This little tablet is about four inches on a side. It was a six column ledger, listing quantities of barley, flour, bread, beer.
It is written in Sumerian, and is about 4,500 years old.
The Kadesh Treaty was written about 3,270 years ago. It is the small pale object in the centre of the case, supported on a clear plastic stand. Above it in the case is a magnified photo, showing cracks which don't show up in the photo on this page. The following comes from the placard on the wall at the museum.
The treaty was a parity peace treaty between the Hittite king Hattusilis and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II. Several copies of the treaty survive... one in Berlin, two in Istanbul. Among other things, the treaty established an alliance. If Ramses was attacked, Hattusilis was supposed to send Hittite footsoldiers to help him. The placard doesn't mention a reciprocal agreement, but the full text (see below) does include one. It also establishes extradition rights and duties.
The text is in Akkadian, the international language of the day. You can learn a little more at Wikipedia's article, which will open in a new tab or window. (That article is disappointing! I'll have to add bits to it!)
But I'm glad Wikipedia... and to some extent Google!!... let me down. It led to further research, which turned up the full text of the treaty. Also a claim... remember: If you have a computer, and can fog a mirror, you can publish things on the internet... that the Treaty of Kadesh is The oldest surviving treaty. (It also called the museum "dusty" which it... and all Istanbul... most assuredly is NOT. I was frequently struck by how clean things are.
I can't resist quoting a bit of the text.... "As for these words which are on this tablet of silver of the land of Hatti and of the land of Egypt--as for him who shall not keep them, a thousand gods of the land of Hatti, together with a thousand gods of the land of Egypt, shall destroy his house, his land, and his servants."
The text speaks of the words having been written upon a tablet of silver. Wouldn't it be something if that copy turned up!!
Alexander....
How much do you know about him? While the 2004 movie was a little weak, as a movie, by the inflated standards of our time, it would show you a little of what was so remarkable about the man. British TV did a marvelous programme following his footsteps a few years ago. Anyway... the more I learn about him, the more fascinated by him I am.
Even if Alexander had been a "nobody", "his" sarcophagus would be worthy of attention...
Actually, it isn't his sarcophagus, but it is thought that it is he who is depicted upon this huge unbelievably beautiful and intact casket from the 4th century BC. He is at the left, busy killing Persians. It was recovered from near Sidon, in Lebanon, in 1887.
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© TK Boyd 11/09. Click here to contact him.