in a cloud of dust, and have ended in a downpour of rain so heavy as to partly blind the combatants.  The king was probably drawn away from his men in the confusion; it was probably then that he was in danger of being made prisoner, and that Rittimerodach, suddenly coming up, delivered him from the foes who surrounded him.

The Elamites renounced their claims to the possession of Namar, and restored the statues of the gods:  Nebuchadrezzar “at once laid hold of the hands of Bel,” and thus legalised his accession to the throne.  Other expeditions against the peoples of Lulurne and against the Cossaeans restored his supremacy in the regions of the north-east, and a campaign along the banks of the Euphrates opened out the road to Syria.  He rewarded generously those who had accompanied him on his raid against Elam.  After issuing regulations intended to maintain the purity of the breed of horses for which Namar was celebrated, he reinstated in their possessions Shamua and his son Shamai, the descendants of one of the priestly families of the province, granting them in addition certain domains near Upi, at the mouth of the Turnat.  He confirmed Rittimerodach in possession of all his property, and reinvested him with all the privileges of which the King of Elam had deprived him.  From that time forward the domain of Bitkarziabku was free of the tithe on corn, oxen, and sheep; it was no longer liable to provide horses and mares for the exchequer, or to afford free passage to troops in time of peace; the royal jurisdiction ceased on the boundary of the fief, the seignorial jurisdiction alone extended over the inhabitants and their property.  Chaldaean prefects ruled in Namar, at Khalman, and at the foot of the Zagros, and Nebuchadrezzar no longer found any to oppose him save the King of Assyria.

The long reign of Assurdan in Assyria does not seem to have been distinguished by any event of importance either good or bad:  it is true he won several towns on the south-east from the Babylonians, but then he lost several others on the north-west to the Mushku,* and the loss on the one side fully balanced the advantage gained on the other.

* Hommel has proved, by a very simple calculation, that Assurdan must have been the king in whose reign the Mushku made the inroad into the basin of the Upper Tigris and of the Balikh, which is mentioned in the Annals of Tiglath- pileser I. These Annals are our authority for stating that Assurdan was on the throne for a long period, though the exact length of his reign is not known.

His son Mutakkilnusku lived in Assur at peace,* but his grandson, Assurishishi, was a mighty king, conqueror of a score of countries, and the terror of all rebels:  he scattered the hordes of the Akhlame and broke up their forces; then Ninip, the champion of the gods, permitted him to crush the Lulume and the G-uti in their valleys and on their mountains covered with forests.  He made his way up to the frontiers of Elam,** and his encroachments on territories claimed by Babylon stirred up the anger of the Chaldaeans against him; Nebuchadrezzar made ready to dispute their ownership with him.