He defeated Azuri and Jaman of Ashdod, and his most persistent enemy, Merodach-Baladan, son of Jakin, King of Chaldæa.
He ends with a prayer that Assur may bless him.
IV
Bellino's Cylinder comprises the first two years of Sennacherib. It is translated by Mr. H. F. Talbot, Records of the Past, i. 22-32. It was published by Layard in the first volume of British Museum Inscriptions, pl. 63. The facsimile of it was made by Bellino.
It begins:—
"Sennacherib, the great king, the powerful king, the king of Assyria, the king unrivalled, the pious monarch, the worshipper of the great gods, ... the noble warrior, the valiant hero, the first of all kings, the great punisher of unbelievers who are breakers of the holy festivals.
"Assur, my lord, has given me an unrivalled monarchy. Over all princes he has raised triumphantly my arms.
"In the beginning of my reign I defeated Marduk-Baladan, King of Babylon, and his allies the Elamites, in the plains near the city of Kish. He fled alone; he got into the marshes full of reeds and rushes, and so saved his life."
(He proceeds to narrate the spoiling of Marduk's camp, and his palace in Babylon, and how he carried off his wife, his harem, his nobles.)
We see here an illustration of the vaunting tones of this king which are so faithfully reproduced in 2 Kings xviii.