several of its independent states
took advantage of the change of rulers to endeavour to shake off the
authority of Assyria.

* It was, for a long time, an open question with the earlier
Assyriologists whether or not Shalmaneser and Sargon were
different names for one and the same monarch. As for
monuments, we possess only one attributed to Shalmaneser, a
weight in the form of a lion, discovered by Layard at Nimroud,
in the north-west palace. The length of his reign, and
the scanty details we possess concerning it, have been
learnt from the _Eponym Canon_ and _Pinches' Babylonian
Chronicle_, and also from the Hebrew texts (2 Kings xvii. 3-
6; xviii. 9-12).

** The identity of Ululai and Shalmaneser V., though still
questioned by Oppert, has been proved by the comparison of
Babylonian records, in some of which the names Pulu and
Ululai occur in positions exactly corresponding with those
occupied, in others, by Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser. The
name Ululai was given to the king because he was born in the
month of Ulul; in Pinches' list we find a gloss, "Dynasty
of Tinu," which probably indicates the Assyrian town in
which Tiglath-pileser III. and his son were born.

Egypt continued to give them secret encouragement in these tactics,
though its own internal dissensions prevented it from offering any
effective aid. The Tanite dynasty was in its death-throes. Psamuti, the
last of its kings, exercised a dubious sovereignty over but a few of the
nomes on the Arabian frontier.*

* He is the Psammous mentioned by Manetho. The cartouches
attributed to him by Lepsius really belong to the Psammuthis
of the XXIXth dynasty. It is possible that one of the marks
found at Karnak indicating the level of the Nile belong to
the reign of this monarch.

His neighbours the Saites were gradually gaining the upper hand in the
Delta and in the fiefs of middle Egypt, at first under Tafnakhti, and
then, after his death, under his son Bukunirinif, Bocchoris of the
Greek historians. They held supremacy over several personages who, like
themselves, claimed the title and rank of Pharaoh; amongst others, over
a certain Rudamanu Miamun, son of Osorkon: their power did not, however,
extend beyond Siut, near the former frontier of the Theban kingdom.
The withdrawal of Pionkhi-Miamun, and his subsequent death, had not
disturbe