=Rise of the Hittite Power.= This chapter in the history of early Palestine throws much light upon later Hebrew history. The invaders evidently soon coalesced with the older Canaanite inhabitants, infusing new blood and energy into the people; but they quickly adopted the older civilization. The conditions of Palestine remained practically the same as in the days before the Egyptian invasions. The geographical characteristics of the land reasserted themselves. The old rivalries and wars between the little states of Palestine quickly sprang up again, so that, when the energetic kings of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty appeared, the land was once more ripe for conquest. Meantime, however, the Hittites, profiting by the more favorable physical conditions in northern Syria, had come down from Cappadocia and the mountains of eastern Asia Minor and had built up a strong kingdom, having for its southern capital Kadesh on the Orontes. From this centre they had extended their influence not only over Syria, but also over Palestine. When Ramses II, the great ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty, set out in 1288 B.C. to conquer the eastern Mediterranean coast lands, he found himself, like Thotmose III, two hundred years before, confronted by a powerful foe, strongly intrenched in the broad valleys between the Lebanons. After an undecisive battle and many campaigns Ramses was glad to establish with this rival power a treaty which left the Hittites in possession of northern Syria and the Egyptians masters of Palestine.