This period of subjection and humiliation did not last long. Belkudurusur, who appears on the throne not long after Assurnirâri and his partner, resumed military operations against the Cossæans, but cautiously at first; and though he fell in the decisive engagement, yet Bammân-shumusur perished with him, and the two states were thus simultaneously left rulerless. Milishikhu succeeded Bammânshumusur, and Ninipahalesharra filled the place of Belkudurusur; the disastrous invasion of Assyria by the Chaldæans, and their subsequent retreat, at length led to an armistice, which, while it afforded evidence of the indisputable superiority of Milishikhu, proved no less plainly the independence of his rival. Mero-dachabaliddina I. replaced Milishikhu, Zamâniashu-middin followed Merodachabaliddina: Assurdân I., son of Ninipahalesharra, broke the treaty, captured the towns of Zabân, Irrîa, and Akarsallu, and succeeded in retaining them. The advantage thus gained was but a slight one, for these provinces lying between the two Zabs had long been subject to Assyria, and had been wrested from her since the days of Tukulti-ninip: however, it broke the run of ill luck which seemed to have pursued her so relentlessly, and opened the way for more important victories. This was the last Cossæan war; at any rate, the last of which we find any mention in history: Bel-nadînshumu II. reigned three years after Zamâmashu-middin, but when he died there was no man of his family whom the priests could invite to lay hold of the hand of Merodach, and his dynasty ended with him. It included thirty-six kings, and had lasted five hundred and seventy-six years and six months.*
* The following is a list of some of the kings of this dynasty according to the canon discovered by Pinches.
It had enjoyed its moments of triumph, and at one time had almost seemed destined to conquer the whole of Asia; but it appears to have invariably failed just as it was on the point of reaching the goal, and it became completely exhausted by its victories at the end of every two or three generations. It had triumphed over Elam, and yet Elam remained a constant peril on its right. It had triumphed over Assyria, yet Assyria, after driving it back to the regions of the Upper Tigris, threatened to bar the road to the Mediterranean by means of its Masian colonies: were they once to succeed in this attempt, what hope would there be left to those who ruled in Babylon of ever after re-establishing the traditional empire of the ancient Sargon and Khammurabi? The new dynasty sprang from a town in Pashê, the geographical position of which is not known. It was of Babylonian origin, and its members placed, at the be ginning of their protocols, formula which were intended to indicate, in the clearest possible manner, the source from which they sprang: they declared themselves to be scions of Babylon, its vicegerents, and supreme masters. The names of the first two we do not know: the third, Nebuchadrezzar, shows himself to have been one of the most remarkable men of all those who flourished during this troubled era. At no time, perhaps, had Chaldæa been in a more abject state, or assailed by more active foes. The Elamite had just succeeded in wresting from her Namar, the region from whence the bulk of her chariot-horses were obtained, and this success had laid the provinces on the left bank of the Tigris open to their attacks. They had even crossed the river, pillaged Babylon, and carried away the statue of Bel and that of a goddess named Eria, the patroness of Khussi: “Merodach, sore angered, held himself aloof from the country of Akkad;” the kings could no longer “take his hands” on their coming to the throne, and were obliged to reign without proper investiture in consequence of their failure to fulfil the rite required by religious laws.*
* The Donation to Shamud and Shamaî informs us that
Nebuchadrezzar “took the hands of Bel” as soon as he
regained possession of the statue. The copy we possess of
the Royal Canon. Nebuchadrezzar I.‘s place in the series
has, therefore, been the subject of much controversy.
Several Assyriologists were from the first inclined to place
him in the first or second rank, some being in favour of the
first, others preferring the second; Dolitzsch put him into
the fifth place, and Winckler, without pronouncing
definitely on the position to be assigned him, thought he
must come in about half-way down the dynasty. Hilprecht, on
taking up the questions, adduced reasons for supposing him
to have been the founder of the dynasty, and his conclusions
have been adopted by Oppert; they have been disputed by
Tiele, who wishes to put the king back to fourth or fifth in
order, and by Winckler, who places him fourth or fifth. It
is difficult, however, to accept Hilprecht’s hypothesis,
plausible though it is, so long as Assyriologists who have
seen the original tablet agree in declaring that the name of
the first king began with the sign of Merodach and not
with that of Nebo, as it ought to do, were this prince
really our Nebuchadrezzar.
Nebuchadrezzar arose “in Babylon,—roaring like a lion, even as Bammân roareth,—and his chosen nobles, roared like lions with him.—To Merodach, lord of Babylon, rose his prayer:—‘How long, for me, shall there be sighing and groaning?—How long, for my land, weeping and mourning?—How long, for my countries, cries of grief and tears? Till what time, O lord of Babylon, wilt thou remain in hostile regions?—Let thy heart be softened, and make Babylon joyful,—and let thy face be turned toward Eshaggil which thou lovest!’” Merodach gave ear to the plaint of his servant: he answered him graciously and promised his aid. Namar, united as it had been with Chaldæa for centuries, did not readily become accustomed to its new masters. The greater part of the land belonged to a Semitic and Cossæan feudality, the heads of which, while admitting their suzerain’s right to exact military service from them, refused to acknowledge any further duty towards him. The kings of Susa declined to recognise their privileges: they subjected them to a poll-tax, levied the usual imposts on their estates, and forced them to maintain at their own expense the troops quartered on them for the purpose of guaranteeing their obedience.*
* Shamuà and Shamaî “fled in like manner towards Karduniash,
before the King of Elam;” it would seem that Rittimerodach
had entered into secret negotiations with Nebuchadrezzar,
though this is nowhere explicitly stated in the text.
Several of the nobles abandoned everything rather than submit to such tyranny, and took refuge with Nebuchadrezzar: others entered into secret negotiations with him, and promised to support him if he came to their help with an armed force. He took them at their word, and invaded Namar without warning in the month of Tamuz, while the summer was at its height, at a season in which the Elamites never even dreamt he would take the field. The heat was intense, water was not to be got, and the army suffered terribly from thirst during its forced march of over a hundred miles across a parched-up country. One of the malcontents, Eittimerodach, lord of Bitkarziabku, joined Nebuchadrezzar with all the men he could assemble, and together they penetrated as far as Ulaî. The King of Elam, taken by surprise, made no attempt to check their progress, but collected his vassals and awaited their attack on the banks of the river in front of Susa. Once “the fire of the combat had been lighted between the opposing forces, the face of the sun grew dark, the tempest broke forth, the whirlwind raged, and in this whirlwind of the struggle none of the characters could distinguish the face of his neighbour.” Nebuchadrezzar, cut off from his own men, was about to surrender or be killed, when Eittimerodach flew to his rescue and brought him off safely. In the end the Chaldæans gained the upper hand.*
* Donation to Rittimerodach, col. i. 11. 12-43. The
description of the battle as given in this document is
generally taken to be merely symbolical, and I have followed
the current usage. But if we bear in mind that the text lays
emphasis on the drought and severity of the season, we are
tempted to agree with Pinches and Budge that its statements
should be taken literally. The affair may have been begun in
a cloud of dust, and have ended in a downpour of rain so
heavy as to partly blind the combatants. The king was
probably drawn away from his men in the confusion; it was
probably then that he was in danger of being made prisoner,
and that Rittimerodach, suddenly coming up, delivered him
from the foes who surrounded him.