haldaean empire, that is to say, over the countries which
bordered the middle course of the Euphrates and the coasts of the
Mediterranean. The audacity of his marches, the valour of his men, the
facility with which in a few hours he had crushed the assembled forces
of half Syria, left no room to doubt that he was possessed of personal
qualities and material resources sufficient to carry out projects of
the most ambitious character. Babylon, enfeebled by the perpetual
dissensions of its Cossaean princes, was no longer in a position to
contest with him the little authority she still retained over the
peoples of Naharaim or of Coele-Syria; protected by the distance which
separated her from the Nile valley, she preserved a sullen neutrality,
while Assyria hastened to form a peaceful alliance with the invading
power. Again and again its kings sent to Thutmosis presents in
proportion to their resources, and the Pharaoh naturally treated their
advances as undeniable proofs of their voluntary vassalage. Each time
that he received from them a gift of metal or lapis-lazuli, he proudly
recorded their tribute in the annals of his reign; and if, in exchange,
he sent them some Egyptian product, it was in smaller quantities, as
might be expected from a lord to his vassal.*

* The "tribute of Assur" is mentioned in this way under the
years XXIII. and XXIV. The presents sent by the Pharaoh in
return are not mentioned in any Egyptian text, but there is
frequent reference to them in the Tel el-Amarna tablets. It
may be mentioned here that the name of Nineveh does not
occur on the Egyptian monuments, but only that of the town
Nii, in which Champollion wrongly recognised the later
capital of Assyria.

Sometimes there would accompany the convoy, surrounded by an escort of
slaves and women, some princess, whom the king would place in his harem
or graciously pass on to one of his children; but when, on the other
hand, an even distant relative of the Pharaoh was asked in marriage for
some king on the banks of the Tigris or Euphrates, the request was met
with a disdainful negative: the daughters of the Sun were of too noble
a race to stoop to such alliances, and they would count it a humiliation
to be sent in marriage to a foreign court.

[Illustration: 384.jpg SOME OF THE OBJECTS CARRIED IN TRIBUTE TO THE
SYRIANS]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after Champollion.

Free transit on the main road which