History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 7 (of 12)

Volume Vii.

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THE ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND THE STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL (885-860 B.C.) AND SHALMANESER III. (860-825 B.C.)--THE KINGDOM OF URARTU AND ITS CONQUERING PRINCES: MENUAS AND ARGISTIS.

The line of Assyrian kings after Assurirba, and the Babylonian dynasties: the war between Ramman-nirari III. and Shamash-mudammiq; his victories over Babylon; Tukulti-ninip II. (890-885 B.C.)--The empire at the accession of Assur-nazir-pal: the Assyrian army and the progress of military tactics; cavalry, military engines; the condition of Assyria's neighbours, methods of Assyrian conquest.

The first campaigns of Assur-nazir-pal in Nairi and on the Khabur (885-882 B.C.): Zamua reduced to an Assyrian province (881 B.C.)--The fourth campaign in Nairi and the war on the Euphrates (880 B.C.); the first conquest of BU-Adini--Northern Syria at the opening of the IXth century: its civilisation, arts, army, and religion--The submission of the Hittite states and of the Patina: the Assyrians reach the Mediterranean.

The empire after the wars of Assur-nazir-pal--Building of the palace at Calah: Assyrian architecture and sculpture in the IXth century--The tunnel of Negub and the palace of Balawat--The last years of Assur-nazir-pal: His campaign of the year 867 in Nairi--The death of Assur-nazir-pal (860 B.C.); his character.

Shalmaneser III. (860-825 B.C.): the state of the empire at his accession--Urartu: its physical features, races, towns, temples, its deities--Shalmaneser's first campaign in Urartu: he penetrates as far as Lake Van (860 B.C.)--The conquest of Bit-Adini and of Nairi (859-855 B.C.)

The attack on Damascus: the battle of Qarqar (854 B.C.) and the war against Babylon (852-851 B.C.)--The alliance between Judah and Israel, the death of Ahab (853 B.C.); Damascus successfully resists the attacks of Assyria (849-846 B.C.)--Moab delivered from Israel, Mesha; the death of Ben-hadad (Adadidri) and the accession of Hazael; the fall of the house of Omri-Jehu (843 B.C.)--The defeat of Hazael and the homage of Jehu (842-839 B.C.). Wars in Cilicia and in Namri (838-835 B.c.): the last battles of Shalmaneser III.; his building works, the revolt of Assur-dain-pal--Samsi-ramman IV. (825-812 B.C.), his first three expeditions, his campaigns against Babylon--Bammdn-nirdri IV, (812-783 B.C.)--Jehu, Athaliah, Joash: the supremacy of Hazael over Israel and Judah--Victory of Bammdn-nirdri over Mari, and the submission of all Syria to the Assyrians (803 B.C.).

The growth of Urartu: the conquests of Menuas and Argistis I., their victories over Assyria--Shalmaneser IV. (783-772 B.C.)--Assurdan III. (772-754 B.C.)--Assur-niruri III. (754-745 B.C.)--The downfall of Assyria and the triumph of Urartu.

Chapter I--the Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria

Assur-nazir-pal (885-860) and Shalmaneser III. (860-825)--The kingdom of Urartu and its conquering princes: Menuas and Argistis.

Assyria was the first to reappear on the scene of action. Less hampered by an ancient past than Egypt and Chaldaea, she was the sooner able to recover her strength after any disastrous crisis, and to assume again the offensive along the whole of her frontier line.

Image Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief at Koyunjik of the time of Sennacherib. The initial cut, which is also by Faucher-Gudin, represents the broken obelisk of Assur- nazir-pal, the bas-reliefs of which are as yet unpublished.

During the years immediately following the ephemeral victories and reverses of Assurirba, both the country and its rulers are plunged in the obscurity of oblivion. Two figures at length, though at what date is uncertain, emerge from the darkness--a certain Irbaramman and an Assur-nadinakhe II., whom we find engaged in building palaces and making a necropolis. They were followed towards 950 by a Tiglath-pileser II., of whom nothing is known but his name.* He in his turn was succeeded about the year 935 by one Assurdan II., who appears to have concentrated his energies upon public works, for we hear of him digging a canal to supply his capital with water, restoring the temples and fortifying towns. Kamman-nirari III., who followed him in 912, stands out more distinctly from the mists which envelop the history of this period; he repaired the gate of the Tigris and the adjoining wall at Assur, he enlarged its principal sanctuary, reduced several rebellious provinces to obedience, and waged a successful warfare against the neighbouring inhabitants of Karduniash. Since the extinction of the race of Nebuchadrezzar I., Babylon had been a prey to civil discord and foreign invasion. The Aramaean tribes mingled with, or contiguous to the remnants of the Cossoans bordering on the Persian gulf, constituted possibly, even at this period, the powerful nation of the Kalda.**

* Our only knowledge of Tiglath-pileser II. is from a brick, on which he is mentioned as being the grandfather of Ramman- nirari II.

** The names Chaldaea and Chaldaeans being ordinarily used to designate the territory and people of Babylon, I shall employ the term Kaldu or Kalda in treating of the Aramaean tribes who constituted the actual Chaldaean nation.

It has been supposed, not without probability, that a certain Simashshikhu, Prince of the Country of the Sea, who immediately followed the last scion of the line of Pashe,* was one of their chiefs. He endeavoured to establish order in the city, and rebuilt the temple of the Sun destroyed by the nomads at Sippar, but at the end of eighteen years he was assassinated. His son Eamukinshurnu remained at the head of affairs some three to six months; Kashshu-nadinakhe ruled three or six years, at the expiration of which a man of the house of Bazi, Eulbar-shakinshumi by name, seized upon the crown.** His dynasty consisted of three members, himself included, and it was overthrown after a duration of twenty years by an Elamite, who held authority for another seven.***

* The name of this prince has been read Simbarshiku by Peiser, a reading adopted by Rost; Simbarshiku would have been shortened into Sibir, and we should have to identify it with that of the Sibir mentioned by Assur-nazir-pal in his Annals, col. ii. 1. 84, as a king of Karduniash who lived before his (Assur-nazir-pal's) time (see p. 38 of the present volume).

** The name of this king may be read Edubarshakin-shumi. The house of Bazi takes its name from an ancestor who must have founded it at some unknown date, but who never reigned in Chaldaea. Winckler has with reason conjectured that the name subsequently lost its meaning to the Babylonians, and that they confused the Chaldaean house of Bazi with the Arab country of Bazu: this may explain why in his dynasties Berosos attributes an Arab origin to that one which comprises the short-lived line of Bit-Bazi.

*** Our knowledge of these events is derived solely from the texts of the Babylonian Canon published and translated by G. Smith, by Pinches, and by Sayce. The inscription of Nabubaliddin informs us that Kashu-nadinakhe and Eulbar- shakinshumu continued the works begun by Simashshiku in the temple of the Sun at Sippar.

It was a period of calamity and distress, during which the Arabs or the Aramaeans ravaged the country, and pillaged without compunction not only the property of the inhabitants, but also that of the gods. The Elamite usurper having died about the year 1030, a Babylonian of noble extraction expelled the intruders, and succeeded in bringing the larger part of the kingdom under his rule.*

* The names of the first kings of this dynasty are destroyed in the copies of the Royal Canon which have come down to us. The three preceding dynasties are restored as follows:--

Five or six of his descendants had passed away, and a certain Shamash-mudammiq was feebly holding the reins of government, when the expeditions of Ramman-nirari III. provoked war afresh between Assyria and Babylon. The two armies encountered each other once again on their former battlefield between the Lower Zab and the Turnat. Shamash-mudammiq, after being totally routed near the Yalman mountains, did not long survive, and Naboshumishkun, who succeeded him, showed neither more ability nor energy than his predecessor. The Assyrians wrested from him the fortresses of Bambala and Bagdad, dislodged him from the positions where he had entrenched himself, and at length took him prisoner while in flight, and condemned him to perpetual captivity.*

* Shamash-mudammiq appears to have died about 900. Naboshumishkun probably reigned only one or two years, from 900 to 899 or to 898. The name of his successor is destroyed in the Synchronous History; it might be Nabubaliddin, who seems to have had a long life, but it is wiser, until fresh light is thrown on the subject, to admit that it is some prince other than Nabubaliddin, whose name is as yet unknown to us.

His successor abandoned to the Assyrians most of the districts situated on the left bank of the Lower Zab between the Zagros mountains and the Tigris, and peace, which was speedily secured by a double marriage, remained unbroken for nearly half a century. Tukulti-ninip II. was fond of fighting; "he overthrew his adversaries and exposed their heads upon stakes," but, unlike his predecessor, he directed his efforts against Nairi and the northern and western tribes. We possess no details of his campaigns; we can only surmise that in six years, from 890 to 885,* he brought into subjection the valley of the Upper Tigris and the mountain provinces which separate it from the Assyrian plain. Having reached the source of the river, he carved, beside the image of Tiglath-pileser I., the following inscription, which may still be read upon the rock. "With the help of Assur, Shamash, and Ramman, the gods of his religion, he reached this spot. The lofty mountains he subjugated from the sun-rising to its down-setting; victorious, irresistible, he came hither, and like unto the lightning he crossed the raging rivers."**

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