Though Nebuchadnezzar restored the fortunes of his country, he was not the founder of his dynasty,[3] Of his three predecessors, the name of one may now be restored as Marduk-shapik-zêrim. His name has been read on a kudurru-fragment in the Yale Collection, which is dated in the eighth year of Marduk-nadin-akhê, and refers to the twelfth year of Marduk-shapik-zêrim.[4] That he cannot be identified with Marduk-shapik-zêr-mâti is certain, since we know from the "Synchronistic History" that the latter succeeded Marduk-nadin-akhê upon the throne of Babylon, the one being the contemporary of Tiglath-pileser I., the other of his son Ashur-bêl-kala.[5] The close sequence of the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar I., Enlil-nadin-apli, and Marduk-nadin-akhê has long been recognized from the occurrence of the same officials on legal documents of the period.[6] We must therefore place the newly recovered ruler in the gap before Nebuchadnezzar I.; he must be one of the first three kings of the dynasty, possibly its founder, whose name in the Kings' List begins with the divine title Marduk, and who ruled for seventeen years according to the same authority. Another of these missing rulers may perhaps be restored as Ea-nadin-[....], if the royal name in the broken inscription of Nebuchadnezzar I., to which reference has already been made,[7] is to be read in that way and not identified as that of the last member of the Kassite Dynasty. During the earlier years of the Dynasty of Isin Babylonia must have been subject to further Elamite aggression, and portions of the country may for a time have acknowledged the suzerainty of her rulers. [Illustration: DIVINE EMBLEMS ON A CHARTER OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR I. Brit. Mus., No. 90858.] Nebuchadnezzar's successes against Elam and the neighbouring district of Lulubu[8] no doubt enabled him to offer a more vigorous defence of his northern frontier; and, when Ashur-rêsh-ishi attempted an invasion of Babylonian territory, he not only drove the Assyrians back, but followed them up and laid siege to the frontier fortress of Zanki. But Ashur-rêsh-ishi forced him to raise the siege and burn his siege-train; and, on Nebuchadnezzar's return with reinforcements, the Babylonian army suffered a further defeat, losing its fortified camp together with Karashtu, the general in command of the army, who was taken to Assyria as a prisoner of war. Babylon thus proved that, though strong enough to recover and maintain her independence, she was incapable of a vigorous offensive on a large scale. It is true that Nebuchadnezzar claimed among his titles that of "Conqueror of Amurru,"[9] but it is doubtful whether we should regard the term as implying more than a raid into the region of the middle Euphrates.[10]