Professor Flinders Petrie’s _Syria and Egypt from the Tell el Amarna
Letters_ (Methuen, 1898) is a synopsis of the letters as far as they
belong to the relations of Egypt and Syria, with the addition of
geographical and historical notes. In the Introduction Professor Petrie
gives a harrowing account of the casual way in which the tablets were
found and of the criminal carelessness with which these priceless records
were subsequently handled.
Some years afterwards, in 1891-2, Professor Petrie himself excavated what
was left of the ruins of the royal city of Amenhetep IV. An account of his
discoveries on that site and of his deductions from them may be found in
his finely illustrated memoir _Tell el Amarna_ (Methuen, 1894). He
particularly emphasises the skill and originality displayed in the remains
of the arts and crafts of the Tell el Amarna period, and emphatically
points out the evidence of active connection between Egypt and Ægean
(Mykenæan) civilisation at that time. His appreciation of the character of
Akhenaten differs considerably from that formed by the author of the
present pamphlet, and should be compared with it. In vol. ii. p. 205 _et
seqq._ of his _History of Egypt_, Professor Petrie maintains the same
views. The same volume also contains his earlier synopsis of the Tell el
Amarna tablets.
Professor Maspero’s account of the historical bearing of these tablets is
worked into the second volume of his great _Histoire Ancienne des Peuples
de l’Orient_, which is entitled _Les Premières Mélées des Peuples_. A
translation of that work has been issued by the Society for the
Propagation of Christian Knowledge, but in any parts relating to Biblical
history the student will do well to consult the original.
The bearings of the tablets on Biblical history, and particularly the
evidence they have supplied as to the early date at which the art of
writing was practised in Syria and Palestine, have been favourite themes
of Professor Sayce. His arguments and conclusions on these points may be
found in _The Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments_ (S.P.C.K.
1894); _Patriarchal Palestine_ (S.P.C.K. 1895); _The Egypt of the Hebrews
and Herodotus_ (Rivington, Percival & Co., 1896), and elsewhere.
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO
London & Edinburgh
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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