piled up their trunks in the moat, thus quickly forming a causeway right up to the walls.  Merodach-baladan had been wounded in the arm during the engagement, but, nevertheless, fought stubbornly in defence of his city; when he saw that its fall was inevitable, he fled to the other side of the gulf, and took refuge among the mud flats of the Lower Ulai.  Sargon set fire to Dur-Yakin, levelled its towers and walls with the ground, and demolished its houses, temples, and palaces.  It had been a sort of penal settlement, to which the Kalda rulers used to consign those of their subjects belonging to the old aboriginal race, who had rendered themselves obnoxious by their wealth or independence of character; the number of these prisoners was considerable, Babylon, Borsippa, Nipur, and Sippar, not to speak of Uni, Uruk, Eridu, Larsam, and Kishik, having all of them furnished their share.  Sargon released them all, and restored their gods to the temples; he expelled the nomads from the estates which, contrary to all justice, had been distributed among them in preceding years, and reinstated the former owners.  Karduniash, which had been oppressed for twelve long years by a semi-barbarian despot, now breathed again, and hailed Sargon as its deliverer, while he on his part was actively engaged in organising his conquest.  The voluntary submission of Upiri, King of Dilmun, who lived isolated in the open sea, “as though in a bird’s nest,” secured to Sargon possession of the watercourses which flowed beyond the Chaldaean lake into the Persian Gulf:  no sooner had he obtained it than he quitted the neighbourhood of Dur-Yakin, crossed the Tigris, and reinforced the garrisons which lined his Elamite frontier on this side.  He had just finished building a strongly fortified citadel on the site of Sagbat,* when ambassadors arrived from Mita.

* This Sagbat, which must not be confused with the district of Bit-Sagbati mentioned in the reign of Tiglath-pileser III., seems to correspond with a post to the south of Durilu, perhaps the ruins of Baksayeh, on the Tchengula.

The governor of Kui had at length triumphed over the obstinacy of the Mushki, and after driving them from village to village, had compelled them to sue for terms:  the tidings of the victories over the Kalda had doubtless hastened their decision, but they were still so powerful that it was thought wiser not to impose too rigorous conditions upon them.  Mita agreed to pay tribute, and surrendered one or two districts, which were turned into an Aramaean settlement:  the inhabitants were transferred to Bit-Yakin, where they had to make the best they could of lands that had been devastated by war.  At this juncture the Greeks of Cyprus flattered the pride of the Assyrians in a most unexpected way:  after the manner of their race they scoured the seas, and their fleets persistently devastated the coasts of Syria and Cilicia.

[Illustration:  396.jpb STELE AT LARNAKA]