Syria was now at the feet of Nineveh.  A great gathering of the western kings took place at Damascus, where Tiglath-pileser held his court after the capture of the city, and the list of those who came to do homage to him includes Jehoahaz or Ahaz of Judah, and the kings of Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Hamath.  Hosea, it would seem, was not yet on the Israelitish throne.

The old empire of Babylonia was thus restored as far as the Mediterranean.  All that remained was for the Assyrian usurper to legitimise his title by occupying Babylon itself, and there receiving the crown of Asia.  In B.C. 731, accordingly, he found a pretext for invading Babylonia and seizing the holy city of western Asia.  Two years later he “took the hands” of Bel-Merodach, and was thereby adopted by the god as his own son.  But he did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his victories.  He died December B.C. 727, and another usurper, Ulula, possessed himself of the throne, and assumed the name of Shalmaneser IV.  His reign, however, was short.  He died while besieging Samaria, which had revolted after the death of its conqueror, and in December B.C. 722, a third general seized the vacant crown.  He took the name of the old Babylonian monarch, Sargon, and the court chroniclers of after-days discovered that he was a descendant of the legendary kings of Assyria.  His first achievement was the capture of Samaria.  Little spoil, however, was found in the half-ruined city; and the upper classes, who were responsible for the rebellion, were carried into captivity to the number of 27,280 persons.  The city itself was placed under an Assyrian governor.

Sargon found that the empire of Tiglath-pileser had in great measure to be re-conquered.  Neither Tiglath-pileser nor his successor had been able to leave the throne to their children, and the conquered provinces had taken advantage of the troubles consequent on their deaths to revolt.  Babylonia had been lost.  Merodach-baladan, the Chaldaean prince, had emerged from the marshes of the south and occupied Babylon, where he was proclaimed king immediately after Shalmaneser’s death.  For twelve years he reigned there, with the help of the Elamites, and one of the first tasks of Sargon was to drive the latter from the Assyrian borders.  Sargon had next to suppress a revolt in Hamath, as well as an invasion of Palestine by the Egyptians.  The Egyptian army, however, was defeated at Raphia, and the Philistines with whom it was in alliance returned to their allegiance to the Assyrian king.

Now came, however, a more serious struggle.  Ararat had recovered from the blow it had received at the hands of Tiglath-pileser, and had organised a general confederacy of the northern nations against their dangerous neighbour.  For six years the struggle continued.  But it ended in victory for the Assyrians.  Carchemish, the Hittite stronghold which commanded the road across the Euphrates, was taken in B.C. 717, and the way lay open to the west.  The barrier