Alice Mandell
Alice Mandell is the William Foxwell Albright Chair of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Alice is currently completing her first book, Cuneiform Culture and the Ancestors of Hebrew, which focuses on the Canaanite Amarna Letters, a corpus of cuneiform diplomatic letters between the Egyptian royal court and Levantine polities (mid-14th century BCE). This work offers a sociolinguistic approach to the letters that considers the complex ways in which southern Levantine scribes used to communicate to their scribal peers in Egypt.
Presenter at
BAS Scholars Series, September 28, 2024
The Amarna Letters: A Story of Scribes and Kings
Many scholars are interested in the Amarna Letters because they give us a glimpse into the land of Canaan “before Israel.” The Canaanite Amarna Letters tell us about the ancient rulers in this region. They also tell us about the Egypt’s empire in this period, and the struggles of ancient people living under their control. Importantly, the Canaanite Letters give us some of the earliest examples of the languages used in Canaan before the biblical period. And yet, the letters tell us so much more—they are scribal artifacts —texts made by scribes for scribes. They tell us about scribal education in different scribal communities, but also the way that individual scribes crafted letters to attract the pharaoh’s attention.
Spring Bible & Archaeology Fest 2023
The People Behind the Text: Craft Literacy in Ancient Israel and Judah
Inscribed objects from the ancient southern Levant tell scholars about the evolution of writing and about the history of Hebrew and other languages from this region. And yet, these objects are also valuable resources that can help us to better understand the use of writing by diverse text makers, who were not necessarily scribes. The study of “craft-literacy” opens up a portal into the literacy practices of craft communities, and to the diverse ways that people used and valued writing in Israel and Judah.
