354 NO ROD-CLOSE INTERCOURSE WITH EGYPT 



The first concerns the goddess Ereshkigal, the other transmits 

 the legend of Adapa.i 



From the Bekten stele we deduce a close intercourse between 

 the two countries about the XlXth Dynasty, for we read of 

 Rameses II. ^ being in Mesopotamia " according to his wont, 

 year by year," and receiving tributes and presents from the 

 chiefs of the countries round about. 



The connection between Assyria (proper) and Egypt rests 

 on ample evidence. Fish, or " beasts of the sea," passed as 

 presents, perhaps as trade. On the Broken Column of Tiglath- 

 Pileser I. (Cyhnder IV. 29-30) we read, " And a great beast 

 of the River, a great beast of the Sea, the king of Musre " 

 (probably Egypt) " sent (unto him)." 



The Select Papyri (pi. 75, i, 7) tell of certain fish being 

 brought, perhaps as a staple of trade, from the Puharuta or 

 Euphrates to Egypt, and (in pi. 96, i, 7) of another fish or 

 fishy substance called Rura, being imported from the land of 

 the great waters, Mesopotamia. ^ 



1 The Babylonian legend of Adapa is thus known to have circulated in 

 Palestine and Egypt before the Hebrew Exodus. The story of Adapa is 

 thought by some to have influenced the Hebrew version of the story of Adam 

 and Eve and the loss of Paradise. See the excellent discussion in T. Skinner, 

 Genesis (in the International Critical Commentary (1912), p. 91 ff). and 

 Langdon, The Stimerian Epic of Paradise (University of Pennsylvania, 

 Publications of the Babylonia Section, 1915). vol. X., pp. 38-49. 



2 Rameses II. was held in high esteem as a rain-maker — perhaps rain-god 



as is evidenced by the sacrifices offered by the Hittites that their princess 



should on her journey to Egypt to marry Rameses enjoy fair weather, despite 

 that it was the season of the winter storms. In consequence of this power 

 over the elements, the Hittite chiefs strongly advocated friendship with 

 Egypt, as otherwise Rameses II. would probably stop rain and cause a famine 

 in their country (Breasted, Ancient Records, III. 423, 426). 



3 Layard, Nineveh (London, 1849), vol. II. p. 438. 



