The Amarna Letters
Diplomatic archive from 14th-century BC Egypt written in cuneiform.
The Amarna letters, also known as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets (abbreviated EA), are an archive of clay tablets containing diplomatic correspondence from the mid-14th century BC. They were found at el-Amarna, the modern name for the ancient Egyptian capital Akhetaten, founded by Pharaoh Akhenaten during the Eighteenth Dynasty. The letters are unusual because they are written in cuneiform, the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia, rather than in Egyptian, and most are in a mixed Canaanite-Akkadian language. They are of great significance for biblical studies and Semitic linguistics, shedding light on Canaanite culture and language.
- 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
Lore & Background
They had originally been stored in an ancient building called the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh. Since Knudtzon's edition, some 24 more tablets or fragments have been found, either in Egypt or identified in museum collections. The initial group of letters has been scattered among museums in Germany, the United Kingdom, Egypt, France, Russia, and the United States.
Reader's Guide
The Amarna letters are a crucial primary source for the history and chronology of the mid-14th century BC Near East. They provide a wealth of information about cultures, kingdoms, events, and individuals from a period with few written sources. The correspondence covers Egyptian relations with Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, Canaan, Alashiya (Cyprus), Mitanni, and the Hittites. Letters from the Babylonian king Kadashman-Enlil I anchor the timeframe of Akhenaten's reign. The archive also contains the first mention of the Habiru, a group whose possible connection with the Hebrews remains debated. The letters include requests for military help against Hittite invaders and the Habiru, and feature rulers such as Tushratta of Mitanni, Lib'ayu of Shechem, Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem, and Rib-Hadda of Byblos. The letters are politically arranged in a rough counterclockwise fashion, covering Babylonia, Assyria, Mitanni, Arzawa, Alashiya, Hatti, and Syria/Lebanon/Canaan.
Did You Know?
- One letter, EA 24, is written in a late dialect of Hurrian and is the longest contiguous text known to survive in that language.
- Only 26 of the known tablets and fragments were found in their archaeological context, Building Q42.21.
- The Akkadian of the letters is heavily colored by the mother tongue of their writers, who probably spoke an early form of Proto-Canaanite.
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