=Shabaka=, or Sabaco, whom some identify with =So= of 2 Kings xvii, 4, was a contemporary of Sargon and Sennacherib, kings of Assyria. With one or other of these kings he must have had correspondence, for two seals bearing the name of Shabaka were found among the tablets of the Royal Library at Nineveh. (See Nineveh Gallery, Table-case I, No. 32, etc.) Among the objects bearing his name are several =scarabs=, and an alabaster =vase= in the Fourth Egyptian Room (Table-case D and Wall-case 139), and a basalt slab (Bay 25, No. =797=) inscribed with a copy of a mythological text, copied by the king’s order from an old, half obliterated document. The portion of the text surviving contains legends of Rā, Osiris, Set, Horus, Ptaḥ and other gods; and it seems to imply that all their powers were absorbed by Ptaḥ, in whose temple the slab was set up. Of Shabaka’s sister, the great Princess =Ȧmenȧrṭās=, may be mentioned the following objects: A fine inscribed =statue= (Wall-case 107, Third Egyptian Room), her =lapis-lazuli scarab= (Table-case D, Fourth Egyptian Room), and a =steatite cylinder= inscribed with her names and titles (Wall-case 193, same room). This princess possessed great power in Thebes, and she repaired portions of some of the great temples of that city, and built a small chapel near the temple of Ȧmen. She re-established the worship of the gods, and devoted a large proportion of her property to the restoration of their statues and the observance of their festivals. Shabaka was succeeded by =Shabataka= (see a bronze shrine dedicated by him to Ȧmen-Rā in Wall-case 123 in the Fourth Egyptian Room), of whom little is known. He was followed by =Taharqa=, the =Tirhâḳâh= of the Bible, (2 Kings xix, 9), the son of a farmer and the lady =Āqleq=, who began to reign between B.C. 693 and 691. He was an ally of =Hezekiah=, king of Judah. About 676, =Esarhaddon=, king of Assyria, crushed the revolt in Palestine, and six years later he invaded Egypt, defeated Taharqa, captured Memphis, and appointed twenty governors over the various provinces of the country. After the death of Esarhaddon, in 668, Taharqa returned and proclaimed himself king of Egypt at Memphis; but =Ashur-bani-pal=, the new king of Assyria, marched against him and defeated his forces, which were assembled at Karbaniti, a city probably situated near the north-east frontier of Egypt. Taharqa fled, and Ashur-bani-pal marched into Egypt, crushed the enemy, and re-appointed the governors who had been appointed by his father. Taharqa repaired several temples at Thebes, and built a large temple to Ȧmen at Napata, and a small one in honour of Usertsen III at Semnah. For a bronze =figure of the king=, and two =plaques= and =scarabs= bearing his name, see Table-case K, Wall-case 193, and Table-case D in the Third and Fourth Egyptian Rooms.