* The statues of Thûtmosis III. and of the gods of Egypt
erected at Tunipa are mentioned in a letter from the
inhabitants of that town to Amenôthes III. Later, Ramses
II., speaking of the two towns in the country of the Khâti
in which were two statues of His Majesty, mentions Tunipa as
one of them.
** The various titles of the lists of Thûtmosis III. at
Thebes show us “the children of the Syrian chiefs conducted
as prisoners” into the town of Sûhanû, which is elsewhere
mentioned as the depot, the prison of the temple of Anion.
W. Max Mullcr was the first to remark the historical value
of this indication, but without sufficiently insisting on
it; the name indicates, perhaps, as he says, a great prison,
but a prison like those where the princes of the family of
the Ottoman sultans were confined by the reigning monarch—
a palace usually provided with all the comforts of Oriental
life.
As soon as a vacancy occurred in the succession either in Syria or in Ethiopia, the Pharaoh would choose from among the members of the family whom he held in reserve, that prince on whose loyalty he could best count, and placed him upon the throne.* The method of procedure was not always successful, since these princes, whom one would have supposed from their training to have been the least likely to have asserted themselves against the man to whom they owed their elevation, often gave more trouble than others. The sense of the supreme power of Egypt, which had been inculcated in them during their exile, seemed to be weakened after their return to their native country, and to give place to a sense of their own importance. Their hearts misgave them as the time approached for them to send their own children as pledges to their suzerain, and also when called upon to transfer a considerable part of their revenue to his treasury. They found, moreover, among their own cities and kinsfolk, those who were adverse to the foreign yoke, and secretly urged their countrymen to revolt, or else competitors for the throne who took advantage of the popular discontent to pose as champions of national independence, and it was difficult for the vassal prince to counteract the intrigues of these adversaries without openly declaring himself hostile to his foreign master.**
* Among the Tel el-Amarna tablets there is a letter of a
petty Syrian king, Adadnirari, whose father was enthroned
after a fashion in Nûkhassi by Thûtmosis III.
** Thus, in the Tel el-Amarna correspondence, Zimrida,
governor of Sidon, gives information to Amenôthes III. on
the intrigues which the notables of the town were concocting
against Egyptian authority. Ribaddû relates in one of these
despatches that the notables of Byblos and the women of his
harem were urging him to revolt; later, a letter of Amûnirâ
to the King of Egypt informs us that Ribaddû had been driven
from Byblos by his own brother.
A time quickly came when a vestige of fear alone constrained them to conceal their wish for liberty; the most trivial incident then sufficed to give them the necessary encouragement, and decided them to throw off the mask, a repulse or the report of a repulse suffered by the Egyptians, the news of a popular rising in some neighbouring state, the passing visit of a Chaldæan emissary who left behind him the hope of support and perhaps of subsidies from Babylon, and the unexpected arrival of a troop of mercenaries whose services might be hired for the occasion.* A rising of this sort usually brought about the most disastrous results. The native prince or the town itself could keep back the tribute and own allegiance to no one during the few months required to convince Pharaoh of their defection and to allow him to prepare the necessary means of vengeance; the advent of the Egyptians followed, and the work of repression was systematically set in hand. They destroyed the harvests, whether green or ready for the sickle, they cut down the palms and olive trees, they tore up the vines, seized on the flocks, dismantled the strongholds, and took the inhabitants prisoners.**
* Bûrnabûriash, King of Babylon, speaks of Syrian agents who
had come to ask for support from his father, Kûrigalzû, and
adds that the latter had counselled submission. In one of
the letters preserved in the British Museum, Azîrû defends
himself for having received an emissary of the King of the
Khâti.
** Cf. the raiding, for instance, of the regions of Arvad
and of the Zahi by Thûtmosis III., described in the Annals,
11. 4, 5. We are still in possession of the threats which
the messenger Khâni made against the rebellious chief of a
province of the Zahi—possibly Aziru.
The rebellious prince had to deliver up his silver and gold, the contents of his palace, even his children,* and when he had finally obtained peace by means of endless sacrifices, he found himself a vassal as before, but with an empty treasury, a wasted country, and a decimated people.
* See, in the accounts of the campaigns of Thûtmosis, the
record of the spoils, as well as the mention of the children
of the chiefs brought as prisoners into Egypt.
Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Gayet.