Middle and Late Bronze Age Metal Tools from the Aegean, Eastern ...

while a personnel delivery of 46 females and 5 males was sent to Egypt (EA 268). 827 The
transport of specialists from Babylonia and Egypt to the Hittites and vice versa is
recorded in several texts. The transferred individuals were knowledgeable about medicine
and magic, and the records reveal a deep concern that the experts not be detained upon
completing their work; in fact, it was stipulated that loaned workers should return
immediately to their homeland. This anxiety about the safety of these experts signifies
their worth to the lending authority. The return of the skilled specialists, however, was
not always guaranteed, and the Mari texts record problems with runaway craftspersons
and artisans. A similar concern is evident in a treaty between Mursili II, king of Hatti,
and two vassal states. If the Hittite ruler encountered a refugee who was a “plowman,
weaver, carpenter, leatherworker or craftsman of any kind” then the king was required to
return that person to the vassal state. 828
Explicit evidence detailing the transfer of carpenters and masons in the MBA and
LBA, comparable to the verse in 2 Samuel 5:11 that states that the king of Tyre sent
829
craftspersons to Israel in the Iron Age, is extremely rare.
In an agreement between
Hattusili and Ramses (KUB 3 67 and 66), Hittite masons or house builders are sent to
Egypt after Egyptian physicians were lent to Hatti. In another text, a Hittite king demands
a sculptor from the Babylonian court, while pledging that the artist would be returned
promptly. As these artisans were attached to the palace, their services had to be formally
requested in state letters. It is not unreasonable that such an agreement was in place
between Hattusha and Mycenae/Tiryns. If one had to guess, perhaps it is more likely that
827
Moran 1992, 107-109, 315-316. EA 268 is too fragmentary to ascertain the occupations of the
individuals who were exchanged.
828
Zaccagnini 1983, 250.
829
2 Samuel 5:11: “Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs and
carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David.”
353