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.