Abimilki ( ''Amorite'': , '' ^LÚa-bi-mil-ki'', ) around 1347 BC held the rank of Prince of Tyre (called "Surru" in the letters), during the period of the

Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...

correspondence (1350–1335 BC). He is the author of ten letters to the Egyptian

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

, EA 146–155 ( EA for 'el

Amarna Amarna (; ar, العمارنة, al-ʿamārnah) is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site containing the remains of what was the capital city of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Ph ...

'). In letter EA 147, Pharaoh

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

confirmed him as ruler of Tyre upon the death of his father, and in EA 149, referred to him with the rank of ''

rabisu In Akkadian mythology the Rabisu ("the lurker"; Sumerian Maškim, "deputy, attorney"), or possibly Rabasa, are vampiric spirits, daimons, or demons. The Rabisu are associated in mythology with the Curse of Akkad. A consistent translation of ...

'' (general). Abimilki is not referenced by name in any other letters of the 382-letter corpus. His name has been linked with the biblical

Abimelech Abimelech (also spelled Abimelek or Avimelech; ) was the generic name given to all Philistine kings in the Hebrew Bible from the time of Abraham through King David. In the Book of Judges, Abimelech, son of Gideon, of the Tribe of Manasseh, is ...

. His name means "My father (is) king."

Historical background

Following the request of Akhenaten to disseminate his political updates in Kinaha, some other city states rebelled against this decision. The background was the vacancy in the position of ''rabisu'' in the garrison of Tyre, which Akhenaten staffed with non-Egyptians for organizational reasons. Eventually, as in letter EA 149, Akhenaten conferred the status of ''rabisu'' of Tyre upon Abimilki. Zimredda of Sidon, and

Aziru 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. The dealings of Aziru are well-known from the Amarn ...

of Amurru, previously allied with Abimilki, responded by conquering Sumuru and occupying the territories around Tyre. Abimilki advised Amenhotep of the dangerous situation in several letters. In letter EA 151 (see her

, Abimilki mentions the Danunans: "Behold, dangerous enemies are besieging Tyre. The king of Danuna is meanwhile dead; his brother now reigns. He behaves peacefully toward me." Later in the letter, Abimilki warns of the rebels: "Behold, the fort of Tyre is running out of fresh water and wood. I will send you Ilu-milku as a messenger. At present there are no Hittite troops, but Aitakama of Kadesh is together with Aziru in battle against

Biryawaza Biryawaza was a powerful ruler in the area of Egyptian controlled Syria in the middle fourteenth century BC. He is often mentioned in the Amarna letters, although his title is never given clearly. Some scholars describe him as the king of Damascus ...

of Damascus. Meanwhile, Zimredda has been reinforced with troops and ships from Aziru; he has besieged me, and it is very dangerous.

Abimilki's letters

The titles of Abimilki's letters are as follows: :EA 146: "Abimilki of Tyre" :EA 147: "A Hymn to the

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

" :EA 148: "The Need of Mainland Tyre" : EA 149: "Neither Water nor Wood" (See ''

Haapi 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''. Haapi is referenced in 3 letters from the Byblos-('' Gubla'') corpus of the pr ...

'') :EA 150: "Needed: Just One Soldier" :EA 151: "A Report on

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

" (See external links:letter and ''

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...

'') :EA 152: "A Demand for Recognition" : EA 153: "Ships on Hold" :EA 154: "Orders Carried Out" (See ''

Zimredda (Sidon mayor) Zimredda, also Zimr-Edda or Zimr-Eddi ( ''Amorite'': ) was the mayor of Sidon, (i.e. the "King 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 ...

'') :EA 155: "Servant of Mayati" ("Mayati" is a

hypocoristicon A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...

for

Meritaten Meritaten, also spelled Merytaten, Meritaton or Meryetaten ( egy, mrii.t-itn) (14th century BC), was an ancient Egyptian royal woman of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Her name means "She who is beloved of Aten"; Aten being the sun-deity whom h ...

's daughter)

Example letters of Abimilki

EA 147, "A Hymn to the Pharaoh"

The topic of "A Hymn to the Pharaoh" is not Zimredda; however, the war of

son or

Abdi-Ashirta Abdi-Ashirta ( Akkadian: 𒀵𒀀𒅆𒅕𒋫 ''Warad-Ašîrta'' RAD2-A-ši-ir-ta fl. 14th century BC) was the ruler of Amurru who was in conflict with King Rib-Hadda of Byblos. While some contend that Amurru was a new kingdom in southern Syria ...

, the constant lookout, and reporting by Zimredda is addressed at the very end of this letter. The photo of the external links shows the condition of EA 147, (minus a corner). See: phrases and quotations. Instead of "seven times and seb times", in 147 the

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

goes far deeper, using "one half of seven times". A partial reference to the

prostration formula In the 1350 BC correspondence of 382–letters, called the Amarna letters, the prostration formula is usually the opening subservient remarks to the addressee, the Egyptian pharaoh. The formula is based on prostration, namely reverence and ...

may be used in the letter middle, when he uses "on my front and on my back". Zimredda of Sidon is the topic of five of Abimilki's ten letters.

EA 148, "The Need of Mainland Tyre"

Abimilki of Tyre has sent his tribute to Pharaoh who appointed him, and he requests of Pharaoh ten foot soldiers for protection, since his own men have been taken by the king of Sidon. He also mentions that the king of Hazor has gone over to the enemy, the

Habiru Habiru (sometimes written as Hapiru, and more accurately as ʿApiru, meaning "dusty, dirty"; Sumerian: 𒊓𒄤, ''sagaz''; Akkadian: 𒄩𒁉𒊒, ''ḫabiru'' or ''ʿaperu'') is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile C ...

who are taking over Canaan.

EA 149, "Neither Water nor Wood"

See:

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

commissioner

EA 151, "A Report on Canaan"

See: external link article/write-up.

EA 154, "Orders Carried Out"

Five of Abimilki's letters concern his neighbor and conflict enemy Zimredda of Sidon. See:

EA 153, "Ships on Hold"

See picture
EA 153 (Obverse)

References

* Moran, William L. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, )

External links

Amarna letters (photos)

King of Babylon:
EA 9-(Obverse)
see: Karaduniyaš

Tushratta Tushratta (Akkadian: and ) was a king of Mitanni, c. 1358–1335 BCE, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III and throughout the reign of Akhenaten. He was the son of Shuttarna II. Tushratta stated that he was the grandson of Artatama I. His si ...

:
EA 19-(Obverse)
Tushratta

with '' ''Black''

Hieratic Hieratic (; grc, ἱερατικά, hieratiká, priestly) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the ris ...

''
Article
(

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

); see: Shaushka
EA 28-(Obverse)
see: Pirissi and Tulubri "

Alashiya Alashiya ( akk, 𒀀𒆷𒅆𒅀 ''Alašiya'' -la-ši-ia uga, 𐎀𐎍𐎘𐎊 ''ẢLṮY''; Linear B: 𐀀𐀨𐀯𐀍 ''Alasios'' -ra-si-jo, also spelled Alasiya, also known as the Kingdom of Alashiya, was a state which existed in the Middle ...

kingdom" letters:
EA 34-(Obverse)
see: EA 34 Rib-Hadda letters:
EA 126-(Obverse)

; See: Salhi (region) Abimilki:
#1: EA 153-(Obverse)#2: EA 153-(Obverse)-2nd
see: Abimilki Abdi-Tirši:
EA 228-(Obverse)//(228,330,299,245,252)
(EA 330, for Šipti-Ba'lu)
ArticlePic writeup

Biridiya Biridiya was the ruler of Megiddo in the 14th century BC. Biridiya authored five of the Amarna letters correspondence. The name 'Biridiya' is also mentioned in the corpus from the city of 'Kumidu' (letter KL 72:600), the Kamid al lawz. However, ...

:
EA 245-(Obverse)EA 245-(Reverse)

Hannathon Hannathon, and of the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters, Hinnatuna, or Hinnatuni/Hinnatunu, is the Biblical city/city-state of Hannathon, (meaning: ''"the Gift of Grace"''); in the Amarna letters correspondence as ''Hinnatuna'', it is a site in souther ...

/'' Hinnatuna'' Labaya:
EA 252-(Obverse)
see

Labaya Labaya (also transliterated as Labayu or Lib'ayu) was a 14th-century BCE ruler or warlord in the central hill country of southern Canaan. He lived contemporaneously with Pharaoh Akhenaten. Labaya is mentioned in several of the Amarna Letters (abbr ...

Others:
EA 299-(High Res.)(Obverse)
see

Yapahu Yapahu was a mayor/ruler of the city/city-state of ''Gazru'' (modern Gezer) of the 1350- 1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Two other mayors of Gazru during the Amarna letters period, were Adda-danu and Milkilu. Yapahu is the author of five ...

EA 369-Front/Back-(Click on each)
see:

Milkilu Milkilu, and more properly Milk-ilu, or Milku-ilu, with an alternate version of Ili-Milku (letter 286, by Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem), was the mayor/ruler of ''Gazru'' ( Gezer) of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Adda-danu, and Ya ...

Letters

*Letter: EA 147
EA 147-(Obverse)
*Letter: EA 153
#1: EA 153-(Obverse)#2: EA 153-(Obverse)-2nd

Articles

(

Sea peoples The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...

, Abimilki letter) *
British Museum photo of obverse, (obverse, reverse, & sides are scribed)

Views of all sides, British Museum site
*

Amarna letter EA 34 Amarna letter EA 34, titled: ''"The Pharaoh's Reproach Answered"'', is a moderately tall clay tablet Amarna letter from the King of Alashiya. ((Obverse)-See here Besides a complicated story line to EA 34, the letter is shown to be in ''Very G ...

CDLI entry for letter 34, showing first line stating: ''Message King Land A-La-Ši-iya''. (''Umma Lugal Kur Alashiya'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Abimilki Amarna letters writers Kings of Tyre 14th-century BC rulers 14th-century BC Phoenician people Phoenicians in the Amarna letters