prisoner at Ascalon, and sent him with his family to Assyria, setting
up Sharludarî, son of Bukibti, in his stead. Sennacherib then turned
against Ekron, and was about to begin the siege of the city, when the
long-expected Egyptians at length made their appearance. Shabîtoku
did not command them in person, but he had sent his best troops--the
contingents furnished by the petty kings of the Delta, and the sheikhs
of the Sinaitic peninsula, who were vassals of Egypt. The encounter
took place near Altaku,** and on this occasion again, as at Raphia,
the scientific tactics of the Assyrians prevailed over the stereotyped
organisation of Pharaoh's army: the Ethiopian generals left some of
their chariots in the hands of the conqueror, and retreated with the
remnants of their force beyond the Isthmus.

* These are the cities attributed to the tribes of Dan and
Judah in Josh. xv. 25, 41; xix. 45. Beth-dagon is now Bêt-
Dejân; Azuru is Yazûr, to the south-east of Joppa; Beni-
barak is Ibn-Abrak, to the north-east of the same town.

** Altaku is certainly Eltekeh of Dan (Josh. xix. 44), as
was seen from the outset; the site, however, of Eltekeh
cannot be fixed with any certainty. It has been located at
Bêt-Lukkieh, in the mountainous country north-west of
Jerusalem, but this position in no way corresponds to the
requirements of the Assyrian text, according to which the
battle took place on a plain large enough for the evolutions
of the Egyptian chariots, and situated between the group of
towns formed by Beth-dagon, Joppa, Beni-barak, and Hazor,
which Sennacherib had just captured, and the cities of
Ekrbn, Timnath, and Eltekeh, which he took directly after
his victory: a suitable locality must be looked for in the