ROYAL LETTERS FROM ANCIENT NEAR EAST

Abstract

Various types of written monuments written on clay tablets in the Ancient Near East in the Cuneiform script have reached us: historical, administrative, legal, religious or literary. Among them, the royal correspondence has a special place, most of which are the so-called "Lingua Franca" is written in the Akkadian language.

In 17th to the beginning of the 12th c. BC, several great kingdoms arose in the Ancient Near East, whose rulers controlled almost the entire region: namely, the Hittite Kingdom in Anatolia, the Hurrian/Mitanian Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia, Assyria and Babylon in Mesopotamia and the Kingdom of Egypt (which was resurrected under local rulers after the expulsion of the Hyksos). A key part of the success of these kingdoms was their ability to cooperate peacefully and resolve disputes diplomatically. And for this, they wrote letters to each other, which, fortunately, have reached us and are today the most valuable source for reconstructing the political picture of the ancient Near East.

Royal letters written in Hittite and Akkadian languages were included in the present collection. I think that not only specialists will be interested in this very interesting correspondence. Ancient Eastern royal letters are published in Georgian for the first time.

Keywords: Hittites; Egypt; Assyria; Babylo; Letters; Ancient Near East; Ancient Anatolia; Hittitology; Assyriology; Diplomacy.