parallel text from Deir el-Medineh, Gardiner’s translation
was adopted by Wilson 1969; Giveon 1971:125–128; Helck 1971; Weippert 1974:273. There
is nothing to support Rainey’s proposed emendation of the text into ‘(y)n š3sw (1975:14f.).
Not only are all other occurrences of the proposed toponym written syllabically (i.e., ‘ayin)
or with the EYE determinative, but the syllabic writing of toponyms is consistently used by
the scribe of Papyrus Anastasi I throughout the text. The writing of ‘n without the YOD in
the two extant copies of the text cannot be considered a mistake. Furthermore, the rest of
the passage makes it quite clear that it is the territory of the Shasu that is indeed referred
to (see below).
6. The relation of Mount š3-w3 with mountain Shawe, mentioned in the inscriptions of
Tiglath-pileser III, is not clear, because the latter is identified with Jebel el-Anṣariyeh, situ-
ated outside the Egyptian province of Canaan. See Forrer 1920:57f.; Weippert 1974:273; Kessler
1975:61; Na’aman 1977–78:231. For the derivation of the name Shawe, see Zadok 1978:174.
The Town of Ibirta and the Relations of the Apiru and the Shasu 277
problem of the identity of the two groups, a subject that had been discussed
by scholars in the past.7
The Shasu and the ‘Apiru appear side by side in the booty list of Amenophis
II only. In most occurrences, the Egyptian scribes refer to the two groups in
quite different terms and under different circumstances. The Shasu are de-
scribed mainly as living in the peripheral areas of the land of Canaan, as well
as within the Egyptian Delta, and being the target of Pharaonic military op-
erations. The ‘Apiru, on the other hand, are described mainly as a distin-
guished group performing various services within the Nile Valley. Only spo-
radically are the ‘Apiru mentioned as an ethnic group living within the Land
of Canaan.
The corresponding pair of the Amarna letters are the ‘Apiru and the Sutu.
These two groups appear in situations that are not dissimilar, and the dif-
ference between them is not as clear as that between the above-mentioned
Egyptian pair. They appear in three occurrences side by side in the same let-
ter (EA 196:24–29; 246:r.6–7;8 318:10–14). On the other hand, in two letters
from Gezer, sent within a short period (see Na’aman 1979:679–681), the city
ruler Yapaḫu accuses both the ‘Apiru and the Sutu of having plundered his
country (compare EA 297:11–16 and 299:17–26). It is reasonable to assume
that the same group was intended by this double name. The interchange of
names is not entirely surprising once we remember the derogatory sense
that accompanied the name “‘Apiru” in the Amarna letters and the develop-
ment of the meaning “Rebel” (with a connotation of contempt) in many let-
ters where the ‘Apiru are recalled.9 One may assume that the Amarna scribes
did not take the trouble to specify the precise name of the trouble-makers
from among the various social groups then living in the Land of Canaan, be-
cause, by employing the name “‘Apiru,” they could create the correct impres-
sion in the Egyptian court.
Besides these inner considerations of both the Egyptian and the Akkadian
texts, there is still another, and more perplexing problem. According to the
Amarna letters, the anti-monarchal forces and the troublesome elements
within the Land of Canaan are called ‘Apiru. The Egyptian scribes, on the
other hand, name the Shasu as the major enemies of the Pharaohs, against
whom military campaigns are directed within that self-same territory. Only
rarely are the ‘Apiru mentioned as actual enemies in the Egyptian texts, and
7. Helck 1968:472–480; Giveon 1971:4–5; Gottwald 1979:458, 477–480; see Görg, 1979:
199–202; 1980:18–20.
8. In EA 246 r. 8 read LÚmeš KUR S[u-ti]. Compare EA 122:34 and 297:16. It is quite un-
likely that the Nubians (amēlūti mat Kaši) served as mercenaries under the sons of Lab’ayu.
9. Weippert 1971:71–74; Liverani 1979:71, with further bibliography in notes 18–19.
the same is true of the Sutu in the Amarna letters. What, then, might be the
relationship between the Egyptian Shasu and the Amarna ‘Apiru?
It should be emphasized that the tribally organized groups (Shasu, Sutu)
and the splinter groups that were organized as independent bands (‘Apiru)
were not identical. When discussing their accurate identity within the
Egyptian and the Akkadian texts, one should, in my opinion, also take into
account the literary tradition of both the Egyptian and the Akkadian scribal
schools. Once we understand the connotations of both names — the Shasu
in the Egyptian royal inscriptions and the ‘Apiru in the Akkadian correspon-
dence — the way is open for a reconsideration of the identity of both names
and even for a new inquiry into their possible resemblance in certain pas-
sages. To demonstrate the problem of literary tradition, we offer here one ex-
ample. Two tablets from the Egyptian garrison-city of Kumidi (Kāmid el-Lōz)
deal with the deportation of groups of ‘Apiru from northern Canaan to Nubia
(Edzard 1970:55–60). The two tablets were sent from Egypt, and, being writ-
ten in Akkadian, the scribes used the well known term “‘Apiru” to designate
the banished trouble-makers. Would an Egyptian scribe composing a royal
inscription call that same group by the name “‘Apiru,” or would he rather use
the name “Shasu”?
It is with this observation in mind that the references to the town of Ibirta
in the “Satirical Letter” and the Amarna letters should be understood. The
designation of the area as the “district of the Shasu” may be compared with
the famous ‘Apiru territory (eqli lúSA.GAZ) situated in the Land of Hatti, not
far from the border of Ugarit (Nougayrol 1956:107f).
The town of Ibirta as an ‘Apiru center may be equated with the town Ḫlb
‘prm mentioned in the tablets from Ugarit. Surprisingly, the phrase “he made
himself into the likeness (iry.f sw m ki n) of an Asiatic” in the passage relat-
ing to the town of Ibirta in Papyrus Anastasi I is parallel to the well-known
phrase “he became (nēpušu ana) ‘Apiru” common to the Amarna letters
(Nougayrol 1956:107f). The territory was perhaps bound together by some
sort of tribal organization, simultaneously sheltering scattered bands of
‘Apiru. The Egyptian and the Amarna scribes selected their designations for
these groups according to the literary traditions of their respective cultures,
Shasu in Egyptian and ‘Apiru in Akkadian.
The Town of Ibirta and the Relations of the Apiru and the Shasu 279
References
Edzard, D.O. 1970. Die Tontafeln von Kāmid el-Lōz. In: Edzard, D.O. et al. eds. Kāmid el-Lōz
— Kumidi. Schriftdokumente aus Kāmid el-Lōz. (Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Altertumskunde
7). Bonn: 55–62.
Forrer, E. 1920. Die Provinzeinteilung des assyrisches Reiches. Leipzig.
Gardiner, A.H. 1911. Egyptian Hieratic Texts. Leipzig.
Giveon, R. 1971. Les Bédouins Shosu des documents égyptiens. (Documenta et Monumenta
Görg, M. 1979. Tuthmosis III. und die Š3św-Region JNES 38: 199–202.
Görg, M. 1980. Namenstudien VII: Š3św-Beduinen und Sutû-Nomaden. Biblische Notizen 11:
18–20.
Greenberg, M. 1955. The Ḫab/piru (American Oriental Series 39). New Haven.
Helck, W. 1968. Die Bedrohung Palästinas durch einwandernde Gruppen am Ende der 18.
und am Anfang der 19. Dynastie. VT 18: 472–480.
Helck. W. 1971. Die Beziehungen Ägyptens zu Vorderasien im 3. und 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. 2nd
Kessler, K. 1975. Die Anzahl der assyrischen Provinzen des Jahres 738 v. Chr. in Nordsyrien.
WO 8: 49–63.
Liverani, M. 1979. Farsi Ḫabiru. Vicino Oriente 2: 65–77.
Mendenhall, G.E. 1947. The Message of Abdi-Ashirta to the Warriors, EA 74. JNES 6: 123–
124.
Na’aman, N. 1977–78. Looking for KTK. WO 9: 220–237.
Na’aman, N. 1979. The Origin and the Historical Background of Several Amarna Letters.
Nougayrol, J. 1956. Le Palais Royal d’Ugarit IV. Textes accadiens des Archives Sud (Archives
Internationales). (Missions de Ras Shamra IX). Paris.
Rainey, A.F. 1975. Toponymic Problems: ‘Ain-Shasu. Tel Aviv. 2: 13–16.
von Soden, W. and Röllig, W. 1967. Das Akkadische Syllabar. 2nd revised ed. (Analecta
Thureau-Dangin, F. 1940–41. Bir-ia-wa-za. RA 37: 171.
Weippert, M. 1970. Die Nomadenquelle. In: Kuschke, A. and Kutsch, E. eds. Archäologie und
Altes Testament. Festschrift für Kurt Galling, Tübingen: 259–272.
ägyptischen Quellen. Biblica 55: 265–280, 427–433.
Wilson, J.A. 1969. An Egyptian Letter. In: Pritchard, J.B. ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts
Zadok, R. 1978. West Semitic Toponyms in Assyrian and Babylonian Sources. In: Avishur,
Y. and Blau, J. eds. Studies in Bible and the Ancient Near East Presented to Samuel E.
Loewenstamm on His Seventieth Birthday. Jerusalem: 163–179.
Amarna ālāni pu-ru-zi (EA 137) and Biblical
‘ry hprzy/hprzwt (“Rural Settlements”)1
Amarna tablet EA 137 is one of the latest letters of Rib-Hadda of Byblos,
written shortly after his expulsion from his home town and dispatched to the
Pharaoh by the hand of his son. Rib-Hadda describes in great detail the back-
ground for the expulsion, explaining how his young brother and the citizens
of Byblos had driven him out of his town and trying again and again to per-
suade his overlord to send troops to conquer the town. This long, well-pre-
served, colorful and artistically portrayed document did not fail to attract the
attention of scholars and has been translated and interpreted several times
in the last forty years (e.g., by W.F. Albright, A.L. Oppenheim, M.J. Seux and
W.L. Moran).2
Remarkable in the letter is the sudden appearance of a town called
Buruzilim (lines 64, 67, 85) in which Rib-Hadda asks for permission of res-
idence in case the Pharaoh should install another candidate on the throne
of Byblos. The reading of the place name was first suggested by H. Winckler
(1896:No. 71) in his edition of the Amarna tablets and was accepted subse-
quently by all scholars who discussed the letter (see recently, Moran 1987:
358–359, 596). However, deciphering of the assumed town name involves
problems in all three references to the name.
First, there is no qualifying URU determinative before BU-ru-zi-ŠI in lines
64 and 85. Line 85 reads URU-la (āla) iš-tu B[U-r]u-z[i-ŠI], having no determi-
native before the assumed toponym. Line 64 reads URU-la BU-ru-zi-ŠI. The
sign URU with phonetic complements (la/li/lu) appears several times in the
letter (lines 18, 25, 60, 73, 80, 93, 101), referring always to a noun (āla/āli/
ālu), whereas URU as a determinative always appears without phonetic com-
plement (lines 17, 31, 41, 73). Line 64 should be transcribed āla BU-ru-zi-ŠI,
the assumed town name again having no qualifying determinative before it.
1. Reprinted with permission. Zeitschrift für Althebraistik 4 (1991), 72–75.

2. For the publication of the Amarna letters, see Knudtzon 1915. For a new translation
of all the Amarna letters, including many invaluable notes and new readings, see Moran
1987. For the various translations of EA 137, see the literature cited by Moran 1987:357.
280
Amarna ālāni pu-ru-zi (EA 137) and Biblical ‘ry hprzy/hprzwt 281
Second, when one reads uru Bu-ru-zi-lim in line 67, “Les lignes 67s. sont extréme-
ment difficiles” (Moran 1987:361, n. 13). And third, a town called Buruzilim is
not mentioned in any other document from the coast of Lebanon. Thus, one
would very much doubt whether a city with this name ever existed; another
solution for the enigmatic BU-ru-zi-ŠI should be sought.
To clarify the problem, I will first suggest a new transliteration and trans-
lation (with some notes) to the difficult passage in lines 66–68, to be followed
by a translation of the relevant section of the letter (lines 59–87). The enig-
matic ālu/ālāni pu-ru-zi will then be compared with some biblical references
to kpr/‘ry hprzy/hprzwt, which, in my opinion, is the key for the correct inter-
pretation of the Byblian noun.
(A) Transliteration: (66) i-nu-ma (67) NA.KAR5-ra-at (nakrat) URUki (āli)
didli
URU (ālāni) pu-ru-zi-ši (68) na KÚR-ru (nakrū) pal-ḫa-tu DUMUmeš (mārē)
ÌR-aš-ra-ti.
Translation: “When the city (i.e., Byblos) rebels, its p. settlements rebel,
being afraid of the sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta.”
Notes:
For KAR5 (NA.KAR5-ra-at), compare line 17 (i-na-kar5-mi) and EA 119:26
(kar5-ṣí). For the reading didliURU (ālāni), compare line 76 (didliURUki). With
Moran (1987:361, n. 13), I interpret palḫatu as a fem. sing. participle. Rib-
Hadda claims that the city’s rebellion and his expulsion are the result of the
city’s fear of the sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta. Lines 120–121 of letter EA 138 may
be restored and interpreted in the same manner: (120) pal-ḫa-tu [DUMUmeš
ÌR-aš-ra-ti . . .] (121) URUki LÚ-la ar-[ni] LUGAL. “Being afraid [of the sons of
‘Abdi-Ashrati], the city [accepted(?)] the traitor to the king (i.e., Rib-Hadda’s
younger brother; compare lines 59, 104 and see CAD A/2 299a).”
(B) Translation of lines 59–87:
The king, my lord, should not neglect the city (āli). Verily, there is very much gold and
silver within it, there are many possessions in its temple. If the king, my lord, shall
capture it, then he may do to his servant as he pleases, but let him give (me) one of its
(i.e., Byblos) p. settlements (āla pu-ru-zi-ši) for my residence. At the moment I am with
Ḫammuniri. When the city (āli) rebels, its p. settlements (ālāni pu-ru-zi-ši) rebel, being
afraid of the sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta. When I went to Ḫammuniri it was on account of the
sons of ‘Abdi-Ashirta, because they were powerful against me and because there was
no breath from the mouth of the king to me, and I said to my lord: “behold, Byblos be-
came their city (ālu-ši-na). There are many possessions of the king in it, the property of
our ancestors of old. If the king neglects the town, all the cities of the land of Canaan
will cease to belong to him.” The king must not neglect this matter!
Now, your servant, my son, I have sent to the king, my lord, and let the king send him
back quickly with troops in order to capture the city (āla). If the king, my lord, be gra-
cious to me and return me to the city (āli), then I will guard it as before for the king, my
lord. If the king, my lord, [does not bring me back] into it, then [let him give me (ia-di-
in-ni; compare line 64)] a town (āla) out of its p. settlements (is-tu p[u-r]u-z[i-ši]). [Let
the king, my lord, do to his servant] as he pleases, [but] he [must not] aban[don me].”
It is remarkable that in all three passages where the noun ālu/ālāni pu-ru-
zi is mentioned, the post-determinative KI does not appear after the URU sign
(line 64 URU-la; line 67 didliURU; line 85 URU-la), whereas in all other passages
(with one exception in line 101 URU-lu-mi), the post-determinative KI follows
the noun ālu (URU) (lines 18, 25, 47, 51, 53, 56, 57, 60, 67, 73, 75, 76, 80, 82, 93,
99, 101). It is clear that the scribe deliberately emphasized the difference be-
tween the towns and cities of Canaan, on the one hand, and the ālu/ālāni pu-
ru-zi, on the other hand, and that the latter were regarded by him as a kind
of semi-settlements.
As is well known, the noun ālu refers to a very wide range of settlement
forms, e.g., city, town, village, manor, estate, fort, etc. (see CAD A/1 379–388).
Various nouns have been selected by the scribes to describe the surround-
ings of the cities and sometimes they appear in contrast to the city (CAD A/1
380–381). However, the noun pu-ru-zi is mentioned nowhere else in cuneiform
texts. Therefore, one would assume that it is a Canaanite loan word selected
by the scribe from the local Byblian vocabulary to accurately define the mes-
sage of his lord.
(C) When one looks for a similar noun in the West Semitic vocabulary, the
biblical root prz immediately comes to mind.3 Five passages seem particularly
relevant to the Byblian references and will be translated here in sequential
order (following the Revised Standard Version):
Deut 3:5 “All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides very
many unwalled villages (‘ry hprzy).”
1 Sam. 6:18 “Also the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the
Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities to unwalled villages (kpr
hprzy).”
Ezek. 38:11 “and say: I will go up against the land of unwalled villages (’rṣ przwt); I will
fall upon quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls and hav-
ing no bars or gates.”
Zech. 2:4–5. “and said to him: Run, say to that young man, Jerusalem shall be inhabited
as villages without walls (przwt), because of the multitude of men and cattle in it. For I
will be to her a wall of fire round about, says the Lord. . . .”
Esth. 9:19 “Therefore the Jews of the villages (hprwzym), who live in the open towns
(b‘ry hprzwt), hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and
feasting and holiday-making.”
3. See Brown, Driver and Briggs 1906:826; Driver 1962/63:8–9; Koehler and Baumgartner
1983:908–909, with earlier literature.
Amarna ālāni pu-ru-zi (EA 137) and Biblical ‘ry hprzy/hprzwt 283
Common to all five references is the marked contrast between the for-
tified cities and the unwalled rural villages. The number of the latter group
was far more than the number of the former (Deut. 3:5; 1 Sam. 6:18). A simi-
lar picture appears in the annals of Sennacherib in which the Assyrian king
described his attack on the Kingdom of Judah: “I laid siege to 46 of his strong
cities (ālānišu dannūti), walled forts, and to the countless small villages (ālāni
ṣeḫrūti) in their vicinity and conquered (them)” (Oppenheim 1969:288). The
unwalled rural settlements must have been of a variegated character, i.e., vil-
lages, hamlets, manors, farms, etc., and located either on the border of the
fortified cities or in isolated places all around the countryside .4
Remembering this background, we can interpret the references to ālu/
ālāni pu-ru-zi in the Byblian letter. Rib-Hadda tried to convince the Pharaoh
to send troops to capture the city. Rib-Hadda’s personal fate following the
conquest should be left (so he wrote in his letter) to his lord’s decision. The
Pharaoh may decide to put him back on his throne, or he may install another
candidate on the throne of Byblos (lines 62–65, 81–87). In the latter case, Rib-
Hadda asks the Pharaoh to give him one of the rural settlements of Byblos
for his residence (lines 64–65, 84–85). The present hostility of Byblos and its
rural settlements (ālāni pu-ru-zi-ši) is the result of the fear of ‘Abdi-Ashirta’s
sons (lines 66–68). The capture of Byblos by the Egyptian troops would im-
mediately pacify them, so he would be able to live peacefully in one of these
settlements.
We may conclude that ālāni pu-ru-zi in Rib-Hadda’s letter and ‘ry hprzy/
hprzwt in the biblical references have exactly the same meaning of “rural un-
walled settlements.” The territory of the city-state of Byblos was relatively
small, and many of its rural settlements must have been located not far from
the capital city. “One of its rural settlements” (line 64) and “a town out of
its rural settlements” (line 85) refer to sites in the neighborhood of Byblos,
where Rib-Hadda would have been able to find shelter in his late years, pro-
vided that the city was taken by Egyptian troops and governed by someone
favorable to him.
4. For the spatial organization of the land of Israel in the second and first millennium
BCE, see Portugali 1984:282–290, with earlier literature.
References
Brown, F., Driver S.R. and Briggs, C. A. 1906. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament.
Oxford (2nd ed. 1951).
Chicago.
Driver, G.R. 1962/63. Problems in Judges Newly Discussed. Annual of the Oriental Society of
the University of Leeds 4: 6–25.
Koehler, L. and Baumgartner, W. 1983. Hebräisches und Aramäisches Lexikon zum Alten
Testament (3rd ed). Leiden.
Paris.
Oppenheim, A.L. 1969. Babylonian and Assyrian Historical Texts. In: Pritchard, J.B. ed.
Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton: 265–317, 556–567.
Portugali, J. 1984. ‘Arim, Banot, Migrashim and Ḥaṣerim: The Spatial Organization of Eretz-
Israel in the 12th–10th Centuries BCE according to the Bible. Eretz Israel 17: 282–290.
(Hebrew).
Winckler, H. 1896. The Tell-El-Amarna-Letters. London and New York.
The Ishtar Temple at Alalakh1
In the course of his excavations at Alalakh, Woolley (1955:33–90) found
seventeen super-imposed temples. He (1955:33) commented only that they
were “presumably dedicated to the city goddess invoked by king Idri-mi.” He
obviously referred to “Ishtar, lady of Alalakh” mentioned in line 2 of idrimi’s
inscription, and Klengel (1965:89, n. 23) made the same suggestion in a short
note included in his detailed study on the weather-god of Ḫalab. It is the pur-
pose of this article to demonstrate this identification in greater detail, bas-
ing the analysis on written documents, mainly from the archives of level VII
at Alalakh.
We begin with document AT 1, which has now been collated.2 Here follows
a transliteration and translation of the text, accompanied by a detailed com-
mentary at the end.
l. i-nu-ma aḫ-ḫu-šu m Ab-ba-AN be-el-šu-nu ib-ba-al-ki-tu

2. m Ab -ba-AN LUGAL-r[u i-n]a /tu-ku/-u[l-t]i dIM
3. dHé-bat ù gišIGI.DÙ [ša dIŠTAR] a-na uruIr-ri-deki il-lik-ma
4. uruIr-ri-deki iṣ-/ba-at/ [ù a-i]a-ab-šu ik-šu-u[d]
5. i-na [U]D-mi-šu m[Ab-b]a-A[N] a-na pu-ḫa-at
6. uruIr-ri-deki [š]a a-b[i-š]u /id/-di-na-am
7. i-na na-ra-[am] li-ib-bi-šu uru A-la-la-aḫki
8. /i/-[i]d-di-in4 /ù] [i/-na UD-mi-šu mIa-ri-im-li-im
9. DU[MU mḪa-am-mu]-ra-pí ÌR m Ab-ba-AN [ALAM-šu]
10. [a-na É] dIŠTAR ú-še-li
11. [šumma? warkit? m Ab]-ba-AN ša mIa-ri-im-li-im
12. i[d-di-nu i-le-qé] /a/-[l]a-am pu-ḫa-at a-li-im
13. /id-di-na-aš/-šu ša a-wa-at Ab-ba-AN i-pu-šu
14. ú-na-ak-ka-ru a-na Ia-ri-im-li-im
15. ù pi-ir-ḫi-šu ú-la-am-ma-nu
16. dIM i-na gišTUKUL ša qa-ti-šu li-iḫ-bu-us-su
17. dHé-bat dIŠTAR gišIGI.DÙ-šu li-iš-bi-ru
18. dIŠTAR a-na qa-ti mu-ka-aš-ši-di-šu li-ma-al-li-šu
19. dIŠTAR SAG.UR.SAG pa-ra ú-ra-am
20. i-na bi-ir-ki-šu li-ṭe4-eb-bi
1. Reprinted with permission. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 39 (1980), 209–214.

2. The tablet was published by Wiseman 1953. For the main treatments of the test, see
Albright 1957:27–28; Smith 1957:177–178; Klengel 1965:136–137.
285
When his brothers rebelled against Abbael, their lord, king Abbael, with
the help of the gods Hadad,3 Ḫebat and the spear [of Ishtar4] went to Irride,
conquered Irride and captured his enemy. (5) At that time Abbael, in exchange
for Irride which his father granted, gave Alalakh of his free will. (8) And at
that time, Yarimlim s[on of Ḫammu]rapi and servant of Abbael, brought up
[his statue to the temple] of Ishtar. (11) [If? the offspring? of Ab]bael shall take
what he (Abbael) gave to Yarimlim — he will give him city for city.
(13) Whoever shall change the settlement that Abbael has made and will
do evil against Yarimlim and his descendants-may the god Hadad dash him
into pieces with the weapon which is in his hand; may Ḫebat-Ishtar shatter
his spear; may Ishtar deliver him into the hands of those who pursue him;
may Ishtar . . . impress feminine parts into his male parts.
Commentary
The text is divided into two equal parts: lines 1–10 include the “historical
introduction” and the actual deed, and lines 11–20 include the legal clauses
as well as the divine sanction for the transaction.
Line 3: The three gods, Hadad, Ḫebat, and Ishtar, are invoked in lines 16–
18 of our text. This trio of gods is mentioned again in the inscription of Idrimi
(lines 1–2): “Idrimi, the son of Ilim-ilimma, devotee of the gods Hadad, Ḫebat,
and my lady Ishtar, lady of Alalakh.”5 In view of these texts, tablet AT 456,
lines 24–27 might be restored as follows: “With the . . . [. . . of Ḫebat] and the
mighty weapon [of Ishtar, the la]dy(?); with silver, gold, lapis-lazuli, precious
stones and the strong weapon of Hadad.”
The weapon of Ishtar appears in our text as šukurru, either “lance” or
“spear” (Salonen 1965:90–92). For the various symbols held by the goddess
Ishtar, see Barrelet 1955:222–260; Collon 1975:180–185.
Line 4 is a précis of the events described in more detail in AT 456:26–28.
“His enemy” is Muzun-Addu mentioned in AT 456:21, 28 (see Dietrich and
Loretz 1969:214–215).
Line 6: Ḫammurapi I, king of Yamḫad, gave the town of Irride to his son
Yarimlim and his heir to the throne of Yamḫad, Abbael, gave Yarimlim the
city of Alalakh in exchange for Irride.
3. The reading of dIM (either Hadad or Teshub) and dIŠTAR (either Ishtar or Išḫara) is
uncertain. However, to faciliate the discussion, I have transcribed dIM as Hadad and dIŠTAR
as Ishtar throughout the article. For details, see recent discussion by Haas and Wilhelm
1974:138.
4. Haas and Wilhelm 1974:138.
5. The inscription of Idrimi was published by Smith 1949. For the most recent treat-
ment of the inscription, see Greenstein and Marcus 1976:59–96.
The Ishtar Temple at Alalakh 287
Lines 7–8: The restoration is based on AT 63:19–22: šanat Niqmiepuḫ šarru

. . . ṣalamšu ana bīt Adad ušelū. (For further parallels see: Dossin 1950:57, nos.
20–21; CAD E 130 c; AHW 209a h).
Lines 11–13: The subject of these lines is presumably the future heir of
Abbael, king of Yamḫad, which should be restored in the lacuna at the begin-
ning of line 11. For the formula GN1 pūhat GN2 nadānu, see Draffkorn-Kilmer
1959b:94, n.5.
Line 17: for Ishtar (Inanna) breaking the lance, see Sjöberg 1975:185, line
82.
Line 19: The logogram SAG.UR.SAG appears again in AT 265:4 (see below)
and may be read as assinnum (see Römer 1965:157–158). The assinnum was
clearly connected with the cult of Ishtar (see CAD A/2 341–342; Renger 1969:
192–193). One of the citations in the CAD article mentions “the dancers and
the singers whom Ishtar had changed from men into women.” Sjöberg (1975:
223–226) argued that “when referring to the Inanna-Ishtar cult the passages
refer only to the changing of roles of women and men in the cult ceremo-
nies.” However, there are several passages in the Assyrian royal inscriptions
where Ishtar is clearly changing males into females (AHW 1047a s.v. sinnišāniš
and sinnišānu). Our passage, where the assinnum is mentioned, also contains
that same motif. The change of men into women is repeated in the Hittite
military oaths (Oettinger 1976:11, lines 42–53, with further references on pp.
38 and 75). All these passages might, therefore, refer to some popular legend
or belief where Ishtar played the role of a castrating goddess.
For the translation of lines 19–20, see Speiser 1954: 23. For a different sug-
gestion, see AHW 833a s.v. paraurum.
The two principal gods mentioned in the Alalakh tablets are IM (Hadad)
and IŠTAR (Ishtar) (Wiseman 1953:16–17; Klengel 1965a: 88–89). Hadad ap-
pears mainly in the two narrative passages cited above (AT 1:2, 16; 456:27)
and in penalty clauses (AT 52:19; 54:20; 58:12; 95: r.3; 455:43). Most, if not all,
of these tablets are genuine products of the court of Ḫalab. It is clear that
such passages were directly borrowed from the scribal tradition of Yamḫad
(Klengel 1965a). The god Hadad is also frequently mentioned in the inscrip-
tions accompanying the seal impressions of both levels VII and IV at Alalakh.
Some of the seals actually had belonged to the personnel of the court of
Yamḫad (Collon 1975, passim; Na’aman 1979). In addition, Hadad is evoked
once in the blessing at the beginning of letter AT 116 (line 5). We might,
therefore, conclude, with Klengel, that it is Hadad of Ḫalab who appears in all
these references, and not a local deity of Alalakh.
The goddess Ishtar, on the other hand, is referred to as “lady of Alalakh”
in the inscription of Idrimi. This epithet is probably understood in the other
two passages cited above (AT 1:3, 18; 456:25). It seems to me that Ḫebat here
was reckoned to be the consort of Hadad of Ḫalab (see AT 15:13–14), and Ishtar
was the great goddess of Alalakh. This immediately clarifies the passage AT 1:
8–10, where Yarimlim, while establishing his seat in Alalakh, erected a statue
of himself before the goddess Ishtar in her local temple. Woolley (1955:64, 235–
237) intuitively proposed that the magnificent diorite head found in the level
VII temple was the statue of Yarimlim, ruler of Alalakh. The restoration of AT I
suggested above corroborates his proposal. It would seem that Yarimlim set up
the statue during the dedication of the temple that he built in his new capital.
The practice of the king setting up his statue before the god is well known
from Mesopotamian documents and has been the subject of extensive re-
search (Van Buren 1941:70–75; CAD Ṣ 80–81; Spycket 1968). Besides our pas-
sage, there is a second and parallel Old Babylonian reference in the Alalakh
VII archives. One year was named “Year of king Niqmiepuḫ . . . (when) he
brought up his statue (ṣalmum) to the temple of Hadad” (AT 63:19–22). Thus,
a king of Yamḫad erected his statue, which was dedicated to Hadad of Ḫalab,
in the central temple of his kingdom. The statue of Idrimi, originally belong-
ing to level IV at Alalakh, is another indication of that same practice (Wooley
in Smith 1949:2–3, 7; Wooley 1955:89).
The Akkadian term ṣalmum appears several times in the texts of Qatna,
but on each occasion in the sense of “figurine” and not as “statue” (Bottéro
1949:16, 21–22). Nevertheless, the inventory lists may shed indirect light on
the problem at hand, because they mention rulers and other important per-
sons dedicating numerous objects to the local gods of the temple (Bottéro
1949:29–30). Among those named is Durusha, king of Qadesh, the most pow-
erful in Syria at the time (Bottéro 1949:29–31; Epstein 1963:242–246).
The uninscribed statues found in the Syro-Palestinian temples should
be considered in light of these documents. Besides gods, there are two addi-
tional categories of candidates for the subjects of those statues: (a) the local
king or other important persons; and (b) a foreign king, either a suzerain or
an ally, expressing his piety towards the local god. It goes without saying that
there is no easy way to solve the problem of identification, and every case
must be examined individually.
The goddess Ishtar is mentioned almost exclusively in the administrative
documents from level VII at Alalakh. Besides AT 1:10, the temple of Ishtar
is mentioned in AT 127:10,15. After a detailed list of silver cups6 (lines 1–8)
6. For the interpretation of GAL as kāsum, see Dietrich and Loretz 1966:234–235; also
CAD K 256a. The reading ti-iš-nu suggested by Anne Draffkorn-Kilmer (1959a:209), and the
CAD (K 256a) is preferable, in this context, to the reading di-iš-pè proposed by Dietrich and
Loretz. Compare the passage AT 366:1 and AT:163 s.v. tišnu.
comes the summary (lines 9–16): “A total of 708 shekels of silver Yarimlim
paid to the temple of Ishtar; 1,800 (shekels), the rest of the silver of [the tem-
ple] of Ishtar, is charged to Yarimlim.” A second debt of the palace to the
temple of Ishtar is to be inferred from document AT 369:1–3: “190 shekels
of sliver, the sliver of Ishtar, (delivered) to Nakkušše.” Nakkušše, mentioned
several times in the archives of Alalakh (AT 9:18; 10; 30:10; 55:31, 80:6; 98 f.),7
had received silver borrowed by the palace from the temple of Ishtar. A sec-
ond delivery of two cups of silver to the personnel of the palace (É.GAL)8 is re-
corded afterwards (lines 4–9). The two transactions were recorded in roughly
the same manner, specifying the sum of silver, its origin and the recipient(s),
with the total expenditure stated at the end (lines 10–12).
A temple of Ishtar is mentioned also in AT 126:38–39, “you shall enter the
temple of Ishtar with your hands unwashed.” The subject of this sentence is
possibly the ruler (awīlun) of Alalakh. This entrance to Ishtar’s temple is the last
of a series of sacrifices and rituals of expiation to be performed by him after
he had transgressed his oath of loyalty to his brother, the king of Ḫalab. The
above-mentioned temple is, therefore, Ishtar’s temple in Alalakh. Moreover, I
believe that Hadad and Ishtar, the two Eidgötter to these sacrifices and rituals
(lines 2–3 and 26–29), were regarded as the great gods of Ḫalab and Alalakh.
The close economic relationship existing between the palace and the tem-
ple at Alalakh is evidenced also in the ration lists, where different commodi-
ties delivered to the temple of Ishtar were recorded among the expenditures
of the palace. Thus, rations of barley and emmer were offered “before the
goddess Ishtar on the (celebration)-day of the month utitḫi” (AT 269:11 and
44). Sheep were sacrificed at a second celebration described as “the (celebra-
tion)-day ḫiari of Ishtar” (AT 346:2 and AT 348:2). Two seahs of barley and an
equal quantity of emmer were allotted to Ḫaliya “before the goddess Ishtar”
(AT 242:14–15).
7. Nakkušše was most probably a brother of Yarimlim, ruler of Alalakh. This is indi-
cated by tablet AT 9 (in conjunction with the still unpublished tablets AT 10 and 98 f.),
which relates to a dispute over inheritance between two brothers, Yarimlim and Nakkušše.
The deceased king, their father, is clearly, mentioned in line 13 (“Now one hundred sheep
and ten cows of the king are debited to Yarimlim.”); and in my opinion he is Ammitaqum I
of Alalakh (see Na’aman 1976:129–40). Nakkušše appears several times in the Alalakh tab-
lets, all from the time of Niqmiepuh, king of Yamḫad (AT 30:10; 55:31; 80:6; 369:3), holding
a high position in the court of Alalakh. A third royal brother, Dini-Addu, held the office of
sukkallu (AT 55:30). Nakkušše the diviner (bārû), serving in the time of Irkabtum of Yamḫad
(AT 54:31), might be connected with Nakkušše, the son of Kaššena, serving at the same pe-
riod in the court of Alalakh (AT 64:16).
8. For the use of ekallû in the meaning of “personnel of the palace” see CAD E 62.
A priest of Ishtar is mentioned (always anonymously) in many tablets

from level VII (AT 27:11; 61:22; 65:11; 238:21; 270:3; 274:19; 281:6; 378:20). All
other personnel functioning in cult performances (šatammu, šangû, bārû) ap-
pear without specification of the name of the god whom they served (with
the exception of AT 55:35, Eḫli-Ashtar SANGA IM). But the assinnum, men-
tioned only once in these ration lists (AT 265:4), certainly is to be connected
with the cult of Ishtar (see above).
Finally, in a list of distributed rations, barley and emmer were allotted
to the É.BÀD dIŠTAR (AT 243:9,13). É.BÀD = bīt dūri = “fortress.”9 The mean-
ing of this phrase, “the fortress of Ishtar,” becomes clear once we realize that
it refers to the temple of level VII. This temple had walls four meters thick
enclosing a single inner room measuring 9.65 x 11.50 meters. Presumably
more than one story high (Wooley 1955:59), it indeed had the appearance of
a fort.
The temple of Alalakh level VII is one of a group of temples, known in
modern scholarship as “fortress temples” (Mazar 1968:92–93; Toombs and
Wright 1963:18). These temples are all geographically Syro-Palestinian and
were discovered at Ebla (Matthiae 1975:49–53, 63–67), Megiddo (Loud 1948:
102–105; Dunayevsky and Kempinski 1973:179–184) and Shechem (Wright
1957:20; 1965:123–128; Toombs and Wright 1963:18–20). Closely related tem-
ples were excavated at Ugarit (Schaeffer 1931:8–10; 1933:119–120) and Hazor
(Yadin 1972:75–83). In the biblical narrative of Judges 9:46–49, the “migdal of
Shechem” is mentioned three times. Mazar (1968:92–93; Toombs and Wright
1963:18) and Wright (1965:123–128; 1970:314) independently suggested that
this expression referred to the massive temple excavated in the Canaanite
city of Shechem and that this kind of temple, accordingly, would be called
a “migdal temple.” Thus, the biblical term migdal, indicating the temple of
Shechem, is parallel to the Akkadian term bīt dūri, “fortress,” referring to the
temple of Alalakh level VII. Either term, “migdal temple” or “fortress temple,”
may be used to designate that kind of Syro-Palestinian temple.
Summing up the results of this rather short discussion, it is clear that the
fortress temple adjacent to the palace of Alalakh level VII was dedicated to
the goddess Ishtar. The inscription of Idrimi, mentioning Ishtar as the “lady
of Alalakh,” agrees well with this conclusion. Accordingly, the temple of level
IV, built above the level VII temple, was also dedicated to the same goddess.
9. For the meaning of bīt dūri, see CAD D 197 and AHV 178a d). Our reference is miss-
ing in both dictionaries, whose entries include only material from the first millennium BC.
However, the expression āe dūri, “fortified city,” appears in Old Babylonian omen texts (see
AHW 178a c).
By inference, one might also suggest that the other fifteen temples, situ-
ated one over the other, were erected for the cult of Ishtar, the “first lady”
of Alalakh.
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A Royal Scribe and His Scribal Products
in the Alalakh IV Court1
The inscription of Idrimi, king of Alalakh, has been the subject of ex-
tensive discussion since its publication in 1949 by S. Smith.2 In its style and
with its wording, the inscription is without parallel in the existing corpus of
Akkadian royal inscriptions (Oppenheim 1955:199 f). Even the paleography is
odd, with combinations of archaic and late forms, including many variants
of the same sign-forms. A number of these peculiar traits have been ascribed
to Sharruwa, the scribe who wrote the inscription (Moran 1975:161 n. 37).
Furthermore, in addition to the textual peculiarities, Sharruwa’s own place in
the royal inscription written by him is exceptional. To my knowledge, there is
no parallel case in the Akkadian and West Semitic corpus of royal inscriptions
for the kind of long blessing dedicated to the scribe who composed the text.
This becomes even more curious, because the blessing for the ruler in whose
name the inscription was written is oddly missing. In an article written by
Kempinski and myself (Kempinski and Na’aman 1973:217–218), we tried to
explain this phenomenon by suggesting that
Sharruwa probably stealthily inserted his name in place of the name of the king, thus,
granting for himself the gods’ blessing through the statue presented before them in
the temple. Such an act was possible in a society in which only a small minority was lit-
erate; and, belonging to a small group, they must have felt a bit of freedom in trusting
the silence of the other scribes.
These outstanding features of the scribe Sharruwa make it desirable to

investigate his activities in the Alalakh IV archive further. Such an investiga-
tion may be of even more general interest, because we know little about the
actual activity of royal scribes in the ancient Near East. It can even shed new
light on the problem of the composition of the inscription of Idrimi, as I hope
to show below.
1. Reprinted with permission. Oriens Antiquus 19 (1980), 107–116.

2. Smith 1949. For the last detailed treatment of the inscription, see Greenstein and
Marcus 1976:59–96, with full bibliography on p. 59. The inscription of Idrimi has also re-
cently been the subject of a doctoral dissertation: see Oller 1977a.
293
Six legal documents written by Sharruwa were found among the tablets
of level IV at Alalakh. These documents are: AT 15:20; 17:23; 47:20; 72:16; 91:
22 (IG[I Šar-r]u-wa); 104: rev. 5 ([IGI Šar-r]u-wa)3 (the lines in which the name
Sharruwa is mentioned appear after the colon). Of these tablets, five are
dated to the time of Niqmepa, the son of Idrimi (AT 15, 17, 47, 72, 91), and the
sixth was written in the days of his son Ilim-ilimma (AT 104).4 Thus, Sharruwa
was still in office long after the death of Idrimi. Idrimi reigned in Alalakh for
approximately thirty years (we take it for granted that this might be a round
number), the period of his flight and wandering taking place beforehand. It is
obvious, therefore, that Sharruwa belonged to a later generation than Idrimi
and could not have been an eye-witness to most of the adventures described
so vividly by him. As to the content of Sharruwa’s documents, AT 15 formu-
lates in legal terms the promotion of a person to the status of maryannu. AT
91 formulates the legal terms of a second marriage of a maryannu, including
the future status of his two wives and their children (see below). AT 17 deals
with the problem of compensation resulting from a marriage where the fa-
ther-in-law was executed for committing a crime.5 AT 47 belongs to the class
of texts dealing with loans, including a personal pledge to a third party.6 AT
72 is a legal document dealing with the purchase of an ox. The content of AT
104 is unknown, because the tablet is broken. Thus, while the last two cases
(AT 47 and 72) are of a common nature, the other three are unique, not only
among the Alalakh tablets, but also among the entire corpus of the Akkadian
legal documents. One might suggest that the formulation of these excep-
tional cases was deliberately entrusted to the royal scribe Sharruwa.
Moving from the content to the text of these documents, one can find
quite a few cases where Sharruwa exhibits his fondness for playing with signs
and words. The name Irkabtu, frequent among the witnesses of Alalakh IV,7 is
written in AT 15:16 as URUDU.DUGUD (Eri-kabtum) (Draffkorn(-Kilmer) 1959:
3. The name “Sharruwa the scribe” also appears in an economic text (AT 159: 5).
4. The name Ilim-ilimma (written DINGIR.DINGIR-ma) son of Niqmepa appears in line 2
of tablet AT 104 (the line is half broken). In the first line of the reverse the names Ta-ku-ḫu-
l[i] and [T]i-ḫi-i[a] appear. The broken name in line 4 of the reverse may be restored as [A-
ki]-ia (compare AT 15: 19 and 47: 19 both written by Sharruwa).
5. Tablet AT 17 was translated by Finkelstein 1969:546.
6. Tablet AT 47 was treated by Eichler 1973:75–77, along with other documents from
Alalakh dealing with a personal pledge for a loan. An additional text belonging to that same
group is AT 50, and herewith is a translation of the text (based on collation of the tablet):
“Eḫli-Teshub from the city of Annašše received x+30 (shekels) of refined silver (measured)
by the royal weight ([N]A4 LUGAL) (from) [x]-x-ki-ra-ri. There will be no interest and his son
shall stay before the king. And in the next year he will return him (the silver).”
7. Wiseman 1953:138 s. v. Irkabtu. Add to the list: AT 74: 15.
A Royal Scribe and His Scribal Products in the Alalakh IV Court 295
144). The name Ilim-ilimma is written in AT 47 as I-lim-DINGIR-ma (line 3) and

as DINGIR.DINGIR-ma (line 7). The name Ashtabishar appears as Aš-ta-bi-šàr
(line 4) and as Àš-ta 8-bi-šar (line 5) in that same tablet, using different signs
for three out of the four syllables (von Soden and Röllig 1967:45 No. 229).
Finally, in tablet AT 91, the name Akab-giashe is written twice as A-kab-gi-a-še
(lines 17 and 24) and twice as A-kab-A.AB.BA (lines 5, 14). This play with signs
gives us a clue to the Hurrian word kiaše, the meaning of which remained un-
known to the present time (Gelb Purves and MacRay 1943:226b; Laroche 1968:
506). We can now posit the equation kiaše = A.AB.BA = tâmtu (“sea”). Even a
quick glance at the contexts in which the word kiaše appears clearly shows
that the meaning of “sea” fits them nicely. Thus, in KUB XXVII 38 1 4 it oc-
curs with the determinative DINGIR in a parallelism with the mountains and
rivers. Also it fits in the list of gods and deified beings in the sacrifice of El
published by Laroche (1968:504–507). We are not surprised to find the sea ap-
pearing as a theophorous element in personal names once we remember the
place of Tiamat and of Yam in the Babylonian and West Semitic mythologies.
However, the frequency of the occurrence of the element kiaše in the Hurrian
onomasticon apparently reflects a particular tradition of the Hurrian speak-
ing people.8
A second interesting feature of Sharruwa’s documents is the use of
Hurrian words, forms and syntax. This is illustrated by the expression dEN.LIL
SANGA-še ku-uk-še (“the EN.LIL priesthood k.”) in AT 15:11 (Draffkorn(-
Kilmer) 1959:180, 197); by the word ḫimudi (AT 47:9), which seems to be the
Hurrian equivalent of Akkadian manzazzum “pledge” (Draffkorn(-Kilmer)
1959:221); by the confusion of Akkadian and Hurrian forms in the word
maryannu (AT 15:4, 5; 91:5, 9, 16); and by the wrong use of dative and accusa-
tive pronominal suffixes in AT 17:4, 14, 16; 47:13, 16. These Hurrian traits are
somewhat in contrast to the text of Idrimi, where only a minor Hurrian influ-
ence can be shown (Greenstein and Marcus 1976:62). On the other hand, the
West Semitic traits, so marked in the story of Idrimi, can hardly be found in
those documents. We are confronted with a puzzle: How to explain the fact
that the same scribe wrote his legal documents under the influence of a spo-
ken Hurrian, while composing the royal inscription under an influence of a
West Semitic literary tradition. It is hardly possible to think of two different
scribes with the same rare name, Sharruwa, active during the same period at
the court of Alalakh, particularly as the legal documents show that same ten-
8. For the older onomastic material, see Gelb 1943:226b; for the Alalakh texts, see
Draffkorn(-Kilmer) 1959:83; for the Mari documents see Sasson 1974:379. For the Chagar
Bazar texts, see Kammenhuber 1977:141.
dency to a play on signs so typical of the royal inscription. The explanation,

therefore, must be sought elsewhere.
It seems to me that this apparent contradiction is to be explained in light
of the West Semitic narrative tradition underlying the story of Idrimi. This
tradition is best illustrated by the late stock of biblical stories, to which might
be added some scattered compositions written in the first half of the second
millennium BCE outside the Sumerian and Babylonian centers of learning
(e.g., the inscriptions of Yakhdunlim, king of Mari, and the fragmentary in-
scription of the reconquest of Mari by Zimrilim).9 Any discussion of the ori-
gins of this literary tradition must be delayed until the publication of the doc-
uments from Ebla. Furthermore, it is clear that only a very small sample of
these literary compositions, presumably current during the first half of the
second millennium BCE, have been found. However, this tradition must have
been strong and very deep rooted, because it was considered to be the ap-
propriate literary genre for a “royal biography” even in the mainly Hurrian
society of the north Syrian city of Alalakh at the beginning of the 15th cen-
tury. Thus, although the task of writing the story of Idrimi was entrusted rel-
atively late in the king’s reign to the royal scribe Sharruwa (who seems him-
self to have been of Hurrian background), he accomplished his task by using
phrases and expressions borrowed from the stock of the West Semitic nar-
rative tradition, which, presumably, were learned in some scribal schools
of north Syria. This well-established tradition prevented the penetration of
the current Hurrian spoken language to the text. Sharruwa’s own “contribu-
tions” to the difficulties of the text lies in the odd paleography and orthog-
raphy that he has used throughout the inscription (doubled with the work of
a stone-cutter who had no experience with this kind of work, thus, produc-
ing many signs that hardly look like the standard forms). However, the main
problem of deciphering the text is to be sought in the West Semitic tradition,
of which we possess no other contemporaneous literary works.
Of all the legal documents written by Sharruwa in the Alalakh IV archive,
tablet AT 91 is by far the most complicated and, apart from its last section,
has never been treated since its original publication by Wiseman.10 The tab-
let has been collated by me, and herewith I offer a transliteration, translation
and commentary.
9. For the inscriptions of Yakhdunlim see: Dossin 1955:1–28; Oppenheim 1969:556–557;

Thureau-Dangin 1936:49–54; Kupper 1976:299–303. For the inscription of Zimrilim see:
Dossin 1971:1–6; Sasson 1972:177–178.
10. Wiseman 1953:54; for the last paragraph of the teat see: Mendelsohn 1959:355. I am
grateful to Dr. E. Sollberger for the permission to collate the tablet (AT 91= BM 131486), now
in the British Museum.
Transliteration
(Dynastic seal impression)

1. i-na pa-ni m Níq-me-p[a šarru]
2. m
A-kab-ta-ḫé DUMU (mār) [Š]e?-ma-/ra/?-[n]a?
3. (erased line)
4. DUMU. < MÍ > (mārat) Ta-ku-ḫu-li a-na DAM (aššati)-šu i-ḫu-u[z]
5. f
A?-kab-A.|AB|.BA (giaše) ma-ri-ia-an-ni
6. MÍ.É.GI.A (kallati) ù DUMU.MÍ (mārat)-šu
7. [š]a É (bīti) fUm-mi-du-ra
8. [qa]-du DUMUmeš (mārē)-[š]i-ma
9. DUMU DUMUmeš (mār mārē)-[š]i-ma ma-ri-ia-an-nu
10. [za-ku-ú]
11. x x x [ta] x UD-mi
12. mi-im-ma mi-in-de4 be-el
13. m
Um-mi-du-ra [T]UG (irašši)
14. ù f A-kab-A.AB.BA (giaše)
15. qa-du DUMUmeš-ši-ma
16. ma-ri-ia-an-nu za-ku-ú
17. m.f A-kab-gi-a-še ki-ma
18 DUMU.MÍ (mārat) É (bīt) MÍ.É.GI.A (kallati) É (bīt) [A-kab-t]a-[ḫ]é
19. ú-ul i-ni-/ir/-ru-u[b]
20. IGI Zi-ti-dIM (Tešub) IGI Ir-[kab-tù]
21. IGI Zi-ti-dIM (Tešub) IGI T[a]-ku-ḫu-l[i]
22. IGI A-kab-[t]a-ḫe IG[I Ša]r-ru-[w]a
23. IGI Aš-ra-[q]a-ma É.[GAL.LI]M (ekallû)
24. ša f A-kab-[g]i-a-še [ù ša]
25. m.fZi-li-ip-na-nu-u[n šum?-ma?]
26. i-ba-aš-ši-na bi-ri-[ši-na]
27. ša ú-la-dú
28. DAM (aššat)-ta 5 ša-lu-uš-ta la [i-i]ḫ-[ḫa-az]
29. šum-ma ki-la-li-ši-na-ma la [ú-la-du]
30. ù DAM (aššat)-ta 5 ša-lu-uš-ta
31. i-iḫ-ḫa-az di-nu NU (ul) T[UK] (irašši)
Translation
Before the king Niqmepa, Akabtaḫe the son of Shemarana(?) took as wife
the daughter of Takuḫuli. Akab-giashe (shall be) maryannu kallatu. And his
daughter staying in (his) house, Ummidura, with her sons and grandsons
(shall be) maryannu zakû. . . . the day . . . anything perhaps the husband of
Ummidura acquires, and then Akab-giashe with her sons (shall be) maryannu
zakû. Akab-giashe as a daughter of the house of the daughter-in-law shall not
leave the house of Akabtaḫe.
List of seven witnesses, including the scribe Sharruwa.
Concerning Akab-giashe and Zilip-nanun — if one of them shall give birth

he (Akabtaḫe) shall not marry a third woman. If neither of them shall give
birth then he may marry a third woman and they will have no legal claims.
Notes
Line 2: For the name Akabtaḫe, see Speiser 1954:24.
Line 5: The second sign in the line (a) has an extra horizontal wedge cross-
ing the two verticals.
Lines 9–10: The restoration is based on the parallel expression in lines 15–
16.
Line 12: For minde in an Alalakh tablet see AT 2 line 5.
Line 19: The verb nērubu generally means “to flee, to run away” (AHW
781a). But the context here rather requires the sense of “to leave.”
Line 23: For ekallû in the sense of “personnel of the palace,” see CAD E 62.
Line 31: The phrase at the end, dīnu ul irašši, is a shortened formula; the
expanded formula appears in a second document written by Sharruwa, AT 17:
17 ina warki ūmi dīnu [ul irašši] “For all future time he will have no legal claim”
(see CAD I 291b).
The two key terms for the correct understanding of the text are maryannu
kallatu and maryannu zakû. The verb zakû in the sense of “to become clean (of
obligations)” and the adjective zakû in the sense of “free (of claim)” are well
known in the Akkadian documents and are frequent particularly in the legal
documents from Ugarit (14th–13th centuries). The expression maryannu zakû
(“being maryannu he is clean (of obligations)”) is to be understood as the full
status of maryannu-ship, including an exemption from all kind of payments
and conscriptions to the king. The second term, maryannu kallatu, is to be in-
terpreted as an inferior status, and the text makes it clear that it was held
only temporarily.
As for the interpretation of the text: Akabtaḫe married Zilip-nanun (line
25) who gave birth to a daughter, Ummidura. The tablet guarantees the sta-
tus of maryannu zakû to Ummi-dura and her descendants. But Zilip-nanun
has failed to produce a male heir, and Akabtaḫe now marries a second wife,
Akab-giashe. She shall temporarily hold the status of maryannu kallatu, and
in the future (depending on a condition that is not clear to me) Akab-giashe
with her future children shall held the status of maryannu zakû. The last para-
graph of the text stipulates that only if both women do not produce a male
heir, then Akabtaḫe will be permitted to marry a third wife.
At the last section of the present article, I would like to add a few notes
to the inscription of Idrimi, the main enterprise of our scribe Sharruwa. The
text was re-edited recently by Greenstein and Marcus and was also the sub-
ject of a dissertation by Oller (1977a). I will take those two works as my point
of departure for further improvements of the reading and understanding
of the inscription, but will deal with the unpublished dissertation with the
utmost brevity (omitting all new readings of the text that were suggested
there).
Line 11: The suggestion of Kempinski and myself (Kempinski and Na’aman
1973:211, 216) to read here DUMU.NISAG. GAL was accepted by Greenstein
and Marcus. However, one must admit that such combination is attested no-
where else in Akkadian literature and that the equation NISAG = ašarīdu ap-
pears only in lexical texts (CAD A/2 41.6b). Furthermore, as pointed out by
Greenstein and Marcus (1976:72), mannum is an interrogative word (“who”)
and not an indefinite relative particle. I suggest, therefore, reading lines 10–
12 as follows: um-ma a-na-ku-ma ma-an-nu-um É (bīt) a-bi-šu lu-ú i-dàg! -gal ù
ma-an-nu-um a-na DUMUḫi.a (mārē) uru E-mar lu-ú ÍR (arad) “Who (among us) will
own his patrimony and who will serve the sons of Emar?” The sign dàg, in al-
most the same form, appears twice in an Amarna letter from Qadesh (EA 189
lines 2, 20; Schroeder, 1915:pl. 108 lines 2, 20) and in an Amarna letter from
Amurru (EA 169 line 9; Schroeder 1915:pl. 93 line 9). The two Amarna letters
originate from the same geographical region as the inscription of Idrimi and
were written only one century later. The sign dàg appears also in line 103 of
the inscription of Idrimi (li-d[à]g! -gal-šu-nu); see Oller 1977b:167–168. For a
parallel use of the verb dagālu see CAD D 22b c. It should be noted that the
combination of lu + verb appears twice more in the inscription. In line 100,
Kempinski and I suggested the reading lu-ú SIG5-ú-šu (lu idammiqūšu), and
Oller (1977a) suggested a parallel solution for the next verb. Thus, in three
out of four cases, where the optative form lu appears in the inscription, it is
followed by a verb, written twice as a logogram.
It seems to me that nothing was written at the beginning of line 12. It can
be seen clearly that there was a break from the very beginning in the stone in
line 11 as well, where the first sign was shifted beyond that break.
Line 31: ERÍNmeš Nu-ul-la! “The N/Lullaeans.” For exactly the same form of
the sign la (as if composed of two parts), compare lines 58 and 78 of our in-
scription. For the writing ERÍNmeš + designation of an ethnic or social group in
the Idrimi text, see ERÍNmeš Sutū (“the Suteans”), ERÍNmeš Ḫapiri (“the ‘Apiru”)
and ERÍNmeš Ḫurri (“the Ḫurrians”). For the use of ERÍNmeš in this collective
sense, see Albright and Moran 1948:245–246; Landsberger 1954a:201.
According to the story, Idrimi was forced to flee from Ḫalab, stayed for
seven years among the ‘Apiru and then mobilized the N/Lullaeans and launched
his counterattack. The connection between the ‘Apiru and the L/Nullu is well
known from the Hittite texts, where the “gods of the Lulaḫḫu” are mentioned
besides the “gods of the ‘Apiru.” The country of the Lullu(bu) is situated in the
Zagros area, east of the Mesopotamian plains. Klengel, who has collected and
summarized all the written material concerning the Lullubu,11 denied any
common background between the Lullu(bu) mentioned in the Hittite and the
Egyptian documents and the Lullubu of the Zagros area. In his opinion, the
name Lullu (and its Hurrianized form Lulaḫḫu) was borrowed in the West
through the Ḫurrians and was used as an appellative meaning “barbarische
Gebirgsbewohner.”12 Such meaning may fit into our passage well. On the other
hand, one must remember that Kassites are already mentioned in tablet(s) be-
longing to the Alalakh VII archive (AT 412:6–7 and probably 238:20, 33; 248:
9).13 It is not impossible, therefore, to assume that groups of people whose ori-
gin was in the mountainous areas to the east of Mesopotamia penetrated into
south Anatolia and north Syria during the 17th and 16th centuries BCE at the
same time that the Kassites penetrated into Mesopotamia from the same area
from the second half of the 18th century onward. The presence of such wander-
ing eastern elements in the West may explain the late appellative meaning of
“mountainous barbarian” well, as was suggested by Klengel. Whether ERÍNmeš
Nulla in our passage designated an ethnic or an appellative name is difficult to
tell and is better left undecided.
Lines 55–56: ù gi5-nu a? -ša-ri-du-ú ša SIZKURX (niqê) ú-šar-bi “(So on account
of our treaty terms he received my greetings-present;) and I have added se-
lected(?) offerings of sacrificial animals.” The reading ginû makes perfect
sense for this line. The next sign looks like a nu (so Smith) and is certainly not
an a. However, a descriptive adjective of the object (ginû) is required by the
context, and I can only suggest amending the sign into an a (as a mistaken
repetition of the former nu sign). For ašaridu as an adjective qualifying an ob-
ject, see CAD A/2 418b. Another possible translation for the sentence is: “And
I have added offerings, the best(?) of the sacrificial animals.”
Line 56: ù bīta ḫalqu utêršu “And I restored to him the runaway famil(ies).”
The correctness of this translation (in place of the meaningless “and I re-
stored to him the lost estate”) hardly needs an explanation. The problem of
runaway fugitives was always central in the political relationships between
kingdoms in the ancient Near East. Several documents from the Alalakh IV
archive itself show the importance of the extradition of fugitives in the polit-
ical relationships between Mitanni and her vassal kingdoms. These stipula-
11. Klengel 1965:339–371. For the Hittite material, see recently Siegelová 1971:19–20;
see Rowton 1976:16–17.
12. Klengel 1965:358. Goetze (1957:123) has suggested that the Lulaḫḫu were soldiers
whose origin was from the mountainous region to the east of Mesopotamia.
13. See Kupper 1954:119; AHW 397a and 906x; CAD K 293b.
tions are the core of the two treaties signed between Alalakh and other vas-
sal states under the patronage of Mitanni (AT 2, 3); a third document’ (AT 101)
shows the actual procedure of such an extradition.14 For the use of bītu in the
sense of “family,” see CAD B 293–295; Dietrich and Loretz 1970:88–89.
Summing up the section formulating the relationships between Barattarna
and Idrimi (lines 54–58), a clear picture emerges: (a) Idrimi swore an oath of
loyalty and signed a vassal treaty; (b) Idrimi presented gifts and sacrificial
animals to his overlord; and (c) Idrimi returned the fugitives escaping from
the land of Mitanni into his territories to Barattarna. One might suggest that
these stipulations were of a permanent nature and, thus, can be taken as a
model for the obligations forced by Mitanni on its vassal kingdoms.15
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von Soden, W. and Röllig, W. 1967. Das akkadische Syllabar. 2. revised ed. (Analecta Orientalia
42). Rome.
Speiser, E. A. 1954. The Alalakh Tablets. JAOS 74: 18–25.
Thureau-Dangin, F. 1936. Iaḫdunlim, roi de Ḫana. RA 33: 49–54.
Virolleaud, C. 1936. La légende phénicienne de Danel. (Mission de Ras Shamra 1). Paris.
Wiseman, D. J. 1953. The Alalakh Tablets. London.
Literary and Topographical Notes on the
Battle of Kishon (Judges 4–5)1
1. Sarid in Judges 5:13

’āz yerad śārîd le’addîrîm ‘ām
yhwh yerad-lî baggibbôrîm
Verse 13a of the Song of Deborah is an old crux interpretum. The mean-
ing of śryd and its relation to l’dyrym is not clear, and the derivation of yrd is
debatable. LXXB translates “Then those who remained came down with the
mighty men,” a rendering that was adopted, with slight variants, by some
scholars.2 Others explained yrd as an imperfect D of rdh, “to have domin-
ion,” “to rule.”3 However, the similarity of v. 13a to v. 11b (“Then the people
of YHWH came down to the gates”) and the sequence within the passage de-
scribing the advance into battle of the Israelite troops (vv. 11b–13) strongly
support its interpretation as an imperfect G of yrd (“went down”) (Burney
1918:130–131; Weiser 1959:83; Globe 1975:170, n. 2). śryd was often explained
as a kind of designation for Israel, although the meaning of “remnant,” a
term usually applied to a survivor (or survivors) after a defeat, hardly suits
the image of the Israelite troops as they are portrayed in the song. It is for
this reason that scholars sometimes emended the text to read “Israel,”4
“gates” (š‘rym) (Burney 1918:130–131) or “officers” (śrym) (Kaufmann 1962:
137–138). These emendations have no textual support, and they are all lec-
tio facilior.
Another problem is the meaning of l’dyrym. The noun ’dyr (“mighty
one,” “noble”) was explained by modern commentators as referring to the
Israelites. The preposition l was translated in various manners, i.e., “as,”
1. Reprinted with permission. Vetus Testamentum 40 (1990), 423–436.

2. Burney 1918:130–131, with earlier literature; Weiser 1959:83; Globe 1975:170, n. 2;
Soggin 1981:82, 88.
3. Coogan 1978:148, with earlier literature in n. 35.
4. Moore 1895:150–152; Richter 1963:77, 401; Halpern 1983b:385, n. 26; see Biblia
Hebraica Stuttgartensia, ad loc.
303
“like,” “with,” and “the.” It goes without saying that such meanings are un-
common for l in Biblical Hebrew.
An important clue for the understanding of v. 13 is the word ’z (“then”).
It opens the verse and appears four more times in the song (vv. 8, 11, 19, 22)
(Albright 1936:29–30; Rabin 1955:125; Hillers 1965:125; Ikeda 1979:66):
(a) “New gods were chosen, then he fought (lḥm) at the gates” (v. 8a).
(b) “Then down to the gates marched the people of YHWH” (v. 11b).
(c) “Then down marched . . . “ (v. 13a; see below).
(d) “The kings come, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan” (v. 19).
(e) “Then the hooves of the horses hammered; the galloping, the galloping of
his steeds” (v. 22).
It seems that the word ’z was deliberately selected to open the five major
stages of the struggle between Israel and the Canaanites: (a) It is first men-
tioned to introduce the Canaanite military pressure on the Israelite city gates
(v. 8); (b) it introduces the emergence from the gates to fight the oppressors
(v. 11b); (d) it opens the actual fighting with the Canaanite kings (v. 19); and
(e) it introduces the defeat of the Canaanites (v. 22). Taking this consistent
structure into account, one would hardly expect that stage (c) refers back to
stage (b); rather, it describes a new stage in the Israelite advance to battle, be-
tween the emergence from the gates and the actual fighting.
With this background in mind, I suggest translating v. 13 “Then down to
Sarid he marched towards the mighty ones; the people of YHWH marched
down for him (lw) with warriors.” V. 13b is an elaboration of “he marched,”
identifying the marching force with “the people of YHWH” who came down
to fight “for him,” i.e., the God of Israel. Sarid is a well-known Israelite town
on the southern border of Zebulun (Josh. 19:10, 12).5 For the combination yrd
śryd (without a preposition of locative termination) see the border descrip-
tions in Josh. 15:10–11, 16:2, 7, 19:13. The noun ’dyrym (“mighty ones”) refers
to the Canaanites, the powerful enemies of Israel. The spl ’dyrym, in which yo-
gurt was served to Sisera (v. 25), is a special kind of a bowl (“lordly bowl”) that
befits the noble guest.
5. In Josh. 19:10 and 12, the MT reads śryd. In light of several versions (LXXL, Pesh.,
Latin), the reading šdwd was preferred by modern scholars. See Cooke 1918:175; Noth 1953:
110, 115; Kallai 1986:179, n. 165. However, in light of the Song of Deborah (Judg. v. 13), it is
better to regard śryd as original; the reading šdwd is a scribal error due to the common in-
terchange of r/d in the Hebrew letters.
Literary and Topographical Notes on the Battle of Kishon (Judges 4–5) 305
The town of Sarid is located less than 10 km. south of “Taanach, by the
waters of Megiddo,” the military assembling ground of the Canaanite forces.6
Sarid is Megiddo’s closest northern Israelite town; the assembling of the
Canaanite troops near the latter is the logical site for attacking warriors
who have assembled near the former place. Whereas Mount Tabor, where
the Israelite troops assembled according to Judg. 4:6, 10–14, is located east
of Naḥal Kishon and its offshoots, the muddy wadi is situated halfway be-
tween Megiddo and Sarid, blocking the way for both attack and retreat for
the Canaanites. The deployment of the Israelite army at Sarid, on the south-
ern border of Zebulun, thus, fits well the place of Naḥal Kishon in the song
(v. 21). Meroz (v. 23) was probably a town in the vicinity of Sarid that refused
to join the battle and was cursed for its disloyalty.7 The town may have been
destroyed at that time as a punishment for disloyalty, as Migdal Penuel was
destroyed by Gideon in the time of the war against the Midianites (Judg. 8:17),
thus, disappearing from the scene; its location was not remembered by later
generations (Weiser 1959:91–92, n. 91; see Mayes 1974:86).
A. Caquot recently suggested that vv. 14–17 has been interpolated into
the Song of Deborah and that v. 18 originally came after v. 13.8 My interpre-
tation of v. 13 fits this attractive suggestion well: The march of the Israelite
troops to the place of battle near the southern border of Zebulun, thus, is fol-
lowed by praise of the two tribes that participated in the fighting against the
Canaanites.
In light of this interpretation I suggest the following translation for the
original sequence of the song in vv. 11b–13, 18:
11b Then down to the gates marched the people of YHWH.

12 Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, utter a song.
Arise Barak, and capture your captives, son of Abinoam.
13 Then down to Sarid he marched towards the mighty ones.
The people of YHWH marched down for him with warriors,
18 Zebulun is a people that scorned his life to the death.
Naphtali too, on the heights of the field.
6. Rainey 1981:61*–66*. For the earlier literature, see the extensive discussion of
Täubler 1958:153–164.
7. Alt suggested that Meroz was a Canaanite city that joined the tribe of Manasseh and
was governed by aristocracy, i.e., the lords of the city. See Alt 1941:244–247. Alt was fol-
lowed by Täubler 1958:193–197; Gottwald 1979:512–513, 529, 573, 581. However, both the
assumption that Meroz must have been a former Canaanite city and that “its inhabitants”
(yšbyh) refers to the lords of the city, lacks any concrete foundation.
8. Caquot 1986:47–70 (esp. pp. 54–55); see Noth 1930:5, 36; 1960:150, n. 3.
2. The “Galilean Oriented” Redaction of the Story of Judges 4

It is generally assumed by scholars that biblical stories reflect a good top-
ographical knowledge of their authors, regardless of whether the stories are
historically accurate or not. This is a reasonable assumption, because even an
author who is describing a legendary episode will try to attach to it certain
environmental features to add authenticity to his composition. By analysis of
these stories, scholars were able to demonstrate the accuracy of the descrip-
tions within their geographical and topographical settings. Biblical stories,
thus, contributed much to the field of historical geography of the land of
Israel, with the identification of many sites becoming possible because of the
accuracy of these descriptions.
It must be emphasized, however, that the accuracy of the environmen-
tal features should not be taken for granted. After all, stories may have been
written by authors who lived in exile, far away from their homeland. Editorial
activity may also contribute to distortion of the original picture. As reason-
able as the assumption may look, topographical reliability and coherence of
the descriptions must first be established before we are entitled to estimate
the author’s familiarity with the environment that surrounded the story.
The description of the battle near Naḥal Kishon in Judges 4 is a good ex-
ample for such discussion. It is the only geographically detailed story that we
have from the north of Israel. For a long time, the story resisted reasonable
geographical understanding, and many solutions have been offered to over-
come the difficulties.9 The many inner contradictions within the plot may be
illustrated by the following five points:
(A) The site of Harosheth-ha-goiim, the seat of Sisera (v. 2) and the assem-
bling place of the Canaanite troops (vv. 13, 16), is disputed. It has been sug-
gested recently that it was located on the western Jezreel plain, in the area
between Taanach and Megiddo, where, according to the song, the kings of
Canaan assembled for battle (Judg. 5:19).10 The proposal was intended to set-
9. In addition to the commentaries, see Garstang 1931:294–303; Albright 1936:26–9; Alt

1937:52–65 (= 1953b:363–374); 1944:67–85 (= 1953a:256–273); Mazar 1952–53:80–84; Täubler
1958:142–169; Simons 1959:288–290; Richter 1963:32–65; Aharoni 1967:200–205; de Vaux
1978:790–796, with earlier literature. Rainey 1981:61*–66*; 1983: 46–48; Kallai 1986:228–
235.
10. Rainey 1983 connected Harosheth with the root ḥrṯ (“to cultivate”) and interpreted
Harosheth-ha-goiim as “the plantation of the Gentiles.” Like the majority of scholars,
Rainey assumed that the prose and the song refer to the same area, i.e., the western Jezreel
plain; however, whereas other scholars regarded Harosheth as the name of a town located
in the extreme west of the Jezreel plain (see n. 16 below), he identified it with a large terri-
tory, namely, the Megiddo-Taanach area.
tle the problem of the relation of the prose to the song, but it involves other
difficulties. According to the prose, the Canaanite troops were summoned to
Harosheth-ha-goiim (v. 13), crossed the Kishon river and fought the Israelites.
After their defeat they fled back to their gathering place (v. 16). How, then,
should we account for the fact that Sisera fled in an entirely different direc-
tion, namely, to the oak of Zaanannim (v. 17), a place located on Naphtali’s
southern border (Josh. 19:33)? And how did it happen that Barak reached this
northern place at the end of his pursuit, after he had followed the fleeing
Canaanite troops westward, to Harosheth-ha-goiim (vv. 16, 22)?
Another difficulty in this hypothesis is in v. 2, where Sisera is described as
dwelling (ywšb) in Harosheth-ha-goiim. In spite of 1 Kgs. 11:16 and the Mesha
Stela (line 8) (Aharoni 1967:203), the wording ywšb b strongly conveys the im-
pression of referring to a definite place (e.g., v. 5), and not to a region (the west-
ern Jezreel plain, according to this interpretation) (see Simons 1959:288–289).
(B) From the description of Sisera’s escape, it may be inferred that he fled
northward and that the oak of Zaanannim (Josh. 19:33) was located on his
route. The city of Hazor, described as the seat of Jabin “king of Canaan” (vv. 2,
17; see 1 Sam. 12:9), is situated in the upper Jordan Valley, south of Lake Ḥuleh.
For these reasons, some scholars have identified Harosheth-ha-goiim with the
hill country of Galilee, east of Hazor, the seat of the northern Israelite tribes
(Mazar 1952–53:80–84; Aharoni 1967:201–203). The description of Sisera’s
dwelling in a vast area (v. 2) is not explained by this theory. Moreover, such a
northern location for the assembling place of the Canaanites involves great
difficulties. How can the seat of the northern Israelite tribes be identical with
the gathering place of the Canaanite troops? Also, did the Canaanite army
march from the north to Naḥal Kishon to fight their next-door neighbors,
the Israelite troops, here? And did Sisera advance southward from the area of
Hazor to the Kishon river to fight Barak, who likewise went southwards from
Kedesh of Naphtali to Mount Tabor? Finally, what is the relationship of the
prose to the Song of Deborah, according to which the Canaanites assembled
in the Megiddo-Taanach area?
(C) The oak of Zaanannim is situated near Kedesh, according to the story
(v. 11). However, Kedesh of Naphtali is located in the northern part of the
tribal inheritance, and the oak of Zaanannim was a toponym on Naphtali’s
southern border, near Adami-nekeb and Jabneel (Josh. 19:33) (Kallai 1986:
228–231; Na’aman 1986:138.–141). The attempts of scholars to escape this dif-
ficulty by locating Kedesh either near Taanach,11 at Khirbet el-Kidish north-
11. Moore 1895:117; Budde 1897:36; Garstang 1931:301; Abel 1938:415; Mazar 1950:328;
Stern and Beit Arieh 1976:22; see Burney 1918:81–82; Simons 1959:289.
east of the Jabneel Valley,12 or in the vicinity of Mount Tabor (Kallai 1986:232–
235) are not convincing. Kedesh of Naphtali is identical to Kedesh of Galilee,
mentioned several times in the Bible (Josh. 12:22; 19:37; 20:7; 21:32; 2 Kgs. 15:29;
1 Chr. 6:61); all other identifications may be regarded as unnecessary attempts
to avoid the difficulties inherent within the story in its final form.
(D) According to v. 10, Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh,
his city. This is odd: Zebulun is situated in the area north of Naḥal Kishon;
Barak’s wandering northward to Kedesh in order to return southwards to
Mount Tabor, on the border of his inheritance, does not make geographical
or military sense.
(E) Deborah’s seat in the area of Bethel (v. 5) also involves geographi-
cal problems. According to the prose, only Zebulun and Naphtali partici-
pated in the battle against Sisera. Thus, to bridge the territorial gap between
Deborah’s and Barak’s seats and to ensure her integration within the plot,
the author (or redactor) made her walk all the way from the area of Bethel to
Kedesh of Galilee, and then join Barak and his troops on their way southward
to Mount Tabor. The inhabitants of Mount Ephraim do not play any role in
the prose account; Deborah’s wandering north and south is another odd trait
in the story of Judges 4.
The conclusion is inevitable: The author of the story, or a late redactor,
was not acquainted with the geography of northern Israel and mixed up the
narrative elements in a way that excludes any geographical sense from the
description.
It seems to me that the confusion is the result of the work of a late Judean
redactor who did not understand certain details in the old story, and, al-
though he had no real knowledge of the topography in the north, he tried to
fill in various details that were left unspecified in the plot. In what follows,
I shall try to isolate his interpolations and then delineate the original story
and its relationship with the song.
My point of departure is Harosheth-ha-goiim, the gathering place of the
Canaanites according to the old story (vv. 13, 16). Its location (the western
Jezreel plain) and its original meaning (“the plantation of the gentiles”) appar-
ently were not clear to the redactor who identified it with Gelil-ha-goiim (liter-
ally, “the district of the gentiles”; Isa. 8:23), which, in his time, was a name for
the district of Galilee. He, therefore, assumed that the “king of Canaan” ruled
a vast territory whose scope was not dissimilar to the league of Canaanite
kings that fought Joshua according to Josh. 11:1–5. The origin of Jabin, “king
of Canaan,” and of his commander Sisera was left unnoticed in the old story of
12. Press 1950:327–328; Aharoni 1957:79, 99–101; 1967:204; Kochavi 1963:165–172.

Judges 4. The redactor identified Jabin with the homonymous king of Hazor
(Josh. 11), thus, locating his seat (mlk b) in the area of eastern Galilee (v. 2a).
He further located Sisera’s seat at Harosheth-ha-goiim, where, according to
the old story, he assembled the Canaanite troops (vv. 13, 16). Thus, the above-
mentioned exceptional description of Sisera’s dwelling (ywšb b) in a region (v.
2b) was created.13
According to the old story, the defeated Canaanites were pursued to
Harosheth-ha-goiim, where they had assembled previously (vv. 13, 16). The
redactor regarded it as a name for a vast northern territory; thus, he like-
wise placed Sisera’s route of escape and Jael’s tent in the north. Jael’s seat
was identified with the oak of Zaanannim of which the redactor learned
from the border description of Naphtali (Josh. 19:33). He further described
it as situated next to Kedesh of Naphtali (v. 11), which was the best known
town within the inheritance of the tribe in later times and which he identi-
fied as the seat of Barak (v. 6). In reality, the oak of Zaanannim was located
far south of Kedesh. The redactor’s ignorance of the topography of northern
Israel likewise led to the interpolation of Kedesh as the assembling place of
the Israelites before they marched to Mount Tabor (v. 10). It is clear that he
assumed that Kedesh was situated somewhere north of Mount Tabor, thus,
describing it as the gathering place of the northern tribes and as a town near
the oak of Zaanannim, on the way northward to Galilee.
In line with his work of filling in gaps within the original plot, the redac-
tor inserted v. 17b, which describes a treaty between the Kenites and the king
of Hazor, thereby explaining Sisera’s escape to the tent of Jael and his trust
in her hospitality.14
Deborah’s seat was likewise missing in the original story of Judges 4. As in
the case of Jabin, the redactor identified her with a homonymous name, that
of Deborah who was buried near Bethel (Gen. 35:8), and located her place in
southern Mount Ephraim (vv. 4b–5). The mention of Elon Tabor (1 Sam. 10:3)
may have supported this identification (see Richter 1963:37–42). The redactor,
thus, gained an expansion of the circle of participants in the battle. However,
by assigning Deborah the role of a judge of Israel, he violated one of the prin-
cipal ideas of the “framework” of the book, namely, that Israel had been sub-
jugated to foreign power only after the death of the judge. Furthermore,
Deborah’s seat in Mount Ephraim obliged him to describe a union of the
two Israelite leaders, Deborah and Barak. Therefore, he inserted the move of
13. For the selection of the verbal form ywšb as the result of the preceding verbal form
mlk, see Simons 1959:288–289.
14. For the secondary character of vv. 11 and 17b, see Richter 1963: 43, 57–58.
Deborah from her southern place northwards to Kedesh of Naphtali, where

the Israelite troops would have assembled (v. 9b).
The following words and sentences must have been interpolated into the
original story of Judg. 4: vv. 4b–5, 9b, 11, 17b; also ’šr mlk bḥṣwr (v. 2a); whw’
ywšb bḥršt hgwym (v. 2b); mqdš nptly (v. 6a); qdšh (v. 9b). The redactor was mo-
tivated by what might be called “the fright of anonymity,”15 and, to fill in the
“missing” details, he located the five participants of the plot (Jabin, Sisera,
Deborah, Barak and Jael) and supplied a motive for Sisera’s escape to Jael’s
tent. Unfortunately, the redactor was not acquainted with the geographical
reality of northern Israel, and by identifying Hazor and the district of Galilee
as the seats of Jabin, Sisera and the Canaanites, the geographical background
of the story became extremely odd. Moreover, the outlines of the battle as
they were portrayed in the song can no longer be reconciled with the de-
scription of the prose. It is clear that the redactor’s topographical ignorance
and his borrowing of the “missing” details from the corpus of biblical liter-
ature confused the integrity of the original story of the battle near Naḥal
Kishon. Only by eliminating these insertions can we understand the original
prose description of the event.
The original plot of Judges 4 may be delineated as follows: Jabin, “king
of Canaan,” and his commander Sisera had subjugated the Israelite tribes.
Deborah, the north Israelite prophetess, urged Barak to start a rebellion. He
summoned the troops of Zebulun and Naphtali, and they marched to Mount
Tabor to fight the Canaanites. The Canaanites’ commander, Sisera, immedi-
ately called his army with its mighty iron chariots (compare Josh. 17:16, 18;
Judg. 1:19) to Harosheth-ha-goiim, i.e., the western Jezreel plain, on the other
side of the Kishon river.16 The fighting broke out near Naḥal Kishon, and after
15. For the “fright of anonymity,” see Na’aman 1988:43–44, with earlier literature in
n. 3.
16. Harosheth-ha-goiim was located by many scholars in the vicinity of el-Ḥarithiyeh.
See Albright 1922:284–285; 1923:21–22; Alt 1937:372, with earlier literature in n. 3; Garstang
1931:380–381; Abel 1938:343–344; see de Vaux 1978:792. Noteworthy also is the name Silat
el-Ḥarithiyeh (map reference 172212), a village located 2 km. south of Taanach. It seems,
therefore, that Harosheth(-ha-goiim) was the name of the western Jezreel plain and that
the old name has survived on the margins of the plain. There are several parallel cases of
the preservation of an old name of a region in its margins. Thus, the name of the land of
Gina, which was the pre-Israelite name for the western Jezreel plain, has survived in the
name of the Second Temple Village Ginae. The village of Zer‘în (map reference 181218) pre-
served the name of the town of Jezreel and of the nearby Valley of the same name. The
name of the land of Kabul (1 Kgs. 9:13) has survived in the village of Kābûl (map reference
170252). The name of the vast area of Gilead has survived in Khirbet Jel‘ad. For a further dis-
cussion, see Na’aman 1988:184–185.
his victory, Barak chased the Canaanites up to their towns. Sisera fled alone
on foot17 and arrived at Jael’s tent, which must have been located in the west-
ern Jezreel plain. There he was betrayed and killed, just before the arrival
of the Israelite commander at the place. The surrender of Jabin (v. 23), who
subjugated the Israelites at the beginning of the story, closes the circle and
brings the plot to its natural end.
B. Halpern (1983b:379–401 ; 1983a:41–73; 1988:76–103) suggested recently
that the story of Judges 4 was derived either from the Song of Deborah or
from questions and assumptions that arise from the song. In the discussion
above, it was pointed out that the story in its final form cannot be reconciled
with the song and that the description of the kings of Canaan who assembled
“at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo” to fight the Israelites across Naḥal
Kishon is in marked contrast to the geographical background of the prose.
The mention of the ten tribes in the song (Judg. 5:14–17) is another serious
obstacle for the comparison of the two sources.
By eliminating both the interpolated ten tribes from the song (see n. 8
above) and the “Galilean oriented” redaction from the prose, the way is open
for a fresh equation of the two sources. It seems to me that Halpern’s thesis
is essentially correct and that the song was the source from which the au-
thor of the prose drew the main details for his story. The reader is referred
to Halpern’s works for a meticulous description of the narrator’s reconstruc-
tion of history. It must be emphasized, however, that this author was not as
imaginative and speculative as Halpern assumed in his reconstruction of the
process of borrowing.
By composing the “framework” (vv. 1, 2*, 3, 23) and by eliminating the
episodes of Meroz and the mother of Sisera, the narrator succeeded in crys-
tallizing the plot.18 Two combating warriors and two women of contrasting
characters are represented at the center of the stage. The “king of Canaan”
was added to the plot as the subjugating enemy, in accord with the “frame-
work” of the stories of the judges. It is clear that the author has in mind the
kingdoms of his time, in which the king was the central figure and the chief
commander sometimes led the army to battle (compare, for example, 2 Sam.
10:6–18; Isa. 20:1). In place of the kings of Canaan and their leader (Sisera)
he, therefore, described a king and his commander of staff. The author fur-
ther replaced certain geographical names by others, which presumably were
17. For the literary motif of the commander of an army escaping alone from the battle-
field, see Tadmor 1985:70–75, with earlier literature.
18. For the narrative structure and the contents of Judges 4, see recently Murray 1979:
155–187; Amit 1987:89–111; Neef 1989:28–49.
better known to his readers. Thus, Mount Tabor took the place of Sarid, and
Harosheth-ha-goiim replaced the poetic “Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo.”
Other details are not dissimilar in the two sources. It is only the late redaction
of both the prose and the song that has blurred the similarity and changed
the course of events in the two descriptions of the battle.
3. A Reference to the Battle of Kishon in Isaiah 8: 23b

The textual analysis and historical background of Isa. 8:23b are disputed
among scholars, and various attempts have been made over the years to ex-
plain its meaning and determine its historical background. V. 23b (or v. 23)
was generally regarded as an introduction to the prophecy of Isa. 9:6, the lat-
ter being attributed either to Isaiah himself or to a pre-exilic or post-exilic
author.19
The linguistic background of v. 23b was examined in great detail by J.A.
Emerton (1969:151–175). One would concur with the suggestion that both
hql and hkbd are perfects, though whether both refer to either past or fu-
ture (prophetic future) events is disputed. One may further ask whether
hr’šwn and h’ḥrwn are indeed the subjects of the verbs. After all, the prophecy
may well refer to two different times (compare Jer. 50:17), the first of which
(hr’šwn) would build the hopes for the second (h’ḥrwn) (Barth 1977:141–144).
A. Alt (1950:29–49 = 1953b 206–225) was the first scholar to suggest that
Tiglath-pileser III’s conquests and annexations of 734–32 BCE are the histor-
ical background to the mention of “the way of the sea, the land beyond the
Jordan, Galilee of the nations.” These three entities represent the three prov-
inces of Dor, Gilead and Megiddo established by the Assyrians after the con-
quest of the three districts. However, the relationship of this triad with the
duo of Zebulun and Naphtali involves difficulties. The territories (“lands”) of
the two tribes cover only part of the province of Megiddo, and it is not clear
how this duo may refer to the same territory as that of the triad of Dor, Gilead
and Megiddo.
A reasonable solution to the problem is to assign the duo and the triad to
two different periods, hr’šwn and h’ḥrwn. This was suggested by W. Harrelson
(1962:152) in his discussion of the prophecy:
Thus, despite the probable connection of the oracle with the conquest of the territory
of the tribes by Tiglath-pileser III, the prophet may also be alluding to the “former”
days of darkness and oppression under the king of Hazor (Judg. 4:1–3) and to these
tribes’ turn of fortune as a result of the great victory won by Barak of Naphtali. These
19. Barth 1977:141–177 with earlier literature; Thompson 1982:79–88, with earlier liter-
ature; Kilian 1983:5–10, with earlier literature.
motifs which appear in the old blessings and hymns of early Israel might be consid-
ered stock materials employed by Isaiah in the shaping of his oracle. Their occurrence
would not be significant, perhaps, were it not for the fact that one particular motif in
the oracle is drawn unquestionably from the period of the judges: the “day of Midian”
(9:3).
Harrelson further explained terms and images that appear in the proph-
ecy of Isa. 9:1–6 against the background of “early poems, narratives and tra-
ditions of the period prior to the monarchy” (pp. 152–153). In particular, he
tried to demonstrate the influence of the Gideon tradition on one or another
form of vv. 3 and 5 of the prophecy. His suggestions remained mainly unno-
ticed in subsequent discussions of the prophecy.20 It seems to me, however,
that Harrelson was on the right track in suggesting that there is a connec-
tion between the mention of Zebulun and Naphtali in Isa. 8:23b and the bat-
tle against Sisera of Judg. 4–5. The event in which the Lord (who is the subject
of the two verbs in v. 23b) had delivered the “lands” of Zebulun and Naphtali
is presented by the prophet as a basis for future hopes — the “making glori-
ous” of the districts of Dor, Gilead and Megiddo. The mention of the “day of
Midian” (Isa. 9:3) is likewise presented as an example for the power of the
Lord, who will break the Assyrian yoke.
The mention of gelîl haggôyîm in v. 23b may well represent another hint of
the episode of the battle of Kishon. It was suggested above that ḥărōšet hag-
gôyîm was misinterpreted as another name for gelîl haggôyîm. Provided that
the prophecy reflects the same misunderstanding of the archaic designation,
the latter appellation may well be a veiled allusion to the battle against the
Canaanites in the period of the judges.
The battles against Sisera and against Midian are combined together
for a second time in Ps. 83:9–10: “Do to them as thou didst to Midian, as to
Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, who were destroyed at En-dor, who be-
came dung for the ground (’dmh).21 It is hardly accidental that Ashur is the
last mentioned in the list of Israel’s traditional enemies (vv. 6–8). Just as in
Isa. 8:23b–9:6, so in Ps. 83 the episodes of the period of the judges build the
hopes for future breaking of the Assyrian yoke.22
One may further ask why these particular past events were selected as ex-
amples for the breaking of the Assyrian yoke. After all, there are other epi-
20. Harrelson’s article is not mentioned in the works cites in n. 19; but see Carlson 1974:
131.
21. For a historical-topographical analysis of Ps. 83:9–10, see Na’aman 1986:139–140,
with earlier literature.
22. The attachment of the deliverances from the Canaanites and the Midianites in both
Isa. 8:23b–9:6 and Ps. 83:9–10 is an additional argument against Werner’s recent claim that
Isa. 8:23b is a redactional bridge between 8:21–23a and 9:1–6; see Werner 1982:21–25, 42–4.
sodes in which the Lord delivered his people from foreign subjection. The an-
swer may be found in the reality in which the prophecy of Isa. 8:23b–9:6 was
spoken. There were only few events in the early history of Israel that have
been memorized over the years in connection with those north-Israelite ter-
ritories that were conquered by the Assyrians in the years 734–732 BCE. It is
for this reason that the battle against the Canaanites in the north and the bat-
tle against the Midianites conducted on both sides of the Jordan have been
selected. One, therefore, may date the prophecy of Isa. 8:236–9:6 to the time
between the Assyrian conquest of 734–732 and the Assyrian collapse in the
west in the twenties of the 7th century BCE.
Finally, I suggest the following translation for Isa. 8:23b: “As in the past he
(the Lord) made lighter the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, so in
later (time) he made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan,
the district of the nations.”
References

Aharoni, Y. 1967. The Land of the Bible. A Historical Geography. Philadelphia.
Albright, W. F. 1922. Some Additional Notes on the Song of Deborah. JPOS 2: 284–285.
Albright, W.F. 1923. Contribution to the Historical Geography of Palestine. AASOR 2–3: 21–
22.
Albright, W.F. 1936. The Song of Deborah in the Light of Archaeology. BASOR 62: 29–30.
Alt, A. 1937. Galiläische Probleme. PJb 33:52–88. (Reprint: Alt 1953b: 363–395).
Alt, A. 1941. Meroz. ZAW 58: 244–247 (Reprint: Alt 1953a: 274–277).
Alt, A. 1944. Megiddo im Übergang von kanaanäischen zum israelitischen Zeitalter. ZAW
60: 67–85 (Reprint: Alt 1953a: 256–273).
Alt, A. 1950. Jesaia 8, 23–9, 6. Befreiungsnacht und krönungstag. In: Baumgartner, W. et al.
eds. Festschrift Alfred Bertholet zum 80. Geburtstag: gewidmet von Kollegen und Freunden.
Tübingen: 29–49 (Reprint: Alt 1953b: 206–225).
Alt, A. 1953b. Kleine Schriften zur Geschichte des Volkes Israel II. München.
Amit, Y. 1987. Judges 4: Its Contents and Form. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 39:
89–111.
Barth, H. 1977. Die Jesaia-Worle in der Josiazeit: Israel und Assur als Thema einer produktiven
Neuinterpretation der Jesajaüberlieferung. (Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten
und Neuen Testament 48). Neukirchen-Vluyn.
V 23b is the logical opening to the prophecy of 9:1–6, as was pointed out by scholars who
have analyzed its structure and contents. See Barth 1977:141–177 with earlier literature;
Thompson 1982:79–88, with earlier literature; Kilian 1983:5–10, with earlier literature;
Emerton 1969:151–175; Kaiser 1972:123–130; Wildberger 1972:362–389.
Budde, K. 1897. Das Buch der Richter. (Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum Alte Testament).
Freiburg.
Burney, C.F. 1918. The Book of Judges with Introduction and Notes. London. (Reprint: New York
1970).
Caquot, A. 1986. Les tribus d’Israël dans le cantique de Débora (Juges 5, 13–17). Semitica
36: 47–70.
Carlson, R.A. 1974. The Anti-Assyrian Character of the Oracle in Is. ix 1–6. VT 24: 130–135.
Coogan, M.D. 1978. A Structural and Literary Analysis of the Song of Deborah. Catholic
Biblical Quarterly 40: 143–166.
Cooke, G.A. 1918. The Book of Joshua. (The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges).
Cambridge.
Emerton, J.A. 1969. Some Linguistic and Historical Problems in Isaiah viii. 23. Journal of
Semitic Studies 14: 151–175.
Garstang, J. 1931. The Foundations of Bible History: Joshua Judges. London.
Globe, A. 1975. The Muster of the Tribes in judges 5, 11e–18. ZAW 87: 169–183.
Halpern, B. 1983a. Doctrine by Misadventure: Between the Israelite Source and the Biblical
Historian. In: Friedman, R.E. ed. The Poet and the Historian. Chico: 41–73.
Halpern, B. 1983b. The Resourceful Israelite Historian: The Song of Deborah and Israelite
Historiography. Harvard Theological Review 76: 379–401.
Halpern, B. 1988. The First Historians. The Hebrew Bible and History. San Francisco.
Harrelson, W. 1962. Nonroyal Motifs in the Royal Eschatology. In: Anderson, B.W. and
Harrelson, W. eds. Israel’s Prophetic Heritage, Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg. London:
147–165.
Hillers, D.R. 1965. A Note on Judges 5,8a. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 27: 124–126.
Ikeda, Y. 1979. The Song of Deborah and the Tribes of Israel. In: Rabin, C. et al. eds. Studies
in the Bible and the Hebrew Language Offered to Meir Wallenstein. Jerusalem: 65–79.
(Hebrew).
Kaiser, O. 1972. Isaiah I–12: A Commentary. (Old Testament Library). London.
Kallai, Z. 1986. Historical Geography of the Bible. The Tribal Territories of Israel Jerusalem and
Leiden.
Kaufmann, Y. 1962. The Book of Judges. Jerusalem. (Hebrew).
Kilian, R. 1983. Jesaia 1–39. (Erträge der Forschung 200). Darmstadt.
Kochavi, M. 1963. Khirbet Kedesh — Kadesh Naftali. BIES 27: 165–172. (Hebrew).
Mayes, A.D.H. 1974. Israel in the Period of the Judges. London.
Mazar, B. 1950. Elon-bezaanannim. Enc. Miqr. I: 328. (Hebrew).
Mazar, B. 1952–53. Beth She‘arim Gaba and Harosheth of the Peoples. Hebrew Union College
Annual 24: 75–84.
Moore, G.F. 1895. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges. (International Critical
Commentary). Edinburgh.
Murray, D.F. 1979. Narrative structure and Technique in the Deborah-Barak Story (Judges
IV 4–22). Supplement to Vetus Testamentum 30: 155–187.
Geographical Lists. (Jerusalem Biblical Studies 4). Jerusalem.
Na’aman, N. 1988. Canaanites and Perizzites. Bibliche Notizen 45: 42–47.
Na’aman, N. 1988b. Pharaonic Lands in the Jezreel Valley in the Late Bronze Age. In:
Heltzer, M. and Lipiński, E. eds. Society and Economy in the Eastern Mediterranean (c. 1500–
1000 B. C.). Leuven: 177–185.
Neef, H.-D. 1989. Der Sieg Deboras und Baraks über Sisera. Exegetische Beobachtungen
zum Aufbau und Werden von Jdc. 4,1–24*. ZAW 101: 28–49.
Noth, M. 1930. Das System der zwöIf Stämme Israels. Stuttgart.
Noth, M. 1953. Das Buch Josua. (2nd revised ed.). (Handbuch zum Alten Testament I/7).
Tübingen.
Noth, M. 1960. The History of Israel. London.
Press, I. 1950. Elon-bezaanannim. Enc. Miqr. I: 327–328. (Hebrew).
Rabin, C. 1955. Judges V, 2 and the ‘Ideology’ of Deborah’s War. Journal of Jewish Studies 6:
125–134.
Rainey, A F. 1983. Toponymic Problems (cont.): Harosheth-Hagoiim. Tel Aviv 10: 46–48.
Rainey, A.F. 1981. The Military Camp Ground at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo. Eretz
Israel 15: 61*–66*.
Richter, W. 1963. Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Richterbuch. (Bonner
Biblischer Beiträge 18). Bonn.
Simons, J. 1959. The Geographical and Topographical Texts of the Old Testament. Leiden.
Soggin, J.A. 1981. Judges: A Commentary. (Old Testament Library). Philadelphia.
Stern, E. and Beit Arieh, I. 1976. Excavations at Tel Kedesh (Tell Abu Qudeis). Tel Aviv 6: 1–
25.
Tadmor, H. 1985. Sennacherib’s Campaign to Judah: Historical and Historiographical
Considerations. Zion 50: 65–80 (Hebrew).
Täubler, E. 1958. Biblische Studien: Die Epoche der Richter. Tübingen.
Thompson, M.E.W. 1982. Isaiah’s Ideal King. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 24: 79–
88.
Weiser, A. 1959. Das Deboralied. Eine gattungs- und traditionsgeschichtliche Studie. ZAW
71: 67–97.
Werner, W. 1982. Eschatologische Texte in Jesaia 1–39: Messias, Heiliger Rest, Völker. (Forschung
zur Bibel 46). Würzburg.
Wildberger, H. 1972. Jesaja. 1. Jesaja 1–12 (Biblischer Kommentar X/1). Neukirchen-Vluyn.
The “Conquest of Canaan” in the Book of Joshua and
in History1
Introduction: The Development of Historical Writing in Israel

From the early days of modern research, scholars have discussed the date
of the rise of historical writing in Israel. The original documents that served
biblical authors in their work have perished, and the original scrolls, upon
which the authors composed their histories of Israel and which would have
helped us to fix the date of composition, are no longer available. The dat-
ing of the emergence of historical writing and reconstruction of the early
sources available to the scribes are entirely dependent on the analysis of the
Old Testament.
1. Systematic writing for administrative purposes was introduced in the
tenth century BCE, following the institution of monarchy in Israel. This is ev-
ident from the installation of the office of scribe in the courts of David and
Solomon (2 Sam. 8:17; 20:25; 1 Kgs. 4:3). Noteworthy also is the census con-
ducted by David throughout his kingdom, which, according to the story,
lasted for nine months and twenty days (2 Sam. 24:8). A census was usually
conducted for many purposes, i.e., a register for military service, for labor
conscription and for levying and collecting taxes. David’s census necessarily
entailed an extensive registration for the establishment of the young king-
dom on firm foundations. Furthermore, even a superficial glimpse at the re-
corded histories of David and Solomon indicates that their authors had be-
fore them original documents dating to the time of the two kings. These
sources described wars and conquests, building and fortifying operations,
administrative apparatus, cultic regulation, etc. Thus, it is clear that writing
in the court for administrative purposes was introduced in Israel by the tenth
century BCE and that documents composed at that time were available to the
authors who portrayed the history of the United Monarchy.
However, recording for administrative purposes is one thing and writing
history is another. In all ancient cultures, there is a considerable gap between
1. Reprinted with permission. In: Finkelstein, I. and Na’aman, N. eds. From Nomadism to
Monarchy, Jerusalem 1994, pp. 218–281.
317
daily registration and the emergence of historiography. Was Israel such an

exception that historiography started there contemporaneously with the
adoption of alphabetic writing for practical purposes? Indeed, this is the as-
sumption of those scholars who advocate a tenth century date for the begin-
ning of historical writing in Israel.2
2. Alphabetic writing developed slowly and gradually in Canaan over a
period of several hundred years, and its scope in the Late Bronze Age was
very limited: Only about thirty inscriptions (most of them short) have been
discovered so far, most of them in southern Canaan.3 It matured and crys-
tallized in Phoenicia in the late eleventh-tenth centuries BCE and from this
region spread widely in Syro-Palestine during the ninth century (e.g., the
Kmšyt, Mesha, Melqart, Hazael and Hdys‘y inscriptions).4 Apart from the Gezer
calendar, which apparently belongs to the ninth century BCE (for the Gezer
inscription, see Donner and Röllig 1968:181–182; Young 1992:362–375, with
earlier literature), no pre-eighth century BCE alphabetic inscription has been
discovered in the territories of Israel and Judah. The earliest North Israelite
inscriptions (i.e., the Samaria ostraca, the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions and
the Balaam plaster inscription) are dated to the first half of the eighth cen-
tury BCE,5 and it is hardly coincidental that the earliest recording of prophe-
cies, i.e., the “words” of Amos and Hosea, is dated to about the same time. The
spread of alphabetic writing in the kingdom of Judah took place even later
and hardly antedates the mid-eighth century BCE.6 Most of the early Judahite
2. For a tenth century date for the beginning of the Israelite historiography, see,
e.g., Rost 1926; von Rad 1944:1–42; 1953:120–127; 1962:48–56; Herrmann 1953–54:51–
62; Mowinckel 1963:4–26; Liver 1967:75–101; Gray 19702:14–22; Weippert 1973:415–442;
Mettinger 1976; Langlamet 1976:518–528; McCarter 1980a:489–504; 1980b:23–30; 1984:9–16;
Schmidt 1982:55–73; Ishida 1982:175–187; Lemche 1984:106–109 (but see 1991:161–169).
3. For the Proto-Canaanite inscriptions, see recently Puech 1986:161–213; Sass 1988.
4. For the Syrian and Moabite inscriptions, see Donner and Röllig 1968:168–179, 203–204,
with earlier literature; Abou-Assaf, Bordreuil and Millard 1982; Kyrieleis and Röllig 1988:37–
75; Pitard 1988:3–21, with earlier literature; Dearman 1989 with earlier literature; Eph‘al and
Naveh 1989:192–200; Bron and Lemaire 1989:35–44; Puech 1992:311–334; Smelik 1992a:59–92.
5. For the recently discovered inscriptions, see the detailed literature cited by Lemaire
1988:225–226, notes 1, 14. For the Samaria ostraca, see Lemaire 1982:23–81, with earlier lit-
erature on pp. 23–24; Kaufman 1982:229–239.
6. Noteworthy are the three identical labels written on three jugs unearthed at
Eshtemoa, in the southernmost Judean hill country. See Yeivin 1972:45–46; 1990:43–57. The
jugs contained a large hoard of silver and the word ḥmš (“five”) probably defined their con-
tents. Paleographically, the three letters look similar to the script of Arad IX-VIII (note the
paleographic observations of Cross, in Yeivin 1972:48, n. 20). Ceramic parallels also indicate
a date in the eighth century (Lachish III, Tell Beit Mirsim A, Tel Beer-sheba II). Thus, the in-
scriptions should best be dated to the eighth century BCE (contra Yeivin).
The “Conquest of Canaan” in the Book of Joshua and in History 319
inscriptions are dated to the late eighth century (e.g., the Arad, Khirbet Beit
Lei, Khirbet el-Qom, the Siloam inscriptions, and the lmlk stamps).7 In light
of the large-scale excavations and surveys conducted in all areas of the two
kingdoms, this finding hardly can be regarded as accidental. To illustrate this
point, let us take Jerusalem as an example. Scores of large- and small-scale
excavations conducted in all parts of ancient Jerusalem during the last 150
years have yielded not a single inscription that antedates the late eighth cen-
tury BCE.
How can we match these data to the assumption that full-scale writing,
including historiography, developed in Jerusalem from the time of Solomon
(whose reign was sometimes regarded as a period of “enlightenment”; see
von Rad 1944:41)? It is no coincidence that so many seventh century inscrip-
tions have been discovered in all parts of the kingdom of Judah, including
Jerusalem. At that time, alphabetic writing spread throughout the country,
and the amount and scope of written material revealed in archaeological ex-
cavations and surveys accurately reflect the extent of literacy. The date and
distribution of written material, as evident from archaeological research, is,
in my opinion, our most important evidence for dating the rise of historiog-
raphy in the two neighboring kingdoms.
3. The reasons for the slow development of alphabetic writing in the an-
cient Near East is not my concern here, but one may note that other impor-
tant inventions (e.g., the war chariot, cavalry, iron smelting, the domestica-
tion of the camel) likewise spread slowly and gradually during a protracted
period until their sudden diffusion throughout the ancient Near East. It is
clear that until the eighth century BCE, writing was practiced only in the
courts of Jerusalem and Samaria and was restricted to a few professional
scribes. It is for this reason that scribes were ranked so highly in the admin-
istrative apparatus of David and Solomon, as is evident from the three lists of
officials of their time (2 Sam. 8:16–18; 20:23–26; 1 Kgs. 4:2–19). On the other
hand, the development of historiography necessarily is connected with the
emergence of a wide circle of readers who can appreciate the literary quality
of the composition and understand its meaning and objectives.
To illustrate this point, I will take a well-known and extensively discussed
example — the history of David’s rise to power (henceforth HDR). Many
scholars dated its composition to the time of the United Monarchy, regard-
ing it as the “defense” of David written by one of his supporters to throw fa-
7. For the recently discovered inscriptions, see the literature cited by Lemaire 1988:226,
nn. 12–13; for the lmlk stamps, see Lemaire 1988:227, n. 31; for the Arad inscriptions, see
Aharoni 1981; for the Siloam inscription, see Donner and Röllig 1968:186–88; Puech 1974:
196–214, with earlier literature.
vorable light on his rise to power and to clear him of accusations regard-
ing the deaths of his major opponents (Nabal, Saul, Abner and Ish-Baal). The
composition was compared with several inscriptions written in the courts of
ancient Near Eastern rulers as a kind of “apology” for what they had done
in their tenure of kingship.8 However, all these compositions are royal in-
scriptions, whose addressee is first and foremost the god before whom the
king reported of his deeds. In their form and genre, they are identical to all
other ancient Near Eastern royal inscriptions and, thus, are entirely different
from the HDR. Moreover, an apologetical text written to persuade a contem-
porary audience calls for a circle of readers acquainted with the events and
able to appreciate both the literary qualities of the composition and the ar-
guments raised by its author. One hardly could expect to find such an audi-
ence in Jerusalem during the tenth-ninth centuries BCE. It is evident that the
HDR was written long after the time of David, during a period when literacy
spread in Judah and there emerged an audience that was able to appreciate
its subtle literary and religious messages. Once we define the HDR as a liter-
ary composition written long after the termination of the events described
therein, we must treat it with caution and may question the historical reli-
ability of many of its details.
It was noted above that in all ancient cultures, a long period separated the
development of a system of writing from the emergence of historiography;
and it is clear now that Israel was no exception. The spread of literacy in the
course of the eighth century BCE, about two centuries after the introduction
of the alphabetical system to the court of Jerusalem, marked the earliest pos-
sible date for the onset of historical writing in Israel.
4. These conclusions fit the widely accepted analysis of the date of com-
position of the Deuteronomistic (henceforth Dtr) history. It is clear that the
comprehensive history of the nation from Moses to the reform of Josiah or
the Babylonian exile was composed either in the late seventh century BCE or
immediately after the destruction and exile of 587/586. More complicated
is the problem of the sources on which the author based his composition.
Noth (1943) assumed that significant parts of the Books of Joshua, Judges and
Samuel had been written at a very early date and, thus, served as reliable an-
cient sources for the historian. Other scholars followed this line of thought,
and there is a great variety of opinion regarding the scope and date of the
8. For the genre of autobiographical apology, see Tadmor 1983:36–57. For comparison
of the HDR with the ancient Near Eastern apologetic compositions, see Tadmor 1983:56;
McCarter 1980a:493–499; Whitelam 1984:71–76.
early literary sources underlying the present text of Joshua-Samuel.9 In any

event, in light of the discussion above, these early hypothetical compositions
hardly can antedate the eighth century BCE and are, thus, hundreds of years
remote from the time when the events described therein took place. Van
Seters, on the other hand, suggested that no comprehensive account of the
history of Israel was available to the Dtr historian and that he wrote his com-
position solely on the basis of source material and popular traditions that he
collected and integrated into his work. The author developed a distinctive
narrative style and by means of a chronological framework created blocks
of material, such as the stories of Saul, David’s rise to power, and the Ark
Narrative. These literary blocks had no independent existence of their own
and were all integral parts of the larger Dtr work (Van Seters 1983). Be that
as it may, it is clear that a gap of several centuries separates the date of com-
position of the conquest narratives from the time to which they are assigned
(the early Iron Age).
5. This enormous hiatus explains the many discrepancies between the
conquest stories and the archaeological evidence. These discrepancies may
be illustrated by the following examples:
(a) Many sites either ostensibly conquered by the Israelites (Heshbon, Arad,
Ai, Hebron) or mentioned in the conquest stories (Gibeon, Jarmuth) were
not occupied in the Late Bronze Age; some were deserted throughout the
second millennium BCE (Heshbon, Arad, Ai, Jarmuth).
(b) The Late Bronze urban culture was gradually destroyed in a process that
lasted for more than a century. For example, the city of Hazor was de-
stroyed in about the mid-thirteenth century, whereas the city of Lachish
was razed in the second half of the twelfth century BCE. These data
contradict the biblical description, according to which Canaan was con-
quered in a single campaign conducted by the Israelite tribes under the
leadership of Joshua.
(c) During the thirteenth and most of the twelfth century BCE (until the reign
of Ramesses VI — 1143–1136 BCE), Egypt was deeply involved in Canaan,
and cities in the southern and central parts of the lowlands continued
to develop under the Egyptian military and administrative umbrella.
9. For the assumed pre-Deuteronomistic material in the Book of Joshua, see, e.g., Alt
1927:13–24; 1936:18–29; 1958:85–109; von Rad 1951; Bright 1960:142–151; Otto 1979:95–103;
Mayes 1983:40–57, 133–134, with earlier literature; Sanmartín Ascaso 1986:261–282. For the
Books of Judges and Samuel, see the literature cited above, n. 2; Mayes 1983:58–105, with
earlier literature.
Many archaeological findings indicate the strong Egyptian influence on

the material culture of Canaan at this time. However, Egypt is mentioned
nowhere in the conquest tradition in the Bible.
(d) Many Canaanite cities had been destroyed immediately after the Egyptian
withdrawal from the country in the late twelfth century BCE (Beth-shean,
Megiddo, Ashdod, Tel Sera‘, Tell el-Far‘ah), and this destruction marks
the last stage of the Late Bronze Age in Canaan. However, this “conquest”
is entirely different from the biblical conquest tradition: The ruined
towns are all located in the lowlands (the coast, the Shephelah and the
northern plains), outside the territory where the Israelite monarchy was
established in the tenth century, and their fall had no direct effect on the
“Israelite” settlement in the highlands on both sides of the Jordan.
(e) The establishment of the Transjordanian kingdoms of Ammon and Moab,
which, according to the conquest tradition, antedated the penetration of
the Israelite tribes into the Mishor (“the Plain”) and Gilead, was contem-
poraneous with the rise of the Israelite monarchy. The kingdom of Edom
emerged even later, in the mid-ninth century BCE (2 Kgs. 8:20–22). The
conquest tradition of Transjordan was doubtless written at a much later
time, when the historical date of the rise of the Transjordanian states was
entirely forgotten.
6. Discrepancies between historical reality and biblical narratives are not
restricted to the stories of the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua. Some ex-
amples of anachronisms that appear in stories referring to the early monar-
chic period are presented here to illustrate the enormous time-span that sep-
arates the assumed “events” from the date of composition.
(a) The city of Mizpah was built and fortified under King Asa (1 Kgs. 15:22) and
played an important role as a border fortress of the kingdom of Judah until
its destruction in 587/586. Subsequently, Mizpah became the seat of the gov-
ernor of Judah (Jer. 40–41), playing a central role in the Judean cummunity
of the sixth-fifth centuries BCE (Neh 3:7, 15, 19).10 Mizpah’s prominent role
10. For the excavation of Tell en-Naṣbeh (Mizpah), see Broshi 1977:912–918, with ear-
lier literature; McClellan 1984:53–69; Finkelstein 1988b:61–63. The site was almost com-
pletely excavated, but the excavators were able to distinguish only two periods, each
covering a very long time. The entire Iron Age city was uncovered; its fortifications and
dwellings were well preserved. However, the date of the buildings and fortifications re-
mains unknown. I very much doubt the assumption that the Iron Age I village of the elev-
enth century, with its buildings and granaries, survived with minor changes for about 600
in the stories of the pre-monarchic (Judg. 20:1, 3; 21:1, 5, 8) and early monar-
chic periods (1 Sam. 7:5–12, 16; 10:17–25) is an anachronistic reflection of the
city’s important position at the time when the stories were composed.
(b) The material culture of Beth-shemesh in Iron Age I was distinctively
Philistine; the town was certainly included at that time within the ter-
ritory of the nearby center of Ekron.11 However, according to the Ark
Narrative, Beth-shemesh was an Israelite town in the late eleventh century
BCE (1 Sam. 6:9, 12–21). It is evident that this narrative anachronistically
reflects the situation of the ninth-seventh centuries, when Beth-shemesh
was a Judahite town on the border with Philistia (2 Kgs. 14:11).12
(c) Archaeological excavations conducted in major Philistine sites made
it clear that a goddess played a major role in the cult of Iron Age I
Philistia, whereas, at that time, male god(s) were of minor importance
(Dothan 1982:21, 229–251; Gitin and Dothan 1987:202–204; Singer 1989:
26–29, with earlier literature). This deity, having the remarkable traits of
a Mother Goddess, was brought by the Philistines from their homeland in
Anatolia,13 and subsequently was identified with the Canaanite fertility
years, and that only the fortification and four-room buildings were added later. On the con-
trary, in all other Judahite and Israelite Iron Age II sites excavated to date, there is a signif-
icant development in scope, plan, density of settlement and quality of building relative to
the Iron Age I level. The assumption of a very long stagnation in the development of the
town is not convincing. It is preferable to assume that (a) the casemate defensive system
served during the ninth-eighth centuries BCE (see McClellan 1984:68–69); (b) that the Great
Wall was built by the Babylonians in the early sixth century BCE and served until the fifth
century; and (c) that only few buildings of Iron Age I were uncovered in the excavations
(see McClellan 1984:54).
11. For the Philistine character of Stratum III at Beth-shemesh, see Wright 1975:252
with earlier literature; Ahlström 1984:144. For the city of Ekron in Iron Age I, see Gitin and
Dothan 1987:200–205; Dothan 1989:1–22. In light of the new excavations at Ekron and the
material culture of Stratum III at Beth-shemesh, it is clear that the latter was included in
the eleventh century BCE within the territory of Ekron. Beth-shemesh Stratum III was con-
quered and destroyed in the course of the Philistine-Israelite struggle at the beginning of
the tenth century BCE. The city was then rebuilt and included within the Solomonic ad-
ministrative system (1 Kgs. 4:9).
12. For the place of Beth-shemesh in the boundary system of the separate kingdoms of
Judah and Israel, see Na’aman 1988:74. For the post-Exilic date of the Ark Narrative, see Van
Seters 1983:346–353; Smelik 1989:128–144; 1992b:35–58.
13. Singer (1989:36–42) has suggested that the Philistine deity should be identified with
Kubaba/Kybele, the Magna Mater of Asia Minor in the second and first millennia BCE, and
that various attributes of the Anatolian goddess can be detected in Iron Age I strata through-
out the coast of Philistia. See also Mendenhall 1986:539–541. For the cult of Astarte/Atargatis
at Ashkelon, see Macalister 1911:93–99; Hörig 1979:172, n. 4, 249–254; Delcor 1980:83–92.
goddess Astarte (Atargatis of the classical sources). Indeed, the temple

of Astarte in Philistia is mentioned as the place where the armor of Saul,
the Philistines’ archenemy, was deposited after he was slain in the battle
of Gilboa (1 Sam. 31:10).14 In the Ark Narrative, on the other hand, the
god Dagon appears as the supreme god of the Philistines (1 Sam. 5:1–7;
cf. Judg. 16:23; 1 Chr. 10:10). The central place of Dagon in the Philistine
pantheon most probably reflects the Iron Age II period, when Dagon was
acknowledged as head of the Philistine pantheon, possibly under the in-
fluence of the neighboring West-Semitic kingdoms, which had a male god
at the head of their pantheons. It is clear that at the time when the Ark
Narrative was written, the supreme role of Astarte in the cult of Iron Age
I was no longer remembered, and the author naturally assumed that the
divine hierarchy in the early history of the Philistines was the same as
that in his own days.
(d) Camels are not mentioned at all in ancient Near Eastern sources of the
second millennium. They were domesticated in a long and gradual process
that took several hundred years and reached an advanced stage in the last
third of the second millennium BCE.15 On the basis of the biblical narratives
of Gideon and the Midianite pillage of central Palestine (Judg. 6:5; 7:12; 8:
21, 26) and of David and the Amalekites (1 Sam. 30:17), it was assumed that
large-scale use of camels for trade and military purpose was current at the
end of Iron Age I.16 However, excavations of Iron Age I sites throughout the
14. The “house of Astarte” of 1 Sam. 30:10 doubtless refers to a major Philistine temple
in Philistia, where the armor of the enemy was consecrated. Indeed, consecration of an un-
usual or precious booty is well known from ancient Near Eastern documents. According to 1
Samuel 21:10, Goliath’s sword was deposited in the temple of Nob (see also 2 Sam. 8:10–12);
see Delcor 1980:84–86, with earlier literature. The suggestion that the “house of Astarte”
was located in Beth-shean is, in my opinion, untenable. The temple of the Canaanite city
of Beth-shean was hardly a suitable place for depositing the armor of the defeated archen-
emy of the Philistines. For this opinion, see Stoebe 1973:530; McCarter 1980a:443, with ear-
lier literature; Singer 1989:19–20.
15. For the domestication of the camel, see Bulliet 1975:28–86; de Vaux 1978:221–225;
Knauf 1983:147–162, with earlier literature; 1988:9–15; Finkelstein 1988a:246–247.
16. The assumption of a large-scale utilization of camels in the Arabian trade and in
combat already in the second millennium BCE is widely accepted. See, e.g., Albright 1970:
198–205; Eissfeldt 1973:94–105; Knauf 1983; Nielsen 1986:22–23; Finkelstein 1988a. Note the
cautious and well balanced conclusions of de Vaux (1978:223): “There is sufficient reliable
evidence for us to conclude that the camel was known and that it was domesticated in the
Near East at least from the end of the second millennium B.C. onwards. On the other hand,
there is no evidence before the end of the second millennium of the breeding and keeping
of cattle or small livestock and of the use of the camel for caravans and war.”
country revealed only a small number of camel bones. The main excep-
tion is cIzbet Ṣarṭah, where 102 bone fragments of a minimum number of
five individual animals have been discovered. However, because the camel
skeletons blocked silos of Stratum II, it is possible that they were a later
intrusion (Hellwing and Adjeman 1986:147). Remarkable is the absence
of camel bones from Iron Age I strata in major Negebite sites, such as Tel
Masos, Tel Beer-sheba and Tell Jemmeh (Wapnish 1981:101–120, and n. 93;
Tchernow and Drori 1983:215–221; Hellwing 1984:105–115 [esp. p. 114]).
In Tell Jemmeh, a substantial increase in the number of camel bones was
detected only in the seventh century BCE (Wapnish 1981:115–120). Thus,
one may question the commonly held assumption that the large-scale use
of camels by nomadic groups living on the eastern and southern borders of
Palestine had already come about in the twelfth-eleventh centuries BCE.
It seems to me that the wide employment of camels in caravans and for

war was contemporaneous with the appearance of the Arabs in the ninth
century BCE. The Akkadian word gammalu (“camel”) appears in Assyrian
texts from the reign of Shalmaneser III (858–824 BCE) onward; the oldest in-
scription mentioning Arabs is the inscription listing Gindibu’ the Arab and
his 1,000 camels among the participants in the Syro-Palestinian coalition that
opposed Shalmaneser III at Qarqar in 853 BCE (CAD G 35b–36; Lambert 1960:
42–43; Eph‘al 1982:21, 75–77, with earlier literature; Na’aman 1992:86, 88).
The camels were brought to the battlefield as a fighting force, though it is
not clear what their role might have been in a battle that was mainly fought
by chariots and infantry. Another recently published inscription was written
by the governor of Suḫu and is dated to about the mid-eighth century BCE
(Cavigneaux and Ismail 1990:339, 346, 351, 357). It mentions a south Arabian
caravan of 200 camels and 100 people that was robbed by the governor in the
land of Ḫindanu, on the Middle Euphrates. The list of booty does not include
typical Arabian artifacts and it is clear that the caravan brought the merchan-
dise from a non-Arabian region, possibly Syro-Palestine. We may conclude
that the domestication of the camel and the development of the cushion-
saddle, which allowed the camel-drivers to ride camels in long-distance car-
avans and in battle, should be dated to the beginning of the first millennium
BCE. These developments opened the desert areas of northern and south-
ern Arabia to “proto-Beduin” nomadic groups. It seems to me that the men-
tion of large groups of camel-drivers in the narratives of Gideon and David is
an anachronism, reflecting the reality of the time in which these stories had
been composed.
7. The problems involved with oral history and the constant change and
reinterpretation of oral traditions in the course of transmission, along with
the great difference in the concept of history between Israel and western civ-
ilizations and the obstacles involved in the use of biblical stories for histor-
ical research, have been discussed in great detail in recent research and are
not my concern here. They will be taken into account in the course of my
analysis of the conquest stories in the Book of Joshua. Hundreds of years sep-
arate the “conquest events” from the period in which the conquest stories
were composed in writing, and written transcription of presumed oral tales
may be more informative with regard to the period in which these tales were
transcribed than to the time in which they were presumed to have been com-
posed (Kirkpatrick 1988:117). Thus, it is clear that our “sources” (i.e., oral tra-
ditions) for the “conquest period” are extremely problematic and should be
treated with utmost caution.
However, the problems involved with the source material and the liter-
ary and theological character of many parts of the Dtr composition should
neither lead us to deny its definition as history nor to reject the title “histo-
rian” for its author. The Dtr historian tried to reconstruct the remote past of
Israel by narrating it according to his belief in the divine course of history
and by either using whatever sources he had, or is assumed to have had, for
his work. Reconstructing history (i.e., a continuous and contingent chain of
past events) by narrating it is a great historiographical achievement, and
this exactly is what the Dtr historian has accomplished. The genre selected
for the description is a poor criterion for deciding whether an author was
interested in “historical” reality (contra Lemche 1988a:53–54, 68; 1988b:62–
65; 1991:158–160). Nor is reliability of the chain of events the sole criterion,
becuase, to a great extent, it depends on the source material available to the
author. Crucial are the questions of whether he used whatever sources he
had for his description and whether he integrated them more or less faith-
fully within his work.
There are various indications that the Dtr historian tried to collect all
available sources for his historical reconstruction and that he integrated
them within his history. A good indication is the parallel accounts of the
same event. Thus, there are several parallel stories of the occupation of the
cities of Hebron (Josh. 10:36–37; 14:6–14; 15:13–14; Judg. 1:10; see Josh. 11:21)
and Debir (Josh. 10:38–39; 15:15–19; Judg. 1:11–15; see Josh. 11:21) in the con-
quest narratives. Even if we assume that Judges 1 is a post-Deuteronomistic
composition (see below), there still remain enough parallel accounts of the
same event, describing the occupation of the Judean hill country by ei-
ther Joshua or certain Judahite clans. The history of the tribe of Dan in the
Shephelah and its migration northward appears in three different accounts
(Josh. 19:47 [note the LXX]; Judg. 1:34–35; Judg. 18). Admittedly, the last two
may have been written by post-Deuteronomistic authors.
In the book of Samuel we find three different accounts of how Saul was
made king (1 Sam. 9:1–10:16; 10:17–26; 11). Two narratives explain the prov-
erb “Is Saul, too, among the prophets?” (1 Sam. 10:10–12; 19:18–24). There are
also parallel accounts of David’s arrival at the court of Saul (1 Sam. 16:14–23;
17),17 how he spared Saul’s life (1 Sam. 24; 26), and how he was able to find
refuge in the court of Saul’s bitter enemy, the king of Gath (1 Sam. 21:11–16;
27). The Dtr historian placed all these parallel narratives one after the other,
in spite of the fact that there are many contradictions and disagreements be-
tween them, and did not try to impose a single reconstruction of the chain
of events.
We should also note certain short accounts of the same event that the Dtr
historian placed one after the other. For example: the circumstances of the
death of Ish-Baal (2 Sam. 4:6, 7); the court of David (2 Sam. 8:16–18; 20:23–26);
the prophecy of Jehu son of Hanani on the fall of the house of Baasha (1 Kgs.
16:1–4, 7); the death of Athaliah (2 Kgs. 11:16, 20); the murder of Joash king of
Judah (2 Kgs. 12:21, 22a); and the scope of Jeroboam II’s conquests (2 Kgs. 14:
25, 28a). There are also parallel prophetic stories relating to major events in
the history of Israel and Judah, which were incorporated within the Book of
Kings. Such are the accounts of the deliverance of Samaria from Ben-Hadad
king of Aram (1 Kgs. 20:1–21; 2 Kgs. 6:24–7:20)18 and the miraculous deliv-
erance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege (2 Kgs. 18:17–19:9a, 36; 19:9b–
35).19
Finally, I wish to mention the attachment of two descriptions, one in
prose and one in poetry, of the same event. Such are the accounts of both the
battle of Kishon (Judg. 4 and 5) and the battle of Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. 31 and
2 Sam. 1:17–27). It seems to me that, in both cases, the song was the source
for the prose account (Halpern 1983a:379–401; 1983b:41–73; 1988:76–103) and
that it was the Dtr historian who decided to present them side by side, assign-
ing the poetry to the hero of the narrative.
As is well known, Greek historians since Herodotus frequently quote sev-
eral accounts of a single event, remarking that “others tell the following
story” (Licht 1983:107–108). It seems to me that the Dtr historian used this
historiographical device to present before his audience his divergent sources
17. For a more accurate demarcation of the parallel narratives in 1 Samuel, see
McCarter 1980a; 1980b; 1984:passim.
18. For the parallel prophetic legends of the siege of Samaria in 1 Kgs. 20:1–21 and 2 Kgs.
6:24–7:20, see Lipiński 1979:85, 90; Na’aman 1991:86–87.
19. For the parallel prophetic stories of the siege and miraculous deliverance of
Jerusalem, see Honor 1926:35–61; Childs 1967:69–103; Clements 1980:52–63; Gonçalves
1986:331–487.
on whose authenticity he either did not wish to decide or was unable to do

so. He used part of his sources more or less as he found them, and his nar-
rative presents his own harmonistic solution to the diversity of the sources.
Admittedly, some of the examples presented above may have come from the
pen of post-Dtr authors. There are, however, enough undisputed examples to
demonstrate that the “double account” was the result of the historian’s au-
thentic interest in describing the event “as it really was.” In this respect, the
Dtr historian had an entirely different historical attitude toward his source
material than the Chronicler, who always gave only one description of a given
event. On the other hand, the authors of the Pentateuch used the same nar-
rative technique as the Dtr historian and, thus, are much closer to him than
to the Chronicler.20
Another indication of the genuine antiquarian interest in past events is
the formula “until this day.”21 The use of similar formulae is known from the
writings of Greek historians when they sought to affirm that they were per-
sonal eyewitnesses to what they describe. In the Bible, the formula functions
in a similar manner — as a personal testimony — added to, and confirming, a
received tradition (Childs 1963:292). Admittedly, parts of these formulae were
secondarily added to the stories by late redactors. However, there are enough
original citations in the Dtr history to support the claim that the formula
“until this day” marks a special effort of the author to affirm the authenticity
of episodes portrayed in his composition.
A third indication is the author’s respect for his written sources and the
way in which he drew heavily on their words. The number of original docu-
ments at his disposal that were dated to the time of the monarchy was quite
small, and the information included therein was limited — both in scope and
theme. The way in which he cited these sources is remarkable: He inserted
them in between narratives, even when they interrupted the chain of events,
citing them in full, even though on many occasions they were dull, lengthy
registrations that did not add anything substantial either to the narratives or
to their religious message. Moreover, in many cases, he made far-fetched in-
ferences from his sources to other vague or unknown situations. All these in-
dicate a genuine antiquarian interest in the past and an effort to reconstruct
history “as it really was.”
20. On the double accounts of the same event in the Pentateuch, see recently Whybray
1987:74–80, with earlier literature.
21. For the etiological narratives in the Old Testament, see Seeligmann 1961:141–169;
Childs 1963:279–292; 1974:387–397; Long l968, with earlier literature; Golka 1976:410–428;
1977:36–47; van Dyk 1990.
8. Malamat (1983:303–306) suggested that the historical period of Israel

began about the mid-twelfth century BCE, when the Israelite tribes were es-
tablished in Palestine and Israel first became an integral ethnic and territo-
rial entity. However, in the mid–12th century the settlement process was in
its initial stage, and it is inconceiveable that at this time Israel was already
a vast, ethnically unified entity. The assumed emergence of tribal territories
and the consolidation of the Israelite tribes may possibly be dated to the late
eleventh century, shortly before the foundation of the monarchy. Second,
and even more important, the line between prehistory and history is demar-
cated by the availability of written sources, not by the actual settlement pro-
cess. There are many peoples who settled in their countries for hundreds of
years and established states and institutions, but left no records, so that their
history is entirely obscure. The history of other peoples, on the other hand,
began even before they settled and became territorial nations.
It is evident that the pre-monarchial period is marked by a lack of liter-
ary activity and must be regarded as a prehistorical stage. Israel entered the
proto-historical stage in the time of David and Solomon, when professional
scribes entered the court of Jerusalem and began writing documents for ad-
ministrative purpose. It was only in the eighth-seventh centuries BCE that
Israel entered into the realm of history, when literacy spread in the king-
doms of Israel and Judah and the earliest works of the history of Israel were
composed.
The “Conquest Period” should be included in the prehistory of Israel; the
immense problems involved with the historical investigation of the conquest
narratives are the direct result of this literary situation.
The Settlement in the Hill Country: A Local Development

or Infiltration from Without?
Nomads in the Late Bronze Age

One of the basic concepts in biblical historical consciousness is that the
Israelites entered Canaan from outside (Weippert 1973:418–421; Soggin 1984:
139, 156–157. For a recent discussion of the problem, see Whitelam 1989:19–
42). The claim that the land was conquered by force due to divine guidance
and help is the outcome of this basic concept. The Heilsgeschichte of Israel
from its early beginnings down to its settlement in Canaan depends on this
belief. The claim of a migration and penetration from outside is remark-
able; one would rather expect a nation to emphasize its antiquity in the land,
which better supports its right to this land. One may, of course, suggest that
the concept developed in the Exilic and post-Exilic periods, to emphasize the
rights of the Returnees of Zion to the land: Like their ancestors, who con-
quered and settled Canaan, they also entered the land from outside and were
entitled to hold it.
The biblical tradition of the origins of Israel and the entrance to Canaan
from without is the opposite of the new interpretations of the settlement and
conquest processes, according to which the Israelite nation emerged from
autochthonous elements of the Late Bronze Age. Details of this process are
disputed among scholars. Some suggested that the highlands population of
Iron Age I originated either from the disintegrating urban-rural population
of Canaan who found shelter in the hill country22 or from the rural-nomadic
population of the hill country (de Geus 1976:164–181; Halpern 1983c:47–106;
Coote and Whitelam 1987:117–138; cf. Stager 1985:3–4). Others hold the view
that the new settlers were semi-nomads who either lived in symbiotic rela-
tions with the Canaanite city-states (Fritz 1981:61–73; 1987:84–100) or wan-
dered in the hill country and its eastern periphery during the Late Bronze Age
and settled in Iron Age I following the destruction of the Canaanite urban sys-
tem (Finkelstein 1988b:336–351; 1990:682–685).23 It goes without saying that
local elements — in particular the urban, rural and pastoral groups who lived
in the hill country — participated in the settlement process and formed part
of the new rural-pastoral society of the early Iron Age. The mixture of old and
new elements is particularly prominent in the hill country of Manasseh, as
scholars suggested long ago (Alt 1939:8–13; de Vaux 1978:635–640; Finkelstein
1988b:80–91, 348–351). However, the remarkable biblical historical memory
of migration from remote areas to the Land of Canaan should be investigated
in detail to determine whether all the groups that settled in the hill country
and its periphery were indeed of local Canaanite origin.
The destruction of the Middle Bronze Age urban culture in the sixteenth-
early fifteenth centuries BCE brought about large-scale nomadization of pop-
ulation groups throughout Canaan. Northern groups (mainly Hurrians) mi-
grated at that time and entered Canaan via the Syro-African Rift Valley (de
Vaux 1967:481–497; 1978:83–89; Na’aman 1982:180–182; Finkelstein 1988:339–
345). The size of the urban population in Late Bronze Age I Canaan had been
drastically reduced, in comparison to the Middle Bronze Age III population,
22. Mendenhall 1962:66–87; Gottwald 1979, passim; Lemaire 1982:20–24; Chaney 1983:
39–90; Callaway 1985:31–49; Lemche 1985:416–437. For a more flexible reconstruction,
which takes into account a movement of Canaanite and non-Canaanite groups into the hill
country, see Ahlström 1986:11–36 (esp. pp. 35–36).
23. It goes without saying that this model is closely related to Alt’s classical model of
peaceful infiltration and gradual sedentarization and occupation of the land. See Alt 1953:
89–125; 1939:8–63.
and the number of nomadic elements considerably increased in these years.

It would be a serious mistake, however, to assume that the number of no-
mads remained unchanged for a long time, until the beginning of Iron Age
I, and that the transition from Middle Bronze Age III to Late Bronze Age II is
marked only by a shift in the balance between urban-rural and nomadic pop-
ulations (Finkelstein 1988b:341–345. For a detailed discussion of the problem,
see Bunimovitz 1989:162–178.). This assumption ignores the problem of the
subsistence of the pastoral groups, who are economically dependent on the
settled population. The disruption of the balance between these two sectors
brings about a lack of grain and other food products for the nomadic sector.
Thus, it is clear that the drastic reduction in the scope of the urban sector in
the Late Bronze Age exerted enormous economic pressure on the pastoral
groups, and they were forced either to migrate or to produce grain for their
living. Indeed, ancient Near Eastern documents indicate that following se-
rious crises in the urban culture and temporary growth of the pastoral ele-
ment in the population, the pastoral groups tend to settle down, and the bal-
ance between the urban-rural and nomadic groups is gradually restored. It
goes without saying that the pastoral sector never disappears completely; the
economy of the urban and nomadic populations is symbiotically intercon-
nected and the two elements coexist side by side at all times (Rowton 1973a:
201–215; 1973b:247–258; 1974:1–30).
One may further point out that, according to nineteenth-early twentieth
century CE censuses, the nomadic sector numbered about 10–15% of the pop-
ulation and its size increased steadily in proportion to the growth of the entire
population (Bachi 1977:378–381, 392–395; Shmueli 1980:26–56, 73–74; Avneri
1980:13–31; Ben-Arieh 1988:1–14, with earlier literature in n. 1). It is true that,
in other periods, the ratio between the sedentary and the nomadic populations
could have been different. There are, however, indications that the transition
from Middle Bronze Age III to Late Bronze Age II was marked by a drastic de-
cline in the population. Bunimovitz suggested that a shortage of manpower
was a major problem for the city-state rulers in the Late Bronze Age, and he re-
garded attempts at territorial expansion as having been motivated by the de-
sire to control larger human resources (Bunimovitz 1989:153–160).24 This is con-
firmed by the remarkable difference in large-scale public works between the
Middle Bronze and the Late Bronze Age. During the Middle Bronze, enormous
ramparts and stone and earth revetments had been built in all cities of Canaan.
These earth, brick and stone constructions required the lengthy conscription of
24. For the relation of the control of human resources and political power, see Marfoe
1979:16–17.
thousands of workers, and it is clear that the human resources were abundant.
In the Late Bronze, on the other hand, cities either were totally fortified or had
no more than a renovation of the Middle Bronze defense system. The almost
total lack of new fortification projects in Late Bronze Canaan was the direct re-
sult of the shortage of human resources. We may recall that nomads were liable
for public works, at least in return for food and salary. Thus, the lack of fortifi-
cation works supports the claim of a drastic reduction in the overall population
of Canaan — including the nomadic sector — during the Late Bronze Age.
The gradual growth in the number of settlements during Late Bronze Age
II-III may have been due partly to the integration of some nomadic elements
into the Canaanite city-state system (Gonen 1984:61–73; Bunimovitz 1989:75–
100, 167–175). It seems also that the “northern” elements that entered Canaan
in the sixteenth-early fifteenth centuries BCE adopted the local urban culture
and were gradually absorbed by the local population. For this reason, it is dif-
ficult to find distinct Hurrian names in the large corpus of biblical names (de
Vaux 1967:481–503; 1978:83–89, 136–137; Zadok 1985:397; Na’aman 1988:44).
We may conclude that the balance between the urban-rural and nomadic el-
ements was gradually restored; the latter may well have constituted no more
than 10–15% of the overall population of Late Bronze Age II Canaan.
Archaeological indications for nomads in the Late Bronze Age are scanty:
several cemeteries (Gonen 1992:148–149) and a few cultic sites (Finkelstein
1988b:343–344). Some of the shrines, located near urban centers, may have
functioned as part of the urban cult and should not be taken as evidence of the
presence of independent nomadic groups. This is indicated by comparison to
the Akitu temples in Mesopotamia (Falkenstein 1959:147–182; van Driel 1969:
162–165), or the many out-of-town cultic sites in Anatolia (Gurney 1977:35–
43, with earlier literature). The fact that all Late Bronze Age I outdoor temples
on both sides of the Jordan disappered in Late Bronze Age II (Tell Kittan, Tell
el-Ḥayyat, Shiloh and possibly Tel Mevorakh) is remarkable. It is evident that
the cultic sites were gradually abandoned when the nomadic groups either
migrated or settled down. It was only in the thirteenth-twelfth centuries BCE
that new outdoor temples were built on both sides of the Jordan (Amman, Tell
Deir cAlla, Mount Ebal, the “Bull Site”) indicating the growth of the nomadic
population in the peripheral areas of Canaan at that time. The overall archae-
ological evidence for pastoral groups in Late BronzeAge II Canaan is poor and
supports my suggestion that the ratio between the sedentary and nomadic el-
ements in the fourteenth-thirteenth centuries was somewhat similar to (or, at
least, not very different from) that in the Middle Bronze.
Documents of the fourteenth-thirteenth centuries mention various
bands and clans that appear in all areas of Canaan and are called by various
names: Shasu (in Egyptian sources), Sutu (in cuneiform sources) and ‘Apiru
(Bottéro 1954; Greenberg 1955; Giveon 1971; Weippert 1974:265–280, 427–

433; Na’aman 1986:271–288, with earlier literature in n. 1; Knauf 1988:97–
124). These elements operated on many occasions as independent groups
and sometimes attacked and sacked their neighbors; at other times, they co-
operated with local rulers against their neighbors. Sometimes they became
a real threat to city-state rulers and, therefore, were regarded as enemies of
the Pharaoh and the Egyptian authorities in Canaan. Soldiers recruited from
among them served in the armies of the local kingdoms and played an im-
portant role in internal relations. It must be emphasized that almost all the
groups mentioned in the documents operated in the fertile lowlands, within
the framework of Canaanite kingdoms, and should be regarded as part of the
society of the Late Bronze Age. Bands and displaced individual were grad-
ually reintegrated into the Canaanite urban society, whereas other people
were uprooted and sometimes formed new groups of outlaws (Bottéro 1981:
93–106; Na’aman, 1986:272–273).
To sum up, the overall number of Late Bronze nomads on the periphery of
Palestine is unknown. A rough approximation of about 7,000–10,000 (10–15% of
the overall estimated population) may give some general idea of their size. The
number of nomads increased in the thirteenth century, following the destruc-
tion of Canaanite urban centers, and rose to new heights in the twelfth century
with the destruction of the Late Bronze urban civilization in vast Near Eastern
areas (see below). Thus, there is no way to establish the role of the Late Bronze
II nomads in the settlement process of the twelfth-eleventh centuries BCE.
Nomadization and Migration in the Twelfth Century BCE

The settlement in the peripheral areas of Canaan was contemporaneous
with the destruction of the urban culture in the entire Aegean-Anatolian-
Syro-Palestinian region and the migration of large population groups to re-
mote areas. The relationship between these historical processes should be
discussed in detail to clarify their possible effect on the growth of settlement
in Canaan in Iron Age I.
Documentary evidence indicates the appearance of large groups of no-
mads on the boundaries of Mesopotamia in the late twelfth-eleventh cen-
turies BCE. An indication of the situation in Syria and southern Anatolia
after the severe destructions of the twelfth century and the massive mi-
gration that followed appears in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser I, king
of Assyria (1114–1076 BCE). Shortly after his ascendance to the throne, he
fought large groups (20,000 people according to his annals) of the “Mushki,”
i.e., the Phrygians, who wandered from the Balkans to the east (Herodotus,
VII 73; see Barnett 1975a:417–442), destroying and despoiling on their way
many settlements all over Anatolia and reaching the borders of Assyria in the
upper Tigris region. Tiglath-pileser described how he defeated them, cap-

tured 6,000 of their forces and settled them in his kingdom (Grayson 1976:6–
7). In the next year, he fought and defeated groups of the Kashka, a tribal con-
federation that migrated eastward from northern Anatolia, near the Black
Sea, where they had lived for hundreds of years in the time of the Hittite em-
pire (Grayson 1976:9. For the Kashka, see von Schuler 1965.).
In the fourth year of his reign, Tiglath-pileser fought the aḫlamu
Arameans (“the Aramean pastoralists”), who spread along the Euphrates
from the Babylonian northern border up to Carchemish (for the Aḫlamu,
see Brinkman 1968:277, n. 1799, with earlier literature; Zadok 1985:59, 65–67;
1991:104–110). According to his annals, he defeated them and pursued them
up to Mount Bishri in northeast Syria (Grayson 1976:13–14). In his later in-
scriptions, he described his campaign against these nomadic groups (possibly
in his seventeenth year), as follows (Grayson 1976:27):
I have crossed the Euphrates twenty-eight times, twice in one year, in pursuit of the
aḫlamu Arameans. I brought about their defeat from the city of Tadmor of the land of
Amurru, Anat of the land Suḫu, as far as Rapiqu of Karduniash (i.e., Babylon). I brought
their booty (and) possessions to my city Ashur.
The aḫlamu Arameans are never mentioned before the time of Tiglath-
pileser I (although the Aḫlameans appear in fourteenth-thirteenth century
Mesopotamian sources); they suddenly appear at the end of the twelfth cen-
tury in vast Syro-Mesopotamian areas, as far as the coast of Lebanon.
The Arameans are mentioned for the first time in an Assyrian chronicle
that describes the events of years 33–34 of Tiglath-pileser I and also in the in-
scriptions of his son Ashur-bel-kala (1073–1056 BCE). They are referred to in
a Babylonian chronicle, in a passage describing events of the days of Adad-
apla-iddina, king of Babylon (1069–1048 BCE).25 From that time, the Arameans
played an important role in the history of Mesopotamia and Syria. The cam-
paigns of Assyrian and Babylonian kings conducted against the Arameans in
the course of the eleventh-tenth centuries BCE did not meet significant suc-
cess, and the two kingdoms gradually ceded vast regions in northern and
southern Mesopotamia. The Arameans settled in the evacuated areas and
started establishing independent kingdoms in Upper Mesopotamia and
along the Middle Euphrates.26 Other Aramean kingdoms were established
25. See the references cited by Neumann and Parpola 1987:178–179. For a historical dis-
cussion, see Brinkman 1968:135–144.
26. See the following discussions: Kupper 1957:115–131; Brinkman 1968:124–155, 267–
268, 387–389; Postgate 1974:233–237; 1985:96–101; Garelli and Nikiprowetzky 1974:54–61,
217–229; Zadok 1985:81–85; 1991:113–117.
in southern Syria and northern Transjordan (Aram Zobah, Aram Damascus,

Tob, Geshur and Maacah). Aramaic toponyms and personal names do not an-
tedate the eleventh century, and it is clear that we are dealing with newly es-
tablished groups that started playing an important role in the history of Syria
and Mesopotamia only from the late second millennium BCE (Zadok 1985:59–
70; 1991:104–117).
The Mesopotamian documents indicate that an enormous population dis-
placement was taking place as a result of the destruction of the urban culture
in vast areas of Hither Asia, and that many thousands of people joined the no-
madic sector in the twelfth-eleventh centuries BCE. Other well-documented
migrations of large population groups are known from Mesopotamian and
Egyptian documents (and to a certain extent from Anatolian and Syrian doc-
uments) of the third and second millennia BCE. The best known of these
migrating peoples are the Mardu of the UR III Dynasty (Gelb 1961:29–35;
Buccellati 1966), the West-Semites of the Old Babylonian period (Kupper
1957:261–263; Gelb 1961:34–36; Anbar 1985:177), the Kassites (Landsberger
1954:61–72; Rowton 1976:24–30; Brinkman 1976–80:464–473; Zadok 1987:
16–20), the Hyksos (Albright 1954:222–233; Bietak 1980:93–103; 1984:474–
475, with earlier literature in n. 27; 1991:53–62, with earlier literature), and
the Hurrians in the seventeenth-fifteenth centuries BCE (Draffkorn 1959;
Kupper 1978:117–128; Astour 1978:1–9, with earlier literature; Wilhelm 1982:
9–3; Zadok 1987:21–24). The entry of new ethnic groups into a certain region
is usually indicated by the appearance of personal names of foreign origin,
but sometimes also by distinctive archaeological evidence (e.g., the Khirbet
Kerak people,27 the Hyksos [in Egypt], and the Philistines).
The above-mentioned historical episodes point to a clear shortcoming
in the current theory, which argues that the major processes of downfall
of urban cultures, nomadization of large population groups, and the grad-
ual emergence of new urban cultures had taken place in Canaan in isolation
from other areas of the ancient Near East. The main flaw in this assumption
is the exaggerated reduction in the size of the region affected by these large-
scale events. Within the entire region delimited in the south by the Syro-
Arabian Desert and the Sinai Peninsula, in the west by the Mediterranean, in
the north by the Amanus and Taurus ranges and in the east by the Kurdistan
and Zagros ranges, there are hardly any natural barriers that interrupt close
contacts among its inhabitants (Rowton 1973b:248–249). In normal peaceful
situations, contacts between nomads and urban-rural dwellers were made in
27. For the Khirbet Kerak ware, see Mellaart 1966:73–89; Todd 1973:181–206; Burney
1989:331–339; Yakar 1990:94*–100*.
relatively limited areas (the so-called “dimorphic zones”) (Rowton 1973a).28

However, in periods of widespread decline of the urban systems — like the
downfall of the Early Bronze urban system in the late third millennium, the
demolition of many Syro-Anatolian kingdoms in the seventeenth-sixteenth
centuries, and the total destruction of the urban system in Anatolia and Syro-
Palestine in the twelfth century BCE — the processes of uprooting and nomadi-
zation were greatly accelerated, and population groups might have migrated
to distant areas. Moreover, in no other period in the history of the ancient
Near East was the disruption of urban culture in Anatolia and Syro-Palestine
so all-inclusive and complete as in the twelfth century BCE. The kingdom of
Ebla survived the destructions of the late third millennium BCE and formed
a sort of barrier to large-scale migration of northern elements into Canaan
in the the late third millennium BCE. The kingdom of Yamḫad (Ḫalab) and its
satellite kingdoms survived the destructions of the seventeenth/sixteenth
centuries BCE, though on a much reduced scale, and many Canaanite king-
doms suffering devastations in the sixteenth-early fifteenth centuries grad-
ually recovered and are known to have existed throughout the Late Bronze
Age. In the twelfth century, on the other hand, all Anatolian and Syrian king-
doms (save for Carchemish and Melid) were utterly sacked with no recovery.
The wave of destruction reached as far as the Aegean and the Balkan regions.
No wonder that groups of Sea Peoples reached both the coast of Canaan and
the western Mediterranean.29
The settlement process in Palestine in the twelfth-eleventh centuries
BCE was synchronous with an enormous wave of migration, whose results
were felt in all areas of Western Asia and in large parts of the Mediterranean.
The claim that there was a limited reservoir of manpower in the peripheral
areas of Canaan and that the settlement was necessarily an inter-Palestinian
process (Gottwald 1979:441–473; Chaney 1983:39–46; Lemche 1985:386–406,
411–413) ignores the historical moment in which the settlement was tak-
ing place. Documentary evidence indicates that large-scale migration in the
Syro-Mesopotamian areas was taking place during Iron Age I, and it seems
that various groups (i.e., Sea Peoples and other Syro-Anatolian bands, as well
as West-Semitic Syro-Mesopotamian pastoral groups) reached the Land of
Canaan in this period. We may conclude that the penetration and settlement
28. Lemche 1985:84–201 criticized the concept of dimorphism, suggesting the term
“polymorphous society” (1985:198).
29. For a comprehensive study of the Sea Peoples, see Barnett 1975b:359–378; Strobel
1976; Sandars 1978; Helck 1979:132–144; Schachermeyr 1982; Brug 1985; Singer 1988:239–
250.
of “northern” groups played an important role in the settlement process in

Canaan the twelfth-eleventh centuries BCE.
Migration from the Former Hittite Empire to Canaan in Iron Age I

Five ethnic groups of “northern” origin are mentioned in the biblical tra-
dition of the seven nations dispossessed by the Israelites: Hittites, Hivites,
Jebusites, Girgashites and Perizzites (Mazar [Maisler] 1930:80–82; Mendenhall
1974:142–163; Mazar 1981:75–85). The Hittites are mentioned in conjunction
with the city of Hebron (Gen. 23), in a late, fictive story that is usually as-
signed to the P source. The three benê/yelîdê hā‘ănāq — Ahiman, Sheshai and
Talmai — whose names are non-Semitic, may have been members of a north-
ern migrating group that settled at Hebron (Num. 13:22; Josh. 15:14; Judg. 1:
10). Ahimelech the Hittite (1 Sam. 26:6) and Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam. 11; 23:
39) served in the army of David. Uriah lived in Jerusalem, and, if he were
born there, he might have been a Jebusite. However, both Ahimelech and
Uriah may as well have been members of David’s band, which moved with his
“mighty men” from Hebron to Jerusalem after its conquest. The marriage of
Esau to Hittite women (Gen. 26:34; 27:46; 36:2) is mentioned in texts that are
assigned to the P source and possibly reflects the close contacts between the
inhabitants of southern Judah and Edom in the Persian period. Thus, it is pos-
sible that some Anatolian groups migrated and settled in the hills of Judah
and that post-Exilic scribes, who were aware of their early settlement in the
area, called the autochthonous population of the Judean hill country by the
name “Hittites” (see below).30
The Hivites most probably arrived from Que (Cilicia), which was known
in ancient times by the name Ḫuwe (Albright 1950:22–25; Görg 1976:53–
55). They settled near the Liṭani River, between the mountainous ranges of
Hermon and Lebanon (Josh. 11:3; Judg. 3:3; 2 Sam. 24:7), in western Benjamin
(Josh. 9:7), and possibly also in the area of Shechem (if we may trust the late
fictive story of Gen. 34:2).
The Jebusites destroyed the Canaanite city of Jerusalem and settled there
in Iron Age I. Their exact place of origin remains unknown, but they appar-
ently came from the Hittite empire, as may be inferred from the words of
Ezekiel on the Hittite origin of Jerusalem (Ezek. 16:3, 45) and the Hurrian/
Hittite name (or title) Araunah/Auarnah (2 Sam. 24:16–25) (Mazar [Maisler]
1930:80–82; 1936:189–191; Rosen 1955:318–320; McCarter 1980a:512, with ear-
30. For the Hittites in the Bible, see Maisler 1930:76–82; 1936:189–191; Forrer 1936:190–
203; 1937:100–115; Hoffner 1969:27–55; 1973:213–221; Kempinski 1979:21–45.
lier literature; Abramski 1985:55–56; Wyatt 1985).31 The Girgashites came

from Karkisha in western Anatolia (Mendenhall 1974:145; del Monte and
Tischler 1978:182–183). The location of their domain in Canaan remains
unknown. The origin of the Perizzites is unknown, but, like the other four
groups, they possibly migrated from the area of the former Hittite empire
and settled at some unknown place(s) in Canaan (for the Perizzites in the
Bible, see Na’aman 1988:42–44, with earlier literature).
Only two of the seven pre-Israelite nations represent the autochtho-
nous population of the country: Canaanites and Amorites (though the latter
is an archaic non-historical name). The rest bear names of splinter groups
that migrated to Canaan in the twelfth century and settled there side by
side with the settlements of local and migrating West-Semitic groups (the
so-called “Israelites”). The lack of mention of the prominent Egyptian pres-
ence in Canaan in the thirteenth-twelfth centuries BCE; the omission of the
Hurrians (one of the most distinctive population groups of Canaan in the
Late Bronze Age) from the list of pre-Israelite nations (Finkelstein 1988b:
339–345; de Vaux 1967:481–497; 1978:83–89; Na’aman 1982:180–182; Anbar
and Na’aman 1986–1987:3–12, with earlier literature); and the inclusion in
the list of pre-Israelite nations of groups which entered Canaan at the same
time as the “Israelites” — all these clearly indicate how vague and mistaken
the memory of the early history of Israel was when the early traditions of
Israel were composed in writing.
We may conclude that the quake caused by the wave of the Sea Peoples
and the destruction of the urban culture in the Syro-Anatolian zone brought
about the migration of groups of uprooted fugitives southward, groups who
gradually destroyed the rest of the urban centers in Syria and Canaan. Some
of the migrants gradually settled in northern and central Syria, establishing in
the eleventh-tenth centuries the kingdoms termed “Hittite” in the Assyrian
sources and in the Bible (Gen. 10:15; Josh. 1:4; 1 Kgs. 10:29; 11:1; 2 Kgs. 7:6),
and Neo-Hittite (or Syro-Hittite) by modern scholars (Landsberger 1948:12–
40; Hawkins 1974:67–83; 1982:372–441). Others migrated southward along
the Syro-African Rift Valley and reached Canaan. This wave of uprooted peo-
ple may well have caused the Egyptian withdrawal from Canaan (as a sort of
“last straw that broke the camel’s back”). At first, the Egyptians were able to
31. According to Fuss (1962:162–163), Araunah was the name of the threshing floor on
which a local Jebusite cult etiology was told, and the author derived the proper name from
the toponym’s name. Whether the Jebusites have anything to do with either the Amorite
clan Yabasa of the Mari tablets or the Amorite proper name Yabusum is not clear. See
Forrer 1936:199–200; Huffmon 1965:177; Mendenhall 1974:145.
withstand the pressure of the Sea Peoples, who arrived by sea and along the
Mediterranean coast in the time of Ramesses III (1184–1153 BCE), and, for a
while, consolidated their rule in Canaan. The penetration of new groups of
fugitives, whose entry must have been attended by plunder and destruction,
decided the issue. In the time of Ramesses VI (1143–1136 BCE), the Egyptians
were obliged to retreat and to abandon the Canaanite cities that, until then,
were entirely dependent on their military strength. The latter soon fell
victim to the various groups that were active at that time in Canaan (Sea
Peoples, migrants from the Hittite empire, West-Semitic pastoral groups and
local bands of cApiru) and were sacked and utterly destroyed.
The northern migrants settled down along their line of march: Hivites
resided near the Liṭani Valley, northwest of Jerusalem, and possibly near
Shechem (if we may trust the fictive story of Gen. 34:2). The Jebusites de-
stroyed Jerusalem and established themselves there, and “Hittites” possi-
bly dwelt in the hill country of Judah. Other northern groups settled in var-
ious hill country sites, as indicated by the Khirbet Raddana “Hittite” krater
(Callaway and Cooley 1971:15–19). Mendenhall even suggested that the
Transjordanian kingdoms of Sihon and Og were founded by similar northern
groups (Mendenhall 1974:151, 160), but his view lacks concrete foundations.
It must be emphasized that the sources for the location of these northern
groups are usually late and legendary and, therefore, should be treated with
great caution. Thus, it is possible that some of this “evidence” is no more than
literary constructions that do not reflect the ancient reality. Such are the nar-
ratives of the settlement of Hivites at Shechem (Gen. 34) and at Gibeon (Josh.
9), along with that of Hittites at Hebron (Gen. 23). Even more problematic are
the names and titles assigned in these late narratives to their institutions and
leaders: “people of the land” and “Hittites” at Hebron (Gen. 23), “elders” at
Gibeon (Josh. 9), and “nāśi’ of the land”and “men of their city” at Shechem
(Gen. 34:2). Elders may well have been the central institution in their villages
(but see 2 Sam. 24:16) (Mazar 1981:78; Abramski 1985:55–56), but one must be
extremely cautious about the exact nature of the institutions that are men-
tioned in such late legendary texts.
The paucity of artifacts of “northern” origin in Iron Age I sites ostensibly
raises doubts as to the northern origin of their inhabitants. However, there
are no exact rules about the relationship between material culture and eth-
nicity. Sometimes migrants retain their original cultural traditions; in other
cases they adopt the local culture and leave no sign of their origin in the
material culture. The Khirbet Kerak-people, the Hyksos (in Egypt) and the
Philistines illustrate the former case. On the other hand, there is hardly any
sign in the material culture of the northern origin of the Hurrians and other
northern groups that reached Canaan in the sixteenth-early fifteenth centu-
ries BCE (for a detailed discussion of this problem, see Na’aman 1994). For ex-
ample, one-third of the names mentioned in the Taanach letters of the late
fifteenth century are “northern” (Glock 1971:17–30), but the Canaanite mate-
rial culture of Late Bronze Taanach does not disclose any northern element.
It is worth noting that the migration of these mid-second millennium north-
ern groups is particularly instructive, because their origin, their route of mi-
gration (via the Syro-African Rift Valley), and their distribution in Canaan are
quite similar to those of the northern groups of the twelfth century BCE.
Another example is that of the deportees brought to Palestine by the
Assyrians in the late eighth-seventh centuries BCE. According to biblical
and Assyrian sources, thousands of deportees of various origins (Arameans,
Babylonians, Iranians, Arabs, Elamites) were exiled to the country at that
time,32 but these ethnic groups, which settled in various parts of the country,
are not reflected in the material culture of the period.
However, the best example is that of the Assyrian merchants who lived
in Cappadocia in the nineteenth-early eighteenth centuries BCE. They dwelt
in Anatolian houses, used local pottery and adopted other elements of the
local material culture. It is only from the information provided in tablets and
seals that their long presence in Anatolia can be clearly detected (Mellaart in
Adams 1974:252–253).33
We may conclude that only written sources reliably disclose the migrat-
ing peoples of the late second millennium BCE and their origin. Material cul-
ture may also indicate their presence in the country, but no negative con-
clusions can be drawn from the lack of positive evidence (see Kramer 1977:
91–112; London 1989:37–55, with earlier literature).34
Famine and Migration in the late Thirteenth-Eleventh Centuries BCE

Famine played an important role in the large-scale migrations of the late
thirteenth-twelfth centuries BCE. Documents from Hattusha, Ugarit and
Egypt indicate severe food shortage in the closing decades of the Hittite em-
pire, culminating in a disastrous famine (Wainwright 1959:197–203; 1960:24–
28; Klengel 1974:165–174; Singer 1983:4–5). The efforts of the Hittite rulers
to overcome the food shortage by organizing and expediting consignments
of grains from Egypt and northern Syria to the areas stricken by famine did
32. For the Assyrian deportations, see Oded 1979. For the Assyrian deportation to
Palestine, see Na’aman and Zadok 1988:36–46; Na’aman 1989:43–62, with earlier literature.
33. For further examples of a later date, see Isserlin 1982:9–24; 1983:89.
34. For further evidence of “northern” influence on the Iron Age I material culture of
Palestine, see Beck 1990.
not meet with lasting success. The severe famine played an important role in
the Sea Peoples’ movements; the exhausted Hittite empire was unable to halt
them and, in a relatively short time, fell prey to their assaults (Wainwright
1959; Singer 1985:122–123; 1988:243–244). Herodotus (I 94) reported that
the Tyrsenoi (most probably identical with the Tursha, one of the groups
of the Sea Peoples) migrated from Lydia to Italy after they had suffered se-
vere famine for eighteen years, and there they became known as Etruscans
(Wainwright 1959:197–213; Strobel 1976:182–190, with earlier literature).
Further evidence of drought and severe famine in the eleventh century
appears in the Assyrian and Babylonian sources (Brinkman 1968:124–130,
387–389; Neumann and Parpola 1987:171–182). Remarkable in these docu-
ments is the concentration of natural catastrophes that caused severe food
shortages, obliging the pastoral groups to obtain food supplies by raids on
the settled areas. The nomadic razzias brought about the destruction and
abandonment of many cities and villages in the two kingdoms. Neumann
and Parpola suggested that there is evidence of a long-term climatic change
in vast areas of Europe, Asia, and Africa ca. 1200–900 BCE and that its cumu-
lative effects make it a factor of the utmost historical significance. In their
opinion, the climatic change affected the economies and stability of the or-
ganized states and brought about massive, devastating incursions of nomads
into Mesopotamia, forays that are evident from the Assyrian and Babylonian
sources of the twelfth-eleventh centuries (Neumann and Parpola 1987:161–
182).35
Against this background, we may better understand the sources referring
to Canaan of the thirteenth-twelfth centuries BCE. In a letter found at Aphek,
the Ugaritic commissioner asks the Egyptian prefect of Canaan to restore to
him a consignment of fifteen metric tons of wheat. International commerce
in the Late Bronze Age was usually confined to luxury goods; a transaction
involving grain must have been the result of unusual circumstances, i.e., of
the drought and famine in that period (Singer 1983:4–5).36 Later, Merneptah
(1212–1202 BCE) sent ships with grain to Hatti (Wainwright 1983:24–28). The
ostraca of the time of Ramesses III unearthed at Lachish and Tel Serac, in
which large quantities of grain are mentioned, may well reflect an Egyptian
effort to store grain in face of the long drought and famine (Goldwasser 1984:
77–93).
35. For a general historical survey, see Wiseman 1975:443–481.

36. Lemche (1985:423) was unaware of the large scope of the droughts and famine and
noted that “we have no sources which relate that there was famine because of drought in
Palestine during the period between 1500 and 1000.”
Papyrus Anastasi VI presents the form in which an official on the eastern

border of Egypt might have reported to his overseer (Wilson 1969a:259). The
passage merits being cited in full:
We have finished letting the Shasu of Edom pass the Fortress of Mer-ne-Ptah — life,
prosperity, health! — which is in Tjeko, to the pools of Per-Atum of Mer-ne-Ptah Hotep-
hir-Maat, which are in Tjeku, to keep them alive and to keep their cattle alive, through
the great ka of Pharaoh . . .
The Egyptians allowed nomadic groups to enter their country, carefully
supervising their comings and goings (Wilson 1969a:258; Alt 1936:26–33).
It is against this background that we may gain a better understanding of
the biblical traditions of the Patriachs’ migrations to Egypt. It is said of Abram
(Gen. 12:10), “Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to
Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.” The motif of
a famine is mentioned again in the narrative cycle of Isaac (Gen. 26:1) and is
emphasized particularly in the cycle stories of Joseph. It seems to me that in
the background of these narratives was the vague historical memory of the
long period of drought and famine throughout Western Asia in the last quar-
ter of the second millennium BCE. The shortage of grain supply in Canaan
became particularly acute following the destruction of the Canaanite urban
system, because the economy of the pastoral groups was dependent on the
supply of cereals from towns and villages in their vicinity. The food shortage
obliged various groups to migrate to Egypt to obtain sustenance for them-
selves and their herds. The prolonged famine, so markedly affecting the life-
style of the nomads, and the ensuing migrations have been engraved deeply
in the collective historical memory of the Israelites; the two elements have
been both telescoped into a continuous narrative cycle focused on the his-
tory of the Patriarchs’ family and given a literary-novelistic form. These mi-
grations, taking place at various times and involving various groups, find
their literary expression in the Joseph cycle. For example, Jacob says to his
sons: “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy
grain for us there that we may live, and not die” (Gen. 42:2); and Jacob’s sons
say to the Pharaoh: “We have come to sojourn in the land; for there is no pas-
ture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan;
and now, we pray you, let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” (Gen. 47:
4). These verses reflect well economic strategies of pastoral groups in face of
shortage of food and pasture in their homeland.
These twelfth century migrations, telescoped and shaped in an outstand-
ing literary-theological dress, may well have formed the vaguely memo-
rized background of the story of pastoral groups coming out of Egypt (i.e.,
the Exodus). It seems to me that the narratives of the entry into and the exit
from Egypt vaguely reflect the exceptional reality of a certain historical pe-
riod (late thirteenth-twelfth centuries BCE), rather than the routine migra-
tions of West-Semitic pastoral groups (as scholars sometimes interpret it).
We may conclude that migrations from Canaan to Egypt and backwards
must also be taken into account in the discussion of the origin of the groups
settling in Palestine in Iron Age I. These movements fit nicely the overall pic-
ture of large-scale migrations in all parts of Western Asia and again show the
unstable and fluid demographic situation in this period.
Summary and Conclusions

The overall picture emerging from the various sources does not corrob-
orate the assumption that the Iron Age I settlement process was an internal
Palestinian one and that the inhabitants of the new settlements originated
only from among the local Canaanite urban-rural-pastoral elements. I have
described at length the enormous intensity of the historical events occurring
in Western Asia and the eastern Mediterranean in the late thirteenth-twelfth
centuries BCE, which brought in their wake an unprecedented wave of mi-
grations and profound demographic change in the entire region. The scope
and intensity of these events and the ensuing population movements do not
fit reconstructions that separate a certain region from the entire Western
Asiatic arena and isolate its micro-history from the overall historical devel-
opments of that time. In my opinion, neither the “internal immigration and
conquest model” nor the “sociological hypothesis” offers adequate explana-
tions for the settlement process, because both discuss it in isolation from the
overall historical, demographic, economic and social developments of the
late thirteenth-eleventh centuries BCE.
A complicated picture emerges from the combination of the documentary
and archaeological evidence. Various groups (whose overall number cannot be
estimated) originating from different Western Asiatic regions entered Canaan
in Iron Age I, joining the autochthonous pastoral groups of the Late Bronze Age.
Some of them migrated from the former areas of the Hittite empire as a result of
the severe famine and the influx of Sea Peoples. Other groups — like the “sons of
Jacob,” who, according to biblical tradition came from northern Mesopotamia,
and whose eponymous father is described as “a wandering Aramean” (Deut. 26:
5) — might well have migrated from West-Semitic-speaking regions. Still others
possibly migrated to Egypt, some returning to Canaan after a while. The sixth
century description of Jerusalem (Ezek. 16:3 — “Your origin and your birth are
of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a
Hittite”) reflects nicely the kind of telescoped history that remained in the col-
lective memory hundreds of years after the close of the events.
The entry of these groups into Canaan led to an increase in the number
of pastoral and bandit splinter groups in the peripheral areas, overstraining
their economic capacity. Years of drought and the destruction of the urban
system severely interrupted the supply of grain to the pastoral groups. The
increase in the number of nomads, the interruption of the delicate balance
between the urban-rural and pastoral sectors and the lack of grain — these
combined factors obliged nomads to engage in part-time work in agriculture
and gradually drove them to settle down. Settlement, thus, started on both
sides of the Jordan in the late thirteenth or early twelfth century BCE and
continued throughout Iron Age I.
The model that emerges from my analysis is of small and larger groups
of variegated ethnic and cultural background who settled during a long pe-
riod and slowly and gradually started cooperating in the new environment.
It goes without saying that the title “Israelites” is inappropriate for the early
stages of settlement of these groups and can be applied only to the time of
unification and consolidation of the new settlements and the emergence of a
unified new leadership at the end of the eleventh century BCE.
The Name Israel in the Merneptah Stela

The mention of Israel in Merneptah’s stela (of his fifth year — 1209 BCE)
plays an important role in discussions of the early history of Israel. In the
closing lines of the stela, following the detailed description of the Pharaoh’s
victory over the Lybians, the following passage appears:37
The princes, prostrated, say “Shalom”;
None raises his head among the Nine Bows.
Now that Tehenu has come to ruin Hatti is pacified;
Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe.
Ashkelon has been overcome, Gezer has been captured,
Yeno‘am was made non-existent;
Israel is laid waste (and) his seed is not.
Hurru has become a widow because of Egypt.
All lands have united themselves in peace,
Anyone who was restless, he has been subdued.
The names and titles of the Pharaoh are mentioned before and after this
passage, thus, enclosing a ten-“line” unit. This literary unit is divided into
three parts: two introductory lines, a middle section and two closing lines
(Fecht 1983:120–121). This structure is the key to the correct analysis of the
inscription. The opening and closing lines express the idea that the world
was united and pacified as the result of the Pharaoh’s great achievements.
The central section specifies these achievements: the destruction of Tehenu
37. For the translation of the passage, see Yurco 1986:189. For other translations, see
Wilson 1969c:378; Fecht 1983:113, 120; Hornung 1983:232–233.
(Lybia), the pacification of Hatti and the plundering of Canaan. The sentence
relating to Lybia summarizes a long poetic eulogy of the Pharaoh’s victory
over the Lybians, and the mention of Canaan introduces the following por-
tion in which the author gives more details of the Egyptian Asiatic campaign.
At the end of the middle section a summary sentence appears (“Hurru has
become a widow because of Egypt”), which echoes the introductory sentence
(“Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe”).
Three of the four Canaanite toponyms (Ashkelon, Gezer and Yeno‘am) are
well known from other Egyptian inscriptions, but the name Israel is an ex-
ception and does not appear in any other Egyptian source. According to the
defining determinative, it is clear that Israel is a people, and the other three
toponyms are cities (Engel 1979:383–387; Stager 1985:61*; Yurco 1986:190, n.
3). It has been suggested recently that the literary difference between the
three cities and the people matches the four battle scenes from Karnak, de-
picting the Pharaoh fighting, on the one hand, three fortified towns and, on
the other hand, a mass of enemies in the open country.38 Israel is, thus, a col-
lective name and is not linked to a well-defined territory.
The location of Merneptah’s “Israel” is disputed among scholars.39 It is
mentioned after Yeno‘am, a Transjordanian city (Na’aman 1977:168–177,
with earlier literature; 1988:183–184), and, if we follow the order of top-
onyms in the passage, it should be sought in the same area. It is equally pos-
sible, however, that the author mentioned the cities first and the people next
and that there is no sequential order of listing. This may be supported by the
assumption that, in the course of the campaign, the main force was led by
the king and that various task forces were sent to different parts of Canaan
(Kitchen 1973:442–447). Such an assumption opens the way for identifying
Israel according to each scholars’ historical reconstruction, but makes the
conjectured location highly speculative. Usually scholars have identified
Merneptah’s Israel in the area of Shechem, the important Israelite center of
the early monarchic period, where numerous early Iron Age I settlements
have been detected. Nothing, however, is known of a group called “Israel” in
this period, 200 years before the foundation of the monarchy and the begin-
ning of the protohistory of Israel. It is worth noting that the Egyptians called
the hill country around Shechem, and possibly even larger parts of the high-
38. For the relation of the text and the reliefs, see Stager 1985:56*–64*; Yurco 1986:189–
201. For a criticism, see Redford 1986:188–200.
39. For recent discussions of the problem, see Engel 1979:387–399, with earlier liter-
ature; Otto 1979:200–205; Stager 1985:56*–64*; Ahlström and Edelman 1985:59–61; Yurco
1986:207–212; Ahlström 1986:37–43.
lands, either “the land of Shechem” or “mountain of Shechem” (in Papyrus

Anastasi I, a literary composition of the time of the Nineteenth Dynasty)
(Wilson 1969a:230; 1969b:477; Ahituv 1984:173–174). The absence of this
name may possibly indicate that the Egyptians fought “Israel” in another
area. It seems to me that there is no way to settle this issue and that locat-
ing the group called “Israel” in the hill country of Manasseh is no more than
guesswork that cannot either be supported or dismissed unless new evidence
comes to light in future research.40
Not only the location, but also the character of the group called “Israel”
in this early period remains unknown. There are a few ancient Near Eastern
parallels to similar early isolated occurrences of names of people/kingdoms
that became well defined only at a much later time. Thus, the name Aram
appears in various late third and second millennium sources. Most of these
names are homonyms that have nothing to do with the Arameans, but the
references from Ugarit and Egyptian sources may represent an early allu-
sion to Aram/Arameans.41 However, the history of the Arameans begins with
the earliest ascertained reference to them in a concrete historical context,
namely, the annals of Tiglath-pileser I (1114–1076). The character and distri-
bution of the proto-Arameans hardly are applicable to the study of the his-
tory of the Arameans in historical periods.
The name Uruatri/Uratri, later changed to Urartu, is mentioned for the
first time in the inscriptions of Shalmaneser I (1273–1244). The Assyrian king
conquered the eight lands of Uruatri and brought them under submission.
However, the history of Urartu starts with the earliest references to the king-
dom in the time of Ashurnaṣirpal II (883–859), about 350 years later. The early
reference to Urartu sheds little light on the history of the late kingdom (for
the early reference to Uruatri, see Munn-Rankin 1975:279–280).
In conclusion, it can be said that, in spite of the great importance of the
mention of a group named “Israel” in a late thirteenth century Egyptian doc-
ument, it is best to refrain from building on this isolated reference any hy-
pothesis concerning the location and formation of Israel at that time. After
40. According to Ahlström and Edelman (1985; see Ahlström 1986:37–43), Israel was
primarily a geographical name for the central Palestinian hill country. However, in the
Merneptah’s inscription, the name “Israel” clearly refers to people and has a different de-
terminative than the other three cities (see Engel 1979:383–387; Stager 1985:61*; Yurco
1986:190, n. 3). Furthermore, Israel and Canaan have different determinatives and have no
parallel place in the inscription. Finally, there is no biblical reference that lends support
to the assumption that Israel was initially a geographical name. The entire supposition is
guesswork and is not supported by concrete evidence.
41. For the early references to Aram, see Kupper 1957:112–114; Zadok 1991:106, with
earlier literature.
all, the maintenance of a name of a social organization does not necessarily

imply any other sort of cultural continuity. Hundreds of years separate this
from all other references to Israel, and the Egyptian text is open to various in-
terpretations, none of which can be verified with any degree of certainty.
Literary-Historical Study of the Conquest Stories

in the Book of Joshua and in Judges 1
Introduction
It is commonly accepted today that the majority of the conquest stories
in the Book of Joshua are devoid of historical reality.42 Malamat tried to avoid
this conclusion by suggesting that Israel’s traditions regarding the conquest
should be reduced to five basic “underlying phenomena” (Malamat 1979:
37–39):43 (1) the Israelites took possession of Canaan by force; (2) the road
from Egypt to Canaan along the coast was blocked to the Israelites; (3) the
Canaanite populace west of the Jordan had no unified, overall military or-
ganization with which to confront the invaders; (4) no attempt was made to
stop the Israelites from fording the Jordan; and (5) the Israelites succeeded
against the Canaanites only in the hill country and on its western slopes.
None of these five points, however, is acceptable, and the methodolog-
ical approach underlying the suggestion is unacceptable as well. First, the
selection of the five “underlying phenomena” is arbitrary. For example, the
second point is marginal within the conquest tradition; the third point does
not accord with the vast Canaanite coalitions that fought Israel, according
to Joshua 10–11; and the fifth point again does not fit the conquest tradi-
tion, according to which Joshua and the Israelites conquered the entire land
(Josh. 10:40–41; 11:16–17, 23). Fundamental features, on the other hand, such
as the conquest of the Land of Israel by the twelve tribes under Joshua, the
long wandering in the Sinai Desert that preceded the entry into the land, and
the exclusive conduction of the invasion from the east are arbitrarily omit-
42. For critical discussions of the biblical description of the conquest, see Mendenhall
1962:66–87; Gottwald 1979, passim; Lemaire 1982:20–24; Chaney 1983:39–90; Callaway 1985:
31–49; Lemche 1985:416–437. For a more flexible reconstruction, which takes into account
a movement of Canaanite and non-Canaanite groups into the hill country, see Ahlström
1986:11–36 (esp. pp. 35–36). See also Fritz 1981:61–73; 1987:84–100; 1987:84-100; Miller
1977:87–93; Schoors 1985:77–92.
43. For the term Grundzüge, used similarly by Malamat for the prehistory of Israel, see
Malamat 1983:309–311. For a criticism of Malamat’s suggestions, see Thompson 1987:32–
40.
ted. The random isolation of certain features from their literary and histori-
cal setting is methodologically incorrect.
Second, the list of “underlying phenomena” ignores the new archaeologi-
cal surveys and excavations, which indicate that the hill country was sparsely
inhabited in the Late Bronze Age and that no military power prevented pas-
toral groups from penetrating it and settling in its large uninhabited areas.
The entire concept of an invasion and conquest of the highlands in the thir-
teenth-twelfth century is alien to historical reality. The Iron Age I settlement
process in the hill country is hardly illuminated by the biblical conquest tra-
dition.
We may conclude that the above-mentioned five “phenomena” are no
more “historical” than the rest of the material in the conquest stories.
Thompson (1987:33) has noted correctly that “[t]he prominence or domi-
nance of a tradition has no necessary relationship whatever to the issue of
historicity.” It remains to be seen whether any authentic memory of the early
Iron Age survived in the narratives of the Book of Joshua and of Judges 1.
The Date and Historical Background of the Conquest Narratives in the Book
of Joshua
In light of the non-historical character of the conquest tradition in the
Book of Joshua, one should raise a fundamental question: Where did the au-
thor derive the material for his narratives? We have yet to establish whether
a vague memory of past events was retained in some stories. It is clear, how-
ever, that most of the conquest stories are devoid of historical foundation.
One may assume that the author designed the past descriptions in light of
the reality of his time; because he was well acquainted with the sites and the
environment portrayed by him, he composed narratives that outwardly ap-
pear authentic (save for the conquest by miracle of Jericho). This assump-
tion may be supplemented by another: To add a sense of authenticity to his
narratives, the author borrowed the military outlines from concrete events
that had taken place in the history of Israel. The evidence for this will be pre-
sented in the following five examples.
1. Scholars have suggested that the conquest by stratagem of Ai is a liter-
ary reflection of the historical episode of the battle at Gibeah (Judg. 20) (Roth
1963:296–303; Rösel 1976a:33–35; de Vaux 1978:618–619). Unfortunately, the
literary relationship between the two narratives was not examined in detail,
and it is not clear whether the author of Joshua 8 worked the narrative of
Judges 20, or vice versa. The author of the story of Ai was certainly impressed
by the prominent ruins of the site (Khirbet et-Tell), assuming that it was con-
quered by the Israelites when they occupied the country. To give his story
of the capture of Ai an aura of authenticity, he used military elements of the

tradition of either the capture by stratagem of Gibeah or the conquest of an-
other unknown site, transplanting them within a new environment that he
knew very well from personal acquaintanceship (Zevit 1983:28–33). The con-
quest story of Ai did not emerge from an authentic historical memory of the
event, but is rather the outcome of a reworking and adaptation of a conquest
story relating to another site.44
2. The battle of Joshua against the five Amorite kings opens the episode
of the conquest of southern Canaan. Scholars have suggested that the con-
quest story is composed of three literary units: the battle of Gibeon (vv. 1–
15), the five kings at the cave of Makkedah (vv.16–27), and the conquest of
the five Amorite cities (vv. 29–39) (Elliger 1934:47–71; Weippert 1971:29–33;
Soggin 1972:121–132; Weimar 1976:51–62; de Vaux 1978:627–635). The combi-
nation of chapters nine and ten is the result of the work of a late redactor and
is, thus, secondary (for Josh. 9, see below, part four) (Möhlenbrink 1938:264–
265; Noth 1960:147 n. 4).
The battle of Gibeon usually was regarded as an authentic episode of the
conquest era, and some scholars even assumed that Joshua was the Israelite
commander in the battle (Alt 1936:23–24; Schunck 1963:28–39; Halpern 1975:
303–316; de Vaux 1978:631–635). According to the narrative in Joshua 10, the
league of “Amorite” kings was formed as a reaction to the treaty of Joshua
with the Gibeonites, and, following their defeat in battle, they fled west-
ward. However, the treaty of “Israel” with the Gibeonites can hardly ante-
date the eleventh century BCE, when the settlement process reached the
stage of regional unification (see below, part four). At that time, there were
no “Amorite” kingdoms able to attack the Benjaminite-Gibeonite league.
Historically, the conclusion of a treaty with the Gibeonites did not constitute
the casus belli between the Canaanite cities and the “Israelites.”
Noth assumed that the old narrative depicted the battle between Israel
and “all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the hill country” (v. 6). At a
second stage, the “collector” (Sammler) combined the episode of the battle of
Gibeon with that of the cave of Makkedah. The personal names and the cities
of the five Amorite kings (vv. 1, 3, 5, 23) were integrated into the story only
at a third stage (Noth 1937:26–31; 1953:60–63).45 However, not only is the lit-
erary analysis highly uncertain, but there is also a major historical difficulty
in Noth’s reconstruction: The Amorite kings’ line of escape along the Beth-
44. For further suggestions, see Lipschitz 1983:100–110, with earlier literature
(Hebrew).
45. For a more daring reconstruction, see Fritz 1969:139–140.
horon route “as far as Azekah and Makkedah” indicates that they came to the
battle from the Shephelah and returned there following their defeat. Noth’s
assumption (1953:61) that the old story depicted the battle of Benjaminites or
Ephraimites against “all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the hill coun-
try” does not fit this line of march and escape.
Other scholars assumed that only “all the kings of the Amorites” were
mentioned in the original story, that their origin was in the Azekah-
Makkedah region, and that they marched to the battle from this area and fled
there following their defeat (Rösel 1976b:505–508; de Vaux 1978:631–632).
However, all these solutions are involved with many unnecessary textual as-
sumptions and with alterations in all parts of the narrative.46 The close sim-
ilarity between the story of the battle at Gibeon and that of the battle at the
Waters of Merom (see the fifth section, below) suggests that the appearance
of the king of Jerusalem at the head of a coalition that fought near his city is
an original narrative element. We may conclude that all efforts to integrate
the story of Joshua 10 within the reality of the early settlement period by sug-
gesting various textual hypotheses meet with enormous difficulties.
The story of the battle of Gibeon may be defined technically as a “bat-
tle report” devoid of concrete details (Möhlenbrink 1938:264; Noth 1953:13;
Gunn 1974:286–317). More important, however, is the emphasis on the theo-
logical motif of a “Yahweh war” (for the terminology, see Jones 1975), accord-
ing to which it is the Lord who fights for His people and defeats its enemies,
and all human activity is subjected to His will (Blenkinsopp 1972:44, 50–52).
Möhlenbrink was correct when he dismissed the definition “Heldensage” for
the narrative (Möhlenbrink 1938: 264).47 It is not a local “ätiologische Sage” (Alt
1936:19–20; Noth 1937:22–36; 1953:60–67; Weippert 1971:20–24, 29–33),48 but
a narrative that from the very outset was composed as an integral part of the
history of Israel.
It seems to me that the battle of Gibeon was modeled after the historical
episode of David’s second campaign against the Philistines (2 Sam. 5:22–25;
1 Chr. 14:13–16). By way of a frontal attack, David won his first battle against
the Philistines in the valley of Rephaim, north of Bethlehem (2 Sam. 5:17–
21; 1 Chr. 14:8–12; see 2 Sam. 23:13–17). The Philistines attacked for a sec-
ond time; according to 2 Samuel 5:22 the battle took place in the valley of
Rephaim, whereas 1 Chronicles 14:13 merely mentions “the valley.” This time,
David launched a surprise night attack, defeated the Philistines and smote
46. For a more daring reconstruction, see Weimar 1976:56–62.

47. For a comprehensive discussion of the problem, see recently Coats 1987:15–32.
48. For an entirely different interpretation of the etiology in these narratives, see
Sanmartín Ascaso 1986:260–261.
them either “from Geba to Gezer” (2 Sam. 5:25) or “from Gibeon to Gezer” (1
Chr. 14:16).
The second reference to the valley of Rephaim as the site of battle is
problematic, because one would expect some territorial gains as a result
of the first victory. Moreover, according to the closing lines, the Philistines
were smitten near Geba/Gibeon, north of the valley of Rephaim. We may as-
sume that the second battle was conducted in “the valley” (1 Chr. 14:16),
north or northwest of Jerusalem (Jebus), and that “Rephaim” was interpo-
lated in 2 Samuel 5:22 by a late redactor in an effort to identify the missing
site of the second battle (Driver 1913:265; Tidwell 1979:207–208). This as-
sumption may be supported by the words of Isaiah 28:21: “For the Lord will
rise up as on Mount Perazim, he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon.”
The prophet alludes to the two victories of David (assigned by the prophet to
the Lord): one on Mount Perazim (i.e., Baal Perazim of 2 Sam. 5:20, with re-
placement of the forbidden theophoric element Baal by the common noun
“mount”), and the second in the valley near Gibeon. David made a surprise
attack at night on the Philistines (this is the stratagem to which 2 Sam. 5:23–
24 alludes), defeated them and pursued the fleeing enemy along the Beth-
horon route down to Gezer in the northern Shephelah.
The description of Joshua’s campaigns against the five Amorite kings is,
in my opinion, a literary reflection of the historical episode of David’s second
battle against the Philistines near Gibeon. The five Amorite kings are reflec-
tions of the five Philistine lords (śrnym) whom David defeated by night attack
and pursued along the Beth-horon route. The continuation of the pursuit “as
far as Azekah and Makkedah” is a literary device to combine the story of the
battle of Gibeon with the episode of the cave of Makkedah. One may further
suggest that the citation from the “Book of Jashar” (Josh. 10:12–13) originally
referred to David’s war against the Philistines (compare 2 Sam. 1:18) and
that the two toponyms mentioned in the poem — Gibeon and the valley of
Aijalon — fit David’s pursuit much better than Joshua’s pursuit (for the Book
of Jashar, see Holladay 1968:166–178; de Vaux 1978:632–635). There is no lit-
erary similarity between the narratives of Joshua 10 and 2 Sam. 5:22–25; only
certain details are common to the two episodes.
One cannot rule out the possibility that a certain “Israelite” group fought
autochthonous Canaanite elements near Gibeon at some remote prehistori-
cal time and that a vague memory of the episode is reflected in the story of
Joshua 10:1–15. However, at present there is no way to reconstruct either its
background or its course and results.
3. The story of the battle of Gibeon was combined with that of the capture
of the five kings in the cave of Makkedah (Josh. 10:16–27) by extending the
line of escape. The background of the latter episode is unknown (Noth 1937:
22–36; 1953:60–66; Weimar 1976: 54–56; de Vaux 1978:630–631). One may as-
sume that this was an old local story transmitted by oral tradition, relating
the tale of five kings who hid themselves in a cave and were caught and ex-
ecuted. It is more reasonable, however, to link the story with Sennacherib’s
campaign against the kingdom of Judah in 701 BCE and his wars in the
Shephelah. The key to the episode is the hanging of the five kings on ‘ēṣîm
(vv. 26–27). It is preferable to translate ‘ēṣ, in this context, as “post” rather
than “tree,” as one should bear in mind that impalement on posts was the
common Assyrian method of executing leaders of conquered cities (see Josh.
8:29) (see Weippert 1971:28, n. 69).49 With all due caution, it is suggested that
the episode at the cave of Makkedah reflects a somewhat similar event of the
time of Sennacherib’s campaign in the area of Makkedah. The narrator incor-
porated the motif of impalement in his story, because he assumed that the re-
ality of ancient times was the same as that of his own days.
4. The episode of Joshua 10:29–39 is the third literary unit in the chap-
ter, appearing as the last stage in Joshua’s conquest of southern Canaan. It
has a uniform schematic style and was linked with the episode of Makkedah
by v. 28, in which the conquest of Makkedah was described in the same man-
ner as that of the other five cities. Some scholars attributed historical au-
thenticity to the story of the capture of the five cities (Elliger 1934:49–55,
68–70; Schunck 1963:31–36; Soggin 1972:129–130), but their hypothetical re-
constructions rest on weak foundations. Others assumed that the entire ep-
isode is fictive (Noth 1937:29–31; de Vaux 1978:629–630; see also Weippert
1971:32–33).
A close study of the campaign in vv. 29–39 brings to light similarities with
Sennacherib’s campaign to Judah.50 The Assyrian campaign was directed
against the Shephelah, and many important cities, including Lacish and
Libnah (2 Kgs. 18:14, 17; 19:8), were captured and destroyed.51 Eglon should
probably be identified with Tel cEton (Noth 1937:33–34; Rainey 1983:9–10);
soundings conducted at the site indicated that it was destroyed and aban-
doned at the end of the eighth century (Ayalon 1985:54–62; Zimhoni 1985:
63–90). All three Shephelah cities mentioned in Josh. 10:29–39 were impor-
tant Judahite cities before the campaign and were totally destroyed by the
49. For an illustration of an execution by impalement of the Judahite leaders of Lachish,

see Ussishkin 1982:102, 104.
50. For Sennacherib’s campaign to Palestine, see, e.g., Honor 1926; Childs 1967; Na’aman
1974:25–39; Millard 1985:61–77; Tadmor 1985:65–80; van der Kooij 1986:93–109; Gonçalves
1986; Vogt 1986.
51. For the results of the recent excavations, see Ussishkin 1980:174–195; 1982; 1990:53–
86, with earlier literature.
Assyrians. The sudden interruption of the king of Gezer in the course of

Joshua’s campaign to the Shephelah is the most outstanding element of the
story. It may reflect Egyptian intervention in the course of Sennacherib’s
campaign against Judah (cf. 2 Kgs. 19:9), which ended with the battle of
Eltekeh and an Assyrian victory over the Egyptian task force.
Excavations at Khirbet Rabûd (biblical Debir) indicated that the city was
destroyed at the end of the eighth century (Kochavi 1974:16–18). Further ar-
chaeological data concerning sites located in the hill country of Judah, in par-
ticular the central city of Hebron, are missing. Assuming that Sennacherib’s
task forces attacked the hill country region of Hebron and Debir, de-
stroying cities therein,52 we may conclude that Joshua’s campaign to the
Shephelah and the hill country of Judah in vv. 29–39 is a general reflection of
Sennacherib’s campaign of 701 BCE. First the fortified cities of the Shephelah
were conquered and destroyed; second, in the course of the campaign, a task
force attacked from the west and was defeated; and third, some fortified cit-
ies were conquered and destroyed in the hill country.
We may now clarify the details of the episode of Joshua 10:29–39. The au-
thor selected five major Judahite cities, parallel to the number of cities that,
according to his description, took part in the battle of Gibeon. All of the five
cities were located on ancient tells, which was interpreted as a sign of an-
tiquity, and all (or most) of the cities were conquered in the course of the
Assyrian campaign to Judah.By way of a stereotype battle report, he linked
the five cities to a continuous line of march that follows the general course of
a historical campaign conducted along this line. It goes without saying that
the episode is fictive and has nothing to do with Iron Age I. On the other hand,
the mention of all six Shephelah towns to which Joshua 10 alludes in the town
list of Joshua 15 (vv. 39, 41, 42, 49, 54 — a document apparently dated to the
time of Josiah [Alt 1925:100–116; Na’aman 1991:5–32, with earlier literature])
supports my conclusion about the late date of the episode in Joshua 10.
5. The northern campaign described in Joshua 11 is divided into two lit-
erary units: the battle at the Waters of Merom (vv. 1–9) and the conquest of
Hazor and the other northern towns (vv. 10–14). In its main outlines, the pre-
sentation of the northern campaign (11:1–14) is similar to that of the south-
ern one (10:1–39): (a) a detailed description of the coalition formed to fight
Israel (vv. 1–5); (b) a divine assurance to Joshua (v. 6); (c) a surprise attack and
a decisive victory in battle (vv. 7–9); and (d) the taking of the northern towns
(vv. 10–14) (for the textual comparison, see de Vaux 1978:655). The battle at
52. In earlier works I have suggested that Sennacherib did not conquer and destroy the
hill country of Judah. See Na’aman 1979:73–74, 83–86; 1986:17.
the Waters of Merom (vv. 1–9) and the battle of Gibeon (10:1–15) are closely
related both in structure and phraseology (Noth 1953:67; Fritz 1973:132) and
in the concept of “Yahweh war.” The schematic character, the omission of
many details and the motif of a total conquest brought about by one decisive
victory are also common to both descriptions. One can hardly doubt that the
two narratives were composed according to the same literary and theological
pattern, apparently by the same author.
The introduction to the campaign (vv. 1–5) is deliberately detailed to form
the background for the conquest of the northern parts of the Land of Israel
in a single decisive victory. The leader of the coalition (Jabin king of Hazor) is
mentioned first, followed by the names of the three most important Canaanite
cities in the north (Madon/Maron, Shimron/Shimcon and Achshaph), all sit-
uated along the border of the Galilee (Na’aman 1986:122–127). The narrator
marked the extent of the Canaanite coalition by using the names of the nat-
ural districts of Judah (hill country, Arabah, Shephelah), describing it as fol-
lows (v. 2): “and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in
the Arabah opposite (neged)53 Chinneroth, and in the Shephelah in front of?
the district? (penê nāpat) of Dor on the west.”54 Verse 3 lists the six pre-Israelite
nations and is possibly a late expansion of the original story (Noth 1953:62,
68). By the combination of all these elements, the narrator portrayed a pic-
ture of “a great host, in number like the sand that is upon the seashore.” After
the defeat, this great host fled, according to v. 8: “as far as Great Sidon and
Misrephoth-maim and eastward as far as the valley of Mizpeh.” The three
toponyms are located on the northern border of the tribal boundary system
and are the counterparts of Qadesh-Barnea, which is located on its southern
border and is mentioned in the summary of Joshua’s campaign to the south
(Josh. 10:41) (Na’aman 1986:40–67, with earlier literature). The portrayal of
an enemy fleeing northward, outside of the Land of Israel (rather than to its
fortified cities within the Land), is in accord with the imaginary account of
the makeup and numerical strength of the Canaanite coalition assembled for
battle. The episode in its present form is a fictive literary creation devoid of
historical foundation.
When these elements (i.e., the literary structure, the concept of a “Yahweh
war” and the enormous range of participants) are removed from the narra-
tive, only few distinctive elements remain. In spite of the schematic charac-
53. See Noth 1953:62. For a detailed discussion, see Barthélemy 1982:20.
54. The LXX for Joshua 11:2 helps to reconstruct the original version. See Holmes 1914:
53. It seems to me that the plural form npwt is the result of a conflated reading of the orig-
inal pny npt. For the various interpretations of the term nph, see Ben-Dov 1976:70–73, with
earlier literature; Na’aman 1986:184–185.
ter of the source material and the lack of concrete details, scholars usually
have suggested that the story of Joshua 11:1–14 reflects a historical episode
of the thirteenth-twelfth centuries BCE.55 The reconstruction of the assumed
historical event is controversial, because the narrative hardly supplies the
necessary details. Each scholar integrated the episode within the historical
development according to his/her overall view on this period.
The place of the king of Hazor at the head of the coalition and the em-
phasis on the destruction of his city can be attributed to the historical mem-
ory of the primacy of the kingdom of Hazor among the Canaanite kingdoms
(see Josh. 11:10; Judg. 4:2, 23, 24).56 The mention of Jobab, the king of Madon/
Maron (v. 1), is due to the proximity of his city to the battlefield. The most
outstanding element in the entire episode is the divine command to ham-
string the horses and set fire to the chariots (v. 6) and its fulfilment (v. 9).
Such a command does not appear in the biblical laws or in other conquest
narratives. However, it is mentioned in the account of David’s campaign
against Hadadezer of Zobah (2 Sam. 8:3–4). The outlines of David’s Aramaic
campaign are reported in a brief and dry account, and it is difficult to recon-
struct it in detail. It seems that David conducted a surprise attack on the king-
dom of Zobah when its king (Hadaezer) operated in the far north, erecting his
stela (yād) near the Euphrates (2 Sam. 8:3). Zobah was defeated and many sol-
diers and chariot horses were captured. “And David hamstrung all the char-
iot horses, but left enough for a hundred chariots” (v. 4). The hamstringing
of the horses (cf. Gen. 49:6) was carried out either for military reasons or as a
kind of punishment (for David’s campaign against Zobah, see McCarter 1984:
242–252, with earlier literature).
There are several elements that are common to the campaigns of Joshua
and David: victory by a surprise attack of the Israelite infantry against an
enormous foreign army whose backbone was the chariotry, and the elimi-
nation of the chariot horses by hamstringing. It seems to me that the au-
thor again used a well-known historical episode as a model for his narrative,
adapting it to its new topographical arena. The Waters of Merom is appar-
ently the spring of Wādi el-Ḥamam, northeast of Tel Qarnei Ḥiṭṭin, the site of
the Canaanite city of Marom/Maron (Na’aman 1986:126). It is located on the
main route leading to Hazor. The location of the battlefield is in good accord
with the main object of the author: to demonstrate that it only required a sin-
gle victory over the Canaanite coalition to conquer the whole region.
55. Alt 1939:18–19; Noth 1938:10–11; 1953:67; Aharoni 1957:89–98; Maass 1958:109–117;
Yadin 1972:108–109, 129–132; 1979:60–63, 66–67; Malamat 1979:52; de Vaux 1978:656–657.
56. The problems involved with the destruction of the city of Hazor will be discussed
below.
It is not entirely impossible that a battle between Canaanite forces and a

certain “Israelite” group was waged at the Waters of Merom in early Iron Age I.
However, we are unable to reconstruct its background, course and results due
to the nature of the sources that have come down to us.
The discussion of the conquest stories in the Book of Joshua (the conquest
of Jericho by miracle is not my concern here) indicates that the author used
later events of a military nature as models for his compositions. The military
episodes were “borrowed” both from David’s wars against the Philistines and
Arameans and from Sennacherib’s campaign to Judah. Whether the strata-
gem of the battle at Ai reflects a historical battle conducted near Gibeah is
not clear. The author possibly assumed that the wars of the conquest era, for
which he had neither sources nor detailed traditions, were quite similar to
those portrayed in his composition. By using the course and stratagems of
later wars, he gave a sense of authenticity to his narratives. The author pos-
sibly may have heard some vague traditions of wars at Gibeon and the Waters
of Merom and, therefore, linked his narratives to these places. However, the
course and details of the conquest narratives were borrowed from a different
reality and, hence, do not reflect the events of the Early Iron Age.
Alt and Noth have suggested that most of the conquest stories in the
Book of Joshua emerged as local etiological sagas and were only later incor-
porated in the national, all-Israelite history.57 It seems to me that the oppo-
site is true: The stories were composed from the very outset as part of the
history of Israel. The leading historiographical idea of the author was that
the Land of Israel had been conquered as a national operation, initiated and
guided by the Lord and carried out by the twelve tribes under the leader-
ship of Joshua. The cycle of conquest stories is connected, inseparably, with
Joshua, the twelve tribes and the concept of a “Yahweh war.” If indeed there
was once a pre-Deuteronomistic account, it cannot be extracted from the
present composition.
Of the hero of this cycle of stories, Joshua, hardly anything is known.58 He
was an Ephraimite and was buried at Timnath-heres, in the southern part
57. Alt 1936:19–20; Noth 1937:22–36; 1953:60–67; see Weippert 1971:20–24, 29–33. For an
entirely different interpretation of the etiology in these narratives, see Sanmartín Ascaso
1986:261–282. For an earlier criticism of the views of Alt and Noth, see Kaufmann 1955:76–
80; 1959:24–31; Seeligmann 1961:154–155. For further criticism, see Seeligmann 1961:141–
169; Childs 1963:279–292; 1974:387–397; Long 1968, with earlier literature; Golka 1976:410–
428; 1977:36–47; Van Seters 1983, passim.
58. For the efforts of scholars to reconstruct the achievements of the “historical
Joshua,” see, e.g., Alt 1936:13–29; Weippert 1971:37–41, with earlier literature; de Vaux
1978, passim; Seebass 1985:53–65; Donner 1984:127–128.
of Mount Ephraim (Josh. 24:30; Judg. 2:9). Legends of his heroic deeds were
probably related by the local inhabitants near his grave; some of them may
well have been collected by the Dtr historian. The placing of Joshua at the
head of the conquest campaign possibly was influenced by the traditions of
the hegemony of the tribe of Ephraim in the early history of Israel, as is in-
dicated by the stories of the Book of Judges and the blessings of the tribes.
Certain of his traits may well have been “borrowed” from the portrayal of
David, the historical conqueror of the Land of Israel. However, there is no cer-
tainty in all these assumptions, and there never will be, due to the great an-
tiquity of the period to which the events are assigned and the late date when
the stories were composed in writing.
Historical Analysis of Judges 1:1–26 and the Parallel Episodes in the Book of
Joshua
Judges 1:1–2:5 is a literary unit that was inserted between Joshua 24:31
and Judges 2:10ff. Judges 2:6–9 is a resumptive repetition (Wiederaufnahme)
of Joshua 24:28–31, written when this unit was interpolated (Moore 1895:4;
Burney 1918:1; Smend 1971:506–509; Auld 1975:263–265; Soggin 1981:40–41).
The first part of the passage (Judg. 1:1–18) relates how the tribal territory of
Judah — as delineated in Joshua 15:1–12 — was conquered: “First” (batteḥilāh,
v. 1), the tribe of Judah went up to fight the Canaanites, won the battle and
conquered Jerusalem (vv. 1–2, 4–8). “And afterward” (we ’aḥar), the tribe of
Judah extended its campaign and fought the Canaanites “who dwelt in the
hill country, in the Negeb and in the lowland” (v. 9). Hebron and Debir in the
hill country, Hormah in the Negeb, and Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron in the “low-
land” had been conquered during the course of the campaign (vv. 10–15, 17–
18). The conquest of Bethel by the Josephites opens the second part (vv. 22–
26) and is followed by a list of the unconquered Canaanite cities in the areas
alloted to the northern tribes (vv. 27–35; see v. 21). In the last part of this liter-
ary unit, the angel of the Lord denounces Israel for making a treaty with the
inhabitants of the land and adopting their gods (Judg. 2:1–5) (Weinfeld 1967:
95; Smend 1971:507–508). Verses 4–5 present a name-etiology of the toponym
Bochim/Bachuth, located “below Bethel” (Gen. 35:8) (Na’aman 1987:18, with
earlier literature).
The message of Judges 1 is clear: the tribe of Judah took possession of its
allotment, but the northern tribes (including the tribe of Benjamin) failed to
gain control over theirs; later, when these tribes grew stronger, they did not
expel the Canaanites, but rather put them to forced labor (vv. 21, 27–33, 35).
The coexistence with the Canaanites in the land drove the people to idolatry.
The chapter, thus, introduces (though secondarily) the period of the Judges,
the main feature of which is the subjection of Israel to its neighbors as a pun-
ishment for the sin of idolatry (Judg. 2:2–4, 11–13, 17–19). The entire chapter
is written with transparent pro-Judahite tendentiousness and can be consid-
ered as a complete conquest story, alternative and supplementary to the con-
quest stories of the Book of Joshua (Wellhausen 18892:213; Blenkinsopp 1972:
43; Auld 1975:284–285).
A closer look at Judges 1 indicates that the chapter is built up of originally
independent episodes that the author combined together in an effort to pro-
vide them with an overall meaning. His source material included the episode
of the war with Adoni-bezek, the conquests of Hebron, Debir, Hormah and
Bethel, the peaceful settlement at Arad and the list of “conquest lacunae.”
Part of the early material has remarkable parallels in the Book of Joshua,59 but
the rest has no clear parallels in the Old Testament. The author prefixed his
composition with an introduction (vv. 1–3); focused the description on the
tribe of Judah, acting in cooperation with Simeon its southern neighbor; and
added a connecting sentence (v. 9), an etiological comment (v. 26) and short
notes that refer to conquests (vv. 8, 18). In two episodes (v. 8 as against v. 21;
v. 18 as against v. 19) the list of “conquest lacunae” contrasts brief descrip-
tions composed by the author (Wright 1964:108–109; Auld 1975:266). It is ev-
ident that the author of Judges 1 collected some (oral or written) anecdotes
that were not included in the Book of Joshua, supplemented them with ma-
terial that he had found in the latter source, and composed a kind of an “ap-
pendix” that in a way supplemented the Book of Joshua and also served as an
introduction to the Book of Judges.
In the early days of modern research, scholars regarded Judges 1 as a bet-
ter source for the early history of Israel than the Book of Joshua (see for ex-
ample, Meyer 1881:117–146; Moore 1895:7–8; Burney 1918:xxxix, 1–2, 47–52).
This was the result of the episodic character of the description and the em-
phasis of the author on the failure to dispossess the autochthonous Canaanite
population. The general impression gained from the chapter is that of a par-
tial conquest by independent clans and tribes, without national leader and
all-inclusive tribal unity. Such a picture matched both the narratives of the
Book of Judges and the scholarly consensus that the conquest and settle-
ment process was more fragmented and complicated than the scene emerg-
ing from the Book of Joshua. However, scholarly evaluation of the material
included in this chapter has changed drastically, recently. It is clear now that
Judges 1 depends on the Book of Joshua at all points at which it offers simi-
59. For a close comparison of the texts of Joshua and Judges 1, see de Geus 1966:32–53;
Auld 1975:267–284. For recent discussion, see Rösel 1988:127–129.
lar or identical material (Moore 1895:4; Burney 1918:1; Smend 1971:506–509;

Auld 1975:263–265; Soggin 1981:40–41; de Geus 1966:32–53; Auld 1975:267–
284; Rösel 1988:127–129).
In what follows, I will deal separately with the individual episodes to de-
termine whether they may shed some light on the period to which they are
assigned by the author.
1. In a recent article, I treated at length the episode of Adoni-bezek
(Na’aman 1988:42–47, with earlier literature), and it is not necessary to
enter into a detailed discussion here. It seems to me that only vv. 5a, 6–7a
were retained from the original story and that the rest of the narrative in vv.
1–8 was composed by the author of Judges 1. The message of the old story
is the retribution of Adoni-bezek, expressed in his own words (v. 7a): “as I
have done, so God has requited me.” The city of Bezek (today Khirbet Ibziq)
is located northeast of Shechem (1 Sam. 11:8), and the old story probably
emerged in the area of the tribe of Manasseh. The name of the enemy’s ruler
was apparently forgotten, and, in the old story, he was called by the name
of the battlefield: “the Lord of Bezek.” He must have been an important king
in the north Manassite area, who treated his subjects in a cruel and humili-
ating manner. After his defeat in battle, he received similar treatment. It is,
thus, reasonable to assume that the ruler before whom “seventy kings used
to pick up scraps” under his table (v. 7) was the ruler of Shechem (Welten
1965:145; for other suggestions, see Weippert 1971:54, 146, n. 5). During the
Late Bronze Age, Shechem was the major Canaanite kingdom of the central
hill country and controlled vast areas in which large and small towns were
located. No other ruler in the entire hill country fits the image of a con-
queror and overlord of many subjected kings. The old narrative may well
have belonged (like the story of Judg. 1:22–26) to the stock of conquest sto-
ries of the sons of Joseph. This, of course, is merely a hypothesis and can-
not be verified.
The linkage of this episode with Jerusalem and the conquest of Judah
was due to the similarity of names, Adoni-bezek and Adoni-zedek. The lat-
ter was the king of Jerusalem, who, according to Joshua 10, headed the coali-
tion that fought Joshua. His fate following the battle of Gibeon is not men-
tioned in the text. By the coalescence of personal names and identification
of Jerusalem as Adoni-bezek’s capital city, the author of Judges 1 was able
to fill the gap in the story of Joshua. He, thus, described the death of Adoni-
bezek (v. 7b) and the capture of his ostensible city (v. 8) and attached these
new elements to the end of the story (Welten 1965:145–146; de Vaux 1978:
541–542). The process of gap-filling delineated here illustrates well the sub-
tle manner by which the author of Judges 1 supplemented the conquest sto-
ries of the Book of Joshua.
It is clear that the story, in its final form, is fairly late (its author was fa-
miliar with the story of Joshua 10 and jointly mentions the Canaanites and
Perizzites, an association that belongs to a late stratum in the biblical tradi-
tion) and that most of it is devoid of historical authenticity (for the late date
of the pair Canaanites and Perizzites, see Na’aman 1988:42–44). One should
entirely dismiss the claim that the tribe of Judah wandered from the area of
Manasseh across the land of Ephraim and entered its allotted area from the
north (Hertzberg 1926:216–221; Aharoni 1967:197; Mazar 1971:88–89; Yeivin
1971:75–76, 95–96). The assumed Judahite conquest of Canaanite Jerusalem
at an early stage of Iron Age I is likewise non-historical (Aharoni 1967; Mazar
1971:89; 1981:78; Yeivin 1971:76 and n. 47, 96). The city was probably con-
quered and destroyed by a migrating group of Jebusites, who subsequently
settled at the site and lived there until it was captured by David.
2. The portrayal of the occupation of the cities of Kiriath-arba (Hebron)
and Kiriath-sepher (Debir) in the books of Joshua differs slightly from that in
Judges 1. The episode of Joshua 15:13–19 is the source from which the author
of Judges 1:10–15 drew his material. In Judges 1 the tribe of Judah initiates the
conquest of the hill country, whereas Caleb is “Judahized” by implication (see
Num. 13:6; 34:19; 1 Chr. 4:13–15). In Joshua 15:13–14 Caleb is not explicitely
treated as a Judahite, and he receives Hebron (and by implication the Judean
hill country) as a personal allocation due to his faithfulness to Yahweh (Beltz
1974:30–37; Miller 1977:222–224, 236–238; de Vaux 1978:523–526, 534–536,
with earlier literature; Auld 1980, passim).
The subject matter of Joshua 15:13–19 is also treated in Joshua 14:6–15.
This Deuteronomistic tradition is a later development of Joshua 15:13–19 and
is dependent on it (Auld 1980:29, 82). Noth (1943:44–47; see Mowinckel 1964:
44) suggested that originally it was connected with Joshua 11:21–23, another
passage dealing with the occupation of the hill country of Judah. We may
conclude that Joshua 15:13–19 is the oldest source relating to the occupation
of Hebron and Debir by Caleb and Othniel.
Joshua 15 emphasizes that Caleb received Hebron as a special grant, held
his allocation within Judah’s overall territory (v. 13), and drove out the three
benê hā‘ănāq, Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai (v. 14). Remarkably, the tradition
does not refer to the conquest of a city, but rather to the driving out of three
persons bearing non-Semitic names (for the analysis of the three names, see
Lipiński 1974:45–46, with earlier literature), who are defined by the descrip-
tive term benê/yelîdê hā‘ănāq (Num. 13:22, 28; Josh. 15:14). Indeed, Hebron was
not occupied in the Late Bronze Age (Hammond 1965:267–270; 1966:566–569;
1968:253–259; Ofer 1989:90–91; 1990:193, 196–198), whereas Debir, which ac-
cording to Joshua 15:15–19 was captured by Othniel, was then the major
urban center of the Judean hill country. The difference in the traditions may
well reflect a vague memory of the settlement process in the two main cen-
ters of the Judean hill country.
What might have been the historical roots of the tradition regarding the
dispossession of the three benê/yelîdê hā‘ănāq from Hebron? The construct
form yelîdê hā‘ănāq was compared with yelîdê hārāpā’ , which was the name
of a professional group of warriors in the Philistine army who fought the
best warriors of Israel (2 Sam. 21:15–22; 1 Chr. 20:4–8) (Willesen 1958:193–
194, 209–210; L’Heureux 1976:83–85). We have already noted that migrating
groups from the Hittite empire may have entered the hill country of Judah in
early Iron I. Thus, it is suggested that the construct forms yelîdê hārāpā’ and
benê/yelîdê hā‘ănāq designated, in biblical terminology, groups of elite pro-
fessional troops that the northern migrants (Philistines, Hittites) formed
in Canaan in imitation of the custom in their homelands. According to this
analysis, the traditions of the occupation of Hebron memorized the victory
of the West-Semitic clan of Caleb, migrating from the Negeb south of Canaan
(Num. 13–14), over the professional troops of a Hittite migrant group. Just as
the wars against and victory over the elite troop of yelîdê hārāpā’ are the most
prominent memory from David’s conquest of eastern Philistia (2 Sam. 21:15–
22), so the decisive victory over the elite troops of the Hittites at Hebron was
memorized by the Calebites.
The close relationship of yelîdê hārāpā’ and benê/yelîdê hā‘ănāq was already
noted by a late Deuteronomistic author, who created a direct link between
the ousting of the “Anakim” from the hill country of Judah and their survival
in the coast of Philistia. He, thus, artificially counted three towns cleared of
“Anakim” in the hill country of Judah (Hebron, Debir and Anab) as against
three towns inhabited by “Anakim” on the coast of Philistia (Gaza, Gath and
Ashdod) (Josh. 11:21–22).
3. The episode of the capture of Kiriath-sepher (Debir) by Othniel, the son
of Kenaz, follows that of Caleb’s occupation of Hebron (Josh. 15:15–19; Judg.
1:11–15). Othniel appears in this tradition as the brother of Caleb, who is de-
scribed in certain traditions as a Kenizzite (Num. 32:12; Josh. 14:6, 14). The
well-known literary motif of offering the leader’s daughter to the victorious
hero (1 Sam. 18:17–27) dominates the narrative. The Kenizzites had strong
ties with Edom (Gen. 36:11, 15, 42) and it is evident that a Kenizzite group
captured Debir and settled there and that the conquest, thus, was attributed
to its eponym. The association of the Calebite and Kenizzite traditions, and
60. For the relations of the Kenizzites and the inhabitants of Edom, see de Vaux 1978:
535–536.
Othniel’s description as Caleb’s brother, are the result of their neighborhood

in the south Judean hill country (Beltz 1974:83).60
The details of the Achsah narrative are not clear enough. Noth regarded
it as a local etiological story explaining why the springs occupied by the
Kenizzites are in the territory of the Calebites (Noth 1953:90; cf. Cooke 1918:
144). If one accepts this supposition, the springs should be sought in the area
of Hebron, but there is no certainty about this point (for the identification of
the springs at some distance from Debir, see Kochavi 1974:2–3, 29–30).
A large, possibly fortified, Late Bronze city was discovered at the site of
ancient Debir (Khirbet Rabûd) (Kochavi 1974:4–10, 19–26). It was the only
urban center in southern Judah in the fourteenth-thirteenth centuries, dom-
inating the area from the Beer-sheba Valley in the south to Beth-zur in the
north. The exact date of its destruction is unknown, due to the limited scope
of the excavation. The explicit conquest tradition in Joshua 15 and Judges 1
may reflect a vague memory of the taking of the Canaanite city by a semi-no-
madic group that lived in its vicinity. The Kenizzites possibly took advantage
of the situation at the end of the Late Bronze Age, destroyed and sacked the
city, and gradually settled at the site, apparently absorbing elements of the
former Canaanite population in their midst.
4. Another conquest tradition relates the conquest and total destruction
of the city of Zephath, which was renamed Hormah (Judg. 1:17). I already
have discussed the subject at length elsewhere and will summarize my con-
clusions in brief (Na’aman 1980:136–143, with earlier literature). Hormah
should be sought in the western Beer-sheba Valley (the biblical Negeb), pos-
sibly at Tel Ḥalif (Tell el-Khuweilifeh) — a large mound situated at the junc-
tion of the Shephelah, the Negev and the hill country. Its position and the
fact that it overlooks vast areas accord well with the name “Zephath.” One
may assume that the traditions about the conquest of Hormah (Num. 21:1–3;
Judg. 1:17) reflects a vague memory of the capture of the city by a southern
semi-nomadic group that subsequently settled at the site (see Josh. 15:30; 19:
4; 1 Sam. 30:29–30; I Chr. 4:30;)61 Excavations at Tel Ḥalif exposed a flourishing
Late Bronze II city (Strata IXB-VIII) that came to an end ca. 1200 BCE. Iron Age
I occupation (Stratum VII) was exposed immediately above it (Seger 1983:4–
9). The results of the excavations, thus, are in good accord with the biblical
traditions of the conquest and settlement of Hormah.
61. The adverbial expressions ‘ad haḥōrmā (Num. 14:45) and ‘ad ḥōrmā (Deut. 1:44) are
comparable to the expression ‘ad tummām (Deut. 2:15; Josh. 8:24; 10:20), both meaning
“until they were utterly destroyed.” The expression ‘ad (ha)ḥōrmā was selected as a pun on
the toponym Hormah. It is evident that Numbers 14:44–45 and Deuteronomy 1:43–44 have
nothing to do with the conquest of the city of Hormah (see Na’aman 1980:139).
The destruction of Hormah and its eastern neighboring city, Debir, was
apparently the outcome of the increase in the number of pastoral groups in
southern Canaan in early Iron Age I. The shortage of grain and other neces-
sary supplies brought about conflicts betewen the two Canaanite cities, lead-
ing to their destruction and the gradual settlement of the nomads in order
to obtain grain.
The tribe of Simeon is mentioned twice in Judges 1: in the introduction
(v. 3) and in v. 17. It seems to me that Simeon’s place in the conquest and re-
naming episode is original and that its mention in the conquest tradition in-
fluenced the author to include its name in the introduction. The role of Judah
in the episode of Hormah is secondary and is due to the author’s intention to
attribute it all operations that took place within its allocated territory (see
v. 10: “And Judah went”; v. 11: “He went from there”; v. 16 “with the children
of Judah”).
5. The episode of the settlement of the Kenites at Arad is related in Judges
1:16 and, with some corrections, reads as follows:
And the descendants of [Hobab] the Kenite, Moses’ father-in law, went up from the City
of Palms with the children of Judah at the descent(?) (bmwrd) of Arad [LXX version],
which is in the Negeb of Arad; and they went and dwelt with the Amalekites (’t h‘mlqy)
[LXX version].62
The text refers to the peaceful settlement of the Kenites in the area of
Arad (cf. Judg. 4:11) and their neighborly relations with the Amalekites. The
latter may well have been the dominant tribal group in the Beer-sheba Valley
in Iron Age I (cf. 1 Sam.15:6). Indeed, it has been suggested that Tel Masos,
the most important center in the Beer-sheba Valley in the twelfth-eleventh
centuries, was an Amalekite center (Kochavi 1984:46; Herzog 1984:72; Rainey
1984:101; Finkelstein 1984:200–202; 1988b:43–46; 1988a:243, 248–251). The
earliest settlement at Arad (Stratum XII) was dated to the eleventh century
(Aharoni 1981:181–192). Judges 1:16 possibly refers to this time, when Arad
was already established, and the Amalekite center of Tel Masos reached its
zenith.
According to the text, the Kenites “went up from the City of Palms.”
Although the latter is a well-known designation for Jericho (Deut. 34:3; Judg.
3:13; 2 Chr. 28:15), it is preferable to identify the site with Tamar, situated
south of the Dead Sea (1 Kgs. 9:18; Ezek. 47:19; 48:28), on the main road lead-
62. For the translation of the passage, see Burney 1918:14–17. For the suggestion to
read at the end of v. 16 ’th ‘mlk (“and Amalek went and settled with him”), see Barthélemy
1982:73–74. For a detailed discussion including various textual emendations, see Mittmann
1977:213–219.
ing from the Arabah to Arad (for the place of Tamar, see Aharoni 1967:197–
198; 1963:30–42; Mittmann 1977:225–233, with earlier literature).
6. The episode of the conquest of Luz (Bethel) in Judges 1:22–26 has no
links with the Book of Joshua. It may be assumed that this short anecdote had
an independent existence prior to its incorporation into the chapter. The be-
ginning of v. 22 corresponds to the opening lines of the chapter and marks
the start of its second part. The author deliberately inserted the words gam
hēm (“they also”) in reference to waya‘al yehûdā (“Then Judah went up”; v. 4)
to emphasize the relationship between the two somewhat parallel introduc-
tions (Auld 1975:276).
The short narrative has several traits in common with other biblical spy
stories. Particularly clear is the similarity to the narrative of Rahab and the
spies (Josh. 2): the sending of spies to prepare the conquest, the promise to deal
kindly with the person who agrees to help them perform their mission and the
fulfilment of the promise when the city was captured. It seems to me that the
etiological notation in v. 26 (“And the man went to the land of the Hittites and
built a city, and called its name Luz, that is its name to this date”) was attached
to the original story by the author of the chapter, who noted the similarity be-
tween the ancient name of the city (Luz) and that of a Neo-Hittite city of his
time (for a different analysis, see Noth 1960b:276, n. 22). The etiological element
is likewise secondary within the narrative of Rahab and the spies (Josh. 6:25).63
The two etiological notes, which include the formula “until this day,”
mark the effort of late scribes to reaffirm the authenticity of the conquest
narratives relating to Jericho and Bethel by a kind of personal testimony
(Childs 1963:290–292). The two narratives originally ended with an identical
motif: the safe departure of the unharmed person who had helped the spies,
with his/her family, from the captured city (Josh. 6:23; Judg. 1:25).
Bethel was captured by a stratagem that is unique in the conquest nar-
ratives: penetration by way of mebô’ hā‘îr into the fortified city. The narra-
tor clearly refers to a secret passage, a kind of postern rather than the city
gate that can be seen by everybody (Malamat 1979:48–49, with earlier litera-
ture). The words “and they smote the city with the edge of the sword” refer
to the razing of the city, the same expression appearing in other episodes of
the capture and destruction of Canaanite cities in the Book of Joshua (10:28–
63. Anbar (1984:255–257) has convincingly suggested that the original narrative of
Rahab and the spies included Joshua 2:1–9a, 12–16, 22–23 and 6:22–23. This early narrative
was expanded in two stages, the earlier of which included 2:12b, 17–21 and 6:17b, 24. The
secondary nature of 6:17b and 25 was already noted by Steuernagel 1900:173–174. Thus, it
is clear that the etiological element was added only at the second stage of the transmission.
For a recent detailed discussion of Joshua 2, see Floss 1982 (esp. p. 72).
39). The significance of the expression may be inferred from the comparison
of Joshua 19:47 (“and they smote it with the edge of the sword”) with Judges
18:27 (“and smote them with the edge of the sword, and burned the city with
fire”), both referring to the same event. There is, thus, no concrete founda-
tion for Noth’s claim (Noth 1957:11–12, n. 6; 1960b:276) of inconsistency be-
tween the biblical description of the capture of Bethel (by treachery) and
the results of the archaeological excavations conducted at the site (the Late
Bronze Age city was covered with ash layers). Archaeologically, it is impos-
sible to date accurately the destruction of the city (Finkelstein 1988b:72–73,
with earlier literature). It is likewise impossible to establish with certainty
whether Bethel was conquered by a West-Semitic or by a non-Semitic group
that entered the hill country at that time.
In conclusion, it can be said that the anecdote may have preserved an au-
thentic memory of the conquest of Late Bronze Age Bethel, though this is by
no means certain.
Why did the author of Judges 1 include the episode of the conquest of
Bethel in his composition? An obvious answer is the tendency to fill in “gaps”
in the conquest stories of the Book of Joshua. The fall of Bethel is missing in
Joshua; only the capture of its eastern neighbor Ai is described in detail. The
author, thus, filled in an ostensible “gap,” just as he filled another with the
episode of the conquest of Jerusalem. There is, however, another and more
subtle answer. It has already been noted that the author deliberately empha-
sized the failure of the northern tribes to drive out the Canaanites, thus, ex-
plaining their troubled history as portrayed in the Book of Judges. Is it just
by chance that the only city conquered by the Josephites (who may stand in
this context for all the northern tribes) is Bethel, the future center of apos-
tasy and the seat of the golden calf? With all due caution, I would suggest that
the episode in vv. 22–26 was incorporated into the chapter both as a bridging
of a “gap” in the conquest tradition of Joshua and as a kind of hidden polemic
against the northern tribes, who were able to capture only one city: the fu-
ture center of heresy and idolatry.
To sum up, some of these episodes may possibly reflect vague memories
of Iron Age I, in particular the traditions of the conquest and occupation of
clans that had settled within the territory of Judah. Vague conquest tradi-
tions of the Josephites may have survived in the anecdotes of the battle at
Bezek and the capture of Bethel. The list of unconquered Canaanite cities in
Judges 1:21, 27–35 was probably borrowed from the description of the tribal
64. My previous analysis of the list of unconquered Canaanite cities in Judges 1 must be
corrected in light of the present conclusions. See Na’aman 1986:95–98, 198–199. For a re-
cent discussion, see Rösel 1988:121–127.
allotments in the Book of Joshua, a system that possibly reflects the reality
of the tenth century BCE.64 We may conclude that the short notes and anec-
dotes are better sources for the early history of Israel than the detailed con-
quest stories of the Book of Joshua.
The Conquest of Hazor and Dan and the List of the Vanquished Canaanite
Kings
(1) According to Joshua 11:10–11, the city of Hazor was conquered and
burnt after the great victory at the Waters of Merom. Fritz suggested that
the original narrative in chapter 11 included vv. 1–9, 12a and 14 and that the
capture of Hazor was added to the story at a later stage of transmission (Fritz
1973:129–130). Other scholars also assumed that the taking of Hazor does not
belong to the original account.65 Fritz’s claim that vv. 12b–13 are editorial is
acceptable. The capture of Hazor, on the other hand, finds a parallel in the
conquest of the six southern cities after the great victory at Gibeon (Josh. 10:
28–39). The taking of Hazor plus a general statement concerning the con-
quest of the other northern cities is exactly what one would expect in light of
the sequence of events in chapter 11 and the similarity to chapter 10. We may
conclude that vv. 10–11 are an integral part of the original story of the battle
at the Waters of Merom.
Some scholars assumed that the sequence of events in Joshua 11 reflects
historical reality and that the city of Hazor was destroyed following the de-
feat in battle at the Waters of Merom.66 In light of the doubts concerning the
antiquity and historicity of the sources describing the latter battle, this as-
sumption is highly unlikely. Rather, we should treat the episode of conquest
(vv. 10–11) in isolation to determine whether it reflects an authentic memory
of the early history of Israel.
According to the excavation report, Hazor was destroyed around the mid-
thirteenth century or slightly later (Yadin 1972:108–109; 1976:495).67 The last
mention of the city is in Papyrus Anastasi I (“Where does the mahir make
the journey to Hazor? What is its stream like?”), a text composed in the time
of the Egyptian Nineteenth Dynasty (Wilson 1969b:477). On the other hand,
the Iron Age I settlement of Tel Hazor and Upper Galilee does not antedate
the late twelfth or early eleventh century BCE (Finkelstein 1988b:98–110,
with earlier literature). The long time-span of about 100–150 years between
65. Noth 1938:10–11; 1953:69; [but note 1957:14–15; 1960:273–274]; Miller 1977:234, 282.
66. Noth 1957:14–15; 1960b:273–274, 275 n. 1; Maass 1958:109–117; Yadin in Aharoni
1960:234–238; 1972:108–109, 129–132; 1979:60–63, 66–67; 1982:19–22; Soggin 1972:135–137;
Malamat 1979:52; de Vaux 1978:660–667, 677.
the destruction of Hazor and the resettlement of the mound and its vicin-
ity makes it difficult to trust the authenticity of the biblical conquest tradi-
tion. One would rather suggest that the short note in vv. 10–11 is an infer-
ence based on the historical memory that “Hazor formerly was the head of
all those kingdoms” (Josh. 11:10). The author attributed to Joshua (who, ac-
cording to his narrative, captured the entire Land of Israel) the conquest of
“the head of all those kingdoms” as well. The background for the conquest of
Hazor round about the mid-thirteenth century BCE is unknown. One can only
hope that the renewed excavations at the site will shed more light on the de-
struction of this important Canaanite city.
(2) A detailed description of the migration of the tribe of Dan and the con-
quest of Laish is related in Judges 18; other short notes appear in Joshua 19:
47 and Judges 1:34–35.
Scholars have noted that the narrative in Judges 18 concerning north-
ward migration is a transparent mockery of the tribe of Dan, its sanctuary
and priests.68 Noth (1962:71) noted correctly that the narrative could be con-
sidered a legend of the founding of the sanctuary at Dan, but that “this would
be but a caricature of such a legend.” Both the Levite and the cult image
standing at the center of the newly founded sanctuary are portrayed in an
unflattering light. The molten image, which was produced from stolen silver,
is stolen for the second time and transferred to the north. The lowly Levite,
dependent entirely on the “lord of the temple,” behaved both disgracefully
and disloyally: He remained silent when the cult object was removed and
then joined the robbers, seeking a better job in the north. The Danites are
likewise depicted as highly unsavory types — a band of brigands, rather than
a migrating clan: They took by threat the cult image from a place where they
had formerly enjoyed hospitality, inducing the priest who served there to
leave his benefactor and join them. After they had robbed Micah’s shrine and
taken away his priest, they insolently threatened to kill Micah if he tried to
stop them.
In the description of Jeroboam’s cultic arrangements, it is related that he
made two golden calves, erecting them in Bethel and Dan (1 Kgs. 12:28–29).
Verse 30b reads: “and the people went before the one even unto Dan.” This
transfer of the golden calf from Bethel to Dan is, in my opinion, the back-
ground against which the polemical narrative of Judges 18 was composed. It
67. For an earlier proposed date for the destruction of Canaanite Hazor, see Beck and
Kochavi 1985:36–38, with earlier literature.
68. Halévy 1890:207–217; Noth 1962:68–85; Preuss 1971:60–67; Soggin 1981:264–278;
Rudin-O’Brasky 1985:143–151; Amit 1990:4–20, with earlier literature. For a comprehensive
study of the biblical Danite traditions, see Niemann 1985:61–147.
is the transfer of the bull image (and other cult objects as well) to Jeroboam’s
newly founded cult center at Dan that is ridiculed by the author of Judges
18. The priests who served in Dan presumably came from the priesthood of
Bethel and were likewise portrayed in a satiric manner. One may also recall
the suggestion of Halévy that Judges 17 contains a hidden but severe criti-
cism of the temple and cultic arrangements of Bethel and that the condemna-
tion of Bethel is stronger than that of Dan (Halévy 1890:210–216; Amit 1990:
12–19). Judges 17–18 is a harsh criticism of the sanctuaries of Bethel and Dan
and of Jeroboam I’s cultic objects and priests in both sites.
When we eliminate for a moment the elements that refer to the house
of Micah, the graven image, the Levite and the etiological note (v. 12) from
the narrative, we are left with a clear and coherent narrative. It opens with
a short exposition of Dan as a tribe seeking an inheritance (v. 1). The Danites
sent spies to explore the land (v. 2); these spies came to Laish and reconnoi-
tred the site (v. 7). Then they returned and urged their brothers to go and
conquer it (vv. 8–10). A band of 600 armed men set forth from Zorah and
Eshtaol (v. 11), reached Laish, captured it and set the city on fire (vv. 27a–28),
renaming it Dan, “after the name of Dan, their ancestor” (v. 29).
Malamat suggested that “this tribal episode is a sort of diminutive model
of a campaign of inheritance, the pattern of which appears on the national
scale in the Exodus and pan-Israelite conquest cycles” (Malamat 1970:1). In
my opinion, the narrator attained the “diminutive model” by reworking
the old spy story in Numbers 13–14 and combining it with the short note
in Joshua 19:47. No independent sources for the Danite northward migra-
tion were available to him. Malamat has already noted the close relations
between the spy story in Numbers and our episode (Malamat 1970:1–7). For
the similarity of Joshua 19:47 and Judges 18:27–29 note: wykw ’wth/m lpy ḥrb,
wyšbw bh, wykr’w llšm/šm h‘yr dn k/bšm dn ’byhm. The narrator of Judges 17–
18 clearly borrowed the details of the Danite migration and the conquest of
Laish from the Book of Joshua (for a different analysis, see Veijola 1977:24,
n. 69). He sometimes expanded and somewhat altered his sources, as is evi-
dent from the exposition of the story (compare v. 1 with Josh. 19:40–47; Judg.
1:34–35).
We may conclude that the narrative of Judges 17–18 includes polemic and
satiric elements directed against the sanctuaries of Bethel and Dan on the
one hand and the reworking of earlier sources on the other hand. It is cer-
tainly not the kind of document that may shed light on the Danite migration
of Iron Age I.
Joshua 19:47 reads as follows:
When the territory of the Danites was lost to them, the Danites went up and fought
against Leshem, and after capturing it and putting it to the sword they took posses-
sion of it and settled in it, calling Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their ances-
tor.
Judges 1:34–35 relates that the Amorites exerted pressure on the Danites
pushing them back “into the hill country.” Later, the sons of Joseph subdued
the Amorites and subjected them to forced labor.69
The best points of departure for a historical evaluation of these notes are
the excavations conducted at Tel Dan (for the Iron Age I findings from Tel
Dan, see Biran 1989:71–96). Several collared-rim jars were found in pits that
had been dug into a level of destruction of the Late Bronze Age. The pits are
ascribed to Stratum VI and contained various vessels of Iron Age I. Collared-
rim jars were revealed in large numbers in Strata VI-V of Tel Dan and are of
the type common in the central hill country. The northern limit of distribu-
tion of these vessels is the Jezreel Valley and the Acco plain. Their appearance
in large numbers in far-off Dan most probably reflects the migration of peo-
ple from the central hill country to northern Palestine.
What remains unclear is the chronological relationship between Stratum
VII (Late Bronze Age) and Stratum VI (Iron Age I) at Tel Dan. Pits dug into
a destruction level do not indicate the time span that separated the two
strata.70 At Hazor, too, pits of Iron Age I were dug into the destruction level
of the Canaanite city. However, there is a gap of about 100–150 years between
the destruction of the Late Bronze Age city and the first Iron Age I settle-
ment.71 Provided that there is a similarity in the history of Tel Dan and Hazor
in Iron Age I (Hazor XII = Dan VI; Hazor XI = Dan V), a similar occupational gap
between the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I may be suggested for Tel Dan.
This issue must be investigated in detail before any historical conclusions can
be drawn about the settlement process at Tel Dan in Iron Age I.
The excavations at Tel Dan have demonstrated that the Iron Age I settle-
ment was founded by people who migrated from the central hill country. This
is in good accord with the biblical tradition of the origin of the Danites from
the northern Shephelah. This migration was apparently the result of the
69. For the LXX version of Joshua 19:47 and its assumed contribution to textual history
of the MT, see Holmes 1914:15–16, 70; Cooke 1918:186; Auld 1975:277–278.
70. Biran (1989) did not discuss in detail the possible gap of settlement between
Stratum VII and Stratum VI at Tel Dan. Moreover, he dated both Hazor XII and the sites dis-
covered by Aharoni in Upper Galilee to the beginning of the twelfth century BCE (1989:75–
76, 81; for the correct chronological date of these settlement, see next note). His dating of
Stratum VI is, thus, partially based on erroneous data.
71. Finkelstein (1988b: 98–101, 104–110) dated the foundation of both Hazor XII and the
settlements of Upper Galilee to about 1100 BCE; see Mazar 1981:34–35; 1984:64.
72. For the city of Ekron in Iron Age I, see Gitin and Dothan 1987:200–205; Dothan 1989:
conflict with the autochthonous population (called “Amorites” in the LXX to

Josh. 19:47 and Judg. 1:34–35, and “Canaanites” in Josh. 16:10; Judg. 1:29; 1 Kgs
9:16) and the strengthening of the neighboring Philistine kingdom of Ekron.72
It remains unclear whether this was a peaceful migration and the Danites set-
tled in a site that was mainly deserted, or whether they conquered and de-
stroyed the Late Bronze settlement, as related in the biblical tradition.
The expansion of the Josephites (i.e., the Ephraimites) to the northern
Shephelah (Judg. 1:35) should be dated to the tenth century BCE, following
the defeat of the Philistines and the establishment of the monarchy. David’s
conquests opened the way for migration of the inhabitants of the hill coun-
try to the lowlands, including the northern Shephelah. The events to which
Joshua 19:47 and Judges 1:34–35 refer can be dated to the twelfth century
(the Danite migration) and the tenth century (the subduing of the Amorites/
Canaanites by the Josephites), with a considerable time span separating
them.
(3) The list of “the kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel
defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad . . . to Mount Halak . . .”
(Josh. 12:7) was composed to fill the territorial gaps that remained in the con-
quest narratives. Baal-gad and Mount Halak are located on the northern and
southern boundaries of the tribal allotments (Kallai 1975:31–32; Na’aman 1986:
39–73 [esp. pp. 42–43]); the list of kings and their cities reflected the overall
scope of the Israelite conquest. The MT lists thirty-one cities, whereas the LXX
gives only twenty-nine: Bethel and Madon are missing. The city of Maron was
already listed after Shimcon (LXX version: mlk šm‘wn mlk mdwn), and Madon
(an old scribal error for the original Maron) must have been inserted into the
text by a glossator; Bethel possibly was excised from the LXX, because, accord-
ing to Judges 1:1, it was conquered “after the death of Joshua.”73 Thus, it is pos-
sible that the original list included thirty names.
Fritz (1969:136–161) suggested that the author used a register of fortified
cities of the time of Solomon for his list, which he copied and integrated into
the conquest stories. However, first, many important cities mentioned in the
accounts of David and Solomon (e.g., Dan, Beth-shean, Aruboth, Socoh, Beth-
shemesh, Beth-horon, Beer-sheba) are not included in the list. Second, the
resemblance between the list and the conquest narratives both in names of
towns and in their order of listing is not explained by this proposal. Third, the
1–22. For a suggested reconstruction of the Philistine growth and expansion, see Singer
1985:114–118.
73. For the city of Madon, see Barthélemy 1982:23–24. For the city of Bethel, see
Aharoni 1967:209; Barthélemy 1982:25. For other textual differences between the MT and
the LXX of Joshua 12, see Barthélemy 1982:23–27, with earlier literature.
assumption that the author arbitrarily selected a list of towns for his compo-
sition has no clear parallels in the Deuteronomistic history. More plausible is
the assumption that the list was based on the conquest and settlement nar-
ratives (Aharoni 1956:29–36; 1967:208–211). The names of many towns were
cited from these narratives, though not exactly in their original order. The
list was supplemented by additional names (Geder/Gerar, Adullam, Tappuah,
Hepher, Aphek, Jokneam, Tirzah) to reach the number thirty.
Aharoni (1967:208–209)] suggested that the names were borrowed from
additional descriptions that have not been preserved. It is not clear, however,
whether such sources were available to the author; the analysis of the con-
quest stories, rather, indicates the limited scope of the available source ma-
terial. It seems to me that the author of the list selected the names of various
“old” towns located in regions that were missing from the conquest narra-
tives, possibly towns that were situated on ancient tells, a phenomenon that
was considered an indication of great antiquity. He, thus, created a “map of
conquest” that covered most of the districts of the Land of Israel and served
as a supplement to the detailed narratives in the previous chapters.
We may conclude that the list of Canaanite kings and their cities is a late
literary compilation and cannot be used for the historical reconstruction of
the early Iron Age.
The Treaty between Israel and the Gibeonites

The treaty with the Gibeonites (Josh. 9) is an outstanding narrative within
the conquest stories of the Book of Joshua. The semi-legendary character of
the narrative becomes evident even from a superficial reading of the text:
Why did the Gibeonites rely on such a transparent deception as the request
for a covenant, although such a covenant was not needed by people who lived
in a remote country? How were the Israelites deceived so easily, although the
suspicion “perhaps you live among us” was expressed at the beginning of the
negotiation? It is clear that the entire narrative, with all its legendary traits,
was only the means by which the author was able to attain his objective — the
treaty between Israel and the Gibeonites.
From the beginning of modern research, scholars were aware of the pres-
ence of secondary elements in the story. There is consensus about the scope
of the late Priestly stratum inserted into the story (vv. 15b, 17–21, and the
word lā‘ēdāh in v. 27) (Steuernagel 1900:185–186; Noth 1953:9, 11; Liver 1963:
227–232; Halbe 1975:613–617, 630). However, there has been a long debate
about the original core of the narrative, and various solutions to the prob-
lem have been offered (see, e.g., Steuernagel 1900:185–188; Cooke 1918:75–82;
Möhlenbrink 1938:241–245; Noth 1953:50–59; Halbe 1975:617–630; Rösel 1985:
30–35). The exact demarcation of the original story is not necessary for my
discussion. Therefore, I will treat the narrative, minus the Priestly stratum,
as a complete literary unit.
The key to the correct understanding of the aim of the story is its close re-
lationship with the rules for the conduct of warfare in Deuteronomy 20:10–18
(Blenkinsopp 1966:207–213; Kearney 1973:1–19). One set of laws demands, un-
conditionally, the extermination of all the inhabitants of Canaan (vv. 16–18);
a second set allows subjugation of cities that are “very far from you,” if they
surrender unconditionally (v. 11), and orders the extermination of all males
if they refuse (vv. 12–14). The relevant law for interpreting the episode of the
Gibeonites is worded as follows (v. 11): “And if its answer to you is peace and
it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor
for you and shall serve you.” Joshua adhered to the Deuteronomic law in all its
details: he believed that the Gibeonites had come “from a very far country”
(v. 9), surrendering unconditionally to the Israelites and, thus, “made peace
with them, and entered into a covenant with them, to let them live” (v. 15a).
The idiom ‘krt bryt l’ (“made a covenant with”) refers to a vassal treaty (com-
pare 1 Sam. 11:1–2; 1 Kgs. 20:34), an interpretation that is supported by both
the orders of the Gibeonite elders to their messengers (v. 11: “we are your ser-
vants”) and the messengers’ words to Joshua (v. 8: “we are your servants”).
Joshua treated the Gibeonites according to the strict law that applied to a
“very far from you” city that surrenders unconditionally. The close relation-
ship between the law and the narrative is indicated by both theme and vocab-
ulary (Vriezen 1975:151, n. 38). Joshua had unconsciously violated the law of
the ban (cf. Ex. 23:32; 34:12; Deut. 7:2; Judg. 2:2), and the narrator emphasized
this by repeating the key expression ‘krt bryt l’ (vv. 11. 15a, 16) three times.
This analysis clarifies the main message of the narrative: Under no condi-
tion was it permissable to conclude a treaty with the inhabitants of the land
and to spare them; the one exception — Gibeon — was achieved by deception.
The Gibeonite narrative is, thus, a paradigm: A historical hero or historical
event is portrayed in a way that teaches a lesson to all generations to come.
The elements of the narrative may be authentic, at least partially, and derived
from reality as it was known to the narrator, but, in its present form, it is non-
historical (Rofé 1974:153–154; 1988, pp. 140–141).
Various elements in the narrative suggest a relatively late date: (a) The
reference to the conquest of Jericho and Ai in the introduction (v. 3). Also,
the words (v. 4) “they on their part (gam hēmāh) acted with cunning” refer
to the stratagem by which the city of Ai was conquered. Thus, it is clear that
the narrator had before him the two conquest narratives. (b) The close rela-
tionship to the Deuteronomic laws of war. (c) The Gibeonites’ reply in v. 24 is
Deuteronomistic in both formulation and concept and depends on the word-
age of Joshua 2:9. The verse (save possibly for the words “his servant Moses”)
is an integral part of the original story and answers Joshua’s question in v.

22. The originality of the other Deuteronomistic elements is disputed among
scholars (e.g., vv. 9b–10, 27b) and will not be taken into account (although
they may well belong to the original story). (d) It is the only narrative in the
conquest and settlement cycle in which Joshua and the men of Israel are por-
trayed critically. Note, in particular, the severe accusation in v. 14 that they
“did not ask direction from the Lord.” We may conclude that the story of the
treaty between Israel and the Gibeonites was composed by a narrator who
was familiar with the conquest stories relating to Jericho and Ai and with the
Deuteronomic law of war, exemplifying the latter in the “historical reality.”
The earliest possible date for the narrative is the end of the First Temple pe-
riod, but it is prefeable to date it to the early Second Temple period, when
the problem of relationships with the inhabitants of the land was again on
the agenda.74
For a better understanding of the Gibeonite story, I would like to compare
it with another paradigmatic narrative that refers to the relationship of the
Israelites with the local inhabitants of Canaan, that is, to Genesis 34. This nar-
rative was composed in the post-exilic period as an admonition against mar-
riage with the inhabitants of the hill country of Samaria (Amit 1984:31–47;
Diebner 1984:59–76; Na’aman 1993).75 To exemplify the prohibition, the nar-
rator, at the beginning, presents a marriage proposal that is ostensibly a log-
ical offer to make amends for the rape (v. 4). Negotiation between the parties
is at the center of the narrative and the Shechemites are willing both to be
circumcised and to offer generous economic terms to settle the matter (vv.
8–12). But the sons of Jacob resist all temptations, and, for them, the nego-
tiation is merely a stratagem to revenge the rape, to release their sister and
to cancel the marriage agreement. The message of the narrative is clear: You
must not marry the local inhabitants under any conditions, including a read-
iness on their part for circumcision and/or the offer of desirable economic
terms.
There are numerous elements that are common to the Gibeonite and
Shechemite narratives: (a) Both are paradigmatic stories ostensibly portray-
ing past relationships with the autochthonous population, called “Hivites” by
the narrator; (b) Negotiation occupies a major part in both narratives; and (c)
A cunning stratagem is used in both to achieve one side’s objective. It seems to
me that the late narrators deliberately selected foreign enclaves, of which they
74. For a similar date based on different arguments, see Kearney 1973:1–8, 16–19.
75. The very late date attributed by Diebner to the narrative in Genesis 34, in my opin-
ion, is unacceptable.
learned or inferred from earlier sources, as a background for their composi-

tions. The story of Abimelech at Shechem (Judg. 9) refers to a Canaanite en-
clave at Shechem in the period of the Judges, and the episode of the execution
of Saul’s offspring at Gibeah of Saul (2 Sam. 21:1–14) refers to the Gibeonites as
a non-Israelite group. Whether the narrators were familiar with other tradi-
tions about Gibeon and Shechem in the pre-monarchic period is unknown (for
a close comparison of the two narratives, see Blenkinsopp 1972:37–40).
A third legendary story that uses one of the pre-Israelite nations to con-
vey a message is Genesis 23. The narrative has been assigned to P since the
early days of modern research (Skinner 1910:335; Gunkel 1917:273–274; von
Rad 1972:246–250) and has distinctive parallels in the Neo-Babylonian “di-
alogue sale documents” of the seventh-fifth centuries BCE (Petschow 1965:
103–120; Tucker 1966:77–84). A long negotiation with the local Hittite popu-
lation is at the center of the story, culminating in an agreement and the pur-
chase of the burial plot. The message conveyed by the narrative is clear: The
land of Hebron was legally purchased by the Patriarchs, who buried their
family there, and it belongs to the people of Israel for all time to come. The
story reflects a time when Hebron was settled by non-Israelites, following the
exile or desertion after 587/586 BCE. One may safely assume that it was com-
posed to justify the rights of the post-Exilic community to the burial site in
the former Judahite city of Hebron.
Several elements are common to all three narratives: (a) the conveyance
of a message to a contemporaneous audience; (b) the dialogue that occupies
a central place in the story; and (c) the selection of “pre-Israelite nations”
who lived in the hill country (Hivites, Hittites) as the counterparts to the
Israelites. In my opinion, all three were composed in the early Second Temple
period, reflecting specific problems that troubled the Jewish community of
returnees at that time. The three towns (Shechem, Gibeon and Hebron) were
selected in accordance with the narrators’ assumptions about the location of
the pre-Israelite nations. The possible sources for Shechem and Gibeon were
mentioned above; the narrator may well have learned of Hittites in Hebron
from the three non-Semitic names of the “sons of Anak,” whom Caleb drove
out from the site (Num. 13:22, 28; Josh. 15:14; Judg. 1:10).
We may conclude that Joshua 9 is a late legendary story, possibly of the
early Second Temple period, and cannot help us to reconstruct the history of
Israel in the early Iron Age. For the relationship with the Gibeonites, we must
examine the source used by the author of Joshua 9, that is, 2 Samuel 21:1–14.
The close relationship of the two episodes is well known and has been dis-
cussed in detail by many scholars (see, e.g., Cazelles 1955:165–175; Malamat
1955:1–12; Blenkinsopp 1972:89–94; McCarter 1984:440–446, with earlier lit-
erature).
There was a famine in the days of David for three years, so runs the story,
and by divination the “reason” for the famine was discovered: “There is blood
guilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death” (v. 1).
David negotiated with the Gibeonites and finally gave them seven of Saul’s
offspring, who were executed at the spring “in Gibeah of Saul on the moun-
tain [sic!] of the Lord” (bgb‘t š’wl bhr yhwh) (note v. 9: “on the mountain be-
fore the Lord”).76 The second part of the story (vv. 10–14) does not concern
us here.
Other evidence of Saul’s conflict with the inhabitants of the western
Benjaminite hill country appears in 2 Samuel 4:2. The city of Beeroth was
populated by Benjaminites following the flight of its inhabitants to Gittaim,
a village located in the northern Shephelah (today el-Burj = Ḥorvat Tittora),
on the margins of the hill country (for the identification of Gittaim at el-Burj,
see Schmitt 1980:80–92). The flight was certainly the result of Saul’s persecu-
tion of the town’s population. The background to the enmity of Saul toward
the inhabitants of western Benjamin is not related in our sources. One would
naturally assume that it was the result of their non-Semitic origin, the differ-
ence in cult and culture (2 Sam. 21:2), and their close relationship with the
Philistines, Saul’s mortal enemies.
What was Saul’s grave sin that brought about three years of famine, which
could only be cleared by the blood of his offspring? The nature of the offense
is related explicitly in the story (v. 2b):
Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites;
although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to slay them in
his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.
It was suggested that the verse is an editorial Deuteronomistic expansion

of the original story (Veijola 1975:108). Granting this assumption, its words
still fit the overall tenor of the story. We may conclude that an old treaty be-
tween the Israelites and the Gibeonites is at the background of the story of
David and the Gibeonites’ revenge in 2 Sam. 21:1–14.
When was the treaty concluded and who were the parties to the agree-
ment? As a point of departure, we must take the pattern of settlement in the
hill country of Benjamin and the southernmost part of the land of Ephraim in
76. For a recent discussion of 2 Samuel 21:6, see Barthélemy 1982:300–301. The reading
“in Gibeah of Saul on the mountain of the Lord” is supported by the reference to Gibeath-
elohim in 1 Samuel 10:5. In my opinion, the two names refer to one and the same place,
the cultic site of Gibeah of Saul, where Saul prophesied according to the story of 1 Samuel
10:9–13 (see Driver 1913:80, 82). For a different interpretation of the text, see Blenkinsopp
1974:5; McCarter 1984:438.
Iron Age I. Excavations and surveys conducted in the area revealed a marked
difference between the eastern and western parts of the region: Some nine-
teen Iron Age I settlements are located east of the Jerusalem-Nablus road, as
against five on its western side (Finkelstein 1990:199–200). A similar picture
was discerned in the hill country of Ephraim and Manasseh: The settlement
process initially took place mostly on the desert fringes and in the central
range; only at later stages, from the eleventh century onward, did penetra-
tion into the hilly and rocky areas in the west intensify (Finkelstein 1989:53–
59). Two of the western Iron Age I sites are identified with Gibeonite villages:
Gibeon (el-Jib) and Beeroth (Khirbet el-Burj). It is not clear, however, whether
Chephirah (Khirbet Kefireh) also was extensively settled in Iron Age I (Vriezen
1975:135–158). Whether the four Hivite cities mentioned in Joshua 9:17 were
indeed occupied in the pre-monarchial period is not beyond doubt (note their
mention in the early Second Temple period: Ezr. 2:25; Neh. 7:25, 29).77
In light of the pattern of settlement in the hill country and the intensi-
fication of the settlement process in its western parts only in the eleventh
century, we may assume that the treaty between the “Israelites” and the
Gibeonites should best be dated to the eleventh century BCE. Consolidation
and unification of the settlements in the eastern and central parts of
Benjamin necessarily antedated this event. It was only with the emergence
of problems that were the concern of the entire hill country of Benjamin that
such a treaty became necessary. We may conclude that the attribution of the
“Israelite” treaty with the Gibeonites to the “conquest era” is due to literary-
theological considerations and does not suit the historical reality.
It is not clear who concluded the treaty on the “Israelite” side: Was it the
villages of eastern and central Benjamin? Or did south Ephraimite villages take
part in the agreement? Or was it Saul himself who concluded the treaty, violat-
ing it after a while?78 The nature of the treaty is also not clear. One would nat-
urally assume that at first it was a parity agreement and that with the gradual
strengthening of the “Israelite” side, the latter became the dominant party.
We may further assume that, in light of this development, the Gibeonites tried
to rely more heavily on their western neighbors, the Philistines, as a coun-
ter-balance to the growing strength of their eastern neighbors, and that the
conflict with Saul was the direct result of this policy. At all events, the pre-
sentation of the Gibeonites as the inferior party to the treaty is due to the par-
adigmatic nature of the story of Joshua 9, being modeled on the laws of war
77. For a Second Temple dating of the story, see recently Briend 1992:10–17.
78. For a discussion of the problem, see Schunck 1963:38–39; Vriezen 1975:149–157;
Halbe 1975:630–641.
in the Book of Deuteronomy. The narrator depicted them according to the law
that refers to very distant cities that surrendered unconditionally before the
Israelites, thus, making them “hewers of wood and drawers of water . . . for the
altar of the Lord to continue to this day” (Josh. 9:27).79
Summary
The few possible authentic indications of the early Iron Age have been
preserved in the short anecdotes and notes, rather than in the long narratives
of the Book of Joshua. Such are the references to the occupation of Hebron,
Debir, Hormah, Bethel and Laish, and the settlement at Arad. Common to all
these episodes (save for Arad) is the renaming of the sites after their con-
quest: Kiriath-Arba — Hebron; Kiriath-Sepher — Debir; Zephath — Hormah;
Luz — Bethel; Laish — Dan. A reference to the renaming of sites also appears
in the short episodes of the conquest and settlement of Transjordan (Num.
32:37–38, 41–42) and may indicate an early conquest tradition. (For the re-
naming of cities in biblical tradition, see Eissfeldt 196:69–79). Also remark-
able is the persistence of traditions relating to the occupation of important
sub-tribal centers in the land of Judah (clans of Calebites, Kenizzites, Kenites,
Simeonites). Similar traditions have not survived for the northern tribes.
This may reflect the authors’ interest in the history of Judah and their will-
ingness to “investigate” the origins of the tribe on the one hand, and their ig-
norance of the history of the northern tribes on the other hand.
Only few cities in the central hill country were destroyed in the late thir-
teenth-early twelfth centuries BCE. Debir was the only Canaanite city in the hill
country of Judah in the fourteenth-thirteenth centuries and was possibly con-
quered by the Kenizzites. Jerusalem was apparently captured by the Jebusites,
who subsequently settled there. The note on its conquest by the tribe of Judah
(Judg. 1:8) lacks historical reliability. Bethel was the only Canaanite city in the
southernmost part of Ephraim and was conquered by one of the groups that
entered the hill country in early Iron Age I. The conquest tradition in Judges
1:22–25 may have preserved a vague memory of its capture by stratagem, al-
though this is by no means certain. Some of the Canaanite cities in the hill
country of Manasseh probably existed side by side with the new Iron Age I set-
tlements (Alt 1939:8–13; de Vaux 1978:635–640; Finkelstein 1988b:80–91, 348–
351). It is evident that the conquest of the few isolated Canaanite cities in the
79. For the complicated problems involved with historical understanding of v. 27, see
Haran 1961:159–169, with earlier literature; Halbe 1975:632–634; de Vaux 1978:623–624;
Briend 1992:17–20.
hill country played a secondary, though vital, role in the overall process of the
occupation of the hill country in early Iron Age I.
Enormous difficulties are involved with the historical analysis of the nar-
ratives about wars conducted near Gibeon, the Waters of Merom and Bezek.
One cannot exclude the possibility that these narratives preserved some re-
mote echoes of wars conducted in these places in early Iron Age I. However,
such wars — if they indeed took place — do not lend themselves to recon-
struction. On the other hand, the narratives of the capture of Jericho and Ai
and the conquest of the six cities of the Shephelah and the hill country of
Judah are devoid of historical reality. The comprehensive conquest saga in
the Book of Joshua is a fictive literary composition aimed at presenting the
occupation of the entire Land of Israel, initiated and guided by the Lord and
carried out by the twelve tribes under Joshua. Military events that took place
in the course of the later history of Israel were used by the author as models
for his narratives. These military episodes were entirely adapted to the new
environment, so that, in no case, can we trace a direct literary relationship
between the original story/tradition and its literary reflection.
When were the conquest narratives of the Book of Joshua composed? The
unified character of the text, in which Joshua and the twelve tribes play the
major role, points to a relatively late date. I have suggested above both that
Sennacherib’s campaign to Judah in 701 BCE possibly served as a model for
the description of Joshua’s campaign to the Shephelah and the hill country
of Judah (Josh. 10:28–39) and that the mentioning of hanging on ‘ēṣîm (Josh.
8:29; 10:26) possibly reflects the Assyrian way of punishing rebel leaders by
impalement on posts. The composition of the conquest saga is certainly no
earlier than the seventh century BCE. One cannot rule out the possiblity that
isolated episodes, in particular the short anecdotes and notes, were written
sometime before the penning of the unified literary work. However, the main
block of material was composed at a late date as part of the Deuteronomistic
history of Israel. Thus, hundreds of years separate the historical work from
the time to which it is attributed. This enormous gap explains the minor con-
tribution of the conquest stories to the early history of Israel.
At the end of the second section, I suggested that the long period of
drought and famine in the late thirteenth-twelfth centuries BCE was en-
graved in the collective historical memory of Israel and that the stories of
migration from Canaan to Egypt and back vaguely reflect this memory. It
seems to me that the overall historical picture in the Book of Joshua may be
explained in the same manner. The collective historical memory of Israel re-
tained the impression of the total destruction of the Canaanite urban system
in the late thirteenth-twelfth centuries BCE. When the Dtr historian tried to
portray the early history of Israel, he took this vague memory as his point
of departure, describing how the Canaanite towns were captured and razed
by the twelve tribes under the leadership of Joshua. The conquests were as-
sociated with the great tells located in the hill country and the Shephelah,
which were conceived as the former seats of the Canaanite kings. In this way
emerged the biblical conquest description that, save for its underlying very
thin foundation, has only a tenuous contact with historical reality.
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Index of Ancient Personal Names
d
A (god), 244-246, see also Aten Aḫiyami, 222, 233, 234, 235, 236
Abbael, king of Yamḫad, 286, 287 Ahmose, 2, 3, 13, 18, 19
‘Abdi-‘Anati, 248 Aitakama/Etakama of Qadesh, 86, 87, 100,
‘Abdi-Ashirta of Amurru, 5, 30, 36, 37, 43, 44, 126, 137, 196n, 250
45, 46, 47n, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 66, 68, 69, 78n, Akab-giashe, 295, 297, 298
88, 89, 106, 114, 116, 151n, 162, 166, 223, Akabtaḫe, 297, 298
228, 245, 257, 275, 281, 283 Akhenaten, 26, 28, 37, 40, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48,
‘Abdi-Ashtarti of Gath, 6n, 30, 68, 69, 70, 71, 89-90, 100, 106, 113, 115, 126, 137, 148, 217,
75, 76, 78, 101, 149n, 155, 156, 220, 227 218, 244, 245, 246, 250
‘Abdi-Hadda, 61, 62, 151n Akiya, 114
‘Abdi-Ḫeba of Jerusalem, 7, 8, 29, 30, 35, 54, Akizzi, 87
72n, 75, 76, 154, 155, 176, 187, 189, 190, Amalek, Amalekites, 324, 363
201n, 204, 205, 206, 207, 220, 221, 227n, Amanappa, 242
246n, 267 Amanḫatpi of Tushulti, 7, 91, 264
‘Abdi-Ḫebat of Siannu, 46, 47 Amayashe, 7
‘Abdi-Milki of Shasḫimi, 7 Amenope, 159
‘Abdina, 163 Amenophis II, 4, 93, 119, 161, 165, 207n, 208n,
‘Abdi-dNIN.URTA, king of Siyannu, 246, 248, 277
275 Amenophis III, 28, 40, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 55, 68,
‘Abdi-risha of Enishazi, 7 89, 90, 91, 127n, 151, 165, 196, 217, 218, 221,
‘Abd-irši, 90n 244, 245
‘Abdi-Tirshi of Hazor, 7, 90n Ami-ibâl, 255
Abiathar, 263 Amman-m[a]di?, 56
Abigail of Carmel, 263 Ammiṣaduqa, 10
Abimelech, 264, 374 Ammishtamru I, 5, 40, 41, 42, 46, 47
Abi-Milki, 28, 29, 36, 55, 66, 68, 101, 103, 116, Ammitaqum I of Alalakh, 289n
117, 134, 136, 151n, 219 Ammunira of Beirut, 6, 28, 29, 62, 104-105,
Abinoam, 305 151n
Abner, 320 Amon (god), 199, 244, 245
Abraham, 270 Amorites, 13, 338, 349, 350, 369, 370, 375
Abram, 342 Amos, 318
Absalom, 265, 266, 268 An/Ildaya, 92
Achish, king of Gath, 256 Anak, Anakim, 337, 360, 361, 374
Achsah, 362 ‘Anat (goddess), 248
Adad-apla-iddina, king of Babylon, 334 Arašša, 91
Adda-dāni, 65 Araunah/Auarnah, 337
Addu-sharrum, 256 Artamanya, 7
Adoni-bezek, 358, 359 Arzawiya of Ruḫizzi, 7, 86, 100
Adoni-zedek, 359 Asa, 322
Ad-ra-INNIN, 69 f
Ašdada, 157
Ahiman, 337, 360 Ašdudana, 157
Ahimelech the Hittite, 337 Asher, 208
Ahinoam of Jezreel, 263 Ashera(t) (goddess), 69
Ahitophel of Giloh, 265 Ashtabishar, 295
Aḫi-y[a . . .], 163 ‘Ashtoreth (goddess), 248
393
Ashurbanipal, 200n Dagon, 324

Ashur-bel-kala, 334 Daḫamunzu, 92n
Ashurnaṣirpal II, 225, 346 Dan, Danites, 125, 126, 223, 264-265, 268, 326,
Astarte (Atargatis) (goddess), 324 367-370
Ataḫ[maya], 118, 139 Danuna, 116, 117, 136, 137
Atamrum, 255 Dashru, 7, 163
Aten (god), 244, 246 David, king of Israel, 183, 256, 262, 263, 264,
Athaliah, 327 265, 266, 268, 269, 317, 319, 320, 321, 324,
Ayyab of Ashtaroth, 6, 7, 8, 84, 155, 195, 196n 325, 327, 329, 337, 350, 351, 355, 356, 357,
Aziru of Amurru, 5, 27, 28, 29-30, 36, 43, 46, 360, 361, 370, 375
47, 53, 54, 57, 58, 66, 88, 100, 101, 106, 107, Deborah, 129, 208n, 303-305
115, 116, 137, 151n, 196n, 219, 225, 244, 245, Dido of Tyre, 68n
246, 249, 257n Dini-Addu, 289n
Diocletian, 184
Ba‘al (god), 104, 247 DUMU-biḫa, 56
Ba‘al/Haddu (god), 43 Duppi-Teshub, 225
Ba‘alath (goddess), 243, 245 Durusha, king of Qadesh, 288
Ba’lu-UR.SAG, dIM.UR.SAG, 7, 88, 152-153
Baasha, 327 Eglon, king of Moab, 190
Baduzana, 7, 163 Eḫli-Ashtar, 290
Balaam, 318 Eḫli-Teshub, king of Taanach, 4, 209
Balume, 6 Eḫli-Teshub of Alalakh, 294n
Ba’lu-meḫir, 7 Ehud, 190, 267
Balu-mer, 7, 162 El (god), 295
Ba’lu-shipṭi, dIM.DI.KUD, 6, 65, 75, 76, 101, Eliada, 264
105, 160, 161 Elissa of Tyre, 68n
Ba’luya, 5, 46, 47 Endaruta, 7, 8, 101, 151n
Barak, son of Abinoam, 305, 307, 308, 309, Ephraim, Ephraimites, 183, 187, 191, 350, 357,
310, 311, 312 360, 370
Barattarna, 301 Esarhaddon, 225
Bayadi, 7, 163, 164 Esau, 337
Bayawa, 7, 149, 163 Etakama, see Aitakama
Becher, 266, 267 Etruscans, 341
Bechorath, 267 Ezekiel, 126, 337
Bēl-iqbi, 92 Gaal, 264
Ben-elima, 84 Gad (prophet), 263
Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, 327 Gasharu (god), 247
Benjamin, Benjaminites, 183, 187, 191, 266, Gideon, 264, 305, 313, 325
267, 268, 349, 350, 357, 375 Gindibu’, 325
Beti-Ili, 5, 46-47 Girgashites, 12, 337, 338
Beya, 160, 162 Goliath, 324n
Birashena of Shechem, 3 Gulatu, 160
Bieri of Ḫashabu, 7, 91
Bin-azimi, 61, 62 Ḫa[š?-x]-tar, 6, 7, 82, 83
Biridashwa, 6, 7, 84, 86, 87, 195-196, 201 Hadad of Ḫalab, 247, 286, 287, 288, 289
Biridiya of Megiddo, 30, 220, 223, 235, 236, Hadadezer, king of Zobah, 264, 355
238 Haddu (god), 43
Biryawaza of Damascus, 6, 7, 82-90, 92, 101, Ḫagurru, 164
105, 150, 195-196, 201 Ḫaip, 36, 57, 60
Bn-Tbšn, 117 Ḫaliya, 289
Burnaburiash, king of Babylonia, 113, 114 Ḫammuniri, 281
Ḫammurapi I, king of Yamḫad, 286
Caleb, Calebites 183, 360, 361, 362, 374, 377 Han’i, 101, 102, 105, 115
Hanani, 327
Dagan-takala, 7 Ḫani, 127
Index 395
Ḫanutu of Hazor, 3 John Hyrcanus, 184

Hathor, 243 Jonah, 270
Hatshepsut, 18 Jonathan, 262
Ḫattushili I, 9, 10, 118 Joseph, Josephites, 183, 187, 267, 270, 342,
Hazael, 318 357, 359, 365, 369, 370
Hdys‘y, 318 Josephus, 271
Ḫebat (goddess), 286, 287 Joshua, 173, 308, 321, 326, 347, 349, 351, 352,
Herodotus, 327, 341 353, 354, 355, 356, 357, 367, 370, 372, 373,
Hesed, 209 378, 379
Hezekiah, king of Judah, 184 Josiah, king of Judah, 187, 320, 353
Ḫibiya, 7
Hiram, 122 Ka[lbu], 55n
Hittites, 12, 337, 361, 364, 374 Kadashman-Enlil, 244
Hivites, 12, 337, 339, 373, 374 Kashka, 334
Ḫiziru, 75, 105, 149, 156, 175 Kaššena, 289n
Hobab, 363 Kassites, 300, 335
Hoglah, 210 Kenaz, Kenizzites, 361, 362, 377
Homer, 122 Kenites, 309, 363, 377
Ḥoron (god), 247n Khu-sebekh, 179
Hosea, 318 Kmšyt, 318
Hushai, 266 Kubaba (goddess), 323n
Hyksos, 2, 5, 16, 335, 339 Kurigalzu, 113, 114
Kusuna, 6, 55n
Idrimi, king of Alalakh, 112, 263, 285, 286, Kybele (goddess), 323n
293, 294, 295, 296, 298, 301
Ilim-ilimma, DINGIR.DINGIR-ma, 286, 294, 295 Lab‘ayu of Shechem, 7, 8, 28, 30, 36, 76, 77n,
Ili-rapiḫ/Ili-rāpi’ of Byblos, 5, 30, 53, 151n, 83, 88, 89, 150, 152, 163n, 164, 166, 187, 189,
233, 235 196n, 205, 207, 222, 237, 238, 239, 277n
Inanna (goddess), 287 Lady of Byblos (goddess), 242-243, 245, 249
Intu of Hebron, 3 “Lady-of-the-lions”, 73, 74, 75
ÌR dINNIN, 69, see also ‘Abdi-Ashtarti Lulaḫḫu, 299, 300
Iriyamašša, 102 Lullu, Lullubu, 299-300
Irkabtum of Yamḫad, 289n, 294 Lupakku, 46
ÌR.LUGAL of Shazaena, 82, 92
ÌR-dNIN.URTA, 246, see also ‘Abdi-‘Anati Mahlah, 210
ÌR-šarri of Enishazi, 90, 92, 93 Maireya, 101
ÌR-šarri of Shasḫimi, 7 Manasseh, 183, 191, 267, 305n, 359, 360
Isaac, 342 Mardu, 335
Isaiah, 313 Maya, 90, 101, 102, 103
Ish-Baal, 320, 327 Mayarzana, 6, 91
Ishḫara (goddess), 263n Mayāti (Merit-aten), 67
Ishḫi-Addu of Qatna, Mekal (god), 201n
Ishtar of Alalakh, 248, 285-291 Melqart (god), 318
Issachar, 59n, 208, 232 Mer-ne-ptah Hotep-hir-Maat, 342
Merneptah, 119, 120, 195, 198, 202, 341, 342,
Jabin, “king of Canaan,” king of Hazor, 307, 344, 345, 346n
308-309, 310, 354, 355 Mesha, 307, 318
Jacob, 113, 343 Micah, 264, 367, 368
Jael, 309, 310 Milcah, 210
Jehu, son of Hanani, 327 Milkilu of Gezer, 6, 8, 28, 30, 72, 74n, 75, 76,
Jephthah, 262, 268 77, 78, 152, 153, 186, 189, 205, 206, 207, 210,
Jeroboam I, 368 218, 220, 221, 227, 244, 245
Jeroboam II, 327 Milkuru, 243
Joash, king of Judah, 327 Miya of Arashni, 6
Jobab, king of Madon/Maron, 355 Moses, 320, 363, 372
Murshili I, 9, 10 Sargon II, 92

Murshili II, king of Hatti, 225, 248 Satatna, 6, 7, 151n, 164n
Mushki, 333 Saul, king of Israel, 256, 262, 263, 264, 267,
Mut-Baḫlu of Piḫilu, 7, 84, 155 268, 320, 321, 324, 327, 374, 375, 376
Mutu-bisir, 111 Sauštatar, king of Mitanni, 200
Muwatalli of Ḫatti, 119 šdyn, 91n
Muzun-Addu, 286 Sennacherib, 184, 223, 283, 352, 353, 356, 378
Septimus Severus, 184
Nabal, 263, 320 Sesostris III, 15
Nakkušše, 289 Seti I, 59n, 85, 127, 195, 197, 198, 201, 202
Naphtali, 305, 307, 308, 309, 310, 312, 313, 314 Shalmaneser I, 117, 346
Napḫururiya, 244 Shalmaneser III, 225, 325
Necho II, 15 Shamshi-Addu I, 111
Nēšēti, queen of Ugarit, 73n Sharruwa, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298
Nimmuriya, 244 Shatiya, 7, 91
d
NIN.URTA, Ninurta (god), 176, 242, 246-249 Sheba ben Bichri, 265-268
Niqmaddu II, king of Ugarit 5, 46, 47, 225, 248 Shemarana, 297
Niqmepa, king of Alakh, 294, 297 Sheshai, 337, 360
Niqmepa, king of Ugarit, 46, 47, 248 Shimei ben Gera, 266
Niqmepuḫ, king of Yamḫad, 288, 289n Shipṭi-Ba‘lu, 6, 75, 76
Noah, 210 Shipṭuriṣa, 7, 163
Nullu, 299, see also Lullu, Lullubu Shishak, 176, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210
Shubandu, 7, 8, 28, 72n, 74, 75, 156, 175, 220,
Og, 339 227
Othniel, 360, 362 Shulum-Marduk, 84
Shum-Adda, 6, 55n, 163n
Paḫamnata, 36, 53 Shum-xxx, 74, 75
Pariḫnawa (Purḫanuwa), 140, 141 Shuppiluliuma, 10, 40, 46, 47-48, 92n, 126-
Perizzites, 337, 338, 360 127, 225
Peya, 160n Shutarna of Mushiḫuna, 6, 7, 82, 83
Philo, 271 Shuwardata/Šuwardatu of Gath, 6n, 7, 8, 28, 68-
Piḫuru of Kumidi, 88 78, 149n, 156, 174n, 189, 205, 206, 207, 210
Psammetichus I, 15 Sihon, 339
Pu-Ba‘lu of Amurru, 57 Simeon, Simeonites, 13n, 358, 363, 377
Pu-Ba‘lu of Yurza, 57 Sisera, 129, 304, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 313
Puḫewa, 275 Si-x-ib?-ni, 75, 156, 160, 162
Purdaya, 233 Solomon, king of Israel, 176, 204, 205, 209,
Puwuru, 35 210, 236, 264, 267, 317, 319, 329, 370
Surata, 6, 7, 8, 151n, 164n
Rahab, 364
Ramesses II, 117, 118, 126, 127, 139, 141, 196 Tadua, 84
Ramesses III, 339, 341 Tagi/Tagu of Ginti-kirmil, 7, 8, 30, 77, 78, 153,
Ramesses VI, 321, 339 174n, 201n, 205, 206, 207, 210, 219
Ramesses XI, 159 Taku, 6
Rashap (god), 247 Takuḫuli, 297
Rēanapa, 101 Talmai, 337, 360
Rewashur, 6, 209, 233, 235 Tašmiš, 246n
Rezon, 264, 268 Teḫu-Teshup, 7
Rib-Adda/Rib-Hadda of Byblos, 5, 26, 28, 29, Teshub (god), 245, 286n
32, 33, 34, 35, 43-44, 45, 47, 50-63, 88, 101, Teshup-nirari, 6
106n, 114, 151n, 166, 219, 228, 234, 242, Tewati of Lapana, 7, 100
243-244, 245, 259, 275, 280, 281, 283, 284 Thutmose III, 2, 3, 10, 15-16, 17, 18, 19, 91, 99,
Rusmanya, 7 126, 127n, 139, 165, 179, 197, 199-200, 201,
204, 205, 207, 209, 210, 221, 222, 224-225,
Šamaš, Shamash (god),43, 246, 247 236, 237, 238
Index 397
Thutmose IV, 4 Yamiuta, 91

Tiamat (goddess), 295 Yanḫ amu, 43, 54, 56, 88, 102, 115, 116, 245,
Tiglath-pileser I, 333-334, 346 275
Tiglath-pileser III, 205, 276n, 312 Yapaḫ-Hadda of Beirut, 6, 50, 56-62
Tiye, 165 Yapaḫu of Gezer, 6, 72, 73, 75, 76, 161, 277
Turbazu, 8, 71, 72, 154, 155 Yaptiḫ-Hadda, 71, 72, 154, 155
Tursha, 341 Yaqqim-Addu, 256
Tushratta of Mitanni, 114, 244 Yarimlim, 286, 288, 289
Tutankhamun, 94, 151, 218 Yashdata, 6, 164, 210
Tyrsenoi, 341 Yidya of Ashkelon, 28, 75, 101
Yishuya, 84
Ummaḫ nu, 242-243
Ummidura, 297, 298 Zalaya of Damascus, 6, 82-83, 90, 92, 93
Uriah the Hittite, 337 Zebulun, 208, 235, 304, 305, 308, 310, 312,
313, 314
Wiktasu, Yiktasu, 7, 163 Zelophehad, son of Hepher, 210
Zilip-nanun, 298
Yab/p[. . .], 6, 65, 68 Zimredda of Sidon, 6, 29, 36, 55n, 68, 75, 76,
Yab[ni-. . .], 55 101, 101, 105, 137, 151n, 154, 155
Yabasa, 338n Zimrilim, 296
Yabni-ilu, 75, 76, 151n Zitana, 46
Yabusum, 338n Zitriyara, 7
Yaḫtiru, 156, 162 Zurashar, 8
Yaḫ zib-Adda, 156, 175
Yakhdunlim, king of Mari, 296 [xx]-DI.KUD, 68
Yam (god), 295
Index of Places
el-‘Abeidîyeh, 195 158, 159, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 173,
Abel of Beth-maacah, 265, 268 174, 175, 177, 186, 188, 190, 191, 196n, 198,
’bl, 208n 204, 205, 207, 210, 217, 218, 225, 226, 232,
Abû Gosh, 204 234, 236, 238, 242-250, 252, 257-260, 269,
Acco, 6, 8, 113, 151, 152, 156, 163, 164n, 167 275, 276, 277, 278, 280, 299
port of, 59 Ambi, 221n
Acco plain, 7, 8, 11, 12, 165, 207, 208, 369 Amman, 332
Acco valley, 152 Ammiya, 112, 218, 219, 220
Achshaph, 99, 151, 152, 158, 161, 163, 165, 167, Ammon, Ammonites, 262, 269
208, 354 ‘Amqi, 12, 90, 92n, 126, 127, 223n, 227n, 234
Adami-nekeb, 307 Amurru, 5, 27, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47n, 53n,
Addaya, 35 54, 70, 87, 88, 89, 100, 106, 115, 116, 118,
Adullam, 371 128, 136, 137, 151n, 196n, 219, 223, 225, 227,
cave of Adullam, 263 228, 244, 245, 246n, 299, 334
Aegean region, 336 Anab, 361
Aegean-Anatolian-Syro-Palestinian region, Anaharath, 165, 167, 175, 177
333 Anat of Suḫu, 334
Aelia Capitolina, see Jerusalem ‘Anathoth, 248
Afqa, 276 Anatolia, 12, 157, 323, 332, 333, 335, 336, 340
Africa, 341 eastern Anatolia, 9, 10, 12
Aḫtiashna, 147, 150, 154, 167, 175 northern Anatolia, 334
Ai (Khirbet et-Tell), 181, 186, 189, 190, 321, southeastern Anatolia, 110, 117, 300, 333
348-349, 356, 365, 372, 373, 378 western Anatolia, 338
Aijalon, 176, 205, 209, 351 Annašše, 294n
Aijalon valley, 351 ‘n š3sw, 276
‘Ain, 124, 127 Aphek, 124, 207n, 229, 341, 371
‘Ain-Shasu, 91 Api, see Upi
Akhetaten, 148, 175, 217 ’ptn, 207n
Akhlab, 158 Arabah, 354, 364
Akka, 156n Arabia, 325
Akkad, 128, 138, 156, 277, 278 Arad, 319, 321, 358, 363, 364, 377
Aksha, 14n Aram, Arameans, 13, 327, 346, 356
Akshapa, 115 Aram Damascus, 264, 335
Alalakh, 9, 10, 11, 112, 117, 120, 123, 135-136, Aram Zobah, 335, 327, 346
158, 160n, 234, 263n, 285-291, 293-301 Arbatta, 211
Alashiya, 112, 135, 138, 157, 158-159 Arqat, 178
Amada, 93 ‘Arrâbeh, 205, 211, 236n
Amae, 112 Arrapḫa, 200
Amanus, 335 Aruboth, Arubboth, 204, 205, 209, 210, 211,
Amarah, 14n 236n, 370
Amarna, 4, 5, 12, 26, 27, 31, 34, 40, 43, 45, 47, Arwada, 56, 57, 158
50, 52, 53, 56, 60, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 74n, 78, Ashdad, 117, 142, 157, 158, 159, 163
82, 83, 84, 87, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95, 99, 100, 101, Ashdod, 75n, 78, 142, 145, 156-163, 322, 361
105n, 106, 107, 111, 112, 113-117, 122, 126, Asher’s allotment, 208
128, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 153, Ashkelon, 14n, 72n, 75, 76n, 78, 101, 149, 152,
398
Index 399
154, 156, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 167, 178, 189, 190, 266, 308, 309, 357, 358, 364-365,
195, 198, 223, 344, 345, 357 367, 368, 370, 377
Ashtaroth, Ashtartu, 6, 8, 69, 84-85, 86, 150, Beth-gubrin, 184
155, 196, 197, 201 Beth-haggan, 239
Ashur, see Assyria Beth-horon/Bīt-Ḥoron, 176, 205, 247, 349-
Asia, 2, 13, 15, 16, 25, 26, 28, 37, 63, 85n, 100, 350, 351, 370
102, 103, 106, 110, 111, 114, 115, 117, 118, Bethlehem, 176, 181, 350
119, 120, 126, 127, 128, 145, 224, 258, 341 Beth-shean, 59n, 165, 166, 176, 197, 201, 205,
Egyptian Empire in, 139 206, 208, 221, 222, 223, 224, 232, 235, 236,
Egyptian province in, 120, 122-123, 134, 237, 324n, 370
137, 138, 139, 142, 148-149 Beth-shean plain, 11, 14n, 207n, 208
Hither Asia, 335 Beth-shean valley, 59, 90n, 165, 175, 177, 197,
Western Asia, 120, 121, 134, 137, 146, 181, 208, 222-223, 237, 238
253, 255, 269, 270, 336, 342, 343 Beth-shemesh, 176, 190, 323, 370
Asia Minor, 323n Beth ‘Ur, 204
Assyria, Ashur, Assyrians, 13, 113, 114, 117, Beth Yerah, 12
122, 160n, 187, 225, 226, 227, 228, 283, 313, Beth-zur, 180, 181, 184, 185, 186, 187, 362
314, 333, 334, 352, 353 Bezek, 359, 365, 378
’trn, 207n Bit-dNIN.URTA, 176, 189
‘yn, 208n Bit-tenni, 162
Azekah, 350, 351 Bit Zamani, 225
Azor, 223 Black Sea, 334
Bochim/Bachuth, 357
Baal-gad, 124, 370 “Bull Site”, 332
Baal Perazim, 351 el-Burj, 375
Babylon, 83n, 84n, 244, 334 Burqîn, 211
Babylonia, 9, 13, 32, 45, 113, 119, 120, 122, 127, Burquna, 166, 210, 211, 239
183, 184, 256, 288, 296, 320, 334 Buṣruna, 85, 86, 196
Bachuth, see Bochim Byblos, 5, 14, 15, 26, 29, 30, 33, 36, 50, 52, 53,
Balkans, 333, 336 57, 58, 59, 65, 74n, 78n, 101, 106, 114-115,
Bashan, 7, 8, 12, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 127, 150, 120, 123, 126, 135, 178, 219, 221n, 228, 234,
195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 208n, 227 242-244, 245, 246n, 249, 257, 259, 275, 276,
Beēroth (Khirbet el-Burj), 375, 376 280, 281, 282, 283
Beer-sheba, 370
Beer-sheba valley, 168n, 174, 184, 185, 209, Caesarea, 222n
362 Cape Calidonia, 58
Beirut, 6, 29, 50, 56, 58, 59, 60, 62, 92, 101, Cappadocia, 8, 255, 340
151n Carchemish, 225, 248, 334, 336
Bene-berak, 223 Carmel, 263
Benjamin, hill of, 1, 191 Charbata, 204
Benjamin, hill country of, 173, 180-182, 187, Charchemish, 156n
191, 375 Chephirah (Khirbet Kefireh), 376
Benjamin’s allotment, 173, 266, 267n, 337, 376 Chinnereth, 161, 165, 167, 168
Beqa‘ of Lebanon, 1, 7, 8, 11, 90, 92, 93, 126, Chinnereth, sea of, 124, 125
146-147, 150, 177, 221, 223 Chinneroth, 354
southern Lebanon Beqa‘, 207 Cilicia, 337
Berath/Beēroth, 208 eastern Cilicia, 116
Berothan, 124 Cisjordan, 85, 195, 196, 198
B’rt, 208 City of Palms, 363, see also Jericho; Tamar
Beten, 208 Coastal plain, 205, 260, 322
Beth-‘Anath, 248 southern coastal plain, 207
Beth-‘Anon, 248 Cush, 71, 89
Beth-‘anoth, 248n Cyprus, 58, 112, 157, 158, 159
Beth-dagon, 223
Bethel (Luz), 113n, 174, 180, 181-182, 186, 187,
Damascus, 6, 12, 27, 29, 54, 82, 83, 85n, 86, 87, G[ḏr], 209
88, 89, 90, 92, 101, 116, 124, 125, 127, 150, G[ḏt], 208
184, 185, 195, 196, 197, 200n, 201, 205 Gadara, 198
Dan, 264, 366, 367-368, 370, 377 Galilee, 113n, 116n, 167, 222n, 308, 309, 310,
Dan’s allotment, 176, 223 311, 312, 354
Dead Sea, 363 hill country of, 307
Debir, 177, 180, 181, 183, 185, 186, 188, 189, Lower Galilee, 1, 8, 110, 153, 165, 175, 177
191, 326, 353, 357, 358, 360, 361, 362, 363, Upper Galilee, 1, 153, 268, 366, 369n
377, see also Khirbet Rabud; Kiriath-sepher Gari, Land of Gari, 84, 198, 207n, 208n
Deir el-Balaḥ, 229 Gath, Gimtu (Tell eṣ-Ṣafi), 6n, 7, 8, 72n, 77,
Deir el-Medineh, 276n 78, 101, 149, 150n, 154, 155, 160, 162, 167,
District of the Shasu, 276, see also Shasu lands 174, 175, 176, 187, 189, 205, 206, 256, 263,
Djahi, 4 139, 161 327, 361
Dor, 167, 312, 313, 354 Gath-carmel, Gath-kirmil, 77-78, 163’ 167,
Dothan (Tell Dothan), 211 201n, 234, see also Ginti-kirmil, Gimti
Dothan plain, 211, 212, 236n Gath-padalla, 7, 163, 167, 238
Dothan valley, 166 Gath-rimmon, 239
Dubbâ, 111 Gath-rimmunima, 166
Gaza, 88, 118, 119, 139, 159, 162, 164, 185, 205,
Ebla, 290, 296, 336 208, 221, 223, 224, 357, 361
Edom (Seir), 190, 267n, 322, 337, 342, 361 Gazru of Ḥaurân, 205
Edrei, 85, 86, 196, 197, 205 Geba‘ (Tell Abū Shūsheh), 165, 208, 351
Egypt, 2, 4, 14, 15, 16, 25-38, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46, Geba‘-śmn, 165, 167, 175
47, 54, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 68, 83, 85n, 87, 88, Geder, 198, 371
91, 93, 101, 102n, 106, 107, 113-114, 117, gelîl haggôyîm, 313
118, 119, 120, 122, 126, 127, 128, 135, 136, Gerar, 371
137, 138, 141, 142, 146, 148, 153, 157, 158, Geshur, 335
161, 165, 166, 174, 179, 196n, 197, 201, 209, Gezer, 3, 4, 6, 8, 17, 18, 65, 72, 73, 74n, 75, 76,
216-229, 243, 244, 249, 261, 269, 270, 275, 77, 78, 101, 149, 150n, 151, 153, 154, 160,
278, 321-322, 335, 338, 339, 340, 342, 343, 162, 167, 168, 174, 175, 176, 183, 186, 187,
344, 345, 357, 378 189, 195, 198, 201n, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209,
Ekron, 164, 323n, 357, 370 210, 218, 220, 221, 227, 244, 245, 277, 318,
Eleutheropolis, 184 344, 345, 351, 353
Eleutheros, see Nahr el-Kebīr Gibeah, Gibeah of Saul, 267n, 348, 349, 356,
Elon Tabor, 309 374, 375
Eltekeh, 353 Gibeath-elohim, 375n
Emar, 112, 160n, 299 Gibeon (el-Jib), Gibeonites, 173, 205, 209, 321,
En-dor, 313 339, 349, 350, 351, 353, 356, 359, 366, 371,
En-gannim, 239 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 378
Enishazi, 30, 90-92, 93, 177 Gibethon, 208
Enkomi, 142, 157, 158, 159, 163 Gilead, 12, 124, 125, 205, 262, 310n, 312, 313
‘En-Nāb, 198 northern Gilead, 207
Ephraim, hill of, 1, 181, 262 Giloh, 265
Ephraim, hill country of, 376 Gimti, see Ginti-kirmil
Ephraim, Land of Ephraim, 191, 360, 375 Gimtu, see Gath
Ephraim’s allotment, 187 Gina, 237, 238, 239, 310n
Esdraelon plain, see Jezreel plain/valley Ginae, 239
Eshtaol, 368 Ginae brook, 239
Eshtemoa, 318n Ginti-’eti, 66
Euphrates river, 9, 10, 224, 270, 334 Ginti-kirmil, Gimti 7, 8, 30, 77, 174n, 176, 189,
Middle Euphrates, 325, 334 190, 206, 207, 210, 219, 268n, see also Gath-
Europe, 341 carmel, Gath-kirmil
Ginti-rimûnima, 210
Fertile Crescent, 9 Gintu, 207n
Index 401
Gittaim, 176, 209, 375 244, 248, 278, 287, 334, 337-340, 341, 344,
Golan heights, 12, 84, 153, 208n 345, 361, 364
Goshen, Land of Goshen, 342 Ḫlb ‘prm, 278
Grotto of Adonis, 276 ḥlkr, ḥlnkr, 199, 200
Gubla, 151n, 275 Ḥoms, 276
Guddashuna, 177 Ḥorvat Tittora, 375
Gutium, 128 Hormah, 357, 358, 362-363, 377
Habor,
Hrnkr, 237, see also ḥlkr, ḥlnkr
Htm, 161
Upper Habor, 9
Ḫalab (Aleppo), 9, 10, 11, 112, 285, 287, 288, Ḫtsn, 207n
289, 299, 336 Hukkurūna mountain, 200n
Ḫalba, 276 Ḥuleh valley, 195, 198
Hali, 208 Ḫurri-land, 127
Ḫalunni, 85, 86, 196 Ḫurru, 4, 120, 123, 344, 345
Hamath, 124, 125, 127, 165, 197 Ḫuwe, 337
Ḫanigalbat, 128
Hapharaim, 208 Ibirta, 275-278
ha-Rabbah, 205 Idumea, 184
Ḫarabu, 166, 205, 210, 211n, 239 Ilānṣura, 255
Ḫarita, 119 Irride, 286
el-Ḥarithiyeh, 310n Ishmeriga, 200
Ḫarmana, 248 Israel, kingdom of, 176, 223, 253n, 261, 265,
Harnam, 276 313, 314, 317-329, 344-347, 353, 375
Harosheth-ha-goiim, 306-307, 308, 309, 310, Israel, Land of Israel, 111, 124, 125, 127, 195,
312, 313 306, 308, 310, 347, 354, 356, 357, 367, 378
Ḫashabu, 7 Issachar’s allotment, 205, 208
Ḫashum, 9 Italy, 341
Ḫasi, 6, 177 ‘Izbet Ṣarṭah, 325
Hasmonean kingdom, 184
Ḫattusha, 52, 117-118, 141, 340 Jabbok River, 209
Hauran, 124, 125, 127, 297 Jabneel, 307
Ḫayuna, 155, 208n Jabneel valley, 195, 308
Hazar-enan/on, 123, 124, 127 Japhia, 222n, 235
Hazer hattichon, 124 Jarmuth, 59n, 321
Hazor, 3, 7, 8, 18, 29, 55n, 84, 85n, 90n, 101, Jebel el-Anṣariyeh, 276n
105, 116, 129, 130, 145, 149, 150, 161, 163, Jebus, 12, 183, 337, 339, 352, 360, 377 see also
167, 183, 190, 198, 227, 290, 307, 309, 310, Jerusalem
312n, 321, 353, 354, 355, 366-367, 369 Jericho, 187, 189, 348, 356, 363, 364, 372, 373,
Ḫbḏn, 207n 378, see also City of Palms
hḏr, 198 Jerusalem (Aleia Capitolina, Jebus), 1, 7, 29,
Hebron (Kiriath-arba), 3, 78, 113n, 177, 180- 35, 36, 54, 71, 72n, 76, 77, 78, 90, 145, 150,
186, 188-189, 205, 264, 265, 321, 326, 337, 154, 155, 168, 173-192, 204, 206, 218, 220,
339, 353, 357, 358, 360, 361, 362, 374, 377 221, 226, 246, 247, 248, 265, 266, 267n, 319,
the hill country of, 184 320, 327, 329, 337, 339, 343, 350, 351, 357,
Helkath, 208 359, 376, 377
Ḫeni-anabi, 198 Jett, 207, 210
Hepher, Land of Hepher, 209, 210, 212, 371 Jezreel, 263, 310n
Heshbon, 321 Jezreel plain/valley, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14n, 59, 166,
Hethlon (Ḥeitela), 124 175, 190, 207, 208, 210, 232-239, 306, 307,
Ḫikuptaḫ, see Memphis 308, 310, 311, 369
Ḫindanu, 325 Jokneam, 208, 371, see also Tel Jokneam
Hittite Empire, Hatti, Ḫatti, 10, 37, 40-47, 68, Joppa, 14n, 162, 163, 221, 222n, 223, 224, 235, 236
100, 102n, 118, 119, 120, 122, 127, 136, 137, Jordan River, 124, 125, 126, 128, 195, 197, 265,
139, 141, 158, 160n, 196n, 225, 226, 227, 228, 266, 276, 312, 314, 322, 332, 344, 347, 370
Jordan valley, 11, 12, 74n, 85n, 190, 195, 198 Kiriath-jearim (Tell Deir el-‘Azar), 190, 204,
Lower Jordan valley, 153, 168, 188 206
northern plains of, 179 Kiriath-sepher, 360, 361
northern Jordan valley, 207 Kishon River, see Naḫal Kishon
Upper Jordan valley, 11, 307 Kition, 158
Judah, kingdom of, 13n, 176, 183, 184, 187, Kizzuwatna, 200
283, 318, 319, 320, 322, 327, 329, 352, 375 Kom el-Hēṭan, 91
Judah, Land of Judah, 183, 263, 264, 265, 266, Kumidi, see Kāmid el-Lōz
356, 357, 359, 360, 363, 365, 377 Kummuh, 225
northern Judah, 205 Kuntillet ‘Ajrud, 318
Kurdistan, 335
southern Judah, 185, 337, 362
Judah highlands, 168n, 173, 182
Judean hill country, 173, 174, 175, 177, 180- Lab’u, see Lebo-hamath
182, 184, 185, 188, 326, 339, 353, 354, 360- Lachish, 6, 68n, 71, 72, 75, 76, 78, 151, 154,
361, 362, 378 155, 161, 168, 175, 176, 186, 206, 229, 318n,
south of, 181, 182, 183, 184, 187, 205, 206 321, 341, 352
Judean Hills, 1, 78, 177, 181, 183, 184, 186, 188, Laish, 264, 367, 368, 377
191, 337 Lake Ḥuleh, 307
Jund Philastine, 184 Lapana, 86, 100, 137
Laṭrun, 206
Kabul, 310n Lb’i, see Lebo-hamath
Kadesh-Barnea, 354 Lebanon, 5, 124, 200
Kāmid el-Lōz (Kumidi), 6, 27, 82, 86, 88, 89, 92, coast of, 8, 11, 14, 15, 18, 28, 88, 99, 137,
93, 94, 95, 139, 177, 201, 221, 223, 234, 278 149, 157, 158, 178, 281, 334
Karduniash, 128, 334 southern Lebanon, 200
Karkisha, 338 Lebo-hamath (Lb’i, Lab’u, Libo/Lybo, Lebwe),
Karnak, 85, 195, 197, 199, 345 123, 124, 125, 127
Kedesh of Naphtali, 307, 308, 309, 310 Lebwe, see Lebo-hamath
Keilah, 77, 78, 175, 176, 189, 205, 206, 248, 264 el-Leja mountain, 200n
Kharu, 139 Leshem, 369
el-Khirab, 211n Libnah, 352
Khirbet el-Burj, 376 Libo, see Lebo-hamath
Khirbet ‘En Ṭaruk, 198 Libya, 120, 345
Khirbet Beit Lei, 319 Limassol, 122
Khirbet Bir el-Ḥilû (Khirbet Ḥamideh), 206 Liṭani River, 127, 337
Khirbet Fuqeiqis, 180 Liṭani valley, 339
Khirbet Ḥafireh, 212 Luz, see Bethel
Khirbet el-Ḥamam, 211, 236n Lybo, see Lebo-hamath
Khirbet Ḥamideh, see Khirbet Bir el-Ḥilû Lydia, 341
Khirbet Ibziq, 359
Khirbet Jel‘ad, 310n Ma’ḫadu, 157, 158
Khirbet Kefireh, 376 Maacah, 335
Khirbet Kerak, 8, 12, 335, 339 Madon, 354, 355, 370
Khirbet el-Kidish, 307 Magan, 128
Khirbet al-Muḥafar, 212 Magdali, 88
Khirbet el-‘Oreimeh, 165 Mahanaim, 209
Khirbet el-Qom, 319 Maḫḫazu, see Muḫḫazu
Khirbet Rabud, 154, 167, 180, 353, see also Makkedah, 349, 351, 352
Debir Makkitta, see Megiddo
Khirbet Raddana, 339 Manasseh, hill country of, 1, 330, 346, 376,
Khirbet Shuweiket er-Râs, 209 377
Khirbet et-Tell, see Ai Manasseh, Land of Manasseh, 191, 359, 360
Kinza, 119, 126, 127 Manḫatu, 176
Kiriath-arba, see Hebron Mari, 111-112, 121, 158, 253, 255, 256, 296, 338n
Index 403
Maron, 354, 355, 370 Mu’rashti, 71, 72, 155

Mearah, 124 Muḫḫazu, 72, 160, 162
Mediterranean, 126, 335, 339 Mushiḫuna, 7
eastern Mediterranean, 58, 158, 343
western Mediterranean, 336 Nāb, 198
Megiddo (Makkitta), 7, 8, 9, 14n, 17, 18, 19, 30, Nabrachta, 211
118n, 126, 129, 152, 161, 163, 167, 199, 205, Nebi Rubin, 160
206, 220, 222, 223, 235, 236, 237, 238, 290, Naḫal Besor, 154
305, 306, 307, 312, 313, 322 Naḫal Elah, 187
Melid, 336 Naḫal Gerar, 154
Meluḫḫa, 128 Naḫal Govrin, 155
Memphis (Ḫikuptaḫ), 88, 93 Naḫal Kishon, 7, 238, 303, 305, 306, 307, 308,
Meroz, 305, 311 310, 311, 312, 313, 327
el-Meshattah, 211 Naḫal Tirzah, 210
Mesopotamia, 9, 63n, 67, 128, 221, 225, 227, Nahr el-Kebir (Eleutheros), 15, 107, 124, 126,
246, 247, 248, 288, 332, 333, 335, 341 276
eastern Mesopotamia, 300 Naḫrima, 43, 71
northern Mesopotamia, 9, 11, 334, 343 Napata, 93
southern Mesopotamia, 334 Naphtali’s allotment, 307, 309, 312, 314
Upper Mesopotamia, 9, 334 Narbata, 211, 222n, 236
Midian, 305, 313 Nasher, 255
Migdal Penuel, 305 Na-x-ḫa-x, 150, 154, 167
Mishal, 152, 161, 165, 167 Negeb, Negev, 128n, 153, 168, 183, 185, 325,
Misrephoth-maim, 124, 354 357, 361, 362
Mitanni, 5, 11, 16, 18, 32, 41-48, 83, 93, 114, Negeb Highlands, 209
119, 120, 126, 137, 200, 244, 300, 301
ngs, 199, 200, 237
Mizpah (Tell en-Naṣbeh), 322-323
Nile Delta, 155, 277
Mizpeh, 354
Nile valley, 277
Mktl, Mktlyn, 207n Niya, 11, 112
Mmšt, 184 Nob, 324n
Moab, 190, 267 Nubia, 27, 93, 94, 278
Moresheth-(gath), 71 Nuḫašše, 6, 11, 46, 112, 118, 126, 135, 199
Mount Anti-Lebanon, 7, 8, 86, 92, 93, 124, 125, Nuribta, 222n, 223, 235, 236
128, 207 Nuzi, 52, 91n, 200, 220, 234, 271
Mount Bishri, 334
Mount Carmel, 135
Oak of Zaanannim, 307, 309
Carmel slopes, 207, 208
Orontes River, 15, 126, 127, 276
Lower Carmel, 189
Orontes valley, 12
Mount Ebal, 332
Mount Ephraim, 187, 190, 210, 262, 266, 267,
268, 357, 308, 309 p3 mgr, 276
Mount Gilboa, 324, 327 Palestine, 1-19, 28, 66, 69, 72n, 75, 123, 130,
Mount Halak, 370 135, 145, 146, 147, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154,
Mount Hebron, 182-185 157, 161, 167, 168, 178, 182, 210, 221, 224,
Mount Hermon, 124, 337 225, 226, 228, 229, 253, 259, 263, 288, 325,
Mount Jearim, 190 329, 333, 336, 340, 341n, 343
Mount Lebanon, 124, 224, 276, 337 central Palestine, 163, 167, 324
Mount Perazim, 351 coast of, 2, 15
Mount Seir, 190 eastern Palestine, 205
Mount Shawe, Mount n š3-w3, 276 the hill country of, 3, 8, 184, 346n
Mount Tabor, 305, 307, 308, 309, 310, 312 northern Palestine, 11, 12, 59n, 66, 88, 149,
Mount Zemaraim, 267 163, 165, 166, 207, 209, 210, 227, 369
Mpśn, 207n the northern plains of, 2
‘mq, 208 southern Palestine, 8, 11, 14, 65, 66, 70, 72,
Mqr/lt, 208, 209 75, 76, 119, 154-156, 167, 207, 210, 218, 219,
220, 223 Š‘rt/Shartu, 190

west Jordanian Palestine, 147 Ṣab/puma, 74
Patina, 225 Sadad, see Zedad
Peḫel, 183 Saggaratum, 256
Persian empire, 127 Salt Sea, 124
Philistia, Philistines, 122, 130, 208, 263, 323, Sam’al, 225
324, 350, 356, 361, 370, 375 Samaria, 187, 205, 210, 318, 319, 327
coast of, 159, 323n, 361 northern Samaria, 211
eastern Philistia, 361 Samaria hills, 239
Phoenicia, 110, 130, 318 Samarian hill country, 212, 373
Phoenician coast, 65, 66n, 67, 110, 114, 116, Saqqara, 122
122, 126, 135, 151, 198, 224, 227, 228 Sarid, 208, 303-305, 312
Piḫilu, 7, 8, 17n, 84, 127, 128, 197, 201n, 207 Sazana, 92
Promised Land, 110, 111, 126, 127, 128, 129 Seir, see Edom
Seirah, 190, 267
Qadesh, Qidshu (Tell Nebi Mind), 11, 16, 17, Shaalim, 267n
18, 27, 86, 87, 100, 116, 119, 126, 127, 196n, Shaddu, 86, 87
199, 200, 276, 288, 299 Shalisha, 267n
Qa-ḏi-ru, 205 Shamḫuna, 6, 7, 30, 55n, 113, 161, 163, 167,
Qantara, 72n 222n
Qanu, 196 Shamir, 267
Qarqar, 15, 325 Sharon, 207, 239
Qatna, 11, 87, 88, 100, 111, 112, 126, 196, 288 plain of, 7, 8, 207, 209, 210, 211, 236
qdr, 198 Shartu, see Š‘rt
qḏr, 208, see also Gezer Sharuhen, see Shir/lḥon
qdtm, 205, 209n Sharuna, 161, 162
Qina brook, 238 Shasu lands, 127n, see also District of the
Qina valley, 238 Shasu
[Qm]hn, 196 Shazaena, 27, 82, 92
Qpt, 208 Shechem, Shechemites, 3, 12, 29, 30, 83, 85n,
Qrt-‘nb, 198 89, 113n, 145, 150, 152, 163, 164, 166, 167,
Que, 337 168, 173, 179-180, 181, 182, 183, 186, 187,
188, 189, 190-191, 201n, 205, 207, 210, 232,
Rabbah, 204, 206, 212n 237, 264, 267, 290, 337, 339, 345-346, 359,
Rabbith, 204, 205 373, 374
Raḫābu, 90n, 233, 234, 235, 236, 238 Shepham, 123-124, 127
Rāḫisum/Rūḫiṣu, 111, 112, 121, 127, see also Shephelah, 2, 8, 17, 18, 72, 74n, 173, 174, 177,
Ruḫizzi 178, 179, 184, 189, 191, 205, 210, 260, 268,
Ramah, 266, 267n 322, 326, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 362, 370,
Raphia, 119 378, 379
Rapiqu, 334 northern Shephelah, 205, 206, 208, 209,
Ras Tawra, 181, 186, 191 247, 370, 375
Rbt, 204, 205, 206, 208, 209, see also Rubutu Shēri, 189, 190
Rehob (Rḥb), 124, 152, 165, 167, 175, 177, 178, Shilhim, see Shir/lḥon
205, 207n, 208, 222, 223 Shiloh, 332
Rephaim valley, 350, 351 Shim‘on, 354, 370
Retenu, 4, 199, 200 Shim‘on, kingdom of, 235, 354
Rḥb, see Rehob Shimron, 354
Riblah, 127 Shir/lḥon (Sharuhen, Tell el-‘Ajjul), 13, 14, 15,
Roman Empire, 138 16, 17, 19, 119
Rosh-qidshi, 179 Shunem, 166, 205, 208, 222, 223, 232, 235, 236,
Rôsh-ramem, 179 237, 239
Rubutu, 77, 78,176, 204-212 Siannu, 46, 47
Rūḫiṣu, see Rāḫiṣum Sibraim, 124
Ruḫizzi, 86, 87, 100, 137, see also Rāḫiṣum/Rūḫiṣu Sidon, 6, 29, 36, 53n, 55n, 65, 66, 68, 101, 116,
Index 405
118, 136, 151n, 156 Tel Dan, 369

Great Sidon, 354 Tel Dor, 166
Silat el-Ḫarithiyeh, 310n Tel ‘Eton, 154, 167, 352
Sile, 72n, 119 Tel Ḥalif (Tell el-Khuweilifeh), 362
Siloam, 319 Tel Haror, 154
Silu, 155 Tel Hazor, 366
Sinai Peninsula, 14n, 16, 335, 347 Tel Jokneam, 166, 167
northern Sinai, 127n Tel Kabri, 178
Siyannu, 246, 248 Tel Malḥata, 185
Socoh, 14n, 184, 206, 207n, 209, 210, 370 Tel Masos, 185, 229, 325
Soleb, 14n Tel Mevorakh, 332
Śrt, 208 Tel Qarnei Ḥiṭṭin, 166, 167, 355
Subartu, 128, 255 Tel Rekhesh, 165
Suḫu, 325, 334 Tel Sera‘, 229, 322, 341
Sumer, 128, 296 Tel Shimron, 163
Ṣumur (Tell Kazel), 43, 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, Tell Abū Shūsheh, see Geba‘
60, 126, 166, 221, 223, 234, 245, 246n, 257n, Tell el-‘Ajjul, see Shir/lḥon
275, 276 Tell el-‘Amr, 165
Šunem, 204 Tell Beit Mirsim, 154, 167, 318n
Ṣupite, 92 Tell Burnaṭ, 155
Syria, 4, 5, 9, 11, 14, 15, 18, 45, 68, 103, 117, Tell ed-Dab‘a, 18
123, 146, 161, 196, 221, 227, 288, 333, 334, Tell Deir ‘Alla, 332
335, 336, 338 Tell Deir el-‘Azar, see Kiriath-jearim
central Syria, 11, 93, 94, 116, 122, 126, 127, 338 Tell Dothan, see Dothan
coast of, 157 Tell el-Far‘ah, 191, 322
northern coast of, 116 Tell Harbaj, 165
northern Syria, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 122, 220, Tell el-Ḫayyat, 332
225, 227, 296, 300, 334, 340 Tell el-Ḥesi, 224
southern Syria, 11, 85n, 86, 88, 94, 126, 149, Tell Jemmeh, 154, 325
200, 201, 225, 227, 334-335 Tell Kazel, see Ṣumur
Syro-African Rift valley, 330, 338, 340 Tell el-Khuweilifeh, see Tel Ḥalif
Syro-Anatolian kingdoms, 336 Tell Kisan, 165
Syro-Arabian Desert, 335 Tell Kittan, 332
Syro-Canaanite kingdoms, 16 Tell el-Masallah, 211
Syro-Mesopotamia areas, 336 Tell el-Muḥafar, 211, 212
Syro-Mesopotamian West Semitic kingdoms, Tell en-Na‘ameh, 195
227 Tell en-Naḫl, 165
Syro-Palestine, 228n, 288, 290, 318, 325, 336 Tell en-Naṣbeh, see Mizpah
Tell Nebi Mind, see Qadesh
Taanach, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14n, 94, 129, 161, Tell er-Rumeideh, 180, 182
163, 164, 165, 167, 168, 204, 205, 206, 207n, Tell eṣ-Ṣafi, see Gath, Gimtu
208, 209, 210, 221, 222, 223, 224, 232, 233, Tell eṣ-Ṣarem, 165, 207n, 235
234, 235, 236, 238, 305, 306, 307, 310n, 311, Tell Sheikh Abu Zarad, see Tappuah
312, 340 Tell esh-Shihab, 85, 197, 198, 200n
south of, 210 Tell es-Sultan, 160
Tadmor, 334 Thebes, 148, 175
Taḫshi, 86n, 93, 126, 127, 196, 207 Tianna, 72, 74, 160, 161, 162, 163, 167
Tamar, 124, 363, 364, see also City of Palms Tigris River,
Tappuah (Tell Sheikh Abu Zarad), 186, 190, Upper Tigris, 9, 334
371 Timna, 229
Taurus, 335 Timnath-heres, Timnath-serah, 266, 356
Tehenu, 344 Tirzah, 210, 371
Tel Aphek, 66, 236, 243 Tjeko, 342
Tel Ashdod, 156, 159, 162, 163 Tnn (tì-n-ni), 161, 162, see also Tianna
Tel Beer-sheba, 318n, 325 Tob, Land of Tob, 262, 335
Transcaucasia, 12 y‘n, 198

Transjordan, 17n, 85, 125, 127n, 128, 128n, 195, Yabilima, 155, 208n
198, 199, 222, 224, 227, 237, 322, 339, 345, 377 Yâfā, 235n
”King’s Highway”, 17n, 127n Yaḥam, 207n
northern Transjordan, 94, 335 Yamḫad, 286, 287, 288, 289n, 336
Tripoli, 124, 276 Yapiḫu, 236
Tubiḫu, 177, 276 Yapû, 222n, 236, see also Joppa
Tûl Karem, 205 Yarimuta, 57, 58, 59, 60
Tunip, 11, 126 Yarmuk River, 84, 85, 86, 125, 128, 197, 198,
Tushulti, 177, 264 199, 207, 208n
Tyre (the city of Mayāti), 6, 29, 36, 50-55, 63, Yarmuta, 59n, see also Yarimuta
65-68, 101, 103, 104, 105, 116, 118, 120, 123, Yehud, 184
134, 135, 136-137, 151n, 158, 219, 276 Yeno‘am, 84, 85, 86, 195-202, 221, 237, 344,
345
Ugarit, 5, 6, 40, 41, 42, 46, 47, 52, 54, 116, 117, Yibleam, 165
120, 135, 136, 137, 138, 140, 141-142, 156, Yibneh, 72n
157-158, 160n, 162, 190, 225, 236, 246, 247, Yurza, 16, 154, 167, 234
248, 278, 290, 298, 340
Ugulzit, 118 Zagros, 300, 335
Ulan Burun, 58 Zaphon, 74n
Ullasa, 44, 45, 56, 57, 114, 166, 178, 221, 245, Zarephath, 276
246n, 275 Zebulun’s allotment, 208, 235, 304, 305, 312,
Upi (Api), 82, 85, 86, 87, 89, 100, 126, 139, 314
196n, 227 Zedad (Sadad), 123, 124, 125
Ur, 13, 335 Zemaraim, 209
Urartu, 346 Zephath, 362, 377
Urshum, 9 Zer‘în, 310n
Uruatri/Uratri, 346, see also Urartu Ziklag, 263
Usu, 36, 55n Zilû, 71, 72, 154, 155, 167, 175, 176, 206
Zin, 124
Wādi Arabah, 128n Ziph, 184
Wādi el-Far‘ah, 210 Ziphron, 123, 127
Wādi el-Ḥamam, 355 Zobah, 264, 355
Wādi Jabneel, 195 Zorah, 176, 368
Wādi Raqad, 198 Zuḫra, 147, 150, 154, 167, 175
Waššukanni, 200 Zunzurḫi, 118
Waters of Megiddo, 311, 312, 378 Zuph, 267n
Waters of Merom, 350, 353, 354, 355, 356, 366
[x-I]G-ma-te, 150, 163, 167
Index of Biblical References
Genesis 34:12 372 6:17b 364n
10:15 338 6:22-23 364n
12:1 270 Numbers 6:23 364
12:10 342 13-14 361, 368 6:24 364n
14:13 270 13:6 360 6:25 364
23 337, 339, 374 13:21 123, 124 8 348
23:2 113n 13:22 337, 360, 374 8:24 362n
26:1 342 13:28 360, 374 8:29 352, 378
26:34 337 14:44-45 362n 9 339, 349, 371, 374, 376
27:46 337 14:45 362n 9:3 372
33:18 113n 21:1-3 362 9:4 372
34 339, 373 26:32-33 212 9:7 337
34:2 337, 339 27:1 212 9:8 372
34:4 373 32:12 361 9:9 372
34:8-12 373 32:37-38 377 9:9b-10 373
35:6 113n 32:41-42 377 9:11 372
35:8 309, 357 34:2-12 125 9:14 373
36:2 337 34:2-12a 123 9:15a 372
36:11 361 34:7-12a 124 9:15b 371, 372
36:15 361 34:19 360 9:16 372
36:42 361 9:17 376
37:17 211 Deuteronomy 9:17-21 371
39:14 261, 270 1:43-44 362n 9:22 373
39:17 261 1:44 362n 9:24 372
40:15 261 2:15 362n 9:27 371, 377
41:12 261, 270 3:3-5 198 9:27b 373
42:2 342 3:5 282, 283 10 173, 350, 351, 360
47:4 342 7:2 372 10-11 347
49:6 355 15:12 270 10:1 349
49:14-15 232 20:10-18 372 10:1-15 349, 351, 354
20:16-18 372 10:1-39 353
Exodus 20:11 372 10:3 177, 349
1:16 261 20:12-14 372 10:5 177, 349
1:19 261 26:5 343 10:6 349
2:6 261 34:3 363 10:10 190
2:7 261 10:12-13 351
3:18 261 Joshua 10:16-27 349, 351
5:3 261 1:4 122, 338 10:20 362n
7:16 261 2 364 10:23 349
9:1 261 2:1-9a 364n 10:26 378
9:13 261 2:9 372 10:28 352
10:3 261 2:12-16 364n 10:28-39 364-365, 366, 378
21:2 270 2:12b 364n 10:29-39 349, 352, 353
23:9 270 2:17-21 364n 10:36-37 326
23:32 372 2:22-23 364n 10:36-39 177
407
10:38-39 326 15:49 353 1:8 358, 359, 377

10:40-41 347 15:54 353 1:9 357, 358
10:41 354 15:55-56 263 1:10 326, 337, 363, 374
11 309, 366 15:59 248n 1:10-15 357, 360
11:1-5 308, 353, 354 15:60 204, 206 1:11 363
11:1-9 353, 354, 366 16:2 304 1:11-15 326, 361
11:1-14 353, 355 16:3 190 1:16 363
11:2 354 16:7 304 1:17 362, 363
11:3 337, 354 16:10 370 1:17-18 357
11:4 129 17:2-3 212 1:18 358
11:6 129, 353, 355 17:11 129, 238 1:19 129, 310, 358
11:7-9 353 17:16 129, 310 1:21 357, 358, 365
11:8 354 17:18 310 1:22 364
11:9 129, 355 18:6 183 1:22-25 377
11:10 355, 367 18:22 187 1:22-26 187, 357, 359, 364,
11:10-11 366, 367 18:28 183 365
11:10-14 353 19:4 362 1:25 364
11:12a 366 19:6 13n 1:26 122, 358, 364
11:12b-13 366 19:10 304 1:27 129, 238
11:14 366 19:12 235, 304 1:27-33 357
11:16-17 347 19:13 304 1:27-35 357, 365
11:21 326 19:19 208 1:29 370
11:21-22 361 19:20 204 1:34-35 326, 367, 368, 369,
11:21-23 360 19:21 239 370
11:23 347 19:25 208 1:35 357, 370
12 212, 223 19:33 307, 309 2:1-5 357
12:10 177 19:37 308 2:2 372
12:13 177 19:40 223 2:2-4 358
12:16 187 19:40-46 176 2:4-5 357
12:17 212, 370 19:40-47 368 2:6-9 357
12:22 308 19:47 268, 326, 365, 367, 2:9 357
13:2-6 123, 125 368-369, 370 2:10ff 357
13:2a 124 20:7 308 2:11-13 358
13:4-6a 124 21:29 59n 2:17-19 358
13:5 126 21:32 308 3:3 337
14:6 361 24:28-31 357 3:13 363
14:6-14 326 24:30 357 3:26 190, 267n
14:6-15 360 24:31 357 3:26-27 267
14:14 361 4 306-312, 327
15 362 Judges 4-5 303, 313
15:1-12 357 1 347, 348, 360, 362, 365 4:1 311
15:8 183 1:1–2:5 357 4:1-3 312
15:10 190, 267 1:1 357, 370 4:2 306, 307, 311, 355
15:10-11 304 1:1-2 357 4:2a 309, 310
15:13 360 1:1-3 358 4:2b 309, 310
15:13-14 326, 360 1:1-18 357 4:3 129, 311
15:13-19 360 1:1-26 357-366 4:4b-5 309, 310
15:14 337, 360, 374 1:3 363 4:5 307, 308
15:15-19 326, 360, 361 1:4 364 4:6 305, 309
15:30 362 1:4-8 357 4:6a 310
15:32 13n 1:5a 359 4:9b 310
15:39 353 1:6-7a 359 4:10 308, 309
15:41 353 1:7 359 4:10-14 305, 398
15:42 353 1:7a 359 4:11 307, 309, 310, 363
15:45-47 129 1:7b 359 4:13 129, 306, 307, 308, 309
Index 409
4:16 306, 307, 308, 309 20 348 26 327

4:17 307 20:1 323 26:6 337
4:17b 309, 310 20:3 323 27:1-6 263
4:22 307 21:1 323 27:2 264
4:23 311, 355 21:5 323 27:7-11 263
4:24 355 21:8 323 27:8-11 264
5 129, 327 28:1-2 263
5:8 304 1 Samuel 29 263
5:8a 304 1:1 267 29:3 256, 261, 262
5:11 304 3:10 324 30 263
5:11b 303 4:6 261, 262 30:9 264
5:11b-13 303, 304, 305 4:9 261, 262 30:10 324n
5:13 208n, 303-305 5:1-7 324 30:16 83n
5:13a 304 6:9 323 30:17 324
5:13b 304 6:12-21 323 30:29-30 362
5:14-17 305, 311 6:18 282, 283 31 327
5:18 305 9:1 267 31:4 270
5:19 129, 304, 306 9:1-10:16 327
5:19b 129 9:4-5 267n 2 Samuel
5:21 305 10:3 309 1:17-27 327
5:22 304 10:5 375n 1:18 351
5:23 305 10:9-13 375n 1:20 270
5:25 304 10:10-12 327 2:1-4 183, 264
6:5 324 10:17-26:11 327 4:2 375
7:12 324 11:1-2 372 4:6 327
8:17 305 11:8 359 4:7 327
8:21 324 12:9 307 5:1-5 183
8:26 324 13-14 267 5:20 351
9 264, 374 13:3 261, 262 5:22 350, 351
9:4 264 13:6 262, 267 5:22-25 350, 351
9:26-29 264 13:7 261n 5:23-24 351
9:30-41 264 13:19 261, 262 5:25 351
9:46-49 290 14:6 270 8:3 355
11 262 14:11 261, 262 8:4 355
11:4-11 264 14:21-22 261 8:10-12 324n
14:3 270 14:22 267 8:16-18 319, 327
15:18 270 15:6 363 8:17 317
16:23 324 16:14-23 327 10:6-18 311
17 368 16:17 327 11 337
17-18 368 17:26 270 15-20 165
17:12 368 17:36 270 16:5 266
18 264, 268, 326, 367-368 17:52 190 17:1-14 266
18:1 368 18:17-27 361 19:10-13 265
18:2 368 19:18-24 327 19:12-16 266
18:7 368 21:10 324n 19:41-44 265, 266
18:8-10 368 21:11-16 327 20:1 266
18:11 264, 368 21:17 327 20:1-2 265
18:16 264 22:1-2 263 20:2 265
18:17 264 22:2 264 20:4-6 268
18:25 264 22:5 263 20:6 266
18:27 365 22:20-23 263 20:14 266, 268
18:27a-28 368 23:1-13 264, 268 20:18 268
18:27-29 368 23:13 264 20:21 266
18:29 368 24 327 20:23-26 319, 327
19:47 370 25 263 20:25 317
21:1 375 11:20 327 48:1-8 125

21:1-14 374, 375 12:21 327 48:28 363
21:2 375 12:22a 327
21:2b 375 14:11 323 Amos
21:6 375n 14:25 327 1:8 164
21:9 375 14:28a 327
21:10-14 375 15:29 308 Jonah
21:15-22 361 18:14 352 1:9 270, 271
23:13-17 350 18:17 352
23:39 337 18:17-19:9a 327 Zechariah
24:7 337 18:36 327 2:4-5 283
24:8 317 19:8 352
24:16-25 337, 339 19:9 353 Psalms
19:9b-35 327 83 313
1 Kings 23:15 187 83:6-8 313
4:2-19 319 83:9-10 313
4:3 317 Isaiah
4:8 267 8:21-23a 313n Esther
4:9 176 8:23 308, 312 9:19 283
4:10 204, 205, 209, 212, 8:23b 312-314
236n 8:23b-9:6 313, 314 Ezra
4:12 238 9:1-6 313 2:25 376
4:18 267 9:3 313
9:13 310n 9:5 313 Nehemiah
9:16 370 9:6 312 3:7 322
9:18 363 20:1 311 3:15 322
10:29 122, 338 28:21 351 3:16 190
11:1 122, 338 3:19 322
11:16 307 Jeremiah 3:24 190
11:23-24 264 34:9 270, 271 3:31 190
11:24 264 34:14 270, 271 7:25 376
12:28-29 367 40-41 322 7:29 376
15:20 268 50:17 312
15:22 322 1 Chronicles
16:1-4 327 Ezekiel 4:13-15 360
16:7 327 16:3 337, 343 4:30 362
20:1-21 327 16:45 337 6:61 308
20:34 372 38:11 282 10:10 324
47:13-21 123 14:13 350
2 Kings 47:13-18 125 14:13-16 350
6:13 211 47:15-18 124 14:16 351
6:24-7:20 327 47:16 127 20:4-8 361
7:6 122, 338 47:17 127
8:20-22 322 47:18 125 2 Chronicles
9:27 239 47:19 363 28:15 363
11:16 327 48:1 123, 124, 125

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Canaan in the Second Millennium B.C.E.

Winona Lake, Indiana

ç Copyright 2005 by Eisenbrauns.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Prof. Shlomo Na’aman

Index of Ancient Personal Names .................................................................... 393

Nadav Na’aman Tel Aviv University

“Conquest of Canaan” in the Book of Joshua and in History, in I. Finkelstein

1. Reprinted with permission. Levant 26 (1994), 175–187.

Ugarit — Niqmaddu, Ammishtamru

Beirut — Yapaḫ-Hadda, Ammunira

S/Zurashar is West Semitic (see Moran 1987:585) or “northern” is uncertain.

We may conclude that there is a marked predominance of “northern”

Egypt and the Middle Bronze II/Late Bronze I Transition

of southern Canaan in the seventeenth-sixteenth centuries (today Tell el-

7. Redford’s suggestion (1982:56–60) that Thutmose’s topographical list was drawn

Remarkable in the topographical list is the absence of cities situated in

(Tell el-‘Ajjul) by Ahmose further contributed to the collapse of the Canaanite

inite date is suggested; no a priori date should be assigned in light of an as-

Aharoni, Y. 1967. The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography. Philadelphia.

Gardiner, A. H. 1947. Ancient Egyptian Onomastica I-III. Oxford.

1. Reprinted with permission. In Cohen, R. and Westbrook R. eds., Amarna Diplomacy:

Frequency of Royal Letters

letters to the Pharaoh. Most remarkable is Rib-Hadda of Byblos. Other exam-

Seasonal Procedure and the Vassal Correspondence

Egyptians on their vassals (Na’aman 1981:172–185). Moreover, it seems that

The Vassal Correspondence as “Business” Letters

of these obligations were performed on irregular basis, and their execution is

Egyptian Obligations: Two Conflicting Viewpoints

Of the many differences in ideological and political outlook between

5. For a systematic discussion of Liverani’s arguments and an entirely different inter-

Egyptian Officials as Translators of the Royal Commands

The Egyptian officials operated at the juncture of two different cultural

12. [x x x ]x-ni-šu-nu ak-š[u-ud-šu-nu]

1. Reprinted with permission. Aula Orientalis 14 (1996), 251–257.

21. i-na-an-na ad-di[n-šu-nu]

3. For a survey, see Singer 1990:124-125.

For the writing of balāṭu by the logogram TI in Rib-Hadda’s early letters,

Letter EA 108 was written after the appointment of Yanḫamu as com-

4. For a detailed discussion, see Liverani 1983:51-53; 1990:230–239.

Rib-Hadda complains about the Egyptian impotence that enabled Pu-

9. The different reactions of Amenophis III and Akhenaten to Rib-Hadda’s letters is a

The following episodes occurred between the Egyptian campaign against

(a) The return of the archers to Egypt (EA 105:17–21).

It remains unclear whether letter EA 75 refers to events in the reign of

gation to the Hittite general would be headed by a senior personage, Beti-Ili,

of Akhenaten. It is clear that the date for Shuppiluliuma’s accession (1344

The Coup d’état in Tyre

1. Reprinted with permission. Revue d’Assyriologie 90 (1996), 145–159.

Notes to the text:

The plural noun “mayors” (ḫazannūti) is consistently preceded in the

Letter EA 89 is well constructed and Rib-Hadda’s case is clearly stated. He

Royal Judgment on Confiscation of Two Ships

Notes to the text:

Notes to the text:

Lines 21–26: Moran’s translation runs thus: “Concerning [my] property

A detailed list of the seized “things” (unūtē) appears in letter EA 120:1–23.

8. A different translation was suggested by Moran 1992:119–200, note 12.

a severe shortage of grain in Byblos. Note, for example, EA 114:54–59,

10. The restoration was suggested by Bonkamp 1939: 274, n. 1.

Notes to the transcription:

Translation of lines 22–39:

11. A well-known Mesopotamian analogy is the sending of ṭātu, (“bribe”) or šulmānu