The Canon of Ptolemy gives as the successor of Saosdukhm
a certain Kineladan, who corresponds to Kandalanu, whose
date has been fixed by contemporary documents. The identity
of Kineladan with Assur-bani-pal was known from the Greek
chronologists, for whereas Ptolemy puts Kineladan after
Saosdukhm, the fragments of Berosus state that the successor
of Sammughes was his _brother_; that is to say, Sardanapalus
or Assur-bani-pal. This identification had been proposed by
G. Smith, who tried to find the origin of the form Kineladan
in the name of Sinidinabal, which seems to be borne by
Assur-bani-pal in _Tablet K 195 of the British Museum_, and
which is really the name of his elder brother; it found
numerous supporters as soon as Pinches had discovered the
tablets dated in the reign of Kandalanu, and the majority of
Assyriologists and historians hold that Kandalanu and Assur-
bani-pal are one and the same person.

Had he been wise, he would have completed the work begun by famine,
pestilence, and the sword, and, far from creating, a new Babylon, he
would have completed the destruction of the ancient city. The same
religious veneration which had disarmed so many of his predecessors
probably withheld him from giving free rein to his resentment, and
not daring to follow the example of Sennacherib, he fell back on the
expedient adopted by Tiglath-pileser III. and Sargon, adhering to their
idea of two capitals for two distinct states, but endeavouring to unite
in his own person the two irreconcilable sovereignties of Marduk
and Assur. He delegated the administration of Babylonian affairs to
Shamash-danani, one of his high officers of State,* and re-entered
Nineveh with an amount of spoil almost equalling that taken from Egypt
after the sack of Thebes.

* Tin's Shamash-danani, who was _limmu_ in 644 B.C., was
called at that date prefect of Akkad, that is to say, of
Babylon. He probably entered on this office immediately
after the taking of the city.

Kuta, Sippara, and Borsippa, the vassal states of Babylon, which had
shared the misfortune of their mistress, were, like her, cleared of
their ruins, rebuilt and repeopled, and were placed under the authority
of Shamash-danani: such was their inherent vitality that in the short
space of ten or a dozen years they had repaired their losses and
reattained their wonted prosperity. Soon no eff