Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] Amarna Letters: The Number 318

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Amarna Letters: The Number 318
  • Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2007 09:56:59 EST


Yitzhak Sapir:

Thanks to your brilliant analysis of the word usually translated as “porters”
in Amarna Letter #287, I think we can finally understand that line of text
for the first time.

I have always been suspicious of the translation “porters”, because it does
not make sense for the leader of Jerusalem to be sending 318 porters to
Akhenaten. Even 8 porters would seem very odd.

1. You wrote: “The reading of the word "porter" is based on the reading
ú-bi-li-mi in
the text. This is read as "yobil" from the root ybl "bring" in Canaanite,
much like
yocer "potter" or yo$eb "dweller." The -o- is a giveaway that this word is
Canaanite
because it indicates the a: > o shift that was not present in Akkadian.
Based on
Sivan, the other comparable form is in EA 288, line 13 "raise a tax for the
king."

I think it would be fair to say that an ultra-literal translation of this
word would be “bringers”. That is not Canaanite slang for “porters”. No,
that’
s Canaanite slang for “taxpayers”, the citizens who “bring” their tax money
to pharaoh. Note that the other use of this term in the Amarna Letters is
also by Abdi-Heba (in Amarna Letter #288), and is translated by Wm. Moran as “
tribute-bearer” of the king. These are not literal “bearers” as in
“porters”,
but rather are “bearers” of taxes, that is “taxpayers”.

2. Now everything makes sense. Akhenaten had levied a tax of 5,000 units on
Jerusalem (a round number.). Abdi-Heba is saying that he collected that
5,000 units of taxes from the 318 taxpayer citizens of Jerusalem. Abdi-Heba
knows
exactly how many taxpayer citizens there are in Jerusalem, an exact number,
and 318 is as good a guess for that figure as any.

Even on the day that cuneiform tablet was created, the words after “5,000”
and before “yobil”/”bringers”/”taxpayers” may have been semi-illegible.
Everyone knew the units of tax involved, and pharaoh’s translator wouldn’t
care
to know the exact number of taxpayer citizens in Jerusalem, so those words or
abbreviations between “5,000” and “taxpayers” were not of critical
importance.

Abdi-Heba is claiming that he sent by caravan the taxes due (along with some
prisoners), but that the caravan was waylaid, so that Akhenaten did not
receive that tax payment. Furthermore, Abdi-Heba says that he will not be
sending
any more tax payments now, because it is not safe for caravans to travel
between Jerusalem and Egypt, unless Akhenaten were to return the 50 Egyptian
troops
to Jerusalem for which Abdi-Heba is constantly begging.

3. As to the number “318”, I still think it is reasonable to see that
number there. True, that number is no longer legible today. But Knudtzon
thought
he saw it 100 years ago, and Knudtzon is usually reliable on such matters.
Moreover, Knudtzon thought he saw the number 318 even when the translation of
318 porters did not make much sense. My new suggested translation of 318
citizen taxpayers (of Jerusalem) makes perfect sense, numerically.

I will admit that if “yobil” is translated as “taxpayers”, rather than as “
porters”, the connection to Genesis 14: 14 is slightly weakened. But I think
that is the correct translation, which makes sense in terms of the Amarna
Letters. As to Genesis 14: 14, the author of the Patriarchal narratives may
be
implying that whereas the 318 taxpayer citizens of Jerusalem cannot even get
their tax money to Akhenaten, the tent-dwelling Hebrews near Jerusalem can,
in a
pinch, muster 318 adult male fighters to oppose four attacking rulers who
include one ruler with a Hittite kingly name (“Tidal”, as the Hebrew version
of “
Tudhaliya”, which in turn is a slightly disguised reference to Suppililiuma
I,
who murdered his older brother named “Tudhaliya”/”Tidal” to gain the
Hittite throne, and who was the mighty Hittite king who conquered northern
Lebanon
and Syria in the mid-14th century BCE).

4. I never thought that on the b-Hebrew list, of all places, I would find a
nifty explanation of the word “porters” that has long bothered me. Thanks a
million. I am in awe of your expertise in ancient languages.

Sometimes the Internet is wonderful.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




**************************************See AOL's top rated recipes
(http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page