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 army, trusting to the fortifications of Jerusalem and Egyptian help. Hezekiah, however, was forced to restore the anti-Jewish Padi to the government of Ekron, from which he had been removed by the Jewish party, and, after the defeat of his Egyptian allies at Eltekeh, to see his country wasted with fire and sword, forty-six fortresses being taken and persons carried into captivity. He then endeavoured to buy off the invaders by numerous presents— talents of gold, talents of silver, precious stones, couches and thrones inlaid with ivory, girls and eunuchs—but all in vain. Jerusalem was saved eventually by a plague, which decimated the Assyrian army and obliged Sennacherib to return to Nineveh. The following year he was again in Babylonia, where he made his son Assur-nadin-sum king in place of Bel-ibni and drove Merodach-baladan out of the marshes in which he had taken refuge. A few years later he had a fleet of ships built near Birejik on the Euphrates by his Phoenician captives; these were manned by Ionians and transported from Opis overland to the Euphrates and so to the Persian Gulf. Then they sailed to the coast of Elam, and there destroyed the colony of Merodach-baladan's followers at Nagitu. In return for this unprovoked invasion of Elamite territory the Elamites descended upon Babylonia, carried away Assur-nadin-sum and made Nergal-yusezib king. Three years later a great battle was fought at Khalulē on the Tigris between the Assyrians on the one side and the Elamites and Babylonians on the other. Both sides claimed the victory, but the advantage remained with Sennacherib, and in he captured Babylon and razed it to the ground, a deed which excited the horror of all western Asia. Some time previously—the date is not known—he had overrun the mountain districts of Cilicia. On the th of Tebet he was murdered by his two sons, who fled to Armenia after holding Nineveh for forty-two days. Sennacherib was vainglorious and a bad administrator; he built the palace of Kuyunjik at Nineveh, ft. long by ft. broad, as well as the great wall of the city, m. in circumference.

 SENNAR, a country of north-east, part of the. Its boundaries have varied considerably, but Sennar proper is the triangular-shaped territory between the and s north of  This region is called by the  “The Island of Sennar” and by the  inhabitants “Hui.” The northern part, where the two s approach nearer one another, is also known as El Gezira, i.e. “the Island.” Whilst Sennar has never been held to extend westward of the, the term has often been used to embrace “the Island of ,” i.e. the country between the  and the , and the land between the  and its most eastern tributary the Rahad, this latter district being known as the ”Isle of Isles.“ South-east Sennar stretches to the. By the this region has been divided into s (provinces), one, including the central portion, retaining the name of Sennar. The present article deals with the country as a whole.

History.—Sennar, lying between and, was in ancient times under ian or n influence and its inhabitants appear to have embraced  at an early period. The capital of, which appears to have been at one time a powerful state, was at  on the. In the th or th centuries there was a considerable emigration of into the country. very gradually died out (see, ). The who had meantime settled in Sennar became the dominant race by the th century. They adopted the and founded an  which in the th and th centuries ruled over a large part of the eastern. was finally in. Since that period Sennar has had no history distinct from that of the rest of the (see §, ). The chief ambition of the people under was to own  rather than to improve their houses, food or clothing (vide Egypt, No.,, p.).

The country was visited by few ans before the time of the. In a surgeon, J. C. Poncet, passed through Sennar on his way from  to, and an account of his experiences has been published (Lettres . . . des missions étrangères, Paris, ed. of , tome iii.). He was followed by Tanus de Noir, le sieur du Roule, who was sent by. to open diplomatic relations with, but was murdered in Sennar. The most noteworthy, however, of the earlier travellers was, the explorer of the. He spent some time in Sennar in, and in his Travels has left an interesting account of the kingdom in its decadence. Various ian expeditions added considerably to the knowledge of the district, which between and  was explored by the  scientist E. Pruyssenaere. Later explorers included the Ernst Marno  and the  J. M. Schuver, who in  visited the sources of the. To this list should be added the names of those who, like, explored the. Since the establishment of the (1899) the country has been thoroughly surveyed.

SENONES, in ancient geography, a Celtic people of Gallia Celtica, who in Caesar’s time inhabited the district which now includes the departments of Seine-et-Marne, Loiret and Yonne. From 53–51 they were engaged in hostilities with, brought about by their expulsion of Cavarinus, whom he had appointed their king. In the last-named year a Senonian named Drappes threatened the Provincia, but was captured and starved