- The Amarna Letters, also known as the Amarna Tablets, are a series of 382 Clay Tablets found in Tell el-Amarna, Egypt, the former Egyptian Capital of Pharaoh Akhenaton (c. 1350-1330 BCE), which was called Akhetaten.
- The majority consist of Diplomatic Correspondence between Egypt and the Kings of Babylonia, Assyria, Mittani, Alashiya, Arzawa, Hatti and Syria, Lebanon and Canaan.
Akhetaten
- Tell el-Amarna was known as Akhetaten to the Ancient Egyptians.
- It was the ancient Capital of Egypt under Akhenaton located almost halfway between Cairo and Luxor.
- The Letters were excavated by Flinders Petrie in 1891-2, who found 24 Tablets, and later by Sir Leonard Woolley between 1921-22.
- Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) (c. 1353-1335 BCE) was the ‘heretic Pharaoh’ married to Queen Nefertiti.
The Amarna Tablets or Letters
- The Tablets were found behind the Royal Residence in the city of Akhetaten, which has become known as the Bureau of Correspondence of the Pharaoh.
- Unusually, the letters were written on 382 clay tablets in Akkadian Cuneiform, the writing of Ancient Mesopotamia, and not in Hieroglyphs, the writing of Ancient Egypt.
- This is because Akkadian Cuneiform was the Diplomatic language of the Middle East.
- The letters were written over a 30 year period, and each letter is dated between c.1360 BCE – c.1332 BCE. After 1332 BCE Tutankhamun moved the Capital to Thebes.
Significance
- Three hundred of the Tablets are Diplomatic letters outlining Egypt’s relations with Babylonia, Assyria, the Hittites, the Mitanni, Syria, Canaan and Alashiya (Cyprus), Jerusalem and Byblos.
- They give a unique insight into the relationships between Nation States during the 14th century BCE.
- The other Tablets are Letters from Egypt’s Client States on its borders.
Location of the Tablets today
- The British Museum, London has 80 of the Tablets.
- The Louvre, Paris has 7.
- The Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt has 50.
Tell el-Amarna