Fragment of oldest known peace treaty found in Turkey

doebler

> The country of Egypt and the country of Hatti [Hittite Empire] will be forever in a state of peace. Wonder how long it lasted? Edit: turns out it lasted until the Hittite empire collapsed 80 years later, so in a sense indeed "forever".

pfdietz

Egypt and the Hittites were now concerned with the rise of Assyria. All would suffer in the late Bronze Age (LBA) collapse, with the Hittite empire collapsing soon after a string of three drought years about half a century after the treaty. Egypt and Assyria, at least, would persist in truncated form, with the latter rising to new heights of power in the Iron Age.

JoeAltmaier

Note the Treaty of Ebla and Abarsal, from about 2350 BCE, exists in scores of clauses on a tablet.

Razengan

Somewhat in the similar vein: Irving Finkel reads the Pharaoh's private mail (from the -14th century) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MZq_ZQDhJA

potatosalad99

I remember this campaign from Age of Empires

cloudbonsai

Full text of the treaty: https://corum.ktb.gov.tr/EN-61494/kadesh-war-and-peace-treat... It reads more like a military alliance agreement between kings: 1. Reamasesa-Mai-amana (King of Egypt) and Hattusili (King of Hatti) are best friends forever. 2. If a foreign country invaded one of us, the other one must send his troops. 3. Ditto with civil wars. We help each other. 4. If a high-profile person flees from Egypt or Hatti, send the bastard back. 5. If people flee from Hatti to Egypt, order them back. Do not retaliate against returnees, though. No pulling eyes/tongues. No cutting feet/ears. No destroying wives/houses/kids. Please.

senderista

Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_letters