and the king of the Hittites." In another despatch he speaks in a
similar strain: "The king of the Babylonians and the king of Mitanna are
strong, and have taken the country of the Pharaoh for themselves
already, and have seized the cities of thy governor." When George the
Synkellos notes that the Chaldæans made war against the Phoenicians in
B.C. 1556, he is doubtless quoting from some old and trustworthy source.

We must not imagine, however, that there was any permanent occupation of
Canaan on the part of the Babylonians at this period of its history. It
would seem rather that Babylonian authority was directly exercised only
from time to time, and had to be enforced by repeated invasions and
campaigns. It was the influence of Babylonian civilization and culture
that was permanent, not the Babylonian government itself. Sometimes,
indeed, Canaan became a Babylonian province, at other times there were
only certain portions of the country which submitted to the foreign
control, while again at other times the Babylonian rule was merely
nominal. But it is clear that it was not until Canaan had been
thoroughly reduced by Egyptian arms that the old claim of Babylonia to
be its mistress was finally renounced, and even then we see that
intrigues were carried on with the Babylonians against the Egyptian
authority.

It was during this period of Babylonian influence and tutelage that the
traditions and myths of Chaldæa became known to the people of Canaan. It
is again the tablets of Tel el-Amarna which have shown us how this came
to pass. Among them are fragments of Babylonian legends, one of which
endeavoured to account for the creation of man and the introduction of
sin into the world, and these legends were used as exercise-books in the
foreign language by the scribes of Canaan and Egypt who were learning
the Babylonian language and script. If ever we discover the library of