was taken. And now Sennacherib, who had shown leniency after two
previous revolts, displayed unbounded fury in his triumph. The massacre
lasted several days, none being spared of the citizens. Piles of corpses
filled the streets. The temples and palaces were pillaged, and finally
the city was burnt.

In the midst of his costly and absorbing wars we may well wonder how
Sennacherib found time and means for building villas and temples; yet he
is, nevertheless, the Assyrian king who has left us the largest number
of monuments.

His last years were embittered by the fierce rivalry of his sons. One of
these he nominated his successor, Esarhaddon, son of a Babylonian wife.
During his absence from Nineveh, on the 20th day of Teleth, 681, his
father, Sennacherib, when praying before the image of his god, was
assassinated by two other sons, Sharezer and Adrammelech. Esarhaddon,
hearing of this tragedy, gathered an army, and in a battle defeated
Sharezer and established himself on the throne.


_III.--The Crisis of the Assyrian Power_


Esarhaddon was personally inclined for peace, for he delighted in
building; but unfortunate disturbances did not permit him to pursue his
favourite occupation without interruption, and, like his warlike
predecessors, he was constrained to pass most of his life on the
battlefield. He began his reign by quelling an insurrection of the
Cimmerians in the territories on the border of the Black Sea. Sidon
rebelled ungratefully, although his father had saved her from desolation