The first campaign of Esar-haddon against it was undertaken in B.C.

674; and it was while on the march to put down a revolt in B.C.668 that he fell ill and died, on the 10th of Marchesvan, or October.

The empire was divided between his two sons.

Assur-bani-pal had already been named as his successor, and now took Assyria, while Saul-sum-yukin became king of Babylonia, subject, however, to his brother at Nineveh.

It was an attempt to flatter the Babylonians by giving them a king of their own, while at the same time keeping the supreme power in Assyrian hands.
The first few years of Assur-bani-pal's reign were spent in tranquillising Egypt by means of the sword, in suppressing insurrections, and in expelling Ethiopian invaders.