Ancient History - Part 52: New Players In Town

Upon the collapse of the Hittite Empire, the former lands of her domain fell into the hands of the local princes and lords of the Levant region, most notably in the case of the Philistines, who up to that point began to settle in Palestine. The necessary documentation required for this era of recorded history for the events that followed relies largely upon Egyptian reports dating back to 1190 BC.

In addition to the Philistines, the Aegeans, or the Kleftians, as the Egyptians preferred to name the Mediterranean seafaring peoples, began to enter Asia Minor and colonize upon Cyprus and other uncontested coastal shores along Anatolia, Syria, and Lebanon. However contrary to ancient Egyptian presumptions, these were more than merely tribes migrating from what we know as modern day Greece, but tribes also originating from Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, and the rest of modern day Italy. Egypt lumped the "People of the Sea" as Greek in origin, but latter-day historians of the age of Great Britain have since matched the names of several deceased as varying all throughout the Mediterranean.

Egypt was firmly placed into the uncomfortable position of seeing foreigners pushing into the lands she once occupied, yet powerless to oppose the rapid changing of the times. New cultures would dominate and carve out boundaries to establish strong heterogenous states, while the empires of old, would follow into the footsteps of Hatta on the long downhill road towards decay.

Egypt's pharaoh, Ramses III thusly felt obligated to act against these new players in town, but the Philistines eagerly awaited this pending challenge, and his army was met and repulsed by a stalwart force of Philistine defenders. Upon defeating the once-great Egyptian power, the new migration seamlessly integrated vast swaths of territory, pathing the way for other tribes to follow. For the first time in centuries, the Semitic peoples were permitted to establish their own leadership to rule themselves, this valiant stand put on full display as a warning for any future would-be conquerors. 

The Achilles' heel to every empire is a loss on the battlefield to a lesser enemy for all to witness. One could argue that with the defeat of Egypt, the Philistines did not merely claim their independence, but signaled the end of Egyptian polity of the Near East, created by Thutmose centuries earlier, once and for all. 

[THE PHILISTINES as depicted by Egypt]

Ancient History - Part 51: The Iron Age Is Born

The aforementioned horde that consumed Hatta was restricted to Cappadocia, including the Hittites' capital city, Hattusa. All of Syria was left untouched by this damning incursion. The Egyptian records state that other nations who stood before this horde included the Amorite and the Kedi people, but like the Hattans before them, fell underfoot to this bloody conquest, any survivors press-ganged into the invading army's frontline.

Due to the outside nature of Egypt's perspective, the genetic and cultural identity of this horde remains an unknown. There is speculation that this was a maritime tribe whose warriors landed in the northwestern Anatolia region, newly discovering a weakened force of natives to oppose them. Others theorize that this horde was none other than a conglomeration of north Cappadocian people, who simply decided to march from their steep lands while the Hattic lands were undefended and ripe for plundering hands.

Whether they came from the west or the north, as well as the composition of soldiers, those details make little difference in the final result: Imperial Hatta as Asia Minor knew it ended by 1200 B.C.

Microregions broke apart following the collapse of this once great empire, where warlords and other would-be leaders raced to make their claim for power amongst the ashes of Hatta, but none of these client-states would amount to anything worthy of being called an empire until the days of Sargon II many centuries ahead.

Prior to his death, king Hattushil II ushered large deposits of iron shipments into Egypt, and thereby the Near East, as a whole. This is a monumental achievement that the Hittites do not receive enough credit for because in doing this, they birthed the beginning of the Iron Age. While their civilization and history is long dead and ended, this final act of the Hittites and their last great king is something very much alive and still felt by the modern world today. 

Ancient History - Part 50: The Fall Of Hatta

By the middle of the 13th century BC, warm relations grew to see Hatta become the chief supplier of iron to Egypt, this resource soon to rapidly spread throughout Asia Minor by the time Hattushil II passed. Two decades later, the venerable Ramses II followed. Hattushil's son, Dudkhalia II, named after the original Dudkhalia, the Great Uniter of the Hattic peoples, inherited the throne. Sadly, much historic record is missing, that which might have covered both his reign, and the life of his son, prince Arandas.

One thing that we know for certain about these lost years is that Carchemish and Aleppo, who historians theorize the Hittites lost control of, were firmly back in the possession of the Hattic empire, if they were ever lost to begin with. Carchemish was a focal city and absorbed into the greater part of Hattusa's capital, whereas Aleppo remained within Hatta's sphere of influence, its prince a loyal subject to his king.

During Ramses III's time, there is record that accounts for a great horde who conquered and ended Hattusa, with Dudkhalia possibly being the last ruling king, though internet sources, i.e. Wikipedia, dispute this and list Shubbiluliuma II as the Hittites' final monarch. Some suggest that both kings were one and the same. But as to the ultimate fate of the Hittites, the fact remains that Ancient Egyptian sources cite a wave of devastation in this unnamed horde who engulfed the entirety of the Cilician Plain, including Carchemish, Alashiya, and Arwad, and the Hittite people and their empire with it.

It has been covered previously that Assyria defeated both the Hittites followed by Babylonia, when the latter failed to arrive to her ally's aid. This call-to-arms, or rather, lack thereof, resulted in Assyria shattering the military of Hatta, leaving her indefensible to the savage hordes of the upper northern plains of Cappadocia, and later, Assyria's rule and total conquest of Babylonia.

Egypt opted not to aid nor abet, acting merely as a witness to the fall of her once enemy turned ally. The once great Empire of the Nile's full attention was heavily weighed by the rapid decline from within her own borders as internal decay began to rot down to the core. One positive for future nations that would spawn from this era of the collapsing dynasties is an emphasis placed upon the importance of border-security, in the forms of mitigation of the great migrations of people, as well as protection against organized foreign attack.

[DUDKHALIA II - The forgotten king]

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]

Ancient History - Part 48: The Trouble With Peace

[HITTITE VERSION OF PEACE TREATY]

The context in which the treaty between Egypt and Hatta was formed is a matter of great significance. Whilst the Hattic king lowered his tone to a level of warmth in regards to a peaceful effort of mutual partnership, be it border-defenses or curbing the migratory shifting of adjacent populations, Hattushil still dictated his kingdom's needs with a firm hand, particularly in the matters of territorial dispute. And so the first drafting of this peace treaty was composed from the Hatta camp, not Ramses's.

The finely carved letter of cuneiform arrived by horseback upon a silver platter once presented to the pharaoh. Ramses counter-drafted with overtures of his own, agreeing to Hatta's ownership of four-fifths of Syria, listing the specific towns and provinces included, and etched the compromise in metal before sending it back.

In the end, both parties agreed that the other's border would be rendered immune from invasion by the opposing side, with many Egyptian deities quoted by Ramses's scribesmen as honoring the agreement with their divine eyes. Hattushil in turn gave ceremony in the traditional Hattic religious custom (public temple prayer and demonstrations of stately worship amongst both soldiery and citizen alike) before returning to Ramses's draft with an addendum.

Hatta recognized Egypt's sole province in the Near East as Palestine and only Palestine. The entirety of lands within Syria's borders would endure Hatta's dominion. Each of Syria's princes were consigned as traveling witnesses to these discussions, pawns and figure-heads who gladhanded with their overlord and former overlord alike, and in the end, fully accepted Hattushil's and his successors' leadership in all matters of future governance.

The key to knowing which buttons to press during diplomatic negotiations can be tremendously difficult to ascertain. However, when two rivals war with the another for a lengthy number of years, one begins to know thy enemy as well as they might a third hand. Hattushil used the familiarity of his enemy to know what was too much and what was not enough. He rightfully gambled that rather than risking a war with Hatta and her knew ally, Babylonia, it was in the Empire of the Nile's best interest to approve what would otherwise be a lesser deal under previous circumstances.

[EGYPT'S VERSION OF PEACE TREATY]

Ancient History - Part 47: A Changing of the Guard

Egypt and Hatta continued to battle along their Syrian borderlands, where one such engagement claimed the life of Muwatallis. Sensing the void in leadership, Ramses II mustered three more armies and began to reinforce the frontlines in preparation for another full-scale invasion from the south. Upon a civil war that erupted between rival leaders in Hattusa, king Hattushil II (III according to some modern historians) emerged. His reign lasted a great many years.

While Egypt managed to plague the Hattic kingdom's forces, Hatta still managed not to lose much ground, and once Hattushill II had fully ascended to the throne, still possessed a sphere of influence that running from northern Syria to the topmost border of Palestine. This fertile area continued to fund the entirety of the Hattic kingdom as its chief source of revenue.

Ruling with a firm hand, Hattushil eliminated the question as to who controlled Syria, and despite their vast forces, the pending Egyptian invasion never arrived, the territorial lines once again respected by the two superpowers of Hatta and Egypt. 

Later, the Kassite king of Babylonia corresponded with Hattushil regarding the migratory shift of the Amorite population fleeing Hittite-occupied Syria into the desert with some even making their way into Babylonia. A man of surprisingly great eloquence, Hattushil II transformed from a fiery war chief to a charming elder statesman, and in a successful exchange managed to curb Babylonia's cautiousness, offer explanation that the movement of peoples was not intentional but rather a side effect of the war. In the end, the Hattic king gained a powerful new alliance in this unforeseen friendship with the superpower of the southeast, Babylonia.

Egypt then followed the footsteps on Babylonia, sealing an agreement of friendship, and a new peace treaty was actualized with Hatta.

Some battles are won not by the sword, but by the pen (or the chisel by what 1300 B.C.'s cuneiform standards would suggest) and Hattushil managed to do what years of blood-soaked violence could not. Simply treating with the rival power of Babylonia was enough to intimidate a peaceful result with Egypt thus demonstrating that while no monarch's rule is infallible, a simple change in leadership followed by immediate action is usually enough to gain the attention of all friend and foe.

[KING MUWATALLIS REMEMBERED upon his death]

Ancient History - Part 46: The Blood Feud Begins

King Murshil's reign exemplified a non-aggression principle with areas outside of his domain that were previously the aim of conquest by Hatta left largely untouched. Whether this was due to an ill-desire of placing his people in the proximity of the growing Assyrian peril or merely a touch of benevolence still remains unclear.

Murshil is estimated to have died roughly around 1300 B.C., upon which his son, Muwatallis, assumed the Hittite throne. Almost immediately, the new king found himself in open-conflict with the Egyptian king, Seti I, whose armies not only encroached upon Hattic territory, but violently clashed with that of his own. As Egypt pushed with northward marches, Hatta responded in southward counter-marches culminating in bloody skirmishes. The days of being honor-bound to a treaty forged by their forebears soon lay buried in the past.

Warbound enemies once again, in the eighth year of Egyptian-Hittite armed conflict, Seti I died and before the throne had time to even pass to his successor, the Hattic forces successfully broke through, assuming the recently deceased pharoah's rich provinces, in a deadly path through Egypt's dominion. The death of a monarch is an ill-omen, and typically signals enemy forces with a ripe opportunity to attack a weakened nation's heart.

However, once the Egyptian throne officially passed onto Ramses II, the landscape would change. Five years later, the infamous Battle of Kadesh took place (a topic deserving of an in-depth analysis of its own post(s) potentially at a later date) where both embittered overlords of Syria clashed in what has been cemented as a storybook highlight of Egypt's proud history. Fragments exist from both the Egyptian and Hittite perspective on how the events of that fateful day unfolded.

Kadesh was a Hattic controlled city and Ramses II set out to overtake it. The core armed strengths of both superpowers' militaries were bound to face-off in a deadly culmination at this battle site and various ploys and intrigues took place prior to, during, and after the battle itself. 

In the end, despite proclaiming courage and victory, Ramses II and his army's attack on Kadesh (Qadesh) was repelled, quickly pivoting to withdraw to Palestine. There were many close encounters for the pharaoh on the battlefield that nearly sent him to an early crypt, who insisted that he, along with his elite guard, be placed in a precarious mid-line position in order to inspire his troop amidst the fighting.

While the battle-hungry Egyptian leader technically lost, the resulting aftermath had the king of Egypt declared the victor, and this is a profound example of how the presentation of information can manipulate a people's attitude and favor when efforts are made to obscure detection of the deceit. Ramses II's reign would continue many more years, some still in conflict with the Hittites, and yet that loss is still touted as a victory in some circles of Egypt's cultural heritage even to our present day. 

[KING RAMSES II, as depicted in battle]