THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS OP TEL EL-AMARNA. 9 



Tel el-Amarna tablets in the Boulaq Museum now informs us 

 that Dudu or David was a name employed among the Semites 

 long before the age of the founder of the Empire of Israel, 

 or even of the Exodus. The tablet is a letter addressed by 

 Aziru to his "lord" and " father" Dudu. We have already 

 made the acquaintance of Aziru, who was one of the lieu- 

 tenants of Eib-Addu in Phoenicia ; and it is possible that the 

 letter to his father was written from that part of the world. 

 The middle of the tablet is injured ; what is left of it runs as 

 follows : " To Dudu, my lord (and) father, I speak, even Aziru, 

 thy son, thy servant ; at the feet of my father I prostrate 

 myself; unto the feet of my father may there be peace ! 

 Dudu, now .... the foundations of the palace of my lord 

 have been laid, and I have founded (them) for a temple. . . . 

 And now, O Dudu, my father, plant the gardens, and I will look 

 after the daughter (of the king). [Behold], my father 

 and my lord, I will look after the girl. ... I have directed the 

 planting (of the gardens), and have planted the trees. . . . 

 I am the servant of the king my lord [who comes] from 

 executing the commands of the king my lord [and] the com- 

 mands of Dudu my father ; (everything) do I observe until 

 his return home ... he has sent a soldier, and let me come 

 unto thee." 



It is clear from the letter that Dudu, or David, occupied a 

 high position in the court of the Pharaoh, and, like his son, 

 appears to have been employed in laying out the gardens 

 attached to the palace of the Egyptian king. It is even 

 possible that he may have been a Hebrew ; at all events, the 

 name has never yet been found in a Phoenician inscription, 

 while we know that it was borne by Israelites. Aziru, too, 

 is probably the Biblical Ezer. 



Phoenicia seems to have been the furthest point to the 

 north to which the direct government of Egypt extended. 

 At any rate, the letters which came to the Egyptian monarch 

 from Syria and Mesopotamia were sent to him by princes 

 who called themselves his "brothers," and not by officials 

 who were the " servants " of the king. Doubtless, many of 

 these princes were but semi-independent, and in case of war 

 were required to assist the Egyptian Government. One of 

 those in most frequent correspondence with the Pharaoh was 

 the King of Alasiya, a country which lay to the east of Arvad, 

 in the district afterwards occupied by Horns and Hamath, 

 though it also seems to have possessed a port on the sea- 

 coast. The name of the country has been read "Arosha " and 

 " Arsa" by Egyptologists ; but the cuneiform texts now furnish 

 us with its true pronunciation. A very perfectly-preserved 



