With the accession of Shamash-mudammig (c. 905) there began a century or so of close, if not always friendly, contact between Babylon and Assyria. A exchange of royal brides concluded a treaty between the northern powers and Shamash-mudammig's successor. Adad-nirari II (of Assyria) later exchanged daughters in a marriage alliance with Nabu-shuma-ukin I after a battle that Adad-nirari claimed to have won. At that time Assyria and Babylon agreed on a frontier line between the two regions. This was later reconfirmed through a treaty between Shalmneseser and Nabu-apla-iddina, Nabu-shuma-ukin's son.

When Marduk-zakir-shumi, the son of Nabu-apla-iddina, came to the throne, his younger brother, Marduk-bel-usate chose this moment to rebel, forcing Babylon to call on Shalmaneser for assistance. Shalmaneser captured Me-Turnat on the Diyala River but the Babylonian rebel slipped through his fingers, taking refuge in Alman (modern Sar-i Pol-i Zohab) in the mountains to the east. But his escape proved to be only temporary when Shalmaneser and Marduk-zakir-shumi joined forces to storm the city and kill Marduk-bel-usate.

Shalmaneser then took the time to visit the most important religious centers of Babylonia - the temple of Nergal in Kutha, Marduk's temple in Babylon, and the temple of Napu in Borsippa. There he made sacrifices and presented gifts as well as holding banquets for the citizens of Babylon and Borsippa. In his account of these events, Shalmaneser does not mention Marduk-zakir-shumi and we don't know if he was acting as the overlord of the Babylonian ruler, or if everything was in fact arranged by Marduk-zakir-shumi. What we do know is that, in a carving on a throne base at Kalhu from a few years later, Shalmaneser II and Marduk-zakir-shumi are shown as equals shaking or slapping hands - a rarity in Assyrian art where the Assyrian king is normally depicted as superior to everyone else. The accompanying inscription records the reinstatement of the Babylonian monarchy and there is no evidence at this point that even hints of Assyrian suzerainity over Babylon. The visit, the gifts to the people of Babylon are hardly an Assyrian king's usual behavior towards subject peoples and this actually points to cultural dominance exercised by Babylon over Assyria.

In the southeast Shalmaneser encountered three powerful Chaldean tribes. who at this time controlled much of southern Babylonia. He defeated one, the Bit-Dakkuri, and recieved tribute from the other two, the Bi-Amukani and the Bi-Yakin. This is recorded both on the Nimrud throne and on the famous bronze gates from Balawat, now in the British Museum. The Chaldeans, like the Aramaeans, from earlier were West Semitic people and their presence is first recorded in the 9th century. How, if at all, the Chaldeans and the Aramaeans are related is not know. Its possible that the Chaldeans may have been a branch of the Aramaeans but the ancient sources do consistently distinguish between them. Here we see the beginning of a pattern which was to recur throughout the period of Assyrian supremacy: on the one hand, Assyrian propitiation of the Babylonian gods and recognition of special rights of the citizens of certain Babylonian cities; on the other, a continuing effort to control the tribes who were who were to prove a constant thorn in the flesh, feuding among themselves and preying upon the cities.

___________________________________

Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia & the Ancient and Near East, Michael Roaf, Andromeda Oxford Unlimited, 1998

Babylon, Albert Champdor, Putnam, 1958

Babylon, Joan Oates, Thames and Hudson, 1996