ted of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him
back again to Jerusalem into his kingdom." The crime of defection was
overlooked by the Assyrian monarch, Manasseh was pardoned, and sent back
to Jerusalem: where he was allowed to resume the reins of government,
but on the condition, if we may judge by the usual practice of the
Assyrians in such cases, of paying an increased tribute.

It may have been in connection with this restoration of Manasseh to his
throne--an act of doubtful policy from an Assyrian point of view--that
Esar-haddon determined on a project by which the hold of Assyria upon
Palestine was considerably strengthened. Sargon, as has been already
observed when he removed the Israelites from Sumaria, supplied their
place by colonists from Babylon, Cutha, Sippara, Ava, Hamath, and
Arabia; this planting a foreign garrison in the region which would be
likely to preserve its fidelity. Esar-haddon resolved to strengthen this
element. He gathered men from Babylon, Orchoe, Susa, Elymais, Persia,
and other neighboring regions, and entrusting them to an officer of high
rank--"the great and noble Asnapper"--had them conveyed to Palestine and
settled over the whole country, which until this time must have been
somewhat thinly peopled. The restoration of Manasseh, and the
augmentation of this foreign element in Palestine, are thus portions,
but counterbalancing portions, of one scheme--a scheme, the sole object
of which was the pacification of the empire by whatever means, gentle or
severe, seemed best calculated to effect the purpose.

The last years of Esar-haddon were, to some extent, clouded with
disaster. He appears to have fallen ill in B.C. 669: and the knowledge
of this fact at once produced revolution in Egypt. Tirhakah issued from
his Ethiopian fastnesses, descended the valley of the Nile, expelled the
kings set up by Esar-haddon, and re-established his authority over the
whole country. Esar-haddon, unable to take the field, resolved to resign
the cares of the empire to his eldest son, Asshur-bani-pal, and to
retire into a secondary position. Relinquishing the crown of Assyria,
and retaining that of Babylon only, he had Asshur-bani-pal proclaimed
king of Assyria, and retired to the southern capital. There he appears
to have died in B.C. 668, or early in B.C. 667, leaving Asshur-bani-pal
sole sovereign of the entire empire.

Of the architecture of Esar-haddon, and of the state of the arts
generally in