HIS FATHER'S POLICIES CONTINUED
Amenophis III had led only two rather symbolic campaigns into Nubia, while he
maintained Egyp's power in western Asia solely through diplomacy, marriage
alliances and rich consignment of gold and other products.
Egypt perceived itself as a world power and Pharaoh's court became as an in-
ternational center where ambassadors of all lands came and went, where goods
from Asia and Crete were prized and where even Asiatic deities such as Reshef,
Baal, Astarte and Qudshu were worshipped.
The geographical horizons of the Egyptians now also encompassed the more im-
portant cities of the Aegean, as shown by a list of place-names from the king's
mortuary temple.
The prevailing atmosphere was one of openness to the outside world and recep-
tiveness toward other religions. a scene in the fifth hour of the night in the Book
of Gates, which originated at this time, places even the "wretched" Asiatics,
Nubians and Libyans under the protection of Egyptian deities in the afterlife, just
as the Great Hymn of the Aten would stress the care of Akhenaten's god for
foreign peoples.