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Updated: April 30, 2025
One of the two may be identical with the king of Tana; who, as Rib-Addi briefly mentions, was about to march to Gebal, but was forced by scarcity of water to return home. A few letters from women are among the tablets. Two probably came from the wife of Milki-El, who was hard pressed by the Habiri when her husband was called to Egypt.
"The town 'Hidden' such is the meaning of its name Gebal what is its condition? Hast thou not visited it? Be good enough to look out for Beyrout, Sidon, and Sarepta. Where are the fords of the land of Nazana? They are situated above another city in the sea, Tyre the port is its name. Drinking-water is brought to it in boats. It is richer in fishes than in sand. I will tell thee of something else.
Tyre, however, now began to suffer like Gebal in consequence of the alliance between Zimridi and Ebed-Asherah. Zemar eventually fell into the hands of Ebed-Asherah and his sons, its prefect Khayapa or Khaip being slain during the assault. Abimelech, the governor of Tyre, accuses Zimridi of having been the cause.
No attempt was made to besiege or capture Tyre and Sidon, Beyrout and Gebal, and the Egyptian army marched past them, encamping on the way only at such places as "the headland of Carmel," "the source of the Magoras," or river of Beyrout, and the Bor or "Cistern." Otherwise its resting-places were at unknown villages like Inzath and Lui-el.
The other towns which still continued to be of some importance were Aradus, and Gebal or Byblus. These cities, like Tyre and Sidon, retained their native kings, who ruled their several states with little interference from the Persians.
Sidon forgot her ancient rivalry, and consented to furnish the Tyrian fleet with mariners. Arvad gave not only rowers to man the ships, but also men-at-arms to help in guarding the walls. The "ancients of Gebal" lent their aid in the Tyrian dockyards. The minor cities cannot have ventured to hold aloof.
The letter throws a wholly different light on the relations of the two rival parties in Phoenicia. The assertions of Rib-Hadad, however, are supported by those of his successor in the government of Gebal, El-rabi-Hor. Rib-Hadad himself disappears from the scene.
The official duties of Yankhamu extended over the whole of Palestine, and all the governors of its cities were accountable to him. We find him exercising his authority not only in the south, but also in the north, at Zemar and Gebal, and even among the Amorites.
Another act of vigour assigned to him is the foundation of Botrys, on the Syrian coast, north of Gebal, perhaps a defensive movement against Assyria. Still more enterprising was his renewal of the African colonisation by his foundation of Aueza in Numidia, which became a city of some importance. Ithobal's reign lasted, we are told, thirty-two years.
Other lands named in the tablets are more difficult to identify. To mitigate a famine in Gebal, Rib-Addi intended to send for grain from Zalukhi in Ugarit, but his enemies detained his ships and frustrated his intentions. Zalukhi does not seem to be mentioned again, and Rib-Addi in a later letter compares Ugarit with the region round Tyre as regards its administrative relation to Egypt.
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