kolyaafter visiting the Egyptian exhibit I was reading a lot about #Tutankhaton (I still refuse the -amun postfix) and that's how I learned about the #Dakhamunzu affair...now that sort of stuff is just catnip to me: after the death of the young pharao his widow wrote to the enemy #Hittite king #Suppiluliuma to send her a son she could marry and make him the new pharao. because she refused to marry any of her subjects. but Suppi had some reasonable doubts about that...
I'm convinced that the widow in question who wrote to #Suppiluliuma was #Tutankhamun's wife #Ankhesenamun who - after his sudden death at just 18 - was shortly married to his old religious consultant and successor Ay but then refused to marry his next successor #Horemheb. she had known him for many years as the military leader and diplomat under her late husband Tut and knew about his common origin. "I would not wish to take one of my subjects as a husband... I am afraid."
well she had every reason to be afraid, because royal or not, #Horemheb had been appointed crown prince of Egypt for a long time, even before Ay. her plan to marry a #Hittite prince instead was absolutely unheard of and extremely risky. so when her planned father-in-law #Suppiluliuma cautiously sent his chamberlain first to check if the queen really was without heir, she was a bit on edge. "Had I a son, would I have written about my shame to a foreign land? I have written to no other country!"
eventually #Suppiluliuma was convinced by the #Dakhamunzu (how the Hittites called the Egyptian queen) or at least he was interested enough to unite the two empires. so he sent his son #Zannanza - who promptly died under mysterious circumstances on the Egyptian border. #Suppiluliuma was furious and attacked the Egyptians, taking thousands of hostages, who brought a plague to the #Hittites of which #Suppiluliuma eventually died. #Horemheb became pharao and #Ankhesenamun wasn't heard of again.