A closer look
Signing a peace treaty in the Bronze Age was less about legal jargon and more about highly theatrical animal mutilation. When the Hittites established diplomatic alliances with vassal states, they conducted terrifying oath rituals to guarantee compliance. Vassals were forced to swear loyalty over the severed halves of sheep or blindfolded women, publicly accepting that if they broke the treaty, the gods would magically inflict the exact same grisly fate upon their own families and armies.
