Archive or not? Amarna letters in Egyptian perspective

Amarna – Central city plan

Mødedato: Onsdag 11.5 2022  kl. 19.00

Lokale: KUA – 23.0.49

Archive or not? Amarna letters in Egyptian perspective, v. Jana Mynářová, Associate Professor of Egyptology, Charles University, Prague

Because of the richness of details and the very nature of the individual texts, the Amarna letters traditionally occupy a very prominent position in the discussion of relations between Egypt and its partners in the ancient Near East, especially in the second half of the second millennium BCE.

At the same time, however, these texts, written in cuneiform on clay tablets, form an integral part of the rich body of Egyptian material culture from Tell el-Amarna (ancient Akhetaten).

The aim of this lecture is to present the historical and social context in which cuneiform and Egyptian cultures interacted on Egyptian soil and what their immediate cultural and political relationship was. Based on the analysis of archaeological and written sources, the background of this largely hybrid tradition will be reconstructed.