599 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXI N° 5-6, september-december 2004 600

HETTITOLOGIE

KLENGEL, H. — Hattuschili und Ramses. Philipp von Zabern GmbH, Mainz am Rhein, 2002. (25 cm, 179). ISBN 3-8053-2917-2. / 39,80. The theme dealt with in this volume is of great inter- est for the discerning public fascinated by the Ancient Near East. It is the political confrontation between Egypt and the during the 14th and 13th centuries BC. The pharaohs of Egypt wanted to consolidate their control over western Syria, a rich but politically divided and thus weak region, whilst the Hittites were attempting to impose their rule over all of northern Syria, a goal which they would pursue with varying fortunes throughout their entire history. An expert hand guides the reader through events which involved famous individuals and which unfolded against a backdrop of places, the mere names of which evoke a great historical past. The numerous, excellent photographs (many by the Author himself) furnish images of these sites and some of the principal actors (we even have the mummies of Sethos I and his son, Ramesses II) and are of great documentary value in themselves. The photograph reproduced on p. 23 of the countryside near Sivas (an area in which the Hittites were firmly established from the time of the Old Kingdom on), still under a heavy mantle of snow in the month of May, shows how the season for military campaigns must, of necessity, have begun late in the year, making control of the north-east- ern regions an arduous task. Such photographs are extremely evocative and succeed in tempting even the most specialised scholar to consider more widely-ranging topics. 601 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — HETTITOLOGIE 602

This renewed interest in the confrontation between Ram- tite version of the threatening letter sent by Suppiluliuma pos- seses II and the Hittites is the result of Elmar Edel's memo- sibly to the pharaoh Ay, a general related to the Egyptian rable edition of the correspondence between the pharaoh and royal family (Th. P. J. van den Hout, ZA 84 [1994] 60-88). Îattusili III along with his wife PuduÌepa.1) Recently, Edel The plague which raged in Îatti for twenty years, and which has also published a new edition of the peace treaty between the Hittites saw as divine punishment for having violated the Îattusili and Ramesses, in both the Babylonian and Egypt- treaty of Kurustama, prevented the Hittites from taking the ian versions.2) offensive once more. The Egyptians, on the other hand, under The Author, one of the greatest experts on the history of first Horemheb and then Ramesses I, founder of the 19th Syria in the second millennium, duly acknowledges the debt Dynasty, and his son Sethos I, began once more to conduct that every scholar concerned with this period owes to Edel campaigns in Syria. Faced with this new political context, by dedicating this volume to him. A further important instru- Amurru once again submitted itself to Egypt. ment available to historians is the recent new edition of the Ramesses II came to the throne at the early age of only Ramesses inscriptions by K.A. Kitchen.3) twenty. Already four years later, in May 1275, he moved Îattusili I, whose reign opens the Old Kingdom as it was against the territories under Hittite control, clashing with he who established the Hittite capital at Îattusa, had already Muwatalli at Qades. There are thirteen extant Egyptian ver- conquered important cities in northern Syria, and his succes- sions of these events, three of which are literary in nature sor, , succeeded in taking Aleppo. These were, how- (one of these is the so-called Poem). Some of these versions ever, fleeting achievements and it is only after a long period would have been available to a large part the population, as of crisis, at the start of the Imperial period, under TutÌaliya were the two compositions in both image and word engraved, I, that the Hittites came into contact with the Egyptians for one on an external section of the first courtyard in the tem- the first time, the latter having reached the Euphrates under ple of Amon and the other on the façade of the outer court- Tuthmosis I (1504-1492). The Hittites and Egyptians signed yard of the Ramesseum. It is clear that this “größere a peace treaty, known as the treaty of Kurustama because the Öffentlichkeit” was to function as “eine ägyptische Nieder- Hittites consigned a military contingent of men from this lage in einen Sieg umzudeuten.” Ramesses had, however, region, otherwise unknown. This treaty has been reconsid- prevented the Egyptian army from being destroyed. We have ered by I. Singer, in: Sarnikzel. Gedenkschrift E. O. Forrer, no Hittite accounts of these events, as the documents of D. Groddek. — S. Rößle edd., Dresden 2004, 591-607 (the Muwatalli were preserved in his capital, TarÌuntassa, yet to scholars who have dealt with this treaty, dating it to TutÌaliya be discovered. The Hittites were aware of having won a vic- I, are listed there, at p. 597, note 29). tory. Îattusili III, who fought in the battle of Qades along- Suppiluliuma I defeated and retook Aleppo. Hav- side a contingent of soldiers from the area under his control, ing removed Nuhasse from the Mitanni sphere of influence, writes in his Apology: “at the time that Muwatalli took the the line of friction between Hittite expansion and the area field against the king of Egypt and the country of Amurru, under Egyptian control shifted to the region directly south of and when he then had defeated the king of Egypt and the land Emesa / Homs, then occupied by the state of Amurru, and of Amurrru…” He refers threateningly to this event even in the “plain,” Amka, which divides the Lebanon and Anti- a letter sent to Ramesses: “Do you not think of the days of Lebanon ranges and, in the north, links up with the lower enmity of Îatti?” It is Ramesses himself who referring to Orontes valley. The as yet unpublished documents discov- Îattusili's phrase (Edel, no 24 obv. 16'), provides his own ered in recent years at Qatna show how profoundly this version: two Hittite nomads had declared that the king of region was Hurrianized (Th. Richter, UF 34 [2002] 603-618). Îatti was still in Aleppo, and so he camped on the left bank Suppiluliuma's attack on Amka was seen as a violation of the of the Orontes, as did his vanguard, to await the arrival of the Kurustama treaty by the Hittites themselves (Mursili II). further three armies still marching to the area. It was at this A fragmentary letter in Babylonian (nr. 1 in Edel's edition) point that he was suddenly attacked by the Hittite king and confirms the historical veracity of the request, expressed by his allies. The Egyptian king succeeded, however, in defeat- Tutankhamon's widow, to take one of the Hittite king's sons ing the Hittites, notwithstanding the fact that he was alone, as spouse in order that “the two great countries (the Egypt- without his armies or his charioteers, because of the unloyal ian and the Hittite kingdoms) could become one.” This truly behaviour of the enemy! unusual episode is narrated in the “Deeds of Suppiluliuma.” TutÌaliya IV, in the treaty with Amurru, recalls with An envoy, Îattusa-ziti, was entrusted with the task of deter- detachment the aims the Hittites had set themselves and the mining Egypt's true intentions, whilst the king, returning to results they achieved: “Muwatalli, the uncle of His Majesty, his capital, conquered Karkemis along the way. He installed did battle with the king of Egypt for dominion over the peo- his son Piyassili in this city which would become the strong- ples of Amurru. He defeated him, destroyed Amurru with the hold of Hittite dominion in Syria. force of arms and subjected it.” Muwatalli, in fact, was con- The following spring, Îattusa-ziti returned with an Egypt- tent with regaining control over Amurru. A campaign in the ian messenger and, together, they persuaded Suppiluliuma to regions beyond Amurru, traditionally under Egyptian control, send one of his sons to Egypt. This son was, however, then was beyond his reach. killed in unclear circumstances. We still have today the Hit- Mursili III, who appears to have enjoyed quite a lengthy reign (as indicated by the bullae bearing his name that have come to light in Îattusa, in number roughly a third compared 1) E. Edel, Die ägyptisch-hethitische Korrespondenz aus Boghazköi in to those relating to TutÌaliya IV), was not able to be active babylonischer und hethitischer Sprache, I-II (Opladen 1994). in the Syrian sector. Îattusili III, who usurped the throne 2) E. Edel, Der Vetrag zwischen Ramses I. von Ägypten und Îattusili from his nephew, had the forethought to undertake a lengthy III. von Îatti (WVDOG 95; Berlin 1997). correspondence with Ramesses, a correspondence which also 3) K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, Historical and Biographical. Translated and Annotated (Cambridge, Mass. 1996-1999). involved his wife, PuduÌepa. In this manner he succeeded in 603 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXI N° 5-6, september-december 2004 604 persuading the Egyptian court to sign a peace treaty in line with Hittite tradition (21st year of Ramesses). This Hittite “peace offensive” was a complete success. Peace was main- tained in Syria for many years, also thanks to inter-dynastic marriages. The first Hittite princess married Ramesses dur- ing the 34th year of the pharaoh's reign, when Nefertari had already been dead for some years. The second marriage was finalized by queen PuduÌepa, possibly after Îattusili himself had died.

Alfonso ARCHI