again on the continent. All his former possessions on the mainland
were given to a certain Eth-baal, who chose Sidon for his seat of
government, and Tyre lost by this one skirmish the rank of metropolis
which she had enjoyed for centuries.** This summary punishment decided
all the Syrian princes who were not compromised beyond hope of pardon to
humble themselves before the suzerain. Menahem of Samsi-muruna,***

* This follows from the very order in which the cities were
taken in the course of this campaign.

** The Assyrian text gives for the name of the King of Sidon
a shortened form Tu-baal instead of Eth-baal, paralleled by
Lulia for Elulai.

*** Several of the early Assyriologists read Usi-muruna, and
identified the city bearing this name with Samaria. The
discovery of the reading Samsi-muruna on a fragment of the
time of Assur-bani-pal no longer permits of this
identification, and obliges us to look for the city in
Phoenicia.

Abdiliti of Arvad, Uru-malik of Byblos, Puduilu of Amnion, Chemosh-nadab
of Moab, Malik-rammu of Edom, Mitinti of Ashdod, all brought their
tribute in person to the Assyrian camp before Ushu: Zedekiah of Ashkelon
and Hezekiah of Judah alone persisted in their hostility. Egypt had at
length been moved by the misfortunes of her allies, and the Ethiopian
troops had advanced to the seat of war, but they did not arrive in time
to save Zedekiah: Sennacherib razed to the ground all his strongholds
one after another, Beth-dagon, Joppa, Bene-berak, and Hazor,* took him
prisoner at Ascalon, and sent him with his family to Assyria, setting
up Sharludari, son of Bukibti, in his stead. Sennacherib then turned
against Ekron, and was about to begin the siege of the city, when the
long-expected Egyptians at length made their appearance. Shabitoku
did not command them in person, but he had sent his best troops--the
contingents furnished by the petty kings of the Delta, and the sheikhs
of the Sinaitic peninsula, who were vassals of Egypt. The encounter
took place near Altaku,** and on this occasion again, as at Raphia,
the scientific tactics of the Assyrians prevailed over the stereotyped
organisation of Pharaoh's army: the Ethiopian generals left some of
their chariots in the hands of the conqueror, and retreated with the
remnants of their force beyond the Isthmus.

* These are the cities attributed to the tribes of Dan and
Judah in Josh.