Assur-bani-pal had at the outset furthered the wishes of his brother to the utmost of his power:  he had granted the privileges demanded, and whenever a Chaldaean of noble birth arrived at his court, he received him with special marks of favour.  The two states enjoyed a nearly absolute equality during the opening years of his reign, and though the will of Esarhaddon had made Babylon dependent on Assyria, the yoke of vassalage was far from heavy.  The suzerain reserved to himself the honour of dedicating the mighty works begun by his father, the restoration of the temple of Bel-Marduk and of the double wall of fortification; he claimed, in his inscriptions, the whole merit of the work, but he none the less respected his brother’s rights, and in no way interfered in the affairs of the city except in state ceremonies in which the assertion of his superior rank was indispensable.  But with success his moderation gradually gave place to arrogance.  In proportion as his military renown increased, he accentuated his supremacy, and accustomed himself to treat Babylon more and more as a vassal state.  After the conquest of Elam his infatuated pride knew no bounds, and the little consideration he still retained for Shamash-shumukin vanished completely.  He thenceforward refused to regard him as being more than a prefect bearing a somewhat higher title than his fellows, a viceroy owing his crown, not to the will of their common father, but to the friendship of his brother, and liable to be deprived of it at any moment through the caprice of the sovereign.  He affected to consider all that took place at Babylon as his own doing, and his brother as being merely his docile instrument, not deserving mention any more than the ordinary agents who carried out his designs; and if, indeed, he condescended to mention him, it was with an assumption of disdainful superiority.  It is a question whether Shamash-Shumukin at this juncture believed that his brother was meditating a design to snatch the reins of government from his hand, or whether he merely yielded to the impulse of wounded vanity in resolving to shake off a yoke which had become intolerable.  Knowing that his power was not equal to that of Assur-bani-pal, he sought to enter into relations with foreign allies who shared the same fears, or nursed a similar feeling of bitterness.  The nobles and priests of the ancient Sumerian and Accadian cities were already on his side, but the Aramaeans had shown themselves hostile at his accession, and had brought down on him the forces of Elam.  He found means, however, to conciliate them, together with the tribes which dwelt on the Tigris and the Uknu, as well as those of the lower Euphrates and the Arabian desert.  He won over to his projects Nabu-belzikri, the chief of the Kalda—­grandson of that Merodach-baladan who had cherished invincible hatred against Sargon and Sennacherib—­besides the lords of the Bit-Dakkuri and Bit-Amukkani, and the sheikh of the Pukudu.  Khumban-igash ought