BROTHERHOOD OF KINGS

Amanda H. Podany

Subtitle - How International Relations Shaped The Ancient Near East, Oxford Univ. press, 2010, index, bibliography, notes, illustrations, maps, time line, list of personalities, recommended reading, paperback

Reviewer comments

This book is a delight to read. Dr. Podany published it before her book and lecture on the History of Mesopotamia, but I listened to and read the text of that book first. Thus, when reading this one I can hear her voice as if she were presenting this as another lecture. The time frame for this book is more limited than the other, which includes Mesopotamia from Neolithic times to the Persian conquest, But this one is more extensive in geographic inclusion as it also includes Egypt, Anatolia, and the parts of the Eastern Mediterranian that participated in 'international' trade. And that is the subject of this book - but a narrow and specific kind of international trade. The book reveals a fascinating and (I believe) well know to scholars but little known to the general reader 'trade'. This is the highly organized 'gift giving' conducted by the 'brotherhood' of kings - especially among the 'high kings' that is 3 or 4 or sometimes 5 rulers of the major powers; Egypt, Mittani, Babylonia, Assyria, and Hatti. Dr. Podany's book is based on the surprisingly large troves of cuneiform tablets found mostly in various royal palaces or even private homes. But even this large harvest of tablets is limited in the content of topics discussed. One of the remarkable collections is called the 'Amarna letters' since it was found in the Egyptian palace archives at Amarna, Egypt. ( The Amarna letters are catalogued and available on Wikipedia. )
Another remarkable fact is that they are written in Akkadian language - not spoken by either the Egyptians nor the senders, nor read by the kings who generally could not even read their own languages. The documents were read to them by their own scribes and/or by the visiting diplomats.

Dr. Podany is meticulous in her copious notes citing her scholarly sources. And the notes indicate the large volume of recent scholarship on Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East. The bibliography shows the same thing. The student today should be critical of any books published before WWII on this subject.
But based on these documents plus much other archeological research and documents Dr. Podany fills in many otherwise missing details. She is careful to distinguish between what is most likely known and what she presumes from what evidence is available.
In her epilogue Dr. Podany writes her own words of caution: "This book has barely scratched the surface of its topic. Each event, city, and character touched on could be expanded into an entire book, and, indeed, each of them has been studied and written about by a great many scholars.... As with any field of history, scholars can use the same evidence to argue for somewhat different conclusions. In exploring the ancient Near East, historians have plenty of room to disagree with one another because there are so many gaps in our documentation."
One of the central subjects Dr. Podany discusses is the remarkable, extensive 'gift exchanging' in which the various kings engaged - according to customary protocols - great king to great king as equals - and lesser king to a greater king as a subordinate. The activity and its significance to these kings is shown for us in the elaborate letters they sent to each other announcing the 'gifts' being sent and complaining about 'gifts' being received or not received. She comments on the purposes for this activity, but I believe much more can be seen in it. For instance, what constituted 'luxury gifts', and why were specific items asked for or offered? What were the specific purposes the various kings had in mind for each exchange. The reader looks for discussion of the interaction of economic and political means to achieve personal end including psychological ones.

The list of characters, time line, and maps she provides are very useful - especially the extensive list of names, obscure to the general reader. I include some of these below. I hope my comments here will encourage the readers to buy and enjoy the book.

More reviewer thoughts:

Dr. Podany has written a masterful , vivid description of her subject - the evolution of diplomacy between kings in the Near East, focused on the period generally from 2300 to 1200 BC. Her full quotations from the personal letters sent between these kings reveal much more than the content's subject and her reconstruction of the background and a eye-witness view of the delivery add immeasurably to both understanding and enjoyment of the story.
But there is even more to gain from this correspondence. These are the personal, and that means very intimate thoughts of both senders and recipients of these missives. The letters reveal much, for instance their motives, their presumptions, the belief systems in which they conduct affairs, and more.
These are absolute rulers, but all rulers depend on two fundamental beliefs held by themselves and their subjects. These are that they are the exclusive source of betterment for their subjects motivated to achieve that, plus that their subjects believe that there are no other sources available to the subjects for their own betterment than the favor of and capability of the ruler.
The kings who are sending 'gifts' to each other are sending their OWN personal property, not government property nor societies' property. They have the absolute authority to send 'gifts' to anyone they choose. "Gifts' means 'gifts' - no economic commerce is involved. But reciprocity is jealously demanded to the extent it can be achieved. It is evidence of the acceptance by the foreign king of their friendship.
They desire assets that they do not have available domestically and are willing to send assets of which they have a surplus or are at least willing to part with.
Take the Egyptian king; he owns all his gold by virtue of edict and it is free to him and he has more than he can use, even lavishing much of it in the tombs of predecessors. Its display is a means for a psychological end - evidence of his power. He also has the enjoyment of more Egyptian women than he can accommodate, and also even foreign women. But what he does not have is foreign Princesses. These can only be obtained by diplomacy and agreement with foreign kings. It is clear to everyone, subjects and allies and foreign rulers that the king has achieved something evidencing his power when he displays a foreign princess. No foreign king would be willing, not to mention eager, to send his own daughter to just any foreigners. Moreover the Egyptian king further evidences his power by refusing to send his own daughters and other Egyptian princesses to a foreign king.
The other kings, in turn, absent Egyptian princesses, are eager to display gold and other precious items to their guests and subjects as evidence of their own power, and of the friendship of other Great Kings. They say so right in the letters when stating why they want gold. And all of this psychological motivation comes from the fundamental political- military- economic reality of the era and the several kings' recognition of it.
As Dr. Podany briefly notes, subsequently, several centuries later, that environment had changed greatly and the subject content of diplomatic letters changed with it. But not the fundamental motivation of rulers to enhance their own 'betterment'. That persists to the present time.
Next, the matter of treatment of 'gods'. Just as the ancient communities could not conceive of themselves lacking a ruler to avoid the inherent tendency toward social chaos, so too they could not conceive of the society lacking a powerful 'god' to ward off the inherent chaos in the natural environment. Each community recognized the potential support of their own god, but also accepted that every other community would have its own equally legitimate protecting 'god'. There was not understanding of such a abstract concept as 'religion' needed. It was then an inherent responsibility of the ruler - king - to propitiate the 'god' with precise liturgy. And the king would profess to his subjects his own personal responsibility to care for his subject both in the social sphere and in the natural sphere. He might go to war in reality for his own personal aggrandizement, but always to the public at the behest of either a direct statement from the 'god' or with the 'gods' approval.
Dr. Podany describes the results when a great Hittite king, having conquered all he could, nevertheless fell due to his violation of two oaths sworn to his most powerful 'god'.

Introduction

Dr. Podany starts right off in her delightful style telling us about a very special (historically) but generally overlooked tablet of baked clay in a glass case in the British Museum - (object E 29793 and we see it in her illustration. It is full of precise lines of squiggles). It is a letter from Tushratta, king of Mittani, to Amenhotep III, pharaoh of Egypt and is now dated by scholars to about 1350 BC. (The first paragraphs of the letter are here.
Wow, we are immediately excited. Of course we have heard frequently about the great Amenhotep III, but who is this Tushratta and why did he write this 'letter' and why has it been preserved and now displayed? We know that we will find out and learn much more by reading this book. And our author immediately increases our interest by conjuring from her wide knowledge and understanding a full, but (necessarily imaginary) description of the history of this piece of clay from its creation to its display for us. Her narrative shifts from London to a room in a brick palace somewhere in this Mittani (in northern Syria now but never found -so far). A high official of the king, Keliya, is tasked by Tushratta, dictating in Hurrian, to write this letter in the 'international' language - Akkadian - with a stylus in clay using cuneiform script. And this is not a routine letter, no, it is an announcement explaining for Amenhotep Tushratta's undying love, but even more, the arrival of the great 'goddess' Shaushka for a second visit to Egypt. The 'goddess' appears to us as a gold statue, but is undoubtedly for everyone living then living Inside that statue.

Dr. Podany describes for us the elaborate preparations for such a momentous journey and details of the long trip on foot by Keliya, the 'goddess' in a litter, servants, priests, soldiers and attendants across Syria, through the Jordan valley, down the coast to the Nile. The trip takes at least six weeks. There they are met by Egyptian soldiers, border guards, and then transported by boat up the Nile to Thebes. Dr. Podany then describes the whole scene of the ambassador's audience with Amenhotep and the reading of the letter. As noted, it is in Akkadian, so it will be translated either by Keliya himself or by a professional translator into Egyptian.
She quotes the letter exactly for us in English. She informs us that the letter no doubt was received 'warmly'. For one reason among others Amenhotep is married to (among many others) Tushratta's youngest daughter, Tadu-Hepa and to his sister.
This marriage is described in detail by Dr. Podany in another chapter here and in her book on the history of Mesopotamia. The two kings have been corresponding about many subjects for years although they have never met. Dr. Podany continues by describing what likely happened after the audience to the envoy, Keliya, and to the letter (safely deposited in the pharaoh's archives. The archive was moved down river to Amarna by order of Akhenaten (another very familiar pharaoh). Centuries passed, there is was buried with thousands of other cuneiform tablets and papyrus scrolls (which disintegrated). Then, in 1887, the archives was discovered by peasants digging. Many of the tablets were broken in the process, but many were distributed to museums around the world. The scholarly process of transcription, translation, analysis, commentary began. We will meet these two distinguished gentlemen again in Chapter Seven, meanwhile we journey back a thousand years with Dr. Podany through several empires that successively occupied the same territory as Mittani and disappeared just as Mittani did.
The Wikipedia article that mentions this event, notes that Shauskha was sent to Egypt due to a recent illness of Amenhotep and was thought to be able to provide a cure. She was a Hurrian goddess of love, fertility, war and healing.

The First International Community
The opening section is a means for generating interest. In this section Dr. Podany shifts to a discussion of the broader subject - diplomacy - of which this fun (for us) letter is a tiny example. She notes that by then the standard protocols of diplomacy were 1000 years old by the time of Tushratta. She discusses how the recovered cuneiform tablets enable us to learn a great deal about all this. They include not only letters, but also full treaties, accounts of wars and victories, boasts, administrative documents, tax records, meticulously listed items in these 'gift' exchanges, and more. They are supplemented by paintings on walls (especially Egyptian) and artifacts such as statues and weapons or jewelry. All the communities and larger societies were ruled by kings of various hierarchal standing. Diplomacy was gradually created as a way to avoid war between them. It succeeded at times for lengthy periods and broke down during others.

The Three Syrian Kings
As representatives of the system during widely separated periods Dr. Podany chose three Syrian kings since Syria was at the center of the larger region. They are King Irakab-darnu, ruler of Ebla in the 23rd century BC. The Early Dynastic Period: King Zimri-Lim, who ruled Mari in the 18th century BC. the Old Babylonian Period; and King Tushratta who ruled Mittani in the 14th century BC. the Amarna Period. She remarks that these worthies were not necessarily the most powerful rulers of their times but they happen to be men of whom we know more about from the recovered documents. And the three eras are also representative of the larger evolution of Mesopotamian culture from the 23rd to the 14th century BC. And all three ruled domains that roughly followed each other in the same location - a cresent across northern Mesopotamia and Syria.

Changes over a Thousand Years.
Dr. Podany writes that her focus in this book is on the evolution of international relations during this thousand years. - a thousand years.! But such relations began centuries prior to the 23rd, but that was before we have written sources. She outlines the bok content by parts:
I about the Early Dynastic era;
II about the Old Babylonian era;
III about the changing interval of the 15th and 16th centuries BC;
then Part IV is about the Amarna era

Part I The Early Dynastic period and Akkadian Empire, 2500 - 1000 BC

Chapter 1 - The First Evidence of Diplomacy

Dr. Podany chose the city of Ebla whose king was Irakab-darnu as representative of Syria. It was located south-west of present day Antioch. The population numbered about 20,000. It was a wealthy manufacturing center for textiles and an agricultural center with olive trees and vineyards producing wine and olive oil. Artifacts found in the excavations show that Ebla had commercial - trading - relations with a vast area from Egypt to the border of China. It was the capital of a territory about 125 miles square. Most of the families worked for the palace, receiving rations from the king - in other words payment in kind not currency. To use Ebla may seem ancient to us, but to its people it was already 600 years old. The palace has been excavated, and hundreds of documents uncovered, which makes it an ideal study. It burned down in 2250 BC. Even the city's daily records were found among many other documents including diplomatic ones. But the city records show details of income and expense, production and consumption, but the author focuses here on the 'international affairs' these reveal. The wide region was the home of many such independent cities. And King Irakab-darnu was in regular written contact with many far and wide. They were all culturally similar and spoke similar Sematic languages. They all had kings and established administrations and worshiped the same or similar gods. And they had all adopted cuneiform brought from Mesopotamia hundreds of years before. Originally it had been developed for administrative purposes, keeping track of production and consumption - rations and payments. The scribes in all these places were trained in similar schools. By 2300 they had expanded their repertory to include letters, dictionaries, and text books.
Dr. Podany is interested, in this book, about the 'international', well inter-city, relations both wars (of which there were many) and efforts toward peace. And the kings were much interested in maintaining peace. Mari on the Euphrates was one chief opponent.

She discusses at length what she terms "The first Known Diplomatic Letter", between Ebla and Hamazi, a distant city. It stated "I am (your) brother and you are (my) brother" a standard claim that continued in kingly diplomatic letters for centuries. The letter asked for 'gifts' but the protocol was that such 'gifts' would be repaid with other 'gifts' of equal value. Such a 'gift' accompanied the letter. She also discusses the proper protocol in the terms ' brother', 'father', and 'son'. Kings of equal status were 'brothers'. Kings of higher status were 'fathers' and of lower status 'sons'. She also discusses a Abarsal treaty - between Ebla and that city. Treaties also had rigid protocols in verbiage and meanings. She continues with descriptions and analysis of other treaties and letters. Then she turns to the matter of diplomatic marriages These also followed custom and precedent with elaborate ceremonies and exchange of valuable 'gifts' and dowries.
She writes:" One's tendency is, perhaps, to assume that humans have progressed a long way since the beginning of civilization. So it might come as a surprise to find much that is familiar so early in human history".

Chapter 2 - Traders and Ships from Distant Lands

Dr. Podany continues with Ebla, commenting that its archives list large quantities of gold and silver despite the fact that no gold or silver was mined in its territory. The excavations have also unearthed quantities of gold and silver objects. Gold and silver were exchanged between the king and his subjects in both directions. They were also significant components of the 'international' 'gifts. There were other precious objects in the excavations of this city built of mud bricks And these came from very distant locations, such as Afghanistan for lapis lazuli. Similar artifacts have been found in many other cities, such as Mari and far to the south in famous Ur.
Dr. Podany switches locale to discuss the fabulous wealth uncovered in the 1920's in Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley. This leads her to the subject of long-distance trade. Where did all these luxury goods come from and how were they moved? She notes that even Ebla and Mari were a distance of 2 weeks journey apart. She relies on archeologists who have found trading posts over a huge area.

She writes: "Traders had been moving around Asia for thousands of years by the time Irakab-damu was ruling Ebla." Next, she turns to the new city, Akkad, and its founder, Sharrukin - Sargon - to us. Perhaps typically, he was never forgotten and occupies a prominent place in our histories today because he was a ruthless conqueror. He united by force and conquest the first 'empire' in the Middle East, extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. For Dr. Podany he represents the era in which we have copious documents and artifacts relating to the trade between Mesopotamia and Dilmun (Bahrain) and Magan (Oman) and Meluhha (Pakistan). She devotes pages and pages to vivid description of the content and methods of this international trade.

Part II - The Old Babylonian Period - 2000 - 1595 BC

Chapter 3 - War and Allegiance

Dr. Podany begins with a summary. "The Early Dynastic and Akkadian Empire kings seem to have been fascinated by lands beyond their own, making alliances diplomatic marriages, treaties, trading relationships, and (especially in the cases of Sargon and Naram-Sin) conquests."

As the representative of the next era, she selects an obvious leading character, King Hammurabi of Babylon. Who ruled from 1792 to 1750 BC. Again, he is especially well known today due to the archeological finds related to him, namely the stone monoliths he had carved with lists of his 'laws' which actually are not really laws. But Dr. Podany actually turns to another characters, King Zimri-Lim of Mari. And again, this is because his huge palace also burned (by Hammurabi no less) and was left underground as it was until the last century. Its archives contain another 'treasure trove' of baked mud tablets. She describes how Zimri-Lim lived in opulent luxury in his 250 room palace complete with bathroom, bath tub, and toilet with running water, while his subjects lived in tiny mud houses. He was the last in the long line of kings of Mari.

This may be an appropriate place to interject that these ancient Mesopotamian kings and their senior officials lived at a far greater distant economic level from their subjects than the much attacked upper .01% do today.

The relatively extensive documentary records in the Mari archives enable Dr. Podany ( and of course other scholars now) to comment on and analyze a much more detailed record of diplomacy and government administration than those of Ebla. But the general picture is much the same - letters between kings, rich 'gifts', royal marriages, extensive trade in luxury goods demanded by the kings. But the letters and records contain much more discussion of military issues and war than those of Ebla.

Chapter 4 - Long Journeys away from Home


I thoroughly enjoy Dr. Podany's verve and style. Her prose is fun to read even though it is fully scholarly in content. In this chapter she switched from court affairs to trading, especially long distance trading. She retains the unfortunate King Zimri-Lim as the main protagonist, at least his regnal period. She begins with a fun factoid, his scribes reported from the archives that his letters and documents mentioned hundreds of cities, towns, and villages just in a period of 30 years. And he dealt with 160 other men called 'brother', 'son' , or 'father' - all presumably kings of some place or other. She inquires, how could he keep track of so many individuals? She offers another imaginary scene between king and officials discussing identities. She points out that some of the major imports from distant realms were vital for the economy as a while, while the luxury goods were for the king and nobility. There was a high demand for copper and tin to make bronze - for weapons and useful objects. And silver, by this time had become the basic medium of exchange and basis for the money supply, even though it was not coined.

She turns to a discussion of each of the foreign lands beginning with the Indus civilization known as Meluhha. Lapis lazuli could come from there, but it originated in Afghanistan and was imported directly from there. Next she discusses Magan (Oman), a source of copper but direct contact had been lost so it came indirectly from Dilmun. She devotes special attention to describe Mr. Emn-nasir, a professional trader with Dilmun. Next, she looks back several centuries to describe the Assyrian traders who established permanent trading posts then in Kanesh, in central Anatolia. Returning to the king of Mari, she describes his own personal visit to the Levant port cities This in turn brings her to discuss the Mediterranian seafarers and trade with Cyprus and beyond. More anecdotes and interesting personal stories exemplify this area and trade.

Part III - A Time of Crisis and Change: 1595 - 1400 BC

Chapter 5 - Attack on Babylon by a Distant Enemy

Now, back to Hammurabi's successors over 5 generations. They were confronted by new arrivals, the Kassites. Then, in 1595 Babylon suffered a real shock when the Hittite king, Mursili I , appeared with his army, having marched from central Anatolia across the mountains and clear down the Euphrates. They captured Babylon city, sacked it, and then returned home. Most shocking of all is that they took Marduk and his wife, Sarpanitum, with them. Left without their god, the Babylonians were totally in a funk. By 1550 they were ruled by a new, Kassite, dynasty. A new Kassite king, Agum-kakrime, realized the political value to himself by negotiating for the return of Marduk and Sarpanitum, which he accomplished without bloodshed.

Chapter 6 - A Clash Between Expanding Empires

This chapter contains the story of the clash between Egypt and Hatti as both strove to expand their influence into the Levant and western Syria. It also includes the first conflict between Egypt and Mittani. Most of the chapter is about the early development of Mittani based on records recovered from other places since the Mittani capital has never been found and very few tablets about it have been found in other location, except Amarna and Hatti.
The section headings are: Egyptian Forces Venture North; Parattarna I - A Syrian Match for Thutmose I; Egypt before Thutmose I; A Woman in Charge, Hatshepsut and her death by Toothache; Thutmose III Faces Rebellion in Canaan; The expanding Empires Class Again; Aegean Painters Working for the Pharaoh; Gifts from Foreign Kings; Shaushtatar II of Mittani; The Land of Mittani; The Household of a Vassal Prince in the East; A Vassal Kingdom in the West; The Value of Swearing an Oath as a Vassal;

The first Egyptian pharaoh to take the war path was Thutmose I. His army reached into Mittani at the Euphrates and then retired. And the next major Egyptian invader of Mittani was Thutmose III . During this period both Egypt and Mittani were aggressive in attempting to expand their borders, which met in western Syria around Kadesh. Babylonia and Hatti remained quiet.
Dr. Podany summarizes the 'international situation from Thutmose I to Thutmose III (and the latter's contemporary Mittanian ruler Shaushtatar II as one of increasing aggressive efforts at conquest. And she considers that both probably had come to recognize each other's military power.
Dr. Podany mentions Mittani chariots. The reader can see that chariots are often mentioned in the Amarna and other letters between kings, right in the opening salutation in which the sender is inquiring about the health and status of the family and critical assets. But she does not discuss warfare in detail. Other books (below) credit Mittani with the introduction and development of chariots as a source of its power. Cottrell discusses Indo-European people being in or passing though Mittani as a source of expertise in chariot warfare. The Wikipedia entries state that the native population of Mittani was mostly Hurrian (non-Semetic) but that the ruling class were Indo-European (Aryan) occupiers who probably brought the chariot technology.

Chapter 7 - Diplomatic Overtures between the Great Powers

An Athletic and Aggressive King: Amenhotep II
Dr. Podany begins this chapter by jumping ahead to Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep II the son of Thutmose III. He was another proudly aggressive warrior skilled in chariot warfare and archery.

The following sections are titled: Foreign Delegations Appeal to Egypt, Why the King of Mittani Sought Peace, How the King of Mittani Sought Peace, Why Amenhotep II Agreed, Possible Treaty Provisions, Treaties Proliferate, Cementing the Ties, A new Generation of Allies, and The Amarna Letters.

Together these sections describe the impact of the new aggressive behavior of Egyptian pharaoh's in campaigning north and east of Canaan for the first time. Both Babylonia and Hatti had negotiations previously with Egypt but at a great distance with others, especially Mittani in between. Egyptian pharaohs had not been active in the centuries old established diplomatic game. Now it was critical to bring Egypt into the fold, and Egyptian self-assurance did not see the point at first since it considered itself superior to everyone. And Mittani, despite being powerful itself, was the front line kingdom. Plus Mittani had three not so friendly other kingdoms - Assyria ( still a second rate power, Babylonia, and Hatti (at first also weak) on its other sides. The rulers considered the 'balance of power' and decided that formal peace considerations were less expensive than warfare. Plus, they each had treasures the others wanted and wanted treasures the others had in abundance, so why not share?

Part IV - The Amarna Age, 1400 - 1300 BC

We come to the culmination of the story. This is the centerpiece of the book the most detailed accounts due to the remarkable discovered documents, and the most fascinating and enjoyable to read.

Chapter 8 - Brother Kings United and at Peace

The major powers engaged in a remarkable interchange of letters, treaties, 'gifts', marriages, and trade. Our first acquaintances, Pharaoh Amenhotep III and King Tushratta take center stage, but only for a time. Amenhotep was only 12 when his father, Thutmose IV died in 1391 BC. He ruled for 38 years and Artatama I was king of Mittani at the beginning to be fallowed by Shuttarna II (who was followed briefly by Artashurmarn and then Tushratta). At the time Hatti and Assyria were weak, and the principal powers conducting diplomacy with Egypt were Mittani and Babylonia. But by the end of the era Hatti and Assyria had conquered the western and eastern half of Mittani, respectively.

Dr. Podany divides the chapter into sections: Amenhotep III: A Peaceable Man; Assassinations and Broken Ties; Keliya's Mission to Egypt; Mending Fences; Keliya's Return to Mittani; Tushratta: A Pious and Affectionate Man; Ambassadors, at Home in Both Worlds;

These sections and the following chapter are mostly based on the Amarna Letters.

Chapter 9 - Diplomatic Marriages

The story continues with King Tushratta's efforts (complex but ultimately successful) to have his favorite daughter, Tadu-Hepa, married to Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who was already married to (among many others) Tushratta's sister, Kilu-Hepa. The richly detailed story is an example of the standard and widespread diplomatic policy of marrying kings' daughters to other kings. Dr. Podany also includes a lengthy description of this marriage in her lecture on Ancient Mesopotamia.

The sections read: Preparations for Tadu-Hepa's Marriage; Bride-wealth and Dowries: Wealth 'Beyond Measure'; Tushratta's Hopes; Tadu-Hepa's Arrival; Death of the Pharaoh; The Roles of the Foreign Princesses; Akhenaten: Departing from Tradition; The Gold Statues;

Chapter 10 - Luxury Goods from Everywhere

In this chapter Dr. Podany takes a break from narration of the events to discuss this matter of 'luxury Goods'. These are the extraordinarily valuable 'gifts' passed between kings. They were strictly 'gifts' not barter, but diplomatic protocol expected that they would be exchanged with reciprocal 'gifts' of reasonably equal value. The exchange was based on the fact that each king had in his domain highly valuable items lacking in the other king's domains and of course visa versa. These included, copper, tin, gold, silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian, purple dye, fine cloth, chariots, horses, princesses and some spices. Each king knew what the others lacked and wanted. Amenhotep III had the most gold and he most wanted princesses, thus a fair bargain could be met.

The chapter sections reveal the elements: Gift-Giving between the Great Kings; Greeting Gifts; Large Shipments of Gold; Problems of the Gold Shipments; Copper from Alashiya; A Shipwrecked Load of Luxury Goods; The Puzzle of Mycenae;

It is clear that we are considering a special kind of trade; that conducted by monarchs (not peasants), over very long distances (hence expensive to ship), of critically desired (hence relatively valuable) unique items. The trade is not really economic in purpose, but politically motivated, but for some things like gold actually psychologically important because they were desired by kings to impress their visitors and subjects with demonstrations of their power. The role of routine trade - exchange of goods - in the course of basic economic activity is not the topic here.

Chapter 11 - A Crisis in the Brotherhood

The section headings tell the sad story: Tushratta's Worries; Suppilulimua's Determination to Isolate Tushratta; The Hittites Attack Mittani; Ugarit Sides with Hatti; More Conquests by Hatti; Hittite Campaigns in Egyptian Territory; How Suppilulimna Saw His Successes; Strains in the Brotherhood of Great Kings; Tutankhamen: A Young Pharaoh Ruling at a Crucial Moment; The Egyptian Queen's Unprecedented offer to Suppilulimua.

The story is that the new and hyper-aggressive Hittite king, Suppilulimua, laid eyes on western Mittani and northern Canaan and saw his chance with Egypt in internal disarray to defeat Mittani by gradually slicing off its western territory and western allies such as the wealthy seaport Ugarit. Pharaoh Amenhotep III died and was succeeded by the 'heretic' ruler, Akhenaten, who was most interested in totally revamping Egyptian religion and culture and move the capital down the Nile to Amarna. He was distracted from affairs with Mittani and didn't even send the promised gold statues, let alone troops, even when Suppilulimua took some of his own allies in the northern Levant. Suppilulimua was soon even able to capture the major Mittani city, Carchemish, .and also the Egyptian vassal, Kadesh. Seeing its opportunity, Assyria revolted and retook its ancient territories in eastern Mittani. Meanwhile Akhenaten died and so did Tutankhamen. The final heading above relates the amazing and thoroughly unprecedented development. Tutankhamen's widow, queen Ankhesenamen, sent a letter to Suppilulimua asking his to send one of his sons to be her husband - and of course pharaoh. He was so astounded that he dithered and by the time he did send a son, the prince was murdered and an Egyptian general seized the throne and was soon replaced by another official names Ay, and then by general Haremhab. Multi-sided war continued.

Chapter 12 - The End of an Empire

Again the section headings tell the story: The Death of Tushratta; A Mittanian Prince Fleas to Hatti; The Capture of Mittani; The Treaty between Suppilulimua of Hatti and Shattiwaza of Mittani; The death of Suppilulimua; The Brotherhood of Great Kings in Harmony Again.

The looser was the Mittani Empire. It disappeared. But the inhabitants continued as usual and actually flourished under new management - that of Assyria and Hatti. Egypt and Hatti continued in off and on again war, culminating in the famous Battle at Kadesh in 1275 BC in which Pharaoh Ramesses II ostentatiously claimed victory and the Hittites also claimed victory. But in 1245 Ramesses II returned to diplomacy and married a Hittite princess. The Great Kings (now Hatti, Egypt and Babylonia) continued to send letters to each other and to keep Assyria down for a few centuries.

But another loser was Suppilulimua. He died of a plague his troops had brought back from Canaan, along with thousands of his citizens. The universal assessment was that he had been killed by the Storm-god of Hatti for violating two sacred oaths he had sworn to that all powerful god. His heir and successor, Mursili II, spent years in painful abnegation attempting to receive mercy from the Storm-god.

Epilogue

Dr. Podany sums up what is known and hopes for discovery of what is still not known, including some things she particularly hopes for. She writes that the 'brotherhood of kings' about which she writes so eloquently finally died in the 12th century BC. This is the Catastrophe that Robert Drews describes in his book on the End of the Bronze Age. Then in the 10th century BC Assyria began to expand and create "a new kind of empire. They fought almost constantly and had no desire to acknowledge any other kingdom as an equal as they swallowed up much of the Near East." She tells this story in her other excellent lecture- transcript.

Her final comment: "The near East is often described as the birthplace of law, home to the earliest cities, and the 'cradle of civilization." It was also home to the first diplomats and to the first kings to discover the benefits of peaceful coexistence."

Some of the leading characters, the author lists many more:
Mesopotamian deities plus many more google entries
Enlil, king of the Mesopotamian gods;
Inanna/Ishtar, Mesopotamian goddess of love;
Marduk, Mesopotamian god of Babylon;
Shamash, Mesopotamian sun god;
Teshup, Hurrian storm god;
Ahmose, king of Egypt 1550 - 1525 BC;
Akhenaten, king of Egypt 1425-1336 BC;
Amenhotep III, king of Egypt 1391 - 1353 BC;
Artatama I, king of Mittani 1400 - 1382 BC;
Burna-buriash II, king of Babylonia 1359 -1333 BC;
Hammurabi, king of Babylon 1792-1750 BC;
Hatshepsut, female king of Egypt 1479 - 1458 BC;
Hattusili I, king of Hatti 1650 - 1620 BC;
Keliya, ambassador from Mittani 14th century BC;
Kilu-Hepa, princess of Mittani wife of Amenhotep III, 14th century BC;
Naram-Sin, king of Akkad 2254 - 2218 BC;
Ramsses II, king of Egypt 1279 - 1213 BC;
Sargon, king of Akkad 2334 - 2279 BC;
Suppilulimua, king of Hatti 1344 - 1322 BC;
Tadu-Hepa, princess of Mittani, wife of Amenhotep III and king Akhenaten 14th century BC;
Thutmose III king of Egypt 1479 - 1425 BC;
Tushratta, king of Mittani 1372 - 1326 BC.

Graeber, David, - Debt, The First 5,000 Years One of the few histories of money that discusses the topic during the ancient civilizations in any detail.

Drews, Robert - The End of the Bronze Age The year 1200 BC and close to it was 1000 years after Dr. Podany's story took place. But Dr. Drews gives us a further look at what followed.

Cotterell, Arthur - Chariot Warfare during the Amarna and for some time prior was centered on chariots Dr. Cotterell describes in more detail than other references the chariots themselves, their use, the training of their users and more.

Podany, Amanda - Ancient Mesopotamia Note also the longer list of references there.

Landes, David, Joel Mokyr &William Baumol ed - The Invention of Enterprise - In this comprehensive study of the role of enterprise and entrepreneurs throughout history there are two essays that are especially relevant to this book.
Chapter 1 - Michael Hudson. "Entrepreneurs: From the Near Eastern Takeoff to the Roman Collapse" This essay describes the economic situation with respect to money, credit, debt, public and private merchants and entrepreneurs in Mesopotamia in broad terms and is especially interesting in the sections that compare this with a general deterioration in classical Greek and Roman societies.
Chapter 2 - Cornellia Wunsch, "Neo_Babylonian Entrepreneurs" is a more detailed study of a period for which there is even more information than in earlier millennia.
Both essays dispel the many myths and misunderstanding of overall economic conditions and especially such topics and barter, money, credit, debt, private and public property and business during the ancient Mesopotamia millennia.

Roaf, Michael, Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East - The Cultural Atlas of the World series, Stonehenge Press, Alexandria, 1994, 238 pgs., index, bibliography, gazetteer, many illustrations, maps, large format, chronology, king lists, glossary, This book greatly supplements Dr. Podany's lectures, especially with the excellent illustrations and maps.

Saggs, H. W. F. - The Greatness that was Babylon: A sketch of the ancient civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates valley, Hawthorn Books, NY., 1962, 562 pgs., index, illustrations , bibliography, chronological tables, index to words, king lists. This is an extensive study organized in part one chronologically from prehistoric times to the Persian conquest, and in part two by subject topics including many aspects of social, cultural, economic and political life.

Macqueen, J. G. The Hittites and their Contemporaries in Asia Minor, Westview Press, Boulder, CO., 206 pgs., maps, illustrations. index, notes, The author includes Assyria, Mittani, Babylon and many other neighbors that Dr. Podany discusses with connections to the Hittites.

Healy, Mark - The Ancient Assyrians, Osprey, London, 1991, 63 pgs, index, many illustrations, paperback. This is useful for the color illustrations not usually found in academic studies of Assyria or the Middle East.

de Souza, Philip, ed. The Ancient World at War, Thames & Hudson, London, 2008, 320 pgs., index, sources, many illustrations. The first three chapters, by specialist scholars, are relevant to the period in Dr. Podany's lectures. They are excellent.