Amarna letter EA 59, titled: ''"From the Citizens of

Tunip Tunip was a city-state in western Syria in 1350– 1335 BC, the period of the Amarna letters. The name "Syria" did not yet exist, though this was already the time of ancient Assyria. The regions were: Amurru, Nuhašše, the Amqu (the Beqaa), Ni ...

"'', is a short- to moderate-length

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylu ...

Amarna letter 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 ...

from the

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

, written to the Pharaoh of Egypt. Only one other city sent a clay tablet Amarna letter to the Pharaoh, namely Irqata (modern

Arqa Arqa ( ar, عرقا; akk, 𒅕𒋡𒋫, translit=Irqata) is a Lebanese village near Miniara in Akkar Governorate, Lebanon, 22 km northeast of Tripoli, near the coast. The town was a notable city-state during the Iron Age. The city of '' ...

), letter EA 100, titled: ''"The City of Irqata to the King"''. The EA 59 letter concerns the "watch-guarding" of Tunip, regional warfare (with 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 ...

), and the city's continued protection, and loyalty to the Egyptian Pharaoh. EA 59 is located at the

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 ...

, no BM 29824. A line drawing of tablet letter EA 59 can be viewed here: Obverse & Reverse

The letter

EA 59: ''"From the Citizens of Tunip"''

EA 59, letter one of one from the elders of

. (Not a linear, line-by-line translation.) ''Obverse'', See her

:(Lines 1-4)—To the king of Ancient Egypt, Egypt (Misri of the letters), our lord: Message of the Citizens of

, your servant.¹ For you may all go well. And we fall at the feet of my lord. :(5-8)—My lord, thus says

, your servant:

——who ''ruled'' it in the past?² Did not Manahpirya: ''am-ma-ti-wu-uš (your'' ancestor) ''rule'' it?³ :(9-12)—The gods and the ...: '' na-ah- ri-il- la- an'' (?)⁴ of the king of Ancient Egypt, Egypt, our lord, dwell in

, and he should inquire of his ancients: '' am- ma- ti'' (ancient) when we did not belong to our lord, the king of Ancient Egypt, Egypt. :(13-17)—And now, for 20 years,⁵ we have gone on writing to the king, our lord, but our

messenger ''MESSENGER'' was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field. The name is a backronym for "Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geoche ...

s have stayed on with the king, our lord. And now, our lord, we ask for the son of Aki-Teššup from the king, our lord.⁶ May our lord give him. :(18-20)—My lord, ''if'' the king of Egypt has given the son of Aki-Teššup, why does the king, our lord, call him back from the journey? :(21-24)—And now

Aziru Aziru was the Canaanite ruler of Amurru kingdom, 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 ...

is going to hear that in Hittite territory a hostile fate has overtaken your servant, ''a ruler'' (and) your gardener.⁷ :(25-28)—Should his (the king's) troops and his chariots.. ''Reverse'', See her

:(~27-28)—..be delayed,

will do to us just as he did to Nii (Amarna letters), Nii. :(29-33)—If we ourselves are negligent and the king of Ancient Egypt, Egypt does nothing about these things that

is doing, then he will ''surely'' direct his hand against our lord. :(34-38)—When

entered Ṣumur, he did to them as he pleased, in the house of the king, our lord. But our lord did nothing about thee things. :(39-42)—And now

, your city, weeps, and its tears flow, and there is no grasping of our hand. :(43-46)—We have gone on writing to the king, our lord, the king of Ancient Egypt, Egypt, for 20 years, and not a single word of our lord has reached us.⁸—(complete, only very minor

lacuna Lacuna (plural lacunas or lacunae) may refer to: Related to the meaning "gap" * Lacuna (manuscripts), a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or musical work **Great Lacuna, a lacuna of eight leaves where there was heroic Old Norse po ...

s, lines 1-46)

External links

Line Drawing, cuneiform, and Akkadian, EA 59: Obverse & Reverse
CDLI no. P270926 (''Chicago Digital Library Initiative'')
Link to all 382 EA Amarna letters, ( ''Chicago Digital Library Initiative'' )

References

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

The letter

EA 59: ''"From the Citizens of Tunip"''

See also

External links

References