the integrity of his empire, or whether the example set by Merodach-baladan would not speedily be imitated by all who groaned under the Assyrian yoke.  Since the decline of Damascus and Arpad, Hamath had again taken a prominent place in Northern Syria:  prompt submission had saved this city from destruction in the time of Tiglath-pileser III., and it had since prospered under the foreign rule; it was, therefore, on Hamath that all hopes of deliverance still cherished by rulers and people now centred.  A low-born fellow, a smith named Iaubidi, rose in rebellion against the prince of Hamath for being mean-spirited enough to pay tribute, proclaimed himself king, and in the space of a few months revived under his own leadership the coalition which Hadadezer and Rezon II. had formed in days gone by.  Arpad and Bit-Agusi, Zimyra and Northern Phoenicia, Damascus and its dependencies, all expelled their Assyrian garrisons, and Samaria, though still suffering from its overthrow, summoned up courage to rid itself of its governor.  Meanwhile, Hannon of Gaza, recently reinstated in his city by Egyptian support, was carrying on negotiations with a view to persuading Egypt to interfere in the affairs of Syria.  The last of the Tanite Pharaohs, Psamuti, was just dead, and Bocchoris, who had long been undisputed master of the Delta, had now ventured to assume the diadem openly (722 B.C.), a usurpation which the Ethiopians, fully engaged in the Thebaid and on the Upper Nile, seemed to regard with equanimity.  As soon as the petty kings and feudal lords had recognised his suzerainty, Bocchoris “listened favourably to the entreaties of Hannon, and promised to send an army to Gaza under the command of his general Shabe.  Sargon, threatened with the loss of the entire western half of his empire, desisted for a time from his designs on Babylon, Khumban-igash was wise enough to refrain from provoking an enemy who left him in peace, and Merodach-baladan did not dare to enter the lists without the support of his confederate:  the victory of Durilu, though it had not succeeded in gaining a province for Nineveh, had at least secured the south-eastern frontier from attack, at all events for so long as it should please Sargon to remain at a distance.

[Illustration:  356.jpg IAUBIDI OF HAMATH BEING FLAYED ALIVE.]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Flandin.

The league formed by Hamath had not much power of cohesion.  Iaubidi had assembled his forces and the contingents of his allies at the town of Qarqar as Hadadezer had done before:  he was completely defeated, taken prisoner, and flayed alive.  His kingdom was annexed to the Assyrian empire, Qarqar was burnt to the ground, the fortifications of Hamath were demolished, and the city obliged to furnish a force of two hundred charioteers and six hundred horsemen, probably recruited from among the families of the upper classes, to serve as hostages as well as auxiliaries.  Arpad, Zimyra, Damascus, Samaria, all succumbed without