Tjaru ( egy, ṯꜣrw) was an ancient Egyptian fortress on the ''

Way of Horus Way may refer to: Paths * a road, route, path or pathway, including long-distance paths. * a straight rail or track on a machine tool, (such as that on the bed of a lathe) on which part of the machine slides * Ways, large slipway in shipbuilding ...

'' or ''

Horus Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the P ...

military road'', the major road leading out of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

into

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 ...

. It was known in Greek as Selē ( grc, Σελη), in Latin as Sile or Sele, and in Coptic as Selē or Slē ( cop, Ⲥⲉⲗⲏ or Ⲥⲗⲏ). It has been suggested that its remains form the Tel el-Habua near Qantarah.Ian Shaw, ''The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt'', Oxford University Press 2000, , p.200 Barry J. Kemp, ''Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization'', Routledge 2005, , p.25

History

The Horus of Mesen was worshipped at Tjaru in the form of a lion, and because of its close theological connections to

Edfu Edfu ( egy, bḥdt, ar, إدفو , ; also spelt Idfu, or in modern French as Edfou) is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the Nile River between Esna and Aswan, with a population of approximately sixty thousand people. Edfu is the site ...

, it is sometimes referred to as the Edfu of Lower Egypt. Tjaru, being a frontier town in an inhospitable desert region, was a place of banishment for criminals.

Horemheb Horemheb, also spelled Horemhab or Haremhab ( egy, ḥr-m-ḥb, meaning "Horus is in Jubilation") was the last pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, 18th Dynasty of Egypt (1550–1295 BC). He ruled for at least 14 years between 131 ...

in his Great Edict threatens as punishment for various crimes by officials disfigurement and banishment to Tjaru.

References in the Amarna letters

Silu is referenced twice in one letter of the 382–

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 of

1350 Year 1350 ( MCCCL) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * January 9 – Giovanni II Valente becomes Doge of Genoa. * May 23 (possible date) &n ...

1335 BC Year 1335 ( MCCCXXXV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * May 2 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia. * July 30 ...

. The letter refers to Turbazu, the presumed 'mayor'/ruler of Silu, who is ''"..slain in the

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

of Silu."'' Two other mayors are also slain at the city gate of Silu. Turbazu's death is also reported in one additional letter of the Amarna letters, EA 335, (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 ...

').

Part of EA 288, letter of Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem

Abdi-Heba Abdi-Heba (Abdi-Kheba, Abdi-Hepat, or Abdi-Hebat) was a local chieftain of Jerusalem during the Amarna period (mid-1330s BC). Abdi-Heba's name can be translated as "servant of Hebat", a Hurrian goddess. Whether Abdi-Heba was himself of Hurrian d ...

's letters, to the

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 ...

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 ...

, are of moderate length, and topically discuss the intrigues of the cities, that are adjacent to Jerusalem. A section of letter 288, title: ''"Benign neglect"'', (starting at line 17): :" ..'' :".... I gave over o ''his'' chare 10

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

Šuta Šuta, (''"Shuta"''), was an Egyptian commissioner of the 1350– 1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. The name ''Šuta'' is a hypocoristicon-(nickname/petname) for the Ancient Egyptian god Seth, (Seth being the "God of the Desert", and an 'a ...

, the

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of the king, ca

e t E, or e, is the fifth Letter (alphabet), letter and the second vowel#Written vowels, vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worl ...

me; I gave over to Šuta's charge 21 girls, prisoners, as a

gift A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation ...

for the king, my lord. May the king give thought to his land; the land of the king is lost. ''All of it has attacked'' me. I am at war as far as the land of Šeru and as far as Ginti-kirmil. All the mayors are at peace, but I am at war. I am treated like an

'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 ...

, and I do not visit the king, my lord, since I am at war. I am situated like a

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

in the midst of the sea. The strong hand (arm) of the king took the land of Nahrima-(

Mittani Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...

), and the land of ''

Kasi KASI (1430 AM, "News Talk 1430") is a radio station licensed to serve Ames, Iowa. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and licensed to iHM Licenses, LLC. It airs a News/Talk radio format. The station was assigned the KASI call letters by ...

'', but now the 'Apiru have taken the very cities of the king. Not a single mayor remains to the king, my lord; all are lost. Behold, Turbazu was slain in the

of ''Silu''-(Tjaru). The king did nothing. Behold, servants who were joined to the 'Api ''smote'' Zimredda of Lakisu, and Yaptih-Hadda was slain in the "city gate" of ''Silu''. The king did nothing. '' h'' has he not called them to account? May the king roide for

is land In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' in ...

and may he e to it tha archers

ome ou Ome may refer to: Places * Ome (Bora Bora), a public island in the lagoon of Bora Bora * Ome, Lombardy, Italy, a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia * Ōme, Tokyo, a city in the Prefecture of Tokyo * Ome (crater), a crater on Mars Tran ...

to h sland. If there are no archers this year, all the lands of the king, my lord, are lost." :"...." -end of line 53 (lines 54-66(End), omitted)

Identification as Tell Heboua

There has been historical argument over which archaeological site should be identified as Tjaru. Throughout the 20th century, Tjaru has been identified as Tel Abu-Seifa, 4 km east of Qantarah. After excavations in the late 20th and early 21st century, the current consensus is that Tell Heboua, near Qantarah, is the most likely site of the fortress. Tell Heboua is upon a

kurkar Kurkar ( ar, كركار / he, כורכר) is the term used in Palestinian Arabic and modern Hebrew for the rock type of which lithified sea sand dunes consist. The equivalent term used in Lebanon is ramleh.[Aharon Horowitz. ''The Quaternary of I ...

ridge, giving it the strategic advantage of high ground. Excavations by the Supreme Council of Antiquities at Tell Heboua began in 1988. Archaeologists first proposed that Tell Heboua, not Tel Abu-Seifa, was the Pharaonic-era fortress of Tjaru around 2000. In July 2007, the confirmation of the ancient fortress at Tell Heboua as Tjaru was announced, with graves of soldiers and horses, mud-brick walls, and a moat. Further discoveries were announced in 2008, including reliefs depicting Pharaohs

Thutmose II Thutmose II (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis II, Thothmes in older history works in Latinized Greek; Ancient Egyptian: /''ḏḥwty.ms''/ ''Djehutymes'', meaning "Thoth is born") was the fourth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egy ...

Seti I Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c.1294 or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II. The ...

and

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, wikt:rꜥ-ms-sw, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is oft ...

. In January 2015, new discoveries at the site were announced that confirmed its identification as the fort of Tjaru.

References

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

Footnotes