Irving Finkel investigates the Amarna letters

Today, we bring you a very special 100th episode of Curator’s Corner! What makes this so special is that it was decided by you – our wonderful audience. You are the reason this series has been so successful, so it feels only right that you had the chance to decide the topic of this episode. You all came up with fantastic ideas – but it was the Amarna Letters that were one of the most requested topics, and even more requested was Irving Finkel talking about, well, pretty much anything. So, we thought we'd give you both. You deserve it. Over 3,000 years ago, the rulers of the ancient world were sending each other letters: negotiating marriages, exchanging lavish gifts, complaining about missing gold, reporting wars and, occasionally, desperately begging Egypt to send help. The Amarna Letters are an extraordinary collection of cuneiform tablets discovered at the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten (modern Amarna). Dating largely to the 14th century BC, they preserve diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian pharaohs and the rules of the Late Bronze Age world. Join Irving Finkel as we explore how the Amarna Letters were discovered, why Egyptian officials were corresponding in a Mesopotamian language, and what these remarkable tablets reveal about warfare and politics in the ancient world. Turns out international diplomacy hasn't changed that much in 3,300 years. TIME STAMPS: 00:00 100th Episode! 00:45 The Discovery of the Amarna Letters 03:35 What Are the Amarna Letters? 05:40 Reading transcriptions of the Amarna Letters 06:50 Gold, Gifts & Royal Marriages 13:38 Complaints to the Pharaoh. And more gold. 20:20 Habiru and Crisis in Canaan 30:55 Why Were Egyptians Writing in Cuneiform? 36:32 Fear the wrath of Irving Finkel 40:50 Secret message revealed... -------- ATTRIBUTION: Images sourced from: British Museum, Vorderasiatische Museum, Cairo Museum, National Portrait Gallery Map animations: Merideo © OpenStreetMap contributors · ESA WorldCover, via VersaTiles (CC BY 4.0) · Mapzen Terrain Tiles, DEM Sources