THE LATER DYNASTIES AND THE ASSYRIAN DOMINATION
The historian of ancient Babylonia has reason to be grateful to
Shutruk-Nakhkhunte and his son for their raids into the Euphrates
valley, since certain of the monuments they carried off as spoil have
been preserved in the mounds of Susa, until the French expedition
brought them again to light. Thanks to Babylon's misfortunes at this
time, we have recovered some of her finest memorials, including the
famous Stele of Narâm-Sin, Hammurabi's Code of Laws, and an important
series of the Kassite kudurrus, or boundary-stones, which, as we
have seen, throw considerable light upon the economic condition of
the country. These doubtless represent but a small proportion of the
booty secured by Elam at this period, but they suffice to show the
manner in which the great Babylonian cities were denuded of their
treasures. Under the earlier kings of the Fourth Dynasty it would
seem that Elam continued to be a menace, and it was not until the
reign of Nebuchadnezzar I. that the land was freed from further
danger of Elamite invasion. We possess two interesting memorials of
his successful campaigns, during which he not only regained his own
territories, but carried the war into the enemy's country. One is a
charter of privileges, which the king conferred upon Ritti-Marduk, the
Captain of his chariots, for signal service against Elam. The text is
engraved on a block of calcareous limestone, and on one side of it are
a series of divine symbols, sculptured in high relief, in order to
place the record under the protection of the gods, in accordance with
the custom introduced during the Kassite period. The campaign in Elam
which furnished the occasion for the charter was undertaken, according
to the text,[1] with the object of "avenging Akkad," that is to say, in
retaliation for the Elamite raids in Northern Babylonia. The campaign
was conducted from the frontier city of Dêr, or Dûr-ilu, and, as it was
carried out in the summer, the Babylonian army suffered considerably
on the march. The heat of the sun was so great that, in the words of
the record, the axe burned like fire, the roads scorched like flame,
and through the lack of drinking-water "the vigour of the great horses
failed, and the legs of the strong man turned aside." Ritti-Marduk,
as Captain of the chariots, encouraged the troops by his example, and
eventually brought them to the Euheus, where they gave battle to the
Elamite confederation which had been summoned to oppose them.
The record describes the subsequent battle in vivid phraseology.
"The kings took their stand round about and offered battle. Fire
was kindled in their midst; by their dust was the face of the sun
darkened. The hurricane sweeps along, the storm rages; in the storm of
their battle the warrior in the chariot perceives not the companion
at his side." Here again Ritti-Marduk did good service by leading the
attack. "He turned evil against the King of Elam, so that destruction
overtook him; King Nebuchadnezzar triumphed, he captured the land of
Elam, he plundered its possessions." On his return from the campaign
Nebuchadnezzar granted the charter to Ritti-Marduk, freeing the towns
and villages of Bît-Karziabku, of which he was the head-man, from
the jurisdiction of the neighbouring town of Namar. In addition to
freedom from all taxation and the _corvée,_ the privileges secured the
inhabitants from liability to arrest by imperial soldiers stationed
in the district, and forbade the billeting of such troops upon them.
This portion of the text affords an interesting glimpse of the military
organization of the kingdom.
The second memorial too has a bearing on this war, since it exhibits
Nebuchadnezzar as a patron of Elamite refugees. It is a copy of a
deed recording a grant of land and privileges to Shamfia and his
son Shamfiia, priests of the Elamite god Rîa, who, in fear of the
Elamite king, fled from their own country and secured Nebuchadnezzar's
protection. The text states that, when the king undertook an expedition
on their behalf, they accompanied him and brought back the statue of
the god Rîa, whose cult Nebuchadnezzar inaugurated in the Babylonian
city of Khuṣṣi, after he had introduced the foreign god into Babylon at
the Feast of the New Year. The deed records the grant of five estates
to the two Elamite priests and their god, and it exempts the land in
future from all liability to taxation and forced labour.[2]
Though Nebuchadnezzar restored the fortunes of his country, he was
not the founder of his dynasty,[3] Of his three predecessors, the
name of one may now be restored as Marduk-shapik-zêrim. His name
has been read on a kudurru-fragment in the Yale Collection, which
is dated in the eighth year of Marduk-nadin-akhê, and refers to the
twelfth year of Marduk-shapik-zêrim.[4] That he cannot be identified
with Marduk-shapik-zêr-mâti is certain, since we know from the
"Synchronistic History" that the latter succeeded Marduk-nadin-akhê
upon the throne of Babylon, the one being the contemporary of
Tiglath-pileser I., the other of his son Ashur-bêl-kala.[5] The close
sequence of the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar I., Enlil-nadin-apli, and
Marduk-nadin-akhê has long been recognized from the occurrence of the
same officials on legal documents of the period.[6] We must therefore
place the newly recovered ruler in the gap before Nebuchadnezzar I.;
he must be one of the first three kings of the dynasty, possibly its
founder, whose name in the Kings' List begins with the divine title
Marduk, and who ruled for seventeen years according to the same
authority. Another of these missing rulers may perhaps be restored
as Ea-nadin-[....], if the royal name in the broken inscription of
Nebuchadnezzar I., to which reference has already been made,[7] is to
be read in that way and not identified as that of the last member of
the Kassite Dynasty. During the earlier years of the Dynasty of Isin
Babylonia must have been subject to further Elamite aggression, and
portions of the country may for a time have acknowledged the suzerainty
of her rulers.
[Illustration: DIVINE EMBLEMS ON A CHARTER OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR I. Brit.
Mus., No. 90858.]
Nebuchadnezzar's successes against Elam and the neighbouring district
of Lulubu[8] no doubt enabled him to offer a more vigorous defence of
his northern frontier; and, when Ashur-rêsh-ishi attempted an invasion
of Babylonian territory, he not only drove the Assyrians back, but
followed them up and laid siege to the frontier fortress of Zanki. But
Ashur-rêsh-ishi forced him to raise the siege and burn his siege-train;
and, on Nebuchadnezzar's return with reinforcements, the Babylonian
army suffered a further defeat, losing its fortified camp together with
Karashtu, the general in command of the army, who was taken to Assyria
as a prisoner of war. Babylon thus proved that, though strong enough to
recover and maintain her independence, she was incapable of a vigorous
offensive on a large scale. It is true that Nebuchadnezzar claimed
among his titles that of "Conqueror of Amurru,"[9] but it is doubtful
whether we should regard the term as implying more than a raid into the
region of the middle Euphrates.[10]
That within her own borders Babylon maintained an effective
administration is clear from a boundary-stone of the period of
Nebuchadnezzar's successor, Enlil-nadin-apli, recording a grant of land
in the district of Edina in Southern Babylonia by E-anna-shum-iddina, a
governor of the Sea-Country, who administered that district under the
Babylonian king and owed his appointment to him.[11] But in the reign
of Marduk-nadin-akhê, she was to suffer her second great defeat at the
hands of Assyria. She fought two campaigns with Tiglath-pileser I.,
in the latter part of his reign, after his successes in the North and
West.[12] In the first she met with some success,[13] but on the second
occasion Tiglath-pileser completely reversed its result, and followed
up his victory by the capture of Babylon itself with other of the great
northern cities, Dûr-Kurigalzu, Sippar of Shamash, Sippar of Anunitum,
and Opis. But Assyria did not then attempt a permanent occupation,
for we find Tiglath-pileser's son, Ashur-bêl-kala, on friendly terms
with Marduk-shapik-zêr-mâti; and when the latter, after a prosperous
reign,[14] lost his throne to the Aramean usurper Adad-aplu-iddina,[15]
he further strengthened the alliance by contracting a marriage with the
new king's daughter.[16]
Thus closed the first phase of Babylon's relations with the growing
Assyrian power. A state of alternate conflict and temporary truce had
been maintained between them for some three centuries, and now for
more than half a century the internal condition of both countries
was such as to put an end to any policy of aggression. The cause of
Babylon's decline was the overrunning of the country by the Sutû,
semi-nomad Semitic tribes from beyond the Euphrates,[17] who made their
first descent during Adad-aplu-iddina's later years, and, according
to a Neo-Babylonian chronicle, carried off with them the spoil of
Sumer and Akkad. This was probably the first of many raids, and we
may see evidence of the unsettled condition of the country in the
ephemeral Babylonian dynasties, which followed one another in quick
succession.[18]
The later ruler, Nabû-aplu-iddina, when recording his rebuilding of the
great temple of the Sun-god at Sippar,[19] has left us some details of
this troubled time; and the facts he relates of one of the great cities
of Akkad may be regarded as typical of the general condition of the
country. The temple had been wrecked by the Sutû, doubtless at the time
of Adad-aplu-iddina, and it was not until the reign of Simmash-Shipak,
who came from the Country of the Sea and founded the Fifth Dynasty,[20]
that any attempt was made to reestablish the interrupted service of
the deity. His successor, Ea-mukîn-zêr, did not retain the throne for
more than five months, and in the reign of Kashshûnadin-akhi, with
whom the dynasty closed, the country suffered further misfortunes, the
general distress, occasioned by raids and civil disturbance, being
increased by famine. Thus the service of the temple again suffered,
until under E-ulmash-shakin-shum of Bît-Bazi, who founded the Sixth
Dynasty, a partial re-endowment of the temple took place. But its half
ruinous condition continued to attest the poverty of the country and
of its rulers, until the more prosperous times of Nabû-aplu-iddina.
E-ulmash-shakin-shum was succeeded by two members of his own house,
Ninib-kudur-usur and Shilanum-Shuḳamuna; but they reigned between them
less than four years, and the throne then passed for six years to an
Elamite,[21] whose rule is regarded by the later chroniclers as having
constituted in itself the Seventh Babylonian Dynasty.
[Illustration: FIG. 58.
SCENE REPRESENTING NABÛ-MUKÎN-APLI SANCTIONING A TRANSFER OF LANDED
PROPERTY.
Arad-Sibitti, accompanied by his sister, receives the royal sanction to
the transfer of an estate, situated in the district of Sha-mamîtu, to
his daughter as her dowry.
(From Boundary-Stone No. 90835 in the British Museum.)]
A stable government was once more established in Babylonia by
Nabû-mukîn-apli, the founder of the Eighth Dynasty,[22] though even
in his reign Aramean tribes continued to give trouble, holding the
Euphrates in the neighbourhood of Babylon and Borsippa, cutting
communications, and raiding the country-side. On one occasion they
captured the Ferry-Gate of Kâr-bêlmâtâti and prevented the king from
holding the New Year's Festival, as the statue of the god Nabû could
not be transported across the river to Babylon.[23] A rude portrait of
this monarch is preserved on a boundary-stone of his reign, on which he
is represented giving the royal sanction to the transfer of an estate
in the district of Sha-mamîtu; and it may be added that considerable
friction subsequently took place, with regard to the validity of the
title, between the original owner Arad-Sibitti and his son-in-law, a
jewel-worker named Burusha.[24] The coarse style of the engraving is
probably to be explained by the fact of its provincial origin, though
there can be little doubt that the standard of Babylonian art had been
adversely affected by the internal condition of the country during the
preceding period.
It was at the time of the Eighth Dynasty that the renaissance of
Assyria took place, which culminated in the victories of that ruthless
conqueror Ashur-nasir-pal and of his son Shalmaneser III. Its effect
was first felt in Babylon in the reign of Shamash-mudammik, who
suffered a serious defeat in the neighbourhood of Mt. Ialman at the
hands of Adad-nirari III., Ashur-nasir-pal's grandfather. Against
Nabû-shum-ishkun I., the murderer and successor of Shamash-mudammik,
Adad-nirari secured another victory, several Babylonian cities with
much spoil falling into his hands. But we subsequently find him on
friendly terms with Babylon, and allying himself with Nabû-shum-ishkun,
or possibly with his successor, each monarch marrying the others
daughter.[25] His son Tukulti-Ninib II. of Assyria, profiting by the
renewed sense of security from attack upon his southern border, began
to make tentative efforts at expanding westwards into Mesopotamia. But
it was reserved for Ashur-nasir-pal, his son, to cross the Euphrates
and lead Assyrian armies once more into Syrian territory. After
securing his frontier to the east and north of Assyria, Ashur-nasir-pal
turned his attention to the west. The Aramean states of Bît-Khadippi
and Bît-Adini, both on the left bank of the Euphrates, fell before his
onslaught. Then crossing the Euphrates on rafts of skins, he received
the submission of Sangar of Carchemish, and marched in triumph through
Syria to the coast.
Babylon naturally viewed this encroachment on the Euphrates route
to the west as a danger to her commercial connexions, and it is not
surprising that Nabû-aplu-iddina should have attempted to oppose
Ashur-nasir-pal's advance by allying himself with Shadudu of Sukhi.[26]
But the armed forces he sent to support the people of Sukhi in their
resistance were quite unable to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, and
his brother Sabdanu and Bêl-aplu-iddin, the Babylonian leader, fell
into Ashur-nasir-pal's hands. In recording his victory the Assyrian
king refers to the Babylonians as the Kassites,[27] a striking tribute
to the fame of the foreign dynasty which had ended more than three
centuries before. Nabû-aplu-iddina evidently realized the futility
of attempting further opposition to Assyrian aims, and he was glad
to establish relations of a friendly character, which he continued
in the reign of Shalmaneser. He attempted to forget the failure of
his military expedition by repairing the damage inflicted during the
numerous Aramean raids upon the ancient cult-centres of Babylonia.
[Illustration: MEMORIAL TABLET OF NABÛ-APLU-IDDINA, RECORDING HIS
RESTORATION OF THE SUN-TEMPLE AT SIPPAR. _Brit. Mus._ No., 91000.]
He is the king who restored and re-endowed so richly the temple of
Shamash at Sippar, digging in the ruins of former structures till he
found the ancient image of the god. He redecorated the shrine, and
with much ceremony re-established the ritual and offerings for the god,
placing them under the control of Nabû-nadin-shum, a descendant of the
former priest E-kur-shum-ushabshi, whom Simmash-Shipak had installed
at Sippar. The sculptured scene on the stone memorial-tablet, which
records the re-endowment of the temple, represents Nabû-aplu-iddina
being led by the priest Nabû-nadin-shum and the goddess Aia into the
presence of the Sun-god, who is seated in his temple E-babbar.
[Illustration: FIG. 59.
MARDUK AND HIS DRAGON FROM A VOTIVE OFFERING OF MARDUK-ZAKIR-SHUM.
(After Weissbach.)]
Before the god is the solar disk resting upon an altar supported by
attendant deities, whose bodies spring from the roof of the shrine.[28]
The skill of the Babylonian craftsmen at this period is also attested
by a cylinder of lapis-lazuli, engraved in low relief with a figure of
Marduk and his dragon, which was dedicated in E-sagila at Babylon by
Marduk-zakir-shum, the son and successor of Nabû-aplu-iddina. It was
originally coated with gold, and the design and execution of the figure
may be compared with those of the Sun-god Tablet, as an additional
example of the decorative character of Babylonian stone-engraving in
the ninth century.
It was in Marduk-zakir-shum's reign that Assyria capped her
conquests of this period by becoming the suzerain of Babylon. Under
Ashur-naṣir-pal and Shalmaneser the military organization of the
country had been renewed, and both made effective use of their
extraordinarily efficient armies. Ashur-nasir-pal's policy was one of
annihilation, and the speed with which he struck ensured his success.
Thus when he crossed the Euphrates after taking Carchemish, the king
of Damascus, the most powerful and important state in Syria, made no
attempt to oppose him or to organize a defence. He had evidently been
taken by surprise.
[Illustration: FIG. 60.
THE ASSYRIAN ARMY IN CHALDEA, 851 B.C.
In the upper register Assyrian foot-soldiers and cavalry are seen
crossing a stream by a bridge of boats, while below the army is
represented leaving its fortified camp.
(From the Gates of Shalmaneser in the British Museum.)] But Syria then
learned her lesson, and at the battle of Karkar in 854 B.C. Shalmaneser
found himself opposed by a confederation of the northern kings, and,
though he eventually succeeded in ravaging the territory of Damascus,
the city itself held out. In fact, the stubborn resistance of Damascus
prevented any further attempt on Assyria's part at this period to
penetrate further into Southern Syria and Palestine. So Shalmaneser
had to content himself with marching northwards across Mt. Amanus,
subjugating Cilicia and exacting tribute from districts north of the
Taurus. He also conducted a successful campaign in Armenia, from which
quarter one of Assyria's most powerful enemies was about to arise. But
it was in Babylonia that he secured his principal political success.
He has left us a pictorial record of his campaigns on the bronze
sheathing of two cedar-wood doors of his palace; and, as one of the
bands commemorates his triumphal march through Chaldea in 851 b.c., it
gives us some indication of the condition of the country at this time.
[Illustration: FIG. 61.
A CHALDEAN TOWN OF THE NINTH CENTURY B.C.
The male inhabitants are represented leaving with cattle and tribute
for Shalmaneser III., while the women watch them from the walls.
(From the Gates of Shalmaneser.)]
The occasion for Shalmaneser's intervention in Babylonian affairs
was furnished by internal dissension.[29] When Marduk-bêl-usâte, the
brother of Marduk-zakir-shum, revolted, and divided the country into
two armed camps, Shalmaneser readily responded to the latter's appeal
for help, and marching southwards succeeded in defeating the rebels and
in ravaging the districts under their control. On a second expedition
in the following year he completed his work by slaying Marduk-bel-usâte
in battle, and he was then acknowledged by Marduk-zakir-shum as his
suzerain. In this capacity he toured through the principal cities of
Akkad, offering sacrifices in the famous temples of Cuthah, Babylon,
and Borsippa. He also led his army into Chaldea, and, after storming
its frontier fortress of Bakâni, received the submission of its ruler,
Adini, and heavy tribute from him and from Iakin, the Chaldean king
of the Sea-Country further to the south. In his representation of the
campaign Shalmaneser is portrayed marching through the country, and
receiving tribute from the Chaldeans, which they carry from their
cities and ferry across streams to deposit in the presence of the king
and his officials.
[Illustration FIGS. 62 AND 63.
THE TRIBUTE OF THE CHALDEANS,
In Fig. 62 Chaldeans are represented conveying tribute across a stream
in boats; in Fig. 63 they deposit it at a bridge-head held by the
Assyrians.
(From the Gates of Shalmaneser.)]
But Babylon did not long endure the position of a vassal state,
and Shalmaneser's son and successor. Shamshi-Adad IV., attempted
her reconquest, plundering many cities before he met with serious
opposition. Marduk-balâtsu-ikbi, the Babylonian king, had meanwhile
collected his forces, which included armed levies from Elam, Chaldea,
and other districts. The two armies met near the city of Dûr-Papsukal,
the Babylonians were totally defeated, and a rich booty fell to their
conqueror. During a subsequent interregnum Erba-Marduk, the son of
Marduk-shakin-shum, secured the throne, owing his election to his
success in driving Aramean raiders from the cultivated fields of
Babylon and Borsippa.[30] But he did not reign for long, and when
Babylon continued to give trouble to Assyria, Adad-nirari IV., the
successor of Shamshi-Adad, again subjugated a considerable portion of
the country, carrying away Bau-akhi-iddina, the Babylonian king, as a
captive to Assyria, together with the treasures of his palace.[31]
During the following half-century our knowledge of Babylonian affairs
is a blank, and we have not as yet recovered even the names of the last
members of the Eighth Dynasty. This epoch corresponds to a period of
weakness and inaction in the northern kingdom, such as more than once
before had followed a forward movement on her part. The expansion of
Assyria, in fact, took place in a series of successive waves, and when
one had spent itself, a recoil preceded the next advance. The principal
cause of her contraction, after the brilliant reigns of Shalmaneser
III. and his father, may undoubtedly be traced to the rise of a new
power in the mountains of Armenia. From their capital on the shore of
Lake Van, the Urartians marched southward and menaced the northern
frontier of Assyria itself. Her kings could no longer dream of further
adventures in the West, which would leave their home territory at
the mercy of this new foe. Urartu became now the principal drag on
Assyria's ambitions, a part which was afterwards so effectively played
by Elam in alliance with Babylon.
It is to this period we may probably assign an interesting provincial
monument, discovered in Babylon,[32] which illustrates the independent
position enjoyed by the rulers of local districts at a time when the
central control of either kingdom, and particularly of Assyria, was
relaxed. The monument commemorates the principal achievements of
Shamash-rêsh-usur, governor of the lands of Sukhi and Mari on the
middle Euphrates.[33] He may have owed his appointment to Assyria,
but he speaks like a reigning monarch and dates the record in his
thirteenth year.
[Illustration: FIG. 64.
BAS-RELIEF OF SHAMASH-RÊSH-USUR, GOVERNOR OF THE LANDS OF SUKHI AND
MARI.
The scene represents Shamash-rêsh-usur standing before the god Adad and
the goddess Ishtar. The stone was set up in Gabbari-ibni, a city he had
founded, and it commemorates his achievements, the one of which he was
most proud being the introduction of honey-bees into the land of Sukhi.
(After a photo, by Weissbach.)]
On it he records his suppression of a revolt of the Tu'mânu tribe,
who threatened his capital Ribanish, while he was holding festival
in the neighbouring town of Baka. But he attacked them with the
people who were with him, slew three hundred and fifty of them, and
the rest submitted. He also records how he dug out the Sukhi Canal,
when it had silted up, and how he planted palm-trees in his palace at
Ribanish. But his most notable act, according to his own account, was
the introduction of bees into Sukhi, which his improved irrigation of
the district doubtless rendered possible. "Bees which collect honey,"
he tells us, "which no man had seen since the time of my fathers and
forefathers, nor had brought to the land of Sukhi, I brought down
from the mountains of the Khabkha-tribe and I put them in the garden
of Gabbari-ibni." The text closes with an interesting little note upon
the bees: "They collect honey and wax. The preparing of honey and
wax I understand, and the gardeners understand it." And he adds that
in days to come a ruler will ask the elders of his land, "Is it true
that Shamash-rêsh-usur, governor of Sukhi, brought honey-bees into the
land of Sukhi?" The monument may well have been carried to Babylon by
Nebuchadnezzar II., when he incorporated the district within his empire.
The subsequent period shows a gradual tightening of Assyria's grasp
upon the southern kingdom, varied by comparatively ineffective
struggles and revolts on Babylon's part to avoid her loss of
independence. The temporary decline of Assyrian power enabled
Babylon for a time to regain something of her former position under
Nabû-shum-ishkun II., an early king of the Ninth Dynasty, and his
successor Nabonassar. But the military revolt in Assyria, which in 745
B.C. placed Tiglath-pileser IV. upon the throne,[34] put a speedy end
to Babylon's hopes of any permanent recovery of power. His accession
marks the beginning of the last period of Assyrian expansion, and
the administrative policy he inaugurated justifies us in ascribing
the term "empire" to the area conquered by him, and his successors,
in the last half of the eighth and the first half of the seventh
centuries B.C. But it was an empire which carried in itself from the
outset the seeds of decay. It was based on a policy of deportation,
Assyria's final answer to her pressing problem of how to administer
the wide areas she annexed. Former Assyrian kings had carried away the
conquered into slavery, but Tiglath-pileser IV. inaugurated a regular
transference of nations. The policy certainly effected its immediate
object: it kept the subject provinces quiet. But as a permanent method
of administration it was bound to be a failure. While destroying
patriotism and love of country, it put an end at the same time to
all incentives to labour. The subject country's accumulated wealth
had already been drained for the benefit of Assyrian coffers; and in
the hands of its half-starved colonists it was not likely to prove a
permanent source of strength, or of wealth, to its suzerain.
Tiglath-pileser's first object, before launching his armies to
the north and west, was to secure his southern frontier, and this
he effected by invading Babylonia and forcing from Nabonassar an
acknowledgment of Assyrian control. During the campaign he overran the
northern districts, and applied his policy of deportation by carrying
away many of their inhabitants. The distress in the country, due to
the Assyrian inroads, was aggravated by internal dissension. Sippar
repudiated Nabonassar's authority, and the revolt was subdued only
after a siege of the city.[35] The Ninth Dynasty ended with the country
in confusion; for Nabû-nadin-zêr, Nabopolassar's son, after a reign of
only two years, was slain in a revolt by Nabû-shum-ukin, the governor
of a province.[36] The dynasty soon came to an end after the latter's
accession. He had not enjoyed his position for more than a month, when
the kingdom again changed hands, and Nabû-mukîn-zêr secured the throne.
From the fall of the Ninth Dynasty, until the rise of the
Neo-Babylonian Empire, Babylonia was completely overshadowed by
the power of Assyria. She became merely a subject province of the
empire, and her Tenth Dynasty is mainly composed of Assyrian rulers
or their nominees. Nabû-mukîn-zêr had reigned only three years when
Tiglath-pileser again invaded Babylonia, took him captive, and ascended
the throne of Babylon, where he ruled under his name of Pulu.[37]
On his death, which occurred two years later, he was succeeded by
Shalmaneser V., who, as suzerain of Babylon, adopted the name of
Ululai. But Babylonia soon demonstrated her power of hindering
Assyrian plans, for, after the elose of Shalmaneser's reign, when
Sargon's army had secured the capture of Samaria, he was obliged to
recall his forces from the West by the menace of his southern province.
Merodach-baladan, a Chaldean chief of Bît-Iakin[38] at the head of
the Persian Gulf, now laid claim to the throne of Babylon. By himself
he would not have been formidable to Assyria, but he was backed by
an unexpected and dangerous ally. Elam had not meddled in Babylonian
affairs for centuries, but she had gradually become alarmed at the
growth of Assyrian power. So Khumbanigash, the Elamite king, allying
himself with Merodach-baladan, invaded Babylonia, laid siege to the
frontier fortress of Dêr or Dûr-ilu on the Lower Tigris, and defeated
Sargon and the Assyrian army before its walls. Merodach-baladan was
acknowledged by the Babylonians as their king, and he continued to be a
thorn in the side of Assyria.
[Illustration: SHALMANESER III RECEIVING THE SUBMISSION OF THE
CHALDEANS. From the Gates of Shalmaneser in the Brit. Mus.]
After the defeat of Shabaka and the Egyptians at Raphia, Sargon was
occupied with the final subjugation of Urartu in the north, which had
for so long been a danger to Assyria. But Urartu had to fight, not
only the Assyrians, but also a new enemy, the Cimmerians, who now made
their appearance from the north and east. In fact, Sargon's conquest of
Urartu resulted in the destruction of that people as a buffer state,
and laid Assyria open to the direct attack of the barbarian invaders,
though it was not until the reign of Esarhaddon that their activity
began to be formidable. Meanwhile, having subjugated his other foes.
Sargon was able to turn his attention once more to Babylon, from
which he expelled Merodach-baladan. His appearance was welcomed by
the priestly party, and, entering the city in state, he assumed the
title of Governor and for the last seven years of his life he ruled in
Babylon virtually as king. A memorial of his occupation survives to-day
in the quay-wall, which he constructed along the north front of the
Southern Citadel.[39]
On Sargon's death in 705 B.C. the subject provinces of the empire
rebelled. The revolt was led by Babylon, where Merodach-baladan
reappears with Elamite support,[40] while Hezekiah of Judah headed a
confederation of the states of Southern Syria. Sennacherib was first
occupied with Babylon, where he had little difficulty in defeating
Merodach-baladan and his allies. He was then free to deal with Syria
and Palestine; and at Eltekeh, near Ekron, he routed the Egyptian army,
which had come to the support of the rebel states. He then received
the submission of Ekron, and took Lachish after a siege, though Tyre
resisted. After his expulsion from Babylon Merodach-baladan had sought
safety by hiding himself in the Babylonian swamps, where he allied
himself with the Chaldean prince Mushezib-Marduk; and Babylon had been
left in charge of Bêl-ibni, a young native Babylonian, who had been
brought up at the Assyrian court. A rising, headed by Mushezib-Marduk,
brought Sennacherib again into the country, who, after defeating the
rebels, carried off Bêl-ibni and his nobles to Assyria, leaving his own
son Ashur-nadin-shum upon the throne.
The country was in a state of continual disaffection, and after a few
years a fresh revolt was headed by a Babylonian, Nergal-ushezib. But
he ruled for little more than a year, being defeated by Sennacherib
and sent in chains to Nineveh. This took place after the return of the
Assyrian army from Nagitu, whither it had been conveyed by Sennacherib,
across the head of the Persian Gulf, against the Chaldeans whom
Merodach-baladan had settled there.[41] Sennacherib then turned his
forces against Elam, and, after plundering a considerable portion
of the country, he was stopped in his advance into the interior by
the setting in of winter. In his absence the Chaldean Mushezib-Marduk
seized the throne of Babylon, and allied himself with Elam. But the
combined armies were defeated at Khalule, and after the death of
Umman-menanu, the Elamite king, in 689, Sennacherib seized Babylon.
Exasperated at her disaffection, he attempted to put an end for all
time to her constant menace by destroying the city. He succeeded in
doing an enormous amount of damage, and, by deflecting the course of
the Euphrates, wiped out large areas and turned them into swamps.[42]
For the last eight years of Sennacherib's reign the country was given
over to a state of anarchy.
[Illustration: FIG. 65. THE GOD ADAD FROM A VOTIVE OFFERING DEDICATED
IN E-SAGILA BY ESARHADDOS.
(After Weissbach.)]
In 681 Sennacherib was murdered by his sons, and, after a struggle for
the succession, Esarhaddon secured the throne. His first thought was to
reverse completely his father's Babylonian policy, and by rebuilding
the city and restoring its ancient privileges to placate the priestly
party, whose support his grandfather, Sargon, had secured.[43] In 668
B.C. the statue of Marduk was restored to its shrine, and Esarhaddon's
son, Shamash-shum-ukîn, was proclaimed King of Babylon. Esarhaddon
sought to reconcile the military and aggressive party in his own
capital by crowning Ashur-bani-pal, his eldest son, as king in Assyria.
But at the same time Babylon was still taught to look upon Assyria as
her suzerain, and the spirit of disaffection was only driven for the
moment underground. Esarhaddon's aim had been to retain the territory
already incorporated in the Assyrian empire, and, had he been able
to confine his country's energies within these limits, its existence
as a state might have been prolonged. But he was unable to curb the
ambitions of his generals, and, in his effort to find employment for
the army, he achieved the ultimate object of his father's western
campaigns, the conquest of Egypt.
It was soon apparent that Esarhaddon's occupation of that country had
been merely nominal, and it thus fell to his son Ashur-bani-pal to
continue the Egyptian war, and to complete the work his father had left
unfinished. And though he met with far greater success, he too in the
end found the task of any permanent conquest beyond his power.[44] For
he soon had his hands full with troubles nearer home, in consequence of
which his hold on Egypt gradually relaxed. Urtaku of Elam, who invaded
Babylonia, does not appear to have followed up his success; and the
subsequent invasion of the country by Teumman was only followed by
that ruler's defeat and death in battle. But the strength of Elam was
not broken by this reverse, and, when Shamash-shum-ukîn revolted, he
received active Elamite support.
Not only in Elam, but also throughout the territory controlled by
Assyria, Shamash-shum-ukîn found support in his rebellion, a fact
significant of the detestation of Assyrian rule in the scattered
provinces of the empire, which continued to be held together only by
fear. But the force at Ashur-bani-pal's disposal was still powerful
enough to stamp out the conflagration and head off disaster for a time.
He marched into Babylonia, besieged and captured Babylon, and his
brother Shamash-shum-ukîn met his death in the flames of his palace
in 648 B.C. The Assyrian king then invaded Elam, and, capturing its
cities as he advanced, he laid the country under fire and sword. Susa
was protected by its river, then in flood, but the Assyrian army
effected a crossing, and the ancient capital lay at the mercy of the
invaders. Having taken the city, Ashur-bani-pal determined to break its
power for ever, after the manner Sennacherib had dealt with Babylon.
He not only stripped the temples and carried off the treasures of the
palace, but he even desecrated the royal tombs, and completed his
work of destruction by fire. So Susa was plundered and destroyed, and
in Babylon itself Ashur-bani-pal continued to be supreme until his
death.[45]
[Illustration: ASSUR-BANIPAL AS THE RESTORER OF E-SAGILA, THE TEMPLE OF
MARDUK AT BABYLON. Brit. Mus., No. 90864.]
Babylonia had proved herself no match for the legions of Assyria at the
height of the hitter's power; but the industrial and commercial life of
her cities, based ultimately on the rich return her soil yielded to her
agricultural population, enabled her to survive blows which would have
permanently disabled a country less favoured by nature. Moreover, she
always regarded the Assyrians as an upstart people, who had borrowed
her culture, and whose land had been a mere province of her kingdom
at a time when her own political influence had extended from Elam to
the borders of Syria. Even in her darkest hour she was buoyed up by
the hope of recovering her ancient glory, and she let no opportunity
slip of striking a blow at the northern kingdom. She was consequently
always a drag on Assyria's advance to the Mediterranean, for, when the
latter's armies marched westward, they left Babylon and Elam in their
rear.
In her later dealings with Babylon Assyria had tried the alternative
policies of intimidation and in-dulgence, but with equal want of
success; and they reached their climax in the reigns of Sennacherib
and Esarhaddon. It is quite possible that either of these policies,
if consistently pursued, would have been equally futile in its aim of
coercing or placating Babylonia. But their alternation was a far worse
blunder, as it only succeeded in revealing to the Babylonians their
own power, and in confirming them in their obstinate resistance. To
this cause we may trace the long revolt under Shamash-shum-ukîn, when
Babylon with Elam at her back struck a succession of blows which helped
in a material degree to reduce the power of the Assyrian army, already
weakened by the Egyptian campaigns. And in 625 B.C., when the Scythians
had overrun the Assyrian empire, and her power was on the wane, we
find Nabopolassar proclaiming himself king in Babylon and founding a
new empire which for nearly seventy years was to survive the city of
Nineveh itself.
[Footnote 1: Cf. "Boundary-Stones in the Brit. Mus.," pp. 29 ff.]
[Footnote 2: See "Boundary-Stones in the Brit. Mus.," pp. 96 ff.]
[Footnote 3: The Fourth Dynasty was known as that of Isin, and the fact
that its founder should have come from there is to be explained by the
magnitude of the disaster to Northern Babylonia. The city had been
known as Nîsin in the earlier period (see above, p. 91, n. I), but even
then there was a tendency to drop the initial _n._]
[Footnote 4: I owe this information to Prof. Clay, who is preparing the
text for publication.]
[Footnote 5: See below, p. 256.]
[Footnote 6: _Op. cit.,_ p. 37.]
[Footnote 7: See above, p. 245, n. 1.]
[Footnote 8: Nebuchadnezzar laid claim to the title, "Conqueror of the
mighty land of Lulubu"; see "Boundary Stones," p. 31, 1. 9.]
[Footnote 9: _Ibid.,_ 1. 10.]
[Footnote 10: A current exaggeration of Babylon's dominion in the West
under Nebuchadnezzar I. appears to have arisen from a confusion as to
the authorship of Nebuchadnezzar II.'s fragmentary inscription at the
Nahr-el-Kelb, which is written in archaistic characters.]
[Footnote 11: Cf. "Boundary-Stones in the Brit. Mus.," pp. 76 ff.]
[Footnote 12: Tiglath-pileser was the first Assyrian monarch, with the
possible exception of Shamshi-Adad III., to carry Assyrian arms to the
coast of the Mediterranean; and in consequence he attracted Egyptian
notice.]
[Footnote 13: It was then that Marduk-nadin-akhê must have carried
off the statues of Adad and Shala from Ekallâti, which Sennacherib
afterwards recovered on his capture of Babylon in 689 B.C.; cf.
"Records of Tukulti-Ninib I.," p. 118 f.]
[Footnote 14: A later chronicle credits him with having established his
suzerainty over a large number of petty kings and rulers, and adds that
they "beheld abundance"; cf. King, "Chronicles," I., p. 190, II., p. 57
f.]
[Footnote 15: The "Synchronistic History" makes Adad-aplu-iddina the
son of E-sagil-shadûni, a man of humble origin; but, according to a
Babylonian tradition, his father was Itti-Marduk-balâtu, the Aramean
(_op. cit.,_ I., p. 191, II., p. 59), and this is more probably
correct.]
[Footnote 16: See "Annals of the Kings of Assyria," pp. liii. ff.]
[Footnote 17: On the Sutû and their connexion with the Arameans, see
Streck, "Klio," VI., pp. 209 ff.]
[Footnote 18: For a discussion of the evidence supplied by the Kings'
List and the fragmentary Assyrian Dynastic Chronicle with regard to the
Fifth, Sixth, and so-called Seventh Dynasties, see "Chronicles," I.,
pp. 183 ff.]
[Footnote 19: See below, p. 260 f.]
[Footnote 20: We know little more than the names of Adad-aplu-iddina's
three successors, Marduk-akhi-erba, Marduk-zêr-[....], and
Nabû-shum-libur, with whose reign the Fourth Dynasty closed (cf.
King, "Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.," p. 221). The dynasty founded by
Simmash-Shipak has by some been regarded as of Chaldean origin; and
it is possible that Chaldean tribes, though not mentioned in the
inscriptions before the period of Ashur-nasir-pal and Shalmaneser, had
already begun to overrun the southern districts of Babylonia. For a
discussion of a passage in a religious chronicle, which may possibly
record a solar eclipse in Simmash-Shipak's seventh year, see King,
"Chronicles," I., pp. 232 ff., and Cowell, "Monthly Notices of the Roy.
Astr. Soc," LXV., pp. 865, 867.]
[Footnote 21: For the possible restoration of his name as Ae-aplu-usur,
see "Chronicles," I., p. 200 f.]
[Footnote 22: There were about thirteen kings of the Eighth Dynasty,
and, though their names are completely wanting in the Kings' List,
some of them are preserved in records concerning their relations with
Assyria. In the gap between Nabû-mukîn-apli and Shamash-mudammik we may
probably place Sibir, a Babylonian king whom Ashur-nasir-pal mentions
as having founded Atlila, a city in Zamua, which he himself rebuilt
as a royal residence and renamed Dûr-Ashur (cf. "Annals," p. 325). It
is improbable that Sibir was one of the missing rulers of the Kassite
Dynasty, the only other period to which his reign could be assigned.
For the broken name [....-akh]ê-iddina, possibly that of another ruler
of this period, see "Chronicles," II., p. 63.]
[Footnote 23: _Op. cit.,_ II., p. 81 f.]
[Footnote 24: See Fig. 58; and cf. "Boundary-Stones in the Brit. Mus.,"
pp. 51 ff.]
[Footnote 25: Cf. "Annals," pp. lvii. ff. Nabû-shum-ishkun's name,
attested by "Syn. Hist.," III., 9 ff., appears to be given as
[Nabù-sh]um-ukîn in "Chron.," II., p. 64.]
[Footnote 26: Sukhi lay on the middle Euphrates, near the mouth of the
Khâbûr. Its position is accurately indicated by Tiglath-pileser I., who
records that he plundered the Aramean Akhlamî from the neighbourhood of
Sukhi up to Carchemish in one day (cf. "Annals," p. 73). For a later
monument from the district, see below, p. 205 f.]
[Footnote 27: Cf. "Annals," p. 351 f.]
[Footnote 28: See Plate XXIII. For a translation of the memorial, see
"Bab. Boundary-Stones and Memorial Tablets in the Brit. Mus.," pp. 120
ff. The tablet was found in a clay coffer, in which it had been placed
at a later period by Nabopolassar, together with clay impressions of
the sculptured scene, to preserve the design of the relief in case the
tablet itself should eventually be broken.]
[Footnote 29: See King, "The Gates of Shalmaneser," pp. 18 ff., 31 f.]
[Footnote 30: Cf. "Chronicles," II., p. 66 ff.]
[Footnote 31: Cf. "Keilins. Bibl.," I., p. 202 f. At this point the
record of the "Synchronistic History" ceases; and it is only with the
reign of Nabonassar, the second king of the Ninth Dynasty, that our
knowledge of the Babylonian succession becomes fuller. In addition to
the evidence afforded by the Kings' List, the information contained
in the Babylonian Chronicle and the Ptolemaic Canon then becomes
available.]
[Footnote 32: See Weissbach, "Babylonische Miscellen," pp. 9 ff.]
[Footnote 33: See above, p. 200, n. 1.]
[Footnote 34: He was an Assyrian general named Pulu, the leader of the
revolt, and he took the famous name of Tiglath-pileser to mark his
assumption of royal rank; but he retained his own name in Babylon (see
p. 268).]
[Footnote 35: Though we only possess a few contract-tablets of this
period, the fact that the Ptolemaic Canon begins with the reign of
Nabonassar (see above, p. 265, n. 1) is evidence that it marked a
revival of literary activity, accompanied by a study of the chronology
and possibly by a revision of the calendar.]
[Footnote 36: So "Bab. Chron.," I., 16; in the Kings' List he is
described as the son of Nabû-nadin-zêr.]
[Footnote 37: See above, p. 267, n. 1.]
[Footnote 38: Merodach-baladan claimed descent from Krba-Marduk,
the king of the Eighth Dynasty who secured the throne of Babylon
by his services against the Arameans (see above, p. 204). He made
himself popular in Babylon by restoring to its former owners property
confiscated by the Assyrians. In the Frontispiece to this volume he is
portrayed making a grant of land to his governor of Babylon.]
[Footnote 39: See above, p. 32 f.]
[Footnote 40: According to the Ptolemaic Canon, the two years following
Sargon's death formed a period of interregnum, though the Kings' List
assigns the throne to Sennacherib. However this may be, we know that in
703 Marduk-zakir-shum proclaimed himself king; but he had only reigned
for one month when he was murdered by Merodach-baladan.]
[Footnote 41: In spite of Sennacherib's devastation of Chaldea,
Merodach-baladan had assisted Mushezib-Marduk in his revolt; but he had
then fled with his followers in ships to the coast of Elam, where he
died. Sennacherib built ships on the Tigris and dragged them overland
to the Euphrates, where his troops embarked.]
[Footnote 42: An interesting description of the state of Babylon on
Esarhaddon's accession is given in the recently published cylinder,
inscribed in the year of his accession; cf. King, "Kouyunjik Catalogue
(Supplement)," pp. xviii. f., 7 f., and "Cun. Texts in the Brit. Mus.,"
XXXIV., pl. 1 f.]
[Footnote 43: We have recovered a lapis-lazuli cylinder-seal, engraved
with a figure of "Adad of E-sagila," which he dedicated in that temple;
see Fig. 65, and cf. Weissbach, "Bab. Misc.," p. 17.]
[Footnote 44: Esarhaddon had plundered Memphis, but in a few months it
had been recovered by Egypt and the Assyrian garrison massacred. On his
final Egyptian campaign in 661, Ashur-bani-pal sacked and destroyed
Thebes, and for some years afterwards Egypt continued to acknowledge
Assyrian control.]
[Footnote 45: The subject of Ashur-bani-pal's probable identification
with Kandalanu, and the subsequent relations of Babylon to
Ashur-etil-ihini, Sin-shuni-lishir, and Sin-shar-ishkun will be treated
in the third volume of this history.]