SHALMANESER III RECEIVING THE SUBMISSION OF THE CHALDEANS.
From the Gates of Shalmaneser in the Brit. Mus.
After the defeat of Shabaka and the Egyptians at Raphia, Sargon was occupied with the final subjugation of Urartu in the north, which had for so long been a danger to Assyria. But Urartu had to fight, not only the Assyrians, but also a new enemy, the Cimmerians, who now made their appearance from the north and east. In fact, Sargon's conquest of Urartu resulted in the destruction of that people as a buffer state, and laid Assyria open to the direct attack of the barbarian invaders, though it was not until the reign of Esarhaddon that their activity began to be formidable. Meanwhile, having subjugated his other foes. Sargon was able to turn his attention once more to Babylon, from which he expelled Merodach-baladan. His appearance was welcomed by the priestly party, and, entering the city in state, he assumed the title of Governor and for the last seven years of his life he ruled in Babylon virtually as king. A memorial of his occupation survives to-day in the quay-wall, which he constructed along the north front of the Southern Citadel.[39]
On Sargon's death in 705 b.c. the subject provinces of the empire rebelled. The revolt was led by Babylon, where Merodach-baladan reappears with Elamite support,[40] while Hezekiah of Judah headed a confederation of the states of Southern Syria. Sennacherib was first occupied with Babylon, where he had little difficulty in defeating Merodach-baladan and his allies. He was then free to deal with Syria and Palestine; and at Eltekeh, near Ekron, he routed the Egyptian army, which had come to the support of the rebel states. He then received the submission of Ekron, and took Lachish after a siege, though Tyre resisted. After his expulsion from Babylon Merodach-baladan had sought safety by hiding himself in the Babylonian swamps, where he allied himself with the Chaldean prince Mushezib-Marduk; and Babylon had been left in charge of Bêl-ibni, a young native Babylonian, who had been brought up at the Assyrian court. A rising, headed by Mushezib-Marduk, brought Sennacherib again into the country, who, after defeating the rebels, carried off Bêl-ibni and his nobles to Assyria, leaving his own son Ashur-nadin-shum upon the throne.
The country was in a state of continual disaffection, and after a few years a fresh revolt was headed by a Babylonian, Nergal-ushezib. But he ruled for little more than a year, being defeated by Sennacherib and sent in chains to Nineveh. This took place after the return of the Assyrian army from Nagitu, whither it had been conveyed by Sennacherib, across the head of the Persian Gulf, against the Chaldeans whom Merodach-baladan had settled there.[41] Sennacherib then turned his forces against Elam, and, after plundering a considerable portion of the country, he was stopped in his advance into the interior by the setting in of winter. In his absence the Chaldean Mushezib-Marduk seized the throne of Babylon, and allied himself with Elam. But the combined armies were defeated at Khalule, and after the death of Umman-menanu, the Elamite king, in 689, Sennacherib seized Babylon. Exasperated at her disaffection, he attempted to put an end for all time to her constant menace by destroying the city. He succeeded in doing an enormous amount of damage, and, by deflecting the course of the Euphrates, wiped out large areas and turned them into swamps.[42] For the last eight years of Sennacherib's reign the country was given over to a state of anarchy.
FIG. 65.
THE GOD ADAD FROM A VOTIVE OFFERING DEDICATED IN E-SAGILA BY ESARHADDOS.
(After Weissbach.)
In 681 Sennacherib was murdered by his sons, and, after a struggle for the succession, Esarhaddon secured the throne. His first thought was to reverse completely his father's Babylonian policy, and by rebuilding the city and restoring its ancient privileges to placate the priestly party, whose support his grandfather, Sargon, had secured.[43] In 668 b.c. the statue of Marduk was restored to its shrine, and Esarhaddon's son, Shamash-shum-ukîn, was proclaimed King of Babylon. Esarhaddon sought to reconcile the military and aggressive party in his own capital by crowning Ashur-bani-pal, his eldest son, as king in Assyria. But at the same time Babylon was still taught to look upon Assyria as her suzerain, and the spirit of disaffection was only driven for the moment underground. Esarhaddon's aim had been to retain the territory already incorporated in the Assyrian empire, and, had he been able to confine his country's energies within these limits, its existence as a state might have been prolonged. But he was unable to curb the ambitions of his generals, and, in his effort to find employment for the army, he achieved the ultimate object of his father's western campaigns, the conquest of Egypt.