ful; and they have warred with the men Kau Paur[1] (Egyptian magnates) of the King. Lo! they have slain Biari the Paur (magnate) of the King, and he has given gifts to my and they are helping. And none are servants of the King. And evil in our eyes behold is this. I am spoiled, and I fear lest . . . no wish of the faithful chief be granted to him. Lo! you will make my kindred to be afflicted. The King shall arm the land . . . thy soldiers great and small, all of them; and Pakhamnata[2] did not listen to me and they do a deed that . . . and thou shalt tell him this, that he shall set free the city of Simyra; and (the King) will listen to the message of his servant, and shall (send) Egyptian soldiers. Behold he will say to the King that the Egyptian soldiers have no corn or food to eat, all the enemies have cut off from the midst of the cities of the King my Lord the food and the corn and (I) have raised soldiers gathering (in) the city of Gebal . . . there is not . . . you shall send to us and to march to it, and I have stopped . . . and not one of the lands of the Canaanites helps Yankhamu though he is for the King.”
58 B.—This is a large and important tablet, but much broken; it begins with a short salutation, and then says at once, “I am laid low.” It refers to the loss of the city Abur,[3] and mentions the names of Aziru and Abdasherah, and says there is no garrison. The enemy are marching on to the capital. He says: “I sent to the palace (or capital of Egypt) for soldiers and you gave me no soldiers.” “They have burned the city Abur, and have made an end in the sight of Khamu my son.” “The man of sin Aziru has marched . . . he has remained in the midst . . . I have despatched my son to the palace more than three months (ago) who has not appeared before the King. Thus (says) my chief of the city of Takhida[4]—they are reaching him: of what use are the fortifications to the men left therein?” “The chief who came
- ↑ “Kau Pa-ur,” Egyptian words in the plural. “Kau” signifies “men,” and “Pa-ur” (as in the letter from Jerusalem, B. 103) means “very important.”
- ↑ Probably the “Pakhanata” (97 B.) who was the “Paka,” or chief, of whom Abdasherah speaks in the letter about the town of Ullaza, near Gebal. He seems to have been the resident in Simyra (B. 80).
- ↑ “Abur” is perhaps Beit-Abura, in the valley north of the great pass Theouprosopon, between Gebal and Tripoli. The enemy had not as yet forced the pass.
- ↑ The second sign is doubtful, and the place does not suggest identification (see 60 B.).
