Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Ancient History - Part 49: The Lion In The Room



Surprisingly, Carchemish was left off the Treaty of Kadesh. This has to led to some speculation that either a non-Hittite entity (such as Assyria) had absorbed the city during the negotiations between Hatta and Egypt, or more likely, Carchemish had already become a recognized part of king Hattushil's home capital, thereby needing no such formally written recognition in the agreement.

During this period, Shalmaneser I, the king of Assyria, had reached the Middle Euphrates, with his armies frequently setting raids from across the water. The target of these raids primarily included Hatta's ally, the Mitanni, who sustained the brunt of these attacks, and included their capital, Hanigalbat. Thusly, it is not unreasonable to put Assyrian occupation of Carchemish outside the realm of possibility here.

Whilst previously Egypt was frantic to accept swift Hattic friendship due to pressure from their alliance with Babylonia, it was soon the Hittite people's turn to ask the same of their former enemy. As westward expansion by Assyria encroached upon their lands, Hattushil drew upon letters to Babylonia and Egypt both, reporting aggressive movements of this powerful new threat. However, as we know, not much was done in the manner to curb the Hattic king's worry.

Even still, thirteen years after signing the Treaty of Kadesh, Hattushil concentrated on fulfilling strategic maneuvers to strengthen the bonds with his allies, and began by marrying one of his daughters to Egypt's pharaoh, Ramses, who would join his Royal Harem. The correspondence at this junction actually included Hattushil's queen, Pudukhipa, directly addressing matters concerning her daughter and the Egyptian lifestyle, and also Ramses asked for large supplies of smelted iron from his new kingly friend.

Generally speaking, it is very difficult to create a reasonably sized conglomerate of allied nations to defend against the level of danger that the war-hungry Assyrian army posed to the rest of the Near East. Egypt and Babylonia did not appear to treat this threat with the same manner of heightened care that Hatta did, and instead demonstrated clumsy foresight by the hands of Babylonia's king, and an agnostic interest at best on behalf of Egypt's, due to distance.

It's a reasonable basis in hindsight that the Hittites and their king were correct in fearing Assyrian expansion, but unfortunately their voices were drowned out in a sea of disinterest, a price all players with the exception of perhaps Elam, in the far east, would later pay at a supreme cost.


[KING HATTUSHIL II]


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