s was more apparent than real; they had bowed their
necks after the fall of Unki, but afterwards, as the years rolled on
without any seeming increase in the power of Assyria, they again took
courage and began once more to quarrel among themselves. Menahem had
died, soon after he had paid his tribute (737 B.c.); his son Pekahiah
had been assassinated less than two years later (736)* and his murderer,
Pekah, son of Remaliah, was none too firmly seated on the throne.
Anarchy was triumphant throughout Israel; so much so that Judah seized
the opportunity for throwing off the yoke it had borne for well-nigh
a hundred years. Pekah, conscious of his inability to suppress the
rebellion, called in Rezin to help him. The latter was already on the
way when Jotham was laid with his fathers (736 B.C.), and it was Ahaz,
the son of Jotham, who had to bear the brant of the assault. He was
barely twenty years old, a volatile, presumptuous, and daring youth,
who was not much dismayed by his position.** Jotham had repaired the
fortifications of Jerusalem, which had been left in a lamentable state
ever since the damage done to them in the reign of Amaziah;*** his
successor now set to work to provide the city with the supply of water
indispensable for its defence,**** and, after repairing the ancient
aqueducts, conceived the idea of constructing a fresh one in the spur of
Mount Sion, which extends southwards.

* 2 Kings xv. 22-26. The chronology of the events which took
place between the death of Menahem and the fall of Samaria,
as presented by the biblical documents in the state in which
they have been transmitted to us, is radically inaccurate:
following the example of most recent historians, I have
adhered exclusively to the data furnished by the Assyrian
texts, merely indicating in the notes the reasons which have
led me to adopt certain dates in preference to others.

** 2 Kings xv. 38, xvi. 1, 2. Ahaz is called Iaukhazi, i.e.
Jehoahaz, in the Assyrian texts, and this would seem to have
been the original form of the name.

*** The restoration of the walls of Jerusalem by Jotham is
only mentioned in 2 Chron. xxvii. 3.

**** We may deduce this from the words of Isaiah (vii. 3),
where he represents Ahaz "at the end of the conduit of the
upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field." Ahaz had
gone there to inspect the works intended for the defence