g 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 to have remained
loyal to the friend to whom he owed his kingdom, but he chafed at the
patronage of Assyria, and Assur-bani-pal had just formulated a demand to
which he, not unreasonably, hesitated to accede. The archaic statue of
Nana, stolen from Uruk by Kutur-nakhunta sixteen centuries before,
and placed by that prince in one of the temples of Susa, had become so
naturalised in its new abode that the kings of Elam, not content with
rendering it an official cult, were wont to send presents to Babylonia,
to the image which had replaced it in its original sanctuary.
Assur-bani-pal now required Khumban-igash to give back the original
statue, but the Elamite could not obey this mandate without imperilling
both his throne and his person: he would thereby have risked incurring
the displeasure both of the nobles, whose pride would have suffered at
the loss of so precious a trophy, and of the common people, who would
have thus been deprived of one of their most venerable objects of
devotion. The messengers of Shamash-shumukin, arriving at the moment
when this question was agitating the court of Susa, found the way
already prepared for a mutual understanding. Besides, they held in their
hands an irresistible argument, the treasures of Bel-Marduk of Babylon,
of Nebo of Borsippa, and of Nergal of Kuta, which had been confided to
them by the priests with a view to purchasing, if necessary, the support
of Elam. Khumban-igash thereupon promised to send a detachment of troops
to Karduniash, and to invade the provinces of Assyria the moment war
should be declared. The tribes of Guti were easily won over, and were
followed by the kings of Phoenicia and the Bedawin of Melukhkha, and
perhaps Egypt itself was implicated in the plot. The Prince of Kedar,
Amuladdin, undertook to effe