At the same time, it must be allowed that all difficulty is not removed by this supposition.  The Shebek Sibahe (or Sibaki) of the Assyrian record bears an inferior title, and not that of king.  He is also, apparently, contemporary with another authority in Egypt, who is recognized by Sargon as the true “Pharaoh,” or native ruler.  Further, it is not till eight or nine years later that any mention is made of Ethiopia as having an authority over Egypt or as in any way brought into contact with Sargon.  The proper conclusion from these facts seems to be that the Ethiopians established themselves gradually; that in B.C. 720, Shebek or Sabaco, though master of a portion of Egypt, had not assumed the royal title, which was still borne by a native prince of little power—­Bocchoris, or Scthos—­who held his court somewhere in the Delta; and that it was not till about the year B.C. 712 that this shadowy kingdom passed away, that the Ethiopian rule was extended over the whole of Egypt, and that Sabaco assumed the full rank of an independent monarch.

If this be the true solution of the difficulty which has here presented itself, we must conclude that the first actual collision between the powers of Egypt and Assyria took place at a time very unfavorable to the former.  Egypt was, in fact, divided against itself, the fertile tract of the Delta being under one king, the long valley of the Nile under another.  If war was not actually going on, jealousy and suspicion, at any rate, must have held the two sovereigns apart; and the Assyrian monarch, coming at such a time of intestine feud, must have found it comparatively easy to gain a triumph in this quarter.

The armies of the two great powers met at the city of Rapikh, which seems to be the Raphia of the Greeks and Romans, and consequently the modern Refah a position upon the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about half-way between Gaza and the Wady-el-Arish, or “River of Egypt.”  Here the forces of the Philistines, under Khanun, king of Gaza, and those of Shebek, the Tar-dan (or perhaps the Sultan) of Egypt, had effected a junction, and awaited the approach of the invader.  Sargon, having arrived, immediately engaged the allied army, and succeeded in defeating it completely, capturing Khanun, and forcing Shebek to seek safety in flight.  Khanun was deprived of his crown and carried off to Assyria by the conqueror.

Such was the result of the first combat between the two great powers of Asia and Africa.  It was an omen of the future, though it was scarcely a fair trial of strength.  The battle of Raphia foreshadowed truly enough the position which Egypt would hold among the nations from the time that she ceased to be isolated, and was forced to enter into the struggle for preeminence, and even for existence, with the great kingdoms of the neighboring continent.  With rare and brief exceptions, Egypt has from the time of Sargon succumbed to the superior might of whatever power has been dominant