When Amenhotep III admitted that he had forgotten which of his wives Kadashman-enlil I's sister might be, the Babylonian king sent envoys to talk to her. The scene at the Egyptian court had all the trappings of a comic opera. As none of the envoys knew the Kassite princess personally, they were reduced to inspecting the pharaoh's entire harem, the members of which were paraded before them in turn. The women refused to speak and so the envoys returned to Babylon none the wiser. Understandably, Kadashman-enlil I was not satisfied with this; but Amenhotep III blamed him for the confusion, saying that Kadashman-enlil I should have sent somebody who would actually recognize his sister on arrival at the court. Amenhotep III's inability to identify his own wife as an individual, and his seeming lack of contrition over this, serves as proof of the limited power of foreign princesses in Egyptian courts.
- The First Great Powers by Arthur Cotterell