as king a
certain Bammanshumnadin, who by some means or other had made his escape
from captivity. Bammanshumnadin proved himself a better man than his
predecessors; when Kidinkhutrutash, never dreaming, apparently, that he
would meet with any serious resistance, came to claim his share of
the spoil, he defeated him near Ishin, drove him out of the districts
recently occupied by the Elamites, and so effectually retrieved his
fortunes in this direction, that he was able to concentrate his whole
attention on what was going on in the north. The effects of his victory
soon became apparent: the nobles of Akkad and Karduniash declined to pay
homage to their Assyrian governors, and, ousting them from the offices
to which they had been appointed, restored Babylon to the independence
which it had lost seven years previously. Tukulti-ninip paid dearly
for his incapacity to retain his conquests: his son Assurnazirpal I.
conspired with the principal officers, deposed him from the throne, and
confined him in the fortified palace of Kar-Tukulti-ninip, which he
had built not far from Kalakh, where he soon after contrived his
assassination. About this time Rammanshumnadin disappears, and we can
only suppose that the disasters of these last years had practically
annihilated the Cossaean dynasty, for Rammanshu-musur, who was a prisoner
in Assyria, was chosen as his successor. The monuments tell us nothing
definite of the troubles which next befell the two kingdoms: we seem to
gather, however, that Assyria became the scene of civil wars, and
that the sons of Tukulti-ninip fought for the crown among themselves.
Tukultiassurbel, who gained the upper hand at the end of six years, set
Raminan-shumusur at liberty, probably with the view of purchasing
the support of the Chaldaeans, but he did not succeed in restoring his
country to the position it had held under Shalmaneser and Tukulti-ninip
I. The history of Assyria presents a greater number of violent contrasts
and extreme vicissitudes than that of any other Eastern people in the
earliest times. No sooner had the Assyrians arrived, thanks to the
ceaseless efforts of five or six generations, at the very summit of
their ambition, than some incompetent, or perhaps merely unfortunate,
king appeared on the scene, and lost in a few years all the ground
which had been gained at the cost of such tremendous exertions: then
the subject races would rebel, the neighbouring peoples would pluck up
courage a