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A petrographic investigation of the Amarna tablets has been carried out by the authors since 1997. Over 300 tablets have so far been examined, including 14 letters sent by the rulers of Amurru. The petrographic data makes it possible to trace the territorial expansion of the kingdom of Amurru in the days of Abdi-Ashirta and Aziru. The Amurru letters fall into four distinct petrographic groups. The first includes two letters, which were sent from the mountainous area east of Tripoli, the core area of the kingdom. The second includes four letters, which were probably dispatched from the city of Ardata in the foothills. Five letters were sent from Tell Arqa. This seems to indicate that after consolidating his reign, Aziru transferred his capital to Irqatu in the Akkar Plain. Finally, three of Aziru's letters were sent from the Egyptian center of Sumur.
No Amurru letter was sent from the city of Tunip, which was also captured by Aziru. The analysis of the letter of the citizens of Tunip supports the identification of this important city at Tell Asharneh northwest of Hama. This city was too remote from the main arena of Aziru's operations, which was focused on the Lebanese coast.
The early history of the kingdom of Amurru has been examined by many scholars ever since the discovery of the Amarna letters (for detailed summaries, see Klengel 1969: 178-299; Izreel and Singer 1990; Singer 1991: 135-95). Amurru was initially a small highland kingdom situated in the mountainous regions on the western slopes of Mount Lebanon and along Nahr el-Kebir. During the Amarna period, the kingdom gradually expanded. In its high days it covered the territory between Tripoli on the Lebanese coast and the Middle Orontes area of western Syria. Amurru first emerged under a certain Abdi-Ashirta, who was able to expand his territory and conquer cities in his neighborhood. After his death the kingdom was led by his son Aziru, who continued his father's offensive and expanded the territory of his realm to the Orontes basin.
Several problems related to the "Amurru file" in the Amarna archive, such as the sequence of some of the events depicted by the letters, have been resolved in scholarly research. Other issues, such as the location of...