The fulfilment of this prophecy did not take place as quickly as the prophet perhaps desired. Egypt appeared too strong to be openly attacked by a mere section of the battalions at the disposal of Assyria, and besides, it may have been deemed imprudent to involve the army to any serious extent on so distant a field as Africa, when Babylon was ready and waiting to fall upon the very heart of Assyria at the first news of a real or supposed reverse. Circumstances seemed, moreover, to favour a war against Merodach-baladan. This sovereign, who had been received with acclamation by the Babylonians, had already lost the popularity he had enjoyed at his accession. The fickle character of the people, which made them nearly always welcome a fresh master with enthusiasm, soon led them from love and obedience to hatred, and finally to revolt. Merodach-baladan trusted to the Kaldâ to help him to maintain his position, and their rude barbarity, even if it protected him against the fickleness of his more civilised subjects, increased the discontent at Kutha, Sippar, and Borsippa. He removed the statues of the gods from these towns, imprisoned the most turbulent citizens, confiscated their goods, and distributed them among his own followers; the other cities took no part in the movement, but Sargon must have expected to find in them, if not effective support, at least sympathies which would facilitate his work of conquest. It is true that Elam, whose friendship for the Aramæan was still undiminished, remained to be reckoned with, but Elam had lost much of its prestige in the last few years. The aged Khumban-igash had died in 717,* and his successor, Shutruk-nakhunta, had not apparently inherited all the energy of his father,** and it is possible that troubles had arisen among the vassals of his own kingdom which prevented him from interfering on behalf of his ally. Sargon took account of all these circumstances in arranging his plan of campaign. He divided his army into two forces, one of which, under his own command, was to be directed against Merodach-baladan, while the other was to attack the insurgent Aramæans on the left bank of the Tigris, and was to be manoeuvred so as to drive Shutruk-nakhunta back on the marshes of the Uknu.*** The eastern force was the first to be set in movement, and it pushed forward into the territory of the Gambulu. These latter had concentrated themselves round Dur-Atkharas, one of their citadels;**** they had increased the height of the walls, and filled the ditches with water brought from the Shurappu by means of a canal, and having received a reinforcement of 600 horsemen and 4000 foot soldiers, they had drawn them up in front of the ramparts.
* The date of the death of Khumban-igash is indirectly given
in the passage of the Babylonian Chronicle of Pinches,
where it is said that in the first year of Ashshur-nâdin-
shumu, King of Babylon, Ishtar-khundu (= Shutruk-nakhunta)
was dethroned by his brother, Khallushu, after having
reigned over Elam eighteen years: these events actually took
place, as we shall see below, about the year 699 before our
era.
** Shutruk-nakhunta is the Susian form of the name; the
Assyrian texts distort it into Shutur-nankhundi, and the
Babylonian Chronicle of Pinches, into Ishtar-khundu, owing
to a faint resemblance in the sound of the name of the
goddess Ishtar with the form Shutur, Sthur, itself derived
from Shutruk, with which the name began.
*** The earlier historians of Assyria, misled in the first
place by the form in which the scribes have handed down the
account in the Annals and the Fastes, assumed the
existence of a single army, led by Sargon himself, and which
would have marched on all the above-mentioned places of the
country, one by one. Tiele was the first to recognise that
Sargon must have left part of his forces to the command of
one of his lieutenants, and Winckler, enlarging on this
idea, showed that there were then two armies, engaged at
different seats of war, but manoeuvring as far as possible
by mutual arrangement.
**** The site of Dur-Atkharas is unknown. Billerbeck places
it hypotheti-cally on the stream of Mendeli, and his
conjecture is in itself very plausible. I should incline,
however, to place it more to the south, on account of the
passage in which it is said that the Kaldâ, to complete the
defences of the town, brought a canal from the Shurappu and
fortified its banks. The Shurappu, according to Delitzsch,
would be the Shatt Umm-el-Jemâl; according to Delattrc, the
Kerkha; the account of the campaign under consideration
would lead me to recognise in it a watercourse like the Tib,
which runs into the Tigris near Amara, in which case the
ruins of Kherîb would perhaps correspond with the site of
Dur-Atkharas.
A single morning sufficed to disperse them, and the Assyrians, entering the city with the fugitives, took possession of it on the same day. They made 16,490 prisoners, and seized horses, mules, asses, camels, and both sheep and oxen in large numbers. Eight of the chiefs of the neighbourhood, who ruled over the flat country between the Shurappu and the Uknu, begged for mercy as soon as they learned the result of the engagement. The name of Dur-Atkharas was changed to that of Dur-Nebo, the territory of the Gambulu was converted into a province, and its organisation having been completed, the army continued its march, sweeping before it the Euâ, the Khindaru, the Puqudu, in short, all the tribes occupying the district of Yatbur. The chiefs of these provinces sought refuge in the morasses of the lower Kerkha, but finding themselves surrounded and short of provisions, they were forced by famine to yield to the enemy, and came to terms with the Assyrians, who imposed a tribute on them and included them within the new province of Gambulu. The goal of this expedition was thus attained, and Blam separated from Karduniash, but the issue of the war remained undecided as long as Shutruk-nakhunta held the cities at the edge of the plain, from which he could emerge at will into the heart of the Assyrian position. The conqueror therefore turned in that direction, rapidly took from him the citadels of Shamuna and Babduri, then those of Lakhirimmu and Pillutu, and pitched his camp on the bank of the Naditi, from whence he despatched marauding bands to pillage the country. Dismay spread throughout the district of Rashi; the inhabitants, abandoning their cities—Tîl-Khumba, Durmishamash, Bubî, and Khamanu—migrated as far as Bît-Imbi; Shutruk-nakhunta, overcome with fear, took refuge, so it was said, in the distant mountains to preserve his life.*
* None of these places can be identified with certainty. So
far as I can follow the account of this campaign on the map,
it seems that the attacks upon Shutruk-nakhunta took place
on the plain and in the mountains between the Ab-î-Gengir
and the Tib, so that the river Naditi would be the Aftâh or
one of its tributaries. If this were so, Lakhirimmu and
Pillutu would be situated somewhere near the Jughaî ben Ruan
and the Tope Ghulamen of de Morgan’s map of Elam, Shamuna
near Zirzir-têpî, Babdurî near Hosseini-yeh. But I wish it
to be understood that I do not consider these comparisons as
more than simple conjectures. Bît-Imbi was certainly out of
the reach of the Assyrians, since it was used as a place of
refuge by the inhabitants of Rashî; at the same time it must
have been close to Rashî, since the people of this country
fled thither. The site of Ghilân which de Morgan has adopted
on his map seems to me to be too far north to comply with
these conditions, and that of Tapa, approved by Billerboek,
too southerly. If, as I believe, Rashî corresponds to the
regions of Pushti-kuh which lie on both sides of the upper
waters of the Mendeli stream, we ought to look for Bît-Imbi
somewhere near the Desht-î-Ghoaur and the Zenjan, near a
point where communication with the banks of the Ab-î-Kirind
would be easy.
Sargon, meanwhile, had crossed the Euphrates with the other force, and had marched straight upon Bît-Dakkuri; having there noticed that the fortress of Dur-Ladînu was in ruins, he rebuilt it, and, firmly installed within the heart of the country, he patiently waited until the eastern force had accomplished its mission. Like his adversary, Merodach-baladan, he had no desire to be drawn into an engagement until he knew what chance there was of the latter being reinforced by the King of Elam. At the opening of hostilities Merodach-baladan claimed the help of the Elamite king, and lavished on him magnificent presents—a couch, a throne, a portable chair, a cup for the royal offerings, and his own pectoral chain; these all reached their destination in good condition, and were graciously accepted. But before long the Elamite prince, threatened in his own domain, forgot everything except his own personal safety, and declared himself unable to render Merodach-baladan any assistance. The latter, on receiving this news, threw himself with his face in the dust, rent his clothes, and broke out into loud weeping; after which, conscious that his strength would not permit of his meeting the enemy in the open field, he withdrew his men from the other side of the Tigris, escaped secretly by night, and retired with his troops to the fortress of Ikbîbel. The inhabitants of Babylon and Borsippa did not allow themselves to be disconcerted; they brought the arks of Bel, Zarpanît, Nebo, and Tashmît out of their sanctuaries, and came forth with chanting and musical instruments to salute Sargon at Dûr-Ladînu. He entered the city in their company, and after he had celebrated the customary sacrifices, the people enthroned him in Merodach-baladan’s palace. Tribute was offered to him, but he refused to accept any part of it for his personal use, and applied it to a work of public utility—the repairing of the ancient canal of Borsippa, which had become nearly filled up. This done, he detached a body of troops to occupy Sippara, and returned to Assyria, there to take up his winter quarters.
Drawn by Faucher-
Gudin, from the
plaster cast in
the Louvre.
Once again, therefore, the ancient metropolis of the Euphrates was ruled by an Assyrian, who united in one protocol the titles of the sovereigns of Assur and Kar-duniash. Babylon possessed for the kings of Nineveh the same kind of attraction as at a later date drew the German Cæsars to Rome. Scarcely had the Assyrian monarchs been crowned within their own domains, than they turned their eyes towards Babylon, and their ambition knew no rest till the day came for them to present themselves in pomp within the temple of its god and implore his solemn consecration. When at length they had received it, they scrupulously secured its renewal on every occasion which the law prescribed, and their chroniclers recorded among the important events of the year, the ceremony in which they “took the hand of Bel.” Sargon therefore returned, in the month Nisan of the year 709, to preside over the procession of the god, and he devoutly accomplished the rites which constituted him the legitimate successor of the semi-fabulous heroes of the old empire, foremost among whom was his namesake Shargâni of Agadê. He offered sacrifices to Bel, Nebo, and to the divinities of Sumir and Akkad, and he did not return to the camp until he had fulfilled all the duties incumbent on his new dignity. He was involved that year in two important wars at opposite points of his empire. One was at the north-western extremity, against the Mushki and their king Mita, who, after having supported Eusas, was now intriguing with Argistis; the other in the south-east, against the Kaldâ, and probably also against Elam. He entrusted the conduct of the former to the governor of Kuî, but reserved to himself the final reckoning with Merodach-baladan. The Babylonian king had made good use of the respite given him during the winter months. Too prudent to meet his enemy in the open plain, he had transformed his hereditary principality into a formidable citadel. During the preceding campaign he had devastated the whole of the country lying between the marshes and the territory occupied by the Assyrians, and had withdrawn the inhabitants. Most of the towns—Ikbîbel, Uru, Uruk, Kishik, and Nimid-laguda—were also deserted, and no garrisons were left in them. He had added to the fortifications of Dur-Yakîa, and enlarged the moat till it was two hundred cubits wide and eighteen deep, so as to reach the level of infiltration; he then turned into it the waters of the Euphrates, so that the town appeared to be floating on a lake, without either bridges or quays by means of which the besiegers might have brought their machines within range and their troops been able to approach for an assault. Merodach-baladan had been careful not to shut himself within the town, but had taken up a position in the marshes, and there awaited the arrival of the Assyrians. Sargon, having left Babylon in the month of Iyyâr, encountered him within sight of Dur-Yakîn. The Aramæan infantry were crushed by repeated charges from the Mnevito chariotry and cavalry, who pursued the fugitives to the outer side of the moat, and seized the camp with all its baggage and the royal train, including the king’s tent, a canopy of solid silver which protected the throne, his sceptre, weapons, and stores of all kinds. The peasants, to the number of 90,580, crowded within the lines, also fell into their hands, together with their flocks and herds—2500 horses, 610 mules, and 854 camels, as well as sheep, oxen, and asses; the remainder of the fugitives rushed within the outworks for refuge “like a pack of wild boars,” and finally were driven into the interior of the place, or scattered among the beds of reeds along the coast. Sargon cut down the groves of palm trees which adorned the suburbs, and piled up their trunks in the moat, thus quickly forming a causeway right up to the walls. Merodach-baladan had been wounded in the arm during the engagement, but, nevertheless, fought stubbornly in defence of his city; when he saw that its fall was inevitable, he fled to the other side of the gulf, and took refuge among the mud flats of the Lower Ulaî. Sargon set fire to Dur-Yakîn, levelled its towers and walls with the ground, and demolished its houses, temples, and palaces. It had been a sort of penal settlement, to which the Kaldâ rulers used to consign those of their subjects belonging to the old aboriginal race, who had rendered themselves obnoxious by their wealth or independence of character; the number of these prisoners was considerable, Babylon, Borsippa, Nipur, and Sippar, not to speak of Uni, Uruk, Eridu, Larsam, and Kishîk, having all of them furnished their share. Sargon released them all, and restored their gods to the temples; he expelled the nomads from the estates which, contrary to all justice, had been distributed among them in preceding years, and reinstated the former owners. Karduniash, which had been oppressed for twelve long years by a semi-barbarian despot, now breathed again, and hailed Sargon as its deliverer, while he on his part was actively engaged in organising his conquest. The voluntary submission of Upiri, King of Dilmun, who lived isolated in the open sea, “as though in a bird’s nest,” secured to Sargon possession of the watercourses which flowed beyond the Chaldæan lake into the Persian Gulf: no sooner had he obtained it than he quitted the neighbourhood of Dur-Yakîn, crossed the Tigris, and reinforced the garrisons which lined his Elamite frontier on this side. He had just finished building a strongly fortified citadel on the site of Sagbat,* when ambassadors arrived from Mita.
* This Sagbat, which must not be confused with the district
of Bît-Sagbati mentioned in the reign of Tiglath-pileser
III., seems to correspond with a post to the south of
Durîlu, perhaps the ruins of Baksayeh, on the Tchengula.