Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International RelationsRaymond Cohen, Raymond Westbrook "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. |
Contents
The Great Powers Club | 15 |
International Law in the Amarna Age | 28 |
An International Society in the Making | 42 |
Foreign Policy | 57 |
The Egyptian Perspective on Mittani | 71 |
Intelligence in the Amarna Letters | 85 |
Imperial Egypt and the Limits of Power | 101 |
The Geopolitical Dimension | 112 |
A SocialPsychological Analysis of Amarna Diplomacy | 174 |
Diplomatic Signaling in the Amarna Letters | 191 |
The Mittani File | 205 |
A Fullfledged Diplomatic System? | 212 |
The Beginnings of International Relations | 225 |
Notes | 237 |
| 269 | |
Contributors | 287 |
The EgyptianCanaanite Correspondence | 125 |
The Interdependence of the Great Powers | 141 |
Reciprocity Equality and StatusAnxiety in the Amarna Letters | 154 |
Diplomacy and International Marriages | 165 |
| 293 | |
| 299 | |
Other editions - View all
Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International Relations Raymond Cohen,Raymond Westbrook Limited preview - 2002 |
Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International Relations Raymond Cohen,Raymond Westbrook No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
Abdi-Ashirta Abi-Milku Akhenaten Akkadian alliance Amarna Age Amarna archive Amarna correspondence Amarna diplomacy Amarna Letters Amarna period Amarna system Amenhotep III Amenhotep III's Amurru ancient Near East ancient Near Eastern Apiru Artzi Arzawa Asiatic Assyria Aziru Babylonian king balance of power Biryawaza brother brotherhood Byblos Canaan Canaanite Cohen communication conflict cultural daughter Egyptian Egyptian court Egyptian king empire envoys evidence exchange gifts gods gold Hatti Hittite household Hurrian Ibid inscription intelligence interactions international law international relations international society interpretation Kadashman-Enlil Keliya king of Egypt Kingdom kingship Late Bronze Age Liverani Mane marriage messengers metaphor Mittani Mittanian modern Moran Murnane Nahrin negotiation Nuhašše oath officials outcome peace Pharaoh political Prestige and Interest Princess Qadesh Ramesses Realist reciprocity references relationship Rib-Hadda role royal ruler rules scambio sent status suzerain Syria texts threat Thutmose Thutmose III tion Tiye treaty Tushratta Ugarit vassals Zaccagnini
Popular passages
Page 270 - Phenicie' a la fin de 1'age du Bronze Recent (XIV-XIII siecles) d'apres les textes cuneiformes de Syrie.