C. 711) Sargon led a third expedition into these
parts, regarding it as important to punish the misconduct of the people
of Ashdod. Ashdod had probably submitted after the battle of Raphia, and
had been allowed to retain its native prince, Azuri. This prince, after
awhile, revolted, withheld his tribute, and proceeded to foment
rebellion against Assyria among the neighboring monarchs; whereupon
Sargon deposed him, and made his brother Akhimit king in his place. The
people of Ashdod, however, rejected the authority of Akhimit, and chose
a certain Yaman, or Yavan, to rule over them, who strengthened himself
by alliances with the other Philistine cities, with Judaea, and with
Edom. Immediately upon learning this. Sargon assembled his army, and
proceeded to Ashdod to punish the rebels; but, before his arrival, Yaman
had fled away, and "escaped to the dependencies of Egypt, which" (it is
said) "were under the rule of Ethiopia." Ashdod itself, trusting in the
strength from which it derived its name, resisted; but Sargon laid siege
to it and in a little time forced it to surrender. Yaman fled to Egypt,
but his wife and children were captured and, together with the bulk of
the inhabitants, were transported into Assyria, while their place was
supplied by a number of persons who had been made prisoners in Sargon's
eastern wars. An Assyrian governor was set over the town.

The submission of Ethiopia followed. Ashdod, like Samaria, had probably
been encouraged to revolt by promises of foreign aid. Sargon's old
antagonist, Shebek, had recently brought the whole of Egypt under his
authority, and perhaps thought the time had come when he might venture
once more to measure his strength against the Assyrians. But Sargon's
rapid movements and easy capture of the strong Ashdod terrified him, and
produced a change of his intentions. Instead of marching into Philistia
and fighting a battle, he sent a suppliant embassy, surrendered Yaman,
and deprecated Sargon's wrath. The Assyrian monarch boasts that the king
of Meroe, who dwelt in the desert, and had never sent ambassadors to any
of the kings his predecessors, was led by the fear of his majesty to
direct his steps towards Assyria and humbly bow down before him.

At the opposite extremity of his empire, Sargon soon after-wards gained
victories which were of equal or greater importance. Having completely
reduced Syria, humiliated Egypt, and struck terror into the tribes of
the north and east