and not the Hittites, were his foes,
since the Hebrew conquest took place in the lifetime of _Yankhamu_ and
_Suta_, who are noticed in the northern letters also. If he was a friend
of _Aziru's_, the enemy, though enemies of Egypt, could not well have been
Hittites or Amorites; and the name of the King is that of Joshua's enemy,
Jabin of Hazor. It is clear that the Egyptians, though expected, were not
in Hazor at the time. The kings of Hazor ruled lower Galilee, where they
had a force of chariots a century later. In Joshua's time (Josh. xi.)
there were also many chariots in and near Hazor.

It is remarkable that none of the letters from Tell Amarna refer to
central Palestine. There is no mention of any town in lower Galilee or in
Samaria, except Zabuba and Megiddo. Taanach, Shechem, Jezreel, Dothan,
Bethel, and other such places are unnoticed, as well as Heshbon, Medeba,
Rabbath-Ammon, Ramoth Gilead, and other places in Moab and Gilead. The
Egyptians probably had no stations in these wild mountains, where their
chariots could not pass. The Egyptian traveller mentions no town between
Megiddo and Joppa in the time of Rameses II, and no towns in the regions
of Samaria or Gilead or Moab occur in the list of places taken by Thothmes
III; nor were there any stations in the Hebron mountains.(302) On the
other hand, many places in Sharon and Philistia, and in the lower hills to
the east, and in the Negeb hills south of Hebron, were conquered by the
last-mentioned king, and are again mentioned by the traveller of the time
of Rameses II, and these occur in the present letters. We are thus at once
transported to the south of the country.

Southern Palestine

LETTERS FROM JOPPA

No. 57 B. M.--"To the King my Lord my God my Lord of Hosts, by letter thus
(says) _Yabitiri_ (Abiathar?) thy servant, the dust of the feet of the
King my Lord my God my Lord of Hosts. Seven times and seven times I bow.
As thou seest I am among the faithful servants of the King my Lord. I am
arraying. But if I am arraying has not he been furious? and I am arraying
before the King; and he has been furious. Shall the brick (letter) hide it
under deceptions? But I will not conceal under deep sayings (_emiki_) to
the King my Lord. And the King my Lord shall ask _Yankhamu_ his _Paka_.
Lo! I am a warrior, and I am casting down the rebellion, O King my Lord,
and I am sending out from the pass belonging to the King my Lord. And let
the King my Lord ask hi