English: Amarna letter. Letter from Labayu (ruler of Shechem) to the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III or his son Akhenaten. Labayu denies accusation of treachery and failure to comply with the pharaoh's orders; he justifies his capture of a certain town by quoting a proverb "When an ant is struck, does not fight back and bite the hand of the man that struck it?" It is significant that Labayu, the leader of the Hapiru, is seen as the ruler of Shechem, a city which lay in the heart of the hill country, and which must have served as the power base for the Hapiru. Akkadian cuneiform text. 14th century BCE. From Tell el-Amarna, Egypt. British Museum, London. ME 29844. EA 252 (Amarna no.).