The literature of the Amarna Period comes to us in two forms:
inscriptions, mostly royal, on stelae, tombs and temples; and
clay tablets containing copies of the diplomatic correspondence
of the court (if letters can be considered literature here). Despite
the great wealth of sculptures and carvings that come down to
us, the writing from the period is little and repetitive. A unique
exception to this is the Great Hymn to the Aten, attributed to
Akhenaten himself and recorded especially
legibly in the tomb of Ay, a prominent member of the royal court.
There are also several boundary stelae
documenting the choice of location and founding of Akhetaten,
and numerous reliefs praising the Aten and Akhenaten in traditional
wording.
The Great Hymn to the Aten
One of the most famous pieces of Egyptian literature, the "Great
Hymn to the Aten" was found in the tomb of Ay, in the rock
tombs at Akhetaten. It is attributed to Pharaoh Akhenaten himself,
and gives us a glimpse of the artistic outpouring of the Amarna
period. Often compared to Psalm 104, it has been translated a
great many times, and is to this day used to learn
hieroglyphs. My favourite translation is that by Lichtheim,
but I have unfortunately at the moment only the first part of
it available. The full hymn is translated, with introduction,
by Wilson.
The Amarna Letters
The
collected records of the diplomatic correspondence of Akhenaten's
court at Amarna was found by a peasant woman's unathorized excavations,
in what was later discovered to be a large complex of rooms now
designated the "records office" at Akhetaten.
When their importance was recognized, many of the tablets were
gathered from locals and relic dealers by egyptologists. These
almost four hundred tablets, mostly written in Akkadian cuneiform,
recount a story of neglect on Akhenaten's part, indicating he
held little interest in foreign policy. During his reign, several
of Egypt's conquered territories were lost. Part of the mystery
of the tablets arises from the many different names of kings and
nobles of the period, and the general lack of letterheads and
addresses (laugh, if you will). There is a current ongoing project
at Tel-Aviv University to investigate the chemical composition
of the tablets with a view to determining their history.
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