The El-Amarna Correspondence: A New Edition of the Cuneiform Letters from the Site of El-Amarna Based on Collations of All Extant Texts

Hess, Richard S.

doi:10.5325/bullbiblrese.25.4.0543

Cited by 9 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…The chronology of these rulers is supported by radiocarbon dating, with accession years estimated in the range 1518-1501 BC and 1434-1420 BC respectively (95.4% probability) [2][3][4]. By the 14 th century BC, Gezer was one of the dominant city-states in central-southern Canaan, its rulers featuring prominently in the Amarna correspondence [5,6]. Towards the end of the Late Bronze Age, Merneptah (accession 1241-1219 BC, 95.4%) launched a campaign into southern Canaan, evidently to quell a rebellion that broke out at the end of Ramesses II' long reign [7,8].…”

Section: Gezer In Historical and Biblical Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The chronology of Gezer from the end of the late bronze age to iron age II: A meeting point for radiocarbon, archaeology egyptology and the Bible

Webster,

Wolff,

Ortiz

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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The ancient southern Levantine city of Gezer is well-known from Egyptian, Biblical and Assyrian sources, associated with power struggles, conquests, and intriguing tales involving figures such as Milkilu and Amenhotep III, Merneptah, the Philistines, Solomon and his unidentified pharaonic father-in-law, and Shishak / Sheshonq I. Since the identity of Gezer with “Tell Jezer” is quite literally ‘set in stone’ by some dozen boundary inscriptions, along with impressive Bronze and Iron Age remains, research at this site provides a unique opportunity to compare text and archaeology, as well as bring to light the undocumented everyday lives of the city’s inhabitants. In this endeavour, independent scientific dating is crucial for anchoring the remains chronologically. This paper presents the first substantial radiocarbon dataset and Bayesian chronological analysis for Gezer spanning the last part of the Late Bronze Age (LBA; LB IIB) through Iron Age II. The dataset derives from an essentially continuous stratigraphic sequence exposed in recent years by the Tandy expedition along the central-southern edge of the site. The results allow us for the first time to independently determine the site chronology, test the viability (from a chronological perspective) of proposed historical correlations, and contribute to debates on Philistine and Iron Age chronology.

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Section: Gezer In Historical and Biblical Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The chronology of Gezer from the end of the late bronze age to iron age II: A meeting point for radiocarbon, archaeology egyptology and the Bible

Webster,

Wolff,

Ortiz

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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“…Here, note the following alternative translation: "And give to me a palace retainer, a physician. There is no physician here," in Rainey 2015Rainey , pp. 380-381, 1277Rainey , 1310, 1392 (for asû).…”

Section: Mobility Of Specialists In the Late Bronze Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Amarna: exorcists without borders in the Levant

Gestoso Singer

2023

dia

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The Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean formed a special sphere of activity for diverse specialists who navigated from one side to the other through extensive networks of interconnections in the Late Bronze Age. During the Amarna Period (fourteenth century BCE), Akkadian and Hittite texts attest a lethal epidemic that originated in Egypt and later spread to Canaan, Syria, Alashiya (Cyprus), and the land of Hatti. References to pestilence, plague, epidemic, and death, as well as metaphoric expressions alluding to the crisis, such as the ‘hand of Nergal,’ are widespread in diplomatic correspondence, prayers, magic spells, and medical texts as well. Specialists (such as physicians, exorcists, and omen experts) traveled between courts to perform acts of healing and to practice divination. Also, statues of gods and goddesses were commonly sent between courts of Great Kings as symbols of fertility, healing, and alliances. This essay analyzes the role of exorcists traveling between courts in the framework of the cross-cultural discourse of alterity in the Amarna Age.

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“…This new urban centre included cultic space in its initial plan, diverging from all other iterations of urban development in the region. In the LB, the special status of Hazor's ruler is clarified in the Amarna letters, which refer to him as “king” on two occasions ( šàr URU Ḫa‐ṣú‐ra in EA 148: 41; LUGAL URU Ḫa‐ṣú‐ri KI in EA 227: 3; Rainey 2015, 750–1, 964–5), a title otherwise reserved for rulers of larger states (Moran 1992, xxvii; Zarzecki‐Peleg and Bonfil 2011, 541).…”

Section: Hazor Of the Second Millennium Bcementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While foreign documents do attest to the existence of southern Levantine rulers in the MB and LB (e.g. Mari letters, Egyptian execration texts, Amarna letters; Maeir 2010, 31–7; Rainey 2015), these texts provide no information regarding the internal mechanisms of obtaining and maintaining power or on the relationship between elites and non‐elites. From an archaeological perspective, southern Levantine elites have been identified as associated with monumental architectural feats (e.g.…”

Section: Background – the Middle And Late Bronze Age Southern Levantmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Innovation and Elite Ideology at Bronze Age Hazor

Susnow

2022

Oxford J Archaeology

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Summary Hazor was the largest Bronze Age site in the southern Levant, established as an urban centre with many temples. This study explores how Hazor's elites used religion as an ideological tool to promote their legitimacy, to reinforce social hierarchy, and to maintain control over the populace. Accordingly, a methodology employing the spatial analysis of temple assemblages will be used to show that the use patterns of many of Hazor's temples diverge from other contemporary temples in the region. These anomalies, it is argued, resulted from Hazor's elites actively controlling and manipulating the performance of ritual throughout the site. Hazor's elites also made use of highly recognizable forms of cultic space so as to engage the non‐elite sectors of society while altering the manner in which those spaces were used and who had access to them. This religious innovation at Hazor was directly related to an elite ideology that strived to maintain control over non‐elites, while also aiming to integrate the various socially stratified groups into a community joined together in a sacred landscape.

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The El-Amarna Correspondence: A New Edition of the Cuneiform Letters from the Site of El-Amarna Based on Collations of All Extant Texts

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

The chronology of Gezer from the end of the late bronze age to iron age II: A meeting point for radiocarbon, archaeology egyptology and the Bible

The chronology of Gezer from the end of the late bronze age to iron age II: A meeting point for radiocarbon, archaeology egyptology and the Bible

Beyond Amarna: exorcists without borders in the Levant

Religious Innovation and Elite Ideology at Bronze Age Hazor

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