atic correspondence with his powerful
neighbour, and a document bearing his name was laid up in the archives
at Calah, where the clay seal once attached to it has been discovered.
Peace had lasted for a dozen years, when he died about 703 B.C., and his
son Shabitoku ascended the throne.**

* It was probably with reference to this exchange of
presents that Sabaco caused the bas-relief at Karnak to be
engraved, in which he represents himself as victorious over
both Asiatics and Africans.

** One version of Manetho assigns twelve years to the reign
of Sabaco, and this duration is confirmed by an inscription
in Hammamat, dated in his twelfth year. Sabaco having
succeeded to the throne in 716-715 B.C., his reign brings us
down to 704 or 703 B.C., which obliges us to place the
accession of Shabi-toku in the year following the death of
Sargon.

[Illustration: 011.jpg clay seal with cartouche of sabaco]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Layard.

The temporary embarrassments in which the Babylonian revolution had
plunged Sennacherib must have offered a tempting opportunity for
interference to this inexperienced king. Tyre and Judah alone of all the
Syrian states retained a sufficiently independent spirit to cherish any
hope of deliverance from the foreign yoke. Tyre still maintained her
supremacy over Southern Phoenicia, and her rulers were also kings of
Sidon.* The long reign of Eth-baal and his alliance with the kings of
Israel had gradually repaired the losses occasioned by civil discord,
and had restored Tyre to the high degree of prosperity which it had
enjoyed under Hiram. Few actual facts are known which can enlighten us
as to the activity which prevailed under Eth-baal: we know, however,
that he rebuilt the small town of Botrys, which had been destroyed in
the course of some civil war, and that he founded the city of Auza in
Libyan territory, at the foot of the mountains of Aures, in one of the
richest mineral districts of modern Algeria.**

* Eth-baal II., who, according to the testimony of the
native historians, belonged to the royal family of Tyre, is
called King of the Sidonians in the Bible (1 Kings xvi. 31),
and the Assyrian texts similarly call Elulai King of the
Sidonians, while Menander mentions him as King of Tyre. It
is probable that the King of Sidon, mentioned in the Annals
of Shal-maneser III. side