Amarna International: The Cosmopiltan World of Akhenaten's Egypt

Part 1: Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, Assyria. In the 14th Century BCE, travellers criss-crossed the world. Many came to Egypt for diplomacy, trade, and to live. In this episode, we explore three short stories relating to Egypt and its neighbours...

Part 2: Mediterranean, Aegean, Pirates. In the 14th Century BCE, records from Egypt hint at piracy and raiding across the sea. And artistic images even show Mycenaeans(?) at the pharaoh's court. All of this may reflect the history behind great stories like the Odyssey...

Part 3: A small epilogue about pottery, discovered at Amarna, with intriguing origins. Also, a short spiel on olives. You'll see why.

Episode details

Date: Amarna Period (c.1400 - 1300 BCE).

Music: Michael Levy www.ancientlyre.com.

Select References

The Egyptian-Akkadian Phrasebook: S. Izre’el, The Amarna Scholarly Texts (1997).

Assyria Joins the Scene: Amarna Letter EA15, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Aper-el, Pharaoh's Man: Alain Zivie, 2018, Biblical Archaeology Review.

Mycenaean pottery from Amarna, at the Petrie Museum University College London. 

J. M. Kelder, ‘Royal Gift Exchange Between Mycenae and Egypt: Olives as “Greeting Gifts” in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean’, American Journal of Archaeology 113 (2009), 339—352.

J. M. Kelder, ‘The Egyptian Interest in Mycenaean Greece’, Jaarbericht ‘Ex Oriente Lux’ 42 (2010), 125—140.

Middle Kingdom Minoan pottery from Egypt, at the Petrie Museum.

Database: An Italian-language website for Mycenaean pottery found in Amarna Age Egypt.

Valentina Gasperini, "Mycenaean and Cypriot Pottery from Gurob in the Manchester Museum Collection: A Test of Trade Network Theories for The New Kingdom Fayum," Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 6 (2014).

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