Abdi-Ashirta and the Rise of Amurru.

In the later years of Amunhotep III (father of Akhenaten) and the early years of Akhenaten himself, events in the north began to trouble the royal court. The Egyptian empire, long established in Canaan and Syria, was under threat. Great powers were rising, and regional vassals were starting to fight among themselves. Into this milieu, a man named Abdi-Ashirta began to make waves…

Music by Derek and Brandon Fiechter.

Intro music by Keith Zizza.

Map and Images

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01. 123 Map (NASA + Moran 1993)

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An example of the Amarna Letters (Wikimedia).
123. Wikipedia Abdi-Ashirta_written_in_cuneiform
The name of Abdi-Ashirta (“Ashirta’s Servant”) in cuneiform Akkadian (Wikimedia).
PalaceInlays-DepictingPhilistineAndAmorite-MuseumOfFineArtsBoston wikipedia
Decorative tiles from the Malqata Palace of Amunhotep III: an Amurrite/Amorite at right (Wikimedia).
syrians rekhmire 1 met
Syrians (Amorites?) leading an elephant, a bear and carrying ivory and copper ingots, from the tomb of Rekhmire at Thebes (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

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Bibliography

Assmann, Jan. The Invention of Religion. Princeton University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc77519.

Campbell, Edward F. ‘The Amarna Letters and the Amarna Period’. The Biblical Archaeologist 23, no. 1 (1 February 1960): 2–22.

Cohen, Raymond, and Raymond Westbrook, eds. Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International Relations. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

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Goren, Yuval, Israel Finkelstein, and Nadav Naʾaman. ‘The Expansion of the Kingdom of Amurru According to the Petrographic Investigation of the Amarna Tablets’. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 329 (2003): 1–11.

Izre’el, Shlomo, and Itamar Singer. Amurru Akkadian: A Linguistic Study. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991.

James, Alan. ‘Egypt and Her Vassals: The Geopolitical Dimension’. In Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International Relations, 112–24. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

Moran, William L. The Amarna Letters. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.

Moran, William L., and ו”ל מוראן. ‘מותו של עבד-אשרת / The Death of Abdi-Ashirta’. Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies / ארץישראל: מחקרים בידיעת הארץ ועתיקותיה ט (1969): 94–99.

Morris, Ellen Fowles. The Architecture of Imperialism: Military Bases and the Evolution of Foreign Policy in Egypt’s New Kingdom. Leiden: Brill, 2005.

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Murnane, William J. The Road to Kadesh: A Historical Interpretation of the Battle Reliefs of King Sety I at Karnak. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1985.

Mynářová, Jana. ‘Expressions of Dates and Time in the Amarna Letters’. Ägypten Und Levante / Egypt and the Levant 21 (2011): 123–28.

Mynářová, Jana. Language of Amarna – Language of Diplomacy: Perspectives on the Amarna Letters. Prague: Czech Institute of Egyptology, 2007.

Na’aman, Nadav. ‘David’s Sojourn in Keilah in Light of the Amarna Letters’. Vetus Testamentum 60, no. 1 (2010): 87–97.

Parzen, Rabbi Herbert. ‘The Problem of the Ibrim (“Hebrews”) in the Bible’. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 49, no. 3 (1933): 254–61.

Pryke, Louise M. ‘The Many Complaints to Pharaoh of Rib-Addi of Byblos’. Journal of the American Oriental Society 131, no. 3 (2011): 411–22.

Singer, Itamar. ‘The “Land of Amurru” and the “Lands of Amurru” in the Šaušgamuwa Treaty’. Iraq 53 (1991): 69–74.

Stieglitz, Robert R. ‘The City of Amurru’. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 50, no. 1 (1991): 45–48.

Van de Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2016.

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