DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4920#0006
INTRODUCTION CONTINUED.
Sargon, when the fame of the Assyrian conquests reached the island, and seven of the
Cyprian kings, representing the heptarchy into which the island was then divided, waited
on the Assyrian monarch at Babylon, proffered their submission, and offered gold and
silver vessels, specimens of two kinds of wood, and other presents, to Sargon, and kissed
the feet of the monarchs. The names of the monarchs and their districts are not given,
but the towns are probably some of those mentioned later in the annals of Esarhaddon
and Assurbaniapli. As a proof of their submission Sargon sent to the island a mono-
lithic stele of granite, with his image and inscription, now in the museum of Berlin.
This stele was discovered at Larnaka, the ancient Kitium. Yatnan, or Atnan, is described
as seven days' distance in the sea of the setting sun, but from what part of the shores
of the Phoenicians is not stated.
The next mention of Cyprus is in the reign of Sennacherib, when Lulia, or Elu-
lseus, King of Sidon, being attacked by Sennacherib, and unable to resist him, embarked
on a vessel at Tyre, and set sail for Cyprus, B.C. 702. Sennacherib conquered Phoeni-
cia, but does not appear to have interfered with Cyprus. Cyprus enjoyed freedom from
the Assyrian rule till the reign of Esarhaddon; but when this monarch conquered Pales-
tine, twelve Phoenician kings of the main-land and ten Cypriote, the island then being
divided into a dekarchy, submitted to the Assyrian monarch, sent presents to Assyria,
and supplied him with material for building his palace at Nineveh.2
It would appear that the conquests of Sennacherib in Phoenicia were lost after the
death of Sennacherib, for the Phoenicians revolted under Abdimilkutti, and Esarhaddon
marched against this city, which he took, decapitated Abdimilkutti, and destroyed the
town of Sidon, unsuccessfully attempting to found a new city. But the fame of his
successes on the main-land struck terror into Cyprus, and ten kings of Cyprus are men-
tioned as sending presents to propitiate his favor. He ordered them to supply building
materials for his palace at Nineveh. In the account of Sargon ku wood and kal wood
cannot be ebony and sandal wood, which do not grow at Cyprus, but the indigenous
Oppert, Records of the Past, vol. vn., page 51.
"Smith's History of Assyria, p. 13.
Sargon, when the fame of the Assyrian conquests reached the island, and seven of the
Cyprian kings, representing the heptarchy into which the island was then divided, waited
on the Assyrian monarch at Babylon, proffered their submission, and offered gold and
silver vessels, specimens of two kinds of wood, and other presents, to Sargon, and kissed
the feet of the monarchs. The names of the monarchs and their districts are not given,
but the towns are probably some of those mentioned later in the annals of Esarhaddon
and Assurbaniapli. As a proof of their submission Sargon sent to the island a mono-
lithic stele of granite, with his image and inscription, now in the museum of Berlin.
This stele was discovered at Larnaka, the ancient Kitium. Yatnan, or Atnan, is described
as seven days' distance in the sea of the setting sun, but from what part of the shores
of the Phoenicians is not stated.
The next mention of Cyprus is in the reign of Sennacherib, when Lulia, or Elu-
lseus, King of Sidon, being attacked by Sennacherib, and unable to resist him, embarked
on a vessel at Tyre, and set sail for Cyprus, B.C. 702. Sennacherib conquered Phoeni-
cia, but does not appear to have interfered with Cyprus. Cyprus enjoyed freedom from
the Assyrian rule till the reign of Esarhaddon; but when this monarch conquered Pales-
tine, twelve Phoenician kings of the main-land and ten Cypriote, the island then being
divided into a dekarchy, submitted to the Assyrian monarch, sent presents to Assyria,
and supplied him with material for building his palace at Nineveh.2
It would appear that the conquests of Sennacherib in Phoenicia were lost after the
death of Sennacherib, for the Phoenicians revolted under Abdimilkutti, and Esarhaddon
marched against this city, which he took, decapitated Abdimilkutti, and destroyed the
town of Sidon, unsuccessfully attempting to found a new city. But the fame of his
successes on the main-land struck terror into Cyprus, and ten kings of Cyprus are men-
tioned as sending presents to propitiate his favor. He ordered them to supply building
materials for his palace at Nineveh. In the account of Sargon ku wood and kal wood
cannot be ebony and sandal wood, which do not grow at Cyprus, but the indigenous
Oppert, Records of the Past, vol. vn., page 51.
"Smith's History of Assyria, p. 13.