SSEA Public Lecture: Francesco De Magistris

The Egyptian Administration in the Levant of the Amarna Letters: Space, Functions, and Time

The Egyptian ‘empire’ in the Levant is often imagined as a well-oiled administrative machine, run by governors and scribes who maintained an efficient, uniform system. However, when we look more closely at the evidence, this image starts to disintegrate. In my talk, I will discuss Egyptian rule in the Levant during the Late Bronze Age (the time of the New
Kingdom) and argue that it was far more flexible and varied than is commonly thought. Rather than viewing the Egyptian administration as a single, centralised structure, I will attempt to show that it functioned as a network of centres with different roles – fluid and adaptive to the needs of the Egyptian state and to the challenges it faced in maintaining
control over the region. By examining these centres one by one, the talk argues that local geography, political conditions, and access to resources shaped Egypt’s strategies to maintain dominance over the area. My presentation also considers how the administrative system evolved over time by examining these practices during the thirty-year span covered by the famous Amarna Letters – a cache of diplomatic correspondence written in Akkadian, dating mainly from the reigns of Amenhotep III through that of Akhenaten – which show how Egypt’s administrative network in the region adapted to the shifting politics of the Late Bronze Age world.

* See the event poster: SSEA-DeMagistris-Poster.pdf