Five Amarna letters on display at the British Museum, LondonA

The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a sty ...

s, primarily consisting of

diplomatic correspondence Diplomatic correspondence is correspondence between one state and another and is usually of a formal character. It follows several widely observed customs and style in composition, substance, presentation, and delivery and can generally be categor ...

between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

and

Amurru Amurru may refer to: * Amurru kingdom, roughly current day western Syria and northern Lebanon * Amorite, ancient Syrian people * Amurru (god) Amurru, also known under the Sumerian name Martu, was a Mesopotamian god who served as the divine perso ...

, or neighboring kingdom leaders, during the

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

, spanning a period of no more than thirty years between c. 1360–1332 BC (see

here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Television * Here TV (formerly "here!"), a ...

for dates).Moran, p.xxxiv The letters were found in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

at el-

Amarna Amarna (; ar, العمارنة, al-ʿamārnah) is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site containing the remains of what was the capital city of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Ph ...

, the modern name for the ancient Egyptian capital of ''Akhetaten'', founded by pharaoh

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth D ...

(1350s–1330s BC) during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. The Amarna letters are unusual in Egyptological research, because they are written not in the language of ancient Egypt, but in

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge- ...

, the writing system of ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

. Most are in a variety of

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic ...

sometimes characterised as a

mixed language A mixed language is a language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. It differs from a creole or pidgin language in that, whereas creoles/pidgin ...

, Canaanite-Akkadian; one especially long letter—abbreviated EA 24—was written in a late dialect of

Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Norther ...

, and is the longest contiguous text known to survive in that language. The known tablets total 382, of which 358 have been published by the Norwegian Assyriologist Jørgen Alexander Knudtzon in his work, ''Die El-Amarna-Tafeln'', which came out in two volumes (1907 and 1915) and remains the standard edition to this day. The texts of the remaining 24 complete or fragmentary tablets excavated since Knudtzon have also been made available. The Amarna letters are of great significance for

biblical studies Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Old Testament and New Testament).''Introduction to Biblical Studies, Second Edition'' by Steve Moyise (Oct 27, 2004) pages 11–12 ...

as well as Semitic linguistics because they shed light on the culture and language of the Canaanite peoples in this time period. Though most are written in Akkadian, the Akkadian of the letters is heavily colored by the mother tongue of their writers, who probably spoke an early form of

Proto-Canaanite Proto-Canaanite is the name given to :(a) the Proto-Sinaitic script when found in Canaan, dating to about the 17th century BC and later. :(b) a hypothetical ancestor of the Phoenician script before some cut-off date, typically 1050 BCE, with an u ...

, the language(s) which would later evolve into the daughter languages of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and Phoenician. These "Canaanisms" provide valuable insights into the proto-stage of those languages several centuries prior to their first actual manifestation.

The letters

Amarna letter- Royal Letter from Abi-milku of Tyre to the king of Egypt MET 24

These letters, comprising

tablets written primarily in

– the regional language of diplomacy for this period – were first discovered around 1887 by local Egyptians who secretly dug most of them from the ruined city of Amarna, and sold them in the antiquities market. They had originally been stored in an ancient building that archaeologists have since called the

Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh The building known as the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh (also known as the Records Office) is located in the 'Central City' area of the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten, known as Amarna in modern times. The city was the short-lived capit ...

. Once the location where they were found was determined, the ruins were explored for more. The first archaeologist who successfully recovered more tablets was

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...

, who in 1891 and 1892 uncovered 21 fragments.

Émile Chassinat Émile Gaston Chassinat (5 May 1868 - 26 May 1948) was a French Egyptologist. Director of the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo in Cairo from 1898/9 to 1911/2, Chassinat acquired two of the Amarna tablets The Amarna letters ( ...

, then director of the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, acquired two more tablets in 1903. Since Knudtzon's edition, some 24 more tablets, or fragments, have been found, either in Egypt, or identified in the collections of various museums. The initial group of letters recovered by local Egyptians have been scattered among museums in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, France, Russia, and the United States. Either 202 or 203 tablets are at the

Vorderasiatisches Museum The Vorderasiatisches Museum (, ''Near East Museum'') is an archaeological museum in Berlin. It is in the basement of the south wing of the Pergamon Museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art. 14 halls distri ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

; 99 are at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London; 49 or 50 are at the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

in Cairo; 7 at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...

in Paris; 3 at the

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (russian: Музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина, abbreviated as ) is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just oppo ...

in Moscow; and 1 in the collection of the Oriental Institute in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. A few tablets are at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. The archive contains a wealth of information about cultures, kingdoms, events and individuals in a period from which few written sources survive. It includes correspondence from Akhenaten's reign (

who was also titled Amenhotep IV), as well as his predecessor

Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...

's reign. The tablets consist of over 300 diplomatic letters; the remainder comprise miscellaneous literary and educational materials. These tablets shed much light on Egyptian relations with

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c ...

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, and

Alashiya Alashiya ( akk, 𒀀𒆷𒅆𒅀 ''Alašiya'' -la-ši-ia uga, 𐎀𐎍𐎘𐎊 ''ẢLṮY''; Linear B: 𐀀𐀨𐀯𐀍 ''Alasios'' -ra-si-jo, also spelled Alasiya, also known as the Kingdom of Alashiya, was a state which existed in the Middle ...

(

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

) as well as relations with the

Mitanni Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or '' Naharin'' ...

, and the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-cent ...

. The letters have been important in establishing both the history and the chronology of the period. Letters from the Babylonian king,

Kadashman-Enlil I Kadašman-Enlil I, typically rendered m''ka-dáš-man-''dEN.LÍL in contemporary inscriptions (with the archaic masculine determinative preceding his name), was a Kassite King of Babylon from ca. 1374 BC to 1360 BC, perhaps the 18th of the dyna ...

, anchor the timeframe of Akhenaten's reign to the mid-14th century BC. They also contain the first mention of a Near Eastern group known as the ''

Habiru Habiru (sometimes written as Hapiru, and more accurately as ʿApiru, meaning "dusty, dirty"; Sumerian: 𒊓𒄤, ''sagaz''; Akkadian: 𒄩𒁉𒊒, ''ḫabiru'' or ''ʿaperu'') is a term used in 2nd-millennium BCE texts throughout the Fertile C ...

'', whose possible connection with the

Hebrews The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew: / , Modern: ' / ', Tiberian: ' / '; ISO 259-3: ' / ') and ''Hebrew people'' are mostly considered synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still ...

—due to the similarity of the words and their geographic location—remains debated. Other rulers involved in the letters include Tushratta of Mitanni, Lib'ayu of Shechem,

Abdi-Heba Abdi-Heba (Abdi-Kheba, Abdi-Hepat, or Abdi-Hebat) was a local chieftain of Jerusalem during the Amarna period (mid-1330s BC). Abdi-Heba's name can be translated as "servant of Hebat", a Hurrian goddess. Whether Abdi-Heba was himself of Hurrian d ...

of Jerusalem, and the quarrelsome king,

Rib-Hadda Rib-Hadda (also rendered Rib-Addi, Rib-Addu, Rib-Adda) was king of Byblos during the mid fourteenth century BCE. He is the author of some sixty of the Amarna letters all to Akhenaten. His name is Akkadian in form and may invoke the Northwest Semiti ...

, of

Byblos Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 8 ...

, who, in over 58 letters, continuously pleads for Egyptian military help. Specifically, the letters include requests for military help in the north against Hittite invaders, and in the south to fight against the Habiru.El-Amarna Tablets
, article at West Semitic Research Project, website of University of Southern California accessed 2/8/15.

Letter summary

Amarna Letters are politically arranged in rough counterclockwise fashion: * 001–014 Babylonia * 015–016 Assyria * 017–030 Mitanni * 031–032 Arzawa * 033–040 Alashiya * 041–044 Hatti * 045–380+ Syria/Lebanon/Canaan Amarna Letters from Syria/Lebanon/Canaan are distributed roughly: * 045–067 Syria * 068–227 Lebanon (where 68–140 are from Gubla aka Byblos) * 227–380 Canaan (written mostly in the Canaano-Akkadian language).

Akhenaten and Tushratta

Early in his reign,

, the pharaoh of Egypt, had conflicts with Tushratta, the king of

, who had courted favor with his father,

, against the Hittites. Tushratta complains in numerous letters that Akhenaten had sent him gold-plated statues rather than statues made of solid gold; the statues formed part of the bride-price that Tushratta received for letting his daughter

Tadukhepa Tadukhipa, in the Hurrian language ''Tadu-Hepa'', was the daughter of Tushratta and his queen Juni, and niece of Artashumara. Tadukhipa's aunt Gilukhipa (sister of Tushratta) had married Pharaoh Amenhotep III in his 10th regnal year. Tadukhipa w ...

marry Amenhotep III and then later marry Akhenaten.Moran, pp.87–89 An Amarna letter preserves a complaint by Tushratta to Akhenaten about the situation:

I...asked your father Mimmureya .e., Amenhotep IIIfor statues of solid cast gold, ... and your father said, 'Don't talk of giving statues just of solid cast gold. I will give you ones made also of lapis lazuli. I will give you too, along with the statues, much additional gold and thergoods beyond measure.' Every one of my messengers that were staying in Egypt saw the gold for the statues with their own eyes. ... But my brother .e., Akhenatenhas not sent the solid
old Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...
statues that your father was going to send. You have sent plated ones of wood. Nor have you sent me the goods that your father was going to send me, but you have reduced
hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the g ...
greatly. Yet there is nothing I know of in which I have failed my brother. ... May my brother send me much gold. ... In my brother's country gold is as plentiful as dust. May my brother cause me no distress. May he send me much gold in order that my brother ith the gold and mny
ood The Ood are an alien species with telepathic abilities from the long-running science fiction series ''Doctor Who''. In the series' narrative, they live in the distant future (circa 42nd century). The Ood are portrayed as a slave race, natural ...
may honor me.

Amarna letters list

Note: Many assignments are tentative; spellings vary widely. This is just a guide.

Chronology

William L. Moran summarizes the state of the

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of even ...

of these tablets as follows: From the internal evidence, the earliest possible date for this correspondence is the final decade of the reign of

, who ruled from 1388 to 1351 BC (or 1391 to 1353 BC), possibly as early as this king's 30th

regnal year A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year ...

; the latest date any of these letters were written is the desertion of the city of

, commonly believed to have happened in the second year of the reign of

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

later in the same century in 1332 BC. Moran notes that some scholars believe one tablet, EA 16, may have been addressed to Tutankhamun's successor Ay.Moran, p.xxxv, n.123 However, this speculation appears improbable because the Amarna archives were closed by Year 2 of

, when this king transferred Egypt's capital from Amarna to Thebes.

Quotations and phrases

A small number of the Amarna letters are in the class of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

. An example is EA 153, (EA is for 'el

'). EA 153, entitled: ''"Ships on hold"'', from Abimilku of Tyre is a short, 20-line letter. Lines 6–8, and 9-11 are parallel phrases, each ending with ''"...before the troops of the king, my lord."''-('before', then line 8, line 11). Both sentences are identical, and repetitive, with only the subject statement changing. The entire

corpus Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...

of Amarna letters has many standard phrases. It also has some phrases, and quotations used only once. Some are

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...

s: ( EA 252: ''"...when an ant is pinched (struck), does it not fight back and bite the hand of the man that struck it?"''....)

Bird in a Cage

:''A bird in a cage (Trap)''—

subcorpus of letters. (Rib-Hadda was trapped in Gubla-(

), unable to move freely.)

"A brick may move.."

:''A

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

may move from under its partner, still I will not move from under the feet of the king, my lord.''—Used in letters EA 266,

292 __NOTOC__ Year 292 ( CCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Hannibalianus and Asclepiodotus (or, less frequently, yea ...

, and

296 __NOTOC__ Year 296 ( CCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Constantius (or, less freque ...

. EA 292 by Adda-danu of Gazru.

"For the lack of a cultivator.."

:''"For the lack of a cultivator, my field is like a woman without a husband."''—Rib-Hadda letter EA 75

"Hale like the Sun..."

:''"And know that the King-(pharaoh) is hale like the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

in the Sky.'' For his troops and his

chariot A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&n ...

s in multitude all goes very well...."—See:

Endaruta Endaruta was the ruler of Achshaph-(''Akšapa'' of the letters), in the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Endaruta was the author of EA 223, ( EA for 'el Amarna'), of the letters. He is only referenced in two other letters EA 366 and ...

, for the ''Short Form''; See:

Milkilu Milkilu, and more properly Milk-ilu, or Milku-ilu, with an alternate version of Ili-Milku (letter 286, by Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem), was the mayor/ruler of ''Gazru'' ( Gezer) of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Adda-danu, and Ya ...

, for a ''Long Form''. Also found in EA 99: entitled: ''"From the

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

to a vassal".'' (with addressee damaged)

"I looked this way, and I looked..."

:''"I looked this way, and I looked that way, and there was no light. Then I looked towards the king, my lord, and there was light."''— EA 266 by

Tagi (Ginti mayor) Tagi was the ruler/mayor of ancient Ginti–(Gintikirmil), of the 14th century BC Amarna letters. Tagi's name is a Hurrian hypocoristicon for the word ''beautiful''. Tagi was the father-in-law of Milkilu, mayor of ancient Gazru-(modern Gezer), ...

; EA 296 by Yahtiru.

"May the Lady of Gubla.."

:''"May the Lady of Gubla grant power to the king, my lord."''—varieties of the phrase in the

letters

a pot held in pledge

:''a pot held in pledge''—The Pot of a Debt. EA 292 by Adda-danu of Gazru.

7 times and 7 times again

:''7 times and 7 times''—Over and over again :''7 times plus 7''— EA 189, See: "

Etakkama Etakkama, as a common name, but also, Aitukama, Atak(k)ama, Etak(k)ama, and Itak(k)ama is the name for the 'mayor' (king) of Qidšu, (Kadesh) of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. (Qidšu is also referenced as: Qinšu, also Kissa). ...

of Kadesh"(title)-(Qidšu)

I fall ... 7 times and 7...''"on the back and on the stomach"''

:I fall, at the feet, ... 7 times and 7 times, ''"on the back and on the stomach"''— EA 316, by

Pu-Ba'lu Pu-Ba'lu, (another spelling, also Pu-Bahla) was ruler/mayor of Yursa, (a city/city-state in Canaan(?)), identified with Tell Jemmeh, of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. His name translates in west semitic as well as in Akkadia ...

, and used in numerous letters to

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

. See: Commissioner:

Tahmašši Tahmašši, or ''Takhmašši'', and also known by his hypocoristicon or pet name: Tahmaya, or ''Atahmaya'' was an Egyptian official to pharaoh in the 1350 BC Amarna letters correspondence. His name comes from: 'Ptah-mes', meaning Ptah-Born, or ' ...

''when an ant is struck..''

:''"...when an ant is pinched (struck), does it not fight back and bite the hand of the man that struck it?"''—A phrase used by

Labayu Labaya (also transliterated as Labayu or Lib'ayu) was a 14th-century BCE ruler or warlord in the central hill country of southern Canaan. He lived contemporaneously with Pharaoh Akhenaten. Labaya is mentioned in several of the Amarna Letters (abbr ...

defending his actions of overtaking cities, EA 252. Title: ''"Sparing one's enemies".''

Example, single letter photo gallery, multiple sides

Amarna letter EA 15 Amarna letter EA 15, titled ''Assyria Joins the International Scene'', is a shorter-length clay tablet Amarna letter from Ashur-uballit I of the '' Land of Assyria'', (line 3 of EA 15). He addresses the Pharaoh in line 1, the ''"King (of) Land Mi ...

, from

Ashur-uballit I Ashur-uballit I ''(Aššur-uballiṭ I)'', who reigned between 1363 and 1328 BC, was the first king of the Middle Assyrian Empire. After his father Eriba-Adad I had broken Mitanni influence over Assyria, Ashur-uballit I's defeat of the Mitanni ...

; see also

Amarna letter EA 153 Amarna letter EA 153, titled ''Ships on Hold,'' is a short-length clay tablet letter from Abimilku of the island (at Amarna letters time) of city-state Tyre. EA 153 is approximately tall x wide, (actually 3 1/16 x 2 1/16 inches), and has a ...

. Image:Amarna_letter-_Royal_Letter_from_Ashur-uballit,_the_king_of_Assyria,_to_the_king_of_Egypt_MET_24.2.11_EGDP021806.jpg, Obverse Image:Amarna_letter-_Royal_Letter_from_Ashur-uballit,_the_king_of_Assyria,_to_the_king_of_Egypt_MET_DP-211-142.jpg, line drawing, Obverse Image:Amarna_letter-_Royal_Letter_from_Ashur-uballit,_the_king_of_Assyria,_to_the_king_of_Egypt_MET_24.2.11_EGDP021805.jpg, Reverse File:Amarna_letter-_Royal_Letter_from_Ashur-uballit,_the_king_of_Assyria,_to_the_king_of_Egypt_MET_24.2.11_EGDP021808.jpg, View from bottom

Notes

References

*Goren, Y., Finkelstein, I. & Na'aman, N., ''Inscribed in Clay - Provenance Study of the Amarna Tablets and Other Ancient Near Eastern Texts'', Tel Aviv: Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 2004. * * *

External links

*
CDLI, ''Chicago Digital Library Listing'' of the Amarna letters
Akkadian in English transliteration.

from the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
Mineralogical and Chemical Study of the Amarna Tablets - Provenance Study of the Amarna Tablets
– University of Tel Aviv web page
Sample letterText of some letters
archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Amarna Letters 14th-century BC literature 1887 archaeological discoveries Akkadian literature Archaeological discoveries in Egypt Extra-biblical references to Canaan Diplomatic correspondence Egyptian Museum Egyptological objects of the Berlin State Museums Egyptian inscriptions Amarna