Letter of Pabi to Akhnaton
Letter of Pabi, Prince of Lachish, to Akhnaton, King of Kemet (i.e. Egypt)
circa 1350 BC
This letter was found in the mound of Tell-el-Hesy (ancient Lachish) Clay 14,
1.i92, by F. I. Bliss, and awakened great interest because it obviously belongs
to the same series as the Tell-el-Amarna letters and possesses the additional interest
of having been actually discovered in the soil of Palestine. Published by Hilprecht,
"Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania," vol. I; "Old Babylonian Inscriptions,"
part 2, Plate 64, No. 147. Translated by Winckler, "Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek,"
v, No. 219, and by Ungnad in Gressmann, "Altorientalische Texte und Bilder," i,
pp. 127-128, and by Knudtzon, "Die El-Amarna Tafeln," No. 333.
To the Great One, thus speaks Pabi, at your feet do I fall.
You must know that Shipti-Ba'al and Zimrida are conspiring, and Shipti-Ba'al
has said to Zimrida "My father of the city Yarami has written to me: give me six
bows, three daggers and three swords. If I take the field against the land of the
king and you march at my side, I shall surely conquer. He who makes this plan is
Pabi. Send him before me."
Now have I sent you Rapha-el. He will bring to the Great man intelligence concerning
the matter.
Source:
From: Robert William Rogers, ed., Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (New
York: Eaton & Mains, & Cincinnati: Jennings & Graham, 1912), pp. 268-278.
Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton. Prof. Arkenberg
may have modernized the text.
