Tell-Ashtara
Encyclopedia
Amarna letters
The Amarna letters are an archive of correspondence on clay tablets, mostly diplomatic, between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru during the New Kingdom...
correspondence
Text corpus
In linguistics, a corpus or text corpus is a large and structured set of texts...
of 1350 BC. In the Amarna letters the city is named: Aštartu, and is the Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
'Ashtarot'.
Aštartu is only referenced in two letters of the 382 letter corpus
Text corpus
In linguistics, a corpus or text corpus is a large and structured set of texts...
, in letters EA 256, and EA 197: (titled: "Biryawaza
Biryawaza
Biryawaza was king of Damascus in the middle fourteenth century BC. In the Amarna letters, he was ordered by his Egyptian overlords to take armed action against Labaya's sons ....
's plight"), -(EA is for 'el Amarna
Amarna
Amarna is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site that represents the remains of the capital city newly–established and built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the late Eighteenth Dynasty , and abandoned shortly afterwards...
'). Biryawaza was the mayor of Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
-called Dimasqu.
EA 256 is a story concerning Mutbaal
Mutbaal
Mutbaal was a Canaanite king of the Amarna Period. He is identified in the Amarna letters as a son of Labaya, the ruler of the hill country north of Jerusalem, including the territory in the vicinity of the city of Shachmu .Mutbaal may be the son whose association with the Habiru raiders Labaya...
, the son of Labaya
Labaya
Labaya was a Habiru, possibly Canaanite, warlord who lived contemporaneously with Pharaoh Akhenaten . Labaya is mentioned in several of the Amarna Letters , which is practically all scholars know about him...
, and the Habiru
Habiru
Habiru or Apiru or ˁpr.w was the name given by various Sumerian, Egyptian, Akkadian, Hittite, Mitanni, and Ugaritic sources to a group of people living as nomadic invaders in areas of the Fertile Crescent from Northeastern Mesopotamia and Iran to the borders of Egypt in Canaan...
, and concerns the whereabouts of Ayyab
Ayyab
Ayyab was a king of Aštartu, named Tell 'Aštara, during the Amarna letters correspondence of 1350-1335 BC, . His city is located south of Damascus-, and is involved with the takeover of cities by the Habiru of the Amarna letters intrigues...
, who may be in Pihilu, modern day Pella, Jordan
Pella, Jordan
Pella is a village and the site of ancient ruins in northwestern Jordan. It is half an hour by car from Irbid, in the north of the country....
, and is a letter of intrique, titled: "Oaths and denials", and lists 7 cities located in the Golan area. Ayyab
Ayyab
Ayyab was a king of Aštartu, named Tell 'Aštara, during the Amarna letters correspondence of 1350-1335 BC, . His city is located south of Damascus-, and is involved with the takeover of cities by the Habiru of the Amarna letters intrigues...
is the king of Aštartu and does author one letter to the Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
, letter EA 364.