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

by L. W. King

Arad-Sibitti, accompanied by his sister, receives the royal sanction to the transfer of an estate, situated in the district of Sha-mamîtu, to his daughter as her dowry.

(From Boundary-Stone No. 90835 in the British Museum.)

A stable government was once more established in Babylonia by Nabû-mukîn-apli, the founder of the Eighth Dynasty,[22] though even in his reign Aramean tribes continued to give trouble, holding the Euphrates in the neighbourhood of Babylon and Borsippa, cutting communications, and raiding the country-side. On one occasion they captured the Ferry-Gate of Kâr-bêlmâtâti and prevented the king from holding the New Year's Festival, as the statue of the god Nabû could not be transported across the river to Babylon.[23] A rude portrait of this monarch is preserved on a boundary-stone of his reign, on which he is represented giving the royal sanction to the transfer of an estate in the district of Sha-mamîtu; and it may be added that considerable friction subsequently took place, with regard to the validity of the title, between the original owner Arad-Sibitti and his son-in-law, a jewel-worker named Burusha.[24] The coarse style of the engraving is probably to be explained by the fact of its provincial origin, though there can be little doubt that the standard of Babylonian art had been adversely affected by the internal condition of the country during the preceding period.

It was at the time of the Eighth Dynasty that the renaissance of Assyria took place, which culminated in the victories of that ruthless conqueror Ashur-nasir-pal and of his son Shalmaneser III. Its effect was first felt in Babylon in the reign of Shamash-mudammik, who suffered a serious defeat in the neighbourhood of Mt. Ialman at the hands of Adad-nirari III., Ashur-nasir-pal's grandfather. Against Nabû-shum-ishkun I., the murderer and successor of Shamash-mudammik, Adad-nirari secured another victory, several Babylonian cities with much spoil falling into his hands. But we subsequently find him on friendly terms with Babylon, and allying himself with Nabû-shum-ishkun, or possibly with his successor, each monarch marrying the others daughter.[25] His son Tukulti-Ninib II. of Assyria, profiting by the renewed sense of security from attack upon his southern border, began to make tentative efforts at expanding westwards into Mesopotamia. But it was reserved for Ashur-nasir-pal, his son, to cross the Euphrates and lead Assyrian armies once more into Syrian territory. After securing his frontier to the east and north of Assyria, Ashur-nasir-pal turned his attention to the west. The Aramean states of Bît-Khadippi and Bît-Adini, both on the left bank of the Euphrates, fell before his onslaught. Then crossing the Euphrates on rafts of skins, he received the submission of Sangar of Carchemish, and marched in triumph through Syria to the coast.

Babylon naturally viewed this encroachment on the Euphrates route to the west as a danger to her commercial connexions, and it is not surprising that Nabû-aplu-iddina should have attempted to oppose Ashur-nasir-pal's advance by allying himself with Shadudu of Sukhi.[26] But the armed forces he sent to support the people of Sukhi in their resistance were quite unable to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, and his brother Sabdanu and Bêl-aplu-iddin, the Babylonian leader, fell into Ashur-nasir-pal's hands. In recording his victory the Assyrian king refers to the Babylonians as the Kassites,[27] a striking tribute to the fame of the foreign dynasty which had ended more than three centuries before. Nabû-aplu-iddina evidently realized the futility of attempting further opposition to Assyrian aims, and he was glad to establish relations of a friendly character, which he continued in the reign of Shalmaneser. He attempted to forget the failure of his military expedition by repairing the damage inflicted during the numerous Aramean raids upon the ancient cult-centres of Babylonia.

MEMORIAL TABLET OF NABÛ-APLU-IDDINA, RECORDING HIS RESTORATION OF THE SUN-TEMPLE AT SIPPAR.

Brit. Mus. No., 91000.

He is the king who restored and re-endowed so richly the temple of Shamash at Sippar, digging in the ruins of former structures till he found the ancient image of the god. He redecorated the shrine, and with much ceremony re-established the ritual and offerings for the god, placing them under the control of Nabû-nadin-shum, a descendant of the former priest E-kur-shum-ushabshi, whom Simmash-Shipak had installed at Sippar. The sculptured scene on the stone memorial-tablet, which records the re-endowment of the temple, represents Nabû-aplu-iddina being led by the priest Nabû-nadin-shum and the goddess Aia into the presence of the Sun-god, who is seated in his temple E-babbar.