Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/59

Rh become free from Assyrian bondage were brought again under despotic rule. (I., 96.)

It is our task to determine at what date Herodotus places the revolt of the Medes, and how far his figures concerning the Assyrian sovereignty in Western Asia (five hundred and twenty years) agree with the cuneiform documents.

According to the view of Herodotus the revolt of the Medes from Assyrian dominion occurred before the union of the Median races through Deïoces. Since our historian places the reign of this king somewhere within the period 699 to 646, the Assyrian power in Western Asia must have ended in the second half of the eighth century. Inscriptions point to the contrary, for during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III. (745–727) the power of Assyria again became secure. Under this victorious king the empire extended from the Persian Gulf on the southeast to the Mediterranean on the northwest, and from Media and Armenia on the northeast to Egypt on the southwest. Tiglath-Pileser was the first Assyrian king who entered Palestine. Twice he pressed victorious into Armenia. He led his troops into the extreme confines of Elam, as far as Parsua, and added a great part of Media to the Assyrian power. He conquered the land Ḫatti (North Syria), and finally, after a successful expedition against Babylonia, received religious sanction as king of Babylon. Among his successors Sargon II. (722–705) is the only one who deserves to be compared with him in military achievement. This usurper, after