Canaanite Scribes in the Amarna Letters. By Juan-Pablo Vita. Alter Orient und Altes Testament, vol. 406. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2015. Pp. xii + 179, 78 plates. €97.

As 382 cartas encontradas em Tell El-Amarna trazem não somente informações sobre a política administrativa do Egito durante a Era do Bronze Tardio, mas também sobre as transações internacionais que envolviam vidas humanas. O objetivo deste ensaio é mostrar, através das entrelinhas das cartas de El-Amarna, como funcionava o tráfico de mulheres de Canaã para o Egito nesse período. Temos duas situações: uma é o tráfico de mulheres entre o Egito e os grandes reinos, como Assíria, Babilônia e (...) Mittani, e o outro é o tráfico de mulheres das cidades-Estado de Canaã para o Egito. No primeiro caso, o tráfico se dava através de alianças entre os reis e que envolviam o casamento com as filhas da realeza, as quais eram enviadas para o harém deste ou daquele rei. No segundo caso, temos novamente duas situações. A primeira é o envio de mulheres das cidades-Estado para o Egito. Ou seja, o envio de mulheres ao Egito, para fins diversos, era umas das obrigações dos reis vassalos cananeus. A segunda situação é a compra de mulheres como mão de obra especializada. Neste caso, as mulheres eram treinadas e preparadas para o serviço na corte e depois vendidas. (shrink)

The Reign of Tudhaliya II and Šuppiluliuma I: The Contribution of the Hittite Documentation to a Reconstruction of the Amarna Age. By Boaz Stavi. Texte der Hethiter, vol. 31. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2015. Pp. xviii + 236. €45.

This article presents four analyses of an interaction between the middle-Bronze Age Pharaoh Nibmuarea and the Babylonian king Kadashman-Enlil as described in the Amarna letters (Moran [1992] The Amarna Letters, The Johns Hopkins Universiy Press, Baltimore, Maryland). Intent on denying the Pharaoh his daughter in marriage, the Babylonian king was faced with the choice of sending messengers who could (''dignitaries'') or could not identify (''non-dignitaries'') his missing sister in the Pharaoh's court. Intent on marrying the king's daughter, the (...) Pharaoh was faced with the choice of showing the sister or showing someone else. Based on the assumption of complete information (game 1), the analysis revealed a dominant-strategy equilibrium: Nibmuarea shows the sister and Kadashman-Enlil sends non-dignitaries. Based on the assumption of one-sided incomplete information (Pharaoh's misperception; game 2), the analysis revealed that the Pharaoh had a dominant strategy of showing the sister irrespective of whether the king is keen or reluctant to learn about his sister's fate. Based on the assumption of one-sided incomplete information (Kadashman-Enlil's misperception; game 3), the analysis revealed that if non-dignitaries are sent, the Pharaoh prefers showing someone other than his sister. Based on the assumption of two-sided incomplete information (game 4), the Pharaoh finds it more beneficial to present the sister irrespective of whether his intentions are genuine or feigned. With incomplete information, it is difficult to judge the other's intentions; the cost of being caught cheating by not showing the sister to knowledgeable messengers was quite high. These analyses highlight the strategic uncertainty that characterized this Bronze-Age interaction. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the historiography of the study of the scientific problem of assessment of Akhenaten's reign, the Egyptian Pharaoh of 18th dynasty. Amarna period was marked by the unprecedented scale of construction activity, motivated by new religious reform. Pharaoh Akhenaten abandoned traditional Egyptian polytheism and introduced worship centered on the sun god Aten. The author presents a profile of some historiography studies of Amarna Period, analyses the changes of the assessment of Akhenaten's reign in general (...) since XIX century, shows different evaluations of his religious reform in the scientific literature. During the XX century's first decade the idealistic perception of Akhenaten prevailed in scientific literature. Further researches of the second half of XX -XXI centuries perceived the political causes in his religious reform. For example, D. Redford argued that Akhenaten's milieu interpreted his reign as tyranny. N. Reeves believes that king Akhenaten strengthened his power by the use of a new religious ideology, his reign was inherent by despotism and religious intolerance. The author comes to conclusion that in spite of the available historiography studies, that make it possible to study Amarna Period, the outstanding figure of king Akhenaten still remains controversial. (shrink)

Architecture of ancient Egypt is criss-crossed by a series of giant projects whose aim was to celebrate the divine nature of the Pharaohs and their rights to eternal afterlife. In many of such projects a complex interplay between idealization of symbols in hieroglyph writings and shaping of built objects and cultural landscapes can be seen. Since the afterlife destination of the Pharaohs was in the sky, astronomy plays a relevant role in understanding this interplay, as it occurs, in particular, in (...) the Khufu project at Giza and in the planning of Akhenaten’s capital at Amarna. (shrink)

It is a curious fact that the reverse surface of many of the so-called Amarna letters sent by Levantine rulers to the Egyptian pharaoh are completely blank or only partially inscribed. In this article, I establish the absolute and relative frequency of the phenomenon within this subcorpus of the Amarna letters. Next, I connect it to a particular type of letter sent by the Levantine rulers that I designate a “replies-to- an-order” letter and offer a suggestion as to (...) why the Egyptian administration may have requested that these letters have blank space on the reverse surface. Finally, I consider one possible origin for the phenomenon in other cuneiform corpora and end the article with a few comments on directions for future research. (shrink)

italiano: Secondo l’interpretazione di Hegel gli edifici religiosi egiziani, e tra essi in particolare i templi, rappresentano l’inizio della storia dell’architettura, e con ciò di tutta la storia dell’arte.L’architettura religiosa egiziana ha un carattere simbolico, perché la sua forma cerca di rappresentare il contenuto spirituale senza esservi pienamente adeguata. Così il tempio egizio allude al divino con la sua intera struttura, ma non ha propriamente un interno, dedicato al culto dell’immagine del dio.L’egittologia contemporanea ha corretto Hegel su questo punto, perché (...) in generale il tempio egizio aveva un interno che custodiva l’immagine della divinità. Tuttavia la tesi di Hegel rimane paradossalmente valida per un caso particolare dell’esperienza egiziana, che egli non poteva conoscere: nella religione monoteista di Amarna il tempio del dio solare Aton non ha immagini e non ha un centro, perché il divino è presente dappertutto, come la luce del sole, che illumina egualmente ogni parte del tempio..Parole chiave: Egitto; architettura; tempio; simbolo; immagine. (shrink)

According to the interpretation of Hegel, Egyptian religious buildings, and among them especially the temples, represent the beginning of the history of architecture, and so the beginning of the entire history of art.The Egyptian religious architecture has a symbolic character, because its configuration tries to represent the spiritual content without being fully adequate to it. So the Egyptian temple alludes to the divine through its entire structure, but does not have a proper internal space, dedicated to the worship of the (...) image of God.On this point, contemporary Egyptology corrected Hegel’s view, because broadly speaking the Egyptian temple had an interior where the image of the deity was safeguarded. However, Hegel’s thesis paradoxically remains suitable for a particular case of the Egyptian experience that he could not know at that time: in the monotheistic religion of Amarna, the temple of the sun-god Aton has no images and does not have a center, because the Divine is present everywhere, like the sunlight that illuminates equally all over the temple.Key words: Egypt; architecture; temple; symbol; image. (shrink)

According to the interpretation of Hegel, Egyptian religious buildings, and among them especially the temples, represent the beginning of the history of architecture, and so the beginning of the entire history of art.The Egyptian religious architecture has a symbolic character, because its configuration tries to represent the spiritual content without being fully adequate to it. So the Egyptian temple alludes to the divine through its entire structure, but does not have a proper internal space, dedicated to the worship of the (...) image of God.On this point, contemporary Egyptology corrected Hegel’s view, because broadly speaking the Egyptian temple had an interior where the image of the deity was safeguarded. However, Hegel’s thesis paradoxically remains suitable for a particular case of the Egyptian experience that he could not know at that time: in the monotheistic religion of Amarna, the temple of the sun-god Aton has no images and does not have a center, because the Divine is present everywhere, like the sunlight that illuminates equally all over the temple. (shrink)