Hey everyone, Alix here! Welcome back for week five on my channel. Today we're going to be talking about The Egyptian/Hittite Peace Treaty
also known as the Treaty of Qadesh (Kadesh)
It is one of the oldest peace treaties in recorded history but it is Not the oldest as some people like to say
we'll get more into that later
A bronze replica of the treaty sits in the UN building in New York, I have an image of it here, its kind of blurry, and you can see how pieces of it have broken out
and that is because it is thousands of years old. But this is the main image so you know what it looks like
I don't have a book to cite the information this week I got almost all of it from this one website called Documentarytube.com, I will be linking it down below
Now, let's get into the treaty itself, over three thousand years ago is when it was written up. It was signed by Rameses II of Egypt and Emperor Hattusilis III of the Hittite Empire
so, they signed this treaty that ended an eighty year war between the two empires
The two empires like I said were Egypt, which was known at the time as Kmt (Kemet) K-m-t, in English lettering and Kheta, which is the Hittite Empire, K-h-e-t-a
There are older treaties that exist as I have said, but the Treaty of Qadesh was the first to be signed by two separate yet equally powerful empires in status, wealth, all that kind of stuff
So it was the first treaty, like treaty signing today between The US and Britain, it was basically like that, it was a really big deal
So as I said, older treaties exist, that was the first real good one
So they were fighting over what is now modern day Syria, they wanted control of the land. Egypt invaded in
1,274 BC, because Rameses wanted control of Qadesh, a city near the Orontes River, it was the main trading stop for part of the Silk Road and all these other trading routes at the time
So it was an important place to hold
Now, the Hittites were holding it at the time, and Qadesh was on the border of Egypt, so the Hittites were pressing in on the Egyptian border and making
threats, and when you have two boiling pots they are eventually going to boil over
So, the Hittite Empire was growing, it had actually replaced the Kingdom of Babylonia before, which is NOT the Babylonian Empire
that actually happened later on, kind of confusing I know
The Battle for Qadesh ended in a draw, both sides said they had won but it was really a draw
Because of the battle ending in a draw, they entered this fifteen year long cold war, there was no actual fighting but they were still at war with each other
Here's a Fast Fact For You:
The Egyptian Pharaoh's had many throne names, normal people today will know Rameses II, he's the one that's assumed to be in The Bible
for the Exodus and all that, so people think Oh He's just Rameses II, Actually,
this is an Egyptian Translation, this is an English translation of the Egyptian document of the treaty
It starts with, "Year 21, first month of the second season, twenty-first day, under the majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt:
Usermare-Setepnere, Son of Re (Ra): Rameses-Meriamon, given life, forever and ever,
beloved of Amun-Re-Harakhte, Ptah-South-of-His-Wall, lord of "Life-of-the-Two-Lands,"
Mut, mistress of Ishru, and Khonsu-Neferhotep; shining upon the Horus-throne of the living, like his father, Harakhte, forever and ever"
You now see why people usually just call him Rameses II, because that takes a very long time to go through
and it wastes a lot of paper if you're writing anything
Moving on, the treaty includes twenty key points or obligations both sides have to follow, including, one point says
Neither empire may ever invade or attack each other until either has fallen or basically until the end of time
They have to like each other from now on
Another point is that if one empire is attacked by someone else, the other empire must come in and help them, which if you know anything about
World War One, you will know why that was a bad idea, but it was one of the points
Now, exiled citizens, if Egypt said you are no longer allowed to live here and you tried to move to the Hittite Empire, the Hittite Empire was NOT allowed to say
"Oh yeah, sure, come on in"
No, no, no, no no!
Exiled citizens could not live in the other empire, you had to go somewhere else
This is called the Treaty of Qadesh, like I have said, interestingly enough, Qadesh is never included in the treaty itself, its never even mentioned
So that's kind of funny
The two kings: Rameses II and Hattusilis III, never met in person, the entire treaty was written by intermediaries going back and forth
The treaty was enforced for only eight years, after that the Hittite Empire collapsed making it null and void, and the treaty was officially put in force in 1,258 BC
So that was about three thousand years ago, a very long time. S now you know a little bit more about the world's first really strong peace treaty
So, I hope you learned a lot, remember to contact me, I'm @Nicks_squire__
#Thingsyoudidntlearninhistoryclass
Next week we'll be talking about the real Sacagawea, and you'll be learning a little bit more about her in fact in my Personal Vlog coming up next. Anyway, that's all for now, see you next week, Bye!