Labaya
ruler or warlord in the central hill country of southern Canaan
Years: 1405BCE - 1345BCE
Labaya (also transliterated as Labayu or Lib'ayu) is a fourteenth century BCE ruler or warlord in the central hill country of southern Canaan.
He lives contemporaneously with Pharaoh Akhenaten.
Labaya is mentioned in several of the Amarna Letters (abbreviated "EA", for 'el Amarna'), which is practically all scholars know about him.
He is the author of letters EA 252–54.
Labaya is active over the whole length of Samaria and slightly beyond, as he gives land to Habiru in the vicinity of Šakmu (Shechem) and he and his sons threaten such powerful towns as Jerusalem and Gazru (Gezer) to the south, and Megiddo to the north.
