Treaty of Kadesh: The World’s First Peace Treaty

On the walls of the Temple of Karnak near Luxor, Egypt, and on the temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II in Thebes, are engravings that describe a great battle against the “Great King of Khatti” and a peace treaty that was forged with them. The hieroglyphics, which were known since antiquity, was first translated by Jean-François Champollion in the early 19th century, triggering a renewed interest among westerns in Ancient Egypt. In 1858, it was identified that the Great King of Khatti were the Hittites which ruled in central Anatolia in modern-day Turkey.

Part of the clay tablet of the Kadesh Treaty, circa 1269 BCE. Photo: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin/Wikimedia

Source: amusingplanet.com