Tides of History Love, War, and Diplomacy in the Late Bronze Age: Interview with Professor Eric Cline
Nov 6, 2025
In this conversation, Professor Eric Cline, a noted expert on the Late Bronze Age, dives into the fascinating world revealed by the Amarna Letters. He shares insights on the rare archive’s discovery and the diplomacy between powerful kings, highlighting the roles of elite correspondence and local conflicts. Cline also discusses the unique cultural dynamics of the era, including marriage alliances and gift exchanges. Listeners will enjoy anecdotes about the scholarly race to translate these ancient texts that illuminate past lives and societal structures.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
A Rare Window Into A Connected Bronze Age
- The Amarna Letters are a unique 14th-century BC diplomatic archive found at Akhenaten's capital, Amarna.
- They reveal a connected Eastern Mediterranean state system from Egypt to Mesopotamia rarely visible elsewhere.
Looting Produced The Archive We Have
- The tablets likely came from illicit digging in 1887 and were dispersed to museums worldwide.
- As many as a third may have shattered in transit, meaning we probably lost large parts of the original archive.
Akhenaten's Radical Capital And Its Costs
- Akhenaten built Amarna rapidly and reformed religion to centralize power and wealth.
- The site's pristine abandonment preserved archives but worker cemeteries show brutal labor and young mortality.
