king, incapable of directing his own
affairs," came out to meet him, but although repulsed and driven within
the town, he defended his position with such spirit that Shalmaneser was
at length obliged to draw off his troops after having cut down all
the young compelled the fruit trees, disorganised the whole system of
irrigation,--in short, after having effected all the damage he could. He
returned in the following spring by the most direct route; Lakhiru fell
into his hands,* but Marduk-belusate, having no heart to contend with
him for the possession of a district ravaged by the struggle of the
preceding summer, fell back on the mountains of Yasubi and concentrated
his forces round Arman.**

* Lakhiru comes before Gananate on the direct road from
Assyria, to the south of the Lower Zab, as we learn from the
account of the campaign itself: wo shall not do wrong in
placing this town either at Kifri, or in its neighbourhood
on the present caravan route.

** Mount Yasubi is the mountainous district which separates
Khanekin from Holwan.

Shalmaneser, having first wreaked his vengeance upon Gananate, attacked
his adversary in his self-chosen position; Annan fell after a desperate
defence, and Marduk-belusate either perished or disappeared in a last
attempt at retaliation. Marduk-nadin-shumu, although rid of his rival,
was not yet master of the entire kingdom. The Aramaeans of the Marshes,
or, as they called themselves, the Kalda, had refused him their
allegiance, and were ravaging the regions of the Lower Euphrates by
their repeated incursions. They constituted not so much a compact state,
as a confederation of little states, alternately involved in petty
internecine quarrels, or temporarily reconciled under the precarious
authority of a sole monarch. Each separate state bore the name of the
head of the family--real or mythical--from whom all its members prided
themselves on being descended,--Bit-Dakkuri, Bit-Adini, Bit-Amukkani,
Bit-Shalani, Bit-Shalli, and finally Bit-Yakin, which in the end
asserted its predominance over all the rest.*

* As far as we can judge, Bit-Dakkuri and Bit-Adini were the
most northerly, the latter lying on both sides of the
Euphrates, the former on the west of the Euphrates, to the
south of the Bahr-i-Nejif; Bit-Yakin was at the southern
extremity near the mouths of the Euphrates, and on the
western shore of the Persian Gulf.