Author Description

Among all the periods in ancient Egyptian history, the New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1050 B.C.) is perhaps the best known among non-specialists and Egyptologists alike. The reasons for wide-ranging modern knowledge of the New Kingdom are many and include a wealth of extant written materials, several well-preserved temples, and numerous larger-than-life kings and other personalities. In terms of literature, the New Kingdom not only boasts the most extant texts that have been translated and studied by modern scholars, but also a number of texts originally produced during earlier periods of Egyptian history that were copied during the New Kingdom. The texts span several genres including religion, historiography, bureaucracy, and diplomacy, which have all helped Egyptologists reconstruct the chronology, religious practices, and daily lives of Egyptians during the New Kingdom. Many of the texts were inscribed on the walls of some of Egypt's greatest temples such as Medinet Habu, Luxor, and most impressive of all, Karnak. The abundance of literature written and temples constructed during the New Kingdom was the direct result of Egypt's growing influence in the Near East during the late Bronze Age. Compared to some of their contemporaries - including the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians - the Hittites were somewhat distant both culturally and geographically. The Hittites were an Indo-European speaking in an ocean of Afro-Asiatic and Semitic groups, their homeland was to the north of Mesopotamia, and it contained no major river like the Nile, Tigris, or Euphrates Rivers. The Hittite Empire was also far less enduring than its neighbors, as it only existed from about 1800-1200 B.C. (van de Mieroop 2007, 156), which was considerably shorter than most of the other major kingdoms of the Near East. With that said, the influence of the Hittites on the politics, economy, and overall situation of the ancient Near East cannot be understated; the Hittites were a force to be reckoned w