ETHIOPIA RELIEVES JUDAH 21

to whether it were Shabataka, the second of the

dynasty, or Taharq, the third, who came to the rescue by creating a diversion which led to Sennacherib's

withdrawal. The Old Testament (Kings ii. 19) has

it that it was Tirhakah, but it is possible that he was merely acting as general at a period prior to

his accession.

The acquaintance of Hezekiah with the Ethi-

opians was apparently continued by his people,

for the prophet Zephaniah, 621 B.C., who was son

of Cuski and a great-great-grandson of a Hezekiah who was probably not the King, speaks with know-

ledge of the characteristics of Ethiopia : " From

beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even

the daughters of my dispersed, shall bring me

offering" (Zeph, iii. 10). Can the word "dis-

persed " refer to the various armies which had

suffered defeat by Assyrians ?

The name Cushi, too, is interesting in this con-

junction, through its contemporariness in regard

to connection with these ancient inhabitants of Cush or Ethiopia, though indeed the Canaanites,

being also descendants of Ham, have an ancestral

connection with the eldest son, Cush, of the latter.

To return to the direct historical line, apart from

Napata, we come about 1400 B.C. to days coincident

with those of the history of the Israelites in Egypt,

the days of the Rameses.

Nothing memorable took place until that great

warrior and boaster Rameses II. came to the

throne, and commemorated his victories by building