The greeting-gift (Šulmānī) were

gift A gift or present is an item given to someone (who is not already the owner) without the expectation of payment or anything in return. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is intended to be free. In many cou ...

s, or ''presents'' exchanged between Kings, and rulers of the

1350 BC Events and trends * c. 1352 BC – Amenhotep III (Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt) dies and is succeeded as Pharaoh by Amenhotep IV. * 1350 BC – Yin becomes the new capital of Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as ...

–

1335 BC The 1330s BC is a decade which lasted from 1339 BC to 1330 BC. Events and trends * 1336 BC: Pharaoh Akhenaten of Egypt names Smenkhkare as a co-ruler. * 1336 BC: Tutankhaten becomes Pharaoh of Egypt and marries Ankhesenpaaten, his half sister ...

Amarna letters correspondence. They are notable in the 382–letter

corpus Corpus (plural ''corpora'') is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of ...

for the variety of the gifts, as well as the involvement of the individuals exchanging the gifts, (their motives). The "greeting-gifts" were "peace-offerings" between the rulers, and were a function of intrigues, and country/political relationships, or regional 'country'/kingdom relationships. An example of a discussion of a greeting-gift exchange can be found at one of the authors of the Amarna letters,

Zita (Hittite prince) Zita was a Hittite prince and probably the brother of Suppiluliuma I, (Šuppiluliumaš of the letters), in the 382–letter correspondence called the Amarna letters. The letters were mostly sent to the pharaoh of Egypt from 1350- 1335 BC, ...

. Letter EA 44 is presented, (EA for 'el

Amarna Amarna (; ) is an extensive ancient Egyptian archaeological site containing the ruins of Akhetaten, the capital city during the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and a ...

'), as an example of the term's usage. Other notable exchanges of greeting-gifts were with

Tushratta Tushratta ( Akkadian: and ) was a king of Mitanni, 1358–1335 BCE, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III and throughout the first half the reign of Akhenaten. He was the son of Shuttarna II. Tushratta stated that he was the grandson of A ...

Mittani Mitanni (–1260 BC), earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, ; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or in Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) with In ...

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

, the King of

Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...

-(letter EA 49, by

Niqmaddu II Niqmaddu II was the second ruler and king of Ugarit, an ancient Syrian city-state in northwestern Syria (c. 1350–1315 BC) and succeeding his father, Ammittamru I. He was a vassal ruler of Suppiluliuma I of Hatti. Early life Niqmaddu II ( ''Ní ...

), and the King of Babylon.

References

* Moran, William L. ''The Amarna Letters.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1992. (softcover, ) Amarna letters Diplomatic gifts {{Semitic-lang-stub

See also

References