A History of Babylon, from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Persian Conquest

by L. W. King

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.

FIG. 58.

SCENE REPRESENTING NABÛ-MUKÎN-APLI SANCTIONING A TRANSFER OF LANDED PROPERTY.