The memory of these provincial chiefs would be revived, and more of their monuments discovered, if the mountains and inaccessible valleys of ancient Elam could be thoroughly explored: it is evident, from the small portion of their history which has been brought to light, that they must have been great sources of trouble to the dynasties which reigned in Susa, and that their revolts must often have jeopardised the safety of the empire, in spite of the assistance afforded by the Aramaeans from the tenth or eleventh centuries onwards. All the semi-nomadic tribes which densely peopled the banks of the Tigris, and whose advance towards the north had been temporarily favoured by the weakness of Assyria--the Gambulu, the Pukudu, the Eutu, and the Itua--had a natural tendency to join forces with Elam for the purpose of raiding the wealthy cities of Chaldaea, and this alliance, or subjection, as it might be more properly termed, always insured them against any reprisals on the part of their victims. The unknown king who dwelt at Susa in 745 B.C. committed the error of allowing Tiglath-pileser to crush these allies. Khumban-igash, who succeeded this misguided monarch in 742 B.C., did not take up arms to defend Bit-Amuk-kani and the other states of the Kalda from 731 to 729, but experience must have taught him that he had made a mistake in remaining an unmoved spectator of their misfortunes; for when Merodach-baladan, in quest of allies, applied to him, he unhesitatingly promised him his support.* * The date of his accession is furnished by the passage in _Pinches' Babylonian Chronicle_, where it is stated that he ascended the throne of Elam in the fifth year of Nabonazir. The Assyrian and Babylonian scribes assimilated the Susian _b_ to the _m_, and also suppressed the initial aspirate of the Elamite name, writing generally Umman-igash for Khumban- igash.