Achshaph


Achshaph was a royal city of the Canaanites, in the north of Canaan. The name means "sorcery".

Location

Achshaph was in the eastern boundary of the tribe of Asher. There are several opinions as to its exact location, including Tell Keisan, Tell Regev, Tell Harbaj and Tell an-Nakhl. In the Greek Septuagint, in various manuscripts, depending on the passage, its name is given in the forms Azeiph, Achsaph, Achas, Keaph, Achiph, Acheib, and Chasaph.

History

The 1350 BC Amarna letters has Endaruta as the 'mayor' of Akšapa. In this time period, the Habiru are attacking city-states, and Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem, Surata of Acco, Šuwardata of Qiltu, and Endaruta are aiding each other.
Only one extremely short letter-EA 223 is written from Endaruta of Akšapa, and it is a one sentence topic: ... "Whatever the king, my lord, orders, I shall prepare."
But one perfectly preserved letter from Pharaoh, to Endaruta of Akšapa is known, EA 367. Its topic is to guard Akšapa and to prepare for "troop arrivals"-.
The third and only other reference in the Amarna letters corpus is from letter EA 366, and the letter states: