The book is a collection of translated documents related to the foreign affairs of the Hittites, an important group of people that occupied the eastern part of Modern Turkey and became a great power in the Ancient Near East in the 14th and 13th c. BC. There are more than fifty translated documents ranging from c. 1500-1200 BC.

Some very interesting texts include the treaty between Hittite Hattusili III and Egyptian Ramses II, Hit-tite Sup-piluliuma I and Niq-maddu II of Ugarit, let-ters exchanged between the queens of the Hittites and the Egyptians as well as various edicts of the Hittite kings. The following is a short extract from the correspondence exchanged between the queen of the Hittites and the queen of the Egyptians:

I, your sister, am well. My land is well. May you, my sister, be well! May your land be well! [...]I have now heard that you, my sister, wrote to me inquiring about my health, and that you are writing to me in regard to the relationship of good peace and the rela-tionship of good brotherhood which exists between the Great King, the King of Egypt, and the Great King, the King of Hatti [Hit-tites], his brother. The Sun-god and the Storm-god will exalt you, and the Sun-god will cause peace to thrive and will provide good brotherhood forever between the Great King, the King of Egypt, and the Great King, the King of Hatti, his broth-er. And I am likewise in a condition of peace and brother-hood with you, my sister. I have now sent you a present as a gift of greeting for you my sister. And may you, my sister, be informed about the present which I have sent you in the care of Parihnawa, the messenger of the King: One very colorful necklace of good gold, made up of twelve strands.

Back to Cover

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page