On the heels of these despatches came a long letter from the people of Tunip, complaining of the conduct of Aziru, and protesting against his doing to them what he had done to the city of Ni.  He was at the time in the land of the Hittites, doubtless carrying on the war against the general enemy.

To these accusations Aziru made a full reply.  “O my lord,” he begins, “hearken not to the wicked men who slander me before the king my lord:  I am thy servant for ever.”  He had been charged with want of respect to the Pharaoh, on the ground that he had not received the royal commissioner Khani on his arrival at Tunip.  But, he replies, he did not know that the commissioner was coming, and as soon as he heard that he was on the road he “followed him, but failed to overtake him.”  In his absence Khani was duly received by the brethren of Aziru, and Belti-el (or Bethuel) furnished him with meat and bread and wine.  Moreover, on his way home he was met by Aziru himself, who provided the commissioner with horses and mules.  A more serious charge was that of seizing the city of Zemar.  To this Aziru answers that it was done in self-defence, as the kings of Nukhasse had always been hostile to him, and had robbed him of his cities at the instigation of Khatip, who had also carried away all the silver and gold which the king had placed under his care.  Moreover he had not really seized Zemar, but had won the people over to himself by means of gifts.  Lastly, he denied the accusation that he had received the envoy of the king of the Hittites and refused to receive the Egyptian messenger, although the country he governed belonged to the king, and the king had appointed him over it.  Let the Egyptian envoy make inquiries, he urges, and he will find that Aziru has acted uprightly.

The capture of Zemar forms the burden of many of the letters of Rib-Hadad.  It had been besieged for two months by Ebed-Asherah, who had vainly attempted to corrupt the loyalty of the governor of Gebal.  For the time Rib-Hadad managed to save the city, but Aziru allied himself with Arvad and the neighbouring towns of Northern Phoenicia, captured twelve of Rib-Hadad’s men, demanded a ransom of fifty pieces of silver for each of them, and seized the ships of Zemar, Beyrout, and Sidon.  The forces sent from Gebal to Zemar were made prisoners by the Amorite chief at Abiliya, and the position of Rib-Hadad daily became more desperate.  Pa-Hor, the Egyptian governor of Kumidi, joined his opponents, and induced the Sute or Beduin to attack his Sardinian guards.  Yapa-Hadad, another governor, followed the example of Pa-Hor, and Zimridi the governor of Sidon had from the first been his enemy.  Tyre alone remained faithful to his cause, though an “Ionian” who had been sent there on a mission from Egypt had handed over horses, chariots, and men to Ebed-Asherah, and it was accordingly to Tyre that Rib-Hadad sent his family for safety.  Tyre, however, now began to suffer like Gebal in consequence of the alliance between Zimridi and Ebed-Asherah.