Tushratta’s requests to the pharaohs

Abstract

The Amarna letters (1400–1350 B.C.) demonstrate that intricate balance-of-power politics was familiar to Middle Eastern rulers millennia ago (Moran, 1992). Egyptians, Hittites, Mittanians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and leaders of lesser kingdoms formed alliances on the basis of “brotherhood” or, in equivalent terms, on the basis of equality. The equality between the rulers was established primarily by demands and offers of princesses. For example, the Mittani rulers Artatama, Artatama’s son Shutarna, and Shutarna’s son Tushratta gave daughters to the pharaohs Thutmose IV and Amenophis III, sending and receiving bride prices. However, overshadowing an apparent equality was the reality that Egypt was the hegemon in the Middle Bronze Age.