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Notes on video lecture:
The Amarna Letters and Egypt's Presence in Canaan During the New Kingdom
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
Jerusalem, troops, insolence, military, coastal, collapsed, Jezreel, Aegyptica, labor, artistic, complaining, Palestinian, heavy, intentions, Turkey, Armarna, harvest, Napoleon, Canaan, justice, hillbillies, battle, fertile, 1550, hill, Amenhotep, depopulation, 2nd, Labayu, expansionist, mayors, element, lowlands, Egypt
Egypt's imperial presence in the late        millennium
this is the New Kingdom Period         -1077
Thutmose III (1479 - 1425 BC)
has been called the                  of ancient Egypt
greatest                  leader in Egyptian history
no record tells of him losing a             
erected many buildings
several obelisks (e.g. those now in Rome and London)
conducted tours as far north as Syria
made              into one of his imperial possessions, a province in his vast empire
extended kingdom into modern             , into the Hittites region
contemporary superpowers of the day Babylon, the Hittites, Syria send diplomatic gifts to Egypt
the region long known as Canaan was now securely in Egyptian hands
so Thutmose III initiated the Pax                   
a peace that resulted from Egyptian military conquest
the burden that Egypt placed on Canaan was extremely           
Thutmose taxed the land in two ways:
1. produce
inhabitants should provide him with a portion of their               
this empoverished their cities
2. lives
demanded bodies for his armies and            forces
this led to a                          of Canaan especially where later Israel and Judah would emerge
second phase of New Kingdom Period
Amarna Period
pharoahs during this time
                   III (14th century BC)
unprecedented prosperity and                  splendor
Egypt reached the peak of its artistic and international power
Akhenaten
introduced monotheistic reforms in Egypt
Tutankkhamun
King Tut
this period is important in Egyptian history because of the discovery of the                letters
these were letters sent by Canaanite minor rulers to the pharaohs in Egypt
many are quite poorly preserved, but what remained gives us much knowledge about this era
when pharaohs were not looking these mayors would indulge in calling themselves "king"
but from the Egyptian perspective they were simply              of cities and areas in Canaan
many of the letters consist of                        to the pharaoh
begging for various kinds of support
what bothers them most of all were the                          tendencies of neighboring states
they "beg to see the pharaohs face"
to establish                in their area
ask for military support
one letter is from Shechem
complained about              attempting to expand into the Jezreel Valley to Meggido (town)
later Saul in the Bible attempts to do the same thing
this is an example of the same kind of actions being reported from the Armana letters and Biblical record
in other letters, mayors complain about Abdi-Hepa
Abdi-Hepa reigned in URU-salim or                   
attempted to expand into other territories
King Saul and King David were similar to Abdi-Hepa in their                      of expansion
why was it allowed for kings of city states to expand into territorial states, as this was                    vis-a-vis the Egyptian court
the reason is that Labayu and Abdi-Hepa inhabited the          country, e.g. Judea and Samaria
today where the                        territories are
the pharaohs really didn't care about the hill country which was, in their mind, occupied by "dangerous                       "
Egyptians felt that it was best to leave that                to its own devices
focuses on the                territories
richer and more               
better for communication with other superpowers to the north
better for transporting             
however, if disputes in the hill country when unheeded, a power from the north could take advantage of it, move south, and get very close to           
so Egypt was interested in the politics of the highlands, but not as a top priority
therefore some troops were sent from time to time
we see from the Armarna letters that rules continued to expand from highlands into the                 
especially into the fertile                Valley, the bread basket of the southern Levant
what happened when the Egyptian empire                    and no longer able to keep these hill kingdoms at bay?
we then witness the development of territorial states:
Israel
Judah
Aram Damascus
Ammon
Moab
Edom
this is the political situation as we move into the first millennium, the time of Biblical record

People:

######################### (1479-1425 BC)
Greatest military leader in Egyptian history
  • no record of him ever losing a battle
  • has been called the Napoleon of ancient Egypt
  • made Canaan into one of his imperial possessions, a province in his vast empire
  • extended kingdom into modern Turkey, into the Hittites
  • initiated the Pax Aegyptica
######################### (1400-1351 BC)
Ninth pharaoh in 18th century dynasty, reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendor
  • Egypt reached the peak of its artistic and international power
  • his son was Akhenaten
######################### (1380-1334 BC)
Tenth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty who abandoned polytheism and introduced monotheistic worship centered on the Aten
  • his queen was Nefertiti
  • father of Tutankhamun (King Tut)
######################### (1370-1330 BC)
the Great Royal Wife (chief consort) of Akhenaten, the pair known for introducing monotheism to Egypt
  • bust is in the Egyptian museum in Berlin

Spelling Corrections:

milleniummillennium
empoverishedimpoverished
The Merneptah Stele: The Oldest Reference to Israel
Canaan as Outback between Mesopotamia and Egypt Civilization Centers
The Three Centers of Early Jewish History
The Amarna Letters and Egypt's Presence in Canaan During the New Kingdom
The End of Egyptian Imperial Control
Maps of Historical Biblical Regions
Interview with Bill Deaver
Israel, Judah, and the Campaign of Shishak
The Omride Dynasty
725 BC: The Fall of Israel to Assyria
The Kingdom of Judah and Sennacherib
The Fall of Judah
The History of Israel According to Genesis and Exodus
Archaeological Theories on the History of Israel
The Rise of the Iron Age Kingdoms
Bronze Age vs. Iron Age Material Culture
History of the Central Highland States
Judah After the Babylonian Conquest
Factors Leading to the Depopulation Of Israel
The Elephantine Papyri
Judahite Communities in Babylon
Ezra-Nehemiah and Haggai on Temple Rebuilding
The Biblical Project
From the Bible to the Sumerian King List
Genesis Chapter 26: Isaac, Abimelek and Rebekah
The Biblical Authors' Portrayal of Women and Heroism
The Bible's Treatment of Heroic Death
Portrayal of Death in the Bible