Treaty of Kadesh (Hittite version)

Cuneiform tablet copies from the Hattusa archive preserve the Hatti-side text of the earliest fully surviving peace treaty, agreed between Hattusili III and Ramesses II sixteen years after the Battle of Kadesh ended in stalemate. Akkadian, not Hittite, was the diplomatic language of the day, so this Hatti-side copy and the separately phrased Egyptian hieroglyphic version carved at Karnak and the Ramesseum, which this corpus treats as belonging to Egypt's own file, are each translations or renderings of the terms rather than a shared original text. The treaty sets permanent borders, pledges mutual defense against outside attack or internal rebellion, and requires extradition of fugitives, with each clause sworn before both the Hittite and Egyptian pantheons as witnesses. The original diplomatic instruments were silver tablets exchanged between the two courts; those are lost.