In upper Mesopotamia, Egypt had an ally in Mitanni, a kingdom comprised
largely of Hurrians (Biblical Horites), with an Indo-Aryan ruling class.
The Mitannian kingdom was established about 1500 B.C. and at the height
of its power reached from Nuzi and Arrapkha in Assyria to Alalakh in
Syria. Its capital, Wassukkanni, was on the upper Habur River. A major
threat both to Mitanni and, ultimately, to Egypt, came from the rising
Hittite Empire with its capital at Hatusa (modern Bogazkoy) on the great
bend of the Halys River in Asia Minor. Babylon had suffered an eclipse
since the empire of Hammurabi and during the Amarna age it was ruled by
a mountain people known as Kassites. Assyria, north of Babylon, had been
subject to Mitanni until the Hittite conquest of Mitanni gave the
Assyrians an opportunity to free themselves and develop an independent
state.
The kings of Mitanni sent daughters to grace the harems of the Pharaohs
of Egypt, and desired gold in exchange. The Amarna tablets include seven
letters from Tushratta of Mitanni to Amenhotep III, one to his widow
Queen Tiy, and three to Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton). In a typical
communication he writes to Amenhotep III:
Let my brother send gold in very great quantity, without measure--that
is what my brother should send me--and let my brother send more gold
than (he sent) to my father, for in my brother's land gold is as
plentiful as dust. May the gods so direct that, although now gold is
so plentiful in my brother's land, he may have gold ten times more
plentiful than now. Let not the gold which I desire trouble the heart
of my brother, and let not my brother grieve my heart. So let my
brother send me gold, without measure, in very great quantity.[28]
Although Tushratta's lust for gold may not have been appreciated in
Thebes, Egypt valued her Mitannian allies who served as a check on the
ambitious Hittites, thereby helping Egypt maintain control over Syria
and Palestine. Not only were princesses from Mitanni welcome in Egypt,
but the Mitannian gods might be of help to the Egyptians. During the
illness of Amenhotep III, Tushratta sent a statue of the goddess Ishtar
from Nineveh to bless the ailing Pharaoh:
Thus saith Ishtar, mistress of all the lands, "To Egypt, to the land
which I love I will go; I will return." Verily I have now sent her,
and she is gone. Indeed in the time of my father the mistress (Ishtar)
went to that land, and inasmuch as she was revered when she formerly
resided there, so now may my brother tenfold more than formerly honor
her. May my brother honor her and joyfully send her back, and may she
return. May Ishtar, mistress of heaven, protect my brother and me one
hundred thousand years, and may our lady give to us both great
joy.[29]
Tushratta looked to Egypt for help against Suppiluliumas and the
emerging Hittite Empire, but neither gold nor troops came. Akhenaton was
singing the praises of Aton in Akhetaton when the Hittites succeeded in
entering and sacking the Mitannian capital (_ca._ 1370 B.C.) and
Tushratta was slain by one of his own sons. The former king's exiled
brother and rival, Artatama, seems to have seized control in the
confusion that followed. Tushratta's son Mattiwaza (who may have been
his father's murderer) fled to the Hittites, and Shutarna, son of
Artatama, sought the friendship of the Assyrians in his bid for the
throne.