While much of this bears more particularly upon general history of the ancient orient, there is scarcely any part of it which does not directly or indirectly supply information which parallels some phase of biblical history. Accessible book, ancient history, tell elamarna tablets, history. The amarna letters are a group of several hundred clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform wedgeshaped writing that date to the fourteenth century b. The elamarna letters comprise a collection of cuneiform tablets named after al. Cooney, kara, where does the masculine begin and the feminine end. The amarna letters also known as the amarna tablets are diplomatic correspondence to amenhotep iii and iv written on clay tablets, most of which were discovered in 1887 by a fellaheen peasant woman at a site known as elamarna in central egypt. His enemies, however, were closing around him, and one of the tablets shows that the city was eventually captured and its king slain. The name is a misnomer formed by combining a village name, eltill, with elamarna, one of the names of an arab tribe that had settled in the area. O king, i did not reject anything your father asked for, and your father never neglected none of the wishes i expressed. Besides letters which, indeed, form the main and essential. For the main article of the 50 to 35 bc text corpus see. Tell elamarna letters 11 kilti all their hearts desire.
Jun 01, 2019 open library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Perspectives on the amarna letters find, read and cite all the research you need. Scholars have determined that these amarna letters came from the royal archive of pharaoh akhenaten 5337 b. Amarna letters creationwiki, the encyclopedia of creation. Linguistic features of the elamarna tablets from akko, megiddo and shechem. The verb in the amarna letters from canaan by krzysztof. The name is built upon the name of the village eltill and the name elamarna. Wilhelm, who translated the hittite and the hurrian letters of the amarna corpus. Some more specific knowledge is also supplied by the tell elamarna letters concerning the amorite language through the many amorite names and the occasional explanations given in amorite words compare especially the 50 letters of ribadda, and some knowledge of hittite letter of tarkhundara.
These letters were sent to the egyptian pharaohs amenophis ill and his son akhenaten around the middle of the 14th century b. Therefore, in order to be successful, a new study must combine a. Full text of selections from the tell elamarna letters. The site is renowned for its frescoed palaces and for the royal sculpture workshop in which were found moving portraits of the pharaoh, his children, and his beautiful wife nefertiti. The tell elamarna letters furnish an amount of historical material about equal in bulk to onehalf of the pentateuch. The first letters were found in 1887 ce and date back to the 14th century bce. Discovered there, circa 1887, were nearly four hundred cuneiform tablets containing correspondence of the egyptian court with rulers of neighboring states in. A new edition of the cuneiform letters from the site of elamarna based on collations of all extant tablets. Discovered there, in about 1887, were nearly four hundred cuneiform tablets containing correspondence of the egyptian court with rulers of neighboring states in the midfourteenth century b. Whereas tell means hill in arabic and often refers to stratified cultures embedded in the earth, that is not its meaning here.
A letter has been found that was written by a man named abdiheba, governor of jerusalem, to an unnamed pharaoh, requesting aid from egypt in fighting the approaching hebrews. Pdf inscribed in clay, provenance study of the amarna tablets. They are perhaps the earliest examples of international diplomacy while their most common subjects are negotiations of diplomatic marriage, friendship statements, and exchanged materials. The amarna letters essay the metropolitan museum of art.
Note also the cautious position of huehnergard who writes in his ugaritic manual. At this juncture, one should acknowledge the cooperation of v. They are an important record of egypt during a period of 15 to 30 years during the later part of amenophis iiis 9153 bc rule and the rule of akhenaten 5336 bc. Open library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published.
Ancient near eastern cultures and semitic linguistics, tel aviv u niversity. The name is a misnomer formed by combining a village name, eltill, with elamarna, one of the names of. Ea 41 a letter from suppiluliuma, king of hatti, to akhenaten. Tell elamarna encyclopedia of the bible bible gateway. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. They are here made available in pdf form, with the agreement of the egypt exploration society. During the age of the decline of egyptian power in syria,when the great conquests of tahutmes i. The amarna letters provide invaluable insight into the nature of diplomatic relations among the great nations and petty states of the 14th century bce, as well as an incomplete and tantalizing hint of the strategic maneuvering that.
Careful examination of their content enables the archaeologist to draw conclusions on geographical, political and socioeconomic conditions of that era and allows him to compare and accord them with the archaeological. Amarna tablets archives biblical archaeology society. Abd elhamid, maarouf and thierry zimmer, le moyen empire a karnak. The name amarna letters derives from the place where the tablets were found. The 380 tablets were written from the foreign rulers of citystates, as well as correspondence from. Amarna, a plain on the east bank of the nile about 190 mi. The amarna letters are a body of 14thcentury bce correspondence exchanged between the rulers of the ancient near east and egypt. This site, located 200 miles south of cairo, was later named elamarna, and the tablets became known as the amarna tablets or amarna letters. The amarna letters are cuneiform tablets discovered in the new capital built by amenophis iv, who called himself akhenaton 6549 bc. In 1887 a bedouin woman searching among ancient ruins near the nile river discovered some inscribed clay tablets. In the tell elamarna letters 1400 bc jerusalem is still known as urusalim, and its king bears a hittite name, implying that it was at the time in the possession of the hittites.
It was the discovery in 1887 of over 350 cuneiform letters at tell elamarna. Careful examination of their content enables the archaeologist to draw conclusions on geographical, political and socioeconomic conditions of that era and allows him to compare and accord them with the. Inscribed in clay, provenance study of the amarna tablets and other near. The letters were found at amarna, the modern name for the capital of the egyptian new kingdom, primarily from the reign of pharaoh amenhotep iv, better known as akhenaten 69 53 bc. It contains only the letters and related inventories. The unusual concern of the pharaohs with the affairs of palestine was chiefly a result of. It is quite another to improvise, combine, and recombine letters to formulate a. The letter is part of a series of correspondences from babylonia to. A new edition of the cuneiform letters from the site of elamarna based on collations of all extant tablets transl. Amarna letters list chronology despite a long history of inquiry, the chronology of the amarna letters, both relative and absolute, presents many problems, some of bewildering complexity, that still elude. Pdf the amarna letters are generally accepted as the most illustrative example. Tell alamarna, or ancient akhetaten, was the city chosen by akhenaten amenhotep iv to be his capital when he left thebes.
The tellelamarna letters by hugo winckler author visit amazons hugo winckler page. Shlomo izreels vision of the language of the amarna letters from. Pdf the representatives of power in the amarna letters. The series of six volumes, entitled amarna reports, were published by the egypt exploration society between 1984 and 1995 and have been out of print for some time. The letters were found in upper egypt at elamarna, the modern name for the ancient egyptian capital of akhetaten. The site is renowned for its frescoed palaces and for the royal sculpture workshop in which were found moving portraits. Discovered there, circa 1887, were nearly four hundred cuneiform tablets containing correspondence of the egyptian court with rulers of neighboring states in the midfourteenth century b. The amarna letters are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic. The tell elamarna tablets are a collection of some 350 clay tablets found in 1887 amid the ruins of the ancient egyptian city of akhetaton modern tell elamarna about midway between memphis and thebes. The amarna letters from canaan shlomo izreel historical setting the amarna letters are named after the site in middle egypt where they were discovered. The amarna letters, as is well known, are thus named after the site tell elamarna in egypt in which they were discovered.
Amarna letter ea4 is a continuation of correspondence between kadasmanenlil i and amenhotep iii. Tell elamarna letters 5 assuming the identification of the names, then the habiru, or hebrews, mentioned in these letters must refer to tribes which had either stayed behind at the time of the israelite immigration into egypt, or else had made their way from egypt some two hundred years or so before. According to the bible, after entering canaan, joshua had to go to war with the inhabitants of the land there is an amazing piece of evidence to support this. The ancient east udev this title is beiig isstled a series v slovt, poiclar, but tlovotgldy scielttijc studies, 1y fl letriliilg sdcolicrs of cci,iirnity, settiizg forth tile vcceirt t1iscove1,ics mltl i.
1237 280 570 407 417 233 34 986 1429 1005 787 916 1349 565 283 1166 1081 1376 179 1150 1150 643 1398 1525 1096 917 1154 515 500 1017 367 1307 1328 635 912 678 873 966