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THET O W N O F S E L L E (Z A R U ) I N T H E'AMARNAHT A B L E T
SB Y P R O F E S S O R W . F . A L B R I G H T
E V E R si n ce K t h m a n n s h o w e d i n 1 9 1 1 t ha t t
he t ime -ho nou red read ing " Zaru " s hou ldbecor rec t ed t o S
i l e or Se le , and t h a t t he t o wn bea r ing t h i s na me
was s i t ua t ed a t Te i l A b uSefah, j u s t eas t o f Kan t a
rah1 , h i s t or ians have been par t i cu la r l y in t e res t
ed in i t . Wh i le t hesyllabico r t h o g r a p h y o f t h e n a
m e ,Ti-rw,s how s t ha t i t i s o f l a t e , pres um ably f ore
ign or ig in ,af ac t not con t rad ic t ed b y t he app earance o
f Se i l e in l a t e nome - l i s t s as cap i t a l o f t
hefourteenthnorae , t he t own cer t a in ly a t t a ined cons
iderab le impo r t ance du r ing t he N ewEmpire. A t t h i s t im
e i t was t he f r on t ie r pos t o f Eg yp t Proper on t he
caravan road t oSyria2, and in th i s r61e witnessed th e march of
count less E gy pt ia n hosts , bou nd for spoi landg lory in Syr
ia , or r e t u r n ing w i t h due meas ure o f bo t h . H i t h
er t o , s t rnge t o s ay , t henameo f ou r f or tres s has never
been found in an y anc ien t As i a t i c docum ent . T he
lacunawewish to f i l l in th is note .
In t h e f o u r t h l e t t e r o f J . Z L 4 D - G e p a3o f J
e r u s a l e m ( K n u d t z o n e d i t io n , no . 2 8 8 ) , t h
i sprincew a m s t h e P h a r a o h o f t h e s h a k y c o n d i
t i o n o f E g y p t i a n p o w e r i n A s i a . A f t e r s o m
epreliminary rem ark s he goes on to sa y: " A s sure as there is a
sh ip i n the mi ds t of the sea,the m ig h t y a rm o f t he k in
g w i l l s e i ze Nah ar f m and Kap as i4 , b u t n o w ( m e a n
w h i l e ) t h eHebrewsa re s e i z ing t he t owns o f t he k ing
. Ther e is no pre fec t ( l e f t ) t o t he k in g m y lord ;al
lhave per i s hed . Beho ld , Tu rba zu has been s la in in t he ve
ry ga t e o f Z i l , ye t t he k ingholds back . A s f or Z im r
id a o f Lach i s h , h i s ( ow n) s e rvan t s , becom e Hebrew s
, have bu t chered(lit. s laugh t e red as a s aer i fi ce ) h im .
Ya pt ih -H ad ad has been s la in in t he ve ry ga t e o fZi lyet
t he k in g ho lds back5 . " In anot her l e t t e r ( 'A ma rna h
, no . 335 ) t he ch ie f o f Zuhru ,
1See K T HMANN,DieOstgrenzeAegyptens,38 ff . ;
GARDINER,Journal,v , 242-4.2See espec ial ly GARDINER,Journal,v i ,
99 ff .3Th is name is usually readcAbdi-Heba,but the ideogram for "
se rv an t" should be doubtless read asaCappadocian (Nasi)
word(Journ.Pal.Or.Soc,n , 127). The E gyp tian
transcriptionKrgpforGilu-Hepa,
showstha t the nam e of the goddess should be read with agh ;cf.
Eg.Sngr=
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THE T O W N O F S E L L E ( Z A B U ) I N T H E ' A M A R N A H
T A B L E T S 7probablyZ o a r , i n s o u t h e r n P a l e s t in
e , a l so m e n t i o n s t h e d e a t h s o f T u r b a z u a n
d Y a p t i h -Hadad,b u t w i t h o u t a n y p a r t i c u l a r
s t o a s s is t u s . P r e v i o u s w r i t e r s o n t h e t o
p o g r a p h y o f t h e'Amarnah l e t t e r s h ave made var i ou
s s u gges t i on s i n r egard t o th e i den t i f i ca t i on o
f Z i l , eachworse t h a n t h e p r e c e d i n g . T h e f a v o
u r i t e s h a v e b e e n Z e l a h , a n i n s i g n i f i c a n
t v i ll a g e o fBenjamin , j u s t n o r t h o f J e r u s a l e
m1 , a n d S e l a h i n E d o m 2 , n o t t o m e n t i o n C o n
d e r ' s id e a t h a tZilw a s S h i l o h3 . O f cou rs e , Z i
l mu s t h ave been an i mp or tan t p l ace w i t h ga te s an d w
a l l s ,whichn o n e o f t h e t o w n s s u g g e s t e d , e x c
e p t p e r h a p s t h e o t h e r w i s e i m p o s s i b l e S e
l a h ,possessed._
The p o i n t o fARAD-Gep 'sr e m a r k s o b v i o u s l y c o
n s i s t s in h i s e m p h a s i s o n t h e s e r io u
scharacter o f t h e reb e l l i on a foo t in s ou th ern Pa l e s
t i n e . A f ew l i n es abov e , i n th i s s ameletter,h e s t a
t e s t h a t t h e w h o l e l a n d h a s s l i p p e d f r o m t
h e c o n t r o l o f t h e E g y p t i a n p r e f e c t s as far
as Se i r(Se-e-ri) a n d G a t h - C a r m e l ( G i n t i - k i r
m i l ) , t h e C a r m e l s o u t h o f H e b r o n , n e a rth e
s o u t h e r n e d g e o f t h e J u d a e a n h l s4 . I f, t h e
n , w e i d e n t i f y Z i l w i t h S e i l e , t h e m e a n i n
gof t h e p r i n c e o f J e r u s a l e m b e c o m e s i m m e d
i a t e l y c l e a r : t h e t w o E g y p t i a n g o v e r n o r
s a r eslaina t t h e t h r e s h o l d o f E g y p t , a t t h e v
e r y g a t e o f S e i l e i t s e l f y e t t h e P h a r a o h t
a k e s n osteps t o re s t o r e t h e i m p a i r e d E g y p t i
a n p r e s t i g e i n P a l e s t i n e . W h e t h e r t h e w o
r d s " a t t h egate o f Z i l " a re h ype rbo l e or n o t is i
n d i f f e re n t t o ou r I n te rpre ta t i on o f t h e pas s
age , w h i chmerely i m p l i e s t h a t t h e ro y a l a u t h o
r i t y i s n o lo n g e r s e c u r e a n y w h e r e b e y o n d
t h e f r o n t i e r o fEgyptP rop er , an d th a t i t i s h i gh
t i m e for th e k i n g t o bes t i r h i m s e l f i f h e w i s
h es t o s aveanything f r om th e w reck .
From t h e w r i t i n gZil a l on e , t h e i den t i f i ca t
i on w ou l d be a t l eas t p l au s i b l e ; t h e s y l l ab l
ezi i n th e A m a r n a h T a b l e t s c o rr e s p on d s re g u
l a r l y t o E g y p t i a n s y l la b i cti ,as
inHazi=Hi--y,aswel l as tod (Ziduna = Ddn; Ziri-basani = Drbsri). T
h e reas on for th es e equ i va l e n ces i sthat t h ezio f A n a
t o l i a n c u n e if o r m o r t h o g r a p h y , e m p l o y e
d a ls o in t h e ' A m a r n a h T a b l e t s ,corresponds t o S
e m i t i czi, si ( w i t hsaniek)
5 a n dsi . T h e f o r mZil i s o f con s i de rab l e va l u
ein r e s t o r i n g t h e o r i g i n a l v o c a l iz a t i o n
o f t h e n a m e , p r o n o u n c e d i n t h e R o m a n p e r i
o dSele,
Seile a n dSiU. Zil i s n o t , as m i g h t b e t h o u g h t o
f f - h a n d , a n o m i n a t i v e f o r m , b u t r e p r e s e
n t sana c t u a l p r o n u n c i a t i o n*Sil, or t h e l i k e
; t h e n o m i n a t i v e i nu is no longe r used in p lac e
-names a t t h e t i m e o f t h e ' A m a r n a h T a b l e t s
.*Sil-Si(e)U i s an o th e r i l l u s t ra t i on o f t h echangeo
f t oe be tw een 1300 B .c . an d th e Copt i c age ; s ee th e w r
i t e r ' s r emark s i nRee. deTrav. XL , 66 , 68" . I n v i ew o
f t h e s pe l l i n gSeile,I h av e n o h es i t a t i on i n r
ead i n g th e n am eSill;b u t t h e E g y p t i a n s n e v e r s
t re s se d c o n s o n a n t a l d o u b l i n g , a n d o n l y p
r e s e r v e d i t i nisolated cas es or s econ dary fo rmat i on
s , s o th e dou b l i n g i s n o t i mpor tan t , an d w as d i s
regardedby f o re i gn s c r i bes fo r th e mo s t par t , a s i t
w ou l d s eem.
Inc o n c l u d i n g w e m a y t h r o w o u t a h i n t r e g
a r d i u g t h e o r i g i n o f t h e n a m e , w h i c h is , a
snoted a b o v e , n o t E g y p t i a n , i n a l l p r o b a b i
l i t y . I w o u l d s u g g e s t t h a t*Sillcom es f rom a
1This village, the home of Saul's clan, originally bore the name
Sela.eha-Elef," Ox-rib ," a fuller formpreservedin one passage.
2CLAUSS,Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palstina- Vereins,1907 ,
73.3Teil Amarna T ablets,146, n . 2.4T he com bination with Getta,
some distance south of Carmel, mentioned by P liny, is quite
impossible
becauseof the context, which demands a town in the extreme south
of Judae a.5Th e Hebrewsamekwas not then pronounced likes (sin),bu
t the exaet nuance escapes us ; the mostprobablepron unciations are
the affricativetsor the spirant (not aspirate )th:6In a letter to
the writer Sethe has endorsed this phonetic law, citing also
8Ateh>Seth> Setha veryhappypara llel.
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W.F. A L B R I G H TSemitic*Sla norma l deve lopm ent , s ince t
here was no6 in Egy pt i an be fore abou t1300B .c. o r l a t e r.
T he n am e S i l l6 be longs e t ymolo g ica l l y w i t hSilld,
probab ly pronouncedalsoSUIS, t he na me o f a t own near J e rus a
lem
1, a n d w i t h H e b .soleiah, " w a l l , r a m p a r t ,
"boiTOwedb y t h e E g y p t i a n s a strrt ( B B C H A R D T , no
. 1166) . W e have t hus anot her Se mi t i c
name in t he nor t h -eas t e rn corner o f Egy pt , a long w i
t hSuccoth ( cor rupt ed by t he Egypt iansto*8ek4=Tkw,by d rop pin
g the fina lt,as r egu lar l y ) ,Migdol,e tc . The re can be l i t
t l e ornodo ubt t h a t t hes e names are re l ic s o f Se m i t i
c in f luence du r ing t he per iod o f Hy ks osoccupationofw h ich
more e l s ewhere .
1 II K ings xii, 20.
