The famous “peace” treaty between Ramesses II and Hattušili III was the result of a process of intensive diplomatic effort to forge a new kind of contact between Egypt and Hatti following the 1274 BC Battle of Kadesh, ending a long period of hostilities. What is remarkable about this new relationship is the role played by Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II and the Hittite queen Puduáhepa, the wife of Hattušili III, in bringing the two major powers together.
Murder and Alliance
“My husband has died, and I have no son. But You have many sons, they say. If You give me one of Your sons, he will become my husband. Never I would take a servant of mine and make him my husband. I am afraid.”
This is a part of the most famous letter, written by an unknown Egyptian queen at the end of the Amarna Period, to the Great king of Hatti, Suppiluliuma I. Known only as “the king’s wife” or “Dahamunzu” in the Hittite records, this queen wrote to suggest a marriage between herself, the widow of an Egyptian pharaoh, and a Hittite prince. Such a union of the two greatest powers of the ancient Near East, based not on war but on a royal marriage, was a sensational idea – one that Suppiluliuma could not ignore. He decided to send one of his sons to Egypt. However the prince was murdered on his journey, possibly by enemies of the Egyptian queen, destroying any hope of an alliance between the two powers.
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