Editing Cimmerians (section)

=====Hegemony in the Levant=====
Facing resistance from the Lydians in the west, the Cimmerians moved eastwards, against the Neo-Assyrian Empire:{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101}} despite their defeat by Gyges in the {{c.|660s BC}}, the Cimmerians' power soon grew much so that by {{c.|657 BC}} they were not only in control of a large territory in Anatolia and were one of the main political forces operating in this region, but were also able conquer part of what had previously been secure western possessions of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, such as the province of Que or even part of the [[Levant]].<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Brinkman|1991|p=53}}|{{harvnb|Brinkman|1991|p=53}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=645}}|{{harvnb|Tokhtas’ev|1991}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|pp=99–100}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=216}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=219}}}}</ref>

These Cimmerian aggressions worried Ashurbanipal about the security of the northwest border of the Neo-Assyrian Empire enough that he sought answers concerning this situation through [[divination]].{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=403}} And, as a result of these Cimmerian conquests, by 657 BC, the Assyrian astrologer Akkullanu was calling the Cimmerian king Dugdammî by the title of {{Transliteration|akk-x-neoassyr|šar-kiššati}} ({{lit|King of the Universe}}),{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}}{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=71}} which in the Mesopotamian worldview was a title that could belong only a single ruler in the world at any given time, and was normally held by the King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This attribution of the title of {{Transliteration|akk-x-neoassyr|šar-kiššati}} to a foreign ruler was an unprecedented situation of which there is no other known occurrence throughout the duration of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=100}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=216}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=219}}

Akkullanu nevertheless also assured to Ashurbanipal that he would eventually regain the {{Transliteration|akk-x-neoassyr|kiššūtu}}, that is the world hegemony which rightfully belonged to him, from the Cimmerians who had usurped it.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=100}}

This extraordinary situation meant that, under Dugdammî, who was their most powerful king,{{sfn|Adalı|2017|p=63}} the Cimmerians had become a force feared by Ashurbanipal, and the Cimmerians' successes against the Neo-Assyrian Empire meant that they had become recognised in ancient West Asia as equally powerful as Ashurbanipal himself.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=100}}

This situation remained unchanged throughout the rest of the 650s and the early 640s BC,{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=105}} with the Cimmerian aggressions worrying Ashurbanipal regarding the security of his northwestern border so much that he often sought answers regarding this situation through divination.{{sfn|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101-103}}

These setbacks, along with Ashurbanipal's refusal to provide military support to Lydia, discredited Neo-Assyrian power enough that Gyges understood that he could not rely on Assyrian support against the Cimmerians, and, once the Cimmerians had moved to the east and their attacks on his kingdom decreased, he therefore ended diplomacy with the Neo-Assyrian Empire and instead sent troops to help the Egyptian kinglet [[Psamtik I]] of [[Sais, Egypt|Sais]],<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{harvnb|Braun|1982|p=36}}|{{harvnb|Mellink|1991|p=645}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=101}}|{{harvnb|Ivantchik|1993a|p=103}}|{{harvnb|Fuchs|2023|pp=757–758}}|{{harvnb|Kõiv|2022|p=264}}|{{harvnb|Adalı|2023|p=214}}}}</ref> who had himself been a Neo-Assyrian vassal who was then eliminating the other Neo-Assyrian vassal kinglets in Lower Egypt to unite the whole of Egypt under his own rule.{{sfn|Spalinger|1978a|p=402-403}}{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=645}} Ashurbanipal responded to Gyges's disengagement with the Neo-Assyrian Empire by cursing him.{{sfn|Braun|1982|p=36}}{{sfn|Mellink|1991|p=645}}{{sfn|Adalı|2023|p=215}}