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

By A. H. Sayce

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Letter from Rib-Addu to the King of Egypt

1. [To] the king my lord,
2. my Sun-god I speak, (even I) Rib-Addu 3

3. thy servant: at the feet of my lord
4. my Sun-god seven times seven
5. do I prostrate myself. The king my lord
6. has heard the words of the servant
7. of his justice. 1 (I am) very sick. 2
8. Unto me has hostility approached.
9. The sons of Ebed-Asirta 3 descended
10. into Phœnicia 4 they 5
11. (and) all of the country of the city of Tsumura 6
12. and the city of Irqata, 7armed themselves
13. against the governor; and now in
14. the city of Tsumura (is their) station.
15. Behold, the governor is sick.
16. On account of the attack he has left 8
17. the city of Gubla, 9 and there are not 10
18. Zimrida [and]
19. Yapa-Addu along with me.
20. Now [accordingly] has the governor
21. sent to them, and
22. [they have sent] 30 manehs to him.
23. [Now] has the king my lord heard
24. the report of the servant of his justice,
25. and has despatched reinforcements
26. in haste to
27. the city of Tsumura to defend (it)
28. [and] capture the soldiers

29. of the palace of the king, the Sun-god;
30. and the king, the Sun-god, has supplied 1 me
31. with the soldiers of the kingdom 2 from
32. the midst of his own country. A second time
33. has the king, my lord, heard the report of his servant
34. and has despatched 3 the garrison 4
35. to the city of Tsumura and
36. to the city of Irqata. Since
37. there have fled all
38. the garrison from
39. the city of Tsumura, and
40. there has applied (his) ear the king,
41. the lord, the Sun-god of the world, and
42. has given me 20 convoys
43. of horses for myself,
44. and has despatched reinforcements
45. in haste
46. to the city of Tsumura to
47. defend it, even all
48. the garrison
49. who had armed themselves with difficulty,
50. and the men had …
51. in the midst of the city, since
52. the soldiers of the palace had not
53. …, and
54. the said city had not armed itself,
55. on the capture and slaughter (?) of the soldiers of the palace
56. it is intent. All the world
57. have gone 5 to the king.

Footnotes
70:2 Winckler and Abel, Mittheilungen, ii. p. 81.

70:3 Or Rip-Hadad. Addu or Hadad is given as the Syrian equivalent of the Assyrian god Rimmon.

71:1 That is to say, "his righteous servant."

71:2 Or "distressed."

71:3 Also written Ebed-Asrâti, "the servant of Asherah." The name of Asrâti is more than once preceded by the determinative of divinity, showing that Ashêrah, mistranslated "grove" in the authorised version of the Old Testament, was a goddess. She was, in fact, the goddess of fertility, who was symbolised by a cone or branchless trunk, and must be carefully distinguished from Ashtoreth or Astartê.

71:4 Mat Akharrâ.

71:5 It is possible also to translate, "into Phœnicia, even they: all the country."

71:6 The Zemar of the Old Testament (Gen. x. 18), called Simyra in classical geography, now Sumra, north of Tripoli.

71:7 The "Arkites" of Gen. x. 17, now Tel ’Arqa.

71:8 Itizi[b].

71:9 The Gebal of the Old Testament, the Byblos of Greek writers, now Jebêl north of Beyrût. Rib-Addu, the Egyptian governor of Phœnicia, had his residence at Gebal.

71:10 Ya[nu].

72:1 Usamri-ni.

72:2 Native Egyptian soldiers.

72:3 The scribe has omitted the final syllable of ussira: "he has despatched."

72:4 Literally "men of the guard."

72:5 Literally "we have gone."