Ushu (in 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 ...
Usu) was an ancient mainland city that supplied the city of
Tyre with water, supplies and burial grounds. Its name was based upon the mythical figure Usoos or Ousoüs, a descendant of Genos and Genea whose children allegedly discovered fire, as recorded by
Sanchuniathon
Sanchuniathon (; Ancient Greek: ; probably from Phoenician: , "Sakon has given"), also known as Sanchoniatho the Berytian, was a Phoenician author. His three works, originally written in the Phoenician language, survive only in partial paraphras ...
(Sankunyaton).
1350 BC, Amarna letters ''Usu''
The
1350-
1335 BC Amarna Letters
correspondence refers to mainland Usu in three letters of
Abimilku
Abimilki ( ''Amorite'': , '' LÚa-bi-mil-ki'', ) around 1347 BC held the rank of Prince of Tyre (called "Surru" in the letters), during the period of the Amarna letters correspondence (1350–1335 BC). He is the author of ten letters to the Egypt ...
of Tyre. The three letters, EA 148, 149, 150-(
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 ...
'), are the only references to Usu in the 382 letters corpus and are grouped because of the topic, partially Usu, of the three letters.
Of note, Abimilku is nowhere else referenced by name in any other letters of the correspondence, except his own letters, all addressed to the
Ancient Egyptian
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 ...
. Abimilku's ten letters, EA 145 to EA 155, mostly have the conflict of Tyre with
Zimredda (Sidon mayor)
Zimredda, also Zimr-Edda or Zimr-Eddi ( ''Amorite'': ) was the mayor of Sidon, (i.e. the "King of Sidon") in the mid 14th century BC. He is mentioned in several of the Amarna letters, in the late Rib-Hadda series, and later. He authored letters EA ...
, 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 ...
, or
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 ...
of
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 ...
-(especially EA 148, with Usu). Zimredda is the topic of five of the ten letters. In letter
EA 149, with commissioner Haapi, the pharaoh is seeking information about Zimredda.
In the three letters with Usu,
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
,
wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
,
straw
Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...
,
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
and burial grounds (the dead) are referenced. Pottery may be implied with some of the materials, as well as food, the straw or wood for fires.
Three letters referring to Usu
:#EA 148–''"The need for mainland Tyre"''.
:#EA 149–''"Neither water nor wood"''.
:#EA 150–''"Needed: just one
soldier
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
"''.
*"Ousous took a tree, and, having stripped off the branches, was the first who ventured to embark on the sea" (Eusebius, quoting Philo of Byblos, ''
Praeparatio Evangelica'' Bk I, 10, 10)
[Link to Pr. Ev.]
*“
yre’snumbers swelled greatly in time of war, when residents of nearby cities on the mainland (such as Ushu) found refuge on the island.” (Katzenstein, H.J., ''The History of Tyre'', 1973, p10)
*“Besides the city itself, well-protected by its location on an island, the kingdom of Tyre included a strip of mainland, whose center was the town of Ushu.” (Katzenstein, H.J., ''The History of Tyre'', 1973, p29)
*“Ousoüs is, of course, Ushu or Uzu, the ancient name of the mainland city...During most periods, the majority of the population must have lived on the mainland, while the island area was an administrative and religious center. As an administrative center, it would have contained the palaces of the ruler and probably stations for the army as well, and as a religious center, it had temples serving the city and the region.” (Bikai, Pierre, ''The Land of Tyre'', found in chapter 2 of Martha Joukowsky's “The Heritage of Tyre” 1992, pp13–15)
*Remarking about the many times Tyre was attacked leading up to, and including Nebuchadnezzar, Maurice Chehab, the Director general of Antiquities in Lebanon says, “If the invaders, however, sometimes succeeded in subduing the coast (i.e. Ushu), the island, which was the heart of Tyre’s maritime empire, eluded them.” (Chehab, Maurice, ''Tyre'', trans: Afaf Rustum Chalhoub, p11)
*“A wall relief at Karnak lists the cities Sethos I (or Seti I, Ramesses II’s father) conquered, among them Tyre and Ushu. Ushu appears as if it were part of the Tyrian kingdom.” (Badre, Leila, ''Canaanite Tyre'', found in chapter 4 of Martha Joukowsky's “The Heritage of Tyre” 1992, p 40) see also Katzenstein p 49, (both citing James B. Pritchard's ''Ancient Near East in Pictures'' nos. 327, 331)
*
Moran, William L. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, )
References
{{coord missing, Lebanon
Populated places in Lebanon
Amarna letters locations
Phoenician cities
Former populated places in Southwest Asia