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Habiru (sometimes written as Hapiru, and more accurately as 士Apiru, meaning "dusty, dirty"; Sumerian language, Sumerian: 饞姄饞劋, ''sagaz''; Akkadian language, Akkadian: 饞劑饞亯饞姃, ''岣玜biru'' or ''士aperu'') is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile Crescent for people variously described as rebels, outlaws, raiders, Mercenary, mercenaries, bowmen, servants, slaves, and laborers.
In the time of Rim-Sin I (1822 BCE to 1763 BCE), the Sumerians knew a group of Aramaean nomads living in southern Mesopotamia as SA.GAZ, which meant "robbers". The later Akkadians inherited the term, which was rendered in their phonetic system as ''Habiru'', more properly ''士Apiru''. The term occurs in hundreds of 2nd millennium BCE documents covering a 600-year period from the 18th to the 12th centuries BCE and found at sites ranging from Egypt, Canaan and Syria, to Nuzi (near Kirkuk in northern Iraq) and Anatolia (Turkey).
Not all Habiru were murderers and robbers: in the 18th century BCE a north Syrian king named Irkabtum (c. 1740 BCE) "made peace with [the warlord] Shemuba and his Habiru," while the 士Apiru, Idrimi of Alalakh, was the son of a deposed king, and formed a band of 士Apiru to make himself king of Alalakh. What Idrimi shared with the other 士Apiru was membership of an inferior social class of outlaws, mercenaries, and slaves leading a marginal and sometimes lawless existence on the fringes of settled society. 士Apiru had no common ethnic affiliations and no common language, their personal names being most frequently West Semitic languages, West Semitic, but also East Semitic languages, East Semitic, Hurrian language, Hurrian or Indo-European languages, Indo-European.
In the Amarna letters from the 14th century BCE, the Petty kingdom, petty kings of Canaan describe them sometimes as outlaws, sometimes as mercenaries, sometimes as day-labourers and servants. Usually they are socially marginal, but Rib-Hadda of Byblos calls Abdi-Ashirta of Amurru kingdom, Amurru (modern Lebanon) and his son 士Apiru, with the implication that they have rebelled against their common overlord, the Pharaoh. In The Taking of Joppa, "The Conquest of Joppa" (modern Jaffa), an Egyptian work of historical fiction from around 1440 BCE, they appear as brigands, and General Djehuty (general), Djehuty asks at one point that his horses be taken inside the city lest they be stolen by a passing 士Apir.
Habiru (sometimes written as Hapiru, and more accurately as 士Apiru, meaning "dusty, dirty"; Sumerian language, Sumerian: 饞姄饞劋, ''sagaz''; Akkadian language, Akkadian: 饞劑饞亯饞姃, ''岣玜biru'' or ''士aperu'') is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile Crescent for people variously described as rebels, outlaws, raiders, Mercenary, mercenaries, bowmen, servants, slaves, and laborers.
Hapiru, Habiru, and Apiru
In the time of Rim-Sin I (1822 BCE to 1763 BCE), the Sumerians knew a group of Aramaean nomads living in southern Mesopotamia as SA.GAZ, which meant "robbers". The later Akkadians inherited the term, which was rendered in their phonetic system as ''Habiru'', more properly ''士Apiru''. The term occurs in hundreds of 2nd millennium BCE documents covering a 600-year period from the 18th to the 12th centuries BCE and found at sites ranging from Egypt, Canaan and Syria, to Nuzi (near Kirkuk in northern Iraq) and Anatolia (Turkey).
Not all Habiru were murderers and robbers: in the 18th century BCE a north Syrian king named Irkabtum (c. 1740 BCE) "made peace with [the warlord] Shemuba and his Habiru," while the 士Apiru, Idrimi of Alalakh, was the son of a deposed king, and formed a band of 士Apiru to make himself king of Alalakh. What Idrimi shared with the other 士Apiru was membership of an inferior social class of outlaws, mercenaries, and slaves leading a marginal and sometimes lawless existence on the fringes of settled society. 士Apiru had no common ethnic affiliations and no common language, their personal names being most frequently West Semitic languages, West Semitic, but also East Semitic languages, East Semitic, Hurrian language, Hurrian or Indo-European languages, Indo-European.
In the Amarna letters from the 14th century BCE, the Petty kingdom, petty kings of Canaan describe them sometimes as outlaws, sometimes as mercenaries, sometimes as day-labourers and servants. Usually they are socially marginal, but Rib-Hadda of Byblos calls Abdi-Ashirta of Amurru kingdom, Amurru (modern Lebanon) and his son 士Apiru, with the implication that they have rebelled against their common overlord, the Pharaoh. In The Taking of Joppa, "The Conquest of Joppa" (modern Jaffa), an Egyptian work of historical fiction from around 1440 BCE, they appear as brigands, and General Djehuty (general), Djehuty asks at one point that his horses be taken inside the city lest they be stolen by a passing 士Apir.
Habiru and the biblical Hebrews
The biblical word "Hebrew", like Habiru, began as a social category, and evolved into an ethnic one. Since the discovery of the 2nd millennium BCE inscriptions mentioning the Habiru, there have been many theories linking these to the Hebrews of the Hebrew Bible, Bible. As pointed out by Moore and Kelle, while the 士Apiru/Habiru may be related to the biblical Hebrews, they also appear to be composed of many different peoples, including nomadic Shasu and Shutu, the biblical Midianites, Kenites, and Amalekites, as well as displaced peasants and pastoralists. Scholars such as Anson Rainey have noted, however, that while 士Apiru covered the regions from Nuzi to Anatolia as well as Northern Syria, Canaan and Egypt, they were never confused with Shutu (Sutu) or Shasu (Shosu), Syrian pastoral nomads in the Amarna letters or other texts of the time.See also
* Ahlamu * Foreign relations of Egypt during the Amarna periodReferences
Citations
Bibliography
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Habiru, 2nd millennium BC Bronze Age peoples Nomads Semitic-speaking peoples Amarna letters