Amarna letter EA 289

Amarna letter EA 289, titled: "A Reckoning Demanded,"^[1] is a moderately tall, finely-inscribed clay tablet letter, approximately 6.5 in tall, from Abdi-Heba the mayor/ruler of Jerusalem, of the mid 14th century BC Amarna letters. The scribe of his six letters to Egypt were penned by the "Jerusalem scribe"; EA 289 is a moderately long, and involved letter, mentioning ten named individuals, some more than three times. A total of nine locations are referenced, as well as men of the "Hapiru"-("LÚ-MEŠ-Hapiru-^ki"),^[2] and men of "Qilyi-^ki".

The Amarna letters, about 300, numbered up to EA 382, are a mid 14th century BC, about 1350 BC and 20–25 years later, correspondence. The initial corpus of letters were found at Akhenaten's city Akhetaten, in the floor of the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh; others were later found, adding to the body of letters.

Letter EA 289 (see here-(Obverse): [1]), is numbered VAT 1645, from the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.

EA 289, letter five of six.^[1]

(Lines 1–4): [Say t]o the king, my lord: Message of 'Abdi-Ḫeba, your servant. I f[all] at the feet of my lord, the k[ing], 7 times and 7 times.

(5–17): Behold, Milkilu does not break away from the sons of Labaya and from the sons of Arzaya, as they desire the land of the king for themselves. As for a mayor who does such a deed, why does the king not (c)all him to account? Behold, Milkilu and Tagi did this deed: they took Rubutu. And now, as for Úrušalim, if this land belongs to the king, why did this happen? Like Ḫazati, it is established for the king.

(18–29): Look, the land of Ginti-kirmil belongs to Tagi, and the men of Ginti are the garrison in Bit-Sanu. Are we to act like Labaya, when he was giving the land of Šakmi to the Habiri? Milkilu has written to Tagi and the sons, "Be men! Grant all their demands to the men of Qiltu, and let us isolate Úrušalim!"

(30–46): Addaya has taken the garrison that you sent in the charge of Haya, the son of Miyare; he has stationed it in his own house in Ḫazati and has sent 20 men to Miṣri. May the king, my lord, know (that) no garrison of the king is with me. Accordingly, as truly as the king lives, his irpi-official, Pu'úru, has left me and is in Ḫazati. May the king remember this when he arrives. And so, may the king send 50 men as a garrison to protect the land. The entire land of the king has deser[ted]. Send Yeʾenḫamu that he may know about the land of the king,.

(47–51) To the scribe of the king, [my lord: M]essage of 'Abdi-Ḫeba, [your] servant, Offer eloq[uent] words to the king: "I am always utterly yours. I am your servant!"

• Abdi-Heba
• Addaya
• Pawura
• Yanhamu
• Milkilu
• Amarna letters–phrases and quotations

• Photo, EA 289: Obverse
• [2] Line drawing of EA 289, CDLI
• Photo, EA 289: Obverse & Reverse, CDLI no. 271091 (Chicago Digital Library Initiative)
• CDLI listing of all EA Amarna letters, 1-382

• Moran, William L. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, ISBN 0-8018-6715-0)
• Parpola, 1971. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Parpola, Simo, Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, c 1997, Tablet I thru Tablet XII, Index of Names, Sign List, and Glossary-(pp. 119–145), 165 pages.