llowed their King rather for the
sake of their material gains than for the spiritual comforts of the
Aton-worship. There is reason to suppose that at least one of these
nobles was degraded and banished from the city.

But while Akhnaton was preaching peace and goodwill amidst the flowers
of the temple of Aton, his generals in Asia Minor were vainly struggling
to hold together the great empire created by Thutmosis III. Akhnaton had
caused a temple of Aton to be erected at one point in Syria at least,
but in other respects he took little or no interest in the welfare of
his foreign dominions. War was not tolerated in his doctrine: it was a
sin to take away life which the good Father had given. One pictures the
hardened soldiers of the empire striving desperately to hold the nations
of Asia faithful to the Pharaoh whom they never saw. The small garrisons
were scattered far and wide over Syria, and constantly they sent
messengers to the Pharaoh asking at least for some sign that he held
them in mind.

There is no more pathetic page of ancient history than that which tells
of the fall of the Egyptian Empire. The Amorites, advancing along the
sea-coast, took city after city from the Egyptians almost without a
struggle. The chiefs of Tunip wrote an appeal for help to the King: "To
the King of Egypt, my lord,--The inhabitants of Tunip, thy servant." The
plight of the city is described and reinforcements are asked for, "And
now," it continues, "Tunip thy city weeps, and her tears are flowing,
and there is no help for us. For twenty years we have been sending to
our lord the King, the King of Egypt, but there has not come a word to
us, no, not one." The messengers of the beleaguered city must have found
the King absorbed in his religion, and must have seen only priests of
the sun where they had hoped to find the soldiers of former days. The
Egyptian governor of Jerusalem, attacked by Aramaeans, writes to the
Pharaoh, saying: "Let the King take care of his land, and ... let send
troops.... For if no troops come in this year, the whole territory of my
lord the King will perish." To this letter is added a note to the
King's secretary, which reads, "Bring these words plainly before my
lord the King: the whole land of my lord the King is going to ruin."

So city after city fell, and the empire, won at such cost, was gradually
lost to the Egyptians. It is probable that Akhnaton had not realised how
serious was the situation in Asia M