e learn from this letter that Edom was a "foreign country" unsubdued by
the Egyptian arms. The "city of Edom," from which the country took its
name, is again mentioned in the inscriptions of the Assyrian king
Esar-haddon, and it was there that the Assyrian tax-gatherers collected
the tribute of the Edomite nation. It would seem that the land of Edom
stretched further to the north in the age of Khu-n-Aten than it did at a
subsequent period of history, and that it encroached upon what was
afterwards the territory of Moab. The name of the latter country is met
with for the first time among the Asiatic conquests of Ramses II.
engraved on the base of one of the colossal figures which stand in front
of the northern pylon of the temple of Luxor; when the Tel el-Amarna
letters were written Moab was included in the Canaanite province of
Egypt.

A curious letter to Khu-n-Aten from Burnaburyas, the Babylonian king,
throws a good deal of light on the nature of the Egyptian government in
Canaan. Between the predecessors of the two monarchs there had been
alliance and friendly intercourse, and nevertheless the Canaanitish
subjects of the Pharaoh had committed an outrageous crime against some
Babylonian merchants, which if left unpunished would have led to a
rupture between the two countries. The merchants in question had entered
Palestine under the escort of the Canaanite Ahitub, intending afterwards
to visit Egypt. At En-athon, near Acre, however, "in the country of
Canaan," Sum-Adda, or Shem-Hadad, the son of Balumme (Balaam), and
Sutatna, or Zid-athon, the son of Saratum, [His name is written Zurata
in the letter of Biridi, the governor of Megiddo; see above, p. 135.]
who was governor of Acre, set upon them, killing some of them,
maltreating others, and carrying away their goods. Burna-buryas
therefore sent a special envoy, who was instructed to lay the following
complaint before the Pharaoh: "Canaan is thy country and the king [of
Acre is thy servant]. In thy country I have been injured; do thou punish
[the offenders]. The silver which they carried off was a present [for
thee], and the men who are my servants they have slain. Slay them and
requite the blood [of my servants]. But if thou dost not put these men
to death, [the inhabitants] of the high-road that belongs to me will
turn and verily will slay thy ambassadors, and a breach will be made in
the agreement to respect the persons of ambassadors, and I shall be
estranged from