Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Early Written Evidence for Egyptian-Mesopotamian Relations

The Amarna letters, dated to the 14th century BCE, are widely seen as the earliest written evidence for contacts between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Fourteen of the Amarna letters (EA 1-14) tell of contacts between the rulers of Egypt and Babylonia and two of the Amarna letters (EA 15-16) speak of contacts between the rulers of Egypt and Assyria. This article aimed to describe the sixteen texts in question and to characterize the political relations conveyed in these, while exploring the issues of (in)dependence, hierarchy, and kinship terminology. The text analysis landed in the conclusion that the political relations between Egypt on the one hand and Assyria and Babylonia on the other can be characterized through the famous motto ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’, meaning that the political relations were envisaged to be based on independence, equality, and brotherhood.