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
return with it to their homes safe and sound; but as frequently they
would meet with reverses by falling into some ambuscade: in such a case
their conqueror would not put them to the sword or sell them as slaves,
but would promptly incorporate them into his army, thus making his
captives into his soldiers. The King of the Khati was able to make use
of them without difficulty, for his empire was conterminous on the
west and north with some of their native lands, and he had often whole
regiments of them in his army--Mysians, Lycians, people of Augarit,* of
Ilion,** and of Pedasos.***
* The country of Augarit, Ugarit, is mentioned on several
occasions in the Tel el-Amarna correspondence. The name has
been wrongly associated with Caria; it has been placed by W.
Max Miiller well within Naharaim, to the east of the
Orontes, between Khalybon (Aleppo) and Apamoea, the writer
confusing it with Akaiti, named in the campaign of Amenothes
II. I am not sure about the site, but its association in the
Amarna letters with Gugu and Khanigalbat inclines me to
place it beyond the northern slopes of the Taurus, possibly
on the banks of the Halys or of the Upper Euphrates.
** The name of this people was read Eiuna by Champollion,
who identified it with the Ionians; this reading and
identification were adopted by Lenormant and by W. Max
Mueller. Chabas hesitates between Eiuna and Maiuna, Ionia and
Moonia and Brugsch read it Malunna. The reading Iriuna,
Iliuna, seems to me the only possible one, and the
identification with Ilion as well.
*** Owing to its association with the Dardanians, Mysians,
and Ilion, I think it answers to the Pedasos on the Satniois
near Troy.
The revenue of the provinces taken from Egypt, and the products of his
tolls, furnished him with abundance of means for obtaining recruits from
among them.*
All these things contributed to make the power of the Khati so
considerable, that Harmhabi, when he had once tested it, judged it
prudent not to join issues with them. He concluded with Sapalulu
a treaty of peace and friendship, which, leaving the two powers in
possession respectively of the territory each then occupied, gave legal
sanction to the extension of the sphere of the Khati at the expense
of Egypt.** Syria continued to consist of two almost equal parts,
stretching from Byblos to the sources of the Jordan and Damascus:
the northern portion, formerly tributary to Egypt, became a Hittite
possession; while the southern, consisting of Phoenicia and Canaan,***
which the Pharaoh had held for a long time with a more effective
authority, and had more fully occupied, was retained for Egypt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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