THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
The differences are often individualistic, and mannerisms which run through a whole series combine with other details to point infallibly to identity of source for that series. The spelling is poor, and modifications of characters occur which have not been discovered in other cuneiform documents. The tablets are all to be dated within the reigns of Amenophis III. and IV., father and son, about 1500-1450 b.c. Besides the foregoing, a tablet recognized by nearly all scholars as belonging to the series was found by Bliss in his excavation of Tell el-Hesy (Lachish) in Palestine. This contains the name of Zimrida of Lachish (almost certainly the writer of letter No. 217 in Winckler's arrangement, and mentioned in Nos. 181 and 219 of the same), not to be confounded with Zimrida of Sidon, who is also a correspondent (as is apparently done by Bliss, Mounds of Many Cities, London, 1896, pp. 54 sqq.). Some of the letters contain Egyptian dockets mostly illegible, probably notes of date of receipt and other remarks. The condition of the tablets varies greatly; on some only a few characters remain; others lack only a few to be complete.
III. Authors and Contents: With the exception of some fragments of a bilingual dictionary, compiled by order of the Pharaoh, and a mythological fragment, the tablets are letters, most of which deal with the political situation of Syria, Palestine, and Philistia. The most noteworthy are the following: One letter is from Amenophis III. to Kallima-Sin of the Babylonian Kasshite dynasty, asking the latter for a daughter as a wife and replying to the latter's insinuation that there was no information that a former wife, sister of Kallima-Sin, was yet alive and well-treated. Four letters from Kallima-Sin to Amenophis III. complain that a Babylonian envoy was kept in Egypt six years, and when sent back brought only a small quantity of gold, and that of inferior quality. He asks more and better gold, which is needed at once for a building which he is erecting; he asks for a daughter of Amenophis as a wife, or if not that, then some one whom he can palm off as a daughter of the Pharaoh. One of the letters shows that he is sending his daughter to the harem of Amenophis. There are six letters of Burnaburiash of Babylon to Amenophis IV., assuring the latter of the former's fraternal feelings, asking presents and promising others in return, also seeking help against his " vassal " Asshur-uballit of Assyria who revolts against the suzerain power. There is also a letter of Asshur-uballit to Amenophis IV., seeking presents, including gold for the decoration of a palace, similar to those which had been sent to his father Asshur-nadin-ahi, and promising others in return. Some of the finest, longest, and best -written are from Tushratta, king of Mitanni (see Assyria), to Amenophis IV., one of whose wives is a sister of Tushratta. One of these promises a daughter of the writer to the Pharaoh, but it is expected that a great deal of gold (not alloyed like the last that was sent) will be returned for her. After considerable delay and, apparently, bargaining also the daughter was sent. This series tells too, of a victory of Tushratta over the Hittites, and
might be taken to prove that Mitanni was not a Hittite kingdom. Three from the same person to Amenophis IV include in their contents condolence upon the death of the Pharaoh's father, for which consolation is found by the writer in the fact that the son of that father succeeds to the thronefriendly relations are promised; two golden statuettes which have been promised are asked for (not wooden one likes those which have been sent); complaints are made about the detention of ambassadors in Egypt; and gold is requested. Tushratta also writes a letter to the queen dowager Ti, asking her good offices with the Pharaoh in urging the latter to fulfil the engagements entered into.
The rest of the tablets contain correspondence from petty kings and governors of Amoritic, Syrian, Palestinian, and Cypriote (?) cities to the Pharaohs, telling of revolts and assaults upon the Pharaoh's authority, and of invasions by the Hittites and Habiri; or they make accusations against other of the Pharaoh's governors, or defend themselves as loyal subjects of Egypt. The most noteworthy of these are a series from Alashia (either a district in north Syria or Cyprus); fifty-seven from Rib- Addi of Gebal (Byblos) to the Pharaoh, and eight to Egyptian officers high in position; eight from Abi-Milki of Tyre (the name compounded of the name of the god for which " Moloch " was given in the Old Testament; see Moloch); seven from Abd-hiba of Jerusalem (the latter spelled U-rusha-lim, " city of peace "; Winckler, T ell-el- Amarna Letters, Letter 180, line 25), which tell of a confederation formed by Gezer, Ashkelon, and Lachish against Jerusalem, and asking help against them and the Habiri; two are from Ammunira of Beirut.
IV. Value of the Tablets: The results gained from the study of the documents are threefold — historical, geographical, and linguistic.
The most remarkable result of the discovery is the fact that the correspondence even between Egypt and its vassals was carried on not in Egyptian, but in an Asiatic tongue, and that the cuneiform. This implies that the entire area covered by the correspondence outside Egypt was controlled in culture by Babylonia. This control was so thoroughgoing that governmental i. Histor- transactions and diplomatic interical. course were necessarily carried on in the tongue of the lower Euphrates. The royal correspondence reveals the relations between the court of Egypt, on the one side, and the courts of Babylonia, Assyria, and Mitanni, on the other, consisting of intermarriages, with Egypt as the haughtier power in the earlier period, this strain of superiority giving way later to one of equality. The Pharaohs entered into marriage relations with the daughters of Asiatic regal houses, but at first refused and afterward granted the request for reciprocity in this respect. This division of the documents shows the kings making requests of each other for bakshish and complaining of the quality of that formerly given. Egypt seems the source of gold, and from the plaints appears guilty of attempting to cheat by alloying heavily the