“To Nimmuria, the great king, the king of Egypt, my brother, my brother-in-law; who loves me and whom I love: Tushratta, the great king, thy (future) father-in-law, king of Mitani; who loves thee and is thy brother. It is well with me; may it be well with thee, with thy house, with my sister and thy [pg 030] other wives, with thy sons, thy chariots, thy horses, thy nobles, thy land, and all that is thine, may it be well with them indeed! Whereas thy fathers in their time kept fast friendship with my fathers, thou hast increased the friendship. Now, therefore, that thou and I are friends thou hast made it ten times closer than with my father. May the gods cause our friendship to prosper! May Teshup, the lord, and Amon ordain it eternally as it now is! I write this to my brother that he may show me even more love than he showed my father. Now I ask gold from my brother, and it behoves me to ask this gold for two causes: in the first place for war equipment (to be provided later), and secondly, for the dowry (likewise to be provided). So, then, let my brother send me much gold, without measure, more than to my father. For in my brother's land gold is as the dust of the earth. May the gods grant that in the land of my brother, where already so much gold is, there may be ten times more in times to come! Certainly the gold that I require will not trouble my brother's heart, but let him also not grieve my heart. Therefore let my brother send gold without measure, in great quantity. And I also will grant all the gifts that my brother asks. For this land is my brother's land, and this my house is his house.”
All Tushratta's letters are written in this tone with the exception of the last. Nimmuria felt his end approaching, and entreated the aid of “Our Lady of Nineveh.” Such an expedient was not foreign to Egyptian thought. A late inscription professes to tell how a certain divine image was sent from Thebes to a distant land for the healing [pg 031] of a foreign princess. From Tushratta's answer also it appears that the statue of the goddess Ishtar had once before been taken from Nineveh to Thebes.
This letter begins solemnly:
“The words of Ishtar of Nineveh, mistress of all lands. ‘To Egypt, to the land that I love will I go, and there will I sojourn.’ Now I send her and she goes. Let my brother worship her and then let her go in gladness that she may return. May Ishtar protect my brother and me for a hundred thousand years. May she grant unto us both great gladness; may we know nothing but happiness.”
All this notwithstanding, Nimmuria must die, and later Tushratta describes his own grief on the occasion:
“And on that day I wept, I sat in sorrow. Food and drink I touched not on that day; grieved was my heart. I said, ‘Oh, that it had been I who died !’ ”
When he wrote thus the feelings expressed were probably genuine, for times had changed sadly for him and men of his type.
We have now come to the accession of the reforming king Napkhuria—i.e., Akhenaten. This zealot succeeded in bringing into the foreign relations of Egypt some of the unrest caused by his measures in home politics. To begin with, he sought for new political alliances and sacrificed those already existing, not by breaking off the connections, but by turning a deaf ear to [pg 032] requests, or by adopting an insolent tone in his answers. On one occasion he showered on the old beggar Tushratta derision which was no doubt well deserved, but which it was most impolitic to express so plainly. He gives one the impression of an inexperienced prince, brought up in Oriental seclusion, who persists at all hazards in playing the part of a shrewd and worldly-wise ruler. He strained after novelty at the expense of his own security, and attempted to demonstrate the strength of the supports of his throne by sawing them through.
About the time of Nimmuria's death Kadashman-Bel of Babylonia also died, and Burnaburiash, probably his brother or cousin, was prepared on his accession to maintain the traditional friendship with Egypt. But at the very beginning Napkhuria was guilty of a breach of etiquette in neglecting to send any expression of sympathy during a long illness of Burnaburiash. In spite of many fine words, the usual matrimonial negotiations did not run smoothly; moreover, attacks were made on travelling messengers, and at length Napkhuria's avarice forced the Babylonian to measures of retaliation, and he writes:
“Since ambassadors from thy fathers came to my fathers, they also have lived on friendly terms. We should continue in the same. Messengers have now come from thee thrice, but thou hast sent with them [pg 033] no gift worthy the name. I also shall desist in the same way. If nothing is denied me I shall deny thee nothing.”