Note 1565 — Chapter XXVI · (continued 2)

See the discussion (and passages) in Lehmann's Shamash-shumukin, pp. 43 seq. One is tempted to conclude that Marduk's statue was removed to Nineveh, not in a spirit of vandalism, but in order to enable Assyrian kings to 'seize the hands of Bel' without proceeding to E-Sagila. The Babylonians, no doubt, were offended by such an act, and in order to conciliate them, Ashurbanabal, who pursues a mild policy towards the south, orders the statue to be restored at the time that he appoints his brother Shamash-shumukin as governor of the southern provinces.