During most of the period in which the dynasty founded by Sargon II ruled the Assyrian empire it was the dominant power of the world. It had been growing and developing for centuries and in this era reached the zenith of its power, and then hastened into decline and nto total eclipse at the end of this period. Another great power lay dormant in the Nile valley. Egypt was occupied with her internal affairs until near the end of this era when she again asserted herself and tried to fill the gap left by the collapse of Assyria. In between these great monster states the little country of Judah was situated. It was engulfed by Assyria and struggled afterwards to get free, looking to Egypt for help that never materialised. These are the three countries that we shall be concerned with in this thesis. As a background for discussion of the specific contacts which follows below let us ocnsider the overall history of this period, 721 to 605 B.C.1