Stingy Pharaohs: Gold like Dirt—but not for you!

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs allowed their sons to bring in foreign princesses and marry them, but never allowed their own daughters to leave Egypt and marry a foreigner. Even Cleopatra, the famous last queen of Egypt, never permanently left her country nor married a foreigner, since Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were only lovers, never official husbands. This (along with intermarrying) helped Ancient Egypt to remain one of the most unchanging and conservative empires in history, which is especially incredible considering its breadth in time—more than 3000 years!

Furthermore, pharaohs were extremely stingy with their gold, which was relatively plentiful in Egypt due to the rich mines in Upper Egypt .When Tushratta, a Mitannian (Mesopotamian) king wrote a letter to the pharaoh's mother, he complained that he had not received the gifts promised to him earlier by the pharaoh's father. Tushratta wrote,

 "I had asked your husband for statues of solid cast gold. . . . But now . . . your son has [sent me] plated statues of wood. With gold being dirt in your son's country, why have they been a source of such distress to your son that he has not given them to me? . . . Is this love?" 

Tushratta never got the gold, even if it was dirt to the Pharaoh. Apparently, it wasn't love.