Amarna letter EA 39, titled: ''"Duty-Free"'', is a fairly short letter from the King of

Alashiya Alashiya ( akk, 𒀀𒆷𒅆𒅀 ''Alašiya'' -la-ši-ia uga, 𐎀𐎍𐎘𐎊 ''ẢLṮY''; Linear B: 𐀀𐀨𐀯𐀍 ''Alasios'' -ra-si-jo, also spelled Alasiya, also known as the Kingdom of Alashiya, was a state which existed in the Middle ...

(modern

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

). Almost half the letter, Para I, is a shortened ''greeting formula''. The letter is requesting the Pharaoh to let messengers pass freely, as they are also being represented as merchants; this also applies to their shipping. The

Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...

, about 300, numbered up to EA 382, are a mid 14th century BC, about

1350 BC Events and trends * c. 1356 BC – Amenhotep IV begins the worship of Aten in Ancient Egypt, changing his name to Akhenaten and moving the capital to Akhetaten, starting the Amarna Period. * c. 1352 BC – Amenhotep III ( Eighteenth ...

and 20–25 years later, correspondence. The initial

corpus Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...

of letters were found at

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

's city Akhetaten, in the floor of the

Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh The building known as the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh (also known as the Records Office) is located in the 'Central City' area of the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten, known as Amarna in modern times. The city was the short-lived capit ...

; others were later found, adding to the body of letters.

The letter

EA 3: ''"Duty-Free"''

EA 38, letter number six of seven, from

. (Not a linear, line-by-line translation.) ''Obverse'' (see here

:(Lines 1-9)–Say to the king of Egypt, my

rother Rother may refer to: General *Rother (surname) (also sometimes spelled Röther) *Rother District, a local government district in East Sussex, England *Rother FM, an independent local radio station for Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England *Rother Kup ...

r: Message of the king of Alašiya, your brother. For me all goes well, and for you may all go well. For your household, your chief wives, your sons¹ your wives, your chariots, your many horses, and in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

-( Mizri), your country, may all go very well. :''Paragraph II'' :(10-13)–My brother, let my messengers go promptly and safely so that I may hear my brother's greeting. :''Paragraph III'' :(14-20)–these men are my merchants. My brother, let them go safely and prom ty. No one making a claim in your name is to approach my merchants of my ship.² :''Reverse'' (see here

:–(uninscribed ''reverse'', with a single line of written ink

hieratic Hieratic (; grc, ἱερατικά, hieratiká, priestly) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the ris ...

text)–(complete EA 39, minor lacunae, lines 1-20)

External links

Line drawing of EA 39, Obverse & ReverseLine Drawing, cuneiform, and Akkadian, EA 205: Obverse & Reverse
CDLI no. P270978 (''Chicago Digital Library Initiative'')
CDLI listing of all EA Amarna letters, 1-382

References

* Moran, William L. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, ) Alashiya Amarna letters

The letter

EA 3: ''"Duty-Free"''

See also

External links

References