A blockade is always tedious; and the blockade of an island city, strong in its navy, by an enemy unaccustomed to the sea, and therefore forced to depend mainly upon the assistance of reluctant allies, must have been a task of such extreme difficulty that one is surprised it was not given up in despair.

According to the Tyrian historians their city resisted all the power of Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years.

If this statement is to be relied on, Tyre must have been still uncaptured, when the time came for its sister capital to make that last effort for freedom in which it perished.
After receiving his crown from Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah continued for eight years to play the part of a faithful vassal.

At length, however, in the ninth year, he fancied he saw a way to independence.

A young and enterprising monarch, Uaphris--the Apries of Herodotus--had recently mounted the Egyptian throne.