With the threat of a great-powers conflict in the world today, it is timely to examine the rise and collision of the first superpowers in world history and their epic conflicts, i.e., the Empires of Ancient Egypt and the Hittites. This course examines the political, military, and diplomatic histories of the Egyptians and the Hittites, who were the superpowers of their day, commanding vassal kingdoms and great international alliances. Beginning before 3000 BC with the Old Kingdom through to the end of the Empire by 1000 BC, the course considers the nature of Egyptian society and government, especially in the formation of the imperial state and Egyptian hegemony in Western Asia. The course also probes the political and social history and archaeology of Asia Minor in the Bronze Age from before the arrival of Indo-Europeans in c. 23rd century BC, the Old Assyrian colonies, native Hattians, and ultimately the Hittite Old and New Kingdoms, including the formation of the great Hittite Empire. Here it considers the Hittite penchant for treaties and codified laws, social and political organization, warfare and conquest, and relations with its neighbors, especially competing for territories and influence with the Egyptians. It also includes Hittite relations with Troy, the Mycenaean Greeks, and the political situation in Asia Minor in the Late Bronze Age. So, it will provide a Near Eastern perspective on the real "Trojan War," later dramatized and fictionalized in Greek myth.

A significant issue is the nature of Egyptian-Hittite political and military relations at the height of both empires, when they warred heavily against each other as the two reigning superpowers of their age, including the Hittites' use of advanced super weapons, and ultimately leading to a dramatic finale that is still commemorated today, even 3,300 years later, at the United Nations in New York. Significantly, the course examines the major forces that were unleashed against both of them with the collapse of Mycenaean civilization, leading ultimately to the Hittites' political extinction and the ultimate crumbling of Egyptian power. With the permission of appropriate departmental chairs and program directors, this course can also be applied to credits in the Classics and Archaeology majors, and African Studies.