their own galleys, which
descended the river to its mouth, and astonished the populations
bordering on the Persian Gulf with spectacle never before seen in those
waters. Though the Chaldaeans had for centuries navigated this inland
sea, and may have occasionally ventured beyond its limits, yet neither
as sailors nor as ship-builders was their skill to compare with that of
the Phoenicians. The masts and sails, the double tiers of oars, the
sharp beaks of the Phoenician ships, were (it is probable) novelties to
the nations of these parts, who saw now, for the first time, a fleet
debouche from the Tigris, with which their own vessels were quite
incapable of contending.

When his fleet was ready Sennacherib put to sea, and crossed in his
Phoenician ships from the mouth of the Tigris to the tract occupied by
the emigrant Chaldaeans, where he landed and destroyed the newly-built
city, captured the inhabitants, ravaged the neighborhood, and burnt a
number of Susianian towns, finally reembarking with his captives.
Chaldaean and Susianian whom he transported across the gulf to the
Chaldaean coast, and then took with him into Assyria. This whole
expedition seems to have taken the Susianians by surprise. They had
probably expected an invasion by land, and had collected their forces
towards the north-western frontier, so that when the troops of
Sennacherib landed far in their rear, there were no forces in the
neighborhood to resist them. However, the departure of the Assyrians on
an expedition regarded as extremely perilous, was the signal for a
general revolt of the Babylonians, who once more set up a native king in
the person of Susub, and collected an army with which they made ready to
give the Assyrians battle on their return. Perhaps they cherished the
hope that the fleet which had tempted the dangers of an unknown sea
would be seen no more, or expected that, at the best, it would bring
back the shattered remnants of a defeated army. If so, they were
disappointed. The Assyrian troops landed on their coast flushed with
success, and finding the Babylonians in revolt, proceeded to chastise
them; defeated their forces in a great battle; captured their king,
Susub; and when the Susianians came, somewhat tardily, to their succor,
attacked and routed their army. A vast number of prisoners, and among
them Susub himself, were carried off by the victors and conveyed to
Nineveh.

Shortly after this successful campaign, possibly in the