_c._ 720 B.C.--Hanno, King of Gaza, called to his aid So (Shabaka), King of Egypt (2 Kings xvii. 4), against the Assyrian general Sargon, and commenced that gigantic struggle between Asia and Egypt, of which Gaza was the centre. Sargon chastised the rebels. In 715 B.C. Rabshakeh (the title of the officer sent by Sennacherib) reproached Hezekiah: "Thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, upon Egypt; whereupon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: So is Pharaoh King of Egypt unto all that trust on him" (2 Kings xviii. 21). 701 B.C.--Gaza remained subject to Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. Sennacherib died in 681 B.C. Tirhakah, the last king but one of the twenty-fifth (Ethiopian) dynasty, began to reign in 691 B.C. (2 Kings xix. 9). 674 B.C.--Esar-haddon, son of Sennacherib, one of the greatest Assyrian kings, retained Gaza (2 Kings xix. 37). 662 B.C.--One of Asshûr-bani-pal, King of Assyria's expeditions enveloped the east coast of the Mediterranean, including Gaza, which rendered him submission. 609 B.C.--Pharaoh Necho II took Gaza by force after the fall of the Empire of the Sargonides (Jeremiah xlvii. 1). The Hellenistic population after this period became more numerous. "The eight days' march across the sands from the Delta requires that, if an army came up that way into Syria, Gaza, being their first relief from the desert, should be in friendly hands. Hence the continual efforts of Egypt to hold the town."--_G. A. Smith._ 624-596 B.C.--After some three generations of the dominion of Babylonia, Egypt once more spread its power. The sturdy Psamtek I (Psammetichus, "the lion's son") had, from 624-596, held the south of Palestine, including Gaza. 529 B.C.--Cambyses (Ahasuerus) King of Persians and Medes, after the fall of Babylon, set out for the conquest of Egypt. Gaza alone dared to resist him, and was not subdued till after a very long siege. There seems, however, to be considerable doubt as to Cambyses, the son of Cyrus. Xerxes is certainly the Ahasuerus of Ezra iv. 6, and of the Book of Esther. 332 B.C.--"Gaza was strong enough to resist for two months a siege of Alexander the Great, during which he was wounded. It was ultimately taken by storm, but not entirely destroyed. Bates, the Persian, who defended the city against Alexander, employed Arab mercenaries."--_G. A. Smith._ All the maritime towns, save Tyre and Gaza, appear to have welcomed Alexander the Great and accepted his policy. Gaza, next to Tyre, was the most important fortress in the Philistinian-Phœnician coast. Plutarch (_c._ A.D. 66), telling the story of its siege by Alexander, calls it "the biggest city of Syria." After this siege, Gaza became more and more a Greek centre. New colonists settled within the city, which ceased to be a Philistine centre. Josephus expressly designated it a πόλις Ἑλληνίς.