Rivalry in Syria and war at Kadesh
In the thirteenth century BCE, Egypt and Hatti competed for Syrian routes and local allegiances. Ramesses II fought a Hittite army at Kadesh, a battle later represented in Egyptian inscriptions and reliefs. Both states continued to manage frontiers and subordinate rulers. Military rivalry required armies, food and transport from each kingdom.
After a change of rule in Hatti, Hattusili III became king. Facing their own political pressures, the two rulers increasingly pursued negotiations through envoys and exchanged texts and conditions for peace.
An agreement in two languages
The treaty, agreed around 1259 BCE, survives as Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions and an Akkadian version on clay tablets in Hittite archives. It affirmed peace, promised assistance against enemies or internal rebellion and addressed the return of fugitives. Divine witnesses gave the agreement a place within each state’s religious and political language, while the parallel versions preserved reciprocal commitments.
Envoys and marriages after peace
Royal correspondence and embassies continued after the agreement, and Ramesses later married a Hittite princess. Gifts, marriages and diplomatic travel helped maintain the relationship. Clauses on assistance and fugitives show that ancient diplomacy addressed practical problems of security and personnel. The treaty records how rulers expressed an end to warfare through reciprocal obligations and then supported the settlement through further contact.