Amarna Letters, The

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A little more than a century has passed since the discovery of the Amarna letters. At first virtually unique and so extraordinary that even their genuineness was seriously questioned, these letters over the years have gradually acquired context and perspective. As subsequent discoveries made clear, the Amarna letters reflect a cosmopolitan culture, a "cuneiform culture," that throughout most of the second millennium B.C. extended from the mountains to the east of Assyria and Babylonia, across the Fertile Crescent, over into Asia Minor.

Though seen now as only part of a much larger picture, the Amarna letters still remain documents of the highest importance and still form, as one cuneiformist once put it so enthusiastically, une des collections les plus precieuses du monde." This importance derives mainly from the rich evidence they provide for the social and political history of Syria and Palestine in the fourteenth century B.C. They may therefore, be read as a kind of preface to biblical history, and it is for this reason, above all, that they have been, and continue to be, the subject of the most diligent inquiry and reflection.

Indeed, one can safely predict that as long as the Bible retains in our culture its unique importance, the Amarna letters will command the serious attention of historian and exegete.

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