Syrian camp was, however, taken, together with vast treasures in silver and gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and alabaster; and the son of the king of Kadesh fell into Thothmes’ hands.  Megiddo itself, soon afterwards, surrendered, as did the towns of Inunam, Anaugas, and Hurankal or Herinokol.  An immense booty in corn and cattle was also carried off.  Thothmes returned to Egypt in triumph, and held a prolonged festival to Ammon-Ra in Thebes, accompanied by numerous sacrifices and offerings.  Among the last we find included three of the cities taken from the Rutennu, which were assigned to the god in order that they might “supply a yearly contribution to his sacred food.”

It is a familiar saying, that “increase of appetite doth grow by what it feeds on.”  Thothmes certainly found his appetite for conquest whetted, not satiated, by his Syrian campaign.  If we may trust M. Lenormant, he took the field in the very year that followed his victory of Megiddo, and after traversing the whole of Syria, and ravaging the country about Aleppo, proceeded to Carchemish, the great Hittite town on the Upper Euphrates, and there crossed the river into Naharain, or Mesopotamia, whence he carried off a number of prisoners.  Two other campaigns, which cannot be traced in detail, belong to the period between his twenty-fourth and his twenty-ninth year.  Thenceforward to his fortieth year his military expeditions scarcely knew any cessation.  At one time he would embark his troops on board a fleet, and make descents upon the coast of Syria, coming as unexpectedly and ravaging as ruthlessly as the Normans of the Middle Ages.  He would cut down the fruit trees, carry off the crops, empty the magazines of grain, lay hands upon all valuables that were readily removable, and carry them on board his ships, returning to Egypt with a goodly store of gold and silver, of lapis lazuli and other precious stones, of vases in silver and in bronze, of corn, wine, incense, balsam, honey, iron, lead, emery, and male and female slaves.  At another, he would march by land, besiege and take the inland towns, demand and obtain the sons of the chiefs as hostages, exact heavy war contributions, and bring back with him horses and chariots, flocks and herds, strange animals, trees, and plants.

Of all his expeditions, that undertaken in his thirty-third year was perhaps the most remarkable.  Starting from the country of the Rutennu, he on this occasion directed the main force of his attack upon the Mesopotamian region, which he ravaged far and wide, conquering the towns, and “reducing to a level plain the strong places of the miserable land of Naharain,” capturing thirty kings or chiefs, and erecting two tablets in the region, to indicate its subjection.  It is possible that he even crossed the Tigris into Adiabene or the Zab country, since he relates that on his return he passed through the town of Ni or Nini, which many of the best historians of Egypt identify with Nineveh.