Abdi Heba

A king of Jerusalem about 1400 B.C., whose name (read by some, Ebed Ṭob) is recorded in the El-Amarna Tablets. From the letters sent by Abdi Heba to the Pharaoh of Egypt it appears that the former owed his kingship not to royal parentage, but to the direct favor and appointment of Pharaoh. Abdi Heba had the misfortune to be king when the whole country was in fear of conquest by the Habiri (Letter 179), and he asks repeatedly for an army (Letters 179-183) or, at least, an officer to command (Letter 182). As the result of a conspiracy false charges are made against Abdi Heba, who defends himself (Letter 179). The outcome is not known.

Bibliography:

  * See the text in Abel and Winckler's Thontafelfund von Tell el-Amarna, translated by Winckler in Schrader's K. B. v. 303 et seq. (Eng. trans. of this vol., London, 1896);
  * W. M. Flinders Petrie, Syria and Egypt, pp. 129 et seq., New York, 1898;
  * Zimmern, Die Keilinschriftbriefe aus Jerusalem in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, vi. 245-263;
  * Morris Jastrow, The Letters of Abdi Heba, ix. 24-46.



G. B. L.