Amarna letter EA 254

Amarna letter EA 254, titled: "Neither Rebel nor Delinquent (2)", is a moderate length, tall, and mostly flat rectangular clay tablet Amarna letter, (see here ). The letter is from Labaya of city-state Šakmu (Shechem today). It is an undamaged letter, in pristine condition, with cuneiform script on almost all surfaces: Obverse, Bottom, Reverse, and Left Side. Letter EA 254 is numbered VAT 335, from the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.

The Amarna letters, about 300, numbered up to EA 382, are a mid 14th century BC, about 1360 BC and 30-35 years later, correspondence. The initial corpus of letters were found at Akhenaten's city Akhetaten, in the floor of the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh; others were later found, adding to the body of letters.

EA 254: "Neither Rebel nor Delinquent (2)"
EA 254, letter three of three. (Not a linear, line-by-line translation, and English from French.)

Obverse: See here; Line drawing,


 * (Lines 1-5)–To the king, my lord and my Sun: Thus Lab'ayu, your servant and the dirt on which you tread. I fall at the feet of the king, my lord and my Sun, 7 times and 7 times.
 * (6-10)–I have obeyed (i.e. heard) the orders that the king wrote to me. Who am I that the king should lose his land on account of me?
 * (10-15)–The fact is that I am a loyal servant of the king! I am not a rebel and I am not delinquent in duty.1 I have not held back my payments of tribute; I have not held back anything requested by my commissioner.
 * (16-29)–He denounces me unjustly,3 but the king, my lord, does not examine my (alleged) act of rebellion.

Bottom & Reverse: See here; Line drawing,


 * (Lines 20-29)–Moreover, my act of rebellion is this: when I entered Gazru, I kept on saying, "Everything of mine the king takes, but where is what belongs to Milkilu?" I know the actions3 of Milkilu against me!
 * (30-37)–Moreover, the king wrote for my son.4 I did not know that my son was consorting with the 'Apiru. I herewith hand him over to Addaya.
 * (38-46)–Moreover, how, if the king wrote to me, "Put a bronze dagger into your heart and die," how could I not..

Left Side


 * (46)..execute the order of the king?5–(complete EA 254, with no lacunae, lines 1-46)

The Habiru/'Apiru
The mention of the Habiru shows the conflict of the time, as the takeover of city-states or regions by the Habiru. The map shows various cities and regions, and their respective dealings with the Habiru. (There are only 3 letters from Labaya of Šakmu/Shechem.) The next closest mention of the Habiru is from the Jerusalem letters of Abdi-Heba, directly south at Jerusalem, letters EA 286, 287, 288, 289, and EA 290.

Spellings for Habiru in the Amarna letters

 * EA 100, l. 26&mdash;KUR,.. ša ìl-qú LÚ.MEŠ GAZ,.. [ ištu ]–.]–( LÚ-MEŠ GAZ )
 * EA 271, l. 16&mdash;..lú-meš Sa-GaZ-meš .. ( Men (pl), SA.GAZMEŠ(pl)
 * EA 290, l. 24&mdash;..Ha-Pí-Ri .. ( Hapiru ( 'Apiru ))
 * EA 299, l. 18&mdash;..da-an-nu LÚ-SA-GAZ-meš .. ( "Strengthening" - LÚ.SA.GAZ.MEŠ ..( "Strengthening Habiru" )
 * EA 366, l. 21&mdash;.. {LÚ} SA-GAZ .. ( LÚSA-GAZ (Habiru))

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Akkadian text
The Akkadian language text:

English:


 * (Line 1)--To "King-Lord-mine"
 * (2)--'speaking'
 * (3)--'message thus' 1. Labaya, SERVANT-yours
 * (4)--at feet(s)(pl.) "King-Lord-mine" I bow
 * (5)--Now, (you) messaged
 * (6)--to Me: "Guard!
 * (7)--men who en-sieged (the City)!"
 * (8)--"How to guard (the) Men, ...
 * (9)--..in conflict(warfare) en-sieged\ \"sworn" City?"
 * (10)--"How to swear peace? ..and.. How to swear, "sworn" City?"
 * (11)--"Commissioner(Man-Great) 'assigned with'-me
 * (12)--(the) captured, sworn City ! ?"
 * (13)--And, god(s) 'spoke/heard'
 * (14)--"(my) parts (are) eaten-mine" \ \ "I AM SLANDERED"
 * (15)--before "The King", "Lord-Mine"

Akkadian:


 * (Line 1)--a-na "LUGAL-EN-ia"
 * (2)--qí-bil-ma
 * (3)--um-ma ILa-aB-A-iYa ARAD-ka
 * (4)--a-na GÌR.MEŠ "LUGAL-be-lí-ia" am-qú-ut
 * (5)--i-nu-ma šap-ra-ta
 * (6)--a-na ia-a-ši ú-ṣur-me
 * (7)--LÚ.MEŠ ša ṣa-ab-tu URU
 * (8)-- ki-i uṣ-ṣur-ru-na LÚ.MEŠ
 * (9)--i-na nu-KÚR-te ṣa-ab-te at-me URU
 * (10)--ki it-mé ša-li-me u ki at-at-me URU
 * (11)--1. LUGAL.GAL it-ti-ia
 * (12)--ṣa-ab-ta at-me URU
 * (13)--ù i-li qa-bi
 * (14)--qa-ar-ṣí-ia u(gloss) ši-ir-ti
 * (15)--i-na pa-ni "1. LUGAL-ma" "be-li-ia"-->