ct a diversion on the frontiers of Syria,
and Uate, son of Layali, one of the Arab kings who had paid homage to
Esarhaddon, was not behindhand in furnishing his contingent of horsemen
and wild native infantry. The coalition already extended from the
shores of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf before
Assur-bani-pal became aware of its existence. An unforeseen occurrence
suddenly broke in upon his peace and revealed the extent of the peril
which threatened him.*

* The chronology of this war has been determined by G. Smith
from the dates attached to the documents in the British
Museum, which give the names of three _limmi_, Assur-
durnzur, Zagabbu, and Bel-kharran-shadua: these he assigned
respectively to the years 650, 649, and 648 B.C. Tiele has
shown that these three _limmi_ must be assigned to the years
652-650 B.C. Though these dates seem in the highest degree
probable, we must wait before we can consider them as
absolutely certain till chance restores to us the missing
parts of the Canon.

Kudur, the Assyrian prefect of Uruk, learnt from Sin-tabni-uzur,
the governor of Uru, that certain emissaries of Shamash-shumukin had
surreptitiously entered that city and were secretly fomenting rebellion
among the people. Sin-tabni-uzur himself had been solicited to join the
movement, but had absolutely refused to do so, and considering himself
powerless to repress the disaffection with the few soldiers at his
disposal, he had demanded reinforcements. Kudur first furnished him
with five hundred men of his own troops, and subsequently sent some
battalions which were under the command of the governors of Arrapkha
and Amidi, but which were, for some unknown reason, encamped in the
neighbourhood. It would appear that Shamash-shumukin, finding his
projects interfered with by this premature exposure, tried to counteract
its effects by protestations of friendship: a special embassy was
despatched to his brother to renew the assurances of his devotion, and
he thus gained the time necessary to complete his armaments. As soon as
he felt himself fully prepared, he gave up further dissimulation, and,
throwing away the mask, proclaimed himself independent of Assyria, while
at the same moment Khumban-igash despatched his army to the frontier and
declared war on his former protector. Assur-bani-pal was touched to the
quick by what he truly considered the ingratitude of the