with a severe defeat, which he did not long survive, dying about the
year 1100 B.C.

There is only one gleam in the murky night of this period. A certain
Assurirba seems to have crossed Northern Syria, and, following in the
footsteps of his great ancestor, to have penetrated as far as the
Mediterranean; on the rocks of Mount Amanus, facing the sea, he left a
triumphal inscription in which he set forth the mighty deeds he had
accomplished. His good fortune soon forsook him. The Arameans wrested
from him the fortresses of Pitru and Mutkinu, which commanded both banks
of the Euphrates near Carchemish.

What were the causes of this depression from which Babylon suffered at
almost regular intervals, as though stricken with some periodic malady?
The main reason soon becomes apparent if we consider the nature of the
country and the material conditions of its existence. Chaldæa was
neither extensive nor populous enough to afford a solid basis for the
ambition of her princes. Since nearly every man capable of bearing arms
was enrolled in the army, the Chaldæan kings had no difficulty in
raising, at a moment's notice, a force which could be employed to repel
an invasion, or to make a sudden attack on some distant territory; it
was in schemes that required prolonged and sustained effort that they
felt the drawbacks of their position. In that age of hand-to-hand
combats, the mortality in battle was very high; forced marches through
forests and across mountains entailed a heavy loss of men, and three or
four campaigns against a stubborn foe soon reduced the army to a
condition of weakness.

When Nebuchadrezzar I. made war on Assurishishi, he was still weak from
the losses he had incurred during the campaign against Elam, and could