science

Rubutu

Rubutu is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rubutu rather than just read about it. In short: Rubutu was a city, or city-state located in the southern region of Palestine between the city of Gazru-(modern Gezer), and Jerusalem during the time of the Amarna letters correspondence, a 15-20 year period at about 1350-1335 BC. Some scholars place Rubutu near present-day Arrabah in the northern West Bank.

Key takeaways

Rubutu belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rubutu to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rubutu from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rubutu was a city, or city-state located in the southern region of Palestine between the city of Gazru-(modern Gezer), and Jerusalem during the time of the Amarna letters correspondence, a 15-20 year period at about 1350-1335 BC. Some scholars place Rubutu near present-day Arrabah in the northern West Bank. Nadav Na'man writes that this Rubutu, mentioned in the Ta'anach tablets, is a separate site from that in the Amarna tablets but shares the same name. The Amarna letters were mostly written to the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, and three mayors of Gazru: Abimilku, Milkilu, and Yapahu authored 20 letters of the 382–letter, Amarna letters corpus. The reference to Rubutu is found in 2 letters of Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem, EA 289, and 290, (EA for 'el Amarna'). They mention the war of various cities, the Habiru, and of: "the seizure of Rubutu".

The 2 letters of city--Rubutu

EA 289, title: "A reckoning demanded" EA 289 is letter no. 5 of 6 to the Pharaoh, by Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem. See: Egyptian official: Pawura.

EA 290, title: "Three against one" Letter no. 6 of 6 by Abdi-Heba of Urusalim:

"[Sa]y [t]o the king-(i.e. pharaoh), my lord: Message of ['Abdi]-Heba, your servant. I fall at the feet [of the kin]g, my lord, 7 times and 7 times. Here is the deed against the land that Milkilu and Šuardatu did: against the land of the king, my lord, they ordered troops from Gazru, troops from Gimtu, and troops from Qiltu-(Keilah). They seized Rubutu. The land of the king deserted to the Hapiru. And now, besides this, a town belonging to Jerusalem-(called Urusalim), Bit-dNIN.URTA by name, a city of the king, has gone over to the side of the men of Qiltu. May the king give heed to Abdi-Heba, your servant, and send archers to restore the land of the king to the king. If there are no archers, the land of the king will desert to the Hapiru. This deed against the land was [a]t the order of Milki[lu and a]t the order of [Šuard]atu, [together w]ith Gint[i] -(i.e. the city). So may the king provide for [his] land." -EA 290, lines 1-30 (complete) The city "Bit-dNIN.URTA" is linked to cuneiform as: city: "Home of God–Ninurta", (Bit-dNIN.URTA).

See also Milkilu, mayor of Gazru Šuwardata, mayor Amarna letters Amarna letters–localities and their rulers

Notes

References Moran, William L. The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, ISBN 0-8018-6715-0)

External links The name of Rubutu/Aruboth Topographic Map (Geography of Israel), showing the valley from Jerusalem to the Mediterranean. Gezer is halfway to the Mediterranean, and Rubutu is between Gezer and Jerusalem. (Click on Map to Enlarge) Map of Canaan, Shows Gazru/(Gezer) and Jerusalem Ta'anach Letter: by Guli-Adad, mentioning City-state-city: Rubutu

Article-Letter transliteration, line-by-line

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rubutu

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rubutu claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rubutu before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rubutu ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rubutu

In research: Rubutu appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rubutu in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rubutu is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Amarna letters locations, Canaanite cities, Former populated places in West Asia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rubutu outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rubutu in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rubutu means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rubutu out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rubutu in simple terms?

Why does Rubutu matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rubutu?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rubutu.