FIG. 59. MARDUK AND HIS DRAGON FROM A VOTIVE OFFERING OF MARDUK-ZAKIR-SHUM. (After Weissbach.)
Before the god is the solar disk resting upon an altar supported by attendant deities, whose bodies spring from the roof of the shrine.[28]
The skill of the Babylonian craftsmen at this period is also attested by a cylinder of lapis-lazuli, engraved in low relief with a figure of Marduk and his dragon, which was dedicated in E-sagila at Babylon by Marduk-zakir-shum, the son and successor of Nabû-aplu-iddina. It was originally coated with gold, and the design and execution of the figure may be compared with those of the Sun-god Tablet, as an additional example of the decorative character of Babylonian stone-engraving in the ninth century.
It was in Marduk-zakir-shum's reign that Assyria capped her conquests of this period by becoming the suzerain of Babylon. Under Ashur-naṣir-pal and Shalmaneser the military organization of the country had been renewed, and both made effective use of their extraordinarily efficient armies. Ashur-nasir-pal's policy was one of annihilation, and the speed with which he struck ensured his success. Thus when he crossed the Euphrates after taking Carchemish, the king of Damascus, the most powerful and important state in Syria, made no attempt to oppose him or to organize a defence. He had evidently been taken by surprise.
FIG. 60.
THE ASSYRIAN ARMY IN CHALDEA, 851 b.c.