Amenôthes III. had spent but little of his time in war. He had undertaken the usual raids in the South against the negroes and the tribes of the Upper Nile. In his fifth year, a general defection of the sheikhs obliged him to invade the province of Abhaît, near Semneh, which he devastated at the head of the troops collected by Mari-ifi mosû, the Prince of Kûsh; the punishment was salutary, the booty considerable, and a lengthy peace was re-established. The object of his rare expeditions into Naharaim was not so much to add new provinces to his empire, as to prevent disturbances in the old ones. The kings of Alasia, of the Khâti, of Mitanni, of Singar,* of Assyria, and of Babylon did not dare to provoke so powerful a neighbour.**

* Amenôthes entitles himself on a scarabæus “he who takes
prisoner the country of Singar;” no other document has yet
been discovered to show whether this is hyperbole, or
whether he really reached this distant region.
** The lists of the time of Amenôthes III. contain the names
of Phoenicia, Naharaim, Singar, Qodshu, Tunipa, Patina,
Carchomish, and Assur; that is to say, of all the subject or
allied nations mentioned in the correspondence of Tel el-
Amarna. Certain episodes of these expeditions had been
engraved on the exterior face of the pylon constructed by
the king for the temple of Amon at Karnak; at the present
time they are concealed by the wall at the lower end of the
Hypostyle Hall. The tribute of the Lotanû was represented on
the tomb of Hûi, at Sheîkh-Abd-el-Qûrneh.

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The remembrance of the victories of Thûtmosis III. was still fresh in their memories, and, even had their hands been free, would have made them cautious in dealing with his great-grandson; but they were incessantly engaged in internecine quarrels, and had recourse to Pharaoh merely to enlist his support, or at any rate make sure of his neutrality, and prevent him from joining their adversaries.

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Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Daniel Héron.