Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty - Analysis | Milestone Documents - Milestone Documents

Egyptian-Hittite Peace Treaty

( 1259 BCE )

Audience

The stated audience consists of the thousand Hittite deities and thousand Egyptian deities who witnessed the oaths. Knowledge of the treaty would have been widely circulated among the officials and courtiers in both kingdoms, to the numerous vassal kingdoms of each side, and to the other Great Kingdoms, such as Assyria and Babylonia. The hieroglyphic edition was part of Ramses II's effort to present the treaty to his own subjects as a diplomatic victory.

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Bas-relief of Ramses II (Library of Congress)

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