Eric Cline

And I point to the Amarna archive as a perfect example.

The letters begin in Amenhotep III's time, and Akhenaten simply inherits everything, including the relations with these other great kings.

So this is the guy that I've been fixated with for my whole career because I actually wrote my master's thesis on Amenhotep III.

Yes.

You started off as an Egyptologist.

Well, I was doing connections with Greece.

And Amenhotep III has a statue base in his mortuary temple, which is over near the Valley of the Kings.

And on that statue base, he has a list of Greek names that had never really been seen before, including Mycenae, including Knossos.

And this is going to be my story and I'm sticking to it.

Stop derailing.

I want to know about your obsession.

So Amenhotep III is this amazing figure.

He's both warrior and diplomat.

I mean, he really pulls together all the predecessors.

And he is in contact with all of these people.

other G8s to begin with.

He really is a consummate diplomat.

And so I think a lot of what he's doing, including perhaps his connections with the Aegean, are trying to rein in the Hittites, who are growing power under the king who has the best name in the ancient world, Shupiluliuma,

I was going to name one of my kids that, but my wife objected.

I'm not sure why.