Египетские клинописные таблички из Амарны

Egyptian archive of correspondence on clay tablets

The Amarna letters (/ə/'/m//ɑr//n//ə/; 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 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 (see here for dates). 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. 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.

These letters, comprising cuneiform tablets written primarily in Akkadian – 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. 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, who in 1891 and 1892 uncovered 21 fragments. Émile Chassinat, then director of the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, 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, England, Egypt, France, Russia, and the United States. Either 202 or 203 tablets are at the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin; 99 are at the British Museum in London; 49 or 50 are at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo; 7 at the Louvre in Paris; 3 at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow; and 1 in the collection of the Oriental Institute in Chicago. A few tablets are at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the 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 (Akhenaten who was also titled Amenhotep IV), as well as his predecessor Amenhotep III'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, Assyria, Syria, Canaan, and Alashiya (Cyprus) as well as relations with the Mitanni, and the Hittites. The letters have been important in establishing both the history and the chronology of the period. Letters from the Babylonian king, Kadashman Enlil I, 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, whose possible connection with the Hebrews—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 of Jerusalem, and the quarrelsome king, Rib Hadda, of Byblos, 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.

A small number of the Amarna letters are in the class of poetry. An example is EA 153, (EA is for 'el Amarna'). 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 of Amarna letters has many standard phrases. It also has some phrases, and quotations used only once. Some are parables: (EA 252: " when an ant is pinched (struck), does it not fight back and bite the hand of the man that struck it?" )

A bird in a cage (Trap)—Rib Hadda subcorpus of letters. (Rib Hadda was trapped in Gubla (Byblos), unable to move freely.)

A brick 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, and 296. EA 292 by Adda danu of Gazru.

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

"And know that the King (pharaoh) is hale like the Sun in the Sky. For his troops and his chariots in multitude all goes very well "—See: Endaruta, for the Short Form; See: Milkilu, for a Long Form. Also found in EA 99: entitled: "From the Pharaoh to a vassal". (with addressee damaged)

"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); EA 296 by Yahtiru.

"May the Lady of Gubla grant power to the king, my lord. "—varieties of the phrase in the Rib Hadda letters

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

I fall, at the feet, 7 times and 7 times, "on the back and on the stomach"—EA 316, by Pu Ba'lu, and used in numerous letters to pharaoh. See: Commissioner: Tahmašši.

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

Amarna letter EA 15, from Ashur uballit I; see also Amarna letter EA 153.