The fourth and last son of Mursili…
1269 BCE to 1258 BCE
The fourth and last son of Mursili II ascends the Hittite throne in 1267 as Hattusili III.
An archive of over 200 letters have been found from the royal palace at Hattusa which show that Hattusili exchanged letters with numerous Near Eastern kings including the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II.
Hattusili and Ramesses seal a written peace treaty based upon Hittite models which, due to Egyptian monumental copies of it, has become the earliest well known treaty in history, establishing a long-lasting peace between the two rival empires.
The first known diplomatic agreement from the Near East and the oldest written treaty that still survives today (though not the oldest known treaty), it was recorded both in Egypt, inscribed on the walls of temples in hieroglyphics, and in the former Hittite empire, now in Turkey, where it was preserved on baked clay tablets.
The treaty is thought to have been negotiated by intermediaries without the two monarchs ever meeting in person.
Both sides have common interests in making peace; Egypt faces a growing threat from the "Sea Peoples", while the Hittites are concerned about the rising power of Assyria to the east.
Ratified in the twenty-first year of Ramesses II's reign (1258 BCE) the treaty will continue in force until the Hittite Empire collapses eighty years later.
Ramesses marries Hattusili's daughter, known by the Egyptian name of Maathorneferure.
Years later he will marry another Hittite princess.
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The Near and Middle East
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