This period of subjection and humiliation did not last long. Belkudurusur, who appears on the throne not long after Assurnirâri and his partner, resumed military operations against the Cossæans, but cautiously at first; and though he fell in the decisive engagement, yet Bammân-shumusur perished with him, and the two states were thus simultaneously left rulerless. Milishikhu succeeded Bammânshumusur, and Ninipahalesharra filled the place of Belkudurusur; the disastrous invasion of Assyria by the Chaldæans, and their subsequent retreat, at length led to an armistice, which, while it afforded evidence of the indisputable superiority of Milishikhu, proved no less plainly the independence of his rival. Mero-dachabaliddina I. replaced Milishikhu, Zamâniashu-middin followed Merodachabaliddina: Assurdân I., son of Ninipahalesharra, broke the treaty, captured the towns of Zabân, Irrîa, and Akarsallu, and succeeded in retaining them. The advantage thus gained was but a slight one, for these provinces lying between the two Zabs had long been subject to Assyria, and had been wrested from her since the days of Tukulti-ninip: however, it broke the run of ill luck which seemed to have pursued her so relentlessly, and opened the way for more important victories. This was the last Cossæan war; at any rate, the last of which we find any mention in history: Bel-nadînshumu II. reigned three years after Zamâmashu-middin, but when he died there was no man of his family whom the priests could invite to lay hold of the hand of Merodach, and his dynasty ended with him. It included thirty-six kings, and had lasted five hundred and seventy-six years and six months.* * The following is a list of some of the kings of this dynasty according to the canon discovered by Pinches. [Illustration: 163.jpg TABLE]