The Amarna Letters
Ancient diplomatic correspondence on clay tablets from the 14th century BC, found at el-Amarna, Egypt.
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The Amarna letters are an archive of clay tablets containing diplomatic correspondence from the mid-14th century BC, found at el-Amarna in Upper Egypt.[1] They are written in cuneiform script, mostly in a mixed Canaanite-Akkadian language, and are unusual for Egyptological research.[2] The known corpus totals 382 tablets and fragments, of which 358 were published by Jørgen Alexander Knudtzon.[3]
Quick Facts
- Primary language
- Akkadian (Canaanite-Akkadian mixed)
- Period
- mid-14th century BC (New Kingdom, reign of Akhenaten and Amenhotep III)
- Location found
- el-Amarna (Akhetaten), Upper Egypt
Facts from the source article.
What the cited sources add
Shlomo Izre'el's account states the first tablets were found by local inhabitants in 1887.[8] Izre'el notes that subsequent excavations yielded less than 50 of the 382 itemized tablets and fragments.[8] The Amarna letters from Canaan are described as the most important source for studying Canaanite dialects in the pre-Israelite period.[8] Izre'el explains that Knudtzon's 1907 edition remains the standard edition, including 358 tablets and fragments.[8]
William L. Moran published new translations of the letters first in French in 1987, then in English in 1992.[8] Izre'el's electronic corpus focuses on letters from Canaan or its immediate vicinity, starting with EA 60 from Amurru.[8] The archive also yielded scribal education texts, including syllabaries, glossaries, and lists, published in Izre'el's "The Amarna Scholarly Tablets".[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Amarna letters" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Williams, A. R., Preston, D. J., & Hiebert, F. T. (2021). Lost cities, ancient tombs: 100 discoveries that changed the world. National Geographic. p. 138-141. I (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Amarna letters" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shlomo Izre'el, "The Amarna Tablets", Tel Aviv University (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Amarna letters" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Knudtzon, "Die El-Amarna-Tafeln", Hinrichs, 1915; Knudtzon, "Die El-Amarna-Tafeln", Hinrichs, 1915; Shlomo Izre'el, "The Amarna Tablets", Tel Aviv University; Moran, "The Amarna Letters", Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992, p. xiv; Shlomo Izre'el, "The Amarna Tablets", Tel Aviv University; Colonna d'Istria, Laurent, "Cuneiform in Egypt: The el-Amarna Letters", in Stéphane Polis (ed.) Guide to the Writing Systems of Ancient Egypt, pp. 88-93, 2023 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Amarna letters" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Claude Reignier Conder, "The Tell Amarna tablets", London; New York: Macmillan, 1893 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Amarna letters" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Petrie, W. M. Flinders, "Tell el Amarna", London, Methuen & co, 1894 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Amarna letters" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: El-Amarna Tablets , article at West Semitic Research Project, website of University of Southern California accessed 2/8/15. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Amarna letters" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moran, "The Amarna Letters", Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992, p. 326-327 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Shlomo Izre'el, "The Amarna Tablets", Tel Aviv University. facts only, no text reused. humanities.tau.ac.il
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Amarna letters (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Amarna letters (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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