Petrie, William M. Flinders: Syria and Egypt from the Tell el Amarna letters (London, 1898)

uS THE SOUTH SYRIAN WAR

that the Amorites held most of the country,
but this was apparently not the case in the
XVIIIth Dynasty. On the contrary, they
are never mentioned in the south at all.
But the Israelites found Amorites in
possession of Jerusalem, Hebron, Yarmuth,
Lachish, and Eglon (Josh. x. 5). This
southern extension of the Amorite power is
probably the direct consequence of the rise
of Aziru, the chief of the Amorites, who
carried their rule from the land of Amurri,
or the Lower Orontes, down to Gish in
Galilee early in the present war (letter
116); and then seems to have spread on
southward, until by the time of the Israelite
invasion the Amorites were paramount in
the whole of Palestine. This also accords
with the prominence of the Amar in the
triumphs of Ramessu III. on the walls of
Medinet Habu, though he does not seem
to have at all touched northern Syria.
Apparently the earliest letter of Abdkhiba
refers to trouble already arising.

(227) ABDKHIBA to the king. A. has been
slandered, and accused of revolt. He was
not an hereditary chief, but was set up by
the king. He is slandered because he
reproached the king's officer with favouring