teration Sebek side by side with Segos. He is found
again under the forms Shibahi, Shabi, Shabe, in Sargon's
inscriptions.

Hannon of Gaza had by this time returned from exile, and it was,
doubtless, owing to Shabi's support that he had been able to drive out
the Assyrian generals and recover his crown.* The Israelite aristocracy
was led away by his example, but Shalmaneser hastened to the spot before
the Egyptian bowmen had time to cross the isthmus. Hoshea begged
for mercy, and was deported into Assyria and condemned to lifelong
imprisonment.** Though deserted by her king, Samaria did not despair;
she refused to open her gates, and, being strongly fortified, compelled
the Assyrians to lay regular siege to the city. It would seem that at
one moment, at the beginning of operations, when it was rumoured on all
sides that Pharaoh would speedily intervene, Ahaz began to fear for his
own personal safety, and seriously considered whether it would not be
wiser to join forces with Israel or with Egypt.***

* This seems to be the inference from Sargon's inscription,
in which he is referred to as relying on the army of Shabi,
the _tartan_ of Egypt.

** 2 Kings xvii. 4.

*** The _Second Book of Kings_ (xviii. 9,10; cf. xvii. 6)
places the beginning of the siege of Samaria in the seventh
year of Hoshea ( = fourth year of Hezekiah), and the capture
of the town in the ninth year of Hoshea ( = sixth year of
Hezekiah); further on it adds that Sennacherib's campaign
against Hezekiah took place in the fourteenth year of the
latter's reign (2 Kings xviii. 13; cf. Isa. xxxvi. 1). Now,
Sennacherib's campaign against Hezekiah took place (as will
be shown later on, in vol. viii. Chapter I.) in 702 B.C.,
and Samaria was captured in 722. The synchronisms in the
Hebrew narrative are therefore fictitious, and rest on no
real historical basis--at any rate, in so far as the king
who occupied the throne of Judah at the time of the fall of
Samaria is concerned; Ahaz was still alive at that date, and
continued to reign till 716 or 715, or perhaps only till
720.

[Illustration: 328.jpg The Sword Dance]

After Painting by Gerome

The rapid sequence of events, however, backed by the counsel of Isaiah,
speedily recalled him to a more reasonable view of the situation. The
prophet showed him Samaria spread out before him like one of