"The Taking of Joppa" is an ancient Egyptian tale describing the conquest of the Canaanite town of Yapu ( Joppa) by

Thutmose III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign is usually dated from 28 ...

's general

Djehuty Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...

. The extant copy of the text is on the verso of

Papyrus Harris 500 The Papyrus Harris 500, alt. pHarris 500 or P. British Museum 10060, contains copies of the ancient Egyptian tales of The Doomed Prince and The Taking of Joppa, of love poems and of the Harper's Song from the tomb of King Intef. The papyrus date ...

. This tale is traditionally regarded as a purely literary account of the conquest set in the wake of

's campaigning in Syria. There was, however, a troop commander named

who served under

. Despite the literary tradition and the character of its telling, the excavators of

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

have recently argued that a Late Bronze Age destruction of the Egyptian garrison, dated to between 1456 and 1400 BC, may have formed the historical basis of this tale. This proposal is supported by the publication of an extensive site-wide destruction level containing Egyptian vessels dated to the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty, including vessels of types attested in the reign of

Amenhotep II Amenhotep II (sometimes called ''Amenophis II'' and meaning ''Amun is Satisfied'') was the seventh pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Amenhotep inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few militar ...

. Together these and Cypriot ceramics suggest a date in the late 15th century BC, connected perhaps with the insurgency at Aphek quelled in the seventh year of

, 1418 BC. The excavators would attribute the destruction to the Canaanite insurgency during which the Egyptians lost their fortress within a short time after

established the garrison. The story therefore relates the events of the retaking of Jaffa probably immediately preceding the campaign against Aphek and not

's conquest or taking of the site as some have argued.Burke, Aaron Alexander, and Krystal V. Lords. "Egyptians in Jaffa: A Portrait of Egyptian Presence in Jaffa during the Late Bronze Age." Near Eastern Archaeology. Vol. 73, No. 1 (2010), pp. 2–30. The tactics used by

in the story are often noted to be reminiscent of the episode of the

Trojan horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...

(recounted in the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

'') and the tale of "

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard ...

" from '' Arabian Nights''. However, this story would predate the Greek tradition's literary setting by more than 200 years. An important aspect of the story, which can be easily overlooked, is the attestation of important social elements within Canaan during the Late Bronze Age, namely the

maryannu Maryannu is an ancient word for the caste of chariot-mounted hereditary warrior nobility, which existed in many of the societies of the Middle East during the Bronze Age. The term is attested in the Amarna letters written by Haapi. Robert Drew ...

and '

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 C ...

Synopsis

(The beginning of the tale is lost.)

invites the prince of Joppa to a party in his camp outside the town. He knocks him out, hides two hundred of his soldiers in sacks which he has loaded onto pack animals, and sends a charioteer to announce to the town that the Egyptians have surrendered and are sending tribute. Introduced into the city the hidden Egyptian soldiers emerge and conquer it.

Bibliography

* Burke, Aaron Alexander. "Early Jaffa: From the Bronze Age to the Persian Period," in The History and Archaeology of Jaffa 1, edited by M. Peilstöcker and A. A. Burke, pp. 63–78. The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project 1. Monumenta Archaeologica 26, A. A. Burke and M. Peilstöcker, general editor, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Los Angeles. * Burke, Aaron Alexander, and Krystal V. Lords. "Egyptians in Jaffa: A Portrait of Egyptian Presence in Jaffa during the Late Bronze Age." Near Eastern Archaeology Vol. 73, No. 1 (2010), pp. 2–30. * Fritz Hintze, "Untersuchungen zu Stil und Sprache neuagyptischer Erzahlungen", in ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'', Vol. 11, No. 3 (Jul., 1952), pp. 227–230 * William Matthew

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egypt ...

, ''Egyptian Tales: Translated from the Papyri'', London 1895

References and footnotes

Extra-biblical references to Canaan Taking of Joppa, The 15th-century BC literature 2nd-millennium BC conflicts hu:Joppe bevétele {{papyrus-stub