Der Vertrag zwischen Ramses II. von Agypten und Hattusili III. von Hatti.

• Author: Spalinger, Anthony
• Position: Review

By ELMAR EDEL. Wissenschaftliche Veroffentlichung der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, vol. 95. Berlin: GEBR. MANN VERLAG, 1997. Pp. xvi + 109, 75 plates.

This wonderful work is, in many ways, the culmination of the late Elmar Edel's life-long interest in things Hittite. Solely restricted to the various exemplars (Akkadian and Egyptian) of the famous treaty between Hattusilis III and Ramesses II, this volume is a detailed and intricate study of the linguistic interaction in the Eastern Mediterranean of the Late Bronze Age. All sorts of analyses are presented here, but the reader should be aware that, for the most part, this study avoids historical inquiry. By and large, Edel has presented to the world a sumptuous editio princeps which can satisfy any reader, Orientalist or otherwise.

That this study was painstaking is evident from the beginning. The two versions of the treaty were recollated and, with the benefit of new fragments from the Hittite capital, many useful interpretations of certain clauses and key passages in the treaty are offered. As a result, this masterwork will serve us for years to come, if simply because of the genius of the individual who spent much of his life on the subject. As one who himself worked some time ago on the same problem (see "Considerations on the Hittite Treaty between Egypt and Hatti," Studien zur altagyptischen Kultur 8 [19811: 299-358), I am gratified to see many troublesome passages and speculative interpretations ably resolved. Indeed, the editor of the series, Gernot Wilhelm, is to be congratulated as well, as he has seen the work through the final stages of printing. Without this new study, our field would be at a disadvantage.

The translations themselves are fresh, highly accurate and, for those who know Edel's previous scholarship, up-to-date and exact. Nothing is left to be desired - even the plates are splendid. Large and carefully drawn (the hieroglyphs and cuneiform signs are as beautiful as they are readable), the copies are worth repeated consulting. The absence of slip-shod or quickly drawn facsimiles is extremely gratifying, and so are the numerous photographs of the hieroglyphic exemplars.

After a brief introduction, Edel turns to the Akkadian version and reconstructs, in a masterly fashion, a number of previously questionable lines and passages. There follow detailed transliterations of the Akkadian and the Egyptian versions. Extremely useful comments will be found in the textual...