Amarna Letters
Amarna LettersSourceURL: https://www.worldhistory.org/Amarna_Letters/ |
Amarna Letters
Definition
Structure of the Letters
Training Purposes
Due to the current stage of research, we do not know much about these 32 training tablets. They have various themes such as myths and epics (EA 356-59, and probably EA340 and EA 375), syllabary (EA348, 350, 379), lexical texts (EA 351-54, 373), lists of gods (EA374), a tale of Hurrian origin (EA341), a list of Egyptian words written in cuneiform with Babylonian equivalences (EA368), and one tablet is perhaps an amulet (EA355). According to William Moran, the rest of them (EA 342-47, 349, 260-61, 372, 376-77, 380-81) are too fragmented and their content is still waiting to be determined.
International Correspondence
- Independent kingdoms: There are only two places in this category, which is Arzawa (EA 31-32) and Alashiya (EA 33-40).
- Great powers: They were an exclusive group in which kingdoms were treated equally. They were the most influential and prosperous territories.Egypt only entered this group after the campaigns of Thutmose III. The others were Babylon, Hatti, Mitanni, and Assyria. As they were equals, they had a "brotherly" relationship and had to employ a specific pattern when writing to each other.At first, they had to identify who was writing and for whom the letter was written, then, report their wishes to the other, as shown in the example below:
Say to Naphurreya, the king of Egypt, my brother, my son-in-law, whom I love and whom loves me: Thus Tushratta, Great King, the king of Mitanni, you father-in-law, who loves you, your brother. For me all goes well. For you may all go well.
For Tiye, your mother, for your household, may all go well. For Tadu-Heba, my daughter, your wife, for the rest of your wives, for your sons, for your magnates, for your chariots, for your horses, for your troops, for your country, and for whatever else belongs to you, may all go very, very well. (EA27).
Vassal Correspondence
Say to the king, my lord, the Sun: Message of Rib-Hadda, your servant. I fall at the feet of my lord 7 times and 7 times (EA85).
The Letters Today
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Bibliography
- Bienkowski, P. & Alan Millard. British Museum Dictionary Ancient Near East. 2000
- Cohen, R. Amarna Diplomacy. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2002.
- Moran, W.L. The Amarna Letters. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1992.
- Shaw, I. British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. British Museum Pubns Ltd, 1995.
- Shaw, I. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Translations
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1887 - Discovery of Letters |
The first letters were found in 1887 CE and date back to the 14th century BCE. They are the first international diplomatic system known to us, i.e. they contain rules, conventions, and institutions responsible for communication and negotiation. Although in the early 3rd millennium BCE there was already another form of relationship, this was merely straightforward written communication between Mesopotamia and Syria.