very next year,
Sennacherib resolved to break the power of Susiana by a great expedition
directed solely against that country. The Susianians had, as already
related, been strong enough in the reign of Sargon to deprive Assyria of
a portion of her territory; and Kudur-Nakhunta, the Elymaean king, still
held two cities, Beth-Kahiri and Raza, which were regarded by
Sennacherib as a part of his paternal inheritance. The first object of
the war was the recovery of these two towns, which were taken without
any difficulty and reattached to the Assyrian Empire. Sennacherib then
pressed on into the heart of Susiana, taking and destroying thirty-four
large cities, whose names he mentions, together with a still greater
number of villages, all of which he gave to the flames. Wasting and
destroying in this way he drew near to Vadakat or Badaca, the second
city of the kingdom, where Kudur-Nakhunta had for the time fixed his
residence. The Elamitic king, hearing of his rapid approach, took
fright, and, hastily quitting Badaca, fled away to a city called
Khidala, at the foot of the mountains, where alone he could feel himself
in safety. Sennacherib then advanced to Badaca, besieged it, and took it
by assault; after which affairs seem to have required his presence at
Nineveh, and, leaving his conquest incomplete, he returned home with a
large booty.

A third campaign in these parts, the most important of all, followed.
Susub, the Chaldaean prince whom Sennacherib had carried off to Assyria,
in the year of his naval expedition escaped from his confinement, and,
returning to Babylon, was once more hailed as king by the inhabitants.
Aware of his inability to maintain himself on the throne against the
will of the Assyrians, unless he were assisted by the arms of a powerful
ally, he resolved to obtain, if possible, the immediate aid of the
neighboring Elamitic monarch. Kolar-Nakhunta, the late antagonist of
Sennacherib, was dead, having survived his disgraceful flight from
Badaca only three months; and Ummanminan, his younger brother, held the
throne. Susub, bent on contracting an alliance with this prince, did not
scruple at an act of sacrilege to obtain his end. He broke open the
treasury of the great temple of Bel at Babylon, and seizing the gold and
silver belonging to the god, sent it as a present to Ummanminan, with an
urgent entreaty that he would instantly collect his troops and march to
his aid. The Elamitic monarch, yielding to a