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 Elulaeus 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.

All that we know is that Esarhaddon, on his accession, found Abd-Melkarth in revolt against his authority.  He had formed an alliance with a certain Sanduarri, king of Kundi and Sizu,[14159] a prince of the Lebanon, and had set up as independent monarch, probably during the time of the civil way which was waged between Esarhaddon and two of his brothers who disputed his succession after they had murdered his father.[14160] As soon as this struggle was over, and the Assyrian