The Role of Gold

The one place where Kadashman-Enlil does draw the line is the on the issue of gold. As Kozloff writes, “In the end, gold mattered more, and Kadashman-Enlil agreed to send his daughter to Egypt for adequate recompense” (Kozloff 222).  Presumably as a sort of consolation for not sending an Egyptian princess, the Babylonian king requests of the pharaoh “whatever is on hand as much as possible before” the summer to complete a building project of sorts (EA 4). He threatens to call off his daughter’s marriage to Amenhotep if he does not receive the gold in time; “He goes on to demand a heavy bride price in gold and establish a deadline for payment… By reminding the pharaoh of his failure to maintain the customary reciprocity, he hoped to increase the compensation for offering his daughter in marriage” (Jonsson, Hall 79). Regardless of any other affronts to his dignity, Kadashman-Enlil at times seems singularly concerned with acquiring gold from the pharaoh. As the Kadashman-Enlil ultimately sends his daughter to Egypt, the pharaoh presumably did send the gold as he requested, and while this seems an appropriate exchange, the pharaoh probably much preferred to send payment rather than risk the security of his kingdom. In this respect, he seems to emerge from the negotiation on higher ground than Kadashman-Enlil, conceding nothing that he had not already agreed to give Kadashman-Enlil’s father.

The marriage diplomacy between these two kings ultimately reveals a great deal about the political and economic dynamics of the relationship between New Kingdom Egypt and the Near East. Amenhotep III refers to the Babylonian king as his brother, as he does with the kings of the Mitanni. The exchange of marriage for gold is a deal that Amenhotep III was regularly willing to make, as is evidenced in his marriages to the daughters of the kings of Babylon, Mitanni and Arzawa. The trend suggests that these particular negotiations with Kadashman-Enlil resulted in precisely the action he was expecting. This was probably because the Egyptians were at that point still relatively insulated from foreign invaders. Thus, they may have been more willing to expend accumulating resources for continued security. Though kings like Kadashman-Enlil probably often complained about the amount of gold that was being sent, they had to be satisfied enough with the Egyptian gifts, as they maintained favorable diplomatic ties for subsequent generations; Akhenaten, the successor of Amenhotep III, went on to marry a daughter of Burna-Buriash, the next king of Babylonia, suggesting that the Egyptians still considered the relationship fruitful enough to continue such marriage diplomacy.