During the later period of this dj'nasty, it is proba- ble that Ethiopia became wholly independent. The 23d dynasty appears to have been an Egyptian line of little power. The 2-lth, according to ^Nlanetho, of but one Icing, Bocchoris the Salte, was probablv contem- porary with it. In the time of BocclKiris, Egypt was conquered by Sabaco the Ethiopian, who founded the 25th dynasty of Ethiopian kings. The chronology and history of this line is obscure. We take Mane- tho's list for the chronology, witli a few necessary cor- rections in the length of the reigns, in the following table [see Egypt] :
The Quration here given to the first and second reigns can only be considered to be conjectural. He- rodotus assigns 50 years as the duration of the Ethio- pian dominion in Egypt (ii, 137, 139), and as he lived at no great distance from the time, and is to be de- pended upon for the chronology of the next dynasty, we should lay some stress upon his evidence did he not speak of but one Ethiopian king, Sabacos. Perhaps he includes in tliis single reign that of Tirhakah, and omits that of the first Sabacos. There are two He- brew synchronisms and one Egyptian point of evidence which aid us in endeavoring to fix the chronology of this dynasty. Either the first or second king of the dynasty is supposed to be the So of the Bible, with whom Hoshea, who began to reign B.C. 729-8, made a treat}' at least three years before the taking of Sama- ria : the latter event is fixed at B.C. 720 ; tlierefore one of these two Ethiopians was probably reigning in B.C. 723, or somewhat, perhaps seven years, earlier. See So. Nor is it supposable that the treaty may have been made before tiie conquest of Eg\'pt ; for So is expressly called " king of Egypt" (2 Kings xvii, 4), whereas Zerah and Tirhakah are distinctively styled Cushites (2 Chron. xiv, 9; 2 Kings xix, 9). Tirha- kah was contemporary with Hezekiah and Senna- cherib at the time of the destruction of the Assj'rian army. The chronology of Hezekiah's reign is, with respect to these synchronisms, difficult; but we are disposed to think that the common reckoning, varying not more than three j'ears, is correct, and that the preferable date of the accession of Hezekiah is B.C. 726. Some chronologers follow Dr. Oppert in suppos- ing that the date of Sennacherib's invasion should bo Hezekiah's 2nlth year instead of the 14th year {Chro- nologle des Assyriens et des Babyloniens, p. 14, 15), but we rather infer a long interval between two wars. See Hezekiah. The last j'ear of Hezekiah is thus B.C. 697, unless we suppose that his reign was longer than is stated in the Masoretic text, and that it was for the latter part contemporary with Manasseh's. Tirhakah's reign is nearly determined hy the record in a tablet of the tombs of the Bulls Apis, that one of them was born in his twenty-sixth year, and died at the end of the 20th of Psammetichus I. The length of its life is un- fortunately not stated, but it exceeded twenty years, and the longest age recorded is twenty-six. Suppos- ing it to have lived twentv-one vears, the first year of Tirhakah's reign would fall in B.C. 690 (see Kawlin- son's Ilerod. ii, 319, where the successor of Psammeti- chus is proved to date from B.C. 664), which would correspond to the 8th year of Jlanasseh. The contem- poraneousness of Tirhakah and Hezekiah can be ex- plained by one of two suppositions, either that Heze- kiah's reign exceeded twenty-nine years, or that Tir- ! hakah ruled in Ethiopia before coming to the throne of Egypt. It must be remembered that it cannot be proved that the reigns of JIanetho's 25th dynasty form a series without anj' break, and also that the date of the taking of Samaria is considered fixed by the Assjt- ian scholars. At present, therefore, we cannot ven- ture on any changes. See Chronology.
We do not know the cause of the rise of the 25th dynast}'. Probably the first king already had an Ethiopian sovereignty when he invaded Egypt. That he and his successors were natives of Ethiopia is prob- able from their being kings of Ethiopia and having non-Egyptian names. Though Sabaco conquered Boc- choris and put him to death, he does not seem to have overthrown his line or the 23d dynasty : both proba/-
Table of tiir twentv-fifth Dynasty.
B.C.
Monuments.
Manetho.
His-hcst Date on M.muments.
Biblical Events.
72S 71G
604
Shehek.
SuEIiETEK, or SUEBEK II.
Teharka, or Teurak. End of Dynasty.
Years. Africnnus. Eusebius. Corrected. Sabnco... 8 12 12 Sebichos.. 14 12 20 Tarktis... 18 20 26
12th year. 2Cth year.
Treaty with Hosliea, B.C 724. War with Sennacherlli, K.C. 713.
ETHIOPIA
330
ETHIOPIA
My continuofl in a triljutary or titular position, as the 8i!tli(>s of Herodotus, an Egyptian king of the time of '1 irhalvah, appears to be the same as Zct, who, in the version of ISianetho by Africanus, is the hist king of the 23(1 dynasty, and as kings connected with Fsam- metieliusl of tiie Saite 2Gth dynasty are shown ly the monuments to have jjreceded him in the time of the Etliiopians, and probably to have continued tlie line of tlie Saite IJocchoris. We tliink it probable that Sabaco is the "So, king of Egypt," who was the cause of the downfall of Iloshea, the last king of Israel. The Hebrew name N10, if we omit the Masoretic points, is not very remote from the Egyptian Shebek. It was at this time that Egj-pt began strongly to in- fluence the politics of the Hebrew kingdoms, and the prophecies of Hosea, denouncing an Egyptian alliance, probably refer to the reign of So or his successor; tliose of Isaiah, of similar purport, if his book be in chronological order, relate to the reign of Tirhakah. Tirhakah is far more fullj' commemorated liy monu- ments than his predecessors. At Thebes he has left sculptures, andat Jebel-BerkeljNapata, one temple and part of another. There seems to be no doubt that Se- thos (Zet?) was at least titular king of part of Egypt, or the whole country, under Tirliakah, on the follow- ing evidence : In the Bil)le, Tirhakah, when mention- ed by name, is called " king of Cash (Ethiopia)," and a Pharaoh is spoken of at the same period (Isa. xxx, 2, 3; xxxvi, (i ; 2 Kings xviii, 21); in the Assj'rian inscriptions a Pliaraoh is mentioned as contemporary with Sennacherib ; and the Egyptian monuments indi- cate that two or three royal lines centred in that of the 26th dynastj% The onlj' event of Tirhakah's reign certainl}' known to us is his advance against Senna- cherib, apparently in fulfilment of a treaty made by Hezekiah with the Pharaoh whom we suppose to be Sethos. This expedition was rendered needless by the miraculous destruction of the Assj'rian army, but it is probable that Tirhakah seized the occasion to re- cover some of the cities of Palestine Avhich had before belonged to Egj'pt. Herodotus gives a traditional ac- count of Sennacherib's overthrow, relating that when Eg_ypt was ruled by Sethos, a priest-king, the countrj' was invaded by Sennacherib, against whom Sethos, who had offended the military class, marched with an army of artificers and the like, and encamped near Pe- lusium, where in the night a multitude of field-mice gnawed the bow-strings and shield-straps of the As- syrians, who, being thus unable to defend themselves, took to flight (ii, 141). It has been well observed that it is said by Ilorapollo that a mouse denoted "disap- pearance" in hieroglj'phics {Iliercg. i, 5(1). Here we have evidently a confused tradition of the great over- throw of the Assyrians. Strabo, on the authority of Megasthenes, tells us that Tirhakah, in his extensive expeditions, rivalled Sesostris, and went as far as the Pillars of Hercules (xv, G8G).