Amarna letter EA 26

EA 26, fragment (Obverse).
(high-resolution expandable photo)

Amarna letter EA 26, titled To the Queen Mother: Some Missing Gold Statues,[1] is a shorter-length clay tablet Amarna letter from Tushratta of Mittani.[2] Unlike the next letter EA 27 from Tushratta, which is more than twice as tall, and about twice as wide-(XXVII paragraphs), EA 26 is topical and synoptic about recent events about the desire for 'gold statues' (VII paragraphs). The letter is addressed to the Pharaoh's wife, Teye, and its dimensions are approximately: 6.0 inches (15 cm) tall, 3.5 inches (9 cm) wide, and 1.0 inch (3 cm) thick.

EA 26 has missing edges, left and right. The piece pictured is the Oriental Institute of Chicago's piece, acquired by Rev. Chauncey Murch at Luxor which is part of the obverse, lower-left corner, at the beginning of lines of text. The entire obverse of EA 26 can be seen here, with its missing edges and scuffed/eroded surfaces on the edges. The Oriental Institute piece shows the high quality of inscribed cuneiform, as visible in undamaged sections of EA 26.[3]


  1. ^ Moran, William L. 1987, 1992. The Amarna Letters. EA 245, "To the Queen Mother: Some Missing Gold Statues", pp. 84-86.
  2. ^ "National Geographic Magazine". Archived from the original on May 10, 2008.
  3. ^ Luckenbill, D. D., and T. G. Allen, "The Murch Fragment of an El-Amarna Letter", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 1–8, 1916