Ancient History - Part 6: Aggressive Negotiations

Following the brief but successful era of Amenhotep III's polity, a changing of the guard swept the Near East. Egypt was now ruled by Amenhotep IV. Burna-Buriash II (1395-1371) now seated Babylon's throne as its Kassite king. But it was in 1386 B.C., that the Assyrian king, Ashur-nadin-akhi, departed from this world and was succeeded by Ashur-uballit (1386-1369), triggering a new event. Following his ascension to the throne, Assyria's new ruler quickly marshalled his forces to subdue two newly risen kingdoms on the northern borderlands: Shubari and Musri.

Even the price of a successful military campaign can reach unfathomable heights. The remnants of cuneiform tablets have preserved the letters between Assyria and Egypt, letters in which Ashur-uabllit requested twenty talents of gold from Egypt's pharaoh. This was the precise amount his predecessor had been gifted by Egypt for the reconstruction of their palace and temples a mere decade earlier.

Meanwhile, the king of Babylon, Burna-Buriash II, played his own game, going to great lengths to sweeten relations between the lands of Egypt and his own. He'd already orchestrated his son's marriage to Amenhotep IV's daughter, both staying together in Egypt, to enjoy the lavish lifestyle bestowed upon those within the pharaoh's immediate household. Since his son's union, the king of Babylon continued to make grand gestures, any effort to keep the bind of that friendship taut.

Burna-Buriash II's latest endeavor saw him travel from Babylon to the Nile, in order to present his daughter-in-law a gift. A beautiful necklet of 1048 beads. His reason (or excuse) for personally transporting it was that with so many beads, he trusted no other man with the responsibility of keeping it fully intact for the entirety of the journey. Once he'd arrived to treat with the Egyptian royals, he witnessed the Assyrian messenger's appearance in court to announce his kingdom's request for gold.

The Kassite king of Babylon was significantly displeased. Should the pharaoh of Egypt grant such an extravagant boon, Assyria might then be viewed as the most favored nation in the eyes of the Near East. Many historians have interpreted Burna-Bruiash II's extreme caution as a "jealous fear". In a bitter refusal to simply allow Assyria to gain itself a pre-eminence with Egypt, Babylon protested Assyria's appeal for gold to fund its conquests.

Later, in other letters of cuneiform tablets, the Kassite king wrote to Amenhotep IV, that should Assyria be granted twenty gold talents, then Babylon should be granted twenty gold talents, for at the time his people were building a new temple in their city of Nippur.

We do not know whether Egypt granted either Assyria or Babylon its requests for gold, though there is little evidence to suggest otherwise. Both kingdoms were favored subjects and Egypt was still known to be quite wealthy during this period. The important thing of note is not Egypt's compliances to these demands but to recognize the growing unease and distrust as the lesser kingdoms squabbled to remain the favorite loyalist of Egypt. 

The example given demonstrates how an honest request from one large group of people within a border, for gold, might offend another, that has little to nothing to do with such a transaction to begin with.

One might surmise that the attitudes of Egypt's subjects had reduced them to a resemblance of dogs, each vying to outdo the other, in competition for its master's attention.

Ancient History - Part 5: A Polity Is Formed

With relative peace with its new allies, the New Kingdom of Egypt's military forces could now focus on two enemies, the threat of the Hittites on the outside and the Semitic people's rebellious spirit from within. No longer were the roads of Palestine war-torn and unsafe, on the contrary, it had become the crossroads of kings, as their queens, princes, princesses, and advisors, with their hundreds of maidens traveled upon it to carry out their stately business. The air was now filled with diplomatic harmony, for Egypt had successfully created a polity of several states for the first time in recorded history.

Egyptian king, Amenhotep III, did much to please his allies:

• In the case of the Babylon, Kadashman-Enlil I's sister and daughter, traveled to Egypt and joined the royal harem. The warm treatment toward both well-beloved women dispelled any remaining concerns the Kassite ruler may have held from the past, any looming threats of invasion, all provably unfounded. With their acceptance into the royal harem, Babylon was gifted with influence, not dissimilar in the manner that Thutmose IV performed in marrying the daughter of the Mitanni king, Artatama I, only a decade prior. Babylon now entrusted the safety of its kingdom within the hands of Egypt.
• In the tenth year of his rule (1401) Amenhotep III renewed his alliance with the Mitanni by marrying their princess, Gilukhipa, daughter of Shuttarna, her family crossing the roads of Palestine into Egypt, to present a dowry worthy of legend.
• Demonstrating this custom of intermarriage to secure peace, Amenhotep III gave away his own daughter to an emerging small-state in the north-west: Arzawa (modern day Turkey; spec. Western Anatolia).
• Assyria did not bask in royal marriage during this time, but was far from forgotten. Knowing that its king, Ashur-nadin-akhi (1396), was building a palace in Ashur, Amenhotep III sent twenty talents of gold to decorate its walls. Assyria in turn, occupied itself in productive endeavors, its people benefiting from constructing new wells, dwellings, and a great new temple.

These were relatively peaceful times. However, history would begin to speak a universal truth, a truth not restricted to this era: One generation's success does not guarantee the next to be worthy enough to resume the duties of carrying on the work of their forebears' legacy.

Nothing lasts forever. With new players come renewed appetites flamed by greed, jealousy, and an unsatisfied lust for power. And little did any know ... war was once again on the horizon of the Near East.

Ancient History - Part 4: Uneasy Peace

Despite peaceful relations with Assyria and Babylon, Egypt mounted a continuous Palestinian campaign. Under the rule of Amenhotep II (1447-1420), the empire of the Nile quelled any civil unrest, amongst the rebellious Semitic people, before moving its armies back into the lands of Syria. While this march was no more than a nominal success, the Mitanni (the westward neighboring state to Assyria) suffered great losses which resulted in a significant displacement of their power and people. So much harm did the Mitanni sustain, that it left them in no other position than to plead for the mercy of Ra's chosen people.

Amenhotep II's successor, Thutmose IV (1420-1411), believed that if the Mitanni could be cooed into friendly terms, much like Babylon and Assyria, there was untapped potential in securing a third subordinate ally. Therein lay the predicament: The king of the Mitanni, Artatama I, was already fiercely befriended and trusted by the Hittites, the chief rival of Egypt. Even though by mid-15th century B.C., war between the Egyptians and the Hittites had been generally reduced to mild skirmishes (upon Syrian soil), tensions continued to boil, and each passing day both sides expected grand-scale battle to resume.

The Egyptian king thusly proposed a royal marriage between kingdoms. Thutmose IV would marry Artatama's daughter, a symbol of protection, one that accompanied the trust that Egypt would harbor no further attack upon the Mitanni any longer, but such a promise would warrant a step even further. Egypt allowed the Mitanni to enter the fold of its vision. With a single marriage, a shockwave rumbled throughout the Near East. The Mitanni's allegiance officially shifted from the Hittites to the Egyptians.

This new development did not rest easily with the two nations of Assyria (ruled by Ashur-bel-nisheshu) and Babylon (ruled by Kara-indash). Unlike his predecessors, for Thutmose IV, the Mitanni were now quickly becoming the Egyptian king's his favored state, or so it appeared.

The two rulers east of the Euphrates agreed upon one thing: Despite any ill-bearing or mistrust they'd once harbored for the other, it must all be set aside, in order to form a united defensive front, should any attack, no matter whom the would-be conquerors be, be led. 

Assyria began refortifying its towns and their city of Ashur, strictly insuring that no weak points existed amongst the battlements. Meanwhile, the Kassites of Babylon were in a state of constant patrol along the borders. 

However, these expectations of a pending defensive war were all for not. Thutmose IV passed away (1411) and his successor, Amenhotep III (1411-1375), immediately sent envoys to treat with Babylon and Assyria. This new king made his intentions well-known; he possessed no desire to expand into the northern mountains of Assyria nor the vast lands eastward into Babylon. He'd admired their nations as loyal subjects and wished to maintain a focus wholly upon the true sources of Egypt's discontent, the unending Palestinian and Syrian wars, respectively.

Amenhotep III's assurances did not go unchallenged by both Ashur-bel-nisheshu and Kara-indash, and when pressed for further explanation, he convinced them that the Egyptian people were a culture well-conditioned to the dry lands of the desert heat. They were not groomed for a cold wintry life in the mountains, pacifying the argument justifying Assyria's fear of the Egyptians as would-be conquerors of their land. When it came to Babylon, Amenhotep stated that the Euphrates River was an unmistakable natural boundary, and officially declared that Egypt would never expand beyond it.

At the conclusions of these entreaties, all sides departed. Satisfied.