ʿApiru (Ugaritic:𐎓𐎔𐎗𐎎,romanized: ʿPRM,Ancient Egyptian:𓂝𓊪𓂋𓅱𓀀𓏪,romanized: Ꜥprw), also known in the Akkadian versionḪabiru (sometimes writtenHabiru,Ḫapiru orHapiru;Akkadian: 𒄩𒁉𒊒,ḫa-bi-ru or*ʿaperu) is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout theFertile Crescent for asocial status of people who were variously described as rebels, outlaws, raiders, mercenaries, bowmen, servants, slaves, and laborers.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Due to the linguistic similarity between the term 'Apiru and "Hebrew," early scholars equated them with theIsraelites. However, most contemporary scholars now regard the connection as indirect, suggesting that while some early Israelites may have originated from this group, they likely adopted the linguistic label in the process.[7][8][9]
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| ꜥpr.w[10] inhieroglyphs | |||||
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The term was first discovered in itsAkkadian version "ḫa-bi-ru" or "ḫa-pi-ru". Due to later findings inUgaritic andEgyptian which used the consonants ʿ, p and r, and in light of the well-establishedsound change fromNorthwest Semiticʿ to Akkadian ḫ,[11] theroot of this term is proven to be ʿ-p-r.[12][13][6][14][15] This root means "dust, dirt", and links to the characterization of the ʿApiru as nomads, mercenaries, people who are not part of the cultural society.[6][14] The morphological pattern of the word is qatilu,[13] which point to a status, condition.[6]
The Akkadian term Ḫabiru occasionally alternates with theSumerogramssa.gaz. Akkadian dictionaries for Sumerograms added tosa.gaz the glossḫabatu "raider", which raised the suggestion to read the Sumerograms as this word. However, theAmarna letters attested the spellingsa ga.az, and letters fromUgarit attested the spellingsa.gaz, which points that these Sumerograms were read as written and did not function asideograms. The only Akkadian word that fits such spelling is "šagašu" (barbarian), but an Akkadiangloss to an Akkadian word seems odd, and the meaning ofšagašu doesn't fit the essence of the Ḫabiru. Therefore, the meaning ofsa.gaz should probably be found in a West Semitic word such asAramaicšgš, which means "muddy, restless",[16] while the wordḫabatu should be interpreted as "nomad", which fits the meaning of the word Ḫabiru/ʿApiru.[17]
In the time ofRim-Sin I (1822 BCE to 1763 BCE), theSumerians knew a group ofAramaean nomads living in southernMesopotamia assa.gaz, which meant "trespassers".[18] The laterAkkadians inherited the term, which was rendered as the calqueḪabiru, properlyʿApiru. The term occurs in hundreds of 2nd millennium BCE documents covering a 600-year period from the 18th to the 12th centuries BCE and found at sites ranging from Egypt,Canaan and Syria, toNuzi (Upper Mesopotamia nearKirkuk, northern Iraq) andAnatolia (now Turkey).[19][20]
Not all Habiru were brigands:[21] in the 18th century BCE, a north Syrian king namedIrkabtum (c. 1740 BCE) "made peace with [thewarlord] Shemuba and his Habiru,"[22] while the ʿApiru,Idrimi of Alalakh, was the son of a deposed king, and formed a band of ʿApiru to make himself king ofAlalakh.[23] What Idrimi shared with the other ʿApiru was membership of an inferior social class of outlaws, mercenaries, and slaves leading a marginal and sometimes lawless existence on the fringes of settled society.[24] ʿApiru had no common ethnic affiliations and no common language, their names being most frequentlyWest Semitic, but alsoEast Semitic,Hurrian orIndo-European.[24][25]
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| The spelling of singular ꜥApiru in "The Conquest of Joppa" tale[26] | ||||||
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| Era:New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) | ||||||
In theAmarna letters from the 14th century BCE, thepetty kings of Canaan describe them sometimes as outlaws, sometimes as mercenaries, and sometimes as day labourers and servants.[3] Usually they are socially marginal, butRib-Hadda ofByblos refers toAbdi-Ashirta ofAmurru (modern Lebanon) and his sonAziru as ʿApiru, with the implication that they have rebelled against their common overlord, thepharaoh.[3][27] InThe Taking of Joppa (nowJaffa), an Egyptian work of historical fiction from around 1440 BCE, they appear asbrigands, and GeneralDjehuty asks at one point that his horses be taken inside the city lest a passing ʿApir steal them.[28]
Since the discovery of the 2nd millennium BCE inscriptions mentioning the Habiru, there have been many theories linking these to theHebrews of theBible.[18] Most of these theories were based on the supposed etymological link and were widely denied based on theEgyptian sources and later following the Ugaritic andHittite discoveries.[6][14][15] There are two main barriers, linguistic and group identity.
Some scholars,Anson Rainey and R. Steven Notley among them, deny any linguistic relationship between Ḫabiru and Hebrew,[29][30] or at most admit only "a bare possibility".[31] But this view remains short of academic consensus. Philologically, arguedMoshe Greenberg, Apiru and Hebrew though not transparently related are not irreconcilable.[32][33]Nadav Na’aman had no doubt that the term "Hebrew" was derived from "Habiru".[34] The Christian priestly scholars, such as Manfred Weippert,Henri Cazelles and Oswald Loretz, are the least ready to give up the relation between Apiru and Hebrew. For them the linguistic equation between Apiru and Hebrew is easy and comfortable.[35][36][page needed][37] Loretz, however, admits the etymological possibility despite denying all equations between Apiru and Hebrew.[38]
Regarding the identity, the academic consensus is well established that Apiru and Hebrews represent two different groups. The Biblical Hebrews are an ethnic group while Apiru were a much wider multi-ethnic group distinguished by social status. The morphological pattern of the word ʿApiru is, as mentioned above, qatilu, which point a status, as opposed to the morphological pattern of theethnonym עִבְרִי (Hebrew) which is based onnisba (like מִצְרִי – Egyptian).[6] Moreover,Meredith Kline finds that Apiru were not evenSemitic peoples.[39]
The matter was complicated when, in the light of the research on the Apiru, scholars examined the context of Hebrews in the Bible. The new analysis indicated a group broader than theIsraelites and more associated with the Apiru, best seen in 1Samuel 13, 14.[40] Na’aman andYoel Bin-Nun point out that "Hebrew" is typically used to describe "Israelites in exceptional circumstances", in particular, wandering, oppressed or enslaved Israelites struggling for liberation.[41] Na’aman finds that all biblical references to the "Hebrews" reflect some traits borrowed from the image of the second millennium Apiru.[42] Greenberg confirms that Hebrew is an archaic term predating Israelites.[43] Professor Albert D. Friedberg concurs, arguing that Apiru refers to a social class found in every ancient Near Eastern society but in the texts that describe the early periods of thePatriarchs and theExodus term Hebrew refers to a broad group of people in the Levant (like the Apiru), among whom the Israelites were a part.[44]
Joseph Blenkinsopp makes one exception: Except for its first appearance (Genesis 14:13), the biblical word "Hebrew" can be interpreted as a social category.[45] For some scholars, however, the passage is confirmation rather than exception. HereAbram appears as a leader of host in a military alliance. He pursues and smites his enemy. The passage presents a warrior Abram, with a rather different character from that of other episodes in Genesis, in which Abram is never a warrior.[46][47] This associates with the Apiru too. In the earliest Mesopotamian texts mentioning the Apiru they appear as military contingents,auxiliaries, or bands of raiders.[48]Babylonian andMari tablets mention them particularly as military auxiliaries. Elsewhere in theFertile Crescent they are also often depicted as auxiliary warriors.[49] In the Amarna letters, Apiru are most prominent in military activity. Some hypotheses on Genesis 14 suggested a foreign, perhaps Babylonian, document at the core, or a memory of time when Abram belonged to Apiru before the term Hebrew obtained an ethnic meaning.[50] Elsewhere in the Bible, the Israelites are called Hebrews when enslaved or oppressed and struggling for liberation.[51]
The military context associates with one of the interpretations suggested for Apiru. In the Sumerogramsa.gaz,sa could mean "muscle" andgaz "to strike" or "kill".[52][53] The meaning "murderer" or "killer" was suggested for the combinationsa.gaz,[52][54] or literally "muscle killer".sa.gaz was supposed to be a transliteration of the Akkadian pseudo-ideogram šaggāšum or "murderer".[55] TheEpic of Gilgamesh (1:4:7) uses šaggāšum forEnkidu, describing him as a military leader and nomad native of the wildsteppe.[52] In the Old Babylonian tradition, Šaggāšu is a ghost-murderer of the steppe.[56]
Research defined "dust" or "dirt" as the most probable meaning of Apiru. The wandering Apiru, Rainey suggested, had to "hit the road", thus they were covered with dust and were called dusty.[57] But this is a hypothetical suggestion not found in primary sources.[citation needed]
The consensus remains that Apiru and Hebrews were not identical groups, but scholars became divided whether the two groups were related. Some scholars, such as Rainey, remained unmoved and deny any relation. Rainey stated that those relating Apiru and Hebrews were mistaken and all attempts to relate the two are wishful thinking.[58] He notes that while ʿApiru covered the regions from Nuzi to Anatolia as well as northern Syria, Canaan and Egypt, they were distinguished fromShutu (Sutu) orShasu (Shosu), Syrian pastoral nomads named in theAmarna letters and likely more closely associated with the Hebrews.[59] Kline suggests that Apiru, besides being non-Semitic, were foes of Israel and their first oppressors in Canaan.[60]
Other scholars, by contrast, allowed the possibility of relation.[61] As pointed out by Moore and Kelle, while the ʿApiru/Ḫabiru appear to be composed of many different peoples, including nomadic Shasu and Shutu, the biblicalMidianites,Kenites, andAmalekites, as well as displaced peasants and pastoralists, they also may be related to the biblical Hebrews.[62] A hypothesis emerged that Hebrews were one offshoot of Apiru, a larger whole from which the Hebrews originated.[63][64] It has become a commonplace assumption that all Israelites were Hebrews but not all Hebrews were Israelites.[64][65][66]
S. Douglas Waterhouse said that the political situation duringJoshua's conquests was similar to the political situation in Canaan during theAmarna period, with the largest exception being that the role of the Egyptians in Canaan during the Amarna period was not mentioned in the Bible.[67] Kline stated that the Ḫabiru of the Amarna period and the biblical Hebrews had a different relationship with the Canaanites, different goals and used different tactics.[68]
The ethnic connotation of the term Hebrew synonymous with the people of Israel were attributed to the later Jewish tradition.[69] "It could well be", writes Stuart A. West, "that the word Hebrew was originally only a sociological designation, indicating status or class - in which case the words Hebrew and Habiru are synonymous. The fact that in the later Books of the Bible and in its usage in post-biblical times, the word Hebrew has been used as an ethnic designation simply means that the original meaning of the word has been changed."[64] Loretz assigns all mentions of Hebrews in the Bible to thepost-exilic period, centuries after Apiru disappeared from the sources.[70]
Greenberg concluded his research: The ʿApiru were ethnically diverse but this term can be related to the term "Hebrew" both in etymology[71][72] and meaning. The ethnic and social spheres may have met in Abraham the Hebrew, who may at once have been an Apiru as well as the ancestor of the Israelites. "Hebrew" will then be a peculiarly Biblical adaptation of the social term. A considerable possibility remains that the beginnings of the Israelite history are bound with the wandering Apiru.[73] The Bible might have preserved a vague memory that the Patriarchs had once been Apiru.[66][74][75][76]
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