The Hittites : $b The story of a forgotten empireSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
The Hittites : $b The story of a forgotten empire
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Hittites
'If there flee away of the inhabitants [one from the land of Egypt], or
two or three, and they betake themselves to the great king of Kheta [the
great king of Kheta shall not] allow them [to remain, but he shall]
deliver them up, and send them back to Ramessu Miamun, the great prince
of Egypt.
'Now with respect to the [inhabitant of the land of Egypt], who is
delivered up to Ramessu Miamun, the great prince of Egypt, his fault
shall not be avenged upon him, his [house] shall not be taken away, nor
his [wife] nor his [children]. There shall not be [put to death his
mother, neither shall he be punished in his eyes, nor on his mouth, nor
on the soles of his feet], so that thus no crime shall be brought
forward against him.
'In the same way shall it be done if inhabitants of the land of Kheta
take to flight, be it one alone, or two, or three, to betake themselves
to Ramessu Miamun, the great prince of Egypt. Ramessu Miamun, the great
prince of Egypt, shall cause them to be seized, and they shall be
delivered up to the great king of Kheta.
'[With regard to] him who [is delivered up, his crime shall not be
brought forward against him]. His [house] shall not be taken away, nor
his wives, nor his children, nor his people; his mother shall not be put
to death; he shall not be punished in his eyes, nor on his mouth, nor on
the soles of his feet, nor shall any accusation be brought forward
against him.
'That which is in the middle of this silver tablet and on its front side
is a likeness of the god Sutekh ..., surrounded by an inscription to
this effect: "This is the [picture] of the god Sutekh, the king of
heaven and [earth]." At the time (?) of the treaty which Kheta-sira, the
great king of the Kheta, made....'
This compact of offensive and defensive alliance proves more forcibly
than any description the position to which the Hittite empire had
attained. It ranked side by side with the Egypt of Ramses, the last
great Pharaoh who ever ruled over the land of the Nile. With Egypt it
had contested the sovereignty of Western Asia, and had compelled the
Egyptian monarch to consent to peace. Egypt and the Hittites were now
the two leading powers of the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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