The History of Antiquity Volume Iii Part 12

In his last years Esarhaddon had raised his son a.s.surbanipal to be co-regent with himself.[355] Shortly before his death, which overtook him in the year 668 B.C. after a short but eventful reign of 13 years, he appears to have given up the government entirely to him.[356]

Immediately after his accession the new prince received the intelligence that Tirhaka, whom his father had driven out of Egypt into Napata, had invaded Egypt, and taken Memphis, that the princes whom Esarhaddon had entrusted with the government of Egypt had fled before Tirhaka into the desert.[357] a.s.surbanipal collected his army in order to maintain Egypt.

In Syria he received the homage of the princes of that land and of Cyprus, who had brought tribute and had been subject to his father.

These were the lords of the states mentioned in the inscriptions of Esarhaddon,--the princes of Tyre, Judah, Edom, Moab, Gaza, Ascalon, Ekron, Byblus, Arvad; with the exception of Baal of Tyre (p. 156), their names are broken out of the inscription (Cylinder C); the three last states of Syria, found in the list of Esarhaddon, Samaria, Ammon, and Ashdod, are also wanting here. Then follow the kings of Cyprus, in which the cities and the persons are those of the list of Esarhaddon; only the three first are wanting. But as the whole number is again put at 22 princes of the land of the coast and the sea, we may conclude with certainty that from the year 672 B.C.--since the rebellion and re-installation of Baal of Tyre, and Mana.s.ses of Judah, there had been no movements and changes in Syria.

a.s.surbanipal informs us that he went down from Syria to Egypt; at Karbanit he met the army of Tirhaka, and drove it out of the field. When Tirhaka heard of this at Memphis, he retired to Thebes. a.s.surbanipal pursued him, took the city, and caused his army to encamp in it; he restored the 20 princes to whom his father had given the districts of Egypt, left behind a portion of his army, and returned to Nineveh with rich booty (668 B.C.).[358] Tirhaka was again forced back to Napata,[359] but the dominion of a.s.syria was not yet firmly established in Egypt. a.s.surbanipal may have imposed heavier duties on the rulers of the districts; the continued stay of a.s.syrian troops in Egypt may have appeared too burdensome and oppressive. Whatever the motive, some of these va.s.sals entered into secret communication with Tirhaka; at their head was Necho, the chief of the most important districts, Memphis and Sais, and with him Sarludari of Zihinu, and Pakruru of Pisaptu. They intended to return from the va.s.salage of a.s.syria to the va.s.salage of Napata; they invited Tirhaka to return to Egypt and again seize the sovereign power. The condition would without doubt be that Tirhaka should continue them in their rule over the cities and districts which Esarhaddon and a.s.surbanipal had given over to them. But the leaders of the a.s.syrian troops captured their messenger, caused Necho, Sarludari, and Pakruru to be arrested, put them in chains, and sent them to Nineveh. The a.s.syrians took Memphis, Mendes (Ben-didi), and Tanis (Zanu, Zoan), cut down the inhabitants who resisted, and broke the towers on their walls. Tirhaka retired before the a.s.syrian troops to Napata.

It appears that a.s.surbanipal attempted to give other supports than mere force of arms to his rule over the distant Egypt. He released Necho from his bonds, restored to him the government of Sais, and gave to his son Neboshezban the government of the canton of Athribis: "I continued to extend to them," he tells us, "the kindness and favour which my father had shown them." Even these means were soon found to be insufficient.

Tirhaka's days came to an end. He was succeeded on the throne of Napata by Urdamane, whom a.s.surbanipal calls a son of Sabakon (Sabaku). He set out to restore the dominion of Ethiopia over Egypt; he won Thebes, defeated the a.s.syrian troops before Memphis, shut up the defeated army in Memphis, and took them prisoners. "A messenger went in haste to Nineveh" to bring to the king the intelligence of these grievous disasters.[360]

a.s.surbanipal set out for Egypt in person, to make good the blow which the arms of a.s.syria had received, to restore the prestige and dread of his power. When he had crossed the borders of Egypt, Urdamane left Memphis in order to return to Thebes. "The princes and viceroys whom I had placed over Egypt, came before my face and kissed my feet," so a.s.surbanipal tells us. "I pursued Urdamane and came to Thebes; he fled at the approach of my mighty army. I took the city of Thebes; silver, gold, precious stones, the treasures of the palace, men and women, two great obelisks, which stood before the gates of the temple, engraved with beautiful sculptures; a great and innumerable booty I carried away from Thebes (Niha) to a.s.syria. I made my warriors march over Egypt and Cush, and won glory."[361] "No-Ammon (Thebes) was situate among the rivers,"--so the prophet Nahum describes the capture and desolation of Thebes by a.s.surbanipal and the a.s.syrians,--"with waters round about her, whose rampart was the stream, and her walls the stream. Ethiopia (Cush) mighty in numbers, and Egyptians endless in mult.i.tude, Phut (Arabians) and Libyans (Lubim) were her helpers. Yet she went forth into misery and captivity; her children were dashed to pieces at the tops of all the streets. They cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains."[362]

The repeated attempts of Tirhaka and his successor to re-establish the government over Egypt from Napata were wrecked. After the capture and sack of Thebes, which we can place in the year 663 B.C.,[363]

a.s.surbanipal sought further to secure the obedience of Egypt by settlers, whom he brought there from conquered lands.[364] From that time, for at least ten years, Egypt remained in his possession without any disturbance. But in spite of this establishment of the a.s.syrian dominion in Egypt a.s.surbanipal had again, in the next few years, to quell rebellions in Syria. Tyre and Aradus attempted to regain their independence, an attempt at defection, which could now have even a less chance of success than when Egypt stood unbroken under the Ethiopians.

Baal, king of Tyre, who had already rebelled against Esarhaddon, and was afterwards pardoned and restored, who subsequently paid his tribute with all obedience, now took up arms anew, ten years after his first rebellion. a.s.surbanipal's third war was directed against Tyre and Aradus. He tells us that the fortresses of king Baal were taken, that he cut off all exit from Tyre, and compelled the inhabitants to drink the water of the sea, that he brought about their submission by a close investment. When Baal had given up his son, his daughters, and the daughters of his brothers, with a considerable tribute, he was again replaced in his dominion.[365] The king of Arvad, also Yakinlu, "who dwelt in the sea" (the city of Arvad lay on an island off the coast, II.

277), was compelled to submit; he sent his daughter with many presents to Nineveh for the harem of the king, and kissed a.s.surbanipal's feet; after his death the government of Arvad was entrusted to Azibaal, a son of Yakinlu.

a.s.surbanipal's power and supremacy reached far to the west beyond Syria.

He tells us that Mugallu, the king of the Tibarenes, and Sandasarmi of Cilicia, who had not obeyed his predecessors, sent their daughters to Nineveh, and kissed his feet. Gyges (Gugu) also, the king of Lydia, "a land, the name of which my father had not heard," says a.s.surbanipal, sent a message to Nineveh. Gyges had obtained the throne of Lydia by violence; he was opposed by a strong party who adhered to the old royal family which he had overthrown; and it was not in domestic matters only that he found himself in difficulties. The Cimmerians who had invaded Asia Minor and were settled there on the lower Halys, who, as Esarhaddon told us, recognised his supremacy (p. 151), had forced their way from thence to Phrygia and Lydia. Gyges obviously sought support in a.s.syria, the strong neighbour of the Cimmerians, as soon as and as long as Tubal and Cilicia obeyed the king of a.s.shur. The inscriptions of a.s.surbanipal tell us that Gyges promised obedience to him and brought tribute.[366]

Thus the supremacy of a.s.syria reached the west of Asia Minor, the coasts of the aegean Sea (about 660 B.C.).

The next campaigns of the king were directed to the north. Achsheri, king of Minni, had kept back his tribute. The a.s.syrians traversed and desolated his land in two successive invasions; Achsheri's own subjects rose against him, and slew him; his son Ualli submitted, sent his daughter to Nineveh, and paid the tribute which had been kept back, and which a.s.surbanipal increased by 30 horses.[367] Sarduri, king of the neighbouring Ararat (Urarti), sent rich presents, and acknowledged the supremacy of a.s.syria. The rebellion of Birizchadri, a chief of the Medes, and of the two sons of Gagi, a chief of the Sacae (Sachi), Sariti and Pariza was defeated; 75 fortified places were taken; the three rebels were taken prisoners and carried to Nineveh.[368]

a.s.surbanipal bestowed especial attention on Babylonia, the government of which he had entrusted to his younger brother Samul-sum-ukin (Samuges in Abydenus, Saosduchinus in the canon of Ptolemy).[369] He tells us that here also he had continued the building of the temples which his father had begun, that he built at Bit Saggatu at Babel, and erected four silver bulls at the gate of the temple of Bit Zida at Borsippa, that he had adorned the abodes of Bel and Bilit. A brick found at Babylon bears the inscription, "to the G.o.d Merodach, my lord, a.s.surbanipal, king of a.s.syria, king of Babylon."[370] When Urtaki, king of Elam (he had succeeded his brother Umma.n.a.ldas I. on the throne there), invaded Babylonia, Samul-sum-ukin called on his brother for a.s.sistance; the Elamites were already encamped before the walls of Babylon.[371] "To protect Bel and Nebo, my G.o.ds, whom I served," says a.s.surbanipal, "I gathered together my warriors." The Elamites were driven back to their borders. Not long after this failure Urtaki, king of Elam, died, and the third brother of Umma.n.a.ldas and Urtaki, Teumman, ascended the throne.

The sons of the two elder brothers, the sons of Umma.n.a.ldas, and the sons of Urtaki (the latter were called Ummanigas and Tammaritu) were afraid that Teumman would cause them to be removed out of his way, in order to secure the succession for his own sons, and fled to a.s.syria.[372]

Teumman demanded that they should be given up. a.s.surbanipal refused; and when in consequence Teumman declared war and invaded a.s.syria, a.s.surbanipal sacrificed to the war-G.o.ddess Istar at her abode in Arbela, "the city of the joy of her heart," and prayed: "O thou G.o.ddess of G.o.ddesses, dreadful in battle, G.o.ddess of war, queen of the G.o.ds, rejoice the heart of a.s.shur; strike down Teumman and destroy him. And the G.o.ddess heard my prayer and said: Fear not; I will grant thee favour." But in that night Istar appeared in a dream to the seer, with her bow in her hand, and announced that the enemy would not remain; in the midst of the battle she would protect the king of a.s.shur.[373]

a.s.surbanipal went against Elam in his fifth war, which he led in person.

Teumman retired before the a.s.syrians, and awaited the attack of their army in a position at Eulaeus (Ulai), in the neighbourhood of Susa. The a.s.syrians, and with them the sons of Urtaki, Ummanigas and Tammaritu, fought with success. Teumman, wounded in the battle, fled with his eldest son; the chariot broke down in the forest; they were taken and slain. a.s.surbanipal placed Ummanigas on the throne of Susa. A relief in the palace of a.s.surbanipal depicts the enthronement of Ummanigas at Madaktu and Susa by an a.s.syrian officer.[374] Chidalu, a part of Elam, which hitherto had been ruled over by Istar-Nandi--the East of Elam apparently--was handed over to Tammaritu. Teumman's head was seen at the entrance of a.s.surbanipal into Nineveh: it was placed on the great gate of that city (about 655 B.C.).[375]

a.s.surbanipal had carried off one success upon another; he was master of Egypt, received tribute from Lydia, and placed kings over Elam at his pleasure, when the rebellion of his brother Samul-sum-ukin in Babylon threatened to overthrow the foundations of the kingdom. Eager to reign independently, Samul-sum-ukin opened the treasures of the temples of Bel at Babylon, of Nebo at Borsippa, of Nergal at Kutha, and sent rich presents to Ummanigas, whom a.s.surbanipal had raised to the throne of Elam not long before, in order to incite him to take up arms against a.s.syria and to secure the aid of Elam. Ummanigas took his side.[376]

Samul-sum-ukin also called on the districts on the Euphrates and Tigris to join him. In vain did the prefects of Erech, Amida, and Arapha attempt to check the rebellion. The children of Babylon forgot the favour shown to them, says a.s.surbanipal, the temples which he had restored and adorned with silver and gold; the inhabitants of Sippara, Babylon, Borsippa, Kutha disregarded their brotherhood, and took up arms against him. The signal given by the king's own brother was followed by the Arabians, Syrians, and Lydians. "That faithless brother, Samul-sum-ukin, led astray the inhabitants of Accad, of Chaldaea, of Aram, and of the sea coast, my tributary subjects, to rebel against me.

The princes (_sarri_) of the land of Guti, of the land of the West (_mat acharri_), of Miluhhi, which my hands brought into submission, all these he seduced to fall from me, they took his side:" such is the statement of a.s.surbanipal.[377]

This rising was all the more dangerous, as some of the va.s.sal-princes of Egypt thought it a favourable moment for throwing off the yoke of a.s.syria. The son of the Necho, whom in spite of his conspiracy with Tirhaka a.s.surbanipal had a second time made prince of Sais, Neboshezban, who was then ruler of the canton of Athribis, and after the death of his father Necho, which occurred in the mean time (Necho died shortly before, or in, the year 664 B.C.),[378] succeeded him as prince of Sais, was at the head of this movement. a.s.surbanipal tells us that Gyges of Lydia sent aid to Pisamilki, the prince (_Sar_) of Muzur, who had cast off the yoke of his rule.[379] In this Pisamilki we may recognise the Psammetichus of the Greeks, the Psamtik of the Egyptians, the son of Necho of Sais, the same person whom a.s.surbanipal, when he mentions the restoration of Necho and his son, calls by the a.s.syrian name of Neboshezban. When the failure of that attempt had made Necho and his son captives of a.s.syria, the important point was to give pledges to the king of a.s.syria that the fidelity of his va.s.sals would not again be broken. The Egyptian tradition of the rise of Psammetichus, preserved for us by Herodotus and Diodorus, ought not to have more weight than that a.s.syrian name against the ident.i.ty of Pisamilki and Psammetichus.

That tradition knows of nothing but contests of Psammetichus with his fellow-princes, not with the a.s.syrians; like Manetho's list of kings, it is absolutely silent about the a.s.syrians, because it wishes to conceal the fact that the a.s.syrians ever had dominion over Egypt. The tradition of Egypt imagines a voluntary retirement of the king of Ethiopia, or his abdication of the government of Egypt, and then represents the Egyptians as setting up 12 princes in the place of one: we have already seen that 20 were set up by Esarhaddon, and retained by a.s.surbanipal. Manetho's list says nothing either of the a.s.syrian dominion, or of the twelve; in it the rule of the last Ethiopian is followed by the dynasty of the Saites, two forefathers of Necho, and then by Necho and Psammetichus.

The sepulchres of the Apis show, that as a fact, the dates were differently fixed in the seventh century B.C. in Egypt. Even then the kings of a.s.syria were disregarded; the reign of the Ethiopian Tirhaka is followed immediately by the reign of Psammetichus. The struggles which Psammetichus had to undergo with his fellow-princes, of which Herodotus, Diodorus, and Strabo tell us, were, as a fact, contests with those among the princes who adhered to a.s.syria, who would not follow the lead of Psammetichus against a.s.syria, and submit to his rule over Egypt.

The rebellion of Samul-sum-ukin appeared to tear from its lines the whole structure of the a.s.syrian supremacy. But a.s.surbanipal knew how to cope with serious danger: deep-seated confusion in Elam made his task easier. Thus he succeeded in this sixth war in driving his brother's army out of the field. He besieged Sippara and Kutha. Against Ummanigas of Elam, who, though placed there by a.s.surbanipal himself, was now an ally of Samul-sum-ukin, his own son Tammaritu rose in rebellion. He slew his father, but persisted in the war against a.s.syria, which his father had begun. He marched out to aid Samul-sum-ukin; in the middle of the war Indabigas, one of his servants, rebelled against him; Tammaritu found it necessary to seek the protection of his enemy a.s.surbanipal.

Thus Samul-sum-ukin's hope in the help of Elam vanished. After Sippara, Kutha, and Borsippa had fallen, Babylon was shut up. The famine in the city was so great that "they ate the flesh of their sons and their daughters," as a.s.surbanipal tells us. Of the death of his brother he tells us: a.s.shur, Sin, Samas, Bin, Bel, Nebo, and Istar thrust him into burning fire, and destroyed his life. a.s.surbanipal's punishments were fearful. He had the tongues torn out of those who spoke against him; even those of the offenders who escaped the famine and the burning fire, did not get away free; they were slain or reduced to slavery. But he spared the remainder of the sons of Babylon, Kutha, and Sippara. On the people of Accad, on the portion of the Chaldaeans and Aramaeans, and those of the sea coast who had taken the side of Samul-sum-ukin, he again placed the yoke of a.s.shur. A relief of the palace of a.s.surbanipal exhibits him on the chariot of war, with prisoners and booty before him.

The inscription says: the king commands the coronation robe of Samulsum-ukin, his garments, his wives, his chariots, his captains, his warriors, and his slaves to be brought before him.[380]

After thus suppressing the rising of the Babylonians, a.s.surbanipal directed the whole of his forces to the subjugation of Elam. The domestic condition of Elam seemed to promise success to a vigorous attack. Indabigas experienced the fate which he had prepared for Tammaritu; he was driven from the throne by a man of the name of Umma.n.a.ldas, the son of Attamitu.[381] This rebel did not find universal recognition; Pache maintained a part of the land against him. Under such circ.u.mstances the victory could not be very difficult. a.s.surbanipal sent troops under Balibni against the land of Bit Yakin, which was governed by Nabubelzikri, a grandson of Merodach Baladan, as a tributary prince (perhaps the son of Nahid-Merodach, p. 147), who appears to have taken part in the rebellion of Samul-sum-ukin, and then to have escaped to Elam. a.s.surbanipal had already demanded his surrender from Indabigas, and he repeated the demand after the rise of Umma.n.a.ldas, who also refused it. The a.s.syrian army led by a.s.surbanipal to his seventh war crossed the borders of Elam. Umma.n.a.ldas abandoned his metropolis, Madaktu, and fled into the mountains. a.s.surbanipal placed Tammaritu on the throne at Susa, but soon returned, either from fear of his disobedience or because he had heard of it, to Elam, dethroned Tammaritu, and carried him prisoner to a.s.syria; marched through the whole land, devastating it, and took 30 cities, which are enumerated in the inscription. Nevertheless, after his departure, Umma.n.a.ldas again obtained power over Elam; a.s.surbanipal was compelled to march against the country once more. This was his eighth war. He obtained the most complete success; Madaktu and Susa fell into his hand. "I opened their treasure-houses," says a.s.surbanipal; "I took the treasures, which the earlier kings of Elam and those of these days had collected. No enemy beside myself had laid hands upon them. The silver and gold which the earlier and later kings of Sumir and Accad, and of Kardunias, had sent to Elam, which earlier kings and Samul-sum-ukin had paid for the help of Elam; robes, arms, chariots, I carried to a.s.syria. I broke down the tower of Susa; Susinak, the G.o.d of their oracle, whose image no man had seen, and the remaining G.o.ds (eighteen G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses are mentioned) with their treasures, priests, and servants, I carried to a.s.syria.

Thirty-two images of the kings in silver, gold, bra.s.s, and stone, I carried away from Susa, Madaktu, and Huradi, and in addition an image of Humbanigas (p. 99), of Istar-Nandi, of Halludus (p. 144), and the younger Tammaritu. I broke the winged lions and bulls, which guarded the temples, the winged bulls before the temple gates of Elam, and sent their G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses into captivity: I destroyed the palaces of their kings, the earlier and the later, the opponents of my father; the rulers and inhabitants of their cities, the people great and small, I carried away with their flocks; their warriors I divided throughout the land of my kingdom (645 B.C.)[382]"

In spite of this savage destruction, Umma.n.a.ldas could return from the mountains, and again take possession of the ruins of Madaktu. He was now, as it appears, prepared to accede to a.s.surbanipal's renewed request to give up the grandson of Merodach Baladan. The latter antic.i.p.ated his surrender, inasmuch as he and his armour-bearer mutually slew each other. Umma.n.a.ldas gave up the corpse, and a.s.surbanipal had the head cut off. Thus died the last scion of Merodach Baladan of whom we hear: so ended the race which for 80 years, with incredible endurance and stubbornness, had a.s.serted the independence of South Chaldaea and Babylonia against a.s.syria. After this Umma.n.a.ldas had to give way to Pache, who received a part of Elam. But Pache could not stand before the a.s.syrian army, or did not venture to resist it. He was taken prisoner; Umma.n.a.ldas also was captured, "like a raven," in the mountains, into which he had fled for refuge. "Tammaritu, Pache, and Umma.n.a.ldas, who ruled over Elam in succession, I brought them beneath my yoke, with Uaiti, the king of the Arabs, whom I brought out of his land to a.s.syria.

I had them bound to the yoke of my war-chariot; they drew it to the gate of the temple of Bilit, the famed wife of a.s.shur, the mother of the great G.o.ds."[383]

Ancient Elam, the oldest power in the region of the Euphrates and Tigris, and in all hither Asia, which once, before the times of Hammurabi of Babylon, before the year 2000 B.C., had held sway over the states of the lower Euphrates, whose armies in those days had seen Syria, was fallen, never to rise again. "In the midst of h.e.l.l," says the prophet Ezekiel, "is Elam, and all her mult.i.tude about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncirc.u.mcised into the nether parts of the earth. They who caused terror in the land of the living have borne their share with them that go down to the pit.

They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her mult.i.tude; they are placed among the slain."[384] It is true that, more than a century after the fall of Susa, we hear of stubborn attempts on the part of Elam to restore her state; but after that Elam ceased to exist, except as a name, and her history was then the more utterly forgotten, because after this rebellion the metropolis of Susa became the residence of the wide dominion of the kings of another people, the Achaemenids.

Babylonia was in subjection, and Elam had ceased to exist. a.s.surbanipal employed his arms in punis.h.i.+ng the Arabian tribes who had supported the rebellion of his brother. Ammuladin, the king of the Kedarites, had attacked the princes of Syria who remained loyal to a.s.surbanipal. The attack failed. Ammuladin was defeated, and taken prisoner by Kamoshalta, the king of Moab; with him Adiya, a princess of the Arabians, was given up to a.s.surbanipal.[385] Two other princes of the Arabs, the brothers Abiyateh and Aimu, had led their warriors to Babylon, to Samul-sum-ukin.

They had been there defeated together with him and shut up in Babylon.

When the famine was sore there, they attempted in vain to break through the siege; Abiyateh gave himself up to a.s.surbanipal. With them the soldiers of a third Arabian prince, Uaiti, had marched to Babylon.

a.s.surbanipal now attacked Uaiti, whose tribes dwelt on the borders of Ammon, Moab and Edom, in Hauran and near Zoba; their dwellings and tents were burnt. Uaiti was carried prisoner to Nineveh, and Abiyateh was set up in his place. Scarcely had he been set up, when he united with Nadnu, the prince of the Nebaiyoth, against a.s.syria. On his ninth campaign, a.s.surbanipal marched over the Tigris and Euphrates into the deserts of Syria. As he tells us, he defeated the servants of the deity of Atar-Samain and the Nebaiyoth, took both princes prisoners in the battle, and caused their flocks to be driven off far and wide. "I divided camels like sheep," he says; "they fetched half a shekel of silver at the gate. On my return I took Hosah, which lies on the sh.o.r.e of the sea, which was disobedient, and did not pay tribute, and carried the people to a.s.syria. The people of Akko, who did not obey, I destroyed; the remnant I carried to a.s.syria."[386]

Not only the Arabian tribes between the Euphrates and the Jordan, not only the princes of Syria, but the land of Ararat also, as a.s.surbanipal expressly declares,[387] and Cilicia and the East of Asia were subject.

This follows, without a doubt, from the circ.u.mstance that Ardys, king of Lydia, who succeeded his father Gyges on the throne in the year 653 B.C., soon after recognised anew the supremacy of a.s.surbanipal, in order to obtain his aid against the Cimmerians, who again heavily oppressed Lydia from the Halys. a.s.surbanipal had not only maintained the kingdom against the revolt of Samul-sum-ukin, he had strengthened it by the overthrow of Elam, established the supremacy of a.s.syria in Hither Asia, and extended it to the west of Asia Minor. We do not hear anything of an attempt to renew the va.s.salage of Egypt, though the war against the Nabataeans and Kedarites brought a.s.surbanipal to the borders of Egypt. We may suppose that the resistance of the regions of Akko and Hosah (to the south of Tyre[388]) possibly rested on the expectation of Egyptian a.s.sistance. But the inscriptions of a.s.surbanipal end with the war against the Arabians; beyond this we have no accounts of a.s.syrian origin. The struggles of a.s.surbanipal with the Nebaiyoth and the Kedarites on the borders of Ammon and Moab, the reduction of Akko, are the last acts of the a.s.syrians in Syria, of which we have any definite information. They must have taken place not long before the year 640 B.C. It will be seen further on that a.s.surbanipal after this time was engaged in the East.

The Hebrew Scriptures also know nothing of any interference of a.s.syria in the fortunes of their race after the reign of Mana.s.ses of Judah, which ended in the year 642 B.C. A statement of Herodotus, which is indeed very obscure, makes it possible to conclude that there was a later border war between a.s.syria and Egypt. He says: "Psammetichus besieged Ashdod (Azotus), a large city of Syria, for 29 years, till he took it." "This city," Herodotus adds, "endured the longest siege of any that we know."[389] Psammetichus could not besiege the Philistine city of Ashdod, until the southern fortresses of the Philistines, Raphia, Gaza and Ascalon were in his hands. His object in the attack upon these cities could only be to render the march of the a.s.syrian armies to his land more difficult. These armies would have to collect in the south of Philistia, and provide themselves with stores, especially water, before they could begin the march through the desert. In the beginning of this war, at any rate, it could not have been merely the forces of the Philistines which Psammetichus had to contend with here; there must have been a.s.syrian garrisons and a.s.syrian troops in the cities. Diodorus also tells us of the mode in which Psammetichus drew out his forces in the battles which he fought in Syria.[390] That the siege of a city should last 29 years is in itself inconceivable; we can only accept the statement of Herodotus as meaning that the war for the possession of the cities of the Philistines on the coast lasted 29 years. If we calculate this time from the irruption of the Scythians into Syria, which in any case put an end to this war, _i.e._ from the year 625 B.C., Psammetichus rebelled against a.s.syria in the year 654 or 653 B.C., and immediately afterwards desired to establish himself on the borders of Syria beyond the desert. If a.s.surbanipal was fighting against Arabian tribes, on the borders of Edom, just before the year 640 B.C., and took Akko, the narrative of this campaign ought also to speak of a collision with the Egyptian army, if Psammetichus was carrying on war against Ashdod as early as this date. We saw above that Psammetichus's rebellion against a.s.syria in Egypt could not take place later than the year 653 B.C.

a.s.surbanipal begins the account of his buildings with a statement of what he had done for the temples of Babylon;[391] he concludes it with a description of his works at Nineveh. The walls with which Sennacherib had surrounded that city had been injured by heavy falls of rain which Bin sent down. a.s.surbanipal strengthened the substructure, and restored them from the foundations to the pinnacles.[392] He restored, extended, and adorned the palace of his grandfather Sennacherib, in which he had grown up: the kings of the Arabians whom he had captured in battle had been compelled to work at them. Whoever destroys the inscription of his name, or the name of his father and grandfather, and does not set it up along with the inscription of his own name, him will a.s.shur and the rest of the G.o.ds, Sin, Samas, Bin, Bel, Nebo, Adar, and Nergal punish with the condemnation which will correspond to the glory of his (a.s.surbanipal's) name.[393] In the ruins of this palace, the ruins of Kuyunds.h.i.+k, a number of slabs with reliefs have been preserved, exhibiting the warlike achievements of a.s.surbanipal, with which he caused the halls of this building to be adorned. On them we see the envoys of the kings of Ararat paying homage to a.s.surbanipal. Urtaki, Teumman, and Tammaritu are seen in battle against the a.s.syrians; we see the head of Teumman of Elam brought to a.s.syria, and Ummanigas is enthroned at Madaktu by an a.s.syrian officer, (p. 169). Further, a relief shows us a.s.surbanipal sitting under some trees with some women; on one of the trees hangs the head of the descendant of Merodach Baladan, Nabubelzikri.[394] Finally, we find on these reliefs the cities of Elam, the city of Susa, and their sieges. The inscriptions give the names, and briefly explain the incidents depicted.

FOOTNOTES:

[355] G. Smith, "a.s.syr. Canon," p. 164.

[356] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 320. E. Schrader, "K. A. T." s. 208. The astronomical canon makes Esarhaddon's reign in Babylon end with the year 668 B.C.

[357] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 324.

[358] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 322.

[359] a.s.surbanipal, it is true, says that he has conquered Muzur and Cush (G. Smith, _loc. cit._ p. 324), which is certainly an exaggeration unless Upper Egypt is meant by Cush.

[360] G. Smith, _loc. cit._ p. 328.

[361] G. Smith, _loc. cit._ pp. 328, 329.

[362] Nahum iii. 8-10.

[363] The Apis-pillar from the twenty-first year of Psammetichus proves that the Egyptians put him immediately after Tirhaka. As they make the reign of Psammetichus commence with the year 664 B.C. the death of Tirhaka must fall in this year, and the war of Urdamane in the next.

[364] Inhabitants of Karbit, in the land of Halahasta, were brought here; compare Cyl. B. in Menant, "Ann." p. 291. If the king of the memorial stone of the ruins of the temple of Ammon at Napata, whose name is read with much uncertainty as Nuat-Mi (amun), or Amun-merinut, or Tonuat-amen, is not one and the same person with the Urdamane or Undamane (Unt-amen?) of a.s.surbanipal, it is very difficult to explain who he is. If the name of the person making dedications beside Tirhaka at Karnak is the same which the monument gives (Mariette, "Monum.

divers." pl. 80, sqq.), this would be an important factor for the identification with Urdamane, which is also supported by the fact that Piker of Pasupti is prominent among the opponents of this Ethiopian: Pakruru of Pisaptu has been previously mentioned by a.s.surbanipal. The narrative of the memorial stone would then be the counterpart of the a.s.syrian account; the only striking thing in the narrative of the Ethiopian king is that the victory of Memphis is mentioned, but not the capture of the a.s.syrians. He ought also, it is true, to have mentioned the retreat forced upon him by the a.s.syrians. The narrative runs: In the year when he came to the throne Nuat-amon saw two serpents in a dream, and when he asked the interpretation of the dream, it was announced to him: "he possessed the south, he should conquer the north." He set out, and when he arrived at Thebes the prophet of the temple of Ammon-Ra met him with the astrologers, and the inhabitants who were at first hostile to him were filled with joy. But when Nuat-amon approached Memphis, the sons of the rebellion marched against him, in order to do battle: he inflicted on them a great defeat, and made himself master of the city of Memphis. From Memphis he marched out, in order to do battle with the chiefs of the land of the North, but they remained in their walls. When their cities were besieged, they appeared before Nuat-amon lying on their bellies, with their faces on the ground, and Piker the chief of Pasupti said: "Thou slayest whom thou wilt, and thou givest life to whom thou wilt, and all vow to be thy servants." The heart of Nuat-amon was full of joy when he heard these words. They turned back into their cities and sent all the good things of the North and the South to the lord of Upper and Lower Egypt. Maspero, "Essai sur la stele du songe."

Rev. Archeol. 1868, 17, 329 ff.

[365] G. Smith, "a.s.surbanipal," p. 62, 63.

[366] G. Smith, _loc. cit._ p. 74, 75.

[367] G. Smith, _loc. cit._ p. 95 ff.

[368] G. Smith, _loc. cit._ p. 115, 96, 97.

[369] G. Smith, _loc. cit._ p. 151.

[370] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 380.

[371] G. Smith, "a.s.surb." p. 103. Menant, "Annal." p. 282.