How the sudden downfall of the Assyrian empire [pg 392] really came about we do not know. In all probability it remained intact until the death of Aššur-banî-âpli, which took place in 626 b.c. His son, Aššur-êtil-îlāni-ukinni, has left no historical records, though it is not by any means impossible that some light may ultimately be thrown on his reign. One of the enigmas of his time is: What was the circumstance which called forth the following communication?—
“The message of the daughter of the king to Aššurâaitu the queen. As yet thou writest not thy tablet, and dictatest not thy letter? Shall they say thus: ‘Is this the sister of Šerû-êṭerat, the eldest daughter of the Harem-house of Aššur-êtil-îlāni-ukinni, the great king, the mighty king, the king of the world, the king of Assyria?’ And thou art the daughter of the bride, the lady of the house of Aššur-banî-âpli, the son of the great king of the Harem-house, who was Aššur-âḫa-iddina (Esarhaddon), king of Assyria.”
Some of the expressions in this letter seem obscure, but the probable explanation is, that the daughter of one of the last Assyrian kings—perhaps Sin-šarra-iškun (Saracos)—writes to the chief wife of Aššur-banî-âpli urging her to take action by exhorting the chiefs of the nation at a crisis in the history of the country, which crisis was probably that which led to the downfall of the mighty kingdom which had reached its zenith of power during the reign of Aššur-banî-âpli. At this time, according to Nabonidus, a king of the Umman-manda or Medes, whose name is doubtful, but which may be Iriba-tuktê, entered into alliance with a ruler who must be Nabopolassar of Babylon, the father of Nebuchadnezzar, and accomplished the vengeance of Merodach, the god of the Babylonians, who willed that the destruction wrought upon his city by Sennacherib should be amply avenged. This vengeance was apparently the downfall of the Assyrian empire and the destruction [pg 393] of Nineveh, in accordance with statements of Alexander Polyhistor, Abydenus, and Syncellus. It is Diodorus Siculus, however, who gives the fullest account. He relates that there was a legend (according to an oracle) that the city could not be taken until the river became its enemy. Arbaces, the Scythian, was besieging it, but was unable to make any great impression on it for two years. In the third year, however, the river[119] was swollen by rains, and being very rapid in its current, a portion of the wall was carried away, by which the besiegers gained an entrance. The king, recognizing in this the fulfilment of the oracle, raised a funeral pyre, and gathering together his concubines and eunuchs, mounted it, and perished in the flames. Thus came the great Assyrian empire to an end.
“The oracle concerning Nineveh:
The Lord is a jealous God and avengeth.
Who can stand before His indignation?
With an overrunning flood He will make a full end of the place thereof, and will pursue His enemies into darkness.
The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.
Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, thy worthies are at rest; thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and there is none to gather them.”
And there is much more in the same strain that the Hebrew Oracle of Nahum concerning the fall of Nineveh gives.