Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/289

 north' sailed up to the place where his majesty was, to offer gifts and tribute in token of fealty.

The power of the twenty-fifth or 'Ethiopian' dynasty was gradually increasing and consolidating itself; its supremacy was in the end recognised in some sort throughout the land, although in Lower Egypt it was always uncertain and precarious. The descendants of the 'chiefs of the north' never rendered more than a reluctant and sullen obedience to the rulers from the south. The successors of Piankhi, however, were not content to rule, as he had done, from their distant seat in Napata, but they set up their throne in the heart of Egypt itself, claiming and, as far as possible, exercising the rights of an over-lord.

Stormy times were close at hand, and a strong hand and a resolute will would be wanted at the helm. The Assyrian power, reviving from its deep depression, had gradually gained strength. Tiglath-Pileser (744-726 ) was the founder of the second Assyrian empire, destined to be for more than a century the scourge of every neighbouring nation, and the dread of those that were far off. The lesser