formed an
alliance for mutual protection against their common enemy.

It is necessary at this point to review briefly the history of
Palestine and north Syria after the period of Hittite expansion under
King Subbi-luliuma and the decline of Egyptian power under Akhenaton.
The western part of Mitanni and the most of northern Syria had been
colonized by the Hittites.[410] Farther south, their allies, the
Amorites, formed a buffer State on the borders of Egypt's limited
sphere of influence in southern Palestine, and of Babylonia's sphere
in southern Mesopotamia. Mitanni was governed by a subject king who
was expected to prevent the acquisition by Assyria of territory in the
north-west.

Subbi-luliuma was succeeded on the Hittite throne by his son, King
Mursil, who was known to the Egyptians as "Meraser", or "Maurasar".
The greater part of this monarch's reign appears to have been peaceful
and prosperous. His allies protected his frontiers, and he was able to
devote himself to the work of consolidating his empire in Asia Minor
and North Syria. He erected a great palace at Boghaz Koei, and appears
to have had dreams of imitating the splendours of the royal Courts of
Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon.

At this period the Hittite Empire was approaching the zenith of its
power. It controlled the caravan roads of Babylonia and Egypt, and its
rulers appear not only to have had intimate diplomatic relations with
both these countries, but even to have concerned themselves regarding
their internal affairs. When Rameses I came to the Egyptian throne, at
the beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty, he sealed an agreement with
the Hittites, and at a later date the Hittite ambassador at Babylon,
who represented Hattusil II, the second son of King Mursil, actually
intervened in a dispute regarding the selection of a successor to the
throne.

The closing years of King Mursil's reign were disturbed by the
military conquests of Egypt, which had renewed its strength under
Rameses I. Seti I, the son of Rameses I, and the third Pharaoh of the
powerful Nineteenth Dynasty, took advantage of the inactivity of the
Hittite ruler by invading southern Syria. He had first to grapple with
the Amorites, whom he successfully defeated. Then he pressed northward
as far as Tunip, and won a decisive victory over a Hittite army, which
secured to Egypt for a period the control of Palestine as far north as
Phoenicia.

When Mursil died he was succeeded on the Hitti