In the Reign of _Sennacherib_ and _Asserhadon_, the _Assyrian_ Empire seems arrived at its greatness, being united under one Monarch, and containing _Assyria_, _Media_, _Apolloniatis_, _Susiana_, _Chaldæa_, _Mesopotamia_, _Cilicia_, _Syria_, _Phœnicia_, _Egypt_, _Ethiopia_, and part of _Arabia_, and reaching eastward into _Elymais_, and _Parætacene_, a province of the _Medes_: and if _Chalach_ and _Chabor_ be _Colchis_ and _Iberia_, as some think, and as may seem probable from the circumcision used by those nations 'till the days of _Herodotus_, we are also to add these two Provinces, with the two _Armenia's_, _Pontus_ and _Cappadocia_, as far as to the river _Halys_: for [370] _Herodotus_ tells us, that the people of _Cappadocia_ as far as to that river were called _Syrians_ by the _Greeks_, both before and after the days or _Cyrus_, and that the _Assyrians_ were also called _Syrians_ by the _Greeks_. Yet the _Medes_ revolted from the _Assyrians_ in the latter end of the Reign of _Sennacherib_, I think upon the slaughter of his army near _Egypt_ and his flight to _Nineveh_: for at that time the estate of _Sennacherib_ was troubled, so that _Tobit_ could not go into _Media_ as he had done before, _Tobit_ i. 15. and some time after, _Tobit_ advised his son to go into _Media_ where he might expect peace, while _Nineveh_, according to the prophesy of _Jonah_, should be destroyed. _Ctesias_ wrote that _Arbaces_ a _Mede_ being admitted to see _Sardanapalus_ in his palace, and observing his voluptuous life amongst women, revolted with the _Medes_, and in conjunction with _Belesis_ a _Babylonian_ overcame him, and caused him to set fire to his palace and burn himself: but he is contradicted by other authors of better credit; for _Duris_ and [371] many others wrote that _Arbaces_ upon being admitted into the palace of _Sardanapalus_, and seeing his effeminate life, slew himself; and _Cleitarchus_, that _Sardanapalus_ died of old age, after he had lost his dominion over _Syria_: he lost it by the revolt of the western nations; and _Herodotus_ [372] tells us, that the _Medes_ revolted first, and defended their liberty by force of arms against the _Assyrians_, without conquering them; and at their first revolting had no King, but after some time set up _Dejoces_ over them, and built _Ecbatane_ for his residence; and that _Dejoces_ Reigned only over _Media_, and had a peaceable Reign of 54 years, but his son and successor _Phraortes_ made war upon his neighbours, and conquered _Persia_; and that the _Syrians_ also, and other western nations, at length revolted from the _Assyrians_, being encouraged thereunto by the example of the _Medes_; and that after the revolt of the western nations, _Phraortes_ invaded the _Assyrians_, but was slain by them in that war, after he had Reigned twenty and two years. He was succeeded by _Astyages_.