Babylonian Problems

In Chapter 2 of The Age of Empires by Francis Joannes, the issue of conquering Babylon is repeatedly brought up. In 891 B.C.E. Assyria and Babylon agreed on an 80 year peace treaty, but this was not to last (29). In 824 Babylon came to the aid of the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad V to quell a revolt in his country, but apparently Shamshi-Adad V was disgraced by the terms he agreed to for the help (35). So in 814 and 813 he violently involved himself in Babylon during a period of political instability, and as a result of his engagement “there was no more political power in Babylon for a period of forty-three years” (35). After this period of time, no king of Babylon stayed in power for very long, and the state had been under the careful watch of Assyria (39). Then in 728 the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III interfered when Babylon was again experiencing political turmoil, and took the throne, thereby “annexing Babylonia to Assyria” (39). However, as time progressed Assyria was unable to merge Babylonia into the Assyrian empire, as the Babylonians had the military assistance of the nearby kingdom of Elam to keep from falling under total control (40). Eventually Babylon reestablished its independence under Chaldaen Merodachbaladan II, again with the help of powerful Elam (41). Yet the Assyrian King Sargon II was able to finally claim Babylon as a province of the empire in 710-709 (41). Subsequent Assyrian kings had to deal with uprisings in Babylon, including a deadly allied attack with Elam, but, in 689 the city of Babylon was destroyed (42). One must admire the people of Babylon for not submitting to the Assyrian power of the day, and it is interesting that the Babylonians teamed up with the Elamites, a former enemy, to keep the Assyrians at bay.