That Psammetichus made it his policy to cultivate “friendship with nations and princes[476]” in Asia Minor is sufficiently shown by the famous clay cylinder of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria (about 668–626 B.C.), which states[477] that Gyges King of Lydia, a district which is across the sea[478], a remote place, of which the kings my fathers had not heard speak of its name ... his forces to the aid of Psammetichus[479] of Egypt, who had thrown off the yoke of my dominion, he sent. The troops sent by Gyges may well have been none other than the Ionian mercenaries that made Psammetichus master of all Egypt[480]. The alliance of Psammetichus with Gyges adds to the probability that the Egyptian was responsible for the foundation and development of the Milesian settlement in his country, since we know that Gyges had allowed the Milesians to establish the Hellespontine Abydos in what was then Lydian territory[481]. [Sidenote: History of Psammetichus’ predecessors:] If trade and riches raised Psammetichus to supreme power about the year 664 B.C. their influence was probably making itself felt in Egyptian politics at least some little while before that date. It will greatly strengthen the credibility of Diodorus on the early history of Psammetichus if this can be shown to have been in fact the case. [Sidenote: (i) Sethon in 701 B.C. based his power on “hucksters and artizans and trades people.”] In 701 B.C. Sennacherib made his famous expedition against Palestine and Egypt, which were saved only by the plague sent upon the Assyrian host by the Angel of the Lord[482]. According to the Egyptian version recorded in Herodotus the king of Egypt at this time was Sethon or Sethos, priest of Hephaestus. When the priest-king prepared to defend his country against the Assyrian “he was followed by none of the warrior class, but by hucksters and artizans and trades people[483].” No king of the name of Sethon is known either to the Egyptian monuments or to the Greek and Latin lists of the kings of Egypt: his individuality has been the subject of much controversy. Later in this chapter reasons will be given for thinking that he was a prince of the same city and probably of the same house as Psamtek. The point to be emphasized here is the appearance just at this period of a Pharaoh who rests his power on the support of the mercantile and industrial classes. [Sidenote: (ii) King Bocchoris (d. 715 B.C.) and his commercial legislation.]