Hattuschili und Ramses: Hethiter und Agypter--ihr langer Weg zum Frieden.

• Author: Beal, Richard
• Position: Book Review

Hattuschili und Ramses: Hethiter und Agypter--ihr langer Weg zum Frieden. By HORST KLENGEL. Mainz: PHILIPP VON ZABERN, 2002. Pp. 199, illus. [euro]39.80.

In this time when, on one hand, an almost century-old enmity between the United States and Russia has turned into a somewhat wary friendship, and when, on the one hand, peace between Israelis and Palestinians seems ever further away, it is interesting to look at the history of a relationship between two of the Late Bronze Age's rival superpowers, the Hittites of central Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the Egyptians of the Nile valley.

Horst Klengel, Germany's leading historian of the Hittites, traces this relationship from the initial efforts by both powers to expand into Syria, through generations of hostility, a surprising offer by the widowed Egyptian queen to put a Hittite prince on the Egyptian throne (thwarted by Egyptian hawks), to the great battle of Qids (Kadesh), and eventually to a peace treaty and even a diplomatic marriage.

The book discusses the ancient sources and the problems of chronology and then the early temporary successes of Egyptian and Hittite campaigns into Syria. It unaccountably omits (p. 39) the conquest by Hittite king Tudhaliya II ("I") of much of northern Syria. It is back on track for Suppiluliuma I's seizure of northern Syria from the Mittannians, who had long been rivals of the Egyptians, but who had eventually made peace with them.

The conquest of Mittanni gave the Hittites and Egyptians a common border and so a source of constant warfare. This culminated in the showdown at Qids between Great King Muwattalli II and the young Pharaoh Ramses II. The book is tied together by a study of the peacemakers, Hittite Great King Hattusili III and Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, and their treaty. Klengel details the physical settings in which each of these kings lived. We learn of the personalities and domestic and foreign problems faced by these two rulers (particularly by the usurper Hattusili) and how this pushed them into a peace treaty. There is a particularly fine description of treaty negotiations, the contents of the treaty, the divine witnesses, how the treaty physically looked on the tablets, and even speculation as to how one might affix a seal to a metal tablet.

Thanks to the preservation of a considerable number of tablets containing letters between the Hittite and Egyptian courts, Klengel is able to lay out the course of negotiations for a marriage...