Then come a number of defective lines, from which not much can be made out. But there can be little doubt that this letter was written in the days when policy still kept him faithful to Assyria. There was another Nabû-bêl-shumâte, whose letters(885) begin quite differently, and refer to horses and troops. There is even a third, a _ḳêpu_ of Birati, named by Tâb-ṣil-esharra,(886) who was concerned in repelling a raid on Sippara, and is named in a contract of B.C. 686.(887) It is just possible that the second and third are the same man. But while we must exercise care in assigning the references of the letters, we have a guide in the historical connection. (M802) Bêl-ibnî was a very important officer who held the position of a _manzâz pâni_, having the right of access to the royal presence and a place near the king on all state occasions. He is probably to be distinguished from the Bêl-ibnî set on the throne of Babylon by Sennacherib in B.C. 702. He is a frequent writer to the king during this period. Ashurbânipal placed him over the Sealand after the flight of Nabû-bêl-shumâte. The king’s proclamation to the Sealanders(888) reads thus: (M803) Order of the king to the Sealanders, elders and juniors, my servants: My peace be with you. May your hearts be cheered. See now how my full gaze is upon you. And before the sin of Nabû-bêl-shumâte, I appointed over you the courtesan of Menânu. Now I have sent Bêl-ibnî, my _dubašu_, to go before you. Whatever order is good in my opinion which is [written] in my letters [obey]. Then after some defaced lines, he threatens that if they do not obey, “I will send my troops.” This order is dated the fifth of Iyyar, B.C. 650. By that date Nabû-bêl-shumâte had fled. It is not easy to say whether Ashurbânipal had appointed a lady, once the _ḫarimtu_, or courtesan, of Menânu, as ruler of the Sealand before Nabû-bêl-shumâte, or whether he means to call Nabû-bêl-shumâte by this opprobrious epithet. Who is meant by Menânu is hard to see, unless it be the Elamite King, Umman-minana, the contemporary of Sennacherib, who had protected the family of Merodach-Baladan II. (M804) We have a fragmentary letter(889) from the King of Elam, Ummanaldash, to Ashurbânipal, which says: