Zimrida of Lachish must be distinguished from another Canaanite of the same name who was governor of Sidon.  This latter was a personal enemy of Rib-Hadad the governor of Gebal, whose letters to Khu-n-Aten form a considerable portion of the Tel el-Amarna collection.  The authority of Rib-Hadad originally extended over the greater part of Phoenicia, and included the strong fortress of Zemar or Simyra in the mountains.  One by one, however, his cities were taken from him by his adversaries whom he accuses of rebellion against the Pharaoh.  His letters to Egypt are accordingly filled with imploring appeals for help.  But none was sent, and as his enemies equally professed their loyalty to the Egyptian government, it is doubtful whether this was because the Pharaoh suspected Rib-Hadad himself of disaffection or because no troops could be spared.

Rib-Hadad had been appointed to his post by Amenophis III., and in one of his letters he looks back regretfully on “the good old times.”  When his letters were written he was old and sick.  Abimelech, the governor of Tyre, was almost the only friend who remained to him.  Not content with fomenting rebellion in his district, and taking his cities from him, his enemies accused him to the Pharaoh of disloyalty and misdoing.  Those accusations were in some cases founded on truth.  He confesses to having fled from his city, but he urges that it was to save his life.  The troops he had begged for had not been sent to him, and he could no longer defend either his city or himself.  He also alleges that the excesses committed by some of his servants had been without his knowledge.  This seems to have been in answer to a despatch of Ammunira, the prefect of Beyrout, in which he informed the king that he was keeping the brother of the governor of Gebal as a hostage, and that the latter had been intriguing against the government in the land of the Amorites.

Chief among the adversaries of Rib-Hadad was Ebed-Asherah, a native of the land of Barbarti, and the governor of the Amoritish territory.  Several of his sons are mentioned, but the ablest and most influential of them was Aziru or Ezer, who possessed a considerable amount of power.  The whole family, while professing to be the obedient servants of the Pharaoh, nevertheless acted with a good deal of independence, and sought to aggrandise themselves at the expense of the neighbouring governors.  They had at their disposal a large body of “plunderers,” or Beduin from the eastern desert, and Rib-Hadad accuses them of forming secret alliances with the kings of Babylonia, of Mitanni and of the Hittites.  The authority of Aziru extended to the northern frontier of the empire; we find him sent with the Egyptian general Khatip, or Hotep, to oppose the Hittite invasion, and writing to the king as well as to the prime minister Dudu to explain why they had not succeeded in doing so.  Tunip had been invested by the enemy, and Aziru fears that it may fall into their hands.  The Hittites had already made their way into the land of Nukhasse, and were from thence marching up into the land of the Amorites.