Achshaph ( he, אַכְשָׁף; in

LXX The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

grc, Άξείφ or Άκσάφ) was a royal city of the Canaanites, in the north of

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 ...

(Josh. 11:1; 12:20; 19:25). The name means "sorcery".

Location

Achshaph was in the eastern boundary of the

tribe of Asher According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Asher was one of the Tribes of Israel descended from Asher (), the eighth son of Jacob. It is one of the ten lost tribes. Biblical narrative According to the biblical Book of Joshua, following the comp ...

. There are several opinions as to its exact location, including Tell Keisan, Tell Regev, Tell Harbaj and Tell an-Nakhl. In the Greek

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, in various manuscripts, depending on the passage, its name is given in the forms ''Azeiph,'' ''Achsaph,'' ''Achas,'' ''Keaph,'' ''Achiph,'' ''Acheib,'' and ''Chasaph.''

History

The 1350 BC Amarna letters has

Endaruta Endaruta was the ruler of Achshaph-(''Akšapa'' of the letters), in the 1350- 1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Endaruta was the author of EA 223, ( EA for 'el Amarna'), of the letters. He is only referenced in two other letters EA 366 an ...

as the 'mayor' of Akšapa (Achshaph).Biblical Achshaph is Akshapa according to Endaruta is mayor of Akshapa according to In this time period, the Habiru are attacking

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 ...

s, and Abdi-Heba of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Surata of Acco,

Šuwardata Šuwardata, also Šuardatu, (''Shuwardata'') is understood by most scholars to be the king of the Canaanite city of Gath (Tell es-Safi), although some have suggested that he was the 'mayor' of ''Qiltu'', (Keilah?, or Qi'iltu) during the 1350- 1335 ...

of Qiltu (?), and Endaruta are aiding each other. Only one extremely short letter–EA 223 ( EA-el Amarna) is written from Endaruta of Akšapa, and it is a one sentence topic: formulaic_introduction.html" ;"title="Prostration formula">formulaic introduction">Prostration formula">formulaic introduction... '' "Whatever the king (i.e.

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 ...

), my

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

, orders, I shall prepare." '' But one perfectly preserved letter from Pharaoh, to Endaruta of Akšapa is known, EA 367. Its topic is ''to guard'' (and defend) Akšapa and to prepare for "troop arrivals"-(the

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

-forces). The third and only other reference in the Amarna letters

corpus Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...

is from letter EA 366 (from Šuwardata of Qiltu (?)), and the letter states: :'' "...only ' Abdi-Heba and I have been at war with that

'Apiru 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 ...

. Surata, the ruler of Akka, and Endaruta, the ruler of Akšapa, these two also came to my aid, ..." ''

References

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

External links

* {{Eastons, Achshaph Canaanite cities Former populated places in Southwest Asia Amarna letters locations

Location

History

See also

References

External links