Amarna letter EA 290


Amarna letter EA 290, titled: "Three Against One," is one of the two shorter letters, of six, from Abdi-Heba the governing man of Jerusalem. In the Jerusalem letters, Jerusalem is "Uru-Salem", City-Peace.
Amarna letter EA 290, like Amarna letter EA 285 are short "texts" compared to the long involved letters of EA 286, EA 287, EA 288, & EA 289.
The short letter of EA 290, summarizes the local discord of neighboring city-states and their rulers, and the problem with the warring Habiru. The letter is wider than it is tall, approximately 6.1 cm tall x 7.3 cm wide. It has some damage, but not enough to obscure the short letter's story/
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 290, is numbered VAT 1646, from the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.

The letter

EA 290: ''"Three Against One"''

EA 290, letter six of six.
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Obverse:
Reverse & Left Side:

The [Habiru]/'Apiru">habiru">'Apiru

The mention of the Habiru shows the conflict of the time, as the takeover of city-states or regions by the Habiru. The map shows various cities and regions, and their respective dealings with the Habiru. The next closest mention of the Habiru is from the Jerusalem letters of Abdi-Heba, directly south at Jerusalem, letters EA 286, 287, 288, 289, and EA 290.

Spellings for ''[Habiru]'' in the Amarna letters

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