The first Egyptian references to Hatti occur during the reign of the Dynasty 18 pharaoh Thutmose III, who was busily extending the northern frontiers of Egypt and consolidating its newly acquired Asiatic empire. In the course of 17 campaigns during 21 years, his armies must have interfered in, or operated very close to, the Hittite sphere of influence. However, the Hittites were not yet prepared to address this aggression.7 A scene in a private tomb represents a man, identified as the chieftain of Hatti, kneeling before the Egyptian king in the act of extolling, along with other foreign leaders, “the might of his Majesty, their ‘tribute’ (i. e. diplomatic gifts)8 being upon their backs - consisting of all the [valuable materials]9 from the East, namely silver, gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and every (other) semi-precious stone - in exchange for their being granted the breath of life” (cf. Wilson 1969: 248-49). This man is not depicted as an actual Hittite, but rather a Syrian vassal in Hittite service (Darnell 1991: 113 and n. 1). So the Egyptians were well aware of the existence of the Hittites at this time, but had only an indirect relationship with them (Oosthoek 1992: 343).
The rulers of the Syrian states of Tunip and Qadesh are also represented in the scene mentioned above. In the year 22/23, during his first victorious Asiatic campaign against Megiddo, Thutmose III had faced a coalition of independent local forces led by the king of Qadesh. Always a regional center of agitation against Egypt, Qadesh had to be dealt with again subsequently. Its fortifications were breached in the great campaign of the year 33, when the Euphrates was crossed and Tunip was also captured. Following Egypt’s military successes against Mitanni, even on its own turf, neighboring Hatti quickly joined in dispatching diplomatic gifts to the Egyptian court.10 Meanwhile, Mitanni, always in competition with Hatti - which was now enjoying a resurgence of power and influence - did not hesitate long to offer itself as an ally of Egypt;11 diplomatic marriages were arranged since at least the time of Thutmose IV (Moran 1992: 93). As Egypt enjoyed an era of unprecedented power and wealth, the “Hittite problem” faded into the background.
In the reign of Amenhotep III Hatti appears in several geographical lists, as letters written in the Hittite language were exchanged with the Anatolian kingdom of Arzawa. Although the circumstances are unknown, it seems to have been a Hittite scribe who taught the Egyptians how to write cuneiform Babylonian, the language of diplomacy (Moran 1992: xviii-xxii; Gianto 1997: 426-27, 433). New regional troubles late in Amenhotep’s reign were connected with the rise of the “rogue state” of Amurru, whose ambitious rulers took advantage of the ambiguity of their frontline location along the Egypto-Mitannian border to foment trouble with their neighbors, perhaps relying on the reluctance of either Egypt or Mitanni, now ruled by Tushratta, to intervene militarily so close to the other’s domain. Although both Mitanni and Hatti continued to challenge one another over control of north Syria, as well as southeastern Anatolia, that situation was temporarily stabilized in a sort of gridlock, with only limited movement possible on either side. But soon they would become embroiled in another major power struggle.
World History
