red the streets, repaired the damage
inflicted during the siege, and before long the city, which was believed
to be hopelessly destroyed, rose once more with the vigour, if not with
the wealth, which it had enjoyed before its downfall. The mother of
Esarhaddon was a Babylonian, by name Nakia; and as soon as her son came
into possession of his inheritance, an impulse of filial piety moved him
to restore to his mother's city its former rank of capital. Animated
by the strong religious feeling which formed the groundwork of his
character, Esarhaddon had begun his reign by restoring the sanctuaries
which had been the cradle of the Assyrian religion, and his intentions,
thus revealed at the very outset, had won for him the sympathy of the
Babylonians;* this, indeed, was excited sooner than he expected, and
perhaps helped to secure to him his throne. During his absence from
Nineveh, a widespread plot had been formed in that city, and on the 20th
day of Tebeth, 681, at the hour when Sennacherib was praying before the
image of his god, two of his sons, Sharezer and Adarmalik (Adrammelech),
assassinated their father at the foot of the altar.**

* A fragment seems to show clearly that the restoration of
the temples was begun even in the lifetime of Sennacherib.

** We possess three different accounts of the murder of
Sennacherib: 1. In the _Babylonian Chronicle of Pinches_. 2.
In the Bible (2 Kings xix. 36, 37; cf. Isa. xxxvii. 37, 38;
2 Chron. xxxii. 21). 3. In Berosus. The biblical account
alone mentions both murderers; the _Chronicle_ and Berosus
speak of only one, and their testimony seems to prevail with
several historians. I believe that the silence of the
_Chronicle_ and of Berosus is explained by the fact that
Sharezer was chief in the conspiracy, and the one among the
sons who aspired to the kingdom: the second murderer merely
acted for his brother, and consequently had no more right to
be mentioned by name than those accomplices not of the
blood-royal who shared in the murder. The name Sharezer is
usually considered as an abbreviation of the Assyrian name
Nergal-sharuzur, or Assur-sharuzur. Winckler thinks that he
sees in it a corruption of Sharitir, abbreviated from
Sharitir-assur, which he finds as a royal name on a fragment
in the British Museum; he proposes to recognise in this
Sharitir-assur, Sharezer enthrone