s position, and, despairing of his cause, he surrendered himself to
the officers who were in pursuit of him. He was the third king of Elam
whom fate had cast alive into the hands of the conqueror: his arrival at
Nineveh afforded the haughty Assur-bani-pal an occasion for celebrating
one of those triumphal processions in which his proud soul delighted,
and of going in solemn state to thank the gods for the overthrow of
his most formidable enemy. On the day when he went to prostrate
himself before Assur and Ishtar, he sent for Tammaritu, Pae, and
Khumban-khaldash, and adding to them Uate, who was taken out of his cage
for the occasion, he harnessed all four to his chariot of state, and
caused himself to be drawn through Nineveh by this team of fallen
sovereigns to the gate of the temple of Emashmash. And, indeed, at
that moment, he might reasonably consider himself as having reached the
zenith of his power. Egypt, it is true, still remained unpunished, and
its renewed vitality under the influence of the Saite Pharaohs allowed
no hope of its being speedily brought back into subjection, but its
intrigues no longer exerted any influence over Syria, and Tyre itself
appeared to be resigned to the loss of its possessions on the mainland.
Lydia under the rule of Ardys continued to maintain intermittent
intercourse with its distant protector. The provinces of the Taurus,
delivered from the terror inspired by the Cimmerians, desired peace
above all things, and the Mannai had remained quiet since the defeat of
Akhsheri. Babylon was rapidly recovering from the ills she had endured.
She consoled herself for her actual servitude by her habitual simulation
of independence; she called Assur-bani-pal Kandalanu, and this new name
allowed her to fancy she had a separate king, distinct from the King
of Assyria. Elam no longer existed. Its plains and marsh lands were
doubtless occupied by Assyrian garrisons, and formed an ill-defined
annexation to Nineveh; the mountain tribes retained their autonomy, and
although still a source of annoyance to their neighbours by their raids
or sudden incursions, they no longer constituted a real danger to the
state: if there still remained some independent Elamite states, Elam
itself, the most ancient, except Babylon, of all the Asiatic kingdoms,
was erased from the map of the world. The memories of her actual history
were soon effaced, or were relegated to the region of legend, where the
fabulous Memnon supp