Nairi, when first attacked by the Assyrians, had twenty-three cities, and as many kings; they were rich in horses and mules, and had so large a chariot force that we hear of a hundred and twenty chariots being taken from them in a single battle.  At this time the number of the chariots was probably much smaller, for each of the two officers named Ahmes takes great credit to himself on account of the capture of one such vehicle.  It is uncertain whether more than a single battle was fought.  All that we are told is, that “His Majesty, having arrived in Naharina” (i.e. the Nairi country), “encountered the enemy, and organized an attack.  His Majesty made a great slaughter of them; an immense number of live captives was carried off by His Majesty.”  These words would apply equally to a single battle and to a series of battles.  All that can be said is, that Thothmes returned victorious from his Asiatic expedition, having defeated the Rutennu and the Nairi, and brought with him into Egypt a goodly booty, and a vast number of Asiatic prisoners.

The warlike ambition of Thothmes I. was satisfied by his Nubian and Asiatic victories.  On his return to Egypt at the close of his Mesopotamian campaign, he engaged in the peaceful work of adorning and beautifying his capital cities.  At Thebes he greatly enlarged the temple of Ammon, begun by Amenemhat I., and continued under his son, the first Usurtasen, by adding to it the cloistered court in front of the central cell—­a court two hundred and forty feet long by sixty-two broad, surrounded by a colonnade, of which the supports were Osirid pillars, or square piers with a statue of Osiris in front.  This is the first known example of the cloistered court, which became afterwards so common; though it is possible that constructions of a similar character may have been made by the “Shepherd Kings” at Tanis, Thothmes also adorned this temple with obelisks.  In front of the main entrance to his court he erected two vast monoliths of granite, each of them seventy-five feet in height, and bearing dedicatory inscriptions, which indicated his piety and his devotion to all the chief deities of Egypt.

Further, at Memphis he built a new royal palace, which he called “The Abode of Aa-khepr-ka-ra,” a grand building, afterwards converted into a magazine for the storage of grain.

The greatness of Thothmes I. has scarcely been sufficiently recognized by historians.  It may be true that he did not effect much; but he broke ground in a new direction; he set an example which led on to grand results.  To him it was due that Egypt ceased to be the isolated, unaggressive power that she had remained for perhaps ten centuries, that she came boldly to the front and aspired to bring Asia into subjection.  Henceforth she exercised a potent influence beyond her borders—­an influence which affected, more or less, all the western Asiatic powers.  She had forced her way into the comity of the great nations.  Henceforth whether it was for good or for evil, she had to take her place among them, to reckon with them, as they reckoned with her, to be a factor in the problem which the ages had to work out—­What should be the general march of events, and what states and nations should most affect the destiny of the world.