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.
Abdi-Heba was a local chieftain of Jerusalem during the Amarna period. Abdi-Heba's name can be translated as "servant of Hebat", a Hurrian goddess. Whether Abdi-Heba was himself of Hurrian descent is unknown, as is the relationship between the general populace of pre-Israelite Jerusalem and the Hurrians. Egyptian documents have him deny he was a mayor (ḫazānu) and assert he is a soldier (we'w), the implication being he was the son of a local chief sent to Egypt to receive military training there.
Pawura, and also: Pauru, Piwure, Puuru/Puwuru was an Egyptian official of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. As mentioned in letter no. 171, he was also an Egyptian "archer–commander". In letter no. 289 he is called an "irpi–official". In Egyptian his name means 'the Great One', (Pa-wr/Pa-ur)(letter EA 287:45-"1.-Pa-Ú-Ru")
Milkilu, and more properly Milk-ilu, or Milku-ilu, with an alternate version of Ili-Milku, was the mayor/ruler of Gazru (Gezer) of the 1350–1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence. Adda-danu, and Yapahu were also mayors of Gazru.
Addaya was an Egyptian commissioner during the period of the Amarna letters correspondence. The majority of the Amarna letters were written to the pharaoh of Egypt during a 15-20 year(?) time period.
Rubutu was a city, or city-state located in ancient northern Israel, between the city of Gazru-(modern Gezer), and Jerusalem during the time of the Amarna letters correspondence, a 15-20 year period at about 1350-1335 BC. Some scholars place Rubutu near present-day Arrabah in the northern West Bank.
Hannathon, and of the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters, Hinnatuna, or Hinnatuni/Hinnatunu, is the Biblical city/city-state of Hannathon, ; in the Amarna letters correspondence as Hinnatuna, it is a site in southern Canaan, site uncertain. Ancient settlement of Tel Hanaton in Lower Galilee has been suggested as a candidate.
Amarna letter EA 364, titled Justified War, is a clay tablet letter from Ayyab, ruler of Aštartu, to Pharaoh Akhenaten.
Amarna letter EA 271, titled: "The Power of the 'Apiru," is a moderately short, tallish, rectangular clay tablet letter, approximately 3 in wide x 4 in tall, from Milkilu the mayor/ruler of Gazru (Gezer), of the mid 14th century BC Amarna letters.
Amarna letter EA 270, titled: "Extortion," is an ovate-shaped, medium-sized, tall letter, approximately 3 in wide x 4 in tall, from Milkilu the mayor/ruler of Gazru (Gezer), of the mid 14th century BC Amarna letters.
Amarna letter EA 287, titled: "A Very Serious Crime," is a tall, finely-inscribed clay tablet letter, approximately 8 in tall, from Abdi-Heba the mayor/ruler of Jerusalem, of the mid 14th century BC Amarna letters. The scribe of his six letters to Egypt were penned by the "Jerusalem scribe"; EA 287 is a moderately long, and involved letter. The Amarna letters, about 300, numbered up to EA 382, are a mid 14th century BC, about 1350 BC and 20–25 years later, correspondence. The initial corpus of letters were found at Akhenaten's city Akhetaten, in the floor of the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh; others were later found, adding to the body of letters.
Amarna letter EA 362, titled: "A Commissioner Murdered," is a finely-inscribed clay tablet letter from Rib-Haddi, the mayor/'man' of the city of Byblos,. Byblos, being a large coastal seaport Mediterranean city, was a city that was aligned with Egypt (Miṣri), and housed an Egyptian community. Rib-Haddi, as the city-state leader wrote the largest number of letters to the Pharaoh, in a sub-corpus of the 1350 BC Amarna letters.
Amarna letter EA 286, titled: "A Throne Granted, Not Inherited," is a tall, finely-inscribed clay tablet letter, approximately 8 in tall, and 3.5 in wide, from Abdi-Heba the mayor/ruler of Jerusalem, of the mid 14th century BC Amarna letters. The scribe of his six letters to Egypt were penned by the "Jerusalem scribe"; EA 286 is a moderately long, and involved letter.
Amarna letter EA 256, in short EA 256, catalogued under the title Oaths and Denials, is one of a total of about 350 so-called Amarna letters, belonging to an official correspondence dating to the mid-14th century BC. The initial corpus of letters were found at Akhenaten's city Akhetaten, on the floor of the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh; others were later found, adding to the body of letters.
Amarna letter EA 254, titled: "Neither Rebel nor Delinquent (2)", is a moderate length, tall, and mostly flat rectangular clay tablet Amarna letter,. The letter is from Labaya of city-state Šakmu . It is an undamaged letter, in pristine condition, with cuneiform script on almost all surfaces: Obverse, Bottom, Reverse, and Left Side. Letter EA 254 is numbered VAT 335, from the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
Amarna letter EA 288, titled Benign Neglect, is a tall, finely-inscribed clay tablet letter, approximately 7.5 in tall x 4.5 in wide, broken into two pieces, from Abdi-Heba the mayor/ruler of Jerusalem, of the mid 14th century BC Amarna letters. The scribe of his six letters to Egypt were penned by the "Jerusalem scribe"; EA 288 is a moderately long, and involved letter.
Amarna letter EA 290, titled: "Three Against One," is one of the two shorter letters, of six, from Abdi-Heba the governing man of Jerusalem. In the Jerusalem letters, Jerusalem is "Uru-Salem" ("City-Peace").
Amarna letter EA 299, titled: "A Plea for Help", is a fairly short clay tablet Amarna letter from "governor" Yapahu of city-state Gazru. The clay tablet surface has been partially eroded, but the cuneiform is still mostly legible.
Amarna letter EA 75, titled: "Political Chaos", is a short to moderate length letter from Rib-Hadda, who wrote the largest number of Amarna letters in a sub-corpus, from the city-state of Byblos; Byblos contained an Ancient Egyptian colony, and was aligned with a few neighboring townsites.
Amarna letter EA 147, titled A Hymn to the Pharaoh, is a moderate length clay tablet Amarna letter from Abimilku of Tyre-(called Ṣurru in the Abimilku letters, and an island, until the time of Alexander the Great, 330 BC). The letter is a twin letter to EA 149, which is identical in length, and complexity, and EA 147 appears to precede EA 149.
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