inta-bel at Babylon.*
Athrina, the son of Umbadaranma, was a scion of the dynasty dispossessed
by the successors of Sargon in the preceding century, but nevertheless
he met with but lukewarm assistance from his own countrymen;** he was
taken prisoner before a month had passed, and sent to Darius, who slew
him with his own hand.

* The latest known document of the pseudo-Smerdis is dated
the 1st of Tisri at Babylon, and the first of Nebuchadrezzar
III. are dated the 17th and 20th of the same month. The
revolt of Babylon, then, must be placed between the 1st and
17th of Tisri; that is, either at the end of September or
the beginning of October, 521 B.C.

** The revolt cannot have lasted much more than six weeks,
for on the 26th of Athriyadiya following, that is to say, at
the beginning of December, Darius had already joined issue
with the Babylonians on the banks of the Tigris.

Babylon was not so easily mastered. Her chosen sovereign claimed to
be the son of Nabonidus, and had, on ascending the throne, assumed the
illustrious name of Nebuchadrezzar; he was not supported, moreover, by
only a few busybodies, but carried the whole population with him. The
Babylonians, who had at first welcomed Cyrus so warmly, and had fondly
imagined that they had made him one of themselves, as they had made
so many of their conquerors for centuries past, soon realised their
mistake. The differences of language, manners, spirit, and religion
between themselves and the Persians were too fundamental to allow of
the naturalisation of the new sovereign, and of the acceptance by
the Achaemenides of that fiction of a double personality to which
Tiglath-pileser III., Shalmaneser, and even Assur-bani-pal had
submitted. Popular fancy grew weary of Cyrus, as it had already grown
weary in turn of all the foreigners it had at first acclaimed--whether
Elamite, Kalda, or Assyrian--and by a national reaction the self-styled
son of Nabonidus enjoyed the benefit of a devotion proportionately as
great as the hatred which had been felt twenty years before for his
pretended sire. The situation might become serious if he were given time
to consolidate his power, for the loyalty of the ancient provinces of
the Chaldaean empire was wavering, and there was no security that they
would not feel inclined to follow the example of the capital as soon
as they should receive news of the sedition. Darius, therefore, led