Storage Halls and Ugarit Letter

Overview

In the northwestern corner of the southern hall, a letter from Ugarit was discovered. The text on the small tablet consists of a letter written by Takuhlina, prefect of Ugarit, to Haya, presumably the Egyptian governor-in-residence at Aphek. The letter contains 41 lines divided by horizontal lines into six sections covering the entire surface of the clay tablet. The essence of the communication is that Adduya, a representative of the Ugarit official Takuhlina, sent a quantity of wheat to Durshimati, a representative of Haya, the Egyptian governor, and Haya is now writing to ensure that the grain is returned to Adduya. This document is the only letter from Ugarit recovered in the land of Canaan to date.

The letter reads as follows:

To Haya, the Great Man, my Father, my Lord, say:
Thus says Takuhlina, prefect of the land of Ugarit, your son and your servant—from afar at the feet of my Lord and my Father I fall.
For my Father, my Lord, may there be peace. May the gods of the Great King, You, Lord, and the gods of the land of Ugarit, bless You and keep You.
O Father, concerning my wheat—250 and 2/6 kor of wheat that Adduya gave into the hand of Durshimati in the city of Yapu—my father now says the following:
Let Durshimati return the 250 and 2/6 kor of wheat to the hand of Adduya. Furthermore, my Father, I have already dispatched to you the wheat that you requested. But you have not yet given my request that I sent to my father.
Now, my Father, dispatch to me my wish from my previous request, and may my lord return my wheat to the hand of Addayu, my courier.
Moreover, Addayu’s payment has been taken away by my enemies. So, let him stand before my father, and may my father judge them.
Now, as a gift for my father, I have dispatched to you 100 shekels of blue wool and 10 shekels of red wool called “tabarru.”