4. THE FIGHTING IN SYRIA BECOMES GENERAL.
At this time the King of Byblos was one named Ribaddi, a fine old soldier who was loyal to Egypt in his every thought and deed. He wrote to Akhnaton urging him to send troops to relieve the garrison of Simyra, upon which Aziru was again pressing close; for if Simyra fell, he knew that Byblos could not for long hold out. Presently we find that Zimrida, the king of the neighbouring port of Sidon, has opened his gates to Aziru, and has marched with him against Tyre. Abimilki, the King of Tyre, at once wrote to Akhnaton asking for assistance; but on receiving no reply he, too, appears to have thrown in his lot with Aziru. Ribaddi was now quite isolated at Byblos; and from the beleaguered city he wrote to the Pharaoh telling him that “Simyra is like a bird in a snare.” Akhnaton made no reply; and in a short time Ribaddi wrote again, saying, “Simyra, your fortress, is now in the power of the Khabiri.”
These Khabiri were the Beduin from behind Palestine, who were being used as mercenaries by Aziru, and who themselves were making small conquest in the south on their own behalf. Thus the southern cities of Megiddo, Askalon, Gezer, and others, write to the Pharaoh asking for aid against them. Exasperated, however, by Akhnaton’s inaction, Askalon and Gezer, together with the city of Lachish, threw off the Egyptian yoke and attacked Jerusalem, which was still loyal to Egypt, being held by an officer named Abdkhiba. This loyal soldier at once sent a despatch to Akhnaton, part of which read as follows:—
The King’s whole land, which has begun hostilities with me, will be lost. Behold the territory of Seir, as far as Carmel, its princes are wholly lost; and hostility prevails against me.... As long as ships were upon the sea the strong arm of the King occupied Naharin and Kash, but now the Khabiri are occupying the King’s cities. There remains not one prince to my lord, the King; every one is ruined.... Let the King take care of his land, and ... let him send troops.... For if no troops come in this year, the whole territory of my lord the King will perish.... If there are no troops in this year, let the King send his officer to fetch me and my brothers, that we may die with our lord, the King.
To this letter the writer added a postscript addressed to Akhnaton’s secretary, with whom he was evidently acquainted. “Bring these words plainly before my lord the King,” runs this pathetic appeal. “The whole land of my lord, the King, is going to ruin.”
The letters sent to Akhnaton from the few princes who remained loyal form a collection which even now moves the reader. To Akhnaton they must have been so many sword-thrusts, and one may picture him praying passionately for strength to set them aside. Soon it would seem that the secretaries hardly troubled to show them to him; and ultimately they were so effectually pigeon-holed that they have only recently been discovered. The Pharaoh permitted himself to answer some of them, and seems to have asked questions as to the state of affairs; but never does he offer any encouragement. Lapaya, one of the princes of the south, who had evidently received a communication from Akhnaton in which his fidelity was questioned, wrote saying that if the Pharaoh ordered him to drive a sword of bronze into his heart he would do so. It is a commentary upon the veracity of the Oriental that in subsequent letters this prince is stated to have attacked Megiddo, and ultimately to have been slain while fighting against the Egyptian loyalists.
Addudaian, a king of some unknown city of south Judea, acknowledges the receipt of a letter from Akhnaton in which he was asked to remain loyal; and he complains, in reply, of the loss of various possessions. Dagantakala, the king of another city, writes imploring the Pharaoh to rescue him from the Khabiri. Ninur, a queen of a part of Judea, who calls herself Akhnaton’s handmaid, entreats the Pharaoh to save her, and records the capture of one of her cities by the Khabiri.
And so the letters run on, each telling of some disaster to the Egyptian cause, and each voicing the bitter complaint of those who were being sacrificed to the principles of a king who had grasped the meaning of civilisation too soon.