ʿApiru

Shechem ( ; , ; ), also spelled Sichem ( ; in the Septuagint, ) and other variants, was an ancient city in the Southern Levant. Described in ancient Egyptian inscriptions from the 19th century BC as a part of Retjenu, it is also recorded as a Canaanite city in the 14th century BCE Amarna letters.

thumb|alt= Cuneiform SA.KAS and KU6.KAŠ.RU| Cuneiform of Sumerian language|Sumerian and corresponding West Semitic ha-bi-ru

thumb|Statue of Idrimi in the British Museum. Idrimi (meaning "It is my help") was the king of Alalakh 1490–1465 BC, or around 1450 BC. He is known mainly from an inscription on his statue found at Alalakh by Leonard Woolley in 1939. According to that inscription, he was a son of Ilim-Ilimma I, King of Halab (now Aleppo), who would have been deposed by the new regional master Barattarna, King of Mitanni. Idrimi probably succeeded in gaining the throne of Alalakh with the assistance of a group known as the Habiru, founding the Kingdom of Mukish as a vassal state to the Kingdom of Mitanni. He al

thumb|Amarna letter. Letter from Labaya (ruler of Shechem) to the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III or his son Akhenaten. 14th century BCE. From Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. British Museum. ME 29844. EA 252 Labaya (Labayu or '''Lib'ayu''') was a Canaanite prince and the ruler of Shechem in the central hill country of southern Canaan during the Amarna Period (c. 1350 BC). He lived contemporaneously with the pharaoh Akhenaten. Labaya is mentioned in several of the Amarna Letters (abbreviated "EA", for 'el Amarna'). He is the author of letters EA 252–54.