some control of Cappadocia also had been attempted. Before we speak of
the Lydian kingdom, however, and of its rise to its present position, it
will be best to dispose of that outlying state on the southeast,
probably an ally or even client of Lydia, which, we are told, was at
this time one of the "four powers of Asia." These powers included
Babylon also, and accordingly, if our surmise that the Mede was then the
overlord of Nebuchadnezzar be correct, this statement of Eusebius, for
what it is worth, does not imply that Cilicia had attained an imperial
position. Doubtless of the four "powers," she ranked lowest.


SECTION 7. CILICIA

It will be remembered how much attention a great raiding Emperor of the
Middle Assyrian period, Shalmaneser II, had devoted to this little
country. The conquering kings of later dynasties had devoted hardly
less. From Sargon to Ashurbanipal they or their armies had been there
often, and their governors continuously. Sennacherib is said to have
rebuilt Tarsus "in the likeness of Babylon," and Ashurbanipal, who had
to concern himself with the affairs of Asia Minor more than any of his
predecessors, was so intimately connected with Tarsus that a popular
tradition of later days placed there the scene of his death and the
erection of his great tomb. And, in fact, he may have died there for all
that we know to the contrary; for no Assyrian record tells us that he
did not. Unlike the rest of Asia Minor, Cilicia was saved by the
Assyrians from the ravages of the Cimmerians. Their leader, Dugdamme,
whom the Greeks called Lygdamis, is said to have met his death on the
frontier hills of Taurus, which, no doubt, he failed to pass. Thus, when
Ashurbanipal's death and the shrinking of Ninevite power permitted
distant vassals to resume independence, the unimpaired wealth of Cilicia