The Armana archives include not only letters but also texts relating to the education of scribes in Egypt: syllabaries, lexical lists, literary texts and other educational exercises. Although the recent translation of the letters by William Moran (The Amarna Letters, Johns Hopkins, 1992) has brought our understanding of this important corpus up-to-date, the other texts have not been included in his volume. They have been waiting for renewed study in the context of literary and scholarly peripheral and core Akkadian texts. The original publications are obsolete and many of the texts are poorly copied. This book provides new editions of all the Amarna tablets not included in Moran's volume, i.e. EA 340-361; 368; 372-377; 379-381. Some of these are fragments whose genre is a matter of debate: suggestions for their attribution will be offered. This new edition includes transliterations, translations, a brief commentary, cuneiform copies, and photographs. The introduction provides an overview of the corpus and is intended to serve as an impetus for further research into some of the more difficult issues yet to be examined.

An ancient inscription identified some of the ruins at el Amarna as "The Place of the Letters of the Pharaoh." Discovered there, circa 1887, were nearly four hundred cuneiform tablets containing correspondence of the Egyptian court with rulers of neighboring states in the mid-fourteenth century B.C. Previous translations of these letters were both incomplete and reflected an imperfect understanding of the Babylonian dialects in which they were written. William Moran devoted a lifetime of study to the Amarna letters to prepare this authoritative English translation. The letters provide a vivid record of high-level diplomatic exchanges that, by modern standards, are often less than diplomatic. An Assyrian ruler complains that the Egyptian king's latest gift of gold was not even sufficient to pay the cost of the messengers who brought it. The king of Babylon refuses to give his daughter in marriage to the pharaoh without first having proof that the king's sister—already one of the pharaoh's many wives—is still alive and well. The king of Karaduniyash complains that the Egyptian court has "detained" his messenger—for the past six years. And Egyptian vassal Rib-Hadda, writing from the besieged port of Byblos, repeatedly demands military assistance for his city or, failing that, an Egyptian ship to permit his own escape.

Examines letters from the Tell el-Amarna archive in Egypt, written between Egypt and other Middle Eastern nations ca. 1360-1334 B.C. Uses material and chemical analysis for provenance information and historical geography.

The cuneiform script, the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia, was witness to one of the world's oldest literate cultures. For over three millennia, it was the vehicle of communication from (at its greatest extent) Iran to the Mediterranean, Anatolia to Egypt. The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture examines the Ancient Middle East through the lens of cuneiform writing. The contributors, a mix of scholars from across the disciplines, explore, define, and to some extent look beyond the boundaries of the written word, using Mesopotamia's clay tablets and stone inscriptions not just as 'texts' but also as material artefacts that offer much additional information about their creators, readers, users and owners.

Published in 1992, William L. Moran's definitive English translation, The Amarna Letters, raised as many questions as it answered. How did Pharaoh run his empire? Why did the god-king consent to deal with his fellow, mortal monarchs as equals? Indeed, why did kings engage in diplomacy at all? How did the great powers maintain international peace and order? In Amarna Diplomacy, Raymond Cohen and Raymond Westbrook have brought together a team of specialists, both social scientists and ancient historians, to explore the world of ancient Near Eastern statecraft portrayed in the letters. Subjects discussed include Egyptian imperial and foreign policy, international law and trade, geopolitics and decision making, intelligence, and diplomacy. This book will be of interest to scholars not only of the ancient Near East and the Bible but also of international relations and diplomatic studies. Contributors are Pinhas Artzi, Kevin Avruch, Geoffrey Berridge, Betsy M. Bryan, Raymond Cohen, Steven R. David, Daniel Druckman, Serdar Güner, Alan James, Christer Jönsson, Mario Liverani, Samuel A. Meier, William J. Murnane, Nadav Na'aman, Rodolfo Ragionieri, Raymond Westbrook, and Carlo Zaccagnini.

This title was first published in 2000. Text and Tablet balances a blend of logic, post-analytical philosophy, French philosophy and literary criticism to carefully introduce some of these issues to the reader. Just as writers such as Derrida and Kermode have been interested in relating religion and philosophy to literature, so this book extends the idea of multidisciplinary synthesis to connect ancient and modern issues. Linking philosophy to literature, Old Testament texts and studies, Near East archaeology, and Religious ideas and debates in fresh ways, the author explores ancient texts and sites and developing interpretations of some recent excavations. Addressing issues raised by leading thinkers (Chomsky, Deleuze, Wittgenstein, Renfrew, Barr) on language, life and history, Gibson seeks to challenge many entrenched views based on familiar discoveries and proposes fresh engagement between the interpretation of Old Testament studies and archaeology, using a new, multidisciplinary analysis.

Characterized by collectively produced texts that changed significantly over time, Mesopotamian literature and the Hebrew Bible confound modern notions of authorship and creativity. Tracking the Master Scribe probes the methods ancient scribes employed in passing down the writing that mattered most.

The Amarna letters are foundational documents for the study of Late Bronze Age history and language in the ancient Near East. One of the most significant aspects of these letters has been the discovery of Canaanite influence in the Akkadian language of these letters. This discovery has provided a wealth of linguistic knowledge concerning that period and its influence on subsequent ages. Though much has been written about the Amarna letters, until now there has been no comprehensive study of the personal names found in the cuneiform texts from El-Amarna. Dr. Hess fills the void with this comprehensive reference tool. The main part of the book catalogs the Amarna personal names, providing necessary information for each name, including attested spellings, occurrences, identification, textual notes, and analysis. The author then offers a grammatical analysis of the names and glossaries of the seven languages attested in personal names in the letters. Glossaries of divine name and geographical name elements and an extensive bibliography complete the study. This volume is essential for research libraries and for scholars and students working with the Amarna letters or Akkadian and Northwest Semitic languages.

During the past century, numerous books and articles have appeared on the verbal system of Semitic languages. Thanks to the discovery of Ugaritic texts, Akkadian tablets, Canaanite letters found at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, our understanding of the phonology, morphology, and syntax of the Semitic languages has increased substantially. Dallaire focuses primarily on prose texts in Biblical Hebrew and Amarna Canaanite in which the verbal system (morphemes, syntax) expresses nuances of wishes, desires, requests, and commands. According to her, volitional concepts are found in every language and are expressed through verbal morphemes, syntagmas, intonation, syntax, and other linguistic means. The Syntax of Volitives in Biblical Hebrew and Amarna Canaanite Prose attempts to answer the following questions: Do volitives function in a similar way in Biblical Hebrew and Amarna Canaanite? Where and why is there overlap in morphology and syntax between these two languages? What morphological and syntactical differences exist between the volitional expressions of the languages? In attempting to answer these questions, the author bears in mind the fact that, within each of these two languages, scribes from different areas used specific dialectal and scribal traditions (for example, northern versus southern, peripheral versus central).

God in Translation offers a substantial, extraordinarily broad survey of ancient attitudes toward deities, from the Late Bronze Age through ancient Israel and into the New Testament. Looking closely at relevant biblical texts and at their cultural contexts, Mark S. Smith demonstrates that the biblical attitude toward deities of other cultures is not uniformly negative, as is commonly supposed. He traces the historical development of Israel's "one-god worldview, " linking it to the rise of the surrounding Mesopotamian empires. Smith's study also produces evidence undermining a common modern assumption among historians of religion that polytheism is tolerant while monotheism is prone to intolerance and violence.