View source for Achshaph

[[File:תל כיסאן.JPG|thumb|[[Tel Keisan]], possible location of Achshaph]]
'''Achshaph''' ({{langx|he|אַכְשָׁף}}; <small>in [[LXX]]</small> {{langx|grc|Άξείφ or Άκσάφ}})<ref name = Gauthier112>{{cite book |last1=Gauthier |first1=Henri |title=Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Vol. 1 |date=1925 |page=[https://archive.org/details/Gauthier1925_1/page/n61/mode/2up 112] |url=https://archive.org/details/Gauthier1925_1}}</ref> was a royal city of the [[Canaanites]], in the north of [[Canaan]] (Josh. 11:1; 12:20; 19:25). The name means "sorcery".<ref>Cheyne and Black (1899), ''Encyclopaedia Biblica'', entry for "Achshaph."[https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabib01cheyuoft]</ref> 
==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,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biblewalks.com/sites/Kisson.html#Top|title=Tel Kisson|website=biblewalks.com|access-date=2018-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703162625/https://biblewalks.com/sites/Kisson.html#Top|archive-date=2018-07-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> Tell Harbaj and Tell an-Nakhl.<ref name="Mazar2001">{{cite book|editor1=Amihai Mazar|author1=Shimon Gibson|title=''"Agricultural Terraces and Settlement Expansion in the Highlands of Early Iron Age Palestine: Is There Any Correlation between the Two?"'', Studies in the Archaeology of the Iron Age in Israel and Jordan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEqvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA85|date=1 September 2001|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-567-19417-6|page=85}}</ref> 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.''<ref>Cheyne and Black (1899), ''Encyclopaedia Biblica,'' entry for "Achshaph." [https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabib01cheyuoft]</ref>

==History==
{{hiero|jksp<ref name = Gauthier112/><ref name = Budge965>{{cite book |last1=Wallis Budge |first1=E. A. |title=An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary: with an index of English words, king list and geological list with indexes, list of hieroglyphic characters, coptic and semitic alphabets, etc. Vol II |date=1920 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/egyptianhierogly02budguoft/page/965 965] |url=https://archive.org/details/egyptianhierogly02budguoft}}</ref>|<hiero>M17*A2-V31:O34:Q3*D12</hiero> '''or''' <hiero>M17*A2-V31:O34:Q3*D12-N25</hiero>|era=nk|align=right}}
The 1350 BC [[Amarna letters]] has [[Endaruta]] as the 'mayor' of Akšapa (Achshaph).<ref>Biblical Achshaph is Akshapa according to {{cite book|editor1=Amihai Mazar|author1=Shimon Gibson|title=''"Agricultural Terraces and Settlement Expansion in the Highlands of Early Iron Age Palestine: Is There Any Correlation between the Two?"'', Studies in the Archaeology of the Iron Age in Israel and Jordan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEqvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA85|date=1 September 2001|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-567-19417-6|page=85}}</ref><ref name="Ehrlich2009">Endaruta is mayor of Akshapa according to {{cite book|author=Carl S. Ehrlich|title=From an Antique Land: An Introduction to Ancient Near Eastern Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qg6_nHOgykkC&pg=PA277|date=January 2009|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-0-7425-4334-8|page=277}}</ref> In this time period, the [[Habiru]] are attacking [[city-state]]s, and [[Abdi-Heba]] of [[Jerusalem]], Surata of [[Acre, Israel|Acco]], [[Šuwardata]] of [[Qiltu]] (?), and Endaruta are aiding each other.

Only one extremely short letter—EA 223 ([[EA (el Amarna)|EA]]-el Amarna)—is written from Endaruta of Akšapa, and it is a one sentence topic: [following a short 3-sentence formal-[[Prostration formula|formulaic introduction]]] ... '' "Whatever the king (i.e., [[pharaoh]]), my [[bêlu|lord]], orders, I shall prepare." ''

But one perfectly preserved letter from Pharaoh, to Endaruta of Akšapa is known, [[Amarna letter EA 367|EA 367]]. Its topic is ''to guard'' (and defend) Akšapa and to prepare for "troop arrivals"-(the [[Pítati|archer]]-forces).

The third and only other reference in the Amarna letters [[Text corpus|corpus]] is from letter EA 366 (from Šuwardata of Qiltu (?)), and the letter states:
:'' "...only '[[Abdi-Heba]] and I have been at war with that [[Habiru|'Apiru]]. [[Surata (Acco mayor)|Surata]], the ruler of [[Acre, Israel|Akka]], and Endaruta, the ruler of Akšapa, these two also came to my aid, ..." ''

==See also==
*[[Endaruta]]
*[[Amarna letters]]
*[[Amarna letters–localities and their rulers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[[William L. Moran|Moran, William L.]] ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, {{ISBN|0-8018-6715-0}})

==External links==
*{{Commonscatinline}}

{{Eastons|Achshaph}}

[[Category:Canaanite cities]]
[[Category:Former populated places in West Asia]]
[[Category:Amarna letters locations]]