Ashurbanipal inherited Egypt as part of his dominions, but his power was
not firmly established in that country until he led an expedition there,
and sacked the city of Thebes. He erected splendid buildings at Nineveh
and Babylon, and did much for literature and the arts; so that under him
there was a great development of luxury and splendor. He died in 625 B.
C.; and soon afterwards Babylonia, for the last time, and with success,
revolted. The Babylonians marched from the south against Nineveh, under
their governor Nabopolassar; and the now powerful Medes, from the north,
came against it under their king, Cyaxares. Nineveh was taken and given
to the flames, which have left behind them in the mounds the calcined
stone, charred wood, and statues split by the heat, that furnish silent
and convincing proof of the catastrophe. Thus, about 625 B. C., warlike,
splendid, proud Assyria fell, after which it became a Median province.