= Diplomacy =

Explore Hittite diplomacy in Age of Empires IV, including the connection to Troy and the failed marriage alliance with Tutankhamen's widow.

Extensive records and correspondence preserved on clay tablets have revealed much detail about Hittite diplomacy and politics. Decipherment of specific tablets connected the Hittites to two of the most famous events in antiquity: the sacking of the legendary city of Troy from the Iliad and the death of the Egyptian boy Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Diplomatic letters to a city on the east coast of Asia Minor helped establish the site of the city of Troy.

In 1353 BC, the greatest Hittite king, Suppiluliuma I, was besieging the city of Carchemish, which controlled an important ford and trade route over the Euphrates River. During the siege, he received a letter from Ankhesenamun, the newly widowed wife of Tutankhamen. The queen of Egypt asked that Suppiluliuma send one of his sons to be her new husband and king of Egypt. The stage was set for a very important alliance by marriage. Suppiluliuma took too long to investigate and negotiate, however. An Egyptian courtier-priest seized the widow and the throne, and peace between the two great powers was not arranged until 70 years later.