lden ornaments and a jar of oil. In another letter Tushratta
asked for a large quantity of gold "without measure". He complained
that he did not receive enough on previous occasions, and hinted that
some of the Egyptian gold looked as if it were alloyed with copper.
Like the Assyrian king, he hinted that gold was as plentiful as dust
in Egypt. His own presents to the Pharaoh included precious stones,
gold ornaments, chariots and horses, and women (probably slaves). This
may have been tribute. It was during the third Amenhotep's illness
that Tushratta forwarded the Nineveh image of Ishtar to Egypt, and he
made reference to its having been previously sent thither by his
father, Sutarna.

When Akhenaton came to the throne Tushratta wrote to him, desiring to
continue the friendship which had existed for two or three generations
between the kings of Mitanni and Egypt, and made complimentary
references to "the distinguished Queen Tiy", Akhenaton's mother, who
evidently exercised considerable influence in shaping Egypt's foreign
policy. In the course of his long correspondence with the Pharaohs,
Tushratta made those statements regarding his ancestors which have
provided so much important data for modern historians of his kingdom.

During the early part of the Tell-el-Amarna period, Mitanni was the
most powerful kingdom in Western Asia. It was chiefly on that account
that the daughters of its rulers were selected to be the wives and
mothers of great Egyptian Pharaohs. But its numerous enemies were ever
plotting to accomplish its downfall. Among these the foremost and most
dangerous were the Hittites and the Assyrians.

The ascendancy of the Hittites was achieved in northern Syria with
dramatic suddenness. There arose in Asia Minor a great conqueror,
named Subbi-luliuma, the successor of Hattusil I, who established a
strong Hittite empire which endured for about two centuries. His
capital was at Boghaz-Koei. Sweeping through Cappadocia, at the head of
a finely organized army, remarkable for its mobility, he attacked the
buffer states which owed allegiance to Mitanni and Egypt. City after
city fell before him, until at length he invaded Mitanni; but it is
uncertain whether or not Tushratta met him in battle. Large numbers of
the Mitannians were, however, evicted and transferred to the land of
the Hittites, where the Greeks subsequently found them, and where they
are believed to be represented by the modern Kurds, the hereditary