Ashtoreth is occupied.[1] Behold they have destroyed all the fortresses of neighboring lands: the city Udumu,[2] the city Aduri,[3] the city Araru,[4] the city Meis(pa?),[5] the city Macdalim,[6] the city Khini.[7] I announced that they had taken the city Zaar.[8] They are fighting this city, the city Yabisi.[9] Moreover, fearing the force against me, I am watching it till you arrive. One has come from your way to the city Bikhisi,[10] and he has made us hear the news.”
134 B—“To the King my Lord by letter thus Abdmelec the chief of this city Saskhi[11] thy servant. At the feet of the King my Lord . . . on my face seven times I bow. Thou hast sent as to going to meet the Egyptian soldiers, accordingly I with my soldiers and my chariots (am) meeting the soldiers of the King my Lord, at the place to which you will march.”
143 B.—“To the King our Lord thus (says) Addubaya and thus also Betili. At the feet of our Lord we bow. Peace indeed to the face of our Lord. And (as is fit?) from the lands of our Lord, much they salute. O our Lord, will not you settle everything in your heart? Will not you harden your heart as to this combat O our Lord? But their intention is clear—to make war on the stations, as in our country they do not follow after thee. Lupackhallu[12] has removed the soldiers of the Hittites; they will go against the cities of the land of Ham (Am) and from Atadumi they will (take?) them. And let our Lord know, since we hear that Zitana[13] the Phœnician (Kharu) has deserted, who will march. And nine chiefs of the soldiers of the government are with us, who march, and the message is unfavorable: a gathering in the land they have made; and they will arrive from the land of Marhasse (Mer’ash).
- ↑ “Astarti” seems here to be Ashtoreth Carnaim, the present “Tell Ashterah.”
- ↑ “Udumu,” now Dameh, the Dametha of Maccabean times.
- ↑ “Aduri”—Edrei in Bashan, now Edhr’a.
- ↑ “Araru”—’Ar’ar, nine miles southeast of Ashtoreth.
- ↑ “Meispa”—Rameus-Mizpah of Bashan, now Remtheh.
- ↑ “Macdalim,” probably Mejdel Shems, east of Banias.
- ↑ “Khini”—Hineh, south of Hermon, near the last.
- ↑ “Zaar”—Zora of Bashan, now Ezra.
- ↑ “Yabisi”—Yabis, a few miles northwest of the last.
- ↑ The Egyptians would cross the Jordan near Megiddo, and come from the southwest to oppose an enemy on the north and east, and reach ’Abbâseh, on the north, later than Yabis.
- ↑ Saskhi is probably S’as’a, east of Banias, and northwest of Yabis.
- ↑ Lupackhallu, a non-Semitic Hittite name. As a Mongol word, “the very swift.”
- ↑ Zitatna was King of Accho—a somewhat similar name; but probably the King of Arvad is meant, as appears later.
