Arqa

Arqa (Phoenician: Irqata; Hebrew: ערקת‎, 'Arqat in the Bible) is a village near Miniara in Akkar District of the North Governorate in Lebanon, 22 km northeast of Tripoli, near the coast.

The former bishopric remains a double catholic titular see. It is significant for the Tell Arqa, an archaeological site that goes back to Neolithic times, and during the Crusades there was a strategically significant castle.

Names

It is mentioned in Antiquity in the Amarna letters of Egypt-(as Irqata), as well as in Assyrian documents.

The Roman town was named Caesarea of Lebanon or Arca Caesarea. The Emperor Alexander Severus was born there.

History

1350 BC Amarna letters Irqata

Arqa has the distinction of being a city-state that wrote one of the 382 Amarna letters to the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

The city-state Irqata was the 3rd city of the Rib-Hadda letters, (68 letters), that were the last hold-outs against the Hapiru. Sumur(u)-(Zemar) was the 2nd hold-out city besides Rib-Hadda's Byblos, (named Gubla). Eventually, the 'king of Irqata' , Aduna was killed along with other city kings, and also the 'mayor' of Gubla, Rib-Hadda. Rib-Hadda's brother, Ili-Rapih, became the successor mayor of Gubla, and Gubla never fell to the Hapiru.