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Records of the Past, 2nd series, Vol. II

By A. H. Sayce

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No. II

The commencement of the despatch is lost.

1. (And) again the city of Pir(gar?), 4
2. a fortress which (is) in front of this country,
3. I made faithful to the king. At the same time
4. the city of Gaza 5 belonging to the king which (is) on the coast of the sea

5. westward of the land of the city of Gath-Karmel, 1
6. to Urgi and the men of the city of Gath
7. fell away. I rode in my chariot (?) a second time,
8. and we made a march up (out of Egypt), and
9. Lab-api
10. and the country which thou holdest
11. to the confederates 2 with
12. Melech-Ar’il 3 [attached themselves (?)] a second time,
13. and he took the children as hostages (?).
14. At the same time he utters their request
15. to the men of the land of Kirjath; 4
16. and then we defended the city of Urursi. 5
17. The men of the garrison whom thou hadst left
18. in it, Apis 6 my messenger all (of them)
19. collected. Addasi-rakan
20. in his house in the city of Gaza

21. [remained]. To the land of Egypt 1 …

Lacuna.

On the Edge

He gave (the despatch) to the (king).

Footnotes
63:3 No. X in my forthcoming Paper.

63:4 The traces of the last character composing the name of the city seem to show that it was gar.

63:5 Khazati-ki.

64:1 This seems to be the meaning of the words Gin-ti-Ki-ir-mi-il-a-ki. But the first ki may be the determinative affix of locality, in which case we should have to read Gath-Irmila. The difficulty here is the strange name Irmila. It may, however, be compared with that of Jarmuth, now Yarmût (Josh. x. 3, etc.)

64:2 Amili Khabiri. The Khabiri or "confederates" are spoken of in the tablet next translated (line 13), where they are described as bordering upon Rabbah and Keilah. The word occurs in K 890, lines 4 and 8, in the sense of "companions" (istu pan khabiri-ya iptar’sanni, "from the face of my companions he has separated me"). Its use in these despatches as the name of a body of men who possessed territory in the south of Palestine is very interesting, as it throws light on the origin of the name of Hebron, and explains why the name is not met with in the Egyptian lists of the Palestinian cities. Khebron (Hebron), in fact, denoted the "Confederacy" of tribes who met at the great sanctuary of Kirjath-Arba, the termination (-ôn) being that which, as in Jeshurun or Zebulon or Simeon, distinguished territorial names. In the list of Palestinian cities given by Thothmes III at Karnak the place of Hebron seems to be taken by Yaâqab-el, "Jacob is El" or "god."

64:3 "Moloch is Ar’il." Ar’il is the Arêl or "hero" of the Moabite Stone of the Old Testament (Isaiah xxxiii. 7) which appears as Ariel in 2 Sam. xxiii. 20, and Isaiah xxix. 1, 2, who applies the term to Jerusalem. Like the writer of the despatch, Isaiah considered the word to be a compound of êl or il, "God."

64:4 Qarti-ki. The Kirjath meant is probably either Kirjath-Arba (Hebron) or Kirjath-Sepher. But it may be Kirjath-Baal (Josh. xv. 60).

64:5 Written Ururusi in the next despatch (line 25). I cannot identify the town.

64:6 Khapi.

65:1 Mitsri-ki.