ey had
massacred Akhimiti, whom they accused of being a mere thrall of Assyria,
and had placed on the throne Yamani, a soldier of fortune, probably
an adventurer of Hellenic extraction.* The other Philistine cities had
immediately taken up arms; Edom and Moab were influenced by the general
movement, and Isaiah was striving to avert any imprudent step on the
part of Judah. Sargon despatched the Tartan,** and the rapidity with
which that officer carried out the campaign prevented the movement from
spreading beyond Philistia. He devastated Ashdod, and its vassal, Gath,
carried off their gods and their inhabitants, and peopled the cities
afresh with prisoners from Asia Minor, Urartu, and Media. Yamani
attempted to escape into Egypt, but the chief of Milukhkha intercepted
him on his way, and handed him over in chains to the conqueror.***

* This prince's name, usually written Yamani, is also
written Yatnani in the _Annals_, and this variation, which
is found again in the name of the island of Cyprus and the
Cypriotes, gives us grounds for believing that the Assyrian
scribe took the race-name of the prince for a proper name:
the new king of Ashdod would have been a Yamani, a Greek of
Cyprus.

** The Assyrian narratives, as usual, give the honour of
conducting the campaign to the king. Isaiah (xx. 1)
distinctly says that Sargon sent the Tartan to quell the
revolt of Ashdod.

*** The _Annals_ state that Yamani was made prisoner and
taken to Assyria. The _Fastes_, more accurate on this point,
state that he escaped to Muzri, and that he was given up by
the King of Milukhkha. The Muzri mentioned in this passage
very probably here means Egypt.

The latter took care not to call either Moab, Edom, or Judah to account
for the part they had taken in the movement, perhaps because they
were not mentioned in his instructions, or because he preferred not to
furnish them, by an untimely interference, with a pretext for calling in
the help of Egypt. The year was doubtless too far advanced to allow him
to dream of marching against Pharaoh, and moreover that would have been
one of those important steps which the king alone had the right to take.
There was, however, no doubt that the encounter between the two empires
was imminent, and Isaiah ventured to predict the precise date of its
occurrence. He walked stripped and barefoot through the streets of
Jerusalem