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i 




A HISTORY OF 
BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 

BY 
ROBERT WILLIAM ROGERS 

PH.D. (LEIPZIG), D.D., LL.D., F.R.G.S., PROFESSOR IN DREW 
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, MAblSON, NEW JERSEY 

SECOND EDITION 



IN TWO VOLUMES 
VOLUME II 




NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 

CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & PYB 

1901 

( 



> 



I \ 






"'^ ''t '■" 1 ,A 



Copyright, 1900, by 

EATON & MAINS 

New York 



(0"VHFOrs?3 

APR 29 1901 



<7, J< i 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK in: THE HISTORY OF ASSYRIA. 

CHAPTER I. 
The Beginnings op Assyria. 

PAGE 

The settlers of Assyria came from Babylonia . . 1 

The earliest rulers called lahakku .... 2 
Bel-Kapkapu prince of Asshiir 1700 B. C. . . .3 

Bel-bani ; Thutmosis III invades Asia ... 4 

Earaindash and Asshur-bel-nisheshu .... 5 

Puzur-Asshur, Asshur-nadin-akhe, and Asshur-uballit 6 

Muballitat-Sheni'a marries king of Babylon . . 7 

A letter of Asshur-uballit to Amenophis IV. . . 8 

Bel-nirari and Pudi-ilu, about 1360 .... 9 

Adad-nirari I, about 1346 B. C 10 

Contests with Eurigalzu II and Nazi-Maruttash . 11 

The great conquests of Shalmaneser I . . . 12 

The building of Calah ; Tukulti-Ninib king 1290 . 13 

He conquers Babylon 14 

His was the most brilliant reign up to this time . .15 

Assyrian progress checked by Babylonian rebellion 16 

Asshumazirpal I, Asshur-narara, and Nabu-daian . 1 7 
Bel-kudur-usur, Ninib-apal-esharra, Asshur-dan, and 

Mutakkil-Nusku 18 

Asshur-rish-ishi, about 1140 B. C 19 

His successor Tiglathpileser I 20 

111 



iv CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IL 

TiGLATHPILESEB I AND HiS SONS. 

PAGE 

Tiglathpileser I, the grand monarch of western Asia . 21 

The Mushk6 a menace to Assyria . . . . 22 

Tiglathpileser conquers them 23 

And establishes supremacy over Kummukh . . 24 

Invasion of the lands of Shubari, Alzi, and Purukhumzi 25 

Campaigns against Eharia and Qurkhi ... 26 

Invasion of the lands of Nairi 27 

Sini of Daiyaeni 28 

The king's boasts of his conquests . . . .29 

His building enterprises 30 

End of his reign 31 

Estimate of his success 32 

Asshur-bel-kala and Shamshi-Adad . . .33, 34 

CHAPTER III. 

IxcBEASE OP Assyrian Power over Babylonia. 

The dynasty of the Sea Lands ; Sibar-shikhu (1074- 

1057) 35 

Ea-mukin-zer to Silanim-shukamuna ... 36 
The Kassite influence in this dynasty . . . .37 
Appearance of the Chaldeans; Nabu-ukin-abli . 38 
Developments in Syria and Palestine . . . .39 

Migrations of the Aramaeans 40 

Their settlements and progress in commerce . .41 
The Hebrew conquest of Palestine . . . 42 

Assyria between 1050 and 950 B. C 43 

Tiglathpileser II, Asshur-dan II, and Adad-nirari II 44 
Tukulti-Ninib II, 880-865 45 

CHAPTER IV. 

Reign of Akshurnazirpal. 

The beginning of the reign of Asshumazirpal . . 46 
Historical material of his reign . • . . 47 
Conquests in the land of Nimme 48 



s 



CONTENTS. V 

PAGE 

Invasion of Qnrkhi of Betani ..... 49 

Aramaean communities along the Euphrates • . 50 

The surrender of Bit-Ehalupe . . . . 51 

Revolt of Khula 52 

The rebuilding of Tuskha 53 

Uprising of Zab-Dadi (882) 54 

The collection of tribute as a military necessity . 65 

Its careful gathering 56 

The great westward campaign of 879 ... 57 
Preparations to restore the temple in Sippar . .58 

Further revolts among the Aramaeans . . . 59 

Asshumazirpal founds new cities on the Euphrates • 60 

Destruction of Kap-rabi 61 

The success attained in compelling tribute paying . 62 

Character of the Assyrian army .... 63 
The Hittite city of Carchemish entered . . .64 

The state of Patin ; Lubama 65 

Invasion of the far west 66 

The west sends presents to the Assyrian conqueror 67 
Asshumazirpal on Mount Amanus . . ,68 

The final campaigns of his reign . . . . 69 

Character of Assyrian building 70 

Canal building; end of reign 71 

CHAPTER V. 

ShALMANESER II TO ASSHUB-NIBABI II. 

Inscriptions of Shalmaneser II 72 

His long series of campaigns under personal command 73 

Rebellion in Bit-Adini 74 

A union for defense in the west .... 75 
Shalmaneser's account of his western campaign . 76, 77 
The course of the campaign to Qarqar . . . 78 

The battle of Qarqar 79 

Second invasion of the west in 849 .... 80 
The invasion in 846 and again in 842 . . . .81 
Jehu pays tribute to Shalmaneser . . . . 82 
The comparative failure of these western invasions . 83 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



Campaigns into Urartu (Chaldia) . 
The defeat of Arame of Chaldia . 
Chaldia invaded again in 833 and 829 

Campaigns in Namri 

Conquests in Khubushkia 

Interference in Babylonia .... 

Assyrian protectorate over Babylonia 

]ie]>ellion at the close of Shalmaneser's reign 

Siiamshi-Adad becomes king . 

Successful compaign in Nairi 

Campaigns west, north, and south . 

War with J^aby Ionia 

Adad-nirari III king 

Campaigning as far as the Caspian Sea 

Attempts to assimilate Babylonia with Assyria 

Survey of his reign 

Shahnaneser III king 

Asshur-dan III king 

liiflM'l lions ; the ci^lipse of 703 

Iii*ign of Asshur-nirari III, peaceful decadence 



PAGE 

84 
85 
86 
87 
88 
89 
90 
91 
92 
93 
94 
95 
96 
97 
98 
99 
100 
101 
102 
103 



ciiArrKR VI. 

TiiK Kki(;nh of I'igi.athimlkser III and Shalma- 

NKHKR IV. 

Change wrought liy rc^bellion of 746 . 
(character and training of Tiglathpileser III . 

His humlile origin 

Destrucaion of his inscriptions by Esarhaddon 
His first (vimpaign directed against Babylonia 
Continuous victories in Babylonia . 
New administration of Babylonia 
Ba]>ylonia (uunpletely subjected to Assyria 
Vic^tories east of Assvria .... 
Great difficulties in Urartu .... 
Sarduris II king of Chaldia, and his conquests 
Conquered by Tiglathpileser III 
Effect of this Assvrian success 



. 104 


105 


. 106 


. 107 


. 108 


109 


. 110 


. Ill 


. 112 


. 113 


. 114 


115 


. 116 




CONTENTS. 



vu 

PAGE 
117 

118 
119 
120 
121 



by 



Reduction of Arpad 

Attempts to win back Nairi .... 
Azariah of Judah begins a new confederation 
Menahem of Samaria surrenders to Tiglathpileser 

Conquest of Syria 

Aramaean communities rebel and are conquered 

their governors 122 

Renewed attack upon Chaldia 123 

Western campaign in 734 124 

Gaza taken 125 

Invasion of hill country of Palestine . . .126 
Opportunity for new western alliance . . .127 

Perplexities of Ahaz 128 

Conquest of part of Samaria 129 

Rezin defeated; Arabia invaded . . . .130 

Damascus taken in 732 131 

Reign of Nabonassar in Babylonia . . . .132 

Invasion of Babylonia in 731 133 

Ukinzer retires to Sapia 134 

Sapia taken and Ukinzer deposed . . . .135 
Tiglathpileser III proclaimed king of Babylon in 728 136 

End of his reign 137 

Estimate of his ability and character . . . 138 

Shalmaneser IV becomes king 139 

Changes in Palestine during the previous reign 140, 141 

The situation in Eg^'-pt 142 

Hope in Israel for Egyptian alliance . . .143 

Hoshea refuses tribute in 725 144 

Shalmaneser invades Samaria 145 

Siege of the city; end of his reign . . . 146, 147 

CHAPTER Vn. 
Tub Reign op Sabgon II. 

Sargon II, king and usurper 148 

His great pioblems 149 

The fall of Samaria in 722 . . . . .' .150 
Colonization in Samaria 151 



viii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Merodach-baladan takes Babylonia . . . .152 
Sargon makes unsuccessful campaign against him . 153 

. 154 

155 
. 156 

167 
. 158 

159 
. 160 

161 
. 162 

163 
. 164 

165 



Rebellion in the west in Hamath 
Gaza and Samaria join in it « 
Victory over confederates at Baphia . 

Rebellions in the north 

Carchemish becomes an Assyrian province . 

Attack on Urartu in 716 

Rusas of Chaldia the chief object of the campaign 
Which is only partially successful . 

Invasion of western Media 

Increasing success over Rusas .... 
Expedition into Arabia . . . . 

Campaign against Rusas begun again 

Argistis II king of Chaldia 166 

Small undertakings in Media and in Tabal . .167 

Destruction of Melid 168 

Conquest of Ashdod, 6ath, and Ashdudimmu . .169 
Survey of the first part of the reign . . .170 
Merodach-baladan and his difficulties in Babylonia 171, 1 72 
Sargon looked to by Babylonians as a deliverer . .173 

Sargon invades Babylonia 174 

And is proclaimed ahakkanak on New Year's Day, 709 175 
Campaign against Merodach-baladan . . .176 
Babylonia pacified ; the governor of Que attacks the 

Mushk^ 177 

Success against the Mushk^ ; Urartu revives . . 178 

Sargon 's last campaign 179 

Building operations 180 

Survey of his reign 181, 182 

CHAPTER Vm. 

The Reign of Sennacherib. 

Beginning of his reign ; authorities . . . 183 

The situation in Babylonia 184 

His determination to set aside Babylonian pride . 185 




CONTENTS. 



IX 
PAGE 



The Babylonian people refuse to acknowledge him as 

legitimate king 186 

Mardak-zakir-sbumu and Merodach-baladan . . 187 

Embassy to Hezekiah . . . . . 

Sennacherib's invasion of Babylonia 

Campaign against Ellipi .... 

Thie great invasion of the west in 701 

The political situation in Judah . 

The Ethiopian dynasty in Egypt . 

A rebellion against Assyria begins in Ekron 

Sennacherib attacks the Phoenician cities 

Most of Syria submits 

The fall of Ashkelon, Beth-Dagon, and Joppa 

Battle with the Egyptians at Altaku . 

The fortified cities of Judah taken 

The humiliation of Hezekiah .... 

Negotiations between the Assyrians and the Jews 

The advance of Tirhaqa 

Destruction of Sennacherib's army 

His failure to capture Jerusalem 

Disturbances begin again in Babylonia . 

Death of Merodach-baladan .... 

Further troubles in Babylonia 

Elamites invade Babylonia .... 

Mushezib-Marduk king of Babylon in 692 

The battle of Khalul6 



. 188 

189 
. 190 

191 
. 192 

193 
• 194 

195 
. 196 

197 
. 198 

199 
. 200 

201 
. 202 

203 
. 204 

205 
. 206 

207 
. 208 

209 

210 

Destruction of Babylon in 689 . . . 211, 212 
The folly and the sadness of this act . . .213 

Arabia invaded again 214 

Estimate of Sennacherib's reign . . . .215 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Reign op Esabuaddon. 

Beginning of his reign ; authorities . . . 216 

Proclaimed ahakkanak of Babylon 217 

Difficulty of learning the order of events in his reign; 

determines to rebuild Babylon . . . 218 



X CONTENTS. 

Castigation of the Chaldeans 

Punishment of Bit-Dakkuri 

Reduces the Gambuli to subjection 

Invasion of the west 

A new confederation opposes him 

Sidon destroyed 

The booty of the city 

Tyre also attacked and besieged 

But the city could not be taken 

The campaign extended into Palestine 

The first invasion of Egypt in 673 

Memphis plundered and destroyed 

Reorganization of the country 

Melukhkha and Arabi punished 

A king and queen in Arabi as joint rulers 

Indo-European migrations 

Esarhaddon's victory over Ishpakai . 

The Indo-Europeans invade Media 

Expedition to help Median princes unsuccessful 

The nomadic immigrants overspread the country 

of Assyria 

The Scythians 

The great danger to Assyria of this migration 
A rebellion in Assyria ; campaign in Egypt 
Esarhaddon provides by will for the succession 

Esarhaddon dies in 668 

The great success of his reign 



PAGE 

219 
220 
221 
222 
223 
224 
225 
226 
227 
228 
229 
230 
231 
232 
233 
234 
235 
236 
237 



east 



238 
. 239 

240 
. 241 

242 

. 243 

244, 245 



CHAPTER X. 

The Reign of Assuurbanapal. 

Asshurbanapal ; authorities for his reign . . 246 
His inscriptions beautifully written .... 247 
Difficulty of ascertaining the order of events . 248 
Narrative of Esarhaddon's third expedition to Egypt 249 
Asshurbanapal occupies Memphis ... . 250 

Ferocity of Asshurbanapal in Egypt . . .251 
Tanut-Amon (Tandamani) seizes Thebes . . . 252 



•--.♦ Ti 



> jit r •' f ••■ 1 



- I • 



CONTENTS. xi 

PAGE 

But is conquered by the Assyrians .... 253 

Impossibility of holding Egypt 264 

Campaign against Tyre 255 

Gyges of Lydia and his dealings with Asshurbanapal . 256 

Invasion of the land of Man 257 

The sons of Gagi; Elam 258 

259 

. 260 

261 

. 262 

263 

. 264 

. 265 

266 

. 267 



Asshurbanapal shows favor to certain Elamites 
Insurrection among the Gambuli 
Shamash-shum-ukin's rule in Babylon 
His ambition for independence .... 
Starts numerous rebellions against Assyria 
Plots revealed to Asshurbanapal ... 

Asshurbanapal laments his brother's unfaithfulness 
And receives a favorable omen for himself 
Elamite support withdrawn from the Babylonians 
AsshurbanapaPs terrible punishment of the Babylo 

nians 

Also punishes Elam .... 

For the assistance given to Nabu-bel-shume 

Dur-Undasi taken; XJmmanaldash escapes 

Immense plunder secured 

Elam yields to superior force 

The folly of this destruction of Elam 

Punishment of Arabians 

New alliances against the Assyrians 

Peaceful relations with Urartu . 

Building operations 

The collection of the great library 
The glory and the failure of his reign 



268 
269 
270 
271 
272 
273 
274 
275 
276 
277 
278 
279 
280, 281, 282 



CHAPTER XI. 

The Fall of Assyria. 

Asshur-etil-ili-ukinni king of Assyria , . . 283 

His poor building work; meager knowledge of his 

reign - . . 284 

Sin-shum-lishir; Sin-shar-ishkun . . . .285 

Authorities for the events of his reign . • . 286 



xii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

He invades Babylonia 287 

TheManda 288 

Advance of the Manda against Nineveh . . . 289 

The plunder of Nineveh as a reward for its enemies 290 

The siege of Nineveh by the Manda . . . 291 

The city taken and plundered 292 

The complete destruction of the city . . . 293 

The division of its territory . . . . 294, 295 



BOOK IV : THE HISTORY OF THE CHAL- 
DEAN EMPIRE. 

CHAPTER I. 

Thb Reign of Kabopolassar. 

Asshurbanapal and Eandalanu the same person . .297 
The beginning of a new revolt in Babylonia . . 298 
The Assyrians still hold part of Babylonia in the reign 

of Sin-shar-ishkun 299 

The Chaldean supremacy over the Babylonians . . 30O 
The origin and first appearance of the Chaldeans . 301 
Their first experiences in government .... 302 

Attempts to win Babylon 303 

Different Chaldean communities 304 

Death of Asshurbanapal offers a new opportunity . 305 
^abopolassar's kingdom was Chaldean . . . 306 
Abydenus's account of Nabopolassar . . .307 

Inscriptions of Nabopolassar 308 

Canal digging; Egypt under Necho II . . . 309 
Necho's expedition against Assyria . . . .310 
Battle of Megiddo; death of Josiah . . . 311 

Necho master of Palestine 312 

Battle of Carchemish 313 

Survey of Nabopolassar's reign . . . 314, 315 



1 



-^ — ^^ ■ 



CONTENTS. 



xui 



CHAPTER n. 
Thb Reign of Nebughadbbzzab. 



PAGE 

316 
317 
318 
319 
320 



Nebuchadrezzar becomes king 604 B. C. . 
Jehoiakim of Judah and Jeremiah .... 
The first siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar . 
The city taken; seven thousand people deported 
Hophra, king of Egypt, incites Syria to rebellion 
The rebellion begun in Edom, Moab, and other places 321 
Embassy from these people asks Judah to join . 322 
The matter much discussed in Judah .... 323 
Judah rebels; Jerusalem besieged again . . . 324 
Determination and confidence in the city; warnings . 325 
Jeremiah counsels submission .... * 326 
Egyptian allies driven back homeward . . . 327 



Siege begun anew 

The city taken 

Zedekiah punished 

Jerusalem plundered 

The city destroyed; population deported 
G^daliah governor; Jews emigrate to Egypt 
The Chaldean policy and its success 
The Jews survive their captivity 
The punishment of Tyre begun 
Chaldeans not seamen; siege of Tyre . 
Capitulation of the city . 
Nebuchadrezzar invades Egypt in 567 
And secures heavy booty 
His campaigns comparatively few 
Literature of his building operations 
Rebuilding of the walls of Babylon . 
Construction of outer wall and moat 
The city rendered impregnable . 
New streets and massive gateways. 
Temple reconstructions 
Repairing of canals 
Temples of Borsippa repaired . 



328 
. 329 

330 
. 331 

332 
. 333 

334 
. 336 

336 
. 337 

338 
. 339 

340 
. 341 

342 
. 343 

344 
. 345 
* 346 
. 347 

348 
. 349 



xiv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

And the walls reconstructed 350 

Death of Nebuchadrezzar; his madness . . , 351 
His record as a builder, a patron of letters and warrior 352 
His piety 353 



CHAPTER m. 

The Last Years op the Chaldean Empire. 

Evil-merodach delivers Jehoiachin from prison . . 354 

He is assasinated 355 

Nergal-shar-usur follows the example of Nebuchad- 
rezzar 35a 

His work on canals and palaces . . . .357 
The brief reign of Labashi-Marduk . . .358 
Nabonidus made king, and begins building operations 359 
His peculiar interest in the foundation stones of build- 
ings 360 

His archaeological and historical researches . . 361 
He pays little attention to statecraft . . . 362 
But makes his son, Belshazzar, regent . . . 363 
Nabonidus rebuilds the temple of the sun at Sippar . 364 
Restoration of the temple E-ulbar . . . 365 
Rebuilding of the temple of sin in Harran . 366, 367 
Neglect of the duties of kingship . . . .368 
The growth of the power of the Manda . . .369 

Cyrus king of Anshan 370 

Cyrus conquers Astyages 371 

And then overwhelms Croesus , . . .372 
Asia Minor a part of the Persian empire . . 373 
Nabonidus makes no preparations for defense . .374 
Cyrus invades Babylonia .... 376, 376 
Nabonidus makes provision for his gods . . .377 
Sippar taken; Babylon entered . . . .378 
Babylon receives Cyrus with acclaim , . .379 
Babylon a Semitic center of civilization . . . 380 
Its final end 381 



CONTENTS. XV 



APPENDIX. 
A. 

LiTEBATUBB. 

PAGE 

Excavations and Decipherment 383 

Histories of Babylonia and Assyria . . . 384 

General Histories 385, 386 

Bibliography 387 

B. 

The Destbuction op Sennachebib's Abmy. 
The Egyptian tradition as reported by Herodotus 387, 388 

C. 
The Defenses of Babylon. 

Herodotns's account of the defenses of Babylon . 388-391 

Nebuchadrezzar's account .... 392-395 

1 



L I 



¥ 
« 
I 



f 




A HISTORY 



OF 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



BOOK III: 



THE HISTORY OF ASSYRIA 



CHAPTER I. 

THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYBIA. 

Of the period when the first settlers of a Se- 
mitic race entered Assyria nothing is known, but 
all things point to their coming from Babylonia. 
The oldest traditions of the Semitic peoples con- 
nect the Assyrians with the Babylonians, and the 
earliest titles of their rulers point to dependence 
upon the previous civilization in the south. We 
are unable to trace the political and social history 
of Assyria to any point at all approaching the 
vast antiquity of Babylonia. 

There is evidence, as already seen, that the city 
of Nineveh was in existence at least three thousand 
years before Christ, but of the men who built it and 
reigned in it we know absolutely nothing. As in 

Babylonia, we are confronted in the beginnings of 



2 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Assyrian history only by a name here and there 
of some early ruler of whose deeds we have only 
the simplest note, if indeed we have any at all. 
The first Assyrian ruler bears the title of Ishah- 
kuy which seems to mean priest-prince, and im- 
plies subjection to some other ruler elsewhere. 
These early rulers must have been subject princes 
of the kings in Babylonia, for there is no evi- 
dence yet found to connect them with any other 
state, while their traditional connections are all 
with the southern kingdom. The names of sev- 
eral of these Ishalcke have come down to us, but 
we are unhappily not able to arrange them in any 
definite order of chronological sequence. Appar- 
ently the first of them are Ishme-Dagan and his 
son, Shamshi-Adad I. The latter of these built a 
great temple in the city of Asshur and dedicated 
it to the gods Anu and Adad. We have no cer- 
tain indications of the date of these nilers, but we 
are probably safe in the assertion that they ruled 
about 1830-1810 B. C After a short interval, 
probably, there foUow two other priest-princes, 
whose names are Igur-Kapkapu and Shamshi- 
Adad II." The names of two other Ishalcke have 
also come down to us, Khallu and Irishum,' but 
their date is unknown. 

' The date rests upon a statement in the inscriptions of TigUthpileser I. 
See above, vol. i, p. 826. 

* There is a little inscription of Shamshi-Adad II, published I R. 6, Xa 
1, and republished by Winckler, Zeitichrifl fur Awyriologiey ii, plate iil» 
No. 9, translated by Schrader in KeUimchrifl, BihL^ i, p. 2. 

» I R. 6, No. 2 ; Winckler, ibid,, No. 10. 




THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIA. 3 

These six names are all that remain of the his- 
tory of the early government of Assyria. At this 
period, about 1800 B. C, the chief city was Asshnr, 
then and long after the residence of the mler. 
There is no hint in these early texts of hegemony 
over other cities ; though Nineveh certainly, and 
other cities probably, were then in existence. The 
population was probably small, consisting, in its 
ruling classes at least, of colonists from Babylonia. 
There may have been earlier settlers among whom 
the Semitic invaders foimd home, as there were in 
Babylonia when the Semites first appeared in that 
land, but of them we have no certainty. It is an 
indistinct picture which we get of these times in 
the temperate northern land, but it is a picture of 
civilized men who dwelt in cities, and built tem- 
ples in which to worship their gods, and who car- 
ried on some form of government in a tributary or 
other subject relation to the great culture land 
which they had left in the south. The later As- 
Syrian people had but faint memory of these times, 
and to them, as to us, they were ancient days. 

At about 1700 B. C. the priest-prince ruling in 
Asshur was Bel-Kapkapu, according to a state- 
ment of Adad-Nirari III (811-783), a later king 
of Assyria, while Esarhaddon would have us be- 
lieve that he was himself a direct descendant of 
a king, Bel-bani, and, though we may put no faith 
in such genealogical researches, perhaps greater 
credence may be given the other historical state- 
ment with which the name of Belbani is foL 



4 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

lowed/ According to the historiographers of 
EsarhaddoDy Bel-bani was the first Ishahha of 
Asshur who adopted the title of king, having re- 
ceived the office of king from the god Marduk 
himself. If there be any truth at all in these 
statements, we must see in Bel-bani the first king 
of Assyria, but the fact is empty of real meaning, 
whether true or not, for we know nothing of the 
king's personality or works. 

After these names of shadowy personalities there 
comes a greisit silent period of above two hundred 
years, in which we hear no sound of any movements 
in Assyria, nor do we know the name of even one 
ruler.' At the very end of this period (about 1490 
B. C.) all western Asia was shaken to its founda- 
tions by an i^ptian invasion. Thutmosis III,' 
freed at last from the restraint of Hatshepsowet, 
his peace-loving sister or aunt, had swept along the 
Mediterranean coast to Carmel and over the spur 

1 Whatever may be thought of Esarhaddon^s statements concerning Bel- 
bani there is at least evidence that a king of this name actually existed, 
for Scheil has found a tablet dated in the reign of Bel-bani and written in 
archaic Babylonian script {Recueil de Travaux^ xix, p. 69). 

' It is quite probable that our ignorance of this period is due simply to 
the fact that excavations hitherto made in Assyria have been chiefly upon 
sites, such as Euyunjik and Ehorsabad, famous rather in the later than in 
the earlier periods of Assyrian history. When EaPah Shergat, the site of 
ancient Asshur, is explored we may perhaps be able to fill out some of the 
lacunce in the earliest times. 

* Hatshepsowet, Thutmosis U, and Thutmosis III reigned together from 
about 1516 to 1449. It was in the twenty-second year that the advance 
began upon Syria, Thutmosis III being then sole ruler of Egypt. See 
Petrie, HUtary of JS^^ during the XVIlih and JCVIIIth Dynasties, Sd 
ed., 1899, and SteindorfF, Die BliUezeit det Fharaonen Jieichs, Leipzig, 

1900. 

a 




THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIA. . 5 

of the liill to the plain of Esdraelon. At Megiddo 
the allies met him in defense of Syria, if not of all 
western Asia, and were crushingly defeated. The 
echo of that victory resounded even in Assyria, and 
whoever * it was who then reigned by the Tigris 
made haste to send a ^^ great stone of real lapis 
lazuli " * and other less valuable gifts in token of 
his submission. It was well for Samaria that 
Thutmosis was satisfied with those gifts, and led 
no army across the Euphrates. 

Soon after the invasion of Thutmosis III we 
again learn the name of an Assyrian king, for 
about 1450 B. C. we find the Kassite king of Baby- 
lonia, Karaindash, making a treaty with the king 
of Assyria, whose name is given as Asshur-bel-nish- 
eshu.' This latter is the first king of Assyria of 
whom we may consider that we know anything. 
He claims a certain territory in Mesopotamia, and 
makes good his claim to it. Assyria now is clearly 
acknowledged by the king of Babylonia as an in- 
dependent kingdom. The independence of the 
northern kingdom was probably achieved during 
the two hundred years preceding, through the 
weakness of the kingdom of Babylonia. It must 
be remembered that it was in this very period 

1 Hommel {Dictionary of Bible, ed. Hastings, i, p. 180) places this tribute 
paying in the reign of Asshur-belnishcshu or Puzur-Asshur, but this. is 
scarcely probable. The question is purely chronological, and differences of 
opinion are particularly allowable. 

' The quotation is from the Annals of Thutmosis UI. See translation in 
Petrie, op, cit., p. 112. 

' Synchronistic Hist., col. i, lines 1-4, Keilinschrift, Bibl., i, pp. 194, 
196. See further above, vol. i, p. 414. 



6 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

that Babylonia was torn with internal dissension 
and fell an easy prey to the Kassites. While the 
Kassites were busy with the establishment of their 
rule over the newly conquered land the time was 
aiispicious for the firm settling of a new kingdom 
in Assyria. 

Shortly after, though perhaps not immediately, 
his successor, Puzur-Asshur, came to the throne 
(about 1420 B. C). Like his predecessor, he also 
had dealings with the Babylonians concerning the 
boimdary line ; and beyond this fact noted by the 
Assyrian synchronistic tablet,* we know nothing of 
him. 

After Puzur- Ashur came Asshur-nadin-akhe (it is 
Asshur who giveth brothers), a contemporary of 
Amenophis IV/ the heretic king of Egypt, with 
whom he had correspondence.' A later king also 
records the fact that he built, or rather perhaps 
restored, a palace in Asshur. His reign was an 
era of peace, as these two facts apparently would 
prove, namely, the correspondence with the far 
distant land of Egypt, indicating a high state of 
civilization, and the restoration of a palace, and not, 
as heretofore, a temple. 

He was succeeded by his son, Asshur-uballit 
(Asshur has given life), about 1370 B. C, and in 

' Col i, lines 6-7. 

* Amenophis IV ruled 1888-1866 B. .G. (Peine) ; according to Stein- 
dorff, 1892-1874. 

* No letter of his to Egypt has been preserved, but Asshur-uballlt men- 
tions the correspondence. Letter No. 9, lines 19-21, in Winckler's edition. 
Por translation see Tdl-el-Amama Letten^ part i, p. 81. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIA. 7 

his reign there were stirring times. His daughter, 
Muballitat-Sheru'a, was married to Kara-Khardash, 
the king of Babylon. Herein we meet for the first 
time, in real form, the Assyrian efforts to gain 
control in Babylonia. The son of this union, Ka- 
dashman-Kharbe I, was soon upon the throne. 
The Babylonian people must have suspected in- 
trigue, for they rebeUed and killed the king. This 
was a good excuse for* Assyrian intervention, for 
the rebels had killed the grandson of the king of 
Assyria. The Assyrians invaded the land, and the 
Babylonians were conquered, and another grand- 
son of Asshur-uballit was placed upon the throne, 
under the title of KurigaJzu II.* This act made 
Babylonia at least partially subject to Assyria, 
but many long years must elapse before any such 
subjection would be really acknowledged by the 
proud Babylonians. They were already subject 
to a foreign people, the Kassites, who had indeed 
become Babylonians in all respects, but it would 
be a greater humiliation to acknowledge their own 
colonists, the Assyrians, a bloodthirsty people, as 
their masters. Asshur-uballit also made a campaign 
against the Shubari, a people dwelling east of the 
Tigris and apparently near the borders of Elam.* 
Friendly relations between Assyria and Egypt 
were continued during his reign, and a letter ' of 

* See above, voL i, p. 419. 

' See Delitzsch, Faradiei^ pp. 284, 236, and compare Hommel, (?ef- 
chkkte^ p. 498. 

'Published by Winckler, Der Thoniafdfund wm EUAmama^ No. 9, 
translated in Jr»/tn«cArt/<. BiU,^ v, part 1, pp. 29, 80. 



8 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

his to the Egyptian king Amenophis IV has been 
preserved, in which occur the following sentences : 
" To Napkhuriy a ' . . . king of I^y pt my brother : 
Asshur-uballit, king of Assyria, the great king thy 
brother. To thyself, to thy house, and to thy 
country let there be peace. When I saw thy am- 
bassadors I rejoiced greatly ... A chariot . . . 
and two white horses, ... a chariot without har- 
ness, and one seal of blue stone I have sent thee as 
a present. These are presents for the great king." 
The letter then proceeds to ask very frankly for 
specific and very large gifts in return, and tells 
very clearly of the present state of the road be- 
tween Egypt and Assyria. 

In the reign of Asshur-uballit Assyiia made a 
distinct advance in power and dignity, and this 
development continued during the reign of Assh- 
ur-uballit's son and successor, Bel-nirari (Bel-is-my- 
help) — about 1380 B. C. Of him two facts have 
come down to us, the mutual relations of which 
seem to be as follows: Kurigalzu II had been 
seated on the Babylonian throne by the Assyrians 
and therefore owed them much gratitude, but to 
assure the stability of his throne he must needs 
take the Babylonian rather than the Assyrian side 
of controversies and difficulties between the peo- 
ples. The grandson of Bel-nirari boasts concern- 
ing him that he conquered the Kassites * and in- 

* The official name of Amenophis IV, representing the Egyptian Nxfkiu 

KHKPRU-RA. 

« rV R. 44, line 24 ; KeUinaehrift. Bibl, i, p. 1, 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIA. . 9 

creased the territory of Assyria. By this he must 
mean not the Kassite rulers of Babylonia, but rather 
the people from whom they had come — that is, the 
inhabitants of the neighboring Elamite foothills. 
This conquest simply carried a little further the 
acquisition of territory toward the east and south 
which had been begun by Asshur-uballit's conquest 
of Shubari. But these Assyrian conquests led to 
Babylonian jealousy and then to a conflict between 
Kurigalzu II and Bel-nirari, in which the latter was 
victorious, and this, in turn, brought about a rear- 
rangement of the boundary line by which the two 
kings divided between them the disputed terri- 
tory,' though it does not appear which was the 
gainer. 

Again the succession to the throne passed from 
father to son, and Pudi-ilu (about 1360 B. C.) 
reigned in Asshur. He has left us only brief in- 
scriptions,' in which he boasts of building at the 
temple of Shamash, probably that at the capital 
city. From his son we learn that he was a war- 
rior of no mean achievements, though our geo- 
graphical knowledge is not sufficient to enable us 
to follow his movements closely. He is repre- 
sented as overrunning the lands Turuki and Ni- 
gimkhi, and conquering the princes of the land of 
Gutium.' Beside these conquests to the north of 
the city of Asshur he also extended his borders 



' Synchronistic History, coL i, lines 6-7. 

^ KeiliMehrift. Bibl, i, pp. 2-5. 

* Inscription of Adad-nirari I, col. i, lines 16-18. 



10 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

toward the southwest by the conquest of the 
nomad people the Sutu. From reign to reign we 
see the little kingdom of Asshur grow. These 
conquests were probably not much more than 
raids, nor is it likely that at so early a period a 
serious effort was made by the Assyrians to gov- 
ern the territory overrun/ It was preparatory 
work; the peoples round about Asshur were 
gradually being brought to know something of its 
growing power. They would soon come to re- 
gard it as a mistress and consolidation would be 
easy. It was in similar fashion that the empire 
of Babylonia had grown to its position of influ- 
ence. 

Pudi-ilu was succeeded by his son, Adad-nirari I 
(about 1345 B. C), who has left us two records, 
the one a bronze sword inscribed with his name 
and titles,* the other a considerable inscription,' 
carefully dated by the eponym name, the oldest 
dated Assyrian inscription yet found. The latter 
is largely devoted to an account of the enlarge- 
ment of the temple of Asshur in the capital, 
his wars being but slightly mentioned. In the 
enumeration of the lands conquered by him the 
countries already overrun by his predecessors are 



> It is, however, to be noted that ABsyrian coloniflts were settled in 
distant countries at a rery early date. The Kappadokian tablets would 
seem to show that Assyrians were settled near Eaisariyeh as early as 
1400 B. G. 

' See TVamaeHofu of Boddy of Biblical Arehaologyy ir, p. 847. 

sPublished IV B. p. 89, translated by Peiser in Kmlinkharift. BibL, i, 
pp. 6, if. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIA. 11 

repeated — Shubari, the Kassite country, and Guti, 
to which he adds the land of the Lulumi The fact 
that these lands needed so soon to be conquered 
again shows that the firat conquest was little more 
than a raid. But this time a distinct advance 
was made; Adad-nirari does more than conquer. 
He expressly states that he rebuilt cities in this 
conquered territory* which had been devastated 
by the previous conquests. Here is evidence of 
rule rather than of ruin, and in this incident v/o may 
find the real beginnings of the great empire of As- 
syria. Again there were difficulties with Baby- 
lonia^ and Adad-nirari fought with Kurigalza 11 
and with his successor, Nazi-Maruttash (about 1345 
B. C), both of whom he conquered, according to 
Assyrian accounts,' though the Babylonian Chroni- 
cle would give the victory to the Babylonian king, 
in the first case at least. In the inscription of the 
bronze sword Adad-niraii calls himself Mng of 
Eashshati, a title which is found earlier in an inscrip- 
tion of Asshur-uballit.* He does not call himself 
king of Asshur at all, though this title is given 
by him to his father and grandfather. Appar- 
ently he seems to claim for himself a greater dig- 
nity than that of ruler merely over Asshur, else 
would he certainly have called himself Mng of 
Asshur, as did his predecessors. But his own de- 
scription gives us no means of determining the 

' Inscription of Adad-nirari, col. i, 8, 4. 
' Synchronistic History, col. i, lines 24-81. 
*Scheil, Beeueilj xix, p. 46. 



12 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

location or the bounds of the territory which he 
had conquered or over which he claimed rule. 
When his reign closed he left Assyria and its de- 
pendencies far stronger than when he took the 
government in his own hands. 

His son, Shalmaneser I, was his worthy succes- 
sor. From his own* historiographers very little 
has come down to us — only two broken tablets/ 
from which it is difficult to make out any con- 
nected story, but the fame of his great deeds 
called forth more than one mention from later 
kings,' and these will enable us to reconstruct the 
main portion of his achievements. The general 
direction of his conquests was toward the north- 
west. This would seem to imply that the policy of 
his father had been successful, and that the territory 
toward the northeast and the southeast was peace- 
fully subject to Assyria. He pushed rather into 
the great territory of the valley between the Tigris 
and the Euphrates, and therein established colo- 
nies as a bulwark of defense against the nomadic 
populations of the farther north. Still farther 
westward the land of Musri was also subjected. 
This land lay north of Syria, close to Mount Ama- 
nu8, and hence very near to the great Mediter- 
ranean Sea. To reach it Shalmaneser must cross 



» Published I R. 6, No. Iv., translated by Scbrader, KeiHrMchrift, Bibl., 
i, pp. 8, 9. The second is published by Lenormant, Choix de textes^ p. 
170, No. 78, and by Winckler, ZeUschrift far Assyrioloffie, li, p. 318, 
and plate No. 7. 

< Especially by Asshurnazirpal (I R 28, and III R 4, No. 1). See Delitzsch, 
Die Spraehe der KossOer, pp. 10, ff.; Hommel, OeachidUe, pp. 487, ff. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIA. 13 

the Euphrates — the firat time that Assyrian power 
had crossed the great river. Subsequent events 
show that the more westerly parts of the land 
which he conquered were not really added to the 
Assyrian state. As in the case of Shubari, so also 
in this, other invasions would be necessary. But 
this at least had been gained, the rapidly growing 
kingdom was firmly established as far as the Ba- 
likh, and perhaps even to the Euphrates beyond. 

Small wonder is it that a conqueror of such 
prowess and an organizer of such ability should 
deem it necessary to build a new capital worthy 
of so gi-eat a kingdom. The city of Asshur was 
old, and its location was far south, too near the 
old Babylonian border. A kingdom that was 
growing northward and westward needed a cap- 
ital more nearly central in location. Shalmaneser I 
determined to erect his new capital at Calah,' and 
so pitched upon a site which remained the capital 
of his country for centuries, and later became the 
southern portion of Nineveh itself. In peace as in 
war a man of foresight and skill, like his father, 
he left Assyria the greater for his living and ruling. 

In the reign of his son and successor, Tukulti- 
Ninib (about 1290 B. C), the irresistible progress 
of the Assyrian arms reached a glorious climax. 
There had once more arisen trouble between the 
two states of Assyria and Babylonia. Perhaps it 
was the old and vexed boundary question, which 
would not down ; perhaps the never-forgotten rest- 

> See above, vol i, pp. 297, 298. 



14 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

less ambition of the Assyrians to rule at Babyloiu 
Whatever the cause or excuse Tukulti-Ninib in- 
vaded Babylonia with force sufficient to over- 
whelm its defenders and the imperial capital was 
taken. After an unexampled career of power and 
of civilization Babylon had fallen and the Assyrian 
plunderer was among her ruins. Tukulti-Ninib 
laid low a part of the city wall, even then massive; 
killed some of the defenders, and plundered the 
temple, carrying away into Assyria the image of 
the great god Marduk. This was no mere raid^ 
but a genuine conquest of the city, which was now 
governed from Calah. Assyiian officers were sta- 
tioned both in the north and in the south of the 
country. Tukulti-Ninib adopts the title of king 
of Sumer and Accad in addition to his former 
titles, king of Kishshati and king of Asshur. In 
his person were now united the latest Assyrian 
title and one of the most ancient titles in the 
world. The old and coveted land of Sumer and 
Accad, the conquest of which by Hammurabi had 
been the very making of his empire, was now ruled 
from the far north. A curious evidence of the rule 
of Tukulti-Ninib in Babylon itself was found by 
Sennacherib, probably during the second attack 
upon the city (689 B. C). Tukulti-Ninib had sent 
to Babylon a seal inscribed with his name, and 
this was taken to Assyria.' For seven years only 

* These facts come from a thirteen-Une fragmentary inscription of Sen- 
nacherib in, R. 4, No. 2, translated by Smith, Records of the Pott, First 
Series, v, pp. 86, 86. Comp. Bezold, Utherncht^ pp. 15, Id. See above^ 
vol. i, pp. 825, 826. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIA. 16 

was tliis rule over Babylonia maintained. The 
Babylonians rebelled, drove out the Assyrian 
conqueror, and set up once more a Babylonian, 
Adad-shum-usur (about 1268-1239 B. C), as king 
over them. "When Tukulti-Ninib returned to 
Assyria after his unsuccessful effort to maintain 
his authority in the south he found even his own 
people in rebellion under the leadership of his son. 
In the civil war that followed he lost his life, and 
the most brilliant reign in Assyrian history up to 
that time was closed. 

Up to this point the progress of the Assyrians 
had been steady and rapid. The few Semitic 
colonists from Babylonia had so completely over- 
whelmed the original inhabitants of their land 
that the latter made no impression on Assyrian 
life or history, and in this alone they had achieved 
more than the Babylonians, after a much longer 
history and with greater opportunities. We have 
seen how the Babylonians were influenced by the 
Sumerian civilization and by the Sumerian people. 
Afterward they were firat conquered by the Kas- 
sites and then so completely amalgamated with 
them that they ceased to be a pure Semitic race. 
Thus the influences of Semitism could not be per- 
petuated and disseminated by the Babylonians, 
while, on the other hand, the Assyrians suffered no 
intermixture. The latter had already so gained 
control of the fine territory which they first in- 
vaded as to be absolute masters of it. Under 
them the land of Assyria had become Semitic. 



16 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

More than this, they had gained sufficient in- 
fluence by conquest over the older AramsBan 
peoples toward the southeast, between them and 
the Kassites and the Babylonians, as to take from 
the Babylonians the Semitic leadership. Their 
colonies in the upper Mesopotamian valley were 
centers of Semitic influence and stood as a great 
bulwark against the non-Semitic influences on the 
north. By crossing the Euphrates and conquer- 
ing the land of Musri they had also threatened 
the older Semitic civilizations in Syria and Pales- 
tine. Would they be able to wrest the power 
from them, as they had fi'om the eastern Aramae- 
ans and from the Babylonians ? If this could be 
done, the Assyrians would hold in their hands the 
destinies of the Semitic race. It seemed as though 
they were to accomplish even this, when they were 
suddenly checked by the successful rebellion of 
the Babylonians, by civil war, and by the death of 
their great leader.. This reverse might mean their 
permanent overthrow if the Babylonian people 
still had in their veins the courage, the dash, and 
the rugged independence of the desert Semite. If, 
however, the intermixture of Sumerian and Kassite 
blood, not to mention lesser strains, had weakened 
the Semitic powers of the Babylonians, the check 
to Assyria might be only temporary. It is a crit- 
ical day in the history of the race. The severity 
of the blow to Assyria is evidenced not only by 
the results in Babylonia, but no less by the frag- 
mentar}^ character of Assyrian annals for a long 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIA. 17 

time. It is, indeed, for a time difficult not only 
to learn the coui'se of events in Assyiia, but even 
the names and order of the kings. The Babylo- 
nian Chronicle* mentions an Assyrian king, Tukul- 
ti-Asshui'-Bel, in close connection with the history 
of Tnkulti-Ninib, but in words so obscure that his 
relation to the history is difficult to understand. 
It is altogether probable that he reigned as re- 
gent * in Assyria during the seven years in which 
his father was engaged in the reducing and ruling 
of Babylon, but of his deeds in these years we 
have no knowledge. 

The successor of Takulti-Ninib on the throne of 
Assyria was his son, Asshumazirpal I, who had 
led the rebeUion against him. In his reign the 
ruin of Assyrian fortunes which began in his 
father's defeat and death went rapidly on. The 
Babylonian king, Adad-shum-usur, felt himself 
strong enough to follow up the advantage already 
gained by the restoration of his family to power, 
and actually attacked Assyria, from which he was 
only with difficulty repulsed. 

The next Assyrian kings were Asshur-narara 
and Nabu-daian (about 1250 B. C), of whose 
reigns we know nothing, although we are able to 
infer from the sequel that the Assyrian power 
continued to wane, while the Babylonian increased. 
The reigns were short, and were soon succeeded 

> p., coL iv, 12. 

* This is Winckler*8 solation of the difficulty. Winckler, AltorierUalisehe 
Fcnekwngeti^ p. 136. 

a 



18 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

by Bel-kudur-usur and Ninib-apal-esharra, in whose 
day the Babylonians under the leadership of Meli- 
Shipak and Marduk-apal-iddina invaded Assyria 
and stripped the once powerful kingdom of all its 
southern and part at least of its northern and 
western conquered territory. Apparently all was 
lost that the Assyrian kings of the earlier day 
had won, and the end of A^yrian leadership had 
come, but the motive force of the Assyrians was 
not destroyed. 

The successor of Ninib-apal-esharra was Asshur- 
dan (about 1210 B. C), and with him begins the 
rehabilitation of Assyrian power. He crossed the 
river Zab, and invading the territory which had 
been for some time considered Babylonian, re- 
stored a small section of it to Assyria. We know 
little else of his reign, but this is suflBcient to 
mark the turning point and explain what follows. 
His great-grandson, Tiglathpileser, boasts of him 
that he reached a great age.' In his reign the 
rugged virtues of the Assyrians were preparing for 
the reawakening which was soon to come. Of 
the following reign of his son, Mutakkil-Nusku * 
(about 1150 B. C), we have no information, though 
we are probably safe in the supposition that his 
father's work was continued, for we find in Baby- 
lonian history, as has been seen, no evidence of 
any weakening of Assyria, but rather the contrary. 

* Prism inflcription of Tiglathpileser I, coL vii, line 64. 

* He is mentioned by Tiglathpileser I (Prism inscription, col vii, lines 
45-48) and has left us a brief inscription (George Smith, Assyrian Dtscov- 

eriea, pp. 142, 261). 

t 



THE BEGINNINGS OF ASSYRIA. 19 

The gain in the Assyrian progress is shown more 
clearly by the reign of his son, Asshur-rish-ishi 
(about 1140 B. C), who is introduced to us very 
fittingly as "the powerful king, the conqueror of 
hostile lands, the subduer of all the evil." * The 
beginning of his conquests was made by a success- 
ful campaign against the Lulumi and the Kuti, 
who have found mention more than once before. 
They must have either become independent, dur- 
ing the period of Assyria's decline, or perhaps 
have been added to the restored Babylonian em- 
pire. Having thus made sure of the territory on the 
south and east, Asshur-rish-ishi was ready to meet 
the great and hereditary foe of Babylon. Nebu- 
chadrezzar I was now king in Babylon, and, flushed 
with recent victory over a portion of Elam, was 
a dangerous antagonist. The issue between the 
kings seems to have been joined not in the old 
land of Babylonia south of Assyria, but in Meso- 
potamia, and the Assyrians were victorious. Of 
the other deeds of Asshur-rish-ishi we know noth- 
ing save that he restored again the temple of 
Ishtar in CalaL 

Asshur-rish-ishi was succeeded by his son, Tiglath- 
pileser I (Tukulti-pal-esharra, My help is the son 
of Esharra — that is. My help is the god Ninib). 
There was therefore no break in the succession 
and no new dynasty begins. Nevertheless, a new 
period of Assyrian history really commences with 
the next king. With Asshur-rish-ishi ends the first 

' Annals of TigUUhpiUser^ vii, 42-44, published I R. 16. 

3 



20 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

period of growth and decay and of renaissance. 
To his son he left a kingdom ahnost as great as 
Assyria had yet possessed. Tiglathpileser begins 
to reign with the titles of king of Eishshati and 
king of Asshur; the only title belonging to his 
ancestors which he did not possess was king of 
Sumer and Accad. With him we enter upon a 
wonderful period in the career of the Assyrian 
people. 




TIQIATHPTLESER I AND HIS SONS. 21 



CHAPTER IL 

TIGLATHPILE8EB I AND HIS SONS. 

TiGLATHPiLESEB I (about 1120 B. C.) was the 
grand monarcli of western Asia in his day^ and 
the glory of his achievements was held in memory 
in Assyria for ages after. It is fitting that one 
who wrought such marvels in peace and war should 
have caused his deeds to be written down with care 
and preserved in more than one copy.' To his 
gods he ascribed the credit of his works. Their 
names, a formidable number, stand at the very 
head of the chief written memorials of his reign. 

^ The chief source of knowledge of the reign of Tiglathpileser is found in 
the eight^ided prism, four copies of which were found at Ealah Shergat, 
two in exceUent preservation and two in fragments. The text is substan- 
tially the same in all the copies and is published I R. 9-16, and in Winckler, 
Sammlung wm KeiUehrifttexten^ i, plates 1-26. It is transliterated and trans- 
lated in Lotz, Die Inaehriften T^lathpileaer's /, Leipzig, 1880, and also by 
Winckler, in KeUifut^rifi, Bibl, i, pp. 14-47. There is an English translation 
by Professor Sayce, wiUi useful geographical notes, in Beeords of tke Past, 
New Series, I, 92-121. This was the text used by the Royal Asiatic Society 
to demonstrate the correctness of the method of decipherment See above, 
voL i, pp. 194-197. Besides this fine prism there have also been preserved 
some fragmentary annals of the first ten years of his reign erroneously 
ascribed originally to Asshur-ish-ishi and published III R. 6, Nos. 1-6, and by 
Winckler, Samndung, pp. 26-29. Notes upon portions of them are given 
by Lotz, op. «/., pp. 198, 194, and by Bruno Messnier, ZeiUchrift fur Aa- 
h/rialoffie, ix, pp. 101, ff. The names and titles of the king are given in two 
brief texts found at the so-called grotto of Sebeneh-Su (III R. 4, No. 6 ; 
Schrader, Die Keiiinsehrifien am Eingange der Queligrotie des Sebeneh-Su^ 
Berlin, 1886; Winckler, KeilinaehH/t. Bihl, i, pp. 48, 49), and at Kalah 
Shergat (I R. 6, No. Y ; Winckler, Sammlung, p. 81). 



22 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Here are Asshur, the ancient patron deity of his 
land, " the great lord, the director of the hosts of 
the gods," and Bel also, and Sin, the moon god ; 
Shamash, the sun god ; Adad, the god of the air, 
of storms, of thunder, and rain ; Ninib, " the hero ; " 
and, last of all, the goddess Ishtar, " the firstborn 
of the gods," whose name was ever to resound and 
be hallowed in the later history of Nineveh.' With 
so great a pantheon had the people of Assyria 
already enriched themselves. 

The annals of the king show that he planned 
his campaigns well and had a definite aim in each 
struggle against his enemies. When he ascended 
the throne Babylonia was too weak to interfere 
with his labor of building up anew the Assyrian 
empire, and no immediate campaign southward 
was therefore necessary. On the other hand, there 
was a threatening situation in the north and west. 
The nomadic tribes, established in the hill country 
above the Mesopotamian valley, northward of 
Harran, had never been really subdued, and some 
fresh effort had to be made to hold them in check 
or the integrity of the kingdom might be endan- 
gered. The tribe that was now most threatening 
was the Mushke. This people was settled in the 
territory north of Milid, the modern Malatiyeh, on 
both sides of the upper waters of the Euphrates. 
In later times they became famous as the Moschi * 
of the Greeks, and the Meshech * of the Old Testa- 

> I R. 9, 1-14. 

* Herodotus, iii, 94 ; vii, 78. 

' Gen. X, 2 ; Ezek. xxvii, 13 ; xxxriii, 2. 




TIGIATHPILESER I AND HIS SONS. 23 

menty being in both cases associated with the Tubal 
or Tibareni, who at this period lived toward the 
south and west, inhabiting a portion of the terri- 
tory later known as Kappadokia. The Mushk^ 
had crossed the Euphrates southward and pos- 
sessed themselves of the districts of Alzi and 
Purukhumzi about fifty years before, in the period 
of Assyria's weakness. The Assyrians had once 
overrun this very territory and claimed presents 
for the god Asshur from its inhabitants, but it 
was now fully in the control of the Mushke, and 
had for these fifty years been paying tribute to 
them, and not to the Assyrians. Feeling their 
strength, and unopposed by any other king, the 
Mushke, to the number of about twenty thousand, 
in five bands, invaded the land of Kummukh. 
Here was indeed a dangerous situation for As- 
syria, for if these people were unchecked, they 
would not long be satisfied with the possession of 
this northern part of Kummukh, but would seize 
it all, and perhaps invade the land of Assyria it- 
self. Trusting in Asshur, his lord, Tiglathpileser 
hastily assembled an army and marched against 
them. He must cross the rough and wild Mount 
Masius and descend upon his enemies among the 
head waters of the Tigris. How large a force of 
men he led in this venture we do not know, but 
his victory was overwhelming. Of the twenty 
thousand men who opposed him but six thousand 
remained alive to surrender and accept Assyiian 
rale. The others were savagely butchered, their 



24 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

heads cut off, and their blood scattered over the 
"ditches and heights of the mountains."* This 
savagery, so clearly met here for the first time, 
blackens the whole record of Assyrian history to 
the end. It was usual in far less degree among 
the Babylonians, so that the ascendancy of Assyria 
over Babylonia is, in this light, the triumph of 
brute force over civilization. 

Having thus overwhelmed the advance guard 
of the MushkS, Tiglathpileser returns to reestab- 
lish, by conquest, the Assyrian supremacy over the 
southern portions of the land of Kummukh. This 
country was also quickly subdued and its cities 
wasted with fire, perhaps as centers of possible re- 
bellion. The fieeing inhabitants crossed an arm of 
the Tigris toward the west and made a stand in the 
city of Sherish^, which they fortified for defense. 
The Assyrian king pursued across mountain and 
river, and carried by assault their stronghold, 
butchering the fighting men as before. The men 
of Kummakh had some forces from the land of 
Qurkhe * as allies, but these profited little, and the 
united forces were overwhelmed. Again the Ti- 
gris was crossed and the stronghold of Urrakhin- 
ash laid waste. Rightly appreciating the terrible 
danger that threatened them, the inhabitants 
gathered together their possessions, together with 



* Tiglathpileser Prism inscription, i, 62-88. The phrase quoted is in 
line 79. Translation in Keiliruchrifl. Bibl.^ i, p. 19. 

* " A land eastward of Diarbekir, along the northern bank of the Ti* 
gris/* so Sayce, Records qftht Past, New Series, vol. i, p. 96, note 8. 



TIGIATHPILESER I AND HIS SONS. 25 

their gods, and fled " like birds " ' into the moun- 
tain fastnesses that snrroanded them. Their king 
realizing the hopelessness of his state, came forth 
to meet his conqueror and to seek some mercy at 
his hand. Tiglathpileser took the members of his 
family as hostages, and received a rich gift of 
bronze plates, copper bowls, and trays, and a hun- 
dred and twenty slaves, with oxen and sheep. 
Strangely enough he spared his life, adding com- 
placently to the record the words : " I had com- 
passion on him, (and) granted his life,'' which 
hereafter was to be lived under Assyrian suzerain- 
ty. By these movements the "broad land of 
Kummukh ^ was conquered, and the Assyrian 
ruled at least as far as, if not beyond, Mount 
Masius. Great achievements these for the fii'st 
year of a reign, and the next year was equally 
successful. It began with an invasion of the land 
of Shubari, which had been conquered before by 
Adad-nirari I, and had again rebelled, thence the 
king marched into the countries of AM and Pur- 
ukhumzi, of which we heard in his first campaign, 
in order to lay upon them anew the old annual trib- 
ute so long unpaid to Assyria. The cities of 
Shubari surrendered without battle on the appear- 
ance of Tiglathpileser, and the district north of 
Mount Masius was all a tribute-paying land. On 
the return from this campaign the land of Kum- 
mukh is again devastated. The exaggeration of 
the king's annals appears strongly here, for if, in 

> The figure belongs to the annals of Tiglathpileser. 



26 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

the campaign of the first year, Kammukh had 
been so thoroughly wasted as the king^s words 
declare, there would certainly have been little left 
to destroy in the next year. This time there is 
added at the conclusion one sentence which did 
not appear before. " The land of Kummukh, in 
its whole extent, I subjugated and added to the 
territory of my land." ' Well may such a con- 
queror continue in the words which immediately 
follow : " Tiglathpileser, the powerful king, over- 
whelmer of the disobedient, he who overcomes the 
opposition of the wicked."' The control of the 
gi'eat Mesopotamian valley in its northern portion 
between the Tigris and the Euphrates is safely 
lodged in Assyrian hands. 

The third year of the reign of TiglathpUeser 
contained no less than three campaigns. The first, 
against Kharia * and Qurkhi, we cannot follow in 
its geographical details, and are therefore unable 
fully to realize its meaning and importance. It 
was a mountain campaign, full of toilsome ascents, 
and carried on with the usual savage accompani- 
ments. In quite a diflferent direction lay thq 
course of the second campaign of this year. In- 
stead of the north, it was the south that now 
claimed attention. The king crosses the Lower 

' Tiglathpileser, col. iii, i, 84-85. 

* Ibid., lines 86-88. 

'Tiele (GesehiehUj p. 169, Anm. 2) has joined Kharia with Lullomd, 
but on insufficient grounds. Streck {Zeitachrift fur Atayriologie^ xiv, 160, 
161) would locate it in the mountains of Bohtdn, east of Kirkhu, and this, 
seems to fit the general situation well. 



TIGLATHPILESER I AND HIS SONS. 27 

Zab River, which discharges its waters into the 
Tigris not far south of the ancient capital, Asshar, 
and conquers an inaccessible region amid the 
mountains of its upper courses. A third campaign 
again carries him to the north against Sugi, in 
Qarkhi, and results also in a victory, from which 
no less than twenty-five gods were brought back 
to Assyria in triumphal subjection to Anu, Adad, 
and Isl^tar. 

The great undertaking of the fourth year of the 
king^s reign was a campaign into the lands of the 
Nairi.' By this the annals of Tiglathpileser 
clearly mean the lands about the sources of the 
Tigris and Euphrates, lying north, west, and south 
of Lake Van. In this territory there was as yet 
no Chaldian kingdom, but no less than twenty- 
three native kings or princes united their forces 
to oppose the Assyrian. There was more moun- 
tain climbing to reach them, and then they were 
severely punished. The kings were taken alive, 
and after swearing oaths of fealty to the gods of 
Assyria were liberated. Chariots and troops of 
horses, with much treasure of every kind, were 
taken, and a yearly tribute of twelve hundred 
horses and two thousand oxen was put upon the 
inhabitants, who were not removed from their 
land.' One only of these twenty-three kings — 

' See the admirable collection of references to this territory in Streck, 
IL, Dot Othiet der heuUgen LandBchaft Armenien, Kurdistdn und West' 
persien ruich den babylonisch-iusyriachen Keilinaehriften^ in ZeiUchrift fur 
Aityriologie^ xiii, pp. 57, ff. 

« Tiglathpileser, iv, 48 ; v, 21. 



28 HISTORY OP BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Sini, the king of Daiyaeni ' — refusing to surrender 
as the others, resisted to the last. He was there- 
fore carried in ch^dns to Assyria, where he prob- 
ably saw reasons for submission, for he was suffered 
to depart alive. This episode in the king's con- 
quests is concluded with the claim that the whole 
of the lands of Nairi were subdued, but later his- 
tory shows clearly that further conquest was 
necessary. It was a great move forward in As- 
syria's growth into a world power to have accom- 
plished this much. As a part of the same campaign 
tribute was collected from the territory about 
Milid, and another year of activity was ended. 

By comparison with the previous four yeare the 
fifth seems a year of less result Aramaean peo- 
ples inhabiting the Syrian wastes, west of the 
upper waters of the Euphrates and south of the 
city of Carchemish, had crossed the river into 
Mesopotamia. Tiglathpileser expelled them, and 
so again strengthened Assyrian supremacy in 
northern Mesopotamia as far as Carchemish. Fol- 
lowing up his easily won victory, the king crossed 
the Euphrates in pursuit and laid waste six 
Aramaean cities at the foot of Mount Bishri. 

The campaign of the next year was directed 
against the land of Musri,* which had already 

1 Dayaeni, known in the Chaldian inscriptions as the kingdom " of the 
son of Diaus," is located along the Murad-chai near Melasgerd. See 
Sayce, " Cuneiform Inscriptions of Van," Journal of the Royal Asiatic 
Society, xiv, p. 899 ; Recordt of the Past, New Series, i, p. 106, footnote 6. 

• This land lay in the northwest, beyond the Euphrates, and extended 
southward from about Malatiyeh toward the Mediterranean. Its conquest 
introduced Qnglathpileser to the plains of Syria. 



TIGLATHPILESER I AND HIS SONS. 29 

felt the arm of Assyria in the reign of Shal- 
maneser L The people of Musri were aided by 
allies from the land of Qamani/ and both lands 
were subjugated and a yearly tribute put upon 
them, after they had suffered all the horrors of 
the savage Assyrian method of warfare. In the 
language of the annals, their heads were cut off 
"like sheep." 

The king thus records the results of his five 
yeana of campaigns: "In all, forty-two centuries 
and their kings from beyond the Lower Zab (and) 
the border of the distant mountains to beyond the 
Euphrates, to the land of the Hittites and the 
Upper Sea" of the setting sun, from the beginning 
of my sovereignty untU my fifth year my hand 
has conquered. Of pne mind I made them all ; 
their hostages I took ; tribute and taxes I imposed 
npon them." With this notice in the annals of 
Tiglathpileser ends all account of his campaigns. 
No other word concerning any further raids or 
ravages is spoken. Were it not for the Synchro- 
nistic History we should know nothing more of his 
prowess. The information which thus comes to 
us is not so frill as are the notes which we have 
already passed in review, but it supplies what 
was needful to round out the circle of his march- 



' Qamani is the district Comana in Cataonia (Delattre, VAne Occident 
tale dans lea Jrueriptions Auyriennes, pp. 65, 66). 

' The location of the Upper Sea is still an undecided problem. It is 
identified' with the Black Sea (Eduard Meyer, Tiele), with Lake Van 
(Schrader, Sajce), with the Gulf of Issus (George Rawlinson, Hommel), 
and with the Caspian (M^nant). 



30 HISTORY OP BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

ing and conquering. It was improbable that a 
king who had conquered north, west, and east 
should not also find cause for attacking the covet- 
ed land of Babylonia. From the Synchronistic 
History ' we learn that he twice invaded the ter- 
ritory of Marduk-nadin-akhe and marched even 
to Babylon itself, where he was styled king of the 
Four Quarters of the World. So ends the story 
of the wars of Tiglathpileser I. He had not only 
restored the kingdom of Assyria to the position 
which it held in the days of Shalmaneser and Tu- 
kulti-Ninib ; he had made it still more great. 
Never had so many peoples paid tribute to the 
Assyrians, and never was so large a territory 
actually ruled from the Assyrian capital. 

But Tiglathpileser was no less great in peace 
than in war He brought back the capital of As- 
syria from Calah to Asshur and almost rebuilt the 
city, which had thus again become important. 
The temples of Ishtar, Adad, and Bel were re- 
built. The palaces which had fallen into ruin 
during the absence of the court were again re- 
stored and beautified. And then into this city 
thus renewed, and into this land enlarged by con- 
quest, the king brought the wealth of the world 
as he had gathered it. Goats, fallow deer, and 
wild sheep were herded into the laud. Horses in 
large numbers taken from conquered lands or re- 
ceived in yearly tribute were added to the peace- 
ful service of agriculture. But not even here did 

1 CoL U, lines 14-24. 



TIGLATHPILESER I AND HIS SONS. 31 

the king rest. He caused trees also to be brought 
from great distances and planted in the land 
he loved.* It is a marvelous story of peaceful 
achievement, worthy of a place by the side of 
his overpowering success in war. 

In addition to the serious work of war and peace 
the king found time to cultivate the wiles of a 
sportsman, and great are his boasts of the birds 
and the cattle and even the lions which he 
slew. This passion for sport is commemorated 
long afterward in an inscription of Asshurnazirpal, 
in which we are told that Tiglathpileser sailed 
in ships of Arvad upon the Mediterranean.* It 
foUows from this that after the six campaigns, 
enumerated above, the king must have made 
another which carried him out to the Phoenician 
coast, where his successors were later to fight great 
battles and win great triumphs. 

Of the conclusion of the reign of Tiglathpileser 
we know nothing. He probably died in peace, 
for he was succeeded by his son, Asshur-bel-kala 
(about 1090 B. C), and the latter was followed aft- 
er a short reign by another son of Tiglathpileser, 
Shamshi-Adad I (about 1080 B. C). So easy and 
unbroken a succession makes it a fair presumption 
that the times were peaceful. The sons were not 
able to bear the burden which came to them, 

* Tiglathpileser VII, 1-85 (thereby imitating Thutmosis III). 

' I R. 28, 2. Comp. translation by Peiser, in Keilinschrift. Bihl^ i, 
124. While Buling the king slew a nakhiru^ but we do not know what the 
word signifies. Sayce suggests " dolphin." Early Israel and the Surround' 
ing Nations^ p. 218. 



32 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

80 that there is speedily a falling off in the power 
and dignity of the kingdom. When we look back 
on the reign of Tiglathpileser and ask what of 
permanent value for Assyria was achieved by all 
his wars the answer is disappointing. He might 
boast that he had conquered from east to west, 
from the Lower Zab to the Mediterranean, and 
from the south to the north, from Babylonia to 
Lake Van, but what were these conquests, for 
the most part, bat raids of intimidation and of 
plunder ? He did not really extend the govern- 
ment of Assyria to such limits, even though in 
Kunmiukh he actually appointed Assyrian govern- 
ors. Over this great territory, however, he made 
the name of Assyria feared, so that the lesser peo- 
ples surrendered at times without striking a blow 
for freedom, while the greater peoples dared not 
think of invading Assyrian territory. This insur- 
ance against invasion was the great gain which he 
brought to his country. By carrying savage war 
to other nations he secured for his own a peace 
which gave opportunity for progress in the arts. 
These great temples and palaces required time for 
their erection and time for the training of men 
who were skilled in the making of bricks and the 
working of wood. The very inscription from 
which we have learned the facts of his reign, 
a beautiful clay prism with eight hundred and 
nine lines of writing, beat's impressive witness 
to a high state of civilization and an era of 
peace. 



TIGLATHPILESER I AND HIS SONS. 33 

Of the reigns of the two sons we know almost 
nothing. Asshar-bel-kala maintained terms of peace 
with Marduk-shapik-zer-mati (about 1094-1083 
B. C-X king of Babylonia, who thereby seemed to 
be considered an independent monarch and not 
subject to the Assyrians, as his predecessor had 
been. In this reign the capital appears to have 
been transfen-ed to Nineveh,' and a word in the 
only inscription of the king which has come down 
to us hints at the king's control in the west.' Aft- 
er a short reign Asshur-bel-kala was succeeded by 
his brother, Shamshi-Adad, whose only work 
known to us was the rebuilding of the temple 
of Ishtar in Nineveh — another proof that the 
capital was now located at this city and not at 
Asshur. 

After this reign there is another long period of 
silence in Assyrian history, of which we have no 
native monumental witnesses ; a period of immense 
importance in the history of mankind, for it was a 
time not only of silence but of actual decay in the 
Assyrian commonwealth. As the fortunes of As- 
syria were at so low an ebb, the time was favor- 
able for the growth and development of peoples 
elsewhere who were for a time free from the 
threatening of Assyrian arms. When once more 

1 This follows from an inscription of Asshnr-beMcala which was found at 
Knyunjik — that is, Nineveh — which comes from a palace of the king. It 
is published I R 6, No. V, and republished more correctly, Journal of the 
Royal Asialie Society, April, 1892, and again translated by S. A. Strong, 
Jieeordi of the Past, New Series, vi, pp. 76-79. 

* So Professor Sayce, <6t<2., p. 78, footnote. 
3 



84 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

we come upon a period of historical writing and 
of great deeds in Assyria we shall find the Assyrian 
conquerors confronting a changed condition of 
affairs in the world. To the growth of new con- 
ditions elsewhere we must now address our 
thought for a better understandin£C of Assyrian 
movemente after the sUent period 



ASSYRIAN POWER OVER BABYLONIA. 35 



CHAPTER m. 

THE INOBEASE OF ASSYBIAN POWER OVER BABYLONIA. 

Afteb the dynasty of Isin had ceased to rule in 
Babylonia^ brought to an end we know not how, 
there arose a dynasty known to the Babylonian 
historiographers and chronologists as the dynasty 
of the Sea Lands. The territory known as the 
Sea Lands was alluvial land at the estuaries of the 
Tigris and the Euphrates upon the Persian Gulf. 
This fertile country, already beginning to show its 
growing power, was destined at a later period to 
exercise a great influence upon the history of 
Babylonia. The dynasty of the Sea Lands num- 
bered only three kings, who reigned together but 
twenty-one years and five months,' or, as the Baby- 
lonian Chronicle has it, twenty-three years.* This 
variation in the time given by the two chief Baby- 
lonian authorities is instructive in its showing that 
the Babylonians themselves did not preserve so 
accurate a memory of this time as of the earlier 
and later periods. 

The first king of the dynasty was Sibar-shipak 
(about 1074-1057 B. C), of whose reign we know 
only that it ended disastrously, for he was slain 
and buried in the palace of Sargon.' 

' King List A, col. iii. 

• Chronicle B, 1. 

' Babylonian Chronicle V., lines 2 and 8. 




36 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

The next king was Ea-mukin-zer (about 1057 
B. C), who reigned but five months according to 
the King List, or three months according to the 
Chronicle. Of his reign, also, we have no further 
knowledge/ 

The last king was Kasshu-nadin-akhe, son of 
Sippai, who reigned but three years (about 1056- 
1054 B. C.) (Chronicle, six years), whose works are 
likewise unknown to us. 

All of these kings, according to the statement 
of a later monarch, had labored upon the rebuild- 
ing of the Temple of the Sun at Sippar. 

Immediately after this dynasty there follows 
another of three kings, called the dynasty of the 
house of Bazi, of which we know only the names 
of the rulers and the somewhat doubtful number 
of years which they reigned. These kings are : 

Eulbar-shakin-shum, seventeen years (Chronicle, 
fifteen) (about 1053-1037 B. C). 

Ninib-kudur-usur, three years (Chronicle, two) 
(1036-1034 B. C). 

Silanim-shukamuna, three months (about 1033 
B. C). 

After this dynasty comes another with only 
one king, whose name is unknown. He is called an 
Elamite, reigned six years, and was buried in the 
palace of Sargon (about 1032-1027 B. C). In 
his seizing of the throne we are reminded of the 
former Elamite movements under Eri-Aku. 



' Inscription of Nabu-apal-tddin, col. i. See translation bj Peiser, Keil'- 
imehri/L Bibl., lii, part i, p. 177. 



ASSYRIAN POWER OVER BABYLONIA. 37 

With these three dynasties we have passed over 
a period of history in Babylonia of perhaps forty- 
six years. Our lack of knowledge of the period 
is of course partly due to absence of original doc- 
uments, but it is also probably due to the fact 
that there was little to tell. We have lighted 
upon degenerate days. The real Babylonian 
stock had exhausted its vigor, and was now inter- 
mixed with Kassite and other foreign blood — a 
miicture which would later prove stronger than 
the pure blood which had preceded it, for mixed 
races have generally been superior to those of 
pure blood. But there was hardly time yet for 
a display of its real force. Besides this Babylonia 
had suffered from invasions from Assyria^ from 
Elam, and from the Sea Lands, at the head of the 
Persian Gulf. It was not surprising that a period 
not only of peace but of stagnation had come. 

The most noteworthy fact in these forty-six 
years is the arising from the far south of the so- 
called dynasty of the Sea Lands. The names of 
these three kings are chiefly Kassite, and that 
would seem to imply that the Kassites had also 
overrun this land as well as the more central 
parts of Babylonia. However that may be, this is 
the country which is also called the land of the 
Kaldi, or, in the later form, the land of Chaldea. 
This is the period of the growth and development 
of new states on all sides, as we shall see in the 
survey to follow, and it is the first appearance of 
the Chaldeans in Babylonian history. Their sub- 



88 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

sequent history shows that they were Semites, 
though perhaps, as above stated, of somewhat 
mixed blood. It is not known when they first 
entered the land by the sea> from which they had 
now invaded Babylonia. It has been suggested 
that their power in Babylonia was attained not by 
conquest, but by a slow progress of emigration.* 
The view is plausible, perhaps even probable, for 
they seem to have become kings in a period of 
profound peace, but there is no sure evidence. 

In following the line of Babylonian kings we 
have now reached another period of extreme diffi- 
culty. The native Babylonian King Lists are so 
badly broken that no names are legible for a long 
period, and but very few of the numerak which 
give their years of reign. It is possible, however, 
from the fragmentary notices of Assyrian kings, 
from the Synchronistic History, and from certain 
business documents to recover a few of the names, 
which will be set down in their approximate order 
as the story progresses. The next of the kings 
of Babylonia seems to have been Nabu-ukin-abli, * 

> Winckler, Oeachiekte, p. 118. 

^ The whole question of this king^s personality and date is exceedingly 
obscure. If he is the first king of the eighth dynasty, he must have 
reigned for thirty-six years, for that numeral appears clearly in Enudtzon's 
copy in place of the thirteen years previously given. (Comp. Enudtzon, 
Auyruehe Oebete an den SonnengoU^ i, 60, with Schrader in Siizungiherickte 
der Berl Ah. der TFtM., 1887, pp. 679-607, 947-961.) Of his name 
there is no doubt, for he is mentioned on the curious boundary stone of 
Kinib-kudurusur (British Museum, No. 102), published by Belser, Beitrage 
gur Auyioiogie^ ii, 171, fP. As Peiser has correctly pointed out in his 
translation {KeUintehrifUiche Bihliotheky iv, 82, ff.), the stone has on it 
writing of different dates, and this, of course, adds to the difficulty. Peiser^s 



ASSYRIAN POWER OVER BABYLONIA. 39 

who reigned apparently thirty-six years (about 
1026-991 B. C), and whose portrait, accompanied 
by his titles as king of Kishshati and king of 
Babylonia^ is given on a curious boundaiy stone. 
This is all that is known of him or his reign. 

While we have been laboriously threading our 
way though the weary mazes of this obscure suc- 
cession of dynasties in Babylonia we have left 
aside a period of silence in Assyria after the reign 
of Tiglathpileser I and his two sons. We have 
now seen that during this period there was no dis- 
play of power and energy in Babylonia, but the 
people of Chaldea, using perhaps this very oppor- 
tunity, had been able to establish themselves well 
in their own land, and even to attain power in 
Babylonia. 

In the west there were movements of still 
greater importance among the Semitic peoples. 
Just as the decay of Babylonian power gave op- 
portunity to the Chaldeans, so the decay of As- 
syrian power and the consequent absence of its 
threats against the west gave great opportunity 
to the peoples of Syria and Palestine. As the As- 
syrian power must soon meet these new foes, as 
well as old foes in new locations, we must survey 
this field of the west before we proceed further 
with the story of Assyria. 

Several times before in this history we have 

difficulty about the number of years of reign assigned to Nabu-ukin-abli is 
removed if the incorrect 13 of the older publications of the King List be 
corrected into 86, in accordance with Knudtzon^s excellent copy. 



40 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

met with a people known as the Aramaeans. Like 
the Assyrians and Babylonians, they were a Se- 
mitic people whose original homeland was Arabia, 
and probably northern Arabia. Whether AramaB- 
ans began to leave Arabia before or after the 
Babylonians will probably never be known with 
certainty. As the Mesopotamian valley was so 
much more desirable a place of dwelling than the 
lands later occupied by the Aramaeans, it seems 
reasonable to suppose that this valley was already 
occupied by the Babylonians when the Aramaeans 
came out of Arabia and moved northward. They 
left settlements along the edges of the Babylonian 
kingdom, some of which were readily absorbed, 
while others remained to vex their stronger neigh- 
bors for centuries. In their migrations toward the 
north they seemed to follow very nearly the course 
of the Euphrates, though bodies of them crossed 
over toward the Tigris and became, as we have 
seen, thorny neighbors of the Assyrians during the 
founding of the Assyrian kingdom. At the period 
which we have now reached their strongest settle- 
ments were along the northern Euphrates, in the 
neighborhood of the river Sajur. Pitru (the bib- 
lical Pethor ') and Mutkinu, which had been filled 
with Assyrian colonists by Tiglathpileser, were 
now in the hands of the Aramaeans. It is alto- 
gether probable, also, that they had silently pos- 
sessed themselves of tenitory farther north along 
the Euphrates, perhaps even as far as Amid, which 

' Num. xxii, 5 ; Deut. zxiii, 4. 



\ 



ASSYRIAN POWER OVER BABYLONIA. 41 

Tiglathpileser had conquered, but which had to be 
reconquered, and from the Aramaeans, in a short 
time. But the greatest achievement of the Ara- 
maeans was not in the upper Mesopotamian valley. 
They were in force in this valley when the Hittite 
empire fell to pieces, and to them came the best of 
what it possessed. Carchenush, at the fords of the 
Euphrates, had been passed by, and moving west- 
ward, they had seized Aleppo and Hamath and 
then, most glorious and powerful of all, Damascus 
fell into their hands. Here they founded their 
greatest kingdom, and centuries must elapse before 
the Assyrians would be able to break down this 
formidable barrier to their western progreas. But 
these facts have another significance besides the 
political. The Aramaeans were essentially traders. 
The temtory which they now possessed was the 
key to the trade between the east and the west. 
The products of Assyria and of Babylonia could 
not cross into Syria and thence in ships over the 
Mediterranean westward without passing through 
this Aramaean temtory, and 80 paying tribute. 
The Aramaeans had become the land traders, as 
the Phoenicians were the sea traders. Now, the 
Assyrians were also a commercial people, shrewd, 
eager, and persevering. It could not be long be- 
fore the king of Assyria would be pressed by the 
commercial life of Nineveh to undertake wars for 
the winning back from the Aramaeans of this terri- 
tory so valuable in itself, and so important for the 
development of Assyrian commerce. However the 



42 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYEUA. 

Assyrians, who were never a maritime people, miglit 
endure the sabmission of their commercial ambi- 
tion to the Phcenicians on the sea, it was not likely 
that they would yield up the highways of the laud 
to a people less numerous and less strong than 
themselves. In the period of decay that followed 
the reign of Tiglathpileser this new power had 
risen up to bar their progress. We shall see 
shortly how the difficulty was met. 

During the same period another power, not so 
great, and yet destined to influence strongly the 
later history of Assyria and soon to excite As- 
syrian cupidity, had been slowly developing in the 
land of Palestine south of the Arameean strong- 
holds. When the Hebrews crossed over the Jor- 
dan into Palestine they found a number of disor- 
ganized tribes lately freed from Egyptian rule and 
not yet organized into a confederation sufficiently 
strong to resist the fresh blood which came on 
them suddenly from oat the desert.' The He- 
brews in their desei-t sojourn had worn off the 
feeling of a subject population, and from the 
desert air had taken in at every breath the free- 
dom which to this very day inspires the desert 
Arab. It was a resistless force which Joshua led 
in the desultory campaigns beyond the Jordan. 
The period of the Judges was a rode and barbaric 
age, but it was an age in which Israel developed 
some idea of national life and some power of 



' See a fresh «Dd TigorouB sUtement of the Canumite 
Guthe, OtiehUhU <fe» Volka hrail, % 11, pp. S3-S8. 



ASSYRIAN POWER OVER BABYLONIA. 43 

self-goveminent. If the conquests of Tiglath- 
pileser liad continued many years longer, he would 
surely have been led to invade Palestine, and the 
Hebrews, without a fixed central government, 
without a kingly leader, without a standing army, 
would have fallen an easy prey to his disciplined 
and victorious troops. But the period of Assyrian 
weakness which followed his reign gave the needed 
breathing spell in the west, and the kingdom of 
Saul and David was established. Herein was es- 
tablished a new center of influence ready to oppose 
the ambition of Assyrian kings and the commer- 
cial cupidity of Assyrian traders. 

The political aspect of western Asia had changed 
considerably in the period 1050-950 B. C. During 
this century we do not know anything of the life 
of the Assyrian people. The names of the kings 
Asshumazirpal II (about 1050 B. C), Erba-Adad, 
and Asshur-nadin-akhe belong in this period, and 
the last two erected buildings in the city of As- 
shur, the restoration of which became a care to a 
later king * after a lapse of one hundred and fifty 
years. After these kings there ruled a certain 
Asshur-erbi, though whether he was their imme- 
diate successor or not does not appear. He has 
left us no accounts of his wars or of his la- 
bors. From the allusions of two later Assyrian 
kings we learn that it was in his reign that the 

' Asshumazirpal III in his hunting inscription (col. ii, lines 4, ff.) alludes 
to Erba-Adad and Asshur-nakln-akhe. See the translations by Peiser in Eeil" 

iruchri/t, Bibl, i, p. 127. 

t 



44 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

AramsBans seized Pitru (Pethor) and Mutkinu,' so 
that his reign is another evidence of the period 
of weakness and decay in Assyria. But he seems, 
on the other hand, to have invaded the far west, 
for on the Phoenician coast he carved his portrait 
in relief upon the rocks,' probably in the rocky 
gorge of the Nahr-el-Kelb, north of Beirut, a place 
much used for the same purpose by later Assyrian 
conquerors. 

At about 950 B. C. Tiglathpileser II began to 
reign in Assyria, and from his time on to the end 
of the Assyrian empire we possess an unbroken 
list of the names of the kings. He is called king 
of Kishshati and king of Asshur,' and with his 
name and his titles our knowledge begins and 
ends. He was succeeded by his son, Asshur-dan II* 
(about 930 B. C), and he again by his son, Adad- 
nirari II (911-891 B. C), in whose reign the old 
struggles between Assyi-ia and Babylonia began 
again. Babylonia was now ruled by Shamash- 
mudammik, and these two monarchs met in battle 
at the foot of Mount Yalman and the Babylonian 
was utterly overthrown. We hear no more of 
him, and his life may have ended in the battle. 

' Shalmaneser, Monolith^ ii, 87. On this text com p. especially Winck- 
ler, Unterguchungefiy pp. 22, 23, footnote 6, and OeschicKle^ p. 382, note 
38 (to page 181). 

' Shalmaneser , Balawat, ii, 3. Comp. also Winckler, ViUersuchungen^ 
pp. 22, 23 footnote 6. 

*No inscription of Tiglathpileser II has been preserved, and we owe 
these facts to the inscription of Adad-nirari II {Zeiischrift fur Asayrio- 
logie, ii, p. 311 ; Keiliruchri/t. Bibl., i, pp. 48, 49). 

^ See the same inscription of Adad-nirari IL 



ASSYRIAN POWER OVER BABYLONIA. 45 

The struggle was renewed by his successor, Nabu- 
shmn-ishkun, who likewise suffered defeat at the 
hands of Adad-nirari 11, and was compelled to 
yield some cities to the Assyrians, after which a 
treaty of peace was made between the two nar 
tions. Besides these notices of the relations be- 
tween the two kingdoms our only record of the 
times is a short inscription of Adad-nirari 11/ in 
which his genealogy only is given. His son, Tu- 
kulti-Ninib 11 (890-885 B. C), introduces us to 
the threshold of a new period of Assyrian con- 
quest. He began again the campaigns in the 
north, which had rested since the days of Tiglath- 
pUeser I, over whose course, in part, he marched, 
piercing the highlands even to the confines of 
Urartu (Armenia) and extending his ravages from 
Lake Urumiyeh on the east to the land of Kum- 
mukh on the west. At Supnat (Sebeneh-Su) he 
caused his relief portrait to be set up alongside of 
that of Tiglathpileser, whose exploits he had been 
emulating. 

In his reign Assyria gives plain indication that 
the period of decay and of weakness was past. 
The Babylonians had been partially humbled, and 
were at least not threatening. The Assyrians 
were therefore free to begin again to assert the 
right to tribute in the north and northwest. In 
the next reign the issue is joined, and a new period 
of Assyrian progress begins. 

» Published by Winckler, ZeiUchrift fur Asxyriohgie, ii, p. 811, and 
translated by him in Keiliruchri/i. Bibl,, i, pp. 48, 49. 



f 



I 



« HISTOKT OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THS BEION OF ASBEUBNAZIKPAL. 

When Asshnmazlrpal (885-860 B. C.) suc- 
ceeded his father on the throne of Assyria he in- 
herited opportanities rather than actual posses- 
sions. The kingdom over which he ruled from 
his capital city of Nineveh was comparatively 
smaU. Babylonia, while not physically so strong- 
as Assyria, was, nevei-theless, entirely independent 
under the reign of Nabn-apal-iddin (about 880 B. C), 
who probably began to reign very shortly after 
AsshumazirpaL The countries to the north which 
had been conquered by Tiglathpileser I and again 
overrun by Tnkulti-Ninib were only tributary, and 
not really governed from Nineveh. Furthermore 
their tribute was not paid voluntarily, but only 
when an Assyrian anny stood ready to collect it 
by force. The AramseaDS possessed the best lands 
in the upper Mesopotamian valley, and must be 
met on the field of battle. The opportunity was 
great, because none of these peoples were strong 
enough to oppose Assyria single-handed, and there 
was no present prospect of any sort of union be- 
tween them. Asshnmazirpal was in every respect 
the man for this situation ; no king like him had 
arisen before in Assyria. 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZIRPAL. 47 

Abundant historical material enables us to fol- 
low closely the development of his plans and the 
course and conduct of his campaigns. His stand- 
ard inscription upon alabaster ' contains three hun- 
dred and eighty-nine lines of writing, and gives, in 
almost epic grandeur, the story of the truly im- 
penal plans which he had made for Assyria. This 
longest and best known text is supplemented by 
no less than eight other texts,' some shorter origi- 
nally, some fragmentary. Some of these are repeti- 
tions, either in the same or varying phrase, and 
thus add to the certainty of the text which may 
be made from their comparison. 

In the very first year of the king's reign his 
campaigns of conquest begin, and it is in the north 
that he must first tranquilize populations by de- 
struction and savage butchery. The course of his 
march was first northwestward, apparently follow- 
ing closely the course of the Tigris for a short 
distance and then striking due north over " im- 
passable roads and trackless mountains'' to the 

' This fine monolith, discovered by Layard at Nimroud, was first pub- 
lished by him {IrueHptioru in the Cuneiform Cliaraeter^ plates 1-11) in a 
Tery fragmentary manner. It is republished I R. 17-26. The first 
English translation by Rodwell (Records of the Past, First Series, pp. 37-80) 
is well supplanted by the new translation by Sayce, with numerous valuable 
geographical and historical notes (Records of the Past, New Series, ii, 
pp. 128-177). There is a very valuable translation of col. i, lines 1-99^ 
with notes, by Lhotzky (Die Annalen AssumazirpoTs, Miinchen, 1884), but 
this was unfortunately never carried further. The entire text is trans- 
lated by Peiser, Keilinschrift Bihl, i, pp. 60-119. 

'The most important of the lesser inscriptions are the following: 
(a) m R. 4, No. 8, translated by Peiser, op. cit., i, pp. 122, 123; (b) I R. 
28. A hunting inscription to which belongs also III R. 4, No. 1 (comp. 
Delitzsch, Die Koss&er, p. 10), translated by Peiser, op. cU., i, pp. 122-129« 



48 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

land of Nimme, which we are to locate west of 
Lake Van, about the neighborhood of Mush/ 
Here were found strong cities, meaning thereby 
cities fortified against invasion, which were soon 
captured, with the loss of many fighting men to 
the enemy. According to the Assyrian account 
the remainder of the defenders fled into the moun- 
tains, there to hide like birds until, after a three 
days' march, Asshumazirpal overtook them " nest- 
ed ^ amid the fastnesses and slew two hundred of 
them. Thence returning again into their country, 
he threw down the walls of their cities and dug 
them up, and set fire to the heaps of ruins. There 
was no reason to doubt that the survivors would 
pay tribute to Assyria, if indeed anything had 
been left them wherewith to pay after such a visi- 
tation. The memory of such discipline might be 
expected to abide, while the report of it was sure 
to spread rapidly, after the fashion of an oriental 
story, among surrounding tribes who might learn 
from it the wisdom of surrender and of tribute 
paying without an attempt at a defense of national 

or tribal liberty. So it fell out, for when As- 
shumazirpal, leaving the waste behind him, went 

southwestward into the land of Kimiri,* by the 

1 So Sayce, Records of the Past, New Series, ii, p. 188, note 2. Maspero 
(The Fatntiff of the JBrnpires, p. 14, footnote 1) would localize it still more 
closely in the " cazas of Varto and Boulantk in the sandjak of Mush.'* Its 
capital, Gubbe (Sayce reads Lib4), he would provisionally identify with Gop 
(Vital Cuinet, La Turguie tTAsie, ii, pp. 688, 689). 

' There is much dispute about the location of the Kirruri. The narrative 
of Asshumazirpars progress makes it plain that they were close to the 
Numme, or Nimme. Delattre (Encore un motaur la Geographic Ase., p. 10, 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZIRPAL. 49 

side of Mount Rowandiz, he found ready for his 
taking a great tribute of oxen, sheep, wine, and a 
bowl of copper, and an Assyrian governor was 
easily established over the land, to look rather after 
its tribute than its worthy governing. And while 
these events were happening the people of Gozan 
(between the Tigris and Lake Urumiah) and the 
people of Khubushkia,' who lived west of them 
and nearer the old limits of Assyria, also sent a 
voluntary tribute consisting of "horses, silver, 
gold, lead, copper, and a bowl of copper." From 
such bloodless successes the king turned southward 
into the land of Qurkhi of Betani (along the bank 
of the Tigris eastward of Diarbekir) and fought 
with a population who only fled to the mountains 
after a bitter defeat. They also were overtaken, 
and two hundred and sixty of their heads were 
built into a pyramid ; their cities were wasted and 
burned, and an Assyrian governor was set to rule 
them. Bubu, the son of the chief of Nishtum, one 
of their cities, was flayed in the city of Arbela and 
his skin spread on the fortress walL 

So stands the sickening record of the first year's 
campaign.' This savage beginning augured ill for 
the new states which had sprung up since the 
days of Tiglathpileser. "What mercy was there to 

note 4) is therefore certainly wrong in locating them near the sources of 
the IHgris. See, further, Billerbeck, Dm Sandachak Svlevmania^ pp. 16, ff. 

* Billerbeck, op, cii, pp. 20, f., and comp. Maspero, op. cU.^ p. 16, foot- 
note. 

' Annals of Asshumaarpal, i, 42-69, Keilinachrifi. BibLy i, pp. 69, ff. ; 
JUeorda of the Patty New Series, ii, pp. 188, ff. 

4 



60 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

be found in a man of this quality ? K years and 
vigor were his portion, it would be difficult to set 
a limit to his success as a conqueror, while the 
early placing of governors over communities which 
had surrendered seemed to imply that he had also 
gifts as an administrator. But we follow his story 
further. In the next year (884 B. C.) the king in- 
vaded Kummukh, perhaps to insure payment of 
the annual tribute, or there may have been signs 
of rebellion. There was more of conquering to 
do on the way, and then Kummukh was entered, 
apparently without a struggle. But before the 
king's purpose had developed, whatever it may 
have been, he was summoned to the banks of the 
Euphrates. 

The Aramaean conoLmunities along the Euphrates 
had no central government. They lived under 
the old forms of city governments, some still in- 
dependent, some dependencies of Assyria with 
Assyrian governors. Bit-Khalupe was one of 
these subject communities located on the Eu- 
phrates, about halfway between the Balikh and 
the Khabur (modem Halebe), and the governor 
was Khamitai, an Assyrian subject. There was a 
rebellion here — so ran the intelligence brought to 
the Assyrians— the Assyrian governor was slain, 
and his place had been given to a cei*tain Akhi- 
yababa brought from Bit-Adini. It was summons 
enough. Asshumazirpal showing thereby the 
mobility of his army, came southward along 
the course of the Khabur, halting at Sadikan (or 






REIGN OF ASSHURNAZIRPAK 51 

Gardikan, the modem Arban) ' to receive tribute 
from an Aramsean prince, Shulman-khaman-ilaniy 
and again at Shnma to receive like honor from 
Ilu-Adad, in silver, gold, lead, plates of copper^ 
variegated cloths, and linen vestments. The news 
of his approach reached Bit-Kialupe, and the 
faint hearts of the people sank in them. They 
surrendered, saying as they came from the city 
gates and took hold of the conqueror's feet, in 
token of submission, " Thou wiliest and it is death, 
thou wiliest and it is life ; the will of thy heart 
wUl we perform."' But even this abject sur- 
render did not avail with such a man as Asshur- 
nazirpal. He attacked the city and compelled the 
delivering up of all the soldiers who had joined 
in the rebellion. No mention is made of the treat- 
ment of the private soldiers, but their oflScers' legs 
were cut off. The nobles who had shared in the 
uprising were flayed, and their skins stretched 
over a pyramid erected, and apparently for this 
very purpose, at the chief gate of the city. Then 
the city, plundered of all its wealth and beauty,* 
was left a monument of ferocity and a warning to 
conspirators. The unhappy Akhi-yababa was sent 
off to Nineveh, there to be flayed that his skin 

> The location is certun. See Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies^ 2d 
ed., i, p. 206, and ii, p. 84, and Hommel, Oeechichle Babyloniem und Aesyr- 
iena, pp. 667, 668. Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 280-242) found 
the remains of a palace on the site, which had been decorated with bas- 
reliefs and guarded with lions and winged bulls. 

' Asshumazirpal I, 81. 

' The possession of so much wealth and of so many artistic objects is an 
instructiye commentary upon the age and extent of this civilization. 



52 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

might adorn the fortress walls, while his place as 
Assyrian governor over Bit-Khalupe was taken 
by Azilu. As in the former year, the story of 
this punishment went abroad. The rulers of Laqi ' 
and Khindanu' hastened to send tribute to the 
conqueror while he was staying at Suri, while 
yet another AramaBan people, the Shuhites, sent 
Ilubani, their ruler, and his sons to carry a costly 
tribute direct to Nineveh. 

Following these events there was a lull in the 
king's actions, while he stayed at Nineveh, as 
though there were no more lands to conquer. But 
news reached him of a revolt among Assyrian col- 
onists planted by Shalmaneser I at Khalzi-lukha,' 
under the leadership of one Khula. Again must 
the king march northward into lands always trou- 
bled. On this march the king erected at the sources 
of the river Supnat a great inscribed portrait of 
himself by the side of the reliefs of Tiglathpileser I 
and Tukulti-Ninib. Thence he moved northwest- 
ward to the slopes of Mount Masius, where Khula 
was captured, his men butchered, and his city 
razed. On the return march, in the country of 
Nirbi, the lowlands about the modem Diar- 

bekir,* he took and devastated the chief city. Tela, 



* Their territory lay along the Euphrates and probably a little to the 
south of the Suru. 

* Sayce (Records of the Fast, New Series, ii, p. 144, note 2) doubtfully 
suggests that Khindanu may be " the Giddan of cUissical geography, on 
the eastern bank of the Euphrates.*' 

*0r Ehalzi-dipkha. Maspero (77^ Pasaing of the Empires^ p. 19, note 
2) would locate it in the district of Severek. 
*So Sayce, Records of the Fast, New Series, ii, p. 146, note 1. 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZIRPAL. 53 . 

which was defended by a threefold wall^ slaying 
three thousand of its fighting men. A little far- 
ther south the king approached the city of Tus- 
kha,* in whose site he apparently recognized an 
important vantage point, for he halted to restore 
it. The old city wall was changed, and a new 
wall built in massive strength from foundation to 
the coping. Within these walls a royal palace was 
erected, an entirely new structure. A new relief 
of the king's person, fashioned of white limestone, 
and inscribed with an account of the king's wars 
and conquests in the land of Nairi, was set in the 
city walls, to be studied as a warning by its inhab- 
itants. The city thus rebuilt and restored was 
peopled by Assyrian colonists and made a store- 
house for grain and fodder. The aim, apparently, 
was to use it as a base of supplies in military opera- 
tions against the north and west. Some of the in- 
habitants of the land had fled, but upon payment 
of homage were allowed to return to their cities 
and homes, many of these in ruins. A heavy an- 
nual tribute was put upon them, and their sons 
were taken away to Nineveh as hostages. 

While engaged in this work of reconstruction 
much tribute was received from neighboring states. 
Later in the year another district in the land of 
Nirbu, near Mount Masius, revolted, and was sub- 

'Site nDoertain. Rawlinson ('* Assyrian Discovery," The Athenceum^ 
1868, vol. i, p. 228) would locate it at Eurkh, near the Tigris, east of Diar- 
bekir. At this place was found a monolith of Asshurnazirpal, and this 
proves that he was in some way identified with the place. There is, how- 
ever, no real proof that it was Tuskha. 



«4 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

dued in the usual maimer. On the return journey 
to Nineveh the people of Qurkhi^ the inhabitante 
about Malatiyeh, and the Hittites paid tribute to 
the apparently resistless conqueror. The next year 
(882) witnessed an uprising in the southeast led by 
Zab-Dadi, a prince of the country of Dagara, to 
whom the people of Zamua' also joined them- 
selves. There was thus in revolt a considerable 
section of territory lying in the mountains east of 
the Tigris and between the Lower Zab and the 
Turnat (modern Shirwan) Rivers. Not satisfied 
with the attempt to escape annual tribute, these 
daring wai'riors thought to invade Assyrian soiL 
The battle with them, fought out in the lowlands, 
was an Assyrian victory, and the campaign ended 
in the receipt of a heavy tribute, and the taking 
of many cities, which, contrary to former custom, 
were not destroyed.* This new method was, how- 
ever, soon abandoned, for the next year (881) 
these people refused to pay their tribute, and their 
country was again invaded. This time savagery 
had its sway, and the cities were dug up and 
burned, while blood was poured out like water. It 
was now safe to advance through the broken land 
farther into the mountains for more plunder, but 
we are not able to follow the king's movements 
in this extended campaign for lack of geographical 
knowledge. 

* The location of the Zamua is easily determined. See Billerbeck, Das 
Sandachak Suieimania^ pp. 18, 39, ff., etc. 

* Asshuraazirpal, ii, 23-49. See translations by Sayoe, op, ct7., pp. 149, 
if., and by Peiser, op. ct/., pp. 74, ff. 




REXGN OF A8SHURNAZTRPAL. 55 

It is especially noteworthy that, though the usual 
destructions prevailed, there were again displayed 
some constructive ideas, for the city of Atlila,' 
which had previously been destroyed by the 
Babylonians, was rebuilt and made an Assyrian 
fortress, with a king^s palace, and with the As- 
syrian name of Dur-Asshur. This completed, for 
a time at least, the subjugation of the eastern 
borders of the kingdom, and the king could estab- 
lish a regular collection of tribute in the north. 
The wealth poured into Calah year after year in 
these raids must have been enormous. Herein lies 
the explanation of the possibility of maintaining a 
standing army and carrying on conquests of out- 
lying territory. The Assyrian people could not 
have stood the drain of resources necessary for 
foreign conquest, nor could the merchants of Nin- 
eveh have borne a system of taxation sufficient to 
maintain armies so constantly on the march. It 
is noteworthy that nearly every campaign made 
thus far in this brilliant reign was for tribute 
gathering. The king was not yet ready for the 
attempt to add largely to his empire, nor even to 
extend widely the area of his tribute getting. 
Time for the training of his army was necessary, 
and funds had to be accumulated for the payment 
and equipment of his troops. Undoubtedly many 
adventurers from among foreign conquered peoples 

' The location is quite unknown. Maspero ( Tlu Passing of the EmpireSy 
p. 26, note 1) would identify it with the modem Kerkuk. Billerbeck {Das 
SandMcJiak, etc., p. 86) would place it farther to the southeast, ** west of 
geginne and Chalchalan-dagh.*' 



56 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

fought in the armies of Asshumazirpal, and found 
their compensation in such booty as they were 
allowed to appropriate. It remains^ however, true 
that the cost of the military establishment must 
have been great, and the collection of tribute sup- 
plied this outlay. The king watched closely the 
collection of tribute, and nonpayment anywhere 
was the signal for a sudden descent on the offend- 
ers. "During the eponymy of Bel-aku (881 B. C.) 
I was staying in Nineveh when news was brought 
that Ameka and Arastua had withheld the tribute 
and dues of Asshur my lord '' * — so began this cam- 
paign of which we have just spoken, and so began 
many another. Herein we have an instructive 
commentary on the whole policy of Assyria for 
years to come. Let us recall the need of con- 
quering the AramsBans to secure commercial ex- 
tension, and the need of the tribute to maintain 
an army capable of such conquest, and in these 
two motives, the one depending upon the other, 
we have the explanation of Assyrian history for 
this reign, and for not less than six reigns after it. 
In the next year (880 B. C.) the king coUected 
in person the tribute of the land of Kummukh^ 
afterward pushing on through the land of Qurkhi, 
into the fastnesses of Mount Masius, for a like 
purpose, and finally returning to the fortress of 
Tushkha to continue his foimer building opera- 
tions. That so large a part of the year is occu- 
pied with the careful and systematic collection of 

> Annals, col. ii, line 49, KeUintchrift, Bibl,^ i, pp. 78, 79. 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZmPAL. 57 

tribute foreshadows a great campaign of conquest 
toward which this storing up of supplies of money 
and material is a necessary preparation. Possibly 
the traders of Nineveh, profiting by the earlier 
punishment of the AramsBans^ were urging the 
king to wider conquests in the prosperous west, 
which would result in a still further extension of 
their trade. However that may be, the year 879 
brought matters of inunense importance in As- 
syrian history. The king first marched south- 
west to the Euphrates and the Khabur. The 
AramsBans of Bit-Khalupe had not forgotten their 
sore discipline, and paid their tribute at once. 
And in like manner one community after another 
gave their silver and gold, their horses and cattle, 
to their suzerain as he moved slowly down the 
Euphrates to Anat (modem Anath). 

AH this resembles former campaigns, but now a 
sudden change appears. Attempting to collect 
tribute at Sum (another city of the same name as 
the capital of Bit-Khalupe), Asshumazirpal finds 
the Shnhites, whose chief city Sura was, in league 
with the Kassite Babylonians in their resistance. 
The Babylonian king at this time was Nabii-apal- 
iddin, who began to reign in his ancient city prob- 
ably very soon after Asshumazirpal began to 
reign in Assyria. He was either a weak man or a 
man of extraordinary policy, or he would long be- 
fore this have been in conflict with his northern 
neighbor. In the discontent of the Shuhites he 
saw a hopeful opportunity for injuring Assyria 



58 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

without too great risk to his own fortunes. He 
contributed to the revolt not less than fifty horse- 
men and three thousand footmen — ^a considerable 
contribution in the warfare of that century. For 
two days the battle raged in and about Sum be- 
fore the Assyrians obtained the mastery. Asshur- 
nazirpal punished this uprising in his usual way, 
by utterly wasting the city, slaying many of its 
inhabitants, and carrying away immense spoil. 
He is probably narrating only the simple truth 
when he says that the fear of his sovereignty pre- 
vailed as far as Kaixlunyash and overwhelmed 
the land of Kaldu. The Babylonian king, though 
he continued to reign for some time after this, 
gave no further trouble to Assyria. He was kept 
busily engaged in his own land in two important 
enterprises. The Aramaean tribe known as the 
Sutu, whom we have met in this story in northern 
Babylonia, had centuries before wrought ruin at the 
ancient religious city of Sippar, where the worship 
of the sun god had its especial seat. With the de- 
struction of the temples the worship carried on for 
so many centuries ended. The former kings be- 
longing to the dynasty of the Sea Lands, Shamash- 
shipak and Kasshu-nadin-akhe, had tried in vain 
to prevent the total destruction of the temple and 
to reorganize its worship. Their efforts had com- 
pletely failed, and the temple had now become a 
hopeless ruin, covered with sand of the near-by 
desert. Here was a work for the pious king. 
Dislodging the Sutu from the city by force of 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZIRPAL. 69 

arms, Nabu-apal-iddin began the reconstruction and 
restoration of tlie fallen temple, and carried the 
work to a successful conclusion^ setting up again 
the splendid old ceremonial worship of the sun. 
The inscription in which he has celebrated these 
deeds is one of the most beautiful monuments of 
ancient Babylonia.* To cany them out fully he 
«eems to have maintained the peace with Asshur- 
nazirpal and his successor. 

But if the success and severity of Asshumazir- 
pal caused the king of Babylon to occupy himself 
entirely with internal aflfairs, it had little effect 
on the hardy and daring Aramaeans, for scarcely 
had the Assyrian king returned to Calah when he 
was again called into the field by the revolt of 
the men of Laqi and Khindanu and of the whole 
Shuhite people. This time the king was better 
prepared for the work in hand, for he had boats 
<5onstructed at Sura, and was therefore able to fol- 
low the fugitives to the river islands. The ruin 
of this campaign seems awful even after the lapse 
of centuries. The cities were utterly broken down 

* Rassam in making excavations at Abu Habba found a piece of asphalt 
pavement, beneath which " an inscribed earthenware casket, with a lid, was 
discovered . . . about three feet below the surface. Inside it was a stone tab- 
let eleven and one half inches long by seven inches wide " (Rassam, Asshur 
and the Land of Nimrody p. 402). It is inscribed minutely on both sides 
with three columns of writing, and on the obverse at the top is a small 
bas-relief representing religious ceremonies before the figure of the sun 
god (see illustrations in Rassam, ihidy or in Hommel, Oeschichte^ p. 696). 
Pinches announced its discovery {Proceedings of the Society of BiblicO' 
ArchtBology, iii, pp. 109, £f.), and later published part of it {ibid,^ viii, 
pp. 164, ft.). The entire text is published V R. 60, 61, and it is translated 
tj Joh. Jeremias, Beitriige zur Auyriologie^ i, 268, ff., and by Peiser, KeiJl 
intehriJL £ibl,, iii, part 1, pp. 174, ff. 



60 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

and burned, the inhabitants butchered when they 
could be taken, and even the standing crops were 
destroyed that neither man nor beast might eat 
and live. It was no real compensation for such 
deeds that two new cities were founded, one on the 
hither bank of the Euphrates, named Kar-Asshor- 
nazir-pal (that is, fortress of A.), and the other on 
the far bank, called Nibarti- Asshur * (that is, the 
ford of Asshur), for these could only be intended 
for military purposes, and not as a contribution to 
civilization or as abiding places for a ruined people* 
But the king was not satisfied that he had got at 
the root of the trouble, and the next year followed 
up his advantage with another campaign appar- 
ently intended to cut off any further rebellion at the 
fountain head. It seems probable that the real 
source of the energy and enthusiasm which sus- 
tained so many rebellions among the Aramaeans was 
the state of Bit-Adini, on the Euphrates, above the 
mouth of the Khabur.* The most powerful Ara- 

* There is no indication of the location of either of these Assyrian strong- 
holds. Haspero (17ie Pasting of the Empires^ p. 80, note 4) has this sug- 
gestion to make : '*A study of the map shows that the Assyrians could not 
become masters of the country without occupying the passes of the 
Euphrates ; I am inclined to think that Ear-Assur-nazir-pal is El-Halebiyeh, 
and Nibarti-assur, Zalebiyeh, the Zenobia of Roman times. For the ruins 
of these towns, compare Sachau, Rei»e in Syrien und Mesop.^ pp, 256-259, 
and Peters, Nippur^ or ShpHoraiioru and Adventures on the Euphrates^ 
vol. i, pp. 109-114." 

s Maspero (The Pamng of the Bmpiree, p. 80, note 6) makes this definite 
statement : '* Btt-Adini appears to have occupied, on the right bank of the 
Euphrates, a part of the cazas of Ain Tab, Rum-Ealeh, and Birejik, that 
of Suniji, minus the Nakhiyeh of Harr&n, the larger part of the cazas of 
Hembij and of Rakkah, and part of the caza of Z6r, the cazas being those 
represented on the maps of Vital Cuinet, La Turquie d'Aeie, voL iL*' 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZmPAL. 61 

msean settlements were here, and the capital city, 
Kap-rabi * (great rock), was populous, well forti- 
fied, and defiant. If this city were taken, there 
would be hopes of crushing out completely the 
spirit of resistance. 

In his next campaign (877 B. C.) Asshumazir- 
pal besieged the city and took it by assault, in 
which eight hundred of the enemy were killed and 
two thousand four hundred made prisoners. This 
was followed by its complete destruction, and an 
end was therefore made of incitements to rebellion 
in Bit-Adini. The effect on the remaining Ara- 
msBan settlements along the Euphrates was as 
marked as it was sudden. Others sent their un- 
paid tribute at once, and there was, during the 
reign of Asshumazirpal, no further trouble over 
the prompt payment of the Aramaean tribute. 
With this campaign Asshumazirpal had not indeed 
ended forever the fitful struggles of the Aramaeans 
against superior force. These were all renewed 
again in the very next reign. He had, however, 
settled the question that there could be no strong 
Aramaean state in that valley. The Aramaean 
people must go elsewhere to make their contri- 
bution to history and civilization. 

The time had come, therefore, when all the 
lands north, east, and west as far as the Euphrates 
which had paid tribute to Tiglathpileser I were 

1 Asshumazirpal (col. iii, line 61, Keilimehrift. Bibl.^ i, p. 103) pictur- 
esquely describes Eap-rabi thus : " The city was very strong, like a cloud 
suspended from heayen." 



62 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

again paying it r^ularlj to ABshamaztrpaL 
There were no more of these states left to trtai- 
cinilize. Most of them had been dealt with 
cruelly, many had been devastated, and thousands 
of their inhabitants butchered with all the ac- 
companiments of oriental savageiy. These com- 
munities had not been added regularly to the em- 
pire to be governed by satraps or officers making 
regulfu- reports to the king in Assyria and receiv- 
ing instructions from him. If such had been the 
plan, the peoples who paid tribute would have 
been receiving some sort of return in social order 
and royal direction for the heavy tribute paid. 
They were receiving nothing in return. They 
had to look to themselves for protection against 
the forays of barbarians who inhabited the moun- 
tain passes about them. Such a status was not 
likely to be permanent. "While their punishment 
had been too severe for them to venture again to 
excite the wrath of such a monarch, they might 
nourish tbeir wrath and hope for a better day. 
Perhaps the next Assyrian kiug might be a weak 
man, and they would be able to throw off the 
yoke in his day. Meantime, while Aeshumazirpal 
held the reins of government, it would be well to 
pay the tribute and give no excuse for a raid- 
But with this quiescence of the tributary states 
the employment of his army became a serious 
question with Asshurnazirpal. He had made a 
fighting machine such as had not been known be- 
fore. His men had been trained in adversity. 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZmPAL. 63 

toughened by hard marches, and brutalized by 
scenes of blood and fire. He could not disband 
it, for at once the tribute-paying states, unterrified 
by it, would throw off their dependence and the 
influx of gold would cease. He could not hold 
it in idleness, for such an aggregation of brutal 
passions would inflame the commonwealth and 
disturb the peace. The army would also soon lose 
its efficiency if unemployed, for the elaborate 
modern systems of drill for the conserving of 
health and the promotion of discipline were un- 
known. It is plain that these men must fight 
somewhere ; but where should it be, and for what 
ulterior purpose ? Ambition might answer to the 
king, for conquest and the extension of Assyrian 
territory, and greed might urge to further tribute 
getting, and commercial enterprise might clamor 
for the reopening of old lines of trade to the west 
through the territory of the Aramaeans. It was 
this last which prevailed, though the two former 
ideas had their influence and their share in the 
decision. 

It was in the month of April * of the year 876 
that Asshumazirpal began the great westward 
movement in which all his highest endeavors were 
to culminate. All else had been but preparation. 
The first part of his march, across the great Meso- 
potamian valley, was little else than a triumphal 
progress. Every one of the Aramaean settlements 
on or near his route to the Euphrates sent costly 

I On the eighth day of Ijy&r (col. iii, line 56). 



64 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

tribute, consisting of chariots, horses, silver, gold, 
lead, and copper, most of which must be sent 
back to Calah, while the king marched on. When 
the Euphrates was reached it was crossed at its 
flood, in boats made of the skins of animals, and 
the city of Carchemish * was entered. The glory 
of the city had departed. Once the capital of the 
great Hittite empire, now broken in power, it was 
now merely the center of a small state, of which 
Sangara was ruler. His policy was direct and 
simple. He was willing to pay down the sum of 
twenty talents of silver, one hundred talents of 
copper, two hundred and fifty talents of iron, 
along with chains and beads of gold and much 
other treasure, if he were simply let alone. Though 
deprived of its political influence, Carchemish was 
now an important commercial city. War could 
only destroy its commerce, and success against the 
renowned Assyrian conqueror was doubtful, if not 
absolutely impossible. National pride counted 
for nothing. The primary desire was to get the 
Assyrians out of the country as soon as possible; 
and weU might they pay a heavy tribute to gain 
so great a boon as that. Neighboring states, fear- 
ing invasion and plunder, likewise sent tribute, 
and the king could move on farther westward. 
Crossing the river Apre (modern Afrin) after a 
short march, Asshumazirpal came into the territory 

' Carchemish stood on the west bank of the Euphrates, above the month 
of the Sajur. The modem name is Tariously given by different travelers 
as Jerabliis (Skene, Wilson, Sayce) or Jer&bis (Sachao, Schrader, Delitssch). 
The latter is preferable. 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZIRPAL. 65 

of another small state, called Patin, which was 
apparently Aramaean or partially so. The capital of 
the state was Kunulaa, and the ruler was Lubarna, 
whose territory extended from the Apre to the 
Orontes, and thence over the mountain ridges to 
the sea near Eleutheros, with northern and south- 
em Umits not now definable/ It was a rich and 
fertile country, and might well excite the cupidity 
of the Assyrian army. Lubama offered no resist- 
ance to the invader, but was anxious only to expe- 
dite his progress, with presents truly regal in 
amount and in magnificence.' The march was then 
southward across the Orontes to the city of Ari- 
bua,* located near the Sangura River, which was 
a southerly outpost of Lubama. Though Lubarna 
had so thoroughly submitted to the Assyrians in 
hope of getting them out of the coantry, Aribua 
was made an Assyrian outpost, colonists settled in 
it, and grain and straw, harvested by force in the 
lands of the Lukhuti, were stored in it. Whether 
the town was to become the capital of an Assyrian 
province or merely a base of supplies for possible 
hostile operations does not appear. And now 
there was no one to oppose the king's march north 
and west into the green slopes of the Lebanon. 

'See Schrader, Keilinachriften und QetehichUfortchung^ pp. 214-221, 
and Winckler, AUorierUtUisehe Forschungen^ i, pp. 8, ff. 

* ** Twenty talents of silver, one talent of gold, one hundred talents of 
lead, one hundred talents of iron, one thousand oxen, ten thousand sheep, 
one thousand garments, variegated and linen ... as his tribute I received." 
Asshumazirpal, col. ui, 78-77 (KeiliruchH/t. Bihl, i, pp. 106, 107). 

'The exact location of Aribua has not been found (Wmckler, Alt' 
orietUalische Fortchungen^ i, p. 5). 
6 



66 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

From beneath the historic cedars an Assyrian 
king again looked out over the Mediterranean^ 
and with far greater hopes of securing a foothold 
there than any of his predecessors had ever had, 
whether Assyrian or Babylonian. 

While this invasion was in some measure a raid 
for booty, it was more powerfully conceived and 
better disciplined than the others had been. When 
Sargon I had marched hither he passed through 
lands scantily populated with peoples, with whom 
he had little contact. There was no possibility 
of making an empire out of Babylonia and a prov- 
ince on the far western sea, with vast uncontrolled 
territories between. When Tiglathpileser I came 
out to the same sea he had left great territories 
and populous communities between him and the 
homeland, and, like the early Babylonian, there 
could be no hope of making an empire out of two 
lands so widely separated. But Asshumazirpal 
had measurably changed the situation. He did 
not, it is true, actually rule the entire territory 
from the Lower Zab and its overhanging hills to 
the Lebanon, but he had broken its spirit, and was 
received as its conqueror. In many places rule was 
exercised by governors, both native and Assyrian, 
whom he had appointed. In yet others there were 
towns peopled by Assyrian colonists, stored with 
Assyrian provisions, and defended by massive 
walls of Assyrian construction. The situation was 
indeed changed, and the result of this invasion 
might well be different. Asshumazirpal knew 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZIRPAL. 67 

the conditions with which he was confronted, and 
fully appreciated the opportunity for making a 
great empire. The Mediterranean was even then 
the basin upon which touched the greatest empire 
of the world ; and the Egyptians understood the 
value of their geographical situation. The Phoe- 
nicians were already a powerful commercial peo- 
ple. The Hebrews fonned an impoi*tant center of 
influence in Canaan. What relation should As- 
syria come to sustain to these powers of antiquity ? 
An augury of the answer to that question came 
as Asshurnazu'pal halted on the Lebanon. The 
people of Tyre, of Sidon, of Tripolis,' and of Arvad 
sent splendid gifts, a fatal blunder, for it was a 
confession of weakness, which would be noted and 
remembered by the Assyrians. It was a recogni- 
tion of the power of the Assyrian arms, of which 
almost every Assyrian king boasts in the stereo- 
typed phrase: "By the might of the terrible arms;" 
and the Assyrians would bring forth yet greater 
daring as they remembered that the commercial 
rulers of the west feared their power too greatly 
to test it. And, worst of all, it was a confession 
to the world that these western peoples, who fronted 
the Mediterranean cared more for the profits of 
their commerce than for freedom. We shall see 
very shortly the results of this sending of gifts to 
the Assyrian king. Asshurnazirpal had achieved 

* In Asshumazirpal's account three cities are mentioned : Makhallat, 
Maiz, and Eaiz (Annals, col. iii, 86). Delitzsch (Paradiea^ p. 282) makes 
it probable that these three formed Tripolls, and Sayce apparently agrees 
(Records of the P<ut, New Series, ii, p. 172, note 1). 



68 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

his present purpose in this direction. He did not 
go down to Tyre or Sidon to look upon the weak- 
lings who paid tribute without seeing his annSy 
but turned northward into the Amanus mountains 
on an errand of peace. Here he cut cedar, cypress, 
and juniper trees and sent the logs off to Assyria. 
Somewhere else in the same district he cut other 
trees, called mekkri trees, which seem to have 
been numerous enough to give their name to the 
country in which they were found. These were 
taken back to Nineveh and offered to Ishtar, the 
lady of Nineveh. 

So ended, in the peaceable gathering of building 
materials, a remarkable campaign. Asshumazirpal 
had succeeded brilliantly where his predecessors 
had failed. But as we look back over the entire 
campaign we can discern significant silence concern- 
ing one western people. There is no allusion to 
Damascus or to any of its tributary states. They 
were all left undisturbed, and a glance at the map 
reveals how carefully the Assyrian army had 
avoided even their outposts. To have attacked 
that solidly intrenched state would have been cer- 
tain disaster, and Asshumazirpal was wisely in- 
,.r«ctrf in pa««„g it by. IL m.st elaji W 
fore the Assyrians should dare attack it. 

The campaign was noteworthy also in that there 
had been almost no savagery, no butchering of 
men, scarcely any ruthless destruction of cities. 
This better state of war was of course due to no 
change of method on the part of Asshumazirpal, 



KEIGN OF ASSHURNAZmPAL. 69 

but simply to the almost entire absence of resist- 
ance. The former campaigns had terrified the 
world, and the frnits of severity were an easy con- 
quest and the development of the peaceful art of 
building. The burning of cities and the slaughter 
of men were resumed in 867 in a small campaign 
through the lands of Kummukh, Qurkhi, and the 
oft-plundered country about Mount Masius. It 
was emphatically a campaign of tribute collecting, 
and the only matters of any political consequence 
were the appointment of an Assyrian governor 
over the land of Qurkhi and the carrying of about 
three thousand captives into Assyria. Such a leav- 
ening as that might influence the Assyrian people. 
These renewed ravages ended the wars of As- 
shnrnazarpal; the remainder of his reign was de- 
voted to works of peace. But it would be a 
mistake to suppose that campaigning had occupied 
his entire attention during his reign, for undoubt- 
edly the two chief works of his reign were ex- 
ecuted partially during the very period when he 
was most busy with tribute collecting. These 
works were the rebuilding of the city of Calah 
and the construction of a canal. The former was 
necessary because the city which Shalmaneser I 
had built had been deserted during the period 
when Asshur was again the capital, and a short 
period of desertion always meant ruin to Assyrian 
buildings. Only the outer surface of its thick 
walls was built of burnt brick, the inner filling 
being composed of unbumt brick merely, so that 



70 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

a trifling leak in the roof transformed this interior 
into a mass of clay, speedily causing the walls to 
spring. Judging from the hundreds of references 
in Assyrian literature to the restoration of walls 
and buildings, it may justly be thought that the 
Assyrians were especially bad roof builders. In- 
deed their advance in constructive skill never kept 
pace with their progress in the arts of decoration. 
It is this anomaly which has left us without any 
standing buildings in Assyria, while vast temples 
still remain in Egypt. It is, of course, to be ob- 
served that Assyrian construction would doubt- 
less have shown a different development had stone 
been abundant as a building material As an off- 
set to this, however, it must be remembered that 
brick is one of the most durable of materials when 
properly baked and laid, and that the Assyrians 
knew how to bake properly is evidenced by their 
clay books, which have survived fire and breakage 
and wet during the crash and ruin of the centuries. 
Besides the general reconstruction of Calah, As- 
shurnazirpal built himself a great palace, covering 
a space one hundred and thirty-one yards in 
length and one hundred and nine in breadth,^ 
which remained a royal residence for centuries. 
Its massive ruins have been unearthed at Nim- 
roud, being the northwestern one of the three 
there discovered. His second great work was the 
construction, or reconstruction, of an aqueduct to 

' Layard, Nineveh and its Remaim^ i, pp. 62, ft. See picture and plan, 
in Bassam, Auhur and the Land ofNimrod^ pp. 222, fl. 



REIGN OF ASSHURNAZmPAL. 71 

bring an abundant supply of water to the city 
from the Lower Zab. The river bank was pierced 
near the modern Negub, and the water first con- 
veyed through a rock tunnel and then by an open 
canal to the great terrace. Its course was lined 
with palms, with various fruit trees, and with 
vineyards, and well was it named BabdaMiigal 
— the " bringer of f ruitfulness." * 

In the year 860 B. C. the reign of Asshumazir- 
pal ended in peace. He had wrought great things 
for Assyrian power in the world, and the empire 
as he left it was greater actually and potentially 
than it had ever been before. Of the man him- 
self the world can have no pleasant memories. 
No king like him in ferocity had arisen before 
him, and in Assyria at least he was foUowed by 
none altogether his equal. One searches the rec- 
ords of his reign and finds seldom anything more 
than catalogues of savage and relentless deeds. 
So rarely indeed does a work of mercy or peace 
brighten the record that it is a relief to turn the 
page. 

1 Monolith mscription, i, 6-9, KeUvMckrifi, Bibl,, i, pp. 118, 119. For 
the modem remaina see Layard, Nineveh and tie JRemaina, i, pp. 80, 81 ; 
Nineveh and Babylon^ pp. 625-627. 



72 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



CHAPTER V. 

SHALMANE8ER II TO A8SHUR-NIRARI II. 

Shalmaneser II (859-825 B. C.)t who succeed- 
ed his father, Asshamazirpal, continued his policy 
without a break, and even extended it. We are 
even better instructed concerning his reign, for 
more historical material has come down to us from 
it. The most important of his inscriptions is a 
beautiful obelisk of black basalt. The upper parts 
of the four faces contain beautifully carved figures 
of various animals which the king had received 
in tribute and as gifts, each illustration being ac- 
companied by an epigraph explaining its meaning. 
The lower parts bear inscriptions recounting in 
chronological order the campaigns of the king. 
There are no less than one hundred and nine lines 
of compact writing upon this one monument.' 
This story of his wars is supplemented by the fine 
monolith of the king, containing his portrait in low 
relief, covered with one hundred and fifty-six lines 
of text* And this again, in its turn, is supple- 

* Black Obelisk, text publiflhed In Layard, Itueriptiofu in the Cynei/arm 
Charadert, 87-98. It has often been translated in whole or part The 
best of the recent translations are by Winckler, Keilifuchrift. BiU.^ i, pp. 
128-161, and by Scheil, JUeords of the Past, New Series, iv, pp. 89, sqq., 
the latter with numerous correctious by Sayce. 

* ni R. 7, 8, translations by Craig, Hebraica^ iii, 1887 ; Peiser, EeiUfi- 
•ehri/t. Bibl, vol. i, pp. 160-176 ; and Scheil, Rewrde of the Poet, New 
SerieSji ▼, pp. 66, sqq. 



SHALMANESER II TO ASSHUR-NIRARI n. 73 

mented by fragmentary inscriptions upon bronze 
plates which once covered massive wooden doors 
or gates/ From these three main sources of in- 
formation we are able to follow in order all the 
chief events of the king's reign. The accounts, 
however, are less picturesque and full of life than 
those of his predecessor. Campaigns are often dis- 
missed in a few colorless words, and the record 
takes on the nature of a catalogue rather than of a 
history. We shall therefore present the story of 
his reign, not in its chronological but rather in its 
logical order, following the circle of his achieve- 
ments from country to country. The annalistic 
style of Asshumazirpal may stand as the repre- 
sentative of this reign, with the difference, already 
mentioned, that it possesses greater breadth and 
richer color. 

For twenty-six years Shalmaneser led every cam- 
paign in person — an amazing record. His armies 
were then sent out under the leadership of the Tar- 
tan Asshur-dayan. Like his father, Shalmaneser 
was oppressed by the weight of his own army. It 
must fight or die, and when there was no excuse 
for operations of defense there must be a cam- 
paign to collect tribute, and when that was not 
needed fresh conquests must be attempted. 

From his father he also inherited the old Ara- 

' The gate inBcriptions were secured in the mounds of Balawit by Hor- 
muid Rassam in 1877. They have been published and translated by Pin- 
ches in Tranaaetians of the Society of Biblical Archceoiogy^ vii, pp. 88, 
sqq., and by Amiaud et Scheil, IneeriptUme de Salmanaaar /, Paris, 1890, 
and also RecordM of the Past^ New Series, iv, pp. 74, sqq. 



74 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

msean question, which was to consume much of his 
energy through a considerable part of his reign. 
We have seen that Asshurnazirpal broke the spirit 
of the Aramaeans in the Mesopotamian valley and 
compelled them to pay tribute regularly. But> 
though this was true, it was to be expected that 
they would tiy his successor's mettle at the first 
opportunity. Of these states Bit-Adini was still 
the most powerful as well as the most daring. We 
are not told what act of Akhuni, ruler of Bit-Adini, 
led to an outbreak of hostilities, but we shall 
probably not be far wrong if we ascribe it to 
the ever-veidng tribute. Whatever the difficulty, 
Shalmaneser invaded the country in 859, the first 
year of his reign, and captured some of its cities, 
but apparently did not directly attack the capital. 
The invasion had to be repeated in 858 and again 
in 857, and in both years there were displays of 
savagery after the fashion of Asshurnazirpal. Pyr- 
amids of heads were piled up by city gates and 

the torch applied to ruined cities. But in the lat- 
ter year the opposition to Assyrian domination was 
hopelessly broken down. The brave little land 
was annexed to Assyria, placed under Assyrian 
government, and colonists from Assyria were set- 
tled in it.* 

Such success was likely to lead soon to an at- 
tack upon the larger and richer Aramaean settle- 
ments farther west. The states with which he 

1 Obelisk, lines 26-82, 82-86, 86-46. MonoUth i, 12-29 ; ii, 1-18, 18- 
80, 80-36. 



1 



SHALMANESER n TO ASSHUR-NIRARI U. 75 

would have to deal at first were Hamath, Damas- 
cus, and Patin, the small but fertile and powerful 
state between the Afrin and the Orontes, which 
had given much trouble to his father. Patin was 
not so powerful as the other two, but could not be 
left out of account in a western invasion. Hamath 
was the center of Aramaean influence in northern 
Syria, and under the leadership of Irkhulina was 
no mean antagonist. But by far the most power- 
ful and important of the three states was Damascus, 
whose king at this time was Ben-Hadad IL If 
an enduring union could be formed between 
these two states and allies secured in Phoenicia 
and in Israel, the peoples of the west might defy 
even the disciplined and victorious armies of As- 
syria. But the ambition of Damascus to be actual 
head over all the western territory and mutual jeal- 
ousies among the other states prevented any real 
union against the common oppressor. However, 
the threatened advance of Assyria was sufficient 
to bury for a time at least their differences and a 
confederation for mutual defense was formed for a 
year, during which time it was a powerful factor 
in the history of western Asia. 

Shalmaneser II was ready for the attempt on 
the west in 854. The campaign of that year is 
of such great importance that it will be well to 
set it down in the words of the Monolith inscrip- 
tion, with such further comment as may be neces- 
sary to make its meaning clear : 

"In the eponymy of Dayan-Asshur, in the month 



76 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

of Airu, on the fourteenth day, from Nineveh I de- 
parted; I crossed the Tigris; to the cities of Giammn 
on the Balikh I approached. The fearfulness of 
my lordship (and) the splendor of my powerful 
arms they feared, and with their own arms they 
slew Giammu, their lord. Kitlala and Til-sha-apli* 
akhi I entered. My gods, I brought into his tem- 
ples, I made a feast in his palaces. The treasury I 
opened, I saw his wealth ; his goods and his pos- 
sessions I carried away; to my city Asshur I 
brought (them). From Kitlala I departed; to 
Kar-Shulman-asharid I approached. In boats of 
sheepskin I crossed the Euphrates for the second 
time in its flood. The tribute of the kings of that 
side of the Euphrates, of Sangar of Carchemish, of 
Kundashpi of Kummukh, of AramS, the son of 
Gusi ; of Lalli, the Melidsean ; of Khayani, son of 
Gabbar; of Kalparuda, the Patinian; of Kalpanida, 
the GurgumsBan ; silver, gold, lead, copper (and) 
copper vessels, in the city of Asshur-utir-asbat, on 
that side of the Euphrates, which (is) on the river 
Sagur, which (city) the Hittites call Pitru, I re- 
ceived. From the Euphrates I departed, to Khal* 
man I approached. They feared my battle (and) 
embraced my feet. Silver and gold I received as 
their tribute. Sacrifices I offered before Adad, 
the god of Khalman (modem Aleppo). Prom 
Eiialman I departed ; two cities of Irkhulina, the 
Hamathite, I approached. Adennu, Mashga, Ar- 
gana, his royal city, I captured ; his booty, goods, 
the possessions of his palaces I brought out (and) 



SHALMANESER II TO ASSHUR-NIRAM II. 77 

set fire to his palaces. From Argana I departed , 
to Qarqar I approached ; Qarqar, his royal city, I 
wasted, destroyed; burned with fire. One thou* 
sand two hundred chariots, 1,200 saddle horses, 
20,000 men of Daddaridri (that is, Ben-Hadad 11) 
of Damascus; 700 chariots, 700 saddle horses, 
10,000 men of Irkhulina, the Hamathite; 2,000 
chariots, 10,000 men of Ahab, the Israelite ; 500 
men of the Quans;' 1,000 men of Mosri; 10 
chariots, 10,000 men of the Irkanatians ; 200 men 
of Matinu-Baal, the Arvadite; 200 men of the 
Usanatians; 30 chariots, 10,000 of Adunu-Baal, 
the Shianian ; 1,000 camels of Gindibu, the Ara- 
bian ; . . . 1,000 men of Baasha, son of Kukhubi, 
the Ammonite — ^these twelve kings he took to his 
assistance; to make battle and war against me 
they came. With the exalted power which As- 
shur, the lord, gave me, with the powerful arms 
which Nergal, who goes before me, had granted 
me, I fought with them, from Qarqar to Gilzan I 
accomplished their defeat. Fourteen thousand of 
their warriors I slew with arms; like Adad, I 
rained a deluge upon them, I strewed hither and 
yon their bodies, I filled the face of the ruins with 
their widespread soldiers, with arms I made their 
blood flow. The destruction of the district . . . ; 
to kill themselves a great mass fled to their graves 

' Que is that part of Cilicia between the Amanus and the mountains of 
the Eetis (see Schrader, Keilituehriften und OeschictiUforBchung^ pp. 288- 
242). Winckler's conjecture (AUteatament UrUersuchungerty pp. 168, ff.), 
which would place it in 1 Kings x, 28, is almost certainly correct See 
farther Benzinger and Kittel on the passage. 



78 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

. . . without turning back I reached the Orontes. 
In the midst of this battle their chariots, saddle 
horses, (and) their yoke horses I took from theui." * 
By means of this detailed and explicit account 
it is easy to follow the king's movements and un- 
derstand the campaign. Shalmaneser leaves Nin- 
eveh and makes straight across the valley for the 
Balikh. He is here received with open arms, and 
secures great gifts. His next important stop is at 
Pethor, beyond the Euphrates, where more tribute, 
brought long distances, even from the land of Kum- 
mukh, is received. From Pethor to Aleppo the 
distance was short and the issue was the same — 
Aleppo surrendered without a blow. It is inter- 
esting to mark that Shalmaneser localizes in Alep- 
po the worship of the god Adad, to whom he paid 
worship. If this statement is correct, we may find 
in it a proof of early intercourse between Aleppo 
and Assyria, for we have long since found Adad 
worshiped in Assyria. This was the end of the 
unopposed royal progress. As soon as he crossed 
into the territory of the little kingdom of Hamath 
he was opposed. Three cities were, however, taken 
and left behind in ruins. Shalmaneser II then ad- 
vanced to Qarqar,' a city located near the Orontes. 

* Monolith inscription ii, lines 78-102. The parallel passage in the 
Obelisk inscription (lines 64-66) is brief and coloriess. See Rogers, ** As- 
syria's First Contact with Israel," Methodist Review^ March- April, 1896, 
pp. 207-222. 

* Its exact location is unknown. Maspero {The Passing of the 3fnpiree^ 
p. 70, note 4) suggests that it ** corresponds to the present Ealaat-el-Mu* 
diq, the ancient Apamsa of Lebanon." 



SHALMANESER II TO ASSHUR-NIRARI II. 79 

Here he was met by the allied army collected to 
defend the west against Assyria. Its composition 
throws light on the relative power of the states in 
Syria and Palestine and deserves attention. The 
main body of the army of defense was contributed 
by Hamath, Damascus, and Israel. These three 
states contributed much more than half of the en- 
tire army and nearly all of the most powerful part 
of it, the chariots and horsemen. From the north 
there came men from Que (eastern Cilicia) and 
Musri. From the west came detachments contrib- 
uted by the northern Phoenician cities which were 
unwilling or unable to send enormous gifts to buy 
off the conqueror, as Tyre and Sidon had done, but 
were willing to strike a blow for independence. 
The last section was made up of Ammonites and 
Arabs. This was a formidable array, and the is- 
sue of the battle fought at Qarqar might well be 
doubted. The Assyrians had, of course, a well-sea- 
soned army to oppose a crowd of raw levies ; but 
the latter had the great advantage of a knowledge 
of the country as well as the enthusiasm of the 
fight for home and native land. Of course the 
records of Shalmaneser claim a great victory. In 
the Monolith inscription * the allies killed are set 
down at 14,000, in another inscription the num- 
ber given is 20,500,' while in a third it rises to 25,- 
000.' The evident uncertainty in the figures makes 

1 CoL ii, Unes 97 and 98. 
* Obelisk, lines 66, 66. 

' Bull inscription, No. 1, line 18. On these discrepancies see Schrader^ 
KMnachriften und OeichichUforachungy p. 47. 



80 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

US doubt somewhat the clearness of the entire re- 
salt. There is, as usual, no mention of Assyrian 
losses, but they must have been severe. The claim 
of a great victory is almost certainly false. A vic- 
tory for the Assyrians it probably was, for the 
allies were plainly defeated and their union for de- 
fense broken up ; but, on the other hand, the 'Assyr- 
ians did not attempt to follow up the victory they 
claimed, and no word is spoken of tribute or plun- 
der or of any extension of Assyrian territory.' The 
alliance had saved the fair land of Hamath for 
a time and had postponed the day when Israel 
should be conquered and carried into captivity. It 
is a sore pity that despite the dread of the Assyr- 
ians, voiced so frequently by the Hebrews, and 
evidently felt by the other allies, mutual jealousy 
should have prevented the continuance of an alli- 
ance which promised to save the shores of the 
Mediterranean for Hebrew and Aramaean civili- 
zation. 

Shalmaneser was busied elsewhere, as we shall 
shortly see, during the years immediately follow- 
ing, and it was not until 849 that he was able to 
make another assault on the west. The point of 
attack was again the land of Hamath, and again 
Ben-Hadad II of Damascus and Irkhulina of Ha- 
math had the leadership over the twelve allies. 
This time Shalmaneser claims to have slain ten 
thousand of his enemies, but he mentions no trib- 
ute and no new territory. We may therefore be 

' The abrupt ending of the Monolith narrative !s significant. 



SHALMANESER n TO ASSHUR-NTRARI II. 81 

almost cei'tain that the victory was rather a defeat, 
and that he was really compelled to withdraw. 
In 846 Shalmaneser once more deteimined to at- 
tack the foe which had done such wonderful work 
in opposing the hitherto invincible Assyrian arms. 
In this campaign he did not trust merely to his 
usual standing army, but levied contingents from 
the land of Assyria and with an enormous force, 
said by him to number 120,000 men, he set out for 
Hamath. Again he was opposed by Ben-Hadad 
II and his allies, and again he ^^ accomplished their 
defeat." But, as in the previous campaigns and 
for the same reasons, we are compelled to assert 
that the Aramseans had given full proof of their 
prowess by resisting the immense Assyrian army. 
The next attempt upon the west was made in 
842. In this year Shalmaneser found a very 
different situation. Ben-Hadad II, who had 
ruled with a rod of iron and held the neigh- 
boring peoples in terror, was now dead,' and the 
cruel but weak Hazael reigned in Damascus. 
Ahab, who was a man of real courage and of great 
resources, was dead, as was Joram (852-842), his 
successor ; and Jehu, the usurper, was now king in 
Samaria. He seems to have been a natural coward 
and did not dare to fight the terrible Assyrians. 
The other states which had united in defense un- 
der Ben-Hadad II were hopelessly discordant, each 
hoping to throw off the quasi-suzerainty of Damas- 
cus. The people of Tyre and Sidon had again 

> 2 Kings viii, 7-16. 
6 



82 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

returned to their commerce and were ready to 
send gifts to Shalmaneser that they might not be 
disturbed at the gates of the seas. Jehu sent costly 
tribute, apparently in the mad hope of gaining As- 
Syrian aid against the people of Damascus, whom 
he hated and feared, not reckoning that the Assyr- 
ians would seek this tribute year after year until 
the land should be wasted. This act of Jehu gave 
the Assyrians their first hold on Israel, and the 
consequences were far reaching and disastrou& 
Hazael, noble in comparison with all the former 
allies of Damascus, determined to resist Shalma- 
neser alone. In Saniru, or Hermon,* he fortified him- 
self and awaited the Assyrian onslaught. Six 
thousand of his soldiers were killed in battle, 
while one thousand one hundred and twenty-one 
of his chariots and four hundred and seventy 
horses with his camp equipage were taken. Haz- 
ael fled to Damascus and was pursued and besieged 
by the Assyrians. But, powerful though he was> 
Shalmaneser was not able to take Damascus, and 
had to content himself with a thoroughly charac- 
teristic conclusion of the campaign. He cut down 
the trees about the city, and then marching south- 
ward, entered the Hauran, where he wasted and 
burned the cities.' So ended another assault on 
the much-coveted west, and it was still not con- 



' Deut. iii, 9, comp. Driver on the passage, and Sayce, Record* of the 
Past^ New Series, vi, p. 41. 

> Obelisk, lines 97-99 and Fragmentary Text, III R. 6, Xo. 6, 40-66. 
See translations by Rogers, op. ciL pp. 220, 221. 




SHALMANESER II TO ASSHUR-NIRARI II. 83 

quered. No such series of rebuflfe had ever been 
received by Tiglathpileser or by Asshumazirpal, 
but Shabnaneser was Dot deterred from another 
and last attempt. In 839 he crossed the Euphrates 
for the twenty-first time and marched against the 
cities of HazaeL He claims to have captured 
four of them, but there is no mention of booty, 
and no word of any impression upon Damascus.' 

Shabnaneser had led six campaigns against the 
west with no result beyond a certain amount of 
plunder. There was absolutely no recognition of 
the supremacy of Assyria. There was no glory 
for the Assyrian arms. There was no greater 
freedom achieved for Assyrian commerce. And 
yet some progress had been made toward the great 
Assyrian ambition. The western states had felt 
in some measure the strength of Assyria, those 
certainly who sent gifts rather than fight had 
shown their dread ; while the smoking ruins in the 
Hauran were a silent object lesson of what might 
soon happen to the other western powers which 
had hitherto resisted so gallantly. The Assyrian 
was beating against the bars set up against his 
progress, and the outcome was hardly, if at all, 
doubtful. 

Besides his difficulties in the west Shalmaneser 
had no lack of trouble with the far north. As 
Damascus had a certain preponderance among the 
western states, so had Urartu (or Chaldia) among 
the northern states. There is some reason for be- 

.lObeliak, lines 102-104. 



84 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

lieving that at this time, as was true later on, 
Urartu may have tried to exercise some ^ort of 
sovereignty over the land of Nairi. This much, 
at least, is certain, that the people of Urartu were 
the mainspring of much of the rebellion among 
the smaller states in the north and west. 

The long series of Assyrian assaults on Urartu 
had begun in the reign of Tiglathpileser I, who 
had crossed over the Arsanias and entered the 
country. Asshumazirpal, also, had marched 
through the southern portion of the district, but 
had made no attempt to annex it to Assyria. In 
the very beginning of his reign, 860 B. C./ Shal- 
maneser made the first move which led to this 
series of campaigns. He entered the land of Nairi 
and took the capital city of Khubushkia, on Lake 
Urumiyeh, together with one hundred other towns 
which belonged to the same country. These were 
all destroyed by fire. The king of Nairi was then 
pursued into the mountains and the land of 
Urartu (Chaldia) invaded. At this time Urartu 
was ruled by Aram6, who seems to have been a 
man of courage and adroitness. His stronghold 
of Sugunia was taken and plundered. Shalma- 
neser did not push on into the country, but with- 
drew southward by way of Lake Van, contented 
with his booty or too prudent to risk more. He 
made no more attempts on Urartu until 857,* 

1 The date is certain. It is correctly given as 860 by Tiele, GetchiehiSy 
if p. 187, but erroneously as 858 by Schell, Heeorda of the Paat^ New 
Series, iv, p. 66, note 8. 

* Incorrectly given as 866 by Scheil, ibid.^ vol. iv, p. 68, note 1. 




SHALMANESER n TO ASSHUR-NIRARI n. 85 

when his campaigning carried him westward and 
northward to Pethor and thence through Anzitene, 
which was completely laid waste, and over the 
Arsanias into Urartu. On this expedition the 
country of Dayaeni, along the river Arsanias, was 
first conquered and apparently without much op- 
position. The way was now open to the capital 
city, Arzashku. Arame, the king of Urartu, fled 
further inland and abandoned his capital to the 
Assyrians, who wasted it as of old, and left it a 
heap of ruins while they pursued the fleeing king. 
He was overtaken, and thirty-four hundred of his 
troops killed, though Arame himself made good 
his escape. Laden with heavy spoil, Shalmaneser 
returned southward, and, in his own picturesque 
phrase, trampled on the country like a wild bull. 
Pyramids of heads were piled up at the ruined 
city gates and men were impaled on stakes. On 
the mountains an inscription, with a great image 
of the conqueror, was set up. The defeat of 
Arame seems to have brought his dynasty to an 
end, for immediately afterward we find Sarduris 
I, son of Lutipris, building a citadel at Van and 
founding a new kingdom. Shalmaneser returned 
to Assyria by way of Arbela. He had therefore 
completed a half circle in the north, passing from 
west to east, but had accomplished little more than 
the collection of tribute.* 

In the tenth year of his reign (850 B. C.) Shal- 
maneser II again invaded Urartu, this time enter- 

1 Obelisk, lines 86-46 ; Monolith, !i, 80-66. 



86 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

iDg the country from the city of Garcbemish. The 
only achievement of the expedition was the taking 
of the fortified city of Ame and the ravaging of 
the anrrounding conntry;' no endnrii^ results 
were efEected. More might, perhaps, have been 
attempted, bnt the king was forced to go into the 
west to meet the people of Damascns, as narrated 
above. Shalmaneser never again invaded Urartu 
in person. In the year 833 he sent an army 
against it under the leadership of his Tartan 
Dayan-Asshur. In the seventeen years which had 
elapsed since the last expedition the people of 
Urartu had been busy. The kingdom of Siduri 
(Sarduris I) had waxed strong enough to conquer 
the territories of Sukfame and Dayaeni^ which for 
a time had seemed to belong to Assyria after 
having been so thoroughly conquered by Shal- 
maneser II. The account of the campaign ends in 
the vmn boast of having filled the plain with the 
bodies of his warriors.' The sequel, however, 
shows that this campaign and another similar one 
in 829, under the same leadership, had not really 
conquered the land of Urartu.' Instead of grow- 
ing weaker it continued to grow stronger, and we 
shall often meet with displays of its power in the 
later Assyrian history. When the series of cam- 
paigns against the north was finally ended for this 
reign it could only be said that in the north and 

■ Obelisk, Unea Sfi-BT. 
* ObeUsb, lines HUMS. 
*ObelUk, lines lTi-190. 



— 



SHALMANESER n TO ASSHUR-NIRARI n. 87 

in the west the Assyrian aims had made little 
real progress. 

In the east also Shalmaneser failed to extend the 
boundaries of his kingdom. His efforts in this 
quarter began in 859, when he made a short expe- 
dition into the land of Namri/ which lay on the 
southwestern border of Media below the Lower 
Zab River. Not until 844 was the land again 
disturbed by invasion. At this time it was under 
the rule of a prince, Marduk-shum-udanmiiq, whose 
name points to Babylonian origin. He was driven 
from the country, and a prince from the country 
district of Bit-Khamban, by name Yanzu,« was put 
in his place.' This move was not very successful, 
for the new prince rebelled eight years later and 
refused the annual tribute. In 836 Shalmaneser 
crossed the Lower Zab and again invaded Namri. 
Yanzu fled for his life to the mountains, and his 
country was laid waste. Shalmaneser, emboldened 
bv this small success, then marched farther north 
into the territory of Parsua, where he received 
tribute, and then, turning eastward, entered the 
land of Media, where several cities were plun- 
dered and laid waste. There seems to have been 
no attempt made to set up anything like Assyrian 
rule over any portion of Media, but only to secure 
tribute. On the return by way of the south, near 

> Obelisk, line 9. 

* Tanzn is used in the Assyrian texts as a proper name, but Delitzsch 
(fiie Spraehe der Kossder, pp. 26, 29-38) has shown that it is the title of 
Jgngs in the Kossaean dialects. 

s Obelisk, lines 98-97. 



88 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

the modem Holwan, Yanzu was taken prisoner 
and carried to Assyria.' But the efforts of Shal- 
maneser to control in the east, and especially 
the northeast, did not end here. The mountains 
to the northeast of Assyria had been a thorn in 
the side of many an Assyrian king. We have 
already seen how Shalmaneser at the very begin- 
ning of his reign ravaged and plundered in Khu- 
bushkia, on Lake Urumiyeh, farther north than 
the land of Namri. In 830 the king himself re- 
mained in Calah, sending an expedition to receive 
the tribute from the land of Khubushkia. It was 
promptly paid, and Dayan-Asshur, who was in com- 
mand, led his troops northward into the land of 
Man,' which was wastedand burned in the usual fash- 
ion. Returning then by the southern shore of Lake 
Urumiyeh, several smaller states were plundered, 
and finally tribute was collected again in Parsua.* 
In the next year (829) another campaign was 
directed against Khubushkia to enforce the col- 
lection of tribute, and thence the army marched 
northward through Musasir and Urartu, passing 
around the northern end of Lake Urumiyeh. 
Retu^iog southward, Pa^n. waa again lJi«l 
and the unfortunate land of Namri invaded. The 
inhabitants fled to the mountains, leaving all be- 

1 Obelisk, lines 110-126. 

* It is called Minni in Jer. li, 27. See especially Sayce, Journal of ik$ 
Tioyal Asiatic Society^ New Series, xiv, pp. 888-400, and Belck, " Daa 
Reich der Mannaer^^ in the Verhandlunffen der Berl, anthropolog, OetdU 
Mchaft, 1896, p. 480. 

> Obelisk, lines 159-174. 



SHALMANESER n TO ASSHUR-NIRARI II. 8» 

hind them. In a manner entirely worthy of his 
royal master the Tartan laid waste and burned 
two hundred and fifty villages before he came 
back by way of Holwan into Assyrian territory/ 
It is not too much to say that all these operations 
in the northeast, east, and southeast were unsuc- 
cessful. Shalmaneser had not carried the bound- 
aries of his country beyond those left by Asshur- 
nazirpal in these directions. 

In the south alone did Shalmaneser achieve real 
success. The conditions which prevailed there were 
exactly fitted to give the Assyrians an opportunity 
to interfere, and Shalmaneser was quick to seize it. 
In the earlier part of his reign the Babylonian king 
was Nabu-aplu-iddin, who after his quarrel with 
Asshumazirpal had devoted himself chiefly to the 
internal affairs of his kingdom. He made a treaty 
of peace with Shalmaneser,' and all went well 
between the two kingdoms until Nabu-aplu-iddin 
died. His successor was his son, Marduk-nadin- 
shum, against whom his brother, Marduk-bel-usate, 
revolted. This rebellion was localized in the south- 
ern part of the kingdom, comprising the powerful 
land of Kaldi. The Babylonians had engaged in no 
war for a long time, and were entirely unable to cope 
with the hardy warriors of Kaldi, whom Marduk- 
bel-usati had at his command. The lawful king, 
Marduk-nadin-shum, fearing that Babylon would 
be overwhelmed by the army which his brother 

* Obelisk, Unes 174-190. 

' Synchronistic History, col. iii, 22-26. 



90 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. AND ASSYBIA. 

was bringing against it, resolved upon the snicidal 
conrae of inviting Aasyrian intervention. This 
was in 853, and no appeal could have been more 
welcome. Ever since the last period of Assyrian 
decay the kingdom of Babylonia had been en- 
tirely free of aU subjection to Assyria. Here was 
an opportunity for reasserting the old protectorate. 
Shalmaneser marched into Babylonia in 852, and 
again in 851, and halted first at Kutha, where he 
offei'ed sacrifice, and then entered Babylon to 
sacrifice to the great god Marduk, also visiting 
Borsippa, where he offered sacrifices to Nabu. 
It is not to be doubted that by these presenta- 
tions of sacrifices Shalmaoeser intended not only 
to show his piety and devotion to the gods, but 
also to display himself as the legitimate overlord 
of the country. Having paid these honors to the 
gods, he then marched down into Chaldea and at- 
tacked the rebels. He took several cities, and com- 
pletely overcame Marduk-bel-usate and compelled 
him to pay tribute. From this time forward until 
the end of his reign Mardnk-nadin-shnm ruled 
peacefully in Babylon under the protectorate ol 
Assyria.' By this campaign the king of Assyria 
had once more become the real ruler of Babylonia, 
the Chaldeans by their inaction acknowledging 
the hopelessness of any present rebellion. 

"We have traced in logical rather than in 
chronological order the campaigns of Shalmane- 

' Sjnchronifltic History, col. iii, 2i-iv, 14 ; Obeliak, lines 13-84 ; BilawAt, 



SHALMANESER II TO ASSHUR-NIRARI n. 91 

«er from the beginning to the close of the thirty- 
first year of his reign. At this point all record of 
his reign breaks off, and for the closing years we 
sre confined to the information derived from the 
records of his son, Shamshi- Adad IV. There are 
no more records of Shalmaneser's doings in the last 
years of his reign, because they were too troubled 
to give any leisure for the erection of such splen- 
did monuments as those from which our knowledge 
of his earlier years has been derived. In the year 
827 B. C. there was a rebellion led by Shalma- 
neser's own son, Asshur-danin-apli. We know but 
little of it, and that little, as already said, derived 
from the brief notices of it preserved in the in- 
scriptions of Shamshi- Adad IV. We have no direct 
means of learning even the cause of the outbreak. 
Neither can we find an explanation of the great 
strength of the rebels, nor understand its sudden 
collapse when apparently it was in the ascendant. 
Wars of succession have always been so common 
in the Orient that, failing any other explana- 
tion, we are probably safe in the suggestion 
that Shalmaneser had probably provided by will, 
or decree, that Shamshi-Adad should succeed 
him. Asshur-danin-apli attempted by rebellion 
to gain the throne for himself, and the strange 
thing was that he was followed in his rebellion 
by the better part of the kingdom. The capital 
<5ity, Calah, remained faithful to the king, but 
Nineveh, Asshur, Arbela, among the older cities^ 
And the chief colonies, a total of twenty-seven 



92 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

cities, joined the forces of Asshur-danin-apli. 
It is difficult to account for the strength of this 
rebellion, unless, perhaps, the leader of it was 
really the elder son, and a sense of fairness and 
justice in the people overcame their allegiance to 
their sovereign. The struggle began in 827, and 
before the death of Shalmaneser, in 825 B. C, the 
kingdom for which he had warred so valiantly had 
been split into two discordant parts, of which Shal- 
maneser was able to hold only the newly won 
provinces in the north and west, together with the 
land of Babylonia. The old Assyrian homeland 
was in the hand of the rebels, and all the signs 
seemed to indicate that Babylonia would soon re- 
gain complete independence and that the Ara- 
maean peoples would be able to throw off their 
onerous yoke. After the death of Shalmaneser^ 
Shamshi-Adad spent two more years in civil war 
before he was acknowledged as the legitimate king 
of Assyria. We do not know what it was that 
gave him the victory, but a complete victory it 
was, and we hear no more of the rebels or their 
leader.' 

The civil war had brought dire consequences 
upon the kingdom which Asshumazirpal had 
made great, and Shalmaneser had held to its alle- 
giance for thirty-one long years. It was therefore 
necessary, as soon as his title to the throne was 
everywhere recognized, for Shamshi-Adad to un- 

1 Inscription of Shamshi-Adad (I R. 29-31), col. i, 89-58. See transla- 
tion by Abel in KeUituehrifl, Bihl^ i, pp. 174-187. 



SHALMANESER H TO ASSHUE-NIRARI II. 93 

dertake such campaigns as would secure to him 
the loyalty of the wavering and doubtful, and 
would overcome the openly rebellious or disaf- 
fected. His fii^st campaign was directed against 
the troublesome lands of Nairi, which may have 
been planning an uprising to free themselves from 
the tribute. Shamshi-Adad entered the land and 
received their tribute without being required to 
strike a blow. He must have forestalled any organ- 
ized resistance. The promptness with which the 
campaign was undertaken and the completeness of 
its success make it seem probable that Shamshi- 
Adad had had from the beginning the support of 
the standing army of Assyria. If this were the case, 
we can the better understand how the rebellion 
against him was put down even when the greater 
part of the country had embraced the fortunes of 
Asshur-danin-apli, for the commercial classes of 
Assyria could not stand against the disciplined, 
hardened veterans of Shalmaneser. As soon as 
the danger in the Nairi lands had been overcome 
Shamshi-Adad marched up and down over the en- 
tire land of Assyria, " from the city of Paddira in 
the Nairi to Kar-Shulmanasharid of the territory 
of Carchemish ; from Zaddi of the land of Accad 
to the land of Enzi ; from Aridi to the land of 
Sukhi," ' and over the whole territory the people 
bowed in submission to him. This is the first in- 
stance in Assyrian history of a king's marching 
from point to point in his own dominions to re- 

> Inscription of Shamshi-Adad (I R. 29-81), col. ii, 7-15. 



94 HISTOHY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

ceive protestations of allegiance. It shows clearly 
to what unrest the land had come during the civil 
war. 

The second campaign was undertaken chiefly, if 
not wholly, for the collection of tribote. Ita course 
was directed first into the land of Natri and thence 
westward to the Mediterranean. Cities in great 
nomberfl were devastated and bamed, and the ter- 
ritory against which Shalmaneser had so long 
made war was bronght again to feel the Assyrian 
power.' The leader in this campaign was Motarris- 
Asshur. 

The third campaign, likewise in search of booty, 
was directed against the east and north. The 
lands of Khuboshkia and Parsua were crossed, and 
the journey led thence to the coasts of Lake Uru- 
miyeh, and then into Media. In Media, as in the 
other lands, tribute and gifts were abundantly 
given. Again the Nairi lands were overran, and 
the king returned to Assyria, assured only that 
the tribute would be paid as long as he was able 
to enforce it.* 

In the next year of his reign Shamshi-Adad was 
compelled to invade Babylonia. The years of the 
Assyrian civil war had given that land the cov- 
eted opportunity to claim independence. Marduk- 
nadin-shun had been succeeded^ in Babylon by 
Marduk-balatsu-iqbi (about 812 B. C), though the 
exact year of the change is unknown to us. He 

Wfifrf., ii, 16-84. 
•iiul., y, 84-iii, 34. 




SHALMANESER II TO ASSHUR-NIKARI II. 95 

paid no Assyrian tribute, and in all things acted 
as an independent ruler. Against him Shamshi- 
Adad marched. His course into Babylonia was 
not down the Mesopotamian valley, as one might 
have expected. He went east of the Tigris along 
the edge of the mountains. He seems not to have 
made a hasty march, for he boasts of having killed 
three lions and of having destroyed cities and vil- 
lages on the way. The river Tumat was crossed 
at flood. At Dur-Papsukal, in northern Babylonia, 
he was met by Marduk-balatsu-iqbi and his allies. 
The Babylonian army consisted of Babylonians, 
Chaldeans, Elamites, Aramaeans, and men of Namri, 
and was therefore composed of the peoples who 
feared the development of Assyria and were will- 
ing to unite against it, even though they were 
usually common enemies. Shamshi-Adad claims 
to have won a great victory, in which five thou- 
sand of his enemies were slain and two thousand 
taken captive. One hundred chariots and even 
the Babylonian royal tent fell into the hands of 
the victor.* We may, however, well doubt whether 
the victory was so decisive. The only inscription 
which we possess of Shamshi-Adad breaks off 
abruptly at this point. But the Eponym List 
shows that in 813 he again invaded Chaldea, while 
in 812 he invaded Babylon. These two supple- 
mentary campaigns would seem to indicate that 
he had not achieved his entire purpose in the bat- 
tle of Dur-Papsukal. It is indeed unlikely that 

»76m/., col. iv, 1-24. 



96 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

he succeeded in restoring the conditions which 
prevailed in the reign of Shalmaneser, though his 
short reign was, on the whole, successful. If he 
had not had the civil war to quell and its conse- 
quences to undo, he might well have made impor- 
tant additions to the territory of Assyria. 

Shamshi- Adad was succeeded by his son, Adad- 
nirari III (811-783 B. C), whose long reign was 
filled with important deeds. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, we are not able to follow his campaigns in 
detail because his very few fragmentary inscrip- 
tions give merely the names of the countries which 
he plundered, without giving the order of his 
marches or any details of his campaigns. In 806, 
in 805, and in 797 he made expeditions to the west 
in which he claims to have received tribute and 
gifts from the land of the Hittites, from Tyre, 
Sidon, the land of Omri,*Edom, and Philistia to 
the Mediterranean. On this same expedition he 
besieged Damascus and received from it great 
booty. The king of Damascus was Mari; and 
Adad-nirari could scarcely have had a greater tri- 
umph than the humbling of the proud state which 
had marshaled so many allied armies against the 
advance of the Assyrians and had then held out 
single-handed so long against them. These expe- 
ditions to the west accomplished little more of 
importance. It was no new thing to receive trib- 

^ ** The land of Omri ^' is the usual Assyrian expression for the land of 
Israel, during a long period. Omri made so deep an impression upon his 
neighbors that his country was named after him. 



SHALMANESER n TO ASSHUR-NntARI H. 97 

lite from the unwarlike merchants of Tyre and 
Sidon, and the Israelites had long since become a 
subject people. Only Edom and Philistia are 
named as fresh conquests. 

In the northeast also he was brilliantly success- 
ful The Eponym Lists mention no less than 
eight campaigns against the Medes, and the con- 
quests in this direction carried the king even to 
the Caspian Sea, to which no former Assyrian 
king had penetrated. 

In the north he did not get beyond the limits 
of his ancestors. Urartu, which had so strenu- 
ously asserted and maintained its rights, was not 
disturbed at all, and remained an entirely inde- 
pendent kingdom. 

In the south Adad-nirari III was entirely suc- 
cessful, as he had been in the west. We have 
already seen that there was an expedition against 
Babylonia in 812, and this was followed in 803 by 
one against the Sea Lands about the Persian Gulf. 
In 796 and 795 Babylonia was again invaded. 
One of these campaigns, but which one is uncer- 
tain, was directed against a certain Bau-akhi-iddin, 
of whose personality or relation to Babylon we 
know nothing. He may have been king in 
Babylon at this time, or perhaps more probably a 
rebellious native prince. Assyrian influence was 
completely reestablished by these campaigns, and 
Babylonia again became practically an Assyrian 
province. The Assyrian Synchronistic History, 
from which we have largely and repeatedly drawn 



98 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

in the narrative of several previous kings, was 
edited and compiled at this time as one of the 
signs of the emphatic union of the two peoples.. 
It was the purpose of Adad-nirari III to blot out 
completely the distinctions and differences be- 
tween them. He even began an intermixture of 
their reKgions. Though the Assyrians had begun 
their career as a separate people with the Babylo- 
nian religion as then taught and practiced, the 
two peoples had diverged through historical de- 
velopment, and were now in many points quite 
different in their religious usages. The Assyrians 
had introduced other gods, as, for instance, Asshur, 
into their pantheon, while the Babylonians, who 
had had less contact with the outer world, had 
made less change. Adad-nirari III now built in 
Assyria temples modeled carefully on Babylonian 
exemplars and introduced into them the forms of 
Bay Ionian worship with all its ritual. One of the 
most striking instances of this policy was the 
construction in Calah, his capital city, of a great 
temple, the counterpart of the temple of Ezida in 
Borsippa. Into this was brought from Borsippa 
the woi-ship of Nabu. The policy, strange as it 
was, met with a certain success, for Babylonia dis- 
appears almost wholly for a long time as a separ- 
ate state and Assyria alone finds mention. 

In connection with this introduction of the wor- 
ship of Nabu we get a single gleam of light upon 
some of the mythical history of Babylonia. There 
has been preserved a statue of Nabu, set up in the 



SHALMANESER II TO ASSHUR-NIRARI II. 99 

temple in Calah by Adad-nirari III, on the back 
of whicli is an inscription ' containing these words : 
" For the life of Adad-nirari, king of Assyria, its 
Lord [that is, of Calah], and for the life of Sam- 
muramat, the lady of the Palace and its Mistress.'' 
The name Sammuramat is plainly the Babylonian 
form of the Greek Semiramis. It may be that 
this Sammuramat is the original of the Semiramis 
of the story of Ktesias, though there is no further 
proof than the identity of the names — rather a 
slender basis for so much conjecture. It has been 
supposed by some that Sammuramat was the 
mother of the king, who ruled as regent during the 
earlier portion of the king's reign, for he must 
have been but little more than a lad when he be- 
came king. Others believe that Semiramis was 
the wife of the king, and perhaps a Babylonian 
princess. Either of these roles would have given 
her an opportunity for gi'eat deeds out of which 
the legend reported by Ktesias might easily grow, 
but it is impossible, in the present state of knowl- 
edge, to decide between them.' 

The reign of Adad-nirari III must be included 
in any list of the greatest reigns of Assyrian his- 
tory. No Assyrian king before him had actually 
ruled over so wide an extent of territory, and none 

' I R. 86, No. 2, Abel-Winckler, KeiUchrifttexte^ p. 14. Two specimens 
of the Kabu statue with the same inscription are in the British Museum. 

*Tiele (Oeschichte^ pp. 212, 213) holds Sammuramat to be the mother 
rather than the wife, and Hommel (Oesehichte^ pp. 630, ff.) follows this 
Tiew, giving his reasons for its holding. On the other hand, Winckler 
(Oea^UehU, p. 120, 1) holds to the view that she was the king^s wife. 



100 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

had ever possessed, in addition to this, so exten- 
sive a circle of tribute-paying states. Though he 
had done little in the northeast and nothing in the 
north, he had immensely increased Assyrian pres- 
tige in the west, and in the south Babylonia^ with 
all its traditions of glory and honor, had become 
an integral part of his dominions. 

After his reign there comes slowly but surely 
a period of strange, almost inexplicable, decline. 
Of the next three reigns we have no single royal 
inscription, and are confined to the brief notes of 
the Eponym Lists. Prom these we learn too little 
to enable us to follow the decline of Assyrian 
fortunes, but we gain here and there a glimpse of 
it, and see also not less vividly the growth of a 
strong northern power which should vex Assyrian 
kings for centuries. 

The successor of Adad-nirari III was Shalmar 
neser III (782-773), to whom the Eponym lists 
ascribe ten campaigns. Some of these were of 
little consequence. One was against the land of 
Namri, an eastern tributary country of which we 
have heard much in previous reigns. It had prob- 
ably not paid the regular tribute, which had there- 
fore to be collected in the presence of an army. 
No less than six of the campaigns were directed 
against the land of Urartu. We know nothing 
directly of these campaigns and their results. But 
the history of a time not very distant shows that 
these campaigns were more than the usual tribute- 
collecting and plundering expeditions. They were 



SHALMANESER II TO ASSHUR-NIRARI II. 101 

rather the ineffectual protests of Assyria against 
the growth of a kingdom which was now strong 
enough to prevent any further Assyrian tribute 
collecting within its borders, and would soon be 
able to wrench from Assyrian control the fair 
lands of Nairi. A loss so great as that might well 
give the Assyrian kings cause for anxiety and for 
desperate efforts to hinder the development of the 
enemy. This loss of tributary territory in the 
north had apparently already begun in this reign, 
but there were no other losses of territory else- 
where, and the reign ended with the substantial 
external integrity of the empire which Asshur- 
nazirpal had won. 

The next king was Asshur-dan III (772-755), 
in whose reign the decay of Assyrian power was 
rapid, in spite of strenuous efforts to maintain it, 
and in spite of success in its maintenance in cer- 
tain places. In the year 773, when hia reign actu- 
ally began, though, according to Assyrian reckon- 
ing, 772 was the first official year, he led a cam- 
paign against Damascus. In 772 and again in 755 
he marched against Khatarikka in Syria. These 
three western campaigns show that, however much 
Assyria had lost in the north, it had not yet given 
up any claim on the prosperous lands beyond the 
Euphrates. And the two invasions of Babylonia 
— 771 and 767 — are evidence of the same facts as 
regards that land. Asshur-dan III was plainly 
endeavoring to hold all that his fathers had won, 
but he had as yet undertaken no campaigns against 



102 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

any new territory. Whatever he may have planned 
or intended to do in that way was made impossi- 
ble by a series of rebellions in Assyrian territory. 
The first of these began in 763 in the city of 
Asvshur, the ancient political and religious center 
of the kingdom. We do not know its origin, but 
the general character of ancient oriental rebel- 
lions and the succession of events which imme- 
diately follow in this story make it seem probable 
that some pretender had attempted to seize the 
throne. The attempt failed for the present and 
the rebellion was put down in the same year. 

This was shortly followed by another rebellion, 
also of unknown cause, in the province of Arpakha, 
known to the Greeks as Arrapachitis,* a territory 
on the watei's of the Upper Zab. While a third 
at Guzanu, in the land of the Khabur, took place 
in 759 and 758. These rebellions were signs of 
the changes that were impending, and could not 
long be delayed. 

To the superstition of the Assyrians there were 
other omens than defeats and losses in war, which 
must have seemed to indicate the approach of 
troublous days. In 763 the Eponym list records 
an eclipse of the sun in the month of Sivan. To 
the Assyrians this was probably an event of doubt 
and concern. To modern students it has been of 
great importance, because the astronomical deter- 
mination has given us a sure point of departure 

* 'ApfxiTraxlTtii Ptol. vi, 1, 2. 



SHALMANESER II TO ASSHUR-NIRARI II. 103 

for Assyrian clironology. In 759 there was a pes- 
tilence, another omen of gloom. 

The reign of Asshur-nirari 11 (754-745) was a 
period of peaceful decadence. In 754 he con- 
ducted a campaign against Arpad^ and in 749 and 
748 there were two expeditions against the land of 
Namri. With these expeditions the king made no 
eflfort to collect his tribute or to retain the vast 
territory which his fathers had won. Year after 
year the Eponym List has nothing to record but 
the phrase "in the country," , meaning thereby 
that the king was in Assyria and not absent at 
the head of his armies. 

In 746 there was an uprising in the city of 
Oalah. We know nothing of its origin or prog- 
ress. But in it Asshur-nirari IT disappears and the 
next year begins with a new dynasty. In the per- 
son of Asshur-nirari II ended the career of the 
great royal family which had ruled the fortunes 
of Assyria for centuries. 



104 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSTHIA. 



CHAPTER VL 

THE REIGNS OF TIGLATHPILB8ER HI AND SHAL- 

MANESEB IV. 

A MARVELOUS change in Assyria was wrought 
by the rebellion of 746 B. C. Before it there 
reigned the last king of a dynasty which had 
made the kingdom great and its name feared from 
east to west. A degenerate son of a distingaiahed 
line was he, and the power which had swept 
with a force almost resistless over mountain and 
valley was a useless thing in his hands. He re- 
mained in his royal city while the fairest provinces 
were taken away and added to the kingdom of 
Urartu, and while others boldly refused to pay 
tribute and defied hia waning army. After 746 
B. C. the Assyrian throne is occupied by a man 
whose very name before that time is so obscure 
and unworthy as to be discarded by its owner. 
We do not know the origin of this strange man, 
for in the pride of later years he never mentioned 
either father or mother, who were probably hum- 
ble folk not dwelling in kings' houses. He was 
perhaps an army conunander ; an officer who had 
led some part of the greatest standing army that 
the world had then known. He may also have 
held a civil post as governor of some province or 



TIGLATHPILESER m AND SHALMANESER IV. 105 

district. In his career that was now to begin he 
displayed both military and civil ability of such 
high order that we are almost driven to believe 
that he had been schooled by experience in both 
branches of effort His reign was not very long, 
so that he probably gained the throne compar- 
atively late in life, at a time when the power of 
adaptation is less strong than in youth, when the 
years of a man's life are devoted rather to the dis- 
play of powers already acquired than to the de- 
velopment of new ones. We do not know whether 
he set on foot the rebellion which dethroned 
Asshur-nirari II or merely turned to his own pur- 
poses an uprising brought about by others. In 
either case he acted with decision, for he was 
crowned king in 745, the next year after the 
rebellion. He was well known as a man of re- 
sources and of severity, for no rebelUon against 
him arose, and no pretender dared attempt to diive 
him from power. He spent no time in marcliing 
through the land to overawe possible opponents, but 
at once began operations outside the boundaries of 
the old kingdom. That he should dare to leave 
his capital and his country immediately after his 
proclamation shows how sure he was of his own 
ability, and how confident that hia personal popu- 
larity or his reputation for severe discipline would 
maintain the peace. Whatever the name of his 
youth and manhood may have been he was pro- 
claimed under the name and style of Tiglathpileser, 
adopting as his own the name which had been 



106 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

made famous by the great Assyrian conqueror, 
whom he emulated in the number and success of 
his campaigns, and greatly surpassed in the per- 
manency of the results obtained. The name of 
Tiglathpileser would undoubtedly strengthen him 
in the popular mind; for it is beyond question 
that in a land like Assyria, in which writing, even 
in the earliest times, was so constantly practiced, 
some acquaintance with the history of their kings 
was diffused among even the common people. He 
was plainly not a descendant of the kings who 
preceded him, or he would certainly have followed 
the usual custom of Assyrian kings and set down 
the names of his ancestors with all their titles. 
He alludes indeed to " the kings, my fathers," * 
but this is a boast without meaning when unac- 
companied by the names. 

There is another proof of his humble origin to 
be found in the contemptuous treatment of his 
monumental inscriptions by a later king. Tiglath- 
pileser restored, for his occupancy, the great palace 
erected by Shalmaneser H in Calah. Upon the 
walls of its great rooms he set up slabs of stone 
upon which were beautifully engraved inscriptions 
recounting the campaigns of his reign. When 
Esarhaddon came to build his palace he stripped 
from the walls these great slabs of Tiglathpileser 
that he might use them for his own inscriptions. 
He caused his workmen to plane off their edges, so 
destroying both beginning and ending of some in- 

1 Annals, lines 19 ; clay tablet, line 26 (U R. 6Y). 



TIGLATHPILESER III AND SHALMANESER IV. 107 

scriptions, and purposed then to have his own 
records carved upon them. He died without en- 
tirely completing his purpose, or we should have 
been left almost ^thout annalistic accoimts of the 
events of the reign of Tiglathpileser. Such treat- 
ment as this was never given to any royal inscrip- 
tions before, and we may justly see in it a slight 
upon the memory of the great plebeian king. 

Were it not for the vandalism of the king Esar- 
haddon we should be admirably supplied with his- 
torical material for the reign of Tiglathpileser. He 
left behind him no less than three distinct classes 
of inscriptions.' Of these the first class consist of 
the stone inscriptions, in which the events of the 
reign are narrated in chronological order. These, 
the most important of his inscriptions, are in a 
bad state of preservation through the mutila- 
tions of Esarhaddon. The second class of the in- 

1 The chief inscriptioQ material of the reign of Tiglathpileser III is the 
following : (a) The Annals, badly defaced by Esarhaddon, the most legible 
portions of which are published by Layard, Inscriptions in the Cuneiform 
Char.^ plates S4a, etc., and afterward much more accurately by Paul Rost, 
Die KeilschrifUexte IXgicU-Pilesers III^ vol. ii, plates i-xviii. He has also 
carefully arranged and translated them into German, ibid., i, pp. 2-41. 
(b) The Slabs of Nimroud, published first by Layard, op.cU,^ plates 1 Y, 18, and 
Rost, i, plates xxiz-xxxiii. They are well translated by Rost, i, pp. 42-63, 
and by Schrader, KeUinschrift. BibLy ii, pp. 2-9. (c) The clay tablets are 
as follows: 1. British Museum, E. 8751, published II R. 67, and Rost, ii, 
plates xxxY-xxxviii, and translated by him, i, pp. 64-77. 2. British Mu- 
seum, DT. 8, a duplicate of E. 3751, published by Schrader, Abh. Preuss, 
Ak. d. IT., 1879, No. viii, plate i and accompanying photograph, and also 
by Rosi, ii, plate xxxiv. There is an English translation of E. 8761 by S. 
Arthur Strong in Records of the Pasty New Series, v, pp. 116, flf. (d) The 
smaller inscriptions, which contain simply lists of places conquered, are : 

1. in R. 10, No. 2, and Rost, ii, plate xxvii, translated i, pp. 84, 86, and 

2. British Museum, E. 2649, Rost, ii, plate xxiv, C, transliterated i, p. 86. 



108 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

scriptions, written upon clay, give accounts of the 
king's campaigns grouped in geographical order; 
whUe the third class, also on clay, give mere lists 
of the countries conquered without details of any 
kind. If all this abundant material had been as 
carefully preserved as the inscriptions of Asshur- 
nazirpal, we should be able to present a clear view 
of the entire reign. As it is, questions of order 
sometimes arise which render difficult the setting 
forth of a consecutive narrative. 

It was in the month of Aim 745 B, C. that 
Tiglathpileser III (745-727) ascended the throne. 
As the year had but just begun, this was counted, 
contrary to the usual custom, as the first year of 
the reign. In the month of September he set out 
upon his first campaign, which was directed 
against Babylonia. In Babylonia there had also 
been dull days, while the Assyrian power was 
dwindling away. After Marduk - balatsu - iqbi 
there reigned Bau-akh-iddin, of whom later days 
seemed to have preserved no recollection save 
that he was a contemporary of Adad-nirari III. 
If monuments of his reign are still in existence, 
they are concealed in the yet unexplored mounds 
of his country. After him Babylonia had two, 
or perhaps even three, kings whose names as well 
as their deeds are lost to us. If there had arisen 
in Babylonia at that time a king such as the land 
had seen before, a man of action and of courage, 
independence might probably have been achieved 
without a struggle. But instead of that the 



TIGLATHPILESER m AND SHALMANESER IV. 109 

kingdom fell into fresh bondage. The nomadic 
Aramseans, communities of whom had given so 
much trouble to the Assyrians, had invaded Baby- 
lonia from the south and taken possession of im- 
portant cities like Sippar and Dur-Kurigalzu. So 
powerful and numerous were they that they threat- 
ened to engulf the country and blot out the civ- 
ilization of Babylonia. After the loss of two or 
three names we come again upon the name of 
Nabu-shum-ishkun, who reigned, how long we do 
not know, in this period of Babylonian decline. 
He was succeeded in 747 by Nabu-nasir, commonly 
known as Nabonassar (747-734 B. C). Like his 
predecessors, he was unable to control the Ara- 
mseans, and when Tiglathpileser III entered the 
land he was acclaimed as a deliverer.* The march 
of the new Assyrian king southward had been a 
continuous victory. He moved east of the Tigris 
along the foothills of the naountains of Elam, con- 
quering several nomadic tribes such as the Puqudu 
and the Li'tan. He then turned westward and 
attacked Sippar, overcoming its Aramaean intrud- 
ers, and doing a like service to Dur-Kurigalzu. 
He marched south as far as Nippur and there 
tamed about.* By this campaign he had so 
thoroughly disciplined the Aramaean invaders and 

* Some assyriologiBts (for example, Tiele, OetchichU^ pp. 21Y, 218; Rost, 
LU KeiUekrifUexie TtpUU-Paesen III, i, pp. 18, 14) have held that Tig- 
lathpfleaer was considered an enemy, but the expressions in his- texts seem 
to me to point to a pacific reception. So also Hommel (OeseMehte, pp. 
661, 662) and Winckler {OetehiehU, pp. 121-123, 222, 228). 

* Annals, lines 1-25; clay tablet, 1-18. 



110 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

overcome all discordant elements that he was able 
to give a new order of government and life to the 
state. 

It is a striking commentary on the political and 
civil ability of this extraordinary man that he 
was able to begin a new order of administration 
for subject territory in the first year of his reign, 
and as a part of his first campaign. He had re- 
conquered Babylonia as far south as Nippur, for 
Babylonian and Assyrian control over it had prac- 
tically been lost. He was not satisfied with the 
payment of a heavy tribute, but reorganized the 
whole government of the territory. He first sub- 
divided it into four provinces, placing Assyrian 
governors over them, and then built two cities 
as administrative centers. The first of these waa 
called Kar- Asshur, located near the Zab. The name 
of the second is not given in the Annals, but it 
was probably Dur-Tukulti-apal-esharra.* These 
were made royal residences, each being provided 
with a palace for the king's occupancy; The sec- 
ond was required to pay the great tribute of ten 
talents of gold and one thousand talents of silver. 
In each the king set up a monument, with his 
portrait as a sign of the dominion which he 
claimed, and in both people from the other con- 
quered districts were settled. This plan of plant- 
ing colonies and of transporting captives from 
place to place had indeed been tried on a small 

» Comp. RoBt, KeiUchri/Uexie Tifflal-IHleaert ///(Leipzig, 1893), i, p. 7y 

note 1. 

f 



TIGLATHPILESER m AND SHALMANESER IV. Ill 

scale by other Assyrian kings, but it had never 
been adopted as a fixed and settled policy. From 
this time onward we shall meet with it frequently. 
Tiglathpileser III consistently followed it during 
his whole reign, trying thereby to break down 
national feeling, and to sever local ties in order 
that the mighty empire which he founded might 
be in some measure homogeneous. 

When the Aramaean nomads had been overcome 
and the land had received its new order of gov- 
ernment, the king offered sacrifices in Sippar, 
Nippur, Babylon, Borsippa, and in other less im- 
portant cities, to Mai'duk, Bel, Nabu, and other 
gods. It was a fruitful year. Never before had 
the land of Babylonia been brought into such 
complete subjection to Assyria. Nabonassar was 
a king only in name ; the real monarch lived in 
Galah. So small indeed is his influence from the 
Assyrian point of view that he is not even men- 
tioned in Tiglathpileser's accounts of the cam- 
paign; he is simply ignored as though he was 
not. To such a sorry pass had come a man who 
was nominally king of Babylon. Yet, though thus 
despised by the Assyrian overlord, Nabonassar is 
still called king by the Babylonians, who held con- 
trol of the national records. In them it is still 
his name and not his conqueror's which stands in 
the honored list of Babylon's rulers. 

Having thus left affairs in a safe condition in the 
south, Tiglathpileser III next turned his attention 
to the troublesome lands east of Assvria. We have 



112 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

already seen how frequently the Assyrian kings 
had to invade their territory in order to collect the 
unwillingly paid tribute. The first of these lands 
to be invaded was Namri. The Assyrian people 
who lived along their own borders and hence close 
to Namri had suffered much from the incursions 
of half -barbaric hordes which swept down from the 
mountains and plundered their crops and other 
possessions. These movements in and through 
Namri made up a situation similar to that which 
Tiglathpileser had just settled in Babylonia. The 
march through Namri and thence northward 
through Bit-Zatti, Bit-Abdadani, Arziah, and other 
districts to Nishai was marked by ruins and burn- 
ing heaps. Bat the entire campaign was not filled 
with works of ruin. The districts of Bit-Sumurzu 
and Bit-Khamban were added to the territory of 
Assyria and received the benefits of Assyrian gov- 
ernment. The city of Nikur, which had been de- 
stroyed in the beginning of the campaign, was en- 
tirely rebuilt * and resettled with colonists brought 
from other conquered lands. This became, there- 
fore, a center around which Assyrian influences 
might crystallize. The campaign was fruitful in 
definite results, as the expeditions of Asshumazir- 
pal, seeking only plunder, never could be. The 
king did not personally enter the heart of Media, 
but sent an army under command of Asshur-dani- 
nani to punish the tribes south of the Caspian 
Sea ; but to follow its marches is beyond our pres- 

' Annals, line 86. 



TIGLATHPILESER in AND SHALMANESER IV. 113 

ent geographical knowledge.' A second expedi- 
tion * into Media was necessary in 737, when the 
process of settling colonists in troublesome dis- 
tricts was further carried Out. No such control 
over Indo-European inhabitants of the mountain 
lands of Media was, however, achieved as had 
been secured over the Semites of Babylonia, and 
Media remained practically independent and ready 
to give trouble to later Assyrian kings, and even 
to have an important share in the breaking up of 
the monarchy which was now harrying it. 

But if Tiglathpileser was confronted by a diffi- 
<^ult situation in Babylonia and a more difficult one 
in Media, and the lands between it and Assyria, his 
difficulties may justly be said to have been co- 
lossal when one views the state of affairs in the 
north. As we have already seen, the weakness 
and decadence of Assyria after the reign of Shal- 
maneser 11 had given a great opportunity to 
Urartu, and kings of force and ability had arisen 
in the land to seize it. Of the kings of Urartu 
Argistis had taken from Assyria the hard-won 
lands of Dayaeni and Nirbi, and had overrun, plun- 
dering and burning, the whole great territory ly- 
ing north of Assyria proper, and as far east as 
Parsua, east of Lake Urumiyeh." 

Great though these conquests undoubtedly were, 



> Axmab, lines 26-68. 
* Annals, lines 167, if. 

' See the great historical inscription of Argistis, translated by Sayoe, 
Jieeortk o/iheFattj Xew Series, vol iv, pp. 117, ft. 
8 



114 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

and dangerous as was the threat against Assyrian 
power, they were far surpassed in the reign of 
Sarduris II, who succeeded Argistis, while Asshur- 
dan III was impotently ruling in Assyria. Sar- 
duris broke down and destroyed the whole circle 
of tribute-paying states dependent upon Assyria 
in the north. His conquests and annexations to 
the kingdom of Urartu or Chaldia continued in a 
westerly direction until he had overrun the most 
northern parts of Syria, comprising the territory 
north of the Taurus and west of the Euphratea 
He even claimed the title of king of Sun — that is, 
of Syria. His next move was the formation of an 
alliance with Matilu of Agusi, Sulumal of Melid, 
Tarkhulara of Gurgum, Kushtashpi of Kummukh, 
and with several other northern princes, among 
them probably Panammu of Sam'al and Pisiris of 
Carchemish. These princes probably did not give 
a willing ear to the solicitations of Sarduris H, as 
a neighboring friendly prince, for a defensive alli- 
ance against the encroachments of the powerful 
Assyrian kingdom, but were rather forced into 
such an alliance. Accompanied by these allies, 
whether of their own will or not, Sarduris marched 
against the west. The inscriptions which have 
come down to us render it exceedingly difficult to 
follow perfectly the movements in this campaign, 
but the following is the probable order and mean- 
ing of them. At about the same time of Sar- 
daris's march westward Tiglathpileser also in- 
vaded the west, directing his attack against the 



TIGLATHPILESER m AND SHALMANESER IV. 115 

city of Arpad — the real key of the northern part 
of Syria. It had belonged to Assyria, as a tribute- 
paying state, but now actually formed part of the 
new kingdom of Urartu. If Tiglathpileser could 
restore it to his kingdom, he would make a long 
step forward in the restoration of Assyrian pres- 
tige in all the west. He besieged the city and 
could probably have reduced it. Sarduris did 
not come directly to its aid, but instead threatened 
Assyria itself, and so forced Tiglathpileser to raise 
the siege and return by forced marches. On his 
return he crossed the Euphrates, probably below 
Til-Barsip, and he then turned northward. The 
two armies met in the southeastern part of Kum- 
mukh between Kishtan and Khalpi, and Sarduris 
was forced to retire. Tiglathpileser pursued, de- 
stroying as he went the cities of Izzida, Ququ- 
sanshu, and Kharbisina, until he reached the 
Euphrates north of Amid.' Here the pursuit 
ended, for he did not cross the river, whether be- 
cause he thought his purpose fully accomplished 
or because his army was too weak for the venture 
we do not know. 

The result of this conflict was overpowering, 
and its direct consequences ai*e to be seen in the 
next three campaigns. From Sarduris the Aasyr« 
ians took a great mass of spoil in camp equipage 
and in costly stuffs and precious metals, together 
with a large number of captives. In the enumer- 

> Annalft, lines 59-73. See Rost, op. eU.^ i, pp. 12-15, and, for the pai> 
mUel accounts, also pp. 50-58, and 66-69. 



116 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

ation of these trophies there is probably gross ex- 
aggeration, but there is no reason to doubt the 
truth of the main fact that a very great victory 
was won. The moral effect of it was far more 
important than all the gain in treasure. The al- 
lies of Sarduris at once sent presents and tribute 
to Tiglathpileser, and the entire Syrian country 
was once more opened to Assyrian invasion with- 
out fear of opposition from Urartu. There is a 
curious parallel in all this to the resistance offered 
by Damascus and its allies to Shalmaneser IL' As 
soon as the alliance which Ben-Hadad II had 
formed lost its cohesiveness Syria was speedily 
ravaged by Shalmaneser.* In the latter case a 
most promising alliance had been formed under 
the leadership of Sarduris. If the selfish commer- 
cial interests of the Phoenicians could have been 
laid aside, and if the Syrian states had once more 
heartily united, the Assyrians would have been 
easily overcome and the west saved from all im- 
mediate danger of Assyrian invasion. But these 
petty unions, which dissolved after the striking of 
one blow, were more harmful than usef qL By 
them the Assyrians were only maddened, and their 
natural thirst for booty and commercial expansion 
increased to a passion. The cities which partici- 
pated in the alliances were ruthlessly destroyed 
in revenge, and fertile countries laid waste. 

In the next year (742 B. C.) Tiglathpileser, free 

* See above, pp. 78-80. 
' See p. 88. 



TIGLATHPILESER UI AND SHALMANESER IV. 117 

from all fear of interference from Urartu/ under- 
took the reduction of Ai'pad. He could make 
no further gains in Syria until that city was over- 
come^ for the rich cities along the Mediterranean 
could not be expected to fear the Assyrians and 
to pay tribute so long as a city smaller in size 
and nearer to Assyria held out against the eastern 
power. We know nothing of the details of the 
siege. It was prolonged in a most sm'prising fashion, 
for Arpad did not fall until 740. Our ignorance 
of the two years' siege probably spares us the 
knowledge of barbarous scenes, of the slaughter of 
helpless women and children, of the flaying of 
men alive, and of the impaling of others on stakes 
about the city walls. It is not to be supposed that 
a city which had so long resisted the great god 
Asshur and the king whom he had sent would 
come off lightly. The fall of Arpad was the signal 
for the prompt appearance before Tiglathpileser 
of messengers from nearly all the neighboring 
states with presents of gold and silver, of ivory, 
and of pui'ple robes. In the city of Arpad he re- 
ceived these gifts, and with them the homage of 
all the west, which would endure any amount of 
shame and ignominy, and desired only to be left 
alone. One state only sent no presents and offered 
no homage. Tutammu, king of Unqi, alone dared 
to resist Assyria. Unqi was at this time but a 

' Sardaris was not strong enough to leave his mountain passes. His rela- 
tion to all these attacks of the Assyrians has been finely treated in detail 
by Belck and Lehmann (*' Chaldische Forschungen "in Verhandlungen der 
Berl, anthrap. Geadl, 1896, pp. 825-836). 



118 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYMA. 

small state probably nearly coterminous with the 
state of Patin, between the Afrin and the Orontes.' 
Tiglathpileser at once invaded his country and 
took the capital, Kinalia, which was utterly de- 
stroyed. The defiant king was taken prisoner, 
and his little kingdom, provided ^vith Assyrian 
governors,' was made a part of the Assyrian em- 
pire which Tiglathpileser was now forming. This 
little episode furnished a new point to the moral 
of Arpad which would not be lost on the other 
states of Syria. 

The west had been severely punished and might 
be left to meditation for a time. In 739 Tiglath- 
pileser set out to win back to Assyria a part of 
the lands of Nairi which had fallen under the 
control of Urartu. We have no accounts of the 
'•ampaign, and know only that Ulluba and Kilkhi, 
two districts of Nairi, were taken. These were 
not plundered according to the former fashion, 
but actually incorporated with Assyria, and pro- 
vided with an Assyrian governor, who made his 
residence in the lately buUt city of Asshur-iqisha. 
Another campaign against the same districts was 
made in 736 B. C. This carried the conquests up 
to Mount Nal, and so to the very borders of 
Urartu. It is perfectly clear that both these 
campaigns were but preparatoiy to an invasion of 



' Comp. TomkiDB {Bab. and Orient. Record, iii, 6) for identification of 
Unqi with Amq, and see Rost (Tigla1hpUe$er^ i, p. xxi, note 1) for the ex- 
tent of Unqi. 

' Annals, lines 92-101. 



TIGLATHPILESER m AND SHALMANESER IV. 119 

Urartu, which was plainly already planned and 
soon to be attempted. These two campaigns were 
meant only to weaken the southern defenses of 
Urartu, Perhaps the king, even in 739 or in 738, 
would have attempted to follow up the victories 
which he had gained but for the breaking out of 
rebellions in Syria and along the Phoenician coast. 
The whole development of Assyrian policy with 
reference to Syria and Palestine is so intensely in- 
teresting for many reasons that it is unfortunate 
that we are left with such fi'agmentary lines at 
the very point in the Annals where the events of 
this important year are narrated. We must again 
resort to conjecture for the defining of the order 
of events, though the main facts are clear enough. 
Among the princes and kings who formed a com- 
bination to refuse to pay Assyrian tribute and to 
resist its collection by force, if necessary, Azariah, 
or Uzziah, of Judah, seems to have been very in- 
fluential, if not an actual leader, exercising a sort 
of hegemony over the other states of Palestine and 
Syria. To support him the states of Hamath, 
Damascus, Kummukh, Tyre, Gebal, Que, Melid, 
Carchemish, Samaria, and others to the total num- 
ber of nineteen had banded together. It was cer- 
tainly a most promising coalition. If the forces 
which these states were able to put into the field 
were brought together and beaten into warlike 
shape by a leader of men and a skillful soldier, 
there was good reason to hope for an annihilation 
of the army of Tiglathpileser, There is no reason 



120 HISTORY OP BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

to doubt that Uzziah (Azariah) was equal to the 
task, colossal though it was, if he had a loyal sup- 
port from his allies^ and if all would make com- 
mon cause against their oppressor. We can only 
watch and see the end of eflfectual opposition to 
Assyria through the weakness of some members of 
this alliance. Tiglathpileser came west, and, pass- 
ing by the countries of some of the allies, started 
southward into Palestine, making as though he 
would enter Judah and attack the ringleader, Uz- 
ziah, before the allies could effectually concentrate 
their forces. As soon as he entered Samaria, 
Menahem, the king, threw down his arms and paid 
to the Assyrians one thousand talents of silver as 
a token of his acknowledgment of subjection. We 
do not know all the reasons for this move. It may 
have been necessary in order to save the land from 
utter destruction if no assistance could be secured 
elsewhere. But it looks at this distance, and on 
the surface, like an act of cowardice and a be- 
trayal of the oath of confederation. The weak- 
ness or the blundering, or both, in all these 
western alliances becomes more evident in every 
successive campaign. It might well be supposed 
that the dread of national extinction which had 
been threatened in every successive Assyrian in- 
vasion would have overcome the weakness, and 
long use undone the blundering. On the pay- 
ment of this tribute Tiglathpileser abandoned the 
attack on Judah and began to conquer, probably 

1 2 Kings XV, 19, 20. 




TIGLATHPILESER in AND SHALMANESER IV. 121 

one by one, the districts which had joined in the 
union for defense. We have no full account of 
this overwhelming campaign. One city only, with 
the name of Kullani, possibly the biblical Kalneh," 
is specifically mentioned as being captured, though 
the extent of territory actually occupied was so 
extensive that many must have been taken. The 
whole country, from Unqi and Arpad on the one 
side and Damascus and the Lebanon on the other, 
and on to the Mediterranean coast, was added to 
Assyrian territory and provided with an Assyrian 
governor. In this territory the colonizing plans 
of Tiglathpileser were applied on an extensive 
scale. Into it thirty thousand colonists were 
brought from the lands of Ulluba and Kilkhi, 
conquered in 739, while thousands were carried 
out of it to supply the places left vacant by the 
exiles. When Tiglathpileser turned his face home- 
ward he carried with him a heavy treasure, in 
which were mingled the tributes of Kushtashpi 
of Kummukh, Rezin of Damascus, Menahem of 
Samaria, Hirom of Tyre, Sibittibi'li of Gebal, 
Urikki of Que, Pisiris of Carchemish, Enilu of 
Hamath, Panammu of Sam'al, Tarkhulara of 6ur- 
gum, Sulumal of Melid, Dadilu of Kask, Uas- 
surmS of Tabal, Ushkhitti of Atun, Urballa of 
Tokhan, Tukhammi of Ishtunda, Urimmi of Khu- 
bishna, and of Queen Zabibi of Arabia. It is a 
roll not of honor, but of dishonor, and Uzziah 
might well have been proud that his name does 

' laa. z, 9, and Amoe vi, 2. The exact location is unknown. 

a 



122 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

not appear upon it. Capacity and courage, with 
some national spirit and patriotism, in even a few 
of these might have saved the country, or at least 
postponed the evil day of its undoing. 

While these events were happening in the west 
the policy of Tiglathpileser was receiving in the 
east signal proofs of its wisdom. Among the 
Aramaeans east of the Tigris certain communities 
rose in rebellion against Assyria. Under the old 
regime such an uprising near the capital would 
have caused the liveliest concern. The king 
would have hurried home from his labors in 
the west and himself have quelled the rebellion. 
But Tiglathpileser had provided the rudiments of 
a system of provincial government. We have 
already seen how ready he was at the very begin- 
ning of his reign to set up provincial governors 
with powers of administration over certain definite 
districts, and with force sufficient to maintain 
order. They wei'e now responsible for the main- 
tenance of the portion of the empire under their 
immediate control, and well they knew that they 
would be held to a strict accounting for their 
work. On the old method perhaps all that he 
had gained in the west would have been lost and 
all the work would have had to be begun agtun. 
In this instance, however, the Assyrian governors 
of LuUurae and of Nairi, at the heads of armies, 
invaded the rebellious district and put down the 
uprising with the utmost severity. When this 
was accomplished there was another display of 



TIGLATHPILESER III AND SHALMANESER IV. 123 

colonizing activity on a colossal scale. From these 
turbulent districts men were deported and settled 
at Kinalia^ the capital of Unqi, while others were 
settled in various parts of the new province of 
Syria.' 

In 735 the time had fully come for the effort to 
break down the kingdom of Urartu (Chaldia). 
We have seen how carefully this campaign was 
planned, and how Tiglathpileser worked up to it. 
Unfortunately the Annals are not preserved in 
which the story of the campaign was told, and we 
must rely again upon the looser statements of his 
other inscriptions. With very little opposition Tig- 
lathpileser penetrated the country up to the gates 
of the capital city, Turuspa (Van). Here the people 
of Urartu struck a blow, but were defeated and 
forced to withdraw within the walls. Tiglath- 
pileser began a siege, but could not reduce the 
city because he had no navy with which to at- 
tack or blockade on the lake side, and so could 
not starve it into submission. It was also so well 
fortified on the land side that he was unable to 
carry it by assault. While engaged in the siege 
he sent an army through the country, which made 
its way as far as Mount Birdashu, the location of 
which is not known. This expedition destroyed a 
number of cities on the Euphrates and plundered 
the inhabitants. 

After some ineffectual fighting about the capital 
Tiglathpileser raised the siege and departed. He 

1 Annals, lines 134-150. 



124 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

had not succeeded in adding the kingdom of Urartu 
to Assyria, but he had broken its spirit, and we 
hear no more of its power and defiance for some 
years. The gain to Tiglathpileser by the cam- 
paign was the removing of all danger of a flank 
movement from the north when he was engaged 
in carrying out his plans in the west, where his 
work was still unfinished. In 734 we find him 
again on the shores of the Mediterranean, having 
probably crossed the plains of Syria near Damas- 
cus and gone straight to the coast, which he fol* 
lowed southward. He had no fear of an attack in 
the rear from Tyre and Sidon, busily absorbed in 
sending out their merchant ships. It appears 
probable that the first city attacked was Ashdod 
or Ekron, which was easily taken, and then Graza 
was approached. The king of Gaza at this time 
was Hanno (Khanunu), who had no desire to 
meet the Assyrian conqueror, and therefore fled 
to Egypt, leaving the city to stand if it were at- 
tacked. He hoped to secure the help of the Egyp- 
tians in opposing the Assyrian advance. Again 
selfishness interfered with the placing of a stone in 
the way of Assyrian progress. If the Egyptians 
had had any wise conception of the situation in 
western Asia at this period, they would have seen 
that the very highest self-interest demanded the 
giving of help to the weak city of Gaza. Gaza 
was the last fortified city on the way to Egypt 
from the north. It would serve well as a place 
for the defense of the Egyptian borders, for who 



TIGLATHPILESER HI AND SHALMANESER IV. 125 

could say, after the events of the past few years, 
when Tiglathpileser III would plan to attack 
Egypt? Indeed who could say that this man 
who planned so far in advance of events had not 
already purposed an invasion of the land of the 
Nile? One by one the coalitions formed against 
him m Syria had been broken down. A wise 
policy in Egypt would have aided these combina- 
tions in oi'der to keep a buffer state, or a series of 
them, between i^pt and the ever-widening power 
of Assyria. It was too late for that. All but 
Judah were paying a regular tribute to Assyria. 
The last outpost on the coast — the city of Gaza — 
was now threatened. It was surely well to make 
a stand here, and it would probably have been 
easy to inspire in Judah, or even in Damascus 
and Hamath, the enthusiasm for another attempt 
against the Assyrians. But Gaza was foolishly 
left to its fate, and that was easy to foresee. The 
city was taken ; its goods and its gods were taken 
away to Assyria. In . its royal palace Tiglath- 
pileser set up his throne and his image in stone in 
token of another land added to Assyria. A native 
prince was appointed as a puppet king, whose chief 
concern must have been the collection of the heavy 
annual tribute for Assyria. The worship of the 
god Asshur was introduced along with that of the 
other gods native to the place.* One only of the 

■The inscription material for this campaign is badlj preserved. The 
chief source is III R No. 2, lines 8-11. See, for valuable discussion of the 
order of the campaign, Host, Tiglathpileser^ i, pp. xxviii, ff. 



126 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

methods of Tiglathpileser for the engrafting of a 
new state into his empire seems not to have been 
exhibited — there was no colonization. The cap- 
ture of Gaza seems but a small result for the cam- 
paigns of a year, for the taking of Ashkelon and 
Ekron, with places like Ri'raba, Ri'sisu, Gal'za, 
and Abilakka, can scarcely be counted as of much 
moment. In reality, however, the place was a 
very important outpost for Assyria. It would 
have been important for Egypt in the cause of de- 
fense, it was no less important for Assyria in the 
cause of offense, and we shall see shortly that it 
was thus used, and very effectively. 

Tiglathpileser had now disposed of the seacoast, 
and would be ready and free to attend to the 
reduction of the inland hill country of Palestine, 
which he had long been coveting. His plans had 
been well laid, and thus far admirably executed. 
He might safely have hoped for complete success 
as the direct result of his own prudence and skill, 
and without external assistance of any kind. But 
assistance he was to have through the tactless 
blundering of those who ought to have opposed 
him. Affairs were now in a very different state 
in Palestine from that in which they had been 
when his last attempt had been made, and Uzziah 
offered a manly and almost successful resistance. 
Uzziah had died in 736, and his son, Jotham, 
had ruled only two pitiful years and then left a 
weakened kingdom to Ahaz, who was only a boy 
when he ascended the throne. It would have been 



TIGLATHPILESER III AND SHALMANESER IV. 127 

no difficult task for Pekah, king of Samaria, and 
KeziD, king of Damascus, to have shown him the 
need of a new alliance against Assyria. 

We have paused often before over these dimin- 
ishing opportunities for union against Assyria. It 
is well for the entire understanding of the situa- 
tion that we pause again at this point. Ahaz was 
a weakling — of that the sequel leaves no doubt 
whatever ; but he was also stLff-necked and unwill- 
ing to take counsel, however excellent. The wis- 
dom of the prophet Isaiah, who was also an acute 
statesman, was lost on him. But in the nature of 
the case a man who, like him, gave little heed to 
the religion of Jehovah would be less likely to 
listen to a prophet's words than to the words of 
foreign kings. His introduction of the manners, 
customs, and worship of foreign nations shows 
how open he was to outside influences.' Coward 
though he was personally, he was king of a land 
with great resources for defensive war, as Uzziah 
had sufficiently shown. The way was again open for 
alliances which should include at least Damascus, 
Israel, and Judah. But the people of Damascus 
and of Israel were blind to all these opportunities, 
and saw only an opportunity for present personal 
gain. Menahem was dead, or his previous expe- 
rience with Tiglathpileser might have restrained 
his people from folly. His son, Pekahiah, was also 
dead, after a reign of only two years, and a usurper, 

' 2 Kings xri, 10, and comp. 2 Kings xxiii, 12. (There is a textual diffi- 
culty in the latter passage. See Benzinger, CommerUarf on the verse.) 



128 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



Fekahy was on the throne in Samaria. Kezin still 
reigned in Damascua These two saw in the 
youth and inexperience of Ahaz a chance for re* 
venge upon Judah and the enrichment of their 
own kingdoms. They united their forces and in- 
vaded JudaL So began the Syro-Ephraimitic war. 
They marched apparently south on the east side 
of Jordan, and first took Elath,' which Uzziah 
had added to the kingdom of Judah, and so greatly 
increased its commercial prosperity. From Elath 
they went northward, intending to attack Jeru- 
salem itself and overcome Judah at the very center. 
The situation was a terrible one for Ahaz. He 
would never be able to hold out single-handed 
against such foes. To whom should he torn for 
help ? There was no help in Egypt, for Egypt 
had not extended help to Hanno, and was now 
absorbed in a life-and-death struggle with Ethio- 
pia. There was an Assyrian party at his court 
which urged him to lean upon Tiglathpileser. His 
wisest counselor was Isaiah, but Isaiah he would 
not hear, and so he sent an embassy to meet Tig* 
lathpileser and sue for help against the Syro-Eph* 
raimitic combination. To get the necessary gifts 
for the winning of favor he stripped the tern- 
pie and emptied his own treasure-house." We do 
not know where the embassy met the Assyrian, 
though it was probably at some point in Syria* 
The gifts were presented, and Tiglathpileser at 

* 2 Kings xvi, 6. 
' 2 Kings xvi, 7, ff. 



TIGLATHPILESER HI AND SHALMANESER IV. 129 

onoe promised his help to Ahaz. It is a marvel- 
ous story of blindness, folly, and mismanagement 
on the one side and of almost fiendish wisdom 
and cunning on the other. All these plans of 
Damascus and Israel to plunder and divide Judah 
had played into the hands of Assyria. As soon 
as Tiglathpileser offered his first threat against 
Damascus and Israel the two allies left Judah and 
went northward. The danger to Jerusalem was 
therefore ended for the time, but the trouble for 
the rest of the country was only begun. The 
troops of Damascus and Israel were not withdrawn 
from Judah in order to oppose TiglathpUeser with 
united front, but each army withdrew into its own 
territory, there to await the pleasure of Tiglath- 
pileser. He decided to attack Samaria first, and 
in 733 the attempt was made. Tiglathpileser 
came down the seacoast past the tributary states 
of Tyre and Sidon, and turned into the plain of 
Esdraelon above Carmel. His own accounts fail 
us at this point, but the biblical narrative fills up 
the gap by the statement that he took Ijon, Abel- 
Beth-Ma'aka, Janoah, Qedesh, and Hazor, together 
with Gilead, Galilee, and the whole land of Naph- 
talL* It might be expected that he would now 
attack Samaria itself and perhaps slay the king. 
He was relieved of this by a party of assassins 
who slew Pekah, and then presented Hoshea to be 
made king in his place and to be subject to him.« 

Mil -* 

1 2 Kings XV, 29. 
' 2 Kings zv, 30. 

9 . • 



130 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

This completed the subjection of Israel, and 
Tiglathpileser was now able to turn to the far 
greater task of overcoming Damascus. Rezin was 
not discomfited by the conquest of Israel, and 
trusted that the army of Damascus, which had so 
glorious a record of bravery and victory, might 
triumph again. He met Tiglathpileser on the field 
of battle and was defeated, escaping very narrowly 
himself. The only thing that remained was to 
shut himself up in Damascus and withstand the 
siege if possible. He was soon beleaguered, with 
the most terrible devastation of the entire country 
about Damascus. Tiglathpileser boasts that he 
destroyed at this time five hundred and ninety- 
one cities, whose inhabitants, numbering thousands, 
were carried away, with all their possessions, to 
Assyria. At about the same time, and very prob- 
ably during the progress of the tedious siege, Tig- 
lathpileser sent an army into northern Arabia. A 
queen of Arabia, Zabibi, had paid him tribute in 
738, but since then we have no hint that he re- 
ceived anything more. Samsi was now queen, and 
she refused to pay any tribute and retired before 
the army, attempting to entice the Assyrians into 
the heart of the country. When at last she was 
overtaken and forced to fight the Assyrians were 
victorious ; Samsi was conquered and plundered of 
vast numbers of camels and oxen. An Assyrian 
governor was then left to watch her payment of 
tribute, though she was permitted to manage her 
own kingdom as she willed. The effect of this 



TIGLATHPILESER HI AND SHALMANESER IV. 131 

victory was almost magical. From nearly tlie 
entire land of Arabia even as far south as the 
kingdom of the Sab^ans deputations came bearing 
costly gifts for Tiglathpileser. This expedition 
produced little of permanent value for the Assyr- 
ian empire, but was for the time, at least, a means 
of adding to the imperial income. At the same 
time tribute was received from Ashkelon, as a sign 
that that hardy little state desired good relations 
with the conqueror. 

At last, about the end of 732, Damascus fell 
into the hands of Tiglathpileser III, and the last 
hope of the west was gone. Rezin was killed by 
his conqueror.' Tiglathpileser sat up his throne 
in the city which had so long and so bravely, 
although with so much unwisdom, withstood him 
and his predecessors. Well might he make merry 
within its walls, and receive royal honors and im- 
penal homage at the end of so long and bitter a 
struggla Ahaz of Judah came and visited him 
there, paying honor to the foreign conqueror who 
had indeed saved him from Syria and Israel, but 
whose people could never rest satisfied while Ju- 
dah was only a tribute-paying dependency and not 
actually a part of the empire. It is probable that 
other princes also paid him honor here, as they 
had done before. Tiglathpileser had no need to 
invade the west again. He had carried the bor- 

1 2 Kings xvi, 9. A broken tablet alluding to the death of Rezin was 
disoovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson (" Assyrian Discovery," Athenaum^ 
1862, ii, p. 246), but it has since disappeared. 



132 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

ders of Assyria far beyond any of his predecesson 
in that direction. By his colonizing methods he 
had began the assimilation of divers populations 
into one common whole. He had extended the 
field of operations for Assyrian conmierce all the 
way across Mesopotomia and Syria to the Phoeni- 
cian cities. Had his people been native to the 
seacoasty he might have undertaken to snatch the 
commerce of the Mediterranean. But there was 
no need for that in his time. Some problems and 
difficulties mast be left for the future to solve. 

While this long series of campaigns was in 
progress in the west Babylonia was first peacefol 
and then disturbed. In one sense the Assyrian 
protectorate, while it oppressed the native sense 
of dignity and independence, was a great blessing. 
It delivered the people from the need of a great 
standing army, and gave them a sense of security 
without it. The reign of Nabonassar was an age 
of literaiy activity, especially manifested in the 
study of histoiy and chronology,' and the leisure 
for such stady was won by Assyrian arms. In 
estimating the reign of Tiglathpileser this must not 
be left out of the account. 

With the end of the reign of Nabonassar, in 
733, the period of peace abruptly closed, if, in- 
deed, there had not been disturbances before that 
time. He was succeeded by his son, Nabu-nadin- 
zer (733-732), who was slain by a usurper, Nabu- 
shum-ukin, in the second year of his reign. It 

* See above, vol i, pp. 883, 845. 



TIGIATHPILESER m AND SHALMANESER IV. 133 

was at this time that Tiglathpileser was most 
deeply absorbed in delicate and diflScult operations 
in the west. It was impossible for him to leave 
to other hands the conduct of the siege of Damas- 
cus, or the direction of the important, though sub- 
sidiary, expeditions in Palestine and Arabia. For 
a season Babylonia must be left to its own re- 
sources ; which offered an opportunity to the tra- 
ditional enemies of Babylonia, the Chaldeans, or 
Aramaeans. The union of tribes made a successful 
attack on the country when Nabu-shum-ukin had 
reigned only about one month. Nabu-shum-ukin 
was deposed, and in his place UMnzer, a Chaldean 
prince of the state of Bit-Amukkani, was made 
king. This was in 732, and Tiglathpileser was 
still in camp before Damascus. With the acces- 
sion of Ukinzer, Babylonian unrest almost became 
a frenzy. There was a traditional hatred of the 
Chaldeans, and they were now masters in the 
land, and their hand was not light in mling. It 
is therefore not surprising that the priests, who 
were great landed proprietors, and the wealthier 
classes in general, who were despoiled of property 
by their new and hungry rulers, should have 
longed for the intervention of Tiglathpileser. 
Weary of the constant disturbances in the south, 
he decided to invade the land in 731, and make 
an end of the disturbances by giving to the people 
a new form of government with more perfect su- 
pervision. In his progress through the land he 
met first with the tribe of Silani, whose king. 



134 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Nabu-ushabsliiy shat himself ap in his capital, Sa^ 
rabani. The Assyrians took the city and destroyed 
it. Nabu-ushabshi was impaled in front of it as 
a warning to rebels, while his wife, his children, 
and his gods, with fifty-five thousand people, were 
carried into captivity.* The cities of Tarbasa and 
YabuUu were next utterly wasted, and thirty 
thousand of their inhabitants, with all their 
possessions, were carried away. The next victim 
in this bitter campaign was Zakiru, of the tribe of 
Sha^alli, who was carried in chains to Assyria, 
while his whole land was laid waste as though a 
storm of wind and wave had passed over it* 

The way was now open for an attack upon the 
real object of the expedition. Uldnzer had left 
Babylon and fled to the confines of his own tribe 
of Amukkani, where he shut himself up in his old 
capital of Sapia. If Tiglathpileser eicpected him 
to surrender on demand, he was mistaken. Uldnzer 
prepared for a siege. The season was now prob- 
ably late, as much time had been spent on the 
preliminary conquests, and there was not time to 
reduce the city by regular siege. Tiglathpileser 
therefore contented himself for this year with de- 
stroying the palm gardens about the city, leaving 
not one tree standing, and with wasting all the 
smaller cities and villages in the environs.* 

While this process of pacification was going on 

» II R. 6Y, lines 16-17. 
«i6tU, lines 19-22. . 
» Ibid., lines 22-26. 



TIGLATHPILESER UI AND SHALMANESER IV. 135 

other Chaldean princes were filled with fear lest 
their punishment should come next, and began to 
take steps to set themselves right with Tiglath- 
pileser. Of these Balasu (Belesys), the chief of 
the Dakkuri, sent gold, silver, and precious stones, 
as did also Nadin of Larak. But the most im- 
portant of these was Merodach-baladan, of the 
tribe of Yakin, king of the country of the Sea 
Lands, close to the Persian Gulf. He had never 
before given any form of submission to any Assyr- 
ian king, but now came, apparently in person, 
to Sapia and presented an immense gift of gold, 
precious stones, choice woods, embroidered robes, 
together with cattle and sheep.' Great though 
his submission was, the end was not yet with the 
family of Merodach-baladan. 

In the year 730 there are no events to record, 
but in 729 Tiglathpileser was again in Babylonia, 
and this time was able to take the stronghold of 
Sapia. Ukinzer was deposed, and the unrest of 
Babylonia was terminated. And now the plans 
which Tiglathpileser must have made years before 
could be ftilly carried out. He was determined to 
make an end of the ruling of Babylonia by native 
princes and instead govern it himself directly by 
making himself king. He instituted festivals in the 
principal Babylonian cities in honor of the great 
gods. In Babylon he offered sacrifices to Marduk, 
at Borsippa to Nabu, at Kutha to Nergal ; while 
other offerings less magnificent were made in 

^ U R. 67, lines 26-28. 



136 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Kisli, Nippur, Ur, and Sippar. He then, in Baby- 
lon, performed the great ceremony of taking the 
hands of Marduf By this act he was received 
as the son of the god and as the legitimate king of 
Babylon. On New Year's Day of the year 728 
he was proclaimed king in the ancient city of 
Hammurabi. At Babylon he was crowned under 
the name of Pola (Poros in the Ptolemaic canon), 
but whether he had borne this name before or 
had now adopted it in order that by change of 
name the Babylonians might be spared living 
under the name of Tiglathpileser — ^an Assyrian 
conqueror — is not known to us. This move of 
accepting the crown of Babylon had a great ad- 
vantage and an equally great disadvantage. It 
would act as an effectual bar to the Chaldeans, 
who would not dare another outbreak while the 
Assyrian king was king of Babylon, with his over- 
powering military forces in or about the city or 
within easy reach. On the other hand, this crown- 
ing involved a very great difficulty. It must be 
renewed every year ; every year must the hands of 
Marduk be taken. This might be almost impos- 
sible, for if there was a great insurrection at any 
point in the king's dominions, he would have to 
leave the seat of war at the time appointed and 
hasten to Babylon for the performance of the sym- 
bolic rite. It was not possible to transfer the 

1 EpoDjm Canon. See Keilintehrift, Bibl^ i, pp. 614, 216. The last 
Assyrian king who had taken the hands of Marduk was TuknlU-Ninib, 
about 1290 B. C. See above, page 14. 



TIGLATHPILESER UI AND SHALMANESER IV. 137 

capital of the empire to Babylon, for the Assyrians 
would have felt themselves dishonored by any such 
plan. Tiglathpileser must have felt sure of the 
stability of the empire and of the peace which he 
had won by the sword, or he would never have 
taken upon himself the burden of the crown of 
Babylon. In the next year, 727, he again per- 
formed the required rites and was again pro- 
claimed king in Babylon. He had reached the very 
sunmiit of the earthly magnificence of his age, and 
attained the goal coveted by the kings of Assyria 
before him. He was not only king of Sumer and 
Accad, but also king of Babylon. 

We have no knowledge of any other important 
events in his reign. It was almost wholly a reign 
of war and conquest. We know of only one build- 
ing operation, the reconstruction and improvement 
in Hittite style of the palace in Calah, which he 
occupied during most of his life, and which had 
been built by Shalmaneser H. In the month of 
Tebet of the year 727 the great king died.' 

It is difficult to estimate calmly and judiciously 
his reign or his character. He had come to the 
throne out of a rebellion. He found himself in 
possession of a small kingdom with tribute-paying 
dependencies, many in a state of unrest or of open 
rebellion. The name of Assyria had been made a 
dread and a terror among the nations by raids of 
almost imexampled butchery and destructiveness, 

' Babylonian Chronicle, col. i, line 24 ; Keilintchrift. BxU.y ii, pp. 276, 
277. 



138 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

but it was now not feared as before. Weak kings 
had been unable to hold together the fragile fabric 
which kings great in war, though not in adminis- 
tration, had built up. He made this small king- 
dom a unit, freeing it entirely from all semblance 
of rebellion or insurrection. He reconquered the 
tribute-paying countries, and then, by a master 
stroke of policy, but weakly attempted in certain 
places before, he made them integral parts of an 
empire. In every true sense he was the creator 
of the Assyrian empire out of a kingdom and a 
few dependencies. He made Assyria a world 
power, knitting province to province by unparal- 
leled colonizing, and transforming local into im- 
perial sentiment No king like him even in war 
had arisen in Assyria before, and in organization 
and administration he so far excelled them all as 
to be beyond comparison. 

In an inscription written the year before his 
death he sums up the record of his empire build- 
ing by the declaration that he ruled from the Per- 
sian Gulf in the south to Bikni in the east, and 
along the sea of the setting sun unto Egypt, and 
exhibits the same extent of territory in the titles 
which he wears, for he was then king of Kishshati, 
king of Assyria, king of Babylon, king of Sumer 
and Accad, king of the Four Quarters of the Earth. 
In him were thus united the titles which carried 
back the thought of man to the veiy earliest cen- 
ters of civilization in the southland, to the king- 
doms which had been made great by Gudea and 



TIGLATHPILESER UI AND SHALMANESER IV. 139 

Hammurabi, along with those which were linked 
with all the story of the north. In the face of a 
record like this none may grudge him the titles of 
*• great king " and " powerful king." The usurper 
had far outstripped men born to the purple. 

In the very month ' in which Tiglathpileser III 
died he was succeeded by Shalmaneser IV, who, if 
not his son, must have been his legal heir to the 
succession, or the change could not have been so 
quickly made. No historical inscriptions' of his 
reign have come down to us, and we have, there- 
fore, very imperfect knowledge of its events, espe- 
cially as the Eponym List, which has so often before 
helped us to make out the order of events in the 
reigns, is broken off at this place. The Babylonian 
Chronicle sets down in the year of his accession, 
that is, in 727, the destruction of a city, Shamara'in 
or Shabara'in, the biblical Sibraim,' located be- 
tween Hamath and Damascus. If this be true, we 
may well ask what had brought Shalmaneser so 
quickly after his succession into the western coun- 
try. Unfortunately we do not possess his version 
of the stoiy, and must derive our knowledge from 
his enemies, among whom the Hebrews have left 

■ Babjlonian Chronicle, i, 27, 

* The onlj records of the reign are, 1. A weight with the king's name 
8nJ legend in Assyrian and Aramaean, published bj Norris in the Journal 
of the Roycd Asiatic Society, ivi (1866), p. 220, No. 6. Translations are 
given in Schrader, Cuneiform Int. and the 0. T., i, 127, ff., and by the 
same m Keilimehnft. Bibl., ii, p. 33. 2. A contract tablet in the British 
Mnsenm (K. 407), translated by Peiser, Keilintchrift. Bihl, iii, p, 109, 3. 

'Ezek. xlvii, 16. Halevy would identify Sibraim with the biblical Seph- 
anraim. 



140 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

US an explicit and convincing account of his chief 
movements. 

It wiU be necessary before proceeding further 
with the narrative of Shalmaneser's movements to 
fasten attention for a time upon the lands of Pal- 
estine and Egypt When Hoshea became king of 
Samaria in 733-2, during the reign of Tiglath- 
pileser III, he accepted the post as a subject of 
the Assyrian monarch, and was bound in every 
possible way to maintain peace. There is no rea- 
son to doubt that he remained faithful to Tiglath- 
pileser till the great monarch died. When the 
change of rulers came in Assyria we may also 
look for disturbances among the subject states. 
We have learned from frequent instances that the 
western states accepted the domination of Assyria 
only at the point of the sword. They hated the 
conquering destructive monarchs, and yielded only 
when they were crushed. We have also learned 
that the populations subject to Assyria were al- 
ways hoping for an opportunity to free them- 
selves from the galling yoke, and we have seen in 
several instances that they commonly chose as an 
opportunity the change of rulers in Assyria. But 
Tiglathpileser III had introduced a new sort of 
conquest and an entirely new form of administra- 
tive policy, and it was not to be expected that the 
opportunity for rebellion would be so great at the 
end of his reign as it had been before. His con- 
quests were less destructive, less bloody, than 
those, for example, of Asshurnazirpal, and hence 



TIGIATHPILESER IH AND SHALMANESER IV. 141 

the wounds which they made in the sensibilities 
of a people were less deep and angry. But further 
and more important than this, he not only con- 
quered, he ruled. Provinces were not plundered 
and then, after being commanded to pay an annual 
tribute, left to themselves. They were provided 
with Assyrian govemora, who could watch every 
movement of the subject populations, and so scent 
the very first sign of rebellion or of conspiracy 
looking to it. When any people had been so con- 
quered and so administered duiing a king^s reigu 
they were not able easily to make a confederation 
when his death occurred. This was a very differ- 
ent situation from that which tribute-paying states 
had previously known. If rebellions at the change 
of kings were now generally less likely to occur, 
still more were they unlikely in Palestine, and of 
the land of Palestine they were in no country so 
improbable as in IsraeL For by far the larger 
and better part of the kingdom was absolutely ad- 
ministered and ruled by Assyrians, and in part 
populated by colonists. The kingdom which was 
permitted to retain the semblance of autonomy 
extended but a short distance around the capital 
city. There was no inherent likelihood of any 
outbreak in Samaria, or any effort to win back 
again the old independence, when Tiglathpileser III 
died, and in the selfsame month Shalmaneser IV 
succeeded hinu 

But there was another land in the west in 
which great changes had come and new aspira- 



142 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

tions, along with new fears^ had arisen. In Egypt 
with the year 728 there began to reign the 
twenty-fifth, or Ethiopian, dynasty. The Ethio- 
pians had really governed Egypt since about 775, 
when Piankhi made good his suzerainty by con- 
quest. But from 776 to 728 the Ethiopian kings 
had been content to exercise their supremacy over 
the land while they suffered the native princes of 
Egypt to retain their nominal sway. They were 
content to receive the homage and tribute of these 
petty princes, leaving to them the internal admin- 
istration of the country, but watching carefully 
lest any combination might be formed to threaten 
their real rule. There were probably numerous 
attempts to achieve liberty again, but they were 
successfully put down. At last a native Egyptian 
prince, called by the Egyptians king, and reigning 
at Memphis under the name of Bakenrenf, the 
Bokkhoris of the Greeks, was deposed and killed 
by Shabaka of Ethiopia, who now took into his 
own hands the rule over the combined kingdoms 
of Ethiopia and Egypt. After this change in the 
dynasty in Egypt there are numerous signs that 
a great reawakening of the people of the ancient 
country of the Nile begina At last they seem to 
have seen that the progress of Assyria must finally 
threaten themselves ; that it could not stop at the 
soathern limits of Palestine, but must ultimately, 
and none could say how soon, cross into Egypt. 
Furthermore, the Egyptians were beginning to 
long for a restoration of their power over the great 



TIGLATHPILESER III AND SHALMANESER IV. 143 

Asiatic provinces as it had been in the golden 
days of Thotmosis III and Rameses 11. The 
Ethiopian kings in Egypt had a difficult task in 
ruling as overlords over the princes in the Delta 
and elsewhere, who had once been free. What 
could do more to reconcile Egypt to the new order 
of affairs than a movement against the common 
foe of all the west or a campaign to recover the 
long-lost Asiatic provinces ? 

As we have seen above, it was altogether im- 
probable that Israel would dare single-handed to 
break faith with the Assyrians, but if there was 
some hope of aid from the Egyptians, the case was 
altogether different. The people of Israel could 
not be expected to know fully the internal affairs 
of Egypt so as to understand the essential weak- 
ness of the country as an ally. They could read- 
ily know the greatness of the Egyptian empire, in 
which Upper and Lower Egypt were combined 
with the rich and prosperous kingdom of Ethiopia. 
They might well be acquainted with the glorious 
history of Egypt, with its great conquests and 
successful wars in the past. They could hardly, 
on the other hand, be expected to know of the 
i^eakness of the country at present, of the unset- 
tled strife between the Ethiopian emperor and 
the princes of native blood ; of the local jealousies 
and petty provincial strifes ; of official corruption ; 
and of the insolent avarice of the priestly class. 
Instead of Egypt's being an important and valu- 
able ally it was in reality a very weak one, and a 



144 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

little later may be shown to be a cause of weak- 
ness rather than strength to her Syrian allies. None 
of these things were apparently known to Hoshea. 
Induced by some representations made to him, or 
through the direct holding out of the Egyptian 
hand, he sent messengers to Sibe,* who was prob- 
ably an underking of Shabaka, and entered into 
some sort of alliance with him. He now felt strong 
enough to omit the payment of the annual tribute 
to Assyria, which he had paid " year upon year." 
This implies that he had paid it at least two years 
before it was omitted — that is, in 727 and 726. 

Now it has already appeared that Shalmane- 
ser IV was in Syria, or at least an army of his, in 
the accession year, 727. A natural way of paying 
the tribute, and a very common one, was to the 
Assyrian army when it was near at hand. This 
Hoshea seems to have done in 727, and again in 
726. In 725, relying on the help of Egypt, he 
rebelled and refused the annual payment of trib- 
ute. At once Shalmaneser IV invades Samaria 
with an army to reduce this incipient fire of re- 

' In the Massoretic text of 2 Kings xvii, 4, the ally of Hoshea is called So 
(KID), but the word ought probably be punctuated Sewe (KID). In the 
inscriptions of Sargon he is called Shabi, and was fonnerly idendfied wHli 
Shabaka (so Oppert and Rawlinson). Stade was the first to suggest that 
he was one of the Delta kings, and Winckler ( Untertuchungen^ pp. 92-M, 
106-108) produced strong arguments in its favor. He has, however, latterly 
changed his mind and considers him a general of the north Arabian land of 
Musri (Mittheilungm der Vbrderas, Oesell.^ 1898, i, p. 5). The aiigament 
seems to me insufficient. Winckler's suggestions concerning Musri are 
exceedingly fruitful, and many are undoubtedly correct, but he has car- 
ried the matter too far in attempting to eliminate Egypt almost entirely 
and supplant it with Musri. 



TIQIATHPILESER m AND SHALMANESER IV. 145 

bellion, which, uncontrolled, might involve the 

whole of his valuable Syrian possessions in 

flamea Hoshea was altogether disappointed in 

his expectation of help from Egypt and was left 

to meet his fate alone. The reserve of the biblical 

sources has told us nothing of the efforts of Hoshea 

against the forces of the Assyrians. From the 

order of the narrative we are probably justified in 

the inference that he left his capital with an army 

to meet the advance of the forces of Shalmaneser. 

He was, however, overwhelmed, captured, and 

probably taken to Assyria. Shalmaneser had 

now an open way to the city of Samaria, which 

he had determined to destroy as the penalty for 

its rebellion. The execution of this plan was not 

so easy as the conquest and capture of the king. 

Samaria prepared for a siege. There is something 

heroic in the very thought. It was surrounded 

snd hemmed in by territory over which it had 

once ruled in undisputed sway, but which had 

long been controlled by Assyrian governors and 

filled with Assyrian colonists. As Shalmaneser 

advanced closer he would, of course, destroy and 

lay waste everything about the city which might 

have furnished any aid or comfort to it. From 

the villages and towns thus destroyed the people 

would fiock into the capital until it was crowded. 

The people of Samaria may have hoped for help 

from Egypt, watching with sick hearts for signs of 

an approaching army of succor. They knew what 

surrender meant in the loss of their city, and in 
10 • 



146 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

probable deportation to strange lands. They were 
fighting to the bitter end for homes and for life. 
So they resisted — and the story is amazing — ^for 
three long years.' The king of Assyria died, and 
still Samaria held out, and would not surrender. 
It makes one think what might have been if thei'e 
had been such courage in Israel in the days of 
Menahem. Shalmaneser IV died in 722 and left 
Samaria unconquered, and hence all Syria in 
jeopardy to his successor. If a weak man should 
take his place now, all that had been won by 
Tiglathpileser III might be lost. 

We have no further knowledge of any events in 
the reign of Shalmaneser IV. It is true that Jose- 
phus ' has preserved an account of an expedition of 
his against Tyre, which he had taken from Menan- 
der. According to his story a certain Mulaaus, 
king of Tyre, had rebelled, and Shalmaneser came 
to besiege the city. He was, however, unable to 
reduce it after a five years' siege. We have no 
allusion to any such siege in any of the inscription 
material which we possess, and it is altogether 
probable that Josephus has made a mistake and 
ascribed to Shalmaneser a siege of Tyre which was 
really made by Sennacherib. If he had really be- 
sieged Tyre and left this siege also as an inherit- 
ance to his successor, we should almost certainly 
find it mentioned in the abundant historical ma- 
terial of the next reign. 

* Kings xviii, 9, 10. 

^Josephus, ix, 14, 2. Comp. Winckler, Oeschichie, p. 888, note 61. 



TIQLATHPILESER IH AND SHALMANESER IV. 147 

It is impossible properly to estimate the charac- 
ter or deeds of Shalmaneser from the scanty his- 
torical materials which we possess. His reign of 
only five years was entirely too short for any great 
undertakings. He undoubtedly left to his succes- 
sor more problems than he had solved himself. 



148 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



CHAPTER VIL 

THE BEIGN OF SABGON IL 

Shalmaneseb IV died in the montli of Tebet, 
and in the very same month Sargon 11 (721-705 
B. C.) * became king of Assyria. like Tiglath- 
pileser HI, he was not of roy^ blood. In no sin- 
gle passage does he ever claim descent from any 
of the previous kings, nor in any way allude to his 
parentage, ifis son, Sennacherib, who succeeded 
him, is also sUent concerning the origin of Sai^n, 
but his grandson, Esarhaddon, provides him with 
an artificial genealogy which canies back his line 
to Bel-bani, an ancient king of Asshur. It is a 
striking fact that he was able to put himself so 
quickly and so securely on the throne, and it 
makes one think that there may have been some 
understanding before the death of Shalmaneser by 
which Sargon was made the legal heir. On the 
other hand, he may have been a successful gen- 
eral, as we have already supposed that Tigkth- 
pileser III was, and so had in his hand a weapon 
ready to enforce his ambitious claims to the throne. 
Like Tiglathpileser, also, he must have been well 
known as a man of force, for there was no upris- 

1 The death of Shalmaneser IV took place in 722, which became Saigon's 
accession year ; but the Assyrians counted 721 as the first year of his reigiit 
full years only being counted. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 149 

ing against him, and he was at once recognized as 
the lawful king. 

He inherited a kingdom full of great problems 
and difficulties. Samaria was not yet taken, and 
if it should succeed in effectual resistance, all Syria 
would take new heart, and the whole fabric 
which Tiglathpileser III had laboriously built up, 
but had not had time fully to cement together, 
would be in fragments. This was a not improb- 
able outcome, for Egypt was eager to foment dis- 
turbance in the southern part of the land, hoping 
thereby to gain back some of the territory which 
had been lost. On the north there was also a dis- 
turbing center. Tiglathpileser had not been able 
to finish the partition of Urartu, and that state 
would be very willing to incite the northern Syro- 
Phoenician states to rebel when rulers were changed 
in Assyria, in the hope of building up again the 
kingdom which Tiglathpileser had broken in 
pieces. In Babylonia also the death of Shal- 
maneser had given opportunity for a sudden out- 
break of new efforts among the Chaldeans. It 
was indeed a troublesome age on which Sargon 
had lighted. A man of great energy and abiUty 
would alone be able to meet the dangers and 
solve them. Such a man was Sargon. Like Tig- 
lathpileser in, he was a usurper. It is an elo- 
quent witness to the resources of Assjoia that two 
such men were produced so close to each other, 
and not of a royal house, with inherited strength 
and abiUty. 



150 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

We are well supplied with inscriptions ' setting 
forth the chief events of Sargon's reign, and have 
only to follow the plain indications of the Annals 
in order to see them all in proper sequence. 

In the year of the accession of Sargon (722 
B. C.) Samaria fell, but it is improbable that he 
had anything to do with it in person. He could 
scarcely have been present so quickly, leaving be- 
hind him all the possible dangers to the throne 
which he had just ascended. It was a most for- 
tunate result for his reign that Samaria was taken 

1 The following are the chief inscriptions of Sargon*8 reign : (a) The An- 
naU^ published first by Botta, Le MonumetU de Ntnive^ plates 68-92, 
105-120, 155-160, and with corrections and amendments by Winckler, Die 
KeihchrifUexte SargorCs^ ii. They are translated Into English by Jules 
Oppert, Recordi of the Pastj First Series, viii, pp. 21-66, but this version is 
now somewhat antiquated. Tliere is a good German translation by Winck- 
ler, op. cit,^ i, pp. 2-95. The Annals have come down to us in four recen- 
sions, in a fragmentary condition, and the relations between the recension 
and between parts of the fragments are sometimes obscure. For details 
Winckler must be consulted, but allusions to some of the problems will be 
found below, (b) Oeneral Inscription {Inscription da Faata^ Prunk In. 
9chrift\ published by Botta, op. Ht., plates 98-104, 121-164, 181, and by 
Winckler, op. «7., ii, plates 30-86, and translated by him, tWrf., i, pp. 96- 
135, and into English by Oppert, *' The Great Inscription in the Palace of 
Khorsabad," in the Records of the Past, First Series, Iv, pp. 1-20. (c) Tht 
Inscriptions on the Oateway Pavement, published by Botta, op. eiL, plates 
1-21, and by Winckler, op. cit., ii, plates 86-40, and translated by him, 
i, pp. 186-168. (d) Inscription on the Back of the Slabs, published by 
3otta, op. cit., plates 184, fF., and by Winckler, op. cit., Ii, plate 40, and 
translated by him, i, pp. 164-167. (e) Nimroitd Inscription, published by 
Layard, Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Charcxter, plates 83, 84, and trans- 
lated by Winckler, op. cit., i, pp. 168-178, and by Peiser, KeUinsehrifL 
Bihl., ii, pp. 84-39. (f) The Stele InscHption, published III R. 11, and 
translated (in part) by Winckler, op. cit., pp. 174-186. (g) Bull Inscrip- 
tion, published by Botta, op. cit., plates 22-62, and by Lyon, KeiUekri/U 
texte Sargon^ s, plates 13-19, and translated by him, pp. 40-47. (h) C^n- 
der Inscription, published I R. 86, and by Lyon, op. cit.^ plates 1-1 S, and 
translated by him, pp. 80-89. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON II. 151 

without a longer siege. Very probably the same 
army which had invested the city secured also its 
surrender. Neither the army nor the inhabitants 
of Samaria are likely to have known anjrthing of 
the change of rulers in Assyiia. The biblical 
account does not mention the name of the king of 
Assyria into whose hands the city fell, but the 
form of statement seems to imply that Shalma- 
neser was still considered king.' Sargon was not 
yet known in the west as he would later come to 
to be. As soon as Samaria was taken he gave 
orders that the colonizing plans which Tiglath- 
pileser III had devised and perfected should be 
carried out on a large scale. From the city there 
were taken away twenty-seven thousand two hun- 
dred and ninety men, who were settled in the 
Median mountains and in the province of Gozan 
(Guzanu) along the rivers BaJikh and Khabur. 
To supply their places colonists were brought 
fix)m Kutha, in Babylonia, and recently conquered 
territories. The people earned away from Samaria 
were probably of the very best blood in the land 
— the men who had fought for three weary years 
against the most powerful military state of western 
Asia. They were probably officials, skilled laborers, 
and tradespeople. The loss to the land was irrepara- 
ble, and the kingdom of Israel never regained the 

' " Id the ninth year of Hoshea the king of AssTria toolc Samaria, and 
carried Israel away into Assyria " (2 Kings xvii, 6). It is to be noted that 
in rerses 4 and 6 the same phrase, **king of Assyria/* is used, applying 
there to Shalmaneser fV, and no hint is given that a change of rulers had 

taken place. Comp. Guthe, OeschiehU dea Volkea Israel, p. 198. 

t 



152 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

strength it had lost. There was another little 
spasm of rebellion in a short time, as we shall see, 
bat the land had not left in it the national life 
to sustain another such struggle. So did the As- 
syrians in the reign of Sargon finish the task 
which they began in the reign of Shalmaneser BL' 
Over the land of Samaria Sargon set Assyrian 
governors, and the once glorious and powerful 
kingdom of Israel became an insignificant Assyr- 
ian province. 

There were greater problems in Babylonia for 
Sargon than the west had yet offered. We have 
seen ' how in 729 Merodach-baladan, of the tribe of 
Bit-Yakin, king of the Sea Lands, had paid homage 
to Tiglathpileser III and made costly gifts in token 
of his subjection. That was well enough when 
Tiglathpileser III was threatening to desti-oy the 
entire land, but Merodach-baladan intended only 
to maintain his allegiance to Assyria so long as 
the Assyrians were able to compel it. During 
the short reign of Shalmaneser no effort seems to 
have been made by the Chaldeans, but it is quite 
probable that all the while the preparations were 
going on. When Shalmaneser died, and Sargon 
was busy in Assyria and unable to proceed to 
Babylon to take the hands of Marduk, Merodach- 
baladan judged that the hour had come. Without 
great difficulty he took southern Babylonia, the 
ancient kingdom of Sumer and Accad, and then 

' See above, p. 76, ff. 
' See above, p. 186. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 153 

the city of Babylon itself. On New Year's Day, 
721, he was proclaimed king of Babylon.' Here 
was opened again the same old question as to the 
ruler in Babylon. Sargon never could lose the 
great southern kingdom without a bitter war. 
Merodach-baladan had thrown down the gage, and 
there was no alternative but to take it up. Sargon 
entered Babylonia and was met at Dur-ilu by an 
army under the command of Merodach-baladan, 
with Khumbanigash of Elam as an ally. Accord- 
ing to the usual custom, Sargon claimed a victory." 
It is, however, perfectly clear from the issue that 
Sargon had not been successful. He left Mero- 
dach-baladan in absolute possession of Babylon, 
not attempting at all to enter the country farther, 
but contenting himself with the possession of the 
extreme northern portion, which joined with the 
land of Assyria. On the other hand, Merodach- 
baladan did not attempt to drive the Assyrians 
out of this northern part, but was quite satisfied 
to be left in possession of the city of Babylon, in 
which there were wealth and power enough to sat- 
isfy his ambitions, and difficulties enough with the 
priesthood to engage his best powers. The failure 

> BabjloQian Chronicle, col i, line 82. KeUiruchrift. Bibl., U, 276, 211, 
StrgOQ succeeded to the throne about three months earlier. 

'Annals, lines 18-28. These lines are badly broken, and it is difficult 
to make much of them. In the Cylinder inscription (line 17, KeUinschrift. 
BlhL^ ii, pp. 40, 41, Sargon thus speaks of himself : " The brave hero who 
met Khumbanigash of Elam at Durilu and accomplished his defeat.** On 
the other hand, the Babylonian Chronicle (col. i, lines 83, 84, KeilinachrifL 
Bibl^ ii, pp. 276, 277) asserts that Khumbanigash was victorious over 
Sargon. 



154 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYBIA. 

to retake Babylon was a bad beginning for the 
reign of Sargon. The Assyrians would have less 
coiifidence in his prowess; the Chaldeans would 
have time and opportunity to strengthen them- 
selves in their hold on Babylon; the men of 
Urartu and of Syria would learn of it, and would 
judge that the Mng of Assyria was not equal to 
his predecessors. Rebellions all over the empire 
lie latent in this failure of Sargon. 

The first rebellion that confronted Sargon was in 
the west, where one might have thought that the 
punishment of Samaria would have deterred oth- 
ers from a new attempt. But the Syrian states had 
not all been so thoroughly blotted out as Samaria, 
and there was a nucleus in Hamath around which 
a conspiracy might crystallize. Hamath, one of the 
oldest cities in Syria, had never been destroyed or 
even engrafted into the Assyrian empire. This 
was due to the constant exercise of a crafty pol- 
icy. Hamath had joined in rebellions, but always 
withdrew at the right moment, paid tribute, and 
played the part of a faithful ally of Assyria. It 
owed its deliverance in the reign of Tiglathpileser 
III only to this policy pursued by its king, Eni-eL 
But this craftiness, while it saved the state for a 
time, was unpopular, and Eni-el fell a victim to 
his own prudence, and was removed from the throne 
by a national party. A usurper named Il-ubidi,*or 

1 He is named Ta'ubi'di in the General Inscription, 88 (Winckler, DU 
Keilschri/aexte SargorCn I, pp. 102, 108), and Kimroud, 8 (KeilinMekHfL 
Bihl, ii, pp. 86, 87). He is called Hubidi in the Annals (line 28, Winckler, 
op, c*7., i, pp. 6, 7). 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 155 

Ya-ubidi, succeeded him and at once began a new- 
policy. In this he was aided by Hanno (Khanunu) 
of Gaza^ whom we have learned to know before in 
the reign of Tiglathpileser III. The Egyptians did 
not give him aid at the time when Graza might 
have been saved from the Assyrians, but he was 
now in better favor in Egypt, and was an ally of 
Sibe. It is most likely that he was trying in the 
interests of Egypt to gain a hold over Hamath, 
and that he did get some direct influence is shown 
by his title of king of Ilamath in one of Sargon's 
texts — ^to the Assyrians he evidently appeared as 
the real ruler of the state. H-ubidi and Hanno 
at once formed a new confederation, in which Ar- 
pad, Simirra, Damascus, and, most surprising of 
all, Samaria joined. 

It would appear from this that even the loss of 
so many of her best men and the watchful eye 
of an Assyrian governor were not able to crush 
every aspiration for liberty. Judah remained 
faithful to Assyria, and did not join with the con- 
federatea Il-ubidi made Qarqar his fortress, 
and placed a large army in the field. This was 
now no mean opposition which confronted Sargon, 
and after his practical defeat in Babylonia it was 
likely to have hopes of successfully opposing him. 
At the outset he displayed one quality of great 
importance ; he set out promptly for Syria as soon 
as news of the rebellion reached him, determined 
to strike the first member of the alliance before the 
others could unite and come to his support. This 



156 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Assjoian promptness had often before cost the 
Syrian states great losses. It fell out in this case 
exactly as he had planned. At Qarqar he met 
Ya-ubidi and his army without any of the allies 
and gained a complete victory. When this was 
done he made haste to meet Hanno and Sibe, who 
were the real leaders of the rebellion. At Rapi- 
khu (Raphia) the Assyrians met the confederates 
and completely defeated them.' Sibe managed to 
get off with his life and escaped into Egypt ; Hanno 
was taken prisoner and carried off to Assyria. 
This made peace in Syria for a time ; Sibe was 
not able to undertake any more disturbances, and 
the remaining confederates needed time for recu- 
peration. The result of this campaign as affecting 
Assyria was very important. The prestige of Sar- 
gon personally was restored, and he was left free, 
following the example of TiglathpUeser III, to set 
right the affairs of his empire in other border 
countries. 

Of all these Urartu was the most dangerous and 
threatening. Sargon had planned to reach its 
destruction by slow and steady approaches. He 
would first restore to Assyria, as tribute-paying 
states, the communities which surrounded Urartu 
on the west, south, and east, and then finally strike 
the all-important blow. His first movement was 
from the east against the two cities of Shuanda- 
khul and Durdukka, situated in the tenitory be- 

* Annals, lines 27-81 (Winckler, op, ciL i, pp. 6, 7). Comp. General 
Inscription, lines 25, 26 (Winckler, ibid,^ pp. 100, 101). 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 157 

longing to Iranzu of Man, by Lake UmmiyeL 
These renounced their allegiance, and received 
help from Mit'atti of Zi^rtu/ whose territory 
probably immediately joined. Sargon quickly de- 
feated them and destroyed the cities (719 B. C), 
but did not attempt any punishment of Mit'atti 
at this time.' In the same year the three cities, 
Snkia, Bala, and Abitikna^ whose exact location is 
unknown, though they also adjoined Urartu, were 
destroyed and their inhabitants transplanted to 
Syria.* A similar campaign occupied the year 
718, directed against the western rather than the 
eastern approaches to Urartu. Kiakki of Shi- 
nukhtu, a district of Tabal (Kappadokia), had not 
paid his tribute. He with many of his followers 
was transplanted into Assyria, and his land de- 
livered over to Matti of Atun (called Tun * by 
Tiglathpileser III), who was required to pay a 
higher annual tribute.* 

The year 717 was not, perhaps, of so great im- 
portance as many another wldch preceded and 
which foUowed it in Assyrian history, but it was 
a year of great interest in one way at least, as it 
ended the career of Garchemish. Alone of all the 
smaller states into which the great Hittite empire 



> Qgirta (or Zikirtu) are to be identified with the Sagartians (Herodotus, 
i,ezxT). 

* AnnalB, lines 82-89 (Winckler, op, cU,^ pp. 8, 9). 

* Annals, lines 40-41 (Winckler, op, cit., i, pp. 8, 9). 

^ Tun is probably Tyana, the modem Eiz Hisar, at the northern foot of 
the Taurus, in souihem Kappadokia. 

* Annals, lines 42-45 (Winckler, ibid,). 



158 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

had broken up it had maintained a sort of inde- 
pendence, paying only an annual tribute. The 
king of Carchemish at this time was Pisiris, who 
is even called king of the land of the Hittites/ as 
though retaining in his person something of the 
glory of the old empire. If he had continued to 
pay his annual tribute, he would probably have 
been permitted to remain in undisturbed pos- 
session of his high-sounding title and in the 
free exercise of his authority over the internal 
affairs of his kingdom. In an evil hour he incited 
Mita of Mushke to join him in a rebellion against 
the payment of tribute. He was speedily over- 
come, and at once, with his family and his fol- 
lowers, transported into Assyria. With them 
Sargon carried away as booty eleven talents of 
gold, twenty-one hundred talents of silver, and 
fifty chariots of war. Carchemish was repeopled 
with Assyrian colonists and became an Assyrian 
province.* In such an easy manner ended the 
very last remnant of a once powerful empire, 
which had defied even Egypt at the zenith of its 
power. 

In the same year the cities Papa and Lallakna, 
probably located near Urartu, joined in a rebellion, 
but were overcome and their inhabitants trans- 
planted to Damascus.* Year after year did Sar- 
gon, as we have already seen, continue these 

»"Shar mat Khatti," Nimroud, line 10, KeUiruchri/i, Bihl, ii, pp. 
88, 39. 
• Annals, lines 46-50 (Winckler, op. cit., i, pp. 10, 11). 
'Annals, lines 60-62 (Winckler, op. cit.^ i, pp. 10, 11). 



THE REIGN OF SARGON II. 159 

colonizations in Syria. He was determined to 
disturb so thoroughly the national life that there 
might be no opportunity for any farther upris- 
ings. After all this intermixture it becomes less 
surprising that the Jews who returned from 
Babylon would not recognize the people of Sa- 
maria as their fellows/ but looked on them as a 
strange race, and called them Samaritans, and not 
Hebrews. 

At last, in 716, Saigon felt himself strong 
enough and the way well enough prepared to 
make a sharper attack on Urartu, and not merely 
on the states which surrounded it. He was moved 
to a more active policy by the threatening doings 
of the king of Urartu. Sarduris, who had opposed 
Tiglathpileser HI so successfully as regards the 
actual land of Urartu, was now dead, and in his 
place ruled Ursa, as the Assyrian inscriptions usu- 
ally name him,* or Rusas, as he is known to native 
historiographers. As early as 719 Urartu was 
intriguing against the small kingdom of Man, of 
which Iranzu was king, and Sargon had to save to 
Man two cities which Mit'atti of Zigirtu, a tool of 
Urartu, had seized. That was a warning to Urartu 
for a time. But now Iranzu was dead and the 
usual troubles over the succession in small states 
of the Orient offered an opportunity to Urartu. 



!y, 8 ; Eoclus. i, 26, 26 ; Luke iz, 62, 63 ; John iv, 9. 
*He is called Rusa in Sargon's Annals, lines 68 and 76 (Winckler, op. 
««., pp. 12, 18, 16, 17). This is Rusas I of Chaldia. See Belck and Leh- 
mann, " Ehi Nener Herrscher von Chaldia," ZeUaehri/t fur Aaayriohgiey 
iz, 82, ff., 889, ff. 



160 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

The lawful heir to the throne of Man was Aza, son 
of the last king, and he finally did get himself 
seated. But Rusas then stirred up against him 
the old enemy of his father, Mit'atti of Zigirtu, and 
also the lands of Misianda' and Umildish, the lat- 
ter of which was ruled by a prince, BagdattL To 
these three allies were added some governors out 
of Rusas's own territory, and all things were ready 
for a successful attack on the little kingdomu Aza 
had given pledges of faithfulness to Assyria, and 
so deserved support. He was soon overcome and 
slain, and his land would have been speedily di- 
vided among the conspirators, with the Hon's share 
for Eusas, had not Sargon suddenly appeared. 
Bagdatti of Umildish was captured and slain, as 
a warning, on the same spot where Aza had been 
killed. Ullusunu, brother of Aza, was put on the 
throne and confirmed in possession. In this Sar- 
gon had defeated the immediate plans of Eusas, 
but he was very far from having destroyed his in- 
fluence. Scarcely was Sargon's back turned when 
Ullusunu broke his Assyrian vows and transferred 
his allegiance to Urartu, actually giving up to 
Eusas twenty-two villages of his domain. We do 
not know what led to this revei^sal on the part of 
Ullusunu, but it is probable that he was forced 
into the act. Besides this Ullusunu induced As- 
shur-li' of Karalla and Itti of Allabra, two small 
territories of western Media, to renounce the 
suzerainty of Assyria and accept that of Urartu.* 

> Annals, lines 68, 69 (Winckler, op. cit,^ i, pp. 12, 18). 



THE REIGN OP SAEGON H. 161 

Here was an upturning indeed which might be 
imitated by other states. Sargon increased his 
army and returned in haste. Upon his approach 
Ullusnnn fled to the monntainSy leaving his cap- 
ital, Izdrtn, to the tender mercies of the enraged 
Saigon. The capital was soon taken, as well as 
ZSibisL and Arma'id, two fortified cities. Izirtu was 
burned and the others suffered to remain.* UUu- 
sunu, probably seeing no way of escape even in 
mountain fastnesses, returned and sued for par- 
don. Astonishing as it may seem, this was actu- 
ally granted, and he was once more installed in his 
kingdom— which confirms us in the belief that Sar- 
gon had come to think that he had not been a 
free agent in his rebellion, but had been compelled 
to it by Rusas. On the other hand, the two rebels 
who had joined with him suffered severely for 
their faithlessness. Asshui*-li' of Karalla was slain, 
his people deported to Hamath, and his land turned 
into an Assyrian province. Itti of Allabra and 
his family were also deported into Hamath, and 
a new vassal king was set up in his place.* At the 
same time the district of Nikshamma and the city 
of Shurgadia, whose governor, Shepa-sharru, had 
rebelled, were reduced and added to the Assyrian 
province of Parshua.* In this year Sargon also in- 
vaded western Media and conquered the governor 

1 Annals, lines 60, 61, General Inscription, 41 (Winckler, op, ct/., pp. 12, 
18, 104, 106). 
* Annals, lines 65-67. 
s Annals, line 58. 

11 » 



162 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA. AND ASSYRIA. 

of Kishesim, whose Assyriaa name, Bel-shar- 
probably points backward to the influence of 
lathpileser III in this same region. Kisbesin: 
thoroughly changed in every particular. A 
ian worship was introduced, the name of the 
changed to Kar-Nabu, and a statue of Sargo 
up.' A new province was then fonned of thi 
tricts of Bit-Sagbat, Bit-Khirraani, Bit-Umargi 
of several other cities, and Kar-Nabu was mat 
capital.' Another city, by the name of Khari 
whose governor had been driven out by its j 
lace, was similarly treated. Its name was chs 
to Kar-Sharrukin (Sargon's-bui^), and it wai 
onized with captives and also n^e the capit 
a newly formed province.' This sort of cam^ 
ing had its influence on the surrounding con 
From city to city spread the news of the m: 
conqueror and of his sweeping changes, and 
different parts of Media no less than twenty- 
native princes came to Kar-Sharrukin with 
ents to Sai^u, hoping to purchase delivei 
from like treatment.' 

This year had been full of various unde 
ings, but nearly all of them may be said to 
directly or indirectly with Rnsas of Urartu, 
even while these easterly undertakings wei 
progress, was not idle. Defeated in his pis 



I Aniuls, lines 69, 60. 

* AnDils, line 68. 

■AnnilH, l[nes 61-64. 

'Annals, line It (Winckler, op. eit., i,pp. 16, II). 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 163 

securing peacefully from Ullnsnnu the twenty-two 
villages which had been granted him, as we have 
seen, but aftei-ward recovered by Sargon, he took 
them by force. This brought Sargon back in 715 
with an army which quickly recaptured the lost 
territory, which was then supplied with special 
Assyrian governors. Daiukku, a subordinate gov- 
ernor of Ullusunu, who had yielded to the solicita- 
tions of Kusas, was carried oflE to Hamath.* The 
suddenness and completeness of this victory in- 
duced Yanzu of Nairi to bring his homage to 
Sargon.* Meanwhile the province of Kharkhar, 
which was formed but a year before, had rebelled 
and must be again conquered. It was now in- 
creased in size by the addition of territory which 
had been thoroughly Assyrianized, and the city 
of Dur-Sharrukin was heavily fortified as an out- 
post against the land of Media. In this year 
twenty-two Median princes oflEered presents to 
Sargon * and promised an annual tribute of horses. 
All these campaigns weakened the influence of 
Rosas over his allies, and so the way was gradu- 
ally preparing for his overthrow ; but the time had 
not come this year, for Sargon had disturbances 
to settle in the west. 

Mita of Mushk^ had interfered with Que (Cili- 



^ AnnalB, lines 74-77. 

' Annals, lines 78. 

' Annals, lines 83-89 ; General Inscription, lines 64-67 (Winckler, op. cU., 
pp. 18, 19 ; KeUxn»ehrift. Bihl.^ ii, pp. 60, 61). A comparison of these two 
passages shows a discrepancy in the figures, the former giving the number 
of Median princes at twenty-two, the latter thirty-four. 



164 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

cia), and had taken from it several cities to add to 
his own dominion, which were readily restored.* 

An expedition into Arabia was also rendered 
necessaiy for the collection of tribute. The tribe 
of Khaiapa, which had paid tribute since the reign 
of TiglathpQeser III, now refused to do so, and 
was supported by the tribes of Tamud, Ibadidi, 
and Marsiani. Of these Khaiapa was probably 
the most northerly, being settled about Medina, 
while the others stretched southwai*d below Mecca.* 
These were all conquered easily and restored to 
subjection. It'amar of Saba, Pir'u (Pharaoh) of 
Egypt, who may have been Bokkhoris, and Samsi, 
the queen of Arabia, whose dominions were in the 
extreme northern part of the country, all sent 
gifts.' This latter part of the year probably was 
of great value to the king in the revenue which it 
yielded. 

In the next year (714) the campaign against 
Eusas of Urartu was taken up in earnest. The 
invasion began from the east, Sargon first appear- 
ing in Man, where Ullusunu paid him tribute, 
while Dalta of EUipi sent presents all the way 
from the southeastern borders of Media. Prom 
Man Sargon advanced slowly and steadily into 
the temtories of Zigirtu, where Mit'atti was still 
holding sway. One by one the cities and fortified 



1 Annals, lines 92-94, 100. 

' See Glaser, Skizze der Oenchichte und Gtoffrofhie Arabient^ ii, 861, 2; 
and comp. Winckler, Oeschickte^ p. 248. 
' Annals, lines 97-99. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 165 

camps were taken until Parda, the capital, fell 
into Assyrian hands. When this had happened 
Mit'atti and his entire people moved swiftly in 
one great emigration ont of the country and were 
seen no more. They had probably come out of 
the steppes of Russia into this favored district, 
and now returned to their old home. The army 
was now ready to attack Kusas, who came on to 
meet it. In the first engagement he was defeated 
and fled.* Sargon did not pursue at once, but 
waited to make sui*e of the land which was now 
deserted by the people of Urartu. The land of 
Man was entirely covered in marches, that every 
sign of disloyalty might be rooted out, and was 
then given over to Ullusunu. One more land 
must be ravaged before Rasas could be reached 
and overcome. This was Muzazir, which Shalma- 
neser IV had attacked in 829 B. C, whose prince, 
Urzana^ had acknowledged the overlordship of 
Rusas. It was a hard mountain march to reach it, 
but the city, forsaken by Urzana, was soon taken 
when once it was gained.' The southern portion 
of Urartu was then invaded. Cities were burned 
and dug up and the entire land turned into a howl- 
ing wUderness, and robbed of every hope of any 
further autonomy. Rasas looked on, perhaps, from 
some mountain eyrie and saw the utter collapse of 
his fortunes. The kingdom which his fathers had 

1 SArgon'a historian (Annals, line 109, Winckler, op. ct/., i, pp. 22, 23) says 
of Rosas, '*He mounted a mare and fled into his mountains." Flight 
upon a mare's back made him an object of ridicule. 

< Annals, lines, 128-188 ; General Inscription, lines 72-76. 



166 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

founded, of whom he was no unworthy follower, 
was being divided among Assyrian states or added 
directly to the provinces of the empire. For him 
there was no further hope, and he sought peace 
in a self-inflicted deatL' 

Rusas left a son who succeeded his father as 
king of Urartu, or Chaldia^ as the country was 
called by its own people, with the title of Ar- 
gistis II. He found only a small kingdom left for 
him to rule, about Lake Van and the upper waters 
of the Euphrates. Long and sturdily had Urartu 
withstood the progress of Assyria in war, while 
it, nevertheless, accepted Assyrian civilization and 
even adopted the cumbersome Assyrian method of 
cuneiform writing. The Chaldians had even formed 
an empire and contested the supremacy of west- 
em Asia with the Assyrians. In the days of As- 
syrian weakness they had grown stronger, until 
the menace to Sargon was so great that he had to 
plan cautiously and act decisively during a long 
series of years for its removal. He had now 
stripped them of all their southern and western 
possessions and shut up the king amid his moun- 
tain fastnesses, from which he would soon venture 
out to plunder and raid, but without hope of ever 
again mastering so large a portion of western Asia. 
Sargon's slowly maturing plans had effectually re- 
moved the greatest barrier to his country's career 
of conquest, extension, and aggrandizement. 

For the next three years Sargon was unable to 

* Annals, line 139. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 167 

carry out any great schemes of conquest, because 
lie was absorbed in smaller undertakings intended 
to complete the pacification of the north and 
west. The first of these was in western Media, 
where the province which had taken the place of 
the old kingdom of Karalla rose in rebellion, and, 
having driven out the Assyrian governor, set up 
as king Amitasshi, a brother of the old king, As- 
shur-li. The new arrangement lasted but a short 
time, for Sargon soon ended the rebellion. The 
vassal kings, Ullusunu of Man, Dalta of EUipi, 
and Ninib-aplu-iddin of Allabra, all sent their 
tribute to the triumphant Sargon. 

In the northwest, also, Sargon had a very dis- 
agreeable task. The land of Tabal had been con- 
quered by Tiglathpileser III and the king deposed. 
In his place Tiglathpileser set up a man of humble 
origin, named KhuUe. Bound by ties of gratitude 
or of necessity, Khulle paid his annual tribute 
until his death and remained faithful to the As- 
syrians, who had made him what he was. Sargon 
trusted him as fully as Tiglathpileser, and even 
added to his dominion the territory of Bit-Buru- 
tash. When he died his son, Ambaridi, or Am- 
baris," was confirmed by Sargon as king in his 
stead. So completely was he trusted that Khi- 
lakki (Cilicia) was farther added to his territory 
and Sargon's own daughter was given him to 
wife.' In spite of all this he was secretly, and 

'In Annals, line 168, he is called Ambaridi, but in line 176 Ambaris. 
* General Inscription, line 80. 



168 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

later publicly, faithless to Assyria, and joined the 
coalition of Kusas and Mita, to whom he gave aid 
in their various undertakings against Assyria. His 
day of punishment had now arrived. His land 
was devastated, colonized, and then made into a 
new province of the empire,' and he, with his 
followers, was carried off to Assyria. 

In the following year (712) a very similar case 
occurred in the district of Meliddu. While Sargon 
was busily engaged in war Tarkhunazi of Melid- 
du conquered Gunzinanu of Kammanu (Ck>mana), 
one of Sargon's tributaries, and seized his terri- 
tory. This had been done in reliance upon the 
help of Urartu. Sargon now overran the land 
and destroyed the capital, Melid. Tarkhunazi 
for a time defended himself in a fortress, Tul- 
garimme, but was taken, and, together with his 
troops, deported to Assyria.' His territory was 
then divided. Melid was annexed to Kummukh,' 
while the rest of the country was repopulated 
and formed into a new province.* One more year 
was required before this northern territory was 
fully reduced to subjection. In 711 there was 
an uprising in Gurgum, a small Hittite state. 
The king, Tarkhulara, was killed by his own son, 
Muttallu, who thus made himself ruler. Saigon 
soon appeared with a small body of troops, and 
carried off Muttallu with his followers to As- 

' Annals, lines 1*76-178. 

'Annals, lines 188-187; General Inscription, lines 79-81. 

' Annals, lines 194, 196. 

^Annals, line 189. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 169 

Syria. His land was likewise made into a 
province. 

While Sargon was engaged in these petty but 
annoying wars with small states Egypt was again 
plotting to gain some kind of foothold in Palestine. 
Ashdod was now chosen as the starting point for 
another effort In this city Sargon had removed 
the king, Azuri, for failure to pay tribute, and had 
set up his brother, Akhimiti, in his stead. Under 
the leadership of a man named Yaman, or Yat- 
nani,* who was plainly inspired from Egypt, a 
rebellion began in which Akhimiti lost his life. 
By some means Philistia, Moab, Edom, and, most 
surprising of all, Judah were drawn into this new 
opposition to Assyria. Hezekiah was now king of 
Judah, and in this fresh union with E^ypt he was 
flying in the teeth of the advice and warnings of 
Isaiah, his ablest counselor. Sargon felt the im- 
portance of this new uprising, and at once hastened 
either himself or by deputy, in the person of his 
Tartan,' to end the rebellion. Ashdod, Gath, and 
Ashdudimmu were easily occupied by the Assyri- 
ans. The other states of Palestine seem to have 
feared to join in the war when it was on, and 
Egypt sent no help. The inhabitants of these 

^ The variation Taman, Tatnani, is the same as that found in the name 
of the island of Cjprus and the Cypriotes. It is therefore natural to sup- 
pose that Yaman here is a race, rather than a personal, name, the leader 
being a Greek mercenary from Cyprus (so Winckler, Die KeiUchrt/Uexie 
Sargon's 1, xxx, note 2). Winckler has, however, since come to think that 
this man was an Arab, a man from Yemen {Mutri Afeluhha^ AfaHn, p. 26, 
note 1). The former view Is preferable. 

* Isa. xz, 1. 

t 



170 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

cities were carried away and other captives settled 
in their places.* This campaign so thoroughly 
stamped out all opposition in the west that it 
might for a time safely be left to itself. 

If now we look back over Sargon's reign up to 
this point, we shall see that his only direct gains 
to Assyrian territory had been in the land of Urar- 
tu. To Shalmaneser rather than to him belongs 
the credit of securing Samaria. Indirectly, how- 
ever, his gains had been great. He had greatly 
strengthened the Assyrian control from east to 
west over a wide circle of country, and had so es- 
tablished the outposts of the empire that he might 
feel safe from invasion. It must be remembered, 
however, that he was even yet governing a territory 
much smaller than that which Tiglathpileser HI 
and Shalmaneser IV had controlled. Babylonia 
was still in the possession of the Chaldeans, and Sar- 
gon was bereft of the rarest and most honored title 
— ^king of Babylon. But he was not satisfied with 
this state of affairs, and had probably planned long 
and carefully in order to its complete overthrow. 
Now that his borders were safe on the north and 
west, and the annual tribute over the great empire 
was fairly well assured, the time seemed to have 
arrived for his greatest work. 

When Sargon, in 721, after the battle of Dur- 
ilu, left Merodach-baladan to rule undisturbed in 
Babylon he took upon himself a great risk. There 
was a grave possibility that the adroit Chaldean 

^Annals, lines 215-217 ; General Inscription, 90-110. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 171 

might 80 establish himself in the kingdom that 
the Assyrians could never hope to dislodge him 
again. But Sargon builded very wisely in this, 
for there were more causes for discontent in Baby- 
lonia than of satisfaction, and Merodach-baladan 
was much more likely to ruin his prospects of a 
peaceable reign than to improve them. His status 
was peculiar and dangerous. He never could have 
conquered Babylon in the sole reliance upon his 
own Chaldean forces, but was compelled to utilize 
not only Elamite but also Aramaean allies, the lat- 
ter being the same half-nomad tribes which had 
been a disturbing factor in former times. So long 
as he was threatened by Assyrian armies Merodach- 
baladan was able to hold together these ill-as- 
sorted followers ; self-preservation against a com- 
mon enemy who might blot them out one at a time 
made them cautious. But as soon as all danger 
from Assyria was withdrawn by Sargon's occupa- 
tion in other quarters these Elamites and Aramae- 
ans began to clamor for a share in the spoil of 
Babylonia. They had not ventured all in the 
service of Merodach-baladan without a well- 
founded hope of participation in the wealth which 
the centuries had heaped up. Merodach-baladan 
was not to be suffered to wear the title of king of 
Babylon while his followers, who had suffered that 
he might win it, lay in poverty. It would be im- 
possible to satisfy these men with anything short 
of a license for free plunder, and this could not be 
given without the ruining of the land over which 



172 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

he hoped to rule. Beside this Merodach-baladan 
could not give ever so little to his Chaldeans and 
Elanaites without raising bitter opposition to his 
rule among the native Babylonians, and especially 
among the priesthood — perhaps the wealthiest 
class in the country. 

In these opposing wishes there was abundant 
material for a flame of civil war which would de- 
stroy the ambitions of the new king of Babylon, 
and for this Sargon had left the land free. Me- 
rodach-baladan probably desired earnestly to 
strengthen his position in Babylonia with the 
natives by a reign of order and peace, leaving them 
in undisturbed possession of their estates. This 
was, however, impossible, and he ventured on a 
career of plunder. Property holders were re- 
moved from Sippar, Nippur, Babylon, and Borsip- 
pa into Chaldea^ where they were held in- some 
kind of bondage, while their lands and other 
wealth were handed over to colonists out of the 
number of Merodach-baladan's rapacious and un- 
thinking allies.' This policy satisfied neither party 
to the compact, and Merodach-baladan found him- 
self surrounded on every side by enemies when 
he sadly needed friends. The Babylonans were 
always a fickle folk at best, and apparently de- 
lighted in changes of dynasty. A restless spirit 
was ascribed to them, centuries after, in the Mo- 
hammedan period, and their histoiy as we have 
followed it to this point seems clearly to show that 

1 Annals, lines 859-864, Winckler, <>p. cU,^ i, pp. 6S-61. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON IL 173 

they were of this temper now.* Nevertheless, 
they valued highly their ancient institutions and 
held in high esteem the honor of their royal titles. 
The priesthood must always be a conservative 
force in any conmiunity, and the Babylonian priest- 
hood in charge of the worship of Marduk, and so 
invested with the power of making kings, who 
must take hold of the hands of the god, main- 
tained with enthusiasm the ancient customs. At 
this time they found less of sympathy among the 
Chaldeans, Aramaeans and Elamites than among 
the Assyrians. Tiglathpileser III had so greatly 
valued the priests and the honors which they had 
to bestow that he twice visited Babylon in order to 
take the hands of the god and be proclaimed king, 
and Shalmaneser IV had even more than foUowed 
his example. Sargon might well be expected to 
have similar ideas and hopes. To him, therefore, 
the Babylonian priesthood and all the other 
wealthy classes which had lost home or possessions 
looked as a possible deliverer irom the barbarous 
Chaldeans and Elamites. 

Sargon was therefore doubly prepared for an 
attack on Merodach-baladan. He had made his 
own empire so strong and safe that he might leave 
it without fear, and he was certain of a friendly re- 
ception from the Babylonians. His plan was first 
to conqaer the allies of Merodach-baladan and 
then to strike the defenseless Chaldean himself. 
An army was sent southward to overcome the 

' ITVinckler, Die KeilttJirifUexte 8arg<m\ i, p. xxxiL 



174 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Aramseans living along the Elamite and Babylo- 
nian borders. These were speedily conquered. 
The Gambuli and the Aramaean tribes of RuX 
Khindaru, Yatburu, and Puqudu were organized 
into a new Assyrian province, with Dur-Nabu, 
formeriy known as Dur- Atkhara, one of Merodach- 
baladan's fortresses, as capital.' This successful 
movement cut off Merodach -baladan from his 
former allies in Elam. When the Assyrians 
crossed the Euphrates and captured the small 
Babylonian state of Bit-Dakkuri, Merodach-bala- 
dan did not venture upon a fight, but fled into 
Yatburu, whence he could communicate with the 
king of Elam. But Shutur-nakhundi,' who now 
ruled in Elam in the room of Khumbanigash, was 
not eager to help Merodach-baladan, and, though 
he prudently accepted the gifts which had been 
sent to him, offered no help of any kind.* The 
Aramaeans could not help him while an Assyrian 
army held them in helpless subjection, and the 
Elamites would not. Merodach-baladan was power- 
less with his small army to meet Sai-gon's seasoned 
veterans. He therefore fled southward into hia 
old homeland and fortified himself in Iqbi-Bel, 
where he spent the winter, which had now begun.* 
The Babylonians, relieved of their oppressor, hailed 
Sargon as a deliverer. They organized a religious- 

» Annals, lines 264-271 and 271-277. 

' So the Assyrians write the name, which in Elnudte ia Shutnik-oak* 
hunta. 

* Annals, Ihies 289-294. 

* Annals, lines 294-296. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 175 

and civil procession which went to Dur-Ladinna 
to escort the saviour of the country to Babylon. 
Sargon entered the ancient city, and in all things 
conducted himself as a legitimate king of Babylon. 
He oflfered the required sacrifices ; * he restored the 
canal of Borsippa, which had fallen down ; ' and by 
these two acts satisfied the priesthood and helped 
the country's commerce. 

Sargon was now able to have himself proclaimed 
king of Babylon, and might take the god's hands 
and fulfill the required ceremonies on New Year's 
Day of the year 709. If he did this, however, he 
would have to repeat it year by year, and that 
might be in the highest degree inconvenient, if 
not impossible. He could not hold the priesthood 
faithful to himself if he did not perform the an- 
nual ceremonies, and though he could doubtlass 
compel their obedience without winning their 
hearts it would be dangerous and inexpedient. 
He was too wise to transfer the capital of his 
reunited empire to Babylon, and he therefore 
adopted an expedient which satisfied both parties 
— the Assyrians and the Babylonians. He adopted 
the title of " shdkkanah " — that is, governor, or vice- 
roy — ^instead of king of Babylon, and for this he 
would not be compelled to renew the ceremony 
year by year. In the month of Nisan, at the great 
feast of Bel, he took the hands of Bel and Nabu 
and was proclaimed shahkandk of Babylon. In all 

1 Annals, lines 299-300. 
* Annals, lines 302-304. 



176 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

respects he had as much power and influence as 
though he were called king.' 

In the next month Sargon began his campaign 
against Merodach-baladan. The unfortunate Chal- 
dean had withdrawn in the early spring or late 
winter from Iqbi-Bel to his old city of Bit-Yakin, 
where he employed his time in the preparation of 
extensive fortifications against Sargon, whose inva- 
sion he must have been continaally expecting. He 
opened a canal from the Euphrates and filled the 
country about the city with water, breaking down 
all the bridges, so that no approach to the city 
was possible. Sargon found a way to overcome 
this difficulty, though he does not enlighten us as 
to his method. The city, once attacked, soon fell, 
and Merodach-baladan, who had been wounded in 
the first assault, made good his escape to Elam. 
An army from the Puqudu and the Sut6, who were 
coming to help Merodach-baladan, was then over- 
come and the city of Bit-Yakin first plundered and 
then destroyed.* In the city Sargon found the rich 
men of Babylonia who had been deprived of their 
property in order that Merodach-baladan might 
reward the men who had made him king. They 
were sent back to their homes and their properly 
restored. Furthermore, the priesthood received a 
rich reward for their share in Sargon's triumphs 
by the return of gods whom Merodach-baladan 
had taken away and the restoration of the elabo- 

> Winckler, Geschichte, p. 12Y. 
' Annals, lines 847-359. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON IL 177 

rate temple worship in Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Larsa, 
and other places of less moment, while the tithes 
to the temples were newly revised and imposed 
upon the people. The land of Bit-Yakin was 
placed beyond any opportunities, it would seem, 
for further rebellion, by the deportation of a por- 
tion of its inhabitants to Kammukh, from which 
'Came captives to take their place. The land was 
then turned into an Assyrian province to be gov- 
erned from Babylon and Gambuli.» Awed by 
such proceedings, King Uperi, of the island of Dil- 
mun, in the Persian Gulf, sent gifts. 

By this campaign, as much by the peaceful 
operations which attended it as by the success of 
arms, Babylonia was completely pacified, and was 
now ruled easily by the Assyrians for several 
years. Sargon had completely restored the old 
order of things against great odds, and with ex- 
treme difficulty. 

While Sargon was engaged thus in Babylonia 
his representatives were hardly less successful 
elsewhere. In the far west the governor of the 
Assyrian province of Que, imitating his royal mas- 
ter, Sargon, invaded the kingdom of Mushke. The 
people of Mushke were among the traditional 
enemies of Assyria. They had been opposed to 
Tiglathpileser I, and they had a large share in stir- 
ring up opposition in Syria to later Assyrian 
kings. For a long time the Assyrians had not suf- 
fered any interference at their hands. Their do- 

■ Annals, lines 366, 867, 869. 
12 



178 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

minions were bounded now on the south and east 
by the Taurus and Anti-Taurus, and their ruler 
was Mita. The Assyrian governor met with such 
success in conquest and plunder that Mita was 
forced to send an embassy to Sargon, who was 
then on the borders of Elam, to sue for peace.' At 
the same time Sargon received gifts from seven 
kings of Cyprus, though what they may have 
feared does not appear.* Years after (708 B, C.) 
Sargon acknowledged their gifts with a present of 
a black marble stele engraved with his portrait 

At this same period also there was a new spasm 
of vigor in the almost defunct empire of Urartu. 
Argistis was now king over what remained of the 
once powerful empire, and determined to make 
an effort to regain some of the lost possessions. 
He induced Muttallu, prince of Kummukh, to 
join in a confederation. Before anything could 
be accomplished the news was brought that Bit- 
Yakin had fallen and an Assyrian army was 
already on its way to the north. Muttallu was so 
discomfited by this news that he sought safety in 
flight. His family and all his treasures fell into 
the hands of the Assyrians, and his land was 
henceforth organized and administered as a prov- 
ince. This fall of Kummukh happened at just 
the right time to enable the interchange of inhabit- 
ants with Bit-Yakin, which was mentioned above.* 

» Annals, lines 37 1-378 ; General Inscription, lines 160-158. 
> Annals, lines 383-888 ; General Inscription, lines 145, 146 ; Stele, od. il 
'Annals, lines 392-401; General Inscription, lines 118-117. Seepage 
176, above. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON H. 179 

In 708 we reach the last campaign of which 
Sai^n has left his own account. Dalta, prince 
of EUipi, who had acknowledged the supremacy 
of Assyria, was dead, and there was a strife about 
the succession between his sons, Nibe and Ispa- 
bara. The former appealed to Elam for help, 
which he received, and by which he was able to 
drive out Ishpabara. The latter then, on his 
part) appealed to Sargon, who was the lawful over- 
lord of the country. Sargon at once responded 
by sending an army which conquered Nibe and 
his Elamite allies, captured his capital city, 
Marubishti, and took him prisoner to Assyria. 
The land was then set once more in order, with 
Ishpabara as king.' 

After this year all knowledge of Sargon's reign 
is lost to us. It is altogether improbable that he 
undertook any more great campaigns, but rather 
devoted himself afterward to such efforts to quell 
incipient rebellion as filled the last year which we 
have just described. He had indeed reached to 
the full the warlike ambitions of his life. He had 
reunited Babylonia to the empire and brought 
it into complete subjection, so that it was as easily 
ruled as Assyria itself He had ended the Hittite 
empire, a great plague spot in his predecessor's 
maps. He had crushed the empire of Urartu, or 
Ghaldia, and so rendered safe his own northern 
border. He had brought into safe subjection all 

» Annalfl, lines 402-413, Winckler, op. cU., i, pp. 68-71 ; General Inscrip. 
tioii, lines 117, 121, ibid,, pp. 118-121. 



180 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

the troublesome Syrian states. There were in- 
deed no other undertakings which he might rea- 
sonably hope to accomplish which it would be 
wise to begin. 

The works of peace in Saigon's reign were as 
briliant as his campaigns had been. He was not 
content merely with the repairing of palaces and 
temples, or even with their rebuilding, as were 
most of the Assyrian kings who were before him. 
He undertook the colossal task of founding a new 
city which should bear his own name, Dur-Shar- 
rukin(Sargon's-burg). Here he erected a vast palace, 
which must have occupied years in the building. 
Its walls were covered on the inside with magnifi- 
cent inscriptions recounting the great deeds of his 
reign. These were so admirable in their execution 
as to give us a strong impression of the artistic 
skill of the age which Sargon had made a con- 
quering age. In 707 the palace was finished and 
the city ready for the entrance of the gods who 
were to transform it from a vast and beautiful 
pile of bricks into a real place of residence. Up 
to this time the king had resided in Calah. In 706 
he entered his new city, but his enjoyment of its 
magnificence was very brief. A broken fragment 
of an Eponym List gives us some hints of events 
in the days immediately preceding his death, but 
they are too badly preserved to allow us to be in 
any way clear as to their meaning.* Sargon died 

> n R. 69, d. 



THE REIGN OF SARGON 11. 181 

in the year 705, but whether by the hand of an 
assassin or by natural death remains uncertain.' 

In the magnificence of his building operations 
he probably excelled all the kings who preceded 
hinL Certainly no ruins of a former age yet found 
approach the magnificence of the great palaces 
which he built in the city which bore his name. 
In all other works he is naturally brought into 
comparison and contrast with Tiglathpileser III. 
Like him, he was great in the planning and or- 
ganization of great campaigns, and probably ex- 
celled in the patience and slow moving on the 
outworks and allies of an enemy's country before 
making the final attack. He was also greater in 
the successful carrying out of great battles and 
sieges. For there is nothing in the campaigns of 
Tiglathpileser which equals the taking of Bit- 
Yakin. As an administrator over the destinies of 
diverse peoples he is in eveiy way worthy of his 
predecessor. In the carrying out of the plan of 
colonization and deportation he far exceeded the 
limits which marked the labors of Tiglathpileser. 
But it must be said that in originality of idea and 
of plan he was far behind Tiglathpileser. It was 
he and not Sargon who invented this method of 
dealing with turbulent populations. Sargon was 
only building on the foundations laid by another, 
and it is easy to show in many cases that he is 
the imitator and not the originator. Nevertheless, 
there should be no minishing of his fame as a 

> n R. 69, d. 10. See Winckler, KeiUchri/Uexte 8arg<m\ i, p. xly. 

t 



182 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

conqueror and king. If Tiglathpileser had planned 
the empu-e, now become the greatest power in the 
world, it was Sargon who had built much of it 
and rebuilt nearly all the rest. Again had a 
usurper surpassed the greatest deeds of a Inti- 
mate king, and made his name inmiortal in his 
country's annals. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 183 



CHAPTER VIIL 

THE BEIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 

In the same month in which Sargon died, and 
on the twelfth day of the month (Ab), Sennacherib ' 
(704-682) ascended the throne. He was the son 
of Sargon, who had so well governed his land and 
so thoroughly settled his power and control over 
it that no attempt was made to disturb the order 
of succession from father to son. But, though he 
succeeded to the inheritance of the great empire 
without trouble, there were tremendous difficulties 
to be settled at once. 

The priesthood of Babylonia and in general the 
Babylonian people were waiting to see what posi- 
tion he would take up with reference to the proud 

* The principal authorities for the reign of Sennacherib are : (a) The 
Taylor Prism (usually called Cylinder), published I R. i, 87-42, and also 
Abel-Winckler, Keilschri/tiexiey pp. 17-21. It has been translated into 
German by Homing, Das Sechueitige Prisma des Sanherib in transscribir- 
tem Grundtext und (Tebersetzunffy and by Bezold, Keilinschrift. Bibl.^ ii, pp. 
80, ff., and into English by Rogers, Record* of the Past, New Series, yi, pp. 
88-101. (b) The Bellino Cylinder, British Museum, K. 1680, a kind of 
dnplicate of the former, published by Layard, Inscriptions in the Cunei- 
form Charaeeer, plates 63, 64. Portions of it are translated into German 
by Bezold (see above) and into English by Fox Talbot, Records of the Past^ 
First Series, i, pp. 23-32. (c) The Bavian Stele, published III R. 14, trans- 
lated into French by Pognon, D Inscription de Bavian^ Texte, traduction et 
commentaire phiUAogique, Paris, 1879-80, and into English by Pinches, 
Ree(yrds of the Past, First Series, ix, pp. 21-28. (d) The Neby Yunus In- 
scription, published I R. 48, and partially translated by Bezold, KeUin* 
sehrift. BibL, ii, pp. 118, 119. 



184 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

and ancient people who felt themselves to be the 
better, even though they were the weaker, portion 
of the empire. Had Sennacherib gone at once to 
Babylonia and taken the hands of the god, 
he might have been proclaimed ehakkanak of 
Babylon, as Sargon had been, and it is altogether 
probable that he would have had no important 
difficulties with Babylonia He saw clearly, how- 
ever, the dangers of a dual capital and the impossibil- 
ity of mutually pleasing two great peoples so diverse 
in all their ideas and aims. So long as Baby- 
lonia remained a great city, and its citizens nour- 
ished their national life and kept burning their 
national pride, there would always be arising op- 
portunities for vexation against Assyria, and there- 
fore possibilities for some shrewd Babylonian or 
Chaldean to gain leadership over the popular 
clamor and seize the throne. The maintenance of 
a dual kingdom was essentially an anomaly. If 
colonization and deportation accomplished so much 
in the north and the west for continuity and peace, 
why should just the opposite plan be continued in 
Babylonia ? Tiglathpileser, Shalmaneser, and Sar- 
gon had done nothing to diminish the national feel- 
ing in Babylonia, but rather had contributed fuel 
to the flame. Tiglathpileser's visits to Babylon in 
order that he might be proclaimed king had fos- 
tered Babylonian pride, in that they made the As- 
syrian king a suitor for honors at the hands of 
the priesthood, though he had in reality won his 
triumph by force of arms. Shalmaneser had done 



THE RETGN OF SENNACHERIB. 185 

exactly the same thing. Sargon had done even 
worse, for he had accepted the lesser title of sTiah' 
hanak in order that he might be delivered from 
the onerous annual visit to Babylon and be free to 
come and go as he pleased. Sennacherib would 
do none of these things. He was a loyal Assyrian 
and no Babylonian, and was determined to break 
with all this past history, in which his own coun- 
try had the power, but gave up its semblance and 
its show. He would possess that also, and show 
the world that Assyria was not merely the head 
of the empire, but its absolute master. He would, 
in other words, treat Babylonia as a subject state 
and pay no attention to its royal ideas, its kingly 
titles, and its priestly authorities. It is possible 
tharin this decision jealousy was mixed up with 
ambition. Sennacherib coald not have looked the 
empire over without learning that Assyria was 
still a raw and uncouth country, leaning upon 
Babylonia for every sign of culture. Perhaps he 
felt that this position of Babylon itself might make 
it some day the capital of the entire empire, while 
Assyria lost its leadership altogether. His policy 
must prevent any such possibility as that. 

Sennacherib must have formed his plans and 
matured his policy even before his father was 
dead, for it seems to come into play at once. The 
first sign of it was purely negative, but it was 
carefully noted in Babylonia, and the record of 
the divergent views has come down to us. Sen- 
nacherib did not go to Babylon to be crowned or 



186 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

proclaimed king or ehakkano^. As we now see the 
case from the vantage point of later history this 
was a fatal blunder. The empire divided m 
opinion at once. The so-called Babylonian Chron- 
icle, resting on official sources, sets down for 704 
and 703 Sennacherib as king of Babylon. That 
is to say, Sennacherib, without the carrying out 
of the usual rites, without the ordinary conces- 
sions to the time-honored regulations of the priest- 
hood, without any salve for Babylonian pride, 
called himself king of Babylon, and the state 
record, compiled by authority, sets him down as 
king. But the Ptolemaic Canon, which clearly 
goes back to Babylonian sources, marks the years 
704 and 703 as ^^Jcinglessr^ This was the real 
Babylonian opinion. This man Sennacherib might 
collect his taxes and tributes because he had 
the armed forces wherewith to enforce his de- 
mands, but he could not force the hearts of the 
people to acknowledge him as the genuine, the 
legitimate, king. In this, the first stroke of a 
new and revolutionary policy, Sennacherib had 
made provision for a disturbance which should 
vex his life, if, indeed, it did not disrupt lus 
kingdom — such force have ancient custom and 
solemn religious rites. 

This state of affairs could not continue long— 
an Assyrian king claiming to be king in Babylon 
while the Babylonians denied that he was king at 
all. A rebellion broke out in Babylonia, and a 

' See above, vol. i, p. 884. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 187 

man of humble origin, called in the King list ' son 
of a slave, by name Marduk-zakii*-shumu, was pro- 
claimed king. Here was again a disturbance 
brought on by foUy, and likely to grow woi'se be- 
fore it was better. In this condition of affairs the 
ever-watchful and certainly able Merodach-baladan 
saw his opportunity. Marduk-zakir-shumu had 
reigned one month when the Chaldean appeared, 
and was able to have himself again set up as king 
(702). He now set out to bring about a condition 
of affairs which would compel Sennacherib to 
leave him alone in the enjoyment of the old honor 
and position. It was Sargon who had so long 
left him in peace, while he was occupied in paci- 
fying the west. If he could now disturb the west 
again and divert from himself Sennacherib and his 
armies, he might again be permitted to rule long 
enough to fix himself firmly in his position. This 
time he might hope to have less difficulty in sat- 
isfying his Elamite and Chaldean followers. The 
plan was adroit, and promised well. The Book of 
Kings' narrates that Merodach-baladan sent an 



> See Finches, " The Babylonian Kings of the Second Period,** Proceed- 
nigt of the Society of Bibticcd Archaology, vi, col. iv, line 18. 

* 2 Kings zx, 12-19. There has been some doubt as to the time when 
this embassy was sent. It has been assigned to the first reign of Mero- 
dach-baladan under Sargon (so Lenormant, Hommel, Oeschichte, p. 704 ; 
WincUer, Die EeiUchrifttexte SargorCs^ i, p. xxxi, note 2), and also to his 
leoond reign (so Schrader, Cuneifortn Jnscriptiona and the Old Testament^ 
% 28, 29 ; K Meyer, Oeschichte des Alierthums, i, p. 466 ; Winckler, 
OuchiehU^ p. 129; MQrdter-Delitzsch, Gesehichte, 2d ed., p. 197; Mas- 
pero, 7%e Pauing of the Empires^ p. 276. The latter view seems to me 
to fit the Assyrian situation better. 



188 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

embassy to Hezekiali to congratulate him on hh 
recovery from a severe illness. Hezekiali showed 
his visitors the royal treasures and arsenals, doubt- 
less greatly impressing them with the wealth 
and strength of Judah. There is no hint of any 
ulterior purpose in the mind of Merodach-bala- 
dan, but the result shows pretty clearly that this 
embassy was really intended to sow seeds of rebel- 
lion. It is most probable that he also sought to 
draw Egypt into some rebellious compact, for 
Sennacherib later had also to fight that coimtry. 
The plan to divert Sennacherib to the west failed 
because the state of affaira in the kingdom 
was very diflferent from that which had obtained 
in the days of Sargon. Sargon was a usurper, 
and had to make sure of his borders and estab- 
lish himself upon the throne. On the other hand, 
Sennacherib inherited a kingdom which accept- 
ed his rule without a murmur, and was there- 
fore better able to look after Merodach^baladan at 
once. He made no false step in the quelling of 
this rebellion, though his own folly had been the 
real cause of it. He determined to leave the 
Palestinian states to their own pleasure and strike 
at the root of the disaffection in Babylonia. 

Sennacherib crossed the Tigris and marched in 
the direction of Babylon, meeting with little op- 
position until he reached Kish, about nine miles 
east of Babylon, where Merodach-baladan had de- 
ployed his forces. Here was fought the first battle, 
and Merodach-baladan was completely routed and 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 189 

forced to seek safety in flight.' The city of Baby- 
lon was not prepared for a siege, and Sennacherib 
entered it without difficulty. The palace of Me- 
rodach-baladan was plundered of everything val- 
uable, but apparently Sennacherib did not disturb 
the possessions of the native Babylonians. He 
then inarched into Chaldea, ransacking the whole 
country. In one of his records of this campaign 
Sennacherib declares that he destroyed eighty-nine 
cities and eight hundred and twenty villages ; * in 
another he gives seventy-six cities and four hun- 
dred and twenty villages." Whatever the correct 
figures may be there can be no doubt that the 
land was fearfully punished. Merodach-baladan, 
who had hidden himself in Guzuman, was not 
captured. When this was done Sennacherib set 
about the governmental reorganization of the coun- 
try. He had with him a young man named Bel- 
ibni, a Babylonian by birth, but reared in the 
royal palace of Assyria. Him Sennacherib made 
king in this year (702), after Merodach-baladan 
had reigned but nine months.* When Sennacherib 
was ready to return to Assyria he carried back 
immense booty with him, and besides the horses 
and asses and camels and sheep he took away two 
hundred and eight thousand people.* This exten- 

> Taylor Prism, col. i, lines 19-23, Rogers, Records of the Past^ New 
Series, vi, p. 84. 

* K. 1644. See Bezold, KeUintehrift. Bihl, ii, p. 84. 

* Taylor Prism, i, lines 84, 86. 

* Alexander Polyhistor says six months. 

* The Taylor Cylinder, Annals of Sennacherib, 1, 19-62 (I R. 87). Gomp. 
transUtion by Rogers, Records of the Past, New Series, vi, pp. 88, ff. 



190 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYBIA 

sive deportation mnst have been made, acco 
to the policy of Tiglathpileser, to achieve ] 
and prevent farther rebellion. How well 
this heroic treatment succeeded with a high-si 
people like the Babylonians only later histor 
show. 

After the end of the Babylonian cam] 
Sennacherib marched into the territory oi 
Kasshn and Yasubigallu, who lived in the Mi 
monntains east of Babylonia. They were a . 
barbaric people, and the campaign must have 
undertaken merely to make the Assyrian b< 
country safe from their plundering rfuds. Tl 
vasion was successful in reducing the country 
captives of war were settled in it, while thi 
madic inhabitants were forced to settle dow 
the cities. In this country some of the Ba 
nians whom Sennacherib had carried off may 
found their home. Thence into EUipi Senn; 
rib continued his march. Ishpabara, whom 
gon had made king, had not paid his tri 
regularly, and must now be punished. Fet 
the consequences of his faithlessness, lahpa 
fled, and Sennacherib easily captured the ca] 
Marubishti, with the villages in its environs, 
part of the country was colonized and then 
nexed to the province of Kharkbar, as EUipi 
been to that of Arrapkha. After the withdr 
of the Assyrians, Ishpabara appears to hav 
I some of his lost territory.' 

■ Taylor Prism, i, S3 to iJ, 33, Roger^ op. eit., vi, pp. 86-88. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 191 

In vol Sennacherib was forced to invade the 
west. He gives ns no new reasons for this in- 
vasion, but the occasion for it is easily read be- 
tween the lines of his records, and deduced from 
the biblical narrative. When rebellions were afoot 
in Babylonia, and for a time at least were success- 
ful, when Egypt was eager to regain lost prestige 
in a land where she had once been all-powerful, 
when an embassy from the indefatigable Mero- 
dach-baladan had come all the way from Babylonia 
to win sympathy and the help of a diversion in 
the west, it was hardly possible that these small 
states should remain quiet and pay their annual 
tribute without a murmur. We do not know how 
much inclined Hezekiah of Judah may have been 
to join in an open rebellion at this time. He had, 
however, taken up a position which would make it 
easy for him to do so; and the war party with 
its national enthusiasm and unthinking patriotism 
was strong at his court. This policy was bitterly 
opposed by Isaiah, the leader of the cautious- 
minded men, who saw only disaster in any breach 
with Assyria at this time. Isaiah was no lover of 
Assyria, but he saw clearly how weak and poor 
was the help which the land might hope for from 
the outside. The Syrian states had suffered much 
from their former reliance on Egypt, and there 
was certainly no reason to hope that matters 
would be any better now. The wisest counsel 
was undoubtedly that of Isaiah. But, even though 
Hezekiah was willing to take it, which he certainly 



192 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

was not, it would have been almost impossible for 
him to do so. The whole land was aflame with 
patriotism, and woe betide the man, aven a king, 
who dared to oppose it. 

Indeed the king had himself done much to fos- 
ter not only this very spirit, now become danger- 
ous, but also to quicken a consciousness of security 
which could not fail to collapse in the presence 
of such armies as Assyria was able to put into 
the field. HezeMah had been victorious over 
the Philistines,* and that probably very early 
in his reign; why should he not also conquer 
the Assyrians? would be the simple reasoning 
of those who had not directly experienced the 
Assyrian advance in war. He had built an 
aqueduct by which an abundant supply of flow- 
ing water was brought within the city walls. 
What that meant for the city is almost incalcu- 
lable by occidentals. Jerusalem had never had flow- 
ing water before within its walls. It could there- 
fore easily be taken by a siege in the dry season. 
HezeMah had supplied this primary need, and by 
so doing had immeasurably added to the defensi- 
bility of the city. There is no doubt that this 
was a war measure, and that it would be so under- 
stood and interpreted by the people is even more 
clear.* How easy was the task of the anti- Assyr- 
ian party with such arguments as these — victory 
over the Philistines, and a new aqueduct — ^to 

* 2 Kings zviii, 8. 

s 2 Kings XX, 20. Comp. 2 Chron. xxxii, 6. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 193 

break down the opposition led by Isaiah and sup- 
ported by his unpopular associates. All that 
Isaiah actually accomplished was the postpone- 
ment of the breach with Assyria ; without him it 
would inevitably have come sooner. 

As in Judah, so also in Egypt was the way 
preparing for an uprising in Syria. An Ethiopian 
dynasty was now ruling, nominally at least, over 
the whole land of Egypt. But there is evidence 
enough to show that the Ethiopian king could 
hardly claim to be absolute master of the destinies 
of the Nile valley. Sennacherib in his narrative 
of the later campaign refers not to the king of 
Egypt, but to the kings of Egypt, and his suc- 
cessors upon the Assyrian throne supply us with 
lists of the names of kings over districts of Egypt. 
All these district kings were striving for more 
power, and the Ethiopian overlord must gain 
ascendency over them all before he could dispose, 
as he would, of Egypt's greatness. He could 
readily see that a movement outside of Egypt, 
against external foes, would be certain, if success- 
ful, to increase his prestige at home. The same 
hopes would be in the minds of the district kings. 
A policy like this pursued by a district king, 
such, for example, as Sibe, might make him, in- 
stead of the Ethiopian overlord, the real king of 
Egypt. If one of these kings was seeking a place 
in which to gain advantage by interference, there 
was none more promising than Syria. Even a 
slight hope of regaining it would readily unite all 

13 



194 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

parties in JE^ypt, and he would be sure of his 
throne. He would thus be glad to encourage any 
patriotic party in Syria to appeal to him for help, 
hoping, when the accounts were reckoned up, to 
be able to turn to his own advantage whatever 
help he might give to the rebels against Assyria. 
Gladly would he listen to an appeal for help from 
Judah. And in spite of Isaiah the appeal was 
sent. An embassy from Hezekiah, naturally laden 
with presents, went to Egypt ' and the Egyptians 
promised assistance. More and more the patriotic 
party in Judah gained the ascendency. The coun- 
try was ready for a daring stroke against Ass}Tia. 
Hezekiah became the moving spirit of a rebellion 
which swept over all the Syrian states.* 

The rebellion broke first in Ekron. Here the 
Assyrian had set up a governor who remained 
faithful to his masters beyond the Euphrates, to 
the bitter end. The uprising in his city was gen- 
eral if not universal. " The governors, chiefs, and 



' See Isa. xxx, 1-4, and xxxi, 1. 

' Our authorities for Sennacherib's campaign in the west are the follow- 
ing : 1. Assyrian, (a) I R 7, No. yiii, I. Rogers, Records of the Paet^ New 
Series, vi, p. 83. Sennacherib's bas-relief, representing his victory at 
Lachish. (b) The Taylor Prism, col. ii, line S4-coI. iii, line 41. Rogers, 
op. ct/., pp. 88-91. 2. Hebrew, (a) 2 Kings xviii, IS-xix, 87. (b) Isa. 
zxxvi, 1-xxxvii, 37. The passage in Isaiah is the same as that in Kings, 
with the single great exception that it does not contain 2 Kings xviii, 14- 
16 — a positive proof that this passage is not original in its present setting. 
Stade has shown (Zeitschrift fur die eUttestamentliche WiseentcJiaft^ 1886, 
pp. 172, ff.) that it consists of three narratives, the first of which is 2 Kings 
xviii, 13, 17-87, xix, l-9a ; the second, 2 Kings xviii, 14-16 ; and the third, 
2 Kings xix, 9b-87. (See also Benzinger and Kittel on the passage.) This 
analysis is now generally accepted. 




THE KEIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 195 

people of Ekron,^ as Sennacherib says/ cast Padi 
into iron chains and then delivered him up to 
Hezekiah * to be shut up in prison. This act in 
itself — and our knowledge of it comes at first- 
hand from Sennacherib's own historiographers, and 
not from the Hebrews — shows that Hezekiah was 
regarded as the real head of the insun'ection. 
Sennacherib could not brook such an insult as this 
to a prince whom the Assyrians had set up, for 
nothing of Assyrian prestige could be saved if this 
were allowed to go unpunished. He resolved to 
proceed at once in person at the head of his armies 
and strike suddenly before the forces of all Syria 
could unite. His first point of attack was the 
Phoenician cities. Sennacherib says nothing about 
a siege of Tyre at this time, for he was certainly 
not prepared to attack a city which could only be 
reached successfully by the sea. He was, how- 
ever, able to ravage its tributary cities on the 
mainland, and so affect it indirectly. Having 
thus injured the city's commerce and frightened 
its defenders, Sennacherib turned against Sidon. 
Elulaeus (Luli), who was now king, dared not await 
the conqueror's approach, and fled. The city sur- 
rendered at once, and Sennacherib made it the 
capital of a new province. Tyre had been engaged 
in setting up a new confederation of which it 
should be the head. Sennacherib could now f ore- 



' Taylor Prism, ii, 69, Rogers, op. eit.y vi, p. 89. 

^ Hezekiah, having conquered Philistia, was now regarded as a sort of 
overlord, and hence was asked to receive Padl. 



196 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

stall this by setting up Ethobal as king in Sidon 
and giving him Sidon, Bit-Zitti, Sarepta (Sariptu), 
Machalliba, Ushu, Ekdippa (Akzibu), and Akko 
(now Acre) as his kingdom. 

The very presence of the Assyrian monarch, 
engaged in his work of making and unmaking 
kingdoms, filled all Syria with terror. States 
which had been ready enough to rebel against 
Assyrian tribute were now ready to surrender 
without the faintest attempt at a fight. Among 
these who had more discretion than valor were 
Menahem (Minchimmu) of Samsimuruna, the lo- 
cation of which is unknown ; * Abdili'ti of Arvad, 
Urumilki of Byblos," Mitinti of Ashdod, Budu- 
ilu of Beth-Ammon, Kammusu-nadab of Moab, 
and Malik-rammu of Edom.' All these brought 
heavy and costly presents, and so assured Sen- 
nacherib of their desire to live peaceably and 
pay well their tribute. This formidable defection 
from the ranks of the rebels greatly reduced their 
chances for success, for it left large spaces of ter- 
ritory from which neither supplies nor men could 
be drawn. Sennacherib, however, had not yet 
terrorized all Syria, and there were some who 
boldly held on their course and prepared for de- 
fense. Of these states Ashkelon first demanded 
severe treatment from Sennacherib. Tiglathpileser 
had set up Rukipti as king over the people of Ash- 

* It is certainly not Samaria, as was once thought by Talbot, Norris, and 
George Smith. 

* Gfu-ub-ta-ai, that is, ** of Gebal/* the ancient name of Byblos. 
•Taylor Prism, ii, 84-6Y, Rogers, op. cU.y vi, pp. 88, 89. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 197 

kelon, but his son, Sharru-ludari, had been driven 
out and a usurper named Zidqa was now ruling in 
the city. His only hope of a continuance in power 
was in successful resistance to Sennacherib. The 
city was, however, soon taken, and Zidqa with all 
his family was carried off to Assyria, and Sharru- 
ludari set up as king. It is somewhat surprising 
that this conquest did not bring about more deser- 
tions from the rebels, but the remainder held fast 
and had to be reduced piecemeal. Even the other 
cities which formed pajt of the little kingdom of 
Ashkelon had to be taken one at a time ; so fell 
Beth-Dagon, Joppa, Benebarqa,' and Azuru. 

The campaign was now swiftly approaching 
Ekron, and Sennacherib is probably reporting 
only the actual fact when he says that the people 
of Ekron feared in their hearts.* Before he had 
his reckoning with them he must first meet a for- 
midable foe. Unlike former kings of Egypt, or 
of its separate districts, the present rulera were de- 
termined to send some help to the newly gained 
allies in Palestine, or Syria. They might well do so, 
for it was not merely the possession of Syria which 
was now in the balance, but even the autonomy 
of E^ypt itself. No man could possibly tell when 
the Assyrians would invade the land of the Pha- 
raohs if Syria were wholly theirs, and hence a 
safe base of operations and supplies. As we have 
said before, there is every good reason for believ- 

' Beni-berak, Joeh. xix, 45. 
* Taylor Prism, u, 78. 



198 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

ing that this had long ago been contemplated in 
Assyria. The forces of the Egyptians, advancing 
northward, united with a contingent from Melukh- 
kha, probably not very large, and then proceeded 
onward, intending doubtless a junction with the 
troops of Hezekiah. Before this could be effected 
Sennacherib halted the advance at Altaku* and 
offered battle. It was a battle of giants, and, 
though Sennacherib boasts of the usu^d victory, it 
must have been achieved with great loss. That 
the victory in a measure ^as his there can be no 
doubt He captured the son of an Egyptian king 
and the son of a general of Melukhkha. The cit- 
ies of Eltekeh and Timnath were then taken, and 
the road was opened to Ekron. Eki-on could 
offer no effectual resistance, and the city was terri- 
bly punished The chief men who had driven 
Padi from the throne were impaled on stakes 
about the city, while their unhappy followers 
were deported. The Assyrian party in the city 
was, on the other hand, peacefully treated.* It 
was a horrible object lesson to those who looked 
on. Padi, who was stiU in the hands of Hezekiah, 
was later restored to the command of the city. 

At first thought it seems remarkable that Sen- 
nacherib did not follow up this victory over the 
Egyptians, Their allies in Palestine were defeated ; 
their detachments from Arabia were routed ; they 

> Eltekeh, Josh, xix, 44. The exact location is doubtful. See 0. A. 
Smith, Hist, Oeog. of Holy Land, p. 286. 
«Taylor Priam, iii, 1-7. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 199 

themselves were in full flight. Mnch indeed might 
have been gained by a decisive castigation of 
troublesome Egypt. But Sennacherib's chief 
enemy in all this campaign was Hezekiah, and 
Jerusalem his real goal.' Until the Judaean king 
was ruined and Jerusalem devastated, as Ekron 
had been, the object of the campaign would not 
be fulfilled. 

Into Jerusalem came the news of the Egyptian 
defeat at Eltekeh and of the overwhelming of 
Ekron, and still Hezekiah did not offer to surren- 
der. Up from the plains of Philistia came the 
victorious Assyrian army, and one by one the 
fortified cities of Judah fell before it until forty- 
six had been taken. Their inhabitants were 
now reckoned as Assyrian subjects, and according 
to the historians of Sennacherib they numbered 
two hundred thousand one hundred and fifty.* 
These cities were then divided between Mitinti, 
king of Ashdod, Padi, king of Ekron, and Zil-Bal, 

I ** Aber wenn nun . . . Schrader behauptet, die Bedrohung Jerusalems 
bedeute nar eine nebensachliche Episode im Verlaufe des ganzen Heer- 
zuges, so glaube ich, dass ganz abgesehen von den biblischen Erzahlungen 
man doch zu dem Urtheil wird kommen miissen, der Zug gegen Jerusalem 
«ei Endziel und Schluss des Ganzen. Denn die so ganz besonders starke 
Bestrafung Hizkias, die Verwustung yon 46 Stadten, Abtrennung grosser 
Gebietsteile, die Aufzahlung der sehr grossen Beute, welcbe uns hier in 
langer Reihe Torgefiihrt wird, fiihren zu dem Schluss, dass Sanherib den 
Hizkia als besonders gefabrlichen Gegner angesehen und bestraft hat.** — 
Meinhold, Die JesajaenaMungen^ Gottingen, 1898, p, 96. 

'Taylor Prism, col. iii, line 17. These inhabitants were not carried 
away into captivity. They were marched out {uahna) from their cities 
and compelled to give allegiance to Assyria. The usual Ass3rrian expres- 
sion (athlut) for taking away into captivity is not used here. See Meyer, 
Die EfUsUhung des JuderUhume^ Halle, 1896, pp. 108, 109. 



200 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

king of Gaza — ^a serious loss of territory to Heze- 
kiah. Thoroughly convinced now that further 
resistance would mean utter destruction, Heze- 
kiah determined to submit and secure such terms 
as he could. He sent an embassy to Sennacherib, 
whose headquarters were established at Laehish 
in the Shephela. Sennacherib demanded a trib- 
ute of thirty talents of gold and eight hundred of 
silver, as the Assyrian accounts represent,' or three 
hundi'ed talents of silver, as the Hebrew narrative ' 
recounts. The securing of such a sum was a griev- 
ous task, and it was only accomplished by strip- 
ping the temple of ornaments and furnishing. 
The humiliation of Hezekiah was as complete as 
his impoverishment. It was also probably at this 
time that Padi, king of Ekron, was delivered up 
by Hezekiah, and thereupon resettled in the rule 
over his city.' When Sennacherib had secured 
the gifts he did not rest satisfied, but, feeling 
sure that he could not be resisted, demanded the 
surrender of Jerusalem. A part of his army, 
under the command of a Rabshakeh, a general offi- 

> Taylor Prism, iii, 84, Rogers, op, eit,^ p. 91. 

' 2 Kings xviii, 14. Brandis {Miimweienf p. 98) has attempted to show 
that the three hundred Hebrew talents •» eight hundred Assyriani and 
this is now generally accepted. 

* The surrender of Padi to the Assyrians is mentioned in Sennacherib's 
Annals (Taylor Prism, iii, 8-10) before the treaty with Hezekiah. The 
reason for this is that Sennacherib is there telling of the punishment of 
Elcron, and goes on to show how it was to be governed in the future. The 
narrative does not follow strict chronological order, but this episode is 
rounded out and then the chronological scheme is again resumed. This is 
the usual form in Assyrian narrative. See Winckler, AlUeatamentliche 
UrUertuehungefij p. 81. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 201 

cer of some kind, is sent, with a detachment of 
troops as escort, to express his determination. 
This brought aboat a panic in the populace, 
and the king himself was in a frenzy of fear. 
Years later Sennacherib might well say of Heze- 
kiah : " I shut him up like a caged bird in Jerusa- 
lem, his royal city." ' The city was not besieged, 
but was blockaded, so that all hope of succor 
from outside was cut off." Within the walls, amid 
all the confusion and fear, preparations for a last 
defense went on vigorously.' Without them, at the 
" conduit of the upper pool, which is in the high- 
way of the fuller's field," * negotiations were car- 
ried on between the Rabshakeh on the one side, 
and on the other Eliakim, palace governor; Shebna, 
state recorder ; and Joah, chancellor. 

Though both threatened and cajoled, Hezekiah 
refused to give up the city, and the Rabshakeh 
withdrew his force and joined the main body at 

1 Taylor Prism, col. iii, line 20. 

' The statement of Sennacherib's Annals (col. Ui, lines 21, 22) does not 
properij bear the construction that he had laid siege to the city in a formal 
manner. His phrase is: ** Intrenchments I fortified against him, (and) 
whosoever came out of the gates of the city I turned back." This is not 
the expression used elsewhere for a real investment of the city. It was a 
blockade, and the implication is that the forces of the Rabshakeh were 
encamped around the city, but at a distance, which also is supported by 
the place at which negotiations were carried on, for this must have been 
between the two forces and not within the Assyrian lines. Cknnp. 2 Kings 
xix, 82 : ** Therefore thus sidth the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, 
He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall 
he come before it with shield, nor cast a mount against it** See on the 
passage Kittel, HandkommaUar^ p. 289. 

«l8a. xxii, 9, 10. 

* 2 Kings xviii, 17. 



202 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Libnah, whither Sennacherib had withdrawn from 
Lachish, which had succumbed to superior force. 
It was conceived to be a place of such importance 
that its conquest is celebrated by Sennacherib in a 
magnificent wall inscription with pictures in relief J 
Sennacherib had now to decide upon the course 
to be pursued in view of Hezekiah's determined 
persistence. It was clear that Jerusalem could 
only be taken after a siege, and this was appar- 
ently resolved upon, when news reached Libnah 
that Tirhaqa, king of Ethiopia, was advancing out 
of Egypt to give aid to Hezekiah.' A letter was 
dispatched * at once to Jerusalem demanding the 
capitulation of the city, and at the same time Sen- 
nacherib moved southward to meet Tirhaqa. He 
probably reached Pelusium,* on the very confines 
of Egypt, a place famous both before and since 
that day as a center for the dissemination of the 
plague,* and there pestilence suddenly fastened 

> Published I R 7, No. viii, I (Rogers, op. eit,^ p. 88). The pictures are 
reproduced in Ball, Light from the E<ut^ pp. 191, 198. 
« 2 Kings xix, 7, 9. 
>2Ktngsziz, 9-14. 

* Pelusium is gi^en as the place of the catastrophe by Herodotus (ii, 
141, see further below), and this is supported by Hieronymus (Commentaria 
in /sotom, lib. zi, cap. xxxvii, Patrologia Latina, tomus xziv, pp. 898, 
899) : ** Pugnasse autem Sennacherib regem Assyriorum contra .£gyptios 
et obsedisse Pelusium jamque extnictis aggeribus urbi capiendo, ven- 
isse Taracham regem ^thiopum in auxilium, et una nocte juxta Jerusalem 
centum octaginta quinque millia exercitus Assyrii pestilentia corruisse nar- 
rat Herodotus, et plenissime Berosus, Ohaldaics scriptor historis, quorum 
fides de proprus libris petenda est.*' There appears to be good reason for 
holding that this statement of Hieronymus comes from Berossos, and is 
therefore, in origm, independent of Herodotus. 

* See G. A. Smith, Hiatorical Geography of the Holy Land, pp. 167-159. 




THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 203 

upon the Assyrian army. All hopes of invading 
Egypt must be abandoned, and Sennacherib led 
homeward only a miserable fragment of an army 
which had hitherto proved almost invincible. The 
joy of that hour to all the west may scarcely even 
be imagined. To the Hebrews it meant nothing 
less than God's intervention to save the remnant 
of a kingdom once so glorious.* To Tirhaqa it 
gave some claim to have conquered the Assyrians, 
and as a victor over Khatte, Arados, and Asshur 
he is celebrated in one of his own inscriptions." 
The tradition of that wonderful deliverance lived 
on in Egypt, and was told to Herodotus ' by his 
cicerone in the temple of Ptah, at Memphis. As 
he reproduces the story, field mice gnawed the 
thongs of the bows and devoured the quivers of 
the army of Sennacherib, " king of the Arabians 
and Assyrians," so that " a priest of Vulcan, called 
Sethos," readily had a victory over them. As thus 
narrated the story contains much unhistorical ma- 
terial, though told with fire and force, but it surely 
has a basis in historic fact, and refers doubtless to 
the same event as the Hebrew writer has described.* 

1 2 Kings xix, 82-86. 

' Mariette, Kamak^ pL 46a, pp. 66, 67. 

' Herodotus, ii, 141. See below, Appendix B. 

^Winckler {Alttestamentiichen Unienuchungen, pp. 27, ff.) has at- 
tempted to show that the narrative in 2 Kings xviii, 18-xix, 87, re- 
lates not to one but to two campaigns of Sennacherib. According to 
this view Sennacherib invaded Palestine in 701, and again, after the 
year 691, when making an expedition against Arabia, he assailed 
Palestine and Egypt. The view, attractive for several reasons, has con- 
vinced Benzinger (i>j0 Bueher der Konige, pp. 177, ff.), Outhe (OetcMckU 



204 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Though successful in all the great campaigns 
down the seacoast from Sidon to Ashkelon and up 
the slopes of the hill country to within fifteen 
miles of Jerusalem/ Sennacherib had, nevertheless, 
failed in the main object of his expedition. Jeru- 
salem still stood, and but for pestilence it would 
have been a smoking ruin, as Ekron. Hezekiah 
still reigned, and that with increased prestige, and 
but for pestilence he would be a captive in Nine- 
veh, as was Zidka, king of Ashkelon. Ethiopia 
was left free to continue its peaceful assimilation 
of Egypt, and but for the pestilence Assyrian gov- 
ernors would be lulling its fertile valleys as even 
now they held sway in Ashdod. Sennacherib's 
failure in the west justified in eveiy particular 
the foresight and statesmanship of Isaiah, and the 
echo of the prophet's words would resound when 
the empty boasts of the defeated king were known 
only to quiet students. For twenty years longer 

deM Volkea Itrad^ p. 204), and Hommel (DieUonary of the BibU^ ed. Hast- 
ings, i, p. 188, col. 2). It is, on the other hand, not accepted by Kittei {Die 
Bueher der K&nige^ p. 291), Maspero (The Pauing of the Empiree, p. 298), 
McCurdy (Htetory, Prophecy, and the IfonumerUs, ii, pp. 800, ff., 428-481), 
and Meinhold {Die JesajaencilUvnffen and Jesaja und seine ZeiC). The ob- 
jections to Winckler's rearrangement into two campaigns are, briefly, these : 
1. There is no mention anywhere of a second attaclc on Jerusalem by Sen- 
nacherib. 2. The passage 2 Kings xix, 7, has to be rejected withoat any 
other reason than to make the passage fit the theory. 8. It invoWes a com- 
plete overturning of the Hebrew traditions, as represented in the book of 
Kings, and supported by the prophetic passages in the book of Isaiah. 
See further a most incisive and convincing criticism of this theory of 
Winckler by Cheyne, Introduction to the Book of Isaiah, pp. 284, 285. 

' Lachish is the modem Tel-el-Hesy, and Libnah must be sought in the 
immediate neighborhood. According to Eusebius it belonged at a later 
time to the district of Eleutheropolis (modem Beit Jibrin). 



THte REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 205 



did Sennacherib possess the power of Assyria, but 
he never invaded Palestine again* 

Sennacherib had left Babylonia in the foil en- 
joyment of peace, but he had also sown thoroughly 
the seeds of unrest. Bel-ibni, one of his own crea- 
tures, was on the throne, but however well disposed 
he was, there was no hope that he might success- 
fully resist the distemper of the people. Their 
patriotic love for Babylon, their belief that once a 
world city meant always a world city, had been 
grossly trodden under foot by the Assyrian king ; 
their inborn religious feeling had been outraged 
beyond endurance by a king who paid not the 
least attention to their solemn rites of coronation. 
Sennacherib was now deeply embroiled in the 
western troubles, and the Babylonians thoroughly 
understood them, for news traveled far and fast 
in the ancient Orient. The time was, to their 
mind, auspicious for the reassertion of national 
ideals. No matter what Bel-ibni may have desired, 
he was forced by resistless public sentiment into a 
position hostile to Assyria. Ever ready for any 
chance at his old enemy, Merodach-baladan of the 
Sea Lands joined in the rebellion, and the Chalde- 
ans, under a native prince named Marduk-ushezib, 
also engaged in it. This looked like a promising 
rebellion, though that the confederates could di- 
vide the land between them if there was success 
might well be doubted. 

The new organization of affairs in Babylonia 
went well for a short period, until the appearance 



206 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

in 700 of Sennacherib. At once the whole com- 
pact fell to pieces. Bel-ibni was captured and 
sent ignominiously to Assyria, whose training he 
had dishonored, along with his foolish counsel- 
ors, Marduk-ushezib fled toward the south, and 
went into hiding in the marshes at the mouths 
of the rivers. Merodach-baladan embarked his 
gods and his people upon ships, and sailing down 
the Persian Gulf, settled along the eastern shores 
in the land of Elam, whither Sennacherib did 
not dare to follow him. There he soon after 
died. No man like him as an opponent of As- 
syria had arisen since the days of Ben-Hadad II 
of Damascus. Adroit enough to surrender always 
at the right time, ever full of resources when 
there was the least hope of success, implacable 
in his hostility, his removal from action was a 
great boon to Assyria. His name did not die with 
him, but his descendants, of the same stuflE in their 
persistency, remained to plague a later day in As- 
syrian history. The land of Bit-Yakin was next 
ravaged by Sennacherib in the vain attempt to 
root out the elements of discord and disaffection. 
On his return northward Sennacherib had his own 
son, Asshur-nadin-shum, proclaimed in Babylon as 
king.* And so began another attempt at govern- 
ing this diflScult part of the empire. 

In the next year (699) military operations were 
necessary in Cilicia and Kappadokia. The moun- 
tainous country of Khilakku, amid the crags of 

1 Taylor Prism, ill, lines 42-66, Rogers, <fp, cit.^ pp. 91, 92. 

t 




THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 207 

the Taurus, was penetrated and reduced to sub- 
jection. Rebellion in the lower parts of Cilicia, 
in the province created by Saigon, was stamped 
out by the destruction of the capital. This cam- 
paign seems to have made a great impression at 
the time. Sennacherib boasts of the overcoming 
of extraordinary obstacles in mountain climbing; 
and Berossos ' ascribes to him the erection of the 
city of Tarsus. By this he can only mean re- 
building or restoration, for the city is known to 
have been in existence at least as early as Shal- 
maneser II. Another campaign, probably little 
more than a raid, was directed about the same 
time against Tumur, in the north. 

Again were troubles brewing in Babylonia, 
even while the king's own son maintained his pre- 
carious rule. The Chaldeans were not so well led 
as they had been, but even in exile they ceased 
not to plot against the nation which had humili- 
ated them. A large number of Chaldeans had 
left the southlands of Babylonia and settled on 
the coasts of Elam. Here they were an ever- 
present menace to the peace of Babylonia. In 694 
Sennacherib undertook a campaign for their destruc- 
tion. It was a campaign extraordinary in concep- 
tion and execution. He built boats on the Tigris 
and manned them with Phoenicians and Cyprians, 
who were better used to ships than the land-loving 
Assyrians.' The boats were then floated down 

* Muller-Didot, Frngm. Hist. Grcec^ ii, p. 604. 
' Taylor Prism, iv, line 26. 



208 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

the Tigris to Upi (Opis), and thence conveyed 
overland to the Euphrates by camels, where they 
were again launched and went down to the Per- 
sian Gulf. A short sail brought the forces to the 
colonies which Merodach-baladan had founded, 
where the cities were destroyed and their inhab- 
itants slain or carried into captivity.' Never 
before had Sennacherib made a direct attack on 
Elam, and this was not to go by without an effort 
after revenge. Khallus, the Elamite king, invaded 
Babylonia and plundered Sippar. Asshur-nadin- 
shum, who had enough courage to oppose him, 
was taken captive to Elam,' whence he apparently 
never returned. The Elamites then crowned in 
Babylonia a native by the name of Nergal-ushezib. 
This act again divided the land. The new king 
held only northern Babylonia, while all the south 
was in Assyrian hands. Nergal-ushezib attempted 
to gain control also over the south, and marched 
to Nippur, which he took in 693.* Shortly after 
he met an Assyrian army, and a battle was fought 
in which he was taken prisoner and carried to As- 
syria.* In Mam an uprising took place in which 
Khallus was killed, and the throne came to Kudur- 
nakhundi.' These reversals of fortune seemed to 
hand over the land of Babylon again to the As- 

1 JHd., lines 29-88. 

* Babylonian Chronicle, ii, 42, Keilin$chrift, Bihl, ii, pp. 278, 279. 
' Babylonian Chronicle, ii, 42. 

* 76uf., iii, 4, 6. 

* i&td, 9. In the Babylonian Chronicle the name is abbreviated into 
Eudur. 




THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 209 

syriaus, but the matter was by no means settled. 
The Assyrians could not hope to hold Babylonia 
in safety if the Elamites were not so punished for 
the late invasion that they would never dare the 
like again. The change in kings gave a favorable 
opportunity, and Sennacherib invaded the land. 
He claims to have sacked and burned thirty-four 
cities and to have seized much treasure. The king 
was not taken nor his capital^ city besieged — and 
this failure Sennacherib ascribes to weather of un- 
usual severity and to great cold.* Kudur-nakhundi 
lived only three months more, and was succeeded 
by his younger brother, Umman-minanu, whom 
Sennacherib considered a man without judgment 
and intelligence.* 

While these events were happening in Mam, 
and Sennacherib waa tied down to his efforts there, 
another Chaldean seized the reins of power in 
Babylonia. Mushezib-Marduk was made king in 
Babylon in 692. It is one of the curious changes 
in history that he was supported by the native 
Babylonians. It was but a short time since the 
Babylonian hatred of Chaldeans was so strong 
that an Assyrian king who was able to drive 
them from the country was hailed as a deUverer. 
Now the Babylonians were filled with hatred and 
dread of the Assyrians, and made common cause 
with the Chaldeans against them. The Babylo- 
nians and Chaldeans then gained as another ally 

» Taylor Prism, iv, 48-80. 
* IbicL, y, line 8, Rogers, op, cU.^ p. 96. 
14 • 



210 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

the Elamites, by giving to Umman-minanu the 
treasures of the ancient temple of E-sagila as 
a bribe. Political necessities had surely made 
strange bedfellows when the Elamites, who so 
recently had been invaders and plunderers in 
Babylonia, were now chosen friends to strengthen 
a Chaldean upon a Babylonian throne. With the 
Elamites were found as allies peoples of many 
places which had been organized as Assyrian prov- 
inces but a short time before. Among these were 
Parsua, Ellipi, and the Puqudu, the Gambuli, and, 
most interesting of all, Samunu, the son of Mero- 
dach-baladan, who had revenge in his heart beyond 
a doubt, and was glad of an opportunity to meet his 
father's enemy. The allies came down into Baby- 
lonia, and Sennacherib's historiographer waxed elo- 
quent as he thought of that great array. They 
were " like a great swarm of locusts.'' ' " The dust 
of their feet was like a storm by which the wide 
heavens are covered with thick clouds."* In 691 
Sennacherib met the combined armies at Khalul6.' 
The description of the battle as the Annals have 
preserved it is one of the most thrilling in all As- 
syrian literature.* Words of blood and fire are 
heaped one upon the other to set forth the over- 
whelming might of the great king's opponents and 

' Taylor Prism, v, 43. 

• JbiiLy 45-47. 

' Billerbeck {Qeographitche Unterguchungen^ P* l^* i^ote 1 ; Susa^ p. 90) 
locates Ehaluld on the left bank of the Dijala, perhaps on the site where 
Hebheb now stands. 

*■ See Haupt, "The Battle of Haluld," Andover Review, 1887, pp. 542, ff. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 211 

the awful butchery which they suffered. But the 
very protestations of such complete victory awaken 
skepticism, which becomes conviction when we 
survey the conclusion of the whole conflict. Im- 
mediately after the battle Sennacherib withdrew 
to Assyria. He made no attempt to pursue the 
forces which he is said to have routed, neither did 
he turn to Babylon to drive the usurper from the 
throne. If he really did gain the victory,' it must 
have been with tremendous losses which could not 
be promptly repaired. 

In 689 Sennacherib again invaded Babylonia 
and came up to the city itself. The Babylo- 
nians had now no Elamite allies, and the city was 
soon taken. Thereupon ensued one of the wildest 
scenes of human folly in aU history. The city was 
treated exactly as the Assyrian kings had been 
accustomed to treat insignificant villages which 
had joined in rebellion. It was plundered, its in- 
habitants driven from their homes or deported, its 
walls broken down. The torch was then applied, 
and over the plain rolled the smoke of consuming 
temples and palaces, the fruit of centuries of high 
civilization. All that the art of man had up to 
that time devised of beauty and of glory, of maj- 
esty and of massiveness, lay in one great smolder- 
ing ruin. Over this the waters of the Euphrates 
were diverted that the site of antiquity's greatest 
city might be turned into a pestilential swamp. 

* The Babylonian Chronicle (coL iii, lines 16-18) claims the victory for 
£la^. 

9 



212 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Marduk, the great god of the city, was carried 
away and set up in the city of Asshur, that no 
f utore settlers might be able to secure the protec- 
tion of the deity who had raised the city to emi- 
nence. Marduk-ushezib was carried a prisoner to 
Assyria.' 

It was undoubtedly the hope and belief of Sen- 
nacherib that he had finally settled the Babylo- 
nian question, which had so long burdened him 
and former kings of Assyria. There would now, 
in his opinion, be no further trouble about the 
crowning of kings in Babylon and the taking of 
the hands of Marduk, for the city was a swamp 
and Marduk an exile. There would be no more 
glorification of the city at the expense of Nineveh, 
which was now, by a process of elimination, assure 
edly the chief city of western Asia. But in all this 
Sennacherib reasoned not as a wise man. He had 
indeed blotted out the city, but the site hallowed 
by custom and venerated for centuries remained. 
He had slain or driven into exile its citizens, but 
in the hearts of the survivors there burned still the 
old patriotism, the old pride of citizenship in a 
world city. He had humbled the Babylonians 
indeed, but what of the Chaldeans who had al- 
ready produced a Merodach-baladan and might 
produce another like him, who would seek revenge 
for the punishment of his race and its allies in 
Babylonia ? From a purely commercial point of 

'Bavian Inscription, lines 48-60, Besold, KeUifuehrift, BUfL^ ii, pp. 
116-119. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 213 

view the destruction had been great folly. The 
plundering of the great city before its burning had 
undoubtedly produced immense treasure to carry 
away into Assyria, but there would have been a 
great annual income of tribute, which was now cut 
off ; and a vast loss by the fire, which blotted out 
warehouses and extensive stores as well as temples 
and palaces. This historic crime would later be 
avenged in full measure. In any estimation of the 
character of the Assyrian people the destruction 
of Babylon must be set down by the side of the 
raids and the murders of Asshumazirpal. It is a 
sad episode in human history which gave over to 
savages in thought and in action the leadership of 
the Semitic race, and took it away from the He- 
brews and Aramaeans and the culture-loving Baby- 
lonians. 

For eight long and weary years the only record 
of the Babylonian Chronicle and the Ptolemaic 
Canon is, " There was no king in Babylon." The 
babble of many tongues of diverse peoples who had 
garnered knowledge, carved beautiful statues, ex- 
perimented in divers forms of government, sang 
hymns of praise, and uttered plaints of penitence 
was hushed, and in its place was the great silence 
of the desert, which a ruthless destroyer had 
made. 

At some time between 688 and 682 Sennacherib 
again went westward into Arabia. Sargon had 
there met with extraordinary success. But the 
results had been very short-lived. The Bedouin 



214 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

inhabitants were able to pay tribute, and would 
do so for a time if there was fear of punishment, 
but they were so continually moving about from 
place to place with their flocks and herds that it 
was diflScult to follow them and keep them in 
dread. It was one thing to punish a people who 
had houses and cities, it was another thing to dis- 
cipline a people whose black tents of camel's hair 
were quickly folded and their possessors swept 
silently away over pathless deserts beneath a 
blazing and relentless sun. Sennacherib's long 
absence had blotted out the memory of the past 
among the Arabians, and they were now rather 
under Egyptian than Assyrian influence. To re- 
store the Assyrian position was the object of an 
expedition known to us only by a reference in the 
inscriptions of Sennacherib's son and successor. 

• 

Adumu, a sort of settlement, probably the Du- 
matha of Ptolemy, was taken and the gods carried 
away to Assyria.' More than this could hardly 
have been accomplished among a population such 
as this. Though we have no mention of it, it is 
probable that some booty was secured, and the 
Assyrian prestige would be increased by the tak- 
ing away of the gods. 

It was the last act of Sennacherib in war. 
Shortly after his return home, on the twentieth 
day of the month Tebet, in the year 681, he was 
murdered in a temple by the hands of his own 

1 Esarhaddon, Prism (A & C), col. ii, 66-68, Abel, Keiliruehrift, BUfL, 
ii, pp. 130, 131. 



THE REIGN OF SENNACHERIB. 215 

sons, [Nergalj-sharezer and Adarmalik.' Like 
many another assassination^ west and east, the 
crime was due to jealousy of another son and de- 
sire to secure the succession to the throne. So 
ended a reign little worthy of the one which had 
preceded it. Sennacherib's inscriptions indeed 
boast loudly of great victories, but there seems 
but little foundation for most of them. He added 
nothing to what his father had won and held. 
His hand was a hand of iron and blood, and not 
of real creative power. No great policy of ad- 
ministration was devised or begun by him. That 
he was Sargon's son had won him position, that he 
had brute force in certain measure had held it for 
him. The empire had been maintained in its in- 
tegrity, though the fairest portion of it had been 
changed into ruin and waste in the doing of it. 

The only act of peace which may safely be pred- 
icated of his reign was the transfer of the capital 
from Dur-Sharrukin to Nineveh, where a palace 
was reerected on old foundations, in which the 
king dwelt. He began to make Nineveh the 
world's chief city by the erection of this palace, 
and by the destruction of the greater Babylon the 
self-imposed task was completed. 

1 2 Kings xix, 86, 87 ; Babylonian Chronicle, iii, 84, where only one son 

is mentioned as the assassin. 

a 



216 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



CHAPTER IX. 

tb:e beion of esarhaddon. 

We do not know the exact circumstances which 
led to the assassination of ScDnacherib, but we 
shall not be far astray, in all probability, if we 
ascribe it to jealousy on the part of his sons. 
While he yet lived Sennacherib had made his son^ 
Esarhaddon (Asshur-akh-iddin), a sort of regent 
over Babylonia. He had also by decree made him 
the legal heir to the throne, though he was almost 
certainly not the eldest son. 

During his residence in Babylonia in these early 
years of lus life Esarhaddon (680-668)' was smit- 
ten with a great love for the ancient land with all 
its honored customs. His whole life shows plainly 

1 The chief authorities for the reign of Esarhaddon are the following : 
(a) The Cylinders A, B, C, published I R. 45-47, and IH R. 16, 16, and 
Abel.Winckler, KeiUehrifttexie, 26, 26, translated into English by R. F. 
Harper, Cylinder A of the Esarhaddon Inscriptions, transliterated and 
translated, with Textual Notes, from the Original Copy in the British Mu- 
seum, republished from ffebraieay 1887, 1888 ; and into German by Ludwig 
Abel and Hugo Winckler, KeUinechrifL Bibl,, ii, pp. 124-161. (b) 7^ 
Blaek SUme, published I R. 49, 50, and translated into German by Winck- 
ler, KeUifuchH/t. Bibl., ii, pp. 120-126. (c) The Stele of Zenjirli, pub- 
lished by von Luschan, Au^abungen in Sendtchirlif i, pp. 11-29 and 
plates i-iy, and translated by Scbrader, {6{J., pp. 29-48. (d) Prayers to 
the Sim Ood^ published and translated into German by J. A. Knudtzon, 
AseyrisehiS Oebete an den Sonnen Oott^ i, ii, pp. 72-264. The chief in- 
scriptions are transliterated and translated in Budge, The History of Esar- 
haddon, London, 1880. 




THE REIGN OF ESARH ADDON. 217 

how deeply lie was influenced by the glory of 
Babylon's past, and how eager he was to see un- 
done the ruin which his father had wrought. As 
soon as the news of his father's death reached his 
ears he caused himself to be proclaimed as shah 
Jcanah of Babylon. In this he was going back to 
the goodly example of his grandfather Sargon. 
Sennacherib had ceased altogether to wear a 
Babylonian title. Babylonia was to him not a 
separate land united with his own, but a subject 
territory inhabited by slaves whom he despised. 
Esarhaddon did not even take the name of king, 
which in Babylonian eyes would have been unlaw- 
ful without taking the hands of Marduk, now ex- 
iled to Assyria. Immediately after his proclama- 
tion in Babylonia Esarhaddon hastened to Nine- 
veh, where the rebellion collapsed at once, and he 
was received as the legitimate king. According 
to the Babylonian Chronicle it had lasted only a 
month and a half — from the twentieth day of Tebet 
to the second day of Adar.* The biblical story 
represents the two murderers as fleeing to Ar- 
menia, and there is no reason to doubt that this was 
the case.' Esarhaddon's inscriptions say that he 
left Nineveh in the month of Shabat ; and this was 
probably in pursuit of his brothers.' He fought 
a battle with the rebels and their followers at 



1 Babylonian Chronicle, iii, 86, 37. 
< 2 Kings xix, 87. 

» Cylinder, col. i, lines 1-26, Winckler, KeUintehrifl, Bibl.y ii, pp. 140- 
143. 



218 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

Khanigalbat, near Melid, and readily overcame 
them.* They had probably been hoping for some 
assistance from Armenia, and now accepted it. 
The campaign had lasted only eight months, and 
in the mouth of Kislev, 680, Esarhaddon was 
crowned king of Assyria. 

It is very diflScult to follow closely the order of 
events in the reign which was now begun. Unlike 
Sargon or Sennacherib, Esarhaddon has left us 
scarcely a fragment in which the chronological 
order of events is followed. He was more con- 
cerned in setting forth the deeds themselves than 
the order and relation of them — such at least must 
be our judgment unless at some time a text of his 
in true annalistic style should be found. 

In the very first year of his reign (680) Esar- 
haddon gave clear indications of his reversal of his 
father's policy.* Babylon had been destroyed ; he 
would rebuild it. No Assyrian king before him 
had ever set himself so great a task. He did not 
live to see it brought to the final and glorious con- 
summation which he had planned, but he did see 
and rejoice in a large part of the work. With 
much religious solemnity, with the anointing of oil 
and the pouring out of wine, was the foundation 
laying begun. From the swamps which Sennach- 
erib had wantonly made slowly began to rise the 
renewed temple of E-sagila, the temple of the great 

> Ibid., Unes 18-21. 

*Mei8sner and Rost, Die Bauinaehriften Asarhaddon^ BeitrHge zur 
AityriologUf iii, pp. 189-862, with plates. 



THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 219 

god8, while around it and the newly growing city 
the king erected from the foundations upward the 
great walls of Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel. All 
these, as the king boasts, were enlarged and beau- 
tified beyond that which they had been in their 
former glory. Slowly through the reign along 
with the wars which must now be told went on 
these works of peace and utility, to find their en- 
tire completion in the reign of Esarhaddon's like- 
minded son. 

The first work of war to which Esarhaddon 
must direct his energies was a new castigation of 
the Chaldeans. While he was busy in securing his 
throne a fresh outbreak had occurred in the old 
district of the Sea Lands. Nabu-ziru-kinish-lishir, 
a son of Merodach-baladan, had gained some of his 
family's power in Bit-Yakin, and with this as a 
base of operations had possessed himself of the 
country as far north as Ur. When Esarhaddon 
dispatched an army against him he fied to Elam, 
whither his father before him had more than once 
gone for refuge. There was now, however, a new 
regime in Elam, and the king, Ummanaldash II, 
seized him and slew him. His brother, Na'id Mar- 
duk, fled to Assyria and delivered himself up 
to Esarhaddon, who, with a mercy that honors his 
heart and his judgment, sent him back to Bit- 
Yakin to rule the country under Assyrian over- 
lordship.' This sudden desertion on the part of 

1 Babjloniim Chronicle, ill, 3d-42; Cylinders A and C, ii, lines 82-41; 
Cylinder B, ii, 1-26. 



i 



220 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Elam of its traditional friendship for Merodach-bal* 
adan and the Chaldeans in general is very difficult 
to understand. Up to this time the Elamites had 
always aided every movement of the Chaldeans 
against the Assyrians. There happened also a lit- 
tle later, in 674, another strange manifestation of 
a new policy among these same Elamites. While 
Esarhaddon was elsewhere engaged the Elamites 
surged down into Babylonia, and, murdering and 
plundering as they went, reached as far as the city 
of Sippar. The Babylonian Chronicle records this 
raid,' but does not utter a word concerning any 
retaliation on the part of the Assyiians. 

While Esarhaddon was carrying on the rebuild- 
ing of Babylon, and the population was returning 
which had been scattered, he found occasion for a 
small passage at arms with the Chaldean tribe of 
Bit-Dakkuri, which had gained sudden wealth 
through the destruction wrought by Sennacherib, 
When the Babylonians had been driven away by 
Sennacherib from the temtory about Babylon and 
Borsippa these Chaldeans had promptly taken 
possession. As the selfsame people were now re- 
turning whom Sennacherib had thus dispossessed, 
Esarhaddon determined to drive out the settlers. 
He deposed their king, Shamash-ibni, and set over 
them Nabu-usallim, a son of a certain Balasu men- 
tioned by Tiglathpileser III.* When they had 

^ Babylonian Chronicle, iy, 9, 10. 

* Cylinder A and C, ii, 42-54, Keilinachrifi, Bibl, ii, 128-181 ; Cylinder B, 
iii, 19-27. 



THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 221 

been dislodged the lands were restored to their 
former owners. At about the same time Esar- 
haddon undertook to bring into subjection the 
tribe of Gambuli, perhaps a mixed race of Ara- 
maeans who were settled in the border country 
between Elam and Babylonia near the mouth of 
the Tigris. They had given aid to Ummanaldash 
in his raid in 674, and must now be humbled. 
Their prince, Bel-iqisha, did not dare a battle,' 
and so surrendered and gave pledge to hold his 
fortress, Shapi-Bel, aa a sort of outpost against 
Elamite invasions; it was then strengthened by 
the Assyrians for this purpose, ikarhaddon was 
too prudent to attack Elam ; and there was shortly 
less need for it. Ummanaldash IE died in the same 
year, and his successor, Urtaku, was of very differ- 
ent mind as regards the Assyrians. He appears 
to have used every effort to maintain peace and 
friendship between the two peoples. As an evi- 
dence of this temper of mind stands his action of 
673 in sending back to Agade the gods who at 
some previous time had been carried away by the 
Elamites. 

All these operations of war were child's play 
compared with the drama in the west, in which 
Esarhaddon played the chief r61e. We have 
already seen that Sennacherib had signally failed 
in Syria. He had been absolutely unable to con- 
quer Tyre, chiefly because it had the sea on the 
western side, forming a defense which the Assyr- 

' Cylinder A and C, iii, 68-iv, Y. 



I 



222 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

ian could not burn nor pull down, and of which 
he was probably well afraid, as a landsman from 
the east might well be. His efforts in Judah, we 
have also seen, ended in a calamity for which 
his superstition or faith could find only disquieting 
causes. Furthermore, the only effort at setting up 
a new government and of making a center for As- 
syrian influence had no abiding power. He had 
planned to set up Sidon as a rival of Tyre, and to 
gather about it in an artificial manner several cit- 
ies which were better adapted to be rivals than 
friends. His rearrangement of the city dominion 
had no element of stability in it, and soon dis- 
solved. Ethobal, whom he had made king, was 
probably loyal enough, and his personal influence 
maintained the status' quo^ for it was in the end a 
personal rather than a national plan. As soon as 
he was dead and his son, Abdmilkot, reigned in 
his place the people of Sidon quietly dropped the 
Assyrian allegiance and went on with their dis- 
patching of ships on the MediteiTanean and with 
the piling up of treasure, none of which was paid 
over to Assyria as tribute. Here, then, in the Phoe- 
nician territory were entirely independent states, 
Tyre and Sidon, each with its own territory. We 
are clearly instructed concerning the territory of 
Sidon, and, though Sennacherib had stripped Tyre 
of her possessions, there is reason to believe that 
some of them had been regained. The wealth 
alone of these two states might well tempt a king 
who was spending upon new and old building 



THE BEIGN OF ESABHADDON. 22S 

operatioos soch r^ sums. Former kings had 
secured vast sums for the noninterference with 
Phoenician commerce ; he might certainly hope to 
gain at least this boon, not to be despised, and he 
might also really conqner Phoenicia and make a 
loyal province of it. 

With snch hopes and dreams Esarhaddon led 
his first westward campaign. The way had been 
well prepared by the Assyrian conquerors who 
had devastated before him, and none would view 
the onset of his troops with equanimity. Before 
he could reach the sea a rebellion was genuinely 
on foot Abd-milkot had found an ally in San- 
duarri, king of Kundu ' and Sizu,* two cities, the 
latter located in a mountainous, almost impassable, 
country in northern Cilicia. Sidon had the pro- 
tection of the sea, while Kundu and Sizu had the 
wild and trackless mountains about them. The 
Assyrians had often before crept among the moun- 
tains and attacked enemies hidden like birds 
among the clefts, as the Assyrian annalist loves to 
portray theuL But their success by sea had been 
inconsiderable. The new confederation seemed to 
have elements of strength beyond many which 
had preceded it. On the approach of the As- 
syi'ians the courage of Abd-milkot forsook him 
and he fled to sea. Esarhaddon besieged Sidon, 
and the city held out well — we do not know ex- 
actly how long — but the campaign against the two 

* Kundu is Euinda (Strabo, xiv, v, §10), located on the Gulf of Antioch. 
' Sizu is Sis, in the Cilician mountains. 



224 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

rebels lasted three years. It is certainly liighly 
probable that the greater part of this long period 
was devoted to the maritime city rather than to 
the mountain hamlets. • When Sidon fell the city 
was devoted to destruction. The walls which had 
been a defense for ages were tumbled into the sea ; 
the houses in which wealthy merchants had lived 
were torn from their foundations and utterly 
ruined. The whole city was leveled to the plain 
and blotted out of existence.' All this is after the 
models of ancient days, and shows to what a pitch 
of wrath Esarhaddon had been wrought by the 
long and tedious siege. But at once he turns 
from this custom and exemplifies the other and 
better side. Upon the same site another city is 
built and named Kar-Asshur-akh-iddin (Esarhad- 
don's-burg), that in it the old commerce might live 
again. The new city thus built was peopled by 
inhabitants of the mountains conquered in war, 
and also and more reasonably by others drawn 
from the coasts of the Persian Gulf. Abd-milkot 
was captured, perhaps in Cyprus, and beheaded. 
Kundu and Sizu were also taken, and the un- 
fortunate Sanduarri was treated in the same way. 
When Esarhaddon returned from the campaign 
he brought with him substantial evidences of his 
victory. Kundu and Sizu had probably enriched 
him but little, but with Sidon the case was en- 
tirely different. Here was a commercial city 

* Cylinders A and C, col. i, lines 10-64 ; Cylinder B, ooL i, lines 2Y-S0 ; 
KeUiruehH/t. Bibl., ii, pp. 124-127, 144, 145. 




THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 225 

througli which had passed a goodly share of the 
commerce between east and west. As through 
Gaza passed the trade of Arabia to the western 
nations now coveting the luxuries and refinements 
of the east, so through Sidon, and especially- 
through Tyre, passed all that luxurious Asia had 
to contribute to the sybarites who lived in Greece 
and Italy. These things could not pass year by 
year through Sidon without leaving a share of 
the choicest of them in the hands of those who 
trafficked. Esarhaddon enumerates in one bald list 
the treasure which he carried away. It was of 
gold, silver, precious stones, ivory, costly woods, 
tapestries, and dress stuffs. The color and the rich- 
ness of the east were in this mass of wealth. Esar- 
haddon had not reckoned too highly upon the 
gains of his conquest, even if three years had fled 
away before it was taken. To these were added 
the cattle, the sheep, and the asses which were 
driven away to render service hereafter in Assyria. 
The end of this campaign is a record of return to 
the most wretched barbarism of Assyria's darkest 
days. When he came up to his city gates Esar- 
haddon made a triumphal entry to the sound of 
loud music. In his train marched his captives, 
and among them were the chief men of Sidon, and 
bound round their necks was the ghastly head of 
Abd-milkot, while the principal men of Kundu 
and Sizu bore in like manner the head of San- 
duarri. It is a strange sight, this entry into 
Nineveh, when it is remembered that the king 

15 



226 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

who made it was Esarliaddon, who had been mer- 
ciful to a son of Merodach-baladan and had re- 
stored to the Babylonians the lands which his 
father had wasted. The natural Assyrian temper 
had revealed itself in this latest of Assyrian mon- 
archs. 

The attack on Tyre probably began while Sidon 
was still in a state of siege. It was an entirely 
difiEerent problem, and much more difficult. Tyre 
was better defended by the sea than Sidon. It 
was larger, richer, more determined. There is 
little doubt that if the Tyrians had believed that 
the payment of a heavy gift, or even the promise 
to give a large annual tribute, would have freed 
them from all further Assyrian disturbance of 
trade, they would have gladly met either or both 
conditions. They had done so before. But there 
was a determination about Esarhaddon's actions 
that could hardly be satisfied with anything short 
of absolute control. The people of Tyre wanted 
to save some sort of autonomy, in order to the 
greater freedom of their commerce, and the only 
hope for this now was to fight and not to pay for 
it. Esarhaddon began his siege in earnest. He 
walled in the city entirely upon its landward side, 
and began a wearisome efiEort to conquer it by 
famine. But of one entrance to their city, and 
that the most important, he could not rob the 
Tyrians. The sea remained open, and by the sea 
might readily enter all that Tyre needed for the life 
of its citizens. He could deprive the city of its com- 




THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 227 

merce by land, and that naturally must soon de- 
stroy its commerce by sea, but if the Tyrians had 
the heart to hold out, they certainly could not be 
starved into submission. Ba^al was now king of 
Tyre and he was clearly of different stuff from his 
less courageous predecessors. Year by year the 
siege dragged on, while other and greater efforts 
occupied the attention of Esarh addon, and in the 
end there was no result. The siege had to be lifted, 
and Esarhaddon must confess defeat. It is true 
that upon one of his largest and most impressive 
monuments he pictures Ba'al of Tyre kneeling be- 
fore his august majesty, who holds him with a 
ring through his lips.* On the inscription, how- 
ever, there is not one word about the fall of Tyre, 
nor elsewhere in any of Esarhaddon's records is 
there any claim that Tyre had been taken. We 
are forced to the conclusion that Esarhaddon is 
here glorying without justification, and that Ba'al 
of Tyre during his entire reign maintained his in- 
dependence. The failure to take Tyre was a loss, 
in that great treasure would undoubtedly have 
been secured, but in no way was the continued 
existence of the city a menace to Assyria or an 
interference with the progress of Assyrian power 
anywhere in the west. There was no danger of 
any attack by Tyre upon the Assyrian flank if 
Esarhaddon should decide to move southward 
with his forces. Tyre would go on with her com- 

^ The Stele of 24injirli. See von Luschan, Autgrabungen von Sendachirli 
BerUn, 1893. 



228 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

merce and leave the rest of mankind to fight its 
own battles. 

Esarhaddon had administered a salutary lesson to 
Sidon and its ally ; he would now press on to dis- 
courage any farther alliances or confederations in 
Palestine against himself and his rule. Again and 
again the oft-recurring rebellions in Palestine had 
been brought about by Egyptian agents who stirred 
up the small states and hoped to gain power when 
Assyria had been driven off. No Assyrian king 
had hitherto done more than snuff out the little 
flame of patriotism and punish the offenders. None 
had been so bold as to execute* a move against 
Egypt herself, prime cause of all the trouble. It 
is proof of the power of an ancient name that this 
had not been done, for opportunities there had 
certainly been in plenty. Egypt had been so weak 
that she would probably have fallen an easy prey 
to armies such as Assyria had long had in the 
field. But the Assyrians had in their thought the 
Egypt of Thotmosis III and Rameses II, and did 
not rightly estimate the Egypt of their own day. 
Esarhaddon, however, had learned otherwise in 
some way, and now laid careful and wise plans 
for the overthrow of Egypt. The Assyrians had 
broken down the great culture-loving race of the 
Euphrates and had scattered its treasures; they 
would now proceed to do in like manner unto 

1 Sennacherib had certainly planned to inyade Egypt See above, pp. 197, 
198, and compare, ** I have digged and drunk water, and with the sole of 
my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt *' (Isa. zzxvii, 25). 




THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 229 

the great people who had conserved literature 
and art and science during the march of the cen- 
turies and had survived the wreck which had 
come to others less fortunate. The freebooters of 
Asia, who had sacked and burned and made howl- 
ing wastes where once had been beautiful cities, 
must seek a wider field and enter Africa. 

In 673 Esarhaddon makes his first attack upon 
Tirhaqa, the Ethiopian king of Egypt. The cam- 
paign was absolutely without tangible results. 
The Assyrian army, indeed, reached the Egyptian 
border, but did not cross it. The way was stub- 
bornly contested, and Esarhaddon at length with- 
drew temporarily without abandoning his designs. 
In 670 he again moved forward,* and probably 
with greatly increased forces. He was soon over 
the border upon this campaign, and at the first 
battle at Iskhupri gained a decisive victory over 
the l^ptians. Two more battles followed, and 
in these also was he victorious. After a march of 
fifteen days from Iskhupri he appeared before the 
walls of Memphis' and laid siege to an ancient 
and magnificent city. Memphis was unprepared, 
and soon fell into his hands. The family of Tirhaqa 
was taken, but the Pharaoh himself made good his 
escape into Nubia, paralyzed with fear and hope- 
less of the very idea of resistanca Memphis was 



^ Esarhaddon had previously consulted the oracle of the sun god and 
had received a fayorable answer. See Knudtzon, Ai9yr%»che (Mete u, 9w.^ 
ii, p. 177. 

* Stele of Zinjirli, lines 89, 40. 



230 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

plundered and destroyed. Esarhaddon had tasted 
the joys of plunder and the satisfaction of revenge 
at Sidon, and was glad to drink them again to 
the full. The fall of Menaphis fiDed the whole 
land with dismay. Such an event had probably 
never seemed to the proud people a possibility. 
There were no further resources in the country, 
the king had fled and left all, and only surrender 
was possible. As far as the confines of Nubia the 
country surrendered to the Assyrians. In two 
brief campaigns, with apparently little loss, an 
Assyrian army had imdone the work of centuries 
and humbled in the dust the world's proudest 
people. What was lost to the world in the de- 
struction of Memphis can never be known. How 
much else of works of art, of historical memorials, 
of beautiful buildings, perished may only be sur- 
mised. Esarhaddon admits that he carried away 
from the temples fifty-five royal statues. It was a 
complete overthrow, but the resistance had been 
slight and brief, and the land was happily not de- 
voted to destruction. 

At once Esarhaddon reorganized the govern- 
ment of the country. It was already divided 
into twenty-two divisions, called nomes. Over 
each of these a native prince was set up, who was 
really only a puppet in the hands of the Assyrian 
officials and assistants by whom he was sur- 
rounded. Even the names of the cities were 
changed into Assyrian forms, so that, for example, 
Sais became Kar-bel-matati (fortress of the lord of 




THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 231 

lands), and Athribis was to be Limir-ishakku- 
Asshur, though the inhabitants of the country- 
would certainly never adopt such ill-sounding 
combinations in the room of that to which their 
ears for many generations had been accustomed.* 
But that many Egyptians quickly acquiesced in 
the new order of affairs is perfectly plain. Over 
the twenty-two princes Esarhaddon set Necho of 
Sais as chief king, subject, of course, to himself as 
the real overlord. Necho went so far in devotion 
to his Assyrian masters as even to give his son an 
A^yrian Z. It fa no wonder tlfa. the heart of 
Esarhaddon swelled with pride when he contem- 
plated this conquest. That the youngest power 
in the Orient had been able to conquer and now 
to administer the affairs of a people who had been 
famous and powerful centuries before the first 
Babylonian colonists had settled in Asshur was 
indeed cause sufficient for boasting. 

Though the greatest by far, this conquest of 
Egypt was not Esarhaddon's only victory in the 
west besides Sidon. Various Arabian tribes had 
given trouble to Sargon and to Sennacherib, and 
Esarhaddon was not free from the same difficul- 
ties. Before his finst Egyptian campaign in 674 
he had been compelled to attack Melukhkha. 
Melukhkha had indeed no political organization 

^ For details of the campaign see the Stele already referred to, E. 8082 
(Wmckler, Untertuchungen zur AUorientalischen Oeschichie, pp. 97-99); 
Rogers, 7W Texts of Esarhaddon in Haver/ord College Studies No. 2 (with 
autograph facsimile of the text); and Bu. 91-2-9, 218 (Winckler, Altorieri' 
tcUische Forschungen, ii, pp. 21-28). 



232 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

coterminous with its geographical boundaries. 
Sennacherib mentions a king of Melukhkha, but 
he could hardly have reigned over a country so 
extensive as that which the word covers in the 
Assyrian inscriptions. Esarhaddon began his raid, 
for it was little else, from Palestine. The deserts 
were a sore trial to his troops, unused to any such 
campaigning, and would have been destruction to 
them but for the help given by the people of the 
little kingdom of Aribi. Esarhaddon penetrated 
into the land as far probably as Mount Shamar. 
The king of Melukhkha was taken captive, a mat- 
ter of moment only in this, that he might have 
become an ally of Egypt. The entire campaign 
was only undertaken to set the people in dread of 
Assyria and so make them careful to give no aid 
or comfort to Assyria's enemies. 

In this same connection it is interesting to ob- 
serve Esarhaddon's treatment of the small land 
of Aribi, the part of northern Arabia which 
comes up between Palestine and the Euphrates 
valley. The Assyrian kings had already had 
dealings with two queens of this country. Tig- 
lathpileser, Sargon, and Sennacherib had also rav- 
aged in Aribi, and the land had been brought in 
a considerable measure under the influence of As- 
syria. Hazael, a king of Aribi, had sufiEered much 
from Sennacherib, and had been especially be- 
reaved in the loss of his gods, which had been car- 
ried away. Emboldened, perhaps, by the knowl- 
edge that Esarhaddon had reversed his father's 



THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 233 

policy in Babylonia, he besought the king for the 
return of his gods. The prayer was granted, and 
a friendly feeling thus reestablished. And now 
followed a very strange act. Esarhaddon set up a 
new queen in Aribi, who appears not to have dis- 
turbed the established order at alL Her name 
was Tabua, and she had been reared at the As- 
syrian court How she could have reigned as 
queen while Hazael continued as king is somewhat- 
difficult of explanation.' It appears probable that 
we have here an instance of a sort of double rule. 
Perhaps the situation is like that which existed in 
the Nabathean kingdom at a very much later date. 
These kings mention their queens in their in- 
scriptions and stamp their heads along with their 
own upon coins, which would seem to indicate 
that they exercised some influence in the state.' 
Hazael died during the reign of Esarhaddon, and 
was succeeded by his son, variously called Ya'lu 
and Yata\ 

In the i*eign of Esarhaddon there was felt for 
the first time in all its keenness the danger of an 
overflow of the land by great Indo-European immi- 
grations. Long before this time these peoples, liv- 
ing in what is now southern Russia, had begun 
to spread southward. The Medes formed one great 
wave of their migration. They had, however, 



' Maspero (Pauing of the JShnpiret^ p. 368) makes her simply the wife of 
Hazaelf and says nothing of the expression in Cylinder A and C, iii, 14, in 
which dominion over the country is expressly attributed to her. 

' Winckler, Oesehiehie, p. 26Y. 



2U HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

turned eastward, had settled in the mountains 
northeast of Assyria, and beyond Elam, and had 
not disturbed the Assyrian empire. Greater mi- 
grations than that of the Medes were now becom- 
ing severely thi'eatening. One wave swept down 
from the northern shores of the Black Sea, and 
met with the first Asiatic power in Annenia. Ar- 
menia was not now the power it once had been, 
but it was, nevertheless, strong enough to separate 
the Indo-European horde as by a wedge. One 
great mass moved westward into Asia Minor. 
The other and much less formidable went west- 
ward and southward into the outlying Assyrian 
provinces. The name of a leader in this second 
stream of migration has come down to us in the 
form of Ishpakai, who is called an Ashguzsean, 
which may be the same as the biblical Ashkenaz.* 
This man, leading his horde of Indo-European bar- 
barians, came as far as Lake Urumiyeh. Here he 
found the people of Man,' who had felt the As- 
syrian power and had paid their annual tribute like 
their neighbors. They had, however, been entirely 
undisturbed for a long time, as Sennacherib had 
not invaded their territory at all during his reign. 
In the migration of the Indo-Europeans they saw 
s, hope of securing aid by which all allegiance to 
Assyria might perhaps be thrown ofiE. It was a 
plan of folly, for the new lords which they would 

thus secure were not likely to be any better than 

- ■ ——^-~ 

J Jer. li, 27. 

* Knudtzon, Auyrische QebeUf ii, p. 180. 



THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 235 

the old ones whom they put off. Esarhaddon, 
learning of this alliance, invaded the country and 
conquered Ishpakai, apparently without much 
trouble.' It was the easy victory of discipline over 
disorder. Esarhaddon may have satisfied his own 
mind with the thought that he had removed a great 
danger, but in reality his victory was of very slight 
consequence. He had indeed broken down this 
alliance, but he had not disposed of the hordes of 
men who formed the migration. Their leaders 
were ever seeking some new method of harassing 
his outposts and plundering his tributary states. 
Some, like Kashtariti, even threatened the very ex- 
istence of the commonwealth, for he attempted to 
form a great coalition of the Mannai, the Cinmierians, 
and the Chaldians. It fell to pieces from mutual 
jealousies, but not without sending Esarhaddon in 
dread to consult still further the oracles of the sun 
god.' 

While there were shrewd men like Kashtariti 
among these immigrants, who needed to be treated 
with consideration and firmness, the greater mass 
were like dumb, driven cattle. The Indo-Europeans, 
indeed, were not an organized body aiming at a 
definite conquest of Assyrian territory. They were 
rather hordes of semibarbaric and hungry men 
pushed from old homes and seeking new ones. 
Many of them settled in Man, and cared not if 
they did have to join in the annual payment of an. 

' Cylinders A and C, ii, 27-31 ; B, col. Hi, 16-18. 
* Knudtzon, Aaayrische Oebete^ ii, pp. 72-82. 



236 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Assyrian tribute. The great bulk of the migra 
tion moved on into the Assyrian province of Par- 
sua, which was quietly and irresistibly overflowed 
and filled with a new population. Then spreading 
yet farther, they went on into Media. Here was 
already settled a population of closely related 
stock who had migrated thither at an earlier day, 
and had, as we have seen, offered but a feeble re- 
sistance to the Assyrian kings who were engaged 
in plundering raids. They were unable to keep 
out the newcomers who quietly settled among 
them. Some of the Median princes appealed to 
Esarhaddon for aid in keeping out the unwelcome 
immigrants. The Medes had formed as yet no 
central government. They had not been genuinely 
engrafted into the Assyrian empire, and they were 
unable in any united way to oppose the new mi- 
gration. If there had been less centralized gov- 
ernment in Assyria and no standing army, the 
very soU of the ancient Assyria would undoubt- 
edly have been overrun. Only the disciplined 
forces which were ready to oppose them wherever 
they appeared diverted the barbarians who had 
passed eastward from Urartu into Media. 

Among the Median princes who begged Esar- 
haddon for help against the engulfing wave were 
Uppis of Partakka, Sanasana of PartiJdsia, and Ra- 
mateya of Urakazabarna.' Esarhaddon was prob- 
ably glad of the invitation to interfere. He had 
reason to be, for he was threatened in a twofold 

> Cylinders A and C, iv, 19-87, Keilituehri/t Bibl., ii, pp. 182-186. 



THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 237 

manner by this migration on his eastern borders. 
In the very beginning be was being deprived of 
control in provinces from which much tribute had 
been brought, and without the payment of tribute 
the standing army which had made Assyria pow- 
erful could not be kept up. Assyrian merchants 
would never pay taxes for its maintenance. He 
was further in fear lest these new Indo-Europeans 
engrafted on the old stock might make a new state 
with a government of its own, central in position, 
ample in authority, and strong enough to thi*eaten 
its neighbors no less than to maintain its own in- 
tegrity. When that came to pass Assyria would 
have on the east an enemy more dangerous than 
Chaldia had been on the north. Esai*haddon^s 
campaign to help these Median princes amounted 
to nothing in its results, and we are, of course, 
not told how much the army suffered in losses be- 
fore it was withdrawn. 

Another expedition with similar purposes was 
directed against the country of Patusharra, which 
Esarhaddon carefully locates between the Bikni 
mountains (Demavend) and the desiert, which 
must be the salt desert of northern Persia. Here 
he took prisoners two Medo-Persian princes named 
Shitir-pama and Eparna.' There was no valuable 
result from this expedition also, or we had had it 
set forth with much earnestness and enthusiasm 
by Esarhaddon. That he was alarmed by these 
easterly migrations is beyond doubt. 

> Cylinders A and C, iv, 8-18 ; B, iv, 8-9. 



Sah HIBTOEY C^r BABTLOKIA AXI> ASSTElA. 

The nomads could not pieroe xbe andent land 
nor approach to Kineveh itself: the armies were 
too stiroDg and the fortified outposts toc» BumeroiiB 
for that Thej were, however, qniddT over- 
Bpreading a nch and xalnable country which the 
Aaenrrians had tried to conquer, and had partiaJlT 
succeeded in conqneiing, and had undoubtedly 
hoped to fit fuQj intc» the empire. But the no- 
mads were mating this forever impoasibk. The 
Afisjiians armies might cx>nquer them liere and 
there, but it was only aloug the edges of the slow- 
moving current. The great volume pressed be- 
hind, and the tide advanced again. £saihaddon 
was at last compelled to accept the inevitable, and 
watched fearfully while the people who had been 
nomads as it seemed but yesterdav were settled in 
the valleys, engaged in agriculture, and Tnat-iTig 
the first steps toward the oiganization of a new 
state. In these days the provinoes which had been 
first overrun and plundered by the Assyrians, and 
then organized and colonized* were taken from As- 
syria forever. Herein was enacted the same drama 
which centuries later took place in Italy, as the 
northern barbarians came southward over the 
mountains and seized the plains of Lombardy. 
Borne could make only a feeble resistance, and a 
little later even the capital went down before 
theuL The parallel goes even that far also, for 
Nineveh likewise was done to destruction through 
the help of these same barbarians who now settled 
in her outlying provinces. 



THE REIGN OF ESARH ADDON. 23^ 

We have traced from its first diversion in Ur- 
artu the eastern branch of the Indo-European 
migration until its settlement in the northeastern 
Assyrian provinces and in Media. The western 
branch was vastly more formidable in numbers and 
power. While the eastern branch has no distinctive 
general name applied to the entire body, the west- 
em is known under the name of the Cimme- 
rians. From Urartu they went westward, pass- 
ing through the provinces of Assyria which had 
formed the kingdom of Urartu. Assyria was un- 
doubtedly fearful of the issue. If the head of 
the stream should be diverted southwai'd ever 
so little, it would be pressed by the following 
masses into Mesopotamia, and no man was far- 
sighted enough to know the result of a situa- 
tion like that. The end of the Assyrian em- 
pire might even now be at hand. Esarhaddon 
must strike the moving body a blow strong 
enough to sweep it farther northward and make 
certain its diversion into the land of Asia Minor, 
and not into Syria. He did deliver his stroke 
against the Cimmerians at a place called Khu- 
bushna, in northern Cilicia. He boasts that he 
conquered Teuspa, a Cimmerian, a Manda — that is, 
a nomad or Scythian.* There is very little to be 
said of the victory, and the probability is that 
Esarhaddon had not assaulted the main body at 
all, which was moving rather northwesterly, but 
only one portion which had turned southward. 

> Cylinder A and C, ii, 6-9. 




240 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

However that may be, the chief object of Esarhad- 
don's concern was achieved. The Cimmerians 
moved on into Kappadokia, entering Asia Minor 
rather than Mesopotamia. The little kingdoms 
of Meshech and Tabal fell before the tide of mi- 
gration. Assyria lost by it some fine provinces in 
the northwest, as we have seen that it did in 
the northeast, through the invasion of the other 
branch of emigrants. With the exception of these 
losses Assyria suffered little. It is, however, not 
to be doubted that no such danger had ever be- 
fore assailed the Assyrian empire. Esarhaddon had 
saved it. A weak king at this juncture would have 
lost all, and Assyria, a barbarism in the robes of 
civilization, would have been engulfed. It is idle 
to speculate on the possibilities had such been 
the end of the invasion. The passing of the head- 
ship of the Semitic races from Assyria must have 
had momentous consequences. The passing of the 
leadership in western Asia from Semitic to Indo- 
Earopean hands was clearly impending, but it 
was now postponed through the energy, the fore- 
sight, and ability of Esarhaddon. Even if his 
name had not been enrolled among the greatest of 
Assyrian kings by the conquest and annexation of 
Egypt, he would have deserved the position by 
the deliverance from the Cimmerians and their 
eastern fellows in these very threatening days. 

The ill arrangement and the fragmentary chai'- 
acter of the Esarhaddon texts leave us much in 
doubt concerning the latest events of his reign. 



THE REIGN OF ESARHADDON. 241 

He took the city of Arzania, in the Syrian desert,' 
in one of his later campaigns, though we do not 
know just what led to the attack. 

In 669 a rebellion of some kind broke out in 
Assyria, We have no knowledge of its cause or 
purpose, but it was put down with a strong hand, 
Esarhaddon promptly causing the death of the 
<;hief men concerned in it." A man of his tempera- 
ment was not likely to be lenient in such matters. 

In 668 he undertook a campaigii into I^ypt. 
We are not well informed as to the cause of .this, 
for our knowledge of it rests not on any of Esar- 
haddon's own inscriptions, but only on the brief 
mention of the Babylonian Chronicle.* It is prob- 
able that there had already begun in Egypt the 
situation which demanded the strenuous efforts of 
Esarhaddon's successor. 

Before he set out on this expedition he must 
have felt some premonitory symptoms which made 
him doubt the long continuance of his life, for he 
took steps to provide for his successor. In this 
he may have been influenced by a desire to spare 
the people, if possible, such a chapter of difficul- 
ties as confronted him in the be^nning of his own 
reign. In the month of lyyar, 668, at the great 
festival of Gula, he caused to be published a 
proclamation commanding all the inhabitants of 
Assyria, both great and small, from the upper to 

> Cylinder A and C, i, 65, 66. 
^ Babylonian Chronicle, It, 29. 
• Jbid^ 80. 

16 » 



242 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

the lower sea, to honor and acknowledge his son 
Asshurbanapal as the crown prince and future 
king. This was the deed of a wise and prudent 
man. Unhappily he coupled with it another 
provision, which was fraught with the most awful 
consequences, and can only be characterized as an 
act of folly. In Babylon at the same time he 
caused his son Shamash-shum-ukin to be proclaimed 
as king of Babylon. If Asshurbanapal was to 
rule as king in Assyria, and another brother was 
to be king in Babylon, no matter what regulations 
of power or agreements of authority were arranged 
between them, there was inevitably a reopening of 
the old difficulty, the old jealousy and strife, be- 
tween Assyria and Babylonia. Sennacherib had 
felt this so severely that he had tried to terminate 
all disputes by the destruction of Babylon. Esar- 
haddon had undone that wrong by rebuilding the 
city — a colossal enterprise now nearly finished — 
and from the very beginning of that great work 
until this proclamation of Shamash-shum-ukin he 
had secured peace and at least a measure of con- 
tentment m Babylonia. There was now strong 
reason to hope that by rapid and easy intercourse 
between the two great sections of the Semitic race 
all ancient animosities and jealousies might die out 
and the countries really become one. This could 
only be brought about by the possession of power 
in the hands of one king, by centralization, in 
which, while Assyria held chief place, Babylonia 
should yet receive the honor due her, because 



THE REIGN OF ESAEHADDON. 243 

of her venerable antiquity and her great culture. 
Instead of a wise provision for the continuance of 
the order by which Esarhaddon was king of As- 
syria and shaJckanak of Babylon — ^an order that 
for now twelve long years had produced and 
maintained peace — Esarhaddon had provided for 
the return of an old order, often tried and always 
a failure. Babylonia would get a taste of semi- 
independence and would at once yearn for some^ 
thing more. The ruler set over her, be he never 
so faithful to his father and to Assyria, would be 
forced inevitably into rebellion or lose his head 
and his throne altogether. In this decision Esar- 
haddon was following old oriental precedents, 
which have also often been imitated since his 
day. He was dividing his kingdom, and there 
would be shedding of blood ere the reuniting, if, 
indeed, it were possible ever to achieve it. 

The forebodings of Esarhaddon had been well 
founded. On his way to Egypt he fell sick, and 
on the tenth day of Marcheshwan, in the year 668, 
he died.* 

He had had sore trials and great difficulties. He 
had endured grievous defeats and sustained severe 
losses, but he had, nevertheless, had a glorious 
reign. That the provinces which once paid great 
tribute were lost to the Indo-Europeans upon the 
northeast and northwest was less his fault than his 
misfortune. No king could well have done more 
than he, and it is to the credit of his ability that 

1 Babylonian Chronicle, it, 31, Keainachrift. BibL, u, pp. 284, 286. 

f 



244 mSTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

he did not lose much more, even the whole of 
Mesopotamia or even Assyria, for no army, how- 
ever well led, was of permanent value against a 
moving mass of men with unknowing and unthink- 
ing thousands pressing from the rear. These 
losses were far more than compensated by the 
gaining of the fertile and beautiful valley of the 
Nile. With this added, even though much was 
lost, Esarhaddon left the Assyrian empire larger 
and greater than it had ever been before. In bat- 
tle and in siege, in war against the most highly 
civilized peoples and in war upon barbarians, 
Esarhaddon had been so successful that he must 
rank with Sargon and Tiglathpileser III, and must 
be placed far in advance of his father, Sennacherib. 
In him, in spite of mercy shown a number of times, 
there raged a fierceness and a thirst for blood and 
revenge that remind us forcefully of Asshumazir- 
pal. His racial inheritance had overcome his per- 
sonal mildness. 

In works of peace no less than in war he was 
great and successful In the city of Nineveh he 
restored and entirely rebuilt a great arsenal and 
treasure-house which had already been restored 
by Sennacherib.* At Tarbis he began the erec- 
tion, probably somewhat late in his reign, of a 
great palace intended for the occupation of his son 
Asshurbanapal. At Calah he also began an im- 
mense palace, which remained unfinished when he 
died. The excavated ruins reveal a ground plan 

1 Cylinders A and C, iy, 49-59. 



THE REIGN OF ESARH ADDON. 246 

of vast extent, and the fragmentary sculptures 
show that the building was richly decorated and 
beautified. 

All these constructions, though they were nu- 
merous enough and great enough to have lent dis- 
tinction to the reign of almost any of the kings 
who had reigned before him, were comparatively 
insignificant by the side of the rebuilding of 
Babylon. In spite of the inscriptions and the 
fragments which are devoted to the celebration of 
this work it is impossible to form any adequate 
idea of so colossal an undertaking. He saw the 
city reinhabited and beginning again a glorious 
career, where, at the beginning of his reign, there 
had been a swamp and a desert. 

The last reign of great achievements in both 
war and peace was over in Assyria. The mor- 
row would bring change and confusion. A man 
who had mingled mildness and severity in unusual 
degree had gone out from among men, and his 
sons would never be able to eidiibit such quali- 
ties in union. 



246 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE REIGN OF A8SnUKBANAPAL. 

When Esarhaddon was dead there was no war 
of succession and no difficulty about the passing 
to his son of all his powers and titles. Asshur- 
banapaly the Sardanapalus of the Greeks and the 
Latins, and the Asnapper * of the Old Testament, 
became king in Nineveh, and his brother, Sham- 
ash-shum-ukin, was likewise everywhere received 
as king of Babylon. The dual control in the As- 
syrian empire began with great promise of success, 
though exposed to the difficulties and dangers al- 
ready enumerated. 

Of this reign we have much historical material.' 

^ £zra It, 10, R. V., Osnappar ^'HB^DfiltV better Asenapp&r. 

* It is quite impossible to give any useful survey of the inscriptions of 
this reign. The most important is the splendidly preserved Rassam Prism, 
containing 1,808 lines of writing on ten sides, published V R. I-IO (with 
numerous variants from other texts). It is translated into German by P. 
Jensen, KeUituchri/t. Bihl.^ ii, 152-287. In addition to the translation of 
this particular text Jensen has also translated certain parallel and supple- 
mental passages from other inscriptions (t^'dl, pp. 286-269), in which most 
of the matter needed for historical purposes is contained. For more com- 
plete lists of the inscriptions belonging to the reign the following may be 
consulted : Bezold, Kurtgefauter Ueherhlick iiber die BabyUmiMcK-AwfrUche 
LUeratur^ pp. 108-121 ; George Smith, History of Assurhanipal^ London, 
1871 ; Samuel Alden Smith, Die KeUechrifUexte Asurbanipats Kiinigi von 
Aesyrien (678-626 v, chr.) nach dem seibet in London eopierten Orundtext^ 
mil Transcription, Uebertetzang, Kommentar und volhtandigen Olonar. 
Leipzig, 1887-89. There are discussions of some important questions con- 
ceming the Asshurbanapal texts in Winckler, AUorientalische Forsehungen^ 
especially i, pp. 244-253, 474-483. In the narrative below references are 
given to other inscriptions and to detailed investigations concerning them. 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 247 

Asshui'banapal was devoted to the collection of 
books, and equally interested in their production. 
He took pains that his deeds and his wars, his 
buildings and his very thoughts and hopes, should 
be carefully written down. No inscriptions of any 
previous reign are so beautifully written as his. 
None are so smooth in their phrases, so glowing 
in their pictures, so sweeping in their style. But 
the care as to form was carried so far as to obscure 
at times the sense, and one wishes for the bald 
directness of the older monuments. Furthermore, 
to our present great discomfiture, the inscriptions 
are not written in annalistic form, with the events 
of every year carefully blocked out by themselves. 
We are therefore often at a loss to determine ex- 
actly in what year an important event took place. 
The events are set forth in campaigns, and as the 
campaigns are not coterminous with the years, it 
is impossible accurately to date events. To add 
to the difficulty the Babylonian Chronicle does not 
help us any longer with its brief notes of events 
and their exact location in time.' The only dates 
of his reign which have come down to us beyond 
all doubt are, first, the very central event of the 
reign, the result of the inevitable conflict with his 
brother, and, secondly, the date of his death. We 
are therefore deprived of any guide to the chro- 
nology of the events, and are compelled to view 
them all as Asshurbanapal has arranged them for 

^ The Babylonian Chronicle ends at the very beginning of Asshurbana- 
paFs reign, with a notice of the campaign in Kirbit,mentione<l below. 



248 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

US, in the form of campaigns. This is the more un- 
satisfactory, as we have, at least in one instance, 
clear proof that the order of the campaigns is 
logical rather than chronolo^caL Asshurbanapal^ 
or rather his historiographer, has grouped them 
according to a scheme along which they seemed 
to his mind to develop. That this order was arti- 
ficial rather than natural is shown by one brief 
hint in the Babylonian Chronicle concerning an 
expedition to Kirbit, a district of Elam. From 
Kirbit plundering hordes of men had been sweep- 
ing down into Emutbal, which was the original 
home land of Eri-Aku before he entered upon rule 
at Larsa. Emutbal now belonged to Babylonia, 
and Asshurbanapal must defend it if possible. To 
discharge this obligation he either led or sent an 
army against it which soon devastated the land^ 
"dyed the rivers with blood as one dyes wool" — 
the phrase is Asshurbanapal's — ^and plundered the 
country. This expedition, according to the Chron- 
icles,' took place in 667, the first full year of As- 
shurbanapal's reign, and was therefore the first 
expedition actually begun and ended by him. In 
his inscriptions,' however, it figures as the fifth and 
not as the first campaign. It was, however, of 
little consequence, and the momentous events of 
the long and brilliant reign begin with the expedi- 
tions to Egypt. 

1 Chronicle, it, 87 (KeUin^Hft. Bihl, ii, 284, 286). This date is con- 
finned by E. 2846 (Winckler, AUorierUalische Forachungen,, i, pp. 474, if.). 
« K 2676, Rev. 6-12, KeUinKhrift. Bihl, ii, pp. 174, 176. 




THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 249 

Esarhaddon had died on the way to Egypt, and 
left the necessary expedition as a part of the in- 
heritance to his son. When he made his brilliant 
campaign in Egypt he had met with but slight 
resistance ; Tirhaqa had not fought at all, but had 
fled to Nubia. Esarhaddon did not pursue him 
thither, but reorganized the administration of the 
country, and left Tirhaqa to rest in his own home 
land. But Tirhaqa waited but a short time to 
gain accessions of strength, and then entered 
Egypt again, which he speedily reconquered. The 
Assyrian officers, petty princes, and civil servants 
were unceremoniously driven from the land. 
Memphis was retaken, and there Tirhaqa set up 
his court. Egypt was in reaUty completely torn 
from Assyrian hands, and the wonderful work of 
Esarhaddon undone. It was these untoward 
events which caused the third Egyptian invasion 
by Esarhaddon, during which he died. All these 
events are narrated in the inscriptions of Asshur- 
banapal as though they had taken place in his 
own reign, and not in the last year of his father's. 
He has some excuse for this, apart from the de- 
sire of further glory for himself. He probably 
considered himself as the real king from the 
twelfth day of lyyar, 668, when he was pro- 
claimed as crown prince. 

Asshurbanapal, as soon as he became king, prob- 
ably ordered the army, which had already set out 
for Egypt under the leadership of his father, to 
proceed. Whether he himself actually took the 



250 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

head or sent it on under command of a Tartan is 
doubtful The narrative is, as usual, in the first 
pei-son, and this does not prove the king's actual 
presence. Before Egypt was entered Asshurban- 
apal received gifts and protestations of loyalty 
from twenty-two princes of the seacoast, who 
joined forces with him. He had not far to march 
before the army of Tirhaqa was met at Karbanit, 
in the eastern or central part of the Delta, where 
it was defeated. Tirhaqa had remained in Mem- 
phis, and as soon as he heard of the defeat fled to 
Thebes. Memphis was occupied by the Assyrians 
without opposition, and there were received all 
the princes, prefects, and officers whom Esarhad- 
don had set in authority in Egypt, but who had 
fled from their posts on the return of Tirhaqa. 
They were all reinstated and the Assyrian rule 
fiimly established. Then, laden ^vith heavy plun- 
der from the richest country of the world, the army 
returned to Assyria. Whether the leaders of the 
army were suspicious of the restored princes or 
not, or whether they had received some hint of a 
conspiracy, we do not know, but they held them- 
selves in readiness for a recall, and did not proceed 
directly home. 

As soon as the faithless governors thought that 
the Assyrian forces were withdrawn three of them, 
Sharludari of Pelusium, Pakruru of Pisept, and 
Necho of Memphis and Sais, began to plot against 
the Assyrian overlordship. They sent messengers 
to Tirhaqa asking him to join with them. The 




THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 261 

Assyrian generals were on the watch and caught 
the bearers of the traitorous dispatches. With 
this clear evidence in hand Sharludari and Necho 
were suddenly arrested, and only Pakruru escaped. 
Three rebellious cities, Sais, Mendes, and Tanis, all 
in the Delta, were taken, apparently without the 
striking of a blow. The inhabitants were slain ; 
some were flayed alive and their skins were spread 
on the city walls, while the bodie? of others were 
•impaled upon stakes about the city. So returned 
again in the literary days of Asshurbanapal the 
hideous atrocities of the days of Asshurnazirpal. 
It may well be asked, What had the centuries of 
progress done for the Assyrian people ? Ferocity 
and thirst for blood were here found in as full 
measure as ever. The leaders of the rebellion, 
however, were much better treated. They were 
carried in chains to Nineveh, where it is hardly 
likely that they would be tortured to death. Two 
are mentioned no more, and one was handsomely 
forgiven. Necho must have been a man of force- 
ful character, in whom Asshurbanapal recognized 
a servant too valuable to be lost. In spite of his 
serious breach of faith he was laden with costly 
and beautiful presents and returned to his rule at 
Sais, while his son, Nabu-shezib-anni,' whose As- 
syrian name bears witness to his father's devotion 
to Assyria, was set to rule over the satrapy of 
Athribis, also in the Delta north of Memphis. 
These events began in 668 ; they were probably 

1 His name had been PBammeticus. 



250 HISTORY OP BABYLONIA AND ASS^ ^ 

head or sent it on nnder commap'' ^/aj year of 
doubtfuL The narrative is, s*- ;^^t was once 

pei'soDy and this does not r j^^ some hope 

presence. Before Egyp*" \^' Tirhaqa with- 

apal received gifts ar . "y^^ig held out agaiust 

from twenty-two p '/!^^i hostile. Othera 

joined forces with ' > i^^flt^ *^^ occnpy As- 
before the army f Kf^ ^^ ^^J * ^^^g^^g f^r 
in the eastern o , y^ '^e. Death hurried him 
it was defeate ^^f^^ ^y opportunity for an- 
phis, and as '^'yi^^t the arch enemy of all the 
Thebes. F ,<g;^ 

without /'i'/* ^f^e froDi the world of action his 
the pri- 'f y.^op^ nevertheless, lived on. Sha- 
don h v^^ * ^°' Tanut- Anion, whom the As- 
fled ..''V'; rand^"°^°^-* He had now come to 
Tb ^ te *°^ succeeded to such rights and 
fl ^y ^^ unfortunate Tirhaqa, his stepfather, 
J*^ ^^re. With the army of Tirhaqa, and 
t^ ^ied, undoubtedly, by the good wishes of 
^^^fEgyp^} he came up from Nubia and seized 
^^be^ That this was so easily accomplished is 
jy another e^'idence that the real power of As- 

tfieei ^^^ *^ assembliDg of the iDScription material relating to this 
^fptian campaign, Winkler, UrUersuchungen zur AUorientalitchen Oe- 
^gjUt^t PP- 101, if., and especially Winckler, AltarientaliKhe Fortchungm^ 
fp. 478, if. 

• The name waa formerly read Urdamani (for example, by Jensen, A«t7- 
intchrift, Bihl.^ if, p. 167), and Urdamani was then identified with Red-Amon 
or Rud-Amen. The correct reading, Tandamani, and identification with 
Tanut- Amon (7>lv^lmn, Tenotamon) were demonstrated by Steindorif 
("Die Kcilachnftliche Wiedergabe iEygytischer Eigennamen," Beitrage zur 
AsayHologie, i, 356-859. 




THE REIGN OF ASSHUEBANAPAL. 253 

ksyria was concentrated in the Delta and could 
jardly be said to extend much beyond Memphis, 
^th Tbebes as a basis Tandamani advanced 
pbward and gained foothold in On, or Heliopo- 
How long he might have held this place in 

^spite of attacks from the Assyiian governors in 
Egypt is doubtful, but when he learned of the 
iidvaiice of the Assyrian army to relieve the city 
he abandoned it and fell back to Thebes. The 
Assyrian army then moved on in pnrsait, and of 
the next event there are two variant accoanta. 
According to one, Tandamani fled from the city 
on the approach of the army, and was overtaken 
and beaten at Kipkip.' According to the other 
version, he was conquered at Thebes, which he at- 
tempted to hold.' 

The campaign was probably short as well as de- 
cisive. By it Asshurbanapal had greatly strength- 
eoed the Assyrian hold upon Egypt, bat he, never- 
theless, came far short of making it at all permanent.. 
In fact, the Assyrians could not hope to hold 
Egypt so long as a spark of national feeling sur- 
vived. To accomplish so great a feat, one or the 
other, and perhaps both, of two expedients would 
be necessary. The first was colonization upon a 
scale more extensive than had ever yet been at- 
tempted. If tens of thousands of native-bom As- 
syrians could have been transported over distances 

< Ruwin cylinder, ii, 86, 87, Jenien, KmliiuiAri/1. BM., U, pp. 16B, 
169. 
' X. as76, ObT. 1%, Her. 6, Unea 13-74, JenMn, Oii., footnote Na L 



254 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

SO great and so exhausting and settled in the conn- 
try, these might gradually have permeated it with 
new ideas of trade and commerce so thoroughly 
that the old national ideas of culture and religious 
devotion would have given way to a pursuit of 
wealth. By this means national feeling, and with 
it desire for the ancient independence, would have 
slowly burned out. The second expedient was a 
great army of occupation well distributed over the 
whole country, commanded not by native princes, 
but by Assyrians of undoubted loyalty, but, never- 
theless, frequently changed to avoid possible en- 
tanglements in local intrigues or incitements to 
overweening personal ambition. Asshurbanapal 
appears not to have seriously attempted the former 
plan. The latter was tried on a small scale, but 
as soon as the great civil war began, which was 
even now brewing in Babylonia, the troops had to 
be withdrawn. Necho remained a faithful vassal to 
his death, but his son, Psammetichus, who suc- 
ceeded him, declared himself independent even be- 
fore the year 660. The taking of Egypt had been 
the most brilliant event in the reign of Esarhad- 
don. From it the Assyrians had drawn great 
treasure, on which the standing army had been 
partially maintained. In spite of trials so great a 
Mug such as Sargon or Esarhaddon would prob- 
ably have held it, but Asshurbanapal was cast in 
a different mold. It was the first great loss of his 
reign ; others less startling were to follow. The 
decline of the Assyrian empire had begun. 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 265 

Prom his father Asshurbanapal had also iuher- 
ited a campaign against Tyre as he had one against 
Egypt. We have already seen how Esarhaddon 
had besieged the city on the land side, leaving 
open the sea approach. The siege was maintained 
steadily, but was long without result, as it was 
always possible to introduce abundant provi- 
sions from the sea. But slowly the cutting off 
of the land approach choked the commerce of 
the sea, and Tyre fell by degrees into dire need. 
At last Baal deemed it the wiser plan to yield, 
probably soon after the beginning of Asshurbana- 
pal's reign. The manner of the surrender was 
characteristic of all the previous history of Tyie. 
He would buy the favor and pardon of the new 
king. As a token of his entire submission to As- 
syrian suzerainty he sent one of his daughters and 
a number of his nieces to adorn the harem of 
Asshurbanapal, and his own son, Yahi-melek, to be 
reared at the court, probably with the idea that 
he should be thoroughly educated in Assyrian 
ideas. Asshurbanapal sent the son back, but re- 
tained the women and the presents which had been 
sent with them. The fall of Tyre is described as 

the third campaign ' of Asshurbanapal, but the city 
must have yielded as early as 668, since we find 
Baal contributing troops to the expedition against 
Egypt." At the same time Yakinlu, king of Ar- 

* Rassam Cylinder, ii, 49-62, Jenaen, Keilinsehrift. Bihl.^ ii, pp. 169, 
170. 

' Rm. 3, line 24, S. A. Smith, Die KeiUehrifttexU AturbanipaU^ ii, 
pp. 26, 27. 



256 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

vad, sent his daughter to the harem with gifts, 
and so indicated his submission to the new tyrant 
In like manner, also, Mukallu, a prince of Tabal,. 
and Sandasharm6 of Cicilia indicated their adher- 
ence to the empire. 

In close connection with these submissions the 
historiographer of Asshurbanapal narrates with 
unction a curious double episode. The first part 
of it represents Gyges, king of Lydia, in far-off 
Asia Minor, dangerously pressed by the Cimme- 
rians and dreaming that Asshurbanapal could and 
would save him. Forthwith he dispatched an 
embassy to the great king praying his assistance. 
When the border of Assyria was reached the 
leader of the horsemen was greeted with the As- 
syrian question, " Who then, art thou, stranger, 
thou from whose land no courier has yet made his 
way?'' Unable to speak Assyrian, the ambassa- 
dors could make known their mission only by 
signs, but were at last conducted to Nineveh. 
After much search a man was found who could 
unravel the mystery and interpret the story of the 
dream.' Asshurbanapal sent no help in visible 
form, but was contented with beseeching Asshur 
and Ishtar to help Gyges against his adversaries. 
Thus assisted, Gyges attacked the on-moving 
hordes, gained a great victory, and sent two cap- 
tured chiefs to Assyria as proof of the work 

'The story of the ambassador's visit is told in Cylinder E, 1-12, 
G. Smith, HUtory of AsautiMinipal, pp. 76, 77 ; KeUin$ehri/t, Bibl., ii» 
pp. 172. 178. 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 257 

wrought by the gods of Assyria. There needed 
only that the converse should be proven, and the 
king^s faith in his gods would be well fortified. 
The opportunity for this demonstration arose a 
little later when Psammetichus of Egypt had de- 
clared his independence. Gyges gave him sup- 
port, and so broke his compact of friendship with 
Assyria. Asshurbanapal prayed again to his gods, 
and this time not for, but against, the faithless 
Gyges ; whereupon the Cimmerians, whom he had 
easily conquered before, but were now led by 
Dugdamme and thoroughly disciplined, fell on 
him and possessed his entire land, while his dead 
body was cast out in the way before them. His 
son, who inherited a broken kingdom, asked the 
help of the Assyrians and their permission to 
occupy his heritage.* 

The fourth campaign was directed against the 
land of Man, where Akhsheri was king. The cir- 
cumstances which led to the invasion are not 
clearly set forth, but there had probably been a 
rebellion against the monotonous tribute. The 
land had undoubtedly received many new inhab- 
itants through the Indo-European invasion, and 
these were not likely to bear the tribute which 
the previous inhabitants had borne. The Assyrian 
army soon reduced the province to subjection, and 
the rebellious Akhsheri was numbered among the 
slain. His son, Ualli, succeeded to the throne, 

1 Rassam Cylinder, ii, 96-125, Jensen, KeUinaehHft. BilU., ii, pp. 172- 
177. 

17 



258 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

and upon him was laid a heavier tribute, to be 
paid in horses.* 

At the same time Asshurbanapal made a raid 
upon Biris-Khadri, a Median prince, and upon 
Sarati and Parikhia, sons of Gagi,* prince of SakhL 
It ended with the taking of a few fortified cities 
and the deportation of the inhabitants/ By such 
raids as this the Medes were being taught to hate 
the Assyrians, as the west had long since learned 
to hate them. 

Again in the first half of his reign had Asshur- 
banapal to do with Elam. For a long time there 
had been peace between the two countries. As 
we have seen, the people of Elam had laid aside 
the old-time hostility to the Assyrians and had 
given over assisting their enemies. Ummanaldash 
had not received Merodach-baladan when he fled 
to him for refuge. And, as was still more remark- 
able, the Assyrians had shown great friendship 
and charity toward their erstwhile enemies. 
When a famine arose in Elam, Esarhaddon, dis- 
playing again his merciful side, suffered the Elam- 
ites who were in hunger to seek refuge in Baby- 
lonian territory and permitted the export of grain 
to others who remained in Elam. When the fam- 

1 Rassam GyUnder, u, 126-m, 26. 

' Gagi has been often identified with Gog, Ezek. xxxviii, 2 ; for example, 
by Schrader Keilinschri/ten und OesehiehUforBchung^ p. 169, note, and 
Delitzsch, Paradiat, p. 247, but this is hardly probable. An identification 
with Gyges, king of Lydia, is more likely. See £. Meyer, OeaehicMe des Al- 
ierthuTMy i, p. 668 ; Sayce, sub voce^ Dictionary of the Bihle^ ed. HasUngs, 
ii, p. 224. 

'Cylinder B, iii, 102-iv, 14, Jensen, op. cit., pp. 178-181. 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 259 

ine was past he gave a final and remarkable proof 
of his friendly puiposes by arranging for the re- 
turn to Elam of the temporary exiles. Such 
peace as this was too good for long continuance, 
and now was suddenly and rudely broken. We 
are not informed exactly as to the causes which 
induced Urtaki, king of Elam, to break the com- 
pact of friendship by a hostile invasion of Baby- 
lonia. Asshurbanapal did not at once repel the 
invaders, but delayed until they had reached 
Babylon itself, when he drove them not only from 
Babylon, but also over the borders into Elam.* 
Urtaki soon after died, and as a natural oriental 
consequence there were disturbances in his king- 
dom immediately afterward. His brother, Teum- 
man, seized the throne, dispossessing both a son 
of Urtaki and another of the former king, Umman- 
aldash. These he tried to assassinate, but they, 
with seventy relatives, made their way to the 
court of Asshurbanapal, who gave them refuge 
and refused to deliver them up when demanded 
by Teumman. Teumman certainly had boldness 
fortified twice over, for he entered northern Baby- 
lonia and threatened the country to induce As- 
shurbanapal to deliver up the fugitives. Asshur- 
banapal, who was now celebrating some religious 
festivals in Assyria, instead of directly attacking 
and repulsing the invader, sent an anny to Dur- 
ilu, the old outpost against Elam. This move cut 
off the direct retreat of Teumman and compelled 

* Cylinder B, iv, 15-83, Jensen, op. cU.^ pp. 244-247. 



260 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

him to return to his capital, Susa, by a road below 
the river Ulai (modem Karun). The Assyrian 
army then pursued, and overtaking him before 
Susa, administered a telling defeat. Teumman 
was taken soon afterward and killed. The remain- 
ing districts of Elam then capitulated, and Asshor- 
banapal made Ummanigash, one of the fugitives 
to his court, king; while his brother Tanunaritu 
was set over one of the Assyrian provinces. 

During the progress of these two campaigns the 
tribe of Gambuli was in a state of insurrection. 
Bel-iqisha was dead, and his sons, Dunanu and 
Sam'agunu, had succeeded him. These as well as 
Nabu-naid and Bel-etri, sons of Nabu-shum-eresh, 
had not given in their allegiance to Assyria. On 
the return from Elam the victorious Assyrian 
army marched through their land and destroyed 
Shapi-Bel, the capital city of the Gambuli. The 
four chiefs were carried in chains to Nineveh. 

This series of campaigns against Egypt, the 
west, and the east filled about fifteen years of the 
reign of Asshurbanapal. They are a doleful cata- 
logue of plundering raids and of attempts to crush 
frequent rebellions. Asshurbanapal was holding 
with extreme difficulty the empire which his 
fathers had built up. There were ominous cracks 
in the structure, for Egypt was likely to fall away 
at any time, while the Medes were already begin- 
ning to appreciate their own strength and to un- 
derstand the weakness of Assyria. In no part of 
his great borders had Asshurbanapal made any 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 261 

important gain to Assyrian territory. He had 
introduced no new policy, and was now barely 
holding his own; surrounded by dangers which 
menaced the continuance of the empii'e. 

A danger greater than any other was now ready 
to come to the surface. During all these yeai-s 
there had been an external peace and calm in 
Babylonia. Shamash-shum-ukin had been ac- 
knowledged as king, in accordance with his fa- 
ther's wall, and in his hands were now the inter- 
nal aflfaii's of Babylonia. This arrangement in the 
very nature of things could not endure, for the tem- 
per of the Babylonian people was utterly foreign to 
it. It might from certain points of view appear like 
an almost ideal arrangement. It gave freedom in 
all matters of local concern, and made it possible 
for the Babylonians to devote themselves to art, 
literature, and science, as they had always desired. 
But the Babylonian people could not be brought 
to any such devotion of their talents. They re- 
membered the days of old when theirs was the 
world's chief city, and when the most sacred and 
solemn rites of religion were closely knit into the 
framework of their civil administration. How 
changed was all this ! Their present ruler was 
the son of an Assyrian king, and, in the opinion of 
their priesthood, was no properly sanctified king 
at aU. He was indeed no king for another reason. 
Asshurbanapal was a man of such intense person- 
ality, of such overweening pride, that there could 
be no king beside him. Shamash-shum-ukin could 



262 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

only be an nnderlord in charge of the internal 
affairs of a province. He was not paying tribute 
as similar princes in other provinces, but in every 
other particular his rule was that of a petty prince. 
This division of responsibilities between the two 
brothers had gone on well for fifteen years. There 
had been unusual peace and prosperity in Baby- 
lonia. There was entire freedom in Assyiia for 
the continuance of war upon rebels, and there was 
no reason why the arrangement should not be con- 
tinued as far as Assyria was concerned. Let only 
Shamash-shum-ukin continue to play the lesser part 
and all would be well. 

But Shamash-shum-ukin was ambitious.' There 
was king's blood in him no less than in his elder 
brother, and he aspired to be the independent 
king of an independent kingdom. He saw that 
this could never be attained by Babylonia acting 
alone. He must have aid in some form fipom other 
states, and he had nothing to offer for their assist- 
ance. He began plotting such a series of rebel- 
lions against Assyria as would weaken the em- 
pire and hence leave him free from all danger of 
attack. The plan had elements of possible suc- 
cess. He could not get succor in a bold campaign 
against his brother unless he could offer gold or 
territory in return for the aid which he received. 

* The inscriptions belonging to the reign of Shamash-shnm-ukin hare 
been published, translated, and explained in a masterly manner in C. F. 
Lehmann, Shamashahumukiuy Konig von Babylon, ingehri/tliehea Material 
iiher dm Beginn seiner Regierung, grossentTieiU zum ertten AfaU heraui^ 
gegeben, UberaeUt und erlduterU Leipzig, 1892. 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 263 

Bnt by this method he might stir up Assyrian 
provinces to rebel, declaring that so they might 
easily win their independence. K a sufficient 
number of these rebellions could be started at one 
time, Assyria could not possibly put them down. 
Beaten on every side, Asshurbanapal must inevi- 
tably permit Shamash-shum-ukin to set up an inde- 
pendent kingdom. The aid received from the 
other states through their rebellions would be 
indirect only, and they would have compensation 
enough in their own freedom from the oppressor. 
The weakness of the plan, however, far exceeded 
its strength. It was, in the first place, a plan that 
could not be carried on in secret, and secrecy 
alone could give it a chance of success. He might 
easily approach a people who thought that their 
present interests were rather with Assyria, and 
would therefore promptly reveal the plot. Once 
revealed, the Assyrians might readily evidence 
once more their virtue of promptness and over- 
whelm the traitorous Babylonians, as they had 
done before in the days of Merodach-baladan. 
Still further was the plan weak in that it took no 
account of the consequences which might follow 
the breaking up of the Assyrian empire. Assyria 
had more than once saved Babylonia from Ara- 
maeans or Chaldeans who threatened to engulf the 
whole land. If the martial arm was now broken. 
Babylonia would become the instant prey of the 
Chaldeans. It is difficult to believe that a plot so 
fraught with dangerous consequences, involving 



264 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

the possible ruin of the land, could have been 
hatched in a sane mind. It is charitable to sup- 
pose that Shamash-shum-ukin had been utterly 
carried away by ambition and by national pride, 
and had not fully weighed the dangers which he 
was calling into action. 

The states which he decided to attempt to draw 
into rebellion almost completely hemmed in As- 
syria. The first of them was Accad, the portion 
of Babylonia, outside of Babylon, which still 
remained imder Assyrian rule. The second was 
the Ch^dean state in the far south — the old 
enemy not merely of Assyria, but also of Baby- 
lonia — and below this also the country of the Sea 
Lands. To these were added the AramsBan com- 
munities in Babylonia, Elam, and Gutiimi, under 
which last was now comprised a great stretch of 
territory above the Mesopotamian valley, popu- 
lated by the Indo-Europeans who had entered it 
in the great migration. Finally he roused all the 
west land, Syria, Palestine, and Melukhkha. Egypt 
was already independent, pursuing its own way 
without Assyrian let or hindrance, and therefore 
could not be drawn into any such confederation. 

As might have been expected in the beginning, 
Asshurbanapal had knowledge of the plot long 
before it was ready for execution. He did not, 
however, take steps for its destruction as promptly 
as might have been expected. Whether he was 
only playing a part or did in reality so feel, he 
at least spent many words in describing his 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 265 

brother's faithlessness as a breach of gratitude. 
He claims to have done all manner of good deeds 
for him, and even declares that it was he who 
gave him the throne, though we have already 
seen that this act of folly was really done by 
Esarhaddon. His words have an air of solemn 
sincerity, and are characteristic of the general 
tenor of the records of his reign : " In those days 
Shamash-shum-ukin, a faithless brother, to whom 
I had done good, whom I had established in the 
kingship over Babylon, for whom . . . the in- 
signia of royalty I had made and presented; 
warriors, horses, chariots had I brought together 
and placed in his hands; cities, fields, gardens, 
and they who dwelt in them , . . had I given 
him. But he forgot the grace I had wrought for 
him. . , .'^^ It is a curious plaint for a king. It 
might have been expected that Asshurbanapal 
would have made even the suspicion of a plot ex- 
cuse sufficient for an invasion of Babylonia and a 
severe castigation of his brother. He waited, 
however, until the breach of peace should come 
from the brother, hoping thereby, probably, to 
justify himself to the Babylonians as the maker 
of peace, and not its breaker, when the civil war 
was over. 

Shamash-shum-ukin struck the first blow, being 
probably driven to it by the discovery of the plot. 
He first seized Ur and Uruk, which had Assyrian 
governors and were directly under the control of 

* Rassam Cylinder, col. iii, 70-78, Jensen, op. cU., pp. 182-185. 



a 



266 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Asshurbanapal. He assumed the titles king of 
Sumer and Accad and king of Amnanu. He 
added to this high-handed breach of allegiance a 
notice to Asshurbanapal that he must no longer 
oflEer in Babylon and Borsippa the annual sacrifices 
which he had been giving as the suzerain of Baby- 
lon. He must not oflEer in Sippar to the god 
Shamash, nor in Kutha to the god Nergal. These 
cities were then seized, as Ur and Uruk had been, 
and fortified. Still Asshurbanapal did not attack, 
waiting now until he should receive from the gods 
some favorable omen. The omen came in the 
night, when it was far spent. He saw in a dream 
the moon bearing an inscription wherein was 
threatened all manner of famine, wrath, and death 
against anyone who should plot against Asshur- 
banapal. He need no longer delay. The army 
is set in motion and the border crossed. Shamash- 
shum-ukin dare not meet that army in open bat- 
tle ; his only hope was successftd defense in the 
siege which soon must come. He had doubtless 
hoped for aid from some of his fellow-conspirators, 
but all failed him but one. This was Ummani- 
gash, king of Elam, who was won over by a pres- 
ent. His act was an act of ingratitude as well as 
of hostility, for he owed his throne to Asshur- 
banapal's appointment. The absence of Unmiani- 
gash in Babylonia gave the favorable opportunity 
for a rebellion in Elam, in which his family was 
driven out and his brother, Tammaritu, seized the 
throne. This was a favorable move for Assyria, 




THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 267 

as it compelled the withdrawal from Babylonia of 
the Elamite troops. Tammaiitu, however, was 
also no friend of Assyria, and desired rather to 
make himself an ally of Babylonia. As soon, 
therefore, as he felt himself secure he likewise 
sent help to Shamash-shum-ukin.* At once the 
old swing of the pendulum began in Elam. An- 
other rebellion broke out, Tammaritu was driven 
from the country, and Indabigash became king 
of Elam.' Tammaritu, as Teumman before him, 
sought refuge in Assyria, and Indabigash refused 
to have any share in the insuiTection of Shamash- 
shum-ukin. The quickness with which these two 
Elamite rebellions had followed each other, and 
the manner in which they had finally played into 
the hands of Asshurbanapal, induce us to believe 
that he was the real cause of the second at least, 
if not also of the first. 

The withdrawal of the Elamite support left 
Shamash-shum-ukin in a sorry plight. He had, 
indeed, a few troops sent from Arabia, but these 
were of slight weight. From the west there was 
no help at all, nor did the AramsBans of Baby- 
lonia or the Chaldeans give aid. Shamash-shum- 
ukin held out as long as possible when besieged. 
At last he was conquered by hunger and disease. 
So awful was the suffering in Babylon that human 
flesh was used for food. When despair depressed 
all minds Shamash-shum-ukin committed suicide 

1 Rassam Cylinder, iv, 8-7, Jensen, op. cU,y pp. 188, 189. 
^ Ihid.^ col. iv, 11. 



268 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

by causing himself to be' burned * as a sacrifice to 
the people who had suffered so much for his folly. 
When the gates were opened and Asshurbanapal 
entered the rebellious cities there was enacted an 
orgy of wrath and ferocity. Soldiers who had 
fought under the orders of Shamash-shum-ukin 
were adjudged to have spoken against Asshur 
and the great king of Assyria whom he had set 
up. Their tongues were torn from their mouths, 
and the bodies of their fellows who had died in 
the siege were cast out, to be devoured by wild 
beasts and carrion-eating birds. To supply the 
places of those in Babylon who were given over to 
horrible deaths men were brought from Kutha and 
Sippar. 

Asshurbanapal had pacified the land of Baby- 
lonia as his ancestors would have done; he had 
given to it the silence of death. There remained 
only that he should devise now some method by 
which it could be governed. He decided to have 
no more government which might tend to a rupture 
between the two kingdoms, and so had himself pro- 
claimed king under the name of Kandalanu,' adopt- 
ing for Babylonia a different name, as Tiglathpi- 
leser HI and Shalmaneser IV had done before him. 
The first year of his reign in Babylonia, according 
to the Canon of Ptolemy, was 647 B. C 

' Rassam Cylinder, iv, 50-63, Jensen, op. cit.y pp. 190, 191. 

* See Scbrader, " Eineladan und Asurbanipal,** Zeitachri/t fur Keil- 
fehrift/arachunffy i, pp. 222-282; Pinches, "Some Recent Discoveries,** 
Froeeedinga of ike Society of Biblical Archceologyy y, p. 6 (1882-88). 

* See above, vol. i, p. 834. 




THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 269 

As soon as these matters were arranged he in- 
vaded the south and punished the Chaldeans, the 
AramaBans, and the people of the Sea Lands who 
had given in their pledge to Shamash-shum-ukin to 
join in a general rebellion against Assyria. The 
yoke of bondage was put upon them, Assyrian 
governors set over them, and they were com- 
manded to pay a regular annual tribute. In this 
Asshurbanapal gained a distinct advantage, for 
the territory was now more fully in his hands 
than it had been since the beginning of his reign.* 

Now that all Babylonia as far south as the 
Persian Gulf was entirely in a state of peace and 
no more uprisings were to be feared, Asshurbana- 
pal determined likewise to punish Elam for hav- 
ing twice assisted the Babylonians in their rebel- 
lion. It is true that Indabigash had kept the peace 
until now with Assyria, but the country must 
suflEer for the madness of its former kings. An- 
other rebellion had broken out in Elam in which 
Indabigash had fallen and in his place Ummanal- 
dash, son of Attumetu, had become king. There 
is no certain proof that this Attumetu was the 
same person as he who led a part of the army 
which Ummanigash had sent to the assistance of 
Shamash-shum-ukin, but the names are the same 
and the time fits the identity. If they are the 
same, we may perhaps see in Ummanaldash a man 
who was made king by the party which sympa- 
thized with the Babylonians, and was therefore 

* Rassam Cylinder, iv, 97-109, Jensen, op. ct/., pp. 194, 196. 



270 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

hostile to Indabigash, who had been pro- Assyrian 
in his acts, until just before the end of his reign. 
He had then oflEended Asshurbanapal by harboring 
Nabu-bel-shume, a descendant of Merodach-bala- 
dan. The latter was in the true line of his family 
in giving much trouble to the Assyrians. He had 
received from Asshurbanapal some Assyrian troops 
to protect his country — the Sea Lands — from 
Elamite invasion during the war with Shamash- 
shum-ukin. Nabu-bel-shume had at first played 
the part of a devoted friend of Assyria, and at the 
same time had laid his plans to destroy the faith- 
fulness of his Assyrian guard, win them over to 
himself, and with this added force prepare to seize 
what advantage he could when Shamash-shum- 
ukin won his independence. The issue did not 
fall out that way, and he was compelled to flee his 
country and seek refuge in Elam, whither Me- 
rodach-baladan had fled before him. 

Before the death of Indabigash Asshurbanapal 
had demanded of him the surrender of the fugitive 
Nabu-bel-shume and his renegade Assyrians. In- 
dabigash refused, and Asshurbanapal threatened 
war. Before he reached Elam with his armies In- 
dabigash was dead and Ummanaldash was on the 
throne.* With him the case was no better. If he 
was not actually made king, because of his hostil- 
ity to Assyria, as suggested above, he was in any 
case as unfriendly as the anti- Assyrian party could 
desire. In spite, therefore, of the change of rulers 

1 Cylinder B, vii, 72-87, and C, 88-115, Jensen, op. cit., pp. 266-269. 

1 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 271 

in Elam Asshurbanapal pressed on and took Bit- 
Imbi, a fortification on the borders. Ummanal- 
dash was too new to the throne to be able to turn 
attention to an invasion, and needed his strength 
to ward off another possible insurrection at home, 
in which he might lose his life, as had his prede- 
cessors. He therefore forsook his chief city, Ma- 
daktu, and fled into the mountains, to a place known 
as Dur-Undasi, before which flowed the river Ididi 
(probably the Disf ul). The river formed a natural 
defense, and here Ummanaldash fortified himself 
as best he might. Asshurbanapal followed, tak- 
ing the cities one by one as he went, that no dan- 
gers might be left in the rear. At last Madaktu 
fell, and with the other cities between it and the 
Ididi was thrown down and burned. When the 
Ididi was reached the river was at flood, and there 
was a strong reluctance in the army to attempt it. 
Their fears were overcome by a dream granted to 
the whole army, in which Ishtar of Arbela spoke 
and said, " I go before Asshurbanapal, the king, 
whom mine hands have created.'* It is interest- 
ing to observe how frequently omens, visions, and 
dreams figure in the records of this latter-day As- 
syrian king, and how very infrequent they are be- 
fore his day. Thus encouraged, the troops crossed 
and Dur-Undasi was taken, but Ummanaldash es- 
caped into the mountains. Thereupon the whole 
land was devastated. Susa, the ancient capital, 
was taken, and in its palace Asshurbanapal began 
a work of pillage which it would be difficult to 



272 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

p£Lrallel in all the earlier records. From the treas- 
uries were brought forth the gold and silver which 
the kings of Elam, following Assyrian exemplars, 
had plundered in raids into Babylonia and else- 
where. Precious stones and costly woolen stuflfe, 
chariots and wagons, horees and animals of various 
kinds, were sent away to Assyria. The temple, 
honored and endowed for ages, was broken open 
and the gods and goddesses with all their treas- 
ures were added to the moving mass of plunder. 
Thirty-two statues of kings wrought in gold, sil- 
ver, and copper were carried away to Assyria to 
be added to the glories of the great conquest. 
Then the mausoleum of the kings was violated in 
order that even the bones of dead monarchs who 
vexed Assyria might be carried into the land which 
they had hated. In the end, when all that might 
add wealth to Assyria had been taken away, the 
entire land was left a smoking ruin, from which, 
in the very phrases of the ruthless destroyer, had 
been taken away " the voice of men, the tread of 
cattle and sheep, and the sound of happy music." 
Such is the record of a campaign led by a civilized 
monarch, who prided himself on his love of learn- 
ing. The savagery of Assyria was not dead, but 
in full vigor ; dormant at times it had been, and 
the acts of some kings had seemed to promise 
amendment and a serious desire to build up rather 
than to destroy. These purposes were more clear- 
ly shown in Tiglathpileser III and in Esarhaddon 
than in any other kings, but even they are limited 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 273 

by their base racial instincts. In Asshnrbanapal's 
campaign the worst elements had again come to 
the surface.' 

It is difficult to see how any national life could 
survive a ruin such as this, but Elam was not yet 
quite dead. Ummanaldash returned to Madaktu 
when the Assyrians had withdrawn, and sat down 
amid the ruins. To the last he remained faithful 
to Nabu-bel-shume, who had continued with him. 
Learning that they were together, Asshurbanapal 
sent an embassy to demand his surrender. Nabu- 
bel-shume, thus hounded to death, and looking 
over a land which had been ruined at least partly 
for his sake, ordered his aimor-bearer to run him 
through. Worn out with fruitless opposition, 
Ummanaldash sent the body of the dead man 
and the head of the armor-bearer who had slain 
him to Asshurbanapal Again the brutality of 
the man was shown. He cut oflE the head from 
the dead body and suspended it about the neck of 
one of Shamash-shum.ukin's foUowers, and com- 
manded that the poor body should not receive 
even the honor of a burial.' 

In the western part of Elam Pa'e had attempted 
to gain a position and set up a new kingdom, to 
control a part of the now ruined land. But an 
army dispatched against him brought him quickly 

* For the history of the campaign see Rassam Cylinder, y, 63-yii, 81, 
Jensen, op. ciLy pp. 198-215, and compare Billerbeck, Stuaj pp. 112-118. 

^ Rassam Cylinder, vii, 88-41. The sense of the passage is incorrectly 
given in Jensen's excellent translation in Keilinschri/t. Bibl.^ ii, p. 218. 
Comp. Meissner in the ZeiUchrift fur AMyriologie^ x, 88. 

18 



274 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

to his senses. He came to Assyria and oflEered his 
allegiance and submission to Asshorbanapal. Soon 
afterward Ummanaldash lost the throne and was 
captured by the Assyrians. 

So ended the dealings of King Asshurbanapal 
with the neighboring states, whose civilization 
was at least as old as that of Assyria, and whose 
treatment of other nations was not so bad. He 
did not attempt to supply the land with a new 
government and with the blessings of good admin- 
istration, as Tiglathpileser III would have done. 
He was content to have deprived it of all possible 
opportunity of interfering with his own plans by 
further alKance with rebels in Babylonia. The 
policy was singularly deficient in farsightedness; 
it is indeed to be properly ch6iracterized as folly. 
A castigation of Elam may have been necessary 
from the Assyrian point of view, but its oblitera- 
tion was stupidity. It formed a good buffer state 
against the Indo-European population of Media, 
and should have been made an ally against the 
new power which must soon become an important 
factor in the politics of western Asia. Instead of 
this Asshurbanapal had only opened a way over 
which the destroyers might march when their hour 
should come. 

In close connection with the Elamite campaigns, 
and perhaps at the same time, Asshurbanapal 
undertook the punishment of the Arabians for 
the assistance, direct and indirect, which they 
had given to Shamash-shum-ukin. In the extreme 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 276 

northern part of the Arabian peninsula was the 
kingdom of Aribi, which has often before ap- 
peared in the Assyrian story. Yauta, son of 
Hazaely who ruled in it along with Queen Adiya^ 
had doubly aided Shamash-shum-ukin. He had, 
according to compact, seized an entire independ- 
ence for his little kingdom, and with that had 
also captured a number of localities in Arabia, 
Edom, Yabrud, Beth-Ammon, the Hauran, Moab, 
Sa'arri, Khargi, and Subiti." In these places he 
had settled some of his Arabic hordes who were 
clamoring for space for expansion beyond his own 
narrow borders. This movement was an indirect 
aid to Shamash-shum-ukin of the greatest value, and 
if similar movements had taken place elsewhere 
as planned, the empire must have fallen to pieces 
under the combined assault. Furthermore, Yauta 
had rendered direct help of first-rate importance 
by sending an army of Kedarenes (Assyrian, 
Kadri or Kidri) under the command of two 
sheikhs, Abiyate and Ayamu. These Kedarenes 
were driven from Babylonia, and at least one of 
theii* leaders was taken. The Arabian settlera 
were in every case overwhelmed by the local As- 
syrian troops. The help had indeed availed little 
for Shamash-shum-ukin, but only because there 
had been no help from other points whence it had 
been expected. Yauta fled into the small king- 
dom of Nabatheans, and Uaite, a nephew of his, 
gained the throne in Aribi. He dared oppose the 

> Probably Zobah, 2 Sam. z, 6, 8 ; 1 Kings zi, 28, etc. 



276 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Assyrians who came to take revenge for the as- 
sistance which his predecessor had given to the 
Babylonian rebellion. He was captured, bound 
in chains like a dog, placed in a cage, and carried 
to Assyria to be set at a door as one might set a 
watchdog/ To such petty and disgusting forms 
of punishment had an Assyrian king descended. 

As a part of the same campaign Asshur- 
banapal took vengeance also upon Ammuladi, a 
sheikh of the Kedarenes, because they had been 
the men sent to Babylonia by the former king of 
Aribi, on whom they were dependent. Ammuladi 
had sought refuge in Palestine, where he was con- 
quered and taken. Adiya, the queen of Aribi, was 
ako taken, and Abiyate made king of Aribi. 

Abiyate held this post but a short time. The 
events which led to his removal are not quite clear, 
but it seems probable that he made some arrange- 
ment with Uaite, the son of Bir-Dadda, who had 
declared himself king of Aribi, for later Abiyate 
appears as sheikh of the Kedai*enes. 

A new alliance against Asshurbanapal was soon 
formed, composed of Natnu, king of the Nabathe- 
ans ; Uaite, king of Aribi ; and Abiyate, prince of 
the Kedarenes. The union of these three was a 
matter of no mean concern, and Asshurbanapal may 
well have been stirred by it. He led an army into 
the wilds of Arabia, but did not penetrate into the 
territory of the Nabatheans. All the conspirators 
save Natnu were captured and taken to Assyria. 

1 Rassam Cylinder, ix, 95-109, Jensen, op. cit,^ pp. 226-229. 
t t 



THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 277 

On the return from this campaign the cities of 
Ushu, belonging to the territory of Sidon, and 
Akko, which had joined in a rebellion, were se- 
verely punished/ 

One more word only concerning the external 
relations of Assyria stands written in the records 
of Asshurbanapal, and it is of peace and not of 
war. King Sarduris of Urartu sent to Asshur 
banapal messengers bearing presents and words of 
friendliness." Urartu was once more strong enough 
to maintain some sort of independence. Assyria 
had abandoned its attempts to wreck the little 
kingdom, and the two were friendly neighbors. 
They needed so to be, for each required the help 
of the other in warding off the Indo-European in- 
vasion that could not much longer be postponed. 
Urartu must soon fall a victim, and the danger to 
Assyria was scarcely less great. 

The Cimmerian swarms who had overwhelmed 
Gyges, and then possessed the fertile plains and 
valleys of Asia Minor as far as Sardes, returned 
later upon their course and harassed the bordera 
of the weakened empire of Asshurbanapal. When 
Dugdamme * was dead his son, Sandakshatra, was 
still able to control and discipline his followers and 
hurl them against the Assyrian outposts. Their 



> Rassam Cylinder, ix, 115-128, Jensen, cyo, ct<., pp. 228, 229. 

• Rassam Cylinder, x, 40-60, Jensen, op, cit,, pp. 280, 231. 

'Dugdamme has been correctly identified by Sayce {Academy ^ 1898, 
p. 277) with Lygdamis (Strabo, i, iii, § 21), whose name must now be read 
Airydafug instead of AirySofu^. 



278 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

menace lasted unto the very end of the great king's 
days.' 

The closing years of Asshurbanapal's long and 
laborious reign were largely spent in works of 
peace. Even during the stormy years he had had 
great interest in the erection of buildings and the 
collection and copying of books for his library. 
In such congenial tasks his later days were chiefly 
spent. 

It is not possible to determine in every case 
where the buildings were located which he rebuilt 
or otherwise beautified. The temple of E-kur-gal- 
kurra, in Nineveh, he adorned magnificently and 
supplied with a new statue of the god. The tem- 
ple of E-sagila, in Babylon, which Sennacherib had 
destroyed and Esarhaddon partially rebuilt, he 
completed and restored to it with elaborate pomp 
and ceremony the god Marduk and his consort Zar- 
panit, whom Sennacherib had carried into Assyria. 
The temple of E-zida, in Borsippa, also received 
new ornaments. Long lists of colossal works else- 
where in Babylon, in Arbela, in many a lesser 
place, which he carried on, have come down to us. 
Above all these works stood the reconstruction of 
the vast palace in Nineveh, occupied during his 
life by Sennacherib. From the foundation stone 
to the roof was this rebuilt in a style of magnifi- 
cence never seen before.' 

In this palace he lived when war did not call 

* See Winckler, AltorierUcUUehe Forschungen^ i, pp. 492-496. 

* Rassam Cylinder, x, 61-118, Jensen, op. cit,j pp. 280-286. 




THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 279 

him, and here he slowly gathered his great libraiy 
— ^the chief pride of his life. The two kingdoms 
were ransacked for the clay books which had been 
written in days gone by. Works of grammjir, of 
lexicography, of poetry, history, science, and reli- 
gion were brought from ancient libraries in Baby- 
lonia. They were carefully copied in the Assyr- 
ian style, with notes descriptive, chronological, or 
explanatory, by the scholars of the court, and the 
copies were preserved in the palace, while the orig- 
inals went back to the place whence they were 
borrowed. The library thus formed numbered 
many thousands of books. In it the scholars, whom 
Asshurbanapal patronized so well, worked care- 
fully on in the writing of new books on all the 
range of learning of the day. Out of an atmos- 
phere like that came the records of Asshurbana- 
pal's own reign. Small wonder is it that under 
such conditions his historical inscriptions should 
be couched in a style finished, elegant, and rhyth- 
mical, with which the bare records of fact of pre- 
vious reigns may not be compared at all. 

In the year 626 Asshurbanapal died, and the 
kingdom which he left was very unlike the king- 
dom which he had received of his father. It was, 
indeed, still the chief power of western Asia, but 
it was not the only power. The day of its unpar- 
alleled glory and honor was past. Its bordere 
had shrunk sadly, for Egypt was lost, Urartu was 
independent, Syria and Palestine were almost at 
liberty, and the northeastern provinces were slowly 



280 mSTOBY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

but surely casting in their lot with the Manda. 
The reign of Asshurbanapal had been one of un- 
exampled glory in the arts and vocations of peace. 
The temples were larger, more beautiful, more rich 
in storied liturgy. Science, whether astronomy or 
mathematics, had reached a higher point than in 
the history of man before. The literature of As- 
syria, though laden Avith a cumbrous system of 
writing and a monumental style which was inher- 
ited from the age when slabs of stone were the 
only writing material, had, nevertheless, under 
royal patronage taken on a marvelous development. 
Books of song and story, of religion and of law, 
of grammar and of lexicography, were produced in 
extraordinary nimibers and of remarkable style 
and execution. The pride of the Assyrians swelled 
as they looked on all these things, and saw beside 
them the marvelous material prosperity which 
likewise had exceeded all the old bounds. The 
Assyrian trader was in all lands, and his wealth was 
growing apace. In all these things Asshurbanapal 
had marched in advance of his predecessors. 

In war only had he failed. But by the sword 
the kingdom of Assyria had been founded, by the 
sword it had added kingdom unto kingdom until 
it had become a world empire. By the sword it 
had cleared the way for the advance of its trader, 
and opened up to civilization great territories, some 
of which, like Urartu, had even adopted its method 
of writing. It had held all the vast empire to- 
gether by the sword, and not by beneficent and 




THE REIGN OF ASSHURBANAPAL. 281 

unselfish rule. Even unto this very reign barbaric 
treatment of men who yearned for liberty had been 
the rule and not the exception. That which had 
been founded by the sword and maintained by the 
sword would not survive if the sword lost its 
keenness or the arm which wielded it lost its 
strength or readiness. This had happened in the 
days of Asshurbanapal. He had conquered but 
little new territory, made scarcely any advance, as 
most of the kings who preceded him had done. 
He had not only not made distinct advances, he 
had actually beaten a retreat, and the empire was 
smaller. Worse than even this, he had weakened 
the borders which remained, and had not erected 
fortresses, as had Sargon and Esarhaddon and 
even Sennacherib, for the defense of the frontier 
against aggression. He had gained no new allies, 
and had shown no consideration or friendship for 
any people who might have been won to join 
hands with Assyria when the hour of struggle be- 
tween the Semites and the Indo-Europeans should 
come. On the contrary, his brutality, singularly 
unsuited to his period and his position of grow- 
ing weakness, his bloodthiratiness, his destructive 
raids into the territories of his neighbore, had in- 
creased the hatred of Assyria into a passion. All 
these things threatened the end of Assyrian pres- 
tige, if not the entire collapse of the empire. 

The culture which Asshurbanapal had nurtured 
and disseminated was but a cloak to cover the 
nakedness of Assyrian savagery. It never became 



282 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

a part of the life of the people. It contributed 
not to national patriotism, but only to national 
enervation. Luxury had usurped the place of 
simplicity and weakness had conquered strength. 
The most brilliant color of all Assyrian history 
was only overiaid on the palace and temple walls. 
The shadows were growing long and deep, and 
the night of Assyria was approaching. 



k. 



THE FALL OF ASSYRIA. 283 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE FALL OF ASSYBL^. 



AssHUBBANAPAL had maintained internal pea^e 
in his empire, and the prosperity which Nineveh 
had enjoyed was conducive to a quiet passing of 
the succession. He was followed by his son, As- 
shur-etil-ili-ukinni, who is also known by the short- 
ened form of his name as Asshur-etil-ilL Of his 
reign we possess only two inscriptions. The first 
occurs in a number of copies, and reads only, " I 
am Asshur-etil-ili, king of Kisshati, king of As- 
syria, son of Asshurbanapal, king of Kisshati, king 
of Assyria. I caused bricks to be made for the 
building of E-zida in Calah, for the life of my soul 
I caused them to be made." ' The second gives 
his titles and genealogy in the same manner, and 
adds a note concerning the beginning of his reign, 
but it is not now legible. Besides these two 
texts there remain only a few tablets found at 
Nippur dated in the second and the fourth years 
of his reign." These latter show that as late as 
the fourth year of his reign he still held the title 

» Published I R. 8, No. 8, translated by Winckler, KeilinaehHft, BibL, 
ii, pp. 268, 269. 

•Hilprecht, " Keilinschriftliche Funde," in ZeUschrifl fur Assyriologie, 
lYy pp. 164, ff. The name of this king was originally read Bel-zakir-ishkun 
and Bel-shum-ishkun. 



i 



284 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

of king of Sumer and Accad, and therefore con- 
tinued to rule over a large portion of Babylonia, 
^if not over the city of Babylon itself. 

The ruined remains of his palace at Calah have 
been found, and it forms a strange contrast to the 
imposing work of Sargon. Its rooms are small 
and their ceilings low; the wainscoting, instead 
of fine alabaster richly carved, was formed only of 
slabs of roughly cut limestone, and it bears every 
mark of hasty constraction.; 

We have no other remains of his reign, nor do 
we know how long it continued. Assyrian records 
terminate suddenly in the reign of Asshurbanapal, 
in which we reach at once the summit and the 
end of Assyrian carefulness in recording the events 
of reigns and the passage of time. It is, of course, 
possible that there may be buried somewhere 
some records yet unfound of this reign, but it is 
certain that they must be few and unimportant, 
else would they have been found in the thoroughly 
explored chambere in which so many royal his- 
torical inscriptions have been discovered. It may 
seem strange at first that an abundant mass of in- 
scription material for this reign should not have 
been produced ; that, in other words, a period of 
extraordinary literary activity should be suddenly 
followed by a period in which scarcely anything 
beyond bare titles should be written. But this is 
not a correct statement of the case. The literary 

1 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains^ ii, pp. 88, 89 ; Nineveh and Babylon^ 
p. 568. 




* . . ■ _ * 



THE FALL OF ASSYRIA. 285 

productivity did not cease with Asshur-etil-ili- 
ukinni It had already ceased while Asshurbanapal 
was still reigning. The story, as above set forth, 
shows that we have no knowledge of the later 
years of his reign. The reign of*Asshur-etil-ili- 
ukinni only continued the dearth of record which 
the later years of Asshurbanapal had begun. As 
in some other periods of Assyrian history, there 
was indeed but little to tell. In his later days 
Asshurbanapal had remained quietly in Nineveh, 
interested more in luxury and in his tablets or 
books than in the salvation of his empire. In 
quietness somewhat similar the reign of his suc- 
cessor probably passed away. He had no enthu- 
siasm and no ability for any new conquests. He 
could not really defend that which he already 
had. The air must have been filled with rumors 
of rebellion and with murmurs of dread concern- 
ing the future. The future was out of his power, 
and he could only await, and not avert, the fate of 
Assyria. It did not come in his reign, and the 
helpless empire was handed on to his successor. 

There is doubt as to who the next king of As- 
syria may have been. Mention is found of a cer- 
tain king whose name was Sin-shum-lishir, who 
must have reigned during this period, and perhaps 
it was he who followed the son of Asshurbanapal 
upon the throne. Whether that be true or not, 
we have no word of his doings. 

The next king of Assyria known to us was Sin- 
shar-ishkun. He had come to the throne in sorry 



286 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

times, and that he managed for some years to keep 
some sort of hold upon the falling empire is at 
least surprising. No historical inscription, in the 
proper sense of the word, has come down to us 
from his reign. One badly broken cylinder,* for 
which there are some fragmentary duplicates, has 
been found in which there are the titles and some 
words of empty boasting concerning the king's 
deeds. Besides this we have only three brief busi- 
ness documents found in Babylonia.* These are, 
however, very interesting because they are dated 
two of them in Sippar and the third in Uruk. 
The former belong to the second year of the king's 
reign and the latter to the seventh year. From 
this interesting discovery itappeare that for seven 
years at least Sin-shar-ishkun was acknowledged 
as king over a portion of Babylonia, though the 
city of Babylon was not included in this district. 
We have no knowledge of the events of his 
reign based on a careful record, as we have had be- 
fore, and what little we do know is learned chiefly 
from the Babylonian inscriptions. The Greeks 
and Latins contradict each other so sharply, and 
are so commonly at variance with facts, amply 
substantiated in Babylonian documents, that very 
little can be made out of them. It is a fair infer- 
ence from the records of Nabonidus, whose histo- 

1 I B. 8, 6, translated by Winckler, KeUiruekn/t. Bibl., ii, pp. 270, 271. 

* Eretts in Strassmaier^s BabyUmitehe Texie^ yi, B., p. 90 ; Winckler, 
Berliner PhUolopische Wochmtchrify 18 May, 1889, coL 686, footnote, 
and King, '* Sin-shar-ishkun and His Rule in Babylonia,** Zeiitehrift fur 
Attffriologie^ ix, pp. 896, ff. 




THE FALL OF ASSYRIA. 287 

riographers have written carefully of tliis period, 
that Sin-shar-ishkun was a man of greater force 
than his predecessor. He already possessed a part 
of Babylonia, and desired to make his dominion 
more strong and compact, and also wished to in- 
crease it by taking from the new Chaldean empire, 
of which there is much to be told later, some of its 
fairest portions. Nabopolassar was now king of 
Babylon, and Sin-shar-ishkun invaded the territory 
of Babylonia when Nabopolassar was absent from 
hia capital city carrying on some kind of cam- 
paign in northern Mesopotamia directed against 
the Subaru. This cut off the return of Nabopo- 
lassar, and brought even Babylon itself into dan- 
ger. What was to be done in order to save his 
capital but secure allies from some quarter who 
could assist in driving out the Assyrians ? The 
campaign of Nabopolassar had won for him the 
title of king of Kisshati, which he uses in 609, at 
which time he was in possession of northern Mes- 
opotamia. It was probably this year or the year 
before (610 or 609) that Sin-shar-ishkun attacked 
the Babylonian provinces. Nabopolassar found it 
very difficult to secure an ally who would give 
aid without exacting too heavy a price. If Elam 
had still been a strong country, it would have 
formed the natural ally, as it had been tradition- 
ally the friend of the Chaldeans. But Elam was 
a waste land. The only possible hope was in the 
north and west. To the Umman-Manda must he 
go for help. At the time of Nabopolassar, and 



288 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

also as late as Nabonidas, the word Manda was 
used generally as a term for the nomadic peoples 
of Kurdistan and the far northeastern lands. The 
Babylonians, indeed, knew very little of these 
.peoples. The Assyrians had come very closely 
into touch with them at several times since the 
days of Esarhaddon. They had felt the danger 
which was threatened by the gi'owth of a new 
power on their borders, and they had suffered the 
loss of a number of fine provinces through it. 
This new power was Indo-European, and the peo- 
ple who founded and led it are confused by the 
Greek historians of a later day with the Medes. 
To appeal to the Manda for help in driving out 
the Assyrians from Babylonia was nothing short 
of madness. There were many points of approach 
between Babylonia and Assyria, there were many 
between Assyria and Chaldea. There was no 
good reason why these two peoples should not 
unite in friendship and prepare to oppose the fur- 
ther extension of the power of the Manda. The 
Assyrians certainly knew that the Manda coveted 
Assyria and the great Mesopotamian valley, and 
the Babylonians might easily have learned this if 
they did not already know it. 

But Nabopolassar either did not know of the 
plans and hopes of the Manda, or, knowing them, 
hoped to divert them from himself against Assyria, 
and he ventured to invite their assistance. They 
came not for the profit of Nabopolassar, the Chal- 
deans, and Babylonia, but for their own aggran- 



THE FALL OF ASSYRIA. 289 

dizement. Sin-shar-ishkon and his Assyrian army 
were driven ba^k from northern Babylonia into 
Assyria, and Nabopolassar at once possessed him- 
self of the new provinces. The Manda pushed on 
after the Assyrians, retreating toward Nineveh. 
Between them there could only be the deepest 
hostility. In the forces of the Manda or Scythi- 
ans • there must be inhabitants of provinces which 
had been ruthlessly ravaged by Assyrian conquer- 
ors. They had certainly old grievances to revenge, 
and were likely to spare not. There is evidence 
in abundance that Assyria was hated all over 
western Asia, and probably also in Egypt. For 
ages she had plundered all peoples within the 
range of her possible influence. Everywhere that 
her name was known it was execrated. The voice 
of the Phoenician cities is not heard as it is lifted 
in wrath and hatred against the great city of 
Nineveh, but a Hebrew prophet, Nahum, utters 
the undoubted feeling of the whole Western world 
when, in speaking of the ruin of Assyria^ he says, 
" AU that hear the bruit of thee [the report of thy 
fall] clap the hands over thee: for upon whom 
hath not thy wickedness passed continually?"* 

Nabopolassar did not join with the Mania in 
the pniBuit of the Assyrians, for he was anxious 
to settle and fix his own throne and attend to the 



* The name Manda in the Babylonian texts applies to the same peoples 
that are called SaksD or Scythians by the Greeks. See DelattrCf Le PeupU 
et V Empire des Medea j p. 190 ; Winckler, Untenuchungen xur altorietUal' 
iachen Oeschichie, pp. 112, 124, 126. 

« Nah. m, 19. 
19 



290 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

reorganization of the provinces whicli were now 
added to the empire. K the Manda had needed 
help, they might easily have obtained it, for many 
a small or great people would gladly have joined 
in the undoing of Nineveh for hatred's sake or 
for the sake of the vast plunder which must have 
been stored in the city. For centuries the whole 
civilized world had paid unwilling tribute to the 
great city, and the treasure thus poured into it had 
not all been spent in the maintenance of the stand- 
ing army. Plunder beyond dreams of avarice 
was there heaped up awaiting the despoiler. The 
Manda would be willing to dare single-handed an 
attack on a city which thus promised to enrich 
the successful. The Babylonians, or rather the 
Chaldeans, had given up the race, content to se- 
cure what might fall to them when Assyria was 
broken by the onslaught of the Manda. It will 
later appear in this nairative that Egypt was anx- 
ious to share in the division of the spoil of As- 
syria, and actually dispatched an expedition north- 
ward. This step was, however, taken too late, 
and the Egyptians were not on the ground until 
the last great scene was over. The unwillingness 
of Nabopolassar and the hesitancy or delay of 
other states left the Manda alone to take venge- 
ance upon Assyria. Whether the fleeing As- 
syrians made a stand at any point before falling 
back upon the capital or not we do not know. If 
they did, they were defeated and at last were com- 
pelled to take refuge in the capital city. The 




THE FALL OF ASSYRIA. 291 

Manda began a siege. The memory which the 
Greeks and Latins handed down from that day 
represented the Assyrians as so weak that they 
would fall an easy prey to any people. This was 
certainly erroneous. There is a basis of truth for 
the story of weakness, for there were evident 
signs of decay during the reign of Asshurbanapal. 
These had, however, not gone so far as to make 
the power of Assyria contemptible. Weakened 
though the empire had been by the loss of the 
northern provinces through the great migrations, 
and weakened though it had been by the loss of 
Egypt, and weakened though it had been by the 
terrible civil war between Asshurbanapal and 
Shamash-shum-ukin, it was still the greatest single 
power in the world. It had, indeed, lost the power 
of aggression which had swept over mountain and 
valley, but in defense it would still be a dangerous 
antagonist. 

When the Scythian forces came up to the walls of 
Nineveh they found before them a city better pre- 
pared for defense * than any had probably ever been 
in the world before. The vast walls might seem 
to defy any engines that the semibarbaric hordes 
of the new power could bring to bear. Within 
was the remnant of an army which had won a 
thousand fields. If the army was well managed 
and the city had had some warning of the ap- 

* See Billerbeck und Jeremias, " Der Untergang Nineveh^s und die 
Weissagungsschrift des Nahum von Elkosch," Beitrdffe xur Atsifriologie^ 
iii, pp. 87-188. 



292 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

proaching siege, it would be safe to predict that 
the contest must be long and bloody. The peo- 
ple of Nineveh must feel that not only the su- 
premacy of western Asia^ but their very existence 
as an independent people, was at stake. The As- 
syrians would certainly fight with the intensity of 
despair. We do not know, unfortunately, the 
story of that memorable siege. A people civilized 
for centuries was walled in by the forces of a 
new people fresh, strong, invincible. Then, as 
often in later days, civilization went down before 
barbarism. Nineveh fell into the hands of the 
Scythians. Later times preserved a memory that 
Sin-shar-ishkun perished in the flames of his palace, 
to which he had committed himself when he fore- 
saw the end.' 

The city was plundered of everything of value 
which it contained, and then given to the torch. 
The houses of the poor, built probably of un- 
burnt bricks, would soon be a ruin. The great 
palaces, when the cedar beams which supported 
the upper stories had been burnt oflf, fell in heaps. 
Their great, thick walls, built of unbumt bricks 
with the outer covering of beautiful burnt bricks, 
cracked open, and when the rains descended the 
unbumt bricks soon dissolved away into the clay 
of which they had been made. The inhabitants 
had fled to the four winds of heaven and returned 



» Abydenufl, Frag. 7. Muller-Didot, Frag, Eist. Ortee,, iv, pp. 282, 288, 
narrates that Saracos so met his end, and it is now generally believed that 
he is Sin-shar-ishkun. 









THE FALL OF ASSYRIA. 293 

no more to inhabit the ruins. A Hebrew prophet, 
Zephaniah, a contemporary of the great event, has 
* described this desolation as none other: "And he 
will stretch out his hand against the north, and 
destroy Assyria ; and will make Nineveh a deso- 
lation, and dry like the wilderness. And herds 
shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts 
of the nations : both the pelican and the porcupine 
shall lodge in the chapiters thereof: their voice 
shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in 
the thresholds: for he hath laid bare the cedar 
work. This is the joyous city that dwelt care- 
lessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is 
none else beside me : how is she become a deso- 
lation, a place for beasts to lie down in ! every- 
one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his 
hand." " Nineveh fell in the year 607 or 606, 
and the waters out of heaven, or from the overflow- 
ing river made the soft clay into a covering over 
the great palaces and their records. The winds 
bore seeds into the mass, and a carpet of grass 
covered the mounds, and stunted trees grew out 
of them. Year by year the mound bore less and 
less resemblance to the site of a city, until no trace 
remained above ground of the magnificence that 
once had been. In 401 B. C. a cultivated Greek* 
leading homeward the fragment of his gallant 
army of ten thousand men passed by the mounds 

> Zeph. ii, 13-16. 

' Xenophon (Anabaaisy iii, iv, §1) in passing between Larissa and Mespila 
went close by the ruins. 



294 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

and never knew that beneath them lay the palaces 
of the great Assyrian kings. In later ages the 
Parthians built a fortress on the spot, which they 
called Ninns, and other communities settled either 
above the ruins or near to them.' Men must have 
homes, and the ground bore no trace of the great 
city upon which dire and irreparable vengeance 
had fallen. But, though cities might be built 
upon the soil and men congregate where the As- 
syrian cities had been, there was in reality no 
healing of the wound which the Manda had given. 
The Assyrian empire had come to a final end. As 
they had done unto others so had it been done 
unto them. For more than a thousand years of 
time the Assyrian empire had endured. During 
nearly all of this vast period it had been building 
and increasing. The best of the resources of the 
world had been poured into it. The leadership 
of the Semitic race had belonged to it, and this 
was now yielded up to the Chaldeans, who had 
become the heirs of the Babylonians, from whom 
the Assyrians had taken it. 

It remained only to parcel out, along with the 
rest of the plunder, the Assyrian territory. The 
Manda secured at this one stroke the old territory 
of Assyria, together with all the northern prov- 
inces as far west as the river Halys, in Asia Minor. 
To the Chaldeans, who were now masters in Baby- 

> For the later history of the site see Lincke, " Continuance of the 
Karnes of Assyria and Nineveh after 607-606 B. C./* in the Memoirs of 
the IX Orierdal Congress at London, 1891, and Assyria und Nineveh in 
Oesehichie und Sage der MiUelmeervolker (nach 607-606}, 1894. 




THE FALL OF ASSYRIA. 295 

Ionia, there came the Mesopotamian possessions 
and, as we shall later see, the Syro-phoenician like- 
wise. By this change of ownership the Semites re- 
tained the larger part of the territory over which 
they had long been masters, but the Indo-Euro- 
peans had made great gains. A life-and-death 
struggle would soon begin between them for the 
possession of western Asia. 



BOOK IV: 

THE HISTORY OF THE CHALDEAN 

EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE BEION OP NAB0P0LAS8AK. 

When Asshurbanapal died, in 626, lie left, as we 
have already seen, an empire sadly weakened and 
far departed from its ancient glory. He had, in- 
deed, held together the main body of it, but the 
outer provinces had mostly fallen away. He had 
left in the world many enemies of Assyria and 
sadly few friends. He had held Babylonia to the 
empire after displaying such fierceness in the pun- 
ishment of its rebels as made them unable to rise 
again during his lifetime. Up to his death he 
reigned as king in Assyria imder the name of 
Asshurbanapal, and in Babylon as Kandalanu.' 

1 It had come to be established as almost a usual rule for the As- 
syrian king who reigned in Babylon to have another name than that used 
in Assyria, as witness Tiglathpileser HI and Sbalmaneser IV. George 
Smith first suggested {History of Asturbanipal^ pp. 828, 824) that Eanda- 
lanu and Asshurbanapal were the same person, and Schrader (" Eineladan 
and Asurbanipal " in Zeitschrift fur KeiUchriftforschung, i, pp. 222-282) at- 
tempted to demonstrate it Oppert was not conrinced by the argument (** La 
Vraie Personality et les dates du roi Chinaladan," Retme ^Assyriologie^ i, 
pp. 1*11), and Sayce agrees with him. On the other hand, Assyriologists 

297 ■ 



298 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

The hour of his death was the signal for the prep- 
aration of a new revolt in Babylonia. This was 
inevitable. The Babylonians had hated Assyrian 
rule since the conciliatory policy of Esarhaddon 
had ceased, and were ready for any attempt which 
might promise to restore to them the prestige they 
once possessed and to their city the primacy of the 
world. To achieve such marvels of history there 
was no further strength in themselves. We have 
seen long since the decay of the real Babylonian 
people, who had early ceased to be Semites of 
pure blood. But the very intermixing of other 
fresh blood had kept them alive as an entity, 
though it had almost entirely destroyed their 
identity. The reinforcement of life which came 
to them from the Kassites had kept awake in them 
a national separateness, when without it they would 
almost certainly have been swallowed up and lost, 
as other peoples had been before them. They 
wei^e, however, steadily decaying and diminishing, 
and could only be kept further alive by a new in- 
flux of fresh blood from some source. The As- 
syrian kings had repeatedly settled colonists in 
various parts of Babylonia, from the days of Tig- 
lathpileser IH onward. These lost their national 
identity and became Babylonians to all intents and 
purposes. 

generally accept the identity of Asshurbanapal and Kandalanu (Tiele, Bab, 
auyr. Oesch., pp. 412-414; Winckler, Geschichte, pp. 186,282,289; King, 
art. "Babylonia" in Encyclopedia Bihliea^ i, col. 461). Hommel (art. " Ab- 
eyria " in Hastings^s Bihie Dictionary^ i, p. 189) thinks that the evidence 
is indecisive, and leaves the question open. 




THE REIGN OF NABOPOLASSAR 299 

It is a striking evidence that the Babylonians 
still possessed a certain distinctive influence, that 
they were able to absorb alien elements in this 
manner. Even with the accession of strength 
which came from these colonizations the Baby- 
lonian people would not have possessed enough 
vitality to make any insurrection against Assyria. 
They might join in one, but the motive force must 
be supplied by a nation which had in it fresher 
life and greater vitality. A people possessing the 
necessary force was at hand, and the insurrection 
would soon and speedily become a revolution. 
When Asshur-etil-iU-ukinni was crowned king of 
Assyria he could also claim to be king of Baby- 
lon, for the hour of open rebellion was not yet 
come.' As we have seen, the Assyrians continued 
during his entire reign to hold a considerable por- 
tion of Babylonia, and even so late as the seventh 
year of his successor, Sin-shar-ishkun,* they still 
retained much. The city of Babylon was appar- 
ently lost in the very beginning, and Nabopolassar 

* There has been found at Nippur a tablet dated in the fourth year of 
Asshuretililani (see Hilprecht, ** Keillnschriftliche Funde in Niffer,** Zeit- 
tchri/tfur Assyriologief W, p. 167), which shows that he was acknowledged 
as king of Babylonia in Nippur as late as 621 B. C. 

' The relationship of Sin-shar-ishkun to Asshuretililani is made clear in a 
teblet published by Scheil (** Sin^har-ishkun, fils d'Asshurbanipal,** ZeU. 
schriftfitr Atsyriohgie^ xi, pp. 47, ff.). A contract tablet from Uruk 
dated in the seventh year of Sin-shar-ishkun (King, " ffin-shar-ishkun and 
His Rule m Babylonia," ZeUtehri/t fur Assyriologie, ix, pp. 896-400) 
would seem to show that his rule was officially recognized in Uruk at 
about 612 B. C. Tablets also exist (Evetts, Inscriptions of (he Reigns of 
EvU-Merodaeh, Neriglissar^ and Zaborosoarchodj pp. 90, 91; Winckler, 
Berliner PhUologisehe Wochenschri/l, 18 May, 1889, col. 686, footnote) dated 
at Sippara in the second year of ^n-shar-ishkun. 




300 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

gradually gained in power and influence through 
a successful revolution. It was spontaneous, but 
had been slowly maturing for years. The Baby- 
lonian people did not profit by it as a people, but 
were, on the contrary, engulfed in it and practi- 
cally disappeared from history. They were able 
to push forward again, and even supplied later a 
king to the empire which resulted from the revo- 
lution. The old influence in the world, however, 
never returned, and they were soon absorbed into 
a later population and are heard of no more. 
That another people should be able firat to gain 
leadership over the Babylonians, who had founded 
a mighty empire and had stood with the Egyptians 
as the leading nations of civilization, and then to 
overwhelm them and take their place in the world's 
history, is indeed an event of moment. We shall 
need to give heed to the people who could accom- 
plish a feat so great. They must belong to the 
world's greatest races, and behind them must have 
been a period during which they had been pre- 
pared for their momentous destiny. 

The people who wrought this revolution were 
the Chaldeans, whom we have already met as bit- 
ter enemies of the Assyrians. They were not less 
enemies of the Babylonians, as we have also seen, 
and a union of feeling between Babylonia and As- 
syria was brought about in the time of Merodach- 
baladan, when the Babylonians looked upon the 
Assyrians as their natural defenders against these 
unwelcome invaders. The Assyrians had, how- 



THE R£IGN OF NABOPOLASSAB. 301 

ever, done no more than drive them southward or 
hold them in chect They had not driven them 
from the country entirely, but left them to be- 
come slowly attached to the soil, and a genuine 
portion of the population. The origin of the 
Chaldeans is obscure, but some facts concerning 
them may be considered as fairly well known. 
They invaded Babylonia from the south, coming 
from the neighborhood of the Persian Gulf. 
Whence they had come into the Sea Lands at 
that point is nearly as well known by a process of 
elimination. They could not have come from 
Elam, and they must therefore be settlers from 
Arabia. From what part of that old home land 
of Semites they had come is not known. It is, 
however, clear that they were Semites. They bore 
Semitic names, as far as any of their names are 
known to us, and they readily adapted themselves 
to Semitic customs, whether of religion, govern- 
ment, or social life. Their appearance in Baby- 
lonia was at an early date, and they had gradually 
spread in scattered communities over a considera- 
ble portion of the country, both north and south. 
In this they fonn a close parallel to the Aramae- 
ans, who belonged, indeed, to the same general 
wave of migration as themselves, and had early 
proved dangerous neighbors to the Assyrians. 

The chief stronghold of the Chaldeans was the 
territory known as the Sea Lands. This country 
was somewhat larger than the alluvial lands about 
the mouths of the rivers, as it apparently included 



302 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

a strip of territory of unknown extent along 
the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf. It had 
a government and a history of its own, run- 
ning back through the centuries, of which, how- 
ever, only fragments are known to us. That part 
of its history which is known is little more than a 
story of a half-nomad, half-agricultural and pastoral 
people who kept up a running fire of efforts ta 
possess themselves of the rich lands and wealthy 
cities of their more fortunate Babylonian neigh- 
bors. The other Chaldean communities have left 
even less mark of their individuality upon history. 
They formed, indeed, principalities, which the 
boastfiilness of Assyrian kings has elevated into 
large kingdoms and endowed with great armies, 
and with forces which could only be overcome by 
the might of the great god Asshur. Like their 
more numerous fellows in the Sea Lands, these 
also were anxious chiefly to find a leader who 
could give into their hands the possessions of the 
Babylonians. Any prince of one of these small 
states or communities who could win battles over 
the native Babylonians was sure of a following of 
Chaldeans generally, and not merely of the men 
of his own community. This was the surest way 
of coming out of the limitations of a petty prince- 
dom in Bit-Yakin, or in the Sea Lands, and of 
becoming the king of Kaldi Land. A man who 
could gain the title of king of Babylon or of king 
of Sumer and Accad would stand so much above 
his fellow-princes among the Chaldeans that he- 



THE KEIGN OF NABOPOLASSAR. 303 

miglit well be called by the lesser title of king of 
KaldL This fact goes far to explain the constant 
attempts of Chaldean princes upon Babylon. They 
were not moved by a sentimental appreciation of 
the glories of Babylon and its ancient royal titles, 
as were Tiglathpileser III and Sargon. They 
thirsted for power over the Babylonians because 
it brought wealth and ease, and with these head- 
ship among their own Chaldean peoples. This 
leadership among the Chaldeans had, however, 
more than once wrecked their hopes, when by con- 
tact with Babylonians they had learned more of 
the beauty and dignity of Babylonian civilization 
and come to recognize in the title an expression 
not so much of wealth as of honor, a headship in 
civilization. From such ideas they were dragged 
down by the Chaldean population, who thirsted 
after the wealth and demanded that they should 
receive the well-cultivated lands and the city prop* 
erty. These demands had been measurably granted 
by Merodach-baladan, and as a direct consequence 
of this compliance his new rule was promptly 
shattered by the Assyrians, and Chaldean suprem- 
acy was postponed. 

As we have already said, however, the Chalde- 
ans had not disappeared during the period of the 
Assyrian supremacy over Babylonia. They existed 
in great numbers in Babylonia, and were only 
awaiting the day when they should be able to 
produce the man strong enough to seize or to cre- 
ate a favorable opportunity, as Merodach-baladan 



S04 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

had done, by which they might again rule. Of 
the Chaldean communities which had not been ab- 
sorbed by the Babylonians the kingdom or prin- 
cipality of the Sea Lands was at this time still 
the largest and strongest. North of it were a 
number of Chaldean tribes, among which Bit-Sil- 
ani, Bit-Sa'alli, and Bit-Sala had long been the most 
prominent, for their names find mention in the in- 
scriptions of TiglathpUeser ID. Indeed, were it 
not for his records and the Annals of the later 
Assyrian kings, we should know even less than we 
do of the Chaldeans. The Babylonian inscrip- 
tions, devoted to temples, palaces, and canals, ig- 
nore their very existence, and when they came to 
dominion themselves they acted in all things as 
Babylonians. Above these tribes going northward 
were the communities of Bit-Amukkani, out of 
which came Ukin-zer, and of Bit-Adini, which lay 
just south of the city of Babylon. Even here the 
line of Chaldean communities did not cease, for the 
tribe of the Bit-Dakkuri was established north of 
the great capital city. These Chaldean communi- 
ties, though they were Semites, were, nevertheless, 
alien communities. They did not, as a rule, inter- 
mingle readily with the Babylonians, or they 
would all long since have been absorbed. Though 
settled in a land which had been tilled for many 
centuries, they still remained half-nomads. The 
land was not overpopulated, and if they had de- 
sired to settle down as quiet and peaceable agri- 
culturists, there would have been plenty of room 




THE REIGN OF NABOPOLASSAR. 306 

for them. They did not accept this opportunity, 
but over and over again had been disturbers of 
the peace, eager to gain the complete control, and 
desirous not of making a destiny for themselves, 
but wishing to rob the Babylonians of that which 
the industry of ages had accumulated by slow and 
painful steps. In the attainment of this purpose 
they had been defeated before by the Assyrians. 
There was now a larger hope, for Assyrian vitality 
was gone and the whole vast empire was falling to 
pieces. As has already been said, Babylonian vi- 
tality was also at the lowest ebb, and could offer 
no effectual resistance to any sharp blow delivered 
by a strong arm. But, though the Chaldeans 
must have known of the evident decay of Assyria, 
they were too wily to rise again in rebellion at an 
inopportune time. They could not be sure that 
Asshurbanapal did not possess resources which 
might be directed against them with crushing force, 
and they well knew that no movement of his was 
tempered with mercy. 

When Asshurbanapal died the time had come to 
make a fresh attempt for Chaldean independence 
of Assyria and Chaldean dominance over Baby- 
lonia. Immediately after the death of Asshur- 
banapal we find Nabopolassar (Nabu-aplu-usur) 
king of Babylon. We do not know what his ori- 
gin was. It has been supposed that he might be 
a son of Kandalanu ; and this supposition would 
explain the readiness and quickness with which 
he secured the throne. There is, however, not a 

20 • 



306 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

shadow of evidence for the view. If it were the 
case, it would certainly seem natural for him to 
have spoken of his royal origin in one or the 
other of the few inscriptions* which have come 
down to us. On the other hand, it is not possi- 
ble to prove that he was either of pure Babyloni- 
an or of Chaldean origin. The kingdom which 
he founded was, however, plainly Chaldean. The 
king's supporters were Chaldeans, and as the 
years went on the Babylonian influence quite 
gave way to Chaldean, so that the Babylonians 
may be considered as also losing their historic 
identity when Nineveh fell. The change of rulers 
from Asshurbanapal to Nabopolassar was momen- 
tous in consequences. With that change the head- 
ship of Assyria over the Semitic peoples of Asia 
came to an end forever, and leadership among 
them passed to the Chaldeans, whose Semitic 
blood was probably almost, if not quite, as pure 
as that of the Assyrians. They had apparently 
not suffered so great an intermixture wL other 
peoples as had the Babylonians. With this change 
of rulers there was founded not merely a new 



'His inscriptions, dealing almost exdusivelj with building operations* 
give unsatisfactory views of the political and military history. The chief 
texts are the following : (a) 27^ Merodaeh- Temple Jfueriptior^ published and 
translated by Strassmaier, ZeiUehri/t fur ABtyriologie^ iv, 106, fP., and also 
translated by Winckler, KeUineekri/t, BibL, iii, part 2, pp. 2-7. (b) The 
Sippar-Cafud Ineeription^ published by Winckler, ZeUechrifl fur Astyri- 
iflogie, ii, 69, fP., and translated by him in Keiliruehri/t. Bibl.^ iii, part 2, 
pp. 6-9. (c) The BdU-Tempie Inscription^ published by Winckler, Zeit- 
wehrift fur Aeeyriologie^ ii, 146, 172, and translated by him, Keilinechrift, 
Mibl,, iii, part 2, pp. 8, 9. 




THE REIGN OF NABOPOLASSAR. 307 

dynasty, but also a new kingdom. It is indeed 
possible to consider this new monarchy as a re- 
establishment of the old Babylonian empire, but 
it is more in accordance with the facts to look on 
it as a new Chaldean empire succeeding to the 
wealth and position of the ancient Babylonian 
empire. As the monarchy which he founded was 
so plainly Chaldean, it lies near to the other facts 
to consider Nabopolassar himself a Chaldean. This 
view is not inconsistent with the fragmentary and 
unsatisfactory allusions of Abydenus, who repre- 
sents Nabopolassar as a general in the army of 
Sarako8' (Sin-shar^hkua), which is probably 
only a form of saying that Nabopolassar was as 
king of Babylon subject to the suzerainty of As- 
syria—the Babylonian king hence occupying a 
place subordinate to the Assyrian. 

In this account of Abydenus, which may per- 
haps rest on some good Babylonian source, we 
have a probable hint as to the manner in which 
the new empire was founded. Nabopolassar 
gained the throne with Chaldean assistance, and 
at first was willing to hold his rule under the 
nominal overlordship of Assyria. This he might 
do while still nourishing the hope that he might 
speedily be able to cast off altogether the suze- 
rainty of Assyria. We have, however, no Chaldean 
or Babylonian documents which give any account 

' According to Abydentui (Fragment 7, in Maller-Didot, Fragmenia HimL 
(jhrvK.y iv, p. 282), Saraoos (that is, Sin-sbar-iahkun) sent BussalosBoroft 
(that is, Nabopolassar) to defend Chaldea. 



308 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

of the foundation of the new kingdom, though in 
one text Nabopolassar calls himself the " one who 
laid the foundation of the land." 

We have only three historical inscriptions of 
the reign of Nabopolassar, and these, affcer the 
manner of Babylonian inscriptions almost from 
the very beginning, are devoted only to the works 
of peace — to building and repairing. In the first 
of the inscriptions ' he describes in the usual way 
the rebuilding of a great Marduk temple in Baby- 
lon, which was in a ruinous condition. In this in- 
scription he does not call himself king of Babylon, 
but ahaUcaTiak^ as though he would not yet claim 
to be wholly free from Assyrian influence, nor be 
above the holding of a title more or less subordi- 
nate, though he does call himself king of Sumer 
and Accad. In the second ' of three inscriptions he 
adopts the title of king of Babylon, and we are there- 
fore safe in the supposition that this text belongs 
to a somewhat later period, when all semblance 
of dependence upon Assyria had been thrown ofE 
and Nabopolassar was king indeed in his own 
right and by suflferance of his people. In this 
inscription he records the construction of a canal 
at Sippar. The Euphrates had made a new course 
away from the city, and the king now built a canal 
by which the water was again to be brought to 

1 Published by Strassmaier, Zeitsehrift fur Anyrioljogit^ iv, pp. 106- 
118, 129-186. Translated also by Winckler, Keilinsehri/t. Bibl, iii, 
part 2, pp. 8-7. 

' Published by Winckler, Zeitsehrift fur Auyriohgie^ ii, pp. 69-75, and 
translated by him, Keili'Mchrift, Bibl.^ iii, part 2, pp. 7-9. 



THE REIGN OF NABOPOLASSAR 309 

the city walls. In this constraction of a canal Na- 
bopolassai* was following the ancient precedents of 
Babylonian kings from the days of Hammorabi 
onward. In the third of these inscriptions* he is 
called both king of Babylon and king of Samer 
and Accad, and in it he gives an account of the 
rebuilding of a temple of Belit at Sippar. The 
reign of Nabopolassar was not so peaceful as these 
fragments might seem to indicate. He was not so 
absorbed in the building of temples and canals 
during the whole of his reign. He had indeed a 
delicate and difficult game of politics to play, in 
order that he should not be wheedled out of his 
gains by the quick-witted Assyrians, nor unseated 
from the tottering throne by a crafty prince of 
some Chaldean tribe. He had also to fight a se- 
vere fight against Egypt in order to save the bor- 
ders of his empire. 

Egypt had now again become one of the world's 
chief powers. The methods pursued by Psam- 
metichus I by which he had carried Egypt to a 
position almost as lofty as that occupied in the 
glorious days of Thutmosis III and Rameses II 
were carried still further by his son and successor, 
Necho II. But a short time had elapsed since 
Egypt was governed by Assyrians, but now the 
Egyptians began to hope to participate in the di- 
vision of Assyrian plunder which must soon come. 
In 609 it was already plain to Necho that Assyria 

* Published by Winckler, Zeitsehrifl fiir Assyrioiogie^ ii, pp. 144-147, 
172, and translated by him, Keilinachrift Bibl.y iii, part 2, p. 9. 



310 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

could endure but a short time. We must often 
remind ourselves that the flight of news from 
kingdom to kingdom or from land to land was 
exceedingly rapid in the ancient Orient. King- 
doms were not separated by miles of territory over 
which no sound was heard, and across which no 
rumor came flying on the wings of the wind. 
Necho knew of the sorry plight of the last As- 
syrian king. This was surely his opportunity to 
regain not merely all Palestine and Assyria, but 
even perhaps the great plains to the Euphrates 
which had once been Hittite. In 609, or perhaps 
in 608, he left Egypt, with an army, determined 
to press on to Assyria to participate in the first 
distribution of booty, confident that on his return 
he could readily reduce to subjection any Syrian 
or Palestinian prince who might think it safe to 
rebel against possible Egyptian tyranny, when re- 
lieved of the long-time oppression of Assyria. 

Necho marched by land, and the city of Gaza, 
which was first approached, offered some resist- 
ance. It was, however, speedily taken, and Necho 
went on. No further opposition was made to his 
advance until he turned from the coast into the 
plain of Esdraelon. Nineveh had not yet fallen, 
but it was long since the great city had disturbed 
the west. The Syrophoenician cities were, and had 
been, practically independent. They were, how- 
ever, too dispirited to offer battle to any new con- 
queror who appeared, hoping to suffer less through 
oppression when they blindly yielded than they 




THE REIGN OF NABOPOLASSAR. 311 

would through a hopeless resistance. Alone had 
the kingdom of Judah the courage to dare a re- 
sistance. Judah had enjoyed the period of peace- 
ful independence too much to think of falling 
lightly into a new condition of servitude. Josiah 
was king, and in him an intense national spirit 
ruled. He had severed the ties which bound 
Judah to neighboring nations in their religion, 
and his proclamation of Deuteronomy had widened 
the breach. He would dare to attack Necho if no 
others had the courage.* We do not know ex- 
actly his course from Jerusalem, but the place of 
the battle w ould seem to indicate that he intended 
to attack the flank or rear of Necho's army, which 
Avas moving northward and had passed by Judah. 
The two armies met at Megiddo, a place glorious 
in the annals of Egypt, for there, nearly a thou- 
sand years before, Thutmosis HI had conquered 
the combined forces of the Syrophoenician states. 
Necho was victorious, and Josiah fell upon the 
field.' The army of Judah returned in terror to 
Jerusalem, and made Jehoahaz, younger son of 
Josiah, king, apparently passing over the elder 
son, Eliakim, because he was disposed to submit 
to Necho. After the battle of Megiddo, Necho 

' The chronicler (2 Chron. xxxv, 20-22) has preeenred an interesting 
reminiscence of Necho*s intercourse with Josiah : Necho " sent ambassa- 
dors to him [Josiah], saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of 
Judah ? / come not against thee this day, but against the house where- 
with I have war ; and Grod hath commanded me to make haste : forbear 
thee from meddling with Grod, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.*' 

' 2 Kings xxiii, 29. Herodotus, ii, cliz, refers to a defeat of the Syrians 
at MagdoluB, undoubtedly the same event. But see Benzinger and EitteL 



812 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

went on northward, meeting with no further op- 
position, and halted at Kiblah, in CcBle-Syria. 
Here he thought over the appointment of Jehoa- 
haz as king of Judah, and was dissatisfied with 
the choice. He now considered himself the real 
master of Judah, after the victory at Megiddo, and 
ordered Jehoahaz to come to Kiblah, where he 
was cast into chains, while his brother Eliakim 
was made king in his stead, under the name Je- 
hoiakim. Upon Judah was laid a fine of one 
talent of gold and one hundred talents of silver, 
which Jehoiakim managed to pay. Jehoahaz was 
taken to Egypt, where he soon afterward died. 
Necho II was now absolute master of all the Syro- 
phcBnician states and of the erstwhile provinces of 
Assyria as far as the Euphrates. 

While Necho II was stripping from Assyria 
the western provinces, and Nabopolassar was add- 
ing to his new empire the portion of northern 
Babylonia which Sin-shar-ishkun had previously 
held, the Manda took the city of Nineveh.* In 
one mighty crash the great empire fell in frag* 
ments, and for a time Nabopolassar was busy in 
securing complete control of the Babylonian and 
Mesopotamian territory which had fallen into his 
hands. Necho II, assured of the possession of 
Palestine and Syria, had returned to Egypt with 
the captive Jehoahaz. He determined, however, 
to again go to the north and east to see if he could 
extend his borders beyond the Euphrates into the 

* See above, p. 292 



THE REIGN OF NABOPOLASSAR. 313 

northern parts of Mesopotamia^ wliicli had now 
fallen to Nabopolassar. 

From i^pt he led out an immense army, greater 
than any pat in the field for a long time. Besides 
the native troops he had bodies of Libyans, Ethio- 
pians, and other allies. He reached Carchemish, on 
the Euphrates, without opposition, and was prob- 
ably about to cross the river when he was met 
by a Chaldean army, Nabopolassar was in failing 
health, and unable to leave his capital, but aware 
of the danger which confronted his empire, had 
despatched his son, Nebuchadrezzar, with a large 
army. Nebuchadrezzar gave battle at Carchemish, 
and' won a crushing victory.' The Egyptians fled 
in confusion, and did not dare to make a stand 
until they had reached Egypt. Nebuchadrezzar 
pursued, and not one of the Syrophoenician states 
raised an arm against him. He did not cross the 
territory of Judah, but passed round by the sea- 
coast and reached Pelusium unopposed. Jerusalem 
was in terror lest he should attack it, and all Egypt 
was in an agony of fear. The slaughter of Car- 
chemish had undone Necho, and there was no heart 
in Egypt to face Nebuchadrezzar in battle. In 
those hours the fate of Egypt wavered in the bal- 
ance. K Nebuchadrezzar went on over the Egyp- 
tian border, there was every probability that Egypt 
would be as easily overrun as it had been by 
Esarhaddon. He had won Syria and Palestine 
for the new Chaldean empire after but a very short 

* Jer. xlvi, 2 ; comp. also 2 Kings xziv, 7. fs^ 



314 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Egyptian regime. If he could uow win Egypt, 
the Chaldean empire would have become in twenty 
years of history the world's chief power. At this 
juncture he was suddenly apprised of the death at 
Babylon of his father, Nabopolassar. He was 
compelled to drop all designs on Egypt and return 
with speed to his capital, to receive the govern- 
ment. No man could prophesy what might hap. 
pen in the transfer of the crown in times so trou- 
blous. An outbreak of rebellion might easily oc- 
cur, and another seize the throne before the right- 
ful heir could appear. 

The reign of Nabopolassar had been important 
in its achievements. He had wrought much for 
the wealth and advantage of his land by canals 
and by great buildings. He had been successful 
in diplomacy, for his winning of the Manda to his 
aid had not been attended by any unfortunate re- 
sults. He had in war, both in his own person and 
in the victories of his son, reached a wonderful 
success, by which in twenty years he had built an 
empire of colossal proportions around the small 
territory which he had alone possessed in the be- 
ginning. It may easily be said that the greatness 
of this work is diminished by the undoubted fact 
that the time for it was ripe. Assyria was weak 
at just the moment when Nabopolassar was ready 
to be^n empire building. Had he become king 
of Babylon a little earlier, he would not so readily 
have made an empire; of this there can be no 
doubt. But while the opportunity was at hand, 



THE REIGN OF NABOPOLASSAR. 316 

there was no less a signal display of ability in its 
seizing. The name of Nabopolassar must be added 
to the list of the greatest kings who had ruled in 
Babylonia. The new Chaldean empire had begun 
well. If now he were able to hand over to a son 
or heir the power which he had seized so suddenly, 
there was hope for a brilliant future. The son 
was ready, a son as great as his father in plan, and 
^ven greater in action. 



316 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE BEIGN OF NEBUOHADBEZZAB. 

When Nebncliadrezzar stood at the boixiers of 
I^ypt and a messenger advised him of his father's 
death in far-away Babylonia, a crisis had come in 
the history of a new empire. But for that death 
Nebuchadrezzar would almost certainly have add- 
ed Egypt to his laurels, and that were a thrilling 
possibility. But a danger fully as stirring lay also 
before him. K he had failed to reach Babylonia 
before the discordant elements in the new world 
empire were able to gather unity and force, all that 
his father had built might readily be destroyed. 
The day cried for a man of decision and of quick 
movement. 

Nebuchadrezzar reached Babylon fi'om the bor- 
ders of Egypt in season to prevent any outbreak 
in favor of a usurper, if any such were intended. 
He was received as king of Babylon without a 
sign of any trouble. So began one of the longest 
and most brilliant reigns (604-562 B. C.) of hu- 
man history. Nebuchadrezzar has not left the 
world without written witnesses of his great deeds. 
In his inscriptions, however, he follows the com- 
mon Babylonian custom of omitting all reference to 
wars, sieges, campaigns, and battles. Only in a very 




THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 317 

few instances is there a single reference to any of 
these. The great burden of all the inscriptions is 
building. In Babylon was centered his chief pride, 
and of temples and palaces, and not of battles and 
sieges, were his boasts. As we are therefore de- 
prived of first-hand information from Babylonian 
or Chaldean sources, we are forced to turn else- 
where for information of the achievements of Neb- 
uchadrezzar as an organizer of armies and a plan- 
ner and conductor of campaigns. The knowledge 
thus obtained from other peoples is fragmentary, 
because each writer was more concerned about his 
own people than about the Chaldeans. The best 
help of this kind is obtained from the Hebrews, 
with whom Nebuchadrezzar had the first difficul- 
ties of his reign, and against whom his first opera- 
tions were directed. 

Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had paid his tribute 
regularly for three years' after Nebuchadrezzar 
left Palestine on his hasty journey to Babylon to 
assume the throne. He was, however, harassed 
by a patriotic party determined to compel him to 
throw off the Chaldean yoke. The only clear 
voice raised against such stupendous folly was 
that of Jeremiah, who, like Isaiah in a similar cri- 
sis, warned the nation against its suicidal foUy. 
But the more Jeremiah denounced the greater his 
unpopularity and the more certain the triumph of 
the popular party. At last Jehoiakim omitted the 
payment of the tribute, and the issue was fairly 

* 2 Kings zxiv, 1. 



318 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

joined. Nebuchadrezzar did not invade the land 
at once, either because he held the rebellion in 
contempt and supposed it would be easily over- 
come, or because he was still too greatly absorbed 
in duties at home. His first move was to encour- 
age JudaVs neighbors to ravage the country in 
connection with Chaldean guerrilla bands. The 
Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites were very will- 
ing to join in such attacks on their old enemy. 
This haphazard warfare, however, came to nothing, 
and Nebuchadrezzar was compelled to more stren- 
uous measures. In 597 he dispatched an army to 
besiege Jerusalem, and soon after its appearance 
before the walls he arrived to take charge of it in 
person. With such forces as he could muster there 
could be no doubt of the ultimate issue, but Jehoi- 
akim was spared the sight of his country's ruin, by 
a sudden death. His successor, a lad of eighteen 
years of age, Jehoiachin, known also as Jeconiah,' 
inherited only trouble, and saw himself hemmed 
in by a force which must soon carry the city by 
storming or by starvation. Jehoiachin, realizing 
the hopelessness of the situation, and perhaps rely- 
ing somewhat on the mercy of his conqueror, de- 
cided to surrender before an active assault should 
be undertaken. He was compelled to appear at 
Nebuchadrezzar's headquarters, with his mother 
and his entire court, to be carried into captivity. 
Besides this Nebuchadrezzar demanded the surren- 

1 The name occurs in three forms ; see 2 Kings xxiv, 8 ; Jer. xzii, 24 ; 
xxiv, 1 ; xzTii, 20; Ezek. i, 2. 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 319 

der of seven thousand men capable of bearing 
arms, and one thousand workers in iron. These 
with their families were carried away to Baby- 
lonia, where they were settled in one great block 
by the river Chebar, a canal near Nippur.* In the 
place of Jehoiachin, Mattaniah, another son of Jo- 
siah, was made king, under the name of Zedekiah.' 
He was but twenty-one years of age, and was 
probably considered by Nebuchadrezzar a man 
who could safely be trusted to rule over the rem- 
nant of the people who were suflfered to remain 
when the better part of the inhabitants had been 
carried away. The choice was unfortunate, viewed 
from any point. Zedekiah was morally incapable 
of faithfulness to the Babylonians, and that, if for 
nothing else, because he was too weak to resist 
popular clamor and a mad patriotism. He was not 
wise enough to make himself and his state leaders 
in the counsels of the Syrophcenician states, nor 
strong enough to make any concert that might be 
reached a power in troublous times. The policy 
he embraced was alike fatal to all who joined in 
it. It was, however, appa^rently not of his own 
devising. He fell a prey to other schemers bent 
on their own purposes. The real wellspring of 
the movements now to be described is to be found 
in Egypt. 



' Babylonian JBhtpeditum of ths UnivenUy of Pennaylvania^ ix, plate 60, 
No. 84, line 2. The text here cited finally disposes of the question of the 
location of the Chebar. 

>2 Kings zziy, 17; Jer. xxxvii, 1. 



320 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Necho had failed in his great plans, large enough 
though they were to do credit to his imagination. 
His reign was over, and in his room was Hophra 
(Apries). Soon after his accession (589) he de- 
termined to try to save for Egypt some of the 
fragments of Necho's great dreams. There was 
no chance whatever that he might get possession 
of any of the closer linked poi-tions of the old 
Assynan empire. These were all irrevocably pos- 
sessed by others. The new Chaldean power now 
regnant in Babylon had shown its power too 
strongly in conquest to be weak in defense. But 
there were Syiia and Palestine; they had been 
Egypt's during many a long day; why should 
they not be restored ? It was worth the attempt, 
and the method of its undertaking might easily 
be copied from Necho. Hophra simply roused 
these states to a concerted rebellion against Nebu- 
chadrezzar, and this was very probably accom- 
plished by secret agents. It has been seen in 
former pages that these Syrophoenician states had 
blunderingly missed many a good opportunity for 
opposing the progress of Assyrian conquest in 
earlier days; and it has been equally clear that 
they were no less unfortunate in choosing for their 
uprisings many a moment most unsuitable. In 
this latter they now again erred. What moment 
less auspicious for a rebellion could they have 
chosen than this, in which Egypt again spurred 
them on ? Nebuchadrezzar had already been in 
Palestine. He and his armies knew the way 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 321 

thither. He was surely established on his father's 
throne, and had no fear of civil disturbances in 
his own kingdom. His power and his severity 
were known abroad, and there was scant chance 
of any large uprising in the lands of the upper 
Euphrates. The hour was ill chosen, but Egypt 
had chosen it and men were found in the foolish 
states to follow Egypt's lead. In spite of its sore 
sufferings Judah was still of weight and impor- 
tance, but Egypt did not approach it directly. 
The aid of others was firat secured, and these were 
sent to rouse Judah to revolt. 

Our first knowledge of all these movements is 
derived from Hebrew sources, and especially from 
the book of the prophet Jeremiah, himself an 
actor of commanding stature in the whole sad 
drama. From his book it appears that the states 
first planning to revolt were Edom, Moab, Ammon, 
Tyre, and Sidon.' They had already determined 
upon revolt, and had gone far enough in their pre- 
liminaries to have joined in a deliberate unity 
before Judah was approached at all. Whether 
this long delay in asking the cooperation of Judah 
indicates that this state was now counted of little 
or of great moment does not appear. The delay 
would admit of either interpretation. At last 
came an embassy to Judah, in which all had 

1 Jer. xxvii, 1-8. This chapter begins in the Massoretic text, " In the 
beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah." It is, however, 
clear from verses 2, 12, and 20 that the text is corrupt. We must either 
read Zedekiah instead of Jehoiakim, or, as is much better, omit the verse 
altogether, as the LXX have done. See Giesebrecht on the passage. 

21 



322 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

united; to persuade Zedekiali to join in a rebellion 
against Nebuchadrezzar. This embassy found a 
situation not altogether to its satisfaction. It 
found, however, very much that was exactly ready 
for its labors. Jerusalem had, of course, a strong 
and numerous patriotic party that hated the very 
name of Babylonian, and believed that the des- 
tiny of the Hebrew people must carry them free 
of any allegiance to any such power. This party 
had no vision for the signs of the times, no mem- 
ory for the events of the last few years, and plainly 
not even the slightest glimpse into the future. 
Its only idea was that Jehovah was with the He- 
brews, no matter what their devotion to him 
might be.' He had, indeed, suflfered the Baby- 
lonian to lay a heavy hand upon his people, and 
many had gone into captivity. But Jehovah's 
temple still stood in Jerusalem, and there his pres- 
ence still was. The superstitious trust of their 
ancestors in the presence of the ark in battle at 
Aphek • was not greater than their present belief 
in Jehovah, even when his true prophets spoke all 
the other way. This party had the ears of all 
Jerusalem. It was ever shouting patriotism. Pub- 
lic opinion seemed all with it, and always with it, 
when the embassy came to urge another struggle 
against the new power. But there was another 

* The character of this blind faith is shown in Jeremiah's taunt uttered 
afterward : " Where now are your prophets which prophesied unto you, 
saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this 
land ? " Jer. xxxvii, 19. 

« 1 Sam. iv, 1-11. 

I 




THE RMGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 323 

force in the city, not represented, perhaps, in so 
many followers, but potent yet, and with all the 
moral support of recognized wisdom, 

Jeremiah, prophet and statesman, took the un- 
popular side, and advocated a policy of unvarying 
yielding to Babylonia. In words weighty of 
prescience he urged the people of Jerusalem to 
accept the inevitable as of God's doing, and to 
put their necks submissively under the yoke which 
he had imposed upon them. This advice, once 
decisively taken, would certainly have postponed 
the destruction to which Judah was madly hasten- 
ing, if it did not save the monuments of Judah's 
greatness from the ruthless hand of the destroyer 
of that age. But it was not decisively taken. It 
was, indeed, too influential to be wholly disre- 
garded, and the embassy went away without a de- 
cisive word of adhesion to its mad plans. But 
Jeremiah could not control the enraged populace. 
The air was full of rebellion, of recrimination, of 
false patriotism. Even the exiles in Babylonia 
joined in the excited bandying of words.* The 
hour was a bad one for a wise and cautious man. 
Jeremiah soon lost control ; the king was weak, 
and could not hold in check the populace which 
thirsted in foolhardiness for a chance at its op- 
pressors. Soon it became clear that Egypt was to 
be relied upon for help in the effort The very 
name of Egypt was a word to conjure with, and 
its gi'eatness seemed even yet to fill the whole 

' Jer. xxvii, xxix. 



824 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

eartL Rebellion was declared ; and now the end 
had almost come for liberty in the west land* 
The new rebellion seemed to Nebuchadrezzar a 
matter of small moment. He did not come at 
once in person, but sent an army, which appeared 
before the walls of Jerusalem in 587. The city 
was so situated and so defended by walls that its 
reduction was no easy task. To carry it by as- 
sault was quite impossible, and Nebuchadrezzar, 
as Titus in later days, determined to surround the 
walls and starve it into submission. The sight of 
the Babylonian forces drawing a tight cord about 
the city walls might have been expected to strike 
sudden terror into the hearts of the war party 
which had driven the nation to this pass. In this 
the expected did not happen. The people of Je- 
rusalem were mad in their folly, but they were 
not cowards, and they began a vigorous resistance 
to the great king. The walls of Jerusalem were 
strong enough to ajfford defense for a long time, 
and Nebuchadrezzar was not provided in the be- 
ginning with artillery strong enough to break 
them down and so take the city by assault. It 
could apparently be taken only by a siege in which 
famine should aid force. 

There was terror in the city, but determination, 
and the spirit was admirable, when the odds are 
considered, even at so great a distance from the 
events as this. It was probably chiefly the hope 
of help from Egypt that strengthened the hearts 
and hands of the besieged. This help was not to 




THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 325 

fail utterly, for while the siege was yet in its early 
progress the army of Pharaoh Hophra entered Pal- 
estine, with the direct purpose of offering help to 
the besieged, and of so raising the siege, and of 
ultimately driving back the Babylonians. This 
was partly accomplished. The Babylonian army 
withdrew from the gates and went southward to 
meet the new and formidable foe. What a reac- 
tion of joy was produced by this sudden reversal of 
fortune will perhaps never be fully known. The 
party that had brought on the war must have 
felt that its hour of justification had fully come. 
The false prophets, as Jeremiah had stigmatized 
them, who had prophesied that in a short time 
the Chaldean power would come to a sudden and 
violent end, must have pointed to the withdrawing 
hosts as the first sign of the impending fulfillment 
of their predictions. Amid all this rejoicing Jere- 
miah alone maintained his serenity of mind and 
his clearness of vision. He could not deny that a 
change had indeed come ; that was plain to any 
eye, but it was only temporary. Amid jubilations 
his woi'd sounds solemn and disquieting : " Thus 
saith the Lord: Deceive not yourselves, saying, 
The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for 
they shall not depart. For though ye had smitten 
the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against 
you, and there remained but wounded men among 
them, yet should they rise up every man in his 
tent, and bum this city with fire." ' To those 

> Jer. uzvii, 9, 10. 



326 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

who trusted in Hophra his word was no less defi- 
nite: "Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come 
forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their 
own land. And the Chaldeans shall come again^ 
and fight against this city ; and they shall take it, 
and burn it with fire." * It could not be expected 
that a message of that tenor in an hour of ap- 
parent triumph and of real hope would be wel- 
comed. It was, of course, not believed. Every 
indication of the hour was against faith in it. 
Hatred of Jeremiah and doubt of his loyalty grew 
apace. He essayed to leave the city to care for 
his property in Benjamin. It was at once sus- 
pected that lie intended to desert to the foe, and 
give his aid and counsel to the Chaldeans. He 
was therefore apprehended and thrown into 
prison, there to await the ruin which lie had 
foreseen.* 

Such were the scenes of joy and the emotions of 
doubt which had sway in the city. What were 
the opinions of the Babylonians we have scant 
means for judging. It is not improbable that they 
counted the taking of Jerusalem as a matter of 
importance to their newly founded empire. The 
history of Assyria was not wholly unknown to 
these new agitators, and they must have under- 
stood how troublesome a thorn Jerusalem had 
been in the western side of the empire of the Sar- 
gonides. They now wished to end this difficulty 

* Jer. xxxvii, 7, 8. 

* Jer. xxxvii, 11-16. 




THE EEIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 327 

at the beginning of their own plans. But they 
seem not to have thought highly of the prowess 
in war of the nations of Syria. K they had esti- 
mated highly the other states of Tyre and Sidon, 
they would hardly have pushed by them to attack 
Jerusalem, while they were left free to attack the 
flank or rear. Furthermore, they would not have 
left Jerusalem itself without a guard to hold it 
in check and prevent an attack, while they were 
engaged with the Egyptians. It is a pity that 
the historiographers of the Chaldean empire were 
so completely given to the description of various 
buildings and restoring operations as not to have 
left for us an account of this campaign from their 
point of view. That it would ring loud with 
boasts of victory might be expected. Between 
its lines, however, could perhaps be read the real 
motives and the true purposes and intent of some 
of these movements. Without such records we 
may only follow the events further as the He- 
brews have preserved memory of thenu 

The army of the Babylonians met the Egyptian 
army at some unknown point south of Jerusalem 
and drove it back to Egypt, apparently without 
great difficulty.' But it did not follow up the ad- 
vantage thus gained. As affairs then were in 
Egypt, Nebuchadrezzar, with a good army, might 
have overrun the whole land, as Esarhaddon had 

' JosephuB (AfUiquitie$^ z, 7, § 8) declares that the Egyptians were de- 
feated, but Jeremiah (xxxvii, 7), on whom he was doubtless leaning, says 
nothing of a defeat. 



328 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

done before him, and have perhaps made it a part 
of his new empire. But, as we shall see later, 
Nebuchadrezzar was not in person at the head of 
his army ; the army was probably not large, and 
so great an extension of its operations, leaving 
states and people unconquered behind, would have 
been precarious. At this time the Babylonians 
had done all that was desired for present purposes 
in compelling Hophra's return to Egypt, where he 
was suffered to reign in peace for several years 
longer. He would not again endeavor to help his 
allies in Syria and Palestine. They would be left 
to their fate. Egypt was again proved a broken 
reed on which to lean. * 

As soon as the menace of the Egyptian army of 
deliverance from Jerusalem had been removed the 
army of beleaguers returned to the sacred city. 
With increased energy and determination was the 
siege prosecuted, but the defense continued bold 
and brave. Within the city there was, however, 
no disciplined and well-armed body of men capa- 
ble of making a successful sally against the vet- 
erans whom Nebuchadrezzar had collected from 
many provinces. If this could have been done, 
and fresh supplies thus introduced, the siege might 
have been indefinitely prolonged. Famine ' lent 
aid to the amy of the siege, and the defense grew 
weaker. When the way was clear for the success- 

* Isa. xxxvi, 6. 

'Presumably pestilence likewise added to the terror of the situation. 
Ck>mp. Jer. xxxviii, 2. 



THE EEIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 329 

fill assault the Babylonian general in command 
ordered it, and a breach was made in the walls. 
On the ninth day of the fourth month (July), in 
the year 586, the Chaldeans, furious with delay, 
poured through the walls of Hezekiah into the city. 
2^dekiah fled at night, leaving all behind him- 
The courage which had sustained the siege was 
plainly not his ; his only idea was to save himself 
by flight, probably into the wilds beyond Jordan, 
for in that direction his fleeing steps were turned, 
and then later, when the Babylonian army had 
withdrawn, to return and save something from the 
wreck.' The Babylonians were too shrewd to per- 
mit so transparent a scheme to reach fulfillment, 
and gave pursuit. So long as the king, lawfully 
so appointed, was free there was some chance of a 
fresh rebellion, as soon as the necessities of their 
growing empire should give call to the armies else- 
where. Zedekiah was overtaken in the plains of 
Jericho and captured.' His captors did not return 
him to Jerusalem, but carried him off to Riblah, 
in Syiia, to present him before the person of Neb- 
uchadrezzar. It now appears that Nebuchadrez- 
zar was not present at the siege of Jerusalem at 
all, but retained personal command at Riblah, and 
very probably of a larger body of troops than was 
utilized in the investment of the Jewish capitaL 
Whether the body of troops under his command 



^ The explanation of Zedekiah*8 purposes is due to a conjecture of Tiele, 
Oeaehichtey ii, 481. 
' 2 Kings XXV, 4, 6. 



330 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

was actively engaged against other Syrophoenician 
states at this time is not clearly known. Nebu- 
chadrezzar would not be likely to hold a lai^ 
body of men in idleness for a long time, even 
if it were a military possibility. On the other 
hand, we have no sign in the materials now access- 
ible to us of any great movements* of his while 
the siege of Jerusalem was in progress. That he 
did not attack Tyre nor Sidon until after Jerusalem 
was taken seems clear, and we know of no other 
people sufficiently strong to resist a large army, 
who were now in rebellion. It may therefore well 
be that Nebuchadrezzar with his forces had been 
chiefly occupied in widely extended plundering 
raids. So soon as Zedekiah was presented before 
Nebuchadrezzar the judgment was given against 
him. His sons were slain before his eyes, and he 
was then blinded — that his last sight of earth 
might be one of horror. It is not surprising that 
condign punishment should be his, when the cir- 
cumstances are considered. When made king by 
the Chaldeans he had sworn faithfulness to them 
in the name of his own God, Yahwe.' He had 
broken that oath — the most solemn oath which 
could have been placed before him. But the sav- 



* It was probably at this time that Nebuchadrezzar cut cedar beams in 
the Lebanon and reduced the inhabitants to subjection. See Pognon, Le$ 
Inscriptions BabyUmiennes du Wddi Brissa^ especially pp. 20-22, 120- 
126. Comp. also Winckler, AUorientalisehe Forsckwagen^ i, pp. 604-606, 
and Haspero, The Passing of the EmpireSy New York, 1900, p. 648, foot- 
note. 

«Ezek. xvii, 11-21. 

t 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 331 

age form of his punishment is for the moment in- 
teresting. That shows a new hand in the domin- 
ion of Babylonia. Such savagery ' would be ex- 
pected in an Assyrian king. It was rather unusual 
in a Babylonian king, and its appearance now is in 
connection with a Chaldean. In that is there a 
showing forth of a new people. It seems a prom- 
ise that the Chaldean would not be merciful, as 
the Babylonian had so often been in the past. 

While Zedekiah was in flight the army of the 
Babylonians had entered the city. The breach in 
the walls was made in the eleventh year of his 
reign ' (586), after a siege lasting about one and a 
half years. The patience of the conquerors was 
exhausted. They had tried before to secure a 
stable condition of affairs, which the people of 
Jerusalem had ruthlessly broken. They had spent 
this long period in a wearisome siege. They 
would now end all possibility of a future like the 
past by utterly destroying the offending city. It 
was first plundered for the enrichment of the suc- 
cessful army, and the gold, silver, and brass of the 
temple decorations, with all the vessels of its serv- 
ice, were removed to be dedicated to Marduk in 
Babylon. Nothing of value was forgotten, that 

1 Our modem judgments are not based on the same premises as the an- 
cient. The Assyrians would undoubtedly have put Zedekiah to death after 
horrible torture or by mutilation. It is possible that we ought to consider 
this blinding to be merciful punishment, when we remember that even 
modem orientals do not estimate vision so highly as occidentals. Egyp- 
tian fellahin blinded themselves to avoid conscription under Mohammed 
AU. 

* Jer. xxxix, 2. 



332 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Yahwe might pay full tribute to the conquering 
Marduk. Then the torch was applied, and the 
temple, center of such affection and hope, became 
a mass of blackened ruins. Then the rich paii» of 
the city were likewise destroyed, and its walls of 
defense, which had rendered such valiant service, 
were razed to the ground. It was an act of bar- 
barism, like unto the oft-repeated deeds of the 
Assyrians and unlike the custom of the Babylo- 
nians/ Like the punishment of Zedekiah, this also 
displayed the new hand in the affairs of men — the 
hand of the Chaldean. 

Of the population of the ruined city a large 
number — how large we do not know — were carried 
away captive to Babylonia.' The captives, as be- 
fore, were chosen from the richest and best of the 
population. The poor," the weak, were left be- 
hind, and a wise and generous provision was made 
for them. They were to receive land for the cul- 
tivation of the vine, and were to be left to the 
unhindered pursuit of their religion. A descend- 
ant of the house of David, by name Gedaliah, was 
appointed governor,* and to him the person of Jer- 

' The Babylonians did not even share in the destruction of the hated city 
of Nineveh, which had so sorely punished Babylon itself in earlier days. 

' It is interesting to speculate upon the number of the Judseans who were 
exiled in all the invasions of Nebuchadrezzar. The latest computation is 
by QutheiOeaehiehte des Volkes Israel^ pp. 286, 287), who reckons the total 
number at thirty-six thousand to forty-eight thousand, which he counts as 
a quarter or an eighth of the total population. 

' " But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the 
land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.** Jer. lii, 16. 

^ 2 Kings XXV, 22 ; Jer. xl, 5-7. 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 333 

emiah was intrusted. The prophet was to be left 
free to go and to do as he willed, and was evi- 
dently regarded by the Chaldeans not as a He- 
brew patriot, but rather as a Chaldean sym- 
pathizer. It was probably the purpose of the Chal- 
deans to give the land a stable government and a 
full opportunity for the development of its re- 
sources. Under favorable conditions it would 
doubtless soon be able to pay a good tribute and 
so add to the wealth of the empire. This pur- 
pose, however, failed of early accomplishment, for 
the few and feeble folk left under the rule of 
Gedaliah were not able to maintain any sure de- 
fense of their present position. Another descend- 
ant of the Davidic house, with the surprising name 
of Ishmael, plotted against Gedaliah. Ishmael 
found a helper in the Ammonites, who may have 
feared that the people of Judah would again 
form a strong state, and were anxious to nip the 
effort in the bud. Ishmael slew Gedaliah and 
many of his helpers,' and so destroyed the last 
hope of the national cohesion. The paltry few 
who now remain are in terror before Nebuchad- 
rezzar and in fear of their neighbors. There is 
no hope for them in the land, and they determine 
to emigrate to Egypt With them Jeremiah cast 
in his lot, and into another land the poor remains 
of a once powerful kingdom departed.* 

So ended the campaign of Nebuchadrezzar 

' Jer. x\ 18-xU, 16. 

« 2 Kings XXV, 26; Jer. xli, 16-18; xlii; xliu, 1-7. 

t 



334 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

against Judah. The province was left stripped 
of its inliabitants, wasted by armies, and burned in 
flames. A more ruinous end of a campaign has 
rarely been seen in human history. Even from 
the Chaldean point of view the punishment of 
Zedekiah and of his people was greatly overdone. 
If the new Babylon was to become rich, it could 
gain wealth as the Assyrians had done, not only 
by plunder, but by carefully gathered annual trib- 
utes. From Judah in the state to which it waa 
now come no tribute could be expected. From it 
no levies of men of war to fight for the extension 
of Chaldean power could be drawn. It was a wasted 
land, and in it a great opportunity had been lost 
through savage hate and perhaps through fear of 
future Egyptian intrigue. 

In this destruction of Jerusalem and the depor- 
tation of another portion of its inhabitants is found 
the culmination of a long series of efforts directed 
against the Hebrews by the peoples of Babylonia 
and Assyria. From the days of Hammurabi down 
to this dark end again and again have Babylonian 
kings plimdei*ed and punished and at times admin- 
istered in this land and among this people. Early 
in their career of conquest the Assyrian kings be- 
gan the same process. For them it was reserved 
to blot out the northern kingdom of the Hebrews 
in the days of Shalmaneser and Sargon. The early 
Babylonians, however, never achieved a permanent 
victory over them. To the Chaldeans, their heirs,, 
was this given. Wherein all his predecessors had 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 336 

failed Nebuchadrezzar had succeeded. The suc- 
cess was lamentable, though the final issue of it all 
was better than this hour presaged. Many a peo- 
ple had been swallowed up in the advance of As- 
syrian and Babylonian power and forever lost. 
Even empires once distinguished for power and 
civilization had so thoroughly disappeared in the 
vortex as to leave scarcely a distinguishable sign 
of their former existence. This was not to be true 
in the case of Judah. The Hebrew had ideas that 
could not be quenched, and these carried his per- 
son into a life that would not die among men. The 
Chaldean had destroyed the state, but the people 
lived on in a<;tivity. The songs of Zion might not 
be sung," but the words of Zion might be spoken. 
The Hebrew would not now pay tribute in the 
land of Judah, but would take tribute even of his 
captors as he pushed successfully forward into 
business in his new home. His wise leader, Jere- 
miah, had counseled him to make the new land his 
home in the fullest sense : " Build ye houses, and 
dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the 
fruit of them ; take ye wives, and beget sons and 
daughters ; and take wives for your sons, and give 
your daughters to husbands, that they may bear 
sons and daughters ; and multiply ye there, and be 
not diminished. And seek the peace of the city 
whither I have caused you to be carried away cap- 
tive, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the 
peace thereof shall ye have peace." * The advice 

* Psa. cxxxvii, 4. • Jer. xxix, 5-Y. 



836 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

was followed.* Nebuchadrezzar had gained a new 
factor in his composite population, though he had 
lost a rich province. 

As soon as the war against Judah was ended 
Nebuchadrezzar turned his arms against Tyre. 
The great commercial city had joined with Sidon 
in the embassy which induced Judah to rebel 
against him.' Tyre was probably the chief sin- 
ner, after Egypt, in this whole matter. It had 
more at stake in its overland commerce to the east, 
upon which its seagoing commerce was dependent, 
than any of the others. Tyre would fain make 
another attempt to gain back the commerce of 
which the Assyrians had gone far to deprive it, 
and for which they had struggled so long. Tyre 
would now be brought to answer for its new at- 
tempt at rebellion. In the case of Tyre, however, 
Nebuchadrezzar had an entirely different problem 
from that which he had successfully met in Judah. 
Its people indeed were not more brave than the 
people of Jeinisalem ; on the contrary, their whole 
history would show that they were much less so. 
Not in person but in position did they possess a 
preeminence over their fellow-conspirators. Jeru- 
salem was surrounded by hills, and, though well 
fortified, as its resistance showed, it was approach- 

^ The discoveries of the expedition of the University of Pennsylvania at 
Nippur have shown how largely Jews entered into the business life of 
Babylonia. See 77^ Babylonian Expedition of the University of PennayU 
vania^ edited by H. V. Hilprecht, vol. ix, and compare the review by Jenaenj 
ZeiUchrift fur Aaayriologie, xiii, pp. 829-886. 

> See above, pp. 821, 822. 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 337 

able on every side. Tyre, on the other hand, was 
founded upon the sea, and it was impossible for a 
land force alone to besiege it successfully. No 
matter how completely it was invested by land, 
provisions could always be introduced from the 
sea. The Chaldeans were no more familial' with 
the sea than the Assyrians or Babylonians' had 
been, and were no more able or willing to venture 
upon it. Nebuchadrezzar had no seaport on the 
Mediterranean in complete possession, from which 
he could send forth a fleet to besiege Tyre from 
the sea, and he had no fleet with which to do this 
even if he had had the port of departure. The 
issue of the attempt which Nebuchadrezzar was 
now to make was problematical indeed. But 
Tyre must be punished or his empire might be 
assailed again in a twelvemonth, even though 
Judah had been so terribly handled. In 585 
Nebuchadrezzar led his army against Tyre and 
began a siege. It was a long and tedious enter- 
prise. For thirteen years ' the Chaldeans held on 
their investment (585-573) unable to take the city. 
Unfortunately there is no account of this siege in 



' It is not intended to assert that the Babylonians had no ships, but 
simply that they were not seamen, Herodotus (i, 194) and Sennacherib 
(Taylor Cylinder, col. iii, lines 65, 66, Beeorda of the Pcuty New Series, vl, 
p. 92) witness to their possession and use of ships. The English versions 
of Isa. xliii, 14, ** the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships '* (A. V.), and 
'' the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicmg '* (R. V.), give a totally false 
impression, if they seem to make the Chaldeans a seafaring folk, for so the 
passage is often quoted. The text is quite likely corrupt. See Cheyne and 
especially Marti (Das Buck Jesaija^ p. 297) on the passage. 

' Josephus, Arch,f xi, 11, 1, and Con. Ap.^ i* 2, 1. 

22 • 



338 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

any of Nebuchadrezzar's own inscriptions, and we 
must gain such insight into the affair as is possible 
from the fragmentary pieces of information at 
second or third hand which have come down from 
other sources/ From these it is quite clear that 
the city was not taken by the Babylonians at all. 
An end to the long contest was finally made by 
a capitulation similar to those which Tyre had 
made before in the case of the Assyrians. The 
people of Tyre were not careful for national pride. 
They desired most of all to be let alone, for the 
continuing of their peaceful pursuit of trade. 
Ethobal II was now king of Tyre, and he was 
willing to make terms with Nebuchadrezzar, which 
involved, probably, the payment of a tribute, and 
little more.* Ethobal continued to rule his city 
under a sort of Assyrian tutelage. Tyre was not 
given to the sword, burned, or plundered, and Neb- 
uchadrezzar had but little to pride himself upon 
in this campaign, years of time though it had cost. 
While the siege of Tyre still dragged its weary 
length along Nebuchadrezzar began another and 
even more important undertaking, and this against 
Egypt. It was Egypt which had caused all this 
loss of time and men and treasure to Nebuchad- 



1 Comp. Tiele, OetchiehUy il, p. 438, n. In a contract tablet dated in Tyre 
" month Tammuz, day 22d, year 40th Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,*' 
there is CTidenoe of Babylonian supremacy over Tyre. See Iteeords of the 
Fastf New Series, iv, pp. 99-100, and Sayoe in Expontory TTmet, June, 
1899, p. 430. Nothing can be made out of Eusebius, Chron,,^ i, 51 ; Justin, 
xviii, 8 ; and Strabo, xv, 1, 6. 

' Menander, Frag. 2, in Miiller-Didot, Frag, Hut. GraeCy iv, p. 447. 



THE BEIGN OF NEBUCHADBEZZAR 339 

rezzar. So long as Egypt was suffered to Femain 
as it waSy or permitted to increase in power, so long 
would Palestine and Syria remain open to sadden 
raid or to slow-maturing intrigue. Egypt must 
be punished for past intrigues, for the army sent 
to help Zedekiah, and must at the same time be 
deprived of the power of making any similar trou- 
ble for some time to come. 

Nebuchadrezzar had driven Hophra and his 
army back into Egypt, but he did not pursue, 
as we have already seen, his advantage any fur- 
ther at this time. Whether he made any further 
assaults between that event and the thirty-seventh 
year of his reign is not known to us, as our sources 
of information are silent on the matter. Whether 
he did or did not Egypt remained quiet until his 
time for retribution had come. In 567 Nebuchad- 
rezzar invaded Egypt, determined to make an end 
of its meddling in Syria. He had opportunely 
chosen the moment of his campaign. Hophra had 
suffered a terrible defeat in Libya, out of which 
had come dynastic difficulties.' He had even been 
compelled to associate on the throne with himself 
as coregent Amasis, as a representative of the 
national Egyptian party. After a defeat in arms 
against another power, and after some sort of civil 
strife in which the land received a second king, 
Egypt was in nowise prepared for the invasion. 
Nebuchadrezzar met with no serious opposition at 
the borders, and pressed into the heart of the Nile 

' Herodotus, !▼, d-clxL 



340 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

valley. How far he penetrated into the country- 
is entirely unknown to us. The Chaldeans appear 
to have had a tradition' that he turned Egypt 
into a Babylonian province, after he had con- 
quered Amasis. We have, however, no definite 
information which would lead us to believe that 
he wrought so great a revolution. To repeat the 
Assyrian exploit of Esarhaddon was hardly to be 
expected of Nebuchadrezzar. 

He had undoubtedly plundered largely, and 
was now ready to return laden with booty. He 
had further shown his power to the people of 
Egypt, as he went unopposed along the whole 
course of their former possessions in Syria, and 
they would not be easily led into a violation of 
his territory. Nebuchadrezzar attempted nothing 
more in Egypt. He did not go on to make it a 
part of his empire, as Esarhaddon had done, nor 
does he appear to have in any way interfered with 
the native rulers. If his reign had continued 
longer, it is altogether probable that Egypt would 
have again been the scene of his operations, to 
plunder and perhaps attempt to rule. 

The campaign against Egypt was probably the 
last which Nebuchadrezzar undei^took against any 
people. The attempt has been made to show that 
he also made a campaign against Elam. This is 
based only upon the passage in Jeremiah's proph- 

> Joeephus, Ant. JucL, x, 9, § 7; 11, § 1. The authority for the view 
of Josephus was Berossos, but we do Dot know how much BeroBSos maj 
have suffered in the process of transmission. 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 341 

ecies * in which he predicts a day of wrath and de- 
struction for this people. He does not, however, 
mention the name of the king who was to accom- 
plish this punishment of Elam. There is not known 
to us any reason which should have induced Neb- 
uchadrezzar to undertake such a campaign, nei- 
ther do we find a chronological position for it in 
his reign. It is, from present knowledge, improb- 
able that he did make war against his neighbor. 

The campaigns of Nebuchadrezzar appear few 
and small as we look at them in comparison with 
those of Tiglathpileser III, Sargon, and Esarhad- 
don. Other campaigns, yet unknown to us, he 
probably waged, for he could otherwise hardly 
have held and extended the empire of Nabopolas- 
sar. But whether he waged others or not, his 
title to rank among the greatest warriors who ever 
ruled in Babylonia or Assyria can hardly be de- 
nied. His exploits are not so well known; his 
own inscriptions have not spread them before us 
in such elaboration of detail as did those of former 
kings, and this absence of a fully rounded picture 
makes them seem less important than they really 
are. If judged not only by what we know of 
them, but also by the results which we can see did 
actually accrue from them, they must be ranked 
high indeed. He accomplished by force of arms 
the complete pacification of the long-troubled Syro- 
phoenician states — a pacification that long contin- 

> Jer. xlix, 34-38. Ab to the question of the interpolation of this pas- 
sage see Giesebrccht. 



342 HISTORY OP BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

ued even tbough his hand was removed. He car- 
ried war into the land of E^ypt, and that when 
the land was not weak, as it once had been, but 
immediately after a great increase of strength. 
He defeated and drove back in confusion two 
great Egyptian kings, first Necho H and then 
Hophra, He began the work of consolidating a 
vast new empire, and carried it to brilliant success 
by sheer force of despotic power. There were no 
civil wars and no further rebeUion, because none 
dared raise a head or hand against a personal 
power like his. 

Yet great though Nebuchadrezzar was in the 
organization and the use of an army, great in the 
choice of commandera and in their employment, he 
bases all his claim to posterity's honor not upon 
war and its glories, but upon the quiet acts of 
peace. His long and elaborately written inscrip- 
tions ' have only a boastful line or two of conquest, 

* The chief inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar are the following : (a) The 
East India House Inscription, I R. 53-64, translated into English by Ball, 
Proceediiiffs of the Society of Biblical Archceology, x, pp. 87-129, and into 
German by Winckler, Keilinachrift. Bibl., iii, part 2, pp. 10-81. (b) The 
Philipps (or Grotefend) Cylinder, I R. 65, 66, translated into English by 
Ball, op. cit., pp. 215-230, and into German by Winckler, op. city pp. 32- 
89. (c) Inscription describing wall constructions at Babylon and Borsippa, 
V R. 34, with corrections by Winckler, Zeitschrift fur Aisyriclogiey ii, pp. 
142, 144, translated by Winckler, Keiliruchrift. Bibl., iii, part 2, pp. 88- 
45. (d) Inscription describing various building operations, published in 
Abel- Winckler, KeiUchrifttextCy pp. 33-38, and translated by Ball, op. rtt, 
pp. 868-868, and by Winckler, op. cit.y pp. 46-58. (e) The Borsippa In- 
scription, I R. 61, No. 1, translated by Winckler, op. cit., pp. 62-56. (f) 
Wall Inscription, I R. 52, No. 3, translated by Winckler, op. cit.^ pp. 64- 
69. (g) Larsa Inscription, I R. 61, No. 2, translated by Winckler, op. eit., 
pp. 68-61. (h) The Inscriptions of Wady Brissa, published and translated 
into French in Pognon, Let Intcriptions Babyloniennea du Wadi Brisea, 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADBEZZAR 343 

while their long periods are heavy with the descrip- 
tions of extraordinary building operations. From 
his father he may have inherited this inclination, 
if not skill in its accomplishment. When he as- 
cended the throne Babylon was already showing 
the result of Nabopolassar's building, but it must 
have looked almost a ruin in its very incomplete- 
ness. The great works which Nabopolassar had 
undertaken were in considerable part left unfin- 
ished. To these Nebuchadrezzar first addressed 
his labors. The chief of them all were the walls 
of Babylon, which Nabopolassar had intended to 
rebuild, and at the same time to enlarge. He had 
perhaps accomplished about two thirds of his 
plans when the work was left to his greater son. 
The inner wall of Babylon, the Imgur-Bel, was 
completely finished, and the outer wall, the Nimitti- 
Bel, likewise, their thickness being increased and 
the ditches which belonged to them being lined 
with brick. In connection with this he recon- 
structed the great city gates, which were not of 
solid metal, but were of cedar wood covered with 
strips of decorated bronze. At the thresholds he 
set up bronze colossi, probably of the usual half- 
human, half-animal form. For the age in which 
these walls were built they were probably almost 

(j) The Canal Inscription, I R. 52, No. 4, translated by Winckler, op, cU,^ 
pp. 60, 61. In addition to these several minor inscriptions are enumerated 
in Bezold, Kurxgefauter Ueberblicky and are also translated by Winckler, 
op. «7., pp. 60-71. See further, David W. McGee, "Zur Topographie 
Babylons auf Grand der Urkunden Nabopolassars und Nebukadnezars,*' 
Beitrage zur Assyriologie^ iii, 524-560. 



344 HISTORY OP BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

impregnable, for they far exceeded the walls of 
Jerosdem and of Tyre, which had so well resisted 
Nebuchadrezzar's own assaults. But even with this 
result Nebuchadrezzar was far fi'om satisfied. He 
would finish all that his father had planned and then 
go far beyond him. Not only should the inner wall 
be impregnable, the outer wall should be so strong 
that no force should ever be able to reach the in- 
ner wall, and then to cap the curious climax he 
would even, on some sides, make it impossible 
even to reach the outer wall. On the southern 
side the city needed no further defense, for upon 
it lay the land of Chaldea, loyal to incorruptibil- 
ity, and strong enough to prevent any force from 
passing through its borders to attack the capital. 
It remained, therefore, only to strengthen the walls 
upon three sides. This was done in the following 
manner : Upon the east of the city, at a distance 
of four thousand cubits from the outer wall, he 
built another massive walL Before this was a 
vast moat, basin-shaped, deep, and walled round 
with bricks like a quay. The outworks on the 
west were similar, but not so strong, and this was 
natural, for the desert formed a natural barrier. 
The works on the north were entirely different in 
construction and apparently in purpose. Between 
the two city walls, and between the Euphrates 
and the Ishtar gate, Nebuchadrezzar reared a 
great artificial platform of brick laid in bitumen. 
Upon this elevated plateau was then erected a 
citadel, which was connected vdth his royal palace. 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 345 

While this construction did not act as the former 
in keeping a hostile army from reaching even the 
outer wall, it did make the outer wall at that 
point practically a solid construction back to the 
inner wall, and so made it impossible that it should 
be either broken down or even breached. At the 
same time the lofty citadel made a watchtower 
whence the level country for miles could be com- 
manded, and from which a destructive shower of 
missiles could be rained on the heads of any at- 
tacking party. 

With these works Nebuchadrezzar had made 
the taking of Babylon, if any defense were made 
within, an impossibility in that age. The compass 
of the walls was so vast that no single power, and 
perhaps scarcely a combination of powers, could 
hope to accomplish an investment that would 
reduce the city by famine; while, on the other 
hand, wall after wall must be broken down, un- 
der almost impossible conditions, if the city was 
to be taken from without by assault. The ene- 
mies of Babylon must lay their plans to gain the 
city, in its state of defense, only from within by 
treachery.* 

When the defenses were fully accomplished it 
was natural that Nebuchadrezzar should turn to 
the beautifying and increasing of the city from 
within. Nabopolassar had built a great street, 

' Herodotus Oi clxxviii, clxxix) has given a most elaborate description 
of these defenses. As to the value of his testimony see above, vol. i, pp. 
263f 264. For Nebuchadrezzar's own account see East India House In* 
Bcription, col. iv, 66-78 ; v, 1-66 ; vi, 1-66. Comp. Appendix G. 



346 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Ai-ibur-shabu, which Nebuchadrezzar now in- 
creased in height, leveled, and repaved; to this 
he joined a new and handsome street called Nana- 
saldpat-tebi-sha. The repaying of these streets, at 
at increased elevation, made necessary two other 
great works. The points at which they passed 
through the inner and outer walls were marked 
by great gateways, which had now become too 
low. They were therefore completely torn down 
to water level and rebuilt in astonishing magnifi- 
cence, the massive cedar doors covered with bronze 
plates, while before the thresholds were placed 
great colossi of animals and dragons. Yet another 
necessity was brought about by this same eleva- 
tion of the street surfaces. The doore of the 
palace, which Nabopolassar had rebuilt, must be 
changed, and with this, for gi'eater display, came 
the rebuilding of the entire palace. This was a 
work of colossal proportions, though less than that 
of the work upon the walls. Nebuchadrezzar is 
careful to state that for this reconstruction he be- 
gan at the earth's surface, and laid afresh the foun- 
dations in brick and bitumen. To this he adds 
further the statement that he brought great cedar 
beams from the Lebanon for the work. That 
word alone suggests a comment upon the vastness 
of the undertaking, when one considers the dis- 
tance by land from the Lebanon to the Euphra- 
tes over which these beams must in some manner 
be carried, and then the long rafting down the 
river. 



« 



THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 347 

From such buildings of war and of residence 
Nebuchadrezzar turned to temples — ^the homes of 
his gods. Upon E-sagila' he seems not to have 
expended any great labor, but he made its vast en- 
trance doorway to shine as the sun. But the hall 
of the oracles, Du-azag, was decorated with gold, 
in the place of its former silver, while the great 
temple E-kua was redecorated, and this also with 
** red gold." In his own story these temple works 
are passed over in a few lines, and here may have 
only a passing word, but we must not fail to make 
due allowance for them when imagination sets in 
array before us the works of this one king. To 
his gods Nebuchadrezzar paid a full measure of 
faith,' as every inscription testifies in words. To 
them he was not likely to give less of works when 
he rebuilt his imperial city. Beneath the few 
lines of his hasty allusion lies the great fact of im- 
mense and costly works for the praise of the gods 
of Babylon. 

One more work was done for Babylon itself, and 
that a work deemed always praiseworthy in a 
king of Babylonia. Canal restoration was con- 
stantly necessary, and since the day when Ham- 
murabi built his first canal at the very founding of 
his realm king after king had rebuilt these in- 
dispensable public works. The eastern canal of 

1 East India House Inscription, ool. ii, 40-65 ; col. iii, 1-10, Winckler, 
Keilinachrift. Bibf.y iii, part 2, pp. 14, 16. 

* See Rogers, " The Words of Nebuchadnezzar Concerning Himself,** Sun- 
day School TimeSf Dec. 8, 1898, pp. 802, 803. 



348 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Babylon, by name Libil-Khigalla, had fallen into 
a state of ruin. The clay from its banks had 
slipped down into its channel until, in places at 
least, its very course could not be traced. Nebu- 
chadrezzar had it redug, and then walled up from 
the bottom. This canal, in its rebuilding, was car- 
ried beneath the great street of Ai-ibur-shabu, and 
that made necessary a bridge to carry the street 
over the sluggish waters. It would be interesting 
to know the construction and the material of the 
bridge, but the record is silent thereon. Nebu- 
chadrezzar himself plainly considered this canal 
work as worthy of especial note ; to it he gave an 
entire inscription,* as he did not even to his great 
wall, temple, and palace erections and adornments. 
Babylonia was still a rainless land, and the build- 
ers of canals were its chief benefactors. 

The construction of temple, palace, canal, and 
defenses of Babylon must have been spread over 
a long series of years, though perhaps little was 
done in regard to them until the chief of his wars 
were over. Had Nebuchadrezzar done nothing 
more for his kingdom than thus to make his cap- 
ital great, powerful, and beautiful, his claim to 
fame in Babylonia would, from all oriental stand- 
ards, have been good. It was of the very nature 
of oriental monarchs in the ancient world to 
plunder the whole kingdom that the capital 
might be rich and worthy. This Nebuchadrezzar 

* This inscription is published I R. 62, No. 4, and translated bj Winck- 
ler, op. eU.f pp. 60, 61. 



THE REIGN OP NEBUCHADREZZAR 349. 

had done, but he had not left undone great works 
for the other chief cities of his empire. Over 
Babylon he had watched with especial pride. 
He may well have felt and spoken as the Hebrew 
sacred book represents : " Is not this great Baby- 
lon, that I have built for the house of the king- 
dom, by the might of my power, and for the 
honor of my majesty?" ' 

Over Borsippa, also, did he turn his gaze and 
make his boast, and to it he also gave works of 
reconstruction. In Borsippa the pyramidal temple 
of E-ur-imin-an-ki, " the house of the seven quar- 
ters of the Heavens and the Earth," had fallen 
into partial ruin. It had been originally intended 
when it was built to make it consist of seven 
stages from earth to its topmost pinnacle. The 
final stage had, however, not been added at all, 
according to Nebuchadrezzar's statement on the 
subject That alone would have tempted the 
building king to a work of completion. But 
besides this the building was now in bad repair. 
The account of it which Nebuchadrezzar gives 
ia very instructive as shovring the pix)cess and the 
cause of decay in Babylonian constructions.* He 
says that the water drains were out of order, and 
that therefore the rains had broken down its walls, 
and the outer covering of burnt bricks had burst 
open. Though Babylonia was a rainless land in 
the sense that it had no regular rains of value to 

' Dan. iv, 80. 

* The Borsippa Inscription, I R. 61, No. 1, Winckler, op. cit, pp. 6S-6fi. 



860 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

the husbandman, it was subject to torrential 
downpours of water. If this was not rapidly and 
completely carried off, it soaked in between the 
bamt facing and the unbumt filling of the walls 
and caused a bulging, which was liable to end in a 
downfall of the walL To such pass had this 
building come. Nebuchadrezzar now rebuilt the 
structure, supplying new strength to it without 
taking it down to its foundations, as he had done 
repeatedly in other cases. When thus restored 
he capped it with the new story to bring it to the 
required symmetrical height. In like manner he 
rebuilt or restored the remaining temples of the 
city. To these works of peace he added a work 
of preparation for defense in war by rebuilding 
the walls of Borsippa on the same general scale 
and plan as those of Babylon. 

In the reconstruction and adornment of the 
temples of E-sagila at Babylon and of E-zida at 
Borsippa Nebuchadrezzar had honored the most 
ancient and most venerated of all the shrines of 
the Babylonian people. Other temples might and 
did possess great renown in this or that city; 
these were honored wherever the name of Baby- 
lonia went, and wherever its people had joys or 
sorrows. In these temples the king worshiped. 
He had now made them worthy of the gods who 
had made him great. But he likewise owed debts 
to other gods and to the citizens of other cities. 
He therefore carried on restorations of temples 
in other cities, among which he especially enumer- 




THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 361 

ates Sippar, Larsa, Ur, Dilbat, Baz, and Urak.' 
On the bricks which he laid in every temple he 
stamped his name and royal titles^ and from every 
ruin in Babylonia which these later days have 
opened and explored, however lightly, bricks have 
come bearing the stamp of this king. It would 
appear that not only in the city in which he dwelt, 
and in the few which he especiaUy enumerates, 
but in every other city, small or great, in his own 
land, he had either built or restored. like unto 
him in this particular no king his equal had ever 
reigned in Babylonia. 

In the year 562 Nebuchadrezzar died. Of his 
last years we know nothing but continued build- 
ing, and of his last days and the final cause of his 
death we have no Babylonian record. The story 
of the book of Daniel ' that his great pride had a 
deep fall, and that his reason was lost, and that he 
was left to suffer of a madness which made him 
conceive himself a beast of the field, finds no men- 
tion in any record of his own race.' It might well 
be a day of mourning in all Babylon when the 

' See the texts enumerated above. 

« Dan. iv, 31, ff. 

'Josephus has reported a similar tradition in these words: "Nebu- 
chadrezzar falling into a state of weakness, altered his (manner of) life 
when he had reigned forty-three jears ; whereupon his son, Evil-merodach, 
obtained the kingdom '* (Apion^ i, 20). Eusebius also has a curious story 
of Nebuchadrezzar's end : " On a certain occasion the king went up to the 
roof of his pakoe, and, after prophesying of the coming of the Persian 
Cyrus and his conquest of Babylon, suddenly disappeared** (fVop., ix, 41, 
CTiron,, i, 69). See Schrader, " Die Sage vom Wahnsinn Nebukadnezars,*' 
Jahrb,/ur Prot, Theologie^ yii, pp. 629, if., and comp. Prince, Commeti' 
tary on the Book of Danid^ pp. 82-85. 



352 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

great king died. Unto the very ends of the earth 
he had made the name of Babylon great. 

Enough has already been said concerning his 
merits and success as a man of war. In taking a 
view of his whole personality there are to be added 
to this several other points of weight His building 
operations were so extensive that in this particular 
he outranks all who preceded him, whether in As- 
syria or in Babylonia. For the most part these 
works were beneficent, though the execution of 
them must have cost much human life and terrible 
suffering of fatigue and oppression. That he added 
to this love for the constructively beautiful an in- 
terest in the arts and the sciences is cleai* enough 
from the books which have come down to us out 
of the great collections in his own and other cities. 
These are evidences also enough that he was a patron 
of letters and science, worthy to be compared Avith 
that great Assyrian founder of libraries, Asshur- 
banapal. A man of blood and iron it has been 
already sufficiently shown that he was. His pun- 
ishment of Zedekiah is to be placed with the very 
worst instances of savagery in all that history. 
But it is just to remember that Zedekiah had 
broken an oath, and so may be considered as hav- 
ing offended against the great god Marduk, and 
that in a most vital point. Further than this 
there is no other instance of great cruelty known 
to us; and it is especially worthy of notice that 
we find no case of cruelty practiced solely from 
bloodthiretiness, and in repulsive fashions, as was 




THE REIGN OF NEBUCHADREZZAR 353 

SO often the case in the reigns of certain Assyrian 
kings like AsshurnazirpaL 

To all his virtues and all his faults Nebuchad- 
rezzar added deep piety. He was a polytheist, 
worshiping especially Marduk, god of the mighty 
temple of E-sagila in Babylon, and Nabu, god of 
the great temple E-zida in Boi*sippa. He was, 
however, careful to pay due homage to gods many 
and lords many in different cities of his empire, 
and to these, as we have seen, he likewise dedi- 
cated temples. 

When he died there died also the real power to 

live and grow in his empire. He left no son like 

himself, and the Chaldean people were unable to 

produce another man worthy to sit upon his 

throne and sway lus scepter. 

23 • 



S54 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 



CHAPTER m. 

THE LAST TEABS OF THE CHALDEAN EMPIBK 

The throne of Babylon, which Nebuchadrezzar 
had made so potent a force in the world, was occu- 
pied at once upon his death by Amil-Marduk, the 
biblical Evil-merodach ' (man or servant of Mar- 
duk), the son of Nebuchadrezzar (561-560 B. C). 
So strong had been Nebuchadrezzar's hold upon 
the people that there was no attempt at disturb- 
ances in the transfer of power to his son. 

Of his reign we know almost nothing, for no in- 
scriptions of his own have been found. Two allu- 
sions from the outside give our only possible view 
of his brief reign. The first of these comes, as so 
much of our information of his father's reign, from 
the Hebrews. The writer of the Second Book of 
Kings; states that in the first year of his reign, 
and thirty-seven years after the captivity of Jehoi- 
achin, he took the Hebrew exile out of prison. 
From that time Jehoiachin enjoyed the fare of a 
king and wore the garments of royalty in ex- 
change for the prison garb which he had worn so 
long. Of this act of mercy, which is, however, not 

1 2 Kings XXV, 27 ; Jer. lii, 31; LXX reads EviaXfMpodiic^ and BeroBSOs 
has the form * kfukfiapohdoKo^, See Haupt, ^'Ueber den HalbTOcal u im 
Assyrischen," ZeiUchrift fiir Assyridogiey ii, pp. 266, 284, fit. 

' 2 Kings XXV, 27-30 ; comp. Jer. Ill, 31-34. 



LAST YEABS OF CHALDEAN EMPIBE. 865 

inconsistent with the remaining facts concerning 
this king, there is no other record. To Berossos * 
we owe the remaining reference to this reign. He 
says that Evil-merodach ruled unlawfully and ty- 
rannically. It may be that the release of Jehoi- 
achin was one expression of unlawful rule, and that 
it was the priestly or the national party whose feel- 
ing toward the king Berossos expresses.* Such men 
would naturally hate a king who showed any feel- 
ing of sympathy or help for the accursed people 
who had cost Babylon so dear in lives and treas- 
ure for their subduing. For this or some other 
cause Evil-merodach lost the loyalty of enough of 
his subjects to make successful a plot against his 
life. In the second full year of his reign he was 
assassinated. His reign left no mark upon his 
country's history, but the violent end of his life 
was an ominous portent of the desperate days that 
were in the future. The assassination of a king 
makes the dark periods of Assyrian history cry 
out a warning to the Chaldeans. 

The plan for the slaying of Amil-Marduk had 
been devised byNergal-shar-usur (Neriglissor — ^that 



' Berossos, Frag. 14, in Muller-DIdot, Frag, HUt. OraCy ii, p. 607 
(comp. Eusebius, Chron., 49, 22, ff.), says of Evil-merodach, vpoaraq tuv 
npayfi&Tuv av6fujq koX adcAyrljf. This avdfujc is supported by the Stele of 
Nabonidus (see Die Insehrift der Stele Nabuna^d's, von L. Messerschmidty 
pp. 18, 80), which represents this king and Labashi-Marduk as law- 
breakers (see col. y, lines 83, 34). 

' Tiele (Oesehichtey ii, pp. 467, 464) argues that the restoration of Jehoi- 
achin does not fit the character of Evil-merodach nor the other chronolog- 
ical indications, and therefore proposes to ascribe it to Neriglissor. The 
point is, however, not well taken. 



856 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

is, " Nergal, protect the king "), and had probably 
been executed by him or upon his order. He now 
became king of Babylon, and had Kkewise a brief 
reign (559-556 B. C). He was an influential man 
long before the death of Nebuchadrezzar. He it 
was, probably, who appeared at Jerusalem during 
the war of Nebuchadrezzar,* holding the office of 
rab-niagy and engaging in important diplomatic 
duties. His family was influential in business af- 
fairs, as the numerous contract tablets' from that 
period abundantly testify. Whatever his origin 
may have been, he had at least the station, or 
the power, to gain the hand of Nebuchadrezzar's 
daughter in marriage. In his most important in- 
scription * he calls his father Bel-shum-ishkun, of 
whom nothing is known. So far as his ability 
would permit he followed in all things the exam- 
ple of the great king who had made the empire ; 
his inscriptions even being in a similar style. His 
pride, likewise, was in the adornment and the in- 
crease of Babylon, and his first concern was to 
beautify the temple E-sagUa. Before its doora had 
stood great bronze dragons, to warn away the evil ; 
these he covered with silver. The temple E-zida of 
Borsippa he also decorated and beautified. In these 

' Jer. xxxix, 8. 

' SeOi for example, Strassmaier, Inschri/ten tfoti Ndbtichodonoaory Konig 
von Babylon, No. 88, p. 68 (translated by Peiser, Keilituehrift. Bihl^ iv, p. 
187, No. x); No. 266, pp. 169, 160 (translated by Peiser, op. cU,^ p. 195, 
No. xxiv). 

• The Ripley Cylinder, published by Budge, Proceedings of the Society of 
Biblical ArchoBology^ x, part 8 (translated by Bezold, Keilinaehri/i, Bihl,^ 
ii, part 2, 77, fit.). 




LAST YEAES OF CHALDEAN EMPIRK 357 

works lie honored the gods who had brought him 
from the world of commerce even to the rule of 
an empire, and to them he pays the tribute of 
words of passionate devotion, heaping word upon 
word of prayer and of praise. It remained only 
now that he should accomplish some work for the 
canal system of Babylon. In this his first care 
was to regulate the course of the canal upon which 
the city was built, this being a channel of the 
Euphrates itself, which was now changed so that, 
as in former times, it should pass directly by the 
temple of E-sagila, The eastern arm of the canal 
was also walled up, that its current might flow 
with sweet water, unmixed with sand. 

The residence of Nergal-shar-usur was in the 
same palace as that of Nebuchadrezzar, and in 
this he carried on extensive alterations and im- 
provements. The first of them concerned its 
foundations, which the canal had made unsafe, and 
the last of them were put upon the lofty summit 
of the building. In these works the chief part 
was played by the ever-present brick, but mention 
is made also of the cedar beams, which came, as be- 
fore, from the Lebanon. 

There is no mention in the life of Nergal-shar- 
usur of any wars throughout his empire. It is, 
however, scarcely probable that he could have 
reigned without any disturbances requiring for 
their suppression the force of arms. It was the 
custom of the Babylonian kings to say nothing 
of war ; in this he foUowed the former usage. 



358 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Whether a warrior himself or not, he kept his em- 
pire intact, and the Chaldean power suffered no loss 
from that which Nebuchadrezzar had won. Bet- 
ter even than was to be expected did the empire 
sustain itself. 

The oft-repeated prayer' of Nergal-shar-usur 
for a long reign was not granted. In 556 his life 
ended, and his son succeeded him. Labashi-Mar- 
duk, whose name puzzled even Berossos and the 
Greeks in general, who represent it as Labassa- 
rachos, or Labarosoarchodos, was but a youth" 
when he became king. At once he became the 
subject of a conspiracy, directed against him, says 
tradition, because he displayed evil traits of char- 
acter. That tlus reason was a mere excuse for a 
deep plot of the priesthood to wrest the throne 
from his hands there can be little doubt Labashi- 
Marduk reigned but nine months (556), and was 
then killed. His successor was not a Chaldean at 
all, but a native Babylonian not related to the 
reigning house, and this increases the probability 
that beneath these events lay schemes which were 
slowly working out toward ruin. Plot and coun- 
terplot would not add strength to the empire, and 
assassination boded ill to a stable government. 

1 So, for example, '^ Marduk, great lord, lord of the gods, glorious, 
light of the gods, I pray thee ; may I, according to thy exalted unchange- 
able command, enjoy the glory of the house which I have built, may I attain 
onto old age in it '* (Cambridge Cylinder, coL ii, lines 81-84). 

' Berossos calls hhn iraic (Frag. 14, Mtiller-Didot, op. ci^., ii, p. 507), and 
this is confirmed by the Nabonidus Stele, cols, iv and v. See Messer- 
fichmidt, op. eU.^ p. 18. 



s 



LAST YEARS OF CHALDEAN EMPIRE. 359 

As soon as Labaslii-Marduk was dead the con- 
spirators chose as king a man who had partici- 
pated in the revolution, for such it undoubtedly 
was. The man chosen to ascend the throne was 
Nabonidus (Nabu-naidu, the god " Nabu is glori- 
ous "), a man of distinguished position. His father 
was Nabu-balatsu-iqbi/ to whom is given the same 
title as Nergal-shar-usur had added to his father's 
name. Nabonidus was a man of piety, beyond 
even the example of the Chaldeans who had pre- 
ceded him. He was a builder of temples and a 
restorer of them, and this appears to have ab- 
sorbed his chief energies. This work he carried 
on in a different and in a more thorough way than 
either Nebuchadrezzar or Nergal-shar-usur. These 
had been content to take down a ruined temple to 
its foundations upon the earth's surface^ and then 
to rebuild it of a size and a magnificence surpassing 
that which it had been. Not so this new servant 
of the gods. He was not content to reach merely 
the earth's surface as he began the reconstruction 
of a temple. His workmen must burrow in the 
earth until the ori^al foundation stones of the 
temple's first builder were found. This was often 
no easy task. As we have seen before, the tem- 
ples of Babylonia were constantly in decay, and 
this led to repeated restorations. These restora- 
tions must often have left the work of previous 
builders covered with debris and difficult to find. 

Ubu Habba Cylinder, ooL i, line 6, V B. 64, KeUifuehHfi. £ibl,, iii, part 
2, p. 97. 



360 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

In many rebuildings the site even of the temple 
was partly or wholly changed. Amid all these 
difficulties and discouragements his work went on. 
In almost every case the foundation stones were 
found at last, and the king's name who had caused 
the first stone to be laid was then read, and a 
careful record made of the fact. The finding 
of these names of ancient kings led to a study of 
the historical records of the past, which the royal 
libraries still preserved. Out of the study of 
these aucient inscriptions the historiographers of 
the court of Nabonidus gradually learned the 
dates of past events of importance and the order 
of the events themselves. 

The next step in this interesting development 
was to state, in the inscriptions of Nabonidus, that 
such and such a king's name had been found, and 
that the king had reigned so many years be- 
fore the king who was now renewing theii* fallen 
works. These notices in the inscriptions of Na- 
bonidus make his inscriptions of surpassing value 
to the student of the past.* No longer are build- 
ing inscriptions dreary wastes of boasting words ; 
out of them come names buried otherwise in the 
mists of the past These names also have their 
proper perspective, for the royal scribe has writ- 
ten with them the number of years before Nabon- 
idus they had lived. But for these notices many 
a definitely known king whose own inscriptions 
have later greeted the explorer's spade could not 

1 See above, book i, chap, xli, vol. i, pp. 812, ff. 



LAST YEARS OF CHALDEAN EMPIRE. 361 

be assigned his proper place in the development 
of his country's political history. His own texts 
bear no allusion, at times, to his ancestors, and no 
hint as to his chronological position. But the 
scribes of Nabonidus had lists of kings, now lost, 
and were able at once to locate these monarchs 
in their proper place. Whether consciously or 
not, Nabonidus thus became a patron of letters 
and history, and made all his race debtor to him 
for his archaeological researches among ruined pal- 
aces and temples. Former monarchs who held 
possession of Babylon had been eager to have re- 
searches pursued into the history of the past, but 
only that their own names might be connected 
with real or supposed ancestors of renown.' To 
this weakness there is no analogy in Nabonidus. 
His inscriptions are burdened more with the names 
of gods than of men, and with no hero of the past 
does he attempt to connect his own lineage. 

These archaeological researches were interesting 
to Nabonidus and the scholars of his court, but 
they appear to have worked ill for the state. The 
king must have given himself to them to the loss 
of time, energy, and enthusiasm for the duties of 
kingcraft, to which he appears to have given little 
heed. He did not reside in Babylon at all, but 
at Tema,' probably an insignificant place, with no 



> So, for example, Esarbaddon. See aboye, pp. 8, 4. 

* Pinches {TVatuaetiotu of the Society of Biblical Archaeology y yii, 171) 
has most improbably sought to connect the place with a certain TV-mo. 
See further Hagen, Beitrage xur Astyriologiey ii, p. 286, footnote. 



362 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, 

other influence in histoiy. There he spent his 
time absorbed in great plans of building and of 
restoration, enrapt in the work of his scholars, who 
were disentangling the threads that led away into 
the dawn of human history, and devoted to prayers 
and good works before the gods. Imagination 
conceives him not as busied with concerns of state 
in the capital or at the head of an army seeking 
new territory or defending old, but rather as going 
about his lands watching the progress of work 
upon a temple, or stepping down into excavations 
to look upon the inscribed name of some old king 
which no eye had seen for thousands of years. 
Though there is no clear statement in his records 
to this eflfect, it seems almost certain that the great 
concerns of state were left to his son, Bel-shar-usur 
(" Bel protect the king," the biblical Belshazzar), 
who was a sort of regent during probably a large 
part of the reign. That the position of Bel-shar- 
usur was unusual appears quite clearly from the 
manner of the allusions to him in Nabonidus's in- 
scriptions. At the end of some of them his name 
is coupled in the prayers with that of Nabonidns, 
and blessings are especially invoked upon him.* 
No such usage as this appears in any other text, 
and there must be a specific reason for it, which 
it is simplest to find in his regency. This is sup- 

1 So, for example : '* From sin against tby exalted godhead guard me, and 
grant me, as a gift, life for many days, and in the heart of Belshazar, my 
firstborn son, the offspring of my body, establish reverence for thy great 
godhead. May he not incline to sin, but enjoy the fullness of life '* (small 
inscription of Ur, col. ii, lines 20-31). 



LAST YEAES OF CHALDEAN EMPIRK 363 

ported, likewise, by the otherwise inexplicable 
conduct of Nabonidus during the most threatening 
situation in all the history of Babylon. When 
the army of Cyrus, as will be shown later, was ap- 
proaching the city he remained in retirement at 
Tema, and gave over the control and leadership 
completely to Bel-shar-usur. By this regency of 
Belshazzar is also explained the origin of the Jew- 
ish tradition preserved in the book of Daniel, 
which makes Bekhazzar,' and not Nabonidus, the 
last king of Babylon. That it had a historic basis 
there is reason to believe. 

As we have no historic accounts of events in the 
earlier part of the reign of Nabonidus, it will be 
necessary to reconstruct those years from the slight 
notices which are given them in his own inscrip- 
tions — and these notices are naturally concerned 
primarily with building. At the beginning of 
every inscription after his title of king of Babylon 
Nabonidus is careful always to add the words, 
"Preserver of E-sa^la and E-zida," thus connect- 
ing his name continually with the greatest shrines 
of his race. It was not, however, in these two 
temples that his chiefest interest centered. It was 
perhaps useful for reasons of state that he should 
thus appear as their patron, but he did not show 
to either a reverence more real than words. He 
did not even pay to E-sagUa the annual New 
Year's visit, which was an act sacredly followed 
by the kings who had ruled before him. His de- 

1 Dan. ▼, 1, 80, 81. 



364 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

votion was paid the more to other shrines, in other 
cities. For this there was some justification to be 
found in theii* abnost complete neglect by recent 
generations. None the less is this custom of Na- 
bonidus surprising in a Babylonian king. 

Perhaps the chief work of Nabonidus was the 
restoration, the rebuilding, indeed, of the temple 
of the sun, E-babbara, in the ancient city of Sii>- 
par. Forty-five years before, Nebuchadrezzar had 
restored this temple, probably to honor the people 
of Sippar and attach them loyally to his person. Its 
walk were now fallen, and in this we see a curious 
comment either upon the carelessness of Nebuchad- 
rezzar's workmen or the partial character of his res- 
toration. No such work as that would satisfy the 
careful Nabonidus. The sun god Shamash was 
first supplied with temporary quarters for his occu- 
pancy. Then the temple was razed to the ground, 
and the foundations examined for the name of the 
first builder. Nebuchadrezzar had not found it 
when his restorations were made, and it was not 
found now until the excavations had been carried 
far beneath the surface. Then at last appeared 
the old comer stone, and upon it the name of 
Naram-Sin, who had caused it to be laid three 
thousand two hundred years before.* The finding 
of this stone so filled Nabonidus with delight that 
he is moved to say that Shamash himself had 
shown it to him. In such words would an Assjrr- 
ian king have celebrated a bloody victory over 

' See above, voL i, p. 818. 



LAST YEAES OF CHALDEAN EMPIRK 365 

men who died to save their own firesides ! Then 
exactly upon that same site, moving an inch neither 
this way nor that, the stone was laid again, with 
all splendor of ceremony and of honor. Above 
it rose the new temple more splendid than the 
old. For its roof no less than five thousand cedar 
beams were required, while still more of the pre- 
cious wood had to be used for its great doors. So 
the new temple was finished, and into it was the 
god Shamash led by the hand of Nabonidus, with 
rejoicing, with display of all devotion, and with 
prayers to Shamash that his care might be about 
the king who had thus honored him. 

At about the same time, and perhaps immedi- 
ately afterward, Nabonidus began the restoration 
of the temple E-ulbar, the shrine of the goddess 
Anunit, in the city of Sippar-Anunit. In the same 
manner as before he sought the foundation stone, 
but this time without such intense earnestness^ 
and also without success. He was satisfied with 
the discovery of the foundation stone of Sha- 
garakti-Buriash,* upon which he laid anew the 
foundations, and then reerected the temple. To 
this new home the goddess was introduced with 
gifts and with prayers. Not for himself only were 
these prayers offered, but also for the future. It 
was the desire of Nabonidus that in the days to 
come other kings might be raised up to rebuild 
the temple when his work should have outlived 
its days and the temple again be in decay. 

* See above, vol. i, p. 318. 



366 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

But there were other great works yet to be 
done, and the plans of the king for building not 
empires, but temples, had full sway in his active 
mind. His thoughts were continually turning far 
away from Babylon and its neighboring cities to 
a great city in the far north. Harran, a name once 
great in the histoiy of the peoples of the Eu- 
phrates and the Tigris, had for centuries been of 
little moment. The Manda had ruined its streets 
and buildings, and destroyed its commercial im- 
portance. The great temple of Sin, the holiest 
shrine in all the north country, a temple bound by 
ancient ties to the great temple of Sin in Ur of 
the south land, was in ruins. The Manda had 
passed by, and as in their hearts there was no rev- 
erence for Sin, his temple fell before their de* 
structive wave, and lay a ghastly heap of ruins^ 
its bricks melting away into mud. To the eye of 
reason it might seem as though the power of Sin 
were small that he could not even defend his own 
house from such despoilers. But not so to the 
faith of Nabonidus, for to his thought Sin had 
been angry and had suffered the Manda — nay, had 
caused them — to break down his house. How bet- 
ter could he punish his worshipera, if that were his 
will, than to take away from their hearts the sol- 
ace of worship in his temple ? 

At the very beginning of the reign of Naboni- 
dus he dreamed a dream. Before him, as in a 
vision, stood the great gods Marduk and Sin. 
Then spoke Marduk and said, " Nabonidus, king 




LAST YEAES OF CHALDEAN EMPIRE. 367 

of Babylon, with the horses of thy wagons, bring 
bricks, build E-Khulkhul, and let Sin, the great 
lord, have his dwelling therein." In fear answered 
Nabonidus, "The temple, which thou hast com- 
manded me to build, the Manda surround it, and 
widespread are his forces." But answered Mar- 
duk, " The Manda, of whom thou speakest, they, 
their country, and the kings their allies are no more." 
Before the great god had commanded the rebuild- 
ing of this temple he had arranged to remove the 
obstacle of a warlike force. It was well that he had. 
An Assyrian king would have attacked any force 
about an honored god's temple, driven it away, and 
then rebuilt ; so would the old Babylonians, but this 
new apostle of building would have none of war. 
Even upon the god's assurance that the Manda 
were no more about Harran, Nabonidus shrank in 
fear from the task. At last duty drove him on, 
and he essayed the great work. Upon all his vast 
empire he laid a levy for men for the work. From 
Gaza, on the borders of l^ypt, from far beyond 
the Euphrates, from the eastern limits of his em- 
pire they came — governors, princes, kings — to help 
with the work. It was not long since the temple 
had last been rebuilt, for Asshurbanapal (668-625 
B. C.) had rebuilt it upon the foundations which 
Shalmaneser II (859-825 B. C.) had laid. Stronger 
than before arose the great new walls. Upon them, 
for the roof, were placed great cedar beams from 
the Amanus, while doors of sweet-smelling cedar 
swung to and fro upon their fastenings. So great 



368 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

was the glory of the new temple that the whole 
city of Han-an shone " like the new moon." * la 
this new home, with prayer and joyful ceremony, 
was Sin, with his companions, brought, and an- 
other work of duty and honor had been added to 
the glories of the reign of Nabonidus. But in 
all this there is no word of the aflEairs of state. 
The gods were honored, but what of men ? The 
day of judgment was slowly moving on. While 
Nabonidus built temples, remained away from 
Babylon, and looked not upon his army, another 
people of a fresh and almost untried race were 
husbanding old and seeking new strength for the 
undoing of all this splendor. The hour of their 
triumph had almost come. 

The beginnings of new powers in the world's 
history are usually obscure, and for later ages dif- 
ficult to trace out. So is it with the beginnings 
of that power which had slowly been preparing to 
engulf Babylonia. Some steps in its progress may 
now be regarded as reasonably clear, and these 
must now be followed. When Nineveh fell it 
was not at the behest of Babylonia only. A new 
power, fresh from a long rest and not wasted by 
civilization's insidious pressure, had contributed to 
that overthrow. This new people was the Manda, 
and in the years that followed the Manda had not 
been idle. To them had fallen in the partition of 
the Assyrian empire the whole of the old land of 

^ Nabonidus, the Great Cylinder of Abu-Habba, col. ii, line 25. Comp. 
Keilinschrift, Bibly iii, part 2, p. 103. 



LAST YEAES OF CHALDEAN EMPIRK 369 

Assyria, with northern Babylonia. The very owner- 
ship of such territory as this was itself a call to 
the making of an empire. To this the Manda had 
set themselves, and with extraordinary and rapid 
success. While Nebuchadrezzar lived they main- 
tained peace with him and offered no threats 
against Babylonia. To the north and west their 
forces spread. These movements we cannot trace 
in detail From the Manda, who were men of ac- 
tion, and not writers of books, there have come to 
us no stories of conquest. From the events which 
follow, of which we have Babylonian accounts, we 
can trace with reasonable certainty, even though 
broadly, their progress. As early as 560 B. C. 
their border had been extended as far west as the 
river Halys, which served as the boundary between 
them and the kingdom of Lydia, over which 
Croesus, of proverbial memory, was now king 
(560-546 B. C). K no violent end came to a vic- 
torious people such as the Manda now were, it 
could not be long before the rich plains, the 
wealthy cities, and the great waterways of Baby- 
lonia would tempt them southward and the great 
clash would come. If to such brute force of con- 
quest as they had already abundantly shown they 
should add gifts for organization and administra- 
tion, there was no reason why all their possessions 
should not be welded again into a great empire, 
as the Assyrians had done before with a large part 
of them. Their king was now Astyages,* or, as 

1 See Frag. 29, Miiller-Didot, Ctence Cnidii Fragmenta, p. 46. 
24 



370 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

the Babylonian inscriptions name him, Ishtuvegu/ 
Our knowledge of him is too scant to admit of a 
judgment as to his character. A man of war of 
extraordinary capacity he certainly was, but per- 
haps little else. However that may be, he was 
not to accomplish the ruin of Nabonidus. What 
he had gained was to be used to that end by an- 
other, and he was now preparing. 

In Anshan, a province in the land of Elam, a 
great man had arisen. From Elam for centuries 
no impulse had been given in the world's history. 
The people had rested. Kings had ruled over 
them, indeed, but their influence had been little 
beyond their own borders. When Cyrus was 
born, son of Kambyses, a place was ready for him, 
and greatness soon found it. Cyrus, king of An- 
shan — the title had no high sound, and to it were 
added no other titles of rule in other lands. But 
in Cyrus the primary power of conquest was 
strong. He began at once a career of almost un- 
paralleled conquest, and later displayed in ex- 
traordinary degree the power so to organize the 
result of one victory as to make it contributoiy to 
the next. His first foe was naturally Astyages, 
king of the Manda, whose attention he had at- 
tracted. We do not know what deeds of Cyrus 
led Astyages to determine upon attacking him, 
whether he had made reprisals upon the borders 
of the empire of the Manda, or had shown else- 

' Nabonidus, the Great Cylinder of Abu-Habba, col. i, line 82, Keilin- 
achrift. Bibl, iii, part 2, pp. 98, 99. 




LAST YEARS OF CHALDEAN EMPIRK 371 

where ability which might later prove dangerous 
to the aspirations of the Manda. In 553 B. C. 
Astyages led an army against this new Asiatic con- 
queror. All the advantages seemed to lie upon the 
side of Astyages. He had victories behind him, 
he had the levies of an empire already vast on 
which to draw. But these and all other advan- 
tages were overturned by treachery. His own 
troops rebelled against him and delivered him into 
the hands of Cyrus,* and that bound as a pris- 
oner. Cyrus then took Ecbatana, sacked it,* and 
overwhelmed the state. In an hour he had leaped 
from the position of king of Anshan, a rank hardly 
greater than petty prince, to the proud position 
of king of the Manda. A whole empire already 
made was his. Well might he assume a new title 
and call himself king of the Parsu — out of which 
has come to us the word " Persians.'' King of the 
Persians — in that new title of Cyrus was gathered 
all the impetus of a new and terrible force in the 
world. For his coming the day of judgment had 
waited. The day of great Semitic conquerors was 
waning, a new conqueror of the great unknown 
Indo-European races had arisen, and a new day 
had thus dawned. What did it mean for human- 
ity — for civilization ? 

The sudden victory of Cyrus over the empire of 

> Annals of Nabonidus, col. ii, lines 1, 2. See Hagen, '* Eeilschrift- 
nrkunden zur Geschichte des Konigs Cyrus/' BeUrSge zur Awyriologie^ 
ii, pp. 218, 219. 

' Ihid.^ col. li, lines 8, 4. 



372 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

the Manda filled the whole western world with 
alann. The empire of Cyrus now extended to the 
Halys, and beyond that river was Lydia. How 
soon Cyrus would cross it none knew. He was 
probably only waiting until he could assimilate 
the forces of the Manda with his own ; for such a 
man could be content with no dominion that was 
less than world-wide. Croesus determined to strike 
the first blow himself, but not single-handed. He 
formed a confederation in the spring of 546, and 
almost every power of significance in the whole 
west joined it. Amasis, king of Egypt; Nabonidus, 
king of Babylon ; * Croesus, king of Lydia, and even 
his friendly allies, the Spartans * — ^these formed an 
array that must be invincible. The leader was 
Croesus, and that he should fail seemed impossible. 
Behind him was an army that had never known 
defeat, beneath him were the sure oracles of Del- 
phi. But the confidence of Croesus was too great ; 
he would not even wait for the expected contribu- 
tions of men from his allies; with trust in his 
gods and in his own army he started out to meet 
Cyrus, and entered Kappadokia. Cyrus met him 
with all his forces. The unexpected, the impossi- 
ble, happened, and Croesus was defeated. Cyrus 
pursued, and again Croesus gave battle, in the valley 
of Hermos. In the army of Cyrus were bodies of 
men mounted on camels ; * before them stood the 

* Herodotus, i, Ixxvii 
' Ibid.^ i, Ixix. 

^ Jbid.^ i, Ixxx ; Xenophon, Cyropcedic^ Yii. i, § 48 ; ufilian, Stat Animal^ 
ui, 7. 



LAST YEAES OF CHALDEAN EMPIRK 373 

Lydian cavalry. It was the barbarous east mounted 
upon its uncanny and clumsy animal of the desert 
opposed to the civilization of the west with its 
clean-limbed horses. But the barbarians on camels 
threw the cavalry into confusion, and again was 
Croesus beaten, and this time overwhelmed. He 
retreated to the citadel of Sardes, and sent mes- 
sengei^s to his allies begging for assistance, which, 
naturally enough, never came. In fourteen days 
Sardes fell, and Croesus was in the hands of Cyrus.' 
The Lydian empire was also swallowed up in Per- 
sia. Croesus was taken in the autumn of 546, and 
before the end of 545 the entire peninsula of Asia 
Minor was a part of the Persian empire, divided 
into satrapies and administered with a strong 
hand. Even the isles of the sea were giving sub- 
mission to the power that had arisen out of the 
wilds of Asia, ghostlike in a night, whose ruler 
was but a year before unknown in name even to 
the Greeks of the mainland, who had now become 
his subjects. 

Cyrus had now fully prepared the way for the 
absorption of Babylonia, with its valuable Syro- 
phoenician states reaching even to the Mediter- 
ranean. During all these years Nabonidus had 

* According to a story preserred by Herodotus (i, Ixxxr-lxxxvii), Croesus, 
seeing the end of his fortunes near, prepared a great funeral pyre and 
assembled upon it with himself, also his family, his nobles, and his choicest 
possessions ; when the fire was started Zeus put out the fire and Apollo 
bore the aged king with his daughters away into the Hyperborean country. 
On the other hand, we are told that Croesus lived on as the friend of Cyrus 
and accepted from him the fief of BarSn^ in Media (Etesias, Frag. 29, § 4, 
in Muller-Didot, Cteiia Cnidii Fragmenta^ p. 46). 



874 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

been building temples and searcliing out interest- 
ing bits of ancient history. If lie had been con- 
solidating his defenses and preparing to hold his 
empire against this wave of barbarians, the course 
of human history might have been widely differ- 
ent. Even Greece might have been spared the 
need of its heroic sacrifice in the defense of all the 
west had gained, from the hordes, full-blooded and 
strong, out of the mountains of Elam. But Nabon- 
idus had not prepared for war or for defense, and 
it was now too late. In the year 549, when the 
Lydian king was making ready to fight to the bit- 
ter end, Nabonidus was in Tema, as the Chronicle * 
shows. Of 548 we know nothing,' but there is 
no risk in supposing that he was still absorbed in 
temples and their repairs. In 547, so hurried the 
years along, he was stiU in Tema, and did not even 
enter Babylon to pay reverence at the great shrine 
of the gods or to attend to the pressing business 
of state. On the fifth day of the month of Nisan 
the king^s mother died at Dur-Karasu, on the Eu- 
phrates, above Sippar. For her great mourning 
was made, and still there is no word of setting 
Babylon or the land in preparation. Yet in this 
same year — ^and the Babylonian Chronicle is the 
witness for it — ^the threat of Cyrus against Baby- 
lon was made in no uncertain manner. On the 

^ Col. ii, line 5 (Hagen, Beitrdpe xur Aaayriologie, ii, p. 219 ; Schrader, 
Keilinschri/t. BibL, ui, part 2, p. 131). 

'This was the eighth year of Nabonidus, and on his Chronicle tablet 
nothing is said at all of this year, but a blank space of about two lines is 
left. See Hagen, op. ct7., p. 218. 




LAST YEARS OF CHALDEAN EMPIRK 375 

fifteenth day of the same month of Nisan he 
crossed the Tigris below Arbela and entered As- 
syria. Here he took possession of part of the land 
which appears to have been partly or wholly inde- 
pendent of Nabonidus. The name which Cyrus 
gave to the land is broken off in the Chronicle,* 
but we shall probably not go far astray if we con- 
jecture that some petty prince * had here set up a 
little kingdom. 

Babylonian soU was now possessed by Cyrus. 
It was the beginning of the end. The next year 
opens with the same melancholy record that the 
king was in Tema.' His son, Belnshar-usur^ was 
with the army in Accad.* From this time on it 
is proper to say that he was easily the chief actor, 
on the Babylonian side, in the tragedy. Of him 
we know little indeed. To the Jews his name 
was an object of hatred, for he had shown con- 
tempt for them and the God of whom they would 
teach the world. But from the Babylonian point 
of view he shines forth in all that we know of him 
as a man intensely national, able, earnest in de- 
fense of his native land. That he helped greatly 
to postpone the now impending ruin is highly 
probable. But he had no suppoi*t from his father 

* CoL ii, line 16. Hagen Bays that there were remains of two signs, and 
the first seemed to be «u. Was not the second probably ri t — the name 
Assyria. An allusion to this movement is preserved in Xenophon, Ana-- 
batisj iii, 4, 7-12. 

* The ** king *' of the country was killed, but his name is not given. See 
the text of Hagen, col. ii, line 17. 

* Jlnd.y coL ii, line 19. 

t 



876 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

— the man of books. In this year (546), on the 
twenty-first day of Sivan, there was some difficulty 
with Elamites in Babylonia.* We do not know its 
meaning or its results ; for the Chronicle is broken 
oS and leaves us in tantalizing fashion. But that 
this was only another move in the same general 
plan is at least probable. After this year the 
Babylonian Chronicle again breaks off abruptly, 
and for six years we know nothing of the progress 
of events. Into these years probably went some 
of the building operations which have already- 
been described. Nabonidus cared, or seemed to 
care, Uttle for his country. It was his gods only 
that filled the horizon for him.* 

When next the chronicler resumes his story the 
seventeenth year of the king's reign has come. It 
is the year 539. The army of Cyrus is somewhere 
in northern Babylonia. The great Persian empire 
is now ready to complete and round out its bor- 
ders by the addition of Babylonia, with even its 
imperial capital The opening lines of the year's 
annals are broken off, but if they were still pre- 
served, we should probably not find in them the 
fateful words, " The king was in Tema." He was 
now fully aroused to the gravity of the situation, 
and was active in measures of preparation. It 
seems almost irony to say that these measures were 

> Ibid,, col ii, line 22. 

' That so little military preparation was made by Belsbazzar or others in 
authority is partially to be explained by the fact that Cyma was long re* 
garded as an ally of Nabonidus (see the Nabonidus Chronicle, i, 28-33). It 
was the Lydian Tictory that opened Chaldean eyes to the true situation. 




LAST YEARS OF CHALDEAN EMPIRK 377 

not for practical defense against a terrible foe; 
they were not for a prolonged siege. Such prep- 
arations would have been both natural and in a 
sense easy of accomplishment. Nebuchadrezzar 
had made Babylon the strongest fortress in all the 
world. Even a small force of brave men could 
have held it for years against any force which 
Cyrus could muster; and that there were brave 
men still in Babylon's army there is every reason 
to believe. But the preparations of Nabonidus 
were not for national safety and independence, 
they were not for the safety of men at all. In 
the crucial hour of his country's history his whole 
thought was of gods, and not of men. He would 
save gods, men might save themselves as best they 
might. From every part of the land of Babylonia 
the statues of the gods were hastily removed from 
the temples which Nabonidus had built with such 
exaggeration of painstaking care, as well as from 
other temples upon which he had laid no hand of 
restoration — ^if, indeed, there were any such. From 
Marad and from Kish came gods of whose worth 
or power the history of Babylonia has heard little ; 
from Kharsag-kalama came Belit and her god- 
desses. By the end of the month Elul all the 
gods and goddesses had been brought to Babylon. 
Nabonidus appears to have himself remwned in 
Sippar, perhaps to avoid the danger of capture 
and death in the capital, whose ultimate fall into 
the hands of Cyrus he must have foreseen, or 
rather, perhaps, that he might in the hour of his 



378 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

distress lean heavily on the arm of Shamash, whom 
he had so signally honored in the magnificent tem- 
ple of E-babbara. 

While gods were hastening thns to be crowded 
into the spaces of Babylon^s temples the army of 
Cyrus was slowly marching on, and apparently 
withont resistance. Would all Babylonia be his 
without one single blow ? It were a disgrace in- 
deed, and the land was spared that final ignominy. 
When Cyrus reached the city of Upi the army of 
Accad opposed his advance/ but whether Bel- 
shar-usur, who had commanded it, was now in the 
van does not appear. The opposition was in vain, 
and Cyrus drove it before him and moved south- 
ward resistlessly. Sippar was taken, without a 
blow, on the fourteenth day of Tammuz, and Nar 
bonidus fied. Two days later the van of the army 
of Cyrus entered Babylon, as the gates swung open 
without resistance * to admit it. Cyrus himself waa 
not in command, but had remained in the back- 
ground while Ugbaru (Gobryas), governor of Gu- 
tium, led the advance. Nabonidus was taken in 
the city, whither he had fied from Sippar. 

The fall of Babylon in this fashion is one of the 
surprises of history. That a city which had bred 
warriors enough to rule the whole civilized world 
should at last lay down its arms and tamely sub- 

' Nabonidus Chronicle, iii, lines 12, 18 ; Hagen, op. cU.^ p. 228 ; KeiUn^ 
tchrift. Biblf iii, part 2, pp. 188-186. 

' The phrase (Nabonidus Chronicle, iii, line 16) is bcUa MUttm, " without 
battle.'* It is a sorry end after all Nebuchadrezzar's efforts to make Baby- 
lon impregnable. 




LAST YEARS OF CHALDEAN EMPIRE. 379 

mit — it is impossible, and yet it is true. Nay, more 
is true : Ugbaru had indeed entered the city with- 
out the use of force, but there is no word that his 
presence was welcome. He must surely have been 
received with many a surly look, with mutterings 
of hate, with ill-concealed disgust But on the 
third day of Marcheshwan Cyrus held entry into 
the city. It was a triumphal entrance, and all 
Babylon greeted him with plaudits and hailed 
him as a deliverer. So fickle was the populace, so 
ready to say, "The king is dead; long live the 
king." 

Babylon was now in the possession of an en- 
tirely new race of men. The Indo-Europeans, 
silent for centuries, had come at last to dominion. 
Nineveh, the greatest center for the pure Semitic 
stock, had fallen first ; it was now Babylon's hour, 
and Babylon likewise was fallen. The fall of a city 
which had long wielded a power almost world-wide 
would at any period be a matter of great moment. 
But this fall of Babylon was even more than this. 
Babylon was now the representative city not 
merely of a world-wide power, it was the repre- 
sentative of Semitic power. The Semites had 
built the firet empire of commanding rank in the 
world when Hammurabi conquered Sumer and 
Accad and made Babylon capital of several king- 
doms at once. Out of this center had gone the 
colonists who had built another and, after a time, 
a gi*eat empire at Nineveh. For centuries two 
Semitic centera of power had vied with each other 



380 HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

for the dominion of the world. Both had held it, 
each in his turn. For nearly a century Nineveh 
had been in the hands of another race, and the 
Semitic civilization had been supplanted there. 
Babylon had been made the center of a new 
world power by the Chaldean people, but they 
also were Semites. This branch of the Semitic 
people had had a short lease of power indeed. 
The power was now taken from them as the rep 
resentatives of the Semitic race. Never from that 
hour until the age of Islam was a Semitic power 
to command a world-wide empire. The power of 
the Semite seemed hopelessly broken in that day, 
and that alone makes the peaceful fall of Babylon 
a momentous event. 

But Babylon stood for more than mere Semitic 
power. It Stood in a large sense for Semitic civi- 
lization. As has been so often pointed out before 
in these pages, Assyria represented far more than 
Babylonia the prowess of the Semite upon fields 
of battle. Babylon had stood for Semitic civiliza- 
tion, largely intermixed with many elements, 
yet Semitic after alL Here were the great libra- 
ries of the Semitic race. Here were the scholars 
who copied so painstakingly every little omen or 
legend that had come down to them out of the 
hoary past Here were the men who calculated 
eclipses, watched the moon's changes, and looked 
nightly from observatories upon the stately march 
of constellations over the sky. Here were the 
priests who preserved knowledge of the ancient 




LAST YEARS OF CHALDEAN EMPIRE. 381 

Sumerian langnage^ that its sad plaints and solemn 
prayers might be kept for use in temple worship. 
Much of all this was worthy of preservation— if 
not for any large usefulness, certainly for its record 
of human progress upward. All this was now 
fallen into alien handa Would it be preserved ? 
Would it be ruthlessly or carelessly destroyed? 
The greatest thoughts of the Semitic mind and the 
greatest emotions of its heart were not, indeed, 
Babylonian, and even if they were, they could not 
die. Not for many centuries would the Semite be 
able to found another such center. It was indeed 
a solemn hour of human history. 

The glory of Babylon is ended. The long pro- 
cession of princes, priests, and kings has passed 
by. No city so vast had stood on the world be- 
fore it. No city with a history so long has even 
yet appeared. From the beginnings of human his- 
tory it had stood. It was in other hands now, and 
it would soon be a shapeless mass of ruins, stand- 
ing alone in a sad, untilled desert. 



r. 

■r 



3 






APPENDIX. 



A. 

LTTEBATUBE. 



The references ^ven in footnotes indicate with 
sufficient clearness the bibliography of the subject, 
but for convenience of reference the titles of books 
dealing directly with the history are here assem- 
bled, accompanied by brief comments to facilitate 
their use. 

1. Excavations Ain> Decifhbbment. 

Kaulbk, Fb. Assyrien und Babylonien nach den neuesten Ent- 
deckiingen, 5th ed. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1899. 

[The account of excavations and discoveries is on pp. lS-41 
and 74-150. It is weU presented, but pays little attention to 
the work of early travelers, and takes but slight notice of the 
most recent work, except that of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, which is well handled.] 

HoMMEL, Fb. Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens. Berlin, 
1885. 

[The sections relating to discovery and decipherment are on 
pp. 58-134, and are more detailed than those of Eaulen.] 

EvBTTB, B. T. A. New Light on the Holy Land. London, 1891. 
[Contains on pp. 79>129 a very useful narrative of discover- 
ies and decipherment, with much attention to early travelers.] 

Menant, Joachdc. Les Langues perdues de la Perse et de PAssyrie. 
Paris, 1885. 

383 • 



3Si APPENDIX. 

2. HiBTOBT. 

(a) Babylonia and Assyria. 
HomocL, Fb. Geschichte Babyloniens und AssyrienB. Berlin, 1885. 

Articles on "Babylonia" and "Assyria," Dictionary of the 

Bible, ed. Hastings, vol. i. New York, 1898. 

Kino, Lbonabd Williak. Articles "Babylonia" and "Assyria" 
in Eucyclopeedia Biblica, edited by the Rev. T. E. Cheyne 
and J. Sutherland Black, vol. i. New York, 1899. 

[Very valuable outlines of the history, supplemented also 
by separate articles on important reigns, such as that of 
Asshurbanapal. ] 

MuERDTEB UND Delitzsch. Gcschichte yon Babylonien und As- 
syrien, 2. Aufl. Calw und Stuttgart, 1891. 

RoGEBs, RoBEBT W. OutUues of the History of Early Babylonia. 
Leipzig, 1895. 

[Now largely replaced by the present work.] 

Sayce, a. H. a Primer of Assyriology. New York, 1895. 
[Useful introductory outline.] 

Smith, Gbobob. The History of Babylonia, edited and brought up 
to date by the Rev. A. H. Sayce. London and New York, 1895. 
[A brief and useful little book, but already needing revi- 
sion. A similar volume by George Smith on Assyria, from 
the Earliest Times to the Fall of Nineveh, has not been revised.] 

TiELE, C. P. Babylonlsch-Assyrische Geschichte. Gk>tha, 1886. 
[A work of great ability and distinction, and, though super- 
seded in parts by more recent work, still indispensable for 
the advanced student.] 

WiNCKiiEB, Hugo. Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens. Leip- 
zig, 1892. 

[An important book to be used in supplement of Tiele. 
Very suggestive.] 

Die Volker Vorderasiens (Der Alte Orient, 1. Jahrgang, 

Heft 1). Leipzig, 1899. 

— Die Politische Entwickelung Babyloniens und Assyriena 
Per Alte Orient, 2. Jahrgang, Heft 1). Leipzig, 1900. 

[Contains in but thirty-one pages an illuminating sketch of 
the development of Babylonian and Assyrian history.] 



APPENDIX. 385 

(J>) C^eneral ffisUnies. 

The following books, while treating the history 
of Babylonia and Assyria only as part of the gen- 
eral history of the Orient, are, nevertheless, impor- 
tant as discussing phases of the history supplemen- 
tary to the special histories, or as being written by 
Assyriologists who have given special emphasis to 
Assyria and Babylonia : 

Helmolt, Hans F. Weltgeschichte. Leipzig, 1899. 

[Yol. iii, part 1, contains Das Alte West Asien, pp. 1-248, 
by Dr. Hugo Winckler, and is important not only because it is 
attractively written, but also because it sometimes gives a 
newer view of events than is given in the author's more de- 
tailed history mentioned above.] 

HoMMEL, Fb. Abriss der Geschichte des alten Orients bis auf die 
Zeit der Perserkriege (in Iwan y. MUller, Handbuch der clas- 
sischen Alterthumswissenschaft, Bd. iii), 2. Aufl. 1895. 

Geschichte des alten Morgenlandes (Sammlung Gdschen, 

No. 48). Stuttgart, 1895. Translated into English as : The 
Civilization of the East [Temple Primers]. London, 1900. 

Kball, Jakob. Grundriss der Altorientalischen Geschichte. 

Erster Theil : Bis auf Kyros. Wien, 1899. 

[A valuable reference book, not so written as to be easily 

read.] 
Maspebo, G. The Dawn of Civilization, Egypt and Chaldsea. 

Edited by A. H. Sayce, translated by M. L. McClure. New 

York, 1894. 

The Struggle of the Nations, Egypt, Syria, and Assyria. 

Edited by A. H. Sayce, translated by M. L. McClure. New 
York, 1897. 

The Passing of the Empires, 850 to 880 B. C. Edited by 

A. H. Sayce, translated by M. L. McClure. New York, 1900. 

[These three volumes supersede Professor Maspero's former 
treatises. They are magnificently illustrated, well translated, 
and are admirably supplied with references to the literature of 
every question relating to the history.] 

25 * 



386 APPENDIX. 

McCuBDT, Jambs Fbxdkrick. History, Prophecy, and the Monu- 
ments, or Israel and the Nations. Vol. L To the Downfall 
of Samaria. New York, 1894. YoL iL To the Fall of Nine- 
yeh. New York, 1896. YoL iii, completing the work, prom- 
soon. 



Mkteb, Eduard. Geschichte des Alterthums. I Band: €k- 
schichte des Orients bis zor Begr&idung des Perserreiches. 
Stuttgart, 1884. 11 Band: Geschichte des Abendhmdes bis 
anf die Perserkriege. Stuttgart, 1898. 

Satck, a H. Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations. New 
York, 1899. 

[Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 199-264. This interesting 
sketch supplements Smith's ffistory of Babylonia and Sayce's 
Primer of Assyriology.] 

This list might be much extended if works of 
popular character were added to it It is, how- 
ever, intentionally restricted to works of scientific 
importance, based upon original sources. 

For more extended bibliography of Babylonia 
and Assyria, comprising not merely the poUtical 
history, but also religion, literature, and social life, 
the following books may be consulted : 

Bbzold, Carl. Eurzgefasster Ueberblick ^ber die Babylonisch- 
Assyrische Literatur. Leipzig, 1886. 

Delitzsch, Fribdrich. Assyrian Grammar. London, 1889. (Lit- 
teratura, pp. 55 *-78.*) 

Jastrow, Morris, Jr. The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria. 
^ Boston, 1898. (Bibliography, pp. 705-738.) 

[An exhaustive and accurate conspectus of the literature up 
to 1898.] 

Kaulen, Fr. ABS3rrien und Babylonien nach den neuesten Ent- 
deckungen, 5th ed. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1899. (Litteratur, 
pp. 284-304). 

[This bibliography is arranged chronologically, and is ex- 
ceedingly valuable from 1620 to 1880, though many additions 




APPENDIX, 387 

ought even in those years to be made. After 1880 it falls off 
very much in completeness, and extends only to 1889. It is a 
pity that recent editions should not have extended it.] 

LiNOXE, A. Bericht fiber die Fortschritte der Assyriologie in den 
Jahren 1886-1898. Leipzig, 1894. , 

The current bibUography is to be souglit in the 
following : 

American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (Continu- 
ing Hebraica). Chicago : The University of Chicago Press. 

[This journal is published quarterly and contains an accu- 
rate and exhaustive bibliography by W. Muss-Amolt.] 

Oiientalische Bibliographic, bearbeitet und herausgegeben von 
Dr. Lucian Scherman. Berlin. 
[Semiannual.] 

Orientalische Literatur-Zeitung, herausgegeben von F. E. Peiser. 
Berlin. 

[Monthly. Contains a very valuable review of the journals 
and proceedings of learned societies. {Aub geUhrten QeseU- 
•chafien und ZeiUchr^ftensehau),] 

Bevue d' Assyriologie et d'Arch6ologie Orientale. Publ. sous la 
dir. de J. Oppert, E. Ledrain et L^ou Heuzey. Paris. 
[Appears at irregular intervals.] 

Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie, und verwandte Gebrete, in verbindung 
mit J. Oppert in Paris, Eb. Schrader in Berlin, und anderen 
herausgegeben von Carl Bezold in Heidelberg. Berlin. 
[Quarterly.] 

B. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHEBIB^S ABMY. 

The following is the Egyptian tradition of the 
great pestilence as Herodotus has reproduced it : 

'*Tbe next king, I was told, was a priest of Vulcan, called 
Sethds. This monarch despised and neglected the warrior class 
of the Egyptians, as though he did not need their services. 
Among other indignities which he offered them he took from 



388 APPENDIX, 

them the lands which they had possessed under all the previous 
kings, consisting of twelve acres of choice land for each warrior. 
Afterward, therefore, when Sennacherib, king of the Arabians 
and Assyrians, marched his vast army into Egypt, the warriors 
one and all refused to come to his aid. On this the monarch, 
greatly distressed, entered into the inner sanctuary, and before 
the image of the god bewailed the fate which impended over 
him. As he wept he fell asleep, and dreamed that die god came 
and stood at his side, bidding him be of good cheer, and go 
boldly forth to meet the Arabian host, which would do him no 
hurt, as he himself would send those who should help him. SethdSy 
then, relpng on the dream, collected such, of the Egyptians as 
were willing to follow him, who were none of them warriors, but 
traders, artisans, and market people ; and with these marched to 
Pelusium, which commands the entrance into Egypt, and there 
pitched his camp. As the two armies lay here opposite one an- 
other there came in the night a multitude of field mice, which 
devoured all the quivers and bowstrings of the enemy and ate 
the thongs by which they managed their shields. Next morning 
they commenced their flight, and great multitudes fell, as they 
had no arms with which to defend themselves. There stands to 
this day in the temple of Vulcan a stone statue of Sethds, with a 
mouse in his hand, and an inscription to this effect : ' Look on me 
and learn to reverence the gods.' " ^ 

In explanation of this narrative it must be re- 
membered that the mouse was a symbol of pesti- 
lence (1 Sam. vi, 5), and that Apollo, as the 
plague-dealer, is called Smintheus, mouse-god. 

C. 

THE DEFENSES OF BABYLON. 

The investigations of the last few years have 
thrown considerable light upon the walls of the 
city of Babylon, and the excavations already be- 

1 Herodotus, ii, chap. 141 (History of Herodotut, by G^rge Rawlinson, 
London, 1880, vol. ii, pp. 219, 220). 




APPENDIX. 389 

gun by the German expedition on the site' are 
likely to set at rest some long-standing subjects of 
controversy. It is not the province of this book 
to discuss questions of topography, but the narra- 
tive of Nebuchadrezzar's elaborate reconstruction 
of the defenses of Babylon may perhaps be made 
more clear by a comparison with the two chief 
sources of our knowledge which are here given in 
translation. 

The following is the description given by 
Herodotus : 

'* Assyria ' possesses a yast number of great cities, whereof the 
most renowned and strongest at this time was Babylon, whither, 
after the fall of Nineveh, the seat of goyemment had been removed. 
The following is a description of the place: The city stands on a 
broad plain, and is an exact square, a hundred and twenty furlongs 
in length each way,' so that the entire circuit is four hundred and 
eighty furlongs/ While such is its size, in magnificence there is 
no other city that approaches it. It is surrounded, in the first place, 
by a broad and deep moat, full of water, behind which rises a 
wall fifty royal cubits in width and two hundred in height." (The 

1 See above, vol. i, pp. 247, 248. 

' Assyria as used in this passage manifestly is extended so as to include 
all Babylonia. See above, vol i, p. 269. 

' This outer wall corresponds to Nimitti-Bel in the descriptions of Neb- 
uchadrezzar, and Herodotus could not have seen it, for it had been de- 
stroyed by Darius. 

* Four hundred and eighty stadia would be fifty-five and one quarter 
miles, which is impossible. The modern ruins, so far as can be ascertained, 
extend from north to south a distance of about five miles only. 

" The proportion of width to height is impossible. The interior of these 
walls was composed of sun-dried bricks, the outside was made of burnt 
bricks. Such a wall could not be raised to so great a height (about one 
hundred and five meters) on a base so narrow (about twenty-six meters) ; 
long before it could be reached the whole mass would collapse. The nec- 
essary proportions would be about a width of one third to two thirds of the 
height. See A. Billerbeck, Der Fnivngtbau im Alien Orient, Leipzig, 
1900, p. 6. 

f 



390 APPENDIX. 

royal cubit is longer by three fingers* breadth than the common 
cubit.) 

*' And here I may not omit to tell the use to which the mold 
dug out of the great moat was turned, nor the manner wherein 
the wall was wrought. As fast as they dug the moat the soil 
which they got from the cutting was made into bricks, and when 
s sufficient number were completed they baked the bricks in kilns. 
Then they set to building, and began with bricking the borders of 
the moat, after which they proceeded to construct the wall itself, 
using throughout for their cement hot bitumen, and interposing 
a layer of wattled reeds at every thirtieth course of the bricks. 
On the top, along the edges of the wall, they constructed build- 
ings of a single chamber facing one another, leaving between them 
room for a four-horse chariot to turn. In the circuit of the wall 
are a hundred gates, all of brass, with brazen lintels and side posts. 
The bitumen used in the work was brought to Babylon from the 
Is, a small stream which flows into the Euphrates at the point 
where the city of the same name stands, > eight days' journey from 
Babylon. Lumps of bituman are found in great abundance in this 
river. 

** The city is divided into two portions by the river which runs 
through the midst of it. This river is the Euphrates, a broad, 
deep, swift stream, which rises in Armenia and empties itself into 
the Erythrsean Sea. The city wall is brought down on both sides 
to the edge of the stream ; thence, from the comers of the wall, 
there is carried along each bank of the river a fence of burnt 
bricks. The houses are mostly three and four stories high; the 
streets all nm in straight lines, not only those parallel to the river, 
but also the cross streets, which lead down to the water side. At 
the river end of these cross streets are low gates in the fence that 
skirts the stream, which are like the great gates in the outer wall, 
of brass, and open on the water. 

''The outer wall is the main defense of the city. There is, how- 
ever, a second inner* wall, of less thickness than the first, but 
very little inferior to it in strength. The center of each division 
of the town was occupied by a fortress. In the one stood the pal- 
ace of the kings, surrounded by a wall of great strength and size ; 
in the other was the sacred precinct of Jupiter Belus, a square in- 

> The modern Hit. See above, vol. i, p. 287. 

* This is the wall called Imgur-Bel by Nebuchadrezzar. See below and 

comp. above, p. 848. 
i 



APPENDIX. 391 

closure two furlongs each way, with gates of solid brass; which was 
also remainiiig in my time. In the middle of the precinct there 
was a tower of solid masonry, a furlong in length and breadth, upon 
which was raised a second tower, and on that a third, and so on 
up to eight. The ascent to the top is on the outside, by a path 
which winds round all the towers. When one is about halfway up 
one finds a resting place and seats, where persons are wont to sit 
some time on their way to the summit. On the topmost tower there 
is a spacious temple, and inside the temple stands a couch of unusual 
size, richly adorned, with a golden table by its side. There is no 
statue of any kind set up in the place, nor is the chamber occupied 
of nights by anyone but a single native woman, who, as the Chal- 
deans, the priests of this god, affirm, is chosen for himself by the 
deity out of all the women of the land." ' 

In addition to this description of the city^s de- 
fenses Herodotus has also given an account of the 
supposed works of Semiramis and Nitocris/ but 
this is much less valuable than the passage quoted 
above. 

It is evident that Herodotus knew only of two 
walls, one of which had already disappeared in 
his day, and that he had no knowledge of the 
outer defense wall beyond Nimitti-Bel, which was 
begun by Nabopolassar and finished by Nebuchad- 
rezzar. We should therefore have a false impres- 
sion of the outer defense of the city were we 
wholly dependent on his witness. He has indeed 
obviously mingled what he saw by his own eyes 
with what he was told by his cicerone, and it is no 
longer possible to differentiate them clearly.' 

1 1, 178-181 (mstory of HerodotuB, by George Rawlinson, London, 1880, 
▼oL i, pp. 297-802). 

«I, 184-187. 

'Comp. Baumstark, sub voce Babylon in Pauly-WiBSOwa, BeaUncydO' 
padie der eUunachen WtMefUcha/t, ii. 




dua he hjd origiittlhr wrinen of a tbre^o&l de^ 
Cecse mil <4 the chr. aul dik k eotdEniKd foEv 
b J tLe p«a5ikg€& £r«3<n die lext of XebodadrezEu* 
v!t5ch Ic^wsl Hik k tnobslsxcd widk le ckee 
adheaoQ t!> die origiiul le posUe. in order no 
f^fphaxf- rtiereikce lo die BftbTiooim text or u> 
the tnmsascntioDS of it. to wludi recerenee k 
gxren in the noC€&. 



IT. « lB«v-Bei 

tie asms zaa^aRi cf Biirr^n 



GoL V. 1 ^esr 



$ t^ €H2HiDKsti of ti^ AnUn 



of b 



tLe peftee crf dioae tktt decade 



I 

* For Rf«B0tt 'A lezx aai tnaduMW «Br «£»««. |l Ui. mbt 1. 

tSif ^ me tool OHOB^nt <€ A 5!^ fl, 11 V 

t 



APPENDIX. 893 

15 nnto Ai-ibur-shabu, 

the street of Babylon, 

before the gate of BeltiSy 

with . . . bricks, 

for the procession of the great lord Marduk 
20 he beautified the road. 

As for me, his firstborn son, 

the darling of his heart, 

Imgur-Bel 

and Nimitti-Bel, 
25 the great ramparts of Babylon, 

I finished; 

the sides of the embankment of its moat, 

the two strong embankments, 

with bitumen and burnt brick I built, and 
80 with the embankment, (which) my father had con* 
structed, 

I joined (them), and 

the city, for defense, 

I carried (them) round. 

A wall of brick, 
85 on the western side 

the fortress of Babylon 

I threw around. 

Ai-ibur-shabu 

the street of Babylon 
40 for the procession of the great lord Marduk 

with a high top-covering 

I filled, and 

with . . . bricks 

and stone from the mountains, 
45 Ai-ibur-shabu 

From . . . gate 

to 



for the procession of his godhead 
50 I made fair, and 

with what my father had built 
I joined (it), and 
I beautified 
the road 



3U APPENDIX. 
55 

Of Imgur-Bel 

and Nimitti-Bel 

the portals 
60 through the top-covering 

of the street of Babylon 

too low had become 

their entrances. 

These portals 

I tore down, and 
CoL yi. 1 at water level their foundation 

with bitumen and brick 

I firmly laid, and 

with burnt brick and . . . 
5 of which bulls and huge serpents 

they make, the interior of them 

tastefully I constructed. 

Strong cedar beams 

for their roofing 
10 I laid over them. 

Doors of cedar 

(with) plating of copper ; 

lintels and hinges (?), 

of bronze, round its gates 
15 I set up. 

Strong bulls of bronze, 

and great serpents, 

by their thre^olds I set up: 

those portals 
20 for the astonishment of multitudes of people 

with beauty I adorned. 

In order that the battle-storm to Imgur-Bel 

the wall of Babylon, might not reach ; 

what no king before me had done ; 
25 for four thousand cubits of ground 

on the sides of Babylon 

far away, so that they should not come near, 

a mighty rampart on the east, 

Babylon I threw around. 
80 Its moat I dug, and the bank of it 



APPENDIX. 395 

with bitumen and brick 

I bound together, and 

a mighty rampart on its bank 

mountain high I built. 
85 Its broad portals 

I constructed, and 

the doors of cedar, with plating of copper, 

I set up. 

That foes 

40 the sides of Babylon might not approach; 

great waters, 

like the volume of seas, 

I conducted round the land, and 

the crossing of them 
45 (was) like the crossing of the great sea, 

of salt water. 

A breaking forth of them 

in order not to permit, 

with a bank of earth 
50 I embanked them, and 

walls of burnt orick 

I placed around them. 

The defenses skillfully 

did I strengthen, and 
55 the city of Babylon 

I made fit for defense. 



r 






w m 

r 



}*' 






i 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



AbM BalDt-HaitiD, I 

Abdl-Kheba ot Jenualem, letter ol, 

louDd at TeU-el-Anutnia, 1, jw. 
Abdili'U, U, 188. 
Abd-mllkot, II, W2, •as. 
Abd-or-rabmar, 1, 140. 
Abel-Bedi-HB'akii, II, izg. 

AbRW, 1.301. 

Abllakks, II, VX. 

Abl-mllkl d Tyre, letter at, toond at 

TeU-etAnuna. J, MS. 
Abl;ate, 11,278. 

Abii-Habba,l,!Wi U,ee. 

AbuUeda, 1, 100, 101. 

Abu (f) makhru, L lot. 

Abu^Sbabrefn, t, ^. 

Aeanla 1, 382. 

Actdemy, QlktUngeD, ot Sdences, 1, H. 

Aeademy ot InserlptioDa and BeUes- 

Lettrea, Frencb, I, loo. 
Aocad, languase ot, 1, 303; Origin ol 

UMWOld, I.S73. 

AcbgemoDldea, 1, 3S, 40. 

Adad. II, TO, 18. 

Adad-nlrarl I, king ot AstyriO. bu 
war witb Nazl^arutuuh, t 421; 
coaqueats. It, 10; war wltb Baby- 
lonia, II, 11; success of bis reign, 
11,13. 

Adad-Dirarl II. king of Assyria, II, 44. 
Adat^nlraH III, king ot Aranla, ex- 
peditions In tbe west, U, M; cam- 



soulbi^U, 97; assimilates relliloiis 
ot Assyria and Babylonia, iT, Mi 
estimate of hla reign, IL «e, looi 
refers to B«l-Kapkapu. Il,s; syn- 
CbronlaUc bistory maide In bis 
reign, I. 413. 
Adad-abuiD-lddiD, king ot Babylonia, 

1.422. 

Adad-sbum-QSur, king ot Babylonia, 



Adbem, i, 3T2, 38P. 
AdiunelaidL 1, «a. 
Adunu-Bai^, U, tt. 
ASeJ swamps, 1. 3U. 
Atgfianlstan, I. er, Ot 
Atrln, U, 0«. IB, 118. 

Agade. I, see, in. 
Agum-kakrlme. his 



seriptlon ol bis reign, I, 408, 404: 
blsroy^ titles, I, t04j his eiplolla. 

Agum-sbl. 1. '401. 
AgUSl, 11, U4. 



Akerkuf, I, 3M. 
Akb-en-Aton. 1, 24B. 
Akbliulcl, 11. in». 
AkhtTBbaba, It. 91. 
Akhuul, 11,74. 
AkurgaV 1,357. 
Akiirj!al II, 1,371. 
- -' . 1,300. 



Alaroi 
■ xa 

Great.'l,3». 
Alexander tbe Great, 1, IE, 328, 3 
Aleppo, 11, U, 7S, 78. 
AlJulJii, 1, 13. 
Almoud.l, au, 
Altaiiii. battle of. II, 198. 



Altl- 



iisbaribld, 1,'»9. 
n.var, t, 4W. 
Amuiiiu. Mount. I, 370; II, 13. 

Aniardlan. 1, 17^. ' 

AtDama. mi eM, 'W. 

Amarua. Tt^ll-el-, discovery ot letters 

Anibarldl,'ll, 167. 

Antbaris. il. ie7. 

Ameiiopbia 111, letters from Eadasb- 
man-Bel, I, 416; bis wltes (rom 
Babylonia, 1, 4111. 

AmenolihlB IV, I, 318, 248; letUra 
from BuniaburlBJh II I «8; let- 
ter from Asabur-uballlt. II, 8. 

klni 

3M ; his brief lelgn and ai 

tloD, 11, 3Se. 
Ammtsudugga, 1. sss; cbroaologleal 

Ublet iTom bis reign, 1, SU. 
Ammlsatana. 1, 38fi, 

L ol, 1, ; 

lasb-sbuE 

Amrapbel, l, 389. See also Bommui- 
abl 

An Iran. I, 43.' 

Aa-ma-an. 1. 996. 

AdubLi. BabyloQlan. as sources, 1, SU. 

Auqueal-Uuperron, Abrabon Hy*- 
ctntbe. carl; life, visit to India, 1, 
41; publlsbed Zend-Avesta, I, a, 
K, 08. 

Anllochln MyKitoalie, 1, 30D. 

Aniv-baulnl. f, 3ijU. 



INDEX OF SUBJECra 



Anzan^busIilnalE, 1,380, 
AnilWDe, Ii, as. 
Aphek, 11, ass. 
ApU-Sln,t,3B8,39fi. 
Aplrak, I, see. 
Apollodoros, 1. 280. 

Apre, Km. ■!>- 

Aprluoi, t, SS2. 
Arsblc, I,l0,l*,l3»- 

Arabla:! NlgbU, i, U8. 
Ammieauji. orlelual borne, and lalei 
devi^lopment In the west, li, 40 



Arbsllu, r. '.J99. 
Arban, ll, 61. 
Arbela. U. 49. SS. 
Archceoli^cal evidence t< 



Argana. it, 78. 7T. 

Arglatls, i,218; 11,113. 

ArglBtla II, U, 168. 

Arfbus, a 66. 

Artduri. 1, •a». 

Ariraena, 1. 218. 

Arlocb, I, 391. See alao Eri-AJtu. 

Anoeula, I, Wi. 

Arnienlan, 1, 10. 

Arne, II, w. 

Arpad, il. 118 130, IH. 

Arpakha. il, 102. 

ArrapHcbltis. 11, 102. 

ArraBblH, 1, 218. 

Arrlan, 1. 3es. 

Arsaolaa, u ■■■ -- 



Artemisia, 1. 8. 

Artsen, tTn9. 

Arrad, U, 81. 

ArzaDJa, U, 2U. 

Arzasbku,ll. SB. 

^h.tbe Ka-ssUe 

Aabdod, II. 124. 

As her, 1. 87. 

Ashnunbak, 1, 401 

Aanapper. 11, 346. See also AashUT- 
baaapal. 

Am, 1, 283. 

Ass, wUd. 1, 281. 

Assbur icliy). t. 297 1 II. 3; capital 
traasferred, II, 13 ; rebuilt by Tlg- 
latbpUeseT I, A, so, 78, 102. 

Assburfgod), l.ZM. 

' — ■- — •- — ipal, ItlL, 

cbiurac'tcr ol hla aoijals! ll, 247, 248 ■ 
eipediUon Into Egyrt, II. 249-2G1 ; 
Ute rebellion under Tanut-AmoD, 
11, SB2, K3i tbe coDtTOl o( EEVPt, 
ll,2n.2M) tbe taUot Tyre, Urife; 
eiperieocea wlU Ujvea, II, 2M, 
aSTl campaign asalnBtMan.ll. ZS7, 
2GB; dlfflculBes vltb Blam II 2S«- 
260; oonquest ol the Uambull, II. 
280; tbn rettenion at Sbamasb- 
abnm-ukln, II, 2ai-2eS; punishment 
of Chaldeans and ElanUtus, 11, ^eo- 



2T4 ; campaigns to ArsbU, U, 8T4- 
Zie 1 tbe last campaigns, 11277, 2)B i 
works at peace, tl, 27*^*18; bbH- 
mate ot bis reign, U. 2T9-282; his 
IdentttT wltb iCandalanu, 11, 297, 
398; BllUBlon to Kudur-nankhiuidl . 
t,8U. 
Aaahur-bel-kala, king ot Asarrla, U, 
Sli tranaferred capital to NlneTeb, 

Astbnr-bel-Qlsbeshu, king ot Assyria, 



imporarj ol 
isSD-shqm,U, 



dash, li, s; iiiB reign, 11, 5, 6: avn- 

cbrontsbe blstorj be^ns In lil» 

reign, 1, SM. 
AubordtiD, reterred to b; TlglaCh- 

^ser I, 1, 329; In conflict wltb 

Babflonlatu, 1, 42i; king of As- 

BTTia.il, 18. 
'-Bril. king ol Assvria, It. 44. 

n III, king 01 Assyria, 

decwr ot Asayrlan povrer, IL lol; 

rebeDions, 11, 102 ; eclipse ot ttao 

fim.il. ISE. 
Aasbur-danlnanl, U, 113. 
Assbur-davaii, il. TS. 
Asshur-erbl, king of Assyria, 11, 43; 

invades (lie west, il, 44. 
AMhiir«t»4U-aklnnl, king of Assyria, 

records of bis lelgn, 11, 383: his 

palaoe at Calatariir»3; text o^ 

Imaa at NIITer, 1. ML 
Aaalmrjgistaa, il, lis. 
Asahm-IP, U, 1«1. 
Asabnr-nadliHddn, king of AssTTiA, 

— < ^ KHrlgalm % i; 

n, U. 301 

Asshur-narara, kbig of Aasvria, il, it. 
AsahnmazlrpM I, Ring of Asaina, 

ABSb'urnailrpal II. lUog ot Asnrlat 

Asshurnazlrpal Ill.king ol Assyria. 
his prospects, 11. 4B; sources for 
hla reign, II. 47; reoelTes trlbut« 
from Klrrurl, tiozan, and Khu- 
buHhhla, conquers Qurkbl o( Bel 
tAni 11,49; iDvaslon of Kummukl^ 
; conquers BIt-Kbalupe. li. 



H; bis collection of trlbule. II, S^ 
Ml attacks upon tbe Sbublles and 
Babylonia. II, B7. 98; revolts ol 
Bbuhites and their conquest, II, E9, 
«0; takes Kap-rabl, IITSI ; b!a suc- 
cess over former trlbotary states, 
II. 62; the use of his anny, 11, fl3f 
beginning ol western campaign, 
II, S3, 64 i_EliB march throngh Faflti. 



103; estimate' of his 
Asshlir-rish-isbl, Icing ot Assyria, li. 



INDEX OF SXJBJECrrS. 



W; war wlUi Nebncludrezzer, 1, 
«t8, U,19. 

Aubur-nb»Ult, ktiig ot Aaayrls, Us In- 
TuloD Ot Babylmla, II, T. eant- 
palgn KBlnst tin abnbul, II, 1; 
letter to Ameaopbla IV, U, S; 
found atTeU«t-Aiiun]B,l,Me;lilB 
d&uKbWr nuuries Ku-HkhonlKsb, 
king o( Babylonia, I, 419. 

AmjtIs, boundaries ol, 1. ass, aw; be- 
ginnings o(, 1, 409; ctuonology ot, 

AufTten cbronologtcal material, t, 

813. 

Auyrian Eiploratlan Fund,!, 183. 

Assyriaiu. origin Id Babylonia. II. 1; 
a mllltaiy and commercial people, 
I, 308; civilization Inferior to 
Babylonians, 1, OK; progreas to 
tlie end Ot the reign of Tukultl- 
Klnlb, 11, It, le. 

.^nvrtum Siaanum, 1, ZTS. 

Aaton,!, TS. 

Atbur, Uentanant <rf NImrod, 1, 14L 

AtUIa, II. SS. 



UD,ll.l 



Baal worshiped In early BattjtIODia, 

Ba'^oITyre, II, 121. 

Baasba. It, n. 

Atbeiat-khlvai, II. n. 

Babll, 1. 2M. 

Babylon, l, 88. 89, SI. tSS. "ISt; II, '133, 
136; otigln ol tbe city imknown, 
I, 3«t ; chroDDlogy at eldltb dy- 
nasty. 1.34fi; deatrucUonOT^I, 211; 



Babytooian ChrODlcle A (arS),l,314, 

Babylonian Cbronlcte B. 1,314. 
BabyloQlaji Cbronlcle P, 1, SIS. 
Babylonian chtoDo logical materUls, 

Babylonian people, dernted to reU] 
and II* — ' ' -"■••—'--•-" 

xa. 

Bsgdatil, II, iw. 
Basbdad, 1. m. tai. 140, 142, I41 
BaEr-i-Nediit. 1. m. 
Balasu, il.iss, 220. 
Baiawat. i, £». 271. 
Balbl, Uasparo. U«7. 
BalUcb, 1, £71, 300; 11, 76, 73, IS 



Bassorab, 1, 163. 
Uau-akb-iddm, II, Br 



p' of dynasty of, 1, S 



BazI, chi'onology ol 
history of, n, 36. 

BttarLS, I, 282. 

Beaucbiunp. describes mounds at Bll- 
lab. I. loe. lOT; aaabb^snd amaa 
of learnloK, i, IW; observes are- 
iteniblaiicebetween perse polls and 
Babylonian cbaracters, 1. IDS; bis 
work makes considerable impres- 
sion In Europe, lOB. 

Bearer, I. 2MI. 

Beer, l.ai, «,!. 

Be bl stun I, 177. 

Beirut. II. 44. 

Bel, I.2S3. 2as: temple of. 1. ss, D7. 

Bel-barvL early ruler of Assyria. II. 3, 4. 

Belck, WBldemar, Important work od 
Cbaldeon texts, 1, 224; travels In 
Armenia. 1, 224. 

Belesys, II. 134. 

Bel^eui, 11, 260. 

Bel-lbuf, II, 20s. 

Bel-Kspkapu, ruler of Assyria, 11, 3. 

Bel-kudur-usur. king ot Assyria. II, IB; 
In conflict with Babylonia, 1, 423. 

Bellliio. secretary to C J. Bleb, 1.122; 
visits Babylon witb Porter, 1, 122. 

Bel-nadln-apllj king ot Babylonia, 1, 
127 ; boundary stone, 1. 318. 

Bel-nirarl, king of Assyria, rela- 
llous with Babylonia, I, 420, 11.8; 
conquests and war wilb Babylo- 

Bet-shar-uKur. II. 162. See also Bel- 



Bel.shum-LddlD. king of Babylonia, I, 

422. 424. 
Bel-sbiim-lsbkun. U, 3G6. 



.ts Baghdad. I, M; 
of Babylon, I. M, 
~ printed m 1M3, 



inBaoylonlaiihla. 

thi.t^ook, l.'sra. 260; chronoloKleal 

tables, I. 327, 328,332. 
Bey, 1, IIS. 
Beiold, Carl, opposes Hajflvy's view, 

I. 21'.'; discovers mentloD ol Su- 

merlaii iBiieuage, L,ai4. 
BIbniasbl. 1,401. 
Blbelaahu, king ot Babylonia, I, 422. 



INDEX OF SUBJEOra 



■qI-^u-bU, ton of 

Blroli,'SaiinieL Brat prasldeiit ol 80- 

-■-^ — "'^■--'Arohseology.l, IBS; 

ge gmltti, to 

ftddressbe- 



. ueLl 

cletyotBibllL 

Mlla fttteatlon otOcoige 
Cypriote, 1, 2»r —>■-"-' 



frae Soc'letr ol BItdtoal Arclue- 
BInUdiu' U. m. 



BlBbTl, Mount, Jl. 28. 
Blt-AdlaL.U, 00,01.74. 
Bit-Ainukluuil, U. 304, 

BltKbam&BDrtl. 8T. 
Blt-KMrmADl, tl, ISZ. 
Bltaagbnt, U, les. 
Blt-Sumurzu. IL, 112. 
Blt.Ciiiatal, It, IKE. 
BltODMn.l^KH; plb,tSS. 
BltYakln. U. 170, UL 
BlackbLrd, 1, wa. 
Black Sea, 11. 28. 
Boerlab, I, TV. 
Bobt&n. 11, 1H. 



U. 164. 



■wT^ 



._ ._. ._.. 1, MIUUIUWU lU 

British Museum. 1.334, 
:ta. Piiiil Enill.l'' iippolQted Frencb 
comul &t Hoaul. 1, IZTi aearcbes 
Mosul for iuscrlptiona id lam, 1, 
laoi beeliu to dis at KuyuDllk, 1. 
81: not mucb success, I, 132: de- 
teimlnea to try digglna at Kbor- 
■abod, 1, 1312 : Importiuit olscoveries 
■ -' - ■ — dlfflcultlB! ■ 



permitted t 






cease work, 1, 13B ; 



ja bis discoveries. 1. 18B: 

declpben some words, 1. laa. 

Boulwiilc, II, 48. 

BoundarlesoIBabyloDlauid AsbttIb, 

Boundary stooe of Bel-uadln-apll, 1,816. 
Bread from palm tree, 1. 283. 
Brlek», manutaeture ol, 1, 2s«. 287. 
Brown, Pruicls. member of Oriental 

Society, I. 239. 
Bruin. Cornells de. visits Pentepolls 

and copies Inicrlptloas. 1. 3i. 

Bubu, II. 40. 

Budee, E, A. WalllB. bougbt part of 

Tell-^l-Amania collection, I. 249; 

repeated visits to Orient, 1. Wi. 
Budullu. 11, IM. 
Bumaburiasti I, contemporary of Pa- 

zur-As9biir,l,4iej a great builder, 

1. 417. 
Bumaburiasb II becomes king of 



Babrlonla about 1400 B. C, 1, 418; 
letlers ol Ma to AjnoDopbla IV, L 
418. 

Bumoul. Eugane, studies llogulatlc col- 
lecttons of Anquetll-Duperraa, 1, 
42; BliesAvestaD grammar a ad- 
entflc baals. I, SCT flnda list of 
countries In InscriptloD of Naksb- 
l-Bustam, 1, W; Ms poUUon, 1, K, 
86, ST ; correspondence with Baw- 
linsoD, I, flB : attemMs to dedpher 
Flower's copies, 1, IL 

Bnr-SIn 1. 1, VK. 

Bor-ein II, i, sn. 

Bustud. 1, 183. 

Bawartje, El, 1, 282. 



Calah, I, S9T, •OS; 11, 13, lOe, IBL 

CaUlsULenes,l.xn. 

Camel, t, 2M. 

"i^algii inscriptloiis as sonreea, 1, 

Canaaotte names In Brat dyiustr of 

Babylon, 1, 390. 
Canal syatem, 1, its. 
Oanning, Sir StralfOTd. 1, 143. 
Caat«iii3r. DImltri, t, 8a 
(larobemisb. h, 41, 64. K, 88, W, 111, 



Carreri, see OemeUI-CanerL 

Carrbee. 1, 3DI. 

Cartwrlgbt. Jobo, I, M; deserMlaa of 
MlneTCb, I, M. 9B; hears of tbe BBr< 
den of Eden near BabyioD, 1. SB; 
conluMs Baghdad aiid Bitbylon, 

itaonta, 11. 29. 

.ivala, 1, 13. 

Cayliu vase, U iso. 

CeylOD, 1, 138. 

ChabetmlDar, 1, 7B. 

Cbaldeao, old.l.xn. 

CbaldeaDs, origin and rsdal oonneo- 
Uons, 1, 810; tbelr early derelop* 
ment, 1. BJl ; process of tbelr de- 
velopment, II. SOO-303. 

Cba1dla,11.B3, 123, 186. 

Cbaldlan texts copied and deciphered, 
1, 2U-2a4. See also VBnnlc 

Cbom. tee Ham. 

Chardln, Sir John, bora lu 1613. 1, M: 
vtslt to Persepolls. I. 24: copied 
Inscriptions, 1. Hi bis copies oon- 
flrm previous supposiUons, 1, x. 



tbe west, \, 881; IdeatlAoatlon of 

Cbelmlnlra, 1.8, TS. 

Cblck-peas, 1, 282. 

Cboaspes, I, 94. 

Cboser, 1, 128. VO. 

Cbronlcle, Babylonian, A (or S), i, Sli. 

Cbronlele. Babylonian, B, I, 314. 

Cbronlcle, Babyloolan, P, 1, 3U. 



INDEX OF SUBJECrrS. 



ChioDologlDal toaterials, BabjtoDlui. 

tables of. 1, 336-348. 
1 Tablet of Djnast; 1, 

GluiiMsba, see Xenes. 
ClTlUzatioD In eaclj Babylonia, i, 3S0. 



T. W. ft,. ' 



Cord^r. Henri, US. 

Colton. Sir Dodmore. Enalish ambas- 
Bador to Persia, I, K; landed ai 
Gombrun, 1, is, died at Caiblo, 1, 



Crusades reawaken European Inter- 
est in tbn Orleiit.l.M. 
CuneLIorm, the word uaed by Hyde, 



i,Eev. 1 



, 1,11 



tMretl 

-Cyprloie, attempts to decipher, 1, six. 

Cyprus, il 17& 

'Uyrua, king of Ansban, il, sto; kin*: 
of the Haada, il.37t; king of Un- 
Persians. <l. 3TI ; eilcnt oFnls em- 
pire, It, 3T2; titffeabt Crcesun. li. 
Sra, 373; his army la Babylouiu., 
II, 3IG 1 takea Babylon, 11, sni. 



Dadda-ldri. see Ben-Hadsd IL 

Dally TelegNvb, proprietors ol.setid 
George Smitb to Assyria, t, 231 ; 
discovery of tiutber deluge tab- 
lets. I. 231. 232. 

Dalukku, il. les, 1S3. 

Dalts, II, 1ST. 

DBmasous, ll,41,7B,TB.eD.81.BZ,B3,M. 

101, lu, m, 12T, 12S, 1S9. iM 131. 

133, 139. Ue. 

Dam-kl-Uu-abu, 1, 396. 

Daniel, I, b;. 

Danube, 1, 271. 

D'Anvllle, writes paper on the site of 
BabyloD, i.lOl; attempts to prove 
that Baghdad la not Babylon, 1, 

Darayavabush. see Darius. 

Darheugh, see Darius. 

Darius, 1,02, 60, ec, SB, 69. 

David. \l. 43. 

Dayaem. 11,113. 

Dayan-Aaabur, 11. 75, 86. 88. 

Dean 0! St. Paul's, 1, 196. 

Deocke, W.. 1, 210. 

Delltzscb, FHedrlch, uses the word 



It, 1, 213; bis grammar well re- 
ceived, 1, 213 1 his dictionary criti- 
cised. I. 213; abandons HalAvy's 
views, I. 214 : advocates formation 
ol Qerman Orient Soolety, 1, 34S, 

DBrbent-l, 79.B0, 

Dllir))eklr'li,21,4S, S2. 

Dllbat, 11. SSI. 

DOmuu. n. 177. 

Dlwaulypb. 1. 2T3. 

Dlyuleh.i, 2T2, 

Down, Couuty. 1, 70. 

Dream of Axshurbfinapal, 11, 2T1. 

Dubllu. I, 71. 

Duuanu.' 11, 260. 

DuDgl I. 1, 291. SIS: bis buUdlngs In 
different cities, 1, 376. 

)angl 11.1,377. 

>ur-Assbur, II. 60. 
Dur-Atkbara, II, 174. 
Durdukha. II. 166. 

Hir-llu, 11, 163. 

>ar-KurlEalzu. 1. 296 ; U, lOS. 

Jur-Ladinua, 11. 176. 

>ur-Nabu, II, 174. 

lur-Papsukal. II, 95. 

)ur-8barruklD, 1, 299; 11, 162. 
Dur-Tukuttl-apal-eahaira, II, 1 10. 
Dur-Undasl. 11, 27L 
Dushi, I, 401. 
Dushratta. letter of, found at Tell-et- 

Amama. 1, 249. 
Dust storms, 1, 278. 



Ea-ga-ml 



r. Iiing of Babylonia, 11, 

E-Auna, 1. 292. 

Eannatum defeats Bemltes and sets 
up a great commemoratWe stele, 

EarlyBabyloiila, cbronoIagT of, U 837. 

East India Company, orders search 
made for Babylonian inscriptions, . 
LllO; examination of ihelDscrlp- 
llons thus found, 1, lt3: bas Klch 



survey of Nineveh district, 1, 171. 
E-babbara, il. 364. 
Ebiahum, 1.396. 
Edubar, i, 38T. 

Eclipse of tbe sun, 1, 324; II, 101; 
Eel, I, 283. 
Egg plants, U 282. 
Egyptian Inscriptions as soarces, tor 

cbronology, 1, 336; lor history, 1. 

Elgbtb dynasty, chronology of, I, S4S. 
I!-Kbarsae-kurKura, 1,297. 
E-kbulkhul. 11, 367. 
Ekron, II. 124. 194. 
Ekur, 1, 361, 366, 420. 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



BlBm, 1, aU; Ebronolosy of dynftaty 
or.l,3««. 

XlMolM king ol BAbyloula, II, X. 

KlBtb, II. lai. 

Eldred, Jobn. rlsiu Orieat, 1, 8S; de- 
scribes tower ol Babel, 1. M( coo- 
fuses Basbdad auCt BBbjloo, 1, 
91. 

Elepbant. 1, 2st. 

Eleutberos, II. be. 



iliutia, 1, w. 
. :lu]lab. 1, ZT_ 

Fertility of Babjlonla, 1, tn, an, m. 
Field, Ferez HmMlngs, architect at 

first PennaylTvila expedition to 

Babylonia. 



En-anna-tuma 11. 1. K8. 



Enl-al, 

BdIIu. II. 121. 

Unne-Uguii, kiDg ot Kish, oooqaered 
by Sutoerlaos, I, 3M. 



Erba-A(fad, king or AMyrla, U, 13. 

Erbll, 1, 300. 

Breeb,l.l61, WI,37G. 

ErtAku, king ol Laraa. I. 38i: his 
tiUe», I. ^i Ideotlty with Atloob, 
l,aei. 

Eriilu. I, wa, ■^, 

Erzerum, I. IHO. 

B-«a«lla, 1.396; 11,350. 353,363. 

SsarbMdoD, klnu ot Auiyria, auUifrl- 
Itles tor his relga IL 316; be^D- 
nlng^of bis releii. 11. 217: ovur- 
cooies rebels, hTsiS; beglus to 
rebuild Babylon. U, as, 218: war 
Httb Chaldean tribes, il, 230. £ili 
tetusal to pur trlbuts In the west, 
U, XO, 233; ftnt westward onm- 
palgn. II. 2»-2S8: detenaltiatlonto 
attack Bgypt, 11, 228 ; conquest oF 
^ypt, Il,la0-3S1 1 raids Id Arabia, 
IL m-ws; Indo-European lufa- 
Btons, li. 38»-2Mi eannnlgn In 
Media, 330, 317; moTamenta of Ihe 
IndcvEnropeaiis, U, 398, an; bis 
lost camp^BDS II, M>-iu; dlffl- 
oulUes and greatness ot bis relfn, 
n, 2M.-aW; vandal treatment ot 
Inscilptloiis ul Tlglathplleser 111, 
II. lOfr- 107; claims desoeat tram 
Bet-banl, II, M. 

Esdraekin. ll, B. 133. 

E-sbid-lam, 1, 2»e. 

Eskl-Mosul, 1, 100, lOL 

Etblopia, II, 128. 

Etbobal,ll. 1DG,2Z2. 

Bulbar, L 885:11, ssG. 
Eulbar-sbakln-shum, king of Baby- 
lonia, II, so. 
BupbrMes, II, M, M, TO; aouroe ol 



First djmasty ol Babylon, abroaologr 
ol, I, S38. 

FlandlD, E., 138. 

Viewer, I, 24, 33 ; copies ol Persepoll* 
lDacrlptl<>u<>, 1. 74; the lanKusgea 
Id them. i, 7B, 77; these copies pro- 
duce a retrovrade moTeawDi, 1, 
77; come into tbe hands ol Grote- 

Fourth dynasty, chronology ol, 1, 343- 

344. 
Fresuel, Fulgence. I. ISS. 

a 

Gabres, 1, 75. re. 



«"^'''»"j.Mi-. . 



tieere. archlteet ol tonrtb campaign 

at 'KlfTar I -UK 



description of the ruins, 1, 33, 27 : bis 
copies of inscriptions, 1. «; ttwy 
are sbown not to be orlgbal, I. Wi 
blsplcture of platform at Persepo- 
lia also borrowed, 1, 28; doubt as 



so, 1,2; 

K.w^lmln-an-kl, II, 3U. 
Erll-merodaeb, see AmU-Harduk. 
Expedition UsU, Assyrian, 1, 321, 



Genealogleal datalli uaeAiI for obro- 

nology, I, 322. 
Georgian, 1. 220. 
German expedlUoD ill Babylonia, 1, 

247,243. 
German Orient Society, 1, 346, MT. 
Ghalalama., 1. 371. 
G animu, 11, IB. 
G hiBRin, I, Bfi. 
G 1pad.ll, 120. 
Q luin. It, 77. 
G rklshar, 1, 318. 
G rau. 1, 2S1. 
Gladstone, W. S., 1, tM; addreH be- 

lore Soelety of BlbUcal Aietue- 

ol(i)[y, 1, 330. 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



eoftt, 1,383. 
tiobmtt, II, 318 . 
a<lg,V,2K. 
G(^Ui, I. 2T0. 
Oombo teatUs, 1, 382. 
God, II, W. 

OOBhtasp, see HysUtpei. 
Gfnlngen Academj <a Selenoes. 1. M 
Gouves, AutODlo de. AugUBtJalao trl 
Br. Kent as missionary to Penis, i 

war OD the Turks, 1. T; vlslla Per 
sepolls, I, g-lO; his account bet- 
ter tliBii that D( Odorlc or Barburo, 
1.11. 

Goian, li, 4S, I6L 

Oral.Tbeodor. I. 249. 

Greek writers as sources lor blstory, 
1,3)8. 

Griffins, I. IS. 

Groats, 1. 283. 

OroCe. l.'lSS. ' 

Grotetend. Oeorg Frledrloh, bom i 



A GOttineen. I. la 



iduced to stud] 



4S ', Ideotnies the expression 
" king ol kings." I. 49 ; dnds the 
word ton, I, Bl ; begins U> search 
for kings' names, 1. 51: the names 
Darius and Xeries Ideotiaed, I, 
0! ; the name of UTStaspes, I, ra ; 
translaws InacriptfoiiB fn part, I, 
M; publishes his results. I, fit>; 
later work largely abortlTe, 1. BT : 
bis position, I. 82; sees Flower's 
copies. I, «i. 

GrUnwald. Morltz, 1. 210. 

Uubbe, II. l». 

Gudea. palesl □( Sblrpurla, I, 388 
gr<!at building operations. I, 



llvillzv 



GuldenstBdt. V 81. 
Gulklsbar. 1.318, 3M. 
Gulls, 1, 283. 
OungUDU, I, 37T. 
Qurgum^ll. 121. 



Gutlnm, 11,9. 10. 

Guyard. IJtanlalas, begins to decipher 
Vaiuilc(Cbaldlu), 1.221; reviews 
the work of uayce, 1. 223 : supports 
HalSTy.1,211. ■ r.~ 

Garuhl.l, Ml. 

Quzanu, II. 102. IGl. 



Hager. Joseph, writes Important book 
on Babyloclaa Inscriptions, 1, 110; 
connects the Babyloiilan Inscrip- 



tions with the Persepolls text! 1, 
111 ; the creBt Isfluenm of his 
book, 1. ll£ 

Hslebe, ii, ca. 

Haleblyeh, El II, 80. 

HalfiTy, Joseph, writes a series of pa- 
pers denying the exlsteoce of the 
Sumerlan language. I, 207 ibis brtl- 
llant presentatloD of bis case, I, 
208; his position sharply attacked, 
1.209; replies to his critics, 1,210; 
wins some adherents, I. 211. 

nallcBrnnssus, 1, 143. 

Halll Bey. 1. 2N). 

Hall, Isaac H.. member of 



Hamath, it, '41, 7S, 79, 81, 119, 121, 130, 

Hamdy Bey. I. 280. 
Hamilton. Aleiander, 1. 07. 

HammiunA'li.t.Ul. 

Hammurabi, king ol BabylOb, bis 
reign begins a new era, L S88; 
unflesairBabylonia,l,3S8,aw; his 
Identity with Amraphel, 1, 389; tn- 
acriptlon concerning canal, 1, 391 ; 
his bolldlnes Id Babylon and Bor- 
Hlppa, 1. Mi,SB3:tbe gloryot his 
reV. .1| ^; blB, later Influence, t. 



393; blB later In . _, 

-*~ of, found at Slppar, I, 
s temple tn Lsna, 1, 



lablf 

SSI.' 
Hananlah,1.8I. 
Hanno. 11, 131. 128. US, IH. 
Harper. Robert F.. Aasyrtologist of 

nrsli Pennsylvania eipedluon, I, 

Harpoot. see Kbarpoot 

Hauran, 1, SOO, 387 388. 

Hatthepsowel, ruler of Egypt. II, 4. 

UaupLF., Important book oo Suroo- 
rianfamllylaws, I. 211. 

Hauran, the. 11. 82. 

Hawks, I. 283. 

Haynes. J. H., member at Wolle ex- 
pedition, I. 890; business manuer 
ol nrst Pennsylvania expedition. 
I nil. .!-..„• second campaign, I, 



Hebrew bowls, loond 1 



341. 

Hebrc' 



, t, 

jt ol tbelr power 



luPaiestlQe,il, 4i,fc>. 

Hella. wv Hillah. 

Herbert, Tbomas, member of lOMtt of 
Sir U. Cotton, 1, Ui aooonnt of 
visit to Perarpolis. 1. 18, 1>; later 
description, I. so-'s: eewf of In- 
scription, i, 23; small InODence of 
his copies, I. W. 

HerDdDtti.<. place of his birth and bis 
early trnlnliig, 1. 203; the value of 
bis history, I. 2Kt, M4i Sayoa's 



404 INOEX OF SUBJECTS. 

critlclam, 1, W3; on fertUltr of Ignorance of Babylon aai NlneTeb 

Babrloii[&, 1, 280. 28L belore Urj). 1, 1. 

Hermon, II, SI. Igur-Kapkanu, rutut ol AJSTTlk, li, 3. 

Herons, 1,282. tlDn, U. IS. 

Hezeklah,!!, US,188,1M. itii-idad, II. El. 

HlelOKlypblc Egyptian teiti as lliibaul, 11, S2. 

■ouioes, 1, 2ST. IJ'»t)[(ll, II. 1S4, 1R5. 

Hlllab, 1. ST. IDT, 130, 108, ns, IBL , Iiiigiir-Bel. tl. :m. 

BlipreDht, HenDana v., Asarnologut imtueru, 1, 3a;. 

onarstPeiinsrlTBiilBexiMdltloii,l, ladB-btgssb. 11, TW. 

H); director o( musaum in PbUa- labl-BeT. IJ, 174,17s. 

delpbla, 1, 9(3: dUeotor ol toiirtb Iran. 1, ti. 

ctunpaljiD In Babyloiilti,l,24S; bU Irunzu. 11. 157, isa. 

dlsUnglUSliedierTlcea, t,3t& Irlsbmn. ruler of AssTTla, 11,2. 

Binek^Bdward. bom atCork,l.Tl; Irkbiilltia.il, T6,Te.TT,W. 

educated at Trinity Oolleiie, 1,71} Inab.l.^T'A 

— a aoW mediU, I, Tl; setlled at Isaiftli.l, M, — " — — 

Uyleagh, 1, Tl 1 atudJed mattae- labuln, 1,219. 



KlUy&agh, 1, Til atudJed mattae- labuln. 1,219. 

inatlos and later pubtiabed He- lahakku. title of eailf Asayrian 

brew grammar, 1, Tli II Is not rulers, II, 2: ibe bcElDDlllBB ol 

known when be Drat studied Prr- esTly AssyrlaD labakke, U 4ni. 

aepolia InacrlptloDa.l, Tli worked labblcarra, I. are, 

Indapendeotly of HawllnBoa at Jsb-tu-bal, 1. We. 

firat, I, Til Bist memoir, I. 71; iNbmael, li, 333. 

works on Assyrian, I, IIS; read) Ishme-DaKaii. 1, 3TG; 11, 2; referred ta 

papers thereon before Royal Irlsb by Tiglatbplleser 1, 1, K2S. 

Academy, I, ISS: makes a Eiest Ishpakal. 11, 234. 

oontribntlon to tbe snblect, (,iin; ishpuiaisb. 1, 218. 

Tiiakea a tranalallon, f, 1ST, 188; tstatar.l, 2n2, 3es; ttae Isbtar gate ol 

«lTon!ateB a mper on Assyrian Babylon, li,3t(. 

Terb forma at British AsBoclaQoa, '-'- ' — '■' 

1, 192; pubtlRbes a Ibit a[ cbar- 

aotara, I, US; trmnslates aylloder naatr, 1,34a-3U. 

of Tt^^pUeser, 1, 196] pu& forth Ismail TaHba, 1, 14n. 

jifpoQiaala that cunelfarm script laogiii. 1, 2II. 

T»as iUTBDled by Intlo-Europeana, lapabara. il. 190, 

1, IDI: explains certain pecullarl- larael. il, T5. 79, 127, 129, 13L 

-nea rd Aooadifui language. 1. Sfa. Issuei, liuir of. jl, 29. 

-aosi uses name Old Cbaldean In- ic'amar. II. lOL 

stead ol Aecadian, i, 200: makea Ilti. ii, 161. 

mui^h progress m dedpherint; lUI-Bel, i,3i>«. 

Chaldlan language, I, ns, 219. Izdubar (tiligamesb), I, 229. ' 
nindlyeh, 1,273. 
Hltom. II, 121. 

Hit, I, 27^ J. 

Hittltes. 11, H. 96. Janoah. II. 139. 

Hog, 1, 28i. Jaquet. I, SI. 

Horwan,l,4M; 11,88,89. Jeconiah (Jeholachin), U, 318. 

Holzniann,Ado1I,l,82; otrersatrans- Jeboahaz, 11,812. 

latioQ ol Flower's copies, 1, Bs. Jehoiachln, II, 318. 

Honey, I, 283. Jeholaklm, 11, 312, 817. 

Hophra, 11. saO. Jebu.l.22Ti 11.81.82. 

Horse, 1, 2St. Jenaen, P., opposes HalAyy, UIU. 

Hoahea. king of Israel, name Identl- Jerabia IJerablus), II. M. 

fled en Assyrian text, 1, 228 ; U, Jereml^, 1, 2SS ; il, 322, 323. 

12S, 140. It4, lu. Jerusalem. 11, 199-201, 20L 

Hunger, InHueni^ of. In early con- Jonah, 1. fs. 

quest li 3B1. Jones, Felix, surreys Ihe Nineveh dis- 
Hoi, 1, 3. trfct, 1, ITl. 

Hyde. Tbomas. publlsbes book on Jordan, II, 128. 

religion of the Persians, I. TT; re- Joslah defeated and killed at Uegiddo, 

produces Flower'a copies, and il,3ii. 

calls tbe method ot wrlung ounei- Jotham. 11, 123. 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Ksdaslinisa-BuTliiah, king of Baby- 
lonia, contemporur o( Shalmao- 

XwUslmiaii-KWbe I. king of Babf- 
loDl a, coDducta a campatzD sgalnit 
tHe Sutu, I, 41Si killed Id a rebel- 

llOD, 1, 419. 

Kadasbman-Kharbe II. king of Babjr- 

Kadoslimiui-TuiKU.klngotBabTloQla, 

Kaempfer, Eogelrecbt. Sermiui nat- 
luallst. studied bauny m Jacon, 
1, W ; copied lascrlptloiia al Per 

BGpotlS. (, 30. 

Xalssriyeb, II, in. 

KaIz,l!,«7T 

Kalah Sbergat, 1. 1S6, U8, m. 

Kaldl. eeoKrapby of tbe land ot, 1, 388. 

Kaldu. i, 310; il, G8. 3e« also Cbot- 



Kalparuda, il, ts. 



idab. 11. IM. 

-. king ft Babylonia, his 

Identity wllb Auhurbanapal, li, 

297, 2D8. 

Xaoaubanlnl {Anubanlnl), i, 3Sl. 

Kap-rabi. II, 61. 

KaralndAsb. Insorlptlan ol bis, i, 4131 
relatloDS with AssyrlH. 1.413; allu- 
slun to bis reign In syncbToalstlo 
bistory. 1, 414; ayncbronlstlo bli- 
tory begins m nl9 reign,!. 324. 

Karakbardasb, king of BBbylonia. 
merries Muballlcat-Sberua, 1. 418; 
no knowledge of bis rqlgn, 1, 419. 



Kardunyasb, tbe c^ 

BS. 
Kar Nabu. K. 102. 



jl, 11.18,93. 

Kasdim, 1.310. 8«e alsoCbaldean. 

KM&tarld.lI.!3S. 

Eair, El. mound or, i, 247. 

KMsbu. tbe. origin, 1. 399; tlielT rela- 
Uonsbip to Koasseans, 1. 309-, and 
to tbe Klsslans, 1, 399 ; to be called 
Kassltes. I, 400; Lieo. 

Kasshu-niullii-akbe, king of Baby- 
lonia, II. 36. 

Kassltes, 1. 400. See also Kasshu. 

Kassite dynasty, dironalogT of. 1,310- 
"42; history of. 1. 3Sa^4£L 



. See also Hairno. 



Jtbarpoot, 1. 271, 272. 
KharaaB-kHlaiaa, li. 377. 
Jibiiturlkku. Il, 101. 

Kbazenab.'i. 172. 
Xbindauii. li, 09. 



Kborsabad, 1. 130. 133, 134, ISC, 136, 13B, 

Its, isa. IBS. 299. 
TCbubisbna. 11, 121. 
Khubusbktu. li, 49, 38, 94. 
Kbula. II, KL 
Kbulle. ll, lill. 
KbumbHiilKiiab. II. U3. 
Kburbiitllu, kiHE i)[ Elam, 1, 420. 
Kbutdlstaii. 1, m, 
Klakkl. II, 1B7. 
Kt-an-iil-bl, 1,39G. 
Kidney beans, 1.282. 
KI-Kal-dara-bar. t. 398. 
Kilkbi. li, 118, uo. 
Klllyleaeti. I. 70.71. 
KJnitIlB,1l. 118. 
King List A. L 313. 
King List B, 1.313. 
KlngLlatC. I, 3- 
Ktniia- • -"" 



Bnbel, ). 08; ro- 



Klnklp! li, ^ 
Kirbit,ii,2M, 
Xircber. Atbanaslus, 

on tlio tower of 1 

celvert tbe Drat 

tlqulty In Europe, I, 98. 

Kimirll 1^48140. 

Kiabian, 11' 116. 
Kistlans, 1. 399. 
Kitlula. II. 7U. 
Klaprolb, 1, 80, 81. 
KleltarcLos, I.36B. 

Koldew(<y, Robi>rc, director of eipedU 
tlon In Babylonia, 1, 3a. 

Komieans, I, 399. See also KaBSbD. 
KCesla.1. bis early lUe. I. 201 ; his hla- 
tnry of Persia, 1. 201 ; Its value and 

KuJiir-Del. king cif iTubylonla. 1. 401. 



KuduT-Mabuk, a prince of E-matbal, 



Babylonia, 1. 380. 

Kndnr-nucbnmar, 1,390. 

KuUani, II, &l. 

Kummukb, II. 23. 32, 4S, SO, M, 89, 78, 78, 

114. ll^ IIB. 131, ITT. 



INDEX OF BUBJECm 



KuDdu, iC 22r>. 

KUDUlUS. II. «>< 

Kurdlataii, 1, 



t. tn-, cmitemMraty of Ajibur- 
naillD-akbe nf Assyria. 1. 41T.4U. 

KnriRalzu IL king ot Babylaai^ con- 
quers Elam. I, 430; cunptiiKD 
ogolaat Assyria. 1, va). 

Knrnali. [.ZI3. 

Kusblla. 1.300. 

Kusbtiuhpl. II, 114, 121 

Kutlift,!, &S,3T6; ii. US, 

Kutl. H, IB. 

KuyunJiK, I, 1». 131. 133, 140. 14% lfi3, 
U6, ISO, 235. aw. 



Labarosoarchodoi. aee Labuhl-Hor- 

duk. 
Labasbl-Mardnk, klag ot Bsliyloold. 

LabaAsnracho!!, see IjttiiMtti-Marduk. 
.agam&r, I. 390. 



«raa, 1.2)1; II. 3C1. 

^irab, king of GuU, 1,300. 

«ssen.ituiireBlistoliia(iieBatNaksh- 
l-RuatsiD. I, ne-, dHcorers syllHbic 
ObarKter ot Feralso. I. go, ei, 62, 
eJi correipoDdii wltli Ratrllnson. l. 
a9( bU work, known to Ulncks, 1, 



Laysrd. Austen Henry, bam In Paris. 
1. 138; liillupucQd by rexjUne Kleh's 
iDurnnl, I, 138; seeks a cnreer In 
Ceylon, i. 138; but cban)^a his 

Aaia, I, 139; visits Kuyunjlk and 
Neby TuniiB. l, 140; his account 
ot » rislt to Nlmroiid, I. 140-142; 
■ecood Tlslt to Mosul. L 143: re- 
MlTM k matll tarn from sir 8mu- 
tont CaimlDg foreieavntlonandre- 
tnm* to Hoanl, 1,143; tbenlgbtbe- 
lore boElnnlngeicaiaUnDS. 1. 144; 
aooomiE of Ml first eicavatlons, 
i, 14»-U»; bis Bkiri in narraOTS 
and uae ot biblical comparlsong, I, 
IBS; the winged bulls wblob he 
found had orfglnally stood at the 
portals of pftlMC of Shalmaoeser L 
I. 1113: made sonM attempts on 
mound ot Kuranltk. 1. US: antlqul- 
tles presenteo to BtIUsIi Huseum, 
I.1M: work resnmedlnlMl,!, IM; 

■aristed by BaMas*. I. T '- 

remarkably suoces^u. 



iiailk, 1, IM; pre 
Ibis work. 1. ■161 



Isseot toCon- 



Slaoe of Sennacoerlb. I,1S7*, oon- 
ci«d cxcavaiioDS u Kjtiali 8ber- 
Kat, Nlmroud. and Khorsabad. I. 

158; his books touch the popular 
heart, I, i»; flods ir-~-'"«"— ■ — 



Lebnuon. II. 06. IM. 
Le Brun, I, BB, 

LehmuDa, Carl. dlscusMS tbe Sume- 
rlan questions, 1. S14; important 



Leuurmanl gives a selentlDc ireatlsp 
on Suinerlan grammar, I. XH, lUft : 

Eapers on people ol AoFsd and 
m Turanliuis lu Clialdea and Id 
western Asia, i, 20B; opposes 
Hal^vy. I, aw; attempts to de- 
cipher Cbaldian, 1, 210. 

LenOfa. 1, 282. 

Leopard, I, ase. 

UM, II, 48. 

Ubltlshtar, 1.378. 

Llboah. II. ■xa. 



LI'lau. li, 109. 

LoewensUlD. Isidore de.begbis to de- 
cipher Assyrian. I, uo; suggests 
that Assyrian belongs to Bemltlo 
family i.iHi. 

Lottos. wlUlBm Kennett, aent oat as 
KHOloglst to the Orient. 1. UO; 
vMts mounds In Babylonia. 1. 160; 
account oF mound ot Haminaiii> 1, 
ISO. im ; carries on excavations ar 



„jra's work. I. ITI. 
ongperier. Adrlen de. translates a 



a.11. &. 



Lu^l-kigulHddudu. king of Erech, 
tlngol Cr.l, STL, 373. 

Lagal-I^salsl. son of Lugalzag^. i, 
3BE) his kingdom. LsSe; 121^371. 

Lugalushumgol, vsasiU ot Sargon 1. 1, 
307,388. 

Logalzaggisl text of, found at Nl&er, I, 
341; conquers Bumerlans. I, 3M; 
makes Ereah eapltsl and Nippur 
chief rellgloua center ol his kuig- 
dom, t,IM; hlaaceountof blsTlo- 
torles I, SSS; f j-^-- -• 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Loll,!. Mil tiue. 

lulBime. II, aa, UL 
LuluU, i, see. 

LuJublnl, I, Ml. 
LutlprK II. «S. 

Lion, D. u., nemlMr of Amerfcui 
Orlenui Society, I, z». 



Herod sob-bkladui, U, liu, US, 



ikJ^,u| 



Mllliii, k. L., pabllahet » Babjloalan 



Huan.l. M6. 
H^. II, ST. 

HalBUyeb, 1, STOj U, Za. St. 

Mallk-rammu. II. IW. 

Han, U. ise. im. 

Mandft, name ol a ooQWdlc people, 
II, 28»; tbelr attack upon (he As- 
■yrtaiu, II, SSe-Wl: tbell destruc- 
tlon of NlneTeb. li, iK ; their Bhare 
In AssyrlBD tenilort, 11, SMitliH 
development of Ujefr power dui- 
iDg tberelgnot Nabonfdiu. UiSeS- 

Handelalo, J. Albert de. traveled In 
the Baat, 1. is ; account of InMrip- 
tlona at Persepolla, 1, a). 

HandevUle. Sir Jobu, 1, BS. 

HulsbtnBu,i.3«D. 

Hap of Nlneyeb made by Felix Jones. 

Uariluk.'l, 2M. 

Marduk-akbe-liba, king ol Babyloola. 
1.428. 

llarduk-apal-lddln,l.413. 

Harduk-balalsu-lqbl, 11. SB, lOB. 

Harduk-bel-uaaie. II, SB, so. 

Marduk-nadln-akbe, kieg of Baby- 
loDla. I. 4Z7j his wars with Tlg- 
lathplleaer 1. 1. 428. 

Marduk-nadlD-Bhum. 11. 88, M. 

Harduk-shaplk-ier-mat], king of Bab- 
ylonia, 1. 428 ; manleB daughter of 
AwhuMxI-kala. 1.4X8. 

Marduk-sbiutMidammlq, II. BT. 



Mlnuas, 1, 218. 

Mtsbaei, I, er. 

Mlta, II, 163, les, ITS. 

Mltannl, kings and Iniorlptloiu ot, 1, 



Hlt'Mtl, h, is;, ua. 

Mltlord, Bdward Ledwich, 1, 1». 

Mitlntl, U, IM, IBS. 

Hobammed Paalia, 1, 134. 148. 

Mobt, Julius, takes degree atTBbin- 
gen, and beglnB residence In Pari*. 
I, 1201 Is a PupN of BllTestre de 
sacy, 1, 128; becomes secretary at 
8ocIM« Aslatlqae, 1. m; risits 
London and lees InaoTlbed bricks 
In East India Hoase, I, 126; ad- 
vises Botta to excavate In As- 
syria, 1, IIT ; receives report ot his 
success, 1, 135 ; seeretarr of 8ocl«t6 
Aslatlque, 1, 22e. 

MordCmann, A. D., attempts to ded- 
pher Cbaldlan. 1 220; naines lec- 
ond PersepollB l 



MouiuuenW, Babylonian, as sources. I. 

2H-2eT; tbelr value, I, 2G7. 
Morocco, 1, 138. 
Moschl, II. W. 
MosuU, M, 17T.12S, 130. 133, 13t. 143, 

143, lES. IGO. ITI, 2K, 234. 

MuballfUI-^herua. I. 4lH. 

MuKhelr.l, 161, tea. it2. 238, wo. 

MQbl bach. Captain von. Buds Inscrip- 

Mulellbe°11'lB*'* "' ' 

MukaUu. II, ZS6. 

Mukayycr, aee Mugbclr. 

MOlIcr. D. H.. studies Chaldlan texts, 

i,'i23. 

MDnter. Prlpdrlch. Identified buUd«i 

of PeraepoUa with the Achamcn- 

Irtes.t.SB; reoOgnlzBS vowel " a" 

int'%" 1,40; Ms work. 



Hsurepas. Oomte de, 
HedIa, II, 87. 113. 
Hedlterranean. II, M. 
Ueslddo. battle at, u 

l(eissDer7B.,As3yr1o1iwlscot Qermao 

expedition to Babylr-'- ' "■" 
Melam-kur-kur-ra, 1, 3W. 



lyToDla, 1, HI. 



I«Ud3iiTls,l, 213. 

MeU-Shlpak, king c4 Babylonia, t, taa. 

KenH}.1l,«i. 

Henahem, II, 130. IZi ; II. 12T, 148. 

Menahem ol Samslmunma, U, IM. 

Herodach. 1, 2H. 



Mushezlb-Marduk. II, 20B- 
Muahke, 11.22.23. Itt. 

HUSTl. 11, 12. 23. 7T, IB, 144. 
Mutakkll-Nusku. conlcmporBry of 
Nebuehadreizar 1, 1,42s,; king of 

Mutlalu,'ll,'nw|lT8. 



Nabonassar, II, 132; weakness ot his 

relKD, 11, lOB, 111. 
NaboDldus, king ol Babyhxila, hb 



408 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



work Bs & builder and an arcbs- 
ol<»lBt,ll,SB»-3a3: tbe rebulldlus 
Of E^abbare at Dlppar, II, 364,365 1 
rebulidtng ID SiPpar and in Bar- 
ran, II, MS, ai&i rebuilding of 
E-khulkbulRt HarrsQ, if, 3BT. 388; 
bla failure to prepare hla empire 
(oidefen«e,tU373. ST4,3TeiblB [u- 
tilBDrepaiaaoiiB, 11,377; allusion 
to Hammurabi, 1.311; allusion to 
BbagarHklf-Bitiltisb, I, siS; allu- 
■lon to Naram-6ln,l. SIB; restores 
lemple In Laru, I, Wt. 

KabooiautCbTonlcle, 1, 310, 

Mabopolassar becomes king of BabT- 
loolL M,X»; lUa origin, n, 3asi bis 
InacnpUons, II, 30S-ao(>; rule under 
tbe Astyrlujs, 11, aor ; end of reign 
andlta unportance, li.si4,3U. 

Nabu(Nebo] 1,295. 

Nabu«pal-ladln. king of Babylonia, 
restores temple at SIppar, 11. K, 
GO. 

Nabu-balattu-lqbi 11, a 



NabU'SheElk.annl, II, !Sl. 



nikuu-snuiuHsreHU, ii. aw^ 
Nabu4bum-lBkun, kbgol BabTlODla, 
II. «, los. 

Nabu-flbum-ukln. II, 132. 133. 
NBbu-ukln4bII, king of Babylonia, II, 

Nabu-usalllm, II, 220. 

Nabu-ushabsbl. II, 134. 
Naba-zlru-klDlsb-ilsblr, II, BIS. 

Naclblna, 1. 300. 

^adin, Ii, 130. 

I^abarlna, 1. 410. Rse also HttBnnU 

.NabrluaTl. ^»S, 

TJftliiiniTl.M,25g;i1,28e. 

Na'ld-MaRluk,II.Z19, 

Nahr-e1-Kelb,li. 44. 

Nalri. Ii. ZT. M, 03, M, 118. 122. 

}4aktilreh ol Hairan. II, 60. 

Kaksh-t-Ruatain. 1, 7,1. 

Nal, 11. 118. 

Nainrl. U. »7. X, 100, Wi. 

Nana. I. 291. 

NanB-^sklpat-b^bl-xbii. II. 3tft 

Naiinar, Che moou siici, 1, 280. 

Napblall. 11.129. 

Naram-SIn, 9nn o! Sargon I, I. 38S; 

records of bis reign tragmentarr. I. 

306 i bis conquests and building 

operations," — ■-■ — "- ■ — 

brick " — 



ip of, found a 



Hatnu. U. 27 



Nazlbugasb, king ol BabvloDla. 1. 410. 

Nazl-Hajuttash, king ol Babylonia, 

makes Kar on Adad-nirarl I ol 



Nebuchadnezzar, i 



ebuchodrczzBr I. klngot Babylonia, 
his brIIUant reign, 1, 426; contem- 



porary of Miitakkll-Nu<ikii, 1. 42 

aud also of AsHhur>rlsh-isbi. 1, 4^ 

conriuests In tbe east. i. 4:t7 

Nebuch "- — 



(lar II, king of Babylo- 
iry at Carcbemlsh. 11. 313( 
king, II, 316; begins a 



ijou Id Palestlae, 11,330-324: Nebu- 
chadrezzar bcBlns another siege 
□t Jerusalem, 11. 324 ; lilts siege and 
drives Egypaana under Hoptira 
back. 11.^^^ : resumes tbe slega 
"i lakes the eltyvf. sua. 329; 



it. Ml. 342; bis build- 
ing Inscriptions, 11, 342: bis ro- 
bifllding ol tbe walla of Babylon. 
ii, 343-34& : the repaving of streets, 
1I,31S; work upon temples. 11,347; 
canal construction, II, MI, 348; hla 
pride In Batnlon, U, 349; work In 
Borslppa Hod olber cities. II. 34S- 
39); slgnlBcance of his reign, U, 

Nebv liiiius, 1. va-. 133, 140, 29B. 

Neeho II. king of Egypt. 11. 231. 250; 
cipedltloii Into Asia. 11. 309-313: 
hlH second eipediUon and deleat 
at CBrcbemlsh, II, 313. 

Nergal'. t-'m 

Nergal-sbarezer. 11, 21fi. See also Ner- 



rgal-sbar-i 
Ms early 

3S7, 3», 
Jiergal-usl: 
Nerfgllssoi 



Nergal-usheztb, II, 20«. 
Nerfgllssor, see N^rlg! 
Nlbard-Asahur, Ii, 60. 



3Ge; bis brief reign, 11, 

II, 20«. 
Nurlgal-sbBT-u sur. 



Nlebubr, Carsten, visits Peraepolls, I. 
34;blsIaborades«rlbBdb«talssDii. 
i.3G; made Inanyeoplesofinscrip- 
t1aQS,i,3e; maJietelaasUleationat 
cone [form signs, I, BT : argiiei that 
the laDKuage was atpfaabetlo,l,3T; 
visits Htllab, I. lot: visits Tigris 
moundfi near Mosul 1, 1D6. 

Nifrer.Liei, 240. 

Mlglmkhl, 11, 9. 

Nlkahanima. 11, 161. 

Nikur, il, 112. 

Nile, 1,271, 273,274. 

Nlmlt-Maiduk, outer wall of Nippur, 

Nlmittl-Bel, 11.343. 
Nli»me. ii. 4fl. 

Ninirod, 1. W. B8. 97. 140, 146, 148. 
NImroud, 1, 140, 143. 1S3, 1S8. 23S, :se. 
Nineveh. I, 36. 88, IM, 101, 138; age of, 
■• - -^1 11.78. 



niruiF-fii»u-iuuiu, 11, loi, _ 
Ninlb-kuduT-DSur, king of Babylonia, 



INDEX OF aUBJECTS. 



P&lm. I, 282. 28S. 



1^,361,3661 11,106,11 



lflIbll,ltKL 
NlrldoAkl,! 



NootareBUud, see Naksli-l-Biutaii]. 
~ — -"' ■-'—•- riBi;|nhera aecon ■ ' 
in I«it, 1, 1T6. 



Odoiic (Odorleus), Journejp to Catlwy, 
1, 31 visits tiimuai, I, 4: miio ol 

lltUe reflDemeDt, i. 4; 1-'' -* 

bis aarratlTe. I. Oi hk _ 
the DrM nord In the dark, ., _. 

Olearlul, secretBrr to emb&asy ot 
Duke or Holsteln. I, 20. 

Olivier, QuDlsuine A., visits esat, but 
makes only scant reterenoe to 

NIneveb, t, 166. 
OinH,li,W. 
On, 11, ass. 
Onuer, U, SS6. 
Oneslkrltos, 1, 166. 
Onions. 1.282. 
OplS. 1. 296. 
<n>pert, Jules, sent to i 

Blrs Nlmroud, I, 16£: 



lost Id ttie Tigris, I, ISS; 



ui augifui, I, itv'f IB )>rvaHLib lu 

meetlDgoi British Association Id 
tilasgpw, 1, 193, IM: translates 
cyllaaer ol Tlgl&thplleser, I, IM; 
tries to show the orlglo of As- 
syrian sorlpt, 1, 202; uses the name 
Sumerlan fristeail at Accailliui, 1, 
203: coDtribiites Important grun- 
matlcal studies of Accadlao. L 
2Mj opposes HalAvy, 1, 260. 

Orcbo^, 1,^1.292. 

Orontes, ll, 6&, T5, 78, lU. 

OrteUus, Qeogiaplilcal TreasurT, I, es. 

Ortolan, 1. 183. 

Omnia, i, 19. 

Osnappar, II, ate. See also Aishnr- 
btntpaL 

Ostrich, t, SB3. 

Otter. Jean, begins a new age ot ex> 
ploratloD. I, 160) acconnt ot tba 
Tulni of Nlneveli, 1, 160, 101 : rislts 
HUlah, 1, 101. 

01,1,283. 

P. 

Padan, I, 4M. 



Palxograpbicai Indications tor cliro. 









Papa, 11, _. _ 
Farilihla, 11, ^^ 
Farsua, Ll, 88, H. 
Parthlana, 1. 301. 



Patln, II, 6K, TG, IIS. 



Pemisytvanla, Oolverslty of, Brst ei- 
pedlUon to Babvloula,i,eUi sec- 
ond campaign, 1. at2, HZ; third 
campaign. 1, 243, 241 1 great suc- 
cess, 1, 24Bi tourtb canipaigD, I, 
3U; great success oE this cam- 
paign. 1, 346. 

PersepoUs, 1. lis, 120. 14B. 

Persia, 1, 3i climate or, I, 3. 

Persian. I, 13a; modem langoage ot. 



army, li, 202, SMi EgypUau tradl- 
UoB concerning It, K.XI. 388. 

Peters, Jobn P., member of Americaa 
Ortental Society, I, 236; director 
ot Brst Pennsylvania eipedltlOD, 
1, 240; Ms estimate Of Brst cam- 
paign, 1, 242; director of second 
campaign, 1,242. 

FethBctflah, Rabbi, of fiaUsbon, I, 88. 

PeUior, II. 4a 86. 
Ileum, 1, 288. 

stiaTn.ge. 



ilris, 11, 114. m. 
itacblo, 1, 281. 
lu, 11,40,44,78. 
ice,Vlctei,t,l<n. 

me tree. 1.282. 

gnoD, Iipurt, supports HaUvy, I, 

roliiifiU devi'lopniciit of early Baby- 
Porcupine,' i. ais. 

PorpiiyHua, i, 331. 

Porter, 8lr Robert Rr>r, vlaiU BIcb at 
Baghdnil, l.i'/i ; hail already visited 
Fersepolls 1. 121; bis unusual ea- 
dowments. t, 121; sketehea the 
ruln^ ol Bntiylon, I. 122i the no. 
coTint piiblislied In sumptuous 
stj'li', 1, 1^2; effect of the book, I, 

Pnsti/Hii", 1. 21. 

Fo\V''i',<l<,'>ir<.'uf, luearlycanqnesta,!, 

Psammeticus ii. Kl, 251. 
Pto1emv(Fio]emseuB,ClaudlU81, canon 

of, C 333, 334. 
PudiJlu, king of Assyria, bis con- 

quests, II, I^ 10. 




INDEX OF 8UBJKC7IS. 



Ilunpkhia, i, 282. 

-Puqudu. ii. 114, ITS. 

Pur(llu) 8a-gal-e, eponrm, 1. SH. 



i. ll, W. 
Itirkbl ol betaoi, lii tf 



BacluDct, Mount, L 3. 
BaiQ, I, STB. 

RamatsTa, II, 2se. 

Baplkhn, «ee Bapblft, 

Balk, B-n dlsDoreiB ptural ending lu 

Penlu. 1, Hi Also the pbra^e 

"klDB^lMldl/'l, 58. 
Biroatn, Obulea, Brltiab vice codbuI 

BtUoaul, 1, IH. 
Bassam, Hormuzd. wsltU iMjuid, 1, 

IMj ieU out trom Enslaad to 




— , _.j descrlptton ol work on 
the Dortliern mouDd at KuyuoJIk. 
I, IBG-lTD; dlBOOvers the deluge 
tablet,!, ITO; Bnda the library of 

AsshurbBDBpal 1. ITl; retaniB t" 



wentto IndlaaDd Per9la.l,G3; re- 
orgaiilzel Persian army, 1, 03 ; cop- 
leB Inscriptions at Hamulaa, l.fii; 
begins to declphi'r. I, m; method 
Blndlar to Grotefend's, 1, H. eS; 
copies InacrlpUons at Bchistim, 1, 
M) translates nameB and tlUes of 
Darlua, t, W; almost coDiplGten 
PerBlan alnbobet, I, ST; urellml- 

~molr written Inun. I, ST; 

llnIianlBtaD,i.(tT: returns 

„_ Jad, 1, W 1 memoir pobllsbed 

in 1S48. t, 68; hlB dependence on 
others, I, 88, nolej recelred Groie- 
lend'B reBulU Irom Nonis, 1, 00: 
lo oorreapoodeoce with Bumouf 
and Lassen, i, 89; reterencES ta 
his work, L TO: makes Important 
dl«««rerr at Btrs Mimroud, I, \ti; 
his account of it, I, ITS. 113; uw 






the black obelisk, I. US. 189; a 
lishes the Habyloalau tfxt of : 
Bebiatuu inacrlpUon, I, UNl: '~ 
iales cyllndxr ol Tlglatbpilt 



'Senbiui, 
n tha Scy 



ha ScntdaoaM 



acrtpUons In ■'Senbian" L mi-. 

tries to explain •^- 

oalled AccMlani 

3)2; attempts t 

Inacriptloiu.l.lll 

porlantmei-'lbigo — 

cal Arahseology, i, S3 
Red-Amon, il, 253. 
RedcliOe, Lord Stratford dr, i, 113. 
Rediscovery □( Babylonia, a twofold 

Rehglon, InHuence ol, in early con- 



Hlt^-AdJm letter of, found at TeU-el- 
Attiama, 1, -no. 

Hlblah. Ii, 3^. 

Rich. ClaiidiUB Jantes. bom In France, 
i, in; ban Krc at readiness Id leiun- 
ing Ian guaras.i.lia: becomes resi- 
dent of the East India Company U 
Baghdad, 1. 113; plans a book on 
the history of the Baglidad Pasfa- 
all<^ 1, 114; vUitB Babylon, L lU; 
his account of first visit tc Baby' 
ion, 1, 114; on flrsi vlBlt he planned 
and located tbe monnd^ i, lU ; de- 
scription ol his flratdigglnk»,l,llB} 
ills first deaoriptions pubUshed at 
■"■•—"- LllB; er1t]elMdbr"-'— 
I.Ile;BIehTl^tsm 



^haws inscriptions and aeii£ & 
niuuber to London. 1, llBi *lsita 
Persepolis, i. lis ; maui aoooTBta 
copies of Inscriptions. 1, 130; death 
St Bhiraz. 1, 130; influence ol bis 
work, 1, lai. 

RIm-Anum, king of Elam, gi^ns do- 
minion In BBbyloQla, i. 3Bfi, 

Rtm-81n. i. 381. See alao ErI-Aku and 
Arloch. 

Rl'raba. II, 1%. 

Rl'Bl- ■■ — 



s, i, 2 



BoylA AalatlO Society, I, 

Royal Irish Academy, i, 

Ru'a. H. IT*. 

Sukhu61,H,7T. 

Rnklptl.k 1W. 

Rum-«aleii, ii, W. 

Rusas, 11, ISO, lei, lU. lai, 1S8. 



INDEX OF SUBJECIB. 



Sht, Blltestra da. d«eli4ien 8mm- 
nlao InwrlpHoni, 1, u, U. 

Badlku, II, BO. 

SalDi Albert, Father Emuiuel de, I, 
lUi 4e»artbea mnalni ol Biibj- 
lOD, I, HO, ti>3. 

SalnUUitiit. ADM, 1, 60. oa. 

^klowUeb Caul, 1.373. 



Sam 'kudu, II, aso. 
SaniHlE, 1, 3Mi 11, 81, lis, U 
144. 14S, UO, Ul, IAS. IGS. 



BamarilatiB, II, IM. 




,ii,ii4,iu,iu.ue. 

"Uoder ot, louod at Nlffer, 
end oonoernlng bla youth, 
itrolosleal tablet relating 

• In bis n)igii,l.3t3; the 

blstoTlcal character of oU raign. f , 
383,364; an iDaorlptioDot i)ii,{,aM; 
bla campalgiuu 1, 3M. 
HgoD II. filng ot AsH/rla, beglnnlne 
ot retgD, 11, 148 : fall ot fiamula, 11. 
14S, ISO; sources ol history for bla 
reign, 11, UO: his dlfBcultles la 
Babylon, It, US-lH: rebellion* In 
the west. U, IH-IM; approaches 
toward Orartu. U, IBB, isj; ooa- 
quest ot Carchemlib. II, 1ST. IM; 
coaquestof Papa aud Lulukna, II, 
ISS. US ; direct attach upon Utartu, 
t1,uW-l^;IiiTaMonofMedbLlI,iaii 
dlneuitles with Bnua <a urarta. 



UrartD, 

II, in, ifls 1 eipedldon Into Arabia, 
U, iMi eooquest of Urartu, H, 164- 
IflBi eampalani In Media and Ta- 
bal. U, in, lis i war Id Mellddn, II, 
US; eamiHUgnagalnstPhlllBtlB^ll. 
160. 170; war upon Herodach-bsJa- 
dui Ji, l»-tT7j. moTemauta against 



d&D. IL iTO-tTTi r 
the HDshhA, a 



. -7B;laat c;_ 

ITBi works olpeao 



Sanabaol, li, 134. 

Baneo, Ernest de.nade French con- 
sul MtBaasorab.l. IX; makP9 ex- 
X Telloh, l,2Mi impor- 



SllTeslrede 8acy,l,43,Mi uoUee 



I Assyrian. I. ITT; makes 

clpbermpnt. 1, 188, lOT. 
lycf, Arc'hihalu Heury, writes two 
importiuit pu|>Bra on Becond clau 
o( I'trsvpulls texts tmct names the 
language Aiuardlan. 1, 17S; one of 
the loundera of the Society ot 
Biblical ArctiaeolocT, I, 100: gives 
mostelaborataeMguUtrfAeoadl- 
an text. 1, 201; reylewa Delltiscb's 
AKsyilan dloHonarr, L lUi de- 
clphprs ChaldlaajVannlo), I, m, 
■la \ critlciain ot HeTodotus, t, 3X3. 
;hell. Father, db«etor of TDrklihei- 
pedltlon to Babvlonla, t, SBI. 

Schrader, Eberhard, arolds Aoeadlan 
question. Late: later adopts name 
Accndlan, I, aoo; oppoaea HaUvy, 
I, am. 

SchuU H. B., visits East to seek In- 
t. 1. sii Bcarelies for the 

ly Inatrlpllons, 1, ilfl'. 217; 

-derBd at Jnlsnieili, 1, «2. 

Scythians, II, ssi. See also Manda, 






Sea Lands, country ot, 
history ol the ayni 

Sebeneb-8t " " 



I. aer.st 



histon' o[ the dynasty ol. 11. se 



Seleucid era, 1. 32». 380. 
Semlramls. 1.00; lE.ao: Armenian tra- 
dition, I, 316. 21 e. 
Semites, thrlr orlidnal home, various. 

Renkereb, I. '200. 

HennncbiTlb, King ot Assyria, sonrcel 
ol history, li. im; relations to 
Babylonia. 11, IM-IW; rebellion In 
Babylonia, 11, Igo-iss; Invasion of 
Babylonia, II. IRH-IBO: beetnolng of 
rebellion Jn Ibe west, 11. lDl-193: 
participatioD ot Egypt, fl, ibs,194i 
-•■■-"'— "--jlnsln Ekron and vx- 
jer western stales, II. 
Biitborltles lor the wesl- 






ipalgn, II, 104; 

it.^ ,10B-10» ; attempts 



i^ii. itj, linmpaTgn IntoArabla. iV. 
103. n4; estlDiate ot bis relm. II, 
214. 219; allusion to TlRlatbplIeser 
1, 1, 320, 321, sas; aUuiloD to Mar- 
diik-nadlD-akhe, 1, 320, 321. sat; al- 
tuBloD to Tukulll-Nbib, I. 32fi; 
brings a seal of Tukultl-Nlnib 
Irom Babylonia, 11,1'' 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



;i,u, m. 

BDWUU, U, IK. 
Sbtllwr&'ln, U. 139. 
SbsuTskU'.ShurlBsh, king o[ B^f- 

Shftlmaiwaer I. klDg ot Assyria, cod- 
quests, II, 12; Dullds the city ol 
Calah, il. 13 ; coDtemporar; of Ka- 
d&sbman-Biirl&ali. 1. ^l. 

Sbalmiuieapr [I, king of Assyria, 
sources tor blB lelEii, iL T^ T3; in- 
vasion oE BltAdlm, IJ, Ti; lieEln- 
Dioa; of campaign against the 
we^, U. IB: b& namflve of the 

"— lgn,ii,T6-T8j the coarse 

opalp, U, TB: battle of 



le west, &, fA; third Im 
II. Di; later Invasions, il, oi; nv 
lacks upon Chaldla, it. esse; 
campalftns In Namri and elae- 
wbere In Iha bbsC. It 87-89; cam- 
paign Id Babylaala, ll.as, 90; re- 
belHoii and close of bis rplgn, 11. 
90-83) obeilskfound byLayard,!, 
UG; textof, deciphered by G«Drge 
Smith, 1, 22T. 
■ ,rlll, king of Assyria, 11, 



LOO, toi. 



/, records o( hli relgi 



, Che siEubUod la the nest at 

> beslniilDg ol bis reign. It, 140- 
1 Hosbea refusei trlbnte, 11. 



Bbamasb-aiiuiii-ukiD, li,aei-2«g. 

Bhamshi-Adad, refeiT»d to by Tiglath- 
pileser 1. 1 3M, 

Bbamshl-Adad I. klngol Assyria, 11. 
2; 11, 31; tebulll temple In NlneTeh, 
il.lii 

Bbamshl-Adad 11, niIerofA3syTia,ll,E. 

Bbamahl-Adad IV. king ol Assyr^ 
his oivil war.il, 92: campaign lata 
Nairl, b, 92: marches IhroughAs- 
syiia, 11, 93.84: tribute collectmg 
andiavasloii of Babylonia, li.H, 
9a:endofhls reign, li,Hi,M; ei- 
peditlOQ Hats from his reign, 1, 

Sh^zer, see Nergalsharezer. 
Bbarganl-shar-ail, t, 301. See also 

Sargon I. 
Bbarglna. 1, 381. See also Bargon I. 
Bbarbjdari, II, ISO. 
Bbami-ludari, II. 197. 
BhBtt-el-HBl,I,!2M, S?3,i91, 292. 
Bbeep, I, !S3. 
Shepa-sharni. II. ISl. 
Sberiey, see Shirte;. 
Sblnat,). 112. 
Bblnukhtu, 11, IST. 
Stdiat, 1, 3, S, ISA 



Shlrlfly. Anthony, description of Bab. 
ylou. i, »a:audor Nineveh, 1, aa-, 
his interest In the ruins as lllua- 

Shlriey. Sir Robert, member' of suitB 

olSlr D. Cotton, i, 18. 
Slilrputla.1. STSi civilization Dt 1, 3T1. 

Bbltlr-parna.ii, 237. 
Shuanflakbul. 1), U6. 
Sbubari.ll.a, 11. 
Shugardla, 1(. 161. 
SbuEltes. U. B2. 67. 
Mhulman-kbamsD-llanl, 11, H, 
Shuma. 11. M. 
SUu.Hban. I, g. 22. 
Sbutur-nakhundl, 11. 174. 

OhuzlBush (tiazibtigash), 1. 419. 
KlbHT-shlpak. king ot Babylonia, tl, 

aibe. 11, 144, IM. 
Slblttlbl-IL 11,121, 
SIbra]ni,^139, 
mbyltines, the, 1,360. 
Sldo^ II, h, m, SI, 86, 134. 



all mmentary on Aristotle's 



1R0(L1 

•ni, II. a 



lu-gashld, I 
.lu-Iddln, kii . 

ilii-muballlt. . 
In-ahar-lslikuQ, king of Assyria, 
small kuowledKe ul his reign, il. 
2«e.i»T, hiB death, II, l&i. 
SlD-shmn-llsblr, king of Assyria, U, 



Sippar, 11, 36, IQ 
Slr-TML I. 381. 
Slvan.T, 324. 



. ._ dynasty, chronology ot, 1, 344. 

;iLil,22B. 

ulna, 1. 218. 

Smith, R. Payne, I, 



>, Kl's early Ufe, 1. Sfl; 






LBUIUULV 

tion'o[Assl)urbantpal.i,22B; finds 
deluge tablet, I, f ' ■ 



decipher 

_„ , ., , io As- 
syria by BaAly TeltifTaph,\,23li 

sent again by trustees of tbe Brit- 
ish Museum, I, !32 ; sent out again 
Id 1876, 1, 233; his sufletlligs and 

deatb, 1, 233. 

Bnakes, I, 283. 
Somali, 1, 306. 
Bterrett, J. H. 8., member of WoUs 

eipedlUon, 1 230. 

aebrougbt from Arabia, 1, 280; 

brought trotn '-"- — -* •■•- 

Amanus, L SS& 
Storka, I, ssa. 



nroKX OF SUBJECTS. 



Soblinie Pom, 1, 

Sugl, 11.27. 
Sugunla, 11.M 
Sukiii, u.e3. 

-■■■" — ,11,8& 

, II, 111. 



TeIl-l-Taubah,IilIlof repentaiKe. f, in. 



8unier, laneu age of. 1, 303; orlgbl ot 



cuneifom Tblrd dyDuty, chTonolog? at, 1, MO- 



Biimu-ab[, king of Babylon, t. 38T. 
Bumo-laJlu. king 0[ Bsbrlon, 1, 38T. 



Suru, li, ST. 
giirujl, U. 60. 
Susa. 1, 420. 
Siului, 1, 1J8. 

Susliuift. 1,399. 

Sutu. I, 41S; U. 10, GS, ITS. 

Bulls or BbusbsD, 1, t. 

SwSD3. 1. 283. 

Sylva 7 FlKueroa, Qtrela <!«, MDt to 
court of SHab Abbas I, U; writes 
letter to Uarquesa de Bedmar.l, 
12: deECrlpUoD o( Persepolls, 1, 
12-lR; dlsplavs more Interest In 
men tbaa In unausges, 1, IS; did 
not copy cbaracterg, I, 16; visits 
Babylon, 1,9T. 

Byncellus, tbe, 1. 328, 320. 

Syncbrciilstlc bUtory, 1, Sn, IW, <13, 

Syrttt, 11, 101. 
eyro-Bphralinltlc war, 11, I2S. 



Thiitmos^ii III Invwlea .\s1b, II, t. 
Tlbareiil, 11. 23. 
TidoJ, king of Gotlm, I, Xil. 
Tlglalbpileaur 1, Uiii' iit Assyria, li, 
l»,20;aaurces farbl-<reigD. 11,21; 
bl» godH, IL 21. ■iii campaign 
agtUn.it the Uuabke. li. 22, &, SM; 
establishes snjirpniaoy In Kum- 

«;w«ra In Ulrn- 

— against Kharla 
2Ci campaign into 



establishes snjirpni 
mulilL II, 24, 2S, 26; 
l>arl, ll. 25; wars at 



-- d gniimi, 

Nalrl.ll.27,1»:sjcal 
II, 28; against Musn. ii, x, a; ms 
siunmar; ot flrst Ave campaigns, 
'■ "- ' — islons ol Babylonia, li. 









, _n,h.»l;'lm- 

portance of h^a reiKii. 11.32: aUu- 
sluns to Sbamsbl-Adad, I.tbmo- 
Daean Assburdan, and Nlnlb- 
&pM-«3haira, 1. 326; cylinder ot, 
used tor test of declpnerment, i, 

Tlglatbiilleser IT. kiDK oF AHSyria, 

11,44. 
Tlglathplleaor III, king of Assyria, 



Uon. 11, 106, 107; Ills first Gampalgn 
directed against Babylonia, ll, 
108. 108 : his new form of civil ad- 



-K tbe deolpherment ol 
lyrlan, 1, 194: bis plan laid t 
Boyal Aiiatfe Boctety, 1, ibb 
oarrled out, t, 1B6. 



Tandamanl. II, 2Ii2. 



e east. [l. 111. 112: campaigns 

Id Ibe norUi. II, 112- llG; effects at 
tbe cnnc)iiest Of Sardurli II, U, 
IIB, IIB; reduction ot Arpad II, IIT. 
118 ; campidga Into lands ot N^l. 
118, iiB; suecesstui campaign 
against tbe west, and especially 
gainst laraal, 11, llS-122: rebel- 
lious In tbe eaat, li, 1^2, 123; Bt- 



Torbls, ll, 244. 
Tarkhularo, 11. 114, 121, U8, 

Tarkbunazl. 11, 1B8. 

Tarku.l, T9,80, 31, S2. 

Tasb-sbi-gurunuuh, l,40I. 

Tashzlgurumasb. 1,401. 40], 

Taveniler. Jean Baptlste, ai 
sepolis. 1, 2e. 

Taylor, J. E., aont to exoav 
Mughelr, 1. 163: bis account 
work. i. 10,1 194 : also eicav 
Abu gbarein and Tell-el-L 

Teheraii, I, ti. 
Tela, tU Be. 
Tenibrabim, 1, 296. 
Tell-Id. I. 2n. 



, 124-12B; decilre to atlaoH bill 
country of PalBstine, II, 126; tbe 
Eyrn-Epbralmltlc war. 11. 127.128; 
tbe Interference ot Ttglalbplleaer, 
111 VS; conquest ol DumaaciiBi il. 
130-132; campaigns In Babylonia. 
11.132-137; endabisrelgn,l1.1»Ti 
csUmale Of bis reign. II, li«, 139. 



Tonertl. Joseph, t. .... 
Toy.C H.. member ot tbe i 
Odeutal itDOiety, I, 3Sa. 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 



Treblzond, 1, 1ST. 

Trlnltv CollegB, 1, Jl. 

Tripolis, II, Bf^ 

Tutial. )l, 29. 

TudobulK. son ot Gizu, 1, m. 

TuUun, IJ, 121. 

Tukultl-Asabui^Bel, king ot Aujrtta, 



ciHiqiien B&bfTanls. 11, ... ., , 

sent ft seal to Bsbjlontas which 
was lecured bj BenDscbeilb, t1, 
111 Us reign ends In a rabeUlon, 
U. U. 
TokulU-NlDlb II, klDg ot Assyria, 
11, ». 

i,«»i eipeOldon 



sh langu^e, I, W 
BIppBT, L aXI, Kl. 
It, Km. 

idove, 1, 283. 



Tnrnal 

Turtle!... 

Turnkl, il, ■. 

Turuspa. II, 123. 

Tdgkhis II. O, ES. 

Tutammu, II. 117. 

Tycbsen, Olav Q«Tbaf d, atudlts Nle- 
bubr's copies of PeraepoUs In- 
BorlptlOQs, 1, 38; discoiers dlvld- 
Ing BlED between iTords, 1.38; saw 
tbat the ■□scrtptioos were tri- 
lingual, 1, 38; made erroneous 
tranalBUon. i, 39. 

Tyre. lU BT, 68, Bl, M, 119. IZl, 124, 146, 



TJUiuer, IL 133, IM, 13S. 
Ukuih or Qlsbbaa. 1, 3H. 
■Ulluba.11,1 



II, 370, 71*. 



Iloaun^ 11. l«t, 163, 187. 

vmmanaldaab. II, 2i9,'£lt 

XlnunanlgBsb. li. 2eo, 2sa. 

ITmiuaji-nilnanu, 11, aoa-siu. 

"Unql.ll, in. 120. 

Upcrl, if, 177. 

Upl, 1,206; 11,378. 

XTppls, 11, KB. 

Vr, the remarkable loeatton ot U» 
ciCf, 1, 371, 373 : Its earliest known 
klnK.li372. Alsol. 290: 11,351. 

UrakaltAlo family. I, S06. 

Urartu, 11. 4B. as. u, SB, es, n, or. un, 

113, IIS, 118, 113. IIB, 133. IM. 
iJr-Ba'u.iHifesioISblrpurla.hls reign, 

t388,3ES; hlDg,l,3M. 
nrdamanl. U. 2G2, 
Ur-Gur, king oJ Dr. l 373; king ot 



rrilfu'll! 121. 
■ -iml, ll.ia- 



Urrakblnaiili. I 



jfNIp- 



u-Aing, clyrasls' of, I. S 



ot Sblrpnrlk, Ub 



Urnkasiua, king ( 

biifldlnB worth, ., 

Ummilkl, If, IDS. 
Unimlyeb. il, u. fa. M; Lake 

URtl-MU-I.ISH,l,3S». 

Urns. 1, 2W. 

Urzana, II. I<1S. 

Uahn, II. 277. 

Uzzlah. II. lis, 120. 128, 123. 



Valdae. I, M. 

Vallc. Plutro della, traveled la 

Turkey. Persia, and India, I, IS; 

nrolB letters to Mai'lo SeblpMlo, 

1, IH; vi.slted Fertepolis, U U; 

I'opy of sl^ns, I, 16; decided tbAl 

aocionC ferslaa ahould be read 

from left In ngbt. I, IT; vttils 

Babylon. I. V!. 
Van. inscrlntlon ot Xerxes, I. 87; II, 

123 ; Lttkt!. II. 27, 29, 32, 43. 84. 
Vannlc texts copied uid dedpbered, 

1, 21&-224. See also Qutldlan. 
Varto, 11,48. 
VnHhll.f,e. 
TL'nlce diapatcbes envi^ to Munt ot 

nzun Ca-tsan, I, <t. 
rptcbeSjl, 282, 



Piilnnt, 



W. 



Wnril, William Hafes, director of 
Wolf tiiiwdlcton, I, 23B; bis Una] 

Warka, I, Ifli, 2»2, 

Werdl, 1,2-a. 

Weatergaard. K\c\3 I-ouls, recoples 
Inscriptions iit PersepoUs, I, 81; 
visits Naksb-l'Bnstam, 1,09; bl* 
work known to HIncks, I, n ; lari 
found atloa lur reading second 
Gloss of Persepolls InimlMlon. I 
170; ho i-alts the lanKuain Median 
and uses a methM ilmllar to 
tirotefend^i ' — ""■ >- — — 

Wheat iDdlgenouV'tb Babylonia, 1,383. 

WbeweU, 1, tse. 

Wild-cat, I, 2W. 

Wilkinson. Sir Gardnn, U, US. 

WllUams, W.F.I. 180. 

Wilson, H. H,. I, IflB. 

WluicD, copies Flower's leita ami 
cnrionseipliuiatlonoltbetr origin, 
I. 79, 80; bis nsnatlves nsed by 

Wolfe, CaJherlne Lorlllard, bItm Are 
thoositnd dollnra for eiplorUlg ez- 
pedltloD In Babylonia, I, SM 

WrfghtTbomas. l.BT. 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



TabuUu, U, 131. 

'Saklnlo, It as. 
Taliiuii, Mount, U, M. 
Ta'Iu, U, £33. 
TBnia, II. S7, 88, 16B. 
VMUblsaUo, II, tBO. 
Yala', iT^. 
YUbuni. U, 1T4, 
Ta-ubldl, 11, IM, ISC, IIML 
YauUL II, m. 
YeidTl. i 

Zab. lower, ., ..., . 
Zab, upper, 1,713; I 



Zabu, kltiK of Babylon, I. XI, tH. 
Zmldl, 11. w^ 

^tfu.'l(. 
Zaleblyeb, i 

Zamamtuni 



n.klnEoIBabrlonia, 

!>. 32e, 330. 331. 



Zedeklab, 11, _.. 

Zenobla, 11,60.' 

Zlblu, 11, ISl. 

Zidqa, ll, IBT. WL 

Zll-bH], 11, 199. 

Ztminem, H., oppasea BtiUry, 1, 31^ 



INDEX OF AUTHORS QUOTED OR 
REFERRED TO. 



Abel. U, 93; M, 1B3, 214, »«, 342. 
Aberdare, Lord, 1, 138. 
Abulfeda, 1, 100. 
Abydenus, I. 329i 11,393,307. 

JBtTao. II, 312. 

AlDSWorth. 1.289, 2ff7. 
Alexander Polyhlstor, l,lt», 3ML 
Amlaud. I, 3W. 35T, 3fl0i 11. 13. 
AnvUle, d', 1, 103. 
AnisD, I, ase. 



Banlainla ot Tudi^la. i. fe. 
Benzlnger, 11. TT, IZT, IH 203. 
BetosHOs, II, «r2, StO. 3H, 9M. SES. 
BMOId, 1, 213. 214, 402; II. U, ISS, 

312, MS, 343, 3K, 386, 387, 
BUleibmk, 1, M, «l»: U, 49, 51, » 

373, Wl. 3»». 
Bluk, 1, 387. 
Blunt, 1, 277. 
Bonond, 1, 138. 
BosBawen, I, 233. 
B0ttB,l,137.ff..l85.3Mi II, UK 
BrandlB, U, 200. 
BrlmoD, 1 306. 
Bruin, Oornells de. 1, 31. 
Brr.MreBde, 1,9T. 
Budde, I, asB, 

Bndge, 1,348; 11, £18 3». 
Boumon^ Bugine. 1, 08, SL 



Cartwiight, 1. M, 9t 
ObhoIu, 1, an. 
Chardln 1. M, B. 



!,.79. aw, 101, wa 4: 



Bonner, 1. MS. 



1, 2B0, 382, 33li U, 20^ 338, 



ETStU.ll. 388, 299, S 



Qoavea, Autonlo de, I, i-ift 



INDEX OF AUTHOEa 



Grey. 1, IT. 

Gromay, 1, XL 

"—'"fend,!,' 



OtateteikUl,4T,fl. 



Uuthe, [l, VI, ui, as, xsa. 
Uutsciinud, Ton, 1, ^8, X9. 
Ouyard, 1, mi, aal. 



Huen, il, Stl. 371, 371, S75, sn. 
Huer, 1, 110. 
Haftluvt, t. 4, n. 

iui«iT, I, an, a., m, ae^ soe; tl, 

HalmaAbM, 1,334. 

Huper.lU ais. 

HssHdes, i. 318. 321; II, !«. 

HftUpt,l.Zll; 11,310,301. 

naverB,!. IT. 

Bayne), t, 301. 

Heeran, L SC 

HelmoH, U, 38S. 

HerbeTg, I, 331. 

Herbert,!, 18,11. 

HeimaoD, 1,309. 

Berodotui, II, 21, 201. 303, Sll. SSr, 339, 
3I^ Sr>. ns, 3«T, 388, sgs. 

[euzey, i, 311, 283, 3BT, 3W, Sn, SS7. 

" a, ll, HB. 



Hferon jiniu of KardU, t, 2(8. 

HUprecht, I, a^ 3K34I», 348, 26t SIS, 
321, 3M, 3U, 3ST, 3G8. 309, 360, 301, 
:«t.3SS. 3,T, 372, 318, 377. 3SG. 386, 
889, 401, 417, ^0. 421, 428, 4ZI; II, 
2S3,2», 33S. 

Hlncka, i, 132, ff., iss, las, IM, >». 202, 

HolziDUUi, [, 82, 83. 

Hommet, I, 210, 308, 308, 318, 319, 333, 
338, 340, 331, 363, 364, STl, 380, 396, 
422; LI, B, 12,01, £0, M, 100,204,298, 
383, 384, 38B, 

HOmliia, a, 183. 

Hyalop, 1. 171- 



enseQ. 1,212,310, 3S6,3e7,'3e8,3Tai IBS, 
402. ill. 42Sl U. ^ SB2, 2B3, SOB, 
2S7, 2S8, 239, 208, 270, 273; 3TS, 

JeTemias, A.,ll.m. 

JeremlM,J.,ll,(IB. 

Jones, 1, 171, 172. 

JosepbiU, 1, 2801 U, an, 337, S«Ok 3S1. 



Kaempter, 
Kaulen,!, ,. 

Ktane, 1, 303. 

KiDK. 1. 387, 388, 380, 381; U, 28^ 308, 

Klttel,'ll.7T,lB4,3[>L 



Kuiidtzon. I. 313, 313, 401, 414; 0, 38, Vu 

21B, 'ia, 234, 23S, 

KraJl. i. 3U&, 9W. 
Kolilcwev. I, ata. 
Koaters, 1, 390. 



Laucr. 5. 218. 
Layard, I, 139, 142, 14 
47. H, 70. 71, 72, 1( 
LedralD, II, 38T. 



12.IB7. 
Lhotzhy, 11,47. 
LIuckP, Ii,l!9i387- 



t, IF., 31^ 3Ws IL 
7, IM, U3, 384. 

224, SIO, 313, 3U, 
^177. 378, 388, 387, 
MM, 202. 
6,208,219, 303 ill. 



Lymi, II, ISO. 



1.183. 

□^ II, 210, 327. 



Mas|>erci,l,3OT; II, 48. 48, S^ «E, H^ TL 

IS7, 204, 233, 330, 380. 
MayboS, 1.332. 
McCliire. IL 38fi. 
McCurdy, 1. 399 ; II, »4, 3ML 
McGce, 11,343. 
Melnbold, II, 199, 204. 
Melssuer. 1. 387, 427 ; U, 21. 31S, 3n; 
UeaandeT, U. 338. 
M^nntitl 11, 39.383. 
Mesaerschinldt, II. 3SB, 3C8. 
Meyer, 1,307; 11,29,187,198,20^3801 
Millln, 1.108, ila ■""•-"■ 

Mlttonl, 1. 139. 
Moerbeka.l,33L 
MoM, 1, 133. 
Moorp. 1, 2S9. 
Mordunann.l, 320, 232. 
Morgiui.de. 1. 360. 
Mows of Caorene. I, HO. 
Mohlbach.von. 1,217. 
Mri!ler,C.,l,28e. 
Mailer, F Max. 1, 68. 190. 
MQller, W. Max. 1, 209, 
MOllcr-DIilot. U, 207, 29^ SOT, 888^ 8S^ 



INDEX OF AUTHORa 



OHYfer, I, m, SI, las. 

Opi^rt, I, IMi. lli, aot, 29S, 380; IL Ul, 

IM, 29T, 3ST. 
OrteUus, 1, 83. 
OrtelUua, I, 93. 
Otter, 1. m, in. 



I. X, 39, 43, 

Potora; 1, MO, »t,342, 278, 588, 290, M^ 

293. 2M; li.eO. 
TetTle, LMB; )1.4.B. 
Pinches, I, 313. SM, SIE, 3a% 391, 101, 

4IB: IL, GS. 73, iei,36L 



PoBDon, 1, a 
rofrhlstor, 
Poole, I, TO. 
Porter,!, izt 
Price, I, 3G9. 
PrincB.U.asi. 
Ptolemseiu. II. 102. 
Purchaa, I, Zl, 91. 



Rank. 1, 18. 

RaaaaiD.l.lSI.fl., 296, 297,288; ll.W.TO, 
73. 2«. 263, a», 257, 288, a6^ 'JeT, 



Bleb, i, IIG, fl..!S8. 

Robert, i, 220. 

Bodweil, il. 4T. 

Rogers, 1, 2W, 399; II. 78. 82. IfB, 18B, 



Boat, L. 31fi. 317, 318, 320, 321. 328. 330. 
331 , 399, 419. 420. 425 ; 11, 107, IW, 110, 
UB. 118. 126, 218. 

S. 

Sacbau, I, 290, 201,294. 297, 300; 11,00, 

Salnt-'Martin. 1. SB, fa. 

8ayce. A. H„ 1, 179, 218, 221. 222. 230, 

249, 283, 307, 313. 33S, 381, 3TT, 3»>, 

387, 39i;, 399, 405: II, 21. 24, 2H. 31. 33. 

4T. 4K. B2, B4, H, W. 82, 113, 2«. 277, 

297. 338, 384, 385, 386. 
Schell, I, 251. 3ea. 390; II. 4, 11, T2, 13, 



mitb, Cfeorae, I, ST, US, 314, 319, 1 
363,373; n, 14, IS, MS, 2ea. 297,38 

niU), QeoiBe Adam, ii, lae, 2<B. 



Stade, II, 144, iM. 

SteTenaon, I, 284. 



Streck, li, 2B. 27. 

Sjlva y Pigueroa, 1, 11-15, 

T. 

Talbot, 1, 198,196,199,302; ll,183,t90L 
Taylor. 1, 163, 164. 
Tbureau-Daagln, 1. 367, 37T. 
Tlele, I, 33, 30T, 319; 11, 26, 29, 84, 9L 

109, 298, 329. 338, 3S6, 384. 
Tobln, 1. '299. 
TolDiim. 1. 264. 

Tud(>la, AonJaiDln'of, 1, 88. 



Wfesteritaat J. 1, 176, 17 

Wllmo. II. 64. 

Wlmmer, 1. 280. 

Wlnrkler. H.. U 2»0, 307, SH, 316, K 



1. 413, i; 



i. Wb, 399| 401, VB. 40 

T;'i2."l7. 21,' 38, 4(, 45, 09, 72, T7.'o 
109. 144. 140. ISO. IM, 156, 157, IB 
159, Ifin, 181, 182, 1G3, lot, 106, lei 

203) 2M, 21b! m. m. 233] ma', 241 

252. 278, 283, 280. 289, 298, 289, 30 
308, 309. 330. rs42, 343, 317, 348, 34! 



Xenopbon, 11, 293, 372, 37S. 

V- 

Tule, 1, 4. 

Z. 
ZlmmerD, 1, 211, 3W, 390, 4U. 



INDEX OF BIBUCAI, PASSAGES. 



INDEX OF BIBLICAL PASSAGES 
QUOTED OR DISCUSSED. 



OLD TESTAMENT. 


Isaiah. 


GuniBiB. 






2(),ll.2M;xLll,f4,ll,33f". 


I, 2, il, K: X, 10, 
XIIV, 10, i, 288. 


,205 


XI, 1,358; 


NUMBEBS. 






JSBKHIAB. 


111.8, 11, 82; 1X111,4, 11,40 

Joaan*. 

xlx, 4^ U, m. 
JrooEa. 

Ill, 8. 1, va. 


xxlU, B, 1, 


xxll.24, 11.318; xxlT, 1, il. 318; xxvll, 

Ki".'i»,^K'ie.'li: 

iiivll. U-U. U. 938 ; ixxTll. 19. tl 
322; xxxt1I1,2.1I,328;xxx1i,S,1I, 

313;xUx,«-38.ii.341;llll.31,li; 


I Sahubu 

It, 1-11. 11. 322. 






ElKKIBU 



II 

I, e, 8. II. 2TB. 
t Kuras. 

xl, 23. 11,276. 

II KlNOS. 

Till. 7-10, II. SI; XT, U,ft). il, 130; 
IV, 28. II, 13B : IT, 3D, II. 129 ; ITl, 
a, II, US; ITl 7, It., 11.128; irt, 8, 
^131; XVl, U, U.12TlITll,4, II, 
144t ITll, e,iU(H; ITfil, B.fl, 182; 
xvlft. 0, lO, IL 1«S 1 xvUl, 14,11, two ; 
XTlU, IT, II, 201 : xlx. 7. B, II, 202 ; 
xlx, 8-14. il, 202; xlx. SiS6, II, 
303; III, 35. 3T. II. SIG; xlx, 37, tl, 
217; XX, 30,11. 193; illlt.ia. 11. 
127; ixllt, 21. U. 311; xxtv. 1,11, 



xxxll. 8, tl, 181; XXXT. at-SZ, U, SU. 
It. 3. 11, ISS; It, 10, II, 348. 
exxxTit, 4,11.335. 



'l3.ii.33;'iiITlll,2,i'l,2i,36e;iWl| 
18, 11, 139. 

It, 30, II, 340; It, 31, II, 3E] ; r, 1, 30, 
81, It, 363. 

Tl. 3, U, 131. 

Ill, 9, 11. 280. 

IPHAHIAH. 

tl, 13-18, 11, 393. 

APOCBTPHA. 
::ci.BaiASTicuB. 
1,36,26,11,159. 

NEW TEBTAHBNT. 



f^n 




Di:."- I!!.- !• !J?'' 



out r'EB lU r>3«) 
MI6 »• t! 



<IUN to 19S9 




3 2044 037 681 848