ASSYRIA IN THE REIGNS OF SARGON AND SENNACHERIB.
In his inscriptions Sargon speaks of the kings who ruled over Asshur
before him, but he mentions neither his father nor his grandfather,
though these are regularly mentioned by all the other kings of Assyria
who ascended the throne in direct succession. It follows that he was
neither the son nor the grandson of Shalmanesar IV.; nevertheless he was
one of the mightiest, most victorious, and powerful of the rulers of
Assyria. Nor did the uninterrupted series of his campaigns prevent him
from undertaking and carrying out great buildings. To the two ancient
chief cities of Assyria--Asshur and Nineveh--Shalmanesar I. had added
Chalah, which was subsequently adorned by Assurnasirpal, Shalmanesar II.
and Tiglath Pilesar II. with temples and palaces. Sargon built a new
residence in the neighbourhood of Nineveh. On the course of the Khosr,
which flows through ancient Nineveh into the Tigris, ten miles up the
stream, he built a new royal abode, which he called after his name Dur
Sarrukin, _i.e._ fortress of Sargon. The new city (Khorsabad) formed, as
the remains of the outer walls show, a rectangle, each of the shorter
sides of which measures more than 5000, and each of the longer sides
5500 feet.[214] In the north-west front of the outer wall the palace,
surrounded by a separate wall, rose above the rectangle of the new city.
The outer walls of the city were 45 feet in thickness; they were built
up in brick, on a basis of stone; the outer wall of the palace, which
flanked as a fortress the north-western side of the city wall, was
entirely cased with stone.[215] The entrance to the main structure of
the royal fortress was guarded by two human-headed bulls. The halls were
adorned with reliefs, which exhibit the exploits of the king. Here was
to be seen the execution of Ilubid, king of Hamath (p. 88); the
besieging and storming of cities. Over the reliefs, beginning from the
entrance in the form of a broad frieze, an inscription runs toward the
left round the hall, which explains the pictures on the reliefs and ends
on the opposite side of the entrance. In some halls this frieze forms a
connected narrative, which relates the acts of the king in succession
according to the years of the reign (the so-called Annals). In the great
gallery and the chambers abutting on it the inscriptions are shorter:
here they are content with bringing into prominence the most important
acts of the king (the so-called Fasti). The two bulls at the entrance of
the palace are also covered with inscriptions. In the foundations of the
palace was found a stone chest, in which lay seven plates of gold,
silver, tin, copper, lead, alabaster, and marble, on which are
inscriptions as well as on the clay cylinders found in the ruins. On the
bricks of the palace we read: "Palace of Sarrukin the viceroy of Bel,
Patis of Asshur (II. 31), the mighty king, king of the nations, king of
Asshur." And on the gold plate: "Palace of Sarrukin, viceroy of Bel,
Patis of Asshur, the mighty king, king of the nations, king of Asshur,
who rules from the rising to the setting sun, over the four regions of
the world, and places viceroys over them. According to my pleasure I
have built a city in the neighbourhood of the mountains, and given to it
the name of Fortress of Sarrukin. For Salman, Sin, Samas, Bin, and Adar,
I have built dwellings for their great divinities in the midst of the
city. The glory of my name I have inscribed on tablets of gold, silver,
copper, lead, tin, alabaster, and marble, and placed them in the
foundations of the palace. Whoso injures the works of my hand, and robs
my treasure, may Asshur, the great lord, destroy his name and
seed."[216] The Annals mention this palace in the year 712 B.C.; at the
close they speak of the completion of it in the year 706 B.C. "With the
heads of the provinces, the viceroys, the wise men, I settled down in my
palace, and exercised justice."[217] In the inscriptions on the bulls,
as well as on a cylinder, the king says, that he has named the gates to
the East after Samas and Bin; those to the West after Anu and Istar; and
those to the South after Bel and Bilit; those to the North after Salman
and the lady of the gods.[218]
Sargon's predecessor, Shalmanesar IV., as we were able to assume, placed
Elulæus over Babylon as a vassal king. The astronomical canon observes
that the reign of Elulæus came to an end in 722 B.C., the same year in
which Shalmanesar IV. died, and Merodach Baladan (Mardokempados)
ascended the throne of Babylon in the year 721 B.C. We may suppose that
this Merodach Baladan was no other than the prince of Bit Yakin, _i.e._
of South Chaldæa, who had submitted ten years before to Tiglath Pilesar
at Sapiya (731 B.C.). He must have availed himself of the decease of
Shalmanesar, and the occupation of the Assyrian army in Syria, which was
detained before Samaria, to make himself master of Babylon from the
South, and unite the whole region of Babylonia under his rule. As soon
as Samaria fell, Sargon turned against him. In the Annals, the account
of the capture of Samaria is followed, in the very first year of Sargon
(722-721 B.C.), by a campaign against Humbanigas, the king of Elam, who,
as the Fasti say, was defeated "in the plains of Kalu."[219] The Annals
then continue: "Merodach Baladan, who had made himself lord of the
kingdom of Babylon against the will of the gods." The destruction of the
remainder of the narrative has left only a few words legible, from which
we may gather that Sargon fought against Merodach Baladan, that he
removed people from Babylonia to the land of the Chatti, _i.e._ to
Syria: according to the Books of Kings these were inhabitants of
Sepharvaim and Kutha (p. 86). Whatever losses Merodach Baladan suffered,
in this way he retained Babylon and the throne. The astronomical canon
represents him as reigning from 721 B.C. to 710 B.C. Clay tablets in the
shape of lentils, found in the ruins of Sargon's palace at Khorsabad
(they were brought there, no doubt, as booty from Babylonia), bear the
date of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh years of Marduk-habaliddin, king
of Babylon (_sar Babilu_[220]); even Sargon's Annals represent Merodach
Baladan as ruling over Sumir and Accad for twelve years (_i.e._ from 721
to 709 B.C.).
After the war against Humbanigas and Merodach Baladan, against Elam and
Babylonia, Sargon, as we saw, marched to Syria in order to subjugate
Hamath and Gaza, and to defeat at Raphia (720 B.C.) the army of the
Egyptians and Ethiopians led by Sabakon. In the next years Sargon fought
in the north against the people of Van, who had shaken off the dominion
of Iranzu, an adherent of Assyria, and against Urza of Ararat; the
inhabitants of the four cantons in Armenia he removed to the land of
Chatti, and the land of Acharri, _i.e._ to Syria and the Syrian
coast.[221] After this, in the year 717 B.C., Pisiris of Karchemish, who
had paid tribute to Tiglath Pilesar, was reduced. Karchemish was taken,
Pisiris put in chains, the rebels carried to Assyria, and Assyrians
placed in Karchemish. From the booty of Karchemish 11 talents of gold,
2100 talents and 24 minæ of silver were brought into the treasury at
Chalah.[222] Urza of Ararat and prince Bagadatti of Mount Mildis
(perhaps the region of Melitene, Malatia) excited the people of Van to
rebellion, as Sargon says; Aza, the prince of Van, was slain. Sargon
terrified the rebels into submission, caused Bagadatti to be flayed at
the same place where Aza was slain, and placed Ullusun, the brother of
Aza, on the throne of Van. But Ullusun united with Urza of Ararat and
the princes of Karalla and Allabur. When Sargon advanced, Ullusun
submitted; Sargon allowed him to remain on the throne on condition that
he paid heavier tribute; the prince of Karalla was driven out, the
people of Allabur carried to Hamath (715 B.C.[223]); in Ararat, Urza
maintained his position. Vassurmi, the king of the Tabal, the
Tibarenes, had been dethroned by Tiglath Pilesar, and Chulli put in his
place (p. 11). Sargon allowed Ambris to succeed his father in the
government of the Tabal, gave him his own daughter to wife, and
intrusted him with the government of the Cilicians in addition to the
Tabal. Ambris abused this confidence. He united with Mita, the king of
the Moschi, with Urzana of Mussasir (which must, no doubt, be sought on
Lake Van), and Urza of Ararat against Assyria. Ambris was defeated and
taken prisoner, and carried to Assyria with his chief adherents. Mita
submitted, like the Cilicians: Mussasir, the city of Urzana, was taken
by storm: Urza of Ararat, whose resistance had been the longest and most
stubborn, wandered about as a fugitive, and took his own life (714
B.C.).[224]
The armies of Shalmanesar II. were the first to make an advance on the
table-land of Iran. As already remarked, they trod the plains of Media
in 835 B.C. Ninety years later, Tiglath Pilesar II. subjugated the land
of Nisaa (the region of Nisæa in Media) and then the cities of Media, on
his first, second, and ninth campaigns; he imposed tribute on the
princes of the land of Media. Sargon tells us that in his sixth year
(716 B.C.) he fought against the land of Karkhar, which we must seek in
the Zagrus (perhaps it is a part of the valley of the Kerkha); that he
named a city there Kar Sargon. He received considerable tribute from 25
princes of the Medes, and set up his image in the midst of their
places.[225] In the next year, when Urza of Ararat conspired with
Ullusun of Van, and Ullusun with Dayaukka, the overseer of Van (?), "I
took 22 fortresses," so the Annals say, "and carried away Dayaukka and
his tribute with me, and restored peace to the land of Van" (715
B.C.).[226] The Fasti also mention the capture of the 22 places; after
this they give the capture of Bagadatti, and continue: "I caused him to
be flayed, and carried Dayaukka with his adherents away into the land of
Amat, and made them dwell there."[227] "In order to maintain myself in
Media, I built fortresses in the neighbourhood of Kar Sargon," so the
Annals relate in the same year,[228] "and received the tribute of 22
princes of the Medes." To the erection of fortresses in the
neighbourhood of Kar Sargon the Fasti add: "I conquered 34 cities in
Media, united them with Assyria, and imposed on them a tribute of
horses."[229] In the year 713 B.C., according to the statement in the
Annals, Sargon marched against Bit Dayauku, and against the nation of
Karalla, who had driven out Sargon's viceroy. "The lands of Bit Ili, the
district of Media, which belongs to Ellip--and the chief districts of
Media, which had thrown off Asshur's yoke, and put mountains and vallies
in terror--I pacified. I received the tribute of 45 princes of the
Medes; 4609 horses, sheep, and asses in great numbers."[230] The
much-injured inscription of an octagonal cylinder enumerates the princes
of Media who paid this tribute in this year: among them we find Pharnes,
Barzan, Aspabara, Satarparnu, Ariya, and finally Arbaku of Arnasia.[231]
Sargon's inscriptions repeatedly boast that he subjugated "the distant
land of Media; all places of the distant Media as far as the borders of
the land of Bikni;" that "his power extended as far as the city of
Simaspati, which belonged to the distant Media in the East."[232]
When Syria had been reduced, Egypt repelled, the North brought into
obedience, and Media made tributary, Sargon undertook to restore the
supremacy of Assyria over Babylonia. Merodach Baladan's rule must be
removed. The dominion of Assyria must be again restored as it was in the
time of Tiglath Pilesar. "For twelve years," so the Fasti of Sargon tell
us, "Merodach Baladan had roused up the land of Sumir and Accad. I
resolved to march against the inhabitants of the land of Kaldi
(Chaldæa). Merodach Baladan heard of the approach of my army; he left
Babylon, betook himself to Dur Yakin, strengthened the walls there, and
called upon the tribes of Gambul, Pekod, Tumun, Ruhua, and Chindar. My
warriors defeated the enemy. The migratory tribes fled after this
defeat. Merodach Baladan left his tent, the insignia of his royal
dignity, his chariot and adornments behind him, and fled away in the
night. I besieged and took the city of Dur Yakin. His wife, his sons,
his daughters, his palace, and all that was therein, I took. I burnt the
city, and threw down the old walls. I permitted the inhabitants of
Sippara, of Nipur, of Babylonia, and Borsippa to continue their
occupations. To the cities of Arak (Erech) and Larsam (Senkereh) I gave
back the gods which dwell there, and restored the temples."[233] The
Annals give a more detailed account, but in the narrative of these
events the text is interrupted by great lacunæ. In the introduction we
have: "Merodach Baladan showed the greatest violence against the will of
the gods of Babylon; my hand reached him; I took from him all his land."
Then follows the narrative of the occurrence under the twelfth year of
the king (710 B.C.): "Merodach Baladan refused to pay tribute. He had
concluded an alliance with Sutruk Nanchundi, the king of Elam, and
aroused all the tribes of Aram (Mesopotamia) against me. He strengthened
his fortresses and assembled his troops. I took captive 18,430 men."
After an enumeration of the cities which Sargon took, and the narrative
of the subjection of the Pekod, we are told: "The rest of the
inhabitants of the land of Aram had put their hopes in Merodach Baladan
and Sutruk Nanchundi, and gathered on the river Ukni. I put them to
flight." After this Sargon takes several cities of Elam; Sutruk
Nanchundi retires before him into the mountains. Merodach Baladan heard
this in his palace at Babylon; he left the city at night with his
warriors, directed his steps to the land of Elam, and sent a
considerable weight of silver to Sutruk Nanchundi, to induce him to send
aid. "I marched at once to Babylon, sacrificed to the gods, and set up
my power in the midst of the palace of Merodach Baladan." "In the
thirteenth year of my reign, Merodach Baladan compelled the cities of Ur
and Larsam to pay him tribute, collected his forces at Dur Yakin, and
there fortified himself. I went boldly against him, threw his warriors
and horses into confusion; I cut down the people of the Pekod and
Marsiman, and took the symbols of their kingdom. And Merodach Baladan
acknowledged his weakness; he abandoned the sceptre and throne, and
kissed the earth in the presence of my emissary. I summoned him, and
received him into favour. Dur Yakin I burnt; I laid regular tribute on
the upper and lower land of Bit Yakin. While I punished the Chaldæans
and Aramæans, and made my power felt by the Elamites, my viceroy, in the
land of Kui (Cilicia), in the regions of the setting sun, attacked Mita,
the Moschian, took two fortresses and 2400 men, freemen and slaves. To
complete his subjugation, Mita sent his envoy with his tribute as far
as the coast of the Eastern sea, and acknowledged the power of the god
Asshur. The seven kings of Yatnan (Cyprus) also brought their tribute
into my presence at Babylon; gold, silver, and the products of their
land, and kissed my feet."[234]
These accounts show that Sargon's war against Merodach Baladan occupied
two years (710 and 709 B.C.). In the first campaign the Babylonians were
defeated in the field; the Aramæans dispersed; the Elamites, among whom
the sovereignty had been meanwhile transferred from Humbanigas to Sutruk
Nanchundi, driven back, and the cities of Babylonia taken. Merodach
Baladan abandons Babylon, and retires to the lower Euphrates, to the
land of his nation. Sargon ascends the throne of Babylon, and takes the
title, "King of Babel, of Sumir and Accad," which Tiglath Pilesar had
borne before him. The second campaign ends with the capture and
destruction of Dur Yakin, with the subjugation of the whole region of
the Euphrates as far as the shore of the Persian Gulf, and the receiving
of Merodach Baladan into favour. According to the astronomical canon,
Arkeanus ascended the throne of Babylon in the year 709 B.C. Arkeanus
can only be Sargon (Sarrukin). One of the tablets, which contains
contracts about the sale of parcels of land, slaves, and loans, from the
time of Sargon, bears the date: "Month Sebat, year of Muttakkil-Assur,
viceroy of Gozan; fifteenth year of Sargon, king of Asshur, third year
of his reign in Babylon."[235] As Sargon certainly cannot have ascended
the throne of Babylon later than the year 709 B.C., the year 707-706
would be the third year of his reign over Babylonia; the canon of the
Assyrian rulers actually puts the year of Muttakkil-Assur at the year
706 B.C.
The campaigns of the unwearied Sargon did not end with the subjugation
of the whole region of Babylonia. The Annals and Fasti narrate how he
overthrew Mutallu of Kummukh (Gumathene), who had united himself with
Argistis, king of Ararat, who must have taken the place of Urza (p. 99),
and that he planted there people from Bit Yakin (707 B.C.). The land of
Ellip, which he had previously subjugated, remained faithful to him as
long as king Dalta lived. After his death his sons Nibi and Ispabara
contended for the throne. The former sought help from Sutruk Nanchundi
of Elam; Ispabara vowed allegiance to him (Sargon). To support Ispabara,
Sargon sent troops to the land of Ellip, the position of which we can
only so far ascertain from the inscriptions, as to know that it bordered
on Media (p. 101) as well as Elam. Nibi's warriors and the Elamites were
defeated; Nibi was taken prisoner, his adherents were crucified, and
Ispabara became the prince of the whole land (706 B.C.).[236]
Sargon, who defeated the Egyptians and the Ethiopians, who subjugated
Syria and Babylonia, who had gone through so many battles, came to a
violent end, but not in war. He was murdered. The list of the rulers
announces the naked fact in the year 705 B.C., and adds the accession of
his son Sennacherib, on whom fell the heavy task of maintaining the wide
dominion which Sargon had won. If he did not succeed in doing this
without some loss, his buildings, which he began immediately after his
accession, were not inferior to those of his father. He must have
commenced them at the beginning of his reign. The inscription on a
cylinder (Bellino), bearing the date of the third year of Sennacherib,
gives the dimensions of a palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh, and
describes the architecture and adornment. The kings, his fathers, had
built this palace, but had not completed its splendour; the waves of the
Tigris had injured the foundations; he altered the course of the Tigris,
strengthened the dams, built the palace afresh, and caused lions and
bulls to be hewn out of great stones.[237] The remains of this structure
lie on the site of the ancient Nineveh, immediately to the north of the
Khosr, which flowed through the city, on the old bed of the Tigris, near
the modern village of Kuyundshik. The dimensions give this palace the
first place among the castles of the kings of Asshur. It rose on a
terrace of more than 80 feet in height, close by the Tigris. The great
porticoes were from 150 to 180 feet in length, and about 40 feet in
breadth; the great gallery was 218 feet in length, and 25 feet in
breadth. About 70 chambers have been discovered in this building.[238]
The main front lay to the north-west; two great winged bulls with human
heads guarded the entrance. At the entrance of the north-east front also
were two bulls of this kind. In the great portico behind this entrance,
and the gallery abutting upon it, the process of building is represented
on the reliefs on the walls. We see the clay pits, the workmen carrying
baskets filled with clay and bricks, the great blocks intended for the
images of the lions and bulls coming up the Tigris, and brought to the
elevation on shore by ropes drawn by hundreds of hands. This is done by
means of slips under which are placed wooden rollers. A lion, already
finished, standing upright and surrounded by a wooden case, and held up
by workmen with ropes and forked poles, is drawn along in this manner;
the hinder end of the slip is then raised by a lever placed on wedges in
order to facilitate the elevation. The overseer stands between the
fore-feet of the colossus, and directs by the movement of his hands the
efforts of the workmen. Sennacherib himself from his chariot watches the
advance of this statue. In the same way a finished human-headed bull is
drawn along by four long rows of workmen. In another chamber we see rows
of servants, who carry apples and grapes, pastry and other food in
baskets. The reliefs of the next porticoes and halls exhibit the warlike
acts of Sennacherib; the crossing of rivers, sieges, stormings of cities
in the mountain country, in the plain, in the marsh. Unfortunately the
inscriptions over these have almost entirely perished along with the
upper part of the walls; only a few words are legible. The inscription
of the third year of Sennacherib (703 B.C.) concludes the account of
this building with the words: "To him among my sons, whom Asshur in the
course of the days shall summon to be lord over land and people, I say
this: This palace will grow old and fall to pieces. May he set it up,
restore the inscriptions and the writing of my name, and clean the
images; may he offer sacrifice, and put everything in its place; so
shall Asshur hear his prayer."[239] The inscriptions on slabs between
the thighs of the two bulls before the north-west entrance give a
detailed account of the dimensions and manner of the building of this
palace.[240]
In the inscription on the cylinder, Sennacherib boasts that he made a
canal from the Khosr through the city; that he renovated Nineveh, "the
city of Istar," and made it brilliant as the sun; the prisoners,
Chaldæans, Aramæans, captives from Van and Cilicia, were employed on
these works.[241] The adornment of Nineveh, the strengthening of its
walls, are mentioned on inscriptions on slabs in the palace itself.[242]
Another cylinder (Smith) from the ninth year of the reign of Sennacherib
(697 B.C.),[243] also mentions the buildings which the king undertook
for the restoration of Nineveh: the prisoners of his campaigns worked at
them: Philistines and Tyrians are here added to Chaldæans, Aramæans,
Armenians, and Cilicians.[244] Later documents inform us that
Sennacherib built temples to Nebo and Merodach at Nineveh.[245] A third
cylinder (Taylor) has been preserved from the fifteenth year of the
reign of Sennacherib (691 B.C.), which tells us of a second great
building of his at Nineveh. By the kings, his fathers, a house had been
erected for the preservation of the treasure; for the horses and troops.
This building had become damaged; he caused the old house to be removed,
and built up again on a larger scale.[246] The remains of this building
lie to the south of the confluence of the Khosr and Tigris near the
modern Nebbi Yunus. According to the evidence of the ruins it was of
smaller dimensions than the palace at Kuyundshik. To the north-east of
Nineveh, near the modern Bavian, the image of Sennacherib is hewn in the
rocks. The inscription on this image informs us in detail what
Sennacherib had done for the irrigation of the land of Assyria: among
other things it is mentioned, that he had made 16 (18) canals from the
Khosr, or into it.[247] Bricks found at Sherif-Khan show by the stamp
that Sennacherib built a temple there to Nergal; the bricks of a heap of
ruins to the south-west of the ancient Arbela show that he erected there
the fortifications of a city called Kakzi.[248]
The most indispensable task which devolved on Sennacherib at his
accession was the keeping of Babylon in subjection. The news of the
death of Sargon, the mighty warrior, might arouse among all the nations
which had felt the weight of his arms so heavily the hope of again
shaking off the yoke. If the Babylonians succeeded in freeing themselves
from the dominion of his successor, there was the prospect that such a
success would be an event of wide importance; a sign and example to the
subject lands. According to the evidence of Josephus, Berosus related of
Sennacherib that he fought against all Asia and Egypt:[249] Abydenus
represented him as subjugating Babylonia.[250] Alexander Polyhistor,
according to a fragment which Eusebius has preserved, narrated as
follows: "After that the brother of Sennacherib reigned in Babylon, and
after him Akises, who was slain by Merodach Baladan after 30 days;
Merodach Baladan maintained himself by violence for six months, and was
then slain by a man of the name of Elibus. But in the third year of the
reign of Elibus, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, collected an army
against the Babylonians, conquered them in the battle, and carried away
Elibus with his followers to Assyria. Sennacherib placed his son
Asordanes (Esarhaddon) as ruler over Babylon; he himself returned to
Assyria."[251] After the reign of Arkeanus (Sargon) from 709 B.C. to
705 B.C., the astronomical canon gives an interregnum for the years 704
and 703 B.C.; after this comes the reign of Belibus, which lasted three
years, from 702 B.C. to 700 B.C. Belibus was succeeded by Aparanadius,
who reigned six years (699-694 B.C.). If we attempt to unite these
statements with the quotation from Polyhistor, Sennacherib, immediately
on his accession, made his brother king and viceroy of Babylon, but he
was unable to maintain his position; a rebel, Akises, seized the throne,
and was in his turn overthrown by Merodach Baladan, whose reign over
Babylon only lasted six months. The two years after Sargon's death,
which were occupied by this regency and these usurpations, are marked in
the astronomical canon as an interregnum. As the last half year of this
period was occupied with the usurpation of Merodach Baladan, and the
preceding month by Akises, Sennacherib's brother must have reigned over
Babylon 17 months after Sargon's death, or a little longer (the canon
gives the last year of each reign entirely to the king who died in it).
Towards the close of these two years the Elibus of Polyhistor, the
Belibus of the canon, overthrew Merodach Baladan, and reigned till 700
B.C., in which year Sennacherib marched against Babylonia, defeated
Elibus, took him prisoner, and placed his son Asordanes as king over
Babylon. The Aparanadius of the canon must be the Asordanes of
Polyhistor.
Sennacherib's inscriptions show that the events took place nearly but
not quite in this manner. His archives say nothing of the regency of a
brother in Babylon; they do not exclude such a regency, but they show
clearly that Merodach Baladan was in possession of the throne of Babylon
in 704 B.C. Is this Merodach Baladan the Merodach Baladan of Bit Yakin,
of South Chaldæa, who paid homage to Tiglath Pilesar II. at Sapiya in
the year 731 B.C., and who after the death of Shalmanesar IV., in the
year 721 B.C., possessed himself of the throne of Babylon--whom Sargon
fought against at that time, but did not overthrow--whom he deprived of
all his land in the years 710 and 709 B.C., and then received into
favour? The man who possessed himself of Babylon in the year 704 B.C.
belongs without a doubt to the princely house of Bit Yakin; we find him
retiring before Sennacherib from Babylon to Bit Yakin, as he had
previously retired before Sargon. The Merodach Baladan of Sennacherib
can therefore only be the Merodach Baladan of Tiglath Pilesar, and
Sargon, or a son of the same name.[252] As the inscriptions give the
name simply without any addition, we have in him no doubt the same
prince of Bit Yakin who submitted to Tiglath Pilesar and was defeated by
Sargon. That Merodach Baladan was in possession of Babylon at least six
months, as Polyhistor states, is proved by the combinations into which,
according to Sennacherib's inscriptions, he entered with the king of
Elam, the tribes of Mesopotamia, and tribes of the Arabians, before
Sennacherib attacked him; by the fact that Sennacherib found the troops
of Elam united with those of Babylon; and by the embassy of Merodach to
Hezekiah, king of Judah, urging him to make common cause with him
against Assyria, which is mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. He
certainly had time to make extensive preparations against Sennacherib.
Merodach Baladan must therefore have obtained the throne of Babylon not
long after the accession of Sennacherib. Sennacherib's first campaign
was directed against him in order to restore the authority of Assyria
over Babylonia. The inscription of Nebbi Yunus tells us at the very
beginning: "In a great battle I conquered Merodach Baladan and the
nations of Chaldæa and Aram; the army of Elam which had come to their
assistance."[253] Four other narratives in greater detail have been
preserved relating to this campaign; one from the third year of
Sennacherib (703 B.C., the cylinder Bellino, already mentioned), the
second from the ninth year of Sennacherib (697 B.C., the cylinder Smith,
also already mentioned), the third dates from the fifteenth year of
Sennacherib (691 B.C., the cylinder Taylor), the fourth is given in the
inscription on a slab between the thighs of the bulls at the entrance to
the great palace of Sennacherib at Kuyundshik. This last account, which
is uninjured, does not go back beyond the fourth year of Sennacherib.
The oldest account tells us: "At the beginning of my reign I inflicted a
defeat on Merodach Baladan, the king of Kardunias (Babylon), together
with the army of Elam, before the city of Kis. In the middle of the
battle he escaped alone, and fled to the land of Guzuman, into the
marshes. The chariots, horses, mules, and camels, which he left on the
field of battle, fell into my hands. His palace in Babylon I entered
full of joy. I opened his treasury; I carried away gold, silver, golden
and silver vessels, precious stones; his wife, and the women of the
palace. I sent my soldiers to pursue him to Guzuman, to the marshes.
They pursued him five days, but no trace of him was seen. In the
strength of Asshur, my lord, I took 89 fortified cities and fortresses
in the land of Kaldi, and 820 smaller places. The Aramæans and
Chaldæans, who formed garrisons in Erech, Nipur, Kis, Chalanne, and
Kutha, I carried away with the rebellious inhabitants; Belibus, the son
of a man of wisdom, from the neighbourhood of Suanna, I made the ruler
of Sumir and Accad."[254] The two accounts immediately following the
first agree with it except that the number of the fortified places taken
in Chaldæa is given as 75 and 76, and the number of smaller places in
both is 420. Both also, like the summary account on the slabs of the
bulls, pass over the setting up of Belibus as regent,[255] no doubt
because this regency was no longer in existence when they were written.
In Polyhistor, as we have seen, it is Elibus who overthrows Merodach
Baladan; in the astronomical canon, Belibus ascends the throne of
Babylon in the year 702 B.C. According to the inscriptions, Merodach
Baladan's rule over Babylon was overthrown as early as 703 B.C.;
according to the canon, his overthrow, or at any rate the establishment
of Belibus, did not take place till 702 B.C.
After driving Merodach Baladan out of Babylonia Sennacherib subjugated
the tribes of Tumun, Richih, Rahua, Pekod, Hauran, Nabatu, and Hagaranu
(the Hagarites), who "had not been reduced to submission," _i.e._ who
had taken up arms against Assyria for Merodach Baladan; 208,000 men and
women, children and adults,[256] were captured and carried away to
Assyria, with 7200 horses and mules, 5330 camels, 70,000 oxen, and
800,600 head of small cattle.[257] The amount of cattle taken is omitted
in the second, third, and fourth accounts; the second and third give us
the number of the prisoners. These prisoners (Chaldæans and Aramæans),
Sennacherib, as we saw above, employed in building his new palace and
his buildings at Nineveh. After this Sennacherib turned against
Ispabara, king of Ellip, whom Sargon had assisted to the throne against
his brother (p. 105). Ispabara escaped, the land was laid waste, 34
places were taken, the chief city Ilinzas received a new name, Kar
Sennacherib. "At my return," so we find it stated with complete
agreement in all the four narratives, "I received the great tribute of
the distant land of Media, and subjugated that land to my
dominion."[258]
Merodach Baladan had been compelled to retire from Babylonia. He had
maintained himself in his native land in south Chaldæa. When in Syria,
Sidon and Ascalon, Ekron and Judah took up arms, and Sennacherib was
compelled to march thither, Merodach Baladan could attempt to regain
what he had lost. He was soon again in alliance with the king of Elam,
or rather he remained in alliance with him. The Elamites reconquered two
cities which Sargon had taken from them. In Babylonia a rebellion broke
out, at the head of which stood a man of the name of Suzub. Belibus
appears to have been unable to maintain himself against him, against
South Chaldæa under Merodach Baladan, and Elam. The astronomical canon
puts the end of his reign in 700 B.C. The later inscriptions of
Sennacherib, as already observed, make no mention of Belibus, but they
tell us of a campaign which Sennacherib on his return from the Syrian
war, in which at the close, as we shall soon see, he gained no success,
undertook against Suzub and South Chaldæa. "In my fourth campaign," so
Sennacherib relates on the cylinders Smith and Taylor, "I collected my
army: I bade it go against the land of Bit Yakin. In the course of this
enterprize I brought about the overthrow of Suzub the Chaldæan, who
dwelt in the marshes; he retired. Merodach Baladan, whom I had thrown to
the ground on my former campaign, whose war-like forces I had scattered,
retired from the approach of my mighty warriors, and the blow of my
violent attack; he put the gods, who rule in his land, on board ship,
and fled like a bird to Nagitirakki, which lies in the midst of the sea.
His brothers, the scions of the house of his father, whom he left behind
on the coast, and the remainder of his nation in the lakes and marshes I
brought out and took prisoners. I turned back and destroyed his cities.
I struck terror into his ally, the king of Elam. At my return I put
Assurnadin, my eldest son, on the throne of his dominion, and entrusted
him with the whole extent of the land of Sumir and Accad." The stone
slabs on the bulls of Kuyundshik also mention the establishment of
Assurnadin in Babylon.[259]
From this account we gather that Babylon, if it was not lost, wavered;
that the chief of the rebels in Babylonia retired before the approach of
Sennacherib into the marshes. The establishment of Assurnadin as regent
of Babylonia by Sennacherib did not take place till Merodach Baladan was
driven out of Bit Yakin. The inscriptions do not mention Sennacherib's
entrance into Babylon. Aparanadius, whose reign the astronomical canon
represents as beginning with the year 699 B.C., can only be Assurnadin,
the son of Sennacherib.[260]
The expulsion of Merodach Baladan out of South Chaldæa; the
establishment of the successor to the throne of Assyria as regent of
Babylon, had no more lasting results than the establishment of Belibus
three years before. Suzub, who had retired into the marshes before
Sennacherib, was again at the head of Babylonia. "The tribes of Bit
Yakin," so Sennacherib tells us on the cylinder Taylor, "despised my
rule; they settled in the city of Nagitti, in the land of Elam."
Sennacherib directed his sixth campaign against them (the fifth was
directed against the land of Nipur). "On my sixth campaign (696 B.C.), I
attacked Elam, and carried the people of Bit Yakin with the people of
Elam into captivity. At my return, Suzub, a child of Babylonia, whom the
rebellious people in the land of Sumir and Accad had raised up, came to
offer me battle. I conquered him; he fell into my hand; I gave him his
life, and caused him to be taken into Assyria. The king of Elam, who
came to his assistance, I put to flight."[261] The inscription of Nebbi
Yunus gives us a fuller account. It narrates the carrying away of the
people of Elam, like the cylinder, and then continues: "After this (?)
the leading inhabitants of Babylonia, who were round Merodach Baladan,
escaped and called on the king of Elam for help, who placed Suzub, the
son of Gated, on the throne. I sent my warriors against the king of
Elam; they slew many of his people; they made themselves masters of the
gods who dwell in Arak (Erech), of Samas, Bilit, Istar, Nergal, and
their endless treasures. Suzub, the king of Babylon, who was taken
prisoner after a great battle, they brought to Nineveh into my
presence."[262] We see that in spite of the regency of Assurnadin, which
would not be weak, in spite of the attack of Sennacherib on Elam, the
adherents of Suzub, when combined with the adherents of Merodach Baladan
and supported by Elam, were strong enough to remove Assurnadin not long
after his appointment, and to raise Suzub to the throne. His defeat and
imprisonment were heavy blows for the Babylonians, but they did not
break their resistance. The city of Babylon was not attacked by
Sennacherib.
The stubborn resistance of Babylonia against Sennacherib was supported,
as the inscriptions clearly show, by Elam, where a new king, Kudur
Nanchundi, had succeeded Sutruk Nanchundi (p. 103).[263] In order, no
doubt, to isolate the Babylonians and take from them this support of
their resistance, Sennacherib directed his seventh campaign against
Elam: "The king of Elam," we are told in the inscription of Nebbi Yunus,
"had been the ally of the people of Babel."[264] The two cities which
Sargon had taken from Sutruk Nanchundi,[265] which the Elamites had
subsequently reconquered, were taken by Sennacherib, who besides
enumerates 34 large cities of Elam, which he had besieged, conquered,
and burnt. Kudur Nanchundi abandoned his chief city, Madaktu, and
escaped into a distant region. Sennacherib intended to besiege Madaktu,
but snow and rain detained him in the mountains; he returned to
Nineveh.[266]
Sennacherib had not attained his object, the subjugation of Elam. What
Sennacherib announces as the result of his campaign must have appeared
to the Babylonians as very small, if not altogether a failure. In the
cylinder Taylor a new struggle against Babylon follows the return of
Sennacherib to Nineveh, a struggle more important and severe than any
preceding. Suzub, whom Sennacherib had taken captive in 696 B.C.,
escaped out of imprisonment, and again appeared as king at the head of
Babylonia. Merodach Baladan is no more, but his son unites with Suzub;
all Chaldæa rises; and by its side the Elamites, Aramæans, and several
tribes of Arabia. This great rebellion ends with the capture and
destruction of Babylon. The date of these events, which took place in
the eighth campaign of Sennacherib, can only be defined by the fact that
they belong to the period after the year 696 B.C., and before the year
692 B.C. The cylinder which narrates them bears the date of the
beginning of the year of Belsimiani, i.e. of the year 691 B.C. The
events of the eighth campaign are connected, and follow immediately on
each other; the close was the conquest of Babylon and second capture of
Suzub, as the introductory words to this campaign on the cylinder prove:
"In my eighth campaign the dominion of Suzub came to an end." After the
conquest of Babel, this inscription only mentions the erection of the
building at Nebbi Yunus (p. 108). We must, therefore, put the beginning
of the new struggle in the year 695 B.C., the destruction of Babylon in
the year 694 B.C.
The Babylonians--so our inscription continues after the return of
Sennacherib from Elam--had closed the great gates of their city; Suzub,
who had escaped out of captivity to Elam, and had returned from thence
to Babylon, was placed on the throne of Sumir and Accad. He opened the
treasure of Bit Saggatu, _i.e._ of the great temple of Merodach (I.
295), and sent the sacred gold and silver to the king of Elam. Kudur
Nanchundi died three months after the campaign of Sennacherib against
Elam; he was succeeded by his brother, Umman Minanu, who was ready to
give assistance. Nabu-labar-iskun, a son of Merodach Baladan, joined
Suzub; the Chaldæan regions of Bit Adin, Bit Amukan, Bit Sahalla, took
his side. The Parsua, the land of Ellip, finally the tribes of the
Pekod, Gambul, Rahua, and Chindar, rebelled and marched to Babel to
Suzub, "whom they called king of Babylon."[267] "The king of Elam, the
lands of Parsua and Ellip, the whole of Chaldæa, all the tribes of Aram,
were united with the king of Babylon."[268] On the banks of the Tigris,
near the city of Chaluli, they offered battle to Sennacherib, 150,000
strong. Sennacherib conquered; Nabu-labar-iskun was captured; Umman
Minanu and Suzub escaped. "I granted their lives to those who submitted,
and acknowledged my dominion." With these words the account of the
eighth campaign of Sennacherib closes on the cylinder Taylor. After the
description of the battle of Chaluli the inscription of Bavian
continues: "The whole land of Elam I struck with terror; the warriors
fled before me to the highest mountains. A second time I turned against
Babylon; I won the city; I spared not the men, the children, or the
slaves. Suzub, the king of Babylon, who fell into my hands, I carried
away and his kindred. The gods of the city of Hekali, Bin and Sala,
which Marduk-nadin-akh, king of Accad, had taken from Tiglath Pilesar
and carried to Babylon 418 years previously, I took away from Babylon; I
put them up again in their place in the city of Hekali. The cities and
their palaces I have destroyed from the foundation to the summit; the
walls, altar, temples, and towers, I have laid waste."[269]
The statements of the astronomical canon do not agree with these
inscriptions. With the canon, this period, distracted by contests in
which for the most part Suzub is at the head of Babylon and the city of
Babel is not in the power of Sennacherib, was the reign of Aparanadius,
or, as we supposed, of Assurnadin, which in the canon lasts from 699 to
694 B.C. The year 693 is given to Regebelus, who is succeeded by
Mesesimordakus from the year 692 to 688 B.C. After this the canon places
an interregnum of eight years (688-680 B.C.). If we are to attempt to
harmonise the two, Regebelus and Mesesimordakus may be regarded as
viceroys, to whom, after the capture of Babylonia, Sennacherib entrusted
the rule of the country in those years. The interregnum which follows
would then be explained by the fact that Sennacherib reigned over
Babylonia without a viceroy from the year 688 B.C. But in none of the
inscriptions preserved does Sennacherib name himself in his title, king
of Sumir and Accad, or king of Babel. The astronomical canon gave us the
name of Sargon at the time when he ruled directly over Babylon; why is
not Sennacherib's name mentioned in a similar position? It is not
impossible that new rebellions followed the capture of Babylon, in which
Regebelus and Mesesimordakus were leaders; but it is certain that
Babylonia, if not South Chaldæa, was under the dominion of Assyria at
the death of Sennacherib.
FOOTNOTES:
[214] Flandin gives the long and short sides of the rectangle doubled at
6784 metres; the inscription which reckons in the whole circuit the
building of the palace which juts out from the rest, at 16,280 cubits
(_ammat_). The Babylonian and Assyrian cubits are both = 525
millimetres; Lepsius, "Abh. Berl. Akad." 1853; "Monats-Berichte Ders."
1877. Vol. I. p. 305.
[215] Rawlinson, "Monarch," 1^2, 324 ff.
[216] Oppert, "Dour Sarkayan," p. 23, 24.
[217] Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 55, 56.
[218] Oppert, "Dour Sarkayan," p. 8.
[219] In Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 181.
[220] Oppert, "Dour Sarkayan," p. 27, 28; Oppert et Ménant, "Doc.
juridiques," p. 168.
[221] Ménant, "Annal." 162. In Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 30, the
fourth canton is called Pappa. Above, p. 86.
[222] Inscription of Nimrud in Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 206. He reads two
talents 30 minæ of gold; G. Smith reads 11 talents of gold.
[223] Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 32.
[224] Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 35, 36, 37. Vol I., p. 520.
[225] Annals in Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 164.
[226] Annals in Ménant, p. 164; Oppert, _loc. cit._ 7, 33.
[227] Ménant p. 183.
[228] Oppert, _loc cit._ 7, 34.
[229] Ménant, p. 184.
[230] Ménant p. 167; Oppert, _loc. cit._ 7, 37.
[231] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 289.
[232] Oppert, _loc. cit._ 7, 27; Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 192, 195, 200,
201, 205, 207.
[233] In Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 188.
[234] Above, p. 93; Oppert, "Records of the Past," 7, 46-51.
[235] Ménant, "Babylone," p. 157.
[236] The Annals in Oppert, _loc. cit._ 7, 51-53. The Fasti in Ménant,
"Annal." p. 186, 187.
[237] Cylinder Bellino in Ménant, "Annal." p. 229.
[238] G. Rawlinson, "Monarch," 2^2. 179, _n._ 5.
[239] Ménant, _loc. cit._ 229, 230.
[240] Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 212.
[241] Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 228, 229.
[242] Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 211.
[243] Year of Nabudurussur.
[244] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 308.
[245] G. Smith, "Assurbanipal," p. 318.
[246] Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 224.
[247] Rodwell, "Records of the Past," 9, 23; Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 235.
[248] In Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 237.
[249] Joseph. "Antiq." 10, 1, 4.
[250] In Euseb. "Chron." 1, p. 35, ed. Schöne.
[251] Euseb. "Chron." 1, p. 27, ed. Schöne.
[252] Cf. E. Schrader, "K. A. T." s. 213 ff.
[253] In Ménant, "Annal." p. 231.
[254] E. Schrader, "K. A. T." s. 219 ff.
[255] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 298; Cylinder Taylor in Ménant, "Annal." p.
215.
[256] G. Smith's Cylinder, "Disc." p. 298; Ménant reads 2800 prisoners
on the Cylinder Taylor.
[257] Cylinder Bellino.
[258] Cylinder Bellino, in Ménant, p. 228; Cylinder G. Smith, "Disc." p.
302; Cylinder Taylor in Ménant, p. 227; "Records of the Past," 7, 61.
[259] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 308; Ménant, "Annal." p. 219, "Records of the
Past," 7, 63.
[260] The fourth campaign of Sennacherib, the establishment of
Assurnadin cannot be later than the year 698 _B.C._, since the Cylinder
Smith, which dates from the year 697 B.C., concludes with these events,
and then speaks only of the buildings; G. Smith, "Disc." p. 308.
[261] In Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 220, 221.
[262] In Ménant, p. 232.
[263] An inscription of this king found at Susa is explained by Oppert,
"Records of the Past," 7, 82.
[264] In Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 232.
[265] Above, p. 114; Annals of Sargon, in Oppert, "Records of the Past,"
7, 45.
[266] Cylinder Taylor in Ménant, p. 222.
[267] Cylinder Taylor in Ménant, p. 232, 233; Talbot, "Records of the
Past," 1, 78.
[268] Inscription of Nebbi Yunus in Ménant, _loc. cit._ p. 232. An
inscription of Exarhaddon repeats the events of this war: Suzub, "of
unknown race, a lower chieftain," came to Babylon, and was raised to be
king; Umman Minanu was gained by the treasures of Bit Saggatu; the
Parsua joined, etc.; G. Smith, "Disc." p. 315.
[269] Rodwell, "Records of the Past," 9, 27, 28; Ménant, "Babylone," p.
166. Vol. II. p. 40.