| Amarna letter EA 161 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Material | Clay |
| Height | Height: 12 cm (4.7 in) |
| Width | Width: 8.2 cm (3.2 in) |
| Writing | cuneiform (Akkadian language) |
| Created | ~1360-1335 BC (Amarna Period) |
| Period/culture | Middle Babylonian |
| Place | Akhetaten |
| Present location | British Museum no. E29818 |
Amarna letter EA 161, titled An Absence Explained, is a tall clay tablet letter of 8 paragraphs, with single paragraphing lines. The surface is somewhat degraded, but most cuneiform signs that remain (undamaged corners, or scrapes contain lost signs, added by context per translation), allow for a relative complete translation context for the letter, and the eight paragraphs. The clay tablet is no. BM 29818 at the British Museum; the number is visible at the top of the tablet, above Para I-(in black ink, the top half of the number visible).
The letter is about 3.2 in wide x 4.7 in tall, and probably slightly less than 1.0 inch thick. The text of the letter does not end at the right margin of the letter; instead the text appears to use the side of the clay tablet.
The Amarna letters, about 300, numbered up to EA 382, are mid 14th century BC, around 1350 BC and 25? years later, correspondence. The initial corpus of letters were found at Akhenaten's city Akhetaten, in the floor of the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh; others were later found, adding to the body of letters.