12 REV. A. H. SAYCE, M.A., LL.D. 



or the name of Tarkondmos on the now famous bilingual boss ; 

 and the name of the country over which he ruled reminds us 

 of Rezeph (2 Kings xix. 12), in North-western Mesopotamia. 

 I am, therefore, tempted to see in the language of the letter 

 one of the Hittite dialects which are concealed under the 

 hieroglyphs of the Hittite texts. The purport of the letter 

 is to describe the various presents sent by Tarkhundaras to 

 the Pharaoh by the messenger, Irsappa, in return for the hand 

 of the Pharaoh's daughter, who had been given to him as a 

 wife. Among the presents sent were 20 manehs of gold and 

 100 shekels of lead. Mention is made in the letter of " the 

 prince of the Hittites" (Khatte), who, it would appear, lived 

 m the mountains of I-gaid.* 



The Hittites are alluded to in other tablets at Boulaq. I 

 have already spoken of the despatch of Rib-Addu, in which 

 reference is made to the kings of Tarkusi and the Hittites, as 

 well as to the adjoining kingdom of Mitanna or Naharaim. 

 Another tablet of black clay, unfortunately much worn and 

 injured, tells us that " at that time the king of the Hittites 

 was captured in the vicinity of the country of Kutiti (and) 

 the kings of Mittanni and Nabuma" joined in the war. A 

 despatch now at Berlin contains an urgent request from one 

 of the cities of Syria for help against the Hittites, whose 

 forces were advancing southwards. 



One of the facts which result most clearly from a study of 

 the tablets is that, not only was a Semitic language the me- 

 dium of literary intercourse between the Pharaoh of Egypt 

 and his officers abroad, but that Semites held high and respon- 

 sible posts in the Egyptian Court itself. Thus we find Dudu, 

 or David, addressed by his son as " my lord," and ranking, 

 apparently, next to the monarch ; and there are letters in the 

 Boulaq Collection written not only by officials with an Egyp- 

 tian name, like Khapi or Hapi (Apis), but with such Semitic 

 names as Eib-Addu, Samu-Addu (" Shem is Hadad ") of " the 

 city of Samkhuna," Dasru, Bu-Dadu (the Biblical Bedad), and 

 Milkili (the Biblical Malchiel). Even the Assyrian Su-arda-ka 

 occurs in one of them. A flood of light is thus poured upon a 

 period of Egyptian history which is of high interest for the 

 student of the Old Testament. In spite of the reticence of the 

 Egyptian monuments, we can now see what was the meaning 

 of the attempt of Amenophis IV. to supersede the ancestral 

 religion of Egypt. The king was in all respects an Asiatic. 



* According to the "Travels of the Mohar" (Brugsch's translation), the 

 land of Igad'ai bordered on the country of the Hittites to the north of 

 Aleppo. 



