What do the Amarna Letters tell us?

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 occupied them.

What are the Amarna Letters and why are they important in understanding early history?

The Amarna Letters are a body of 14th-century BCE correspondence exchanged between the rulers of the Ancient Near East and Egypt. They are perhaps the earliest examples of international diplomacy while their most common subjects are negotiations of diplomatic marriage, friendship statements, and exchanged materials.

What does Egypt represent in Exodus?

The Egypt of the biblical text has become a frozen image or a dead metaphor that represents any form of oppression be it political or economic. This is evident in the use of the exodus story as an essential metanarrative for liberation theologies, in which Egypt continues to be used as a symbol for oppression.

What do the Amarna Letters tell us about international trade and diplomacy in the 14th century BCE?

The Amarna Letters are a body of correspondence exchanged between the Pharaoh of Egypt, his client kingdoms, and the other Great Powers of the Near East. The Amarna Letters provide critical insight into the diplomatic protocol of the Great Powers during this time.

How were the Amarna letters found?

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.

Why was ritual so important in ancient Egypt?

The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death. These rituals included mummifying the body, casting magic spells, and burials with specific grave goods thought to be needed in the afterlife.

What text was written during the Amarna?

The Amarna Letters are a group of several hundred clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform (“wedge-shaped”) writing that date to the fourteenth century B.C. and were found at the site of Tell el-Amarna, the short-lived capital of ancient Egypt during the reign of Amenhotep IV / Akhenaten (ca.

Where in the Bible does it talk about the exodus from Egypt?

The Hebrew title of the work is Shemot (Names). Chapters 1–18 narrate the history of the Egyptian bondage, the Exodus from Egypt, and the journey to Mount Sinai under the leadership of Moses.

What happened during the Amarna period?

The Amarna Period was an era of Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten (‘Horizon of the Aten’) in what is now Amarna.

Where is Amarna located in Egypt?

The site is on the east bank of the Nile River, in what today is the Egyptian province of Minya. It is about 58 km (36 mi) south of the city of al-Minya, 312 km (194 mi) south of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and 402 km (250 mi) north of Luxor. The city of Deir Mawas lies directly to its west.

Why does Egypt fall?

The empire spanned over 3,000 years. However, history shows that even the mightiest empires can fall and after 1,100 BC, Egypt went into decline. There were several reasons for this including a loss of military power, lack of natural resources, and political conflicts.