Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great and the Hittite Peace Treaty
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Ramses the Great as a warrior — Kadesh, the Sherden pirates, the Libyan campaigns. But today I want to shift gears and look at him as a diplomat. Because in year 21 of his reign, Ramses did something unprecedented: he signed the world's first surviving peace treaty. Luna: Wait — first surviving? So there might have been earlier ones we just don't have? Lucas: Exactly. We have plenty of references to treaties in earlier Mesopotamian texts, but this is the oldest one where we actually have the full text from both sides. The Egyptian version is carved on the walls of the Temple of Karnak and the Ramesseum, and the Hittite version — on clay tablets — was found in the royal archives at Hattusa, their capital in what's now central Turkey. Luna: So it's a bilateral document. Both sides kept a copy. Lucas: Right. And the treaty was between Ramses II and Hattusili III, who had become king of the Hittites a few years after Kadesh. Hattusili was actually the brother of Muwatalli II — the Hittite king Ramses fought at Kadesh. But Hattusili had seized power in a civil war, and he needed legitimacy. A treaty with Egypt gave him that. Luna: So it was as much about internal politics as foreign relations. Lucas: Absolutely. The treaty begins with a preamble, then lists the terms. Both sides agreed to perpetual peace, no more hostilities. They promised mutual defense — if either Egypt or Hatti was attacked by a third party, the other would come to their aid. There's even an extradition clause: if a political refugee fled from one kingdom to the other, they had to be returned. Luna: Extradition? That sounds incredibly modern. Lucas: It does. But there's a twist — the extradition clause also says the refugees should not be punished harshly. They were to be returned 'in mercy', not executed. That's a surprisingly humane touch for the Bronze Age. Then there's the divine dimension: the treaty lists dozens of gods from both sides as witnesses. The Egyptian god Seth — who was associated with chaos and foreign lands — is invoked alongside the Hittite storm god Teshub and the Sun goddess Arinna. Luna: Seth as a witness to a peace treaty makes sense — he's the god of foreigners. Lucas: Exactly. And the treaty was written on a silver tablet, which was then presented to Ramses. We don't have the original silver tablet, but the Egyptian version describes it: a silver tablet with a depiction of Teshub on one side and a goddess on the other. The Hittite version we have is from the clay copy kept in Hattusa. Luna: A silver tablet — that must have been a powerful symbolic gesture. Lucas: It was. And the treaty wasn't just a piece of paper — it was reinforced by a dynastic marriage. Thirteen years after the treaty, around 1246 BCE, Hattusili's daughter was sent to Egypt to marry Ramses. She arrived with a massive dowry, and Ramses gave her the Egyptian name Maathorneferure — 'She who sees Horus, the invisible splendor of Ra'. This marriage was celebrated in grand inscriptions at Abu Simbel and elsewhere. Luna: That's the Hittite princess we talked about in the episode on Ramses's wives. Lucas: Right. And importantly, the treaty wasn't just a personal agreement between two kings. It was meant to be eternal — it even says 'for millions of years'. Of course, the Hittite Empire collapsed about a century later during the Sea Peoples invasions, and Egypt's power waned too. But the treaty itself survived in the archaeological record. Luna: So where did we actually find the Hittite version? Lucas: The clay tablets were excavated at Hattusa in the early 20th century, by German archaeologists. They're written in Akkadian cuneiform, which was the diplomatic language of the time — kind of like Latin in medieval Europe. The tablets are now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums and the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin. And here's a fun fact: a copy of the treaty hangs in the United Nations headquarters in New York, as an early example of international diplomacy. Luna: Wait — the actual replica? Or a modern copy? Lucas: A modern replica, of course. But it's displayed there to show that the concept of a binding peace agreement is thousands of years old. The treaty even includes a clause that says 'these words shall be for all time' — a remarkably forward-looking statement. Luna: So both sides really committed to this. No hidden agenda? Lucas: Well, there was definitely self-interest. For Hattusili, the treaty secured his southern border while he dealt with Assyrian threats in the east. For Ramses, it freed him to focus on his massive building projects and internal consolidation. And the treaty had a profound cultural impact — after it was signed, there was a flourishing of trade and diplomatic correspondence between the two empires. We have letters from the Hittite queen Puduhepa — Hattusili's wife — to Ramses, discussing everything from medicine to marriage negotiations. Luna: Puduhepa was a major player. She's one of the most powerful women of the Bronze Age. Lucas: Absolutely. She co-authored some of the diplomatic letters and even helped negotiate the marriage of her daughter. Her voice comes through in the cuneiform tablets — she writes with authority and intelligence. For example, in one letter she complains that Ramses hasn't sent a proper physician for her brother-in-law, and demands he send a better one. It's a very human moment. Luna: So the treaty wasn't just between two men — it involved a queen too. Lucas: Exactly. And that's part of what makes this treaty so remarkable. It's not just a dry diplomatic document; it's a window into the personal relationships and power dynamics of the Bronze Age world. The treaty set a precedent for future diplomacy — the Hittites and Egyptians continued to exchange gifts, letters, and even medical knowledge for decades after. Luna: It really does feel like the first step toward a more connected ancient world. Lucas: It does. And while the treaty eventually faded into history, its rediscovery in the 20th century changed how we understand ancient international relations. We tend to think of diplomacy as a modern invention, but here we have two great powers negotiating in good faith, invoking their gods, and committing to paper — or rather, to silver and clay — a pact that they intended to last forever. It's a humbling reminder that some things, like the desire for peace, are truly timeless. Luna: And it's still relevant today. A copy at the UN — that's powerful. Lucas: It is. So next time you hear about a modern peace treaty, remember Ramses and Hattusili — and the silver tablet that started it all.