Among the royal correspondence from Tell el-Amarna (XIV cent. BC) there is one letter (EA 256) with the name of Job (Ayyabu), an Egyptian vassal from the town Ashtarti in Transjordan. He has been accused of violating the vassal treaty and transferring to Hittites. Another letter (EA 364) is addressed to Pharaoh by Job himself. There he dismisses false accusations and pledges loyalty towards Egypt. With time the “historical” Job has become a literary character of the Bible and the model of how to bear patiently the adversities of life. Local Arabs remember him up to this day, and his grave, following the tradition, is located precisely in the place mentioned in the correspondence from Tell el-Amarna.
