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Records of the Past, 2nd Series, Vol. III

By A. H. Sayce

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Letter from Aziru to his Brother Khâi

1. To Khâi 4 my brother
2. thus (I speak, even I) Aziri 5 thy brother:
3. Unto thee may there be peace,
4. and from the soldiers of the palace
5. of the king my lord may there be much peace!
6. What immediately
7. I speak before the king my lord,

8. publicly I speak,
9. (even) I and my sons
10. and my brothers, all (being) servants
11. of the king my lord before (him).

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12. Now I and Khatib
13. have gone again
14. with a present to Khazai 1
15. [who is] among you; 2 verily the frontier,
16. behold! I have reached.

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17. From the orders of my lord
18. I do not free myself,
19. or from your 2 orders,
20. (even) I the servant of my lord.

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21. The king of the land of the Hittites 3 in the country of Nukhasse 4
22. is staying and I am afraid
23. of him (and) have defended myself.
24. To Phœnicia he ascends;
25. and if the city of Dunip 5
26. falls, he stays in a place (only) 2 parasangs from here (?),
27. and I am afraid of him;
28. yet according to this order
29. he remains until he quits it. 6

30. And now one has gone
31. with a costly present to him
32. (even) I and Khatib.

Footnotes
67:3 Winckler and Abel: Mittheilungen, ii. p. 38.

67:4 The Hebrew khay, "living"; compare the name of Hiel, 1 Kings xvi. 34.

67:5 Aziru or Aziri (Ezir in the Old Testament was the son of Dûdu (the Biblical Dodo or David), a high official at the court of the Pharaoh. See Letter v.

68:1 This seems to be the name of the Hittite king.

68:2 Plural.

68:3 Khatte.

68:4 Nukhasse was in northern Syria; Dunip appears to have been one of its cities. M. Halévy suggests that Nukhasse is the land of "bronze" (Heb. nekhosheth), and compares 2 Sam. viii. 8.

68:5 The Tunip of the Egyptian monuments, now Tennib, between Azaz and Arpad (Erfad), north-west of Aleppo. In the Assyrian period, from the ninth century B.C. downwards, Tunip disappears from history, its place being taken by Khazazu (Azaz) and Arpad.

68:6 Adi patari-se. Compare another letter of Aziru (No. 32): "The king of the Hittites is staying in the land of Nukhasse and I am afraid of him. He is staying in a place [only two] parasangs distant (?), [in] the city of Tunip and I am afraid. The place he has quitted (iptur) also I p. 69 have reached. [So] again . we have gone into the land of Phœnicia, the country of my lord, and I am afraid for the country of my lord." So also in another despatch (No. 33): "And again [the king of the Hittites] is staying in the land of Nukhasse; [he is staying] two parasangs distant (?) in the city of Tunip, and I am afraid it may fall … may [the king of the Hittites] quit (liptur) the city of Tunip."