This seems to be the last of Ribadda’s fifty letters. There is no mention of any return to Gebal, or of victory over the Amorites. We do not know that he got safe to Buruzizi, but can only hope he did. It was too late when his father obtained promise of aid. So energetic a writer would probably have written again if he had been alive to do so. The Amorite letters had blinded the eyes of Amenophis so long that their position was secured. As we shall see also, there were other appeals from every part of the country.
If Subandi be the Zabandi of Ribadda’s letter (51 B.), the following also belong to the Phœnician-Amorite war:
38 B. M.—“To the King my Lord my God my Sun, the Sun from heaven, thus says _Subandi_ thy servant, the captain of thy horse: at the feet of the King my Lord, the Sun from heaven, seven times and seven times is made to bow both the heart and also the body. I hear all the messages of the King my Lord, the Sun from heaven, and now I shall guard the land of the King that is with me, and ... I hear ... exceeding much.”
39 B. M. is an almost identical letter from the same writer.
40 B. M.—The salutation by _Subandi_ is the same. The letter is broken. He speaks of a message from the King, and of fighting. He speaks of assisting the King’s servant and the fortresses, and mentions the arrival of the King as expected, and the _Kau Mas_. These latter words are evidently Egyptian, _Kau_ meaning “men” and _Masa_ “infantry.”
116 B.—The same salutation. It is a short letter acknowledging the receipt of a letter, and ends by speaking of men of blood, and that the “King knows about his cities.”
117 B.—The same salutation: “The King my Lord, the Sun from heaven, has sent _Khanni_ to me.” It is injured, but seems to refer to “an hundred oxen and thirty women. For the King my Lord, the Sun from heaven, has instructed.”
118 B.—A similar salutation. He will defend the King’s land. “(Ask?) the great man if we have not listened to the King’s _Paka_: now he has been listened to exceeding much—the _Paka_ of the King my Lord, Son of the Sun from heaven.”
120 B., a short letter from _Subandi_, merely saying that he has received the King’s message.(285)
No. 26 B. M.—“To the King my Lord my Sun my God, to the King my Lord by letter thus _Ammunira_, chief of the city of _Burutu_, thy servant, the dust of thy feet: at the feet of the King my Lord my Sun my God—the King my Lord—seven and seven times I bow. I hear the messages of ... of the King my Lord my Sun my God—the ruler of my life, and they have drawn the heart of thy servant, and the dust of the feet of the King my Lord my Sun and my God—the King my Lord—exceeding much. Sufficient is the order of the King my Lord my Sun my God, for his servant and the dust of his feet. Behold the King my Lord my Sun has sent to his servant, and the dust of his feet, ‘Speed to the presence of the Egyptian soldiers (_bitati_) of the King thy Lord.’ I listen exceeding much, and now I have sped, with my horses, and with my chariots, and with all who march with the servant of the King my Lord, to meet the Egyptian soldiers of the King my Lord. And art not thou confident of the event? The breast of the enemies of the King my Lord my Sun my God shall be troubled. And shall not the eyes of thy servant behold this, through the mastery of the King my Lord; and the King my Lord my Sun my God, the King my Lord, shall see. Thou increasest the favors of thy servant. Now as to the servant of the King my Lord, and the footstool of his feet, now let him fortify the city of the King my Lord my Sun—the ruler of my life, and her gardens (that is to say the mulberries),(286) till the eyes behold the Egyptian soldiers of the King my Lord, and ... the servant of the King I proclaim” (or predict).