Risen from obscure origins, Abdi-Ashirta managed to unite the disparate population of Amurru, a region located roughly between the Mediterranean coast and the Orontes river. In doing so he created a powerful buffer between the spheres of influence of the rising new Hittite empire and fledgling kingdom of Mittani to the north and the Egyptian Kingdom to the south. While claiming to be a loyal servant of Egypt (EA 60, 62), Abdi-Ashirta didn't mind intimidating and attacking fellow vassal rulers in the region, seizing their cities and lands in the process. He apparently owed his success to an alliance he forged with the infamous Apiru, a collection of small groups of aggressive and fear-inspiring brigands from the mountainous regions of current day Lebanon. Abdi-Ashirta's search for territorial expansion is known from the letters sent to the Egyptian King Amenhotep III by Rib-Hadda, king of Gubla (Byblos, south of Amurru). In about twenty of the many desperate Amarna Letters he wrote, Rib-Hadda complains about Abdi-Ashirta and the Apiru as threatening, attacking, conquering and looting proximate cities and lands. The letters speak of the conquest of cities and settlements such as Ardata and Irqata (EA 75), Ampi and Shigata (EA 76). Ultimately even Sumur, an Egyptian garrison city, fell to the hands of Abdi-Ashirta, who claimed "saving" the city instead of simply invading it (EA 60).
It remains unsure whether the developments in and around Amurru actually alarmed the Egyptian King. At least at first these were probably viewed as part of the usual course of things in the Syro-Palestinian region, with yet another local chieftain trying to gain more power and domain. "Divide et impera" was after all a dogma, used long before the Romans verbalized it. Disunity and mutual strife between local rulers seems to have been endured if not endorsed by the Egyptian King, as long as none of the parties involved gained too much influence or swagger, let alone real power. This allowed the Egyptian King to leave his military mainstay at home, leading his foreign vassals rather by their own lust for power.
Abdi-Ashirta possibly over-played his hand in taking over the city of Sumur, as the Amorite ruler was ultimately taken to Egypt (EA 108, 117, 132, 138 and 362). According to William L. Moran's interpretation of EA 138, Rib-Hadda stated that "when Abdi-Ashirta seized Sumur" the former "wrote to the King (...). Troops came out and took Sumur and Abdi-Ashirti". At some point in time after these events, Abdi-Ashirta died. He may have been killed, but the only real indication for a violent end is found in EA 101, once again written by Rib-Hadda, king of Gubla. The circumstances of Abdi-Ashirta's death remain cloudy, leaving room for suspicion towards the Egyptian King as well as the ambitious ruler's own Amorite and Apiru subjects (perhaps in retribution for an economic setback). However it may have happened, Abdi-Ashirta's demise did not exactly serve as a good example for other Syro-Palestinian rulers not to test the Egyptian King's patience. Abdi-Ashirta was succeeded by a couple of his sons. Of these, a certain Aziru soon became the most powerful. And a far greater nuisance to the Egyptian King than his father ever was.
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