towards the west, and proclaimed his intention of crushing the
Phoenician revolt, and punishing the audacious rebel who had so long
defied the might of Assyria. The army which he set in motion must
have numbered more than 200,000 men;[14148] its chariots were
numerous,[14149] its siege-train ample and well provided.[14150] Such
terror did it inspire among those against whom it was directed that
Elulæus was afraid even to await attack, and, while Sennacherib was
still on his march, took ship and removed himself to the distant island
of Cyprus,[14151] where alone he could feel safe from pursuit and
capture. But, though deserted by their sovereign, his towns seem to have
declined to submit themselves. No great battle was fought; but severally
they took arms and defended their walls. Sennacherib tells us that he
took one after another--“by the might of the soldiers of Asshur his
lord”[14152]--Great Sidon, Lesser Sidon, Bit-sette, Zarephath or
Sarepta, Mahalliba, Hosah, Achzib or Ecdippa, and Accho--“strong cities,
fortresses, walled and enclosed, Luliya’s castles.”[14153] He does not
claim, however, to have taken Tyre, and we may conclude that the Island
City escaped him. But he made himself master of the entire tract upon
the continent which had constituted Luliya’s kingdom, and secured its
obedience by placing over it a new king, in whom he had confidence, a
certain Tubaal[14154] (Tob-Baal), probably a Phoenician. At the same
time he rearranged the yearly tribute which the cities had to pay to
Assyria,[14155] probably augmenting it, as a punishment for the long
rebellion.
We hear nothing more of Phoenicia during the reign of Sennacherib,
except that, shortly after his conquest of the tract about Sidon, he
received tribute, not only from the king whom he had just set over that
town, but also from Uru-melek, king of Gebal (Byblus), and Abd-ilihit,
king of Arvad.[14156] The three towns represent, probably, the whole
of Phoenicia, Aradus at this time exercising dominion over the northern
tract, or that extending from Mount Casius to the Eleutherus, Gebal or
Byblus over the central tract from the Eleutherus to the Tamyras, and
Sidon, in the temporary eclipse of Tyre, ruling the southern tract from
the Tamyrus to Mount Carmel. It appears further,[14157] that at some
date between this tribute-giving (B.C. 701) and the death of Sennacherib
(B.C. 681) Tubaal must have been succeeded in the government of Sidon by
Abdi-Milkut, or Abd-Melkarth[14158] ({...}), but whether this change was
caused by a revolt, or took place in the ordinary course, Tubaal dying
and being succeeded by his son, is wholly uncertain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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