The great sea power of the eastern Mediterranean prior to the Amarna Age was Minoan Crete. The Cretans traded with Egypt from the earliest history of the two peoples. In addition to the direct route across the Mediterranean, the Minoans made use of an indirect trade route along the southwestern and southern shores of Asia Minor, and then southward by way of Cyprus to Egypt. The Egyptian word _Keftiu_ (Hebrew _Caphtorim_, Gen. 10:14; Deut. 2:23; Amos 9:7) may be used of the peoples of southern Asia Minor as well as the inhabitants of Crete and its adjacent islands. The Philistines trace their ancestry to the _Caphtorim_ (Amos 9:7), accounting for a non-Semitic element in southern Canaan. Cretan trade with Egypt is depicted in the tomb of Rekhmire, lieutenant governor of Upper Egypt under Thothmes III (_ca._ 1490-1435 B.C.).[53] Here a prince of the _Keftiu_ is depicted with gifts for the rulers of Egypt. Cretan power came to an abrupt end, however, some time around the end of the fifteenth century B.C., when Knossus, the capital, and other centers of Minoan culture were destroyed. The cause is not known, but Mycenaeans from mainland Greece may have been responsible, at least in part, for the fall of Knossus. Early in the fourteenth century B.C., Mycenae became the cultural and political center of the Aegean world. Trade with Egypt brought to the Mycenaeans the ivory that appears frequently in their tombs. Scarabs discovered at Mycenae bear the names of Amenhotep III and his wife, Tiy. The Phoenicians It was not the Mycenaeans, however, but the Phoenicians who succeeded the Minoans as the seafarers and the traders of the eastern Mediterranean. A tomb painting from Thebes shows Phoenician merchant ships tied up at docks along the Nile with their crews selling merchandise in the Egyptian bazaar. Amarna letters speak of Tyrian sailors and the wealth of their home port. Ships of Arvad also carry merchandise to Egypt. Phoenician control of the eastern Mediterranean was not challenged until Rome fought a series of wars with Carthage, which began as a Phoenician colony. We know the conflicts as the Punic (i.e., Phoenician) wars. Commerce was not without its dangers. Roving bands of pirates from Lycia in Asia Minor infested the eastern Mediterranean and even landed on the coast of the Egyptian Delta. Amenhotep III found it necessary to organize a police force to patrol the Delta coast and keep the mouths of the Delta closed to all but lawful ships. The police manned customs houses and collected duty on all merchandise that was not consigned to the king. The land routes into Egypt were also policed, and admission was only granted to those with legitimate business. VIII THE ART OF AMARNA