Religion
Anthes, H., “Die Maat des Echnaton von Amarna,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, Supplement 14 (1952)
The Amarna Tablets
Texts
Betzold, C., and Budge, E. A. W., The Tell El Amarna Tablets in the British Museum (London: 1892)
Winckler, H. and Abel, L., Der Thontafelfund von El Amarna (Berlin: 1889-90)
Studies
Albright, W. F., “Cuneiform Material for Egyptian Prosopography, 1500-1200 B.C.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, V (1946), pp. 9-25
“The Egyptian Correspondence of Abimilki, Prince of Tyre,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, XXIII (1937) pp. 190-203
“The Letters of ‘Abdu-Kheba, Prince of Jerusalem,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Supplementary Studies, 1950
Campbell, Jr., Edward F., “The Amarna Letters and the Amarna Period,” Biblical Archaeologist, XXIII (1960), pp. 2-22
Van der Meer, P. “The Chronological Determination of the Mesopotamian Letters in the El Amarna Archives,” Ex Oriente Lux, Jaarbericht No. 15, pp. 75-84
Footnotes
1Alan Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs (Oxford: 1961), p. 207
2James Breasted, A History of Egypt (New York: 1909), p. 356
3Ibid.
4James H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, II (Chicago: 1906), p. 935
5Texts in N. deG. Davies, The Rock Tombs of El Amarna, V (London: 1908)
6Vol. I (London: 1903), p. 19
7The originality of Akhenaton’s contribution to Egyptian life is challenged by L. A. White, “Ikhanton; the Great vs. the Culture Process,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, LXVIII (1948), pp. 91-114. He is answered by W. F. Edgerton, “The Great Man: A note on methods.” Ibid. pp. 192-193
8A. W. Shorter, “Historical Scarabs of Tuthmosis IV and Amenophis III,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, XVII (1931), pp. 23-25. See also XVIII (1932), pp. 110-111; XXII (1936) pp. 3-7
9M. Sandman, Texts for the Time of Akhenaton 92.8-9, 60.6; 1.7-9, 80.17-81.1
10M. Sandman, Texts from the Time of Akhenaton pp. 93-96
11The Dawn of Conscience (New York: 1933) pp. 286-87
12The words “Re” (meaning “the sun”) and “end” are similar in Egyptian. The principal shrine of Re was at Heliopolis.
13The Pharaoh was regarded as the son of Aton, hence divine in his own right.
14Cf. Psalm 104:20, “Thou makest darkness and it is night when all the beasts of the forest creep forth.”
15Cf. Psalm 104:21, “The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.”
16The Two Lands are: Upper Egypt, the Nile Valley from the First Cataract to the head of the Delta; and Lower Egypt, the Delta region. The two Egypts were united ca. 3000 B.C. to form the united Egypt of subsequent history. Pharaohs continued to bear the title, “King of Upper and Lower Egypt” throughout ancient Egyptian history.
17Cf. Psalm 104:22-23, “When the sun arises, they get them away and lie down in their dens. Man goes forth to his work, and to his labor until the evening.”
18The spirit (Egyptian ka) was regarded as the vital principle or fundamental nature of a person. “In praise to thy ka,” is, essentially, “In praise to thee.”
19Psalm 104:10-14, “Thou makest springs to gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills, they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst. By them the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches. From thy lofty abode thou waterest the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy work. Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate.”
20The “great green sea” is the Mediterranean. Cf. Psalm 104:25-26, “Yonder is the sea, great and wide, which teems with things innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan which thou didst form to sport in it.”
21Cf. Psalm 104:24, “O Lord, how manifold are thy works, in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy creatures.”
22Cf. Psalm 104:27, “These all look to thee to give them their food in due season.”
23The Nile which watered Egypt was thought to have its source in a subterranean river which provided water for Egypt’s Nile.
24Egypt, essentially rainless, received its water from the Nile. Foreign lands, however, received water from rains, hence the reference to a “Nile in the sky.”
25Cf. Psalm 104:6, 10, “Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains:... Thou makest springs gush forth in the valleys, they flow between the hills.”
26Names of Akhenaton
27The Egyptian Pharaohs were both gods, and intermediaries between the gods and the people of Egypt.
28Text 19, lines 59-67. The classification follows J. A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln (Leipzig: 1907-15)
29Text 23, lines 13-29
30Text 15
31Text 16. The quotation is from lines 32 and 33
32Text 9
33Text 74, lines 30-65
34Text 158. The terms “father” and “son” are used to show respect. Aziru was the son of Abdi-Ashirta.
35Text 126, lines 34-61
36Text 137, lines 75-76; 97-99
37Text 169, lines 12-15; 24-34
38Text 254, lines 10-19
39Text 244
40Text 245
41Text 246
42Text 288, lines 33-40. Nahrim is the land of Mitanni; Kapasi may be Cush.
43Text 287, lines 53-57
44Text 280, lines 21-35
45F. Thureau-Dangin, “Nouvelles lettres d’el-Amarna,” Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archeologie orientale, XIX, pp. 91-108. Text 290a in S. A. B. Mercer, The Tell el-Amarna Tablets (Toronto: 1939)
46F. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., pp. 91-108: Mercer text 248a
47This view was popularized by Sir Charles Marston in, The Bible Comes Alive (New York: n.d.), pp. 89-108. Marston felt that he could identify Joshua in the Amarna texts.
48“The Ha-BI-ru—Kin or Foe of Israel?” The Westminster Theological Journal XIX-X), pp. 1-24; 170-184; 46-70
49So, for example, John Bright, A History of Israel (Philadelphia: 1959), p. 113; G. Ernest Wright, Biblical Archaeology, 2nd edition (Philadelphia: 1962), p. 60; Cyrus H. Gordon, The World of the Old Testament (Garden City: 1958), p. 144.
50Text 8, lines 25-34
51Text 34, lines 16-21; 35, lines 10-20
52Text 22, column 1, line 38; column 2 lines 1, 3, 16
53N. deG. Davies, The Tomb of Rekh-mi-Re’ at Thebes (New York: 1943).
54The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt (Baltimore: 1958), p. 175
55Op. cit., p. 18
56Life and Times of Akhenaton (London: 1922), p. 63
57The Burden of Egypt (Chicago: 1954), p. 193
58J. D. S. Pendlebury, Tell el-Amarna (London: 1935), p. 19
59J. Bennett, “The Restoration Inscription of Tut’Ankhamun,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, XXV (1939), pp. 8-15
60Albrecht Goetze, “Hittite Historical Texts,” in Ancient Near Eastern Texts, James Pritchard, ed. (Princeton: 1955), p. 319
61Ibid.
62Albrecht Goetze, “Hittite Prayers,” in Ancient Near Eastern Texts, James Pritchard, ed. (Princeton: 1955), p. 395
63Archaeology of the Old Testament: Was the Old Testament Written in Hebrew? (London: 1913), p. 4
64Text 103, lines 39-43
65Text 93, lines 10-12
66Text 149, lines 17-19
67Text 148, lines 13-17
68Text 238, lines 9-12
69Text 118, lines 55-56
70Problems of chronology are acute. H. H. Rowley, From Joseph to Joshua (London: 1950) argues that Joseph was actually Akhenaton’s Prime Minister. Cf. pp. 119-120. Most contemporary scholars place Joseph’s entry into Egypt in Hyksos times (ca. 1720-1550 B.C.). Cf. G. Ernest Wright, Biblical Archaeology (Philadelphia: 1962), pp. 53-58
71The Scarab is reproduced in A. deBuck, Egyptian Reading Book I (Leiden: 1948), p. 67
72Musees Royaux (Bruxelles) tablet E6753, edited by Georges Dossin in Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archaeologie orientale, XXXI, pp. 125-136. Mercer Number 31a