Urartu and the coalition of the peoples of the north-east and north-west—­Defeat of Zikartu (719 B.C.), of the Tabal (718), of the Khati (717), of the Mannai, of the Medes and Ellipi (716), and of the Modes (715)—­Commencement of XXVth Ethiopian dynasty:  Sabaco (716)—­ The fall of Urzana and Rusas (714) and the formation of an Assyrian province in Cappadocia (713-710)—­The revolt and fall of Ashdod.

The defeat of Merodach-baladan and of Shutruk-nakhunta II.:  Sargon conquers Babylon (710-709 B.C.)—­Success of the Assyrians at Mushhi:  homage of the Greeks of Cyprus (710)—­The buildings of Sargon:  Dur-sharrukin—­The gates and walls of Dur-sharrukin; the city and its population—­The royal palace, its courts, the ziggurat, the harem—­Revolt of Kummukh (709 B.C.) and of Ellipi (708 B.C.)—­Inauguration of Dur-sharrukin (706 B.C.)—­Murder of Sargon (705 B.C.):  his character.

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CHAPTER III—­SARGON OF ASSYRIA (722-705 B.C.)

Sargon as a warrior and as a builder.

Whether Sargon was even remotely connected with the royal line, is a question which for the present must remain unanswered.  He mentions in one of his inscriptions the three hundred princes who had preceded him in the government of Assyria, and three lines further on he refers to the kings his ancestors, but he never mentions his own father by name, and this omission seems to prove that he was not a direct descendant of Shalmaneser V., nor of Tiglath-pileser III. nor indeed of any of their immediate predecessors.  It is, however, probable, if not certain, that he could claim some sort of kinship with them, though more or less remote.  It was customary for the sovereigns of Nineveh to give their daughters in marriage to important officials or lords of their court, and owing to the constant contraction of such alliances through several centuries, there was hardly a noble family but had some royal blood in its veins; and that of Sargon was probably no exception to the rule.  His genealogy was traced by the chroniclers, through several hundred generations of princes, to the semi-mythical heroes who had founded the city of Assur; but as Assur-nazir-pal and his descendants had claimed Bel-kapkapi and Sulili as the founders of their race, the Sargonids chose a different tradition, and drew their descent from Belbani, son of Adasi.  The cause and incidents of the revolution which raised Sargon to the throne are unknown, but we may surmise that the policy adopted with regard to Karduniash was a factor in the case.  Tiglath-pileser had hardly entered Babylon before the fascination of the city, the charm of its associations, and the sacred character of the legends which hallowed it, seized upon his imagination; he returned to it twice in the space of two years to “take the hands of Bel,” and Shalmaneser V. much preferred it to Calah or Nineveh as a place of residence.