, he determined on a great expedition against Babylon.
Merodach-Baladan had now been twelve years in quiet possession of the
kingdom. He had established his court at Babylon, and, suspecting that
the ambition of Sargon would lead him to attempt the conquest of the
south he had made preparations for resistance by entering into close
alliance with the Susianians under Sutruk-Nakhunta on the one hand, and
with the Aramaean tribes above Babylonia on the other. Still, when
Sargon advanced against him, instead of giving him battle, or even
awaiting him behind the walls of the capital, he at once took to flight.
Leaving garrisons in the more important of the inland towns, and
committing their defence to his generals, he himself hastened down to
his own city of Beth-lakin, which was on the Euphrates, near its mouth,
and, summoning the Aramaeans to his assistance, prepared for a vigorous
resistance in the immediate vicinity of his native place. Posting
himself in the plain in front of the city, and protecting his front and
left flank with a deep ditch, which he filled with water from the
Euphrates, he awaited the advance of Sargon, who soon appeared at the
head of his troops, and lost no time in beginning the attack. We cannot
follow with any precision the exact operations of the battle, but it
appears that Sargon fell upon the Babylonian troops, defeated them, and
drove them into their own dyke, in which many of therm were drowned, at
the same time separating them from their allies, who, on seeing the
disaster, took to flight, and succeeded in making their escape.
Merodach-Baladan, abandoning his camp, threw himself with the poor
remains of his army into Beth-Yakin, which Saigon then besieged and
took. The Babylonian monarch fell into the hands of his rival, who
plundered his palace and burnt his city, but generously spared his life.
He was not, however, allowed to retain his kingdom, the government of
which was assumed by Sargon himself, who is the Arceanus of Ptolemy's
Canon.

The submission of Babylonia was followed by the reduction of the
Aramaeans, and the conquest of at least a portion of Susiana. To the
Susianin territory Sargon transported the Comnumkha from the Upper
Tigris, placing the mixed population under a governor, whom he made
dependent on the viceroy of Babylon.

The Assyrian dominion was thus firmly established on the shores of the
Persian Gulf. The power of Babylon was broken. Henceforth the Assyrian
rule i