Keeping up with the Kadeshians.

In the past, historians thought the Egyptian government was passive (or even “pacifist”) in the days of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Ay. However, new discoveries have proved this wrong. We now have a fragmentary, but fascinating picture of warfare and diplomacy, taking place through Canaan and Syria.

The town of Kadesh, on the Orontes River, is prominent. Once a vassal to pharaoh, the city suffered an attack by Hittite forces. It then changed sides, paying tribute to Suppiluliuma, King of the Land of Hatti. In the later years of Tutankhamun, or the early reign of Ay, the Egyptians responded to Kadesh’s treachery.

The government of ancient Egypt changed its policies according to circumstances. As the King of Hatti expanded his influence, the pharaoh responded. Sometimes the confrontations were violent. Other times, they were diplomatic. But as historians continue to uncover material, we learn more about these fascinating times…

  • Date: c. 1334 BCE (debated).
  • Kings: Tutankhamun and Ay (debated).
  • Battle scene of Tutankhamun: learn more in a free lecture by W. Raymond Johnson (YouTube). Battle reliefs discussion begins at 51:29.
  • Episode logo: A statue, presumed to be Ay, in the Staatliche Museum, Berlin. Image upscaled, cropped, and edited.
  • Music: “War Song,” by Bettina Joy de Guzman.
  • Music: “King Tut’s Song,” by Jeffrey Goodman.
  • Sistrum sound effect by Hathor Systrum. Used with permission.
  • Additional music interludes by Luke Chaos.
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Bibliography

  • T. Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites (New Edition edn, New York, 2005).
  • T. Bryce, The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire (London, 2009).
  • T. R. Bryce, ‘The Death of Niphururiya and Its Aftermath’, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 76 (1990), 97–105.
  • J. Fraser, ‘Kadesh-on-the-Orontes’, in C. M. Furey et al. (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, 14 (2017), 1203—1205.
  • H. Güterbock, ‘The Deeds of Suppiluliuma as Told by His Son, Mursili II’, Journal of Cuneiform Studies 10 (1956), 41–68, 75–98, 107–30.
  • G. T. Martin, Tutankhamun’s Regent: Scenes and Texts from the Memphite Tomb of Horemheb (EES Excavation Memoir 111; London, 2016).
  • J. L. Miller, ‘Amarna Age Chronology and the Identity of Nibxururiya in the Light of a Newly Reconstructed Hittite Text’, Altorientalische Forschungen 34 (2007), 252–93.
  • S. N. Morschauser, ‘The End of the Sḏf(ȝ)-Tr(yt) “Oath”’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 25 (1988), 93–103.
  • W. J. Murnane, The Road to Kadesh: A Historical Interpretation of the Battle Reliefs of King Sety I at Karnak (Chicago, 1985).
  • W. J. Murnane, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt (Atlanta, 1995).
  • W. J. Murnane, ‘Imperial Egypt and the Limits of Her Power’, in R. Cohen and R. Westbrook (eds.), Amarna Diplomacy: The Beginnings of International Relations (Baltimore, 2000), 101–11.
  • W. J. Murnane, ‘Kadesh’, in D. B. Redford (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 2001).
  • D. B. Redford, Akhenaten: The Heretic King (Princeton, 1984).
  • D. B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton, 1992).
  • I. Singer, Hittite Prayers (Atlanta, Ga., 2002).
  • J. A. Wilson, ‘Egyptian Historical Texts’, in J. B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament with Supplement (1978), 227–64. 
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