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The Amarna letters are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru, or neighboring kingdom leaders, during the New Kingdom, spanning a period of no more than thirty years between c. 1360–1332 BC. The letters were found in Upper Egypt at el-Amarna, the modern name for the ancient Egyptian capital of Akhetaten, founded by pharaoh Akhenaten (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, the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia. Most are in a variety of Akkadian sometimes characterised as a mixed language, Canaanite-Akkadian; one especially long letter—abbreviated EA 24—was written in a late dialect of Hurrian, and is the longest contiguous text known to survive in that language.
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 "Born of Ptah".
In the 1350 BC correspondence of 382–letters, called the Amarna letters, the prostration formula is usually the opening subservient remarks to the addressee, the Egyptian pharaoh. The formula is based on prostration, namely reverence and submissiveness. Often the letters are from vassal rulers or vassal city-states, especially in Canaan but also in other localities.
Karduniaš, also transcribed Kurduniash, Karduniash, Karaduniše, ) is a Kassite term used for the kingdom centered on Babylonia and founded by the Kassite dynasty. It is used in the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence, and is also used frequently in Middle Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian texts to refer to the kingdom of Babylon. The name Karaduniyaš is mainly used in the letters written between Kadashman-Enlil I or Burna-Buriash, Kings of Babylon, and the Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt -, letters EA 1-EA 11, a subcorpus of letters,.
Amarna letter EA 161, titled An Absence Explained, is a tall clay tablet letter of 8 paragraphs, with single paragraphing lines. The surface is somewhat degraded, but most cuneiform signs that remain, allow for a relative complete translation context for the letter, and the eight paragraphs. The clay tablet is no. BM 29818 at the British Museum; the number is visible at the top of the tablet, above Para I-(in black ink, the top half of the number visible).
Amarna letter EA 365, titled Furnishing Corvée Workers, is a squarish, mostly flat clay tablet, but thick enough (pillow-shaped), to contain text that continues toward the right margin, the right side of the obverse side, and also to the right side of the reverse side of the tablet.
Amarna letter EA 35, titled The Hand of Nergal, is a moderate length clay tablet letter from the king of Alashiya to the king (pharaoh) of Egypt. The letter has multiple short paragraphs, with scribed, single-lines showing the paragraphing. Paragraphs I-VII are on the letter's obverse; paragraph VIII starts at the bottom edge and continues, ending at Paragraph XIII on the clay tablet's reverse.
Amarna letter EA 364, titled Justified War, is a clay tablet letter from Ayyab, ruler of Aštartu, to Pharaoh Akhenaten.
Amarna letter EA 369 is a letter written on a clay tablet from the pharaoh to Milkilu of Gezer. The tablet is now housed in the Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, in Brussels.
The Amarna letter EA1 is part of an archive of clay tablets containing the diplomatic correspondence between Egypt and other Near Eastern rulers during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten, his predecessor Amenhotep III and his successors. These tablets were discovered in el-Amarna and are therefore known as the Amarna letters. All of the tablets are inscribed with cuneiform writing.
Amarna Letter EA2 is the letter of the Amarna series of inscriptions designated EA2, which is inscribed with cuneiform writing showing the continuation of a correspondence between Kadašman-Enlil I and Amenḥotep III, from EA1. This letter is known to be concerning, A Proposal of Marriage. The letter is part of a series of correspondences from Babylonia to Egypt, which run from EA2 to EA4 and EA6 to EA14. EA1 and EA5 are from Egypt to Babylonia.
Amarna Letter EA3 is a letter of correspondence between Nimu'wareya, this being the ruler of Egypt, Amenḥotep III, and Kadašman-Enlil, the king of Babylon. In the Moran translation, the letter is given the cursory or synoptic title Marriage, grumblings, a palace opening. The letter is part of a series of correspondences from Babylonia to Egypt, which run from EA2 to EA4 and EA6 to EA14. EA1 and EA5 are from Egypt to Babylonia.
Amarna Letter EA4 is a continuation of correspondence between Kadašman-Enlil I and Amenhotep III.
Amarna Letter EA5, one of the Amarna letters, is a correspondence between Kadašman-Enlil I and Amenhotep III.
Amarna Letter EA6 is a correspondence from Burra-Buriyaš to Nimmuwarea(Amenhotep III) the king of Egypt.
Amarna Letter EA7 is a letter of correspondence between Napḫurureya, king of Egypt, and Burra-Buriyaš the king of Karaduniyaš, and is part of a series of correspondences from Babylonia to Egypt, which run from EA2 to EA4 and EA6 to EA14. EA1 and EA5 are from Egypt to Babylonia.
Amarna Letter EA8 is a continuation of correspondence between Napḫurureya, king of Egypt, and Burra-Buriyaš the king of Karaduniyaš.
Amarna Letter EA10 is the letter of the Amarna series of diplomatic correspondence designated EA 10, which is written in cuneiform writing showing the continuation of a correspondence between Burna-Buriash II an ancient king of Babylon, and Akhenaten, an ancient pharaoh of Egypt.
Amarna letter EA11 is a letter of correspondence to Akhenaten of Egypt from the king of Babylon, Burna-Buriash II.
Amarna letter EA 323, titled: A Royal Order for Glass, is a smaller, square, mostly flat clay tablet letter written on both sides, but only half of the reverse; it is also written on the bottom, and is a letter from 'governor' Yidya, and is a short letter like many of his other Amarna letters, numbered EA 320 to EA 326.
References
- 1 2 Karen Radner (2014). State Correspondence in the Ancient World: From New Kingdom Egypt to the Roman Empire (note.64 of p.214). Oxford studies in early empires, Oxford University Press 2014, 306 pages. ISBN 978-0199354771 . Retrieved 2015-07-09.
- ↑ W.L.Moran (edited and translated) - The Amarna Letters (p.xvi) [ permanent dead link ] published by the Johns Hopkins University Press - Baltimore, London (Brown University) [Retrieved 2015-07-09]
- 1 2 Moran, W.L. The Amarna Letters (PDF). published by the Johns Hopkins University Press - Baltimore, London (University of Cincinnati’s Faculty Portfolio Initiative). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2015-07-04.
- ↑ Anson F. Rainey (Editors - W M. Schniedewind, Z Cochavi-Rainey)- The El-Amarna Correspondence (2 vol. set): A New Edition of the Cuneiform Letters from the Site of El-Amarna based on Collations of all Extant Tablets Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East, BRILL, 14 Nov 2014, 1676 pages, ISBN 9004281541 [Retrieved 2015-07-09]