Amarna diplomacy
Subtitle: the beginnings of international relations
By: edited by Raymond Cohen and Raymond Westbrook
Contributors: Cohen, Raymond, 1947-; Westbrook, Raymond
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Baltimore, MD
Language: eng
Number of pages: 307
Subjects: Tell el-Amarna tablets; Diplomacy -- History -- To 1500; Middle East -- Foreign relations; Egypt -- Foreign relations; Middle East -- History -- To 622; Egypt -- History -- Eighteenth dynasty, ca. 1570-1320 B.C
Description: "In 1887, a peasant woman stumbled across a 3,000-year-old trove of cuneiform tablets in the ruins at Amarna, in Upper Egypt. The find, mostly letters from foreign kings to the Egyptian court, was part of the palace archive of the mysterious, sun-worshipping Pharaoh Akhenaten.

The documents tell an unsuspected tale of intensive diplomatic contacts among the great powers of the time - Egypt, Mittani, Babylonia, Hatti, Assyria, and numerous other independent and vassal states - shedding light on the very origins of international relations. They also reveal treachery and intrigue among the petty kings of Canaan and provide insight into the foundations of biblical Israel."--BOOK JACKET.

"In William T. Moran's definitive English translation, The Amarna Letters, published by Johns Hopkins in 1992, the texts seem to raise as many questions as they answer. How did Pharaoh run his empire? Why did the god-king consent to deal with his fellow mortal monarchs as equals? Indeed, why did kings engage in diplomacy at all? How did the great powers maintain international peace and order?"--BOOK JACKET.

"Raymond Cohen and Raymond Westbrook have brought together a team of specialists, both social scientists and ancient historians, to explore the world of ancient Near Eastern statecraft portrayed in the letters. This book will be of interest to scholars not only of the ancient Near East and the Bible but also of international relations and diplomatic studies."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-285) and indexes
Table of contents: title: Introduction: the Amarna system / Raymond Cohen and Raymond Westbrook; title: The great powers' club / Mario Liverani; title: International law in the Amarna age / Raymond Westbrook; title: The Amarna age: an international society in the making / Rodolfo Ragionieri; title: Realism, constructivism, and the Amarna letters / Steven R. David; title: The Egyptian perspective on Mittani / Betsy M. Bryan; title: Intelligence in the Amarna letters / Raymond Cohen; title: Imperial Egypt and the limits of power / William J. Murnane; title: Egypt and her vassals: the geopolitical dimension / Alan James; title: The Egyptian Canaanite correspondence / Nadav NaʻAman; title: The interdependence of the great powers / Carlo Zaccagnini; title: Reciprocity, equality, and status: anxiety in the Amarna letters / Kevin Avruch; title: Diplomacy and international marriages / Samuel A. Meier; title: A social psychological analysis of Amarna diplomacy / Daniel Druckman and Serdar Güner; title: Diplomatic signaling in the Amarna letters / Christer Jönsson; title: The diplomatic service in action: the Mittani file / Pinhas Artzi; title: Amarna diplomacy: a full-fledged diplomatic system? / Geoffrey Berridge; title: Conclusion: the beginnings of internal relations / Raymond Cohen and Raymond Westbrook