The proposal came from Khetasir, king of the Kheta. A tacit respect for each other seems to have prevented a renewal of the war which had opened with the battle of Kadesh, but Khetasir wished to go further. Between the two great and civilised nations lay the seething and restless masses of the Canaanitish tribes. Powerful kings had ruled ere this in Elam and in Mesopotamia, and might rule there again. No worse policy could be conceived than that of mutual rivalry and strife between Egypt and Kheta. An envoy brought to King Rameses a copy of the proposed treaty written on a silver tablet, and on its acceptance Khetasir himself came to Egypt and was received in all state by Rameses at the city of Zoan, where the treaty was duly ratified, and the King of Egypt received the hand of the Khetan princess in token of lasting amity and goodwill. ‘Peace and good brotherhood shall be between us for ever,’ so runs the treaty; ‘he shall be at peace with me and I with him for ever. The children’s children of the King of Kheta shall be in good brotherhood and peace with the children’s children of Rameses Meri-amen, the great ruler of Egypt. The King of Kheta shall not invade Egypt, nor the great ruler of Egypt invade Kheta, to carry away anything from it. If any enemy shall come against the land of Rameses he shall send to the ruler of Kheta, who shall help him to smite the enemy.’ All the gods of both countries are solemnly called upon to witness to this treaty, and to visit with dire penalties any infraction of its provisions. A further clause of ‘extradition’ is added, but it is humanely stipulated that any refugees given up in fulfilment of its demands shall not be punished with severity in any way. The treaty thus made was well and truly kept. The marriage of Rameses with the daughter of his ally is recorded in the rock-temple of Abu-simbel. ‘The Prince of Kheta, clad in the dress of his country, himself conducted the bride to his son-in-law. After the marriage had taken place the young wife, as queen, received the Egyptian name of Urma-Neferura.’ Not only did all hostilities cease henceforth between the two great empires, but a calm ensued throughout Syria, where the tribal kings could no longer look for support to their powerful neighbours. It seems as if Rameses quietly allowed his claims to supremacy in Mesopotamia to lapse; and the Phœnicians were not a warlike race, but, as a rule, were ready to acknowledge the supremacy of a stronger nation so long as they could pursue their commerce and gain wealth at their ease. It is possible, then, that thirty or forty years of peace may have remained for King Rameses, and his time and energies were devoted to architectural, instead of warlike, achievements. He lived to be at least eighty years of age, and survived twelve of his sons, being succeeded by the thirteenth, Menephtah.