d not long survive, and Naboshumishkun, who succeeded him, showed
neither more ability nor energy than his predecessor. The Assyrians
wrested from him the fortresses of Bambala and Bagdad, dislodged him
from the positions where he had entrenched himself, and at length took
him prisoner while in flight, and condemned him to perpetual captivity.*

* Shamash-mudammiq appears to have died about 900.
Naboshumishkun probably reigned only one or two years, from
900 to 899 or to 898. The name of his successor is destroyed
in the _Synchronous History_; it might be Nabubaliddin, who
seems to have had a long life, but it is wiser, until fresh
light is thrown on the subject, to admit that it is some
prince other than Nabubaliddin, whose name is as yet unknown
to us.

His successor abandoned to the Assyrians most of the districts situated
on the left bank of the Lower Zab between the Zagros mountains and the
Tigris, and peace, which was speedily secured by a double marriage,
remained unbroken for nearly half a century. Tukulti-ninip II. was fond
of fighting; "he overthrew his adversaries and exposed their heads upon
stakes," but, unlike his predecessor, he directed his efforts against
Nairi and the northern and western tribes. We possess no details of his
campaigns; we can only surmise that in six years, from 890 to 885,* he
brought into subjection the valley of the Upper Tigris and the mountain
provinces which separate it from the Assyrian plain. Having reached the
source of the river, he carved, beside the image of Tiglath-pileser I.,
the following inscription, which may still be read upon the rock. "With
the help of Assur, Shamash, and Ramman, the gods of his religion, he
reached this spot. The lofty mountains he subjugated from the sun-rising
to its down-setting; victorious, irresistible, he came hither, and like
unto the lightning he crossed the raging rivers."**

* The parts preserved of the Eponym canon begin their record
in 893, about the end of the reign of Ramman-nirari IL The
line which distinguishes the two reigns from one another is
drawn between the name of the personage who corresponds to
the year 890, and that of Tukulti-ninip who corresponds to
the year 889: Tukulti-ninip II., therefore, begins his reign
in 890, and his death is six years later, in 885.

** This inscription and its accompanying bas-relief are
mentioned in the _A