In a previous paper I presented an analysis of the geographical distribution and linguistic affiliation of the names of local rulers attested in the Amarna letters. There I argued that these names are not scattered at random, but rather that their distribution shows that names having the same linguistic matrix are distributed in geographically well-defined…
Naming Practices and Identity in the Early Late Bronze Age Levant: A Linguistic and Geographical Analysis of Local Rulers’ Names Attested in the Amarna Letters
Multiple names of local rulers are attested in the Amarna letters, most of which can be analyzed as being linguistically West Semitic, Hurrian, or Indo-Aryan. These names have been variously discussed, but no systematic analysis of their geographical distribution has ever been performed. This paper aims to fill this gap. The first section provides the…