ity between the contracting sovereigns, an offensive and
defensive alliance, and the extradition of criminals and refugees. The
original was drawn up in Chaldaean script by the scribes of Khatusaru,
probably on the model of former conventions between the Pharaohs and
the Asiatic courts, and to this the Egyptian ministers had added a few
clauses relative to the pardon of emigrants delivered up by one or other
of the contracting parties. When, therefore, Tartisubu arrived in the
city of Eamses, the acceptance of the treaty was merely a matter of
form, and peace was virtually concluded. It did not confer on the
conqueror the advantages which we might have expected from his
successful campaigns: it enjoined, on the contrary, the definite
renunciation of those countries, Mitanni, Naharaim, Alasia, and Amurru,
over which Thutmosis III. and his immediate successors had formerly
exercised an effective sovereignty. Sixteen years of victories had left
matters in the same state as they were after the expedition of Harmhabi,
and, like his predecessor, Ramses was able to retain merely those
Asiatic provinces which were within the immediate influence of Egypt,
such as the Phoenician coast proper, Kharu, Persea beyond Jordan, the
oases of the Arabian desert, and the peninsula of Sinai.*

* The _Anastasi Papyrus I_. mentions a place called _Zaru of
Sesostris_, in the neighbourhood of Aleppo, in a part of
Syria which was not in Egyptian territory: the frontier in
this locality must have passed between Arvad and Byblos on
the coast, and between Qodshu and Hazor from Merom inland.
Egyptian rule on the other side of the Jordan seems to be
proved by the monument discovered a few years ago in the
Hauran, and known under the name of the "Stone of Job" by
the Bedawin of the neighbourhood.

This apparently unsatisfactory result, after such supreme efforts, was,
however, upon closer examination, not so disappointing. For more than
half a century at least, since the Hittite kingdom had been developed
and established under the impulse given to it by Sapalulu, everything
had been in its favour. The campaign of Seti had opposed merely a
passing obstacle to its expansion, and had not succeeded in discouraging
its ambitions, for its rulers still nursed the hope of being able
one day to conquer Syria as far as the isthmus. The check received at
Qodshu, the abortive attempts to foment rebellion in Galilee an