Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/73

Rh the result of which was favorable to the Assyrians. In two hymns to the sun god (Sm. 2005, K. 2668) Kashtariti and Mamitiarshi, two Median governors, are mentioned among the allies of the Cimmerians. It is generally admitted that this Kashtariti has no connection with the Cyaxares of Herodotus. Esar-haddon's success induced him to press into those regions from which the Cimmerians had come. He reached certain Median tribes, whose chiefs, to judge from their names (Siṭirparna and Êparna) were of Aryan descent. Furthermore the name of the chief, Ramatêja, as well as that of his country (Urakazabarna), is plainly Aryan.

The danger which had threatened the Assyrian empire under Esar-haddon increased in the time of his successor, Ashurbanipal (668–626). The Cimmerians retired to Asia Minor, but the Sacian Scythians poured into Western Asia from the east and northeast. The Medes pressed in and laid waste the land, overflowing Armenia, Assyria, Syria, and Palestine as far as the borders of Egypt. It was this horde which the prophet Jeremiah (v. 15, fg.) describes in such vivid words. The Scythian inroad threw the Assyrian kingdom into great excitement, and in all the provinces was aroused a desire for freedom. It is remarkable that in the numerous texts of Ashurbanipal Media is only once mentioned. Cylinder B. Col. III., 102–IV., 14 shows that in the year 655 a certain Birisḫadri, governor of Mat-a-a (according to many Assyriologists=Media), with two other leaders, governors of