THE FIRST COLLISION OF ASSYRIA AND EGYPT.
When Tiglath Pilesar ascended the throne of Assyria, he first compelled
Babylonia to recognise his supremacy; after that he advanced into the
table land of Iran, as far as Arachosia, and there at the least
maintained his supremacy far and wide over the Medes. To the North he
fought against Nairi and Urarti, against Kummukh and Tubal (743 B.C.);
even the union into which the distressed princes of that region entered
against him did not protect them; after a second subjugation the Tubal,
_i.e._ the Tibarenes, received a prince from the hand of Tiglath Pilesar
(735 B.C.). Meanwhile he had already overthrown Arpad in the West, which
had resisted his predecessors so vigorously in a struggle which
continued for three years; received tribute from Karchemish, Damascus,
and Tyre; and placed the region of Amanus, Lebanon, Hadrach, and several
districts of Hamath under Assyrian viceroys (742-740 B.C.). Two years
afterwards the princes of Cilicia, of Hamath, of Byblus, Menahem king of
Israel, and Zabibieh, the queen of the Arabs, submitted (738 B.C.). The
appeal of Ahaz for help brought him again into Syria; after a struggle
of three years Damascus was overthrown, Israel deprived of a portion of
her population, and given to another prince, the cities of the
Philistines conquered, the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites
overthrown, and at length Samsieh, the queen of the Arabs, was defeated
(734-732 B.C.). This complete subjugation of Syria was followed by new
conflicts on the lower Euphrates. Nabu-sabzi and Kinziru were
overpowered; Kinziru became a vassal of Babylon, and when Merodach
Baladan paid homage at Sapiya, the dominion of Tiglath Pilesar extended
to the shore of the Persian Gulf (731 B.C.). He now called himself king
of Asshur and Babel, and in the last years of his reign received the
tribute of tribes from the south of Arabia. After an eventful reign of
18 years which gained for Assyria the supremacy over Media, Syria, and
Babylonia, Tiglath Pilesar died in the year 727 B.C.
His successor was Shalmanesar IV. No inscriptions have been preserved
from the short reign of this king. The astronomical canon represents a
change in the succession of Babylon at the death of Tiglath Pilesar; in
the place of the joint reign of Chinzirus and Polus, in which we
believed that we might recognise the supremacy of Tiglath Pilesar,
obscurely given in Babylonian tradition under the name Polus (Phul), and
the vassal-reign of Kinziru (p. 9), comes the reign of Elulæus in the
year 726 B.C. That Chinzirus and Polus died in the same year, that
Kinziru died in the same year as Tiglath Pilesar, would be remarkable,
but by no means impossible. It is more probable that Shalmanesar found
it advisable to make a change in the vassal king at Babylon, and that
after his accession he placed Elulæus (Illuhillu) there as a vassal.
Shalmanesar's attention was soon occupied in another direction.
Saved by the arms of Assyria from the overpowering advance of the
Damascenes and Israelites, the Philistines and Edomites, Ahaz, king of
Judah, had paid homage to Tiglath Pilesar at Damascus. "When Ahaz saw
the altar which was at Damascus," so we are told by the Books of Kings,
"he sent a pattern of it to Uriah the priest, and Uriah built the altar
after this pattern, and when Ahaz came from Damascus he sacrificed on
this altar, and offered burnt offerings and meat offerings, and poured
out his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his thank offering on
the altar. The iron altar, which stood before Jehovah, he removed, and
the iron sea he took from the oxen and placed it on the pavement (II.
184). And Ahaz bade Uriah offer the burnt offering in the morning, and
the meat offering in the evening, and the burnt and meat offering of the
king, and all the sacrifices of the whole people of the land, on the new
altar, and the king's entry he turned to the house of Jehovah for the
king of Assyria."[175] According to this Ahaz, in order to prove his
submission to his sovereign, altered the altar and arrangements of the
temple at Jerusalem after the pattern of an altar on which he had seen
Tiglath Pilesar sacrifice to his gods at Damascus, and the ritual there
observed.[176] The high priest Uriah submitted. He not only allowed the
king to sacrifice in person, against which the priesthood had contended
in the case of Uzziah, but he altered the service of the temple
according to the wishes of the king.
Judah was laid waste through her length and breadth. The Damascenes and
the Israelites, the Philistines and the Edomites, had got the whole land
into their power as far as the metropolis. Even from this heavy blow
Judah would learn nothing. Instead of turning thankfully to Jehovah for
rescue from such distress, the altars of the temples were altered after
an Assyrian pattern. Isaiah saw this movement with the deepest
indignation. "Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with
fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence. And the daughter
of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of
cucumbers. Had not Jehovah left to us a small remnant, we had been as
Sodom and Gomorrah. From the sole of the foot to the head there is no
soundness in us, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have
not been pressed out, nor bound up, nor mollified with ointment. Why
should ye be stricken any more, and revolt any more? They are
replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and
agree with the children of strangers. The ox knoweth his owner, and the
ass his master's crib, but Israel knows him not."[177]
Israel suffered still more than Judah by the carrying away of the
population of the northern and eastern districts, the land of Nephtali,
and the land of Gilead. Hoshea reigned over the remainder from the year
734 (p. 48). According to the Books of Kings he set on foot a
conspiracy, slew Pekah, and became king in his place; according to the
inscriptions of Tiglath Pilesar, Tiglath made him king over Israel.
These statements are not contradictory. Pekah had been in league with
Rezin of Damascus, the opponent of Assyria and Judah: why should not
Tiglath Pilesar recognise and establish as king of Israel the man who
had removed the opponent of Assyria?[178] Hoshea sent his tribute yearly
to the king of Assyria.[179] But when the dreaded warrior prince of
Asshur--when Tiglath Pilesar died, there awoke in the Philistines, the
Phenicians, and above all in Eulæus, king of Tyre, and Hoshea, king of
Israel, the hope of withdrawing themselves from the yoke of Assyria. If
Hoshea had risen as a partisan of Assyria, he determined now that he was
in possession of the throne to break loose from that empire. The hope of
liberation rested not only on the fact that Tiglath Pilesar was no more;
it received a still stronger point of support in the change which had
taken place in Egypt in the last years of Tiglath Pilesar. Menahem of
Israel had already thought of securing the assistance of Egypt before he
sent his tribute to Assyria (p. 38), and the same thought must have
occurred to Uzziah in his last years. Hanno of Gaza had taken refuge in
Egypt from Tiglath Pilesar (p. 48). The prudent Bocchoris had left, or
been compelled to leave, Syria untouched. But since his reign Sabakon
had united the forces of Dongola, Nubia, and Egypt into a strong power.
When Tiglath Pilesar had extended the dominion of Assyria as far as Gaza
and Elath, and a victorious aggressive power of great strength stood on
the borders of Egypt, the attack of Assyria might be expected there. A
far-seeing ruler of Egypt, secure of his military power, must endeavour
to anticipate this attack; he must prevent it by uniting the elements of
resistance existing in Syria. If the issue were favourable, the dominion
of Assyria over Syria would thus be removed; in any case Egypt would
have allies in Syria for the war against Assyria. "Hoshea sent
messengers to Seveh (Sabakon) king of Egypt," so the Hebrews tell us,
"and brought the king of Assyria no present more as formerly." It is
this attempt to gain assistance, and probably the presents which
accompanied it--perhaps also gifts from Hanno at Gaza, the princes of
Tyre, Zemar, and Hamath (see below)--which Sabakon, on the walls of
Karnak, describes as tribute received from the inhabitants of Palestine
(p. 73).
Isaiah foresaw very plainly what would be the issue of this undertaking
which to him appeared madness and intoxication. He announced destruction
and ruin to the Philistines, the kingdom of Israel, and the Phenicians.
The carrying away into captivity already sent by Jehovah upon Israel, in
punishment of her offences, and the war against Judah had brought about
no improvement, no reformation; the severe lesson teaching them to
remain at rest, which the sons of Israel had then received, is
disregarded; they are calling down upon themselves a still heavier
judgment. Isaiah spoke the more strongly as he was desirous to prevent
Judah also, where Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, ascended the throne in 728
B.C., from joining in this attempt. In reference to the death of Tiglath
Pilesar he cries to the cities of the Philistines: "Rejoice not, whole
Philistia, because the rod is broken which smote thee. For out of the
serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit is a flying
serpent. From the north cometh a smoke."[180] To the cities of Tyre and
Sidon, he cries: "Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste:
there is no house more, no entering in. Be still, ye inhabitants of the
coast, which the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea replenished.
By distant waters the seed of the Nile, the harvest of the river, was
their revenue, and she was the mart of nations. Be thou ashamed, Sidon,
for the sea hath spoken; the strength of the sea thus: I travailed not,
and brought not forth; I brought up no young men and maidens. Pass ye
over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the coast! Is this your joyous
city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her own feet shall carry her
afar off to sojourn. Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the
crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the
honourable of the earth? Jehovah the Lord of Hosts hath purposed it.
Jehovah gave command over Canaan to destroy her fortresses, and said:
Thou shalt no more rejoice, thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon!
Pass over to Chittim (the Cyprians, II. 53). There also thou shalt have
no rest. When the report comes to Egypt, they shall be sorely pained at
the report of Tyre."[181]
Isaiah directs his most severe warning to those of his own race, the
kingdom of Israel. "Woe to the proud crown of the drunken Ephraim, the
faded flower on the head of the fat valley of those possessed by wine,"
he cries. "Priests and prophets have erred through strong drink, and are
overcome with wine. Jehovah will speak to this people with an alien
tongue, to whom he said: Give ye rest to the weary; this is the way of
salvation. But they would not listen. To whom shall he teach knowledge?
whom shall he make to understand doctrine?--them that are weaned from
the milk, and removed from the mother's breast? Behold, a stronger and
mightier shall come from the Lord, as a tempest of hail, and a
destroying storm; as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, he shall cast
them with violence to the earth. He will trample it under foot, the
proud crown of the drunken Ephraim; the faded flower on the head of the
fat valley will disappear like early fruit before the gathering."[182]
"Shalmanesar the king of Assyria," so the Books of Kings tell us,
"discovered a conspiracy in Hoshea, that he had sent messengers to Seveh
(So), the king of Egypt, and brought him no more a present as before.
He went up against Hoshea, seized him, and put him in chains in prison,
and marched over the whole land, and against Samaria, and besieged the
city three years." Josephus tells us: "It was told Shalmanesar that
Hoshea had secretly invited Egypt to a combined struggle. In his anger
he marched out against Samaria, besieged the city for three years, and
took Hoshea prisoner." "But the king of Assyria fought against the whole
of Syria and Phoenicia. He marched against Tyre while Elulæus reigned
there. Menander, who has drawn up the annals and translated the archives
of the Tyrians into the Greek language, vouches for this when he says:
Elulaeus reigned 36 years; when the Citians revolted, he sailed thither
and again reduced them to subjection. The king of Assyria sent an
expedition against these, overran all Phoenicia with war, made peace
with them all, and returned. Sidon, and Acco, and old Tyre, and many
other cities revolted from the Tyrians; but as the Tyrians themselves
did not submit, the king turned again upon them, and the Phenicians
manned 60 ships for him, and placed upon them 8000 rowers.[183] Against
these the Tyrians set sail with 12 ships; destroyed the vessels of the
enemy, and made about 500 prisoners. But the king of Assyria placed
guards on the river, and on the conduits, to prevent the Tyrians from
drawing water, and returned home. The Tyrians endured this for five
years, during which they drank water from wells that they had dug. This
is what is stated in the records of the Tyrians about Shalmanesar, the
king of the Assyrians."[184]
According to these indications and statements we may assume the course
of affairs to have been something of the following kind. The cities of
the Phenicians, and of the Philistines, and the kingdom of Israel hope
for the assistance of the king of Meroe and Egypt, of Sabakon, whom the
Hebrews call Seveh, and the inscriptions of the Assyrians, Sabhi.
Shalmanesar overruns Syria, before the assistance from Egypt has arrived
there (726 B.C.).[185] Hoshea is either taken by surprise and overcome,
or in his terror attempts to appease the king of Asshur by submission.
He is carried away to prison, and Shalmanesar turns towards the coast.
The cities of the Phenicians submit; only the island city of Tyre
resists (II. 265). The cities, which had submitted, were now compelled
to furnish ships to Shalmanesar for the conquest of Cyprus, and the
blockade of the island city, which was carried on from the mainland
also, since old Tyre was garrisoned there, and the inhabitants of the
island city were prevented from drawing water on the coast. It is
remarkable that the Tyrians are said to have met the 60 ships of the
blockade with 12 ships only. Yet this is no doubt no more than a mere
sally of the besieged. The ships of the inhabitants of the mainland may
not have taken a vigorous part in the fighting; and the blockade may not
have been carried on very strictly. Tyre may very well have been able to
endure a somewhat lax investment for five years. The resistance of the
Tyrians appears to have inspired courage in the Israelites and the
metropolis of Israel, so that they defied the arms of the Assyrians even
after the carrying away of Hoshea. In the year 724 B.C. Shalmanesar
turned from the coast, against Samaria. The Israelites defended their
city most stubbornly. Damascus had resisted Tiglath Pilesar two years;
Samaria, like Arpad, held out for three years. "The king of Assyria took
Samaria," so we are briefly told in the Books of Kings, "and carried
Israel to Assyria, and gave them dwellings in Chalah and Chabor, by the
river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes."
The monuments of Assyria inform us that Shalmanesar IV. did not live to
see the fall of Samaria. He died in the course of the last year of the
siege (722 B.C.). Sargon, his successor, boasts of this achievement of
his arms. "In the beginning of my reign," so we are told in the annals
of Sargon, "I besieged the city of Samaria (Samarina), and took it with
the help of the god Samas, who gives me victory over my enemies. I took
27,280 prisoners. I took 50 chariots as my royal portion. I brought them
to Assyria, and in their place I put people whom my hand had reduced. I
placed my officers and viceroys over them, and imposed tribute upon them
as on the Assyrians."[186] This statement is repeated in the inscription
which gives the more important acts of Sargon (the so called _fasti_),
with this difference at the close: "My officers I placed over them; I
imposed on them the tribute of the previous kings."[187] The inscription
of the bulls says quite briefly: "He (Sargon) overthrew Samaria, and all
the house of Omri."[188] The inscription on the cylinder says: "I have
subjugated the great land of Bit Omri."[189] The annals recapitulate: "I
have laid waste the region of Samaria, and the land of Bit Omri." After
informing us that the king of Israel was carried away to the East, the
Books of Kings tell us, like the annals of Sargon, that other
inhabitants were settled in Israel: "He caused people to come from Babel
and from Kutha, from Sepharvaim, Ava, and Hamath," and placed them in
the cities of Samaria in the room of the children of Israel.[190]
Sargon's own account confirms this statement; his inscriptions show us
further to what stock these settlers belonged. In the year 721 B.C.,
very soon after the capture of Samaria, he transplanted people from
Babylonia to the land of the Chatti, _i.e._ to Syria.[191] We are also
told that people were removed from the four districts of Armenia to
Syria, to the coast;[192] and finally, that people of Arabian descent,
"of Thammud, Marsiman, Chayapa, and the land of Bari," were settled in
the city of Samaria. The strengthening of the alien element in Samaria
was caused by the fact that the Israelites, in spite of the severe
punishment which they had undergone, had nevertheless attempted to rebel
once more against Assyria.[193]
The carrying away of the inhabitants of Naphtali and Gilead, which
Tiglath Pilesar had executed, the removal into a new environment, which
Sargon now carried out twelve years after the former deportation, were
blows from which the ten tribes could not again recover. Not that the
existence of the people was annihilated; many, no doubt, perished in the
conquest of the land and metropolis, yet it was by no means the whole
remnant that was carried away. It was only a part of the population on
whom that severe lot descended. Isaiah tells us Jehovah punished the
people by measure, and allowed a remnant to remain.[194] The number of
those who remained was sufficient to gain the preponderance in a
population so strongly mixed with foreign settlers.[195] Yet this
admixture sapped the national vigour at the core. In the inscriptions of
the Assyrians we hear no more of the land of Omri, but only of Samaria;
from them we see that kings remained at the head of the land; they
mention a second Menahem and an Abibaal as kings of Samaria. The
community over which the descendants of David ruled was, in the first
place, only anxious for the preservation of the national life and faith.
Judah remained obedient to Assyria. Hezekiah of Judah looked on at the
long siege of Samaria, the death-struggle of Israel, and the carrying
away of his kindred without moving. He must have paid his tribute
regularly. An inscription of Sargon, belonging to the first years of his
reign, enumerates the "distant Judah" among the subject lands.[196]
The subjugation of the Phenicians, the punishment of Israel for her
defection, did not break the hopes which the Syrians reposed in Egypt.
Two years after the fall of Samaria, Egypt may have been better prepared
for war, for a march into Syria, than at the time of Shalmanesar's
campaign against Hoshea and the Phenicians. Egypt's power appeared
nearer at hand; Sargon had to advance from the Tigris. Hamath rebelled
against Assyria. "Ilubid possessed himself of the crown of Hamath," so
we are told in the inscriptions of Sargon; "he took the city of Karkar,
and roused the cities of Arpad, Damascus, Zemar (Simyra), and Samaria
against me. I besieged him and his warriors in the city of Karkar."[197]
The city of Karkar, near which, 130 years before, Benhadad of Damascus
and Ahab of Israel had fought against Shalmanesar II., was taken; Ilubid
was captured, and Sargon caused him to be flayed--a relief in the palace
of Sargon exhibits the execution of this sentence.[198] The memorial
stone of Larnaka says: "Ilubid of Hamath rebelled; I fought against him,
and covered the land of Hamath with ruins." Sixty-three thousand people
were transplanted from Assyria into the land of Hamath.[199]
But Sargon succeeded in becoming master of a mightier opponent, in
maintaining Syria against Egypt. Sabakon had marched through the desert
with the forces of Ethiopia and Egypt; Hanno of Gaza, who once retired
to Egypt before Tiglath Pilesar, joined him with his warriors. Sargon
went to meet them. The armies met at Raphia (now Refah, between El Arish
and Gaza, where at a later period Ptolemy Philopator of Egypt overcame
Antiochus the Great). "Sabhi trusted in his forces," so the annals of
Sargon tell us, "and came to meet me to offer me battle. I called upon
the great god Asshur, my lord; I smote them. Sabhi fled with a shepherd,
who kept the sheep, and escaped. Hanno I took prisoner. All that he
possessed I carried away to Assyria. I laid waste and destroyed his
cities, and burned them with fire. I carried away 9033 men with their
possessions."[200] The introduction to the annals and the inscription on
the bulls say briefly: "The armies of the land of Muzur (Egypt) he
(Sargon) defeated near the city of Raphia (Rapih). Hanno, the king of
Gaza, he brought into slavery."[201] The inscription of the cylinder
says: "Near the city of Raphia I defeated the king of Muzur; the king of
the land of Gaza I took prisoner and carried to Assyria." The Fasti of
Sargon inform us: "Hanno, king of Gaza, marched with Sabhi, the sultan
of Egypt (_siltannu mussuri_), to meet me near the city of Raphia, to
offer me battle and conflict. I put them to flight. Sabhi was seized
with fear of the might of my arms; he fled, and not a trace of him was
seen. Hanno, the king of Gaza, I took captive with my own hand."[202]
Sargon's contests in Syria did not end with the battle at Raphia (720
B.C.). After the inscription on the bulls has narrated the victory over
the army of Egypt, it continues immediately: "I fought against the
tribes of the Thammud, Ibadid, Marsiman, and Chayapa, who had invaded
the land of Bit Omri, _i.e._ Israel."[203] On the other hand, the annals
tell us, under Sargon's seventh year (716 B.C.): "I marched against the
tribes of Tasid, Ibadid, Marsiman, and Chayapa; against the distant
dwellers in the land of Bari, which the scholars and the wise knew not.
None of the kings my forefathers had heard this name. I compelled them
to obey Asshur, and those who remained I drove out of their dwellings,
and placed them in the city of Samaria." On this campaign Sargon must
have advanced into the peninsula of Sinai, and far into Arabia, for the
annals continue: "Pharaoh (Pirhu), the king of Egypt (Muzur), Samsieh
the queen of the Arabs, Iathamir the Sabæan, are kings from the distant
coast of the sea and from the land (chasm). As their tribute I received
herbs of the East of various kinds, metals, horses, and camels."[204]
The Fasti, which compress events, have the following words after the
account of the battle of Raphia: "I received the tribute of Pharaoh the
king of Egypt, of Samsieh the queen of the Arabs, of Iathamir the
Sabæan; gold, herbs, horses, camels."[205] We remember that Samsieh,
like the Sabæans, had already paid tribute to Tiglath Pilesar.
The stubborn obstinacy of the Syrians was not broken even by the
desolation of Hamath and the battle at Raphia. Building on the
assistance of Shabataka of Meroe and Egypt, the son and successor of
Sabakon, Ashdod, the city of the Philistines, revolted in the eleventh
year of Sargon, _i.e._ in the year 711 B.C. The hope in Egypt was shared
by their neighbours in Judah, Edom, and Moab. But Ashdod was soon
invested by the Assyrians and taken, and the invasion of Egypt by the
Assyrians was expected in Judah. In Isaiah we are told: "In the year in
which Tartan, _i.e._ the Assyrian general-in-chief, came unto Ashdod,
when Sargon sent him, and besieged Ashdod and took it, at that time
spoke Jehovah: Go and loose the sackcloth from thy loins, and put off
the shoes from thy feet; and Isaiah did so, and walked naked and
barefoot. Then spake Jehovah: As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and
barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and Ethiopia
(Cush), so shall the king of Assyria lead the Egyptians prisoners, and
the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their
nakedness uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. Then shall they be ashamed
of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. And the
inhabitants of these coasts said on the same day: Behold, such is our
expectation, whither we fled for help, to be delivered from the king of
Assyria: how shall we escape?"[206]
Sargon's annals tell us: "Azuri, the king of Ashdod, lifted up his
spirit to disobedience, so as to pay his tribute no longer. He sent
messages hostile to Assyria to his neighbours. I bethought me of
vengeance, and put another ruler over his land. I raised his brother
Achimit to the throne, but the people of the Chatti inclined to
rebellion, and were weary of the reign of Achimit, and raised to the
throne Yaman, who had no right to it. In the anger of my heart I marched
with my warriors against Ashdod. I besieged, I took Ashdod and
Gimt-Asdodim; with the gods which inhabit these cities I took the gold,
the silver, and all that was in his palace. Then I restored these
cities; I placed people whom I had subjugated in them. I put my viceroy
over them, treated them as Assyrians, and they were obedient."[207] The
much injured inscription of a cylinder informs us that "Sargon, in the
ninth year of his reign (713 B.C.), when he had come to the shore of the
great sea, and Philistæa, displaced Azuri of Ashdod, because he had
hardened his heart to pay tribute no longer, and had sent to the kings,
the enemies of Assyria. Before the face of Azuri I exalted his brother
Achimit, and laid taxes and tribute on him as on the kings round about
him. But the people would not pay taxes and tribute, rebelled against
him, and drove him out for the good that he had done them. Yaman, who
had no right to the throne, they made their lord, and armed and
fortified their cities for war." "The nations of Philistæa, Judah,
Edom, and Moab, though they brought their tribute and presents to the
god Asshur, spoke treachery like their evil kings; in order to fight
against me, they sent gifts to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, a prince who
could not save them, and besought his alliance." "I preserved the honour
of Asshur; I crossed the Tigris and Euphrates in the height of the
flood." "When Yaman heard of my campaign against the land of the Chatti,
the fear of Asshur, my lord, overcame him. He fled to the borders of
Egypt, to the border-land of Meroe (Miluhhi); to a distant place he
fled, and his hiding-place was not discovered."[208] The introduction to
the annals of Sargon tells us: "Yaman had misjudged my power; he fled to
the borders of the land of Meroe."[209] In the Fasti of Sargon we learn:
"Yaman heard of the approach of my army; he fled to a region of Egypt
which lies on the border of Meroe: not a trace of him was seen. I
besieged, I took Ashdod and Gimt-Asdodim: his gods, his consort, his
sons, his treasures, possessions, the costly things of his palace, and
all the inhabitants of his land I destined to captivity." The annals
tell us at the very beginning: "Yaman of Ashdod, who despised my power,
fled into the lands of the South, to the borders of Meroe. The king of
Meroe was overcome by the fear of Asshur; he bound his (Yaman's) hands
and feet with iron chains, and sent his messengers before my face to
Assyria."[210] The Fasti say: "The king of Meroe, in a desolate region,
whose fathers had not sent ambassadors to my royal forefathers to
entreat for peace--the power of Merodach, a mighty terror, overcame him;
fear seized him. He put him (Yaman) in iron chains; he guided his steps
to Assyria, and he appeared before me."[211] From these statements it
follows, that the army of Egypt, in which Yaman of Ashdod hoped, on
whose forces the rest of the cities of the Philistines, Judah, Edom, and
Moab reckoned in order to rebel against Assyria, as Isaiah and Sargon
told us, never came. It was no doubt again the unexpected celerity with
which the Assyrian army appeared before Ashdod in the year 711 B.C.
(Sargon has told us already that he crossed the Tigris and Euphrates at
the time of the flood), which destroyed all these plans. But the
invasion of Egypt and Napata by the Assyrians, which Isaiah expected and
announced, did not take place; according to Sargon's statement,
Shabataka preferred to avert the attack of the Assyrians by surrendering
Yaman.
At the commencement of his annals Sargon tells us, that he imposed
tribute on the kings of the land of Yatnan, who dwelt at a distance of
seven days' voyage in the sea of the setting sun.[212] The Fasti
narrate: "The seven kings of Yatnan, whose names none of the kings, my
fathers, nor any one in Assyria and Babylonia, had heard of, received
intelligence of my victories in the land of the Chaldæans and the
Chatti. My glory spread to the midst of the sea. They bowed their pride;
they humbled themselves; they appeared at Babylon before me, and brought
gold, silver, vessels, the products of their land." Yatnan is the island
of Cyprus; the seven days' journey is the distance from Tyre to Citium,
about 150 miles. The payment of the tribute of the seven kings of Cyprus
took place in 709 B.C. Hence we may assume that after the punishment of
Ashdod and the surrender of Yaman, Sargon's dominion was established in
Syria, and that Tyre submitted like the other cities of the Phenicians.
Hence the princes of Cyprus might consider it advisable to pay homage to
the king, unless perhaps they sought in him a point of support against
Tyre. As a symbol of his dominion over Cyprus, Sargon caused his image
to be engraved on a memorial stone in the usual manner, and set it up at
Citium in the midst of the island; it is now in the Berlin Museum. The
inscription gives the extent of the dominion of Sargon; relates the most
important events of his reign; mentions the temples he has built, the
offering of the tribute of the seven princes of the land of Yatnan at
Babylon--then the erection of the image--and threatens with curses and
annihilation those who alter the tablet and change Sargon's name or
anything else written on the tablet: if any one attempts such a thing,
Nebo and the gods who dwell in the middle of the wide sea will destroy
him and his race.[213]
FOOTNOTES:
[175] 2 Kings xvi. 10-18.
[176] No one can seriously maintain that Ahaz imitated the ritual of the
chief enemy of Assyria and Judah, the altar and worship of Rezin, who
was moreover now overthrown.
[177] Isa. i. 3, 5-9; ii. 6.
[178] The Books of Kings are only wrong in representing Hoshea as first
subject, and paying tribute, to Shalmanesar IV. (xvii. 3).
[179] 2 Kings xvii. 4.
[180] Isa. xiv. 29-31.
[181] Isa. xxiii. 1-12.
[182] Isa. xxviii. 1-6.
[183] So must we read for 800; 60 penteconters required 3000; 60
triremes at least 8000 rowers.
[184] "Antiq." 9, 14, 2.
[185] As Samaria was besieged 724-722 B.C., we may place the beginning
of the Assyrian war in 726.
[186] Oppert, "Dour Sarkayan," p. 8, 30; "Records of the Past," 7, 28;
E. Schrader, "K. A. T." s. 160; Ménant, "Annal." p. 161.
[187] E. Schrader, _loc. cit._ s. 158; Ménant, "Annal." p. 181.
[188] L. 26, in Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 192.
[189] L. 17, in Ménant, p. 200.
[190] 2 Kings xvii. 6, 24.
[191] "The Annals of Sargon," Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 29.
[192] Oppert, _loc. cit._ 7, 30.
[193] G. Smith, "Assyr. Canon," p. 125, 126.
[194] Isa. xi. 6-8; 2 Chron. xxx. 6, 10; xxxiv. 9.
[195] 2 Kings xvii. 26 ff.
[196] Inscription of Nimrud, in Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 205; in E.
Schrader, _loc. cit._ p. 90.
[197] "Annals of Sargon," Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 29; G.
Smith, _loc. cit._
[198] In the great hall No. 8, in Botta. Ménant, p. 182.
[199] Memorial-stone of Larnaka, in Ménant, p. 207; G. Smith, "Assyr.
Canon," p. 127.
[200] Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 29; E. Schrader, "K. A. T." 258;
Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 161.
[201] Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 159, 192.
[202] E. Schrader, _loc. cit._ s. 258.
[203] Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 34.
[204] Communication from E. Schrader.
[205] E. Schrader, "K. A. T." s. 258; Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 181.
[206] Isa. xx. 1 ff.
[207] Oppert, _loc. cit._ 7, 40; Ménant, p. 169; cf. l. 12 of the
inscription on the bulls in Ménant, p. 162.
[208] G. Smith's Cylinder, "Disc." p. 289 ff.
[209] Ménant, p. 159.
[210] Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 26.
[211] E. Schrader, "K. A. T." s. 257 ff.; cf. Ménant, _loc. cit._ p.
186.
[212] Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 159.
[213] Ménant, p. 189, 206-208. That the stone cannot have been set up in
Babylon before the payment of tribute in 709 B.C., is proved by the
mention of the tribute upon it. Cp. G. Smith, "Z. Ægypt. Sprache," 1869,
s. 109; 1870, s. 70, 71.