History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 5 (of 12)Maspero, G. (Gaston)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 5 (of 12)
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Civilization, Ancient; Egypt -- History -- To 640 A.D.; History, Ancient; Middle East -- History
* The name and the figure of Khuniatonu are met with on the
gate of the temple of Soleb, and he received in his
XIIth year the tributes of Kush, as well as those of Syria.
The sudden degradation of Amon had not brought about any coldness
between the Pharaoh and his princely allies in Asia. The aged Amenothes
had, towards the end of his reign, asked the hand of Dushratta's
daughter in marriage, and the Mitannian king, highly flattered by the
request, saw his opportunity and took advantage of it in the interest
of his treasury. He discussed the amount of the dowry, demanded a
considerable sum of gold, and when the affair had been finally arranged
to his satisfaction, he despatched the princess to the banks of the
Nile. On her arrival she found her affianced husband was dead, or, at
all events, dying. Amenothes IV., however, stepped into his father's
place, and inherited his bride with his crown.
[Illustration: 100.jpg THE DOOR OF A TOMB AT TEL EL-AMARNA]
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Insinger.
The new king's relations with other foreign princes were no less
friendly; the chief of the Khati (Hittites) complimented him on his
accession, the King of Alasia wrote to him to express his earnest desire
for a continuance of peace between the two states. Burnaburiash of
Babylon had, it is true, hoped to obtain an Egyptian princess in
marriage for his son, and being disappointed, had endeavoured to pick a
quarrel over the value of the presents which had been sent him, together
with the notice of the accession of the new sovereign. But his kingdom
lay too far away to make his ill-will of much consequence, and his
complaints passed unheeded. In Coele-Syria and Phoenicia the situation
remained unchanged. The vassal cities were in a perpetual state
of disturbance, though not more so than in the past. Aziru, son of
Abdashirti, chief of the country of the Amorites, had always, even
during the lifetime of Amenothes III., been the most turbulent of
vassals. The smaller states of the Orontes and of the coast about Arvad
had been laid waste by his repeated incursions and troubled by his
intrigues. He had taken and pillaged twenty towns, among which were
Simyra, Sini, Irqata, and Qodshu, and he was already threatening Byblos,
Berytus, and Sidon. It was useless to complain of him, for he always
managed to exculpate himself to the royal messengers. Khai, Dudu,
Amenemaupit had in turn all pronounced him innocent. Pharaoh himself,
after citing him to appear in Egypt to give an explanation of his
conduct, had allowed himself to be won over by his fair speaking, and
had dismissed him uncondemned. Other princes, who lacked his cleverness
and power, tried to imitate him, and from north to south the whole of
Syria could only be compared to some great arena, in which fighting
was continually carried on between one tribe or town and another--Tyre
against Sidon, Sidon against Byblos, Jerusalem against Lachish. All
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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