against him, headed
by his son Assur-dain-pal, the Sardanapallos of the Greeks, who
established himself at Nineveh, and there reigned as rival king for
about seven years. His brother Samas-Rimmon, who had remained faithful
to his father, at last succeeded in putting down the rebellion. Nineveh
was taken, and its defenders slain. Henceforth Samas-Rimmon reigned with
an undisputed title.

But Assyria was long in recovering from the effects of the revolt, which
had shaken her to the foundations. The dynasty itself never recovered.
Samas-Rimmon, indeed, at the head of the army which had overcome his
brother, continued the military policy of his predecessors; the tribes
of Media and southern Armenia were defeated, and campaigns were carried
on against Babylonia, the strength of which was now completely broken.
In B.C. 812 Babylon was taken, but two years later Samas-Rimmon himself
died, and was succeeded by his son Rimmon-nirari III. His reign was
passed in constant warfare on the frontiers of the empire, and in B.C.
804 Damascus was surrendered to him by its king Mariha, who became an
Assyrian tributary. In the following year a pestilence broke out, and
when his successor, Shalmaneser III., mounted the throne in B.C. 781, he
found himself confronted by a new and formidable power, that of Ararat
or Van. The eastern and northern possessions of Assyria were taken from
her, and the monarchy fell rapidly into decay. In B.C. 763 an eclipse of
the sun took place on the 15th of June, and was the signal for the
outbreak of a revolt in Assur, the ancient capital of the kingdom. It
spread rapidly to other parts of the empire, and though for a time the
government held its own against the rebels, the end came in B.C. 745.
Assur-nirari, the last of the old dynasty, died or was put to death, and
Pulu or Pul, one of his generals, was proclaimed king on the 13th of
Iyyar or April under the name of Tiglath-pileser III.

Tiglath-pileser III. was the founder of the Second Assyrian empire,
which was based on a wholly different principle from that of the first.
Occupation and not plunder was the object of its wars. The ancient
empire of Babylonia in western Asia was to be restored, and the commerce
of the Mediterranean to be diverted into Assyrian hands. The campaigns
of Tiglath-pileser and his successors were thus carried on in accordance
with a deliberate line of policy. They aimed at the conquest of the
whole civilised world, and the buildin