News of the Palestinian city of Acre in the Amarna Correspondence (fourteenth century BC)
Keywords:
Akkadian texts, Amarna correspondence, the city of AcreAbstract
The political situation in the Levant during the 14th century B.C. was turbulent, and the ruling centers in its regions suffered from division and internal disputes, and there were many kingdoms or emirates, small in size, in which rule was limited to a central city, which was like the capital, and nearby regions surrounding it. Perhaps the case of the regions of Canaan; Especially the regions of present-day Palestine, which were the most divided (see the geographical illustration attached to the research).
These entities did not know stability, but most of them witnessed disputes and rebellions, so they found themselves repeatedly forced to take refuge in one of the two powerful kingdoms in the ancient East: the Egyptian or the Hittite, in order to seek support, protection and continued rule, and it seems that the preference was for Egypt, and therefore the Egyptian influence extended and stabilized in the region during The reign of King Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC), but the situation changed after Amenhotep IV took over the throne of the kingdom (1352-1336 BC) completely, so he no longer cared about military affairs and foreign campaigns, but rather devoted himself to calling for peace and spreading his monotheistic ideas . Thus, the way was cleared for the Hittites to penetrate the region, and many rulers of the Levant found themselves obliged to pledge allegiance to
The Hittites.
Acre is one of the most prominent Palestinian cities that used to control the northwestern corner of the country. It was mentioned repeatedly in the archive of correspondence recorded in cuneiform writing and the Akkadian language, which was discovered in Amarna, near Minya, in southern Egypt, and it constitutes the main source for knowledge of the news of the Levant and the ancient East during the fourteenth century BC. The effects of ancient Acre have been revealed in the Tell al-Fakhar adjacent to the current city. It appears from its news, in general, that it was of strategic
Importance in the northern Palestinian regions.
The research seeks to shed light on the history of this city during the Amarna period, and to show the nature of its relations with the neighboring ruling centers within the land of Canaan, and with the
Egyptian kingdom