Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-17

the other one 70. November.
throne of the Pharaohs and began a strug-
| gle with the Hittites, which was maintained
for nearly 500 years, with occasional inter.
walls of peace, by his successors
When Thothmes III. became King he
found things in rather bad shape. His pre-
| decessor was Queen, and during her reign
| the neighboring peoples, of which the
| Hittites were most important, had declared
| themselves independent of Egypt, refusing
| to pay tribute. Thothmes I'LL was great
warrior. He has been called the Alexander
| the Great of Egyptian history. Adopting
| an aggressive policy, he began long series
of fcampaigns, of which 13 are sketched on the
| monuments of that period, describing the
lines of march, the rivers crossed, the cities
stormed, the booty taken, the tributes i'm
posed of silver, gold, weapons, horses, wine,
spice and so forth.
Two Mighty Nations in Mortal Combat.
At length he led an army against the
strong city of Megiddo, on the Kishon,
where, according to the historical account,
the Hittite king of Kadesh had gathered to-
I gether "the kings and their peoples from
| the waters of Egypt to the river-land of
Mesopotamia, and they obeyed him as their
chief" Then there was a great battle. The
confederates were arrayed near Megiddo,
and against them the Pharaoh drew out the
might of Egypt Fighting was begun on
the twenty-hfth anniversary Of the Pha-
raoh's coronation. He beat the confeder-
ates at every point, and they fled, leaving
| their chariots behind and a vast amount of
plunder, upon which the victorious army
fell, permitting the enemy to escape into
the city, which they defended with such de-
termination that, after a long siege, they
were permitted to surrender with honorable
conditions.
The inscriptions record in detail the
booty captured, which included q chariot
plated with gold belonging to the Hittite
king and 924 other chariots; they also men-
tion the tribute imposed and give list
Of 119 towns and nations represented by the
confederacy. Nevertheless, during after
years the Pharaoh was obliged to renew the
fight against the Hit:ites again and again.
On the death of Thothmss Ill, in the year
1866, b. G., this Hittite power, which had
been checked during his reign, became
formidable again, and 80 years later formal
treaty of peace was concluded between
Rameses l. and saplel, the Hittite king
The Oldest Heroic Poem Known.
In the year 1856 B. c., Sati L came to the
throne. He was the father of the Pharaoh
of the Oppression, and he renewed the war
against the Hittites, His son, Rameses IL
known as Rameses the Great, the
''Sesostris" of the Greeks-carried on the
fight and led mighty army against the
Hittite city of Kadesh, on the Orontes
He took with him on the campaign his poet
laureate, named Pentaur, who celebrated
the achievement in an heroic poem which
has come down in several editions, being
found inscribed on an eItant papyrus roll
and also in conjunction with splendid battle
scenes on the walls of temples at Abydos,
Luxsors and elsewhere. This work in
verse is the oldest heroic poem known, hav-
ing been written 8, 200 years ago.
Thus far the Hittites have only been con-
sidered from the Egyptian point of view.
The inscriptions left behind by the
Assyrians show that they also were con-
tinually at war with this martial people.
But the empire which had for so long
time successfully fought against such power
full neighbors, maintaining itself upon an
equality with them, was at last on the verge |
of final dissolution. In 1921 B. G. the |
Assyrian king, Sargon, came to the throne,
and four years later the long conflict was |
brought TO an end by the overthrow of the |
Hittites at their Eastern capital, Carchem- |
ish. Thus fell the mighty nation which had |
supported existence for period of longer |
duration than the empires of Babylon or
Assyria, Greece or Rome.
Thk Historic Value Of the Key.
What has been aseertained from these
outside sources of the history of this re-
people is sufficient to make the
world eager to learn their account of them
selves, doubtless very fully given by the
;culptured and painted inscriptions which
they have left behind them in great num-
bers. Such memorials of the Hittites are
scattered all over Asia Minor. Many,
either the originals or reproductions, are
1ow in the possession of museums and
,ther scientific institutions. 1t has only
manned to discover the key for decipher-
ng them, and it is to be hoped that the
news of the discovery of this long-sought
ecret will prove to be correct.
There is no doubt that much of the art
which until recently was attributed to the
Assyrians is actually of Hittite origin. Mr.
Gladstone not very long ago pointed out the
act, until then unknown, that there is to
,e found in Homer a reference to the
dittites. They are mentioned all through
he Old Testament. King David and King
solomon are both spoken of as having taken
iittite wives in the eleventh chapter of the
irst book of Kings, and it is recorded on |
he same authority that Solomon imported
orses from Egypt and sold them to the
1ittites and the Assyrians. 1t is rather
urious to observe that the patterns OF the
riests' dresses on the Hittite monuments
re in fashion to this day in Cappadocia