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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

AMARNA TABLETS*

Clay tablets, mostly letters from royal archives, the only cuneiform records ever found in Egypt. The 379 Amarna tablets were recovered from ruins located on a plain on the east bank of the Nile about 190 miles (305.7 kilometers) south of Cairo. The region is named after a tribe that settled there in modern times, the Beni Amran or Amarna tribe. The site of the ruins is mistakenly called Tell el-Amarna; tell is an Arabic word meaning “hill” or “mound,” but this site lies on a plain. A village in the area bears the name “el-Till,” and its name came to be annexed to the name el-Amarna.

The cuneiform script in which the tablets are written is a system that employs nail or wedge-shaped marks impressed into the writing material, usually clay, in many specific patterns. Each one of the patterns (called a “sign”) represents a sound or, sometimes, a word. Cuneiform script could be used to represent a number of different languages, just as Latin script can be used to represent English, French, German, etc. The language of the Amarna tablets, with only three exceptions, is a certain dialect of Akkadian. Although its homeland was the general area of Mesopotamia, that Semitic language came to be the language of international correspondence and diplomacy in the Near East during the second millennium BC.

Twenty-nine of the tablets contain what appear to be copybook exercises for student scribes: lists of cuneiform signs, vocabulary lists, practice copies of sections of Mesopotamian mythological narratives. The other 350 texts are letters from the diplomatic correspondence of Amenophis III and Amenophis IV. The letters span a period of about 30 years, dating from sometime during the reign of Amenophis III to shortly after the death of Amenophis IV. They are mostly messages received from various local rulers and princes in Syria and Palestine, but there are also letters from monarchs of more powerful nations to the far north and east.

The letters show varying relationships between the Egyptian pharaoh and the writers. Some writers were considered as more or less equals of the pharaoh, the others as inferiors. Diplomatic relationships between the correspondents were often established by treaties and confirmed by marriages. Kings who were regarded as inferiors in their diplomatic relationship with the pharaoh referred to themselves as “your servant” and to the pharaoh as “my lord,” “my sun,” or sometimes as “my god.” Modern-day researchers call such underling rulers “vassals” and their domains, “vassal states”; the pharaoh in such a relationship is referred to as a suzerain. Rulers regarded as relative equals of the pharaoh referred to themselves as “your brother” and to the pharaoh as “my brother,” a relationship now described as a parity relationship.

The messages received by the pharaohs from their equals discuss such matters as exchange of gifts, negotiations for marriages, continuation of diplomatic ties, and promotion of commercial transactions. They also contain inventories of gifts sent or received and request presents, gold, or other goods. Such correspondence was received from rulers of the kingdoms of Babylonia, Mitanni, Assyria, Hatti (the Hittite kingdom), and Alashiya (Cyprus).

Of special interest are some letters from the Palestine area containing appeals for military assistance and references to military activity. Their mention of the “Habiru” was immediately connected with the word “Hebrew.” The Habiru were said to be at several locations in Palestine and to be “plundering all the lands of the king.” By fastening together several pieces of information, a conclusion was initially drawn that the Amarna letters came from the general period of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt and later invasion of Palestine under Joshua. Thus, some of the letters were taken to be firsthand reports of the invasion from the point of view of the inhabitants of Palestine.

However, reconsideration of the Amarna letters, along with other available information, soon showed that conclusion to be mistaken. The Habiru were not the invading Hebrews. The word “Habiru” is a dialect spelling of the word “Apiru.” This term, in both the Amarna letters and other texts, describes a class of people that may be called “outlaws” or “renegades.” People of various nationalities could be labeled “Apiru.” A person was not born an Apiru; rather he could join the Apiru or, because of his actions, become an Apiru. The Apiru ranged throughout Syria and Palestine and had no special homesite. At times groups of them hired themselves out as mercenary troops; at other times they acted as brigands. See Inscriptions; Egypt, Egyptian.