d at a short distance from its source--it made an abrupt turn
towards the Taurus, and joined, at Melitene, the routes leading to the
Upper Tigris, to Nisibis, to Singara, and to Old Assur, and connecting
further down beyond the mountainous region, under the walls of
Carchemish, with the roads which led to the Nile and to the river-side
cities on the Persian Gulf.*

* The very early existence of this road, which partly
coincides with the royal route of the Persian Achemenids,
was proved by Kiepert.

There were other and shorter routes, if we think only of the number of
miles, from the Hermos in Pisidia or Lycaonia, across the central
steppe and through the Cilician Gates, to the meeting of the ways at
Carchemish; but they led through wretched regions, without industries,
almost without tillage, and inhospitable alike to man and beast, and
they were ventured on only by those who aimed at trafficking among the
populations who lived in their neighbourhood. The Khati, from the time
even when they were enclosed among the fastnesses of the Taurus, had
within their control the most important section of the great land route
which served to maintain regular relations between the ancient kingdoms
of the east and the rising states of the AEgean, and whosoever would pass
through their country had to pay them toll. The conquest of Naharaim, in
giving them control of a new section, placed almost at their discretion
the whole traffic between Chaldaea and Egypt. From the time of Thutmosis
III. caravans employed in this traffic accomplished the greater part
of their journey in territories depending upon Babylon, Assyria, or
Memphis, and enjoyed thus a relative security; the terror of the Pharaoh
protected the travellers even when they were no longer in his domains,
and he saved them from the flagrant exactions made upon them by princes
who called themselves his brothers, or were actually his vassals. But
the time had now come when merchants had to encounter, between Qodshu
and the banks of the Khabur, a sovereign owing no allegiance to any one,
and who would tolerate no foreign interference in his territory. From
the outbreak of hostilities with the Khati, Egypt could communicate
with the cities of the Lower Euphrates only by the Wadys of the Arabian
Desert, which were always dangerous and difficult for large convoys; and
its commercial relations with Chaldaea were practically brought thus to a
standstill, and, as a conse