A peasant woman discovered the Amarna letters at the ancient city Amarna in 1887. These small tablets were the correspondence between Pharaoh Amenhotep and the other rulers of the Near East and represent one of the most important discoveries ever made from antiquity.

The Amarna letters record how Amenhotep set out to collect a wife from each of his fellow monarchs. One king, Kadeshman-Enlil of Babylon, had sent a sister who seemed to have disappeared without trace. He wrote to inquire about her whereabouts:

"Now you are asking for my daughter as your bride, but my sister was given to you by my father and is there with you although no one has seen her and no one knows whether she is still alive or dead."
(Amarna Letter 1)

Although Kadeshman-Enlil was at first reluctant to send his daughter to be married, he eventually agreed:

"As for the girl, my daughter about whom you wrote to me concerning marriage. She has become a woman: she is ready. Just send a delegation to collect her..."
(Amarna Letter 3)

Kadeshman-Enlil expected a reciprocal bride but Amenhotep would have none of this:

"When I wrote to you about the possibility of my marrying your daughter you wrote to me as follows: 'No daughter of a king of Egypt has ever been given to anyone.' Why not? You are a king and you can do what you like."
(Amarna Letter 4)

(Source: Tyldesley, J.A., "Egypt's Golden Empire", London, 2001)