This and two other accounts, one of which is from “Ilu-dâya, the Ḫazite,” all agree, and show that three [pg 289] officials were occupying cities in the territory known as Amki (identified with 'Amq, a plain by Antioch, or 'Amqa, N.E. of Akka), when Edagama (whose name also appears as Etagama, Etakkama, Itatkama, Itakama, Aiṭugama, and Aidaggama) joined the Hittite troops who were hostile to Egypt. It was in consequence of this, in all probability, that the three officials decided to write to the king of Egypt to let him know how things were going, and this they did in identical terms, with the same expressions, and the same peculiarities of spelling, pointing to the probability that the same scribe wrote all three communications. In the letter of Ili-rabiḫ, from which a quotation is given on p. [288], Amki is called “the king's territory,” implying that it was a tract acknowledging Egyptian supremacy, which Etagama was trying to wrest from the Pharaoh's grasp. It was the king's friends who were occupying the king's cities (as Bêri, Ilu-dâya, and the unknown writer call them), because they desired to hold them against this active enemy. With help from the Egyptian king, they thought that they would be able to do this without difficulty. There seems to be (as far as can at present be judged) no reason to suppose that the beginning of the expulsion of the Egyptians from Palestine was due to the over-zeal of the supporters of Egyptian rule in that country, who, striving to extend the influence and the dominions of their suzerain, drew down upon him, and upon themselves, the hostility of all the independent states of Western Asia, as well as of those which wished to throw off the Egyptian yoke. The Egyptian kings would surely have warned their vassals in Palestine against the danger of such action on their part.
As an additional light upon the events here referred to, the following extract from a letter from Akizzi of Qaṭna to Amenophis III. may be of interest:—
“O lord, Teu(w)atti of the city L(apa)n(a) and Arzauia of the city Ruḫizzu are setting themselves [pg 290] with Aiṭugama (Etagama) and the land of (U)be. He is burning the territory of my lord with fire.
“O lord, as I love the king my lord, and likewise the king of the land Nuḫašše, the king of the land of Nî, the king of the land of Zinzar, and the king of the land of Tunanat; and all these kings are for the king my lord serviceable.
“If the king my lord will, then he will go forth. (But they say) thus: ‘The king my lord will not go forth.’ Then let my lord send out field-troops, and let them come, since this land, as also, my lord, these kings, is well disposed towards him. (They are) my lord's great ones, and whatever their gifts (contributions), let him speak, and they will give (them).
“O lord, if this land is to be off the mind of my lord, then let my lord send forth field-troops, and let them come. The messengers of my lord have arrived.
“O lord, if Arzauia of the city of Ruḫizzu and Teuwatti of the city Lapana remain in the land of Ube, and Daša remain in the land of Amki, then may my lord know concerning them, that the land of Ube is not my lord's. They send to Aiṭugama every day saying thus: ‘Come and take the land of Ube completely.’
“O lord, as the city Timašgi in the land of Ube is at thy feet, so also is the city Qaṭna at thy feet. And, my lord, with regard to my messenger, I ask for life, (and a)s I do not fear with regard to the field-troops of my lord, that the field-troops of my lord will come, as he will send (them) forth to me, I shall re(tire) into the city Qaṭna.”
Thus the trouble spread, and the Hittites and their allies took possession of the territories south of the tracts referred to, trying, at the same time, to win over to their side the governors who were faithful. All this time posing as a friend of the Pharaoh, Etagama complained of the others, particularly Namya-waza, one of Egypt's most trustworthy allies, who, in a [pg 291] letter couched in the usual humble style of the period, announces his readiness to serve “with his horses and chariots, and with his brothers, and with his SA-GAS, and with his Sutites, along with the hired soldiers, whithersoever the king his lord should command him.”
Now in this letter there is one noteworthy fact, and that is, that the SA-GAS and the Sutites are mentioned together as the allies of an important vassal of the Egyptian king, the latter being apparently wandering hordes of plunderers (see above, p. [283]), whom Kadašman-Muruš, king of Babylonia, sent from east to west “until there were no more.” This took place at a somewhat later date, so that they still roamed about the eastern portion of the country, between Palestine and Babylonia, apparently giving their services to any power which might desire to make use of them.