68 B. M.—Perhaps earlier than the preceding; reads: “To the King my Lord my God my Sun thus (says) Suyardata thy servant: seven and seven times this soul and this body bow. Let the King my Lord learn. I am one (put to shame?). There shall be Egyptian soldiers (pitati) despatched of the King my Lord. I am hard pressed; and consider thou me (come out to me?) and I shall be established by the King my Lord.”
101 B.—With the usual salutation is from Suyardata, and, though broken, appears to read: “It is my desire to approach, as taking refuge with the King my Lord. Who am I to regard (being seen?)? Let me approach the King my Lord with these things (articles) of silver—and the silver is pure. O King my Lord Yankhamu (is) thy right hand; and I am mourning for him, since, wholly having gone away, no Egyptian soldiers (bitati) will come back to me from the King my Lord. Let the King my Lord learn how thirty temples of the gods he has put to shame—he who fights against me. I am left alone. Mightily he has fought against.... Give [pg 273] me rest O King my Lord from his hand. The King my Lord shall send Egyptian soldiers (bitati). Now Yankhamu also has returned to the house of the King my Lord. He shall come back—soldiers of the King my Lord with him. Mighty is he who has fought against Suyardata and (men) fail.”
The enemy must have been of another race to destroy the temples. The letter is valuable because it shows that Yankhamu was a contemporary of Suyardata, who was a contemporary with Adonizedek, for Yankhamu was also contemporary with Aziru, who was living about twenty years after the death of Thothmes IV.
Letters of the Lady Basmath
137 B.—“To the King my Lord my God my Sun by letter thus (says) the Lady whose name is Basmatu,[361] thy handmaid. At the feet of the King my Lord my God my Sun, seven times seven times, I bow. Know O King my Lord behold! there has been war in the land, and the land of the King my Lord has been wearied by rebels, by men of blood. And know O King as to his land, and know my foolishness (or disgrace). Behold the men (or chiefs) of blood have sent to the city of Ajalon, and to the city of Zar'a (Zorah),[362] and (this is) to show that there is no place of refuge for the two sons of Milcilu; and know O King my Lord this request.”
138 B.—“To the King my Lord my God my Sun by letter thus (says) the Lady whose name is Basmatu, thy handmaid, the dust of thy feet, and at the feet of the King my Lord my God my Sun seven times seven times I bow. Let the King my Lord pluck his land from the hands of the men of blood. Am not I tired marching to the town of Zabuba; and because of not resting O King my Lord?”
There is only one place in Palestine called Zabuba; it is the Sububa of the fourteenth century, the modern Ezbuba, south of Taanach, west of the plain of Esdraelon. Poor Basmath had to go some sixty miles by road to reach it from her home. [pg 274] This interesting little letter, which shows she was not one of the ladies sent to Egypt, though probably a person of importance, seems perhaps to indicate that the central part of the country, from which no appeals for help occur in the letters, was undisturbed. The Amorite-Hittite league came down to Bashan and to Tyre, but not apparently as far as Accho. The Hebrews, on the other hand, coming from Seir, are said to have gone as far north as Rimmon and Shiloh, but were mainly fighting southward from Ajalon. Between the two theatres of war lay the whole of Samaria and lower Galilee, in which Basmath found a refuge.
Other Letters from the South of Palestine
136 B.—“To the King my Lord (my God?), the Sun from heaven, by letter thus (says) Yamirdagan thy servant: at the feet of the King my Lord seven times seven times I bow. I hear the message of the King my Lord to me, and now I will guard the city of the King my Lord till the coming of a message of the King my Lord for me.”
Comparing the name with that of Dagontacala of Ascalon, it appears that this writer was probably a Philistine.