Yapahu was a mayor/ruler of the city/

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 ...

of ''Gazru'' (modern

Gezer Gezer, or Tel Gezer ( he, גֶּזֶר), in ar, تل الجزر – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (eithe ...

) of the 1350- 1335 BC

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. Two other mayors of Gazru during the Amarna letters period, were

Adda-danu Adda-danu was the 'mayor' of the city/city-state of Gazru-(modern Gezer, Israel) of the Amarna letters period, 1350-1335 BC. 'Adda' is the name of the Northwest Semitic god Hadad, and Adda-danu translates as: ''"Hadad (is the) Judge"''. Adda-danu ...

and

Milkilu Milkilu, and more properly Milk-ilu, or Milku-ilu, with an alternate version of Ili-Milku (letter 286, by Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem), was the mayor/ruler of ''Gazru'' ( Gezer) of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Adda-danu, and Ya ...

. Yapahu is the author of five Amarna letters to the

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 ...

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 ...

, EA 297-300, and EA 378, ( 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 ...

').

2 examples of Yapahu's letters

EA 297, title: "The sweet breath of the king"

:"Say to the king-(i.e.

), my lord, my god, my Sun: Message of ''Yapahu'', your servant, the dirt at your feet, I fall at the feet of the king, my lord, my god, my Sun, 7 times and 7 times. Whatsoever the king, my lord, has said to me, I have listened to with the greatest care. Moreover, I have become like a (

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

)–pot: ''sí-ri'' given in pledge, because of the

Sutean The Suteans (Akkadian: ''Sutī’ū'', possibly from Amorite: ''Šetī’u'') were a Semitic people who lived throughout the Levant, Canaan and Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian period. Unlike Amorites, they were not governed by a king. They w ...

s. I have, however, just heard the sweet breath of the king. It has come forth to me, and my heart is very content." -EA 297, lines 1-21 (complete) Adda-danu, another mayor of Gazru, had the same topic of a: ''Pot of a Debt''. See letter: EA 292:

, (title: ''Like a Pot held in Pledge'').

EA 299, title: "A plea for help"

:(1-11) "To the king, my lord, my god, the Sun, the Sun om the sky: Message of ''Yapahu'', the ruler of Gazru (

), your servant, the dirt at your feet, the groom of your horses. Truly, I fall at the feet of the king, my lord, my god, my Sun, the Sun from the sky, 7 times and 7 times, on the stomach and on the back. :(12-14) I have listened to the words of 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, my lord, very carefully,-(MA- GAL, MA- GAL). :(15-21) May the king, my lord, the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

from the sky, take thought for his land. Since the

'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 ...

are stronger than we, may the king, my lord, (g)ive me his help, and may ''the king'', my lord, get ''me'' away from the 'Apiru lest the 'Apiru destroy us." -EA 299, lines 1-21 (complete)

List of Yapahu's letters

:Letter no. 1 of 5— EA 297, title: ''"The sweet breath of the king"'' :Letter no. 2 of 5— EA 298, title: ''"A perfidious younger brother"'' :Letter no. 3 of 5— EA 299, title: ''"A plea for help"'' :Letter no. 4 of 5— EA 300, title: ''"A servant like his father"'' :Letter no. 5 of 5— EA 378, title: ''"All orders obeyed"''

References

*{{cite book , authorlink=William L. Moran , last=Moran , first=William L. , title=The Amarna Letters , publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press , origyear=1987 , year=1992 , edition=Softcover , isbn=0-8018-6715-0

External links