Love, War, and Diplomacy

“Entertaining… . a welcome, public-facing addition to the recent resurgence in scholarship on the Amarna correspondence… . Readers familiar with the Amarna Letters will no doubt be absorbed in the details of their acquisition and publication, which Cline relates in lucid prose. Readers less at home in the Bronze Age will enjoy a stimulating sketch of its lives and afterlives.”—Benjamin de Almeida Newton, New Criterion
“Lucid and authoritative… . Impressive scholarship illuminates the Bronze Age.” * Kirkus Reviews *
“Illuminating… . Cline persuasively argues that the Late Bronze Age—with its precarious interdependence—closely resembled the modern ‘globalized’ world. The result is both a remarkable glimpse into deep history and a savvy examination of an academic discipline’s evolution.” * Publishers Weekly *
“Cline’s new book reveals the politics and intrigues of the dealers, collectors, and scholars involved in the discovery and publishing of the Amarna Letters during the colonial era—just as it illuminates the vibrant diplomatic world of the ancient Near East. The human side of international relations, BCE and CE, as it turns out, is not so different after all.”—Ellen Morris, Biblical Archeology Society
“Eric Cline travels back some 200 years to investigate the inter-relationships between the ‘great kings’ and vassal rulers of the Near East through their correspondence: the so-called‘Amarna Letters’…[he] presents an engaging chronological reconstruction of the interactions of the various players: their demands for gold and gifts, marriage negotiations, and, in the case of the petty rulers of Canaan, their intense rivalries.”—Sarah Griffiths, Ancient Egypt Magazine
“Cline’s new work is an engaging read and offers a different approach to examining the Amarna Letters, illustrated with maps and portrait sketches, and plenty of references and notes for the serious scholar.”—Sarah Griffiths, Ancient Egypt

Eric H. Cline is professor of classics and anthropology at George Washington University. His many books include 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed; After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations; Digging Deeper: How Archaeology Works; and (with Glynnis Fawkes) 1177 B.C.: A Graphic History of the Year Civilization Collapsed (all Princeton).

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