Amarna letter EA 26

Amarna letter EA 26, titled ''To the Queen Mother: Some Missing Gold Statues'', is a shorter-length clay tablet Amarna letter from Tushratta of Mittani. Unlike the next letter EA 27 from Tushratta, which is more than twice as tall, and about twice as wide-(XXVII paragraphs), EA 26 is topical and synoptic about recent events about the desire for 'gold statues' (VII paragraphs). The letter is addressed to the Pharaoh's wife, Teye, and its dimensions are approximately: tall, wide, and thick.

EA 26 has missing edges, left and right. The piece pictured is the Oriental Institute of Chicago's piece which is part of the obverse, lower-left corner, at the beginning of lines of text. The entire obverse of EA 26 can be see
here
with its missing edges and scuffed/eroded surfaces on the edges. The Oriental Institute piece shows the high quality of inscribed cuneiform, as visible in undamaged sections of EA 26.

The letter

EA 26: ''To the Queen Mother: Some Missing Gold Statues''

EA 26, letter ten of thirteen from Tushratta. (Not a linear, line-by-line translation.)

:''Obverse'' (see here


:(Lines 1-6)-- ayt[o Teye ], the mistrisss of Egy[pt]: T[hus Tushratta, Tuš]ratta, the king of [ Mittani. For me] all goes well. For you may all go w ll. For ''your household,'' foryour sons, may all go well. For Tadu-Heba, y daughter your daughter-in-law, may all go well. For your countries, fo your ''troops,''and for whatever else belongs to you, may all go very, very ell
:(7-18)--You are the one that knows that I yselfalways showed love oMimmureya, your husband, and that Mimmureya, ourhusba d on the other hand, always showed love to me. A d ''the things''that I wou d write andsay Mimmureya, your husband, and the things that Mimmureya, your husband, ould alwas write and say to me, you, elia, and Mane know. But you are the on , ''on the other had,'' who knows much better than all others the things hatwe said o one anther. No one le knows them (as well).

:(19-29)-- nd nw, you yourself ai to Keliya, ''"Say to your lord: 'Mi ureya,''¹ ''my husband, always showed love to yo rfather, and maintened (it) for you;''² ''he did not forge '³ ''his love for your father, and he did not cut o f'⁴ ''the massies that he had been accustomed to sending, one after the other. And now you are the one that must not forget your ve''⁵ ''for Mimmu eya your brother. Increase (it) f rNaphurre and maintiain (it) for hi You must keep on send ngembassies of joy,''⁶ ''one after the other. Do not cut hemoff.' "''
:(30-39)--I will otfoget''⁸ the love for Mimmureya, your husband. More than ever be oe,⁹ at this very moment, I show 10 times — much, much — more love to Naphurreya, your son. '' our are the one who knows' the words of Mimmureya, ourhusb nd, ''but' you did not ''s nd'¹⁰ all of my greeting-gift¹¹ that '' our husband ordered' to '' e sent'' I had asked¹² our husbandfor tatuesof sol dcast old saying, ''"ay my brother send mea my greeting gift,''¹³ ''statues of solid cast gold and ... ... of gold' and genuine lapis lazuli."

:''Reverse'' (see here


:(lines 40-48)—But now Nap urreya, your son has plated tatuesof wood. With gold being the dirt n your son's country, wy have they been a source of such dis ressto your son that he has not given them to me?¹⁴ Furthermore, I asked ... .. t give ''th s''¹⁵ Is this love? I had sa d ''"Naphurre a,'' ''my brother'' ''is going to treat me 10 times better that his father did."'' But now he has not iven meeven what his father was accustomed to give.
:(49-57)—Wh have you o exposed before Naph rreyathe words t at you yourelf, and with your own mouth, said to e If oudo not expose them before him, and ''yu keep silent''¹⁶ ''can anyone le know?'' Let apurreya give me statues of sol dgold! He must cause me no isress whasover, nor ... Let him treat m 10 times better hn his father did, ih love and evidence of eseem
:(58-63)—May your own messengers g regularly with the messeners o Naphurreya, with 5 .. t Yuni, my wife, and may the messen ers o Yuni, my wife, regula lyto ou
:(64-66)–I erwith endas your Greeting-gift scent containers¹⁷ illedwith "sweet oil," (and) 1 set of stones '' et in gold''—(complete EA 26, lines 1-66, with various major & minor lacunae)

Akkadian text

Text: Akkadian language, sumerograms, Egyptianisms, etc.

Akkadian:

Obverse:
Paragraph I (see her


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