Amarna Letters

  • 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

 

Tell el-Amarna

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