'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎156v] (317/862)

218 history
exiles could only survive in their new country by supporting the
Assyrians. This fate overtook Israel in the reign of Shalmaneser V
(y2*7—y22 b.c.), when Hoshea unwisely refused tribute in expectation
of a clash between Assyria and Egypt (2 Kings xvii. 4).
The clash with Egypt came under Sargon who made Egypt
tributary after a victory at Raphia in 7 20 > but did not enter the
country, perhaps because the Assyrians were distracted by fresh
powers which arose in Anatolia Peninsula that forms most of modern-day Turkey. and Persia. In the area of Lake Van
and Ararat the kingdom of Urartu became a permanent threat to
Assyria: its southern frontier was the Judi Dagh within 100 miles of
Nineveh. 1 Tiglath-Pileser IV in 735 and Sargon (c. 720-711) crushed
but could not destroy the menace; as a partial remedy the Assyrians
created, on the flank of Urartu, the dependent state of Mannai in the
Urmia region, composed partly of Iranian Medes, an Indo-European
people now moving westward, and partly of transplanted tribes,
while Sargon established control of the new kingdom of Media itself.
Farther west Kue (Cilicia) was threatened by the rise of the Phrygian
kings in western Anatolia Peninsula that forms most of modern-day Turkey. who allied themselves with Urartu.
Sennacherib (705-681) first felt the strain of the empire’s huge size.
He no longer regularly conducted campaigns in person, and was the
first king to use foreign troops in his army, an expedient which became
increasingly necessary. It was in his time that M^edia was lost. Esar-
Haddon (681-669) and Ashur-Banipal, faced by rebellions in Egypt,
invaded and conquered the country. Though successful, this proved
an immense drain on the man-power of Assyria and a main cause
of her sudden fall.
Babylonia and Elam. After Tiglath-Pileser IV, Babylonia was
either under direct Assyrian rule or governed by native princes
subject to Assyria. There were persistent rebellions fomented by
the kings of Elam, and also by Chaldean dynasts who had established
themselves in the Sea Land and claimed the Babylonian throne. The
most notable of these Chaldean usurpers was the biblical Merodach-
Baladan (722-693), a contemporary of Isaiah. Disaster overtook
Babylon itself in 689 when Sennacherib, weary of rebellions,
destroyed the city and removed its population. Yet within thirteen
years the city had been completely restored and its population had
returned. To pacify the south, first Sennacherib and later Ashur-
Banipal invaded Elam. Sennacherib’s attempt was unsuccessful,
though supported by a navy built and manned on the upper Euphrates
by Phoenicians, who thence sailed down to the gulf. Ashur-Banipal s
1 The route for raids was by the Bitlis pass.