Changes

Although war did break out between the Egyptians and Hittites in the northern Levant around the year 1274 BC, the system usually kept the major powers from engaging each other directly and the period is generally considered to be one of peace and prosperity. <ref> Mieroop, p. 136</ref>

Besides preventing major wars from breaking out among its members, the Great Powers Club developed large-scale, trans-national trade in the region. In order to do this, the kings had to make sure that the roads that connected their kingdoms were safe and free of highway robbers and other bandits. Based on examination of the Amarna Letters, the major kings apparently worked out a type of visa system with each other whereby subjects of one kingdom could legally travel to another kingdom for the purpose of diplomacy and commerce. In one letter, the Mitanni king, probably Tushratta (ruled during an uncertain length in the late fourteenth century BC), ordered the Canaanite kings of the Levant to give his diplomat a visa so that he could visit the king of Egypt. “No one is to hold him up. Provide him with safe entry into Egypt and hand (him) over to the fortress commander of Egypt,” read the letter. <ref> Moran, p. 100</ref>