It has been conjectured that the founders of the twenty-second or Bubastite dynasty may have been fugitives of high birth from Assyria, who had been hospitably received and honourably entertained in Egypt. The fortunes of Assyria were indeed at this time at a very low ebb, after having risen very high. The long-continued struggle between Assyria and Babylon already alluded to (p. 215) had ended in the complete ascendency of the former state. About the middle of the twelfth century, the first Assyrian empire rose, and lasted for about seventy years. It was an empire based on mere military ascendency, was maintained by force and cruelty, and rested on no enduring foundation. The Kings of Assyria subdued Babylon, and conquered the Hittites (the Kheta of Rameses II.) and other neighbouring nations. But in process of time the Hittites rose in arms, and were joined by the Babylonians (ever restless under the Assyrian supremacy), and the Assyrian empire fell before their combined attack. For some time, it would seem, there was not even an independent sovereign reigning at Nineveh. The time was propitious for the growth and development of new states. Assyria was prostrate, Babylon unaggressive, Egypt inert, the Hittites content with their newly recovered independence. The cities of Phœnicia, on the coast of Palestine, were engaged, as of old, in busy commerce throughout the known world, coming even so far as to the British Isles in quest of tin. They colonised, but did not conquer other lands. Their religion, with its cruel and licentious rites, was the same as that of the neighbouring Canaanitish tribes, but the latter were probably greatly inferior in civilisation; they still maintained their ground in certain parts of Palestine.