Meaning of AMARNA (TELL EL-AMARNA)

Name in Upper Egypt, almost halfway between Luxor and Cairo, on the eastern bank of the Nile; These are the mines of the city of Akhenaten.

Famous for the discovery there, at the end of the last century, of an archive of more than 350 letters on clay tablets, in cuneiform writing. These were translated into English by S. A. B. Mercer (1939).

Currently, the most widespread theory about the dating of these letters is that they correspond to the 15th century BC. However, this conception, and also the most popular chronology of Egyptian history, face serious problems.

The internal evidence of the tablets, the historical framework in which the action referred to in them takes place, lead, in a contrasted analysis, to the conclusion that they belong to the time of Jehoshaphat (king of Judah, in the first half of the 9th century BC).

The reasons for supporting the traditional position of the 15th century BC. They actually have no basis. Alternative studies showing the need to assign these letters this later date have not received as much circulation; The consequences of this late date are immense, as they affect the chronology of Egyptian history, which is based largely on the list of dynasties given by Manetus (Egyptian high priest of Heliopolis from the 3rd century BC).

This chronology has been subjected to certain revisions by Egyptologists, due to difficulties that show its unreliability at certain points. Furthermore, it also comes into strong conflict with biblical chronology.

Both the recent historical research of Courville and Velikovsky and others, as well as the results of carbon-14 dating on Egyptian historical artifacts, also demand the contraction of the Egyptian chronology, adjusting it to the biblical one.

The idea has been widely spread that the name "abiru", against which the king of Egypt was asked for help in some of these letters, must be identified with the Hebrews of the time of Joshua's conquest.

However, this identification causes more problems than it solves; The identification of these "abiru" should rather be made with bands of outlaws and harassing hordes such as those that appear in the historical framework offered in the turbulent times of divided Israel (1 Kings 16:22; 2 Kings 1:10; 2 Chron. 16:22).