Nin-pala-zira succeeded.  It is uncertain whether he was any relation to his predecessor, but clear that he avenged him.  He is called “the king who organized the country of Assyria, and established the troops of Assyria in authority.”  It appears that shortly after his accession, Vul-baladan of Babylon, elated by his previous successes, made an expedition against the Assyrian capital, and a battle was fought under the walls of Asshur in which Nin-pala-zira was completely successful.  The Babylonians fled, and left Assyria in peace during the remainder of the reign of this monarch.

Asshur-dayan, the third king of the series, had a long and prosperous reign.  He made a successful inroad into Babylonia, and returned into his own land with a rich and valuable booty.  He likewise took down the temple which Shamas-Vul, the son of Ismi-Dagon, had erected to the gods Asshur and Vul at Asshur, the Assyrian capital, because it was in a ruinous condition, and required to be destroyed or rebuilt.  Asshur-dayan seems to have shrunk from the task of restoring so great a work, and therefore demolished the structure which was not rebuilt for the space of sixty years from its demolition.  He was succeeded upon the throne by his son Mutaggil-Nebo.

Mutaggil-Nebo reigned probably from about B.C. 1170 to B.C. 1150.  We are informed that “Asshur, the great Lord, aided him according to the wishes of his heart, and established him in strength in the government of Assyria.”  Perhaps these expressions allude to internal troubles at the commencement of his reign, over which he was so fortunate as to triumph.  We have no further particulars of this monarch.

Asshur-ris-ilim, the fourth king of the series, the son and successor of Mutaggil-Nebo, whose reign may be placed between B.C. 1150 and B.C. 1130, is a monarch of greater pretensions than most of his predecessors.  In his son’s Inscription he is called “the powerful king, the subduer of rebellious countries, he who has reduced all the accursed.”  These expressions are so broad, that we must conclude from them, not merely that Asshur-ris-ilim, unlike the previous kings of the line, engaged in foreign wars, but that his expeditions had a great success, and paved the way for the extensive conquests of his son and successor, Tiglath-Pileser.  Probably he turned his arms in various directions, like that monarch.  Certainly he carried them south-wards into Babylonia, where, as we learn from the synchronistic tablet of Babylonian and Assyrian history, he was engaged for some time in a war with Nebuchadnezzar (Nabuk-udor-uzur), the first known king of that name.  It has been conjectured that he likewise carried them into Southern Syria and Palestine, and that, in fact, he is the monarch designated in the book of Judges by the name of Chushan-ris-athaim, who is called “the king of Mesopotamia (Aram-Naharaim),” and is said to have exercised dominion over the Israelites for eight years.  This identification, however, is too uncertain to be assumed without further proof.  The probable date of Chushan-ris-athaim is some two (or three) centuries earlier; and his title, “king of Mesopotamia,” is one which is not elsewhere applied to Assyrians monarchs.