The Amarna Age

242 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY to man-a conduct that is more than three-fourths of life-will the Paradise wi thin be achieved. To Mr Bush this doctrine appears to have an enduring validity; and his power of convincing us of its present relevance, and of persuading us that it is still important, constitutes a principal merit of his book. It is, of course, possible to challenge him at a dozen points, to ask from him more evidence, sharper de£nitions. And he promises us) indeed, a fuller treatment, a larger demonstration which will go outside the limits here set for him. Within these limits, however, he has done excellently well; the main lines aTe drawn right; and it seems doubtful that in a more elaborate essay he will wisIl to change very much the pattern that he has here Ipresented. THE AMARNA AGE" CYROS H. GORDON No group of ancient inscriptions is more important or interesting than the Amarna tablets. These documents 'are (or the most part the diplomatic correspondence between Amenophis III and IV, on the one hand, and the rulers of Western Asia, on the other. They give us a n:markably vivid picture of the international situation around the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries B.C . Babylonia was surviving by little more than sheer inertia under the decadent Cassite kings. N6rth Mesopotamia was largely in Mitannian hands, but the Assyrians were also on the scene with a brilliant future before them . The Hittites were pushing southward from Asia Minor into North Syria. The marauding bands of Habiru (probably the Hebrews) were wresting town after town in Canaan (Syria-Palestine). These ai,d other movements were changing the map of the civilized world while old empires tottered and new ones emerged from obscurity. The pharaohs were still treated with deference by the kings of Asia, but Egypt was resting on her laurels and losing her prestige along with her Canaanite provinces. Amenophis IV (lkhnatori) was particularly negligent of his empire, *The Tell (I-Amflrt/a TaD/ds, by Samuel A. B. Mcrcer (Professor of Semitic Languages a.nd Egyptology, Trinity College, University of Toronto] (assisted by Frank Hudson Hallock). 2 vols., The Macmillan Company of Canada, 1939, $17.50. 242 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY to man-a conduct that is more than three-fourths of life-will the Paradise wi thin be achieved. To Mr Bush this doctrine appears to have an enduring validity; and his power of convincing us of its present relevance, and of persuading us that it is still important, constitutes a principal merit of his book. It is, of course, possible to challenge him at a dozen points, to ask from him more evidence, sharper de£nitions. And he promises us) indeed, a fuller treatment, a larger demonstration which will go outside the limits here set for him. Within these limits, however, he has done excellently well; the main lines aTe drawn right; and it seems doubtful that in a more elaborate essay he will wisIl to change very much the pattern that he has here Ipresented. THE AMARNA AGE" CYROS H. GORDON No group of ancient inscriptions is more important or interesting than the Amarna tablets. These documents 'are (or the most part the diplomatic correspondence between Amenophis III and IV, on the one hand, and the rulers of Western Asia, on the other. They give us a n:markably vivid picture of the international situation around the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries B.C . Babylonia was surviving by little more than sheer inertia under the decadent Cassite kings. N6rth Mesopotamia was largely in Mitannian hands, but the Assyrians were also on the scene with a brilliant future before them . The Hittites were pushing southward from Asia Minor into North Syria. The marauding bands of Habiru (probably the Hebrews) were wresting town after town in Canaan (Syria-Palestine). These ai,d other movements were changing the map of the civilized world while old empires tottered and new ones emerged from obscurity. The pharaohs were still treated with deference by the kings of Asia, but Egypt was resting on her laurels and losing her prestige along with her Canaanite provinces. Amenophis IV...