Note 678 — Chapter XIV

That Tyre, though not captured, was subjugated by the Babylonians, must be concluded from the statement of Berosus, general though that is—that all Phœnicia was subjugated by Nebuchadnezzar (supr. p. 328, n.), and further from the fact that Josephus ("c. Apion." 1, 21) tells us that Merbaal and Hiram were fetched by the Tyrians from Babylon; and, finally, from the circumstance that the reign of Ithobal ceases with the end of the siege, and that of Baal commences. Hence it follows that Ithobal was deposed, and his race carried away to Babylon. That the deportation of kings and elevation of others in their place was usual among the Babylonians, as among the Assyrians, is clear from the example of Jechoniah, and from 2 Kings xxv. 28.