The ancient East . phere ofinfluence within which it was best to acknow-ledge Pharaohs rights and to placate him bytimely presents. So thought and acted thekings of Mitanni across Euphrates, the kingsof Hatti beyond Taurus, and the distantIranians of the Kassite dynasty in Babylonia. Until the latter years of Thothmes thirdsuccessor, Amenhetep III, who ruled in theend of the fifteenth century and the firstquarter of the fourteenth, the Egyptian peacewas observed and Pharaohs claim to Syriawas respected. Moreover, an interesting ex-periment appears to have been made totighten Egypts hold on her
The ancient East . phere ofinfluence within which it was best to acknow-ledge Pharaohs rights and to placate him bytimely presents. So thought and acted thekings of Mitanni across Euphrates, the kingsof Hatti beyond Taurus, and the distantIranians of the Kassite dynasty in Babylonia. Until the latter years of Thothmes thirdsuccessor, Amenhetep III, who ruled in theend of the fifteenth century and the firstquarter of the fourteenth, the Egyptian peacewas observed and Pharaohs claim to Syriawas respected. Moreover, an interesting ex-periment appears to have been made totighten Egypts hold on her foreign Syrian princes were brought foreducation to the Nile, in the hope that whensent back to their homes they would be loyalviceroys of Pharaoh: but the experimentseems to have produced no better ultimateeffect than similar experiments tried subse-quently by imperial nations from the Romansto ourselves. Beyond this conception of imperial organiza-tion the EgyptiansTnever advanced. Neither Plate 2. 33 34 THE ANCIENT EAST effective military occupation nor effectiveadministration of Syria by an Egyptianmilitary or civil staff was so much as thoughtof. Traces of the cultural influence of Egypton the Syrian civilization of the time (so faras excavation has revealed its remains) arefew and far between; and we must con-clude that the number of genuine Egyptianswho resided in, or even passed through, theAsiatic province was very small. Unad-venturous by nature, and disinclined toembark on foreign trade, the Nilots werecontent to leave Syria in vicarious hands, sothey derived some profit from it. It needed,therefore, only the appearance of somevigorous and numerous tribe in the provinceitself, or of some covetous power on itsborders, to end such an empire. Bothhad appeared before Amenheteps death—the Amorites in mid Syria, and a newlyconsolidated Hatti power on the confines ofthe north. The inevitable crisis was metwith no new measures by his son, the famousAkhenate
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