that
of Rammanshumusur, instead of the _7 years_ given us by the
_Pinches Chronicle_ for the length of the reign of Tukulti-
ninip at Babylon. If we reckon, as the only documents known
require us to do, seven years from the beginning of the
reign of Rammanshumusur to the date of the taking of
Babylon, we are forced to admit that this took place in the
reign of Kadashmankharbe IL, and, consequently, that the
passage in the _Synchronous History_, in which mention is
made of Bibeiashu, must be interpreted as I have done in the
text, by the hypothesis of a war prior to that in which
Babylon fell, which was followed by a treaty between this
prince and the King of Assyria.

The peace thus concluded might have lasted longer but for an unforeseen
catastrophe which placed Babylon almost at the mercy of her rival. The
Blamites had never abandoned their efforts to press in every conceivable
way their claim to the Sebbeneh-su, the supremacy, which, prior to
Kbammurabi, had been exercised by their ancestors over the whole of
Mesopotamia; they swooped down on Karduniash with an impetuosity like
that of the Assyrians, and probably with the same alternations of
success and defeat. Their king, Kidinkhutrutash, unexpectedly attacked
Belnadinshumu, son of Bibeiashu, appeared suddenly under the walls
of Nipur and forced the defences of Durilu and Etimgarka-lamma:
Belnadinshumu disappeared in the struggle after a reign of eighteen
months. Tukulti-ninip left Belna-dinshumu's successor, Kadashmankharbe
II., no time to recover from this disaster; he attacked him in turn,
carried Babylon by main force, and put a number of the inhabitants to
the sword. He looted the palace and the temples, dragged the statue of
Merodach from its sanctuary and carried it off into Assyria, together
with the badges of supreme power; then, after appointing governors of
his own in the various towns, he returned to Kalakh, laden with booty;
he led captive with him several members of the royal family--among
others, Bammanshumusur, the lawful successor of Bibeiashu.

This first conquest of Chaldaea did not, however, produce any lasting
results. The fall of Babylon did not necessarily involve the subjection
of the whole country, and the cities of the south showed a bold front to
the foreign intruder, and remained faithful to Kadashmankharbe; on the
death of the latter, some months after his defeat, they hailed