#like the super whiney local king who complained about never getting archers | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

acatandamouse · 2 years ago

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So, ages ago, I took a class in Diplomacy in the Ancient Near East, and when one king would send a letter/caravan/tribute/demands/whatever to another king, they would always start off (and I paraphrase, but not by much):

To my brother Blah blah blah, king of Blah Blah, greetings! Your brother Blah Blah sends greetings! As a greeting gift, I send you ...

And there would always be "X pieces of Lapis Lazuli" in that list, sometimes only lapis.

So to this day, when I say "hi" to someone I haven't seen in a while, my brain goes "Greetings! As a gift I send you Pieces of Lapis Lazuli..."

Then I spent some time in St Petersburg in Russia and saw an altar wall for a church that was a giant slab of lapis. Oi! Impressive, tho:)

#I send you a greeting gift of #lapis lazuli #The Amarna Letters are full of fun stories #like the super whiney local king who complained about never getting archers #so much!#SO MUCH #that his overlord sent him troops that were needed elsewhere just to shut him up #And then #there was the king who kept berating his younger son #Be more like your brother!#He isn't spending all his time in the harem!#He is out there killing people!#Basically:#Make War not Love

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