er. 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, wi