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July 28, 2008

Tel Beit Shemesh and fNIN UR.MAḪMEŠ

A few days ago, Haaretz reported on the excavations at Tel Beit Shemesh. Jim West and Claude Mariottini noticed the story and posted on it. I intended write on the hypothesis that fNIN UR.MAḪMEŠ, who the article calls Belit-nesheti, was the queen of Beit Shemesh in the mid-14th century B.C.E. While Nadav Na'aman suggested this idea and it is always dangerous to take on a scholar like Na'aman, my own take is that this has less than a 50% probability of being the case. But, before I actually tackled this question, I need to look at a couple of recent articles that address Goren, Finkelstein, and Na'aman's Inscribed in Clay: Provenance Study of the Amarna Letters and other Ancient Near Eastern Texts including a recent article by Na'aman. Two of these papers are not as yet available at my favorite local research library. I also need to take a fresh look at Inscribed in Clay itself. I don't own it and the nearest copy is about 20 miles away. For now I'll just post my translations of the two Amarna letters from fNIN UR.MAḪMEŠ to the King of Egypt (Amenhotep IV) and make a brief comment.

[If you see squares, rectangles or something else that doesn't look right, please install the Charis SIL font.]

EA 273

To the king, my lord, my god, my Sun, say,

Message of fNIN UR.MAḪMEŠ (the Lady of Lions?), your maidservant: At the feet of the king, my lord, my god, my Sun, seven times and seven times, I fall down.

May the king, my lord know that war has been made in the land that the land of the king, my lord is destroyed by desertion to the Apîru (LÚ.MEŠSA.GAZMEŠ).

And may the King, my lord, be aware of his land and may the king my lord know that the Apîru wrote to Ajalon and to Ṣarḫa and that the two sons of Milkilu just escaped without being killed.

And may the king, my lord, know of this behavior.

EA 274

To the king, my lord, my god, my Sun, say

Message of fNIN UR.MAḪMEŠ, your maid servant, dirt under your feet: At the feet of the king, my lord, my god, my Sun, seven times and seven times I fall down.

May the king, my lord, save his land from the hand (strength) of the Apîru (LÚ.MEŠSA.GAZMEŠ) (or) it will parish.

Ṣapuna is taken. [Your results may vary here more than elsewhere. There is an issue with the reading.]

For the information of the king, my lord.

Milkilu was a ruler of Amarna Age Gezer. Although more concise than some, these two letters are rather typical of the pleas for help from leaders of various Canaanite cities to Amenhotep IV. What distinguishes them is that they come from a woman, a queen or perhaps a queen mother. While the location of Gezer, Ajalon and Ṣarḫa are well known, the location of Ṣapuna is far less certain. One would of course think that Ṣapuna was in the general neighborhood of Gezer, Ajalon and Ṣarḫa and, for that matter, Beit Shemesh. As you can see, the two letters from fNIN UR.MAḪ.MEŠ give no direct indication as to their provenance. Neutron activation and petrographic analysis of one of these letters shows that it likely came from Gezer. Without Inscribed in Clay in front of me, I'm not sure which one and it may matter. Without having as yet looked at the arguments, I'd say that Ṣapuna, wherever that was, or Gezer has better claims at being the city of fNIN UR.MAḪMEŠ, than does Beit Shemesh.

Over the next week or so, I'll be getting the required secondary material rounded-up and post again on this abnormally interesting lady and her relationship, if any, with Late Bronze Age Beit Shemesh.

Posted by Duane Smith at July 28, 2008 2:59 PM | Read more on Akkadian |

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Comments

Duane,

Thank you for this very interesting post. I will be waiting for your follow-up post because this subject is very interesting. I hope that after you find the information you need, you will explain your reason for rejecting Beit Shemesh as the queen's city.

Claude Mariottini

Posted by: Claude Mariottini at July 29, 2008 7:08 AM

Claude,

My response to your comment is a little premature; in fact, the post is a little premature. I don't necessarily reject Beit Shemesh as the lady's city. It just seems to me that there are more probable candidates. I need to go to UCLA and UCI to gather what I need. It may take me a week or a little more.

Posted by: Duane at July 29, 2008 9:10 AM

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