Home ›› 09 Nov 2021 ›› Opinion
The 99th anniversary of the discovery of the King Tut Ankh Amun tomb, and looking very much forward to the opening of the restored Sphinx Avenue linking the Karnak and Luxor Temples, I would like to share with you yet another charm in the ancient Egyptian capital.
The Karnak Temple in Luxor overwhelms the visitors with its exceptional scale and historic value. I am one of those admirers of this world heritage. But for a diplomat coming from Japan, it was most striking to find its walls containing the inscriptions of the oldest peace treaty in the world, the treaty of Kadesh.
The Hittite version of this treaty is better known to some people. A replica of the clay tablet with cuneiform inscriptions is at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. It is regrettable that numberless travellers to Luxor do not notice this wonderful hieroglyphic version if they are more aware of the Battle of Kadesh. So, I decided to dig into this, with the help of Egyptian friends.
Two giant powers in the Middle East, the New Kingdom of Egypt under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II went into a fierce battle at Kadesh on the Orontes River near today’s Homs, just some kilometres from the Syria-Lebanon border. This seemed to happen around 1274 BC, although there is still controversy about the exact time. A number of stone walls at Abydos, Karnak, Luxor and Abu Simbel describe the Egyptian version of the battle and the heroic victory of Ramesses II.
About 16 years after the battle, an official peace treaty was concluded between Ramesses II and Hattusili III, the new king of the Hittites, against the background of rising pressure from Assyrians and a succession race in Hittite. The hieroglyphic version of the treaty was engraved in the walls of the Ramesseum and the Temple of Karnak in Luxor.
Detailed accounts of the battle are exciting and valuable in military history. But it is even more meaningful for us today that the oldest peace treaty was agreed upon and visible for everyone.
I may summarize the essence of their mutual commitments as follows: There will be permanent peace and fraternity between Egypt and Hittite. Neither side will violate the other’s land. When one of them is attacked by a third country or internal forces, the other side will send its force to help. Each side will send back dissidents and emigrants from the other side.
We can find here two characteristics, a peace treaty to end the war, and an alliance treaty to mutually commit non-aggression and assistance. It is surprising to find in such old days a proto-type of today’s legal mechanism for peace and security.
When I visited the Karnak Temple, I found the treaty text on the wall extending south of the Great Hypostyle Hall, after imposing scenes caved in reliefs together with texts on battles against the enemies. Unfortunately, the people who lived here afterwards, used the walls to sharpen the knives, and some inscriptions are eroded, but the main parts of the text are readable.
dailynewsegypt.com
