Chapter III: Sargon of Assyria (722-705 B.c.) (3)

He fled without waiting for the Assyrians to appear, and so great was his haste that he had no time to take his family and treasure with him. Sargon annexed his kingdom, placed it under the government of the _tartan_, and incorporated into his own the whole army of Kummukh, including 150 chariots, 1500 horsemen, 20,000 archers, and 10,000 pikemen. In the following year (707) his vassal Dalta died, leaving two sons, Nibi and Ishpabara, both of whom claimed possession of the fief of Ellipi; Nibi appealed to Elam for help, and Ishpabara at once turned for aid to Assyria. Sargon sent him a body of troops, commanded by seven of his generals, while Shutruk-nakhunta lent his _protégé_ 4500 bowmen; Ishpabara won the day, took the city of Marubishti by storm, and compelled his brother to take refuge in Susian territory. The affair wras over so quickly that it caused practically no delay in the completion of the works at the capital. The consecration of a new city necessitated the observance of a host of complicated ceremonies, which extended over several months. First of all provision had to be made for its religious worship; the omens were consulted in order to determine which of the gods were to be invoked, and, when this was decided, there followed the installation of the various statues and arks which were to preside over the destinies of the city and the priests to whom they were intrusted; the solemn inauguration took place on the 22nd day of Tisri, in the year 707 B.C., and from that day forward Dur-Sharrukîn occupied the rank officially assigned to it among the capitals of the empire. Sargon, however, did not formally take up his residence within it till six months later, on the 6th day of Iyyâr, 706. He must, by this time, have been advancing in years, and even if we assume him to have been a young man when he ascended the throne, after the sixteen years of bodily fatigue and mental worry through which he had passed since coming into power, he must have needed repose. He handed over the government of the northern provinces to his eldest son Sin-akhê-irba, better known to us as Sennacherib, whom he regarded as his successor; to him he transferred the responsibility of keeping watch over the movements of the Mannai, of Urartu, and of the restless barbarians who dwelt beyond the zone of civilised states on the banks of the Halys, or at the foot of the distant Caucasus: a revolt among the Tabal, in 706, was promptly suppressed by his young and energetic deputy. As for Sargon himself, he was content to retain the direct control of the more pacific provinces, such as Babylon, the regions of the Middle Euphrates, and Syria, and he doubtless hoped to enjoy during his later years such tranquillity as was necessary to enable him to place his conquests on a stable basis. The envious fates, however, allowed him but little more than twelve short months: he perished early in 705 B.C., assassinated by some soldier of alien birth, if I interpret rightly the mutilated text which furnishes us with a brief mention of the disaster. Sennacherib was recalled in haste from the frontier, and proclaimed king immediately on his arrival, thus ascending unopposed to the throne on the 12th day of Ab. His fathers body had been left unburied, doubtless in order that he might verify with his own eyes the truth of what had been told him concerning his death, and thus have no ground for harbouring suspicions that would have boded ill for the safety of the late kings councillors and servants. He looked upon his fathers miserable ending as a punishment for some unknown transgression, and consulted the gods to learn what it was that had aroused their anger, refusing to authorise the burial within the palace until the various expiatory rites suggested by the oracle had been duly performed.*

* This is my interpretation of the text published and
translated by Winckler. Winckler sees in it the account of
a campaign during which Sargon was killed by mountaineers,
as was Cyprus in later times by the Massagetse; the kings
body (according to him) remained unburied, and was recovered
by Sennacherib only after considerable delay. In support of
his version of this event Winckler cites the passage in Isa.
xiv. 4-20, which he takes as having been composed to exult
over the death of Sargon, and then afterwards adapted to the
death of a king of Babylon.

Thus mysteriously disappeared the founder of the mightiest dynasty that ever ruled in Assyria, perhaps even in the whole of Western Asia. At first sight, it would seem easy enough to determine what manner of man he was and to what qualities he owed his greatness, thanks to the abundance of documents which his contemporaries have bequeathed to us; but when we come to examine more closely, we soon find the task to be by no means a simple one. The inscriptions maintain so discreet a silence with regard to the antecedents of the kings before their accession, and concerning their education and private life, that at this distance of time we cannot succeed in forming any clear idea as to their individual temperament and character. The monuments record such achievements as they took pride in, in terms of uniform praise which conceal or obliterate the personality of the king in question; it is always the ideal Assyrian sovereign who is held up for our admiration under a score of different names, and if, here and there, we come upon some trait which indicates the special genius of this or that monarch, we may be sure that the scribe has allowed it to slip in by accident, quite unconscious of the fact that he is thus affording us a glimpse of his masters true character and disposition. A study of Sargons campaigns as revealed in his annals will speedily convince us that he was something more than a fearless general, with a keen eye to plunder, who could see nothing in the most successful expedition but a means of enriching his people or adding to the splendours of his court. He was evidently convinced that certain nations, such as Urartu and Elam, would never really assimilate with his own subjects, and, in their case, he adhered strictly to the old system of warfare, and did all he could to bring about their ruin; other nations, on the contrary, he regarded as capable of amalgamation with the Assyrians, and these he did his best to protect from the worst consequences of their rebellion and resistance. He withdrew them from the influence of their native dynasties, and converted their territories into provinces under his own vigilant administration, and though he did not scruple to send the more turbulent elements among them into exile, and did his best to weaken them by founding alien colonies in their midst, yet he respected their religion, customs, and laws, and, in return for their obedience to his rule, guaranteed them an equitable and judicious government. Moreover, he took quite as much interest in their well-being as in his own military successes, and in the midst of his heroic struggles against Rusas and Merodach-baladan he contrived to find time for the consideration of such prosaic themes as the cultivation of the vine and of corn; he devoted his attention to the best methods of storing wine, and sought to prevent oil, which is the life of man and healeth wounds, from rising in price, and the cost of sesame from exceeding that of wheat. We seem to see in him, not only the stern and at times cruel conqueror, but also the gracious monarch, kind and considerate to his people, and merciful to the vanquished when policy permitted him to indulge his natural leaning to clemency.

END OF VOL. VII.