er nor his successor had been able
to leave the throne to their children, and the conquered provinces had
taken advantage of the troubles consequent on their deaths to revolt.
Babylonia had been lost. Merodach-baladan, the Chaldaean prince, had
emerged from the marshes of the south and occupied Babylon, where he was
proclaimed king immediately after Shalmaneser's death. For twelve years
he reigned there, with the help of the Elamites, and one of the first
tasks of Sargon was to drive the latter from the Assyrian borders.
Sargon had next to suppress a revolt in Hamath, as well as an invasion
of Palestine by the Egyptians. The Egyptian army, however, was defeated
at Raphia, and the Philistines with whom it was in alliance returned to
their allegiance to the Assyrian king.

Now came, however, a more serious struggle. Ararat had recovered from
the blow it had received at the hands of Tiglath-pileser, and had
organised a general confederacy of the northern nations against their
dangerous neighbour. For six years the struggle continued. But it ended
in victory for the Assyrians. Carchemish, the Hittite stronghold which
commanded the road across the Euphrates, was taken in B.C. 717, and the
way lay open to the west. The barrier that had existed for seven
centuries between the Semites of the east and west was removed, and the
last relic of the Hittite conquests in Syria passed away. In the
following year Sargon overran the territories of the Minni between
Ararat and Lake Urumiyeh, and two years later the northern confederacy
was utterly crushed. The fortress of Muzazir, under Mount Rowandiz, was
added to the Assyrian dominions, its gods were carried into captivity,
and the King of Ararat committed suicide in despair. From henceforward
Assyria had nothing to fear on the side of the north. The turn of the
Medes came next. They were compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of
Nineveh; so also was the kingdom of Ellipi, the later Ekbatana. Sargon
could now turn his attention to Babylonia.

Merodach-baladan had foreseen the coming storm, and had done his best to
secure allies. An alliance was made with the Elamites, who were alarmed
at the conquest of Ellipi; and ambassadors were sent to Palestine (in
B.C. 711), there to arrange a general rising of the population,
simultaneously with the outbreak of war between Sargon and the
Babylonian king. But before the confederates were ready to move, Sargon
had fallen upon them separately. Ashd