Ancient Levant, Room 57

A clay letter can preserve a relationship between rulers. In Room 57, an Amarna tablet records a message from Yapahu, the ruler of Gezer, to the Egyptian king Amenhotep III or IV. Its Babylonian cuneiform belongs to the diplomatic communication of the fourteenth century BC. Rooms 57, 58 and 59 together cover the ancient Levant through 539 BC. Canaanite, Israelite, Phoenician, Amorite and Aramaean histories appear within this connected region of the eastern Mediterranean. The letter gives one person and one political problem a place within that long history. Look at the small clay surface and the compact writing. Messages that once passed between courts survive as objects you can examine at close range. The room’s material belongs to a wider story shared across all three galleries.