Chapter 17

MEMORIAL TABLET OF NABÛ-APLU-IDDINA, RECORDING HIS RESTORATION OF THE SUN-TEMPLE AT SIPPAR.Brit. Mus.No., 91000.

MEMORIAL TABLET OF NABÛ-APLU-IDDINA, RECORDING HIS RESTORATION OF THE SUN-TEMPLE AT SIPPAR.

Brit. Mus.No., 91000.

He is the king who restored and re-endowed so richly the temple of Shamash at Sippar, digging in the ruins of former structures till he found the ancientimage of the god. He redecorated the shrine, and with much ceremony re-established the ritual and offerings for the god, placing them under the control of Nabû-nadin-shum, a descendant of the former priest E-kur-shum-ushabshi, whom Simmash-Shipak had installed at Sippar. The sculptured scene on the stone memorial-tablet, which records the re-endowment of the temple, represents Nabû-aplu-iddina being led by the priest Nabû-nadin-shum and the goddess Aia into the presence of the Sun-god, who is seated in his temple E-babbar.

FIG. 59. MARDUK AND HIS DRAGON FROM A VOTIVE OFFERING OF MARDUK-ZAKIR-SHUM. (After Weissbach.)

Before the god is the solar disk resting upon an altar supported by attendant deities, whose bodies spring from the roof of the shrine.[28]

The skill of the Babylonian craftsmen at this period is also attested by a cylinder of lapis-lazuli, engraved in low relief with a figure of Marduk and his dragon, which was dedicated in E-sagila at Babylon by Marduk-zakir-shum, the son and successor of Nabû-aplu-iddina. It was originally coated with gold, and the design and execution of the figure may be compared with those of the Sun-god Tablet, as an additional example of the decorative character of Babylonian stone-engraving in the ninth century.

It was in Marduk-zakir-shum's reign that Assyria capped her conquests of this period by becoming the suzerain of Babylon. Under Ashur-naṣir-pal and Shalmaneser the military organization of the country had been renewed, and both made effective use of theirextraordinarily efficient armies. Ashur-nasir-pal's policy was one of annihilation, and the speed with which he struck ensured his success. Thus when he crossed the Euphrates after taking Carchemish, the king of Damascus, the most powerful and important state in Syria, made no attempt to oppose him or to organize a defence. He had evidently been taken by surprise.

FIG. 60.THE ASSYRIAN ARMY IN CHALDEA, 851b.c.In the upper register Assyrian foot-soldiers and cavalry are seen crossing a stream by a bridge of boats, while below the army is represented leaving its fortified camp.(From the Gates of Shalmaneser in the British Museum.)

FIG. 60.

THE ASSYRIAN ARMY IN CHALDEA, 851b.c.

In the upper register Assyrian foot-soldiers and cavalry are seen crossing a stream by a bridge of boats, while below the army is represented leaving its fortified camp.

(From the Gates of Shalmaneser in the British Museum.)

But Syria then learned her lesson, and at the battle of Karkar in 854b.c.Shalmaneser found himself opposed by a confederation of the northern kings, and, though he eventually succeeded in ravaging the territory of Damascus, the city itself held out. In fact, the stubborn resistance of Damascus prevented any further attempt on Assyria's part at this period to penetrate further into Southern Syria and Palestine. So Shalmaneser had to content himself with marching northwards across Mt. Amanus, subjugating Cilicia and exacting tribute from districts north of the Taurus. He also conducted a successful campaign in Armenia, from which quarter one of Assyria's most powerful enemies was about to arise. But it was in Babyloniathat he secured his principal political success. He has left us a pictorial record of his campaigns on the bronze sheathing of two cedar-wood doors of his palace; and, as one of the bands commemorates his triumphal march through Chaldea in 851b.c., it gives us some indication of the condition of the country at this time.

FIG. 61.A CHALDEAN TOWN OF THE NINTH CENTURYb.c.The male inhabitants are represented leaving with cattle and tribute for Shalmaneser III., while the women watch them from the walls.(From the Gates of Shalmaneser.)

FIG. 61.

A CHALDEAN TOWN OF THE NINTH CENTURYb.c.

The male inhabitants are represented leaving with cattle and tribute for Shalmaneser III., while the women watch them from the walls.

(From the Gates of Shalmaneser.)

The occasion for Shalmaneser's intervention in Babylonian affairs was furnished by internal dissension.[29]When Marduk-bêl-usâte, the brother of Marduk-zakir-shum, revolted, and divided the country into two armed camps, Shalmaneser readily responded to the latter's appeal for help, and marching southwards succeeded in defeating the rebels and in ravaging the districts under their control. On a second expedition in the following year he completed his work by slaying Marduk-bel-usâte in battle, and he was then acknowledged by Marduk-zakir-shum as his suzerain. In this capacity he toured through the principal cities of Akkad, offering sacrifices in the famous temples of Cuthah, Babylon, and Borsippa. He also led his army into Chaldea, and, after storming its frontier fortress of Bakâni, received the submission of its ruler, Adini, and heavy tribute from him and from Iakin, the Chaldean king of the Sea-Country further to the south. In his representation of the campaign Shalmaneser is portrayed marching through the country,and receiving tribute from the Chaldeans, which they carry from their cities and ferry across streams to deposit in the presence of the king and his officials.

FIGS. 62 AND 63.THE TRIBUTE OF THE CHALDEANS,In Fig. 62 Chaldeans are represented conveying tribute across a stream in boats; in Fig. 63 they deposit it at a bridge-head held by the Assyrians.(From the Gates of Shalmaneser.)

FIGS. 62 AND 63.

THE TRIBUTE OF THE CHALDEANS,

In Fig. 62 Chaldeans are represented conveying tribute across a stream in boats; in Fig. 63 they deposit it at a bridge-head held by the Assyrians.

(From the Gates of Shalmaneser.)

But Babylon did not long endure the position of a vassal state, and Shalmaneser's son and successor. Shamshi-Adad IV., attempted her reconquest, plundering many cities before he met with serious opposition. Marduk-balâtsu-ikbi, the Babylonian king, had meanwhile collected his forces, which included armed levies from Elam, Chaldea, and other districts. The two armies met near the city of Dûr-Papsukal, the Babylonians were totally defeated, and a rich booty fell to their conqueror. During a subsequent interregnum Erba-Marduk, the son of Marduk-shakin-shum, secured the throne, owing his election to his success in driving Aramean raiders from the cultivated fields of Babylon and Borsippa.[30]But he did not reign for long, and whenBabylon continued to give trouble to Assyria, Adad-nirari IV., the successor of Shamshi-Adad, again subjugated a considerable portion of the country, carrying away Bau-akhi-iddina, the Babylonian king, as a captive to Assyria, together with the treasures of his palace.[31]

During the following half-century our knowledge of Babylonian affairs is a blank, and we have not as yet recovered even the names of the last members of the Eighth Dynasty. This epoch corresponds to a period of weakness and inaction in the northern kingdom, such as more than once before had followed a forward movement on her part. The expansion of Assyria, in fact, took place in a series of successive waves, and when one had spent itself, a recoil preceded the next advance. The principal cause of her contraction, after the brilliant reigns of Shalmaneser III. and his father, may undoubtedly be traced to the rise of a new power in the mountains of Armenia. From their capital on the shore of Lake Van, the Urartians marched southward and menaced the northern frontier of Assyria itself. Her kings could no longer dream of further adventures in the West, which would leave their home territory at the mercy of this new foe. Urartu became now the principal drag on Assyria's ambitions, a part which was afterwards so effectively played by Elam in alliance with Babylon.

It is to this period we may probably assign an interesting provincial monument, discovered in Babylon,[32]which illustrates the independent position enjoyed by the rulers of local districts at a time when the central control of either kingdom, and particularly of Assyria, was relaxed. The monument commemorates the principal achievements of Shamash-rêsh-usur, governor of the lands of Sukhi and Mari on the middle Euphrates.[33]He may have owed his appointment to Assyria, buthe speaks like a reigning monarch and dates the record in his thirteenth year.

FIG. 64.BAS-RELIEF OF SHAMASH-RÊSH-USUR, GOVERNOR OF THE LANDS OF SUKHI AND MARI.The scene represents Shamash-rêsh-usur standing before the god Adad and the goddess Ishtar. The stone was set up in Gabbari-ibni, a city he had founded, and it commemorates his achievements, the one of which he was most proud being the introduction of honey-bees into the land of Sukhi.(After a photo, by Weissbach.)

FIG. 64.

BAS-RELIEF OF SHAMASH-RÊSH-USUR, GOVERNOR OF THE LANDS OF SUKHI AND MARI.

The scene represents Shamash-rêsh-usur standing before the god Adad and the goddess Ishtar. The stone was set up in Gabbari-ibni, a city he had founded, and it commemorates his achievements, the one of which he was most proud being the introduction of honey-bees into the land of Sukhi.

(After a photo, by Weissbach.)

On it he records his suppression of a revolt of the Tu'mânu tribe, who threatened his capital Ribanish, while he was holding festival in the neighbouring town of Baka. But he attacked them with the people who were with him, slew three hundred and fifty of them, and the rest submitted. He also records how he dug out the Sukhi Canal, when it had silted up, and how he planted palm-trees in his palace at Ribanish. But his most notable act, according to his own account, was the introduction of bees into Sukhi, which his improved irrigation of the district doubtless rendered possible. "Bees which collect honey," he tells us, "which no man had seen since the time of my fathers and forefathers, nor had brought to the land ofSukhi, I brought down from the mountains of the Khabkha-tribe and I put them in the garden of Gabbari-ibni." The text closes with an interesting little note upon the bees: "They collect honey and wax. The preparing of honey and wax I understand, and the gardeners understand it." And he adds that in days to come a ruler will ask the elders of his land, "Is it true that Shamash-rêsh-usur, governor of Sukhi, brought honey-bees into the land of Sukhi?" The monument may well have been carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II., when he incorporated the district within his empire.

The subsequent period shows a gradual tightening of Assyria's grasp upon the southern kingdom, varied by comparatively ineffective struggles and revolts on Babylon's part to avoid her loss of independence. The temporary decline of Assyrian power enabled Babylon for a time to regain something of her former position under Nabû-shum-ishkun II., an early king of the Ninth Dynasty, and his successor Nabonassar. But the military revolt in Assyria, which in 745b.c.placed Tiglath-pileser IV. upon the throne,[34]put a speedy end to Babylon's hopes of any permanent recovery of power. His accession marks the beginning of the last period of Assyrian expansion, and the administrative policy he inaugurated justifies us in ascribing the term "empire" to the area conquered by him, and his successors, in the last half of the eighth and the first half of the seventh centuriesb.c.But it was an empire which carried in itself from the outset the seeds of decay. It was based on a policy of deportation, Assyria's final answer to her pressing problem of how to administer the wide areas she annexed. Former Assyrian kings had carried away the conquered into slavery, but Tiglath-pileser IV. inaugurated a regular transference of nations. The policy certainly effected its immediate object: it kept the subject provinces quiet. But as a permanent method of administration it was bound to be a failure. While destroying patriotism and love of country, it put an endat the same time to all incentives to labour. The subject country's accumulated wealth had already been drained for the benefit of Assyrian coffers; and in the hands of its half-starved colonists it was not likely to prove a permanent source of strength, or of wealth, to its suzerain.

Tiglath-pileser's first object, before launching his armies to the north and west, was to secure his southern frontier, and this he effected by invading Babylonia and forcing from Nabonassar an acknowledgment of Assyrian control. During the campaign he overran the northern districts, and applied his policy of deportation by carrying away many of their inhabitants. The distress in the country, due to the Assyrian inroads, was aggravated by internal dissension. Sippar repudiated Nabonassar's authority, and the revolt was subdued only after a siege of the city.[35]The Ninth Dynasty ended with the country in confusion; for Nabû-nadin-zêr, Nabopolassar's son, after a reign of only two years, was slain in a revolt by Nabû-shum-ukin, the governor of a province.[36]The dynasty soon came to an end after the latter's accession. He had not enjoyed his position for more than a month, when the kingdom again changed hands, and Nabû-mukîn-zêr secured the throne.

From the fall of the Ninth Dynasty, until the rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Babylonia was completely overshadowed by the power of Assyria. She became merely a subject province of the empire, and her Tenth Dynasty is mainly composed of Assyrian rulers or their nominees. Nabû-mukîn-zêr had reigned only three years when Tiglath-pileser again invaded Babylonia, took him captive, and ascended the throne of Babylon, where he ruled under his name of Pulu.[37]On his death, which occurred two years later, he was succeeded by Shalmaneser V., who, as suzerain of Babylon, adopted the name of Ululai. But Babyloniasoon demonstrated her power of hindering Assyrian plans, for, after the elose of Shalmaneser's reign, when Sargon's army had secured the capture of Samaria, he was obliged to recall his forces from the West by the menace of his southern province. Merodach-baladan, a Chaldean chief of Bît-Iakin[38]at the head of the Persian Gulf, now laid claim to the throne of Babylon. By himself he would not have been formidable to Assyria, but he was backed by an unexpected and dangerous ally. Elam had not meddled in Babylonian affairs for centuries, but she had gradually become alarmed at the growth of Assyrian power. So Khumbanigash, the Elamite king, allying himself with Merodach-baladan, invaded Babylonia, laid siege to the frontier fortress of Dêr or Dûr-ilu on the Lower Tigris, and defeated Sargon and the Assyrian army before its walls. Merodach-baladan was acknowledged by the Babylonians as their king, and he continued to be a thorn in the side of Assyria.

SHALMANESER III RECEIVING THE SUBMISSION OF THE CHALDEANS.From the Gates of Shalmaneser in the Brit. Mus.

After the defeat of Shabaka and the Egyptians at Raphia, Sargon was occupied with the final subjugation of Urartu in the north, which had for so long been a danger to Assyria. But Urartu had to fight, not only the Assyrians, but also a new enemy, the Cimmerians, who now made their appearance from the north and east. In fact, Sargon's conquest of Urartu resulted in the destruction of that people as a buffer state, and laid Assyria open to the direct attack of the barbarian invaders, though it was not until the reign of Esarhaddon that their activity began to be formidable. Meanwhile, having subjugated his other foes. Sargon was able to turn his attention once more to Babylon, from which he expelled Merodach-baladan. His appearance was welcomed by the priestly party, and, entering the city in state, he assumed the title of Governor and for the last seven years of his life he ruled in Babylon virtually as king. A memorial of his occupation survives to-day in the quay-wall, which heconstructed along the north front of the Southern Citadel.[39]

On Sargon's death in 705b.c.the subject provinces of the empire rebelled. The revolt was led by Babylon, where Merodach-baladan reappears with Elamite support,[40]while Hezekiah of Judah headed a confederation of the states of Southern Syria. Sennacherib was first occupied with Babylon, where he had little difficulty in defeating Merodach-baladan and his allies. He was then free to deal with Syria and Palestine; and at Eltekeh, near Ekron, he routed the Egyptian army, which had come to the support of the rebel states. He then received the submission of Ekron, and took Lachish after a siege, though Tyre resisted. After his expulsion from Babylon Merodach-baladan had sought safety by hiding himself in the Babylonian swamps, where he allied himself with the Chaldean prince Mushezib-Marduk; and Babylon had been left in charge of Bêl-ibni, a young native Babylonian, who had been brought up at the Assyrian court. A rising, headed by Mushezib-Marduk, brought Sennacherib again into the country, who, after defeating the rebels, carried off Bêl-ibni and his nobles to Assyria, leaving his own son Ashur-nadin-shum upon the throne.

The country was in a state of continual disaffection, and after a few years a fresh revolt was headed by a Babylonian, Nergal-ushezib. But he ruled for little more than a year, being defeated by Sennacherib and sent in chains to Nineveh. This took place after the return of the Assyrian army from Nagitu, whither it had been conveyed by Sennacherib, across the head of the Persian Gulf, against the Chaldeans whom Merodach-baladan had settled there.[41]Sennacherib then turned his forces against Elam, and, after plunderinga considerable portion of the country, he was stopped in his advance into the interior by the setting in of winter. In his absence the Chaldean Mushezib-Marduk seized the throne of Babylon, and allied himself with Elam. But the combined armies were defeated at Khalule, and after the death of Umman-menanu, the Elamite king, in 689, Sennacherib seized Babylon. Exasperated at her disaffection, he attempted to put an end for all time to her constant menace by destroying the city. He succeeded in doing an enormous amount of damage, and, by deflecting the course of the Euphrates, wiped out large areas and turned them into swamps.[42]For the last eight years of Sennacherib's reign the country was given over to a state of anarchy.

FIG. 65.THE GOD ADAD FROM A VOTIVE OFFERING DEDICATED IN E-SAGILA BY ESARHADDOS.(After Weissbach.)

FIG. 65.THE GOD ADAD FROM A VOTIVE OFFERING DEDICATED IN E-SAGILA BY ESARHADDOS.

(After Weissbach.)

In 681 Sennacherib was murdered by his sons, and, after a struggle for the succession, Esarhaddon secured the throne. His first thought was to reverse completely his father's Babylonian policy, and by rebuilding the city and restoring its ancient privileges to placate the priestly party, whose support his grandfather, Sargon, had secured.[43]In 668b.c.the statue of Marduk was restored to its shrine, and Esarhaddon's son, Shamash-shum-ukîn, was proclaimed King of Babylon. Esarhaddon sought to reconcile the military and aggressive party in his own capital by crowning Ashur-bani-pal, his eldest son, as king in Assyria. But at the same timeBabylon was still taught to look upon Assyria as her suzerain, and the spirit of disaffection was only driven for the moment underground. Esarhaddon's aim had been to retain the territory already incorporated in the Assyrian empire, and, had he been able to confine his country's energies within these limits, its existence as a state might have been prolonged. But he was unable to curb the ambitions of his generals, and, in his effort to find employment for the army, he achieved the ultimate object of his father's western campaigns, the conquest of Egypt.

It was soon apparent that Esarhaddon's occupation of that country had been merely nominal, and it thus fell to his son Ashur-bani-pal to continue the Egyptian war, and to complete the work his father had left unfinished. And though he met with far greater success, he too in the end found the task of any permanent conquest beyond his power.[44]For he soon had his hands full with troubles nearer home, in consequence of which his hold on Egypt gradually relaxed. Urtaku of Elam, who invaded Babylonia, does not appear to have followed up his success; and the subsequent invasion of the country by Teumman was only followed by that ruler's defeat and death in battle. But the strength of Elam was not broken by this reverse, and, when Shamash-shum-ukîn revolted, he received active Elamite support.

Not only in Elam, but also throughout the territory controlled by Assyria, Shamash-shum-ukîn found support in his rebellion, a fact significant of the detestation of Assyrian rule in the scattered provinces of the empire, which continued to be held together only by fear. But the force at Ashur-bani-pal's disposal was still powerful enough to stamp out the conflagration and head off disaster for a time. He marched into Babylonia, besieged and captured Babylon, and his brother Shamash-shum-ukîn met his death in the flames of his palace in 648b.c.The Assyrian king theninvaded Elam, and, capturing its cities as he advanced, he laid the country under fire and sword. Susa was protected by its river, then in flood, but the Assyrian army effected a crossing, and the ancient capital lay at the mercy of the invaders. Having taken the city, Ashur-bani-pal determined to break its power for ever, after the manner Sennacherib had dealt with Babylon. He not only stripped the temples and carried off the treasures of the palace, but he even desecrated the royal tombs, and completed his work of destruction by fire. So Susa was plundered and destroyed, and in Babylon itself Ashur-bani-pal continued to be supreme until his death.[45]

ASSUR-BANIPAL AS THE RESTORER OF E-SAGILA, THE TEMPLE OF MARDUK AT BABYLON.Brit. Mus., No. 90864.

ASSUR-BANIPAL AS THE RESTORER OF E-SAGILA, THE TEMPLE OF MARDUK AT BABYLON.

Brit. Mus., No. 90864.

Babylonia had proved herself no match for the legions of Assyria at the height of the hitter's power; but the industrial and commercial life of her cities, based ultimately on the rich return her soil yielded to her agricultural population, enabled her to survive blows which would have permanently disabled a country less favoured by nature. Moreover, she always regarded the Assyrians as an upstart people, who had borrowed her culture, and whose land had been a mere province of her kingdom at a time when her own political influence had extended from Elam to the borders of Syria. Even in her darkest hour she was buoyed up by the hope of recovering her ancient glory, and she let no opportunity slip of striking a blow at the northern kingdom. She was consequently always a drag on Assyria's advance to the Mediterranean, for, when the latter's armies marched westward, they left Babylon and Elam in their rear.

In her later dealings with Babylon Assyria had tried the alternative policies of intimidation and in-dulgence, but with equal want of success; and they reached their climax in the reigns of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. It is quite possible that either of these policies, if consistently pursued, would have been equally futile in its aim of coercing or placating Babylonia. But their alternation was a far worse blunder, as it onlysucceeded in revealing to the Babylonians their own power, and in confirming them in their obstinate resistance. To this cause we may trace the long revolt under Shamash-shum-ukîn, when Babylon with Elam at her back struck a succession of blows which helped in a material degree to reduce the power of the Assyrian army, already weakened by the Egyptian campaigns. And in 625b.c., when the Scythians had overrun the Assyrian empire, and her power was on the wane, we find Nabopolassar proclaiming himself king in Babylon and founding a new empire which for nearly seventy years was to survive the city of Nineveh itself.

[1]Cf. "Boundary-Stones in the Brit. Mus.," pp. 29 ff.

[2]See "Boundary-Stones in the Brit. Mus.," pp. 96 ff.

[3]The Fourth Dynasty was known as that of Isin, and the fact that its founder should have come from there is to be explained by the magnitude of the disaster to Northern Babylonia. The city had been known as Nîsin in the earlier period (see above,p. 91, n. 1**), but even then there was a tendency to drop the initialn.

[4]I owe this information to Prof. Clay, who is preparing the text for publication.

[5]See below,p. 256.

[6]Op. cit.,p. 37.

[7]See above,p. 245, n. 1.

[8]Nebuchadnezzar laid claim to the title, "Conqueror of the mighty land of Lulubu"; see "Boundary Stones," p. 31, 1. 9.

[9]Ibid.,1. 10.

[10]A current exaggeration of Babylon's dominion in the West under Nebuchadnezzar I. appears to have arisen from a confusion as to the authorship of Nebuchadnezzar II.'s fragmentary inscription at the Nahr-el-Kelb, which is written in archaistic characters.

[11]Cf. "Boundary-Stones in the Brit. Mus.," pp. 76 ff.

[12]Tiglath-pileser was the first Assyrian monarch, with the possible exception of Shamshi-Adad III., to carry Assyrian arms to the coast of the Mediterranean; and in consequence he attracted Egyptian notice.

[13]It was then that Marduk-nadin-akhê must have carried off the statues of Adad and Shala from Ekallâti, which Sennacherib afterwards recovered on his capture of Babylon in 689b.c.; cf. "Records of Tukulti-Ninib I.," p. 118 f.

[14]A later chronicle credits him with having established his suzerainty over a large number of petty kings and rulers, and adds that they "beheld abundance"; cf. King, "Chronicles," I., p. 190, II., p. 57 f.

[15]The "Synchronistic History" makes Adad-aplu-iddina the son of E-sagil-shadûni, a man of humble origin; but, according to a Babylonian tradition, his father was Itti-Marduk-balâtu, the Aramean (op. cit.,I., p. 191, II., p. 59), and this is more probably correct.

[16]See "Annals of the Kings of Assyria," pp. liii. ff.

[17]On the Sutû and their connexion with the Arameans, see Streck, "Klio," VI., pp. 209 ff.

[18]For a discussion of the evidence supplied by the Kings' List and the fragmentary Assyrian Dynastic Chronicle with regard to the Fifth, Sixth, and so-called Seventh Dynasties, see "Chronicles," I., pp. 183 ff.

[19]See below,p. 260f.

[20]We know little more than the names of Adad-aplu-iddina's three successors, Marduk-akhi-erba, Marduk-zêr-[....], and Nabû-shum-libur, with whose reign the Fourth Dynasty closed (cf. King, "Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.," p. 221). The dynasty founded by Simmash-Shipak has by some been regarded as of Chaldean origin; and it is possible that Chaldean tribes, though not mentioned in the inscriptions before the period of Ashur-nasir-pal and Shalmaneser, had already begun to overrun the southern districts of Babylonia. For a discussion of a passage in a religious chronicle, which may possibly record a solar eclipse in Simmash-Shipak's seventh year, see King, "Chronicles," I., pp. 232 ff., and Cowell, "Monthly Notices of the Roy. Astr. Soc," LXV., pp. 865, 867.

[21]For the possible restoration of his name as Ae-aplu-usur, see "Chronicles," I., p. 200 f.

[22]There were about thirteen kings of the Eighth Dynasty, and, though their names are completely wanting in the Kings' List, some of them are preserved in records concerning their relations with Assyria. In the gap between Nabû-mukîn-apli and Shamash-mudammik we may probably place Sibir, a Babylonian king whom Ashur-nasir-pal mentions as having founded Atlila, a city in Zamua, which he himself rebuilt as a royal residence and renamed Dûr-Ashur (cf. "Annals," p. 325). It is improbable that Sibir was one of the missing rulers of the Kassite Dynasty, the only other period to which his reign could be assigned. For the broken name [....-akh]ê-iddina, possibly that of another ruler of this period, see "Chronicles," II., p. 63.

[23]Op. cit.,II., p. 81 f.

[24]SeeFig. 58; and cf. "Boundary-Stones in the Brit. Mus.," pp. 51 ff.

[25]Cf. "Annals," pp. lvii. ff. Nabû-shum-ishkun's name, attested by "Syn. Hist.," III., 9 ff., appears to be given as [Nabù-sh]um-ukîn in "Chron.," II., p. 64.

[26]Sukhi lay on the middle Euphrates, near the mouth of the Khâbûr. Its position is accurately indicated by Tiglath-pileser I., who records that he plundered the Aramean Akhlamî from the neighbourhood of Sukhi up to Carchemish in one day (cf. "Annals," p. 73). For a later monument from the district, see below,p. 205f.

[27]Cf. "Annals," p. 351 f.

[28]SeePlate XXIII. For a translation of the memorial, see "Bab. Boundary-Stones and Memorial Tablets in the Brit. Mus.," pp. 120 ff. The tablet was found in a clay coffer, in which it had been placed at a later period by Nabopolassar, together with clay impressions of the sculptured scene, to preserve the design of the relief in case the tablet itself should eventually be broken.

[29]See King, "The Gates of Shalmaneser," pp. 18 ff., 31 f.

[30]Cf. "Chronicles," II., p. 66 ff.

[31]Cf. "Keilins. Bibl.," I., p. 202 f. At this point the record of the "Synchronistic History" ceases; and it is only with the reign of Nabonassar, the second king of the Ninth Dynasty, that our knowledge of the Babylonian succession becomes fuller. In addition to the evidence afforded by the Kings' List, the information contained in the Babylonian Chronicle and the Ptolemaic Canon then becomes available.

[32]See Weissbach, "Babylonische Miscellen," pp. 9 ff.

[33]See above,p. 200, n. 1.

[34]He was an Assyrian general named Pulu, the leader of the revolt, and he took the famous name of Tiglath-pileser to mark his assumption of royal rank; but he retained his own name in Babylon (see p. 268).

[35]Though we only possess a few contract-tablets of this period, the fact that the Ptolemaic Canon begins with the reign of Nabonassar (see above,p. 265, n. 1) is evidence that it marked a revival of literary activity, accompanied by a study of the chronology and possibly by a revision of the calendar.

[36]So "Bab. Chron.," I., 16; in the Kings' List he is described as the son of Nabû-nadin-zêr.

[37]See above,p. 267, n. 1.

[38]Merodach-baladan claimed descent from Krba-Marduk, the king of the Eighth Dynasty who secured the throne of Babylon by his services against the Arameans (see above,p. 204). He made himself popular in Babylon by restoring to its former owners property confiscated by the Assyrians. In the Frontispiece to this volume he is portrayed making a grant of land to his governor of Babylon.

[39]See above,p. 32f.

[40]According to the Ptolemaic Canon, the two years following Sargon's death formed a period of interregnum, though the Kings' List assigns the throne to Sennacherib. However this may be, we know that in 703 Marduk-zakir-shum proclaimed himself king; but he had only reigned for one month when he was murdered by Merodach-baladan.

[41]In spite of Sennacherib's devastation of Chaldea, Merodach-baladan had assisted Mushezib-Marduk in his revolt; but he had then fled with his followers in ships to the coast of Elam, where he died. Sennacherib built ships on the Tigris and dragged them overland to the Euphrates, where his troops embarked.

[42]An interesting description of the state of Babylon on Esarhaddon's accession is given in the recently published cylinder, inscribed in the year of his accession; cf. King, "Kouyunjik Catalogue (Supplement)," pp. xviii. f., 7 f., and "Cun. Texts in the Brit. Mus.," XXXIV., pl. 1 f.

[43]We have recovered a lapis-lazuli cylinder-seal, engraved with a figure of "Adad of E-sagila," which he dedicated in that temple; see Fig. 65, and cf. Weissbach, "Bab. Misc.," p. 17.

[44]Esarhaddon had plundered Memphis, but in a few months it had been recovered by Egypt and the Assyrian garrison massacred. On his final Egyptian campaign in 661, Ashur-bani-pal sacked and destroyed Thebes, and for some years afterwards Egypt continued to acknowledge Assyrian control.

[45]The subject of Ashur-bani-pal's probable identification with Kandalanu, and the subsequent relations of Babylon to Ashur-etil-ihini, Sin-shuni-lishir, and Sin-shar-ishkun will be treated in the third volume of this history.

Freed from her Assyrian oppressors, Babylon now renewed her youth, and the city attained a material splendour and magnificence such as she had not achieved during the long course of her earlier history. But it took her more than a generation to realize to the full her newly awakened ambitions. After his declaration of independence, Nabopolassar's influence did not extend far beyond the walls of Babylon and Borsippa. The other great cities, both in the north and south, continued for a time to acknowledge Assyrian supremacy. But the sons of Ashur-bani-pal, who succeeded him upon the throne, had inherited a reduced empire, whose sole support, the Assyrian army, was now largely composed of disheartened mercenaries. In Ashur-bani-pal's reign there had been signs of coming change and of the appearance of new races before whom the Assyrians were doomed to disappear. The destruction of Urartu had removed a vital barrier against the incursion of the nomad tribes, and with its disappearance we find new racial elements pressing into Western Asia, of the same Indo-European family as that of the Medes and their Iranian kinsfolk. These were the Scythians, who in the middle of the seventh century had driven the Cimmerians before them into Asia Minor, and it was they who a generation later struck the death-blow of the Assyrian empire, pouring across it in resistless hordes. Assyria had no force in reserve with which to oppose their progress or repair their ravages.

For centuries this great military power had struck terror throughout Western Asia; but insatiable lust fordominion now met with its due reward. Since Sennacherib's day the ranks of the army had been filled with levies drawn from her subject peoples or with mercenary troops, and these were a poor substitute for the race of hardy fighters who had been sacrificed in their country's countless wars. So when the Medes invested Nineveh, with the possible assistance of the Scythians, and the passive encouragement of Babylon, the capital could look for no assistance from her provinces. According to Herodotus[1]the Medes had already twice invaded Assyria before the final investment; and it was natural that Nabopolassar should have regarded them as his allies, and have concluded a definite alliance with them by marrying his son Nebuchadnezzar to the daughter of Cyaxares, the Median king.[2]Sennacherib's mighty walls kept the enemy at bay for three years, but in 606b.c.the city was taken by storm, and later ages preserved the tradition that Sin-shar-ishkun, the Sarakos of the Greeks, perished in the flames of his palace, rather than fall alive into the besiegers' hands.

Though he does not appear to have taken any active part in the long siege of Nineveh, Nabopolassar was not slow in securing his share of the dismembered empire. The northern territory of Assyria, including Northern Mesopotamia,[3]fell to the Medes, while the southern districts became parts of Nabopolassar's empire under a possible Median suzerainty.[4]But Babylon was soon to put her newly organized army to the test. Two years before the fall of Nineveh Egypt had seized the opportunity, afforded her by Assyria's impotence, of occupying Palestine and Syria.[5]She had crushed Josiah and his Hebrew army at Megiddo, and, though it is not certain whether Judah had the support of other allies,it is clear that Necho encountered no effective opposition on his advance to the Euphrates. But Nabopolassar did not intend to allow this portion of the Assyrian empire to fall to Egypt unchallenged, and he despatched a Babylonian force north-westwards along the Euphrates under the command of the crown-prince, Nebuchadnezzar. The two armies met at Carchemish in 604b.c., where the Egyptians were utterly routed and driven back through Palestine.[6]But Nebuchadnezzar did not press his pursuit beyond the borders of Egypt, for news reached him at Pelusium of Nabopolassar's death, and he was obliged to return at once to Babylon in order to carry out at the capital the necessary ceremonies attending his accession to the throne.

In spite of his withdrawal from the country, the greater part of Syria and Palestine lost no time in transferring their allegiance to Babylon. The little state of Judah was an exception, for, though she paid her tribute at first, she soon put the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah at defiance, and her short-sighted revolt led to the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 596b.c., and to the carrying away of a large portion of her population into captivity. A few years later Egypt made her last attempt to reoccupy Palestine and Syria, and Judah joined the Phoenician cities of Sidon and Tyre in rallying to her support. In 587 Nebuchadnezzar advanced into Northern Syria and took up a strong strategic position at Riblah on the Orontes, whence he despatched a part of his army to besiege Jerusalem. An attempt by Apries, the Egyptian king, to relieve the city was unsuccessful, and in 586 Jerusalem was once more taken and the greater part of the remnant of the Jews followed their fellow-countrymen into exile.[7]The Babylonian army then occupied Phoenicia, though the city of Tyre offered an obstinate resistance and onlyacknowledged its allegiance to Babylon after a long siege, which is said to have lasted for thirteen years.[8]

Thus Nebuchadnezzar completed the work begun by his father, Nabopolassar, and, by the skilful and vigorous prosecution of his campaigns, established the Neo-Babylonian empire on a firm basis, so that its authority was unquestioned from the Persian Gulf to the Egyptian frontier. Of his later campaigns nothing has yet been published, beyond a fragmentary reference to a conflict with Amasis of Egypt in the thirty-seventh year of his reign.[9]Though we do not know the circumstances under which it took place, we may assume that the Babylonian army was again victorious against the Egyptian troops and the Greek mercenaries who fought in their ranks. A tradition is indeed preserved by Josephus that Nebuchadnezzar made Egypt a Babylonian province, and although this is certainly an exaggeration, the evidence suggests that he may well have conducted at least one successful campaign on Egyptian territory. The troubles of Apries in consequence of his ill-advised expedition against Cyrene, followed by the revolt of Amasis and his own deposition and death, may well have furnished the occasion for a successful invasion of the country by Nebuchadnezzar.

A very large number of inscriptions have been recovered of the Neo-Babylonian kings, but, unlike the foundation-records of Assyria, they contain no accounts of military expeditions, but confine themselves to commemorating the restoration or erection of temples and palaces in Babylon and the other great cities in the land. Considering his military successes, this is surprising in Nebuchadnezzar's case, and the suggestion has been made that he may have told us so little of his expeditions and battles because they were perhaps undertaken at the bidding of Media as his suzerain.[10]Cyaxares was his kinsman, and the part played by Babylon in the conflict of Media with Lydia may well be explained on that hypothesis.

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