In 715 B.C. Sargon, according to his records, appeared with his army in Arabia, and received gifts in token of homage from Piru of Mutsri, Samsi of Aribi, and Itamara of Saba.

Four years later a revolt broke out in Ashdod which was, it would appear, directly due to the influence of Shabaka, the Ethiopian Pharaoh, who had deposed Bocchoris of Sais. Another league was about to be formed against a.s.syria. King Azuri of Ashdod had been deposed because of his Egyptian sympathies by the a.s.syrian governor, and his brother Akhimiti was placed on the throne. The citizens, however, overthrew Akhimiti, and an adventurer from Cyprus was proclaimed king (711 B.C).

It would appear that advances were made by the anti-a.s.syrians to Ahaz of Judah. That monarch was placed in a difficult position. He knew that if the allies succeeded in stamping out a.s.syrian authority in Syria and Palestine they would certainly depose him, but if on the other hand he joined them and a.s.syria triumphed, its emperor would show him small mercy. As Babylon defied Sargon and received the active support of Elam, and there were rumours of risings in the north, it must have seemed to the western kings as if the a.s.syrian empire was likely once again to go to pieces.

Fortunately for Ahaz he had a wise counsellor at this time in the great statesman and prophet, the scholarly Isaiah. The Lord spake by Isaiah saying, "Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; so shall the king of a.s.syria lead away the Egyptians prisoners.... And they (the allies) shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory."[527]

Isaiah warned Ahaz against joining the league, "in the year that Tartan[528] came unto Ashdod (when Sargon the king of a.s.syria sent him)". The Tartan "fought against Ashdod and took it".[529] According to Sargon's record the Pretender of Ashdod fled to Arabia, where he was seized by an Arabian chief and delivered up to a.s.syria. The pro-Egyptian party in Palestine went under a cloud for a period thereafter.

Before Sargon could deal with Merodach Baladan of Babylon, he found it necessary to pursue the arduous task of breaking up a powerful league which had been formed against him in the north. The Syro-Cappadocian Hitt.i.te states, including Tabal in Asia Minor and Carchemish in north Syria, were combining for the last time against a.s.syria, supported by Mita (Midas), king of the Muski-Phrygians, and Rusas, son of Sharduris III, king of Urartu.

Urartu had recovered somewhat from the disasters which it had suffered at the hands of Tiglath-pileser, and was winning back portions of its lost territory on the north-east frontier of a.s.syria. A buffer state had been formed in that area by Tiglath-pileser, who had a.s.sisted the king of the Mannai to weld together the hill tribesmen between Lake Van and Lake Urmia into an organized nation. Iranzu, its ruler, remained faithful to a.s.syria and consequently became involved in war with Rusas of Urartu, who either captured or won over several cities of the Mannai. Iranzu was succeeded by his son Aza, and this king was so p.r.o.nounced a pro-a.s.syrian that his pro-Urartian subjects a.s.sa.s.sinated him and set on the throne Bagdatti of Umildish.

Soon after Sargon began his operations in the north he captured Bagdatti and had him skinned alive. The flag of revolt, however, was kept flying by his brother, Ullusunu, but ere long this ambitious man found it prudent to submit to Sargon on condition that he would retain the throne as a faithful a.s.syrian va.s.sal. His sudden change of policy appears to have been due to the steady advance of the Median tribes into the territory of the Mannai. Sargon conducted a vigorous and successful campaign against the raiders, and extended Ullusunu's area of control.

The way was now clear to Urartu. In 714 B.C. Sargon attacked the revolting king of Zikirtu, who was supported by an army led by Rusas, his overlord. A fierce battle was fought in which the a.s.syrians achieved a great victory. King Rusas fled, and when he found that the a.s.syrians pressed home their triumph by laying waste the country before them, he committed suicide, according to the a.s.syrian records, although those of Urartu indicate that he subsequently took part in the struggle against Sargon. The Armenian peoples were compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of a.s.syria, and the conqueror received gifts from various tribes between Lake Van and the Caspian Sea, and along the frontiers from Lake Van towards the south-east as far as the borders of Elam.

Rusas of Urartu was succeeded by Argistes II, who reigned over a shrunken kingdom. He intrigued with neighbouring states against a.s.syria, but was closely watched. Ere long he found himself caught between two fires. During his reign the notorious Cimmerians and Scythians displayed much activity in the north and raided his territory.

The pressure of fresh infusions of Thraco-Phrygian tribes into western Asia Minor had stirred Midas of the Muski to co-operate with the Urartian power in an attempt to stamp out a.s.syrian influence in Cilicia, Cappadocia, and north Syria. A revolt in Tabal in 718 B.C.

was extinguished by Sargon, but in the following year evidences were forthcoming of a more serious and widespread rising. Pisiris, king of Carchemish, threw off the a.s.syrian yoke. Before, however, his allies could hasten to his a.s.sistance he was overcome by the vigilant Sargon, who deported a large proportion of the city's inhabitants and incorporated it in an a.s.syrian province. Tabal revolted in 713 B.C.

and was similarly dealt with. In 712 B.C. Milid had to be overcome.

The inhabitants were transported, and "Suti" Aramaean peoples settled in their homes. The king of Commagene, having remained faithful, received large extensions of territory. Finally in 709 B.C. Midas of the Muski-Phrygians was compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of a.s.syria. The northern confederacy was thus completely worsted and broken up. Tribute was paid by many peoples, including the rulers of Cyprus.

Sargon was now able to deal with Babylonia, which for about twelve years had been ruled by Merodach Baladan, who oppressed the people and set at defiance ancient laws by seizing private estates and transferring them to his Chaldaean kinsmen. He still received the active support of Elam.

Sargon's first move was to interpose his army between those of the Babylonians and Elamites. Pushing southward, he subdued the Aramaeans on the eastern banks of the Tigris, and drove the Elamites into the mountains. Then he invaded middle Babylonia from the east. Merodach Baladan hastily evacuated Babylon, and, moving southward, succeeded in evading Sargon's army. Finding Elam was unable to help him, he took refuge in the Chaldaean capital, Bit Jakin, in southern Babylonia.

Sargon was visited by the priests of Babylon and Borsippa, and hailed as the saviour of the ancient kingdom. He was afterwards proclaimed king at E-sagila, where he "took the hands of Bel". Then having expelled the Aramaeans from Sippar, he hastened southward, attacked Bit Jakin and captured it. Merodach Baladan escaped into Elam. The whole of Chaldaea was subdued.

Thus "Sargon the Later" entered at length into full possession of the empire of Sargon of Akkad. In Babylonia he posed as an incarnation of his ancient namesake, and had similarly Messianic pretensions which were no doubt inspired by the Babylonian priesthood. Under him a.s.syria attained its highest degree of splendour.

He recorded proudly not only his great conquests but also his works of public utility: he restored ancient cities, irrigated vast tracts of country, fostered trade, and promoted the industries. Like the pious Pharaohs of Egypt he boasted that he fed the hungry and protected the weak against the strong.

Sargon found time during his strenuous career as a conqueror to lay out and build a new city, called Dur-Sharrukin, "the burgh of Sargon", to the north of Nineveh. It was completed before he undertook the Babylonian campaign. The new palace was occupied in 708 B.C. Previous to that period he had resided princ.i.p.ally at Kalkhi, in the restored palace of Ashur-natsir-pal III.

He was a worshipper of many G.o.ds. Although he claimed to have restored the supremacy of a.s.shur "which had come to an end", he not only adored Ashur but also revived the ancient triad of Anu, Bel, and Ea, and fostered the growth of the immemorial "mother-cult" of Ishtar. Before he died he appointed one of his sons, Sennacherib, viceroy of the northern portion of the empire. He was either a.s.sa.s.sinated at a military review or in some frontier war. As much is suggested by the following entry in an eponym list.

Eponymy of Upahhir-belu, prefect of the city of Amedu ...

According to the oracle of the Kulummite(s).... A soldier (entered) the camp of the king of a.s.syria (and killed him?), month Ab, day 12th, Sennacherib (sat on the throne).[530]

The fact that Sennacherib lamented his father's sins suggests that the old king had in some manner offended the priesthood. Perhaps, like some of the Middle Empire monarchs, he succ.u.mbed to the influence of Babylon during the closing years of his life. It is stated that "he was not buried in his house", which suggests that the customary religious rites were denied him, and that his lost soul was supposed to be a wanderer which had to eat offal and drink impure water like the ghost of a pauper or a criminal.

The task which lay before Sennacherib (705-680 B.C.) was to maintain the unity of the great empire of his distinguished father. He waged minor wars against the Ka.s.site and Illipi tribes on the Elamite border, and the Muski and Hitt.i.te tribes in Cappadocia and Cilicia.

The Ka.s.sites, however, were no longer of any importance, and the Hitt.i.te power had been extinguished, for ere the states could recover from the blows dealt by the a.s.syrians the Cimmerian hordes ravaged their territory. Urartu was also overrun by the fierce barbarians from the north. It was one of these last visits of the a.s.syrians to Tabal of the Hitt.i.tes and the land of the Muski (Meshech) which the Hebrew prophet referred to in after-time when he exclaimed:

a.s.shur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword.... There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her mult.i.tude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncirc.u.mcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.... (_Ezekiel_, x.x.xii.)

Sennacherib found that Ionians had settled in Cilicia, and he deported large numbers of them to Nineveh. The metal and ivory work at Nineveh show traces of Greek influence after this period.

A great conspiracy was fomented in several states against Sennacherib when the intelligence of Sargon's death was bruited abroad. Egypt was concerned in it. Taharka (the Biblical Tirhakah[531]), the last Pharaoh of the Ethiopian Dynasty, had dreams of re-establishing Egyptian supremacy in Palestine and Syria, and leagued himself with Luli, king of Tyre, Hezekiah, king of Judah, and others. Merodach Baladan, the Chaldaean king, whom Sargon had deposed, supported by Elamites and Aramaeans, was also a party to the conspiracy. "At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah.... And Hezekiah was glad of them."[532]

Merodach Baladan again seized the throne of Babylon. Sargon's son, who had been appointed governor, was murdered and a pretender sat on the throne for a brief period, but Merodach Baladan thrust him aside and reigned for nine months, during which period he busied himself by encouraging the kings of Judah and Tyre to revolt. Sennacherib invaded Babylonia with a strong army, deposed Merodach Baladan, routed the Chaldaeans and Aramaeans, and appointed as va.s.sal king Bel-ibni, a native prince, who remained faithful to a.s.syria for about three years.

In 707 B.C. Sennacherib appeared in the west. When he approached Tyre, Luli, the king, fled to Cyprus. The city was not captured, but much of its territory was ceded to the king of Sidon. Askalon was afterwards reduced. At Eltekeh Sennacherib came into conflict with an army of allies, including Ethiopian, Egyptian, and Arabian Mutsri forces, which he routed. Then he captured a number of cities in Judah and transported 200,150 people. He was unable, however, to enter Jerusalem, in which Hezekiah was compelled to remain "like a bird in a cage". It appears that Hezekiah "bought off" the a.s.syrians on this occasion with gifts of gold and silver and jewels, costly furniture, musicians, and female slaves.

In 689 B.C. Sennacherib found it necessary to penetrate Arabia.

Apparently another conspiracy was brewing, for Hezekiah again revolted. On his return from the south--according to Berosus he had been in Egypt--the a.s.syrian king marched against the king of Judah.

And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with the princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.... Why should the kings of a.s.syria come and find much water?

Sennacherib sent messengers to Jerusalem to attempt to stir up the people against Hezekiah. "He wrote also letters to rail on the Lord G.o.d of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the G.o.ds of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the G.o.d of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand."[533]

Hezekiah sent his servants to Isaiah, who was in Jerusalem at the time, and the prophet said to them:

Thus shall ye say to your master. Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of a.s.syria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.[534]

According to Berosus, the Babylonian priestly historian, the camp of Sennacherib was visited in the night by swarms of field mice which ate up the quivers and bows and the (leather) handles of shields. Next morning the army fled.

The Biblical account of the disaster is as follows:

And it came to pa.s.s that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote the camp of the a.s.syrians an hundred and four score and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of a.s.syria departed, and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.[535]

A pestilence may have broken out in the camp, the infection, perhaps, having been carried by field mice. Byron's imagination was stirred by the vision of the broken army of a.s.syria.

The a.s.syrian came down like a wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars of the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen; Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed on the face of the foe as he pa.s.sed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved--and forever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail; And the tents were all silent--the banners alone-- Thelances uplifted--the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of a.s.shur are loud in their wail, And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.

Before this disaster occurred Sennacherib had to invade Babylonia again, for the va.s.sal king, Bel-ibni, had allied himself with the Chaldaeans and raised the standard of revolt. The city of Babylon was besieged and captured, and its unfaithful king deported with a number of n.o.bles to a.s.syria. Old Merodach Baladan was concerned in the plot and took refuge on the Elamite coast, where the Chaldaeans had formed a colony. He died soon afterwards.

Sennacherib operated in southern Babylonia and invaded Elam. But ere he could return to a.s.syria he was opposed by a strong army of allies, including Babylonians, Chaldaeans, Aramaeans, Elamites, and Persians, led by Samunu, son of Merodach Baladan. A desperate battle was fought.

Although Sennacherib claimed a victory, he was unable to follow it up.

This was in 692 B.C. A Chaldaean named Mushezib-Merodach seized the Babylonian throne.

In 691 B.C. Sennacherib again struck a blow for Babylonia, but was unable to depose Mushezib-Merodach. His opportunity came, however, in 689 B.C. Elam had been crippled by raids of the men of Parsua (Persia), and was unable to co-operate with the Chaldaean king of Babylon. Sennacherib captured the great commercial metropolis, took Mushezib-Merodach prisoner, and dispatched him to Nineveh. Then he wreaked his vengeance on Babylon. For several days the a.s.syrian soldiers looted the houses and temples, and slaughtered the inhabitants without mercy. E-sagila was robbed of its treasures, images of deities were either broken in pieces or sent to Nineveh: the statue of Bel-Merodach was dispatched to a.s.shur so that he might take his place among the G.o.ds who were va.s.sals of Ashur. "The city and its houses," Sennacherib recorded, "from foundation to roof, I destroyed them, I demolished them, I burned them with fire; walls, gateways, sacred chapels, and the towers of earth and tiles, I laid them low and cast them into the Arakhtu."[536]

"So thorough was Sennacherib's destruction of the city in 689 B.C.,"

writes Mr. King, "that after several years of work, Dr. Koldewey concluded that all traces of earlier buildings had been destroyed on that occasion. More recently some remains of earlier strata have been recognized, and contract-tablets have been found which date from the period of the First Dynasty. Moreover, a number of earlier pot-burials have been unearthed, but a careful examination of the greater part of the ruins has added little to our knowledge of this most famous city before the Neo-Babylonian period."[537]