The Amarna letters: what they are, and how to cite one (EA numbers)

The Amarna letters are a royal archive of clay tablets found in 1887 at Tell el-Amarna, the site of Akhetaten, the capital built by the pharaoh Akhenaten. About 380 tablets are known, most of them letters, divided today among museums in Berlin, London, Cairo and elsewhere. What they are Diplomatic correspondence from roughly the reigns of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, in the mid-14th century BCE. The surprise is the language: they are written in cuneiform, mostly in Akkadian, the diplomatic language of the period, not in Egyptian. Who is writing - The great kings: Babylon, Mitanni, Hatti, Assyria and Alashiya (Cyprus), who address the pharaoh as "brother" and negotiate gifts, gold and royal marriages. - The vassals: rulers of city-states in Canaan and Syria, such as Byblos, Jerusalem, Megiddo and Shechem, who address the pharaoh as their lord, report on one another, and plead for troops. The letters people ask about - Rib-Hadda of Byblos wrote more letters than anyone else in the archive, repeatedly asking for help as his position collapsed. - Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem (EA 285–290) complains about the Habiru (also written Apiru), a term for displaced or outlaw groups. The relationship between Habiru and the word Hebrew is debated and should not be stated as settled. How to cite one Letters are cited by EA number (for El-Amarna), from the numbering established by J. A. Knudtzon in 1907–1915. The standard English translation is William L. Moran, The Amarna Letters (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992). Write "EA 286" and name the translation, and anyone can find your passage. Why it matters here It is the best primary source we have for how the Late Bronze Age world worked between states, and it is written by the people involved. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_letters Post a passage with its EA number and the translation you used, and the thread can check it.