Tell Ashtara
Tell Ashtara is an archaeological mound south of Damascus. The Bronze Age city that once stood here was mentioned in the Amarna letters correspondence of 1350 BC as Aštartu, and is usually identified with the Biblical city of Ashtaroth.Aštartu is only referenced in two of the 382-letter Amarna corpus, in letters EA 256 and EA 197.
EA 197 is catalogued as "Biryawaza's plight". Biryawaza was the mayor of Damascus, called Dimasqu in the letters' Akkadian.
EA 256 is a story concerning Mutbaal, the son of Labaya, and the Habiru, in regard to the whereabouts of Ayyab, who may be in Pihilu, modern day Pella, Jordan, and is a letter of intrigue, catalogued as "Oaths and denials", and lists 7 cities located in the Golan area.
Ayyab was the king of Aštartu. He authored of one surviving letter to the Egyptian pharaoh, listed as EA 364.
