(5) Pul, or II. Soon after wards a military adventurer by the name of Pul seized the vacant throne and assumed the name of Tiglath-Pileser II. With him began the sec ond Assyrian Empire, which differed essentially from the first, which was at best a loosely con nected military organization. Campaigns had been made into distant countries for the sake of plunder, but almost as soon as the Assyrian armies returned, the conquered kingdoms threw off the the yoke of the invader. Tiglath-Pileser II, however, consolidated and organized his work, and for the first time in history carried out on a large scale the principle of centraliza tion and bureaucracy.
His chief object was to divert the commerce of Western Asia into Assyrian hands, and to this end every effort was made to unite Babylonia with Assyria, to overthrow the Hittites, and to render Syria and the Phoenician cities tributary. The northern part of Babylonia was annexed to Assyria, the Kurdish tribes were severely punished, and a campaign was made against the confederacy of northern nations, which was led by Sarduris of Van. The confederacy was ut terly defeated. 72,95o prisoners falling into the hands of the Assyrians, and the way opened into Syria. In B. C. 742, he conquered Arpad (now Tel Erfad) after a siege of two years, and this victory was followed by the submission of Northern Syria. Hamath was taken by storm, although it was in alliance with Uzziah of Judah, and the kings of Syria now hastened to do homage and offer tribute to the Assyrian con queror. Menahem, king of Israel, against whom the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria (1 Chron. v :26), paid a tribute of a thousand talents of silver 'that his hand,' 1. e., 'his favor, might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand' (2 Kings xv:19, 2o).
Three years after this Ararat or Armenia was again invaded and the country devastated for a space of four hundred and fifty miles. Ahaz, king of Judah, was hard pressed by the combined forces of Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Damascene-Syria, in their attempt to overthrow the Davidic dynasty. He therefore purchased Tiglath-Pileser's assistance with a large sum, taken out of his own and the Temple treasury. The Assyrian king accordingly invaded the territories of both the confederated kings, and annexed a portion of them to his own dominions, carrying captive a number of their subjects (2 Kings xv: 29; xvi :5-ro; 1 Chron. v:26; 2 Chron. xxviii :t6 ;
Is. vii:t-i ; Comp. Amos i :5; ix :7).
Damascus, too, was conquered, and Altai: was at the feast of celebration in honor of the vic tory. It was here he saw the altar, of which he sent a pattern to Urijah, the priest (2 Kings xvi : to).
(6) Shalmaneser IV. Tiglath-Pileser was suc ceeded by Shalmaneser IV (Hos. x :4), B. C. His reign of five years was marked by an unsuc cessful attempt against Tyre, and the beginning of a war against the kingdom of Israel, but his death put an end to the projects (B. C. 722).
(7) Sargon. Sargon, a usurper, took the throne. (See SARGON.) Two years after his accession he laid siege to Samaria, took it after an investment of three years (B. C. about 72o), and then reduced the country of the ten tribes to a province of his empire, car rying into captivity the king and his people, and settling Cuthwans from Babylonia in their room (2 Kings xvii :3-6; xviii :9 :I I).
Babylon had revolted again and now accepted the leadership of Merodach-Baladan, the hered itary chieftain of Beth-Vagina in the marshes on the coast of the Persian Gulf. The southern por tion of Sargon's dominions was threatened by Elam; the Kurdish tribes on the east renewed their depredations ; the Hittite kingdom remained unsubdued ; the Syrian conquests could be re tained only with difficulty, and a new enemy ap peared in the shape of Egypt.
Sargon's first act was to drive the Elamites back, but he was recalled to the west by the re volt of Hamath, whose king had secured the co operation of Arpad, Damascus, Samaria and other cities. But the revolt was of short duration. Hamath was burned and the king flayed alive. Sargon next marched along the sea coast to the cities of the Philistines. Then the Egyptian army was routed at Raphia, and its ally Khanun of Gaza taken captive.
In B. C. 717 the rich Hittite city of Carchem ish was stormed and sacked, and then placed under an Assyrian satrap, who thus held in his hands the key of the caravan trade between Eastern and Western Asia.
But the Hittites found avengers in the allied populations of the north. in Meshech and Tubal, in Ararat and Minni. The contest lasted for six years, but Sargon finally conquered, and B. C. 711 he was free to turn his attention to the west, where matters were in a serious condition.