says he would not discuss, and which he asks may be forgotten, as he wishes for brotherhood to be maintained between Egypt and Babylon. In reference to the complaint about no satisfactory news having been received of the princess, he says that none of the envoys who had been sent were old enough to remember her, and he begs Kalimma Sin to send a man of weight who had conversed with her and who would be able to recognize her, and to report that she was well and happy, and he calls his god Amen to witness that this was so. He also goes on to press again that he would send him his daughter (for whom he was prepared to pay a handsome dowry, far richer than had been given by the other kings with whom he had formed similar alliances), and to ask for a contingent of soldiers; and sends a messenger to arrange a treaty, the condition of which was that certain duties should be levied upon gold, silver, oil, and clothing, and other objects of value which any Mesopotamian travelling in Egypt should offer for sale. He also promised to send him back his chariots laden with oil.

Amenophis apparently treated the request for the hand of one of his own daughters as an impertinence; and is reported to have said, 'The daughter of the king of the land of Egypt hath never been given to a nobody.' In his reply Kalimma Sin said that he had no soldiers, and that his daughter was not beautiful. He nevertheless goes on to discuss the loan of a quantity of gold to be treated as her dowry, and which he hopes may reach him during the time of harvest, since he wishes to pay to the temple the rest of an offering which he had vowed.

In answer to the Egyptian king's caustic phrase about his daughter, he says, 'Thou art king, and canst act as thou pleasest; and if thou wilt give (her to me), who shall say a word (against it)?' and then he suggests a rather amusing alternative. 'Surely,' he says, 'there be daughters of nobles? who are beautiful women in (Egypt). Now if thou knowest a beautiful lady, I beseech thee to send her unto me, for who here could say that she is not a princess? But if thou wilt not send such an one, then dost thou not act as a friend and a brother should. Now even as thou, because we are connected with each other, hast written unto me concerning a marriage (with my daughter), so because of our brotherhood and friendship, and because we are connected, have I also written unto thee concerning a marriage (with thy daughter). Why has not my brother sent me a wife? Inasmuch as thou hast not sent a wife, in like manner will I do unto thee, and will hinder any (Mesopotamian) lady from going into Egypt.'

Whatever

Whatever difficulties arose were apparently got over, for in a subsequent letter Kalimma Sin writes: With reference to thy request that my daughter Sukharti be given to thee to wife, my daughter Sukharti hath now come to the age of puberty, and may be married. If thou wilt write unto me, she shall be brought unto thee.' The letters do not enable us to carry the interesting story further.

Presently the correspondence was renewed between the Egyptian court and a successor of Kalimma Sin, named Burraburiyash, who styles himself son of Kurigalzu, and who mentions how Karaindash, one of his predecessors, had had friendly relations with Amenophis III. In these letters the Egyptian kings are referred to by their throne names or prænomens. Thus Amenophis III. is styled Mimmuriya, Nimmuriya, or Immuriya, representing that king's prænomen Neb-Māt-Rā; while that of Amenophis IV. is given as Napkhurriya, i.e. Nefer-cheperu-Ra, being the first portion of his prænomen.

From a letter of Burraburiyash, written to Amenophis IV., it would seem that the Kinakhians or Canaanites had invited his father Kurigalzu to join them in an attack upon Kannishat, a district under the Egyptian suzerainty, and that, after consultation with himself, he had not only refused but threatened them with punishment if they ventured to do so. A reference to this invitation in one of the letters from Syria shows it was sent by Aziru, the governor of the Amorite country. It seems the Canaanites had now actually commenced hostile proceedings. The Babylonian king goes on to remind Amenophis that so long as they two were united the rebels would be helpless to do any harm, and he sends him a present of three manehs of lapis-lazuli, and five pairs of horses for five wooden chariots. He in return complains that Amenophis had only sent him two manehs of gold, a much smaller quantity than his father was accustomed to give him, and he begs him to send at least half of what his father used to send. This, he says, he needed for contributions which he had promised towards the support of the god of his native land.

In another letter he reverts again to these gifts, and asks Amenophis IV. to send him much gold, which he wants for the folding doors of the temple and palace he had undertaken to build; he promises to send anything he wishes of the products of his land in return. Meanwhile he sends him some alabaster, five chariots of wood, and fourteen spans of horses. In another letter he writes to say that the envoys which he had sent to Egypt with Akhi-dhabu (i.e. the Hebrew name Ahitub), with presents for the king, had been slain by the Vol. 176.-No. 352. Canaanites

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Canaanites in a place called Kekhinnatuni, or Kitin-natuni, and the gifts had been waylaid by the escort-under Sum Adda, the son of Balime (i.e. Balaam), and Sutana, the son of Zarata, of the city of Akku (i.e. Akkho or Acre)-who were subjects of Amenophis, and he asks that the robbers might be put to death. Among other outrages, one of his envoys had had his feet cut off, and another had been made to stand on his head. In another letter he complains that two Egyptian officials named Biryamaza and Pamahu had pillaged a caravan which he had sent to Egypt under the charge of Salimu. In another letter Burraburiyash frankly calls his correspondent's attention to the fact that three embassies had come from Egypt without bringing any presents, and that he would therefore send no gifts back. If thou hast nothing of value for me,' he says, then I have nothing of value for thee.' He next complains that one envoy who had taken twenty manehs of gold had only delivered five, which he had refused to accept. It would seem that Amenophis IV. had married a daughter of the Babylonian king, a fact not previously known, and the latter now sends a present of two manehs of lapis-lazuli for his son-in-law, and various gifts for my daughter, the wife of my son.' In another letter we read of some rich presents being sent by his messenger Shutti, apparently as a dowry for the princess, including an ivory and gold throne, wooden and golden thrones, and a number of gold objects, the weights of which are specified. The long list of objects, including many kinds of precious stones and of artistic furniture, &c., whose specific names cannot as yet be translated, is a good measure of the extraordinary wealth and luxury which then prevailed.

While a considerable number of letters passed between the rulers of Egypt and Babylonia, we have one letter sent to Amenophis IV. by Asshur-yuballidh, king of Assyria. In this he expresses the pleasure he had had in receiving his envoys, and he says he had sent him a choice chariot with two white horses and their harness, and a seal of white alabaster. He goes on to complain that whereas the King of Egypt had sent his father, Asshur-nadin-akhi, twenty manehs of gold, and a similar quantity to the King of Khani-rabbat, similar presents had now been withheld, and he asks him to despatch much gold, and to let his envoys take in return what they liked. He also speaks of the difficulties of the intercourse between the two countries, owing to the raids of the Suti or Bedouin robbers. Turning from these two ancient powers of Mesopotamia, we

*

I.e. Khani the Great, which Delitzsch has shown good grounds for identifying with The Great Land of the Kheta,' or Hittites, of the Egyptians.

next have a very interesting series of letters from the King of a country called Mitanni. The situation of Mitanni has been a good deal discussed, and the subject has been especially treated at some length by Dr. Jensen. There can be little doubt that it lay between the Euphrates and the Balikh, in the district of which Harran was the principal town. The people, so far as their language can be made out from the letters written in it, spoke a tongue like the old language of Armenia, in which the Vannic inscriptions are written. The language has been styled Alarodian, from the name given to the people living in Armenia by Herodotus; and, according to the views of Mr. Sayce, whose interpretation of the Van inscriptions is one of the most ingenious triumphs of modern science, it was closely related to Georgian. The Mitannians apparently occupied the district of Harran after the migration of the Hebrews. It is curious that this district was afterwards called Beth Adini, which seems to connect it with the worship of Aten, and increases the probability of the Aten worship having reached Egypt from Mitanni. The native name of the country was apparently Murrukhe.

*

Mitanni is named in an inscription of Thothmes III., while in another of Amenophis II., at Thebes, the King of Mitanni is mentioned as bringing him tribute. With Ramses III. the name disappears entirely from the Egyptian records, and the country was apparently conquered by the Assyrians, whose king, Tiglath Pileser I., went there to hunt wild cattle.

In one letter we are told that Thothmes IV. had asked Artatama, king of Mitanni, for the hand of his daughter, who had only been sent after the request had been preferred five or six times. A similar request was made by Amenophis III. to Shutarna, the son of Artatama, who sent him his daughter Gilukhipa, and among other things Amenophis sent in return an oblation-dish and a cup of solid gold.

An Egyptian scarab which has been known for some time mentions the marriage of Amenophis III., in his tenth year, with a princess of Naharina, named Kilkipa, the daughter of Shutarna, who was no doubt the same person. We are further told that she arrived in Egypt with 317 attendants. The letters of the King of Mitanni contain references to this princess, and prove that the country known as Naharina to the Egyptians, or perhaps one part of it, was the same as Mitanni.

Shutarna was succeeded by his son Artashumara. He was soon after slain by rebels, and was in turn succeeded by his

*See Herod. iii. 94, vii. 79.
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brother

brother Tushratta, who, although very young, put down the rebels and mounted the throne. He next seems to have attacked the King of the Hittites, who had invaded his country to help the rebels, and killed him. He then sent to Amenophis to renew the alliance between the two countries, and sent him a present of a chariot, two horses, a youth and a maiden from the spoil captured from the Hittites, with five pairs of horses from his own stables, and also some gold objects and a vase of anointing oil as a present to his sister Gilukhipa, and he begs that Amenophis will send back his messengers Giliya and Tunip-ipri, and that they may bring him word that Amenophis has sent him a present to rejoice his heart.

Presently Amenophis seems to have written to ask Tushratta for the hand of his daughter. Mani, the Egyptian envoy on this occasion, was received with great honour and was shown the young princess, and, Tushratta says, he would report to his master how fair she was. He hopes she will have a happy life in the land of Egypt, and prays that Ishtar, the goddess of Mitanni, and Amen, the god of Egypt, may mould her to please the will of Amenophis. He then goes on to say how he is getting ready for him some articles used in the war or the chase, and he goes on to beg the Egyptian king to send him plenty of gold, gold which cannot be counted, more gold than he sent his father, since in the midst of Egypt gold was as plentiful as dust.' But he adds, 'whatsoever my brother sendeth I shall be greatly pleased.' While he would not offend his brother by asking for gold, on the other hand he did not himself wish to be offended by having anything less than a large quantity of gold sent to him. His need for gold was chiefly for the payment of expenses incurred in sending to Egypt the presents which his grandfather had promised the king. Among the gifts which Tushratta sent the Egyptian king, there are named a large gold object inlaid with lapis-lazuli, a gold vessel inlaid with the same, a necklace of khanuli stones, and other precious things; ten pairs of horses, ten wooden chariots, with their fittings complete, and thirty eunuchs.

In the case of Mitanni, as in that of Babylonia, we have a most elaborate list of rich objects sent by the king as a dowry for his daughter, whose number and value are quite astonishing when we consider what a small community Mitanni then was. It is a pity that so many of the names are untranslatable. In his letters Tushratta appeals to Rimmon and Ishtar as the gods of Mitanni. Oppert compares the name Tushratta with that of Chushan-rishathaim of Judges iii. 8-10, who subdued Israel eight years, and who was the ruler of Aram Naharaim (Mesopotamia).

Mitanni