home | history | nations | cities | races | people | contact

People

Akhenaten was not the only important historical figure at the end of the 14th century BCE, although he was arguably the most powerful, at least at the beginning of his reign. The Near East was under the control of dozens of kings, princes great and petty, governors, deputies, generals, and priests. Diplomacy was highly developed, with a network of ambassadors and spies keeping distant courts in constant contact with one another. The history of Egypt in this period is closely linked to events elsewhere. Likewise, it is the science of Egyptology that has enabled us to know better these foreign kings; some of them indeed are known only from brief references in the invaluable Amarna Letters.