The name is a misnomer formed by combining a village name, eltill, with elamarna, one of the names of. The first letters were found in 1887 ce and date back to the 14th century bce. The letters were found in upper egypt at amarna, the modern name for the egyptian capital of akhetaten elamarna, founded by pharaoh akhenaten 50s 30s bc during the eighteenth dynasty of egypt. Open library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Also, you can read online full book search results for theamarnaletters free ebooks pdf. Among them were letters written in babylonian cuneiform script to these pharaohs of egypt by various kings dwelling. Enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. Amarna, a plain on the east bank of the nile about 190 mi. Full text of selections from the tell elamarna letters. Pdf petrographic investigation of the amarna tablets. The letters were found in upper egypt at elamarna, the modern name for the ancient egyptian capital.
Discovered there, circa 1887, were nearly four hundred cuneiform tablets containing correspondence of the egyptian court with rulers of neighboring states in the midfourteenth century b. During the age of the decline of egyptian power in syria,when the great conquests of tahutmes i. The amarna letters are unusual in egyptological research, because they are mostly written in akkadian cuneiform, the writing system of. The representatives of power in the amarna letters 557 2 in a form of the divine blessings 2. The ruins are those of ekhaton akhetaton, a city built c. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. Amarna tablets archives biblical archaeology society.
This public document was automatically mirrored from pdfy. Download full book in pdf, epub, mobi and all ebook format. A new edition of the cuneiform letters from the site of elamarna based on collations of all extant tablets. Whereas tell means hill in arabic and often refers to stratified cultures embedded in the earth, that is not its meaning here. The elamarna letters comprise a collection of cuneiform tablets named after al.
The tell elamarna tablets are a collection of some 350 clay tablets found in 1887 amid the ruins of the ancient egyptian city of akhetaton modern tell elamarna about midway between memphis and thebes. In the tell elamarna letters 1400 bc jerusalem is still known as urusalim, and its king bears a hittite name, implying that it was at the time in the possession of the hittites. It was here that he pursued his vision of a society dedicated to the cult of one god, the power of the sun the aten. Moranthe johns hopkins university press baltimore and london. Discovered there, circa 1887, were nearly four hundred cuneiform tablets containing correspondence of the egyptian court with rulers of neighboring states in. Moran 393 pages sound in motion a performers guide to greater musical expression, david mcgill, david mcgill bassoonist. The amarna letters are a group of several hundred clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform wedgeshaped writing that date to the fourteenth century b. The amarna letters from canaan have proved to be the most important. The name is a misnomer formed by combining a village name, eltill, with elamarna, one of the names of an arab tribe that had settled in the area. The amarna letters consist of diplomatic correspondence of canaanite and other rulers with the egyptian pharaoh.
The name is built upon the name of the village eltill and the name elamarna. Discovered there, in about 1887, were nearly four hundred cuneiform tablets containing correspondence of the egyptian court with rulers of neighboring states in the midfourteenth century b. The elamarna letters and the ancient records of assyria and babylonia albert w. On a virgin site on the east bank of the nile river, akhenaton amenhotep iv built the city about 48 bce as the new capital of his kingdom when he. Bedouin excavated more than 300 of the cuneiform tablets from the site but could not interest scholars in purchasing them. The amarna letters are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic. Scholars have determined that these amarna letters came from the royal archive of pharaoh akhenaten 5337 b. Pdf the representatives of power in the amarna letters. The amarna letters essay the metropolitan museum of art. Some more specific knowledge is also supplied by the tell elamarna letters concerning the amorite language through the many amorite names and the occasional explanations given in amorite words compare especially the 50 letters of ribadda, and some knowledge of hittite letter of tarkhundara. Burgstahler is professor of chemistry, university of kansas.
Elamarna tablets 3593792, aoat 8 neukirchenvluyn, 1978. The ancient egyptian city of tell elamarna or simply amarna was the shortlived capital built by the heretic pharaoh akhenaten and abandoned shortly after his death c. Accessible book, ancient history, tell elamarna tablets, history. The amarna letters, as is well known, are thus named after the site tell elamarna in egypt in which they were discovered. Israel exploration society and the hebrew university of jerusalem. For the main article of the 50 to 35 bc text corpus see. Tell elamarna encyclopedia of the bible bible gateway. The name amarna letters derives from the place where the tablets were found. Tell elamarna, site of the ruins and tombs of the city of akhetaton horizon of aton in upper egypt, 44 miles 71 km north of modern asyut. These letters were sent to the egyptian pharaohs amenophis ill and his son akhenaten around the middle of the 14th century b.
I believe is the easiest for both downloading and manipulating by any potential. Theamarna letters edited and translated by william l. The amarna tablets are named after the site tell elamarna in middle egypt where. His enemies, however, were closing around him, and one of the tablets shows that the city was eventually captured and its king slain. The tell elamarna letters furnish an amount of historical material about equal in bulk to onehalf of the pentateuch. This edition includes new transcriptions and a translation along with an extensive introduction and glossary of the amarna letters. In 1988 there were about 400 cuneiform tablets discovered at this site which were part of the royal archives of amenhotep iii and amenhotep iv akhenaten who reigned about 1400 bc. Amarna letters, cache of clay tablets discovered at tell elamarna in egypt and dating to the reigns of kings amenhotep iii and akhenaton of the 18th dynasty. This translation, by assyriologist and amarna expert william moran, is the standard. The elamarna correspondence offers a completely new edition of the amarna letters based on personal inspection and reading of all the extant tablets. The amarna letters, dossiers of correspondence between pharaohs of the late. The amarna letters provide invaluable insight into the nature of diplomatic relations among the great nations and petty states of the 14th century bce, as well as an incomplete and tantalizing hint of the strategic maneuvering that. All this opinion is now changed, primarily by the information contained in the tell elamarna letters and secondarily by incidental hints from egyptian and babylonian inscriptions now seen to support the high stage of civilization revealed in the tell elamarna letters see archaeology and criticism.