alls of Durilu, a stronghold which commanded
the Umliash, and he there awaited the advent of his allies before laying
siege to the town: it was, however, the Assyrian army which came to meet
him and offered him battle. The conflict was a sanguinary one, as became
an engagement between such valiant foes, and both sides claimed the
victory. The Assyrians maintained then-ground, forcing the Elamites
to evacuate their positions, and tarried some weeks longer to chastise
those of their Aramaean subjects who had made common cause with the
enemy: they carried away the Tumuna, who had given up their sheikh into
the hands of the emissaries of the Kalda, and transported the whole
tribe, without Merodach-baladan making any attempt to save his allies,
although his army had not as yet struck a single blow.*

* The history of this first campaign against Merodach-
baladan, which is found in a mutilated condition in the
_Annals of Sargon_, exists nowhere else in a complete form,
but the facts are very concisely referred to in the _Fastes_
and in the _Cylinders_. The general sequence of events is
indicated by _Pinches' Babylonian Chronicle_, but the author
places them in 720 B.C., the second year of Merodach-
baladan, contrary to the testimony of the _Annals_, and
attributes the victory to the Elamites in the battle of
Durilu, in deference to Babylonian patriotism. The course of
events after the battle of Durflu seems to prove clearly
that the Assyrians remained masters of the field.

Having accomplished this act of vengeance, the Assyrians suspended
operations and returned to Nineveh to repair their losses, probably
intending to make a great effort to regain the whole of Babylonia in
the ensuing year. Grave events which occurred elsewhere prevented them,
however, from carrying this ambitious project into effect. The fame of
their war against Elam had spread abroad in the Western provinces of the
empire, and doubtless exaggerated accounts circulated with regard to
the battle of Durilu had roused the spirit of dissatisfaction in the
west. Sargon had scarcely seated himself securely on a throne to which
he was not the direct heir, when he was menaced by Elam and repudiated
by Chaldaea, and it remained to be seen whether his resources would prove
equal to maintaining the integrity of his empire, or whether the example
set by Merodach-baladan would not speedily be imitated by all