he version of the lists of Manetho,
which gives twelve years as the reign of that prince; an
inscription from Hammamat mentions his twelfth year.

Sabaco was an able and energetic prince, who could by no means tolerate
the presence of a rival Pharaoh in the provinces which Pionkhi had
conquered. He declared war, and, being doubtless supported in his
undertaking by all the petty kings and great feudal nobles whose
jealousy was aroused by the unlooked-for prosperity of the Saite
monarch, he defeated Bocchoris and took him prisoner. Tafnakhti had
formerly recognised the Ethiopian supremacy, and Bocchoris, when
he succeeded to his father's dominions, had himself probably sought
investiture at the hands of the King of Napata. Sabaco treated him as a
rebel, and either burnt or flayed him alive (715).*

* According to Manetho, he was burnt alive; the tradition
which mentions that he was flayed alive is found in John of
Antioch.

The struggle was hardly over, when the news of Sargon's victories
reached Egypt. It was natural that the new king, not yet securely seated
on his throne, should desire to conciliate the friendship of a neighbour
who was so successful in war, and that he should seize the first
available pretext to congratulate him. The Assyrian on his part received
these advances with satisfaction and pride: he perceived in them a
guarantee that Egyptian intrigues with Tyre and Jerusalem would cease,
and that he could henceforth devote himself to his projects against
Busas without being distracted by the fear of an Ethiopian attack and
the subversion of Syria in his rear.

Sargon took advantage of these circumstances to strike a final blow at
Urartu. He began in the spring of 714 by collecting among the Mannai the
tribute due from Ullusuna, Dalta, and the Median chiefs; then pushing
forward into the country of the Zikartu, he destroyed three forts and
twenty-four villages, and burnt their capital, Parda. Mitatti escaped
servitude, but it was at the price of his power: a proscribed fugitive,
deserted by his followers, he took refuge in the woods, and never
submitted to his conqueror; but he troubled him no further, and
disappeared from the pages of history. Having achieved this result,
Sargon turned towards the north-west, and coming at length into close
conflict with Eusas, did not leave his enemy till he had crushed him.
He drove him into the gorges of Uaush, slaughtered a large number of h