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Arqa is a Lebanese village near Miniara in Akkar Governorate, Lebanon, 22 km northeast of Tripoli, near the coast.
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.
Rib-Hadda was king of Byblos during the mid fourteenth century BCE. He is the author of some sixty of the Amarna letters all to Akhenaten. His name is Akkadian in form and may invoke the Northwest Semitic god Hadad, though his letters invoke only Ba'alat Gubla, the "Lady of Byblos".
Aziru was the Canaanite ruler of Amurru, modern Lebanon, in the 14th century BC. He was the son of Abdi-Ashirta, the previous Egyptian vassal of Amurru and a direct contemporary of Akhenaten.
Zimredda, also Zimr-Edda or Zimr-Eddi was the mayor of Sidon, in the mid 14th century BC. He is mentioned in several of the Amarna letters, in the late Rib-Hadda series, and later. He authored letters EA 144–45.
Pahura, and also spelled Pihur/Pihuru, Pihura, and Pihuru/Pihure was a commissioner of the 1350 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Pahura's name means in Egyptian, ' the Syrian ' , and he was commissioner to the Egyptian pharaoh.
Pawura, and also: Pauru, Piwure, Puuru/Puwuru was an Egyptian official of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. As mentioned in letter no. 171, he was also an Egyptian "archer–commander". In letter no. 289 he is called an "irpi–official". In Egyptian his name means 'the Great One', (Pa-wr/Pa-ur)(letter EA 287:45-"1.-Pa-Ú-Ru")
Milkilu, and more properly Milk-ilu, or Milku-ilu, with an alternate version of Ili-Milku, was the mayor/ruler of Gazru (Gezer) of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Adda-danu, and Yapahu were also mayors of Gazru.
Yanhamu, also Yenhamu, and Enhamu, was an Egyptian commissioner of the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence.
Amanmašša is the name of an Egyptian official, but probably two separate officials (?), in the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. The Egyptian form of his name is Amenmose, which means "Amun-born".
Haapi, also Haip and Ha'ip was a commissioner of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. The name "Hapi" in Egyptian is the name for the Nile god Hapi.
Ili-Rapih was the follow-on mayor in Gubla-(modern Byblos), and the brother of Rib-Hadda, the former mayor of Gubla, ; Ili-Rapih is in the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence, and wrote 2 follow-on letters to the Pharaoh after the death of Rib-Haddi.
Irimayašša, or Iriyamašša was an Egyptian official, of the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence, written from a 15-20 year time period. The 2 letters that reference him are regarding Byblos/Gubla, and Ashkelon/(Ašqaluna), in western and southwestern Canaan.
The Salhi is a region/city-state in the vicinity of Ugarit during the 15-20 year Amarna letters correspondence of 1350–1335 BC.
The cuneiform as sign, also aṣ, and az, is found in both the 14th century BC Amarna letters and the Epic of Gilgamesh. As as and az in the Amarna letters it appears identical in form in both Amarna letters EA 365, and EA 362. In the photo of the bottom half of Amarna letter EA 365, it is used to name the workers as: LÚ-MEŠ-(plural)–ma-as-sà-meš-(plural), (amēlu-massu)
Amarna letter EA 161, titled An Absence Explained, is a tall clay tablet letter of 8 paragraphs, with single paragraphing lines. The surface is somewhat degraded, but most cuneiform signs that remain, allow for a relative complete translation context for the letter, and the eight paragraphs. The clay tablet is no. BM 29818 at the British Museum; the number is visible at the top of the tablet, above Para I-(in black ink, the top half of the number visible).
Amarna letter EA 86, titled: Complaint to an Official, is a somewhat moderate length clay tablet letter from Rib-Hadda of city-state Byblos to Amanappa, an official at the court of the Pharaoh.
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 149, titled: "Neither Water nor Wood" is a moderate- to extended-length clay tablet Amarna letter from Abimilku of Tyre-(called Ṣurru in the letters), written to the Pharaoh of Egypt.
Amarna letter EA 75, titled: "Political Chaos", is a short to moderate length letter from Rib-Hadda, who wrote the largest number of Amarna letters in a sub-corpus, from the city-state of Byblos; Byblos contained an Ancient Egyptian colony, and was aligned with a few neighboring townsites.
References
- Moran, William L. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, ISBN 0-8018-6715-0)