The Assyrians doubtless soon became jealous of the favour shown by their princes to their ancient enemy, and their discontent must have doubtless conduced to their decision to raise a new monarch to the throne.  The Babylonians, on the other hand, seem to have realised that the change in the dynasty presaged a disadvantageous alteration of government; for as soon as the news reached them a movement was set on foot and search made for a rival claimant to set up in opposition to Sargon.*

* The succession of events, as indicated in Pinches’ Babylonian Chronicle, seems indeed to imply that the Babylonians waited to ascertain the disposition of the new king before they decided what line to adopt.  In fact, Shalmaneser died in the month Tebeth, and Sargon ascended the throne at Assur in the same month, and it was only in the month Nisan that Mero-dach-baladan was proclaimed king.  The three months intervening between the accession of Sargon and that of Merodach-baladan evidently represent a period of indecision., when it was not yet known if the king would follow the policy of his predecessors with regard to Babylon, or adopt a different attitude towards her.

Of all the nations who had in turn occupied the plains of the Lower Euphrates and the marshes bordering on Arabia, the Kalda alone had retained their full vitality.  They were constantly recruited by immigrants from their kinsfolk of the desert, and the continual infiltration of these semi-barbarous elements kept the race from becoming enervated by contact with the indigenous population, and more than compensated for the losses in their ranks occasioned by war.  The invasion of Tiglath-pileser and the consequent deportations of prisoners had decimated the tribes of Bit-Shilani, Bit-Shaali, and Bit-Amuhkani, the principalities of the Kalda which lay nearest to Babylonian territory, and which had borne the brunt of attack in the preceding period; but their weakness brought into notice a power better equipped for warfare, whose situation in their rear had as a rule hitherto preserved it from contact with the Assyrians, namely, Bit-Yakin.  The continual deposit of alluvial soil at the mouths of the rivers had greatly altered the coastline from the earliest historic times downwards.  The ancient estuary was partly filled up, especially on the western side, where the Euphrates enters the Persian Gulf:  a narrow barrier of sand and silt extended between the marshes of Arabia and Susiana, at the spot where the streams of fresh water met the tidal waters of the sea, and all that was left of the ancient gulf was a vast lagoon, or, as the dwellers on the banks called it, a kind of brackish river, Nar marratum.  Bit-Yakin occupied the southern and western portions of this district, from the mouth of the Tigris to the edge of the desert.  The aspect of the country was constantly changing, and presented no distinctive features; it was a region difficult to attack and easy to defend; it consisted