Ammunira was a king of Beirut in the mid-fourteenth century BCE. He is mentioned in several of the Amarna letters, and authored letters EA 141-43 (EA for 'el Amarna'). [1]
The Amarna letters are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru, or neighboring kingdom leaders, during the New Kingdom, spanning a period of no more than thirty years between c. 1360–1332 BC. The letters were found in Upper Egypt at el-Amarna, the modern name for the ancient Egyptian capital of Akhetaten, founded by pharaoh Akhenaten (1350s–1330s BC) during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. The Amarna letters are unusual in Egyptological research, because they are written not in the language of ancient Egypt, but in cuneiform, the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia. Most are in a variety of Akkadian sometimes characterised as a mixed language, Canaanite-Akkadian; one especially long letter—abbreviated EA 24—was written in a late dialect of Hurrian, and is the longest contiguous text known to survive in that language.
Endaruta was the ruler of Achshaph-(Akšapa of the letters), in the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Endaruta was the author of EA 223,, of the letters. He is only referenced in two other letters EA 366 and 367, but EA 367, entitled: "From the Pharaoh to a vassal" is addressed to Endaruta, with instructions to guard his city. Pharaoh states Hanni–Khanni, is en route with the "archer-army force", and to prepare for their needs. Tablet-letter 367 is an undamaged, twenty-five line letter.
Zimredda (Lachish mayor) was a leader of Lachish in the mid 14th century BC. He is mentioned in the Amarna letters, and is the author of EA 329, (EA for 'el Amarna'). Only two other references are made to "Zimredda of Lakiša"–(Lachish) in the corpus. He is part of the subject of letter EA 333, titled: "Plots and disloyalty" . His death is reported in EA 288 by Abdi-Heba–(letter no. 4 of 6), at the hands of the Habiru.
Barga was an ancient city and later kingdom in the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range in the Bronze age and Iron age.
Ayyab was a ruler of Aštartu south of Damascus. According to the Amarna letters, cities/city-states and their kings in the region — just like countries to the north, such as Hatti of the Hittites, fell prey to a wave of attacks by Habiru raiders. The Amarna correspondence corpus covers a period from 1350–1335 BC.
Enišasi, was a city, or city-state located in the Beqaa Valley-(called Amqu, or Amka) of Lebanon, during the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Of the 382–Amarna letters, Enišasi is only referenced in two letters. Enišasi was located near Hašabu,, and Hasi,, southwest of Baalbek.
Ruhizzi, was a city, or city-state located in northern Canaan or southern Amurru territories, in the foothills of Mount Hermon during the time of the Amarna letters correspondence. During the 15-20 year Amarna letters of 1350-1335 BC, Arsawuya was the 'mayor' of Ruhizzi and corresponded with the Egyptian pharaoh.
Naziba, was a small 'city', or 'city-state' south of Dimašqu-(Damascus), in the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. The town of Naziba was located near Amarna letters Qanu, now named Qanawat, and biblical Kenath.
Pu-Ba'lu, was ruler/mayor of Yursa,, identified with Tell Jemmeh, of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. His name translates in west semitic as well as in Akkadian as: "word/mouth (of) Baal", the 'Spokesman (of) Baal' ,.
Abdi-Riša was a ruler-'mayor' of Enišasi, during the period of the Amarna letters correspondence. Another mayor of Enišasi, Šatiya, is found in the Amarna letters corpus. The name "Abdi-Riša" means "servant-Riša".
The Amqu is a region, equivalent to the Beqaa Valley region, named in the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters corpus.
The greeting-gift (Šulmānī) were gifts, or presents exchanged between Kings, and rulers of the 1350 BC–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. They are notable in the 382–letter corpus for the variety of the gifts, as well as the involvement of the individuals exchanging the gifts,.
Karduniaš, also transcribed Kurduniash, Karduniash, Karaduniše, ) is a Kassite term used for the kingdom centered on Babylonia and founded by the Kassite dynasty. It is used in the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence, and is also used frequently in Middle Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian texts to refer to the kingdom of Babylon. The name Karaduniyaš is mainly used in the letters written between Kadashman-Enlil I or Burna-Buriash, Kings of Babylon, and the Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt -, letters EA 1-EA 11, a subcorpus of letters,.
Amarna letter EA 9 is a tall, compact 38 line clay tablet letter of 3 paragraphs, in pristine condition, with few flaws on the clay. The photo of the reverse (pictured) shows half of Paragraph III, and some of the signs.
Amarna letter EA 365, titled Furnishing Corvée Workers, is a squarish, mostly flat clay tablet, but thick enough (pillow-shaped), to contain text that continues toward the right margin, the right side of the obverse side, and also to the right side of the reverse side of the tablet.
Amarna letter EA 364, titled Justified War, is a clay tablet letter from Ayyab, ruler of Aštartu, to Pharaoh Akhenaten.
The cuneiform ŠEŠ sign, as a capital letter (majuscule), is a Sumerogram for Akkadian language ahu, for "brother". It is the cuneiform sign for ŠEŠ, as it can be used for a variety of lower case syllabic values, using š + vowel + š,. Sumerogram ŠEŠ has a high usage in the mid-14th century BC, ~1350-1330 BC Amarna letters from the brother kingdoms to the Pharaoh's Egypt. The brother kingdoms were Babylon, Alashiya, and Mittanni, where King Tushratta authored 13 El Amarna letters.
Amarna letter EA 367, titled From the Pharaoh to a Vassal, is a medium-small, square clay tablet Amarna letter to Endaruta of Achshaph,, one of only about 10 letters of the el-Amarna corpus, that is from the Pharaoh of Egypt to his correspondent.
Amarna letter EA 362, titled: "A Commissioner Murdered," is a finely-inscribed clay tablet letter from Rib-Haddi, the mayor/'man' of the city of Byblos,. Byblos, being a large coastal seaport Mediterranean city, was a city that was aligned with Egypt (Miṣri), and housed an Egyptian community. Rib-Haddi, as the city-state leader wrote the largest number of letters to the Pharaoh, in a sub-corpus of the 1350 BC Amarna letters.
Amarna letter EA 15, titled Assyria Joins the International Scene, is a shorter-length clay tablet Amarna letter from Ashur-uballit I of the Land of Assyria,. He addresses the Pharaoh in line 1, the "King (of) Land Miṣri-(Egypt)", thus the use of "Land (of) Assyria".