skins
of water as their beasts could carry: this precaution, a wise one at any
time, might secure the safety of the army in case Taharqa should have
filled up the wells which marked the stages in the caravan route.*
When all was ready, Esarhaddon consulted the oracle of Shamash, and, on
receiving a favourable reply from the god, left Nineveh in the beginning
of the month Nisan, 670 B.C., to join the invading army in Syria.**

* This information is furnished by the fragment of the
_Annals_. The Assyrian text introduces this into the
narrative in such a manner that it would appear as if these
negotiations were carried on at the very commencement of the
campaign; it is, however, more probable that they were
concluded beforehand, as occurred later on, in the time of
Cambyses, when the Persians invaded Egypt.

** The published texts refer to the second Egyptian campaign
of Esarhaddon. The reply of the god is not easy to
interpret, but it was certainly favourable, since the
expedition took place.

He made a detour in order to inspect the lines of forts which his
generals had established along the coast opposite Tyre, and strengthened
their garrisons to prevent Baal from creating a diversion in the rear
of his base of operations; he then proceeded southwards to the
neighbourhood of Aphek, in the territory of the tribe of Simeon. The
news which there met him must doubtless have informed him that the
Bedawin had been won over in the interval by the emissaries of Taharqa,
and that he would run great risk by proceeding with his campaign before
bringing them back to a sense of their duty. On leaving Aphek* he
consequently turned southwards, and plunged into the heart of the
desert, as if he had renounced all designs upon Egypt for that season,
and was bent only on restoring order in Milukhkha and Magan before
advancing further. For six weeks he marched in short stages, without
other water than the supply borne, in accordance with his commands, by
the Arab camels, passing through tracts of desert infested by strange
birds and double-headed serpents; when he had at length dispersed the
bands which had endeavoured to oppose his advance, he suddenly turned in
a north-westerly direction, and, following the dry bed of the torrent of
Muzur, at length reached Raphia. From thence he did not select the usual
route, which follows the coast-line and leads to Pelusium, a place which
he