Genesis 10:17 has ha-Arki as a tribe of Kena'an (Canaan), probably Tel Arqa north of Tripoli in the Lebanon; the Romans knew it as Arca Caesarea. Its residents are usually rendered in English as Arkites, or Arcites. The 1350 BCE Amarna letters name the town as Irqata, which modern Ivrit renders as Arkat (ערקת).
The root-word Arak (ערק) means "to flee", suggesting yet another name given to a people rather than chosen of their own accord. It is highly probable, indeed, that the name stems from the Amarna letters, specifically Rib-Hadda's accounts to Pharaoh Akhenaten of his defense of Irqata against the invading Hapiru or Habiru; his was the last defense before the final victory of these people, known elsewhere as the Hyksos.
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