The Game of Power and Prestige:
New Kingdom Egypt in the Ancient Near East International Arena

In 1887, a cache of clay tablets unearthed at Tell el-Amarna revealed something extraordinary: the diplomatic correspondence of an ancient international system. This course uses the Amarna Letters to explore how New Kingdom Egypt navigated the "great powers club" of the Late Bronze Age – alongside Babylon, Mitanni, Hatti, and Assyria – through gift exchange, royal marriages, treaties, and endless negotiations over rank and prestige.

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Students examine what these letters reveal about ancient diplomatic language, the politics of reciprocity, and the surprisingly petty squabbles between vassal rulers, alongside broader textual and archaeological evidence spanning the 18th–20th dynasties. Special attention goes to women's roles in diplomacy – queens like Tiye and Nefertiti – and to the fugitives, bandits, and political refugees who tested the limits of state authority. Throughout, the course asks how much of this "Amarna System" drew on older Mesopotamian traditions, and what constants link ancient and modern statecraft, offering a compelling lens on power, prestige, and diplomacy in the ancient world.