Tunip was a

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 ...

in western Syria in 1350– 1335 BC, 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 ...

. The name "Syria" did not yet exist, though this was already the time of ancient

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

. The regions were:

Amurru Amurru may refer to: * Amurru kingdom, roughly current day western Syria and northern Lebanon * Amorite, ancient Syrian people * Amurru (god) Amurru, also known under the Sumerian name Martu, was a Mesopotamian god who served as the divine perso ...

Nuhašše Nuhašše, also Nuhašša, was a region in northwestern Syria that flourished in the 2nd millennium BC. It was a federacy ruled by different kings who collaborated and probably had a high king. Nuhašše changed hands between different powers in t ...

, the

Amqu The Amqu (also Amka, Amki, Amq) is a region (now in eastern Lebanon), equivalent to the Beqaa Valley region, named in the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters corpus. In the Amarna letters, two other associated regions appear to be east(?) and north(?), ...

(the

Beqaa Beqaa ( ar, بقاع, link=no, ''Biqā‘'') can refer to two places in Lebanon: * Beqaa Governorate, one of six major subdivisions of Lebanon * Beqaa Valley, a valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region See also

*Kasbeel ...

), Nii, etc. The record of the

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

'' 'Tunip' '' is mainly from

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 ...

records, (

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 ...

, 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 ...

), and especially the Amarna letters. (But a king named

Tunip-Tessup Tikunani (or Tigunānum) was a small Hurrian city-state in Mesopotamia around the middle of the second millennium BC. The name refers to both the kingdom and its capital city. Tigunānum is the older form of the name, appearing in texts excavated ...

is also known from roughly the same period.) Tunip is especially mentioned in the Amarna letters of

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 ...

, residing in

and in conflict with the king of Hatti. He is often claiming to reside in Tunip, until it is safe to leave, or to try to defend other cities/city-states of his region. The local region in Syria,

is also in conflict, and is mentioned in 7 of Aziru's 13 EA letters, ( 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 ...

').

Location

The exact location of Tunip remains uncertain, although there's now increasing evidence that it is at the site of Tell 'Acharneh.

This important city was sought either in northern Phoenicia (Helck 1973) or in the Middle Orontes. Two prominent sites have been suggested in the latter region: Tell Hama in the modern city of
Hama , timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , ar ...
(Astour 1977) and Tell Asharneh in the southern Ghab Valley northwest of Hama (Klengel 1995).

The site of Tell Asharneh (also known as Tell 'Acharneh) on the banks of the

Orontes River The Orontes (; from Ancient Greek , ) or Asi ( ar, العاصي, , ; tr, Asi) is a river with a length of in Western Asia that begins in Lebanon, flowing northwards through Syria before entering the Mediterranean Sea near Samandağ in Turkey. ...

(near

Tell Salhab Tal Salhab ( ar, تل سلحب, also spelled Tal Selhab) is a town in the western center of Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. It is situated on the southern edge of the Ghab plain and by the weste ...

) in Syria has been widely seen as the likely location of Tunip. The authors of the above study support the identification of Tunip as Tell Asharneh based on petrographic analysis. A team of Canadian archaeologists have been conducting excavations at the site of Tell 'Acharneh, under the direction of Michel Fortin of

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxemb ...

Quebec city Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

.Canadian Archaeological Mission to Tell 'Acharneh
/ref>

Amarna letters regarding ''Tunip''

Five letters reference 'Tunip' 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 * ...

, 3 from Aziru's sub-corpus. :#EA 57–Title: ''"Of kings and Tunip"''-damaged letter :#EA 59–Title: ''"From the citizens of Tunip"''- :# EA 161—''"An absence explained"''-

letter no. 6 of 13 :#EA 165–''"Tunip threatened"''-Aziru letter no. 9 of 13 :#EA 167–''"The constant Hittite menace"''-Aziru letter no. 11 of 13

EA 59, ''"From the citizens of Tunip" ''

:"To the king of Egypt, our lord: Message of ''the citizens of Tunip'', your servant. For you may all go well. And we fall at the feet of my lord. :My lord, thus says ''Tunip'', your servant: ''Tunip''—who ''ruled'' it in the past? Did not Manakhpirya-(i.e. "Men-

Kheper ''Kheper'' is a subgenus of '' Scarabaeus'': the typical genus of scarab beetles in the tribe Scarabaeini. The genus name honors the god In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of f ...

Rê Ra (; egy, wikt:rꜥ, rꜥ; also transliterated ; cuneiform: ''ri-a'' or ''ri-ia''; Phoenician language, Phoenician: 𐤓𐤏,Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, CIS I 3778 romanized: rʿ) or Re (; cop, ⲣⲏ, translit=Rē) was the ancient ...

-iya"): ''am-ma-ti-wu-uš (your'' ancestor) ''rule'' it? :The gods and the ...: ''na-ab-ri-il-la-an'' (=?) of the king of Egypt, our lord, dwell in ''Tunip'', and he should inquire of his ancients: ''am-ma-ti'' (ancient) when we did not belong to our lord, the king of Egypt-(named "Mizri"-see:

Mizraim Mizraim (; cf. Arabic مصر, ''Miṣr'') is the Hebrew and Aramaic name for the land of Egypt, with the dual suffix ''-āyim'', perhaps referring to the "two Egypts": Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Mizraim is the dual form of matzor, meaning a "moun ...

). :And now, for 20–years, we have gone on writing to the king, our lord, but our messengers 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. May our lord give him. :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? :And now

is going to hear that in Hittite territory a hostile fate has overtaken your servant, ''a ruler'' (and) your gardener. :Should his (the king's) troops and his

chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...

s be delayed, Aziru will do to us just as he did to Nii. :If we ourselves are negligent and the king of Egypt does nothing about these things that Aziru is doing, then he will ''surely'' direct his hand against our lord. :When Aziru entered Sumur-(

Zemar Sumur (Biblical Hebrew: ollective noun denoting the city inhabitants Egyptian: ''Smr''; Akkadian: ''Sumuru''; Assyrian: ''Simirra'') was a Phoenician city in what is now Syria. It was a major trade center. The city has also been referred to in ...

), he did to them as he pleased, in the house of the king, our lord. But our lord did nothing about the(s)e things. :And now ''Tunip'', your city, weeps, and its tears flow,–and there is no grasping of our hand. :We have gone on writing to the king, our lord, the king of Egypt, for 20–years, and not a single word of our lord has reached us." -EA 59, lines 1-46 (complete)

EA 161, ''"An absence explained"'', Aziru no. 6 of 13

Letter EA 161 shows how Aziru claims he was made a 'mayor' of his region (or city), in

. :"To the

Great King Great king, and the equivalent in many languages, refers to historical titles of certain monarchs, suggesting an elevated status among the host of kings and princes. This title is most usually associated with the '' shahanshah'' (shah of shahs ...

, my lord, my god,

y Sun Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate Letter (alphabet), letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some auth ...

Message of ''

'', your servant. I fall at the feet of my lord, god, my Sun, 7 times and 7 times. :My lord, I am your servant, and on my arrival in the presence of the king, my lord, I spoke of all my affairs in the presence of the king, my lord. My lord, do not listen to the treacherous men that denounce me in the presence of the king, my lord. I am your servant ''forever''. :The king, my lord, has spoken about Han'i. My lord, I was residing in ''Tunip'', and so I did not know that he had arrived. As soon as I heard, I went up after him, but I did not overtake him. May Han'i arrive safe and sound so that the king, my lord, can ask him how I provided for him. My brothers and Bet-ili were at his service; they gave

oxen An ox ( : oxen, ), also known as a bullock (in BrE British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer spec ...

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

, and

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s, and

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s, his food and strong drink. :I gave

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s and

asses Ass most commonly refers to: * Buttocks (in informal American English) * Donkey or ass, ''Equus africanus asinus'' **any other member of the subgenus ''Asinus'' Ass or ASS may also refer to: Art and entertainment * Ass (album), ''Ass'' (album ...

, r his journey. May the king, my lord, hear my words. en I come to the king, my lord, Han'i will go before me; like a mother and like a father he will provide for me. And no(w) my lord says, "You hid yourself from Han'i." –May your gods and the Sun be witness: (I swear):–"I was residing in ''Tunip''." :The king, my lord, has spoken about the building of Sumur-(

). The kings of

have been at war with me and have taken my cities at the instruction of

Hatip Hatip is a small village in Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra state in Western India. The 2011 Census of India recorded a total of 417 residents in the village. Hatip is 484 hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of a ...

. So I have not built it. Now, in all haste, I am going to build it. :And may my lord know that Hatip has taken half of the things that the king, my lord, gave (gave me). All the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

that the king, my lord, gave me, Hatip has taken. May my lord know (this). :Moreover, the king, my lord, also said, "Why did you provide for the

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 ...

of the king of Hatti, but did not provide for my messenger?" But this is the land of my lord, and the king, my lord, made ''me'' –one of the mayors! :Let my lord's messenger come to me so I can give all that I promised in the presence of the king, my lord. I will give food supplies,

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 ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, logs, of ''

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

'', and (other) woods. -EA 161, lines 1-56 (complete)

References

* Moran, William L. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, {{ISBN, 0-8018-6715-0) Amarna letters locations Ancient Assyrian cities Former populated places in Syria