ref.: "Horemheb villain or saviour" May 28, 1999
1) Letter of the Egyptian queen to the Hittite king [*, large
quote] : request for a husband (Envoy: unknown, perhaps Chani)
2) Letter of the Hittite king to the Egyptian queen [*, minimal
quote]: is the request for real?? (Envoy: Chattushaziti)
3) Letter of the Egyptian queen to the Hittite king [*, minimal
quote, PLUS **, fragment]: why does the Hittite king mistrust her?
request for husband confirmed (Envoy: Chani)
4) Letter [of an unknown Hittite] to the Hittite king [*, quote]:
'they' have killed prince Zannanza! (Envoy: unknown, perhaps
Chattushaziti was the writer)
5) Letter of the new pharaoh to the Hittite king [**, quoted in 6]:
there is a new King of Egypt, who is not to blame for Zannanza's
death. (Envoy: Chani)
6) Letter of the Hittite king to the pharaoh [**, draft]:
why was the Hittite court not informed sooner about a
new pharaoh and what happened to the Hittite prince??
(Envoy: unknown, perhaps Chattushaziti)
* = letters that are partially cited in the biography of
the Hittite king by his son Mursili
(H.G. Gueterbock, "The Deeds of Suppiluliuma as told by
his son Mursili II", JCS X (1956) )
** = letters of which drafts or fragments were refound in Chattusha
Q1: Perhaps someone can tell us whether an English (German, French)
translation of the letters/fragments 3** and 5-6** exist?
Q2: Elmar Edel was planning a complete edition of all Hittite-Egyptian correspondence,
has it ever appeared?
I'll give a tentative translation of the Dutch translation of
letter no. 6 that appeared in Phoenix 39,3 (1993) by
the hand of Theo van den Hout. He does not say whether he
translated the letter himself from Hittite, or whether he bases
himself on a modern translation e.g. by Edel. [As Van den Hout
is a Prof. Anatolian Languages, I'm inclined to think the first.]
The letter is in
Hittite, meaning it is a draft not yet translated into Akkadian.
The (lost) letter of Ay is quoted in this letter of Shuppiluliuma
several times in the customary fashion; because of that we know the
structure and themes of Ay's letter (I've given the direct and indirect
quotes from Ay's letter in cursive). The text is quite damaged -
reconstructions and lacunae stand between []. Top and bottom are
missing (so no headers).
On the front of the tablet, there
is first a piece about the Hittite king listing his recent military
victories against the Gashga and Hurrians. That part I've left out
below.
(recto)
"{snip} Also Kargamis have I [conquered]. Now shall I address(?)
[the dead?] of my son and his [...].
[Concerning that what you wrote:] "Your [so]n (for?) you not [..]
I did not know at all [..] ...not yet [...But now] you write again
and again as King of Egypt ...[However when one] asked [me he]re
for a son as hu[sband...] I kne[w] not. I was willing to send my son
for the [kin]gship, [but that you already were se]ated [on the throne],
that [I knew] not.
[Concerning that what you] wrote: "Your son has died [but]
I have done [him no ha]rm" .
[....]"
(verso)
"[When the queen of E]gypt wrote again and again, you(?) not [...]
was you/she(?). But if you [in the meanwhile? had seated yourself
on the throne, then] you could have sent my son back home. [...]
Your [serva]nt Chani held us responsible [...] What [have you done]
with my son?!"
"Concerning that (what you wrote) that bloodshedding [in the past
between us] did not occure: to shed bl[ood among us], that was not
right. By bloodshed it [becomes a capital crime?]. If you now perhaps
also have [done harm to my son?] then perhaps you have also killed
my son! You continuously praise [your troop]s and charioteers,
but I shall [praise?/mobilize?] my troops and [charioteers], everything
I have as army. For me the Stormgod, my Lord, is [the king of all lands
and the Sungoddess of A]rinna, my Mistress, is the queen of all lands.
They will come and the Stormgod, my Lord, and the Sungoddess of Arinna,
my Mistress, shall execute [judgement]! [....] everytime you boast. As
many pitturi as there are in heaven [for me], [so l]arge [will not] be
for you [your army?]. What shall we do about it (?) [...]
Because the falcon has [seized] one young chicken [, a whole army]
shall not be chased away by one falcon!"
"[Concerning that what you w]rite: "Should you come for revenge,
then shall I tak[e away that lust for revenge] from you!" [But you
must not take] that lust for revenge from me, but from the Stormgod,
my lord, you must take it! [...] Those who denied him (i.e. Zannanza)
the rulership, those ones should [...] en who for you [...] those ones
shall [...]. [Concerning that what you write to me: "If] you
write to me in brotherhood, then I will make [peace? / alliance?] with
you" , [....wh]y would I write about brotherhood? [....]"
As you can see, Ay is defending himself, saying he was not
involved, but there are no warm condolences:
- he proudly repeats several times that HE now is the new
pharaoh (as if to rub it in).
- the poor Hittite father is blamed via Chani (Egyptian envoy),
apparantly along the lines of "why did you send your son, there
was already a pharaoh, your son was not needed, you have yourself
to blame for this unnecessary tragedy".
- he boasts about his armies, which is an obvious threat.
This does not put Ay in a favourable light IMHO. If he had been
part of the ploy to get a Hittite husband, why then now this
uggliness towards the Hittite king?
The "held us (Hittites) responsible" and the startled response
"you could have send my son back home" indicates to me that Ay
said in his letter that he already was on the throne _before_ the
Hittite prince (could) arrive(d) in Egypt, _before_ Zannanza got
killed.
About Zannanza's death, note that letter (4) only consists of the
cursive part in this part of the biography:
"...that tablet they brought and they said: "[...Zannanz]a
they have killed", and they gave a report: "Zannanza [has
died?]" [When] my father hea[rd] of the murder of Zannanza,
he burst into tears because of [Zanna]nza."
So no clue about who "they" are. The letter to Ay above clearly
shows that Shuppiluliuma strongly suspected the Egyptians, but
he had no absolute certainty ("perhaps you have..").
In this light it is regrettable that in some Egyptological literature,
the hypothetical details around this murder are often presented
as if they were facts stemming from the ancient records; some examples:
"So liess sich die Koenig ueberreden und schickte seinen Sohn
Zannanza mit einer Eskorte ab. Aber "die Maenner und Pferde
Aegyptens" fingen ihn noch vor der Grenze ab und ermordeten ihn."
(Peter H. Schukze - Frauen im alten Aegyoten (1987), p.239)
"The request amazed the Hittite, but he eventually sent Prince
Zannanza to marry the widow. On the way the prince was slain
on the orders of an Egyptian officer, and the Hittite lamented
his son's death."
(William W. Hallo and William Kelly Simpson - "The Ancient Near East
(1971), p.275.)
Yours,
Aayko Eyma
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Postscript July 10 - Q1
Ms Karen Paldan kindly informed about the following:
A suggested reconstruction of the draft letter from Suppiluilumas to
(presumably) Ay appears in Murnane's _The Road to Kadesh: A
Historical Interpretation of the Battle Reliefs of King Sety I at Karnak_,
1990, second edition (revised), pages 25-28. Murnane credits the staff of The Oriental Institute Hittite Dictionary
Project, The University of Chicago, for making available a new transcription
and translation. Silvin Kosak and Richard Beal are also credited for
bibliography and advice on the translation. The date of this translation
is not given.
Ms Paldan provided me with a transcript of what Murnane says about
the letter. I notice that his translation is different from the one of Van Hout
in several aspects. Murnane does not give a full translation/reconstruction of
the text, just a summary plus some translated bits. Note e.g. the first part
of the Reverse [{} Murnane's remarks], and compair it with the Verso above:
1-2 {The bottom of a paragraph:} "[...] I held [...]"
3-11 {An argumentative passage. Starting with line 4 it is possible to
read:} "[...but on account of the death of Zanna]nza y[ou] have written...My
son [I had] sent to you [...] he held as being guilty [...] but because my son
[...]" (rev.4-7).
It seems to me that this text would deserve a full publication cq monograph,
also compairing the different translations and reconstructions carefully.
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Postscript July 20 - Q2
I encountered in a bibliography what seems to be the edition I inquired after above:
E. Edel, Die ägyptisch-hethitische Korrespondenz aus Boghazköi in babylonischer und
hethitischer Sprache. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994.
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