Canaanite scribes in the Amarna letters
By: Juan-Pablo Vita
Series: Alter Orient und Altes Testament -- Band 406; Alter Orient und Altes Testament -- Bd. 406.
Publisher: Ugarit-Verlag
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Münster
Language: eng
Number of pages: 179
ISBN-13: 9783868350982
Subjects: Texts; Canaanite language; Akkadian language; Tell el-Amarna tablets
Description: The Amarna letters, cuneiform tablets dating from the mid-14th century that were found at the site of Achetaton, constitute the most significant historical source in the study of international relations in the ancient Near East in the 14th century BC. Most of the Amarna letters are written in Canaano-Akkadian, and originate from small kingdoms in Syria and Palestine, and it is these texts that are studied in this work. The first part of this study intends to individualize, insofar as possible, the scribes who wrote the letters from the Syrian and Palestinian kingdoms (excluding letters from Ugarit and other localities). The various corpora are presented, and the correspondence from each corpora is structured and analyzed. The purpose of the second part is to show, through specific and by no means exhaustive studies, the usefulness of the methodology of palaeographic identification of the hands of the scribe as a tool for future investigation, at various levels, of the Canaanite letters from Amarna.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 153-168) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Introduction. The Amarna letters ; Language, dialects and scribes in the Syro-Palestinian Amarna letters ; The origins of the investigation ; Methodology ; Palaeographic identification of scribes ; Digital photography ; Petrography ; Structure of the work; title: Localities and scribes. Syrian kingdoms in the Middle Orontes ; Amurru and neighbouring kingdoms ; The Beqa' ; Meridional Syria ; Phoenicia ; Northern Palestine ; Central and southern Palestine; title: Case studies and perspectives.