th his superior at Erech, who promptly informed
Ashur-bani-pal of the great conspiracy. The intelligence reached
Nineveh like a bolt from the blue. The emperor's heart was filled with
sorrow and anguish. In after-time he lamented in an inscription that
his "faithless brother" forgot the favours he had shown him.
"Outwardly with his lips he spoke friendly things, while inwardly his
heart plotted murder."

In 652 B.C. Shamash-shum-ukin precipitated the crisis by forbidding
Ashur-bani-pal to make offerings to the gods in the cities of
Babylonia. He thus declared his independence.

War broke out simultaneously. Ur and Erech were besieged and captured
by the Chaldaeans, and an Elamite army marched to the aid of the King
of Babylon, but it was withdrawn before long on account of the
unsettled political conditions at home. The Assyrian armies swept
through Babylonia, and the Chaldeans in the south were completely
subjugated before Babylon was captured. That great commercial
metropolis was closely besieged for three years, and was starved into
submission. When the Assyrians were entering the city gates a
sensational happening occurred. Shamash-shum-ukin, the rebel king,
shut himself up in his palace and set fire to it, and perished there
amidst the flames with his wife and children, his slaves and all his
treasures. Ashur-bani-pal was in 647 B.C. proclaimed King
Kandalanu[549] of Babylon, and reigned over it until his death in 626
B.C.

Elam was severely dealt with. That unhappy country was terribly
devastated by Assyrian troops, who besieged and captured Susa, which
was pillaged and wrecked. It was recorded afterwards as a great
triumph of this campaign that the statue of Nana of Erech, which had
been carried off by Elamites 1635 years previously, was recovered and
restored to the ancient Sumerian city. Elam's power of resistance was
finally extinguished, and the country fell a ready prey to the Medes
and Persians, who soon entered into possession of it. Thus, by
destroying a buffer State, Ashur-bani-pal strengthened the hands of
the people who were destined twenty years after his death to destroy
the Empire of Assyria.

The western allies of Babylon were also dealt with, and it may be that
at this time Manasseh of Judah was taken to Babylon (_2 Chronicles_,
xxxiii, II), where, however, he was forgiven. The Medes and the Mannai
in the north-west were visited and subdued, and a new alliance was
formed with the dying State