A History of Babylon, from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Persian ConquestKing, L. W. (Leonard William)
History
A History of Babylon, from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Persian Conquest
King, L. W. (Leonard William)
Babylonia -- History
The Egyptian war was continued with varying success, though it is
certain that the Hittites were eventually successful in the north.
But in the reign of Khattusil, the brother of Mutallu, both sides were
weary of the conflict, and an elaborate treaty of peace and alliance
was drawn up. This, when engraved upon a silver tablet, was carried
to Egypt by an ambassador and presented to Rameses. The contents of
the treaty have long been known from the Egyptian text, engraved on
the walls of the temple at Karnak; and among the tablets found at
Boghaz Keui was a broken copy of the original Hittite version,[38]
drawn up in cuneiform characters and in Babylonian, the language of
diplomacy at the period. Khattusil also maintained friendly relations
with the Babylonian court, and he informed the king of Babylon of his
treaty with the king of Egypt. It is clear from a copy of the letter,
recovered at Boghaz Keui, that the Babylonian king had heard about the
treaty and had written to enquire concerning it. Khattusil replies that
the king of Egypt and he had formed a friendship and had concluded an
alliance: "We are brothers, and against a foe will we fight together,
and with a friend will we together maintain friendship."[39] And his
next remark enables us to identify his Kassite correspondent; for
he adds, "and when the king of Egypt [formerly] attacked [Khatti],
then did I write to inform thy father Kadashman-turgu." Khattusil
was thus the contemporary of two Kassite kings, Kadashman-turgu and
Kadashman-Enlil II., the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth rulers of the
dynasty.
Another section of this letter is of considerable interest, as it shows
that an attempt by Khattusil to intervene in Babylonian politics had
been resented, and had led to a temporary estrangement between the two
countries. Khattusil is at pains to reassure Kadashman-Enlil as to the
unselfishness of his motives, explaining that the action he had taken
had been dictated entirely by the Kassite king's own interests. The
episode had occurred on the death of Kadashman-turgu, and, according
to Khattusil's account, he had at once written to Babylon to say that,
unless the succession of Kadashman-Enlil, who was then a boy, was
recognized, he would break off the alliance he had concluded with the
late king, Kadasman-Enlil's father. The Babylonian chief minister,
Itti-Marduk-balâtu, had taken offence at the tone of the letter, and
had replied that the Hittite king had not written in the tone of
brotherhood, but had issued his commands as though the Babylonians were
his vassals. As a result, diplomatic negotiations had been broken off
during the young king's minority; but he had now attained his majority,
and had taken the direction of affairs from his minister's hands into
his own. The long communication from Khattusil must have been written
shortly after the resumption of diplomatic intercourse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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