d. His good fortune soon forsook him. The Arameans wrested
from him the fortresses of Pitru and Mutkinu, which commanded both banks
of the Euphrates near Carchemish.

What were the causes of this depression from which Babylon suffered at
almost regular intervals, as though stricken with some periodic malady?
The main reason soon becomes apparent if we consider the nature of the
country and the material conditions of its existence. Chaldaea was
neither extensive nor populous enough to afford a solid basis for the
ambition of her princes. Since nearly every man capable of bearing arms
was enrolled in the army, the Chaldaean kings had no difficulty in
raising, at a moment's notice, a force which could be employed to repel
an invasion, or to make a sudden attack on some distant territory; it
was in schemes that required prolonged and sustained effort that they
felt the drawbacks of their position. In that age of hand-to-hand
combats, the mortality in battle was very high; forced marches through
forests and across mountains entailed a heavy loss of men, and three or
four campaigns against a stubborn foe soon reduced the army to a
condition of weakness.

When Nebuchadrezzar I. made war on Assurishishi, he was still weak from
the losses he had incurred during the campaign against Elam, and could
not conduct his attack with the same vigour as had gained him victory on
the banks of the Ulai. In the first year he only secured a few
indecisive advantages; in the second he succumbed.

The same reasons which explain the decadence of Babylon show us the
causes of the periodic eclipses undergone by Assyria after each outburst
of her warlike spirit. The country was now forced to pay for the glories
of Assurishishi and of Tiglath-pileser by falling into an inglorious
state of languor and depression. And ere long newer races asserted
themselves which had gradually come to displace the nations over which
the dynasties of Thutmosis and Ramses had held sway as tributary to
them. The Hebrews on the east, and the Philistines on the southwest,
were about to undertake the conquest of Kharu, as the land which is
known to us as Canaan was styled by the Egyptians.

* * * * *

The Passing of the Empires

Maspero, in the third volume of his great archaeological
trilogy, completing his "History of the Ancient Peoples of the
Classic East," deals with the passing in succession of the
sup