Part 32 (1/2)
”And _Khama.s.si_ my brother's envoy he sent (humbly?) to my presence, and (humbly?) he spoke my brother's message: I heard and then I said 'As I was friends with _Amenophis III_ thy father, lo! now ten times more with _Amenophis IV_ (_Nabkhuriya_) shall I be great friends.' So then I said to _Khama.s.si_ your envoy.
”And lo! my brother: the treasures of gold to be remitted you shall not send; and there (shall be) respite of gifts which your father spoke of sending. It is desired that my brother shall not send them.
”Lo! my brother, the treasures of gold which I asked of your father I may say that half of them will be carried off (or stolen) ... The lands are at strife(404) ...”
The rest of this letter, including all the back, is too much broken to be read. It appears to go on to speak of ”destruction” and to refer to a state of disturbance. It mentions the envoy _Khama.s.si_, and says, ”Of what he has brought the fourth part has been robbed.” On the back _Gilia_ is mentioned with gold, and relations between the writer and Amenophis III.
He refers again to the message from Amenophis IV and to _Teie_ his mother; and invokes _Rimmon_ and _Amanu_. The words ”unless they are conquered”
seem also to occur. This letter contained altogether 113 lines of writing.
26 B.-A list of presents. On the back, at the bottom of the left hand column, is the statement, ”These are the things carried by the female slaves, all those things which _Dusratta_ King of _Mitani_ gave to _Amenophis III_ his brother, his kinsman, when he sent his daughter _Tadukhipa_ to the land of Egypt, to Amenophis III for marriage, he gave all these that day.”
The list is a very long and difficult one. It begins with two horses, and a chariot plated with gold and silver, and adorned with precious stones.
The harness of the horses was adorned in like manner. Two camel litters appear to be next noticed, and apparently variegated garments worked with gold, and embroidered zones and shawls. These are followed by lists of precious stones, and a horse's saddle adorned with gold eagles.(405) A necklace of solid gold and gems, a bracelet of iron gilt,(406) an anklet of solid gold, and other gold objects follow; and apparently cloths, and silver objects, and vases of copper or bronze. An object of jade or jasper (_Yaspu_), and leaves of gold, are noticed (both jade and leaves of gold have actually been found in the oldest ruins at Troy), the former being perhaps noticed as coming from _Elam_, by trade with central Asia, where jade was found. Five gems of ”stone of the great light” (perhaps diamonds) follow, with ornaments for the head and feet, and a number of bronze objects, and harness for chariots. Boxes of strong wood to contain treasures follow next, and apparently a collar with disks and carved lions, objects of silver and gold and strong wood, bronze ornaments for horses. The last noticed objects may be written tablets, including some on the ritual of the G.o.ds.
25 B.-A list similar to the last, perhaps part of the same inventory, as it includes women's ornaments. The tablet is much injured. The objects noticed include an earring with gems, and others of gold, with a large number of precious stones, a necklace with 122 gems set in gold, including ”green stones”; bracelets and anklets of solid gold with jewels: an umbrella adorned with gold: boxes to hold treasures, and numerous objects of silver: horns of the wild bull, and wooden objects adorned with gold: cups of gold adorned with gems: other bracelets and anklets of gold with pendants and stars of jewels: a pair of gold earrings with pendants and stars of precious stones: silver anklets for women, and earrings with gold pendants. In each case the weight of gold and the numbers of the gems are stated.
These inventories of Tadukhipa's marriage outfit show how far advanced was the civilization of western Asia in the fourteenth century B.C., and indicate not only the native wealth of gold, silver, copper, and bronze, from Asia Minor and the Caucasus, but also a trade which brought jade from central Asia. The art of the age is similar to that of the objects found at Troy and Mycenae, and represented on the Egyptian bas-reliefs, which give pictures of the tribute from Phnicia. From other tablets in the collection we obtain similar information, including the use of ivory, as also from the records of tribute to Thothmes III in 1600 B.C.
11 B. M.-”To ... Princess of the Land of _Egypt_(407) thus _Dusratta_ King of _Mitani_. I am at peace: Peace be to thee.... Peace be to thy son; peace be to _Tadukhipa_ thy daughter-in-law. To thy land and to all that is thine be much, much peace.
”Thou hast known of me how I loved _Amenophis III_ thy husband, and _Amenophis III_ because he was thy husband how he loved me. As for _Amenophis III_ thy husband he heard what I said; and _Amenophis III_ because he was thy husband, sent messages to me; and what he said to thee my ... both _Mani_ has known, and thou ... hast known all of these things-the messages we zealously uttered. There was nothing thus that he has not known of them.
”Now you said to _Gilia_, 'Say to your Lord, _Amenophis III_ was friends with your father, and why should his favor be less than to your father?
Nay, indeed, what he shall send to our place shall not ... will not you hasten to ... your friends.h.i.+p with _Amenophis III_ ... making it greater; and a.s.sure him ... that you will gladly send ...'
”... to your husband friends.h.i.+p ... so now ... your son, ten times more ... and the messages....
”... why from ... our good faith, and ... is given to me ... thus I ...
_Amenophis IV_ (_Nabkhuriya_) ... and now behold ... to give is not....
”... when by your desire I ... and to the presence of _Amenophis IV_ ...
and you wished thus ... do not desire, and ... the treasures of gold to be remitted, let _Amenophis IV_ receive. (There is nothing, indeed, he may not desire?) that is not ... ten times more than his father let him increase in friends.h.i.+p toward me, and in power.”
”... you yourself, your envoys, with the envoys of _Amenophis IV_, with ... let them be sent to _Yuni_ my wife,(408) for what is wished; and the envoys of _Yuni_ my wife let them be sent to (thee) as to what is wished.
”Now as to thy present ... a goodly stone, also (a coronet?) and a ... of stones.”
It seems clear from this letter, and from 24 B., that _Teie_ (or _Thi_) the Queen of Egypt, was related to Dusratta, but it is not clear that she was his sister. _Gilukhipa_, the sister whom he names, is known from Egyptian sources to have been the daughter of _Suttarna_, Dusratta's father, and she came to Egypt with 317 ladies in her train.
It is also to be remarked that Dusratta invokes the Egyptian G.o.d _Amen_ both when writing to Amenophis III and also when writing to Amenophis IV, so that there does not appear to have been any change of religion in Egypt during the reign of the latter-at least, at the time when he wrote.
Amenophis III also married at least one Babylonian princess, as will appear in the letters that follow.
RIMMON NIRARI'S LETTER
30 B.-”To the Sun G.o.d the King my Lord the King of Egypt, thus _Rimmon-Nirari_(_409_)_ thy servant_. I bow at my Lord's feet. Lo!
_Manakhbiya_ (Thothmes IV) made my father King ... to rule in the Land of _Markha.s.se_ (or _Nukha.s.se_), and established men to dwell with him; and as the King of ... was disputing for the kingdom, which has been made ...
which he established for him ... he gave him...”
About twenty lines of the letter are here destroyed; the broken lines below continue thus:
”And lo! my Lord ... and the King of the land of the _Hitt.i.tes_ why ... my Lord the letters ... and fearing ... and lo! the King of _Egypt_ ... and now my Lord against ... and to the hands ... to our Lord ... thy Lord in the years that may come.... Do not scorn, since the land was faithful in service to the King my Lord. And if G.o.d commands my Lord to go forth, let my Lord also send a chief, to be sent up to him with his soldiers and with his chariots.”