684 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



the former surmises about the invasions of the different Semitic 

 migrations are raised to certainties. Since the eighth century B. C. 

 the "Arabians," as invading and conquering Bedouins, formed border 

 states between the settled territory and the steppe. Previous to that 

 the "Aramean Bedouins " played the same role. A document of the 

 time of the dynasty of Hammurabi relates that "Amurru " were roam- 

 ing in the steppe, pla^ang the same game. Since at that time the 

 entire Orient, Babylonia included, must have been overrun by a popu- 

 lation that was racially related, the conclusion suggested itself that the 

 Semitic stratum was then in a process of '' immigration." To it be- 

 longed also the Habiri-Hebrews (a substratum of which were the 

 Israelites), of whom there is mention in the Amarna letters. It is 

 now seen that the ruler of the Amorites is not confined to the hinter- 

 land of northern Phenicia, as related in the Amarna letters, but that 

 his territory extends to the borders of Babylonia ; that is, he is lord 

 over the great Syrian Desert and its borders. He has a claim against 

 the inhabitants of Akkad, a city of North Babylonia. It shows the 

 spread of a people under the name of "Amorite " from Babylonia to 

 northern Palestine. And this development is of the highest impor- 

 tance for the solution of ethnological problems of the Old Testament. 



Hattusil's letter then treats of a physician (asu) and an exorciser 

 (ashipu) wdio had been once sent to Muttallu and had not yet re- 

 turned. The exchanging of physicians is also referred to in the 

 letters from Egypt. Then the letter again passes into the field of 

 politics and Hattusil gives expression to the paternal benevolence he 

 feels for his young friend and " brother," encouraging him to attack 

 the country of the enemy, by which very likely Assyria is meant, 

 which was the adversary of both. 



Hattusil's reign thus exhibits a decline of the Chatti power. The 

 rising power was then Assyria, under Shalmaneser I and Tukulti- 

 Ninib, upon whose death it likewise collapsed. 



The reign of the two successors falls in this time. First came Dud- 

 halia, Hattusil's son. One of the larger documents or edicts men- 

 tions Puduhipa (his mother) as coregent. As the queen appears in 

 the same role under his successor, we have to assume that this was not 

 an exception, but, as elsewhere (for instance, in Aribi, with the 

 Nabateans, the Ptolemies), that it was the rule. The queen shares 

 in the power of government by her own right, not as wife of the 

 reigning king, for it is the mother who is named in close relation to 

 her son. So, also, as regards Egypt, Tushratta, in a letter to Ameno- 

 phis IV, appeals to Queen Teyi, and in one of the Tel el- Amarna let- 

 ters the Babylonian King Burnaburiash complains that this same 

 queen has not shown sufficient interest in his fate. The letter of 

 Naptera to Puduhipa, mentioned above, in which she expresses her 



