Gift-exchange in the Amarna Letters: A Concise Study of the Letters from the Great Kings

Résumé

In this article, we will look at the concept of reciprocal gifts and gift-exchanges in the corpus known as the Amarna letters. In order to observe reciprocity in the Amarna letters, we will ascertain the presence of a return gift for every present sent, as well as the idea of reciprocity in the repetition of said structure of gift-exchange. In the Amarna letters, we bear witness to an important network of contacts established between Near Eastern nations of the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BCE. The geographical extent of the Amarna letters leaves no doubt about the central part played by the Egyptian kings of this period within the political, economic and social context of the great powers of the Near East. This study will focus on the gift-exchanges within the Amarna letters, taking into account the contextual differences between Egypt and each of its main partners: Babylonia, Assyria, Mitanni, Hatti, Arzawa and Alashiya. We will also consider diplomatic or interdynastic marriages as occasions for gift-exchange, as well as tools used to establish and maintain political and personal alliances between the kings.