Greek pirates or colonists having ventured from time to time to ravage
the seaboard, he destroyed one of their fleets near the mouth of the
Saros, and took advantage of his sojourn in this region to fortify
the two cities of Tarsus and Ankhialê, to defend his Cilician frontier
against the peoples of Asia Minor.*

* The encounter of the Assyrians with the Greeks is only
known to us from a fragment of Berosus. The foundation of
Tarsus is definitely attributed to Sennacherib in the same
passage; that of Ankhialc is referred to the fabulous
Sardanapalus, but most historians with much probability
attribute the foundation to Sennacherib.

This was a necessary precaution, for the whole of Asia Minor was just
then stirred by the inrush of new nations which were devastating the
country, and the effect of these convulsions was beginning to be felt
in the country to the south of the central plain, at the foot of the
Taurus, and on the frontiers of the Assyrian empire. Barbarian hordes,
attracted by the fame of the ancient Hittite sanctuaries in the upper
basin of the Euphrates and the Araxes, had descended now and again to
measure their strength against the advanced posts of Assyria or Urartu,
but had subsequently withdrawn and disappeared beyond the Halys. Their
movements may at this time have been so aggressive as to arouse
serious anxiety in the minds of the Ninevite rulers; it is certain
that Sennacherib, though apparently hindered by no revolt, delayed the
execution of the projects he had formed against Merodach-baladan for
three years; and it is possible his inaction may be attributed to the
fear of some complication arising on his north-western frontier. He did
not carry out his scheme till 695 B.C., when all danger in that quarter