Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty (1259 BCE)
Explanation and Analysis of the Document
The treaty consists of two separate but broadly similar documents, one from Egypt and the other from Hatti. Both were drafted in Akkadian cuneiform, the common diplomatic language of the second millennium BCE. Each kingdom engraved the text on a silver tablet, and they exchanged the tablets with grand ceremony. Only copies survive, as the silver originals were melted down for their precious metal long ago. The Hittite version—referred to as the Akkadian version—was discovered in the ruins of the ancient Hittite capital city of Hattushash and is a “file copy” on clay tablets of the text Ramses II sent to the Hittites. It is written in Akkadian cuneiform. The Egyptian version is a public memorial of the Akkadian document that Hattusilis III sent to the pharaoh, translated into the ancient Egyptian language and hieroglyphic script and carved onto the walls of at least two temples, Karnak and the Ramesseum (in modern-day Luxor in southern...
