THE TELL AMARNA TABLETS
THE HITTITE INVASION OF DAMASCUS
NO. 36 B. M.—“To King Annumuria[1] (Amenophis III) Son of the Sun, my Lord thus (says) this thy servant Akizzi.[2] Seven times at the feet of my Lord I bow. My Lord in these my lands I am afraid. Mayst thou protect one who is thy servant under the yoke of my Lord. From the yoke of my Lord I do not rebel. Lo! there is fear of my foes. The people of this thy servant are under thy yoke: this country is among thy lands: the city Katna[3] is thy city: I am on the side of my Lord’s rule (yoke). Lo! the soldiers and the chariots of my Lord’s government have received corn and drink, oxen and beasts (oil and honey?), meeting the soldiers and the chariots of my Lord’s dominion (coming?) to me. And now let my Lord ask the great men of his dominion. My Lord, all lands tremble before thy soldiers and thy chariots. If these lands are under the dominion of my Lord’s land, and they are seizing them, let him order his soldiers and his chariots this year, and let him take the land of Marhasse,[4] the whole of it, to the yoke of my Lord, when—my Lord—the soldiers of the slaves[5] are[6] . . . For six days ago he went out into the land of Hu(ba), and truly Aziru is sending them, and if in this year my Lord does not send out the soldiers and the chariots of his government . . . to meet Aziru (and) make him flee . . . all will rebel . . . My Lord, know him. My Lord (know) the men who are
- ↑ This name, frequently found in the letters, is the Egyptian “Neb-mat-ra,”or Amenophis III.
- ↑ As the Amorite “z” or “s” seems sometimes to repeat the Hebrew “sh,” this name might be compared with the Philistine “Achish.”
- ↑ “Katna” is the present Katanah, on the south of Hermon, west of Damascus.
- ↑ Others read “Nuhasse.” It was a Hittite country, and appears to be that of Mer’ash, under the Taurus, where a number of important Hittite remains are found (see especially B. 31, 32).
- ↑ Throughout the letters the enemy is always called a “slave,” “slave dog,” or “son of a dog,” as also in Egyptian texts.
- ↑ Where breaks occur they are due to fractures of the tablet.
