Aspirations of Power

An example of the Amarna letters. EA 35 is currently held at the British Museum. 

The two letters in question are labelled EA 35 and EA38 respectively. EA 35 represents a request by the King of Alashiya for silver from the Pharaoh, while EA 38 is later, direct response to an allegation from the Pharaoh that the King of Alashiya is supplying men to a band of Sea People at that time marauding in Egypt.[1] Taken together, the two letters inform us on two main themes: the aspirations of power for the King of Alashiya, and the fragility of the status of Great Kings outside of the traditional clique.

Both letters open in a similarly formulaic way. The King of Alashiya asserts his position as one of the Great Kings through the opening “Say to the king of Egypt, my brother, on behalf of the king of Alashiya, your brother:  All goes well with me.” The international system between the Great Kings was based on a portrayal of the world they lived in as an “extended family household” in which “all participants…knew what their place was in the political hierarchy and how to interact with others.”[2] The King of Alashiya therefore purposefully refers to the Pharaoh as his brother, to establish himself as an equal to the Egyptian king.

This is somewhat unusual. As Ian Morris and Walter Scheidel describes, the “basic criterion for membership was sovereignty over territories outside one’s homeland, which led to recognition of one’s status by the existing members of the group.”[3] To our knowledge, the King of Alashiya had no such sovereignty. We unfortunately do not know how the Pharaoh responded to such an opening in EA 35. It is possible that the Pharaoh responded to the King of Alashiya in the same manner that the Hittite king Muwatalli to the Assyrian king Adad-nirari when the latter attempted to elevate his own status by calling Muwatalli brother: “why should I write to you about brotherhood? You and I – were we perhaps born of the same mother or father?”[4] However, given the repetition of the greeting in EA 38, it would seem the Pharaoh acknowledged the King of Alashiya’s status. Why was Alashiya not relegated to the status of smaller states, such as those syro-palestinian, who were forced to give their allegiance to their neighboring Great Kings?

The answer to this is present within EA 35: copper. The King of Alashiya outlines how he engaged in the most common practice between the Great Kings, that of trade through the ‘giving of gifts’. The King of Alashiya describes how “[n]ow I have sent 500 talents of copper to you; I have sent it to you as a gift, for my brother.” The giving of gifts served two main purporses: on the one hand, it granted the Great Kings access to rare and luxury goods not available to them within their own kingdoms; on the other, it “reinforced a system of mutual response, prestige, and brotherhood.” However, as Marc Van de Mieroop points out, “the fiction that these were presents was carefully maintained, although everyone knew that access to rare goods was the intent.”[5] At that point in time, Alashiya was the source of the vast majority of the copper in the ancient world, a resource needed by all the kings.[6] A shipwreck discovered off of the coast of Southern Anatolia, dating to the fourteenth century, found ten tons of copper from Alashiya.[7] It is likely that the King of Alashiya was therefore accepted as a Great King due to his control of such a vital resource.[8]

The King of Alashiya demonstrates that he is aware of the etiquette of requesting gifts from his fellow kings. Rather than asking he rather demands that “You are my brother; you should send me silver, my brother, a great quantity. Give me the best silver, then I will send you, my brother, all that you, my brother, request.” This request is interesting, as Egypt was known more for its gold than it’s silver: another letters describes how in Egypt “gold is as plentiful as dirt.”[9] This request therefore demonstrates that Egypt were also producing silver at this point in time, and that it was this that the King of Alashiya really needed. His requests do not stop at silver, however. The King continues, “[f]urthermore, my brother, the ox my messenger requested give to me, my brother. And sweet oil, my brother send to me, my brother: two containers; and send me a specialist in eagle-omens. Furthermore, my brother, the people of my land speak to me about the lumber that the king of Egypt receives from me. So, my brother, make the payment to me.” The needs of the King are therefore not limit purely to precious metals, but extent to other commodities from perfume to expertise.

The King’s last demand is rather interesting. In his final statement, the King describes how “Furthermore, a man of Alashiya died in Egypt, and his possessions are in your land, but his son and wife are with me. Let my brother, therefore, attend to the affairs of the man of Alashiya; and give it into the hand of my messenger, my brother.” This demand demonstrates how the communication was truly the way through which diplomacy was carried out between the Great Kings. Being his ‘brother’, the King of Alashiya therefore sees the treatment of one of his subjects in Egypt as being of equal importance as the treatment of one of the Pharaoh’s citizens.

Letter EA 35 therefore demonstrates how the King of Alashiya, despite not fitting the traditional mould of a Great King, aspired to the power shared by those of the larger kingdoms of the near east at the end of the bronze age. Leveraging the power that came from his control of copper, the King of Alashiya raised his status to that of greatness, and demonstrates himself as well versed in the decorum of the Kings. This status is, however, a fragile one, a fact given away by the very king’s letters.