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Theology Library

SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
AT CLAREMONT
California
 ql

COLLECTION OF VASES, MODELLED AND PAINTED IN THE

GRAND TEMPLE. PHILAE ISLAND.
 Kitat t Egypt
Chalieva, Syria, ee and Assyria

By G. “MASPERO, ae Dos of Civil Laws,

eee
and Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford; Member of
the Institute and Professor at the Colleve of France

Edited by A. H. SAYCE, Professor of Assyriology, Oxford &

Translated by M. L. McCLURE, Member _ of QF
the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund

COO

VOL. VII

Containing over Twelve Hundred

Colored Plates and Illustrations

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AG RTE RR. SOCTER
PUBLISHERS A A A LONDON

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CONTENTS
a

CHAPTER I.

THE ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND THE STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

PAGE
Assur-nazir-pal (885-860 B.c.) and Shalmaneser III. (860-825 B.c.)—
The Kingdom of Urartu and its Conquering Princes: Menuas and
Argistis . = . . . . : . : ¢ : . 3

CHAPTER II.

TIGLATH -PILESER III. AND THE ORGANISATION OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE,

FROM 745 To 722 B.C.

Failure of Urartu and Reconquest of Syria — Egypt Again United under ,

Ethiopian Auspices — Pidnkhi— The Downfall of Damascus, of
Babyion, and of Israel_ . ; é é - 5 5 : «) LS

CHAPTER III.
SARGON OF ASSYRIA (722-705 B.C.)

Sargon as a Warrior and as a Builder ° . : . ° . - 337

cee
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
Collection of vases, modelled and painted in Grand Temple, Phile Frontispiece
A mountain raid of Assyrian cavalry ° ° 3
An Assyrian horseman armed with the sword ° - 9
A mounted Assyrian archer with his attendant, charging . ° > 10
The movable sow making a breach in the wall of a fortress . ote
The turreted battering-ram attacking the walls of a town . ° eels
The besieged endeavoring to cripple or destroy the battering-ram - (14
The Escarpments of the Zab ° oe Alley
The site of Shadikanni at Arban, on the habue . oP
Enamelled brick and fragment of mural painting (Nimrod) . - 24
One of the winged bulls found at Arban : » «24
Stele from Arban . - 25
The Zab below the passes of Alan, the Sicient Matty 37
Bas-relief from a building at Sinjirli . . - 52
Jibrin, a village of conical huts, on the Plateau of ‘Mero: . - 58
The war-chariot of the Khati of the Ninth Century B. c. . . 54
The Assyrian war-chariot of the Ninth Century B. c. ; a0
A king of the Khati hunting a lion in his chariot ° 5 488
The god Hadad . . . 57
Religious scene displaying Bayption(ones
f . A aye!
The mounds of Calah : . coe LOK
Stele of Assur-Nazir-Pal at Calah ° - 68
The winged bulls of Assur-Nazir-Pal . . - 70
Glazed tile from palace of Calah . - di
Lion from Assur-Nazir-Pal’s palace . Pomere, te'2
A corner of the ruined palace of Aur WacisPal ° . 74
Shalmaneser ITI. . . WW
The two peaks of Mount Meare ° », 19
Fragment of a votive shield of Urartian work : - 83
vii
viil LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE

: . ° ° ; < 84
Site of an Urartian town at Toprah-Kaleh.
at Toprah- Kaleh 3 . ° 85
The ruins of a palace of Urartu
ans. 87
Temple of Khaldis, at Muzazir, pillaged by the Assyri
Unarfian
Assyrian soldiers carrying off or enced the furniture of an
89
temple
90
Shalmaneser III. crossing the mouatene in his charidt
5 93
The people of Shugunia fighting against the Assyrians
on their dsbics 3 94
Prisoners from Shugunia, with their arms tied and yokes
Sacrifice offered by Shalmaneser III. to the gods of Lake Van, and erec-
tion of a triumphal stele 5 95
Shua, King of Gilzan, bringing a war- sorte fully ee Bet to “Shal-
maneser 100
Dromedaries from Gilzan 101
Tribute from Gilzan . 102
Tribute from Garparuda, King of the ‘Patina 5 102
Mobite stone or stele of Mesha . : ; : 5 123
Jehu, King of Israel, sends presents to Shalmaresee 4 131
Part of Israel’s tribute to Shalmaneser 1382
A mountain village 134
Elephant and monkeys prougeeras a ixibate to ‘Nineveh ivethe peopl of
Muzri . 137
Black Obelisk of Shalinavaser UL. cS ; 141
Stag and lions of the country of Sukhi. ° : ° 142
The bronze-covered gates of Balawat . : : ° : 144
Monolith of Samsi-Ramman IV. : é - : ° 148
Triumphal stele of Menuas at Kelishin . : : . . 5 : 156
The Gardens and Hill of Dhuspas or Van . : : : . . 5 160
Urartian stele on the rocks of Ak-Keupru . 3 : : : . 164
Combat before the walls of a fortress oes < : ° 5 175
A vista of the Asiatic Steppe . : : F . : - 5 5 180
Specimens of Hebrew pottery ‘ 188
Israelites of the higher class in the time of Shaleanoser IIL. 5 . . 189
Judzan peasants 3 : : 190
Women and children of Judea . 5 : - : 5 191
Prayer at sunset . a < : . ° ° : . 201
Egyptian altar at Deine Pahen’ : 5 2 . 5 203
Principal peak of Mount Bikni (Demavend) 218
View of the Mountains which guard the southern border of Una : 221
Bird’s-eye view of the Royal Castle of Zinzirli as restored . 227
Tiglath-Pileser III. in his state chariot 232
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
PAGE
The rock and citadel of Van at the present day.
235
Entrance to the modern citadel of Van from the westward
236
Hebrew inscription on the Siloam aqueduct
241
Bronze statuette of Osorkon I. : 242
The great temple of Bubastis during Naville’s eXcavations 243
Gate of the festival-hall at Bubastis . : . 245
Small bronze sphinx of Siamun. : 248
Ruins of the temple at Khninsu after Naville’ s erunvatous 249
King Petubastis at prayer . 253
View of a part of the ruins of Bipate 255
Gebel-Barkal, the sacred mountain of Napata 256
Ruins of the Temple of Amon at Napata . 257
A nearly pure Ethiopian type 260
Mixed negro and Ethiopian type : 260
Ruins of Oxyrrhynchos and the modern ven ee Baie. ; : 263
King Namrdti leading a horse to Piénkhi . : ; : ; . 266
Ruins of the temple of Thoth at Hermopolis the great. . ° 267
King Tafnakhti presents a field to Tumu and to Bastit . ° 276
Mount Hermon . : 2 : : : : : ; ‘ 288
An Arab. : ; ° c . 289
Arab Meharis ridden ive iy the heaton Baiaiey 5 : ° 290
Arab School . . ‘ : : : 291
A Kaldu . 294
Tiglath-Pileser III. pesiagiag a pebellfons eity : 312
A herd of horses brought in as tribute 314
Typical Cappadocian horse 315
The foundation of a Bit-Khilani at Zinjirli 317
Base of a column at Zinjirli : ; 318
Stele of Bel-Harrin-Beluzur 320
Picture in the Hall of the Harpe in£ the Fifth Tomb a ihe astern
Kings : c : 322
Sargon of Assyria aca ia vizier : ° ° . . 334
The Mound of Khorsabad before Botta’s oreaiions. : 339
Assyrian soldiers pursuing Kalda refugees in a bed of reeds. . : 343
A reed-hut of the Bedawin of Irak. 5 . . 344
Brick bearing the name of the Susian King Shilktak-Inshushinak 346
Bas-relief of Naram-sin, transported to Susa by Shutruk-Nakhunta . . 348
The great rock bas-relief of Malamir c : 5 ; c “ c 349
Jaubidi of Hamath being flayed alive 5 “ : ° 5 ° : 356
Taking of a castle in Zikartu. . ; ° : A ens 364
Taking of the city of Kishisim by the eee : . : . . 369
x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
The town of Bit-Bagaia burnt by the Assyrians 5 3872
King Bocchoris giving judgment between two women, rival daiments isaa
child . : : : ¢ é : c : : : : . 3874
Sabaco ; . ° ° = : - 375
Taking of a cone in Uren by the hewyriads : ° . ° ° . 378
The seal of Urzana, King of Muzazir . : é = e ° = - 379
The Assyrians taking a Median town 5 : 5 : . - - 381
Stele at Larnaka : : ’ 5 . ° ° - = - 396
Part of the enamelled course of ¢a gate ; : . . . ° . 400
Bird’s-eye view of Sargon’s palace at Dur-Sharrukin . : ° ° - 402
One of the gates of the palace at Dur-Sharrukin : . . ° - 403
One of the bronze lions from Dur-Sharrukin . 5 i ; 5 - 405
A hunting expedition in the woods near Dur-Sharrukin . . 0 - 406
The Ziggurat at Dur-Sharrukin . : c 5 ° . 5 - 408
Section of a bedroom inthe Harem . ; & Fy . ° e - 409
Main door of the harem at Dur-Sharrukin. : ° 5 ~ . - 410
 THE ASSYRIAN REVIVAL
AND

foto l UGELE FOR! SYRIA

ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL (885-860 B.C.) AND SHALMANESER 111. (860-825 B.c.)—

THE KINGDOM OF URARTU AND ITS CONQUERING PRINCES: MENUAS AND
ARGISTIS,
The line of Assyrian kings after Assurirba, and the Babylonian dynasties :
the war between Rammdn-nirdri III. and Shamash-mudammig ; his victories
over Babylon; Tukulti-ninip II. (890-885 B.c.)—The empire at the accession
of Assur-nazir-pal: the Assyrian army and the progress .of military tactics;
cavalry, military engines; the condition of Assyria’s neighbours, methods of
Assyrian conquest.
The first campaigns of Assur-nazir-pal in Nairi and on the Khabur
(885-882 3.0.) : Zamua reduced to an Assyrian province (881 B.c.)—The fourth
campaign in Natri and the war on the Euphrates (880 B.c.) ;, the first conquest
of Bit-Adini—Northern Syria at the opening of the IX" century : its civilisation,
af“arts, army, and religion—The submission of the Hittite states and of the Patind :
_the Assyrians reach the Mediterranean,

The empire after the wars of Assur-nazir-pal—Building of the palace at

Calah: Assyrian architecture and sculpture in the IX” century—The tunnel of
VOL. VII. B
 ( 2)
Negub and the palace of Balawat—The last years of Assur-nazir-pal : his cam-
paign of the year 867 in Natri—The death of Assur-nazir-pal (860 B.c.): his
character.

Shalmaneser IIT. (860-825 B.c.) : the state of the empire at his accession—
Urartu: its physical features, races, towns, temples, its deities —Shalmaneser’s
first campaign in Urartu: he penetrates as far as Lake Van (860 8.c.)—The
conquest of Bit-Adini and of Nairi (859-855 B.c.)

The attack on Damascus: the battle of Qargar (854 B.c.) and the war
against Babylon (852-851 B.c.)—The alliance between Judah and Israel, the
death of Ahab (853 B.c.); Damascus successfully resists the attacks of Assyria
(849-846 B.c.)—Moab delivered from Israel, Mesha ; the death of Ben-hadad
(Adadidri) and the accession of Hazael; the fall of the house of Omri-Jehu
(843 B.c.)— The defeat of Hazael and the homage of Jehu (842-839 B.c.).

Wars in Cilicia and in Namri (838-835 B.c.): the last batiles of Shal-
maneser IIT. ; his building works, the revolt of Assur-dain-pal—Samsi-rammdn
IV. (825-812 B.c.), his first three expeditions, his campaigns against Babylon—
Rammdn-nirdri IV, (812-783 B.c.)—Jehu, Athaliah, Joash: the supremacy of
Hazael over Israel and Judah—Victory of Rammédn-nirdri over Mari, and the
submission of all Syria to the Assyrians (803 B.C.).

The growth of Urartu: the conquests of Menuas and Argistis I., their
victories over Assyria—Shalmaneser IV. (783-772 3.c.)—Assurddn III.
(772-754 B.0.\—Assur-nirdri: III. (754-745 B.c.)—The downfall of Assyria
and the triumph of Urartu,
 A MOUNTAIN RAID OF ASSYRIAN CAVALRY.!

CHAPTER I
THE ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND THE STRUGGLE
FOR SYRIA
Assur-nazir-pal (885-860) and Shalmaneser ITI. (860-825)—
The kingdom of Urartu and its conquering princes:
Menuas and Argistis.

SSYRIA was the first to reappear on the

scene of action. Less hampered by an
ancient past than Egypt and Chaldea, she was
the sooner able to recover her strength after
any disastrous crisis, and to assume again the
offensive along the whole of her frontier line.
During the years immediately following the
éphemeral victories and reverses of Assurirba, both the
a
“

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief at Koyunjik of the time of

" Sennacherib. The initial cut, which is also by Faucher-Gudin, represents
the broken obelisk of Assur-nazir-pal, the bas-reliefs of which are as yet
unpublished.
 REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA
4 ASSYRIAN
of
country and its rulers are plunged in the obscurity
oblivion. Two figures at length, though at what date is
uncertain, emerge from the darkness—a certain Irbarammén
and an Assur-nadinakhé II., whom we find engaged in
building palaces and making a necropolis. They were
followed towards 950 by a Tiglath-pileser II., of whom
nothing is known but his name.' He in his turn was
succeeded about the year 935 by one Assurdan II., who
appears to have concentrated his energies upon public
works, for we hear of him digging a canal to supply his
capital with water, restoring the temples and fortifying
towns. Ramméan-nirdri III., who followed him in 912,
stands out more distinctly from the mists which envelop the
history of this period; he repaired the gate of the Tigris
and the adjoining wall at Assur, he enlarged its principal
sanctuary, reduced several rebellious provinces to obedience,
and waged a successful warfare against the neighbouring
inhabitants of Karduniash. Since the extinction of the
race of Nebuchadrezzar I., Babylon had been a prey to
civil discord and foreign invasion. The Aramezan tribes
mingled with, or contiguous to the remnants of the
Cosseans bordering on the Persian gulf, constituted
possibly, even at this period, the powerful nation of the
Kalda.2 It has been supposed, not without probability,
that a certain Simashshikhu, Prince of the Country of
1 Our only knowledge of Tiglath-pileser II. is from a brick, on which he
is mentioned as being the grandfather of Rammin-nirari IT.
? The names Chaldea and Chaldzans being ordinarily used to designate
the territory and people of Babylon, I shall employ the term Kaldu or Kalda
- intreating of the Aramean tribes who constituted the actual Chaldean
nation,
 THE VICTORIES OVER BABYLON 5

the Sea, who immediately followed the last scion of the

line of Pashé,1 was one of their chiefs. He endeavoured
to establish order in the city, and rebuilt the temple of
the Sun destroyed by the nomads at Sippar, but at the
end of eighteen years he was assassinated. His son
Hamukinshumu remained at the head of affairs some three
to six months ;Kashshu-nadinakhé ruled three or six years,
at the expiration of which a man of the house of Bazi,
Hulbar-shakinshumi by name, seized upon the crown? His
dynasty consisted of three members, himself included, and
it was overthrown after a duration of twenty years by an
Hlamite, who held authority for another seven. It was a
period of calamity and distress, during which the Arabs or
the Aramzans ravaged the country, and pillaged without
compunction not only the property of the inhabitants, but
also that of the gods. The Hlamite usurper having died

1 The name of this prince has been read Simbarshiku by Peiser, a reading
adopted by Rost ; Simbarshiku would have been shortened into Sibir, and
we should have to identify it with that of the Sibir mentioned by Assur-
nazir-pal in his Annals, col. ii. 1. 84, as a king of Karduniash who lived before
his (Assur-nazir-pal’s) time (see p. 38 of the present volume).
2 The name of this king may be read Edubarshakin-shumi. The house
of Bazi takes its name from an ancestor who must have founded it at some
unknown date, but who never reigned in Chaldea. Winckler has with
reason conjectured that the name subsequently lost its meaning to the
Babylonians, and that they confused the Chaldean house of Bazi with the
Arab country of Bazu: this may explain why in his dynasties Berosos
attributes an Arab origin to that one which comprises the short-lived line
of Bit-Bazi.
3 Our knowledge of these events is derived solely from the texts of the
Babylonian Canon published and translated by G. Smith, by Pinches, and
- by Sayce. The inscription of Nabubaliddin informs us that Kashu-nadinakhé
and Eulbar-shakinshumu continued the works begun by Simashshiku in the
temple of the Sun at Sippar.
6 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

about the year 1030, a Babylonian of noble extraction

expelled the intruders, and succeeded in bringing me
larger part of the kingdom under his rule.’ Five or six
of his descendants had passed away, and a certain Shamash-
mudammiq was feebly holding the reins of government,
when the expeditions of Ramman-nirari III. provoked war
afresh between Assyria and Babylon. The two armies
encountered each other once again on their former battle-
field between the Lower Zab and the Turnat. Shamash-
mudammiq, after being totally routed near the Yalman
mountains, did not long survive, and Naboshumishkun, who
succeeded him, showed neither more ability nor energy
than his predecessor. ‘The Assyrians wrested from him the
fortresses of Bambala and Bagdad, dislodged him from the
positions where he had entrenched himself, and at length
took him prisoner while in flight, and condemned him to
perpetual captivity.” His successor abandoned to the
* The names of the first kings of this dynasty are destroyed in the
copies of the Royal Canon which have come down to us. ‘The three pre-
ceding dynasties are restored as follows :—
SIMASH-SHIKU . . . 18 years 5 months ( or according ) 17 years 3 months,
EAMUKiN-SHUMU. Cw 5 months to another | 3 months,
KASHU-NADINAKHE . . 3years computation) 6 years.
Total for the dynasty
of the Sea Country 21 years 10 months - 23 years 6 months.
EvLBaR-sHAKIN-SHUMU 17 years a ‘15 years.
Ninip-Kupurusur . . 3years 7 2 years.
SHILANIMSHUKAMUNA . 3 months rs 3 months.
Total for the dynasty
of Bazi . . . . 20years 3 months.
* Shamash-mudammiq appears to have died about 900. Naboshumish-
kun probably reigned only one or two years, from 900 to 899
or to 898.
The name of his successor is destroyed in the Synchronous History
; it might
 TUKULTLNINIP I. 7

Assyrians most of the districts situated on the left bank

of the Lower Zab between the Zagros mountains and the
Tigris, and peace, which was speedily secured by a double
matriage, remained unbroken for nearly half a century.
Tukulti-ninip II. was fond of fighting ; “‘ he overthrew his
adversaries and exposed their heads upon stakes,” but,
unlike his predecessor, he directed his efforts against Nairi
and the northern and western tribes. We possess no
details of his campaigns ; we can only surmise that in
six years, from 890 to 885," he brought into subjection the
valley of the Upper Tigris and the, mountain provinces
which separate it from the Assyrian plain. Having
reached the source of the river, he carved, beside the
image of Tiglath-pileser I., the following inscription, which
may still be read upon the rock. ‘ With the help of Assur,
Shamash, and Ramméan, the gods of his religion, he reached
this spot. The lofty mountains he subjugated from the sun-
rising to its down-setting; victorious, irresistible, he came
hither, and like unto the lightning he crossed the raging
rivers.’’?
He did not live long to enjoy his triumphs, but his

be Nabubaliddin, who seems to have had a long life, but it is wiser, until
fresh light is thrown on the subject, to admit that it is some prince other
than Nabubaliddin, whose name is as yet unknown to us.
1 The parts preserved of the Eponym canon begin their record in 893,
about the end of the reign of Ramman-niraéri. II. The line which dis-
tinguishes the two reigns from one another is drawn between the name of
the personage who corresponds to the year 890, and that of Tukulti-ninip
_who corresponds to the year 889: Tukulti-ninip II., therefore, begins his
reign in 890, and his death is six years later, in 885.
2 This inscription and its accompanying bas-relief are mentioned in the
Annals of Assur-nazir-pal.
8 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

death made no impression on the impulse given to the

fortunes of his country. The kingdom which he left to
Assur-nazir-pal, the eldest of his sons, embraced scarcely
any of the countries which had paid tribute to former
sovereigns. Besides Assyria proper, it comprised merely
those districts of Natri which had been annexed within
his own generation ; the remainder had gradually regained
their liberty: first the outlying dependencies—Cilicia,
Melitene, Northern Syria, and then the provinces nearer
the capital, the valleys of the Masios and the Zagros, the
steppes of the Khabur, and even some districts such as
Lubdi and Shupria, which had been allotted to Assyrian
colonists at various times after successful campaigns.
Nearly the whole empire had to be reconquered under
much the same conditions as in the first instance. Assyria
itself, it is true, had recovered the vitality and elasticity
of its earlier days. ‘The people were a robust and energetic
race, devoted to their rulers, and ready to follow them
blindly and trustingly wherever they might lead. The
army, while composed chiefly of the same classes of troops
as in the time of Tiglath-pileser I.,—spearmen, archers,
sappers, and slingers,—now possessed a new element,
whose appearance on the field of battle was to revolutionize
the whole method of warfare ; this was the cavalry, properly
so called, introduced as an adjunct to the chariotry. The
number of horsemen forming this contingent was as yet
small; like the infantry, they wore casques and cuirasses,
but were clothed with a tight-fitting loin-cloth in place
of the long kilt, the folds of which would have embarrassed
their movements. One-half of the men carried sword and
 ASSYRIAN CAVALRY 9

lance, the other half sword and bow, the latter of a smaller
kind than that used by the infantry. Their horses were
bridled, and bore trappings on the forehead, but had no
saddles; their riders rode bareback without stirrups ; they
sat far back with the chest thrown forward, their knees

AN ASSYRIAN HORSEMAN ARMED WITH THE SWwoRD.!

drawn up to grip the shoulder of the animal. Each horse-

man was attended by a groom, who rode abreast of him,
and held his reins during an action, so that he might be
free to make use of his weapons. This body of cavalry,
having little confidence in its own powers, kept in close
the gate of
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief in bronze on
The Assyrian artist has shown the head and legs of the second
Balawat.
forgotte n to represen t the Test
horse in profile behind the first, but he has
of its body, and also the man riding it.
 10 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

contact with the main body of the army, and was not used
in independent mancuvres; it was associated with and
formed an escort to the chariotry in expeditions where
speed was essential, and where the ordinary foot soldier

A MOUNTED ASSYRIAN ARCHER WITH HIS ATTENDANT, CHARGING!

would have hampered the movements of the charioteer

s.?
The army thus reinforced was at all events more
efficient,
' :
t si an) Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bronze bas-reliefs of the gate

is . nas horsemen must no doubt have

existed in the Assyrian just as
pene syptian army, but we never find
any mention of a body of cavalry in
inscriptions prior to the time of Assur
-nazir-pal ;the introduction of ‘his
ie Se consequently have taken place between
the reigns of Tiglath-
pee a eR probably nearer the time of the latter
t-pal , aoe!
himself seldom speaks of his cavalry,
but he constantly makes
mention of the horsemen, of the
A. ramean and S i incipaliti
incorporated into his own army,
mae res
 MILITARY TACTICS: BESIEGING ENGINES 11

if not actually more powerful, than formerly ; the discipline

maintained was as severe, the military spirit as keen, the
equipment as perfect, and the tactics as skilful as in former
times. A knowledge of engineering had improved upon
the former methods of taking towns by sapping and scaling,
and though the number of military engines was as yet
limited, the besiegers were well able, when occasion
demanded, to improvise and make use of machines capable
of demolishing even the strongest walls." The Assyrians
were familiar with all the different kinds of battering-ram;
the hand variety, which was merely a beam tipped with
iron, worked by some score of men; the fixed ram, in
which the beam was suspended from a scaffold and moved
by means of ropes; and lastly, the movable ram, running
on four or six wheels, which enabled it to be advanced or
withdrawn at will. The military engineers of the day
allowed full rein to their fancy in the many curious shapes
they gave to this latter engine; for example, they gave
to the mass of bronze at its point the form of the head
of an animal, and the whole engine took at times the
form of a sow ready to root up with its snout the founda-
tions of the enemy’s defences. The scaffolding of the
machine was usually protected by a carapace of green
leather or some coarse woollen material stretched over it,
which broke the force of blows from projectiles: at times
1 The battering-ram had already reached such a degree of perfection
the
under Assur-nazir-pal, that it must have been invented some time before
first bas-relief s on which we see it portrayed . Its points of
execution of the
the Greek battering -ram furnished Hoefer with one of his
resemblance to
Koyunjik as
main arguments for placing the monuments of Khorsabad and
late as the Persian or Parthian period.
12 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

it had an additional arrangement in the shape of a cupola

or turret in which archers were stationed to sweep the
face of the wall opposite to the point of attack. The
battering-rams were set up and placed in line at a short
distance from the ramparts of the besieged town; the

THE MOVABLE SOW MAKING A BREACH IN THE WALL OF A FORTRESS.!

ground in front of them was then levelled and a regular

causeway constructed, which was paved with bricks
wherever the soil appeared to be lacking in firmness.
These preliminaries accomplished, the engines were pushed
forward by relays of troops till they reached the required
range. The effort needed to set the ram in motion severely
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bronze bas-reliefs of the gate
of Balawat,
 THE BATTERING-RAM 18

taxed the strength of those engaged in the work; for the

size of the beam was enormous, and its iron point, or the
square mass of metal at the end, was of no light weight.
The besieged did their best to cripple or, if possible,
destroy the engine as it approached them. Torches,
lighted tow, burning pitch, and stink-pots were hurled

ATTACKING THE WALLS OF A TOWN.?

THE TURRETED BATTERBING-RAM

the
down upon its roofing: attempts were made to seize
so as to
head of the ram by means of chains or hooks,
drag it on to the
prevent it from moving, or in order to
\Y

in some cases the garrison succeeded in

battlements;
the machinery with a mass of rock. The
crushing
to be dis-
Assyrians, however, did not allow themselves
would at once
couraged by such trifling accidents; they
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief brought from Nimroud,
now in the British Museum.
 14 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

extinguish the fire, release, by sheer force of muscle, the

beams which the enemy had secured, and if, notwith-
standing all their efforts, one of the machines became
injured, they had others ready to take its place, and the
ram would be again at work after only a few minutes’

THE BESIEGED ENDEAVOURING TO CRIPPLE OR DESTROY THE BATTERING-RAM.!

delay. Walls, even when of burnt brick or faced with

small stones, stood no chance against such an attack.
The first blow of the ram sufficed to shake them, and an
opening was rapidly made, so that in a few days, often
in a few hours, they became a heap of ruins; the foot
soldiers could then enter by the breach which the pionee
rs
had effected. :

* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, froma bas-relief from m NiNimroud, .

now in the
British Museum,
 THE CONDITION OF ASSYRIA’S NEIGHBOURS 15

It must, however, be remembered that the strength and

discipline which the Assyrian troops possessed in such a
high degree, were common to the military forces of all the
great states—Hlam, Damascus, Nairi, the Hittites, and
Chaldea. It was owing to this, and also to the fact that
the armies of all these Powers were, as a rule, both in
strength and numbers, much on a par, that no single state
was able to inflict on any of the rest such a defeat as would
end in its destruction. What decisive results had the
terrible struggles produced, which stained almost
periodically the. valleys of the Tigris and the Zab with
blood? After endless loss of life and property, they had
nearly always issued in the establishment of the belligerents
- in their respective possessions, with possibly the cession of
some few small towns or fortresses to the stronger party,
most of which, however, were destined to come back to its
former possessor in the very next campaign. The fall of
the capital itself was not decisive, for it left the vanquished
foe chafing under his losses, while the victory cost his rival
so dear that he was unable to maintain the ascendency for
more than a few years. ‘Twice at least in three centuries a
king of Assyria had entered Babylon, and twice the
Babylonians had expelled the intruder of the hour, and had
forced him back with a blare of trumpets to the frontier.
Although the Ninevite dynasties had persisted in their
pretensions to a suzerainty which they had generally been
unable to enforce, the tradition of which, unsupported by
any definite decree, had been handed on from one genera-
tion to another; yet in practice their kings had not
succeeded in ‘‘ taking the hands of Bel,” and in reigning
16 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

personally in Babylon, nor in extorting from the native

sovereign an official acknowledgment of his vassalage.
Profiting doubtless by past experience, Assur-nazir-pal
resolutely avoided those direct conflicts in which so many
of his predecessors had wasted their lives. If he did not
actually renounce his hereditary pretensions, he was
content to let them lie dormant. He preferred to accom-
modate himself to the terms of the treaty signed a few
years previously by Ramméan-nirari, even when Babylon
neglected to observe them ; he closed his eyes to the many
ill-disguised acts of hostility to which he was exposed,’ and
devoted all his energies to dealing with less dangerous
enemies. Even if his frontier touched Karduniash to the
south, elsewhere he was separated from the few states
strong enough to menace his kingdom by a strip of varying
width, comprising several less important tribes and cities;
—to the east and north-east by the barbarians of obscure
race whose villages and strongholds were scattered along
the upper affluents of the Tigris or on the lower terraces of
the Iranian plateau: to the west and north-west by the
principalities and nomad tribes, mostly of Aramman
extraction, who now for a century had peopled the
mountains of the Tigris and the steppes of Mesopotamia.
They were high-spirited, warlike, hardy populations, proud
of their independence and quick to take up arms in its
defence or for its recovery, but none of them possessed.
more than a restricted domain, or had more than a handful

1 He did not make the presence of Cossean troops

among the allies of
the Sukhi a casus belli, even though they were comma
nded by a brother and
by one of the principal officers of the King of Babylon.
 METHODS OF ASSYRIAN CONQUEST 17

of soldiers at its disposal. At times, itis true, the nature

of their locality befriended them, and the advantages of
position helped to compensate for their paucity of numbers.
Sometimes they were entrenched behind one of those rapid
watercourses like the Radanu, the Zab, or the Turnat,

THE ESCARPMENTS OF THE ZAB.!

which are winter torrents rather than streams, and are

overhung by steep banks, precipitous as a wall above a
moat; sometimes they took refuge upon some wooded
height and awaited attack amid its rocks and pine woods.
Assyria was superior to all of them, if not in the valour of
its troops, at least numerically, and, towering in the midst
of them, she could single out at will whichever tribe offered
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Binder.
VOL. VII. C
18 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

the easiest prey, and falling on it suddenly, would crush it

by sheer force of weight. In such a case the surrounding
tribes, usually only too well pleased to witness in safety the
fall of a dangerous rival, would not attempt to interfere;
but their turn was ere long sure to come, and the pity
which they had declined to show to their neighbours was in
like manner refused to them. The Assyrians ravaged their
country, held their chiefs to ransom, razed their strong-
holds, or, when they did not demolish them, garrisoned
them with their own troops who held sway over the country.
The revenues gleaned from these conquests would swell
the treasury at Nineveh, the native soldiers would be
incorporated into the Assyrian army, and when the smaller
tribes had all in turn been subdued, their conqueror would,
at length, find himself confronted with one of the great
states from which he had been separated by these buffer
communities ; then it was that the men and money he had
appropriated in his conquests would embolden him to
provoke or accept battle with some tolerable certainty of
victory. ;
Immediately on his accession, Assur-nazir-pal turned his
attention to the parts of his frontier where the population
was most scattered, and therefore less able to offer any
resistance to his projects... He marched towards the

* The principal document for the history of Assur-nazir-pal is the

‘Monolith of Nimrud,” discovered by Layard in the ruins of the temple of
Ninip ; it bears the same inscription on both its sides, It is a compilation
of various documents, comprising, first, a consecutive account of the cam-
paigns of the king’s first six years, terminating in a summary of the results
obtained during that period ; secondly, the account of the campaign of his
sixth year, followed by three campaigns not dated, the last of which was in
 ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL’S FIRST CAMPAIGN IN NAIRI 19

north-western point of his territory, suddenly invaded

Nummi,’ and in an incredibly short time took Gubbé,
its capital, and some half-dozen lesser places, among them
Surra, Abuku, Arura, and Arubi. The _ inhabitants
assembled upon a mountain ridge which they believed
to be inaccessible, its peak being likened to ‘the ‘point of
an iron dagger,” and the steepness of its sides such that
“no winged bird of the heavens dare venture on them.”’
In the short space of three days Assur-nazir-pal succeeded
in climbing its precipices and forcing the entrenchments
which had been thrown up on its summit: two hundred
of its defenders perished sword in hand, the remainder
were taken prisoners. The Kirruri,’ terrified by this

Syria ; and thirdly, the history of a last campaign, that of his eighteenth
year, and a second summary. A monolith found in the ruins of Kurkh, at
some distance from Diarbekir, contains some important additions to the
account of the campaigns of the fifth year. The other numerous inscriptions
of Assur-nazir-pal which have come down to us do not contain any informa-
tion of importance which is not found in the text of the Annals. The
inscription of the broken Obelisk,.from which I have often quoted, con-
tains in the second column some mention of the works undertaken by this
king.
1 Nummi or Nimmi, mentioned already in the Annals of Tiglath-pileser
I., has been placed by Hommel in the mountain group which separates Lake
Van from Lake Urumiah, but by Tiele in the regions situated to the south-
east of Nineveh ; the observations of Delattre show that we ought perhaps
to look for it to the north of the Arzania, certainly in the valley of that
river. It appears to me to answer to the cazas of Varto and Boulanik in
the sandjak of Mush. The name of the capital may be identified with the
present Gop, chief town of the caza of Boulanik ;in this case Abuku might be
represented by the village of Biyonkh.
2 The Kirruri must have had their habitat in the depression around Lake
Urumiah, on the western side of the lake, if we are to believe Schrader ;
Delattre has pointed out that it ought to be sought elsewhere, near the
sources of the Tigris, not far from the Murad-su. The connection in which
20 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

example, submitted unreservedly to the conqueror, yielded

him their horses, mules, oxen, sheep, wine, and brazen
vessels, and accepted the Assyrian prefects appointed to
collect the tribute. The neighbouring districts, Adaush,
Gilzin, and Khubushkia, followed their example;' they
sent the king considerable presents of gold, silver, lead,
and copper, and their alacrity in buying off their conqueror
saved them from the ruinous infliction of a garrison. The
Assyrian army defiling through the pass of Khulun next
fell upon the Kirkhi, dislodged the troops stationed in the
fortress of Nishtun, and pillaged the cities of Khatu,
Khatara, Irbidi, Arzania, Tela, and Khalua;* Bubu, the
it is here cited obliges us to place it in the immediate neighbourhood of
Nummi, and its relative position to Adaush and Gilzin makes it probable
that it is to be sought to the west and south-west of Lake Van, in the cazas
of Mush and Sassun in the sandjak of Mush.
1 Kirzau, also transcribed Gilzin and Guzdin, has been relegated by the
older Assyriologists to Eastern Armenia, and the site further specified as
being between the ancient Araxes and Lake Urumiah, in the Persian
provinces of Khoi and Marand, The indications given in our text and the
passages brought together by Schrader, which place Gilzin in direct con-
nection with Kirruri on one side and with Kurkhi on the other, oblige us
to locate the country in the upper basin of the Tigris, and I should place it
near Bitlis-tchat, where different forms of the word occur many times on the
map, such as Ghalzan in Ghalzan-dagh ; Kharzan, the name of a caza of the
sandjak of Sert; Khizan, the name of a caza of the sandjak of Bitlis,
Girzin-Kilzin would thus be the Roman province of Arzanene, Ardzn in
Armenian, in which the initial g or k of the ancient name has been replaced
in the process of time by a soft aspirate. Khubushkia or Khutushkia has
been placed by Lenormant to the east of the Upper Zab, and south of
Arapkha, and this identification has been approved by Schrader and also by
Delitzsch ;according to the passages that Schrader himself has cited, it must,
however, have stretched northwards as far as Shatakh-su, meeting Gilzin
at one point of the sandjaks of Van and Hakkiari,
2 Assur-nazir-pal, in going from Kirruri to Kirkhi in the basin of the
Tigris, could go either by the pass of Bitlis or that of Sassun ; that of Bitlis
 ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL FOUNDS A COLONY 21

Chief of Nishtun,’ was sent to Arbela, flayed alive, and his

skin nailed to the city wall. In a small town near one of

THE CAMPAIGNS
orASSUR-NAZIR-PAL
In NAIRI.

Scale.
30

the sources of the Tigris, Assur-nazir-pal founded a colony

on which he imposed his name; he left there a statue of

is excluded by the fact that it lies in Kirruri, and Kirruri is not mentioned
in what follows. But if the route chosen was by the pass of Sassun, Khulun
necessarily must have occupied a position at the entrance of the defiles, per-
haps that of the present town of Khorukh. The name Khatu recalls that
of the Khoith tribe which the Armenian historians mention as in this
locality. Khaturu is perhaps Hatera in the caza of Lidjé, in the sandjak of
Diarbekir, and Arzania the ancient Arzan, Arzn, the ruins of which may be
seen near Sheikh-Yunus. Tila-Tela is not the same town as the Tela in Meso-
potamia, which we shall have occasion to speak of later, but is probably to
be identified with Til or Tilleh, at the confluence of the Tigris and the
Bohtan-tcha. Finally, it is possible that the name Khalua may be pre-
served in that of Halewi, which Layard gives as belonging to a village
situated almost halfway between Rundvan and Til.
1 Nishtun was probably the most important spot in this region: from its
position on the list, between Khulun and Khataru on one side and Arzania
in the
on the other, it is evident we must look for it somewhere in Sassun or
direction of Mayafarrikin.
22 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

himself, with an inscription celebrating his exploits carved

on its base, and having done this, he returned to Nineveh
laden with booty. A few weeks had sufficed for him to
complete, on this side, the work bequeathed to him by his
father, and to open up the neighbourhood of the north-

THE SITE OF SHADIKANNI AT ARBAN, ON THE KHABUR.!

east provinces; he was not long in setting out afresh,

this time to the north-west, in the direction of the Taurus.*
He rapidly skirted the left bank of. the Tigris, burned some

1 Drawn by Boudier, from a sketch taken by Layard.

2 The text of the ‘“‘Annals” declares that these events took place ‘‘in
this same limmu,” in what the king calls higher up in the column “the
beginning of my royalty, the first year of my reign.” We must therefore
suppose that he ascended the throne almost at the beginning of the year,
since he was able to make two campaigns under the same eponym.
 COLLECTING THE TRIBUTE 23

score of scattered hamlets at the foot of Nipur and Pazatu,!

crossed to the right bank, above Amidi, and, as he
approached the Kuphrates, received the voluntary homage
of Kummukh and the Mushku.?, But while he was com-
placently engaged in recording the amount of vessels of
bronze, oxen, sheep, and jars of wine which represented
their tribute, a messenger of bad tidings appeared before
him. Assyria was bounded on the east by a line of small
states, comprising the Katna* and the Bit-Khalupi,* whose

1 Nipur or Nibur is the Nibaros of Strabo. If we consider the general

direction of the campaign, we are inclined to place Nipur close to the bank
of the Tigris, east of the regions traversed in the preceding campaign, and
to identify it, as also Pazatu, with the group of high hills called at the
present day the Ashit-dagh, between the Kharzan-su and the Batman-
tchai.
2 The Mushku (Moschiano or Meshek) mentioned here do not represent
the main body of the tribe, established in Cappadocia; they are the
descendants of such of the Mushku as had crossed the Euphrates and con-
tested the possession of the regions of Kashiari with the Assyrians,
3 The name has been read sometimes Katna, sometimes Shuna. The
country included the two towns of Kamani and Dur-Katlimi, and on the
south adjoined Bit-Khalupi; this identifies it with the districts of Magada
and Sheddadiyeh, and, judging by the information with which Assur-nazir-
pal himself furnishes us, it is not impossible that Dur-Katline may have
been on the site of the present Magarda, and Kamani on that of Shedda-
diyeh. Ancient ruins have been pointed out on both these spots.
4 Suru, the capital of Bit-Khalupi, was built upon the Khabur itself
where it is navigable, for Assur-nazir-pal relates further on that he had his
royal barge built there at the time of the cruise which he undertook on
the Euphrates in the VI" year of his reign. The itineraries of modern
travellers mention a place called es-Sauar or es-Saur, eight hours’ march
from the mouth of the Khabur on the right bank of the river, situated at
the foot of a hill some 220 feet high; the ruins of a fortified enclosure
and of an ancient town are still visible. Following Tomkins, I should there
place Suru, the chief town of Khalupi; Bit-Khalupi would be the territory
in the neighbourhood of es-Saur.
94 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

towns, placed alternately like sentries on each side the

Khabur, protected her from the incursions of the Bedawin.
They were virtually Chaldean cities, having been, like
most of those which flourished in the Mesopotamian plains,
thoroughly impreg-
nated with LBaby-
lonian civilisation.
Shadikanni, the most
important of them,
commanded the right
bank of the Khabur,
and also the ford
where the road from
Nineveh crossed the
river on the route to
Harraén and Carche-
mish. The palaces of
its rulers were deco-
rated with winged
ONE OF THE WINGED BULLS FOUND AT ARBAN.!
bulls, lions, stele,
and _bas - reliefs
carved in marble brought from the hills of Singar. The
people seem to have been of a capricious temperament,
and, nothwithstanding the supervision to which they were
subjected, few reigns elapsed in which it was not necessary
to put down a rebellion among them. Bit-Khalupi and
its capital Suru had thrown off the Assyrian yoke after
the death of Tukulti-ninip; the populace,. stirred up no
doubt by Aramwan emissaries, had assassinated the |
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Layard. “
 id ia e
a Ce
er

rere eeCCUCMM ea (ACMA TMC SCLC

NO. 2.

NO. 1. ENAMELED BRICK (NIMROD).

NO; 2. FRAGMENT OF MURAL PAINTING (NIMROD).
 ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL’S CAMPAIGN ON THE KHABUR = 25oo

Hamathite who governed them, and had sent for a certain

Akhiababa, a man of base extraction from Bit-Adini,
whom they had proclaimed king. This defection, if not
promptly dealt with, was likely to entail serious conse-
quences, since it left an important point on the frontier
exposed; and there now re-
mained nothing to prevent
the people of Adini or their
allies from spreading over the
country between the Khabur
and the Tigris, and even push-
ing forward their marauding
bands as far as the very walls
of Singar and Assur. With-
out losing a moment, Assur-
nazir-pal marched down the
course of the Khabur, hastily
collecting the tribute of the
cities through which he
passed. The defenders of
STELE FROM ARBAN.!
Suru were disconcerted by
his sudden appearance before their town, and their rulers
came out and prostrated themselves at the king’s feet:
‘Dost thou desire it? it is life for us;—dost thou desire
it? it is death ;—dost thou desire it? what thy heart
chooseth, that do to us!’’ But the appeal to his clemency
was in vain; the alarm had been so great and the danger
so pressing, that Assur-nazir-pal was pitiless. The town
was handed over to the soldiery, all the treasure it
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Layard’s sketch.
 26 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

contained was confiscated, and the women ‘and children of

the best families were made slaves; some of the ringleaders
paid the penalty of their revolt on the spot; the rest,
with Akhiababa, were carried away and flayed alive, some
at Nineveh, some elsewhere. An Assyrian garrison was
installed in the citadel, and an ordinary governor, Azilu
by name, replaced the dynasty of native princes. The
report of this terrible retribution induced the Lagi! to
tender their submission, and their example was followed
by Khaian, king of Khindanu on the Euphrates. He
bought off the Assyrians with gold, silver, lead, precious
stones, deep-hued purple, and dromedaries; he erected
a statue of Assur-nazir-pal in the centre of his palace as
a sign of his vassalage, and built into the wall near the
gates of his town an inscription dedicated to the gods
of the conqueror. Six, or at the most eight, months had
sufficed to achieve these rapid successes over various foes,
in twenty different directions—the expeditions in Nummi
and Kirruri, the occupation of Kummukh, the flying
marches across the mountains and plains of Mesopotamia—
during all of which the new sovereign had given ample
proof of his genius. He had, in fine, shown himself to be
a thorough soldier, a conqueror of the type of Tiglath-
pileser, and Assyria by these victories had recovered her
rightful rank among the nations of Western Asia.
The second year of his reign was no less fully occupied,
nor did it prove less successful than the first. At its very

: The Laqi were situated on both banks of the Euphra

tes, principally on
the right bank, between the Khabur and the Balikh,
interspersed among
the Sukhi, of whom they were perhaps merely a dissent
ient fraction.
 SECOND CAMPAIGN IN NATRI 27
beginning, and even before the return of the favourable
season, the Sukhi on the Euphrates made a public act
of submission, and their chief, Ilubani, brought to Nineveh
on their behalf a large sum of gold and silver. He had
scarcely left the capital when the news of an untoward
event effaced the good impression he had made. ‘The
descendants of the colonists, planted in bygone times by
Shalmaneser I. on the western slope of the Masios, in the
district of Khalzidipkha, had thrown off their allegiance,
and their leader, Khulai, was besieging the royal fortress
of Damdamusa.! Assur-nazir-pal marched direct to the
sources of the Tigris, and the mere fact of his presence
sufficed to prevent any rising in that quarter. He took
advantage of the occasion to set up a stele beside those
of his father Tukulti-ninip and his ancestor Tiglath-pileser,
and then having halted to receive the tribute of Izalla,’

1 The position of Khalzidipkha or Khalzilukha, as well as that of Kina-

ir-
bu, its stronghold, is shown approximately by what follows. Assur-naz
pal, marching from the sources of the Supnat towards Tela, could pass
either to the east or west of the Karajah-dagh ; as the end of the campaign
Nairi
finds him at Tushkhan, to the south of the Tigris, and he returns to
the eastern side of the Karajah- dagh, we are led to conclude
and Kirkhi by
the
that the outgoing march to Tela was by the western side, through
. On
country situated between the Karajah-dagh and the Euphrates
found in this
referring to a modern map, two rather important places will be
to Khar-
locality : the first, Arghana, commanding the road from Diarbekir
Orfah, Arghana
put ; the other, Severek, on the route from Diarbekir to
a, which would
appears to me to correspond to the royal city of Damdamus
the north-wes t. Severek
thus have protected the approach to the plain on
to the Assyrian text,
corresponds fairly well to the position which, according
of Khalzidi pkha (Khalzi-
Kinabu must have occupied ; hence the country
lukha) must be the district of Severek.
in sheep and oxen,
2 Tzalla, written also Izala, Azala, paid its tribute
contin ued to be celebrated down
and also produced a wine for which it
 28 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

he turned southwards, and took up a position on the slopes

of the Kashiari. At the first news of his approach, Khulai
had raised the blockade of Damdamusa and had entrenched
himself in Kinabu; the Assyrians, however, carried the
place by storm, and six hundred soldiers of the garrison
were killed in the attack. The survivors, to the number
of three thousand, together with many women and children,
were thrown into the flames. The people of Mariru-
hastened to the rescue ;+ the Assyrians took three hundred
of them prisoners and burnt them alive; fifty others were
ripped up, but the victors did not stop to reduce their
town. The district of Nirbu was next subjected to
systematic ravaging, and half of its inhabitants fled into
the Mesopotamian desert, while the remainder sought
refuge in Tela at the foot of the Ukhira.2 The latter place
was a strong one, being surrounded by three enclosing
walls, and it offered an obstinate resistance. Notwith-
standing this, it at length fell, after having lost three
to the time of Nebuchadrezzar II. Lenormant and Finzi place this country
near to Nisibis, where the Byzantine and Syrian writers mention a district
and a mountain of the same name, and _this conjecture is borne out by the
passages of the Annals of Assur-nazir-pal which place it in the vicinity of
Bit-Adini and Bit-Bakhiani. It has also been adopted by most of the
historians who have recently studied the question.
* The site of Mariru is unknown ; according to the text of the Annals,
it ought to lie near Severek (Kinabu) to the south-east, since after having
mentioned it, Assur-nazir-pal speaks of the people of Nirbu whom he
engaged
in the desert before marching against Tela.
* Tila or Tela is the Tela Antoninopolis of the writers of the Roman
period and the present Veranshehr. The district of N irbu, of which it was
the capital, lay on the southern slope of the Karajah-dagh at
the foot of
Mount Urkhira, the central group of the range. The name
Kashiari is
applied to the whole mountain group which separates the
basins of the
Tigris and Euphrates to the south and south-west,
 TORTURES INFLICTED ON THE GARRISON 29

thousand of its defenders:—some of its garrison were

condemned to the stake, some had their hands, noses, or
ears cut off, others were deprived of sight, flayed alive,
or impaled amid the smoking ruins. This being deemed
insufficient punishment, the conqueror degraded the place
from its rank of chief town, transferring this, together with
its other privileges, to a neighbouring city, Tushkhan,
which had belonged to the Assyrians from the beginning
of their conquests... The king enlarged the place, added
to it a strong enclosing wall, and installed within it the
survivors of the older colonists who had been dispersed
by the war, the majority of whom had taken refuge in
Shupria.* He constructed a palace there, built storehouses
for the reception of the grain of the province; and, in
short, transformed the town into a stronghold of the first
1 From this passage we learn that Tushkhan, also called Tushkha, was
situated on the border of Nirbu, while from another passage in the cam-
paign of the V" year we find that it was on the right bank of the Tigris.
Following H. Rawlinson, I place it at Kurkh, near the Tigris, to the east of
Diarbekir. The existence in that locality of an inscription of Assur-nazir-
pal appears to prove the correctness of this identification; we are aware, in
fact, of the particular favour in which this prince held Tushkhén, for he
speaks with pride of the buildings with which he embellished it. Hommel,
however, identifies Kurkh with the town of Matiaté, of which mention is
made further on.
2 Shupria or Shupri, a name which has been read Ruri, had been brought
into submission from the time of Shalmaneser I. We gather from the
passages in which it is mentioned that it was a hilly country, producing
wine, rich in flocks, and lying at a short distance from Tushkhan ; per-
haps Mariru, mentioned on p. 28, was one of its towns. I think we may
safely place it on the north-western slopes of the Kashiari, in the modern
caza of Tchernik, which possesses several vineyards held in high estimation.
Knudtzon, to whom we are indebted for the reading of this name, places the
country rather further north, within the fork formed by the two upper
branches of the Tigris.
 380 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

order, capable of serving as a base of operations for his

armies. The surrounding princes, in the meanwhile,
rallied round him, including Ammibaal of Bit-Zamani, and
the rulers of Shupria, Nairi, and Urumi;' the chiefs of
Kastern Nirbu alone held aloof, emboldened by the rugged
nature of their mountains and the density of their forests.
Assur-nazir-pal attacked them on his return journey, dis-
lodged them from the fortress of Ishpilibria where they
were entrenched, gained the pass of Buliani, and emerged
into the valley of Luqia.* At Ardupa a brief halt was
made to receive the ambassadors of one of the Hittite
sovereigns and others from the kings of Khanigalbat,
after which he returned to Nineveh, where he spent the
winter. As a matter of fact, these were but petty wars,
and their immediate results appear at the first glance quite
inadequate to account for the contemporary enthusiasm
+ The position of Bit-Zamani on the banks of the Euphrates was
determined by Delattre. Urumi was situated on the right bank of the same
river in the neighbourhood of Sumeisat, and the name has survived in that
of Urima, a town in the vicinity so called even as late as Roman times.
Nirdun, with Madara as its capital, occupied part of the eastern slopes of
the Kashiari towards Ortaveran.
* Hommel identifies the Luqia with the northern affluent of the
Euphrates called on the ancient monuments Lykos, and he places the scene
of the war in Armenia. The context obliges us to look for this river to the
south of the Tigris, to the north-east and to the east of the Kashiari. The
king coming from Nirbu, the pass of Buliani, in which he finds the towns of
Kirkhi, must be the valley of Khaneki, in which the road winds from Mardin
to Diarbekir, and the Lugia is probably the most important stream in
this
region, the SheikhAan-Su, which waters Savur, chief town of the caza
of
Avineh. Ardupa must have been situated near, or on the actual site of, the
present Mardin, whose Assyrian name is unknown to us 3 it was
at all
events a military station on the road to Nineveh, along which the
king
returned victorious with the spoil.
 THIRD CAMPAIGN IN NATRI 31
they excited. The sincerity of it can be better understood
when we consider the miserable state of the country
twenty years previously. Assyria then comprised two
territories, one in the plains of the middle, the other in
the districts of the upper, Tigris, both of considerable
extent, but almost without regular intercommunication.
Caravans or isolated messengers might pass with tolerable
safety from Assur and Nineveh to Singar, or even to
Nisibis; but beyond these places they had to brave the
narrow defiles and steep paths in the forests of the Masios,
through which it was rash to venture without keeping
‘eye and ear ever on the alert. The mountaineers and
their chiefs recognized the nominal suzerainty of Assyria,
but refused to act upon this recognition unless constrained
by a strong hand; if this control were relaxed they levied
contributions on, or massacred, all who came within their
reach, and the king himself never travelled from his own
city of Nineveh to his own town of Amidi unless accom-
panied by an army. In less than the short space of three
years, Assur-nazir-pal had remedied this evil. By the
slaughter of some two hundred men in one place, three
hundred in another, two or three thousand in a third,
by dint of impaling and flaying refractory sheikhs, burn-
ing villages and dismantling strongholds, he forced the
marauders of Nairi and Kirkhi to respect his frontiers
and desist from pillaging his country. The two divisions
of his kingdom, strengthened by the military colonies in
Nirbu, were united, and became welded together into a
compact whole from the banks of the Lower Zab to the
sources of the Khabur and the Supnat.
82 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

During the following season the course of events

diverted the king’s efforts into quite an opposite direction
(B.c. 882). Under the name of Zamua there existed a
number of small states scattered along the western slope
of the Iranian Plateau north of the Cosseans.' Many
of them—as, for instance, the Lullumé—had been civilized
by the Chaldzans almost from time immemorial; the most
southern among them were perpetually oscillating between
the respective areas of influence of Babylon and Nineveh,
according as one or other of these cities was in the
ascendant, but at this particular moment they acknow-
ledged Assyrian sway. Were they excited to rebellion
against the latter power by the emissaries of its rival, or
did they merely think: that Assur-nazir-pal was too fully
absorbed in the affairs of Nairi to be able to carry his arms
effectively elsewhere? At all events they coalesced under
Nurramman, the sheikh of Dagara, blocked the pass of
Babiti which led to their own territory, and there massed
their contingents behind the shelter of hastily erected
ramparts.” Assur-nazir-pal concentrated his army at
According to Hommel and Tiele, Zamua would be the country extend-
ing from the sources of the Radanu to the southern shores of the lake of
Urumiah ; Schrader believes it to have occupied a smaller area, and places
it to the east and south-west of the lesser Zab. Delattre has shown that
a
distinction must be made between Zamua on Lake Van and the well-know
n
Zamua upon the Zab. Zamua, as described by Assur-nazir-pal, answers
approximately to the present sandjak of Suleimaniyeh in the vilayet
of
Mossul.
? Hommel believes that Assur-nazir-pal crossed the Zab near
Altin-
keupru, and he is certainly correct ; but it appears to me from a
passage in
the Annals, that instead of taking the road which leads to Bagdad
by Ker-
kuk and Tuz-Khurmati, he marched along that which leads eastward
s in the
direction of Suleimaniyeh. The pass of Babiti must have lain between
 ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL IN ZAMUA 33

Kakzi," a little to the south of Arbela, and promptly

marched against them ; he swept all obstacles before him,
killed fourteen hundred and sixty men at the first
onslaught, put Dagara to fire and sword, and soon defeated
Nurramman, but without effecting his capture. As the
campaign threatened to be prolonged, he formed an

THE CAMPAIGNS
ar ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL ;
in ZAMUA. a os\
Scale.

L-Thuiller , del*

entrenched camp in a favourable position, and stationed

in it some of his troops to guard the booty, while he
dispersed the rest. to pillage the country on all sides.
One expedition led him to the mountain group of Nizir,
at the end of the chain known to the people of Lullumé

Gawardis and Biban, facing the Kissé tchai, which forms the western branch
of the Radanu. Dagara would thus be represented by the district to the
east of Kerkuk at the foot of the Kara-dagh.
1 Kakzi, sometimes read Kalzi, must have been situated at Shemamek or
Shamamik, near Hazeh, to the south-west of Erbil, the ancient Arbela, at
the spot where Jones noticed important Assyrian ruins excavated by
Layard.
VOL. VII. D
34 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

as the Kinipa.! He there reduced to ruins seven towns

whose inhabitants had barricaded themselves in urgent
haste, collected the few herds of cattle he could find,
and driving them back to the camp, set out afresh towards
a part of Nizir as yet unsubdued by any conqueror. ‘The
stronghold of Larbusa fell before the battering-ram, to be
followed shortly by. the capture of Bara. Thereupon the
chiefs of Zamua, convinced of their helplessness, purchased
the king’s departure by presents of horses, gold, silver,
and corn.2 Nurramman alone remained impregnable in
his retreat at Nishpi, and an attempt to oust him resulted
solely in the surrender of the fortress of Birutu.? The
campaign, far from having been decisive, had to be con-
tinued during the winter in another direction where revolts
had taken place,—in Khudun, in Kissirtu, and in the fief
of Arashtua,* all three of which extended over the upper
valleys of the lesser Zab, the Radanu, the Turnat, and
' Mount Kinipa is a part of Nizir, the Khalkhalin-dagh, if we may
judge from the direction of the Assyrian campaign.
* None of these places can be identified with certainty. The gist of the
account leads us to gather that Bara was situated to the east of Dagara, and
formed its frontier ; we shall not be far wrong in looking for all these
districts in the fastnesses of the Kara-dagh, in the caza of Suleimaniyeh.
Mount Nishpi is perhaps the Segirmé-dagh of the present day.
° The Assyrian compiler appears to have made use of two slightly differ-
ing accounts of this campaign ; he has twice repeated the same facts without
noticing his mistake.
; * The fief of Arashtua, situated beyond the Turnat, is probably the
district of Suleimaniyeh; it is, indeed, at this place only that the upper
course of the Turnat is sufficiently near to that of the Radanu to make the
marches of Assur-nazir-pal in the direction indicated by the Assyrian scribe
possible. According to the account of the Annals, it seems to me that we
must seek for Khudun and Kissirtu to the south of the fief of Arashtua, in
the modern cazas of Gulanbar or Shehrizor.
 ZAMUA REDUCED TO A PROVINCE 35
their affluents. The king once more set out from Kakzi,
crossed the Zab and the Radanu, through the gorges of
Babiti, and halting on the ridges of Mount Simaki,
_peremptorily demanded tribute from Dagara.! This was,
however, merely a ruse to deceive the enemy, for taking
one evening the lightest of his chariots and the best of
his horsemen, he galloped all night without drawing rein,
crossed the Turnat at dawn, and pushing straight forward,
arrived in the afternoon of the same day before the walls
of Ammali, in the very heart of the fief of Arashtua.?
The town vainly attempted a defence; the whole popula-
tion was reduced to slavery or dispersed in the forests,
the ramparts were demolished, and the houses reduced
to ashes. Khudun with twenty, and Kissirtu with ten
of its villages, Bara, Kirtiara, Dur-Lullumé, and Bunisa,
offered no further resistance, and the invading host halted
within sight of the defiles of Khashmar.? One kinglet,
however, Amika of Zamru, showed no intention of
capitulating. Entrenched behind a screen of forests and
frowning mountain ridges, he. fearlessly awaited the
1 The Annals of Assur-nazir-pal go on to mention that Mount Simaki
extended as far as the Turnat, and that it was close to Mount Azira. This
passage, when compared with that in which the opening of the campaign is
described, obliges us to recognise in Mounts Simaki and Azira two parts of
the Shehrizér chain, parallel to the Seguirmé-dagh. The fortress of Mizu,
mentioned in the first of these two texts, may perhaps be the present Guran-
kaleh.
2 Hommel thinks that Ammali is perhaps the present Suleimaniyeh ; it
is, at all events, on this side that we must look for its site.
3 I do not know whether we may trace the name of the ancient Movnt
Khashmar-Khashmir in the present Azmir-dagh ; it is at its feet, probably
in the valley of Suleimanabad, that we ought to place the passes of Khash-
mar. ‘
 36 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

attack. The only access to the remote villages over

which he ruled, was by a few rough roads hemmed in
between steep cliffs and beds of torrents; difficult and
dangerous at ordinary times, they were blocked in
war by temporary barricades, and dominated at every
turn by some fortress perched at a dizzy height above
them. After his return to the camp, where his soldiers
were allowed a short respite, Assur-nazir-pal set out against
Zamru, though he was careful not to approach it directly
and attack it at its most formidable points. Between two
peaks of the Lara and Bidirgi ranges he discovered a path
which had been deemed impracticable for horses, or even
for heavily armed men. By this route, the king, un-
suspected by the enemy, made his way through the
mountains, and descended so unexpectedly upon Zamru,
that Amika had barely time to make his escape, abandoning
everything in his alarm—palace, treasures, harem, and
even his chariot." A body of Assyrians pursued him hotly
beyond the fords of the Lallu, chasing him as far as Mount
Itini; then, retracing their steps to headquarters, they
at once set out on a fresh track, crossed the Idir, and
proceeded to lay waste the plains of Ilaniu and Suani.?
* This raid, which started from the same point as the preceding one, ran
eastwards in an opposite direction and ended at Mount Itini. Leaving the
fief of Arashtua in the neighbourhood of Suleimaniyeh, Assur-nazir-pal
crossed the chain of the Azmir-dagh near Pir-Omar and Gudrun, where we
must place Mounts Lara and Bidirgi, and emerged upon Zamru ; the only
places which appear to correspond to Zamru in that region are Kandishin
and Suleimanabad, Hence the Lallu is the river which runs by Kandishin
- and Suleimanabad, and Itini the mountain which separates this river from
the Tchami-Kizildjik. 7
* Ithink we may recognise the ancient name of Ilaniu in that of Alan,
 FRUITS OF THE CONQUEST |. 37

Despairing of taking Amika prisoner, Assur-nazir-pal

allowed him to he hidden among the brushwood of Mount
Sabua, while he himself called a halt at Parsindu,! and
set to work to organise the fruits of his conquest. He

THE ZAB BELOW THE PASSES OF ALAN, THE ANCIENT ILANIU.?

placed garrisons in the principal towns—at Parsindu,

Zamru, and at Arakdi in Lullumé, which one of his

now borne by a district on the Turkish and Persian frontier, situated

between Kunekdji-dagh and the town of Serdesht. The expedition, coming
in this
from the fief of Arashtua, must have marched northwards : the Idir
the chain of mountain s
case must be the Tchami-Kizildjik, and Mount Sabua
above Serdesht.
of Zamru,
1 Parsindu, mentioned between Mount Ilaniu and the town
ought to lie somewhere in the valley of Tchami- Kizildj ik, near Murana.
2 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. de Morgan.
88 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

predecessors had re-named — ‘‘ I

Tukulti-Ashshur-azbat,'
have taken the help of Assur.’’ He next imposed on the
surrounding country an annual tribute of gold, silver,
lead, copper, dyed stuffs, oxen, sheep, and wine. Envoys
from neighbouring kings poured in—from Khudun;
Khubushkia, and Gilzin, and the whole of Northern
Zamua bowed ‘before the splendour of his arms;”’ it
now needed only a few raids resolutely directed against
Mounts Azira and Simaki, as far as the Turnat, to
achieve the final pacification of the South. While in
this neighbourhood, his attention was directed to the
old town of Atlila,? built by Sibir, an ancient king of
Karduniash, but which had been half ruined by the bar-
barians. He re-named it Dur-Assur, ‘‘the fortress of
Assur,” and built himself within it a palace and storehouses,
in which he accumulated large quantities of corn, making
the town the strongest bulwark of his power on the
Cossean border. The two campaigns of z.c. 882 and 881

* The approximate site of Arakdi is indicated in the itinerary of Assur-

nazir-pal itself ; the king comes from Zamru in the neighbourhood of Sulei-
manabad, crosses Mount Lara, which is the northern part of the Azmir-dagh,
and arrives at Arakdi, possibly somewhere in Surtash. In the course of the
preceding campaign, after having laid waste Bara, he set out from this same
town (Arakdi) to subdue Nishpi, all of which bears out the position I have
indicated. The present town of Bazidn would answer fairly well for the site
of a place destined to protect the Assyrian frontier on this side.
* Given its position on the Chaldean frontier, Atlila is probably to be
identified with the Kerkuk of the present day.
* Hommel is inclined to believe that Sibir was the immediate predecessor
of Nabubaliddin, who reigned at Babylon at the same time as Assur-nazir-
pal at Nineveh ; consequently he would be a contemporary of Ramman-
mirari ITT. and of Tukulti-ninip II, Peiser and Rost have identified him
with Simmash-shikhu.
 ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL’S CAMPAIGN IN NATRI 39

had cost Assur-nazir-pal great efforts, and their results

had been inadequate to the energy expended. His two
principal adversaries, Nurramman and Amika, had eluded
him, and still preserved their independence at the eastern
extremities of their former states. Most of the mountain
tribes had acknowledged the king’s supremacy merely
provisionally, in order to rid themselves of his presence;
they had been vanquished scores of times, but were in
no sense subjugated, and the moment pressure was with-
drawn, they again took up arms. The districts of Zamua
alone, which bordered on the Assyrian plain, and had
been occupied by a military force, formed a province,
a kind of buffer state between the mountain tribes
and the plains of the Zab, protecting the latter from
incursions.
Assur-nazir-pal, feeling himself tolerably safe on that
side, made no further demands, and withdrew his battalions
to the westward part of his northern frontier. He hoped,
no doubt, to complete the subjugation of the tribes who
still contested the possession of various parts of the
Kashiari, and then to push forward his main guard as
far as the Euphrates and the Arzania, so as to form around
the plain of Amidi a zone of vassals or tutelary subjects
like those of Zamua. With this end in view, he crossed
the Tigris near its source at the traditional fords, and
made his way unmolested in the bend of the Huphrates
from the palace of Tilluli, where the accustomed tribute
of Kummukh was brought to him, to the fortress of
Ishtarati, and from thence to Kibaki. The town of
Matiaté, having closed its gates against him, was at once
 40 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

sacked, and this example so stimulated the loyalty of the

Kurkhi chiefs, that they hastened to welcome him at the
neighbouring military station of Zazabukha. The king’s
progress continued thence as before, broken by frequent
halts at the most favourable points for levying contribu-
tions on the inhabitants. Assur-nazir-pal encountered no
serious difficulty except on the northern slopes of the
Kashiari, but there again fortune smiled on him; all the
contested positions were soon ceded to him, including even
Madara, whose fourfold circuit of walls did not avail to
save it from the conqueror.? After a brief respite at
Tushkhan, he set out again one evening with his lightest
chariots and the pick of his horsemen, crossed the Tigris
on rafts, rode all night, and arrived unexpectedly the next
morning before Pitura, the chief town of the Dirreans.®
It was surrounded by a strong double enceinte, through
which he broke after forty-eight hours of continuous
1 It is difficult to place any of these localities on the map: they ought
all to be found between the ford of the Tigris, at Diarbekir and the
Euphrates, probably at the foot of the: Mihrab-dagh and the KirwAntchemen-
dagh.
* Madara belonged to a certain Lapturi, son of Tubusi, mentioned in the
campaign of the king’s second year. In comparing the facts given in the
two passages, we see it was situated on the eastern slope of the Kashiari,
not far from Tushkhan on one side, and Ardupa—that is probably Mardin—
on the other. The position of Ortaveran, or of one of the “tells” in
its
neighbourhood, answers fairly well to these conditions.
* According to the details given in the Annals, we must place the town
of Bitura (or Pitura) at about 19 miles from Kurkh, on the other
side of
the Tigris, in a north-easterly direction, and consequently the country
of
Dirré would be between the Hazu-tchai and the Batman-tchai. The Matni,
with its passes leading in to Nairi, must in this case be the mountain
group
to the north of Mayafarrikin, known as the Dordoseh-dagh or the
Darkdsh-
dagh,
 A RICH HARVEST OF SPOIL 4)

assault: 800 of its men perished in the breach, and 700

others were impaled before the gates. Arbaki, at the
extreme limits of Kirkhi, was the next to succumb, after
which the Assyrians, having pillaged Dirra, carried the
passes of Matni after a bloody combat, spread themselves
over Nairi, burning 250 of its towns and villages, and
returned with immense booty to Tushkhin. They had
been there merely a few days when the news arrived that
the people of Bit-Zamani, always impatient of the yoke,
had murdered their prince Ammibaal, and had proclaimed
-a certain Burramman in hisplace. Assur-nazir-pal marched
upon Sinabu? and repressed the insurrection, reaping a rich
harvest of spoil—chariots fully equipped, 600 draught-
horses, 130 pounds of silver and as much of gold, 6600
pounds of lead and the same of copper, 19,800 pounds of
iron, stuffs, furniture in gold and ivory, 2000 bulls, 500
sheep, the entire harem of Ammibaal, besides a number
of maidens of noble family together with their dresses.
Burramman was by the king’s order flayed alive, and
Arteanu his brother chosen as his successor. Sinabu and
the surrounding towns formed part of that network of
colonies which in times past Shalmaneser I. had organised
as a protection from the incursions of the inhabitants of
Nairi ;Assur-nazir-pal now used it as a rallying-place for
the remaining Assyrian families, to whom he distributed
lands and confided the guardianship of the neighbouring
as the Kinabu
1 Hommel thinks that Sinabu is very probably the same
that
mentioned above ; but it appears from Assur-nazir-pal’s own account
the provinc e of Khalzid ipkha (Khalzi lukha) on the
this Kinabu was in
Kashiari, whereas Sinabu was in Bit-Zamani.
 42 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

strongholds. The results of this measure were not long

in making themselves felt: Shupria, Ulliba, and Nirbu,
besides other districts, paid their dues to the king, and
Shura in Khamanu,! which had for some time held out
against the general movement, was at length constrained
to submit (880 B.c.). However high we may rate the
value of this campaign, it was eclipsed by the following
one. The Aramzans on the Khabur and the middle
Euphrates had not witnessed without anxiety the revival
of Ninevite activity, and had begged for assistance against
it from its rival. Two of their principal tribes, the Sukhi
and the Laqi, had addressed themselves to the sovereign
then reigning at Babylon. He was a restless, ambitious
prince, named Nabu-baliddin, who asked nothing better
than to excite a hostile feeling against his neighbour,
provided he ran no risk by his interference of being
drawn into open warfare. He accordingly despatched to
the Prince of Sukhi the best of his Cossean troops, com-
manded by his brother Zabdanu and one of the great
officers of the crown, Bel-baliddin. In the spring of 879
B.c., Assur-nazir-pal determined once for all to put an end
to these intrigues. He began by inspecting the citadels
flanking the line of the Kharmish? and the Khabur,—
? Shur is mentioned on the return to Nairi, possibly on the road
leading
from Amidi and Tushkhan to Nineveh. Hommel believes that the country
of Khamanu was the Amanos in Cilicia, and he admits, but
unwillingly, that
Assur-nazir-pal made a detour beyond the Euphrates.
I should look for
Shura, and consequently for Khamanu, in the Tur-Abdin, and should
identify them with Saur, in spite of the difference of
the two initial articula-
tions,
* The Kharmish has been identified with the Hirmas
, the river flowing
by Nisibis, and now called the Nahr-J aghjagha,
 CAMPAIGN ON THE EUPHRATES 43

Tabiti,* Magarisi,’ Shadikanni, Shuru in Bit-Khalupi, and

Sirki.2 Between the embouchures of the Khabur and the
Balikh, the Huphrates winds across a vast table-land,
ridged with marly hills; the left bank is dry and sterile,
shaded at rare intervals by sparse woods of poplars or
groups of palms. The right bank, on the contrary, is
seamed with fertile valleys, sufficiently well watered to
permit the growth of cereals and the raising of cattle.
The river-bed is almost everywhere wide, but strewn with
dangerous rocks and sandbanks which render navigation
perilous. On nearing the ruins of Halebiyeh, the river
narrows as it enters the Arabian hills, and cuts for itself
a regular defile of three or four hundred paces in length,
which is approached by the pilots with caution.* Assur-
nazir-pal, on leaving Sirki, made his way along the left
bank, levying toll on Supri, Naqarabani, and several other
villages in his course. Here and there he called a halt
facing some town on the opposite bank, but the boats
which could have put him across had been removed, and
the fords were too well guarded to permit of his hazarding
an attack. One town, however, Khindinu, made him a

1 Tabiti is the Thebeta (Thebet) of Roman itineraries and Syrian writers,

situated 33 miles from Nisibis and 52 from Singara, on the Nahr-Hesawy or
one of the neighbouring wadys.
2 Magarisi ought to be found on the present Nahr-Jaghjagha, near its
confluence with the Nahr-Jerrahi and its tributaries ; unfortunately, this
part of Mesopotamia is still almost entirely unexplored, and no satisfactory
map of it exists as yet.
3 Sirki is Circesium at the mouth of the Khabur.
4 Tt is at this defile of El-Hammeh, and not at that of Birejik at the
end of the Taurus, that we must place the Khingi sha Purati—the narrows
of the Euphrates—so often mentioned in the account of this campaign.
44. ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

voluntary offering which he affected to regard as a tribute,

but Kharidi and Anat appeared not even to suspect his
presence in their vicinity, and he continued on his way

it
Sli”
Fanionwsw™

THE CAMPAIGNS
or ASSUR -NAZIR-PAL
IN MESOPOTAMIA.
Scale
50 100 Kil.

without having obtained from them anything which could

be construed into a mark of vassalage.1 At length, on
1 The detailed narrative of the Annals informs us that Assur-nazir-pal
encamped on a mountain between Khind4nu and Bit-Shabaia, and this
information enables us to determine on the map with tolerable certainty the
localities mentioned in this campaign, The mountain in question can be
none other than El-Hammeh, the only one met with on this bank of the
Euphrates between the confluents of the Euphrates and the Khabur. Khin-
danu is therefore identical with the ruins of Tabus, the Dabausa of Ptolemy ;
hence Supri and Naqabar4ni are situated between this point and Sirki, the
former in the direction of Tayebeh, the latter towards El-Hoseiniyeh, On
the other hand, the ruins of Kabr Abu-Atish would correspond very well to
Bit-Shabaia : is the name of Abu-Sbé borne by the Arabs of that neighbour-
hood a relic of that of Shabaia? Kharidi ought in that case to be looked
for on the opposite bank, near Abu-Suban and Aksubi, where Chesney points
 CAMPAIGN ON THE EUPHRATES 45

reaching Shuru, Shadadu, the Prince of Sukhi, trusting

in his Cosszans, offered him battle; but he was defeated
by Assur-nazir-pal, who captured the King of Babylon’s
brother, forced his way into the town after an assault
lasting two days, and returned to Assyria laden with
spoil. This might almost be considered as a repulse; for
no sooner had the king quitted the country than the
Arameans in their turn crossed the Euphrates and ravaged
the plains of the Khabur.’ Assur-nazir-pal resolved not
to return until he was in a position to carry his arms into
the heart of the enemy’s country. He built a flotilla at
Shuru in Bit-Khalupi on which he embarked his troops.
Wherever the navigation of the Euphrates proved to be
difficult, the boats were drawn up out of the water and
dragged along the banks over rollers until they could
again be safely launched; thus, partly afloat and partly
on land, they passed through the gorge of Halebiyeh,
on
landed at Kharidi, and inflicted a salutary punishment
last
the cities which had defied the king’s wrath on his
reduced
expedition. Khindénu, Kharidi, and Kipina were
the
to ruins, and the Sukhi and the Lagi defeated,
the Bisuru
Assyrians pursuing them for two days in
A complete
mountains as far as the frontiers of Bit-Adini.’
us to
out ancient remains. A day’s march beyond Kabr Abu-Atish brings
be in the Isle of Mogla h. Shuru
El-Khass, so that the town of Anat would
near one of the two Tell-Menakhirs on this side the
must be somewhere
Balikh.
or the date of the year for
1 The Annals do not give us either the limmu it was a con-
this new expedition. The facts taken altogether prove that
may therefore be placed in the year
tinuation of the preceding one, and it ,
B.0. 878.
that of the Euphrates which
2 The campaign of B.c. 878 had for its arena
 46 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

submission was brought about, and its permanency secured

by the erection of two strongholds, one of which, Kar-
assur-nazir-pal, commanded the left, and the other,
Nibarti-assur, the right bank of the Kuphrates.?
This last expedition had brought the king into contact
with the most important of the numerous Aramean states
congregated in the western region of Mesopotamia. This
was Bit-Adini, which lay on both sides of the middle
course of the Kuphrates.? It included, on the right bank,
to the north of Carchemish, between the hills on the Sajur
and Arabin-Su, a mountainous but fertile district, dotted
over with towns and fortresses, the names of some of which
have been preserved—Pakarrukhbuni, Sursunu, Paripa,
Dabigu, and Shitamrat.? Tul-Barsip, the capital, was
situated on the left bank, commanding the fords of
the
modern Birejik,* and the whole of the territory
between
lies between the Khabur and the Balikh ; this
time, however, the principal
operations took place on the right bank. If
Mount Bisuru is the Jebel-
Bishri, the town of Kipina, which is mentioned between it and Kharidi,
ought to be located between Maidan and
Sabkha,
1 The account in the Annals is confused,
and contains perhaps some
errors with regard to the facts. The site
of the two towns is nowhere
indicated, but a study of the map shows
that the Assyrians could not become
masters of the country without occupying
the passes of the Euphrates ; I
am inclined to think that Kar-assur-nazir-pa
l is El-Halebiyeh, and Nibarti-
assur, Zalebiyeh, the Zenobia of Roman
times.
? Bit-Adini appears to have occupied,
on the right bank of the Euphrates,
a part of the cazas of Ain-Tab, Rum-kaleh,
and Birejik, that of Suruji, minus
the nakhiyeh of Harran, the larger
part of the cazas of Membij and
Rakkah, and part of the caza of Zor, of
the cazas being those represented
the maps of Vital Cuinet, on
° None of these localities can be
identified with certainty, except
haps Dabigu, a name we may trace per-
in that of the modern village of Dehb
* Tul-Barsip has been identified ek.
with Birejik.
 THE SUBMISSION OF BIT-ADINI 47

this latter and the Balikh acknowledged the rule of its

princes, whose authority also extended eastwards as far
as the basaltic plateau of Tul-Aba, in the Mesopotamian
desert. To the south-east, Bit-Adini bordered upon the
country of the Sukhi and the Lagi,’ lying to the east of
Assyria; other principalities, mainly of Aramean origin,
formed its boundary to the north and north-west—Shugab
in the bend of the Huphrates, from Birejik to Samosata,?
Tul-Abnt around Edessa,*? the district of Harran,‘ Bit-
Zamani, Izalla in the Tektek-dagh and on the Upper
Khabur, and Bit-Bakhiani in the plain extending from the
Khabur to the Kharmish.? JBit-Zamani had belonged to
Assyria by right of conquest ever since the death of
Ammibaal; Izalla and Bit-Bakhidni had fulfilled their
‘duties as vassals whenever Assur-nazir-pal had appeared
in their neighbourhood; Bit-Adini alone had remained
independent, though its strength was more apparent than
1 Tn his previous campaign Assur-nazir-pal had taken two towns of Bit-
extremity
Adini, situated on the right bank of the Euphrates, at the eastern
of Mount Bisuru, near the frontier of the Laqi.
sip) and
2 The country of Shugab is mentioned between Birejik (Tul-Bar
of the campaig ns of Shalman eser III., which obliges us
Bit-Zamani, in one
to place it in the caza of Rum-kaleh ; the name has been read Sumu.
of the Tigris,
3 Tul-Abni, which was at first sought for near the sources
it occupies
has been placed in the Mesopotamian plain. The position which
and Bit Zamani:
among the other names obliges us to put it near Bit-Adini
the Edessa of classical
the only possible site that I can find for it is at Orfah,
times.
belonging either to
4 The country of Harran is nowhere mentioned as
de that at this period it
Bit-Adini or to Tul-Abni: we must hence conclu
two states.
formed a little principality independent of those
the position which it occupies
5 The situation of Bit-Bakhiani is shown by
and by the names associated with it in
in the account of the campaign,
another passage of the Annals.
 48 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

real. The districts which it included had never been able

to form a basis for a powerful state. If by chance some
small kingdom arose within it, uniting under one authority
the tribes scattered over the burning plain or along the
river banks, the first conquering dynasty which sprang up
in the neighbourhood would be sure to effect its downfall,
and absorb it under its own leadership. As Mitani, saved
by its remote position from bondage to Egypt, had not
been able to escape from acknowledging the supremacy
of the Khati, so Bit-Adini was destined to fall almost
without a struggle under the yoke of the Assyrians. It
was protected from their advance by the volcanic groups
of the Uraa and Tul-Aba, which lay directly in the way
of the main road from the marshes of the Khabur to the
outskirts of Tul-Barsip. Assur-nazir-pal, who might have
worked round this line of natural defence to the north
through Nirbu, or to the south through his recently
acquired province of Laqi, preferred to approach it in
front; he faced the desert, and, in spite of the drought,
he invested the strongest citadel of Tul-Aba in the month
of June, 877 p.c. The name of the place was Kaprabi,
and its inhabitants believed it impregnable, clinging as it
did to the mountain-side “like a cloud in the py ae) be
king, however, soon demolished its walls by sapping and
by the use of the ram, killed 800 of its garrison, burned
its houses, and carried off 2400 men with their families,
* The name is commonly interpreted “Great Rock,” and divided
thus—
Kap-rabi. It may also be considered, like Kapridargila or Kaprani
sha, as
being formed of Kapru and abi; this latter element appears
to exist in the
ancient name of Telaba, Thallaba, now Tul-Aba.
Kapr-abi might be a
fortress of the province of Tul-Aba.
 A DECISIVE CAMPAIGN 49

whom he installed in one of the suburbs of Calah. Akhuni,

who was then reigning in Bit-Adini, had not anticipated
that the invasion would reach his neighbourhood: he at
once sent hostages and purchased peace by a tribute;
the Lord of Tul-Abni followed his example, and the
dominion of Assyria was carried at a blow to the very
frontier of the Khati. It was about two centuries before
this that Assurirba -had crossed these frontiers with his
vanquished army, but the remembrance of his defeat had
still remained fresh in the memory of the people, as a
warning to the sovereign who should attempt the old
hazardous enterprise, and repeat the exploits of Sargon
of Agadé or of Tiglath-pileser I. Assur-nazir-pal made
careful preparations for this campaign, so decisive a one
for his own prestige and for the future of the empire.
He took with him not only all the Assyrian troops at his
disposal, but requisitioned by the way the armies of his
most recently acquired vassals, incorporating them with
his own, not so much for the purpose of augmenting his
power of action, as to leave no force in his rear when
once he was engaged hand to hand with the Syrian legions.
He left Calah in the latter days of April, 876 B.c.," re-
ceiving the customary taxes from Bit-Bakhiani, Izalla, and
Bit-Adini, which comprised horses, silver, gold, copper,
lead, precious stuffs, vessels of copper and furniture of
ivory; having reached Tul-Barsip, he accepted the gifts
offered by Tul-Abni, and crossing the Euphrates upon

1 On the 8th Iyyar, but without any indication of limmu, or any number
of the year or of the campaign; the date 876 Bc. is admitted by the
majority of historians.
VOL. VII. E
 50 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

rafts of inflated skins, he marched his columns against

Carchemish.
The political organisation of Northern Syria had
remained entirely unaltered since the days when Tiglath-
pileser made his
CAMPAIGNS first victorious
or ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL .
in SYRIA. 3 inroad into the
ee

Scale. country. The

Cilician empire
which +s ie
ceeded to the
Assyrian—if in-
deed it ever ex-
tended as far as
some suppose—
did not last long
enough to dis-
turb the balance
of power among the various
races occupying Syria: it had
subjugated them for a time,
but had not been able to break
them up and reconstitute them.
At the downfall of the Cilician
Empire the small states were
still intact, and occupied, as of
aie the territory comprising the ancient Naharaim of the
Egyptians, the plateau between the Orontes and the
-

Euphrates, the forests and marshy lowlands of the Amanos,

the southern slopes of Taurus, and the plains of Cilicia.
 THE SYRIAN STATES 51

Of these states, the most famous, though not then the

most redoubtable, was that with which the name of the
Khati is indissolubly connected, and which had Carchemish
as its capital. This ancient city, seated on the banks
of the Euphrates, still maintained its supremacy there,
but though its wealth and religious ascendency were
undiminished, its territory had been curtailed. The people
_ of Bit-Adini had intruded themselves between this state
and Kummukh, Arazik hemmed it in on the south,
Khazazu and Khalman confined it on the west, so that
its sway was only freely exercised in the basin of the
'Sajur. On the north-west frontier of the Khati lay
Gurgum, whose princes resided at Marqasi and ruled
over the central valley of the Pyramos together with
the entire basin of the Ak-su. Mikhri,! Iaudi, and
Samalla lay on the banks of the Saluara, and in the forests
of the Amanos to the south of Gurgum. Kui maintained
its uneventful existence amid the pastures of Cilicia, near
the marshes at the mouth of the Pyramos. To the south
of the Sajur, Bit-Agusi*? barred the way to the Orontes;
and from their lofty fastness of Arpad, its chiefs kept watch
over the caravan road, and closed or opened it at their
will. They held the key of Syria, and though their
territory was small in extent, their position was so strong
that for more than a century and a half the majority of
1 Mikhri or Ismikhri, i.e. ‘the country of larches,” was the name of a
part of the Amanos, possibly near the Pyramos.
: 2 The real name of the country was Iakhanu, but it was called Bit-Gusi
or Bit-Agusi, like Bit-Adini, Bit-Bakhiani, Bit-Omri, after the founder of
the reigning dynasty. We must place Iakh4nu to the south of Azaz, in the
neighbourhood of Arpad, with this town as its capital.
52 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

the Assyrian generals preferred to avoid this stronghold

by making a detour to the west, rather than pass beneath
its walls. Scattered over the plateau on the borders of
Agusi, or hidden in the valleys of Amanos, were several
less important principalities, most of them owing allegiance
to Lubaruna, at that time king of the Patina and the most
powerful sovereign of the district. The Patina had
apparently replaced the Alasia of Egyptian times, as

BAS-RELIEF FROM A BUILDING AT SINJIRLI.}

Bit-Adini had superseded Mitani; the fertile meadow-

lands to the south of Samalla on the Afrin and the Lower
Orontes, together with the mountainous district between
the Orontes and the sea as far as the neighbourhood of
Hleutheros, also belonged to the Patina. On the southern
frontier of the Patina lay the important Phoenician cities,
Arvad, Arka, and Sina; and on the south-east, the
fortresses belonging to Hamath and Damascus. The
characteristics of the country remained unchanged.
Fortified towns abounded on all sides, as well as
large
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Perrot and
Chipiez.
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 53
3)

walled villages of conical huts, like those whose strange

outlines on the horizon are familiar to the traveller at
the present day. ‘The manners and civilisation of Chaldea
pervaded even more than formerly the petty courts, but
the artists clung persistently to Asianic tradition, and the
bas-reliefs which adorned the palaces and temples were

JIBRIN, A VILLAGE OF CONICAL HUTS, ON THE PLATEAU OF ALEPPO,!

similar in character to those we find scattered throughout

Asia Minor; there is the same inaccurate drawing, the
same rough execution, the same tentative and awkward
‘composition. The scribes from force of custom still
employed the cuneiform syllabary in certain official
religious or royal inscriptions, but, as it was difficult to
manipulate and limited in application, the speech of the
Aramezan immigrants and the Pheenician alphabet oradually
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph reproduced in Peters.
54 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

superseded the ancient language and mode of writing.

Thus these Northern Syrians became by degrees assimilated

THE WAR-CHARIOT OF THE KHATI OF THE NINTH CENTURY.”

to the people of Babylon and Nineveh, much as the

* There is no monument bearing an inscription in this alphabet which
can be referred with any certainty to the time of Assur-nazir-pal, but the
inscriptions of the kings of Samalla date back to a period not more than a
century and a half later than his reign; we may therefore consider the
Aramean alphabet as being in current use in Northern Syria at the begin-
ning of the ninth century, some forty years before the date of Mesha’s
inscription (¢.e. the Moabite stone).
* Drawn by Boudier, from a bas-relief.
 SYRIAN ARTS, ARMIES, AND RELIGIONS 55

inhabitants of a remote province nowadays adapt their

dress, their architecture, their implements of husbandry
and handicraft, their military equipment and organisation,
to the fashions of the capital! Their armies were modelled
on similar lines, and consisted of archers, pikemen, slingers,

ASSYRIAN WAR-CHARIOT OF THE NINTH CENTURY B.C.2

THE

and those troops of horsemen which accompanied the

chariotry on flying raids; the chariots, moreover, closely
followed the Assyrian type, even down to the padded bar
with embroidered hangings which connected the body of
the chariot with the end of the pole. The Syrian princes
enumeration of the
1 One can judge of their social condition from the
which the Assyrian kings
objects which formed their tribute, or the spoil
carried off from their country.
on the gates of
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a’ bronze bas-relief
Balawat.
 56 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

did not adopt the tiara, but they wore the long fringed
robe, confined by a girdle at the waist, and their mode
of life, with its ceremonies, duties, and recreations, differed
little from that prevailing in the palaces of Calah or
Babylon. They hunted big game, including the lion,
according to the laws of the chase recognised at Nineveh,
priding themselves as much on their exploits in hunting,

A KING OF THE KHATI HUNTING A LION IN HIS CHARIOT.!

as on their triumphs in war. Their religion was derive

d
from the common source which underlay all Semit
ic
religions, but a considerable number of Babylonian
deities
were also worshipped ; these had been introduced in
some
cases without any modification, whilst in others they
had
been assimilated to more ancient gods bearing
similar
characteristics: at Nerab, among the Patiné,
Nusku and
his female companion Nikal, both of Chaldean origin,
-1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by
Hogarth, published in the
Recueil de Travaux.
 ASSIR-NAZIR-PAL’S EXPEDITION 57

claimed the homage of the faithful,-to the disparagement

of Shahr the moon and Shamash the sun. Local cults
often centred round obscure deities held in little account
by the dominant races ; thus Samalla reverenced Uru the
light, Rekubél the wind, the chariot of
El, not to mention El himself, Resheph,
Hadad, and the Cabiri, the servants of
Resheph. These deities were mostly of
the Assyrian type, and if one may draw
any conclusion from the few representa-
tions of them already discovered, their
rites must have been celebrated in a
manner similar to that followed in the
cities on the Lower Huphrates. Scarcely
any signs of Egyptian influence survived,
though here and there a trace of it
might be seen in the figures of calf or
‘bull, the vulture of Mut or the sparrow-
hawk of Horus. Assur-nazir-pal, march-
ing from the banks of the Khabur to
Bit-Adini, and from Bit-Adini passing
on to Northern Syria, might almost
have imagined himself still in his own
THE GOD HADAD.,!
dominions, so gradual and imperceptible
were the changes in language and civilisation in the
country traversed between Nineveh and Assur, Tul-Barsip
and Samalla.
His expedition was unattended by danger or bloodshed.
Lubarna, the reigning prince of the Patina, was possibly at
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the photograph in Luschan.
 58 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

that juncture meditating the formation of a Syrian empire

under his rule. Unki, in which lay his capital of Kunulua,
was one of the richest countries of Asia,’ being well watered
by the Afrin, Orontes, and Saluara;? no fields produced such
rich harvests as his, no meadows pastured such cattle or
were better suited to the breeding of war-horses. His
mountain provinces yielded him wood and minerals, and

RELIGIOUS SCENE DISPLAYING EGYPTIAN FEATURES.®

provided a reserve of semi-savage woodcutters and herds-

men from which to recruit his numerous battalions. The
neighbouring princes, filled with uneasiness or jealousy by
his good fortune, saw in the Assyrian monarch a friend and
* The Unki of the Assyrians, the Uniugqa of the Egyptians, is the valley
of Antioch, the Amk of the present day. Kunulua or Kinalia, the capital
of
the Patina, has been identified with the Gindaros of Greek times ;
I prefer
to identify it with the existing Tell-Kunana, written for Tell-Kun
ala by the
common substitution of n for J at the end of proper names.
.
2 The Saluara of the Assyrian texts is the present Kara-su, which
flows
into the Ak-Deniz, the lake of Antioch.
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the impression taken
from a Hittite
cylinder.
 SUBMISSION OF THE HITTITES AND THE PATINA 59

a liberator rather than an enemy. Carchemish opened its

gates and laid at his feet the best of its treasures—twenty
talents of silver, ingots, rings, and daggers of gold, a
hundred talents of copper, two hundred talents of iron,
bronze bulls, cups decorated with scenes in relief or outline,
ivory in the tusk or curiously wrought, purple and em-
broidered stuffs, and the state carriage of its King Shangara.
The Hittite troops, assembled in haste, joined forces with
the Aramzan auxiliaries, and the united host advanced on
Cole-Syria. The scribe commissioned to record the
history of this expedition has taken a delight in inserting
the most minute details. Leaving Carchemish, the army
followed the great caravan route, and winding its way
between the hills of Munzigini and Khamurga, skirting
Bit-Agusi, at length arrived under the walls of Khazazu
among the Patina.1 The town having purchased immunity
by a present of gold and of finely woven stuffs, the army
proceeded to cross the Aprié, on the bank of which an en-
trenched camp was formed for the storage of the spoil.
Lubarna offered no resistance, but nevertheless refused
to acknowledge his inferiority; after some delay, it was
decided to make a direct attack on his capital, Kunulua,
whither he had retired. The appearance of the Assyrian
vanguard put aspeedy end to his ideas of resistance :
- prostrating himself before his powerful adversary, he offered
hostages, and emptied his palaces and stables to provide a
have followed
1 Khazazu being the present Azaz, the Assyrian army must
Jerabis to this town. Mount Munziga ni and
the route which still leads from
Carchem ish and Akh&anu or Iakhanu , must
Khamurga, mentioned between
the Koweik, near Shehab, at the only point on
lie between the Sajur and
passes between two ranges of lofty hills.
the route where the road
 60 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

ransom. This comprised twenty talents of silver, one

talent of gold, a hundred talents of lead, a hundred talents
of iron, a thousand bulls, ten thousand sheep, daughters of
his nobles with befitting changes of garments, and all the
paraphernalia of vessels, jewels, and costly stuffs which
formed the necessary furniture of a princely household.
The effect of his submission on his own vassals and the
neighbouring tribes was shown in different ways. Bit-
Agusi at once sent messengers to congratulate the
conqueror, but the mountain provinces awaited the in-
vader’s nearer approach before following its example.
Assur-nazir-pal, seeing that they did not take the initiative,
crossed the Orontes, probably at the spot where the iron
bridge now stands, and making his way through the
country between Jaraku and Iaturi,’ reached the banks of
the Sangura”* without encountering any difficulty. After a

* The spot where Assur-nazir-pal must have crossed the Orontes is deter-
mined by the respective positions of Kunulua and Tell-Kundna. At the iron
bridge, the modern traveller has the choice of two roads: one, passing Antioch
and Beit-el-M4, leads to Urdeh on the Nahr-el-Kebir ; the other reaches the
same point by a direct route over the Gebel Kosseir. If, as I believe, Assur-
nazir-pal took the latter route, the country and Mount Iaraku must be
the
northern part of Gebel Kosseir in the neighbourhood of Antioch, and Iaturi,
the southern part of the same mountain near Derkush. Iaraku is mentioned
in the same position by Shalmaneser III., who reached it after crossing
the
Orontes, on descending from the Amanos en route for the country
of Hamath,
* The Sangura or Sagura has been identified by Delattre with the
Nahr-
el-Kebir, not that river which the Greeks called the Eleutheros,
but that
which flows into the sea near Latakia, Before naming the Sangura, the
Annals mention a country, whose name, half effaced, ended
in -ku: I think
we may safely restore this name as {Ashtama]kou, mention
ed by Shal-
maneser IIT. in this region, after the name of Iaraku.
The country of
Ashtamaku would thus be the present canton of Urdeh, which
is traversed
before reaching the banks of the Nahr-el-Kebir.
 SACRIFICES TO THE GODS 61

brief halt there in camp, he turned his back on the sea, and
passing between Saratini and Duppani,' took by assault the
fortress of Aribua.? This stronghold commanded all the
surrounding country, and was the seat of a palace which
Lubarna at times used as a similar residence. Here Assur-
nazir-pal took up his quarters, and deposited within its
walls the corn and spoils of Lukhuti;* he established here
an Assyrian colony, and, besides being the scene of royal
festivities, it became henceforth the centre of operations
against the mountain tribes. The forts of the latter were
destroyed, their houses burned, and prisoners were impaled
outside the gates of their cities. Having achieved this
noble exploit, the king crossed the intervening spurs of
Lebanon and marched down to the shores of the Mediter-
ranean. Here he bathed his weapons in the waters, and
offered the customary sacrifices to the gods of the sea,
while the Phoenicians, with their wonted prudence, hastened
to anticipate his demands—Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, Mahallat,

1 The mountain cantons of Saratini and Dupp4ni (Kalpani? Adpani’),

situated immediately to the south of the Nahr-el-Kebir, correspond to the
southern part of Gebel-el-Akrad, but I cannot discover any names on the
_ modern map at all resembling them.
2 Beyond Duppani, Assur-nazir-pal encamped on the banks of a river
whose name is unfortunately effaced, and then reached Aribua ; this itine-
rary leads us to the eastern slope of the Gebel Ansarieh in the latitude of
Hamath. The only site I can find in this direction fulfilling the requirements
of the text is that of Masiad, where there still exists a fort of the Assassins.
The name Aribua is perhaps preserved in that of Rabad, er-Rabahu, which
is applied to a wady and village in the neighbourhood of Masiad.
3 Lukhuti must not be sought in the plains of the Orontes, where Assur-
Hamath
nazir-pal would have run the risk of an encounter with the King of
the part of the mountain of Ansarieh lying
or his vassals ; it must represent
between Kadmus, Masiad, and Tortosa.
 62 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Maiza, Kaiza, the Amorites and Arvad,' all sending tribute.

One point strikes us forcibly as we trace on the map the
march of this victorious hero, namely, the care with which
he confined himself to the left bank of the Orontes, and the ©
restraint he exercised in leaving untouched the fertile fields
of its valley, whose wealth was so calculated to excite his
cupidity. ‘This discretion would be inexplicable, did we not
know that there existed in that region a formidable power
which he may have thought it imprudent to provoke. It
was Damascus which held sway over those territories whose
frontiers he respected,-and its kings, also suzerains of
Hamath and masters of half Israel, were powerful enough
to resist, if not conquer, any enemy who might present
himself. The fear inspired by Damascus naturally explains
the attitude adopted by the Hittite states towards the
invader, and the precautions taken by the latter to restrict
his operations within somewhat narrow limits. Having
accepted the complimentary presents of the Pheenicians,
the king again took his way northwards—making a slight
detour in order to ascend the Amanos for the purpose of
erecting there a stele commemorating his exploits, and of
cutting pines, cedars, and larches for his buildings—and
then returned to Nineveh amid the acclamations of his
people.
In reading the history of this campaign, its plan and
the principal events which took place in it appea
r at
1 The point where Assur-nazir-pal touched the sea-coa
st cannot be exactly
determined: admitting that he set out from Masiad
or its neighbourhood,
he must have crossed the Lebanon by the gorge
of the Eleutheros, and
reached the sea-board somewhere near the mouth
of this river,
 THE WISDOM OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL 63

times to be the echo of what had happened some centuries

before. The recapitulation of the halting-places near the
sources of the Tigris and on the banks of the Upper
Huphrates, the marches through the valleys of the Zagros
or on the slopes of Kashiari, the crushing one by one of
the Mesopotamian races, ending in a triumphal progress
through Northern Syria, is almost a repetition, both as
to the names and order of the places mentioned, of the
expedition made by Tiglath-pileser in the first five years
of his reign. The question may well arise in passing
whether Assur-nazir-pal consciously modelled his campaign
on that of his ancestor, as, in Egypt, Ramses III. imitated
Ramses II., or whether, in similar circumstances, he in-
stinctively and naturally followed the same line of march.
In either case, he certainly showed on all sides greater
wisdom than his predecessor, and having attained the
object of his ambition, avoided compromising his success
by injudiciously attacking Damascus or Babylon, the two
powers who alone could have offered effective resistance.
The victory he had gained, in 879, over the brother of
Nabu-baliddin had immensely flattered his vanity. His
panegyrists vied with each other in depicting Karduniash
bewildered by the terror of his majesty, and the Chaldeans
overwhelmed by the fear of his arms; but he did not
allow himself to be carried away by their extravagant
flatteries, and continued to the end of his reign to observe
the treaties concluded between the two courts in the time
of his grandfather Ramman-nirari." He had, however,

His frontier on the Chaldean side, between the Tigris and the
mountains, was the boundary fixed by Ramman-nirari.
 64 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

sufficiently enlarged his dominions, in less than ten years,

to justify some display of pride. He himself described his
empire as extending, on the west of Assyria proper, from
the banks of the Tigris near Nineveh to Lebanon and
the Mediterranean;! besides which, Sukhi was subject
to him, and this included the province of Rapiku on the
frontiers of Babylonia.? He had added to his older pro-
vinces of Amidi, Masios and Singar, the whole strip of
Armenian territory at the foot of the Taurus range,
from the sources of the Supnat to those of the Bitlis-
tchai, and he held the passes leading to the banks of
the Arzania, in Kirruri and Gilzin, while the extensive
country of Nairi had sworn him allegiance. Towards
the south-east the wavering tribes, which alternately gave
their adherence to Assur or Babylon according to cir-
cumstances, had ranged themselves on his side, and
formed a large frontier province beyond the borders
of his hereditary kingdom, between the Lesser Zab and
the Turnat. But, despite repeated blows inflicted on
them, he had not succeeded in welding these various
factors into a compact and homogeneous whole; some
small proportion of them were assimilated to Assyria,
1 The expression employed in this description and in similar passages,
ishtu ibirtan ndru, translated From the ford over the river, or
better, from the
other side of the river, must be understood as referring to Assyria
proper;
the territory subject to the king is measured in the direction
indicated,
starting from the rivers which formed the boundaries
of his hereditary
dominions. From the other bank of the Tigris means from the bank of
the
Tigris opposite Nineveh or Calah, whence the king and
his army set out on
their campaigns.
* Rapiku is mentioned in several texts as marking
the frontier between
the Sukhi and Chaldeea.
 PLEDGES OF LOYALTY 65

and were governed directly by royal officials, but the

greater number were merely dependencies, more or less
insecurely held by the obligations of vassalage or servitude.
In some provinces the native chiefs were under the
surveillance of Assyrian residents ;* these districts paid an
annual tribute proportionate to the resources and products
of their country: thus Kirruri and the neighbouring states
contributed horses, mules, bulls, sheep, wine, and copper
vessels; the Arameans gold, silver, lead, copper, both
wrought and in the ore, purple, and coloured or embroidered.
stuffs; while Izalla, Nirbu, Nirdun, and Bit-Zamani had
to furnish horses, chariots, metals, and cattle. The less
civilised and more distant tribes were not, like these,
subject to regular tribute, but each time the sovereign
traversed their territory or approached within reasonable
distance, their chiefs sent or brought to him valuable
presents as fresh pledges of their loyalty. Royal outposts,
built at regular intervals and carefully fortified, secured
the fulfilment of these obligations, and served as depdts
for storing the commodities collected by the royal officials;
such outposts were, Damdamusa on the north-west of the
Kashiari range, Tushkhan on the Tigris, Tilluli between
the Supnat and the Euphrates, Aribua among the Patina,
and others scattered irregularly between the Greater and
Lesser Zab, on the Khabur, and also in Nairi. These
strongholds served as places of refuge for the residents

1 There were royal governors in Suru in Bit-Khalupi, in Matiate, in

Madara, and in Nairi. :
2 There were Assyrian residents in Kirruri and the neighbouring
countries, in Kirkhi, and in Nairi.
F
VOL. VII.
 66 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

and their guards in case of a revolt, and as food-depéts

for the armies in the event of war bringing them into
their neighbourhood. In addition to these, Assur-nazir-pal
also strengthened the defences of Assyria proper by build-
ing fortresses at the points most open to attack; he re-
paired or completed the defences of Kaksi, to command
the plain between the Greater and Lesser Zab and the
Tigris; he rebuilt the castles or towers which guarded the
river-fords and the entrances to the valleys of the Gebel
Makhlub, and erected at Calah the fortified palace which
his successors continued to inhabit for the ensuing five
hundred years.
Assur-nazir-pal had resided at Nineveh from the time of
his accession to the throne ; from thence he had set out on
four successive campaigns, and thither he had returned at
the head of his triumphant troops, there he had received
the kings who came to pay him homage, and the governors
who implored his help against foreign attacks ; thither he
had sent rebel chiefs, and there, after they had marched in
ignominy through the streets, he had put them to torture
and to death before the eyes of the crowd, and their skins
were perchance still hanging nailed to the battlements
when he decided to change the seat of his capital. The
ancient capital no longer suited his present state as
a
conqueror; the accommodation was too restricted,
the
decoration too poor, and probably the number of apart-
ments was insufficient to house the troops of women
and
slaves brought back from his wars by its royal
master.
Built on the very bank of the Tebilti, one of
the tributaries
of the Khusur, and hemmed in by three temples,
there was
 ERECTION OF THE PALACE AT CALAH 67

no possibility of its enlargement—a difficulty which often

occurs in ancient cities. The necessary space for new
buildings could only have been obtained by altering the
course of the stream, and sacrificing a large part of the »
adjoining quarters of the city: Assur-nazir-pal therefore
preferred to abandon the place and to select a new site
SQ WWDW Ww °° 11710°[0( °e
0”°0°v—?°° ° °"9 = —"*l$§E"EwO

THE MOUNDS OF CALAH.!

where he would have ample space at his disposal. He

found what he required close at hand in the half-ruined
city of Calah, where many of his most illustrious
predecessors had in times past sought refuge from the heat
of Assur. It was now merely an obscure and sleepy town
about twelve miles south of Nineveh, on the right bank of
the Tigris, and almost at the angle made by the junction of
this river with the Greater Zab. The place contained a
palace built by Shalmaneser I., which, owing to many
1 Drawn by Boudier, from Layard. The pointed mound on the left near
the centre of the picture represents the ziggurat of the great temple.
 68 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

years’ neglect, had become uninhabitable. Assur-nazir-pal

not only razed to the ground the palaces and temples, but
also levelled the mound on which they had been built ; he
then cleared away the soil down to the water level, and
threw up an immense and al-
most rectangular terrace on
which to lay out his new build-
ings. The king chose Ninip,
the god of war, as the patron of
the city, and dedicated to
him, at the north-west corner
of the terrace, a ziggurat
with its usual temple pre-
cincts. Here the god oda

was represented as a bull

with a man’s head and
bust in gilded alabaster,
and two yearly feasts
were instituted in his
honour, one in the month
Sebat, the other in the
.Y
month Ulul. The zig-
STELE OF hasoe Rime AT CALAH! * gurat was a little over
two hundred feet high,
and was probably built in seven stages, of
which only
one now remains intact: around it are found
several in-
dependent series of chambers and passages, whic
h may have
been parts of other temples, but it is
now impossible
to say which belonged to the local Belit
, which to Sin,
da
ut
i

* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph

by Mansell.
 ASSYRIAN ART IN THE NINTH CENTURY 69

to Gula, to Ramman, or to the ancient deity Ha. At

the entrance to the largest chamber, on a rectangular
pedestal, stood a stele with rounded top, after the Egyptian
fashion. On it is depicted a-figure of the king, standing
erect and facing to the left of the spectator; he holds
his mace at his side, his right hand is raised in the atti-
tude of adoration, and above him, on the left upper edge
of the stele, are grouped the five signs of the planets; at
the base of the stele stands an altar with a triangular
pedestal and circular slab ready for the offerings to be
presented to the royal founder by priests or people. The
palace extended along the south side of the terrace facing
the town, and with the river in its rear; it covered a
space one hundred and thirty-one yards in length and a
hundred and nine in breadth. In the centre was a large
court, surrounded by seven or eight spacious halls, appro-
priated to state functions; between these and the court
were many rooms of different sizes, forming the offices and
private apartments of the royal house. The whole palace
was built of brick faced with stone. Three gateways,
flanked by winged, human-headed bulls, afforded access to
the largest apartment, the hall of audience, where the king
received his subjects or the envoys of foreign powers.’ ‘The
doorways and walls of some of the rooms were decorated
with glazed tiles, but the majority of them were covered
with bands of coloured? bas-reliefs which portrayed various
1 At the east end of the hall Layard found a block of alabaster covered
with inscriptions, forming a sort of platform on which the king’s throne may
have stood.
2 Layard points out the traces of colouring still visible when the
excavations were made.
 70 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

episodes in the life of the king—his state-councils, his lion

hunts, the reception of tribute, marches over mountains
and rivers, chariot-skirmishes, sieges, and the torture and
carrying away of captives. Incised in bands across these
pictures are inscriptions extolling the omnipotence of Assur,
while at intervals genii with eagles’ beaks, or deities in
human form, imperious and fierce, appear with hands full of

THE WINGED BULLS OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL.!

offerings, or in the act of brandishing thunderbolts against

evil spirits. The architect who designed this imposing
decoration, and the sculptors who executed it, closely
followed the traditions of ancient Chaldea in the drawing
and composition of their designs, and in the use of colour
or chisel ;but the qualities and defects peculiar to their
own race give a certain character of originality to this
borrowed art. They exaggerated the stern and athletic
aspect of their models, making the figure thick-set, the
| 1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Layard.
 INTERNAL DECORATION OF THE PALACE 71

muscles extraordinarily enlarged, and the features ludicrously

accentuated.. Their pictures produce an impression of
awkwardness, confusion and heaviness, but the detail is
so minute and the animation so great that the attention of

GLAZED TILE FROM PALACE OF CALAH.!

the spectator is forcibly arrested; these uncouth beings

impress us with the sense of their self-reliance and their
confidence in their master, as we watch them brandishing
their weapons or hurrying to the attack, and see the shock
of battle and the death-blows given and received. The
human-headed bulls, standing on guard at the gates, exhibit
1 Drawn by Boudier, after Layard.
 72 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

the calm and pensive dignity befitting creatures conscious

of their strength, while the lions passant who sometimes
replace them, snarl and show their teeth with an almost
alarming ferocity. The statues of men and gods, as a rule,
are lacking in originality. The heavy robes which drape
them from head to foot give them the appearance of

LION FROM ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL’S PALACE,!

cylinders tied in at the centre and slightly flattened

towards the top. The head surmounting this shapeless
bundle is the only life-like part, and even the lower half
of this is rendered heavy by the hair and beard, whose
tightly curled tresses lie in stiff rows one above the other.
The upper part of the face which alone is visible is correctly
drawn ; the expression is of rather a commonplace type of
-' Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph of the sculpture in the
British
Museum.
 THE TUNNEL OF NEGUB 73

nobility—respectable but self-sufficient. The features—

eyes, forehead, nose, mouth—are all those of Assur-nazir-
pal; the hair is arranged in the fashion he affected, and the
robe is embroidered with his jewels; but amid all this we
miss the keen intelligence always present in Egyptian
sculpture, whether under the royal head-dress of Cheops or
in the expectant eyes of the sitting scribe: the Assyrian
sculptor could copy the general outline of his model fairly
well, but could not infuse soul into the face of the conqueror,
whose “‘ countenance beamed above the destruction around
him.”’
The water of the Tigris being muddy, and unpleasant
to the taste, and the wells at Calah so charged with lime
and bitumen as to render them unwholesome, Assur-nazir-
pal supplied the city with water from the neighbouring
Zab.’ An abundant stream was diverted from this river at
the spot now called Negub, and conveyed at first by a
tunnel excavated in the rock, and thence by an open canal
to the foot of the great terrace: at this point the flow of
the water was regulated by dams, and the surplus was
utilised for irrigation? purposes by means of openings cut
_in the banks. The aqueduct was named Babilat-khigal—
the bringer of plenty—and, to justify the epithet, date-
palms, vines, and many kinds of fruit trees were planted

1 The presence of bitumen in the waters of Calah is due to the hot springs
which rise in the bed of the brook Shor-derreh.
2 The canal of Negub—Negub signifies hole in Arabic—was discovered
by Layard. The Zab having changed its course to the south, and scooped
out a deeper bed for itself, the double arch, which serves as an entrance to
the canal, is actually above the ordinary level of the river, and the water
flows through it only in flood-time.
74 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

along its course, so that both banks soon assumed the

appearance of a shady orchard interspersed with small
towns and villas. ‘The population rapidly increased, partly
through the spontaneous influx of Assyrians themselves,
but still more through the repeated introduction of bands of

A CORNER OF THE RUINED PALACE OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL.2

foreign prisoners: forts, established at the fords of the

Zab, or commanding the roads which cross the Gebel
Makhlub, kept the country in subjection and formed an
inner line of defence at a short distance from the capital.
Assur-nazir-pal kept up a palace, garden, and small temple,
near the fort of Imgur-Bel, the modern Balaw4t: thither
he repaired for intervals of repose from state affairs, to
enjoy the pleasures of the chase and cool air in the hot
' Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Rassam.
 THE LAST YEARS OF ASSUR-NAZIR-PAL 75

season. He did not entirely abandon his other capitals,

Nineveh and Assur, visiting them occasionally, but Calah
_ was his favourite seat, and on its adornment he spent the
greater part of his wealth and most of his leisure hours.
Only once again did he abandon his peaceful pursuits
and take the field, about the year 897 B.c., during the
eponymy of Shamashnuri. The tribes on the northern
boundary of the empire had apparently forgotten the
lessons they had learnt at the cost of so much bloodshed
at the beginning of his reign: many had omitted to pay
the tribute due, one chief had seized the royal cities of
Amidi and Damdamusa, and the rebellion threatened to
spread to Assyria itself. Assur-nazir-pal girded on his
armour and led his troops to battle as vigorously as in the
days of his youth. He hastily collected, as he passed
through their lands, the tribute due from Kipani, Izalla,
and Kummukh, gained the banks of the Euphrates,
traversed Gubbu burning everything on his way, made a
detour through Dirria and Kirkhi, and finally halted before
the walls of Damdamusa. Six hundred soldiers of the
garrison perished in the assault and four hundred were
taken prisoners: these he carried to Amidi and impaled as
of the
an object-lesson round its walls; but, the defenders
town remaining undaunted, he raised the siege and plunged
reduced
into the gorges of the Kashiari. Having there
to submission Uda, the capital of Lapturi, son of Tubisi,
he returned to Calah, taking with him six thousand
favourite
prisoners whom he settled as colonists around his
residence. This was his last exploit: he never subse-
passed
quently quitted his hereditary domain, but there
 76 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

the remaining seven years of his life in peace, if not in

idleness. He died in 860 B.c., after a reign of twenty-
five years. His portraits represent him as a vigorous
man, with a brawny neck and broad shoulders, capable
of bearing the weight of his armour for many hours
at a time. He is short in the head, with a somewhat
flattened skull and low forehead; his eyes are large and
deep-set beneath bushy eyebrows, his cheek-bones high,
and his nose aquiline, with a fleshy tip and wide nostrils,
while his mouth and chin are hidden by moustache and
beard. ‘The whole figure is instinct with real dignity, yet
such dignity as is due rather to rank and the habitual
exercise of power, than to the innate qualities of the man.*
The character of Assur-nazir-pal, as gathered from the dry
details of his Annals, seems to have been very complex.
He was as ambitious, resolute, and active as any prince in
the world; yet he refrained from offensive warfare as soon
as his victories had brought under his rule the majority of
the countries formerly subject to Tiglath-pileser I. He
knew the crucial moment for endinga campaign, arresting
his progress where one more success might have brought
him into collision with some formidable neighbour ; and
this wise prudence in his undertakings enabled him to
retain the principal acquisitions won by his arms. As a
worshipper of the gods he showed devotion and gratitude;
he was just to his subjects, but his conduct towards his
* Perrot and Chipiez do not admit that the Assyrian sculptors intended
to represent the features of their kings; for this they rely chiefly on the
remarkable likeness between all the figures in the same series of bas-reliefs.
My own belief is that in Assyria, as in Egypt, the sculptors took the
portrait of the reigning sovereign as the model for all their figures.
 SHALMANKESER III. 77

enemies was so savage as to appear to us cruel even for

that terribly pitiless age: no king ever employed such
horrible punishments, or at least none has described with
such satisfaction the tortures inflicted on his vanquished
foes. Perhaps such measures were
necessary, and the harshness with
which he repressed insurrection
prevented more frequent outbreaks
and so averted greater sacrifice of
life. But the horror of these
scenes so appals the modern
reader, that at first he can only
regard Assur-nazir-pal as a royal
butcher of the worst type.
Assur-nazir-pal left to his suc-
cessor an overflowing treasury, a
valiant army, a people proud of
their progress and fully confident
in their own resources, and a
kingdom which had recovered,
during several years of peace, from
the strain of its previous con-
quests. Shalmaneser III.* drew SHALMANESER II1,'

largely on the reserves of men

and money which his father’s foresight had AiSpared
and his busy reign of thirty-five years saw thirty-two
of the notes.
* (The Shalmaneser ITI. of the text is the Shalmaneser IT.
—Tr.]
taken from the
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photoggraph by Mansell,
original stele in the British Museum.
78 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

campaigns, conducted almost without a break, on every

side of the empire in succession. A double task awaited
him, which he conscientiously and successfully fulfilled.
Assur-nazir-pal had thoroughly reorganised the empire
and raised it to the rank of a great power: he had
confirmed his provinces and vassal states in their allegi-
ance, and had subsequently reduced to subjection, or, at
any rate, penetrated at various points, the little buffer
principalities between Assyria and the powerful kingdoms
of Babylon, Damascus, and Urartu; but he had avoided
engaging any one of these three great states in a struggle
of which the issue seemed doubtful. Shalmaneser could
not maintain this policy of forbearance without loss of
prestige in the eyes of the world: conduct which might
seem prudent and cautious in a victorious monarch like
Assur-nazir-pal would in him have argued timidity or weak-
ness, and his rivals would soon have provoked a quarrel if
they thought him lacking in the courage or the means to
attack them. Immediately after his accession, therefore, he
assumed the offensive, and decided to measure his strength
first against Urartu, which for some years past had been
showing signs of restlessness. Few countries are more
‘rugged or better adapted for defence than that in which his
armies were about to take the field. The volcanoes to
which it owed its configuration in geological times, had
become extinct long before the appearance of man, but the
surface of the ground still bears evidence of their former
activity ; layers of basaltic rock, beds of scoriz and cinders,
streams of half-disintegrated mud and lava, and more or less
perfect cones, meet the eye at every turn. Subterranean
 THE SNOW-CLAD PEAKS 79

disturbances have not entirely ceased even now, for certain

craters—that of Tandurek, for example—sometimes exhale
acid fumes; while hot springs exist in the neighbourhood,
from which steaming waters escape in cascades to the
valley, and earthquakes and strange subterranean noises are
not unknown. ‘The backbone of these Armenian mountains

THE TWO PEAKS OF MOUNT ARARAT.!

joins towards the south the line of the Gordy#an range;

it runs in a succession of zigzags from south-east to north-
west, meeting at length the mountains of Pontus and the
last spurs of the Caucasus. Lofty snow-clad peaks, chiefly
of volcanic origin, rise here and there among them, the
most important being Akhta-dagh, Tandurek, Ararat,
Bingwl, and Palandeken. The two unequal pyramids
which form the summit of Ararat are covered with per-
petual snow, the higher of them being 16,916 feet above
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by A. Tissandier.
80 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

the sea-level. The spurs which issue from the principal

chain cross each other in all directions, and make a net-
work of rocky basins where in former times water collected
and formed lakes, nearly all of which are now dry in
consequence of the breaking down of one or other of
their enclosing sides. Two only of these mountain lakes
still remain, entirely devoid of outlet, Lake Van in the
south, and Lake Urumiah further to the south-east. The
Assyrians called the former the Upper Sea of Nairi, and
the latter the Lower Sea, and both constituted a defence for
Urartu against their attacks. ‘To reach the centre of the
kingdom of Urartu, the Assyrians had either to cross the
mountainous strip of land between the two lakes, or by
making a detour to the north-west, and descending the
difficult slopes of the valley of the Arzania, to approach the
mountains of Armenia lying to the north of Lake Van.
The march‘was necessarily a slow and painful one for both
horses and men, along narrow winding valleys down which
rushed rapid streams, over raging torrents, through tangled
forests where the path had to be cut as they advanced, and
over barren wind-swept plateaux where rain and mist
chilled and demoralized soldiers accustomed to the warm
and sunny plains of the Euphrates. The majority of the
armies which invaded this region never reached the goal of
the expedition : they retired after a few engagements, and
withdrew as quickly as possible to more genial climes.
The main part of the Urartu remained almost always
unsubdued behind its barrier of woods, rocks, and lakes,
which protected it from the attacks levelled against it, and
no one can say how far the kingdom extended in the
 A REGION OF CONTRASTS 81

direction of the Caucasus. It certainly included the valley

of the Araxes and possibly part of the valley of the Kur,
and the steppes sloping towards the.Caspian Sea. It was
a region full of contrasts, at once favoured and ill-treated
by nature in its elevation and aspect: rugged peaks, deep
gorges, dense thickets, districts sterile from the heat of
subterranean fires, and sandy wastes barren for lack of
moisture, were interspersed with shady valleys, sunny vine-
clad slopes, and wide stretches of fertile land covered with
rich layers of deep alluvial soil, where thick-standing corn
and meadow-lands, alternating with orchards, repaid the
cultivator for the slightest attempt at irrigation.
History does not record who were the former possessors
of this land; but towards the middle of the ninth century
it was divided into several principalities, whose position
and boundaries cannot be precisely determined. It is
thought that Urartu lay on either side of Mount Ararat and
on both banks of the Araxes, that Biainas lay around Lake
Van,’ and that the Mannai occupied the country to the
north and east of Lake Urumiah;? the positions of the
1 Urartu is the only name by which the Assyrians knew the kingdom of
Van; it has been recognised from the very beginning of Assyriological
studies, as well as its identity with the Ararat of the Bible and the ©
Alarodians of Herodotus. It was also generally recognised that the name
Biainas in the Vannic inscriptions, which Hincks read Bieda, corresponded to
~ the Urartu of the Assyrians, but in consequence of this mistaken reading,
efforts have been made to connect it with Adiabene. Sayce was the first to
show that Biainas was the name of the country of Van, and of the kingdom
of which Van was the capital ; the word Biténi which Sayce connects with
it is not a secondary form of the name of Van, but a present day term,
and should be erased from the list of geographical names.
2 The Mannai are the Minni of Jeremiah (li. 27), and it is in their
country of Minyas that one tradition made the ark rest after the Deluge.
VOL. VII, G
82 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

other tribes on the different tributaries of the Huphrates or

the slopes of the Armenian mountains are as yet uncertain.
The country was probably peopled by a very mixed race,
for its mountains have always afforded a safe asylum for
refugees, and at each migration, which altered the face of
Western Asia, some fugitives from neighbouring nations
drifted to the shelter of its fastnesses. The principal

THE KINGDOM
OF URARTU.
Scale.

element, the Khaldi, were akin to that great family of

tribes which extended across the range of the Taurus, from
the shores of the Mediterranean to the Euxine, and in-
cluded the Khalybes, the Mushku, the Tabal, and the
Khati. The little preserved of their language resembles
what we know of the idioms in use among the people of
Arzapi and Mitanni, and their religion seems to have been
somewhat analogous to the ancient worship of the Hittites.
The character of the ancient Armenians, as revealed
to us by the monuments, resembles in its main features
 THE TRIBES OF URARTU 83

that of the Armenians of the present time. They appear

as tall, strong, muscular, and determined, full of zest for
work and fighting, and proud of their independence. Some
of them led a pastoral life, wandering about with their
flocks during the greater part of the year, obliged to seek
pasturage in valley, forest, or mountain height according
to the season,
while in winter
they remained
frost-bound in
semi - subter-
ranean dvwell-
ings similar to
those in which their
descendants immure
themselves at the
present day. Where
the soil lent itself to agricul-
ture, they proved excellent é
husbandmen, and obtained FRAGMENT OF A VOTIVE SHIELD OF
URARTIAN WORK.!
abundant crops. Their inge-
nuity in irrigation was remarkable, and enabled them to
bring water by a system of trenches from distant springs to
supply their fields and gardens; besides which, they knew
how to terrace the steep hillsides so as to prevent the
rapid draining away of moisture. Industries were but little
developed among them, except perhaps the working of
metals; for were they not akin to those Chalybes of the
Pontus, whose mines and forges already furnished iron to
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Hormuzd Rassam.
84. ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

the Grecian world? Fragments have been discovered in

the ruined cities of Urartu of statuettes, cups, and votive
shields, either embossed or engraved, and decorated with
concentric bands of animals or men, treated in the Assyrian
manner, but displaying great beauty of style and remarkable

SITE OF AN URARTIAN TOWN AT TOPRAH-KALEH,!

finish of execution. Their towns were generally fortified or

perched on heights, rendering them easy of defence, as, for
example, Van and Toprah-Kaleh. Even such towns as
were royal residences were small, and not to be compared
with the cities of Assyria or Aram; their ground-plan
generally assumed the form of a rectangular oblong, not
* Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Binder.
 DWELLINGS: RICH AND POOR 85

always traced with equal exactitude. The walls were built

of blocks of roughly hewn stone, laid in regular courses, but
without any kind of mortar or cement; they were sur-
mounted by battlements, and flanked at intervals by square
towers, at the foot of which were outworks to protect the

THE RUINS OF A PALACE OF URARTU AT TOPRAH-KALEM.!

points most open to attack. The entrance was approached

by narrow and dangerous pathways, which sometimes ran
on ledges across the precipitous face of the rock. The
dwelling-houses were of very simple construction, being
merely square cabins of stone or brick, devoid of any
external ornament, and pierced by one low doorway, but
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Hormuzd Rassam,
86 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

sometimes surmounted by an open colonnade supported by

a row of small pillars; a flat roof with a parapet crowned
the whole, though this was often replaced by a gabled top,
which was better adapted to withstand the rains and snows
of winter. The palaces of the chiefs differed from the
private houses in the size of their apartments and the
greater care bestowed upon their decoration. Their
facades were sometimes adorned with columns, and orna-
mented with bucklers or carved discs of metal; slabs of
stone covered with inscriptions lined the inner halls, but
we do not know whether the kings added to their dedica-
tions to the gods and the recital of their victories, pictures
of the battles they had fought and of the fortresses they
had destroyed. The furniture resembled that in the houses
of Nineveh, but was of simpler workmanship, and perhaps
the most valuable articles were imported from Assyria or
were of Aramean manufacture. The temples seemed to
have differed little from the palaces, at least in external
appearance. ‘The masonry was more regular and more
skilfully laid; the outer court was filled with brazen lavers
and statues; the interior was furnished with altars,
sacrificial stones, idols in human or animal shape, and
bowls identical with those in the, sanctuaries on the
Kuphrates, but the nature and details of the rites in which
they were employed are unknown. One supreme deity,
Khaldis, god of the sky, was, as far as we can conjecture,
the protector of the whole nation, and their name was
derived from his, as that of the Assyrians was from Assur,
the Cosseans from Kashshu, and the Khati from Khatu.
This deity was assisted in the government of the universe
 UIZVZON

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 FIRST CAMPAIGN OF SHALMANESER IIL 89

by Teisbas, god of the air, and Ardinis the sun-god.

Groups of secondary deities were ranged around this sove-
reign triad—Auis, the water; Ayas, the earth; Selardis,
the moon; Kharubainis, Irmusinis, Adarutas, and Avrzi-
melas: one single inscription enumerates forty-six, but
some of these were worshipped in special localities only.

ASSYRIAN SOLDIERS CARRYING OFF OR DESTROYING THE FURNITURE OF AN

URARTIAN TEMPLE.!

It would appear as if no goddesses were included in the

native Pantheon. Saris, the only goddess known to us
at present, is probably merely a variant of the Ishtar of
Nineveh or Arbela, borrowed from the Assyrians at a later
date.
The first Assyrian conquerors looked upon these
northern regions as an integral part of Nairi, and included
them under that name. They knew of no single state in
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Botta. Scribes are weighing gold,
and soldiers destroying the statue of a god with their axes. :
90 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

the district whose power might successfully withstand their

own, but were merely acquainted with a group of hostile
provinces whose internecine conflicts left them ever at the
mercy of a foreign foe.' Two kingdoms had, however, risen
to some importance about the beginning of the ninth
century—that of the Mannai in the east, and that of
Urartu in the centre of the country. Urartu comprised

SHALMANESER III, CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS IN HIS CHARIOT.?

the district of Ararat proper, the province of Biaina,

and the entire basin of the Arzania. Arzashkun, one
of its capitals, situated probably near the sources of
this river, was hidden, and protected against attack, by an
extent of dense forest almost impassable to a regular army.
The power of this kingdom, though as yet unorganised,
1 The single inscription of Tiglath-pileser I. contains a list of twenty-
three kings of Nairi, and mentions sixty chiefs of the same country.
_? Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs on the bronze
gates of Balawat.
 ON THE SHORES OF LAKE VAN 91

had already begun to inspire the neighbouring states with

uneasiness. Assur-nazir-pal speaks of it incidentally as
lying on the northern frontier of his empire,’ but the care
he took to avoid arousing its hostility shows the respect
in which he held it. He was, indeed, as much afraid of
Urartu as of Damascus, and though he approached quite
close to its boundary in his second campaign, he preferred
to check his triumphant advance rather than risk attacking
it. It appears to have been at that time under the undis-
puted rule of a certain Sharduris, son of Lutipri, and
subsequently, about the middle of Assur-nazir-pal’s reign,
to have passed into the hands of Aramé, who styled himself
King of Nairi, and whose ambition may have caused those
revolts which forced Assur-nazir-pal to take up arms in the
eighteenth year of his reign. On this occasion the
Assyrians again confined themselves to the chastisement
of their own vassals, and checked their advance as soon as
they approached Urartu. Their success was but temporary ;
hardly had they withdrawn from the neighbourhood, when
the disturbances were renewed with even greater violence,
very probably at the instigation of Aramé. Shalmaneser
III. found matters in a very unsatisfactory state both on
the west and south of Lake Van: some of the peoples who
had been subject to his father—the Khubushkia, the
pastoral tribes of the Gordywan mountains, and the

1 Arzashku, Arzashkun, seems to be the Assyrian form of an Urartian

name ending in -ka, formed from a proper name Arzash, which recalls the
name Arsene, Arsissa, applied by the ancients to part of Lake Van.
Arzashkun might represent the Ardzik of the Armenian historians, west of
Malasgert.
92 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Arameans of the Huphrates—had transferred their allegi-

ance elsewhere. He immediately took measures to recall
them toa sense of their duty, and set out from Calah only
a few days after succeeding to the crown. He marched at
first in an easterly direction, and, crossing the pass of
Simisi, burnt the city of Aridi, thus proving that he was
fully prepared to treat rebels after the same fashion as
his father. The lesson had immediate effect. All the
neighbouring tribes, Khargeans, Simiseans, the people of
Simira, Sirisha, and Ulmania, hastened to pay him homage
even before he had struck his camp near Aridi. Hurrying
across country by the shortest route, which entailed the
making of roads to enable his chariots and cavalry to follow
him, he fell upon Khubushkia, and reduced a hundred
towns to ashes, pursuing the king Kakia into the depths
of the forest, and forcing him to an unconditional sur-
render. Ascending thence to Shugunia, a dependency of
Aramé’s, he laid the principality waste, in spite of the
desperate resistance made on their mountain slopes by
the inhabitants; then proceeding to Lake Van, he per-
formed the ceremonial rites incumbent on an Assyrian king
whenever he stood for the first time on the shores of a new
sea. He washed his weapons in the waters, offered a
sacrifice to the gods, casting some portions of the victim
into the lake, and before leaving carved his own image on
the surface of a commanding rock. On his homeward
march he received tribute from Gilzin. This expedition
was but the prelude of further successes. After a few
weeks’ repose at Nineveh, he again set out to make his
authority felt in the western portions of his dominions.
 FURTHER SUCCESSES 93
Akhuni, chief of Bit-Adini, whose position was the first to
be menaced, had formed a league with the chiefs of all the
cities which had formerly bowed before Assur-nazir-pal’s
victorious arms, Gurgum, Samalla, Kui, the Patind, Car-
chemish, and the Khati. Shalmaneser seized Lalati! and

THE PEOPLE OF SHUGUNIA FIGHTING AGAINST THE ASSYRIANS.?

Burmarana, two. of Akhuni’s towns, drove him across the

Euphrates, and following close on his heels, collected as he
passed the tribute of Gurgum, and fell upon Samalla.
Under the walls of Lutibu he overthrew the combined
forces of Adini, Samalla, and the Patina, and raised a

1 Lalati is probably the Lulati of the Egyptians. The modern site is

not known, nor is that of Burmarana.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs on the bronze
gates of Balawat.
94 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

trophy to commemorate his victory at the sources of the

Saluara; then turning sharply to the south, he crossed the
Orontes in pursuit of Shapalulmé, King of the Patina.
Not far from Alizir he encountered a fresh army raised by
Akhuni and the King of Samalla, with contingents from
Carchemish, Kui, Cilicia, and Iasbuki:+ having routed it,

PRISONERS FROM SHUGUNTA, WITH THEIR ARMS TIED AND YOKES ON THEIR NECKS.’

he burnt the fortresses of Shapalulmé, and after occupying

himself by cutting down cedars and cypress trees on the
Amanos in the province of Atalur, he left a triumphal
stele engraved on the mountain-side. Next turning east-
wards, he received the homage offered with alacrity by the
1 The country of Iasbuki is represented by Ishbak, a son of Abraham
and Keturah, mentioned in Genesis (xxv. 2) in connection with Shuah.
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs on the bronze
gates of Balawat.
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 RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN 97

towns of Taia, Khazazu, Nulia, and Butamu, and, with a

final tribute from Agusi, he returned in triumph to
Nineveh. The motley train which accompanied him showed
by its variety the immense extent of country he had
traversed during this first campaign. Among the prisoners
were representatives of widely different races ;—Khati with
long robes and cumbrous head-dresses, following naked
mountaineers from Shugunia, who marched with yokes on
their necks, and wore those close-fitting helmets with short
crests which have such a strangely modern look on the
Assyrian bas-reliefs. The actual results of the campaign
were, perhaps, hardly commensurate with the energy
expended. This expedition from east to west had certainly
inflicted considerable losses on the rebels against whom it:
had been directed; it had cost them dearly in men and
cattle, and booty of all kinds, and had extorted from them
a considerable amount of tribute, but they remained,
notwithstanding, still unsubdued. As soon as the Assyrian
troops had quitted their neighbourhood, they flattered
themselves they were safe from further attack. No doubt
they thought that a show of submission would satisfy the
new invader, as it had satisfied his father; but Shalmaneser
was not disposed to rest content with this nominal depend-
ence. He intended to exercise effective control over all
- the states won by his sword, and the proof of their subjection
was to be the regular payment of tribute and fulfilment
of other obligations to their suzerain. Year by year he
unfailingly enforced his rights, till the subject states were
obliged to acknowledge their master and resign themselves
to servitude.
VOL. VII. | H
98 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

The narrative of his reiterated efforts is a monotonous

one. The king advanced against Adini in the spring
of 859 z.c., defeated Akhuni near Tul-barsip, transported
his victorious regiments across the Euphrates on rafts
of skins, seized Surunu, Paripa, and Dabigu,'’ besides six
fortresses and two hundred villages, and then advanced
into the territory of Carchemish, which he proceeded to
treat with such severity that the other Hittite chiefs
hastened to avert a similar fate by tendering their sub-
mission. The very enumeration of their offerings proves
not only their wealth, but the terror inspired by the
advancing Assyrian host: Shapalulmé of the Patina, for
instance, yielded up three talents of gold, a hundred talents
of silver, three hundred talents of copper, and three
hundred of iron, and paid in addition to this an annual
tribute of one talent of silver, two talents of purple, and
two hundred great beams of cedar-wood. Samalla, Agusi,
and Kummukh were each laid under tribute in proportion
to their resources, but their surrender did not necessarily
lead to that of Adini. Akhuni realised that, situated as he
was on the very borders of Assyrian territory, there was no
longer a chance of his preserving his semi-independence,
as was the case with his kinsfolk beyond the Huphrates;
proximity to the capital would involve a stricter servitude,
which would soon reduce him from the condition of a
vassal to that of a subject, and make him merely a
1 Shalmaneser crossed the Euphrates near Tul-barsip, which would
lead him into the country between Birejik, Rum-kaleh, and Aintab, and
it is in that district that we must look for the towns subject to Akhuni.
Dabigu, I consider, corresponds to Dehbek on Rey’s map, a little to the
north-east of Aintab ; the sites of Paripa and Surunu are unknown,
 THE CONQUEST OF BIT-ADINI AND OF NATRI 99
governor where he had hitherto reigned as king. Aban-
doned by the Khati, he sought allies further north, and
entered into a league with the tribes of Nairi and Urartu.
When, in 858 3.c., Shalmaneser III. forced an entrance
into Tul-barsip, and drove back what was left of the
garrison on the right bank of the Euphrates, a sudden
movement of Aramé obliged him to let the prey escape
from his grasp. Rapidly fortifying Tul-barsip, Nappigi,
Aligu, Pitru, and Mutkinu, and garrisoning them with
loyal troops to command the fords of the river, as his
ancestor Shalmaneser I. had done six centuries before,’ he
then re-entered Nairi by way of Bit-Zamani, devastated
Inziti with fire and sword, forced a road through to the
banks of the Arzania, pillaged Sukhmi and Dayaini, and
appeared under the walls of Arzashkun. Aramé withdrew
to Mount Adduri and awaited his attack in an almost
impregnable position; he was nevertheless defeated: 3400
of his soldiers fell on the field of battle; his camp, his
treasures, his chariots, and all his baggage passed into
_ the hands of the conqueror, and he himself barely escaped
with his life. Shalmaneser ravaged the country “as a
savage bull ravages and tramples under his feet the fertile
fields ;”’ he burnt the villages and the crops, destroyed

1 Pitru, the Pethor of the Bible (Numb. xxii. 5), is situated near the
confluence of the Sajur and the Euphrates, somewhere near the encampment
called Oshériyéh by Sachau. Mutkinu was on the other bank, perhaps
at Kharbet-Beddai, nearly opposite Pitru. Nappigi was on the left bank
of the Euphrates, which excludes its identification with Mabog-Hierapolis,
as proposed by Hommel; Nabigath, mentioned by Tomkins, is too far east.
Nappigi and Aligu must both be sought in the district between the
Euphrates and the town of Saruj.
 100 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Arzashkun, and raised before its gates a pyramid of human

heads, surrounded by a circle of prisoners impaled on
‘stakes. He climbed the mountain chain of Iritia, and
laid waste Aramali and Zanziuna at his leisure, and
descending for the second time to the shores of Lake
Van, renewed the rites he had performed there in the

SHUA, KING OF GILZAN, BRINGING A WAR-HORSE FULLY CAPARISONED TO

SHALMANESER.!

first year of his reign, and engraved on a neighbouring

rock an inscription recording his deeds of prowess. He
made his way back to Gilzfn, where its king, Shua, brought
him a war-horse fully caparisoned, as a token of homage.
Shalmaneser graciously deigned to receive it, and further
exacted from the king the accustomed contributions of
chariot-horses, sheep, and wine, together with seven
dromedaries, whose strange forms amused the gaping
-1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs on the Black
Obelisk.
 SHALMANESER RETURNS TO ASSUR 101
crowds of Nineveh. After quitting Gilzin, Shalmaneser
encountered the people of Khubushkia, who ventu
red to
bar his way; but its king, Kakia, lost his city of
Shilaia,
and three thousand soldiers, besides bulls, horses, and
sheep innumerable. Having enforced submission in
Khu-
bushkia, Shalmaneser at length returned to Assur throu
gh

DROMEDARIES FROM GILZAN.!

the defiles of Kirruri, and came to Calah to enjoy a

well-earned rest after the fatigues of his campaign. But
Akhuni had not yet lost heart. Though driven back
to the right bank of the Euphrates, he had taken advantage
of the diversion created by Aramé in his favour, to assume
a strong position among the hills of Shitamrat with the
river in his rear.2 Shalmaneser attacked his lines in
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs on the bronze
gates of Balawat.
2 The position of Shitamrat may answer to the ruins of the fortress
of Rum-kaleh, which protected a ford of the Euphrates in Byzantine times.
102 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

front, and broke through them after three days’ preliminary

skirmishing; then finding the enemy drawn up in battle
array before their last stronghold, the king charged without
a moment’s hesitation, drove them back and forced them
to surrender. Akhuni’s life was spared, but he was
sent with the remainder of his army to colonise a village

TRIBUTE FROM GILZAN.?

in the neighbourhood of Assur, and Adini became hence-

forth an integral part of Assyria. The war on the western
frontier was hardly brought to a close when another broke
out in the opposite direction. The king rapidly crossed
the pass of Bunagishlu and fell upon Mazamua: the
natives, disconcerted by his impetuous onslaught, neverthe-
less hoped to escape by putting out in their boats on
the broad expanse of Lake Urumiah. Shalmaneser, how-
-1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs on the Black
Obelisk.
 THE FIRST ATTACK ON DAMASCUS 103

ever, constructed rafts of inflated skins, on which hig

men ventured in pursuit right out into the open. The
natives were overpowered; the king “dyed the sea with
their blood as if it had been wool,” and did not withdraw
until he had forced them to appeal for mercy.
In five years Shalmaneser had destroyed Adini, laid
low Urartu, and confirmed the tributary states of Syria
in their allegiance; but Damascus and Babylon were as
yet untouched, and the moment was at hand when he
would have to choose between an arduous conflict with
them, or such a repression of the warlike zeal of his
opening years, that, like his father Assur-nazir-pal, he
would have to repose on his laurels. Shalmaneser was
too deeply imbued with the desire for conquest to choose
a peaceful policy: he decided at once to assume the
offensive against Damascus, being probably influenced by
the news of Ahab’s successes, and deeming that if the
King of Israel had gained the ascendency unaided, Assur,
fully confident of its own superiority, need have no fear
as to the result of a conflict. The forces, however, at the
disposal of Benhadad JI. (Adadidri) were sufficient to cause
the Assyrians some uneasiness. The King of Damascus
was not only lord of Cole-Syria and the Hauran, but he
exercised a suzerainty more or less defined over Hamath,
Israel, Ammon, the Arabian and Idumean tribes, Arvad
and the principalities of Northern Pheenicia, Usanata,
Shianu, and Irkanata;1 in all, twelve peoples or twelve
1 Trkanata, the Egyptian Arqanatu, perhaps the Irqata of the Tel-
el-Amarna tablets, is the Arka of Phenicia. The other countries
enumerated are likewise situated.in the same locality. Shianu (for a long
 104 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

kings owned his sway, and their forces, if united to his,

would provide at need an army of nearly 100,000 men:
a few years might see these various elements merged in
a united empire, capable of withstanding the onset of any
foreign foe.1 Shalmaneser set out from Nineveh on the
14th day of the month Iyy4r, 854 3.c., and chastised on
his way the Arameans of the Balikh, whose sheikh
Giammu had shown some inclination to assert his in-
dependence. He crossed the Euphrates at Tul-barsip,
and held a species of durbar at Pitru for his Syrian
subjects: Sangar of Carchemish, Kundashpi of Kummukh,
Aramé of Agusi, Lalli of Melitene, Khaiani of Samalla,
Garparuda who had succeeded Shapalulmé among the
Patina, and a second Garparuda of Gurgum, rallied around
him with their presents of welcome, and probably also with
their troops. This ceremony concluded, he hastened to
Khalman and reduced it to submission, then plunged into
the hill-country between Khalman and the Orontes, and
swept over the whole territory of Hamath. A few easy
victories at the outset enabled him to exact ransom from,

time read as Shizanu), the Sin of the Bible (Gen. x. 17), is mentioned by
Tiglath-pileser III. under the name Sianu. Ushanat is called Uznu
by Tiglath-pileser, and Delitzsch thought it represented the modern Kalaat-
el-Hosu. With Arvad it forms the ancient Zahi of the Egyptians, which
was then subject to Damascus.
* The suzerainty of Ben-hadad over these twelve peoples is proved
by the way in which they are enumerated in the Assyrian documents:
his name always stands at the head of the list. The manner in which
the Assyrian scribes introduce the names of these kings, mentioning some-
times one, sometimes two among them, without subtracting them from the
total number 12, has been severely criticised, and Schrader excused it
by saying that 12 is here used as a round number somewhat vaguely.
 THE BATTLE OF QARQAR 105

or burn to the ground, the cities of Adinnu, Mashga,

Argana, and Qargar, but just beyond Qarqar he encountered
the advance-guard of the Syrian army.! Ben-hadad had
called together, to give him a fitting reception, the
whole of the forces at his disposal: 1200 chariots, 1200
horse, 20,000 foot-soldiers from Damascus alone; 700

TRIBUTE FROM GARPARUDA, KING OF THE PATINA.?

chariots, 700. horse and 10,000 foot from Hamath; 2000

chariots and 10,000 foot belonging to Ahab, 500 soldiers

1 The position of these towns is uncertain: the general plan of the

campaign only proves that they must lie on the main route from Aleppo to
-Kalaat-Sejar, by Bar& or by Maarét-en-Néman and Kalaat-el-Mudigq. It is
agreed that Qargar must be sought not far from Hamath, whatever the
exact site may be. An examination of the map shows us that Qarqar
corresponds to the present Kalaat-el-Mudig, the ancient Apamea of
Lebanon ; the confederate army would command the ford which led to the
plain of Hamath by Kalaat-Sejar.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs on the Black
Obelisk.
106 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

from Kui, 1000 mountaineers from the Taurus,’ 10 chariots

and 10,000 foot from Irkanata, 200 from Arvad, 200 from
Usanata, 30 chariots and 10,000 foot from Shianu, 1000
camels from Gindibu the Arab, and 1000 Ammonites.
The battle was long and bloody, and the issue uncertain;
Shalmaneser drove back one wing of the confederate army
to the Orontes, and forcing the other wing and the centre
to retire from Qarqar to Kirzau, claimed the victory,
though the losses on both sides were equally great. It
would seem as if the battle were indecisive—the Assyrians,
at any rate, gained nothing by it; they beat a retreat
immediately after their pretended victory, and returned to
their own land without prisoners and almost without booty.
On the whole, this first conflict had not been unfavourable
to Damascus: it had demonstrated the power of that state
in the eyes of the most incredulous, and proved how easy
resistance would be, if only the various princes of Syria
would lay aside their differences and all unite under the
command of a single chief. The effect of the battle in
Northern Syria and among the recently annexed Aramean
tribes was very great; they began to doubt the omni-
potence of Assyria, and their loyalty was shaken. Sangar
of Carchemish and the Khati refused to pay their tribute,
and the Hmirs of Tul-Abni and Mount Kashiari broke out
into open revolt. Shalmaneser spent a whole year in
suppressing the insurrection; complications, moreover,
arose at Babylon which obliged him to concentrate his

* The people of the Muzri next enumerated have long been considered
as Egyptians ; the juxtaposition of their name with that of Kui shows that
it refers here to the Muzri of the Taurus.
 THE WAR AGAINST BABYLON 107

attention and energy on Chaldean affairs. Nabu-baliddin

had always maintained peaceful and friendly relations with
Assyria, but he had been overthrown, or perhaps assassi-
nated, and his son Marduk-nddin-shumu had succeeded
him on the throne, to the dissatisfaction of a section of
his subjects. Another son of Nabu-baliddin, Marduk-
belus4té, claimed the sovereign power, and soon won over
so much of the country that Marduk-nadin-shumu had fears
for the safety of Babylon itself. He then probably re-
membered the pretensions to Kharduniash, which his
Assyrian neighbours had for a long time maintained, and
applied to Shalmaneser to support his tottering fortunes.
The Assyrian monarch must have been disposed to lend
a favourable ear to a request which allowed him to inter-
vene as suzerain in the quarrels of the rival kingdom: he
mobilised his forces, offered sacrifices in honour of Ramman
at Zaban, and crossed the frontier in 853 B.c.*
The war dragged on during the next two years. The
scene of hostilities was at the outset on the left bank of
the Tigris, which for ten centuries had served as the
battle-field for the warriors of both countries. Shalma-
neser, who had invested Mé-Turnat at the fords of the
Lower Diyalah, at length captured that fortress, and after
having thus isolated the rebels of Babylonia proper,
turned his steps towards Gananaté.* Marduk-belusaté, ‘a
1 The town of Zaban is situated on the Lesser Zab, but it is impossible
to fix the exact site.
2 Mé-Turnat, Mé-Turni, “the water of the Turnat,” stood upon the
Diyalah, probably near the site of Bakuba, where the most frequented
route crosses the river; perhaps we may identify it with the Artemita
of classical authors, Gananaté must be sought higher up near the
108 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

vacillating king, incapable of directing his own affairs,”

came out to meet him, but although repulsed and driven
within the town, he defended his position with such spirit
that Shalmaneser was at length obliged to draw off his
troops after having cut down all the young corn, felled the
fruit trees, disorganised the whole system of irrigation,—in
short, after having effected all the damage he could. He
returned in the following spring by the most direct route;
Lakhiru fell into his hands,’ but Marduk-belusaté, having
no heart to contend with him for the possession of a
district ravaged by the struggle of the preceding summer,
fell back on the mountains of Yasubi and concentrated
his forces round Arman.” Shalmaneser, having first
wreaked his vengeance upon Gananaté, attacked his
adversary in his self-chosen position; Arman fell after
a desperate defence, and Marduk-belusaté either perished
or disappeared in a last attempt at retaliation. Marduk-
nadin-shumu, although rid of his rival, was not yet master
of the entire kingdom. The Arameans of the Marshes,
or, as they called themselves, the Kalda, had refused him
their allegiance, and were ravaging the regions of the
Lower Euphrates by their repeated incursions. They con-
stituted not so much a compact state, as a confederation
mountains, as the context points out ; I am inclined to place it near the
site of Khanekin, whose gardens are still celebrated, and the strategic
importance of which is considerable.
1 Lakhiru comes before Gananaté on the direct road from Assyria, to the
south of the Lower Zab, as we learn from the account of the campaign
itself : we shall not do wrong in placing this town either at Kifri, or in its
neighbourhood on the present caravan route.
2. Mount Yasubi is the mountainous district which separates Khanekin
from Holwan. .
 THE WAR AGAINST BABYLON 109

of little states, alternately involved in petty internecine

quarrels, or temporarily reconciled under the precarious
authority of a sole monarch. lJHach separate state bore
the name of the head of the family—real or mythical—
from whom all its members prided themselves on being
descended,—Bit-Dakkuri, Bit-Adini, Bit-Amukkani, Bit-
Shalani, Bit-Shalli, and finally Bit-Yakin, which in the
end asserted its predominance over all the rest. In
demanding Shalmaneser’s help, Marduk-nadin-shumu had
virtually thrown on him the responsibility of bringing these
turbulent subjects to order, and the Assyrian monarch
accepted the duties of his new position without demur.
He marched to Babylon, entered the city and went direct
to the temple of H-shaggil: the people beheld him approach
with reverence their deities Bel and Belit, and visit all
the sanctuaries of the local gods, to whom he made end-
less propitiatory libations and pure offerings. He had
worshipped Ninip in Kuta; he was careful not to forget
Nabo of Borsippa, while on the other hand he officiated
in the temple ‘of Ezida, and consulted its ancient oracle,
offering upon its altars the flesh of splendid oxen and
fat lambs. The inhabitants had their part in the festival
as well as the gods; Shalmaneser summoned them to
a public banquet, at which he distributed to them
embroidered garments, and plied them with meats and
wine; then, after renewing his homage to the gods of
1 Ag far as we can judge, Bit-Dakkuri and Bit-Adini were the most
northerly, the latter lying on both sides of the Euphrates, the former on
the west of the Euphrates, to the south of the Bahr-i-Nejif; Bit-Yakin was
at the southern extremity near the mouths of the Euphrates, and on the
western shore of the Persian Gulf,
110 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Babylon, he recommenced his campaign, and set out in

the direction of the sea. Baqani, the first of the Chaldean
cities which lay on his route, belonged to Bit-Adini,' one
of the tribes of Bit-Dakkuri; it appeared disposed to resist
him, and was therefore promptly dismantled and burnt—
an example which did not fail to cool the warlike inclina-
tions which had begun to manifest themselves in other
parts of Bit-Dakkuri. He next crossed the Euphrates,
and pillaged Knzudi, the fate of which caused the remainder
of Bit-Adini to lay down arms, and the submission of the
latter brought about that of Bit-Yakin and Bit-Amukkani.
These were all rich provinces, and they bought off the
conqueror liberally: gold, silver, tin, copper, iron, acacia-
wood, ivory, elephants’ skins, were all showered upon
the invader to secure his mercy. It must have been an
intense satisfaction to the pride of the Assyrians to be
able to boast that their king had deigned to offer sacrifices
in the sacred cities of Accad, and that he had been borne
by his war-horses to the shores of the Salt Sea; these
facts, of little moment to us now, appeared to the people
of those days of decisive importance. No king who was
not actually master of the country would have been
tolerated within the temple of the eponymous god, for
the purpose of celebrating the rites which the sovereign
alone was empowered to perform. Marduk-nadin-shumu,
The site of Baq&ni is unknown; it should be sought for between
Lamlum and Warka, and Bit-Adini in Bit-Dakkuri should be placed
between the Shatt-et-Kaher and the Arabian desert, if the name of Enzudi,
the other royal town, situated to the west of the Kuphrates, is found,
as is possible, under a popular etymology, in that of Kalaat ain-Said or
Kalaat ain-es-Said in the modern maps.
 HOSTILITIES AGAINST DAMASCUS RESUMED LUE

in recognising Shalmaneser’s right to act thus, thereby

acknowledged that he himself was not only the king’s
ally, but his liegeman. This bond of supremacy doubtless
did not weigh heavily upon him; as soon as his suzerain
had evacuated the country, the two kingdoms remained
much on the same footing as had been established by the
treaties of the three previous generations. Alliances were
made between private families belonging to both, peace
existed between the two sovereigns, interchange of com-
merce and amenities took place between the two peoples,
but with one point of difference which had not existed
formerly: Assur protected Babel, and, by taking pre-
cedence of Marduk, he became the real head of the peoples
of the Euphrates valley. Assured of the subordination,
or at least of the friendly neutrality of Babylon, Shalma-
neser had now a free hand to undertake a campaign in
the remoter regions of Syria, without being constantly
haunted by the fear that his rival might suddenly swoop
down upon him in the rear by the valleys of the Radanu
or the Zabs. He now ran no risks in withdrawing his
troops from the south-eastern frontier, and in marshalling
his forces on the slopes of the Armenian Alps or on the
banks of the Orontes, leaving merely a slender contingent .
in the heart of Assyria proper to act as the necessary
guardians of order in the capital.
Since the indecisive battle of Qarqar, the western
frontier of the empire had receded as far as the Huphrates,
and Shalmaneser had been obliged to forego the collection
of the annual Syrian tribute. It would have been an
excellent opportunity for the Khati, while they enjoyed
112 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

this accidental respite, to come to an understanding with

Damascus, for the purpose of acting conjointly against
a common enemy; but they let the right moment slip,
and their isolation made submission inevitable. The effort
to subdue them cost Shalmaneser dear, both in time and
men; in the spring of each year he appeared at the fords
of Tul-barsip and ravaged the environs of Carchemish,
then marched upon the Orontes to accomplish the
systematic devastation of some fresh district, or to inflict
a defeat on such of his adversaries as dared to encounter
him in the open field. In 850 zB.c. the first blow was
struck at the Khati; Agusi’ was the next to suffer, and
its king, Aramé, lost Arnié, his royal city, with some
hundred more townships and strongholds.2 In 849 s.o.
it was the turn of Damascus. The league of which Ben-
hadad had proclaimed himself the suzerain was still in
existence, but it had recently narrowly escaped dissolution,
Historians have up to the present admitted that this campaign of
the year 850 took place in Armenia. The context of the account itself
shows us that, in his tenth year, Shalmaneser advanced against the towns of
Aramé, immediately after having pillaged the country of the Khati, which
inclines me to think that these towns were situated in Northern Syria.
Ihave no doubt that the Aramé in question is not the Armenian king
of that name, but Aramé the sovereign of Bit-Agusi, who is named several
times in the Annals of Shalmaneser.
? The text of Bull No, 1 adds to the account of the war against Aramé,
that of a war against the Damascene league, which merely repeats the
account of Shalmaneser’s eleventh year. It is generally admitted that the
war against Aramé falls under his tenth year, and the war against Ben-
hadad during his eleventh year. The scribes must have had at their
disposal two different versions of one document, in which these two. wars
were described without distinction of year. The compiler of the inscription
of the Bulls would have considered them as forming two distinct accounts,
which he has placed one after the other,
 JEHOSHAPHAT’S MISTAKEN ALLIANCE 113

and a revolt had almost deprived it of the adherence of

Israel and the house of Omri—after Hamath, the most
active of all its members. The losses suffered at Qargar
had doubtless been severe enough to shake Ahab’s faith
in the strength of his master and ally. Besides this, it
would appear that the latter had not honourably fulfilled
all the conditions of the treaty of peace he had signed
three years previously ; he still held the important fortress
of Ramoth-gilead, and he delayed handing it over to Ahab
in spite of his oath to restore it. Finding that he could
not regain possession of it by fair means, Ahab resolved
to take it by force. A great change in feeling and politics
had taken place at Jerusalem. Jehoshaphat, who occupied
the throne, was, like his father Asa, a devout worshipper
of Jahveh, but his piety did not blind him to the secular
needs of the moment. The experience of his predecessors
had shown that the union of the twelve tribes under the
rule of a scion of Judah was a thing of the past for ever;
all attempts to restore it had ended in failure and blood-
shed, and the house of David had again only lately been
saved from ruin by the dearly bought intervention of
Ben-hadad I. and his Syrians. Jehoshaphat from the
outset clearly saw the necessity of avoiding these errors
of the past; he accepted the situation and sought the
friendship of Israel. An alliance between two princes so
unequal in power could only result in a disguised suzerainty
for one of them and a state of vassalage for the other ;
what Ben-hadad’s alliance was to Ahab, that of Ahab
was to Jehoshaphat, and it served his purpose in spite
1 | Kings xxii. 3.
VOL, VII. I
114 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

of the opposition of the prophets. The strained relations

between the two countries were relaxed, and the severed
tribes on both sides of the frontier set about repairing their
losses; while Hiel the Bethelite at length set about
rebuilding Jericho on behalf of Samaria,” Jehoshaphat was
collecting around him a large army, and strengthening
himself on the west against the Philistines and on the
south against the Bedawin of the desert.® The marriage
of his eldest son Jehoram* with Athaliah subsequently
bound the two courts together by still closer ties ; * mutual

1 The subordinate position of Jehoshaphat is clearly indicated by the

reply which he makes to Ahab when the latter asks him to accompany him
on this expedition : ““I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses
as thy horses” (1 Kings xxii. 4).
2 1 Kings xvi. 34, where the writer has preserved the remembrance of a
double human sacrifice, destined, according to the common custom in the
whole of the East, to create guardian spirits for the new building: “he laid
the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up the
gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub ; according to the word
of the Lord.” [For the curse pronounced on whoever should rebuild Jericho,
see Josh. vi. 26.--TR.]
3 2 Chron, xvii. 10-19, where the narrative must have some basis of
truth.
* [Following the distinction in spelling given in 2 Kings viii. 25, I have
everywhere written Joram (of Israel) and Jehoram (of Judah), to avoid
confusion.—TR. |
4 Athaliah is sometimes called the daughter of Ahab (2 Kings viii. 18),
and sometimes the daughter of Omri (2 Kings viii. 26 ; cf. 2 Ohron. xxii. 2),
and several authors prefer the latter filiation, while the majority see in it a
mistake of the Hebrew scribe. It is possible that both attributions may be
correct, for we see by the Assyrian inscriptions that a sovereign is called the
son of the founder of his line even when he was several generations removed
from him: thus, Merodach-baladan, the adversary of Sargon of Assyria, calls
himself son of Iakin, although the founder of the Bit-Iakin had been dead
many centuries before his accession. The document used in 2 Kings viii. 26
may have employed the term daughter of Omri in the same manner
 DEATH OF AHAB 115
visits were exchanged, and it was on the occasion
of a
stay made by Jehoshaphat at Jezreel that the exped
ition
against Ramoth was finally resolved on. It might well
have appeared a more than foolhardy enterprise, and
it
was told in Israel that Micaiah, a prophet, the son of
Imlah, had predicted its disastrous ending. “TI saw,”
exclaimed the prophet, “the Lord sitting on His throne,
and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand
and on His left. And the Lord said, Who shall entice
Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead ?
And one said on this manner, and another said on that
manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before
the Lord, and said, I will entice him. And the Lord
said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth,
and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.
And He said, Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail
also: go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the
Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these
thy prophets ; and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning
thee.”’?
The two kings thereupon invested Ramoth, and
Ben-hadad hastened to the defence of his fortress.
Selecting thirty-two of his bravest charioteers, he com-
manded them to single out Ahab only for attack, and not
fight with others until they had slain him. This injunction
happened in some way to come to the king’s ears, and he
therefore disguised himself as a common soldier, while
merely to indicate that the Queen of Jerusalem belonged to the house of
Omri.
1 1 Kings xxii. 5-23, reproduced in 2 Chron. xviii. 4-22.
116 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Jehoshaphat retained his ordinary dress. Attracted by the

richness of the latter’s armour, the Syrians fell upon him,
but on his raising his war-cry they perceived their mistake,
and turning from the King of Judah they renewed their
quest of the Israelitish leader. While they were vainly
seeking him, an archer drew a bow ‘‘at a venture,” and
pierced him in the joints of his cuirass. ‘‘ Wherefore he
said to his charioteer, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of
the host; for Iam sore wounded.’’ Perceiving, however,
that the battle was going against him, he revoked the order,
and remained on the field the whole day, supported by his
armour-bearers. He expired at sunset, and the news of his
death having spread panic through the ranks, a cry arose,
‘‘ very man to his city, and every man to his country!”
The king’s followers bore his body to Samaria,’ and Israel

1 1 Kings xxii. 28-38 (cf. 2 Chron. xviii. 28-34), with interpolations in

verses 35 and 38. It is impossible to establish the chronology of this period
with any certainty, so entirely do the Hebrew accounts of it differ from the
Assyrian, The latter mention Ahab as alive at the time of the battle of
Qarqar in 854 B.c. and Jehu on the throne in 842 B.c. We must, therefore,
place in the intervening twelve years, first, the end of Ahab’s reign;
secondly, the two years of Ahaziah; thirdly, the twelve years of Joram;
fourthly, the beginning of the reign of Jehu—in all, possibly fourteen years.
The reign of Joram has been prolonged beyond reason by the Hebrew
annalists, and it alone lends itself to be curtailed. Admitting that the
siege of Samaria preceded the battle of Qarqar, we may surmise that the
three years which elapsed, according to the tradition (1 Kings xxii. 1),
between the triumph of Ahab and his death, fall into two unequal periods,
two previous to Qarqar, and one after it, in such a manner that the revolt
of Israel would have been the result of the defeat of the Damascenes ; Ahab
must have died in 835 B.c., as most modern historians agree. On the other
hand, it is scarcely probable that Jehu ascended the throne at the very
moment that Shalmaneser was defeating Hazael in 842 B.c.; we can only
carry back his accession to the preceding year, possibly 843. The duration
 AN INGLORIOUS VICTORY uh

again relapsed into the position of a vassal, probably under

the same conditions as before the revolt. Ahaziah survived
his father two years, and was succeeded by his brother
Joram." When Shalmaneser, in 849 B.c., reappeared in the
valley of the Orontes, Joram sent out against him his
prescribed contingent, and the conquered Israelites once
more fought for their conqueror. The Assyrians had, as
usual, maltreated the Khati. After having pillaged the
towns of Carchemish and Agusi, they advanced on the
Amanos, held to ransom the territory of the Patina
enclosed within the bend of the Orontes, and descending
upon Hamath by way of the districts of Iaraku and Ashta-
maku, they came into conflict with the army of the twelve
kings, though on this occasion the contest was so bloody
that they were forced to withdraw immediately after their
success. They had to content themselves with sacking
Apparazu, one of the citadels of Aramé, and with collecting
the tribute of Garparuda of the Patin&i; which done, they
skirted the Amanos and provided themselves with beams

of two years for the reign of Ahaziah can only be reduced by a few months,
if indeed as much as that, as it allows of a full year, and part of a second
year (cf. 1 Kings xxii. 51, where it is said that Ahaziah ascended the throne
in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, and 2 Kings iii. 1, where it states that
Joram of Israel succeeded Ahaziah in the 18th year of the same Jehosha-
phat); in placing these two years between 853 and 851, there will remain
for the reign of Joram the period comprised between 851 and 843, namely,
eight years, instead of the twelve attributed to him by biblical tradition.
1 The Hebrew documents merely make mention of Ahaziah’s accession,
length of reign, and death (1 Kings xxii. 40, 51-53, and 2 Kings i. 2-17).
The Assyrian texts do not mention his name, but they state that in 849
«the twelve kings” fought against Shalmaneser, and, as we have already
seen, one of the twelve was King of Israel, here, therefore necessarily
Ahaziah, whose successor was Joram.
 118 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

from its cedars. The two following years were spent in

harrying the people of Paqarakhbuni, on the right bank of
the Euphrates, in the dependencies of the ancient kingdom
of Adini (848 B.c.), and in plundering the inhabitants of
Ishtaraté in the country of Iaiti, near the sources of the
Tigris (847 3.c.), till in 846 they returned to try their
fortune again in Syria. They transported 120,000 men
across the Huphrates, hoping perhaps, by the mere mass
of such a force, to crush their enemy in a single battle;
but Ben-hadad was supported by his vassals, and their
combined army must have been as formidable numerically
as that of the Assyrians. As usual, after the engagement,
Shalmaneser claimed the victory, but he did not succeed
in intimidating the allies or in wresting from them a single
rood of territory.’ Discouraged, doubtless, by so many
fruitless attempts, he decided to suspend hostilities, at all
events for the present. In 845 3.c. he visited Nairi, and
caused an “image of his royal Majesty’ to be carved at
the source of the Tigris close to the very spot where the
stream first rises. Pushing forward through the defiles of
Tunibuni, he next invaded Urartu, and devastated it as
far as the sources of the Kuphrates ; on reaching these he
purified his arms in the virgin spring, and offered a sacrifice
to the gods. On his return to the frontier, the chief of
Dayaini ‘ embraced his feet,” and presented him with some
thoroughbred horses. In 844 z.c. he crossed the Lower
Zab and plunged into the heart of Namri; this country

1 The care which the king takes to Bak, that “with 120,000
men he
crossed the Euphrates in flood-time” very probably shows that
this number
was for him in some respects an unusual one.
 SHALMANESER RECOMMENCES HOSTILITIES ~- 119

had long been under Babylonian influence, and its princes

bore Semitic names. Mardukmudammiq, who was then
its ruler, betook himself to the mountains to preserve his
life; but his treasures, idols, and troops were carried off to
Assyria, and he was superseded on the throne by Ianzu,
the son of Khamban, a noble of Cosszan origin. As might
be expected after such severe exertions, Shalmaneser
apparently felt that he deserved a time of repose, for his
chroniclers merely note the date of 843 s.c. as that of an
inspection, terminating in a felling of cedars in the
Amanos. As a fact, there was nothing stirring on the
frontier. Chaldea itself looked upon him as a benefactor,
almost as a suzerain, and by its position between EKlam and
Assyria, protected the latter from any quarrel with Susa.
The nations on the east continued to pay their tribute
without coercion, and Namri, which alone entertained
pretensions to independence, had just received a severe
lesson. Urartu had not acknowledged the supremacy
of Assur, but it had suffered in the last invasion, and
Aramé had shown no further sign of hostility. The tribes
of the Upper Tigris—Kummukh and Adini—accepted their
position as subjects, and any trouble arising in that quarter
was treated as merely an ebullition of local dissatisfaction,
and was promptly crushed. The Khati were exhausted by
the systematic destruction of their towns and their
harvests. Lastly, of the principalities of the Amanos,
Gurgum, Samalla, and the Patina, if some had occasionally
taken part in the struggles for independence, the others had
always remained faithful in the performance of their duties
with
as vassals. Damascus alone held out, and the valour
120 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

which she had endured all the attacks made on her showed
no signs of abatement; unless any internal disturbance
arose to diminish her strength, she was likely to be able to
resist the growing power of Assyria for a long time to come.
It was at the very time when her supremacy appeared
to be thus firmly established that a revolution broke out,
the effects of which soon undid the work of the preceding
two or three generations. Ben-hadad, disembarrassed of
Shalmaneser, desired to profit by the respite thus gained
to make a final reckoning with the Israelites. It would
appear that their fortune had been on the wane ever since
the heroic death of Ahab. Immediately after the disaster
at Ramoth, the Moabites had risen against Ahaziah,’ and
their king, Mesha, son of Kamoshgad, had seized the
territory north of the Arnon which belonged to the tribe
of Gad; he had either killed or carried away the Jewish
population in order to colonise the district with Moabites,
and he had then fortified most of the towns, beginning
with Dhibon, his capital. Owing to the shortness of his
reign, Ahaziah had been unable to take measures to hinder
him; but Joram, as soon as he was firmly seated on the
throne, made every effort to regain possession of his
province, and claimed the help of his ally or vassal
Jehoshaphat. The latter had done his best to repair the

12 Kings iii. 5. The text does not name Ahaziah, and it might be con-
cluded that the revolt took place under Joram ; the expression employed by
the Hebrew writer, however, “when Ahab was dead ... the King of
Moab rebelled against the King of Israel,” does not permit of it being placed
otherwise than at the opening of Ahaziah’s reign.
- 2 2 Kings iii. 6, 7, where Jehoshaphat replies to Joram in the same terms
which he had used to Ahab. The chronological difficulties induced Ed.
 INSURRECTION OF MOAB 121

losses caused by the war with Syria. Being Lord of Edom,

he had been tempted to follow the example of Solomon,
and the deputy who commanded in his name had con-
structed a vessel* at Hzion-geber ‘‘to go to Ophir for
gold;’’ but the vessel was wrecked before quitting the
port, and the disaster was regarded by the king as a
punishment from Jahveh, for when Ahaziah suggested
that the enterprise should be renewed at their joint
expense, he refused the offer." But the sudden insurrection
of Moab threatened him as much as it did Joram, and he
gladly acceded to the latter’s appeal for help. Apparently
the simplest way of approaching the enemy would have
been from the north, choosing Gilead as a:base of
operations ; but the line of fortresses constructed by Mesha
at this vulnerable point of his frontier was so formidable,
that the allies resolved to attack from the south after

Meyer to replace the name of Jehoshaphat in this passage by that of his son
Jehoram, As Stade has remarked, the presence of two kings both bearing
the name of Jehoram in the same campaign against Moab would have been
one of those facts which strike the popular imagination, and would not have
been forgotten ; if the Hebrew author has connected the Moabite war with
the name of Jehoshaphat, it is because his sources of information furnished
him with that king’s name.
* [Both in the Hebrew and the Septuagint the ships are in the plural
number in 1 Kings xxii. 48, 49.—Tr.]
1 1 Kings xxii. 48, 49, where the Hebrew writer calls the vessel con-
structed by Jehoshaphat a “ship of Tarshish ;” that is, a vessel built to
make long voyages. The author of the Chronicles thought that the Jewish
expedition to Ezion-geber on the Red Sea was destined to go to Tarshish in
Spain. He has, moreover, transformed the vessel into a fleet, and has
associated Ahaziah in the enterprise, contrary to the testimony of the Book
of Kings; finally, he has introduced into the account a prophet named
Eliezer, who represents the disaster as a chastisement for the alliance with
Ahaziah (2 Chron. xx. 35-37).
 122 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

passing the lower extremity of the Dead Sea. They

marched for seven days in an arid desert, digging wells
as they proceeded for the necessary supply of water.
Mesha awaited them with his hastily assembled troops on
the confines of the cultivated land; the allies routed him
and blockaded him within his city of Kir-hareseth.' Closely
beset, and despairing of any help from man, he had
recourse to the last resource which religion provided for
his salvation; taking his firstborn son, he offered him to
Chemosh, and burnt him on the city wall in sight of the
besiegers. The Israelites knew what obligations this
sacrifice entailed upon the Moabite god, and the succour
which he would be constrained to give to his devotees in
consequence. ‘I'hey therefore raised the siege and dis-
banded in all directions. Mesha, delivered at the very
moment that his cause seemed hopeless, dedicated a stele
in the temple of Dhibén, on which he recorded his victories
and related what measures he had taken to protect his
people.* He still feared a repetition of the invasion, but
* Kir-Hareseth or Kir-Moab is the present Kerak, the Krak of medizval
times.
* The account of the campaign (2 Kings iii. 8-27) belongs to the pro-
phetic cycle of Elisha, and seems to give merely a popular version of the
event. A king of Edom is mentioned (9-10, 12-13), while elsewhere, under
Jehoshaphat, it is stated “there was no king in Edom” (1 Kings xxii. 47) ;
the geography also of the route taken by the expedition is somewhat con-
fused. Finally, the account of the siege of Kir-hareseth is mutilated, and
the compiler has abridged the episode of the human sacrifice, as being too
conducive to the honour of Chemosh and to the dishonour of Jahveh, The
main facts of the account are correct, but the details are not clear, and
do not all bear the stamp of veracity.
* This is the famous Moabite Stone or stele of Dhibén, discovered by
Clermont-Ganneau in 1868, and now preserved in the Louvre.
 DEATH OF JEHOSHAPHAT 123

this misfortune was spared him ; Jehoshaphat was gathered

to his fathers,’ and his Hdomite subjects revolted on
receiving the news
of his death. Jeho-
ram, his son and

1 The date of the death

of Jehoshaphat may be
fixed as 849 or 848 B.c.
The biblical documents
give us for the period of
the history of Judah fol-
lowing on the death of
Ahab: First, eight years
of Jehoshaphat, from the
17th year of his reign (1
Kings xxii. 51) to his 25th
(and last) year (1 Kings
xxii. 42); secondly, eight
years of Jehoram, son of
Jehoshaphat (2 Kings viii.
17); thirdly, one year of
Ahaziah, son of Jehoram
(2 Kings viii. 26)—in all
17 years, which must be
reduced and condensed into
the period between 853
B.c., the probable date of
the battle of Ramoth, and
843, the equally probable
date of the accession of
MESHA.?
~ Jehu. The reigns of the {THE MOABITE STONE OR STELE OF

two Ahaziahs are too short

Moab
to be further abridged ; we must therefore place the campaign against
the accession of
at the earliest in 850, during the months which followed
850 to 849. There
Joram of Israel, and lengthen Jehoshaphat’s reign from
of eight) for
will then be room between 849 and 844 for five years (instead
the reign of Jehoram of Judah.
from the
2 From a photograph,by Faucher-Gudin, retouched by Massias
124 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

successor, at once took up arms to bring them to a sense

of their duty; but they surrounded his camp, and it was
with difficulty that he cut his way through their ranks
and escaped during the night. The defection of the old
Canaanite city of Libnah followed quickly on this reverse,"
and Jehoram was powerless to avenge himself on it, the
Philistines and the Bedawin having threatened the western
part of his territory and raided the country.” In the midst
of these calamities Judah had no leisure to take further
measures against Mesha, and Israel itself had suffered too
severe a blow to attempt retaliation. The advanced age
of Ben-hadad, and the unsatisfactory result of the campaigns
against Shalmaneser, had furnished Joram with an occasion
for a rupture with Damascus. War dragged on for some
time apparently, till the tide of fortune turned against
Joram, and, like his father Ahab in similar circumstances,
he shut himself within Samaria, where the false alarm of
an Egyptian or Hittite invasion produced a panic in the
Syrian camp, and restored the fortunes of the Israelitish
king.? Ben-hadad did not long survive the reverse he
original in the Louvre. The fainter parts of the stele are the portions
restored in the original.
1 2 Kings viii. 20-22; cf. 2 Chron. xxi, 8-10.
2 This war is mentioned only in 2 Chron. xxi. 16, 17, where it is represented
as a chastisement from Jahveh; the Philistines and ‘the Arabs which are
beside the Ethiopians” (Kush) seem to have taken Jerusalem, pillaged the
palace, and carried away the wives and children of the king into captivity,
“so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz (Ahaziah), the
youngest of his sons.”
3 Kuenen has proposed to take the whole account of the reign of Joram,
son of Ahab, and transfer it to that of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, and this theory
has been approved by several recent critics and historians. On the other
hand, some have desired to connect it with the account of the siege of
 ELISHA’S COUNSEL SOUGHT 125

had experienced; he returned sick and at the point of

death to Damascus, where he was assassinated by Hazael,
one of his captains. Hebrew tradition points to the
influence of the prophets in all these events. The aged
Elijah had disappeared, so ran the story, caught up to
heaven in a chariot of fire, but his mantle had fallen on
Elisha, and his power still survived in his disciple." From
far and near Elisha’s counsel was sought, alike by Gentiles
as by the followers of the true God; whether the suppliant
was the weeping Shunamite mourning for the loss of her
only son,? or Naaman the captain of the Damascene
chariotry,* he granted their petitions, and raised the child
from its bed, and healed the soldier of his leprosy. During
the siege of Samaria, he had several times frustrated the
enemy’s designs, and had predicted to Joram not only
the fact but the hour of deliverance, and the circumstances
which would accompany it.* Ben-hadad had sent Hazael
to the prophet to ask him if he should recover, and Elisha
had wept on seeing the envoy—‘ Because I know the evil
that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel; their strong-
holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou
slay with the sword, and wilt dash in pieces their little
ones, and rip up their women with child. And Hazael |
said, But what is thy servant which is but a dog, that
he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered,
The Lord hath showed me that thou shalt be king over
Samaria in Ahab’s reign. I fail to see any reasonable argument which can
be brought against the authenticity of the main fact, whatever opinion may
be held with regard to the details of the biblical narrative.
1 2 Kings ii. 1-15. 2 2 Kings iv. 8-37.
3 2 Kings v. 4 2 Kings vi. 8-33; vil.
126 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Syria.” On returning to Damascus Hazael gave the

results of his mission in a reassuring manner to Ben-hadad,
but “‘on the morrow ... . he took the coverlet and dipped
it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died.” *
The deed which deprived it of its king, seriously
affected Damascus itself. It was to Ben-hadad that it
owed most of its prosperity ; he it was who had humiliated
Hamath and the princes of the coast of Arvad, and the
nomads of the Arabian desert. He had witnessed the rise
of the most energetic of all the Israelite dynasties, and he
had curbed its ambition ; Omri had been forced to pay him
tribute; Ahab, Ahaziah, and Joram had continued it;
and Ben-hadad’s suzerainty, recognised more or less by
their vassals, had extended through Moab and Judah as far
as the Red Sea. Not only had he skilfully built up this
fabrie of vassal states which made him lord of two-thirds of
Syria, but he had been able to preserve it unshaken for a
quarter of a century, in spite of rebellions in several of his
fiefs and reiterated attacks from Assyria; Shalmaneser,
indeed, had made an attack on his line, but without
breaking through it, and had at length left him master of
the field. This superiority, however, which no reverse
could shake, lay in himself and in himself alone; no sooner
had he passed away than it suddenly ceased, and Hazael
found himself restricted from the very outset to the
territory of Damascus proper.2, Hamath, Arvad, and the

1.2 Kings viii. 7-15. ,

* From this point onward, the Assyrian texts which mentioned the
twelve kings of the Khdti, Irkhulini of Hamath and Adadidri (Ben-hadad) of
Damascus, now only name Khazailu of the country of Damascus.
 RAMOTH BESIEGED 127

northern peoples deserted the league, to return to it no

more; Joram of Israel called on his nephew Ahaziah, who
had just succeeded to Jehoram of Judah, and both together
marched to besiege Ramoth. The Israelites were not
successful in their methods of carrying on sieges; Joram,
wounded in a skirmish, retired to his palace at Jezreel,
where Ahaziah joined him a few days later, on the pretext
of inquiring after his welfare." The prophets of both
kingdoms and their followers had never forgiven the family
of Ahab their half-foreign extraction, nor their eclecticism
in the matter of religion. They had numerous partisans in
both armies, and a conspiracy was set on foot against the
absent sovereigns; Hlisha, judging the occasion to be a
propitious one, despatched one of his disciples to the camp
with secret instructions. The generals were all present at
a banquet, when the messenger arrived; he took one of
them, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, on one side, anointed him,
and then escaped. Jehu returned, and seated himself
amongst his fellow-officers, who, unsuspicious of what had
happened, questioned him as to the errand. “ Is all well?
Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said
unto them, Ye know the man and what his talk was. And
they said, Itis false; tell us now. And he said, Thus and |
thus spake ‘he to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have
anointed thee king over Israel. Then they hasted, and
took every man his garment and put it under him on the
top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, Jehu is
king.” He at once marched on J ezreel, and the two kings,
surprised at this movement, went out to meet him with
1 2 Kings viii. 28, 29.
 128 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

scarcely any escort. The two parties had hardly met when
Joram asked, ‘‘Is it peace, Jehu?” to which Jehu replied,
“What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother
Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?’ Whereupon
Joram turned rein, crying to his nephew, ‘There is
treachery, O Ahaziah.” But an arrow pierced him through
the heart, and he fell forward in his chariot. Ahaziah,
wounded near Ibleam, managed, however, to take refuge in
Megiddo, where he died, his servants bringing the body
back to Jerusalem." When Jezebel heard the news, she
guessed the fate which awaited her. She painted her eyes
and tired her head, and posted herself in one of the upper
windows of the palace. As Jehu entered the gates she
reproached him with the words, ‘‘Is it peace, thou Zimri—
thy master’s murderer? And he lifted up his face to the
window and said, Who is on my side—who? ‘Two or three
eunuchs rose up behind the queen, and he called to them,
Throw her down. So they threw her down, and some of
her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses; and
he trode her under foot. And when he was come in he did
eat and drink; and he said, See now to this cursed woman
and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.” But nothing
was found of her except her skull, hands, and feet, which
they buried as best they could. Seventy princes, the
entire family of Ahab, were slain, and their heads piled up
on either side of the gate. The priests and worshippers of
+ According to the very curtailed account in 2 Chron. xxii. 9, Ahaziah
appears to have hidden himself in Samaria, where he was discovered-and
taken to Jehu, who had him killed. This account may perhaps have
belonged to the different version of which a fragment has been preserved in
2 Kings x. 12-17,
 THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF OMRI—JEHU 129

Baal remained to be dealt with. Jehu summoned them to

Samaria on the pretext of a sacrifice, and massacred them
before the altars of their god. According to a doubtful
tradition, the brothers and relatives of Ahaziah, ignorant of
what had happened, came to salute Joram, and perished in
the confusion of the slaughter, and the line of David
narrowly escaped extinction with the house of Omri.’
Athaliah assumed the regency, broke the tie of vassalage
which bound Judah to Israel, and by a singular irony of
fate, Jerusalem offered an asylum to the last of the children
of Ahab. The treachery of Jehu, in addition to his
inexpiable cruelty, terrified the faithful, even while it served
their ends. Dynastic crimes were common in those days,
but the tragedy of Jezreel eclipsed in horror all others that
had preceded it; it was at length felt that such avenging
of Jahveh was in His eyes too ruthless, and a century later
the Prophet Hosea saw in the misery of his people the
divine chastisement of the house of Jehu for the blood shed
at his accession.’
The report of these events, reaching Calah, awoke the
ambition of Shalmaneser. Would Damascus, mistrusting
its usurper, deprived of its northern allies, and ill-treated by
1 2 Kings ix.; x. 1-12, 18-27.
2 2 Kings x. 12-14. Stade has shown that this account is in direct con-
of
tradiction with its immediate context, and that it belonged to a version
the one which has come down to us.
the events differing in detail from
b the son of
According to the latter, Jehu must at once have met Jehonada
in his company (vers. 15-17); this would
Rechab, and have entered Samaria
the priests of Baal with the confidence
have been a poor way of inspiring
into the trap. Accordin g to 2 Chron. xxii. 8,
necessary for drawing them
Judah preceded the murder of Ahaziah.
the massacre of the princes of
4 Hosea i. 4, 5.
3 2 Kings xi. 1; cf. 2 Chron. xxii. 10.
K
VOL. VII.
 130 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

the Hebrews, prove itself as invulnerable as in the past?

At all events, in 842 3.c., Shalmaneser once more crossed
the HKuphrates, marched along the Orontes, probably
receiving the homage of Hamath and Arvad by the way.
Restricted solely to the resources of Damascus, Hazael did
not venture to advance into Ccele-Syria as Ben-hadad had
always done; he barricaded the defiles of Anti-Lebanon,
and, entrenched on Mount Shenir with the flower of his
troops, prepared to await the attack. It proved the most
bloody battle that the Assyrians had up to that period ever
fought. Hazael lost 16,000 foot-soldiers, 470 horsemen,
1121 chariots, and yet succeeded in falling back on
Damascus in good order. Shalmaneser, finding it
impossible to force the city, devastated the surrounding
country, burnt numberless villages and farms, and felled all
the fruit trees in the Hauran up to the margin of the desert.
This district had’ never, since the foundation of the
kingdom by Rezon a century before, suffered at the hands
of an enemy’s army, and its population, enriched as much
by peaceful labour as by the spoil of its successful wars,
offered a prize of incalculable value. On his return march
Shalmaneser raided the Bekaa, entered Phcenicia, and
carved a triumphal stele on one of the rocks of Baalirasi.'
The Kings of Tyre and Sidon hastened to offer him
1 The site of Baalirasi is left undecided by Assyriologists, The events
which follow enable us to affirm with tolerable certainty that the point on
the coast where Shalmaneser received the tributes of Tyre and Sidon is none
other than the mouth of the Nahr-el-Kelb: the name Baalirasi, ‘‘ the master
of the head,” would then be applicable to the rocky point which rises to the
south of the river, and on which Egyptian kings had already sculptured their
stelee,
 JEHU SENDS PRESENTS TO SHALMANESER 131

numerous gifts, and Jehu, who owed to his presence

temporary immunity from a Syrian invasion, sent his
envoys to greet him, accompanied by offerings of gold and
silver in bars, vessels of gold of various forms, situlz,
salvers, cups, drinking-vessels, tin, sceptres, and wands of
precious woods. Shalmaneser’s pride was flattered by this
homage, and he carved on one of his monuments the

JEHU, KING OF ISRAEL, SENDS PRESENTS TO SHALMANESER.!

representation of this first official connection of Assyria

with Israel. The chief of the embassage is shown pros-
trating himself and kissing the dust before the king, while
the rest advance in single file, some with vessels in their
hands, some carrying sceptres, or with metal bowls
supported on their heads. The prestige of the house of
Omri was still a living influence, or else the Ninevite
scribes were imperfectly informed of the internal changes
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the scenes represented on the
Black Obelisk.
132 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

which had taken place in Israel, for the inscription

accompanying this bas-relief calls Jehu the son of Omri,
and grafts the regicide upon the genealogical tree of his
victims. Shalmaneser’s victory had been so dearly bought,
that the following year the Assyrians merely attempted an
expedition for tree-felling in the Amanos (841 8.c.). Their

PART OF ISRAEL’S TRIBUTE TO SHALMANESER.!

next move was to push forward into Kui, in the direction of

the Pyramos and Saros (840 B.c.). In the summer of 839
they once more ventured southwards, but this time Hazael
changed his tactics: pitched battles and massed move-
ments, in which the fate of a campaign was decided by one
cast of the dice, were now avoided, and ambuscades, guerilla
warfare, and long and tedious sieges became the order of
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs of the Black
Obelisk.
 DEFEAT OF HAZAEL AND HOMAGE OF JEHU 133

the day. By the time that four towns had been taken,
Shalmaneser’s patience was worn out: he drew off his
troops and fell back on Pheenicia, laying Tyre, Sidon,
and Byblos under tribute before returning into Mesopo-
tamia. Hazael had shown himself possessed of no legs
energy than Ben-hadad; and Damascus, isolated, had
proved as formidable a foe as Damascus surrounded by its
vassals ; Shalmaneser therefore preferred to leave matters
as they were, and accept the situation. Indeed the results
obtained were of sufficient importance to warrant his feeling
some satisfaction. He had ruthlessly dispelled the dream
of Syrian hegemony which had buoyed up Ben-hadad, he
had forced Damascus to withdraw the suzerainty it had
exercised in the south, and he had conquered Northern
Syria and the lower basin of the Orontes. Before running
any further risks, he judged it prudent to strengthen his
recently acquired authority over these latter countries, and
to accustom the inhabitants to their new position as subjects
of Nineveh.
He showed considerable wisdom by choosing the tribes
of the Taurus and of the Cappadocian marches as the first
objects of attack. In regions so difficult of access, war _
could only be carried on with considerable hardship and
severe loss. The country was seamed by torrents and
densely covered with undergrowth, while the towns and
villages, which clung to the steep sides of the valleys,
had no need of walls to become effective fortresses, for
the houses rose abruptly one above another, and formed
so many redoubts which the enemy would be forced to
attack and take one by one. Few pitched battles could
 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA
184

be fought in a district of this description ; the Assyrians

wore themselves out in incessant skirmishes and endless
petty sieges, and were barely compensated by the meagre
spoil which such warfare yielded. In 838 B.c. Shalmaneser
swept over the country of Tabal and reduced twenty-four

A MOUNTAIN VILLAGE.!

of its princes to a state of subjection; proceeding thence,

he visited the mountains of Turat,? celebrated from this
period downwards for their silver mines and quarries of
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Alfred Boissier.
2 The position of the mountains of Turat is indicated by the nature of
their products: “We know of a silver mine at Marash and an iron mine not
worked, and two fine quarries, one of pink and the other of black marble.”
Turat, therefore, must be the Marash mountain, the Aghir-Dagh and its
spurs; hence the two sorts of stone mentioned in the Assyrian text would
be, the one the pink, the other the black marble.
 WARS IN CILICIA AND NAMRI 135

valuable marbles. In 837 he seized the stronghold of

Uétash in Melitene, and laid Tabal under a fresh contribu-
tion ; this constituted a sort of advance post for Assyria
in the sight of those warlike and continually fluctuating
races situated between the sources of the Halys and the
desert border of Asia Minor.! Secure on this side, he
was about to bring matters to a close in Cilicia, when
the defection of Ianzu recalled him to the opposite ex-
tremity of the empire. He penetrated into Namri by the
defiles of Khashmur,? made a hasty march through Sik-
hisatakh, Bit-Tamul, Bit-Shakki, and Bit-Shedi, surprised
the rebels and drove them into the forests; he then bore
down on Parsua* and plundered twenty-seven petty kings

1 A fragment of an anonymous list, discovered by Delitzsch, puts the

expedition against the Tabal in 837 B.c. instead of in 838, and consequently
makes the entire series of ensuing expeditions one year later, up to the revolt
of Assur-dain-pal. This is evidently a mistake of the scribe who compiled
this edition of the Canon, and the chronology of a contemporary monument,
such as the Black Obelisk, ought to obtain until further light can be thrown
on the subject.
2 For the site of Khashmur or Rinsteae cf. supra, p. 35, note 3. The
other localities cannot as yet be identified with any modern site; we may
conjecture that they were scattered about the basin of the upper Diyalah.
3 Parsua, or with the native termination Parsuash, has been identified
first with Persia and then with Parthia, and Rost still persists in its
identification, if not with the Parthia of classical geographers, at least with
the Parthian people. Schrader has shown that it ought to be sought between
Namri on the south and the Mannai on the north, in one of the valleys of
the Gordyxan mountains, and his demonstration has been accepted with a
few modifications of detail by most scholars. I believe it to be possible to
determine its position with still further precision. Parsua on one side lay
on the border of Namri, which coniprises the districts to the east of the
Diyalah in the direction of Zohab, and was contiguous to the Medes on the
other side, and also to the Mannai, who occupied the southern regions of Lake
Urumiah; it also lies close to Bit-Khamban, the principal of the Cosswan
136 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

consecutively; skirting Misi, Amadai, Araziash,’ and

Kharkhar, and most of the districts lying on the middle
heights of the table-land of Iran, he at length came up
with Ianzu, whom he seized and brought back prisoner to
Assyria, together with his family and his idols. It was
at this juncture, perhaps, that he received from the people
of Muzri the gift of an elephant and some large monkeys,
representations of which he has left us on one of his bas-
reliefs. Elephants were becoming rare, and it was not
now possible to kill them by the hundred, as formerly, in
Syria: this particular animal, therefore, excited the
wonder of the Ninevites, and the possession of it flattered
the vanity of the conqueror. This was, however, an inter-
lude of short duration, and the turbulent tribes of the
Taurus recalled him to the west as soon as spring set in.

tribes, as it would appear. I can find only one position on the map which
would answer to all these requirements: this is in the main the basin of the
Gavé-rud and its small affluents, the Ardelan and the sources of the Kizil-
Uzén, and I shall there place Parsua until further information is forthcoming
on the subject.
1 Amadai is a form of Madai, with a prothetical a, like Agusi or Azala,
by the side of Guzi and Zala. The inscription of Shalmaneser III. thus
gives us the first mention of the classical Medes. Araziash, placed too far
to the east in Sagartené by Fr. Lenormant, has been located further west-
wards by Schrader, near the upper course of the Kerkha ; but the documents
of all periods show us that on one side it adjoined Kharkhar, that is the
basin of the Gamas-db, on the other side Media, that is the country of
Hamadan. It must, therefore, be placed between the two, in the northern
part of the ancient Cambadené in the present Tchamabadén. Kharkhar in
this case would be in the southern part of Cambadene, on the main road
which leads from the gates of the Zagros to Hamadan ; an examination of
the general features of the country leads me to believe that the town of
Kharkhar should occupy the site of Kirmanshahan, or rather of the ancient
city which preceded that town,
 LAST CAMPAIGNS OF SHALMANESER III. 137

He laid waste Kui in 836 B.c., destroyed Timur, its

capital, and on his return march revenged himself on
Aramé of Agusi, whose spirit was still unbroken by his
former misfortunes. Tanakun and Tarsus fell into his
hands 835 3.c.; Shalmaneser replaced Kati, the King of
Kui, by his brother Kirri, and made of his dominions a

ELEPHANT AND MONKEYS BROUGHT AS A TRIBUTE TO NINEVEH BY THE PEOPLE

OF MUZRI.!

kind of buffer state between his own territory and that of

Pamphylia and Lycaonia. He had now occupied the
throne for a quarter of a century, not a year of which .
had elapsed without seeing the monarch gird on his
armour and lead his soldiers in person towards one or
other points of the horizon. He was at length weary of
such perpetual warfare, and advancing age perchance pre-
vented him from leading his troops with that dash and
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs of the Black
Obelisk.
1388 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

vigour which are necessary to success ; however this might

be, on his return from Cilicia he laid aside his armour
once for all, and devoted himself to peaceful occupations.
But he did not on that account renounce all attempts
at conquest. Conducting his campaigns by proxy, he
delegated the command of his army to his Tartan Dayan-
assur, and the northern tribes were the first on whom
this general gave proof of his prowess. Urartu had passed
into the hands of another sovereign since its defeat in
845 B.c., and a second Sharduris+ had taken the place of
the Aramé who had ruled at the beginning of Shalma-
neser’s reign. It would appear that the accession of this
prince, who was probably young and active, was the
signal for a disturbance among the people of the Upper
Tigris and the Masios—a race always impatient of the
yoke, and ready to make common cause with any fresh
enemy of Assyria. An insurrection broke out in Bit-
Zamani and the neighbouring districts. Daydn-assur
quelled it offhand; then, quitting the basin of the Tigris
by the defiles of Armash, he crossed the Arzania, and
entered Urartu. Sharduris came out to meet him, and
was defeated, if we may give credence to the official record
of the campaign. Even if the account be an authentic
one, the victory was of no advantage to the Assyrians,
for they were obliged to retreat before they had subjugated
1 The name is written Siduri or Seduri in the text of the Obelisk, pro-
bably in accordance with some popular pronunciation, in which the r was
but slightly rolled and finally disappeared. The identity of Seduri and Shar-
duris, has been adopted by recent historians. Belck and Lehmann have
shown that this Seduri was not Sharduris, son of Lutipris, but a Sharduris
II., probably the son of Aramé,
 INSECURITY OF LIFE AND PROPERTY 139

the enemy, and an insurrection among the Patina pre-

vented them from returning to the attack in the following
year. With obligations to their foreign master on one
hand and to their own subjects on the other, the princes
of the Syrian states had no easy life. If they failed to
fulfil their duties as vassals, then an Assyrian invasion
would pour in to their country, and sooner or later their
ruin would be assured; they would have before them the
prospect of death by impaling or under the knife of the
flayer, or, if they escaped this, captivity and exile in a
far-off land. Prudence therefore dictated a scrupulous
fidelity to their suzerain. On the other hand, if they
resigned themselves to their dependent condition, the
people of their towns would chafe at the payment of
tribute, or some ambitious relative would take advantage
of the popular discontent to hatch a plot and foment a
revolution, and the prince thus threatened would escape
from an Assyrian reprisal only to lose his throne or fall
by the blow of an assassin. In circumstances such as
these the people of the Patina murdered their king, Lubarna
II., and proclaimed in his room a certain Surri, who had
no right to the crown, but who doubtless undertook to
liberate them from the foreigner. Daydn-assur defeated .
the rebels and blockaded the remains of their army in
Kinalua. They defended themselves at first energetically,
but on the death of Surri from some illness, their courage
failed them and they offered to deliver over the sons of
their chief if their own lives might be spared. Dayan-assur
had the poor wretches impaled, laid the inhabitants under
a heavy contribution, and appointed a certain Sasi, son of
140 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Uzza, to be their king. The remainder of Syria gave no

further trouble—a fortunate circumstance, for the countries
on the Armenian border revolted in 832 B.c., and the
whole year was occupied in establishing order among the
herdsmen of Kirkhi. In 831 3.c., Daydn-assur pushed
forward into Khubushkia, and traversed it from end to
end without encountering any resistance. He next
attacked the Mannai. Their prince, Ualki, quailed before
his onslaught; he deserted his royal city Zirtu,* and
took refuge in the mountains. Day4an-assur pursued him
thither in vain, but he was able to collect considerable
booty, and turning in a south-easterly direction, he fought
his way along the base of the Gordyean mountains till
he reached Parsua, which he laid under tribute. In 830
B.c. it was the turn of Muzazir, which hitherto had escaped
invasion, to receive a visit from the Tartan. Zapparia,
the capital, and fifty-six other towns were given over to
the flames. From thence, Daydn-assur passed into Urartu
proper; after having plundered it, he fell back on the
southern provinces, collecting by the way the tribute of
Guzan, of the Mannai, of Andiu,? and Parsua; he then
pushed on into the heart of Namri, and having razed to
1 The town is elsewhere called Izirtu, and appears to have been
designated in the inscriptions of Van by the name of Sisiri-Khadiris.
2 Andia or Andiu is contiguous to Nairi, to Zikirtu and to Karalla,
which latter borders on Manna; it bordered on the country of Misa or
Misi, into which it is merged under the name of Misianda in the time of
Sargon. Delattre places Andiu in the country of the classical Matiene,
between the Matiznian mountains and Lake Urumiah. The position of Misu
on the confines of Araziash and Media, somewhere in the neighbourhood of
Talvantu-Dagh, obliges us to place Andiu lower down to the south-east, near
the district of Kurdasir.
 TROPHIES OF THE WARS 141

the ground two hundred and fifty of its towns, returned

with his troops to Assyria by the defiles of Shimishi and
through Khalman. ‘This was per-
haps the last foreign campaign of
Shalmaneser III.’s reign ; it is at all
events the last of which we possess
any history. The record of his ex-
ploits ends, as it had begun more
than thirty years previously, with a
victory in Namzri.
The aged king had, indeed, well
earned the right to end his allotted
days in peace. Devoted to Calah,
like his predecessor, he had there
accumulated the spoils of his cam-
paigns, and had made it the wealthi-
est city of his empire. He continued
to occupy the palace of Assur-nazir-
pal, which he had enlarged. Wher-
ever he turned within its walls, his
eyes fell upon some trophy of his wars
or panegyric of his virtues, whether
recorded on mural tiles covered
with inscriptions and bas-reliefs, or
celebrated by statues, altars, and BLACK OBELISK OF SHAL-

triumphal stele. The most curious

MANESER I1.!

among all these is a square-based block terminating in

three receding stages, one above the other, like the stump
[The original
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the cast in the Louvre.
is in the Brit. Mus.—Tr.]
142 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

of an Egyptian obelisk surmounted by a stepped pyramid.

Five rows of bas-reliefs on it represent scenes most flatter-
ing to Assyrian pride;—the reception of tribute from
Gilzin, Muzri, the Patina, the Israelitish Jehu, and
Marduk-abal-uzur, King of the land of Sukhi. The latter
knew his suzerain’s love of the chase, and he provided him
with animals for his preserves, including lions, and rare

STAG AND LIONS OF THE COUNTRY OF SUKUHI.!

species of deer. The inscription on the monument briefly

relates the events which had occurred between the first and
the thirty-first years of Shalmaneser’s reign ;—the defeat of
Damascus, of Babylon and Urartu, the conquest of
Northern Syria, of Cilicia, and of the countries bordering
on the Zagros. When the king left Calah for some country
residence in its neighbourhood, similar records and carv-
ings would meet his eye. At Imgur-Bel, one of the gates
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs of the Black
Obelisk,
 CONDITIONS RIPE FOR REVOLT 148

of the palace was covered with plates of bronze, on which

the skilful artist had embossed and engraved with the
chisel episodes from the campaigns on the Huphrates and
the Tigris, the crossing of mountains and rivers, the
assault and burning of cities, the long lines of captives, the
mélée with the enemy and the pursuit of the chariots. All
the cities of Assyria, Nineveh,’ Arbela, Assur, even to the
more distant towns of Harran? and Tushkhan,*—vied with
each other in exhibiting proofs of his zeal for their gods
and his affection for their inhabitants; but his predilection
for Calah filled them with jealousy, and Assur particularly
could ill brook the growing aversion with which the
Assyrian kings regarded her. It was of no avail that she
continued to be the administrative and religious capital of
the empire, the storehouse of the spoil and annual tribute
of other nations, and was continually embellishing herself
with fresh monuments: a spirit of discontent was daily
increasing, and merely awaited some favourable occasion to
break out into open revolt. Shalmaneser enjoyed the dignity
of limmu for the second time after thirty years, and had
celebrated this jubilee of his inauguration by a solemn
festival in honour of Assur and Ramman.* It is possible

1 Nineveh is mentioned as the starting-place of nearly all the first cam-

paigns in the inscription on the Monolith; also in the Balawat inscription,
on the other hand, towards the end of the reign, Calah is given as the
residence of the king on the Black Obelisk.
2 Mention of the buildings of Shalmaneser III. at Harran occurs in an
inscription of Nabonidus.
3 The Monolith discovered at Kurkh is in itself a proof that Shalmaneser
executed works in this town, the Tushkhan of the inscriptions.
4 Any connection established between this thirty-year jubilee and the
144 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

that he may have thought this a favourable moment for

presenting to the people the son whom he had chosen from
among his children to succeed him. At any rate, Assur-
dain-pal, fearing that one of his brothers might be preferred
before him, proclaimed himself king, and nearly the whole
of Assyria gathered
around his standard.
Assur and twenty-
six more of the most
important cities re-
volted in his favour
—Nineveh, Imgur-
bel, Sibaniba, Dur-
balat, Arbela, Zaban
in the Chaldean
marches, Arrapkha
in the valley of the
Wi
Wee Upper Zab, and
most of the colonies,
Mi both of ancient and
aeHI
a |i recent foundation—
Amidi on the Tigris,
THE BRONZE-COVERED GATES OF BALAWAT.!
Khindanu near the
mouths of the Kha-
bur and Tul-Abni on the southern slopes of the Masios.
The aged king remained in possession only of Calah
and its immediate environs—Nisibis, Harran, Tushkhan,
thirty years’ festival of Egypt rests on facts which can be so little relied
on,
that it must be accepted with considerable reserve.
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the sketch by Pinches,
 THE FIRST CAMPAIGNS OF SAMSI-RAMMAN IV. 145

and the most recently subdued provinces on the banks

of the Huphrates and the Orontes. It is probable, how-
ever, that the army remained faithful to him, and the
support which these well-tried troops afforded him enabled
the king to act with promptitude. The weight of years
did not permit him to command in person; he there-
fore entrusted the conduct of operations to his son
Samsi-rammén, but he did not live to see the end of the
struggle. It embittered his last days, and was not termi-
nated till 822 B.c., at which date Shalmaneser had been dead
two years. This prolonged crisis had shaken the kingdom
to its foundations ; the Syrians, the Medes, the Babylonians,
and the peoples of the Armenian and Aramean marches
were rent from it, and though Samsi-ramman IV. waged
continuous warfare during the twelve years that he governed,
he could only partially succeed in regaining the territory
which had been thus lost.t His first three campaigns were
directed against the north-eastern and eastern provinces.
He began by attempting to collect the tribute from Nairi,
the payment of which had been suspended since the out-
break of the revolution, and he re-established the dominion
of Assyria from the district of Paddir to the township of
Kar-Shulmanasharid, which his father had founded at the
fords of the Huphrates opposite to Carchemish (821 3.c.).
In the following campaign he did not personally take part,
but the Rabshakeh Mutarriz-assur pillaged the shores of

1 All that we know of the reign of Samsi-rammin IV. comes from an

inscription in archaic characters containing the account of four campaigns,
without giving the years of each reign or the limmu, and historians have
classified them in different ways.
VOL. Vil: L
 REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA
146 ASSYRIAN

and then made his way towards Urartu,

Lake Urumiah,
where he destroyed three hundred towns (820). The third
d
expedition was directed against Misi and Gizilbunda beyon
the Upper Zab and Mount Zilar.’ The inhabitants of Misi
entrenched themselves on a wooded ridge commanded by
three peaks, but were defeated in spite of the advantages
which their position secured for them ;* the people of
Gizilbunda were not more fortunate than their neighbours,
and six thousand of them perished at the assault of Urash,
their capital. Mutarriz-assur at once turned upon the
lead
1 Mount Zilar is beyond the Upper Zab, on one of the roads which
ia. There are two of
to the basin of Lake Urumiah, probably in Khubushk
of Kelishin, and the other
these roads—that which passes over the neck
two
which runs through the gorges of Alan ; ‘‘with the exception of these
impassabl e.” Accordin g to the
points, the mountain chain is absolutely
general direction of the campaign, it appears to me probable that the king
crossed by the passes of Alan ; Mount Zilar would therefore be the group of
chains which cover the district of Pishder, and across which the Lesser Zab
passes before descending to the plain.
2 The country of Misi adjoined Gizilbunda, Media, Arazidsh, and Andiu.
All these circumstances incline us to place it in the south-eastern part of
Kurdistan of Sihmeh, in the upper valley of Kisil-Uzén. The ridge, over-
looked by three peaks, on which the inhabitants took refuge, cannot be
looked for on the west, where there are few important heights: I should
rather identify it with the part of the Gordyzan mountains which bounds
the basin of the Kisil-Uzén on the west, and which contains three peaks of
12,000 feet—the Tchehel-tchechma, the Derbend, and the Nau-Kan.
3 The name of the country has been read Giratbunda, Ginunbunda,
Girubbunda; a variant, to which no objections can be made, has furnished
Gizilbunda, It was contiguous on one side to the Medes, and on the other
to the Mannai, which obliges us to place it in Kurdistan of Gerrus, on the
Kizil-Uzén. It may be asked if the word Kizil which occurs several times
in the topographical nomenclature of these regions is not a relic of the name
in question, and if Gizil-bunda is not a compound of the same class as Kizil-
uzén, Kizil-gatchi, Kizil-alan, Kizil-lok, whether it be that part of the
population spoke a language analogous to the dialects now in use in these
>
 BABYLON IS BESIEGED ‘147

Medes, vanquished them, and drove them at the point of

the sword into their remote valleys, returning to the district
of Araziash, which he laid waste. A score of chiefs with
barbarous names, alarmed by this example, hastened to
prostrate themselves at his feet, and submitted to the
tribute which he imposed on them. Assyria thus regained
in these regions the ascendency which the victories of
Shalmaneser III. in their time had won for her.
Babylon, which had endured the suzerainty of its rival
for a quarter of a century, seems to have taken advantage
of the events occurring in Assyria to throw off the yoke, by
espousing the cause of Assur-dain-pal. Samsi-ramman,
therefore, as soon as he was free to turn his attention from
Media (818), directed his forces against Babylonia. Metur-
nat, as usual, was the first city attacked ; it capitulated at
once, and its inhabitants were exiled to Assyria. Karni to
the south of the Turnat, and Dibina on Mount Yalmén,
suffered the same fate, but Gananaté held out for a time;
its garrison, however, although reinforced by troops from
the surrounding country, was utterly routed before its
walls, and the survivors, who fled for refuge to the citadel
in the centre of the town, were soon dislodged. The
Babylonians, who had apparently been taken by surprise
at the first attack, at length made preparations to resist
the invaders. The Prince of Dur-papsukal, who owned
allegiance to Marduk-balatsu-ikbi, King of Babylon, had
disposed his troops so as to guard the fords of the Tigris, in
order to prevent the enemy from reaching his capital. But
districts, or that the ancient word has been preserved by later conquerors
and assimilated to some well-known word in their own language.
 REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA
148 ASSYRIAN
en
Samsi-ramman dispersed this advanced force, killing thirte
thousand, besides taking three thousand prisoners, and
finally reduced Dur-papsukal to
ashes. The respite thus obtained
gave Marduk - balatsu-ikbi suf-
ficient time to collect the main
body of his troops: the army was
recruited from Kaldé and Kla-
mites, soldiers from Namri, and
Aramean contingents, and the
united force awaited the enemy
behind the ruins of Dur-papsukal,
along the banks of the Daban
canal. Five thousand footmen,
two hundred horsemen, one —
hundred chariots, besides the
king’s tent and all his stores, fell
into the hands of the Assyrians.
The victory was complete;
Babylon, Kuta, and Borsippa
capitulated one after the other,
MONOLITH OF SAMSI-RAMMAN ITy.!
and the invaders penetrated as
far as the land of the Kald4, and actually reached the
Persian Gulf. Samsi-ramman offered sacrifices to the gods,
as his father had done before him, and concluded a treaty
with Marduk-balatsu-ikbi, the terms of which included
rectification of boundaries, payment of a subsidy, and the
other clauses usual in such circumstances ; the peace was
-1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Mansell. The original
is in the British Museum.
 RAMMAN-NIRARI III. 149
probably ratified by a matrimonial alliance, concluded
between the Babylonian princess Sammuramat and
Ramman-nirari, son of the conqueror. In this manner the
hegemony of Assyria over Karduniash was established even
more firmly than before the insurrection ; but all available
resources had been utilised in the effort necessary to secure
it. Samsi-ramman had no leisure to reconquer Syria or
Asia Minor, and the Euphrates remained the western
frontier of his kingdom, as it had been in the early days of
Shalmaneser III. The peace with Babylon, moreover, did
not last long; Bau-akhiddin, who had succeeded Marduk- °
balatsu-ikbi, refused to observe the terms of the treaty, and
hostilities again broke out on the Turnat and the Tigris, as
they had done six years previously. This war was pro-
longed from 813 to 812 B.c., and was still proceeding when
Samsi-ramman died. His son Ramman-nirari IIT. quickly
brought it to a successful issue. He carried Bau-akhiddin
captive to Assyria, with his family and the nobles of his
court, and placed on the vacant throne one of his own
partisans, while he celebrated festivals in honour of his
own supremacy at Babylon, Kuta, and Borsippa. Kardu-
niash made no attempt to rebel against Assyria during the
next half-century. Ramméan-nirdri proved himself an
energetic and capable sovereign, and the thirty years of his
reign were by no means inglorious. We learn from the
eponym lists what he accomplished during that time, and
against which countries he waged war; but we have not
yet recovered any inscription to enable us to fill in this
outline, and put together a detailed account of his reign.
His first expeditions were directed against Media (810),
150 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Gozin (809), and the Mannai (808-807) ; he then crossed

the Euphrates, and in four successive years conducted as
many vigorous campaigns against Arpad (806), Khazazu
(805), the town of Baali (804), and the cities of the
Phoenician sea-board (803). The plague interfering with
his advance in the latter direction, he again turned his
attention eastward and attacked Khubushkia in 802, 792,
and 784; Media in 801-800, 794-793, and 790-787 ; Lushia
in 799; Namri in 798; Diri in 796-795 and 789; Itua in
791, 783-782; Kishki in 785. This bare enumeration
conjures up a vision of an enterprising and victorious
monarch of the type of Assur-nazir-pal or Shalmaneser III.,
one who perhaps succeeded even where his redoubtable
ancestors had failed. ‘The panoramic survey of his empire,
as unfolded to us in one of his inscriptions, includes the
mountain ranges of Illipi as far as Mount Siluna,
Kharkhar, Araziash, Misu, Media, the whole of Gizilbunda,
Man, Parsua, Allabria, Abdadana, the extensive territory of
Nairi, far-off Andiu, and, westwards beyond the Huphrates,
the Khati, the entire country of the Amorites, Tyre, Sidon,
Israel, Edom, and the Philistines. Never before had the
Assyrian empire extended so far east in the direction of the
centre of the Iranian tableland, nor so far to the south-west
towards the frontiers of Egypt.*

1 Allabria or Allabur is on the borders of Parsua and of Karalla, which

allows us ‘to locate it in the basins of the Kerkhoraéh and the Saruk,
tributaries of the Jagatu, which flow into Lake Urumiah. Abdadana,
which borders on Allabria, and was, according to Ramman-nirari, at the
extreme end of Nairi, was a little further to the east or north-east ; if I am
not mistaken, it corresponds pretty nearly to Uriad, on the banks of the
Kizil-Uzén.
 JEHU SUFFERS LOSS ON ALL SIDES 151

In two only of these regions, namely, Syria and

Armenia, do native documents add any information to the
meagre summary contained in the Annals, and give us
glimpses of contemporary rulers. The retreat of Shal-
maneser, after his partial success in 839, had practically
left the ancient allies of Ben-hadad II. at the mercy of
Hazael, the new King of Damascus, but he did not
apparently attempt to assert his supremacy over the whole
of Coele-Syria, and before long several of its cities acquired
considerable importance, first Mansuate, and then
Hadrach,' both of which, casting Hamath into the shade,
succeeded in holding their own against Hazael and his
successors. He renewed hostilities, however, against the
Hebrews, and did not relax his efforts till he had
thoroughly brought them into subjection. Jehu suffered
loss on all his frontiers, ‘“‘ from Jordan eastward, all the
land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the
_ Manassites, from-Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon,
even Gilead and Bashan.’’* Israel became thus once more
entirely dependent on Damascus, but the sister kingdom of

1 Mansuati successfully resisted Ramman-niraéri in 797 B.c., but

he probably caused its ruin, for after this only expeditions against Hadrach
are mentioned. Mansuati was in the basin of the Orontes, and the manner
in which the Assyrian texts mention it in connection with Zimyra seems to
show that it commanded the opening in the Lebanon range between
Ceele-Syria and Pheenicia. The site of Khatarika, the Hadrach of Zech.
ix. 1, is not yet precisely determined ; but it must, as well as Mansuati,
have been in the neighbourhood of Hamath, perhaps between Hamath and
Damascus. It appears for the first time in 772.
2 2 Kings x. 32, 33. Even if verse 33 is a later addition, it gives a
correct idea of the situation, except as regards Bashan, which had been lost
to Israel for some time already.
152 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Judah still escaped its yoke through the energy of her

rulers. Athaliah reigned seven years, not ingloriously5
but she belonged to the house of Ahab, and the adherents -
of the prophets, whose party had planned Jehu’s revolution,
could no longer witness with equanimity one of the
accursed race thus prospering and ostentatiously practising
the rites of Baal-worship within sight of the great temple
of Jahveh. On seizing the throne, Athaliah had sought
out and put to death all the members of the house of
David who had any claim to the succession; but Jeho-
sheba, half-sister of Ahaziah, had with difficulty succeeded
in rescuing Joash, one of the king’s sons. Her husband
was the high priest Jehoiada, and he secreted his nephew
for six years in the precincts of the temple; at the end of
that time, he won over the captains of the royal guard,
bribed a section of the troops, and caused them to swear
fealty to the child as their legitimate sovereign. Athaliah,
hastening to discover the cause of the uproar, was
assassinated. Mattan, chief priest of Baal, shared her
fate; and Jehoiada at once restored to Jahveh the pre-
eminence which the gods of the alien had for a time
usurped +(837). At first his influence over his pupil was
supreme, but before long the memory of his services faded
away, and the king sought only how to rid himself of a
tutelage which had grown irksome. The temple had
suffered during the late wars, and repairs were much
needed. Joash ordained that for the future all moneys put
12 Kings xi.; cf. 2 Chron. xxii. 10-12, and xxiii. The author of
2 Chron. xxii. 11 alone states that Jehosheba was the wife of the high
priest.
 ISRAEL AND JUDAH VASSALS OF HAZAEL 153

into the sacred treasury—which of right belonged to the

king—should be placed unreservedly at the disposal of the
priests on condition that they should apply them to the
maintenance of the services and fabric of the temple: the
priests accepted the gift, but failed in the faithful observ-
ance of the conditions, so that in 814 3c. the king
was obliged to take stringent measures to compel them
to repair the breaches in the sanctuary walls:’ he there-
fore withdrew the privilege which they had abused, and
henceforth undertook the administration of the Temple
Fund in person. The beginning of the new order of things
was not very successful. Jehu had died in 815, after a
disastrous reign, and both he and his son Jehoahaz had
been obliged to acknowledge the supremacy of Hazael : not
only was he in the position of an inferior vassal, but, in
order to preclude any idea of a revolt, he was forbidden to
maintain a greater army than the small force necessary for
purposes of defence, namely, ten thousand foot-soldiers,
fifty horsemen, and ten chariots. The power of Israel
had so declined that Hazael was allowed to march through
its territory unhindered on his way to wage war in the
country of the Philistines ; which he did, doubtless, in order

19 Kings xii. 4-16; cf. 2 Chron. xxiv. 1-14. The beginning of the
narrative is lost, and the whole has probably been modified to make it agree
with 2 Kings xxii. 3-7.
2 2 Kings xiii. 1-7. It may be noticed that the number of foot-soldiers
given in the Bible is identical with that which the Assyrian texts mention
as Ahab’s contingent at the battle of Qargar, viz. 10,000; the number of
the chariots is very different in the two cases. Kuenen and other critics
by
would like to assign to the reign of Jehoahaz the siege of Samaria
Book of the Kings attributes to
the Syrians, which the actual text of the
the reign of Joram.
154 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

to get possession of the main route of Hgyptian commerce.

The Syrians destroyed Gath,’ reduced Pentapolis to subjec-
tion, enforced tribute from Edom, and then marched
against Jerusalem. Joash took from the treasury of
Jahveh the reserve funds which his ancestors, Jehoshaphat,
Joram, and Ahaziah, had accumulated, and sent them to
the invader,’ together with all the gold which was found
in the king’s house. From this time forward Judah
became, like Israel, Edom, the Philistines and Ammonites,
a mere vassal of Hazael; with the possible exception of
Moab, all the peoples of Southern Syria were now subject
to Damascus, and formed a league as strong as that which
had successfully resisted the power of Shalmaneser.
Ramman-nirari, therefore, did not venture to attack Syria
during the lifetime of Hazael; but a change of sovereign
is always a critical moment in the history of an Eastern
empire, and he took advantage of the confusion caused by
the death of the aged king to attack his successor Mari
(803 B.c.). Mari essayed the tactics which his father had
found so successful; he avoided a pitched battle, and shut
himself up in Damascus. But he was soon closely block-
aded, and forced to submit to terms; Ramman-nirari
demanded as the price of withdrawal, 23,000 talents of

1 The text of 2 Kings xii. 17 merely says that Hazael took Gath. Gath
is not named by Amos among the cities of the Philistines (Amos. i. 6-8), but
it is one of the towns cited by that prophet as examples to Israel of the
wrath of Jahveh (vi, 2). It is probable, therefore, that it was already
destroyed in his time. ;
2 2 Kings xii. 17,18; cf. 2 Chron, xxiv. 22-24, where the expedition
of Hazael is represented as a punishment for the murder of Zechariah, son
of Jehoiada.
 THE GROWTH AND POWER OF URARTU 155

silver, 20 talents of gold, 3000 of copper, 5000 of iron,

besides embroidered and dyed stuffs, an ivory couch, and a
litter inlaid with ivory,—in all a considerable part of the
treasures amassed at the expense of the Hebrews and their
neighbours. It is doubtful whether Ramman-nirari pushed
further south, and penetrated in person as far as the
deserts of Arabia Petreea—a suggestion which the mention
of the Philistines and Edomites among the list of his
tributary states might induce us to accept. Probably it
was not the case, and he really went no further than
Damascus. But the submission of that city included, in
theory at least, the submission of all states subject to her
sway, and these dependencies may have sent some presents
to testify their desire to conciliate his favour; their names
appear in the inscriptions in order to swell the number of
direct or indirect vassals of the empire, since they were
subject to a state which had been effectually conquered.
Ramman-nirari did not meet with such good fortune
in the North; not only did he fail to obtain the brilliant
successes which elsewhere attended his arms, but he
ended by sustaining considerable reverses. The Ninevite
historians reckoned the two expeditions of 808 and 807 B.c.
against the Mannai as victories, doubtless because the
king returned with a train of prisoners and loaded with
spoil; but the Vannic inscriptions reveal that Urartu,
which had been rising into prominence during the reign
of Shalmaneser, had now grown still more powerful, and
had begun to reconquer those provinces on the Tigris
and Euphrates of which the Assyrians thought themselves
lords. Sharduris II. had been succeeded,
the undoubted
156 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

about 828, by his son Ishpuinis, who had perhaps measured

his strength against Samsi-ramman IV.’ Ishpuinis appears
to have conquered and reduced to the condition of a
province the neighbouring principality of Biainas, which
up to that time had been governed by a semi-independent
dynasty; at all events, he trans-
ferred thence his seat of govern-
ment, and made Dhuspas his
favourite residence. ‘To-
wards the end of his reign
he associated with him
on the throne his son
Menuas, and made him
commander-in-chief of
the army. Menuas proved
a bold and _ successful
general, and in a few years
had doubled the extent of
his dominions. He first
delivered from the As-
TRIUMPHAL STELE OF MENUAS AT KELISHIN,?
syrian yoke, and plundered
on his father’s account, the tribes on the borders of Lake
Urumiah, Muzazir, Gilzan, and Kirruri; then, crossing
the Gordyzan mountains, he burnt the towns in the
valley of the Upper Zab, which bore the uncouth names
of Terais, Ardis, Khanalis, Bikuras, Khatgqanas, Inuas,
and Nibur, laid waste the more fertile part of Khubushkia,
1 Ishpuinis is probably the Ushpina mentioned by Samsi-ramman among
the conquered kings of Nairi.
? Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by J. de Morgan.
 THE CONQUESTS OF MENUAS 157

and carved triumphal stele in the Assyrian and Vannic

scripts upon the rocks in the pass of Rowandiz. It was
probably to recover this territory that Ramman-nirari
waged war three times in Khubushkia, in 802, 792, and
785, in a district which had formerly been ruled by a
prefect from Nineveh, but had now fallen into the hands
of the enemy.' Everywhere along the frontier, from the
Lower Zab to the Euphrates, Menuas overpowered and
drove back the Assyrian outposts. He took from them
Aidus and Erinuis on the southern shores of Lake Van,
compelled Dayaini to abandon its allegiance, and forced
its king, Udhupursis, to surrender his treasure and his
chariots; then gradually descending the valley of the
Arzania, he crushed Seseti, Kulmé, and Hkarzu. In one
year he pillaged the Mannai in the east, and attacked
the Khati in the west, seizing their fortresses of Surisilis,
Tarkhigamas, and Sarduras; in the province of Alzu he
left 2113 soldiers dead on the field after one engagement;
Gupas yielded to his sway, followed by the towns of
Khuzanas and Puteria, whereupon he even crossed the
Euphrates and levied tribute from Melitene. But the
struggle against Assyria absorbed only a portion of his
energy; we do not know what he accomplished in the
east, in the plains sloping*towards the Caspian Sea, but
several monuments, discovered near Armavir and Erzerum,
1 It is probable that the stele of Kelishin, belonging to the joint reign
of Ishpuinis and Menuas, was intended to commemorate the events which
led Ramman-niréri to undertake his first expedition; the conquest by
Menuas will fall then in 804 or 803 n.c. The inscription of Meher-Kapussi
contains the names of the divinities belonging to several conquered towns,
and may have been engraved on the return from this war.
 158 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

testify that he pushed his arms a considerable distance

towards the north and north-west.' He obliged KEtius
to acknowledge his supremacy, sending a colony to its
capital, Lununis, whose name he changed to Menua-
hetzilinis.? Towards the end of his reign he partly
subjugated the Mannai, planting colonies throughout their
territory to strengthen his hold on the country. By these
campaigns he had formed a kingdom, which, stretching
from the south side of the Araxes to the upper reaches of
the Zab and the Tigris, was quite equal to Assyria in size,
and probably surpassed it in density of population, for it
contained no barren steppes such as stretched across
Mesopotamia, affording support merely to a few wretched
Bedawin. As their dominions increased, the sovereigns
of Biainas began to consider themselves on an equality
with the kings of Nineveh, and endeavoured still more to
imitate them in the luxury and display of their domestic
life, as well as in the energy of their actions and the
continuity of their victories. They engraved everywhere
on the rocks triumphal inscriptions, destined to show to
posterity their own exploits and the splendour of their
gods. Having made this concession to their vanity, they
took effective measures to assure possession of their
? The inscription of Erzerum, discovered by F. de Saulcy and published
by him, shows that Menuas was in possession of the district in which this
town is situated, and that he rebuilt a palace there.
* Inscriptions of Yazli-tash and Zolakert. It follows from these texts
that the country of Etius is the district of Armavir, and Lununis is
the
ancient name of this city. The new name by which Menuas replaced
the name Lununis signifies the abode of the people of Menuas ; like many
names arising from special circumstances, it naturally passed away with
the
rule of the people who had imposed it,
 THE FAVOURITE RESIDENCE OF MENUAS 159

conquests. They selected in the various provinces sites

difficult of access, commanding some defile in the
mountains, or ford over a river, or at the junction of two
roads, or the approach to a plain; on such spots they
would build a fortress or a town, or, finding a citadel already
existing, they would repair it and remodel its fortifications
so as to render it impregnable. At Kalajik, Ashrut-Darga,
and the older Mukhrapert may still be seen the ruins of
ramparts built by Ishpuinis. Menuas finished the buildings
his father had begun, erected others in all the districts
where he sojourned, in time of peace or war, at Shushanz,
Sirka,! Anzaff, Arzwapert, Geuzak, Zolakert, Tashtepé, and
in the country of the Mannai, and it is possible that the
fortified village of Melasgerd still bears his name.’ His
wars furnished him with the men and materials necessary
for the rapid completion of these works, while the statues,
valuable articles of furniture, and costly fabrics, vessels of
silver, gold, and copper carried off from Assyrian or Asiatic
cities, provided him with surroundings as luxurious as those
‘enjoyed by the kings of Nineveh. His favourite residence
shore
was amid the valleys and hills of the south-western
Van, the sea of the rising sun. His father,
of Lake
the site
Ishpuinis, had already done much to embellish
of Dhuspas, or Khaldinas as it was called, from the god

modern village of
1 The name of the ancient place corresponding to the
ng to the Vannic
Sirka was probably Artsunis or Artsuyunis, accordi
inscriptions.
gert, the city of Manas,
2 A more correct form than Melas-gerd is Manas-
the inscri ptions of Aghtamar
where Manas would represent Menuas : one of
, which may be a primitive
speaks of a certain Menuakhinas, city of Menuas
version of the same name.
160 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

Khaldis; he had surrounded it with strong walls, and

within them had laid the foundations of a magnificent
palace. Menuas carried on the work, brought water to
the cisterns by subterranean aqueducts, planted gardens,
and turned the whole place into an impregnable fortress,

THE GARDENS AND HILL OF DHUSPAS OR VAN.

where a small but faithful garrison could defy a large army

for several years. Dhuspas, thus completed, formed the
capital and defence of the kingdom during the succeeding
century.
Menuas was gathered to his fathers shortly before
the death of Ramméan-nirari, perhaps in 784 3.c.2 He was

1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Binder.

* This date seems to agree with the text of the Annals of Argistis, as far
as we are at present acquainted with them; Miiller has shown, in fact,
 ARGISTIS I. 161
engaged up to the last in a quarrel with the princes who
occupied the mountainous country to the north of the
Araxes, and his son Argistis spent the first few years of
his reign in completing his conquests in this region.’ He
crushed with ease an attempted revolt in Dayaini, and
then invaded Etius, systematically devastating it, its king,
Uduris, being powerless to prevent his ravages. All the
principal towns succumbed one after another before the
vigour of his assault, and, from the numbers killed and
taken prisoners, we may surmise the importance of his
victories in these barbarous districts, to which belonged
the names of Seriazis, Silius, Zabakhas, Zirimutaras,
Babanis, and Urmias,? though we cannot definitely locate
the places indicated. On a single occasion, the assault
on Ureyus, for instance, Argistis took prisoners 19,255
children, 10,140 men fit to bear arms, 23,280 women, and
the survivors of a garrison which numbered 12,675 soldiers
at the opening of the siege, besides 1104 horses, 35,016

that they contain the account of fourteen campaigns, probably the first
fourteen of the reign of Argistis, and he has recognised, in accordance with
the observations of Stanislas Guyard, the formula which separates the
campaigns one from another. There are two campaigns against the peoples
of the Upper Euphrates mentioned before the campaigns against Assyria,
and as these latter follow continuously after 781, it is probable that the
former must be placed in 783-782, which would give 783 or 784 for the
year of his accession.
1 The Annals of Argistis are inscribed on the face of the rock which
crowns the citadel of Van. ‘The inscription contains (as stated in note
above) the history of the first fourteen yearly campaigns of Argistis.
2 The site of these places is still undetermined. Seriazis and Silius
(or Tarius) lay to the north-east of Dayaini, and Urmias, Urmé, recalls the
modern name of Lake Urumiah, but was probably situated on the left bank
of the Araxes.
M
bE VOL. VIE.
 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA
162

cattle, and more than 10,000 sheep. ‘I'wo expeditions

into the heart of the country, conducted between 784 and
782 z.c., had greatly advanced the work of conquest,
when the accession of a new sovereign in Assyria made
Argistis decide to risk a change of front and to concentrate
the main part of his forces on the southern boundary of
his empire. Rammén-nirari, after his last contest in
Khubushkia in 784, had fought two consecutive campaigns
against the Aramean tribes of Itua, near the frontiers
of Babylon, and he was still in conflict with them when
he died in 782 ».c. His son, Shalmaneser IV., may have
wished to signalise the commencement of his reign by
delivering from the power of Urartu the provinces which
the kings of that country had wrested from his ancestors;
or, perhaps, Argistis thought that a change of ruler offered
him an excellent opportunity for renewing the struggle
at the point where Menuas had left it, and for conquering
yet more of the territory which still remained to his
rival. Whatever the cause, the Assyrian annals show
us the two adversaries ranged against each other, in a
struggle which lasted from 781 to 778 B.c. Argistis had
certainly the upper hand, and though his advance was
not rapid, it was never completely checked. The first
engagement took place at Nirbu, near the sources of the
Supnat and the Tigris: Nirbu capitulated, and the enemy
pitilessly ravaged the Hittite states, which were subject
to Assyria, penetrating as far as the heart of Melitene
(781). The next year the armies encountered each other
nearer to Nineveh, in the basin of the Bitlis-tchai, at
Khakhias; and, in 779, Argistis expressly thanks his
 THE WARS OF SHALMANESER IV. 163

gods, the Khaldises, for having graciously bestowed upon

him as a gift the armies and cities of Assur. The scene
of the war had shifted, and the contest was now carried
on in the countries bordering on Lake Urumiah, Bustus
and Parsua. The natives gained nothing by the change
of invader, and were as hardly used by the King of Urartu
as they had been by Shalmaneser III. or by Samsiramman :
as was invariably the case, their towns were given over
to the flames, their fields ravaged, their cattle and their
families carried into captivity. Their resistance, however,
was so determined that a second campaign was required
to complete the conquest: and this time the Assyrians
suffered a serious defeat at Surisidas (778), and a year at
least was needed for their recovery from the disaster.
During this respite, Argistis hastened to complete the
pacification of Bustus, Parsua, and the small portion of
Man which had not been reduced to subjection by Menuas.
When the Assyrians returned to the conflict, he defeated
them again (776), and while they withdrew to the Amanus,
where a rebellion had broken out (775), he reduced one by
one the small states which clustered round the eastern and
southern shores of Lake Urumiah. He was conducting a
campaign in Namri, when Shalmaneser IV. made a last
effort to check his advance; but he was again victorious
(774), and from henceforth these troubled regions, in which
Nineveh had so persistently endeavoured for more than
a century to establish her own supremacy, became part
of the empire of Urartu. Argistis’s hold of them proved,
however, to be a precarious and uncertain one, and before
long the same difficulties assailed him which had restricted
164 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

the power of his rivals. He was forced to return again

and again to these districts, destroying fortresses and
pursuing the inhabitants over plain and mountain: in

URARTIAN STELE ON THE ROCKS OF AK-KEUPRU.}

773 we find him in Urmes, the territory of Bikhuras, and

Bam, in the very heart of Namri; in 772, in Dhuaras,
and Gurqus, among the Mannai, and at the city of Uikhis,
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M, Ximénes. -
 ARGISTIS AND HIS WARS 165

in Bustus. Meanwhile, to the north of the Araxes, several

chiefs had taken advantage of his being thus engaged in
warfare in distant regions, to break the very feeble bond
which held them vassals to Urartu. Etius was the
fountain-head and main support of the rebellion; the
rugged mountain range in its rear provided its chiefs with
secure retreats among its woods and lakes and valleys,
through which flowed rapid torrents. Argistis inflicted
a final defeat on the Mannai in 771, and then turned his
forces against Htius. He took by storm the citadel of
Ardinis which defended the entrance to the country,
ravaged Ishqigulus, and seized Amegu, the capital of
Uidharus: our knowledge of his wars comes to an end
in the following year with an expedition into the land
of Tarius. The monuments do not tell us what he accom-
plished on the borders of Asia Minor; he certainly won
some considerable advantages there, and the influence
which Assyria had exercised over states scattered to the
north of the Taurus, such as Melitene, and possibly Tabal
and Kummukh, which had formed the original nucleus
of the Hittite empire, must have now passed into his
hands. The form of Argistis looms before us as that
of a great conqueror, worthy to bear comparison with the
most indefatigable and triumphant of the Pharaohs of
Egypt or the lords of Chaldwa. The inscriptions which
are constantly being discovered within the limits of his
kingdom prove that, following the example of all Oriental
, to the
1 Sayce shows that Ishqigulus was the district of Alexandropolis
the existing walled
east of Kars ; its capital, Irdanius, is very probably either
ruin of Ajuk-ka leh, on the Arpa-tchai.
village of Kalinsha or the neighbouring
166 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

sovereigns, he delighted as much in building as in battle:

perhaps we shall some day recover a sufficient number
of records to enable us to restore to their rightful place
in history this great king, and the people whose power
he developed more than any other sovereign.
Assyria had thus lost all her possessions in the northern
and eastern parts of her empire; turning to the west, how
much still remained faithful to her? After the expedition
of 775 B.c. to the land of Cedars, two consecutive campaigns
are mentioned against Damascus (773) and Hadrach (772) ;
it was during this latter expedition, or immediately after it,
that Shalmaneser IV. died. Northern Syria seems to have
been disturbed by revolutions which seriously altered the
balance of power within her borders. The ancient states,
whose growth had been arrested by the deadly blows
inflicted on them in the ninth century by Assur-nazir-pal
and Shalmaneser III., had become reduced to the condition
of second-rate powers, and their dominions had been split
up. The Patina was divided into four small states—the
Patina proper, Unki, Iaudi, and Samalla, the latter falling
under the rule of an Aramean family;' perhaps the
accession of Qaral, the founder of this dynasty, had been
accompanied by convulsions, which might explain the
presence of Shalmaneser IV. in the Amanos in 775. All
these principalities, whether of ancient or recent standing,
ranged themselves under one of two kingdoms—either
Hadrach or Arpad, whose names henceforth during the
1 The inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III. mention Unku, Iaudi, Samalla,
and the Patina, in the districts where the texts of Assur-nazir-pal and
Shalmaneser ITI. only know of the Patina.
 RECOIL OF ASSYRIAN POWER IN SYRIA 167

following half-century appear in the front rank whenever a

coalition is formed against Assyria. Carchemish, whose
independence was still respected by the fortresses erected
in its neighbourhood, could make no move without exposing
itself to an immediate catastrophe: Arpad, occupying a
prominent position a little in front of the Afrin, on the
main route leading to the Orontes, had assumed the réle
which Carchemish was no longer in a position to fill.
Agusi became the principal centre of resistance ; all battles
were fought under the walls of its fortresses, and its fall
involved the submission of all the country between the
Euphrates and the sea, as in former times had been the
case with Kinalua and Khazazu.’ Similar to the ascendency
of Arpad over the plateau of Aleppo was that of Hadrach in
the valley of the Orontes. This city had taken the position
formerly occupied by Hamath, which was now possibly one
of its dependencies; it owed no allegiance to Damascus,
and rallied around it all the tribes of Coele-Syria, whose
assistance Hadadezer, but a short while before, had. claimed
in his war with the foreigner. Neither Arpad, Hadrach,
nor Damascus ever neglected to send the customary
presents to any sovereign who had the temerity to cross
the Euphrates and advance into their neighbourhood, but
‘the necessity for this act of homage became more and more
infrequent. During his reign of eighteen years Assurdan
III., son and successor of Shalmaneser IV., appeared only
three times beneath their walls—at Hadrach in 766 and
places, by the
1 That Arpad was in Agusi is proved, among other
743 to 741 the king
inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser ITI., which show us from
of Urartu.
at war with Matilu of Agusi and his suzerain Sharduris III.
 REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA
168 ASSYRIAN

755, at Arpad in 750, a few months only before his death.

and
Assyria was gradually becoming involved in difficulties,
the means necessary to the preservation of its empire were
less available than formerly. Assurdan had frankly
renounced all idea of attacking Urartu, but he had at least
endeavoured to defend himself against his enemies on the
southern and eastern frontiers; he had led his armies
against Gananaté (771,767), against Itua (769), and against
the Medes (766), before risking an attack on Hadrach (765),
but more than this he had not attempted. On two
occasions in eight years (768, 764) he had preferred to
abstain from offensive action, and had remained inactive in
his own country. Assyria found herself in one of those
crises of exhaustion which periodically laid her low after
each outbreak of ambitious enterprise; she might well be
compared to a man worn out by fatigue and loss of blood,
who becomes breathless and needs repose as soon as he
attempts the least exertion. Before long, too, the scourges
of disease and civil strife combined with exhaustion in
hastening her ruin. The plague had broken out in the very
year of the last expedition against Hadrach (765), perhaps
under the walls of that city. An eclipse of the sun
occurred in 763, in the month of Sivan, and this harbinger
of woe was the signal for an outbreak of revolt in the city
of Assur. From Assur the movement spread to Arrapkha,
and wrought havoc there from 761 to 760; it then passed
on to Gozdn, where it was not finally extinguished till 758.
The last remains of Assyrian authority in Syria vanished
e: The ideas which Orientals held on the subject of comets renders the
connection between the two events very likely, if not certain.
 THE KINGS OF ASSYRIA 169

during this period: Assurdan, after two years’ respite,

endeavoured to re-establish it, and attacked successively
Hadrach (755) and Arpad (754). This was his last exploit.
His son Assur-nirari III. spent his short reign of eight
years in helpless inaction; he lost Syria, he carried on
hostilities in Namri from 749 to 748—whether against the
Arameans or Urartians is uncertain—then relapsed into
inactivity, and a popular sedition drove him finally from
Calah in 746. He died some months later, without having
repressed the revolt; none of his sons succeeded him, and
the dynasty, having fallen into disrepute through the
misfortunes of its last kings, thus came to an end; for, on
the 12th of Iyyar, 742 B.c., a usurper, perhaps, the leader of
the revolt at Calah, proclaimed himself king under the
name of Tiglath-pileser. The second Assyrian empire had
lasted rather less than a century and a half, from Tukulti-
ninip IT. to Assur-nirari III.”
r III. was of
1 Many historians have thought that Tiglath-pilese
, rightly conside rs that he was
Babylonian origin; most of them, however
r III. with Pulu, the Biblical
an Assyrian. The identity of Tiglath-pilese
ively proved by the discove ry of the
Pul (2 Kings xv. 19) has been conclus
Babylo nian reigns of Tiglath -pilese r III.
Babylonian Chronicle, where the
inserte d where the dynasti c lists give Pulu
and his son Shalmaneser V. are
and Ululai, the Poros and Elulzos of Ptolemy .
kings of Assyria,
2 Here is the concluding portion of the dynasty of the
from Irba-ramman to Assur-nirari III. :—
. «. « + Q |Assur-NaziR-PAL III. . . 884-859
IRBA-RAMMAN
Assur-Napi nakuf IIT... ? |SHALMANU-sHARID [SHAL-
MANESER IIT.] . . . 859-824
TUKULTI-PAL-ESHARRA
950-935?| Samst-ramman IV. . . . 824-812
[TicLaTHPILEsER IT.) .
935-911?) RammAy-nrripi IV. . . 812-782
Assur-pan II. . . - .
911-890 |SmatmaneseR IV... - 782-772
Ramuin-nreini Il. . . 772-754
9890-884 |Assur-pin III.. . . -
TURULTL-NINIP II.. . . 754-745
IAGSURONIRARI Fo. = =
170 ASSYRIAN REVIVAL AND STRUGGLE FOR SYRIA

In the manner in which it had accomplished its work,

it resembled the Egyptian empire of eight hundred years
before. The Egyptians, setting forth from the Nile valley,
had overrun Syria and had at first brought it under their
suzerainty, though without actually subduing it. They had
invaded Amurru and Zahi, Naharaim and Mitanni, where
they had pillaged, burnt, and massacred at will for years,
without obtaining from these countries, which were too
remote to fall naturally within their sphere of influence,
more than a temporary and apparent submission; the
regions in the neighbourhood of the isthmus alone had been
regularly administered by the officers of Pharaoh, and when
the country between Mount Seir and Lebanon seemed on
the point of being organised into a real empire the invasion
of the Peoples of the Sea had overthrown and brought to
nought the work of three centuries. The Assyrians, under
the leadership of ambitious kings, had in their turn carried
their arms over the countries of the Euphrates and the
Mediterranean, but, like those of the Egyptians before
them, their expeditions resembled rather the destructive
raids of a horde in search of booty than the gradual and |
orderly advance of a civilised people aiming at establishing
a permanent empire. Their campaigns in Coele-Syria and
Palestine had enriched their own cities and spread the
terror of their name throughout the Eastern world, but
their supremacy had only taken firm root in the, plains
bordering on Mesopotamia, and just when they were
preparing to extend their rule, a power had sprung up
beside them, over which they had been unable to triumph :
they had been obliged to withdraw behind the Euphrates,
 END OF THE SECOND ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 171

and they might reasonably have asked themselves whether,

by weakening the peoples of Syria at the price of the best
blood of their own nation, they had not merely laboured for
the benefit of a rival power, and facilitated the rise of
Urartu. Egypt, after her victory over the Peoples of the
Sea, had seemed likely, for the moment, to make a fresh
start on a career of conquest under the energetic influence
of Ramses III., but her forces proved unequal to the task,
and as soon as the master’s hand ceased to urge her on, she
shrank back, without a struggle, within her ancient limits,
and ere long nothing remained to her of the Asiatic empire
carved out by the warlike Pharaohs of the Theban
dynasties. If Tiglath-pileser could show the same courage
and capacity as Ramses III, he might well be equally
successful, and raise his nation again to power; but time
alone could prove whether Nineveh, on his death, would be
new
able to maintain a continuous effort, or whether her
her
display of energy would prove merely ephemeral, and
under
empire be doomed to sink into irremediable weakness
the
the successors of her deliverer, as Egypt had done under
later Ramessides.
 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE

ORGANISATION OF THE ASSYRIAN

EMPIRE FROM 745 to 722 Be.

RE-CONQUEST OF SYRIA—-EGYPT AGAIN UNITED

FAILURE OF URARTU AND
AUSPICES—-PIONKHI—THE DOWNFALL OF DAMASCUS,
UNDER ETHIOPIAN
OF BABYLON, AND OF ISRAEL,

Assyria and its neighbours at the accession of Tiglath-pileser III. : progress

expansion
of the Aramzans in the basin of the Middle Tigris—Urartu and its
Israel on
into the north of Syria—Damascus and Israel—Vengeance of
commerce,
Damascus—Jeroboam II,.—Civilisation of the Hebrew kingdoms, their
literature :
industries, private life, and political organisation—Dawn of Hebrew
prophecy
the two historians of Israel—The priesthood and the prophets—The
of Amos at Bethel ; denunciation of Israel by Hosea.
in Media—He
Early campaigns of Tiglath-pileser IIL. in Karduniash and
n around
determines to attack Urartu in Syria: defeat of Sharduris, campaig
Arpad, and captwre of that city—Homage paid by the Syrian princes, by
Menaliem and Rezin II.—Second campaign against the Medes— Invasion
and Rezin against
of Urartu and end of tts supremacy—Alliance of Pekah
Ahaz: the war in Judea and siege of Jerusalem.
 (apt GAe
Egypt under the kings of the XXII* dynasty—The Theban principality,
its priests, pallacides, and revolts ; the XXIII” Tanite dynasty—Tafnakhti and
the rise of the Saite family—The Egyptian kingdom of Ethiopia: theocratic
nature of its dynasty, annexation of the Thebaid by the kingdom of Napata—
Piénkhi-Miamun ; his generals in Middle Egypt ; submission of Khmunu, of
Memphis, and of Tafnakhti—Effect produced in Asia by the Ethiopian
conquest.

The prophet Isaiah, his rise wnder Ahaz—lIntervention of Tiglath-pileser

IIT, in Hebrew affairs ; the campaign of 733 3B.c. against Israel—Capture
of Rezin, and the downfall of Damascus—Nabunazir ; the Kaldd and the close
of the Babylonian dynasty; usurpation of Ukinzir—Campaign against
Ukinzir ; capture of Shapia and of Babylon—Tiglath-pileser ascends the
throne in the last-named city wnder the name of Fulu (729 B.c.)—Death of
Tiglath-pileser III, (727 B.c.)

Reorganisation of the Assyrian empire ; provinces and feudatory states—

Karduniash, Syria—Wholesale deportation of conquered races—Provincial
administrators, their military and financial arrangements—Buildings erected by
Tiglath-pileser at Calah—The Bit-Khilani—Foundation of feudal lordships —
Belharran-beluzur — Shalmaneser V. and Egypt: rebellion of Hoshea, the
siege of Samaria, and the prophecies of Isaiah—Sargon—Destruction of the
kingdom of Israel.
 COMBAT BEFORE THE WALLS OF A FORTRESS,

CHAPTER II
TIGLATH-PILESER Ill. AND THE ORGANISATION OF
THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE FROM 745 TO 722 B.C.

Failure of Urartu and re-conquest of Syria—Egypt

again united under Ethiopian auspices—Piénkhi
—The downfall of Damascus, of Babylon, and of
Israel.

VENTS proved that, in this period, at

any rate, the decadence of Assyria
was not due to any exhaustion of the race
or impoverishment of the country, but
was mainly owing to the incapacity of its
kings and the lack of energy displayed
by their generals. If Menuas and
acyae had again and again triumphed
over the Assyrians during
1 Drawn by Boudier, from Layard.
The vignette, also by Boudier, repre-
sents a bronze statuette of Queen Karomama, now in the Louvre.
176 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

half a century, it was not because their bands of raw

recruits were superior to the tried veterans of Ramman-
nirari in either discipline or courage. The Assyrian troops
had lost none of their former valour, and their muster-roll
showed no trace of diminution, but their leaders had lost
the power of handling their men after the vigorous fashion
of their predecessors, and showed less foresight and tenacity
in conducting their campaigns. Although decimated and
driven from fortress to fortress, and from province to
province, hampered by the rebellions it was called upon
to suppress, and distracted by civil discord, the Assyrian
army still remained a strong and efficient force, ever ready
to make its full power felt the moment it realised that
it was being led by a sovereign capable of employing its
good qualities to advantage. Tiglath-pileser had, doubt-
less, held a military command before ascending the throne,
and had succeeded in winning the confidence of his men:
as soon as he had assumed the leadership they regained
their former prestige, and restored to their country that
supremacy which its last three rulers had failed to
maintain.’

1 The official documents dealing with the history of Tiglath-pileser ITI.

have been seriously mutilated, and there is on several points some difference
of opinion among historians as to the proper order in which the fragments
ought to be placed, and, consequently, as to the true sequence of the various
campaigns. The principal documents are as follows: (1) The Annals in the
Central Hall of the palace of Shalmaneser ITI. at Nimroud, partly defaced
by Esarhaddon, and carried off to serve as materials for the south-western
palace, whence they were rescued by Layard, and brought in fragments
to the British Museum. (2) The Tablets, K. 3571 and D. T. 3, in the
British Museum, (3) The Slabs of Nimrud, discovered by Layard and G.
Smith. ;
 THE ARAMASANS IN THE BASIN OF THE TIGRIS 177

The empire still included the original patrimony of

Assur and its ancient colonies on the Upper Tigris, the
districts of Mesopotamia won from the Arameans at
various epochs, the cities of Khabur, Khindanu, Laqi, and
Tel-Abni, and that portion of Bit-Adini which lay to the
left of the Euphrates. It thus formed a compact mass
capable of successfully resisting the fiercest attacks; but
the buffer provinces which Assur-nazir-pal and Shalmaneser ’
III. had grouped round their own immediate domains on
the borders of Namri, of Nairi, of Melitene, and of Syria
had either resumed their independence, or else had thrown
in their lot with the states against which they had been
intended to watch. The Aramean tribes never let slip an
opportunity of encroaching on the southern frontier. So
far, the migratory instinct which had brought them from
the Arabian desert to the swamps of the Persian Gulf had
met with no check. Those who first reached its shores
became the founders of that nation of the Kaldaé which
had, perhaps, already furnished Babylon with one of its
dynasties ; others had soon after followed in their footsteps,
and passing beyond the Kalda settlement, had gradually
made their way along the canals which connect the
Euphrates with the Tigris till they had penetrated to the
lowlands of the Uknu. ‘Towards the middle of the eighth
century B.c. they wedged themselves in between Elam and
Karduniash, forming so many buffer states of varying size
and influence. They extended from north to south along
both banks of the Tigris, their different tribes being known
as the Gambulu, the Puqudu, the Litau, the Damunu, the
Ruua, the Khindaru, the Labdudu, the Hartlu, and the
VOL. VII. — N
178 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

Rubuu;! the Itua, who formed the vanguard, reached

the valleys of the Turnat during the reign of Ramméan-
nirari III. They were defeated in 791 8.c., but obstinately
renewed hostilities in 783, 782, 777, and 769; favoured by
circumstances, they ended by forcing the cordon of Assyrian
outposts, and by the time of Assur-nirari had secured a
footing on the Lower Zab. Close by, to the east of them,
lay Namri and Media, both at that time in a state of
absolute anarchy. The invasions of Menuas and of Argistis
had entirely laid waste the country, and Sharduris III., the
king who succeeded Argistis, had done nothing towards
permanently incorporating them with Urartu.? Sharduris,
while still heir-apparent to the throne, had been appointed
by his father governor of the recently annexed territory
belonging to Etius and the Mannai:* he made Lununis
his headquarters, and set himself to subdue the barbarians
who had settled between the Kur and the Araxes. When
he succeeded to the throne, about 760 B.c., the enjoyment
of supreme power in no way lessened his activity. On the
contrary, he at once fixed upon the sort of wide isthmus
which separates the Araxes from Lake Urumiah, as the
goal of his incursions, and overran the territory of the
Babilu; there he carried by storm three royal castles,
* The list of Aramean tribes, and the positions occupied by them
towards the middle of the eighth century, have been given us by Tiglath-
pileser ITI. himself.
* Tiglath-pileser did not encounter any Urartian forces in these regions,
as would almost certainly have been the case had these countries remained
subject to Urartu from the invasions of Menuas and Argistis onwards.
* Argistis tells us in the Annals that he had made his son satrap
over the provinces won from the Mannai and Etius: though his name
is not mentioned, Sayce believes this son must have been Sharduris.
 WEALTH OF THE CONQUERED TERRITORY 179
twenty-three cities, and sixty villages; he then fell back
upon Htius, passing through Dakis, Edias, and Urmes on
his way, and brought back with him 12,735 children, 46,600
women, 12,000 men capable of bearing arms, 23,335 oxen,
58,100 sheep, and 2,500 horses; these figures give some
idea of the importance of his victories and the wealth of
the conquered territory. So far as we can learn, he does
not seem to have attacked Khubushkia,! nor to have
entered into open rivalry with Assyria; even under the
rule of Assur-nirari III. Assyria showed a bold enough
front to deter any enemy from disturbing her except
when forced to do so. Sharduris merely strove to recover
those portions of his inheritance to which Assyria attached
but little value, and his inscriptions tell us of more than
one campaign waged by him with this object against the
mountaineers of Melitene, about the year 758. He captured
most of their citadels, one after another: Dhumeskis,
Zapsas, fourteen royal castles, and a hundred towns, in-
cluding Milid itself, where King Khitaruadas held his
court.? At this point two courses lay open before him.
He could either continue his march westwards, and,
penetrating into Asia Minor, fall upon the wealthy and
1 Tt is evident from the account of the campaigns that Tiglath-pileser
occupied Khubushkia from the very commencement of his reign; we must
therefore assume that the invasions of Argistis had produced only transient
effects.
2 These campaigns must have preceded the descent into Syria, and
I believe this latter to have been anterior to the expedition of Assur-nirari
against Arpad in 754 B.c. Assur-niraéri probably tried to reconquer the
tribes who had just become subject to Sharduris. The descent of this latter
into Syria probably took place about 756 or 755 B.c., and his wars against
Melitene about 758 to 757 B.c.
 III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
180 TIGLATH-PILESER

industrious races who led a prosperous existence between

the Halys and the Sangarios, such as the Tabal, the
Chalybes, and the Phrygians, or he could turn south-
wards. Deterred, apparently, by the dreary and mono-

A VISTA OF THE ASIANIC STEPPE.!

tonous aspect of the Asianic steppes,

he chose the latter course; he crossed
Mount Taurus, descended into Northern Syria about
756, and forced the Khati to swear allegiance to him.
Their inveterate hatred of the Assyrians led the Bit-
Agusi to accept without much reluctance the supremacy
of the only power which had shown. itself capable of with-
standing their triumphant progress. Arpad became for
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Alfred Boissier.
THE EXPANSION OF URARTU INTO NORTHERN SYRIA. 181

several years an unfailing support to Urartu and the basis

on which its rule in Syria rested. Assur-nirari had, as we
know, at first sought to recover it, but his attempt to do
so in 754 B.c. was unsuccessful, and merely served to
demonstrate his own weakness: ten years later, Carchemish,
Gurgum, Kummukh, Samalla, Unki, Kui—in a word, all
the Arameans and the Khati between the Huphrates and
the sea had followed in the steps of the Agusi, and had
acknowledged the supremacy of Sharduris.’ This prince
must now have been sorely tempted to adopt, on his own
account, the policy of the Ninevite monarchs, and push
on in the direction of Hamath, Damascus, and the
Pheenician seaboard, towards those countries of Israel and
Judah which were nearly coterminous with far-off Hgypt.
The rapidity of the victories which he had just succeeded
in winning at the foot of Mount Taurus and Mount
Amanus must have seemed a happy omen of what awaited
his enterprise in the valleys of the Orontes and the Jordan.
Although the races of southern and central Syria had
suffered less than those of the north from the ambition of
the Ninevite kings, they had, none the less, been sorely
tried during the previous century; and it might be
questioned whether they had derived courage from the —
humiliation of Assyria, or still remained in so feeble a
state as to present an easy prey to the first invader.
The defeat inflicted on Mari by Ramman-nirari in 803
had done but little harm to the prestige of Damascus. The
1 The minimum extent of the dominions of Sharduris: in Syria may
be deduced from the list of the allies assigned to him by Tiglath-pileser
in 743 in the Annals.
182 TIGLATH-PILESER III]. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

influence exercised by this state from the sources of the

Litany to the brook of Egypt * was based on so solid a
foundation that no temporary reverse had power to weaken
it. Had the Assyrian monarch thrown himself more
seriously into the enterprise, and reappeared before the
ramparts of the capital in the following year, refusing to
leave it till he had annihilated its armies and rased its
walls to the ground, then, no doubt, Israel, Judah, the
Philistines, Edom, and Ammon, seeing it fully occupied in
its own defence, might have forgotten the ruthless severity
of Hazael, and have plucked up sufficient courage to
struggle against the Damascene yoke ; as it was, Ramman-
nirari did not return, and the princes who had, perhaps, for
the moment, regarded him as a possible deliverer, did not
venture on any concerted action. Joash, King of Judah, and
Jehoahaz, King of Israel, continued to pay tribute till both
their deaths, within a year of each other, Jehoahaz in 797
B.c., and Joash in 796, the first in his bed, the second by
the hand of an assassin. Their children, Jehoash in Israel,
Amaziah in Judah, were, at first, like their parents, merely
the instruments of Damascus; but before long, the con-
ditions being favourable, they shook off their apathy and
initiated a more vigorous policy, each in his own kingdom.
Mari had been succeeded by a certain Ben-hadad, also a

* TNot the Nile, but the Wady el Arish, the frontier between Southern
Syria and Egypt. Cf. Josh. xv. 47; 2 Kings xxiv. 7, called “river” of
Egypt in the A.V.—TR. ]
12 Kings xii. 20, 21, xiii. 9; cf. 2 Chron, xxiv. 22-26, where the
death of Joash is mentioned as one of the consequences of the Syrian
invasion, and as a punishment for his crime in killing the sons of
Jehoiada,
 THE VENGEANCE OF ISRAEL ON DAMASCUS 183

son of Hazael,’ and possibly this change of kings was

accompanied by one of those revolutions which had done so
much to weaken Damascus: Jehoash rebelled and defeated
Ben-hadad near Aphek and in three subsequent engage-
ments, but he failed to make his nation completely indepen-
dent, and the territory beyond Jordan still remained in the
hands of the Syrians.?_ We are told that before embarking
on this venture he went to consult the aged Hlisha, then
on his deathbed. He wept to see him in this extremity,
and bending over him, cried out, ‘‘ My father, my father,
the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” The
prophet bade him take bow and arrows and shoot from the
window toward the Hast. The king did so, and Hlisha
said, ‘‘ The Lord’s arrow of victory * over Syria; for thou
shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek till thou have consumed
them.” Then he went on: ‘Take the arrows,” and the
king took them; then he said, ‘‘ Smite upon the ground,”
and the king smote thrice and stayed. And the man of
God was wroth with him, and said, ‘‘ Thou shouldest have
smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria
till thou hadst consumed it, whereas now thou shalt smite

12 Kings xiii. 24, 25. Winckler is of opinion that Mari and Ben-
hadad, son of Hazael, were one and the same person.
2 2 Kings xiii. 25. The term “saviour” in 2 Kings xiii. 5 is generally
taken as referring to Joash : Winckler, however, prefers to apply it to the
King of Assyria. The biblical text does not expressly state that Joash
failed to win back the districts of Gilead from the Syrians, but affirms that
he took from them the cities which Hazael “had taken out of the hand
of Jehoahaz, his father.” Ramah of Gilead and the cities previously
annexed by Jehoahaz must, therefore, have remained in the hands of
Ben-hadad.
* (Heb. “salvation ;” A.V. “ deliverance.”—TR.]
184 TIGLATH-PILESER Ill. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

Syria but thrice.”? Amaziah, on his side, had routed the

Edomites in the Valley of Salt, one of David’s former
battle-fields, and had captured their capital, Sela.2 Elated
by his success, he believed himself strong enough to break
the tie of vassalage which bound him to Israel, and sent a
challenge to Jehoash in Samaria. ‘The latter, surprised at
his audacity, replied in a parable, “The thistle that was in
Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying,
Give thy daughter to my son to wife.”” But “there passed
by a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trode down the
thistle. Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart
hath lifted thee up: glory thereof and abide at home ; for
why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt that thou shouldest
fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?”’ They met near
Beth-shemesh, on the border of the Philistine lowlands.
Amaziah was worsted in the engagement, and fell into the
power of his rival. Jehoash entered Jerusalem and dis-
mantled its walls for a space of four hundred cubits, ‘‘ from
the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate;” he pillaged
the Temple, as though it had been the abode, not of
Jahveh, but of some pagan deity, insisted on receiving
hostages before he would release his prisoner, and returned
to Samaria, where he soon after died (781 B.c.).° Jeroboam
II. completed that rehabilitation of Israel, of which his

1 2 Kings xiii. 14-19,

2-2 Kings xiv. 7; cf. 2 Chron. xxv. 11, 12. Sela was rebuilt, and
received the name of Joktheel from its Hebrew masters. The subjection
of the country was complete, for, later on, the Hebrew chronicler tells
of the conquest of Elath by King Azariah, son of Amaziah (2 Kings
xiv. 22),
3 2 Kings xiv. 8-16 cf. 2 Chron, xxv. 17-24.
 JEHROBOAM II. 185

father had but sketched the outline; he maintained his

suzerainty, first over Amaziah, and when the latter was
assassinated at Lachish (764), over his son, the young
Azariah.? After the defeat of Ben-hadad near Aphek,
Damascus declined still further in power, and Hadrach,
suddenly emerging from obscurity, completely barred the
valley of the Orontes against it. An expedition under
Shalmaneser IV. in 773 seems to have precipitated it to
a lower depth than it had ever reached before: Jeroboam
was able to wrest from it, almost without a struggle, the
cities which it had usurped in the days of Jehu, and Gilead
was at last set free from a yoke which had oppressed it for
more than acentury. ‘Tradition goes so far as to affirm
that Israel reconquered the Bekaa, Hamath, and Damascus,
those northern territories once possessed by David, and it is
quite possible that its rivals, menaced from afar by
Assyria and hard pressed at their own doors by Hadrach,
may have resorted to one of those propitiatory overtures
which eastern monarchs are only too ready to recognise
as acts of submission. The lesser southern states, such as
Ammon, the Bedawin tribes of Hauran, and, at the
opposite extremity of the kingdom, the Philistines,” who
had bowed themselves before Hazael in the days of his
1 2 Kings xiv. 19, 20; cf. 2 Chron, xxv. 27, 28.
2 The Hebrew texts make no mention of this subjection of Judah to
Jeroboam II.; that it actually took place must, however, be admitted,
as
at any rate in so far as the first half of the reign of Azariah is concerned,
a necessary outcome of the events of the preceding reigns.
3 The conquests of Jeroboam II. are indicated very briefly in 2 Kings
xiv. 25-28: cf, Amos vi. 14, where the expressions employed by the prophet
imply that at the time at which he wrote the whole of the ancient kingdom
of David, Judah included, was in the possession of Israel.
186 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

prosperity, now transferred their homage to Israel. Moab

alone offered any serious resistance. It had preserved its
independence ever since the reign of Mesha, having escaped
from being drawn into the wars which had laid waste
the rest of Syria. It was now suddenly forced to pay the
penalty of its long prosperity. Jeroboam made a furious
onslaught upon its cities—Ar of Moab, Kir of Moab, Dibon,
Medeba, Heshbon, Elealeh—and destroyed them all in
succession. The Moabite forces carried a part of the
population with them in their flight, and all escaped to-
gether across the deserts which enclose the southern basin
of the Dead Sea. On the frontier of Hdom they begged
for sanctuary, but the King of Judah, to whom the Edomite
valleys belonged, did not dare to shelter the vanquished
enemies of his suzerain, and one of his prophets, forgetting
his hatred of Israel in delight at being able to gratify his
grudge against Moab, greeted them in their distress with a
hymn of joy—‘‘I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon
Hlealeh: for upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest
the battle shout is fallen. And gladness is taken away and
joy out of the fruitful fields ; and in the vineyards there shall
be no singing, neither joyful noise; no treader shall tread
out wine in the presses; I have made the vintage shout to
cease. Wherefore my bowels sound like an harp for Moab,
and my inward parts for Kir-Heres. And it shall come to
pass, when Moab presenteth himself, when he wearieth
himself upon the high place, and shall come to his
sanctuary to pray, he shall not prevail !”?.
? Isa. xv. 1-9; xvi. 1-12. This prophecy, which had been pronounc
ed
against Moab “in the old days,” and which is appropriated by
Isaiah
 INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE 187

This revival, like the former greatness of David and

Solomon, was due not so much to any inherent energy
on the part of Israel, as to the weakness of the nations
on its frontiers. Egypt was not in the habit of intervening
in the quarrels of Asia, and Assyria was suffering from a
temporary eclipse. Damascus had suddenly collapsed,
and Hadrach or Mansuati, the cities which sought to take
its place, found themselves fully employed in repelling the
intermittent attacks of the Assyrian; the Hebrews, for a
quarter of a century, therefore, had the stage to themselves,
there being no other actors to dispute their possession of
it. During the three hundred years of their existence as
a monarchy they had adopted nearly all the laws and
customs of the races over whom they held sway, and by
whom they were completely surrounded. The bulk of the
people devoted themselves to the pasturing and rearing of
cattle, and, during the better part of the year, preferred
to live in tents, unless war rendered such a practice
impossible. They had few industries save those of the
potter? and the smith,’ and their trade was almost entirely
of Gath-Hepher,
(xvi. 13, 14), has been attributed to Jonah, son of Amittat,
II. (2 Kings xiv. 25). It is now
who actually lived in the time of Jeroboam
of an anonymous Judean prophet,
generally recognised as the production
prophe tic literat ure which has come
and the earliest authentic fragment of
down to us.
children of Israel dwelt
1 Of, the passage in 2 Kings xiii. 5, «“And the
Altho ugh the word éhel had by that time
in their tents as beforetime.”
of habitat ion, the context here seems to
acquired the more general meaning
require us to translate it by its origina l meani ng tent.
28; numerous fragments
2 Pottery is mentioned in 2 Sam, xvii,
been found at J erusalem and
dating from the monarchical period have
Lachish.
8 The story of Tubal-Cain (Gen. iv. 22) shows the antiquity of the
188 TIGLATH-PILESER III]. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

in the hands of foreigners. We find, however, Hebrew

merchants in Egypt,' at Tyre, and in Cole-Syria, and they
were so numerous at Damascus that they requested that a
special bazaar might be allotted to them, similar to that
occupied by the merchants of Damascus in Samaria from
time immemorial.2, The Hebrew monarchs had done their
best to encourage this growing desire for
trade. It was only the complicated state of
Syrian politics that
prevented them
from following the
example of Solo-
mon, and opening
communications
by sea with the
far-famed coun-
SPECIMENS OF HEBREW POTTERY.’
tries of Ophir,
either in competition with the Phoenicians or under
their guidance. Indeed, as we have seen, Jehoshaphat,
encouraged by his alliance with the house of Omri, tried
to establish a seagoing fleet, but found that peasants could
not be turned into sailors at a day’s notice, and the vessel
built by him at Eziongeber was wrecked before it left the
ironworker’s art among the Israelites; the smith is practically the only
artisan to be found amongst nomadic tribes,
* The accurate ideas on the subject of Egypt possessed by the earliest
compilers of the traditions contained in Genesis and Exodus, prove that
Hebrew merchants must have been in constant communication with that
country about the time with which we are now concerned,
2-1 Kings xx. 34; cf. what has been said on this point in vol, vi.
pp. 432, 441.
° Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from sketches by Warren.
 ARCHITECTURE OF THE HEBREW TOWNS 189

harbour. In appearance, the Hebrew towns closely

resembled the ancient Canaanite cities. Egyptian
influences still predominated in their architecture, as may
be seen from what is still left of the walls of Lachish, and
they were fortified in such a way as to be able to defy
the military engines of besiegers. This applies not only
to capitals, like Jerusalem, Tirzah, and Samaria, but even

THE HIGHER CLASS IN THE TIME OF SHALMANESER II.”

ISRAELITES OF

to those towns which commanded a road or mountain pass,

the ford of a river, or the entrance to some fertile plain;
there were scores of these on the frontiers of the two
kingdoms, and in those portions of their territory which
lay exposed to the attacks of Damascus, Moab, Edom, or
the Philistines. The daily life of the inhabitants was,
1 1 Kings xxii. 49, 50; 2 Chron. xx. 35-87; cf. p. 120, efssupra.of the Black
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reli
Obelisk.
fortified by
® 9 Chron, xi. 6-10, where we find a list of the towns
 190 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE’

to all intents, the same as at Arpad, Sidon, or Gaza; and

the dress, dwellings, and customs of the upper and middle
classes cannot have differed in any marked degree from
those of the corresponding grades of society in Syria. ‘The

JUDEHAN PEASANTS!

men wore over their tunic a fringed kaftan, with short

sleeves, open in front, a low-crowned hat, and sandals or
Rehoboam: Bethlehem, Etam, Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath,
Mareshah,
Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Ajalon, Hebron.
* Drawn by Boudier, from Layard. These figures are taken from
a bas-relief which represents Sennacherib receiving the
submission of Judah
before Lachish.
 PRIVATE LIFE OF THE HEBREWS 191

shoes of pliant leather ;’ they curled their beards and hair,

painted their eyes and cheeks, and wore many jewels;
while their wives adopted
all the latest refinements
in vogue in the harems
of Damascus, Tyre, or
Nineveh.? Descendants
of ancient families paid
for all this luxury out of
the revenues of the wide
domains they had in-
herited ; others kept it up
by less honourable means,
by usury, corruption, and
by the exercise of a ruth-
less violence towards
neighbours who were un-
able to defend themselves.
The king himself set them
an evil example, and did
not hesitate to assassinate
one of his subjects in order
that he might seize a vine-
yard which he coveted ; * WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF JUDmA.'

1 The kaftan met with in these parts seems to correspond to the mel
(R.V. “ephod ”) of the biblical texts (1 Sam. ii. 19 ; xviii. 4, etc.).
2 Tsa, iii. 16-24 describes in detail the whole equipment of jewels, paint,
and garments required by the fashionable women of Jerusalem during the
last thirty years of the eighth century B.c.
3 Cf. the well-known episode of Naboth and Ahab in 1 Kings xxi.
4 Drawn by Boudier, from Layard.
192 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

it was not to be wondered at, therefore, that the nobles of

Ephraim ‘sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a
pair of shoes;”’* that they demanded gifts of wheat, and
“turned the needy from their right’’ when they sat as a
jury ‘‘at the gate.”’? From top to bottom of the social
ladder the stronger and wealthier oppressed those who were
weaker or poorer than themselves, leaving them with no
hope of redress except at the hands of the king.* Un-
fortunately, the king, when he did not himself set the
example of oppression, seldom possessed the resources
necessary to make his decisions effective. True, he was
chief of the most influential family in either Judah or
Israel, a chief by divine appointment, consecrated by the
priests and prophets of Jahveh, a priest of the Lord,‘ and
he was master in his own city of Jerusalem or Samaria,
‘but his authority did not extend far beyond the walls.
It was not the old tribal organisation that embarrassed
him, for the secondary tribes had almost entirely given
up their claims to political independence. The division
of the country into provinces, a consequence of the
establishment of financial districts by Solomon, had broken
them up, and they gradually gave way before the two
houses of Ephraim and Judah; but the great landed
1 Amos ii, 6. 2 Amos vw. 11,13.
3 2 Kings vi. 26-30; viii. 3-8, where, in both instances, it is a
woman
who appeals to the king. Cf. for the period of David and Solomon,
2 Sam.
xiv. 1-20, and 1 Kings iii, 16-27.
* Cf. the anointing of Saul (1 Sam, ix. 16; x. 1; and xiv. 1), of
David
(1 Sam. xvi- 1=3, «12, 13), of Solomon (1 Kinge i, 34, 39,
45), of Jehu
(2 Kings ix. 1-10), and compare it with the unction received
by the priests
on their admission to the priesthood (Ewod. xxix. 7; xxx.
22, 23; ef.
Lev. viii. 12, 30; x. 7). .
 THE KING’S BODY-GUARD 193

proprietors, especially those who held royal fiefs, enjoyed

almost unlimited power within their own domains. They
were, indeed, called on to render military service, to furnish
forced labour, and to pay certain trifling dues into the
royal treasury ;* but, otherwise, they were absolute masters
in their own domains, and the sovereign was obliged to
employ force if he wished to extort any tax or act of
homage which they were unwilling to render. For this
purpose he had a standing army distributed in strong
detachments along the frontier, but the flower of his forces
was concentrated round the royal residence to serve as a
body-guard. It included whole companies of foreign
mercenaries, like those Cretan and Carian warriors who,
since the time of David, had kept guard round the Kings
of Judah; these, in time of war,? were reinforced by
militia, drawn entirely from among the landed proprietors,
and the whole force, when commanded by an energetic
leader, formed a host capable of meeting on equal terms
the armies of Damascus, Edom, or Moab, or even the
veterans of Egypt and Assyria. The reigning prince was
hereditary commander-in-chief, but the shar zaba, or
captain of the troops, often took his place, as in the time
1 1 Kings xv. 22 (cf. 2 Chron. xvi. 6), where ‘‘King Asa made a
proclamation unto all Judah; none was exempted,” the object in this case
being the destruction of Ramah, the building of which had been begun by
Baasha,
2 The Carians or Cretans are again referred to in the history of Athaliah
(2 Kings xi. 4).
3 Taking the tribute paid by Menahem to Pul (2 Kings xv. 19, 20) asa
basis, it has been estimated that the owners of landed estate in Israel, who
were in that capacity liable to render military service, numbered 60,000 in
the time of that king; all others were exempt from military service.
VOL. VII. O
194 TIGLATH-PILESER Ill. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

of David, and thereby became the most important person

in the kingdom. More than one of these officers had
already turned against their sovereign the forces which
he had entrusted to them, and these revolts, when crowned
with success, had, on various occasions, in Israel at any
rate, led to a change of dynasty: Omri had been shar zaba
when he mutinied against Zimri, the assassin of Hlah, and
Jehu occupied the same position when Elisha deputed him
to destroy the house of Omri.
The political constitutions of Judah and Israel were, on
the whole, very similar to those of the numerous states
which shared the territory of Syria between them, and
their domestic history gives us a fairly exact idea of the
revolutions which agitated Damascus, Hamath, Carchemish,
Arpad, and the principalities of Amanos and Lebanon
about the same period. It would seem, however, that none
of these other nations possessed a literary or religious life
of any great intensity. They had their archives, it is true,
in which were accumulated documents relating to their
past history, their rituals of theology and religious worship,
their collections of hymns and national songs; but none of
these have survived, and the very few inscriptions that have
come down to us merely show that they had nearly all of
them adopted the alphabet invented by the Pheenicians.
The Israelites, initiated by them into the art of writing,
lost no time in setting down, in their turn, all they could
recall of the destinies of their race from the creation of the
world down to the time in which they lived. From the
beginning of the monarchical epoch onwards; their scribes
collected together in the Book of the Wars of the Lord, the
 DAWN OF HEBREW LITERATURE 195

Book of Jashar, and in other works the titles of which have not
survived, lyrics of different dates, in which nameless poets
had sung the victories and glorious deeds of their national
heroes, such as the Song of the Well, the Hymn of Moses,
the triumphal Ode of Deborah, and the blessing of Jacob.’
They were able to draw upon traditions which preserved
the memory of what had taken place in the time of the
Judges ;* and when that patriarchal form of government
was succeeded by a monarchy, they had narratives of the
ark of the Lord and its wanderings, of Samuel, Saul, David,
and Solomon,? not to mention the official records which,

1 The books of Jashar and of the Wars of the Lord appear to date from
the IX" century B.c.; as the latter is quoted in the Elohist narrative,
it cannot have been compiled later than the beginning of the VIII" century
B.c. The passage in Numb, xxi. 14b, 15, is the only one expressly attributed
by the testimony of the ancients to the Book of the Wars of the Lord,
but modern writers add to this the Song of the Well (Numb. xxi. 176, 18),
and the Song of Victory over Moab (Numb. xxi. 27b-30). The Song of the
Bow (2 Sam. i, 19-27) admittedly formed part of the Book of Jashar.
Joshua’s Song of Victory over the Amorites (Josh. x. 13), and very probably
the couplet recited by Solomon at the dedication of the Temple (1 Kings viii.
12, 13, placed by the LXX. after verse 53), also formed ‘part of it, as also
the Song of Deborah and the Blessing of Jacob (Gen, xlix. 1-27).
2 Wellhausen was the first to admit the existence of a Book of Judges
prior to the epoch of Deuteronomy, and his opinion has been adopted by
Kuenen and Driver. This book was probably drawn upon by the two
historians of the IX and VIII" centuries B.c. of whom we are about to
speak ; some of the narratives, such as the story of Abimelech, and possibly
~ that of Ehud, may have been taken from a document written at the end of
the X™ or the beginning of the IX™ centuries B.C.
3 The revolutions which occurred in the family of David (2 Sam.
ix.-xx.) bear so evident a stamp of authenticity that they have been
attributed to a contemporary writer, perhaps Ahimaaz, son of Zadok
(2 Sam. xv. 27), who took part in the events in question, But apart from
this, the existence is generally admitted of two or three books which were
drawn up shortly after the separation of the tribes, containing a kind
196 TIGLATH-PILESER III]. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

since then, had been continuously produced and accumu-

lated by the court historians. It may be that more than
one writer had already endeavoured to evolve from these
materials an Epic of Jahveh and His faithful people, but in
the second half of the IX" century B.c., perhaps in the
time of Jehoshaphat, a member of the tribe of Judah
undertook to put forth a fresh edition.? He related how
God, after creating the universe out of chaos, had chosen
His own people, and had led them, after trials innumerable,
to the conquest of the Promised Land. He showed, as he
went on, the origin of the tribes identified with the
children of Israel, and the covenants made by Jahveh with
Moses in the Arabian desert ; while accepting the stories
connected with the ancient sanctuaries of the north and
east at Shechem, Bethel, Peniel, Mahanaim, and Succoth,
it was at Hebron in Judah that he placed the principal
residence of Abraham and his descendants. His style,
while simple and direct, is at the same time singularly
graceful and vivacious; the incidents he gives are carefully
selected, apt and characteristic, while his narrative passes
from scene to scene without trace of flagging, unburdened

of epic of the history of the first two kings; the one dealing with Saul, for
instance, was probably written in the time of Jeroboam.
1 The two lists in which the names of the principal personages at the
court of David are handed down to us, mention a certain Jehoshaphat,
son of Ahilud, who was mazkir, or recorder; he retained his post under
Solomon (1 Kings iv. 3).
2 The approximate date of the composition and source of this first
Jehovist is still an open question. Reuss and Kuenen, not to mention
others, believe the Jehovist writer to have been a nativeof the northern
kingdom; I have adopted the opposite view, which is supported by most
modern critics,
 THE TWO HISTORIANS OF ISRAEL 197

by useless details, and his dialogue, always natural and

easy, rises without effort from the level of familiar con-
versation to heights of impassioned eloquence. His aim
was not merely to compile the history of his people: he
desired at the same time to edify them, by showing how sin
first came into the world through disobedience to the
commandments of the Most High, and how man, prosperous
so long as he kept to the laws of the covenant, fell into
difficulties as soon as he transgressed or failed to respect
them. His concept of Jahveh is in the highest degree a
concrete one: he regards Him as a Being superior to other
beings, but made like unto them and moved by the same
passions. He shows anger-and is appeased, displays
sorrow and repents Him of the evil." When the descend-
ants of Noah build a tower and a city, He draws nigh
to examine what they have done, and having taken account
of their work, confounds their language and thus prevents
them from proceeding farther.? He desires, later on, to
confer a favour on His servant Abraham: He appears to
him in human form, and eats and drinks with him.°
Sodom and Gomorrah had committed abominable iniquities,
the cry against them was great and their sin very grievous :
but before punishing them, He tells Abraham that He will
‘go down and see whether they have done according to the
cry of it which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.” *

1 Exod, iv. 14 and xxxii. 10, anger of Jahveh against Moses and against
Israel; Gen. vi. 6, 7, where He repents and is sorry for having created
man; and Eaod, xxxii. 14, where He repents Him of the evil He had
intended to do unto Israel.
2 Gen. xi. 5-8. 3 Gen, xviii.
4 Gen. xviii. and xix.
198 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

Elsewhere He wrestles a whole night long with Jacob ;’ or

falls upon Moses, seeking to kill him, until appeased by
Zipporah, who casts the blood-stained foreskin of her child
at her husband’s feet.2_ This book, though it breathes the
spirit of the prophets and was perhaps written in one of
their schools, did not, however, include all the current
narratives, and omitted many traditions that were passing
from lip to lip; moreover, the excessive materialism of its
treatment no longer harmonised with that more idealised
concept of the Deity which had already begun to prevail.
Consequently, within less than a century of its appearance,
more than one version containing changes and interpolations
in the narrative came to be circulated,* till a scribe of
Ephraim, who flourished in the time of Jeroboam II., took
up the subject and dealt with it in a different fashion.*
Putting on one side the primitive accounts of the origin of
1 Gen. xxxii. 24, 25. 2 Haod, iv. 24-26.
3 Schrader and Wellhausen have drawn attention to contradictions in
the primitive history of humanity as presented by the Jehovist which
forbid us to accept it as the work of a single writer. Nor can these
inconsistencies be due to the influence of the Hlohist, since the latter
did not deal with this period in his book. Budde has maintained that the
primitive work contained no account of the Deluge, and traced the descent
of all the nations, Israel included, back to Cain, and he declares he can
detect in the earlier chapters of Genesis traces of a first Jehovist, whom he
calls J'. A second Jehovist, J?, who flourished between 800 and 700 B.c., is
supposed to have added to the contribution of the first, certain details
borrowed from the Babylonian tradition, such as the Deluge, the story of
Noah, of Nimrod, etc. Finally, a third Jehovist is said to have thrown
the versions of his two predecessors into one, taking J? as the basis of
his work.
4 The date and origin of the Elohist have given rise to no less
controversy than those of the Jehovist: the view most generally adopted is
that he was a native of the northern kingdom, and flourished about 750 B.c.
 IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY B.C. 199

the human race which his predecessors had taken pleasure

in elaborating, he confined his attention solely to events
since the birth of Abraham ;* his origin is betrayed by the
preference he displays for details calculated to flatter the
self-esteem of the northern tribes. To his eyes, Joseph is
the noblest of all the sons of Jacob, before whom all the
rest must bow their heads, as to a king; next to Joseph
comes Reuben, to whom—rather than to Judah *—he gives
the place as firstborn. He groups his characters round
Bethel and Shechem, the sanctuaries of Israel; even
Abraham is represented as residing, not at Hebron in |
Judexa, but at Beersheba, a spot held in deep veneration
by pilgrims belonging to the ten tribes. It is in his
concept of the Supreme Being, however, that he differs
most widely from his predecessors. God is, according to
him, widely removed from ordinary humanity. He no
longer reveals Himself at all times and in all places, but
works rather by night, and appears to men in their dreams,
or, when circumstances require His active interference, is
content to send His angels rather than come in His own
of
person.’ Indeed, such cases of active interference are
rare occurrence, and He prefers to accomplish His purpose
the Elohist did not
1 Budde seems to have proved conclusively that
write any part of the primitive history of mankind.
whereas in Gen. xliil. 3,
2.Glen. xxxvii. 21, 22, 29, 30; xlii, 22, 27;
Jehovist, it is Judah that
8-10, where the narrative is from the pen of the
xxxvii. 21, Reuben has
plays the principal part: it is possible that, in Gen.
been substituted in the existing text for Judah.
of Beersheba as a holy
3 Gen, xxi. 31, 33; xxii. 19; the importance
kingdom is shown in 1 Kings
place resorted to by pilgrims from the northern
xix. 3, and Amos v. 5; viii. 14.
xxii. 8-12, 20. —
4 Gen, xx. 3-8 ; xxviii. 11-15; xxxi 24; Numb,
200 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

through human agents, who act unconsciously, or even in

direct contravention of their own clearly expressed inten-
tions.! Moreover it was only by degrees that He revealed
His true nature and title; the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and Joseph, had called Him Elohim, or ‘‘ the gods,”
and it was not until the coming of Moses that He disclosed
His real name of Jahveh to His worshippers.? In a word,
this new historian shows us in every line that the
theological instinct has superseded popular enthusiasm,
and his work loses unmistakably in literary interest by the
change. We feel that he is wanting in feeling and inspi-
ration; his characters no longer palpitate with life; his
narrative drags, its interest decreases, and his language
is often deficient in force and colour.
But while writers, trained in the schools of the prophets,
thus sought to bring home to the people the benefits which
their God had showered on them, the people themselves
showed signs of disaffection towards Him, or were, at any
rate, inclined to associate with Him other gods borrowed
from neighbouring states, and to overlay the worship they
rendered Him with ceremonies and ideas inconsistent with
its original purity. The permanent division of the nation
into two independent kingdoms had had its effect on their
religion as well as on their political life, and had separated
the worshippers into two hostile camps. The inhabitants
of Judah still continued to build altars on their high places,

* Gen, 1. 20, end of the story of Joseph: “And as for you, ye meant
evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it to pass as it is this
day, to save much people alive.”
? Haod. iii. 13, 14; verse 15 is an interpolation of much later date.
sganue 6 13 ye0
snow va yond sits

e
 THE PRIESTHOOD OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL 201

as they had done in the time before David; there, the

devout prostrated themselves before the sacred stones and
before the Asherah, or wentin unto the kedeshéth in honour
of Astarte, and in Jahveh’s own temple at Jerusalem they
had set up the image of a brazen serpent to. which they
paid homage. The feeling, however, that the patron deity
of the chosen people could have but one recognised
habitation—the temple built for Him by Solomon—and
that the priests of this temple were alone qualified to
officiate there in an effective manner, came to prevail more
and more strongly in Judea. The king, indeed, continued
to offer sacrifices and prayer there,” but the common people
could no longer intercede with their God except through
the agency of the priests. The latter, in their turn, tended
to develop into a close corporation of families consecrated
for generations past to the priestly office; they came in
time to form a tribe by themselves, which took rank among
the other tribes of Israel, and claimed Levi, one of the
twelve sons of Jacob, as its ancestor. Their head, chosen

1 Of, what we are told of idolatrous practices in Judah under Rehoboam

and Abijam (1 Kings xiv. 22-24; xv. 3), and of the tolerance of high
places by Asa and Jehoshaphat (1 Kings xv. 14; xxii. 44); even at the
period now under consideration neither Amaziah (2 Kings xiv. 4) nor
Azariah (2 Kings xv. 4) showed any disposition to prohibit them. The .
brazen serpent was still in existence in the time of Hezekiah, at the close of
the VIII™ century B.c. (2 Kings xviii. 4).
2 2 Kings xvi. 10-16, where Ahaz is described as offering. sacrifice and
giving instructions to the high priest Urijah as to the reconstruction and
service of the altar ; cf. 2 Chron, xxvi. 16-21, where similar conduct on the
part of Uzziah is recorded, and where the leprosy by which he was attacked
is, in accordance with the belief of later times, represented as a punishment
of the sacrilege committed by him in attempting to perform the sacrifice
in person,
202 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

from among the descendants of Zadok, who had been the

first high priest in the reign of Solomon, was by virtue of
his office one of the chief ministers of the crown, and we
know what an important part was played by Jehoiadah in
the revolution which led to the deposition of Athaliah; the
high priest was, however, no less subordinate to the supreme
power than his fellow-ministers, and the sanctity of his
office did not avail to protect him from ill-treatment or
death if he incurred the displeasure of his sovereign. He
had control over a treasury continually enriched by the
offerings of the faithful, and did not always turn his trust
to the best uses; in times of extreme distress the king used
to borrow from him as a last resource, in order to bring
about the withdrawal of an invader, or purchase the help of
a powerful ally. The capital of Israel was of too recent
foundation to allow of its chapel royal becoming the official
centre of national worship; the temple and priesthood of
Samaria never succeeded in effacing the prestige enjoyed
by the ancient oracles, though in the reign of both the first
and second Jeroboam, Dan, Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah had
each its band of chosen worshippers.* At these centres
1 In order to form an idea of the relative positions occupied by the king
and the high priest, we must read what is told of Jehoiadah and Joash
(2 Kings xii. 6-16), or Urijah and Ahaz (2 Kings xvi. 10-16) ; the story
runs that Zechariah was put to death by Joash (2 Chron. xxiv. 22).
2 Asa did so in order to secure Ben-hadad’s help against Baasha (1
Kings xv. 18, 19; cf. 2 Chron. xvi. 2, 3): as to the revenues by which
the treasury of the temple was supported and the special dues appropriated
to it, cf. 2 Kings xii. 4, 5, 7-16, and xxii, 4-7, 9.
3 In the time of Jeroboam II., Bethel, Gilgal, and Dan are mentioned
by Amos (iv. 4; v. 5, 6; viii. 14), by Hosea (iv. 15; ix. 15; xii, 12),
Mizpah is mentioned by Hosea (v. 1), and so is Tabor. The altar of Jahveh
on Mount Carmel was restored by Elijah (1 Kings xviii. 30).
 REGULATIONS IN FORCE IN THE TEMPLES 203

adoration was rendered to the animal presentment of

Jahveh,' and even prophets like Elijah and Elisha did not
condemn this as heretical; they had enough to do in
hunting down the followers of Baal without entering into
open conflict with the worshippers of the golden calf. The
priesthood of the northern kingdom was not confined to
members of the family of Levi, but was recruited from all
the tribes; it levied a tithe on the harvest, reserved to
itself the pick of the offerings and victims, and jealously
forbade a plurality of sanctuaries.» The Book of the

EGYPTIAN ALTAR AT DEIR-EL-BAHARL.®

Covenant’ has handed down to us the regulations in force

at one of these temples, perhaps that of Bethel, one of the
d to by Amos
1 The golden calves at Dan and Bethel are referre
5), where Bethel is called Beth-av en ; as to the
(viii. 14) and Hosea (x.
5, 6.
golden calf at Samaria, cf. Amos viii. 14 and Hos. viii.
2 Amos iv. 4, 5; v. 21-28.
.
8 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a restoration by Naville
title given in Exod, xxiv. 7 to a writing in which Moses is
4 This is the
n Jahveh and Israel;
said to have entered the covenant made betwee
ions, in Exod. xx. 23»
it is preserved, with certain interpolations and alterat
the Elohist narrative, there
__xxiii. 33. It was inserted in its entirety in
onomy in the Pentateuch,
taking the place at present occupied by Deuter
and Israel prior to the
viz. that of the covenant made between Jahveh
i, § 13, No, 32). Reuss
crossing of the Jordan (Kuunen, H. C. Onderzoek, n of
promulgated on the occasio
tries to make out that it was the code
referred to in 2 Chron, xvii.
Jehoshaphat’s legal reforms, which is only
is that it was the “ custom ” of
7-9; cf, xix. 5. A more probable theory
kingdo m reduced to writing at
one of the great sanctuaries of the northern
the end of the X or during the IX" century B.C.
204 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

wealthiest of them all. The directions in regard to ritual

are extremely simple, and the moral code is based through-
out on the inexorable lex talionis, ‘‘ Life for life, eye for eye,
tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for
burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”’* This brief
code must have been almost universally applicable to
every conjuncture of civil and religious life in Judah no
less than in Israel. On one point only do we find a
disagreement, and that is in connection with the one and
only Holy of Holies to the possession of which the southern
kingdom had begun to lay claim: in a passage full of
significance Jahveh declares, ‘“‘ An altar of earth thou shalt
make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt
offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine
oxen : in every place where I record My name I will come
unto thee and I will bless thee. And if thou make Me an
altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones : for if.
thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither
shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy naked-
ness be not discovered thereon.’’? The patriarchs and
early ancestors of the race had performed their sacrifices in
the open air, on rude and low altars, differing widely from
lofty and elaborately ornamented erections like those at
Jerusalem, which seem to have borne a resemblance to the
altars of the Egyptians: the author of the Book of the
Covenant advises the faithful to follow the example of those
great men rather than that of the Levites of Judah.
Nevertheless this multiplicity of high places was not
without its dangers ; it led the common people to confuse
1 “Brod, xxi, 23-25. 2 EHwod. xx. 24-26,
 THE STATUS OF THE PROPHETS 205

Jahveh with the idols of Canaan, and encouraged the

spread of foreign superstitions. The misfortunes which had
come thick and fast upon the Israelites ever since the
division of the kingdom had made them only too ready to
seek elsewhere that support and consolation which they
could no longer find at home. The gods of Damascus and
Assur who had caused the downfall of Gath, of Calneh, and
of Hamath,! those of Tyre and Sidon who lavished upon
the Pheenicians the wealth of the seas, or even the deities
of Ammon, Moab, or Edom, might well appear more desir-
able than a Being Who, in spite of His former promises,
seemed powerless to protect His own people. A number
of the Israelites transferred their allegiance to these
powerful deities, prostrated themselves before the celestial
host, flocked round the resting-places of Kevan, the star
of El, and carried the tabernacles of the King of heaven ;”
nor was Judah slow to follow their example. The prophets,
however, did not view their persistent ill-fortune in the
same light as the common people; far from accepting it as
a proof of the power of other divinities, they recognised in it
a mark of Jahveh’s superiority. In their eyes J ahveh was
the one God, compared with Whom the pagan deities were
no gods at all, and could not even be said to exist. He
might, had He so willed it, have bestowed His protection
on any one of the numerous races whom He had planted
on the earth: but as a special favour, which He was under
His
no obligation to confer, He had chosen Israel to be
should
own people, and had promised them that they
Hazael.
1 Amos vi. 2; with regard to the destruction of Gath by
2 Amos v. 26, 27.
 206 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

occupy Canaan so long as they kept free from sin. But

Israel had sinned, Israel had followed after idols ; its mis-
fortunes were, therefore, but the just penalty of its unfaith-
fulness. ‘Thus conceived, Jahveh ceased to be merely the
god of a nation—He became the God of the whole world;
and it is in the guise of a universal Deity that some, at any
rate, of the prophets begin to represent Him from the time
of Jeroboam IT. onwards.
This change of view in regard to the Being of Jahveh
coincided with a no less marked alteration in the character
of His prophets. At first they had taken an active part
in public affairs; they had thrown themselves into the
political movements of the time, and had often directed
their course,’ by persuasion when persuasion sufficed, by
violence when violence was the only means that was left
to them of enforcing the decrees of the Most High. Not
long before this, we find Elisha secretly conspiring against
* Cf. the part taken by Nathan in the conspiracy which raised Solomon
to the throne (1 Kings i. 8, et seq.), and previous to this in the story
of David’s amour with Bathsheba (2 Sam. xii. 1-25). Similarly, we find
prophets such as Ahijah in the reign of Jeroboam I, (1 Kings xi, 29-39;
ef. xiv. 1-18; xv. 29, 30), and Shemaiah in the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings
xii, 22-24), Jehu son of Hananiah under Baasha (1 Kings xvi. 1-4, 7,
12, 13), Micaiah son of Imla, and Zedekiah under Ahab (1 Kings xxii.
5-28), not to speak of those mentioned in the Chronicles, e.g. Azariah son of
Oded (2 Chron. xv. 1-8), and Hanani under Asa (2 Chron. xvi. 7-10),
Jahaziel (2 Chron. xx, 14-19), and Eliezer, son of Dodavahu (2 Chron.
xx. 37), in the time of Jehoshaphat. No trace of any writings composed
by these prophets is found until a very late date; but in Chronicles,
in
addition to a letter from Elijah to Jehoram of Juda (2 Chron. xxi. 12-15),
we find a reference to the commentary of the prophet Iddo in the
time of
Abijah (2 Chron, xiii. 22), and to the “ History of Jehu the son of
Hanani,
which is inserted in the book of the kings of Israel ” (2 Chron. xx, 34), in
the time of Jehoshaphat,
 AMOS OF TEKOA 207
the successors of Ahab, and taking a decisive part in the
revolution which set the house of Jehu on the throne in
place of that of Omri; but during the half-century which
had elapsed since his death, the revival in the fortunes of
Israel and its growing prosperity under the rule of an
energetic king had furnished the prophets with but few
pretexts for interfering in the conduct of state affairs.
They no longer occupied themselves in resisting the king,
but addressed themselves to the people, pointed out the
heinousness of their sins, and threatened them with the
wrath of Jahveh if they persisted in their unfaithfulness:
they came to be spiritual advisers rather than political
partisans, and orators rather than men of action like their
predecessors. Their discourses were carefully prepared
beforehand, and were written down either by themselves
or by some of their disciples for the benefit of posterity,
in the hope that future generations would understand the
dangers or witness the catastrophes which their contem-
poraries might not live to see. About 760 z.c., Amos of
Tekdéa,' a native of Judea, suddenly made his appearance
at Bethel, in the midst of the festivals which pilgrims had
flocked to celebrate in the ancient temple erected to
Jahveh in one of His animal forms. His opening words
filled the listening crowd with wonder: ‘The high places
of Isaac shall be desolate,’ he proclaimed, “‘and the
sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise
1 The title of the Book of Amos fixes the date as being ‘‘in the days of
Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king
s
of Israel” (i. 1), and the state of affairs described by him correspond
know of this period. Most critics fix the
pretty closely with what we
date somewhere between 760 and 750 B.c., but nearer 760 than 750.
208 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.’ Yet

Jeroboam had by this time gained all his victories, and
never before had the King of Samaria appeared to be more
firmly seated on the throne: what, then, did this intruder
mean by introducing himself as a messenger of wrath in
the name of Jahveh, at the very moment when Jahveh
was furnishing His worshippers with abundant signs of His
favour? Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, interrupted him as
he went on to declare that ‘‘Jeroboam should die by the
sword, and Israel should surely be led away captive out
of his land.”’ The king, informed of what was going on,
ordered Amos into exile, and Amaziah undertook to com-
municate this sentence to him: ‘“‘O thou seer, go, flee
thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread,
and prophesy there: but prophesy not again any more at
Bethel: for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal
house.” And Amos replied, ‘I was no prophet, neither
was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdman, and a dresser
of sycomore trees: and the Lord took me from following
the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto
My people Israel. Now therefore hear thou the word of
the Lord: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and
drop not thy word against the house of Isaac: therefore
thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall be an harlot in the
city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the
sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou
thyself shalt die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall
surely be led away captive out of his land.”? This
prophecy, first expanded, and then written down with a
1 Amos vii. 9. 2 Amos vii. 9-17.
 THE PROPHECY OF AMOS AT BETHEL 209

purity of diction and loftiness of thought which prove

Amos to have been a master of literary art,' was widely
circulated, and gradually gained authority as portents
indicative of the divine wrath began to accumulate, such
as an earthquake which occurred two years after the
incident at Bethel,’ an eclipse of the sun, drought, famine,
and pestilence.* It foretold, in the first place, the down-
fall of all the surrounding countries—Damascus, Gaza,
Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and Judah ; then, denouncing
Israel itself, condemned it to the same penalties for the
same iniquities. In vain did the latter plead its privileges
as the chosen people of Jahveh, and seek to atone for its
guilt by endless sacrifices. ‘I hate, I despise your feasts,”
declared Jahveh, “and I will take no delight in your
solemn assemblies. Yea, though ye offer Me your burnt
offerings and meat offerings, I will not accept them:
neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat
beasts. Take thou away from Me, the noise of thy
songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But
let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness
as a mighty stream.”* The unfaithfulness of Israel,
the corruption of its cities, the pride of its nobles, had
sealed its doom; even at that moment the avenger was

1 §. Jerome describes Amos as “rusticus” and “imperitus sermone,” but

modern writers are generally agreed that in putting forward this view
he was influenced by the statement as to the peasant origin of the prophet.
2 Amos i. 1; reference is made to it by the unknown prophet whose
words are preserved in Zech. xiv. 5.
3 The famine is mentioned in Amos iv. 6, the drought in Amos iv. 7, 8,
the pestilence in Amos iv. 10.
4 Amos v. 21-24.
VOL. VII. P
210 TIGLATH-PILESER Ill. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

at hand on its north-eastern border, the Assyrian appointed

to carry out sentence upon it.’’ Then follow visions, each
one of which tends to deepen the effect of the seer’s words
—a cloud of locusts,’ a devouring fire,* a plumb-line in the
hands of the Lord,‘ a basket laden with summer fruit *—
till at last the whole people of Israel take refuge in their
temple, vainly hoping that there they may escape from
the vengeance of the Eternal. ‘There shall not one of
them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.
Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take
them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I
bring them down. And though they hide themselves in
the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence;
and though they be hid from My sight in the bottom of
the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall
bite them. And though they go into captivity before their
enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall
slay them; and I will set Mine eyes upon them for evil
and not for good.”® For the first time in history a
prophet foretold disaster and banishment for a whole
people :love of country was already giving place in the

1 Most commentators admit that the nation raised up by Jahveh to

oppress Israel “from the entering in of Hamath unto the brook of the
Arabah ” (Amos vi. 14) was no other than Assyria, At the very period
in which Amos flourished, Assurdin made two campaigns against Hadrach,
in 765 and 755, which brought his armies right up to the Israelite
frontier (ScHRADER, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, vol. i. pp. 210-213).
2 Amos vii. 1-3. 3 Amos vii. 4-6.
_ 4 Amos vii. 7-9. It is here that the speech delivered by the prophet
at Bethel is supposed to occur (vii. 9); the narrative of what afterwards
happened follows immediately (Amos vii. 10-17).
‘5 Amos viii. 1-3. 6 Amos ix, 1-4,
 DENUNCIATION OF ISRAEL BY HOSEA 211

heart of Amos to his conviction of the universal jurisdiction

of God, and this conviction led him to regard as possible
and probable a state of things in which Israel should have
no part. Nevertheless, its decadence was to be merely
temporary; Jahveh, though prepared to chastise the
posterity of Jacob severely, could not bring Himself to
destroy it utterly. The kingdom of David was soon to
flourish anew: ‘ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the
treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains
shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I
will bring again the captivity of My people Israel, and they
shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they
shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they
shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I
will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more
be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,
saith the Lord thy God.” ?
The voice of Amos was not the only one raised in
warning. From the midst of Ephraim, another seer, this
time a priest, Hosea, son of Beeri,? was never weary of
1 Amos ix, 13-15.
_ * Hoshea (or Hosea) was regarded by the rabbis as the oldest of the
lesser prophets, and his writings were placed at the head of their collected
works. The title of his book (Hos. i. 1), where he begins by stating that
he preached “in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash (Jehoash), King of
Israel,” is a later interpolation ; the additional mention of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, is due to an attempted analogy with
the title of Isaiah. Hosea was familiar with the prophecies of Amos, and
his own predictions show that the events merely foreseen by his predecessor
were now in course of fulfilment in his day. The first three chapters
probably date from the end of the reign of Jeroboam, about 750 B.c. ; the
others were compiled under his successors, and before 734-733 B.c., since
 III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
212 TIGLATH-PILESER
persisted
reproaching the tribes with their ingratitude, and
The halo
in his foretelling of the desolation to come.
had
of grandeur and renown with which Jeroboam
ched
surrounded the kingdom could not hide its wret
yet
and paltry character from the prophet’s eyes; ‘“‘for
upon
a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel
of the
the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom
house of Israel to cease. And it shall come to pass at that
of
day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley
Jezreel.”? Like his predecessor, he, too, inveighed
against the perversity and unfaithfulness of his people.
The abandoned wickedness of Gomer, his wife, had brought
him to despair. In the bitterness of his heart, he demands
of Jahveh why He should have seen fit to visit such humi- —
liation on His servant, and persuades himself that the
faithlessness of which he is a victim is but a feeble type
of that which Jahveh had suffered at the hands of His
people. Israel had gone a-whoring after strange gods, and
the day of retribution for its crimes was not far distant :
‘The children of Israel shall abide many days without king
and without prince, and without sacrifice and without
pillar, and without ephod or teraphim; afterward shall the
children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and
David their king; and shall come with fear unto the Lord
and to His goodness in the latter days.””? Whether the
Gilead is there mentioned as still forming part of Israel (Hos. vi. 8 ; xii. 12),
though it was in that year laid waste and conquered by Tiglath-pileser IIT.
Duhm has suggested that Hosea must have been a priest from the tone
of his writings, and this hypothesis is generally accepted by theologians.
1 Hos. i. 4, 5.
2 Hos, i.-iii. Is the story of Hosea and his wife an allegory, or does it
 SYRIA REDUCED TO EXTREMITY 218

decadence of the Hebrews was or was not due to the purely

moral and religious causes indicated by the prophets, it
was only too real, and even the least observant among
their contemporaries must. have suspected that the two
kingdoms were quite unfitted, as to their numbers, their
military organisation, and monetary reserves, to resist
successfully any determined attack that might be made
upon them by surrounding nations. An armed force
entering Syria by way of the Euphrates could hardly fail
to overcome any opposition that might be offered to it,
if not at the first onset, at any rate after a very brief
struggle; none of the minor states to be met upon its way,
such as Damascus or Israel, much less those of Hamath
or Hadrach, were any longer capable of barring its
progress, as Ben-hadad and Hazael had arrested that of
the Assyrians in the time of Shalmaneser III. The efforts
then made by the Syrian kings to secure their inde-
pendence had exhausted their resources and worn out
the spirit of their peoples; civil war had prevented them
from making good their losses during the breathing-space
afforded by the decadence of Assyria, and now that Nature
herself had afflicted them with the crowning misfortunes
of famine and pestilence, they were reduced to a mere |
shadow of what they had been during the previous century.
If, therefore, Sharduris, after making himself master of
the countries of the Taurus and Amanos, had turned his
steps towards the valley of the Orontes, he might have

rest on a basis of actual fact? Most critics now seem to incline to the
view that the prophet has here set down an authentic episode from his own
career, and uses it to point the moral of his work.
 III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
914 TIGLATH-PILESER
and after
secured possession of it without much difficulty,
his soldiers
that there would have been nothing to prevent
ria or
from pressing on, if need be, to the walls of Sama
even of Jerusalém itself. Indeed, he seems to have at last
the
made up his mind to embark on this venture, when
revival of Assyrian power put a stop to his ambitious
by
schemes. ‘Tiglath-pileser, hard pressed on every side
daring and restless foes, began by attacking those who
le—
were at once the most troublesome and most vulnerab
the Aramean tribes on the banks of the Tigris. To give
these incorrigible banditti, who boldly planted their
outposts not a score of leagues from his capital, a free
hand on his rear, and brave the fortune of war in Armenia
or Syria, without first teaching them a lesson in respect,
would have been simply to court serious disaster; an
Aramean raid occurring at a time when he was engaged
elsewhere with the bulk of his army, might have made
it necessary to break off a successful campaign and fall
pack in haste to the relief of Nineveh or Calah (Kalakh),
just as he was on the eve of gaining some decisive
advantage. Moreover, the suzerainty of Assyria over
Karduniash entailed on him the duty of safeguarding
Babylon from that other horde of Arameans which
harassed it on the east, while the Kald& were already
threatening its southern frontier. It is not quite clear
whether Nabunazir who then occupied the throne implored
his help :' at any rate, he took the field as soon as he felt
that his own crown was secure, overthrew the Aramzans
1 Nabunazir is the Nabonassar who afterwards gave his name to the era
employed by Ptolemy.
 EARLY CAMPAIGNS IN KARDUNIASH AND MEDIA. 215

at the first encounter, and drove them back from the banks
of the Lower Zab to those of the Uknu: all the countries
which they had seized to the east of the Tigris at once fell
again into the hands of the Assyrians. This first point
gained, Tiglath-pileser crossed the river, and made a
demonstration in force before the Babylonian fortresses.
He visited, one after another, Sippar, Nipur, Babylon,
Borsippa, Kuta, Kishu, Dilbat, and Uruk, “ cities without
peer,” and offered in all of them sacrifices to the gods,—to
Bél, to Zirbanit, to Nebo, to Tashmit, and to Nirgal.
Karduniash bowed down before him, but he abstained from
giving any provocation to the Kalda, and satisfied with
having convinced Nabunazir that Assyria had lost none
of her former vigour, he made his way back to his
hereditary kingdom.* The lightly-won success of this
expedition produced the looked-for result. Tiglath-pileser
had set out a king de facto; but now that the gods of the
ancient sanctuaries had declared themselves satisfied with
his homage, and had granted him that religious consecra-
tion which had before been lacking, he returned a king
de jure as well (745 3.c.). His next campaign completed
what the first had begun. The subjugation of the plain
would have been of little advantage if the highlands had
been left in the power of tribes as yet unconquered, and
allowed to pour down with impunity bands of rapacious
1 Most historians believe that Tiglath-pileser entered Karduniash as an
enemy ; that he captured several towns, and allowed the others to ransom
themselves on payment of tribute. The way in which the texts known to
us refer to this expedition seems to me, however, to prove that he set out
as an ally and protector of Nabonazir, and that his visit to the Babylonian
sanctuaries was of a purely pacific nature.
216 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

freebooters on the newly liberated provinces: security

between the Zab and the Uknu could only be attained by
the pacification of Namri, and it was, therefore, to Namri
that the sea of war was transferred in 744 B.c. All the
Cossean and Babylonian races intermingled in the valleys
on the frontier were put to ransom one after another.

3SS Pe
CAMPAIGNS OF |
TIGLATH-PILESER III
in MEDIA

Scale
50 100

These included the Bit-Sangibuti, the Bit-Khamban, the

Barrua, the Bit-Zualzash, the Bit-Matti, the Umliash, the
Parsua, the Bit-Zatti, the Bit-Zabdadani, the Bit-Ishtar,
the city of Zakruti, the Nin4, the Bustus, the Arakuttu, by
which the conqueror gradually made his way into the heart
of Media, reaching districts into which none of his prede-
cessors had ever penetrated. Those least remote he
-annexed to his own empire, converting them into a
 RETURNING WITH THE SPOILS 217

province under the rule of an Assyrian governor; he then

returned to Calah with a convoy of 60,500 prisoners, and
countless herds of oxen, sheep, mules, and dromedaries.
Whilst he was thus employed, Assur-dainani, one of his
generals to whom he had entrusted the pick of his army,
pressed on still further to the north-east, across the almost
waterless deserts of Media. The mountainous district on
the shores of the Caspian had for centuries enjoyed a
reputation for wealth and fertility among the races settled
on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris. It was from
thence that they obtained their lapis-lazuli, and the hills
from which it was extracted were popularly supposed to
consist almost entirely of one compact mass of this
precious mineral. ‘Their highest peak, now known as the
Demavend, was then called Bikni,! a name which had come
to be applied to the whole district. To the Assyrians
it stood as the utmost boundary mark of the known world,
beyond which their imagination pictured little more than
a confused mist of almost fabulous regions and peoples.
Assur-dainini caught a distant glimpse of the snow-capped
pyramid of Demavend, but approached no nearer than its
lower slopes, whence he retraced his steps after having
levied tribute from their inhabitants. The fame of this .
exploit spread far and wide in a marvellously short space
of time, and chiefs who till then had vacillated in their
decision now crowded the path of the victor, eager to pay
him homage on his return: even the King of Illipi thought
it wise to avoid the risk of invasion, and hastened of his
1 The country of Bikni is probably Rhagian Media and Mount Bikni, the
modern Demavend.
218 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

own accord to meet the conqueror. Here, again, Tiglath-

pileser had merely to show himself in order to re-establish
the supremacy of Assyria: the races of the plain, for many
years familiar with defeat, made no pretence of serious
resistance, but bowed their necks beneath a fresh yoke
almost without pro-
test.

PRINCIPAL PEAK OF MOUNT

BIKNI (DEMAVEND).'!

Having thus secured his rear from attack for some

years at any rate, Tiglath-pileser no longer hesitated to
try conclusions with Urartu. The struggle in which he
now deliberately engaged could not fail to be a decisive
one; for Urartu, buoyed up and borne on the wave of
some fifty years of prosperity, had almost succeeded in
reaching first rank among the Asiatic powers: one more
+ Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. de Morgan.
 TIGLATH-PILESER ATTACKS URARTU IN SYRIA 219

victory over Nineveh, and it would become—for how long

none might say—undisputed mistress of the whole of Asia.
Assyria, on the other hand, had reached a point where
its whole future hung upon a single issue of defeat or
victory. The prestige with which the brilliant campaigns of
Assur-nazir-pal and Shalmaneser III. had invested its name,
if somewhat diminished, had still survived its recent
reverses, and the terror inspired by its arms was so great
even among races who had witnessed them from a distance,
that the image of Assyria rose involuntarily before the
eyes of the Hebrew prophets as that of the avenger
destined to punish Israel for its excesses.1_ No doubt,
during the last few reigns its prosperity had waned and
its authority over distant provinces had gradually become
relaxed; but now the old dynasty, worn out by its own
activity, had given place to a new one, and with this
change of rulers the tide of ill-fortune was, perhaps, at
last about to turn. At such a juncture, a successful cam-
paign meant full compensation for all past disasters and
the attainment of a firmer position than had ever yet been
held; whereas another reverse, following on those from
which the empire had already suffered, would render their
effect tenfold more deadly, and, by letting loose the hatred .
of those whom fear alone still held in check, complete
its overthrow. It was essential, therefore, before entering
on the struggle, to weigh well every chance of victory,
and to take every precaution by which adverse contin-
gencies might be, as far as possible, eliminated. The
army, encouraged by its success in the two preceding
1 Cf, Amos vi. 4.
990 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

campaigns, was in excellent fighting order, and ready to

march in any direction without a moment’s hesitation,
confident in its ability to defeat the forces of Urartu as
it had defeated those of the Medes and Arameans; but
the precise point of attack needed careful consideration.
Tiglath-pileser must have been sorely tempted to take the
shortest route, challenge the enemy at his most vulnerable
point on the shores of Lake Van, and by a well-aimed
thrust deal him a blow from which he would never, or
only by slow degrees, recover. But this vital region of
Urartu, as we have already pointed out, presented the
greatest difficulties of access. The rampart of mountain
and forest by which it was protected on the Assyrian
side could only be traversed by means of a few byways,
along which bands of guerrillas could slip down easily
enough to the banks of the Tigris, but which were quite im-
passable to any army in full marching order, hampered by
its horses, chariots, and baggage-train : compelled to thread
its way, with columns unduly extended, through the woods
and passes of an unknown country, which daily use had
long made familiar to its adversaries, it would have run
the risk of being cut to pieces man by man a dozen times
before it could hope to range its disciplined masses on
the field of battle. former Assyrian invasions had, as a
general rule, taken an oblique course towards some of the
spurs of this formidable chain, and had endeavoured to
neutralise its defences by outflanking them, either by pro-
ceeding westwards along the basins of the Supnat and
the Arzania, or eastwards through the countries bordering
on Lake Urumiah; but even this method presented too
 THE DEFEAT OF SHARDURIS 221
a

many difficulties and too little certainty of success to

warrant Tiglath-pileser in staking the reviving fortunes
of his empire on its adoption. He rightly argued that
Sharduris would be most easily vulnerable in those
provinces whose allegiance to him was of recent date,
and he resolved to seek out his foe in the heart of

VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS WHICH GUARD THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF URARTU.!

Northern Syria. There, if anywhere, every chance was

in his favour and against the Armenian. The scene of |
operations, while it had long been familiar to his own
generals and soldiers, was, on the other hand, entirely
new ground to those of the enemy; the latter, though
unsurpassed in mountain warfare, lost much of their

1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Binder. Taken at

Julamerk, near the junction of the mountain tracks leading from the Zab
valley to the south-eastern corner of the basin of Lake Van.
292 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

superiority on the plains, and could not, with all their

courage, make up for their lack of experience. Moreover,
it must not be forgotten that a victory on the banks of
the Afrin or the Orontes would have more important
results than a success gained in the neighbourhood of
the lakes or of Urartu. Not only would it free the Assyrians
from the only one of their enemies whom they had any
cause to fear, but it would also bring back the Hittite
kings to their allegiance, and restore the Assyrian suprem-
acy over the wealthiest regions of Western Asia: they,
would thus disable Urartu and reconquer Syria at one
and the same time. ‘Tiglath-pileser, therefore, crossed
the Euphrates in the spring of 743 3.c., neither Matilu
of Agusi, Kushtashpi of Kummukh, nor their allies daring
to interfere with his progress. He thus advanced as far
as Arpad, and, in the first moment of surprise, the town
threw open its gates before him.’ There, while he was
making ready to claim the homage of the surrounding
countries, he learnt that Sharduris was hastening up to
the rescue. He at once struck his camp and marched
out to meet his rival, coming up with him in the centre
of Kummukh, not far from the Huphrates, between
1 Different writers have given different versions of this campaign. Some
think that Arpad resisted, and that Tiglath-pileser was laying siege
to it, when the arrival of Sharduris compelled him to retire ; others prefer
to believe that Arpad was still in the hands of the Assyrians, and that
Tiglath-pileser used it as his base of operations. The formula ina Arpadda
in the Eponym Canon proves that Tiglath-pileser was certainly in Arpad:
since Arpad belonged to the Bit-Agusi, and they were the allies or vassals of
Sharduris, we must assume, as I have done here, that in the absence of the
Urartians they did not dare to resist the Assyrians, and opened their gates
to them.
 SHARDURIS TAKES HIS FLIGHT 223

Kishtan and Khalpi. Sharduris was at the head of his

Syrian contingents, including the forces of Agusi, Melitene,
Kummukh, and Gurgum—a_ formidable army, probably
superior in point of numbers to that of the Assyrians.
The struggle lasted a whole day, and in the course of
it the two kings, catching sight of one another on the
field of battle, engaged in personal combat: at last,
towards evening, the chariots and cavalry of Urartu gave
way and the rout began. The victors made their way
into the camp at the heels of their flying enemies.
Sharduris abandoned his chariot, and could find nothing
but a mare to aid him in his flight; he threw himself
upon her back, careless of the ridicule at that time
attached to the use of such a mount in Hastern countries,’
fled at a gallop all through the night, hard pressed by
a large body of cavalry, crossed the hills of Sibak, and
with much difficulty reached the bridge over the Euphrates.
His pursuers drew rein on the river-bank, and Sharduris
re-entered his kingdom in safety. He had lost nearly
73,000 men, killed or taken prisoners, in addition to his
chariots, and nearly the whole train of horses, asses,
servants, and artisans attached to his army; he left his
tent still standing, and those who were first to enter —
it laid hands on his furniture and effects, his royal
ornaments, his bed and portable throne, with its cushions
and bearing-poles, none of which had he found time to
take with him. ‘Tiglath-pileser burnt them all on the
spot as a thank-offering to the gods who had so signally
1 So, too, later on, in the time of Sargon, Rusas, when defeated, gets on
the back of a mare and rides off.
 III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
224 TIGLATH-PILESER

favoured him; the bed alone he retained, in order that

he might dedicate it as a trophy to the goddess Ishtar
of Nineveh.
might well
He had covered himself with glory, and
ry was in no
be proud of his achievement, yet the victo
on the allies,
way a decisive one. ‘The damage inflicted
the forces
considerable though it was, had cost him dear:
finish the
left to him were not sufficient to enable him to
Syrian
campaign, and extort oaths of allegiance from the
shock
princes before they had recovered from the first
whole
of defeat. He returned to Nineveh, and spent the
on
winter in reorganising his troops; while his enemies,
k
the other hand, made preparations to repel the attac
energetically. Sharduris could not yet venture outside
his mountain strongholds, but the hope of being rein-
forced by him, as soon as he had got together another
army, encouraged the Syrian kings to remain faithful to
him in spite of his reverses.’ Matilu of Agusi, unable
to carry the day against the Assyrians in the open field,
distributed his men among his towns, and resisted all
attacks with extraordinary persistence, confident that
Sharduris would at length come to help him, and with
this hope he held out for three years in his town of
Arpad. This protracted resistance need no longer astonish
us, now that we know, from observations made on the
spot, the marvellous skill displayed in the fortification
1 The part played by Sharduris in the events of the years which followed,
passing mention of which was made by Winckler (Gesch. Bab. und Ass., pp.
224, 225), have been fully dealt with by Belck and Lehmann (Chaldische
Forschungen, in Verhandl. der Berliner anthropol. Gesellschaft, 1895, pp.
325-336).
 METHOD OF BUILDING CITADELS 225
of these Asiatic towns. The ruins of Arpad have yet
to be explored, but those of Samalla have been excavated,
and show us the methods adopted for the defence of
a
royal residence about the middle of the century with
which we are now concerned. The practice of building
citadels on a square or rectangular plan, which prevailed so
largely under the Egyptian rule, had gradually gone out of
fashion as the knowledge of engineering advanced, and
the use of mines and military engines had been more
fully developed among the nations of Western Asia. It
was found that the heavily fortified angles of the en-
closing wall merely presented so many weak points, easy
to attack but difficult to defend, no matter how care-
fully they might be protected by an accumulation of
obstacles. In the case of fortresses built on a plain,
where the plan was not modified by the nature of the
site, the enclosing wall was generally round or oval in
shape, and free from useless angles which might detract
from its strength. The walls were surmounted by battle-
ments, and flanked at short intervals by round or square
towers, the tops of which rose but little, if indeed at
all, above the level of the curtain. In front of this
main wall was.a second lower one, also furnished with
towers and battlements, which followed the outline of
the first all the way round at an interval of some yards,
thus acting as a sort of continuous screen to it. The
gates were little less than miniature citadels built into
each line of ramparts; the gate of the outer wall was
often surrounded by lower outworks, two square bastions
and walls enclosing an outer quadrangle which had to
VOL. VII. Q
226 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

be crossed before the real gate was reached. When a

breach had been made in this double enclosure, though
the town itself might be taken,
the labours of the attacking
force were not yet over. In
the very centre of the place,
on a sort of artificial mound
or knoll, stood the royal castle,
and resistance on the-part of
its garrison would make it
necessary for the enemy to
undertake a second siege no
PLAN OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF
ZINJIRLI.!
less deadly and protracted than
the first. The keep of Zinjirl
had only a single gate igomupeher by a narrow causeway.
Within, it was
divided by walls
into five com-
partments, each
of which was
independent of
the rest, and had
to be attacked
separately. Ma-
tilu knew he
could hope for ONE OF THE GATES OF ZINJIRLI RESTORED.?

no mercy at the hands of the Assyrians; he therefore

* A reproduction by Faucher-Gudin of the first plan. published by
Luschan.
? Reproduction by Faucher-Gudin of the sketch published by Luschan.
 THE ROYAL CASTLE OF ZINJIRLI 227

struggled on to the last, and when at length obliged to

surrender, in the year 740 8.c., he paid for his obstinacy by
the loss of his throne, and perhaps also of his life.’ The
inaction of Sharduris clearly showed that he was no longer

BIRD S-EYE VIEW OF THE ROYAL CASTLE OF ZINJIRLI AS RESTORED.?

in a position to protect his allies, and that the backbone

of his kingdom was broken; the kings who had put faith
in his help now gave him up, and ambassadors flocked
1 Our knowledge of these events is imperfect, our only information being
derived from the very scanty details given in the Hponym Canon; up to the
present we can do no more than trace the general course of events.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the plan published in Luschan.
 III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
228 TIGLATH-PILESER
as
in from all parts, even from those which were not
yet directly threatened. Kushtashpi of Kummukh, Tark-
hulara of Gurgum, Pisiris of Carchemish, Uriaik of Kui,
came to Arpad in person to throw themselves at the
conqueror’s feet, bringing with them offerings of gold and
silver, of lead and iron, of ivory, carved and in the tusk, _
of purple, and of dyed or embroidered stuffs, and were
confirmed in the possession of their respective territories;
Hiram II. of Tyre, moreover, and Rezin of Damascus
sent their greetings to him. The Patina, who in days
gone by had threatened the fortunes of Assur-nazir-pal,
once again endeavoured to pose as the rivals of Assyria,
and Tutammii, sovereign of Unki, the most daring of
the minor states into ‘which the Patini had been split
up, declined to take part in the demonstrations made
by his neighbours. Tiglath-pileser marched on Kinalua,
sacked it, built a fortress there, and left a governor and
garrison behind him: Agusi and Unki henceforth sank
down to the level of mere provinces, administered by
royal officers in the king’s name, and permanently occupied
by Assyrian troops.
Northern Syria was thus again incorporated with the
empire, but Urartu, although deprived of the resources
with which Syria had supplied it, continued to give cause
for apprehension ; in 739 B.c., however, a large proportion
of the districts of Nairi, to which it still clung, was wrested
from it, and a fortress was built at Ulluba, with a view to

1 Annals of Tiglath-pileser IIT., where the statement at the close indicates

that Tiglath-pileser received the tributary kings of Syria “in Arpad,” after
he had captured that city.
 WARFARE BETWEEN THE PETTY KINGS 229
a

providing a stable base of operations at this point on the

northern frontier. A rebellion, instigated, it may be, by
his own agents, recalled Tiglath-pileser to the Amanus in
the year 738. The petty kings who shared with Assyria
the posseSsion of the mountains and plains of the Afrin
could not succeed in living at peace with one another, and
every now and then their disputes broke out into open
warfare. Samalla was at that time subject to a family of
which the first members known to history, Qaral and
Panammu, shared Yaudi equally between them. Barzur,
son of Panammu I., had reigned there since about 765 B.c.,
and there can be little doubt that he must have passed
through the same vicissitudes as his neighbours; faithful
to Urartu as long as Sharduris kept the upper hand, and
to Assyria as soon as Tiglath-pileser had humiliated Urartu,
he had been killed in a skirmish by some rival. His son,
Panammu II., came to the throne merely as a nominee of
his suzerain, and seems to have always rendered him
faithful service; unfortunately, Yaudi was no longer
subject to the house of Panammu, but obeyed the rule of .
a certain Azriyahu, who chafed at the presence of an alien
power.’ Azriyahu took advantage of the events which kept
Tiglath-pileser fully occupied in the east, to form a

1 Azriyahu of Yaudi was identified with Azariah of Judah by G. Smith,

and this identification was for a long time accepted without question by
most Assyriologists, After a violent controversy it has finally been shown
that the Yaudi of Tiglath-pileser ITI.’s inscriptions ought to be identified
with the Yadi or Yaudi of the Zinjirli inscriptions, and consequently that
Azriyahu was not king of Judah, but a king of Northern Syria. This view
appears to me to harmonise so well with what remains of the texts, and with
our knowledge of the events, that J have had no hesitation in adepting it.
 III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
930 TIGLATH-PILESER

coalition in favour of himself among the states on the

panks of the Orontes, including some seventeen provinces,
dependencies of Hamath, and certain turbulent cities of
Northern Pheenicia, such as Byblos, Arka, Zimyra, Usnt,
Siannu, Cole-Syria, and even Hadrach itself. It is not
quite clear whether Damascus and the Hebrews took part
in this movement. Jeroboam had died in 740, after a
prosperous reign of forty-one years, and on his death Israel
seems to have fallen under a cloud; six months later, his
son Zechariah was assassinated at Ibleam by Shallum, son
of Jabesh, and the prophecy of Amos, in which he declared
that the house of Jeroboam should fall beneath the sword
of Jahveh,’ was fulfilled. Shallum himself reigned only
one month: two other competitors had presented them-
selves immediately after his crime;’ the ablest of these,
Menahem, son of Gadi, had come from Tirzah to Samaria,
and, after suppressing his rivals, laid hands on the crown.®
He must have made himself master of the kingdom little
by little, the success of his usurpation being entirely due
to the ruthless energy invariably and everywhere displayed
by him; as, for instance, when Tappuakh (Tiphsah) refused
to open its gates at his summons, he broke into the town
and slaughtered its inhabitants.‘ All the defects of organi-
1 Amos vii. 9.
2 The nameless prophet, whose prediction is handed down to us in Zech.
ix.-xi., speaks of three shepherds cut off by Javeh in one month (xi. 8) ; two
of these were Zechariah and Shallum ; the third is not mentioned in the
Book of Kings.
3 2 Kings xiv. 23-29; xv. 8-15.
4 2 Kings xv. 16. The Massoretic text gives the name of the town as
Tipsah, but the Septuagint has Taphét, which led Thenius to suggest Tap-
puakh as an emendation of Tipsah: Stade prefers the emendation Tirzah.
 HOSEA’S COMPLAINT 231

sation, all the sources of weakness, which for the last

half-century had been obscured by the glories of Jeroboam
II., now came to the surface, and defied all human efforts
to avert their consequences. ‘‘ Then,” as Hosea com-
plains, “is the iniquity of Ephraim discovered, and the
wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood: and
the thief entereth in, and the troop of robbers spoileth
without. And they consider not in their hearts that I
(Jahveh) remember all their wickedness: now have their
own doings beset them about; they are before My face.
They make the king glad with their wickedness and the
princes with their lies. They are all adulterers; they are
as an oven heated by the baker. ... They... devour
their judges; all their kings are fallen; there is none
among them that calleth unto Me.”* In Judah, Azariah
(Uzziah) had at first shown some signs of ability; he had
completed the conquest of Idumea [Edom], and had
fortified Elath,? but he suddenly found himself stricken
with leprosy, and was obliged to hand over the reins of
government of Jotham.* His long life had been passed
uneventfully, and without any disturbance, under the pro-
tection of Jeroboam; but the very same defects which had
led to the ruin of Israel were at work also in Judah, and

Tappuakh was a town situated on the borders of Ephraim and Manasseh

(Josh. xvi. 8 ; xvii. 7, 8).
1 Hos. vii, 1-4, 7.
2 2 Kings xiv. 22; in 2 Chron. xxvi. 6-15 he is credited with the re-
organisation of the army and of the Judean fortress, in addition to cam-
paigns against the Philistines and Arabs.
3 2 Kings xv. 5; cf. 2 Chron. xxvi. 19-21. Azariah is also abbreviated
into Uzziah.
 III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
232 TIGLATH-PILESER

Menahem, in spite of his enfeebled condition, had nothing

to fear in this direction. The danger which menaced him
came rather from the east and the north, where Damascus,
aroused from its state of lethargy by Rezon [Rezin] I., had
again begun to strive after the hege-
mony of Syria.’ All these princes,
when they found that the ambition

TIGLATH-PILESER III, IN HIS STATE CHARIOT.?

of Tiglath-pileser threatened to interfere with their own

intrigues, were naturally tempted to combine against him,
and were willing to postpone to a more convenient season

1 The name of this king, written Rezin in the Bible (2 Kings xv. 37 ;
xvi. 5, 6, 9), is given as Razunu in the Assyrian texts; he was therefore
Rezon II. A passage in the Annals seems to indicate that Rezin’s father was
prince of a city dependent on Damascus, not king of Damascus itself; un-
fortunately the text is too much mutilated to warrant us in forming any
definite conclusion on this point.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch published by Layard.
 THE WAR IN URARTU 233

the settlement of their own domestic quarrrels. But

Tiglath-pileser did not give them time for this; he routed
Azriyahu, and laid waste Kullani,’ the chief centre of
revolt, ravaged the valley of the Orontes, and carried off
the inhabitants of several towns, replacing them with
prisoners taken the year before during his campaign in
Nairi. After this feat the whole of Syria surrendered.
Rezin and Menahem were among the first to tender their
homage, and the latter paid a thousand talents of silver for
the firman which definitely confirmed his tenure of the
throne ; the princes of Tyre, Byblos, Hamath, Carchemish,
Milid, Tabal, and several others followed their example—
even a certain Zabibi, queen of an Arab tribe, feeling com-
pelled to send her gifts to the conqueror.
A sudden rising among the Aramean tribes on the
borders of Elam obliged Tiglath-pileser to depart before he
had time to take full advantage of his opportunity. The
governors of Lullumi and Nairi promptly suppressed the
outbreak, and, collecting the most prominent of the rebels
together, sent them to the king in order that he might
distribute them throughout the cities of Syria: a colony
of 600 prisoners from the town of Amlati was established
in the territory of Damaunu, 5400 from Dur were sent to.
the fortresses of Unki, Kunalia, Khuzarra, Tai, Tarmanazi,
Kulmadara, Khatatirra, and Sagillu, while another 10,000
or so were scattered along the Phenician seaboard and
among the adjacent mountains. The revolt had meanwhile

1 Kullani is the Calno or Calneh mentioned by Isaiah (x. 9) and Amos

precise spot
(vi. 2), which lay somewhere between Arpad and Hamath ; the
is not yet known,
234 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

spread to the nations of Media, where it was, perhaps,

fomented by the agents of Urartu; and for the second time
within seven years (737 B.c.) Tiglath-pileser trampled under-
foot the countries over which he had ridden in triumph at the
beginning of his career—the Bit-Kapsi, the Bit-Sangibuti,
the Bit-Tazzakki, the Bit-Zulazash, the Bit-Matti, and
Umliash. The people of Upash, among the Bit-Kapsi,
entrenched themselves on the slopes of Mount Abirus;
but he carried their entrenchments by storm. Ushuru
of Taddiruta and Burdadda of Nirutakta were seized with
alarm, and hid themselves in their mountain gorges;
but he climbed up in pursuit of them, drove them out
of their hiding-places, seized their possessions, and made
them prisoners. Similar treatment was meted out to all
those who proved refractory; some he despoiled, others
he led captive, and ‘bursting upon the remainder like
the downpour of Ramman,” permitted none of them to
escape. He raised trophies all along his line of march:
in Bau, a dependency of Bit-Ishtar, he set up a pointed
javelin dedicated to Ninip, on which he had engraved
a panegyric of the virtues of his master Assur; near
Shilkhazi, a town founded, in bygone days, by the Baby-
lonians, he erected a statue of himself, and a pillar
consecrated to Marduk in Til-ashshur. In the following
year he again attacked Urartu and occupied the mountain
province of Nal, which formed one of its outlying defences
(736). The year after he entered on the final struggle
with Sharduris, and led the flower of his forces right
under the walls of Dhuspas,’ the enemy’s capital.
* The name is written Turuspas in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III.
 THE ROCK AND CITADEL OF VAN 235

Dhuspas really consisted of two towns joined together.

One of these, extending over the plain by the banks of
the Alats and in the direction of the lake, was surrounded
by fertile gardens and villas, in which the inhabitants
spent the summer at their ease. It was protected by
an isolated mass of white and red nummulitic chalk, the
steep sides of which are seamed with fissures and tunnelled

THE ROCK AND CITADEL OF VAN AT THE PRESENT DAY.!

with holes and caverns from top to bottom. The plateau

in which it terminates, and which rises to a height of
300 feet at its loftiest point, is divided into three main
terraces, each completely isolated from the other two,
and forming, should occasion arise, an independent fortress, |
Ishpuinis, Menuas, Argistis, and Sharduris II. had laboured
from generation to generation to make this stronghold
impregnable, and they had succeeded in the attempt.
a variant of the
There can be little or no doubt, however, that this is merely
Tuspana , Dhuspa na, the Thospia of classical
name usually written as Tuspas,
times ; properly speaking, it was the capital of Biainas .
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Binder.

4)
236 TIGLATH-PILESER III]. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

The only access to it was from the western side, by a

narrow bridle-path, which almost overhung the precipice
as it gradually mounted to the summit. This path had
been partially levelled, and flanked with walls and towers
which commanded the approach throughout its whole
‘length; on the platforms at the summit a citadel had
been constructed, together with a palace, temples, and.

ENTRANCE TO THE MODERN CITADEL OF VAN FROM THE WESTWARD.!

storehouses, in which was accumulated a sufficient supply

of arms and provisions to enable the garrison to tire out
the patience of any ordinary foe; treason or an unusually
prolonged siege could only get the better of such a position.
Tiglath-pileser invested the citadel and ravaged its out-
skirts without pity, hoping, no doubt, that he would
thus provoke the enemy into capitulating. Day after day,
Sharduris, perched in his lofty eyrie, saw his leafy gardens
laid bare under the hatchet, and his villages and the
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Binder,
 THE AMBITION OF URARTU FINALLY CHECKED 237

palaces of his nobles light up the country round as far

as the eye could reach: he did not flinch, however,
and when all had been laid waste, the Assyrians set up
a statue of their king before the principal gate of the
fortress, broke up their camp, and leisurely retired. They
put the country to fire and sword, destroyed its cities,
led away every man and beast they could find into cap-
tivity, and then returned to Nineveh laden with plunder.
Urartu was still undaunted, and Sharduris remained king
as before; but he was utterly spent, and his power had
sustained a blow from which it never recovered. He
had played against Assur with the empire of the whole
Asiatic world as the stake, and the dice had gone against
him: compelled to renounce his great ambitions from
henceforth, he sought merely to preserve his independence.
Since then, Armenia has more than once challenged
fortune, but always with the same result ; it fared no
better under Tigranes in the Roman epoch, than under
Sharduris in the time of the Assyrians; it has been
within an ace of attaining the goal of its ambitions, then
at the last moment its strength has failed, and it has
been forced to retire worsted from the struggle. Its
position prevented it from exercising very wide influence ; |
hidden away in a corner of Asia at the meeting-point
of three or four great mountain ranges, near the source
of four rivers, all flowing in different directions, it has
lacked that physical homogeneity without which no people,
however gifted, can hope to attain supremacy ; nature has
doomed it to remain, like Syria, split up into compart-
ments of unequal size and strength, which give shelter
288 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

to half a score of independent principalities, each one

of them perpetually jealous of the rest. From time to
time it is invested with a semblance of unity, but for
the most part it drags on an uneventful existence, dis-
membered into as many fragments as there happen to be
powerful states around it, its only chance of complete
reunion lying in the possibility of one or other of these
attaining sufficient predominance to seize the share of
the others and absorb it.
The subjection of Urartu freed Assyria from the only
rival which could at this moment have disputed its
supremacy on the banks of the Kuphrates and the Tigris.
The other nations on its northern and eastern frontiers as
yet possessed no stability; they might, in the course of
a passing outburst, cut an army to pieces or annex part
of a province, but they lacked strength to follow up their
advantage, and even their most successful raids were sure,-
in the long run, to lead to terrible reprisals, in which their
gains were two or three times outweighed by their losses
in men and treasure. For nearly a hundred years Nineveh
found its hands free, and its rulers were able to concentrate
all their energy on two main points of the frontier—to the
south-west on Syria and Egypt, to the south-east on
Chaldea and Hlam. Chaldxa gave little trouble, but the
condition of Syria presented elements of danger. The
loyalty of its princes was more apparent than real; they
had bowed their necks after the fall of Unki, but afterwards,
as the years rolled on without any seeming increase in the
power of Assyria, they again took courage and began once
more to quarrel among themselves. Menahem had died,
 P AHAZ PREPARES FOR A SIEGE 239

soon after he had paid his tribute (737 B.c.); his son
Pekahiah had been assassinated less than two years later
(736), and his murderer, Pekah, son of Remaliah, was
none too firmly seated on the throne. Anarchy was
triumphant throughout Israel; so much so that Judah
seized the opportunity for throwing off the yoke it had
borne for well-nigh a hundred years. Pekah, conscious of
his inability to suppress the rebellion, called in Rezin to
help him. The latter was already on the way when
Jotham was laid with his fathers (736 B.c.), and it was
Ahaz, the son of Jotham, who had to bear the brunt of
the assault. He was barely twenty years old, a volatile,
presumptuous, and daring youth, who was not much
dismayed by his position.” Jotham had repaired the
fortifications of Jerusalem, which had been left in a
lamentable state ever since the damage done to them in
the reign of Amaziah ;* his successor now set to work to
provide the city with the supply of water indispensable
for its defence,‘ and, after repairing the ancient aqueducts,
1 2 Kings xv. 22-26. The chronology of the events which took place
d by the
between the death of Menahem and the fall of Samaria, as presente
state in which they have been transmit ted to us,
biblical documents in the
followin g the example of most recent historian s, I
is radically inaccurate:
texts, merely
have adhered exclusively to the data furnished by the Assyrian
notes the reasons which have led me to adopt certain dates
indicating in the
in preference to others.
Jehoahaz, in the
2 2 Kings xv. 38, xvi. 1, 2. Ahaz is called Iaukhazi, i.e.
original form of the
Assyrian texts, and this would seem to have been the
name,
m is only mentioned
3 The restoration of the walls of Jerusalem by Jotha
in 2 Chron, xxvii. 3.
(vii. 3), where he repre-
4 We may deduce this from the words of Isaiah
pool, in the highway of
sents Ahaz “at the end of the conduit of the upper
240 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

conceived the idea of constructing a fresh one in the spur

of Mount Sion, which extends southwards. As time
pressed, the work was begun simultaneously at each end;
the workmen had made a wide detour underground,
probably in order to avoid the caves in which the kings
of Judah had been laid to rest ever since the time of
David,’ and they were beginning to despair of ever uniting
the two sections of the tunnel, when they suddenly heard
one another through the wall of rock which divided them.
A few blows with the pick-axe opened a passage between
them, and an inscription on the wall adjoining the entrance
on the east side, the earliest Hebrew inscription we possess,
set forth the vicissitudes of the work for the benefit of
future generations. It was scarcely completed when Rezin,
who had joined forces with Pekah at Samaria, came up and
laid regular siege to Jerusalem.” The allies did not propose
to content themselves with exacting tribute from the young
king; they meant to dethrone him, and to set up in his
room a son of Tabeel, whom they had brought with them;
they were nevertheless obliged to retire without effecting
a breach in his defences and leave the final assault till the
following campaign. Rezin, however, had done as much
injury as he could to Judah; he had laid waste both

the fuller’s field.” Ahaz had gone there to inspect the works intended for
the defence of the aqueduct.
* This is the highly ingenious hypothesis put forward and defended
with
much learning by Olorwonr Ganneau, in order to account for the large
curve
described by the tunnel.
2 2 Kings xvi. 5; cf. 2 Chron. xxviii. 5-8. It was on this occasion
that
Isaiah delivered the ene which, after subsequent revision, furnished
the bulk of chaps. vi. 1—x. 4.
 REZIN AND THE EDOMITES 241

mountain and plain, had taken Elath by storm and restored

it to the Kdomites,’ and had given a free hand to the
Philistines (735). The whole position seemed so hopeless,

HEBREW INSCRIPTION ON THE SILOAM AQUEDUCT.?

that a section of the people began to propose surrendering

to the mercy of the Syrians.* Ahaz looked around him in
1 2 Kings xvi. 6, where the Massoretic text states that the Syrians
retained the town, while the Septuagint maintain that he restored it to the
Edomites.
2 Chron. xxviii. 18, where a list is given of the towns wrested from Judah
by the Philistines. The delight felt by the Philistines at the sight of
Judah’s abasement seems to be referred to in the short prophecy of Isaiah
(xiv. 29-32), wrongly ascribed to the year of Ahaz’s death.
3 A direct reproduction from a plaster cast nowin Paris. The inscription
discovered by Schick, in 1880, has since been mutilated, and only the frag-
ments are preserved in the museum at Constantinople. Some writers think
it was composed in the time of Hezekiah ; for my own part, I agree with
Stade in assigning it to the period of Ahaz.
4 This seems to be an obvious inference from the words of Isaiah (viii.
6): “Forasmuch as this people hath refused the waters of Shiloah that go ”
softly, and lose courage because of Rezin and Remaliah’s son.” [The R.V.
reads “rejoice in” Rezin, etc.—Tr.]
VOL. VII. ; BR
242 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

search of some one on whom he might call for help. All

his immediate neighbours were hostile; but behind them,
in the background, were two great powers who might be
inclined to listen to his appeal—Egypt and
Assyria. Ever since the expedition of Sheshonq
into Asia, Egypt seemed to have lost all interest
in foreign politics. Osorkon had not inherited
the warlike propensities of his father, and his
son, TakelétiI., and his grandson, Osorkon IL.,
followed his example.’ These monarchs
regarded themselves as_ traditionary
suzerains of the country of Kharu, 2.e.
1 The chronology of this period is still very uncertain,
and the stele of the Serapeum, which enable us to fix
the order of the various reigns, yield no information as to
their length. Sheshonq I. did not reign much longer than
twenty-one years, which is his latest known date, and we
may take the reign of twenty-one years attributed to him
by Manetho as being substantially correct. The latest
dates we possess are as follows: Osorkon I., twelfth year,
and Takeloti I., sixth year or seventh year. Lastly, we
have a twenty-ninth year in the case of Osorkon IIL., with
a reference in the case of the twenty-eighth year to the
fifth year of a Takeléti whose first cartouche is missing,
Bet ie and who perhaps died before his father and co-regent. In
sTaTurrre or _Manetho, Osorkon I. is credited with a reign of fifteen
OSORKON 1.2 years, and his three next successors with a total of
twenty-five years between them, which is manifestly
incorrect, since the monuments give twenty-nine years, or twenty-three at
the very least, if we take into account the double date in the case of the
first two of these kings. The wisest course seems to be to allow forty-five
years to Osorkon aud his two successors: if Sheshonq, as I believe, died in
924, the fifty years allotted to the next three Pharaohs would bring us down
to 880, and it is in this year that I am, for the present, inclined to place the
death of Osorkon II.
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lanzone’s statuette.
 PROSPERITY OF EGYPT 243

of Israel, Judah, Ammon, and Moab, and their authority

may perhaps have been recognised by the Philistines in the
main, but they seldom stirred from their own territory, and
contented themselves with protecting their frontiers against

THE GREAT TEMPLE OF

BUBASTIS DURING
NAVILLE’S EXCAVATIONS.?

the customary depre-

dations of the Libyan and
Asiatic nomads.? Under
their rule, Egypt enjoyed
fifty years of profound peace, which was spent in works of
public utility, especially in the Delta, where, thanks to their

1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Naville.

2 Repressive measures of this kind are evidently referred to in passages
similar to those in which Osorkon II. boasts of having “ overthrown beneath
the
his feet the Upper and Lower Lotanu,” and speaks of the exploits of
sons of Queen KalamAit against certain tribes whose name, though mutilated,
seems to have been Libyan in character.
244 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND, THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

efforts, Bubastis came to be one of the most splendid among

the cities of secondary importance.’ Its temple, which had
been rebuilt by Ramses II. and decorated by the Rames-
sides, was in a sorry plight when the XXII" dynasty came
into power. Sheshong I. did little or nothing to it, but
Osorkon I. entirely remodelled it, and Osorkon II. added
several new halls, including, amongst others, one in which
he celebrated, in the twenty-second year of his reign, the
festival of his deification. A record of some of the
ceremonies observed has come down to us in the mural
paintings. ‘There we see the king, in a chapel, consecrating
a statue of himself in accordance with the ritual in use
since the time of Amendthes III, and offering the figure
devout and earnest worship; all the divinities of Kgypt
have assembled to witness the enthronement of this new
member of their confraternity, and take part in the
sacrifices accompanying his consecration. This gathering
of the gods is balanced by a human festival, attended by
Nubians and Kushites, as well as by the courtiers and
populace. The proceedings terminated, apparently, with
certain funeral rites, the object being to make the
identification of Osorkon with Osiris complete. The
Egyptian deities served in a double capacity, as gods of
the dead as well as of the living, and no exception could
be made in favour of the deified Osorkon; while yet living
he became an Osiris, and his double was supposed to
animate those prophetic statues in which he appeared as
a mummy no less than those which represented him as |
_ 1 All our knowledge of the history of the temple of Bubastis dates from
Naville’s excavations.
 ENDOWMENT OF THE TEMPLES 245

still alive. Another temple of small size, also dedicated

to Bastit or Pasht, which had been built in the time of
Ramses II., was enlarged by Osorkon I., and richly en-

GATE OF THE FESTIVAL HALL AT BUBASTIS.!

dowed with workshops, lands, cattle, slaves, and precious

metals: Tumu-Khopri of Heliopolis, to mention but one of
the deities worshipped there, received offerings of gold in
value by weight £120,000, and silver ingots worth £12,000.”
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a restoration by Naville. |
2 This is the small temple afterwards described by Herodotus as being
dedicated to Hermes.
246 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

A country which could afford to indulge in extravagances

of this nature must have been in a flourishing condition,
and everything goes to prove that Hgypt prospered under
the rule of the early Bubastite kings.
The very same causes, however, which had ruined the
Ramessides and the Tanites were now openly compassing
the downfall of the Bubastite dynasty. The military
feudalism from which it had sprung, suppressed for a time
by Sheshonqg I., developed almost unchecked under his
successors. They had thought to break it up and turn it
to their own advantage, by transferring the more important
religious functions and the principal fiefs to their own sons
or nephews. They governed Memphis through the high
priests of Phtah; a prince of the blood represented them
at Khmunu,! another at Khninsu? (Heracleopolis), and
others in various cities of the Delta, each of them being
at the head of several thousand Mashauasha, or Libyan
soldiers on whose fidelity they could entirely rely. Thebes
alone had managed to exclude these representatives of the
ruling dynasty, and its princes, guided in this particular by
the popular prejudice, persistently refused to admit into
their bodyguard any but the long-tried Mazaiu. Moreover,
Thebes lost no opportunity of proving itself to be still
the most turbulent of the baronies. Its territory had
suffered no diminution since the time of Hrihor, and half
1 E.g. Namréti, under Piédnkhi-Miamun, whose rights were such that he
adopted the protocol of the Pharaohs.
2 Stele 1959 of the Serapeum contains the names of five successive
princes of this city, the first of whom was Namréti, son of Osorkon IT., and
high priest of Thebes ;a member of the same family, named Pefzaabastit,
had taken cartouches under Osorkon IIT, of the XXIII™ dynasty.
 POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF THEBES 247

of Upper Egypt, from Hlephantiné to Siut, acknowledged

its sway.! Through all the changes of dynasty its political
constitution had remained unaltered; Amon still ruled
there supreme as ever, and nothing was done until he had
been formally consulted in accordance with ancient usage.
Auputi, in spite of his being a son of Sheshonq, was com-
pelled to adopt the title of high priest in order to rule
in peace, and had married some daughter or niece of the
last of the Painotmu. After his death, good care was
taken to prevent the pontificate from passing to one of
his children, as this would have re-established a Theban
dynasty which might have soon proved hostile to that of
Bubastis. To avoid this, Osorkon I. made over the office
and fief to his own son Sheshong. The latter, after a time,
thought he was sufficiently powerful to follow the example
of Painotmu and adopt the royal cartouches; but, with
all his ambition, he too failed to secure the succession
to the male line of his descendants, for Osorkon II.
appointed his own son Namroti, already prince of Khninsu,
to succeed him. The amalgamation of these two posts
invested the person on whom they were conferred with
almost regal power; Khninsu was, indeed, as we know,
the natural rampart of Memphis and Lower Egypt against
|
invasion from the south, and its possessor was in a position
by Pidnkhi-
1 It is evident that this was so from the first steps taken
fleet of Tafnakh ti and the
Miamun’s generals: they meet the army and
lis, but say nothing of
‘princes of the north right under the walls of Hermopo
Their silence is explaine d if we assume
any feudal princes of the south.
at that date, i.e. in
that Thebes, being a dependency of Ethiopia, retained
or nearly the same boundaries
the time of the XXIII" dynasty, the same
which it had won for itself under the XXI".
 248 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

to control the fate of the empire almost as he pleased.

Osorkon must have had weighty reasons for taking a step
which placed him practically at the mercy of his son, and,
indeed, events proved that but little reliance could be
placed on the loyalty of the Thebans, and that energetic
measures were imperative to keep them in the path of
duty or lead them back to it. The decadence of the
ancient capital had sadly increased since the downfall of

SMALL BRONZE SPHINX OF SIAMUN.

the descendants of Hrihor. The few public works which

they had undertaken, and which Sheshonq I. encouraged
to the best of his ability, had been suspended owing to
want of money, and the craftsmen who had depended on
them for support were suffering from poverty : the makers
of small articles of a religious or funerary character, carvers
of wood or stone, joiners, painters of mummy-cases, and
workers in bronze, alone managed to eke out a bare liveli-
hood, thanks to commissions still given to them by officials
attached to the temples. Theban art, which in its best
? Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the original now in the Louvre.
 DEGENERATION OF THEBAN ART 249

period had excelled in planning its works on a gigantic

scale, now gladly devoted itself to the production of mere
knick-knacks, in place of the colossal figures of earlier days.
We have statuettes some twelve or fifteen inches high,
erudily coloured, wooden stele, shapeless ushabti redeemed
frola ugliness by a coating of superb blue enamel, and,

RUINS OF THE TEMPLE AT KHNINSU AFTER NAVILLE’S EXCAVATIONS.!

above all, those miniature sphinxes representing queens or

kings, which present with two human arms either a table
of offerings or a salver decorated with cartouches. The
starving populace, its interests and vanity alike mortified
by the accession of a northern dynasty, refused to accept
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph in Naville. The illustration
shows what now remains of the portions of the temple rebuilt in the time of
Ramses IT.
250 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

the decay of its fortunes with resignation, and this spirit

of discontent was secretly fomented by the priests or by
members of the numerous families which boasted of their
descent from the Ramessides. Although hereditary claims
to the throne and the pontificate had died out or lost their
force in the male line, they were still persistently urged
by the women: consecrated from their birth to the service
of Amon, and originally reserved to sing his praises or
share his nuptial couch, those of them who married
transmitted to their children, and more especially to their
daughters, the divine germ which qualified them for the
throne. They and their followers never ceased to look
for the day when the national deity should shake off his
apathy, and, becoming the champion of their cause against
the Bubastite or Tanite usurpers, restore their city to the
rank and splendour from which it had fallen. Namroti
married one of these Theban princesses, and thus contrived
to ward off the danger of revolt during his lifetime ; but
on his death or disappearance an insurrection broke out.
Sheshong II. had succeeded Osorkon II., and he, in his
turn, was followed by Takeléti II. Takeldti chose Kala- ©
mait, daughter of Namréti, as his lawful wife, formally
recognised her as queen, and set up numerous statues and
votive monuments in her honour. But all in vain: this
concession failed to conciliate the rebellious, and the whole
Thebaid rose against him toa man. In the twelfth year
of his reign he entrusted the task of putting down the
revolt to his son Osorkon, at the same time conferring
upon him the office of high priest. It took several years
to repress the rising; defeated in the eleventh year, the
 THE XXIII” TANITE DYNASTY 251

rebels still held the field in the fifteenth year of the king,
and it was not till some time after, between the fifteenth
and twenty-second year of Takeléti II., that they finally
laid down their arms.! At the end of this struggle the
king’s power was quite exhausted, while that of the
feudal magnates had proportionately increased. Before
long, Egypt was split up into a number of petty states,
some of them containing but a few towns, while others,
following the example of Thebes, boldly annexed several
adjacent nomes. A last remnant of respect for the
traditional monarchy kept them from entirely repudiating
the authority of Pharaoh. They still kept up an outward
show of submission to his rule; they paid him military
service when called upon, and appealed to him as umpire
in their disputes, without, however, always accepting his
rulings, and when they actually came to blows among
themselves, were content to exercise their right of private
warfare under his direction.2 The royal domain gradually
became narrowed down to the Memphite nome and the
private appanages of the reigning house, and soon it no
longer yielded the sums necessary for the due performance
of costly religious ceremonies, such as the enthronement
or burial of an Apis. The pomp and luxury usually dis-
played on such occasions grew less and less under the
and
successors of Takeléti II., Sheshong III. Pimi,
after
Sheshong IV.* When the last of these passed away
ed inscriptions
1 The story of these events is told in several greatly mutilat
of the Hall of
to be found at Karnak on the outer surface of the south wall
Columns.
red by Krall.
2 Tt is evident that this was so, from a romance discove
compar e the Apis stele erected
3 One need only go to the Louvre and
252 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE’ ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

an inglorious reign of at least thirty-seven years, the

prestige of his race had so completely declined that the
country would have no more of it; the sceptre passed into
the hands of another dynasty, this time of Tanite origin.’
It was probably a younger branch of the Bubastite family
allied to the Ramessides and Theban Pallacides. Petu-
bastis, the first of the line, secured recognition in Thebes,’
and throughout the rest of Egypt as well, but his influence
was little greater than that of his predecessors ; as in the
past, the real power was in the hands of the high priests.
One of them, Autti by name, even went so far, in the
fourteenth or fifteenth year, as to declare himself king, and
during this period with those engraved in tho time of the XX VI™ dynasty,
in order to realise the low ebb to which the later kings of the XXII" dynasty
had fallen: the fact that the chapel and monuments were built under their
direction shows that they were still masters of Memphis. We have no
authentic date for Sheshonq II., and the twenty-ninth year is the latest
known in the case of Takeloti II., but we know that Sheshong III. reigned
fifty-two years, and, after two years of Pimi, we find a reference to the
thirty-seventh year of Sheshonq IV. If we allow a round century for these
last kings we are not likely to be far out: this would place the close of the
Bubastite dynasty somewhere about 780 B.c.
1 The following list gives the names of the Pharaohs of the XXII"
dynasty in so far as they have been ascertained up to the present :—
I. SHasHanqu I. Mariamanu, UazAKHPIRRi-SOTPUNIRI.
IT. Uasarxanu I. Martamanu, SAKHMAKHPIRRi-SOTPUNIRY.
III. Taxexért I. st-Istr MarraManu, UsirmArt-soTPUNIAMANU.
IV. Uasarxant II. st-Bastir MarrtamManu, UsirmArti-sorPUNIAMANU.
V. Suasnangu IT, Martamanu, SAKHMAKHPIRRI-SOTPUNIAMANU.
VI. Taxexéri IT. st-Istt Martamanu, UazAKHPIRRi-SOTPUNIRI.
VII. Saaswanqu IIT. st-Bastit Marramanu, UstrmAri-sorpuntrt.
VIII. Paimi Marramanu, UsirMAri-SOTPUNIAMANU.
IX. Suasnangu IV. Martamanu, AKuprRRi.
* This fact has recently been placed beyond doubt by inscriptions found
on the quay at Karnak near the water-marks of the Nile.
 HIGH-PRIESTS WITH PRETENSIONS TO ROYALTY 258

had his cartouches inscribed on official documents side by

side with those of the Tanite monarch.' His kingship died
with him, just as that of Painotmu had done in similar
circumstances, and two years later we find his successor,
Harsiisit, a mere high priest with-
out pretensions to royalty. Doubt-
less his was not an isolated case;
all the grandees who happened to
be nearly related either to the
dethroned or to the reigning houses
acted in like manner, and for the
first time for many years Lgypt
acknowledged the simultaneous
sway of more than one legitimate
Pharaoh. Matters became still
worse under Osorkon III. ; although
he, too, introduced a daughter of
Amon into his harem, this alliance
failed to give him any hold over
Thebes, and even the Seven Nomes
and the Delta were split up to such
an extent that at one time they *N@ PETUBASmIS At
included something like a score of a ae
independent principalities, three of which, Hermopolis,
of the Nile in the
1 No. 26 of Legrain’s inscriptions tells us the height
year of King Auiti.
sixteenth year of Petubastit, which was also the second
occupi ed by that of the high
Seeing that Auiti’s name occurs in the place
same king, I consid er it probable
- priest of Thebes in other inscriptions of the
he was a high priest who had
that he was reigning in Thebes itself, and that
under the XXI* dynast y.
become king in the same way as Painotmu
2 Drawn by Fauch er-Gu din, from a small door now in the Louvre.
254 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

Heracleopolis, and Tentramu, were administered by kings

who boasted cartouches similar to those of Tanis and
Bubastis.
About 740 B.c. there appeared in the midst of these
turbulent and extortionate nobles a man who, by sheer
force of energy and talent, easily outstripped all com-
petitors. Tafnakhti was a chief of obscure origin, whose
hereditary rights extended merely over the village of
Nutirit and the outskirts of Sebennytos. One or two
victories gained over his nearest neighbours encouraged
him to widen the sphere of his operations. He first of
all laid hands on those nomes of the Delta which extended
to the west of the principal arm of the Nile, the Saite,
Athbribite, Libyan, and Memphite nomes; these he
administered through officers under his own immediate
control; then, leaving untouched the eastern provinces,
over which Osorkon III. exercised a make-shift, easy-
going rule, he made his way up the river. Maitumu and
the Fayum accepted him as their suzerain, but Khninsu
and its king, Pefzdabastit, faithful to their allegiance,’
offered strenuous resistance. He then crossed over to
the right bank, and received the homage of Heliopolis
and Pnebtepahé; he put the inhabitants of Uabu to
ransom, established a close blockade of Khninsu, and
persuaded Namrdti, King of Khmunu, to take an oath
of allegiance. At length, those petty kings and princes
of the Said and the Delta who still remained unconquered
called upon Ethiopia, the only power capable of holding
1 Pefzdabastit, King of Heracleopolis, seems to be identical with the
Pharaoh Pefz&bastit of the Berlin sarcophagus.
 THE ETHIOPIANS IN EGYPT 255

its ground against him, for help. The “vile Kaushu”’

(Cush) probably rose to be an independent state about
the time when Sheshong and the Bubastite kings came
into power. Peopled by Theban settlers, and governed
by the civil and religious code of Thebes, the provinces
which lay between the cataract of Hannek and the

VIEW OF A PART OF THE RUINS OF NAPATA.?

confluence of the two Niles soon became a second

Thebaid, more barren and less wealthy than the first, but
no less tied to the traditions of the past. Napata, its
capital, lay in the plain at the foot of a sandstone cliff,
which rose perpendicularly to a height of nearly two
hundred feet, its summit, when viewed from the south-
human
west, presenting an accidental resemblance to a
from a lithograph published in
1 Reproduced by Faucher-Gudin,
Cailliaud.
256 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

profile." This was the Du-wabu, or Sacred Mount, in

the heart of which the god was supposed to have his
dwelling; the ruins of several temples can still be seen
near the western extremity of the hill, the finest of them
being dedicated to a local Amon-ra. This Amon was

GEBEL-BARKAL, THE SACRED MOUNTAIN OF NAPATA.2

a replica of the Theban Amon on a smaller scale, and

was associated with the same companions as his prototype,
Maut, his consort, and Khonsu, his son. He owed his
origin to the same religious concepts, and was the central
figure of a similar myth, the only difference being that
' The natives believe this profile to have been cut by human hands—an
error which has been shared by more than one modern traveller.
* Reproduced by Faucher-Gudin, from a lithograph in Cailliaud,
 THE GOD AMON-RA O57
he was represented in composite shape, with a ram’s head;
perhaps a survival from some earlier indigenous deity,
such as Didun, for instance, who had been previously

RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF AMON AT NAPATA.

worshipped in those parts; his priests lived in accordance

with the rules of the Theban hierarchy. We can readily
1 Reproduced by Faucher-Gudin, from a lithograph published by
Cailliaud.
VOL. VII. 8
958 'TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

believe that when Hrihor extorted the title of ‘ Royal

Son of Kaushu”’ from the weaklings who occupied the
throne at the close of the Ramesside dynasty, he took
care to install one of the members of his family as high
priest at Napata, and from henceforward had the whole
country at his bidding. Subsequently, when Painotmu II.
was succeeded by Auputi at Thebes, it seems that the
Ethiopian priests refused to ratify his election. Whether
they conferred the supreme power on one of their own

eae
PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF AMON AT NAPATA.'

number, or whether some son of Painotmu, flying from

the Bubastite kings, arrived at the right moment to
provide them with a master, is not quite clear. The kings
of Ethiopia, priests from the first, never lost their
sacerdotal character. They continued to be men of
God, and as such it was necessary that they should be
chosen by the god himself. On the death of a sovereign,
Amon at once became regent in the person of his prophet,
and continued to act until the funeral rites were celebrated.
As soon as these ceremonies were completed, the army
and the people collected at the foot of the Sacred Mount ;
the delegates of the various orders of the state were
_ 1) Reproduced by Faucher-Gudin, from the plan drawn up and published
by Cailliaud,
 THE DIVINELY APPOINTED MONARCH 259

led into the sanctuary, and then, in their presence, all

the males of the royal family—“ the king’s brothers,” as
they were called—were paraded before the statue of the
god; he on whom the god laid his hand as he passed was
considered to be the chosen one of Amon, and consecrated
king without delay... As may be readily imagined, the
new monarch thus appointed by divine dictation was
completely under the control of the priests, and before
long, if he failed to prove sufficiently tractable, they
claimed the right to dispense with him altogether; they
sent him an order to commit suicide, and he obeyed. 'The
boundaries of this theocratic state varied at different
epochs; originally it was confined to the region between
the First Cataract and the mouth of the Blue Nile. The
bulk of the population consisted of settlers of Egyptian
extraction and LEgyptianised natives; but isolated, as
they were, from Egypt proper by the rupture of the
political ties which had bound them to the metropolis,
they ceased to receive fresh reinforcements from the
northern part of the valley as they had formerly done,
and daily became more closely identified with the races
of various origin which roamed through the deserts of
Libya or Arabia. This constant infiltration of free or
slavish Bedawin blood and the large number of black
women found in the harems of the rich, and even in
the huts of the common people, quickly impaired the
1 This is the ritual described in the Stele of the Enthronement. Perhaps
it was already in use at Thebes under the XXI* and XXII" dynasties, at
the election of the high priest, whether he happened to be a king or not ; at
any rate, a story of the Ptolemaic period told by Synesius in The Egyptian
seems to point to this conclusion.
260 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

purity of the race, even among the upper classes of the

nation, and the type came to resemble that of the negro
tribes of Equatorial Africa.’
The language fared no better
in the face of this invasion,
and the written character soon
became as corrupt as the
language ; words foreign to the
Egyptian vocabulary, incor-
rect expressions, and barbarous
errors in syntax were multi--
plied without stint. The taste
for art decayed, and technical
A NEARLY PURE ETHIOPIAN a
ability began to deteriorate,
the moral and hater standard declined, and the mass
of the people showed signs
of relapsing into barbarism:
the leaders of the aristocracy
and the scribes alone preserved
almost intact their inheritance
from an older civilisation.
Egypt still attracted them:
they looked upon it as their
rightful possession, torn from
them by alien usurpers in de-
MIXED NEGRO AND ETHIOPIAN TYPE.’ fiance of all sense of right,

1 Taharga furnishes us with a striking example of this degeneration of

the Egyptian type. His face shows the characteristic features of the black
race, both on the Egyptian statue as well as on the Assyrian stele of Sinjirli.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius.
 HEREDITARY RIGHTS OF THE SOVEREIGN 261

and they never ceased to hope that some day, when the god
saw fit, they would win back their heritage. Were not
their kings of the posterity of Sibu, the true representatives
of the Ramessides and the solar race, compared with
whom the northern Pharaohs, even those whose mothers
ranked as ‘‘ worshippers” of Amon, were but mere
mushroom kings? Thebes admitted the validity of their
claims: it looked to them for help, and the revolts
by which it had been torn ever since the reign of
Osorkon IJ. were, perhaps, instigated by the partisans
of Ethiopia. In the time of Petubastis its high priests,
Harsiisit and Takelédti, were still connected with the
Tanites; after that it placed itself under the immediate
orders of Ethiopia, and the pontificate disappeared. The
accession of a sovereign who was himself invested by
hereditary right with the functions and title of high priest
of Amon henceforth rendered the existence of such an
office superfluous at Thebes: it would almost have meant
an imperium in imperio. The administration of religious,
and perhaps also of political, affairs was, therefore, handed
over to the deputy prophet, and this change still further
enhanced the importance of the ‘female worshippers
of the god.” In the absence of the king, who had his
capital at Napata, they remained the sole representatives
of legitimate authority in the Thebaid: the chief among
them soon came to be regarded as a veritable Lady of
Thebes, and, subject to the god, mistress of the city and its
territory.
It is not quite clear whether it was Piénkhi Miamun
or one of his immediate predecessors who took possession
262 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

of the city. The nomes dependent on Amon followed

the example of the capital, and the whole Theban territory
as far as Siut had been occupied by Ethiopian troops,
when in the twenty-
Sioaay digrae,Heliopolis first year of the king’s
bone
hes penny aNoi reign the princes of
the Delta and Middle
Egypt appealed to
the court of Napata
Dovhaudey ay) ture for help. Even had
pe a a , :eo they not begged it to
lee 9,
ce cS¥ do so, it would have
been compelled before
long to intervene, for
Tafnakhti was already
s
on his way to attack
it; Piédnkhi charged
I
z
=

Luaémarsakni and Pu-

%
Es

arama, the generals

he had already sta-
tioned in the Thebaid,
SS Pk ae to hold Tafnakhti in
duringtheCampaign check, till he was
OF PIONKHI.
able to get together
the remainder of his
army and descend
the Nile to support
them. Their instructions were to spare none of the
rebellious towns, but to ‘‘capture their men and their
beasts, and their ships on the river; to allow none of
 PIONKHI’S GENERALS IN MIDDLE EGYPT 263

the fellaheen to go out into the fields, nor any labourer

to his labour, but to attack Hermopolis and harass it
daily.” They followed out these orders, though, it would
seem, without result, until the reinforcements from Nubia
came up: their movements then became more actively
offensive, and falling on Tafnakhti’s ships, which were
making for Thebes
heavily laden with
men and_ stores,
they sunk several
of them. Anxious
to profit by this
first success, they
made straight for
Heracleopolis with
a view to reliey-
ering

OF OXYRRHYNCHOS AND THE MODERN TOWN OF BAHNESA.2

RUINS

ing it. Tafnakhti, accompanied by the two kings Namroti

and Auputi, was directing the siege in person; he had —
under his command, in addition to « contingents from
Busiris, Mendés, Thoth, and Pharbethos, all the vassals
of Osorkon III., the successor of Petubastis and titular
Pharaoh of the whole country. The Ethiopian fleet
of
engaged the Egyptian ships at the end of the island
Heracleopolis, near the mouth of the canal leading from
1 Drawn by Boudier, from an engraving in Vivant Denon.
264 TIGLATH-PILESER II]. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

the Nile to the Bahr-Yusuf.! Tafnakhti was defeated,

and the remnants of his squadron took refuge in Pipuga
under cover of his land forces.? At dawn, the next day,
the Ethiopians disembarked and gave battle. The struggle
was long and fierce, but indecisive. Luadmarsakni and
Puarama claimed the victory, but were obliged to effect
a retreat on the day following their so-called success, and
when they dropped anchor in the harbour of Hermopolis,
they found that Namréti had made his way back to the
city by land and forestalled them. Powerless to hold
the field without support, he collected all the men and
cattle he could lay hands on, and awaited the progress
of events behind his ramparts. The Ethiopians invested
the town, and wrote to inform Piénkhi of what they had
done—not, however, without some misgiving as to the
reception which awaited their despatches. And sure
enough, ‘‘His Majesty became enraged thereat, even as
a panther: ‘If they have allowed a remnant of the warriors
of the north to remain, if they have let one of them
escape to tell of the fight, if they make him not to die
in their slaughter, then by my life, by the love of Ra, by
the praise of Amon for me, I will myself go down and
overthrow that which Tafnakhti hath done,* I will compel

1 The ancient geographers looked upon the nome of Heracleopolis as a

large island, its southern boundary being, probably, the canal of Harabshent :
the end of the island, which the Egyptians called ‘the forepart of Khninsu,”
was probably Harabshent and its environs.
2 Pi-puga is probably El-Foka, on the Nile, to the north of Harabshent.
* The king does not mention his adversary by name in the text ; he is
content to indicate him by a pronoun in the third person—* that which he
hath done . . . then will I make him taste,” ete.
 UNAPPEASABLE WRATH OF THE KING 265

him to give up war for ever! Therefore, after celebrating

the festivals of the New Year, when I shall have sacrificed
to Amon of [Napata], my father, in his excellent festival
wherein he appears in his procession of the New Year,
when he shall have sent me in peace to look upon the
[Theban] Amon in his festivals at Thebes, and when I
shall have carried his image in procession to Luxor, in
the festival celebrated in his honour among the festivals
of Thebes, on the night of the feast appointed in the
Thebaid, established by Ra at the creation, when I have
led him in the procession and brought him unto his throne,
on the day for introducing the god, even the second of
Athyr, then will I make the enemy taste the savour of
my claws.” The generals did their very utmost to
appease their master’s wrath before he appeared on the
scene. They told off a force to keep watch over Hermo-
nome
polis while they themselves marched against the
‘‘ the
of Uabu; they took Oxyrrhynchos by storm, with
of this
fury of a water-spout,”’ and informed the king
thereby.”
achievement; but “his heart was not softened
crushed the
They crossed over to the right bank; they
they
people of the north under the walls of Tatehni,’
and
forced the walls of the town with the battering-ram,
others a son of
killed many of the inhabitants, amongst
king; but ‘his
Tafnakhti, whose body they sent to the
then pushed on
heart was not softened thereby.” They
as far as Hait Bonu’ and sacked it, but still failed to

of the Nile, a little below

1 The modern Tehneh, on the right bank
Minieh.
of the Greco-Roman geographers.
2 {{4it-Bonu, or Habonu, is the Hipponon
 266 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

regain favour. On the 9th of Thoth, Pidnkhi came down

to Thebes, and after hasty attendance at the services
to Amon, went to rejoin the vanguard of his army under
the walls of Hermopolis. ‘No sooner had his Majesty
quitted the cabin of his ship, than the horses were
harnessed and the charioteers in their places; the fear
of his Majesty spread even to the Nomads of Asia, and
all hearts trembled before him.”’
Pidnkhi drove back the enemy
behind their walls, pitched his
tent to the south-west of the
city, threw up
earth - works,
and built ter-
races so as to
place his bow-
men and sling-
ers on a level
with the bat-
KING NAMROTI LEADING A HORSE TO PIONKHI,! tlements of its
towers. At the
end of three days, Namrdti, finding himself hard pressed
on every side, resolved to surrender. He sent envoys
to
Pidnkhi laden with rich presents, and despatched Queen
Nsitentmahit after them to beg for mercy from the women
who had accompanied the Ethiopian, his wives, concu-
bines, daughters, or royal sisters. Their entreaties
were
graciously received, and Namréti ventured to
come in
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an impression of the
stele in the Gizeh
Museum.
 VISITS THE TEMPLE OF THOTH 267
PIONKHI

person, leading a horse with his right hand and shaking

in his left a sistrum of gold and lapis-lazuli; he knelt
down and presented with his salutations the long train
the
of gifts which had gone before him. Pidnkhi visited
of
temple of Thoth, and there, amidst the acclamations
ces.
soldiers and priests, offered up the customary sacrifi
its
He then made his way to the palace and inspected

THOTH, AT HERMOPOLIS THE GREAT.}

RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF

ehouses, and reviewed

courts, chambers, treasury, and stor
Namréti’s own wives
the whole household, including even
not his face towards
and daughters, though ‘he turned
on to the stud-farms,
any one of them.” He next went
horses had suffered.
and was indignant to find that the
Thoroughbreds were
from hunger during the siege.
ta, and he had, no
probably somewhat scarce at Napa
blood and a complete
doubt, reckoned on obtaining new
aving in Vivant Denon. The portico
1 Drawn by Boudier, from an engr ted the sugar
the engineers who construc
was destroyed about 1820 by of it rema in.
a few shapeless fragments
refinery at Rodah, and now only
 268 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

relay of chargers from the Egyptian stables; his chances

of doing so seemed likely to vanish if brood mares and
stallions had everywhere been debilitated by the hardships
of war. He reserved a part of the booty for himself,
handed over the balance to the priests of Amon at Karnak,
and also, before he left, received tribute from Heracleopolis.
Pefzaabastit brought him horses, the pick of his stables,
slaves laden with gold and silver and precious stones ;
then burying his face in the dust, he offered worship to
his liberator: ‘‘ Hell had swallowed me up, I was plunged
into darkness, and lo, now a light has been given me.
Since I have found no man to love me in the day of
adversity, or to stand by me in the day of battle, save
only thee, O victorious king, who hast torn away the
night from above me, I will be thy servant, I and all my
house, and Khninsu shall pay tribute into thy treasury.
For, as to thee, thou art Harmakhis, chief of the imperish-
able stars, thou art king, even as he is king, and even
as he doth not destroy himself, neither shalt thou destroy
thyself! ” |
The downfall of Khmunu led all who might still have
shown resistance in Middle Egypt to lay down their arms
also. The fortress of Pisakhmakhpirri! dominated the
gorges of Lahunit, and thus commanded the entrance
to
the Fayum ; but the son of Tafnakhti agreed to surren
der
it, provided he were allowed to march out with the
honours
1 This fortress, which bears a name compounded with
that of Osorkon L,,
must have been rebuilt by that monarch on the site of an
earlier fort ; the
new name remained in use under the XXII™ and XXTIT"
dynasties, after
which the old one reappears. It is Illahun, where Petrie discovered the
remains of a flourishing town of the Bubastite epoch.
 THE SUBMISSION OF KHMUNU 269

of war. Shortly after, Maitumu threw open its gates, and

its example was followed by Titaui; at Maitumu there was
rioting among the Egyptians in the streets, one party
wishing to hold out, the other to surrender, but in the end
the latter had their way.’ Piénkhi discharged his priestly
duties wherever he went, and received the local taxes, always
being careful to reserve a tenth for the treasury of Amon-
Ra; the fact that his ‘army was kept under rigid control,
and that he showed great clemency to the vanquished,
by
helped largely to conciliate those who were not bound
g
close ties of interest to the cause of Tafnakhti. On reachin
ive
Memphis, Piénkhi at once had recourse to the persuas
which had hitherto served him 80 well, and
methods
Shut not
entered into negotiations with the garrison. “
Upper
yourselves up in forts, and fight not against the
I enter, he
Country,? for Shu the god of creation, when
and none may
entereth, and when I go out, he goeth out,
Phtah and to
repel my attacks. I will present offerings to
honour Sokari in
the divinities of the White Wall, I will
Risanbuf,’ then I
his mysterious coffer, I will contemplate

rn Meidum, associated in the

1 Maritumu, or Maitumu, is the mode
et, Pisok ari-Nibu-Suazu, or ‘“ temple
inscription with the characteristic epith
.” Titau i lay exactly on the frontier
of Sokari, master of the transfiguration
nce its name, which signifies ‘‘ com-
between Upper and Lower Egypt—he
in the Memphite nome, and Brugsch
manding the two regions ;” it was
hos, near Dahshur, but this position
identifies it with the Greek city of Acant
and too far from the boundary of
appears to me to be too close to Memphis
i at Kafr el-Ayat or thereabouts.
the nome; I should prefer to place Titau
r of the Upper Country, that is, of
2 T.e, against Piénkhi, who was maste
s from the whole of the valley to the
Thebes and Ethiopia, and the force
him.
south of Memphis who accompanied
3 Lit., “He who is on the South of his Wall,” a name given to one of
 270 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

will return from thence in peace. If ye will trust in me,

Memphis shall be prosperous and healthy, even the children
shall not cry therein. Behold the nomes of the South; not
a soul has been massacred there, saving only the impious
who blasphemed God, and these rebels have been executed.”
This eloquence, however, was of no avail. A detachment
of archers, sailors, and engineers sent to make a recon-
naissance of the harbour was taken by surprise and routed
with loss, and on the following night Tafnakhti suddenly
made his appearance on the spot. He had the 8000 men
who were defending it paraded before him, and made them
a speech, in which he pointed out the great natural strength
of the position, the stoutness of the walls and the
abundance of provisions ;he then mounted his horse, and
making his way a second time through the enemy’s out-
posts, headed straight for the Delta in order to levy rein-
forcements there. The next day, Piénkhi went in person
to
examine the approaches of the city in which his ancestors
had once been throned. There was a full Nile, and the
river came right up to the walls. He sailed close
in along
the whole of the eastern front, and landed on
the north,
much vexed and discomfited at finding it so strongly
fortified. ven the common soldiers were astonished,
and
began to discuss among themselves the difficulties
of the
undertaking with a certain feeling of discouragement.
It
would be necessary, they declared, to open
a regular siege, -
‘to make an inclined plane leading to the
city, throw up
earthworks against its walls, bind ladders,
set up masts and
the quarters of Memphis, and afterwards
applied to the god Phtah, who was
worshipped in that quarter,
 PIONKHI CAPTURES MEMPHIS 271

erect spars all around it.” Piénkhi burst into a rage when
these remarks were repeated to him: a siege in set form
would have been a most serious enterprise, and would have
allowed the allied princes time to get together fresh troops.
He drove his ships full speed against the line of boats
anchored in the harbour, and broke through it at the first
onset; his sailors then scaled the bank and occupied the
houses which overlooked it. Reinforcements concentrated
on this point gradually penetrated into the heart of the city,
and after two days’ fighting the garrison threw down their
arms. The victor at once occupied the temples to save
them from pillage: he then purified Memphis with water
and natron, ascended in triumph to the temple of Phtah,
and celebrated there those rites which the king alone was
entitled to perform. The other fortresses in the neighbour-
hood surrendered without further hesitation. King Auputi
of Tentramu,' prince Akaneshu,’ and prince Petisis tendered
the homage of their subjects in person, and the other
sovereigns of the Delta merely waited for a demonstration
in force on the part of the Ethiopians before following
in
their example. Pidnkhi crossed the Nile and marched
state to Heliopolis, there to receive the royal investiture.
by Naville at Tel-el- .
1 Probably the original of the statue discovered
, are perhaps identical
Yahudiyeh. Tentramu and Taanu, the cities of Auputi
of Pliny on the
with the biblical Elim (Hwod. xvi. 1) and the Daneon Portus
the Tonu of the Berlin
Red Sea, but Naville prefers to identify Daneon with
for the kingdom of Auputi
Papyrus No. 1. I believe that we ought to look
in the neighbourhood of Menzaleh, near Tanis.
the XVII" nome. Naville
2 Akaneshu ruled over Sebennytos and in
his descen dants, a king’ of the
discovered at Samannud the statue of one of time
prince of Seben nytos in the
same name, perhaps his grandson, who was
of Psammetichus I.
 272 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

He offered up prayers at the various holy places along the

route, such as the sanctuary of Tumu at Khridihu and the
temple of the Ennead who dwelt in the cavern from which
the Northern Nile was supposed to spring ; he then crossed
over Mount Ahu, bathed his face in the reputed source of
the river, and at length penetrated into the dwelling-place
of Ra. He ascended the steps leading to the great chapel
in order that he might there “see RA in Hait-Banbonu
even himself. All unattended, he drew the bolt, threw
open the doors, contemplated his father Ra in HaAitt-
Banbonu, adjusted Ra’s boat Madit and the Saktit of Shu,
then closed the doors again, affixed a seal of clay, and
impressed it with the royal signet.’”’ He had thus sub-
mitted his conduct for the approval of the god in whom all
attributes of royalty were vested, and the god had legitima- —
tised his claims to universal rule: he was henceforth the
master, not merely de jure but de facto as well, and the
kings who had hitherto declined to recognise him were now
obliged to bow reverently before his authority.
Osorkon was the first to submit, and did so before the
close of Pidnkhi’s stay at Heliopolis; when the latter
pitched his camp near Kahani! in the Athribite nome, the
nobles of the Hastern Delta, both small and great, came
one after another with their followers; among them
Patinifi of Pisapti, Paimau of Busiris, Pabisa of Khriahu
and of Pihapi,’ besides a dozen others. He extended his

* Kahani is, perhaps, the modern Kaha, some distance to the

north of
Qaliub.
* Pisapti stood on the present site of Shaft-el-Hineh. Khriahu, as we
know, formed part of the Heliopolitan nome, and is, very
possibly, to be
 TAFNAKHTI SUES FOR PEACE 278

favour to all alike, merely stipulating that they should

give him the best of their horses, and undertake to keep
careful watch over the prosperity of their stud farms. But
Tafnakhti still held out, and seemed determined to defy
him to the end; he had set fire to his palace and taken
refuge in the islands on the river, and had provided a
hiding-place for himself at Masudit among the marshes on
the coast in case of final defeat. A victory gained over
him by the Ethiopian generals suddenly induced him to
sue for peace. He offered to disband his men and pay
tribute, provided he was guaranteed undisturbed possession
of Sais and of the western districts of the Delta; he
refused, however, to sue for pardon in person, and asked
that an envoy should be sent to receive his oath of
allegiance in the temple of Nit. Though deserted by
his brother princes and allies, he still retained sufficient
power to be a thorn in his conqueror’s side; his ultimate
overthrow was certain, but it would have entailed many
a bloody struggle, while a defeat might easily have shaken
the fidelity of the other feudatory kings, and endangered
the stability of the new dynasty. Pidnkhi, therefore,
accepted the terms offered him without modification, and
asked for no guarantee beyond the oath taken in the
presence of the gods. News was brought him about this
time that Cynopolis and Aphroditopolis had at last thrown
open their gates, and accordingly he summoned his vassals
for the last time to his camp near Athribis. With the
exception of Tafnakhti, they all obeyed the call, including
identified with Babylon of Egypt, the Fostat of the Arabs; Pihapi was a
place not far from the supposed source of the Southern Nile.
VOL. VII. ’ T
274. TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

two minor kings of Upper and two of Lower Egypt,

together with barons of lesser rank ; but of these, Namroti
alone was admitted to the royal apartments, because he
alone was circumcised and ate no fish; after this the camp
was broken up, and the Ethiopians set out on their return
journey southwards. Piénkhi may well have been proud
of the result of this campaign, both for himself and for
his country. The empire of the Pharaohs, which had for
the last hundred and fifty years been divided, was now
re-established from the confluence of the Niles to the
shores of the Mediterranean, but it was no longer Egypt
that benefited by the change. It was now, after many
years of slavery, the turn of Ethiopia to rule, and the seat
of power was transferred from Thebes or Memphis to
Napata. As a matter of fact, the fundamental constitution
of the kingdom underwent no great modification ; it had
merely one king the more to rule over it—not a stranger,
as we are often tempted to conclude, when we come to
measure these old-world revolutions by our modern
standards of patriotism, but a native of the south, who
took the place of those natives of the north who had
succeeded one another on the throne since the days of
Smendes. In fact, this newly crowned son of Ra lived
a very long way off; he had no troops of his own further
north than Siut, and he had imposed his suzerainty on the
rival claimants and reigning princes without thereby
introducing any change in the constitution of the state.
In tendering their submission to him, the heads of the
different nomes had not the slightest intention of parting
with their liberty; they still retained it, even though
 THE ETHIOPIAN CONQUEST 275

nominally dependent, and continued, as in the past, to

abuse it without scruple. Namréti was king at Khmunu,
Pefzaabastit at Khninsu, Auputi at Tentramu, and Osorkon
III. at Bubastis; the prestige investing the Tanite race
persisted so effectively that the annalists give to the last-
named precedence over the usurpers of the Ethiopian
dynasty ; the Tanites continued to be the incarnate repre-
sentatives of legitimate power, and when Osorkon ITI. died,
in 732, it was his son Psamutis who was regarded as the
Lord of Egypt. Tafnakhti had, in his defeat, gained
formal recognition of his royalty. He was no longer a
mere successful adventurer, a hero of the hour, whose
victories were his only title-deeds, whose rights rested
solely on the argument of main force. Pidnkhi, in granting
him amnesty, had conferred official investiture on him and
on his descendants. Henceforth his rule at Sais was every
whit as legitimate as that of Osorkon at Bubastis, and he
was not slow in furnishing material proof of this, for he
granted himself cartouches, the ureus, and all the other
insignia of royalty. These changes must have been
quickly noised abroad throughout Asia. Commercial
intercourse between Syria and Egypt was maintained as
actively as ever, and the merchant caravans and fleets
exported with regularity the news of events as well as the
natural products of the soil or of industry. The tidings of
an Ethiopian conquest and of the re-establishment of an
undivided empire in the valley of the Nile, coming as they
did at the very moment when the first effects of the
Assyrian revival began to be so keenly felt, could not fail
to attract the attention and arouse the hopes of Syrian
 TIGLATH-PILESER III AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
276

statesmen. The Philistines, who had never entirely

released themselves from the ties which bound them to the
Pharaohs of the Delta, felt no repugnance at asking for a

KING TAFNAKHTI PRESENTS A FIELD TO TUMU AND TO BASTIT.!

renewal of their former protection. As for the Phenicians,

the Hebrews, Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Damascus, they
began to consider whether they had not here, in- Africa,
among the members of a race favourably disposed towards
? Drawn by Boudier, from Mallet’s photograph of the stele in the Museum
at Athens.
 A CHOICE: EGYPT OR ASSYRIA 277

them by the memories of the past and by its ambition,

hereditary allies against Nineveh. The fact that Egypt
was torn by domestic dissensions and divided into a score
of rival principalities in no way diminished their traditional
admiration for its wealth or their confidence in its power;
Assyria itself was merely an agglomeration of turbulent
provinces, vassal cities, and minor kingdoms, artificially
grouped round the ancient domain of Assur, and yet the
convulsions by which it was periodically shaken had not
prevented it from developing into the most formidable
engine of war that had ever threatened the peace of Asia.
The African hosts, whether led by ordinary generals or by
aking of secondary rank, formed none the less a compact
army well fitted by numbers and organisation to hold its
own against any forces which Tiglath-pileser might put
into the field; and even should the supreme Pharaoh be
unwilling to throw the full weight of his authority into the
balance, yet an alliance with one of the lesser kings, such
as the lord of Sais or of Bubastis, would be of inestimable
assistance to any one fortunate enough to secure it. It is
true that, in so far as the ultimate issue was concerned,
there was little to be gained by thus pitting the two great
powers together and persuading one to fight against the
other; the victor must, in the long run, remain master
alike of those who had appealed for help and of those who
had fought against him, and if Egypt emerged triumphant,
there would be nothing for it but to accept her supremacy.
In either event, there could be no question of indepen-
dence; it was a choice between the hegemony of Egypt or
that of Assyria.
278 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

From the moment that Tiglath-pileser had made his

appearance on the northern horizon, the nations of Southern
Syria had instinctively looked to Pharaoh for aid. There
seems to have been an Egyptian faction in Samaria, even ~
during the disorders which broke out after the death of
Jeroboam II., and perhaps it was a hope of overcoming it
easily which led Menahem of his own accord to invoke the
still remote suzerainty of Nineveh, after the fall of Unki
in 738; later on, when Pekah had assassinated Pekahiah
and entered into alliance with Rezin, he adopted the view
of those who saw no hope of safety save from the banks
of the Nile, his only reason for doing so being, apparently,
because the kings of the fallen dynasty had received
support from the valley of the Tigris. Hosea continually
reproached his countrymen with this vacillating policy,
and pointed out the folly of it: ‘‘ Ephraim is like a silly
dove without understanding; they call unto Egypt, they
go unto Assyria; when they shall go I will spread My net
upon them,” said the Hternal.? They were to be given
up to Assyria and dispersed, and while some were to go

1 The existence of an Egyptian faction at this period has been admitted

by Kittel. Winckler has traced to the Arabian or Idumzan Muzri every-
thing previously referred to Egypt. His arguments seem to me to be, in
many cases, convincing, as I shall point out where necessary, but I think he
carries his theory too far when he systematically excludes Egypt and puts
Muzri in its place. Egypt, even in its decadent state, was a far more
important power than the Arabian Muzri, and it seems unreasonable to
credit it with such a limited share in the politics of the time. I cannot
believe that any other power is intended in most of those passages in the
Hebrew writings and Assyrian inscriptions in which the words. Mizraim
and Muzri occur.
2 Hos, vii. 11, 12.
 THE CALL OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH 279

into Assur and eat unclean food, Ephraim was to return

into Egypt; ‘for, lo, they are gone away from destruction,
yet Hgypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury
them.’ ' Nevertheless, they persisted in negotiating with
Egypt, and though there was as yet no formal alliance
between Samaria and Sais or Tanis, their relations were
so close that no enemy of Israel could look for protection
from Psamuti or his vassals. Ahaz had, therefore, nothing
to hope from this quarter, and was compelled by the force
of circumstances to throw himself into the arms of Assyria,
if he decided to call in outside aid at all. His prophets,
like those of Pekah, strenuously forbade him to do so,
and among them was one who was beginning to exert a
marvellous influence over all classes of society—Isaiah, the
son of Amoz. He had begun his career in the year that
Uzziah died,? and had continued to prophesy without
interruption during the brief reign of Jotham.° When
Jahveh first appeared to him, in the smoke of the altar,
seated on a throne and surrounded by seraphim, a sense
of his own unworthiness filled him with fear, but an angel
purified his lips with a live coal, and he heard the voice
of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will ©
go for us?” and he replied, ‘Here am I} ‘send’ me,”
whereupon Jahveh gave him this message: ‘Hear ye

1 Hos. ix. 3-6. 2 Isa. vi. 1.

8 The fragments which can be assigned to this period now occur as
follows: chap. ii. 2-5 (verses 2-4 are also found in Micah iv. 1-3, and were,
(the
perhaps, borrowed from some third prophet), ii. 6-22, iii., iv., v. 1-24
Parable of the Vineyard), and lastly, chap. vi., in so far as the substance
the
is concerned ; it seems to have been put into its present form long after
events.
280 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but

perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make
their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with
their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and turn again and be healed.” ‘Then the
prophet asked, ‘‘ Lord, how long?”’ And Jahveh answered,
‘ Until cities be waste without inhabitant and houses
without man, and the land become. utterly waste, and
Jahveh have removed men far away, and the forsaken
places be many in the midst of the land. And if there be
yet a tenth in it, it shall be eaten up; as a terebinth, and
as an oak, whose stock remaineth when they are felled,
so the holy seed is the stock thereof.” * Judah, though
less powerful, was quite as corrupt as his brethren of Israel,
and the divine wrath threatened him no less than them;
it rested with himself, however, to appease it by repentance,
and to enter again into divine favour after suffering his
punishment; the Hternal would then gather together on
Mount Sion those of His faithful people who had survived
the crisis, and would assure them a long period of prosperity
under His law. The prophet, convinced that men could
in no wise alter the decrees of the Highest, save by
repentance alone, was astonished that the heads of the
state should strive to impede the progress of events that
were happening under their very eyes, by the elaborately
useless combinations of their worldly diplomacy. To his
mind, the invasion of Pekah and Rezin was a direct
manifestation of the divine anger, and it filled him with
indignation that the king should hope to escape from it
1 Isa, vi. 9-13.
 ISAIAH’S REMARKABLE PROPHECY 281

by begging for an alliance against them with one of the

great powers: when Jahveh should decide that the punish-
ment was sufficient for the crime, He would know how
to shatter His instruments without any earthly help.
Indeed, Isaiah had already told his master, some days
before the allied kings appeared, while the latter was busy
superintending the works intended to supply Jerusalem
with water, to ‘Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither
let thy heart be faint, because of these two tails of smoking
firebrands.’ . . . Because Syria hath counselled evil against
thee, Ephraim also, and the son of Remaliah, saying, Let
us go up against Judah, hem it in, carry it by storm, and :
set up the son of Tabeel as king: thus saith the Lord God,
It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.”’ If,
however, the course of the divine justice was to be dis-
turbed by the intervention of a purely human agency, the
city would doubtless be thereby saved, but the matter
would not be allowed to rest there, and the people would
suffer even more at the hands of their allies than they had
formerly endured from their enemies. “ Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel—God with us... . For before the child shall
know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land
and
whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken,”
people,
yet ‘ Jahveh shall bring upon thee, and upon thy
come,
and upon thy father’s house, days that have not

Rezin and Syria and of the

1 An explanatory gloss, “ the fierce anger of
original prophecy, is here
son of Remaliah,” which formed no part of the
inserted in the text.
2 Isa. vii. 1-9.
 282 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.’ And

then, employing one of those daring apologues, common
enough in his time, the prophet took a large tablet and
wrote upon it in large letters two symbolical names—Spoil-
speedeth, Prey-hasteth—and set it up in a prominent place,
and with the knowledge of credible witnesses went in unto
the prophetess his wife. When the child was born in due
course, Jahveh bade him call it Spoil-speedeth, Prey-hasteth,
‘“‘for before he shall have knowledge to cry, My father,
and, My mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of
Samaria shall be carried away before the King of Assyria.”
But the Hternal added, ‘‘ Forasmuch as this people hath
refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in
Rezin and Remaliah’s son; now therefore, behold, the
Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river [the
Huphrates], strong and many :? and he shall come up over
all his channels, and go over all his banks: and he shall
sweep onward into Judah; he shall overflow and pass
through; he shall reach even to the neck, and the
stretching of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land,
O Immanuel [God-with-us]!” ®
Finding that Egypt was in favour of his adversaries,
Ahaz, in spite of the prophet’s warnings, turned to Assyria.‘
At one time he had found himself so hard pressed that

1 Isa, vii. 10-17.

7 A marginal gloss has here been inserted in the text,
indicating that it
was “the King of Assyria and all his glory ” that the
prophet referred to.
3 Isa, viii. 1-8,
* The following portions of Isaiah are accepted as belonging
to the period
of this Syrian war: in addition to chap. vii., chaps. viiiix.
6; xi. 1-9;
xxil. 1-11; i, 4-9, 18-32; to these Kuenen adds chap,
xxiii. 1-14,
 THE KINGDOM
oF DAMASCUS.
if
Scale.
10K
a
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ee
ee
a
lie i ;“4
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 THE CAMPAIGN OF 733 AGAINST ISRAEL 285

he invoked the aid of the Syrian gods, and made his eldest
son pass through the fire in order to propitiate them:?
he collected together all the silver and gold he could
find in his own treasury or in that of the temple and
sent it to Tiglath-pileser, with this message: ‘“‘I am thy
servant and thy son: come up and save me out of the
hand of the King of Syria, and out of the hand of the
King of Israel, which rise up against me.”? Tiglath-
pileser came in haste, and Rezin and Pekah, at the mere
tidings of his approach, desisted from their attack on
Jerusalem, separated, and retired each to his own king-
dom. ‘The Assyrian king did not immediately follow
them up. He took the road leading along the coast,
after leaving the plains of the middle Orontes, and levied
tribute from the Phceenician cities as he passed; he then
began by attacking the western frontier of Israel, and
sent a body of troops against the Philistines, who were
ceaselessly harassing Judah. Hannon, King of Gaza, did
not await the attack, but fled to Egypt for safety, and
Ahaz breathed freely, perhaps for the first time since
his accession. This, however, was only a beginning;
the real struggle took place in the following year, and
was hotly contested. In spite of the sorry pass to which
its former defeats and present discords had brought it,
Damascus still possessed immense wealth, and its army,
when reinforced by the Arabian and Israelite contingents,

1 2 Kings xvi.3 (cf. 2 Chron. xxviii. 3), There is nothing to indicate the
date, but most historians place the event at the beginning of the Syrian
war, a little before or during the siege. |
2 Kings xvi. 7, 8; cf. 2 Chron. xxviii. 16, 20, 21,
 286 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

was capable of holding its own for a long time against

the battalions of Assyria, even if it could not hope to
conquer them. Unfortunately for its chances, Rezin had
failed to inherit the military capacity of his great prede-
cessors, Ben-hadad and Hazael; he allowed Tiglath-pileser
to crush the Hebrews without rendering them any effective
assistance. Pekah fought his best, but he lost, one
after another, the strongholds which guarded his northern
frontier—Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and
Hazor; he saw the whole of Naphtali and Gilead laid
waste, and their inhabitants carried off into Assyria with-
out his being able to prevent it; he himself being obliged
to evacuate Samaria and take refuge in the mountains
almost unattended. Judah followed, with mingled exul-
tation and disquietude, the vicissitudes of the tragic drama
which was thus enacted before its eyes, and Isaiah
foretold the speedy ruin of the two peoples who had
but yesterday threatened to enslave it. He could already see
the following picture in his mind’s eye: ‘“‘ Damascus is taken
away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
The cities of Aroér are forsaken: they shall be for flocks,
which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the king-
dom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall
be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord
* Bothof these Aroérs lay beyond Jordan—one in Reuben, afterwards
Moab (Judg. xi. 26; Jer. xlviii. 19) ; the other in Ammon, afterwards Gad
(Josh, xiii, 25; 2 Sam. xxiv. 5); here they stand for the countries beyond
Jordan which Tiglath-pileser had just laid waste. The tradition preserved
in 1 Chron. v. 26 stated that these inhabitants of Gad and Reuben were led
into captivity by Pul, i.e. Tiglath-pileser.
 THE FALL OF THE KINGDOM OF DAMASCUS ~— 287

of hosts! And it shall come to pass in that day, that

the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness
of his flesh shall wax lean. And it shall be as when
the harvestman gathereth the standing corn, and his arm
reapeth the ears; yea, it shall be as when one gleaneth
ears in the valley of Rephaim. Yet there shall be left
therein gleanings, as the shaking of an olive tree, two
or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough,
four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree,
saith Jahveh, the God of Israel! ... In that day shall
his strong cities be as the forsaken places in the wood,
and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before
the children of Israel:1 and it shall be as a desolation.
For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation.”?
Samaria was doomed to helplessness for many a day to
come, if not for ever, but it had taken a whole year
to lay it low (733); Tiglath-pileser returned in 732, and
devoted yet another year to the war against Damascus.
Rezin had not been dismayed by the evil fortune of
his friends, and had made good his losses by means of
fresh alliances. He had persuaded first Mutton II. of
Tyre, then Mitinti of Askalon, and with the latter a
section of the Philistines, to throw in their lot with him;
he had even won over Shamshieh, queen of the Arabs, and
with her a number of the most warlike of the desert
tribes; for himself, he had taken up a position on the
further side of Anti-Lebanon, and kept strict watch from

1 This is probably an allusion to the warlike exploits performed during

Rezin and Pekah’s invasion of Judea, a year or two previously.
2 Tea, xvii. 1-6, 9, 10.
988 TIGLATH-PILESER II]. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

Mount Hermon on the roads leading from the valley of

the Jordan to the plains of the Abana, in order to prevent
the enemy from outflanking him and taking him in the
rear. But all to no purpose; Tiglath-pileser bore directly
down upon him, overwhelmed him in a pitched battle,

MOUNT HERMON.!

obliged him to take refuge behind the walls of Damascus,

and there besieged him. The city was well fortified,
amply supplied with provisions, and strongly garrisoned ;
the siege was, therefore, a long one, and the Assyrians
filed up the time by laying waste the fertile country
at. the foot of Anti-Lebanon. At last Rezin yielded, gave
himself up unconditionally, and was forthwith executed:
eight thousand of his followers were carried off to
? Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph brought back by Lortet.
 HOSHEA’S REBELLION 289

Kir, on the confines of Hlam,' his kingdom was

abolished, and a Ninevite governor was installed in his
palace, by whom the former domain of Damascus and
the territory lately wrested from Israel were henceforth
to be administered. The coalition
he had formed did not long survive
its leader.2 Mutton hastily came
to an understanding with the con-
queror; Mitinti, like Hannon, fled
into Egypt, and his place was taken
by Rukibtu, a partisan of Assyria.
Hoshea, son of Elah, rebelled
against Pekah, assassinated him, Es
and purchased the right to reign over what was left of
Israel for ten talents of gold.‘ Shamshieh alone held out.

Media, or
12 Kings xvi. 9. Kir is generally located in Armenia,
point to its
Babylonia; a passage in Isaiah (xxii. 6), however, seems to
ed with the
having been somewhere in the direction of Elam, and associat
monumen ts have not,
Arameans on the banks of the Tigris. The Assyrian
of the Kings in
as yet, yielded confirmation of the details given by the Book
s. A fragmentary
regard to the captivity of the inhabitants of Damascu
was discover ed by H. Raw-
tablet, giving an account of the death of Rezin,
knows what has since become
linson, but it was left in Assyria, and no one
of it.
from the time of »
2 The following is a list of the kings of Damascus
David, as far as is known up to the present time :—
Rezin I. HAZAEL.
KuEzi0n ? Ben-wapaD ITI.
TABRIMMON. Mari.
Ben-HADAD I. Pe one
Apapipri (Ben-HApaD I1.). Rezin II.

3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Layard.

Rawlinson, merely
4 2 Kings xv, 30, The inscription published by H.
U
VOL. Vil.
290 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

She imagined herself to be safe among the sands of the

desert, and it never occurred to her that the heavy masses
of the Assyrian army would dream of venturing into these
golitudes. Detachments of light cavalry were sent in
pursuit of her, and at first met with some difficulties;
they were, however, eventually successful ; the Armenian
and Cappadocian steeds of the Ninevite horsemen easily

ARAB MEHARIS RIDDEN DOWN BY THE ASSYRIAN CAVALRY.!

rode down the queen’s meharis. Their success made a

great impression on the Arab tribes, and induced the
Mashai, Timat Sabeans, Khaiapwans, Badaneans, and
Khattizans to bend the knee before Assyria. They all
sent envoys bearing presents of gold and silver, camels,
both male and female, and spices:* even the Muzri,

states that “they overthrew Pekah, their: king, and I promoted Auzi [to
the kingship] over them. I received [from him] X talents of gold and . . .
talents of silver... ,
+ Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the bas-relief reproduced by Layard.
2 Delitzsch has identified the names of several of these races with
‘names mentioned in the Bible, such as the Temah, Massah, Ephah,
Sheba,
 END OF THE BABYLONIAN DYNASTY 291

whose territory lay to the south of the Dead Sea, followed

their example, and a certain Idibiel wag appointed as
their chief.1_ While his lieutenants were settling out-
standing issues in this fashion, Tiglath-pileser held open
courts at Damascus, where he received the visits and
homage of the Syrians. They came toassure themselves
by the evidence of their own eyes of the downfall of
the power which had for more than one hundred years
checked the progress of Assyria. Those who, like Uassarmi
of Tabal, showed any sign of disaffection were removed,
the remainder were confirmed in their dignities, subject
to payment of the usual tribute, and Mutton of Tyre
was obliged to give one hundred talents of gold to
ransom his city. Ahaz came to salute his preserver,
and to obtain a nearer view of the soldiers to whom
he owed continued possession of Jerusalem;? the kings
of Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Askalon, the Philistines
and the nomads of the Arabian desert, carried away by
the general example, followed the lead of Judah, until
there was not a single prince or lord of a city from
the Euphrates to the river of Egypt who had not
acknowledged himself the humble vassal of Nineveh.
With the downfall of Rezin, Syria’s last hope of
recovery had vanished ; the few states which still enjoyed
some show of independence were obliged, if they wished
to retain it, to make a parade of unalterable devotion to
1 The name Muzri, as Winckler has shown, here refers, not to Egypt,
_ but to a canton near Edom, the Nabatza of the Greco-Roman geographers.
2 2 Kings xvi. 10-12. The Nimroud Inscrip. merely mentions his tribute
among that of the Syrian kings.
292 TIGLATH-PILESER IH. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

their Ninevite master, or—if they found his suzerainty

intolerable—had to risk everything by appealing to Egypt
for help.
Much as they may have wished from the very first to
do so, it was too early to make the attempt so soon after the
conference at Damascus; Tiglath-pileser had, therefore, no
cause to fear a rebellion among them, at any rate for some
years to come, and it was just as well that this was so, for
at the moment of his triumph on the shores of the
Mediterranean his interests in Chaldea were threatened by
a serious danger. Nabonazir, King of Karduniash, had
never swerved from the fidelity which he had sworn to his
mighty ally after the events of 745, but the tranquillity of
his reign had been more than once disturbed by revolt.
Borsippa itself had risen on one occasion, and endeavoured
to establish itself as an independent city side by side with
Babylon.
When Nabonazir died, in 734, he was succeeded by his
son Nabunadinziri, but at the end of a couple of years
the latter was assassinated during a popular outbreak,
and Nabushumukin, one of his sons, who had been
implicated in the rising, usurped the crown (732). He
wore it for two months and twelve days, and then abdicated
in favour of a certain Ukinzir.1 The latter was chief of the
1 The following is as complete a list as can at present be compiled of this
Babylonian dynasty, the eighth of those registered in Pinches’ Canons (cf.
Rost, Untersuch. zur altorient. Gesch., p. 27) :—
NABU-KiINABAL ? NABU-SHUMISHKUN I.

ie. = nae. ee NaABU-ABAL-IDDINA.

SHAMASH-MUDAMMIQ. MARDUK-NADIN-SHUMU.
 THE TWO CAMPAIGNS AGAINST UKI{NZIR 293
Bit-Amukkani, one of the most important among the
Chaldean communities ;’ the descendants of the Aramean
nomads were thus once more placed upon the throne, and
their accession put an end to the relations which had
existed for several centuries between Assyria and
Karduniash. These marauders, who had always shown
themselves impatient of any settled authority, and had
never proffered more than a doubtful submission to even the
most triumphant invader, were not likely to accept the
subordinate position which members of the presiding
dynasty had been, for the most part, content to occupy.
It was more probable that they would, from the very first,
endeavour to throw off the suzerainty of Nineveh. Tiglath-
pileser gave the new dynasty no time to settle itself firmly
on the throne: the year after his return from Syria he got
together an army and marched against it. He first cleared
the right bank of the Tigris, where the Pukudu (Pekod)
offered but a feeble resistance ; he annexed their territory
to the ancient province of Arrapkha, then crossed the river
MaARrpDUK-BALATSUIKBI. Ser Tea ea ar
Mea cs ue A's Nasu-SHUMISHEUN IT.
BAvU-AKHIDDIN } Nasu-niziz (NABONASSAR).
NABU-NADIN-ZiRI.
NABU-SHUMUKIN,

It included twenty-two kings, and lasted for about three hundred and fifty
years.
1 The chronicle is silent with regard to the origin of Ukinzir, but
Tiglath-pileser, who declines to give him the title of “ King of Babylon,”
says that he was mar Amukkdni = son of Amukkani. Pinches’ Canon
indicates that Ukinzir belonged to a dynasty the name of which may be
read either Shashi or Shapi. The reading Shapi at once recalls the name
of Shapia, one of the chief cities of the Bit-Amukkan i ; it would thus con-
firm the evidence of the Nimroud Inscription.
294 ~TIGLATH-PILESER IIL AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

and attacked the Kaldi scattered among the plains and

marshes of the Shatt el-Hai. The Bit-Shilani were the
first to succumb; their king Nabushabshi was impaled
before one of the gates of his capital, Sarrabanu, the town
itself was taken by storm, plundered and dismantled, and
55,000 of its inhabitants were led captive into Assyria.
After the Bit-Shilani, came the turn of the Bit-Shaali.
Dur-Illatai, their capital, was razed to the ground, and its
population, numbering 50,400 men and
women, was deported. Their chief,
Lakiru, who had shown great bravery
in the struggle, escaped impalement, but
was sent into captivity with his people,
a Ninevite governcr being appointed in
his place. Ukinzir, who was, as we
know, hereditary prince of the Bit-Amuk-
A KALDuL
kani, came up in haste to defend his
appanage, and threw himself into his fortress at Shapia:
Tiglath-pileser cut down the gardens and groves of palms
which lent it beauty, burnt the surrounding farms and vil-
lages, and tried, without success, to make a breach in the
walls; he still, however, maintained the siege, but when
winter came on and the place still held out, he broke up his
camp and retreated in good order, leaving the districts
which he had laid waste occupied by an Assyrian force.
Before his departure, he received homage and tribute
from
most of the Aramean chiefs, including those of Balasu
and
the Bit-Dakkuri, of Nadinu, and even of the Bit-Yakin
and
Merodach-baladan, whose ancestors had never before
| Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a woodcut publis
hed by Tomkins,
 TIGLATH-PILESER KING OF SUMIR AND AKKAD 295

‘kissed the foot” of an Assyrian conqueror. In this

campaign he had acquired nearly three-fourths of the whole
Babylonian kingdom ; but Babylon itself still refused to
yield, and it was no easy task to compel it to do so.
Tiglath-pileser spent the whole of the year 730 in preparing
for another attack, and in 729 he again appeared in front of
Shapta, this time with greater success: Ukinzir fell into
his hands, Babylon opened its gates, and he caused himself
to be proclaimed King of Sumir and Akkad within its walls.
Many centuries had passed since the two empires had been
united under the rule of a single master, or an Assyrian
king had ‘‘taken the hands of Bel.” Tiglath-pileser
accepted the condition attached to this solemn investiture,
which obliged him to divide his time between Calah and
Babylon, and to repeat at every festival of the New Year
the mystic ceremony by which the god of the city con-
firmed him in his office. His Babylonian subjects seem to
have taken a liking to him, and perhaps in order to hide
from themselves their dependent condition, they shortened
his purely Assyrian name of Tukulti-abal-esharra into the
familiar sobriquet of Puru or Pulu, under which appellation
the native chroniclers later on inscribed him in the official
list of kings: he did not long survive his triumph, but died

1 Contemporary documents do not furnish us with any information as to

these events. The EHponym Canon tells us that “the king took the hands of
Bel.” Pinches’ Chronicle adds that “in the third year of Ukinzir, Tiglath-
pileser marched against Akkad, laid waste the Bit-Amukkéni, and took
Ukinzir prisoner ;Ukinzir had reigned three years in Babylon. Tiglath-
pileser followed him upon the throne of Babylon.”
2 The Eponym Canon proves that in 728 B.c., the year of his death, he
once more took the hands of Bel.
296 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

in the month of Tebeth, 728 3.c., after having reigned

eighteen years over Assyria, and less than two years over
Babylon and Chaldea.
The formule employed by the scribes in recording
historical events vary so little from one reign to another,
that it is, in most cases, a difficult matter to make out,
under the mask of uniformity by which they are all
concealed, the true character and disposition of each
successive sovereign. One thing, however, is certain—
the monarch who now came upon the scene after half
a century of reverses, and in a brief space restored to
his armies the skill necessary to defeat such formidable
foes as the Armenians or the Syrians of Damascus, must
have been an able general and a born leader of men. Yet
Nineveh had never suffered long from a lack of capable
generals, and there would be little to distinguish Tiglath-
pileser from any of his predecessors, if we could place
nothing more than a few successful campaigns to his
credit. His claim to a pre-eminent place among them
rests on the fact that he combined the talents of the
soldier with the higher qualities of the administrator, and
organised his kingdom in a manner at once so simple
and so effective, that most of the Oriental powers down
to the time of the Grecian conquest were content to
accept it as a model. As soon as the ambition of the
Assyrian kings began to extend beyond the region confined
between the Khabur and the Greater Zab, they found it
necessary to parcel out their territory into provinces under
the authority of prefects for the purpose of preserving
order among the vanquished peoples, and at the same
 CREATION OF NEW PROVINCES 297
time of protecting them from the attacks of adjacent
tribes; these representatives of the central power were
supported by garrisons, and were thus enabled to put down
such minor insurrections as broke out from time to time.
Some of these provinces were already in existence in the
reigns of Shalmaneser or Tiglath-pileser I.; after the
reverses in the time of Assurirba, their number decreased,
but it grew rapidly again as Assur-nazir-pal and Shal-
maneser III. gradually extended the field of their operations
and of their victories. From this epoch onwards, the
monuments mention over a score of them, in spite of
the fact that the list thus furnished is not a complete .
one ; the provinces of which we know most are those whose
rulers were successively appointed to act as limmi, each
of them giving their name to a year of a reign. Assyria
proper contained at least four, viz. Assur (called the
country, a8 distinguished from all others), Calah, Nineveh,
and Arbela. The basin of the Lesser Zab was divided
into the provinces of Kakzi, Arrapkha, and Akhizukhina ; *
that of the Upper Tigris into those of Amidi, Tushkhan,
and Gézan. Kirruri was bounded by Mazamua, and
Mazamua by Arrapkha and Lake Urumiah. We hear of
the three spheres of Nazibina (Nisibis), Tela, and Razappa.
in Mesopotamia,’ the two former on the southern water-
sheds of the Masios, on the highways leading into Syria;
1 Akhizukhina is probably identical with Arzukhina = “the City of
Zukhina,” which is referred to as being situated in the basin of the Lesser

nny Razappa is the biblical Rezeph (2 Kings xix. 12; Isa, xxxvii. 12) and
the Resapha of Ptolemy, now Er-Rasafa, to the south of the Euphrates, on
one of the routes leading to Palmyra,
2908 TIGLATH-PILESER III]. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

the latter to the south of the Euphrates, in the former

kingdom of the Laqi. Most of them included—in addition
to the territory under the immediate control of the
governor—a number of vassal states, kingdoms, cities,
and tribes, which enjoyed a certain measure of indepen-
dence, but were liable to pay tribute and render military
service. Hach new country was annexed, as soon as
conquered, to the nearest province, or, if necessary, was
converted into a distinet province by itself; thus we find
that Assur-nazir-pal, after laying hands on the upper
valleys of the Radanu and the Turnat, rebuilt the ruined
city of Atlila, re-named it Dur-Assur, placed a com-
mandant, cavalry, and eunuchs there, and established
within it storehouses for the receipt of contributions from
the neighbouring barbarians. He followed the same course
on each occasion when the fortune of war brought him
fresh subjects;' and his successors, Shalmaneser III.,
Samsi-ramman IV., and Ramman-nirari did the same thing
in Media, in Asia Minor, and in Northern Syria ;? Tiglath-
pileser III. had only to follow their example and extend
the application of their system to the countries which
he gradually forced to submit to his rule.* In his case,
however, certain elements came into play which forced
1 We read of the appointment of a governor in Bit-Khalupi, at Tush-
khan, in Nairi, and in the country of the Patina.
2 The territory of the Bit-Adini was converted into a province by Shal-
maneser ITT.
3 We find the formation of an Aramean province, with Kar-Assur as its
capital, mentioned in the Annals of Tiglath-pileser IIT. Provinces were also
established in Media, in Unki, in the basin of the Orontes, and in Lebanon,
from nineteen districts formerly belonging to Hamath, six maritime pro-
vinces in Northern Pheenicia and in Cele-Syria, in Galilee, at Gaza.
 THE VASSAL STATES 301

him to modify several of their methods, and to have

recourse to others which they had seldom or never em-
ployed. The majority of the countries hitherto incor-
porated had been near enough to the capital—whether
it were Assur, Calah, or Nineveh—to permit of strict
watch being kept for any sign of disaffection, and they
could be promptly recalled to order if they attempted to
throw off the yoke. These provinces were, moreover, of
moderate area and sparsely populated: once drawn within
the orbit of Assyria’s attraction, they were unable to
escape from its influence by their own unaided efforts;
on the contrary, they gradually lost their individuality,
and ended by becoming merged in the body of the nation.
The Aramean tribes of the Khabur and the Balikh, the
Cosseans of the Turnat, the marauding shepherds of the
Gordywan hills and the slopes of the Masios, gradually
became assimilated to their conquerors after a more or
less protracted resistance, till at length—in spite of
differences of origin, creed, and speech—they became the
best of Assyrians, every whit as devoted to the person
of their king and as jealous of his honour as the aboriginal
Assyrians themselves. A similar result could not be
looked for in the case of the cities recently subdued. It
was not to be expected that Babylon and Damascus—to
name but two of the most important—would allow them-
selves to be influenced and to become reconciled to their
lot by artifices which had been successful enough with the
Medes and in the country of Tul-Abni.
To take the case of Babylon first. It was no mere
conglomeration of tribes, nor a state of minor importance,
 302 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

but an actual empire, nearly as large as that of Assyria

itself, and almost as solidly welded together. It extended
from the Turnat and the mountains of Elam to the Arabian
desert and the Nar-Marratiim, and even though the
Cosseans, Hlamites, Kaldé, Sumerians, Akkadians, and
other remnants of ancient peoples who formed its some-
what motley population, had dwelt there for centuries
in a state of chronic discord, they all agreed—in theory,
at any rate—in recognising the common suzerainty of
Babylon. Babylon was, moreover, by general acknowledg-
ment, the ancient metropolis to which Assyria owed its
whole civilisation; it was the holy city whose gods and
whose laws had served as a prototype for the gods and
laws of Assyria; from: its temples and its archives the
Assyrian scribes had drawn such knowledge as they
had of the history of the ancient world, their religious
doctrines and ceremonies, their methods of interpreting
the omens and of forecasting the future—in short, their
whole literature, both sacred and profane. The King
of Nineveh might conquer Babylon, might even enter
within its gates in the hour of triumph, and, when once
he had it at his mercy, might throw down its walls,
demolish its palaces, destroy its ziggurdt, burn its houses,
exterminate or carry off its inhabitants, and blot out
its name from the list of nations; but so long as he
recoiled from the sacrilege ieee in such irreparable
destruction, he was not merely powerless to reduce it to
the level of an ordinary leading provincial town, such
as
Tela or Tushkhan, but he could not even deprive it in
any way of its rank as a capital, or hope to make it
 BABYLON’S PRESTIGE 303

anything less than the second city of his empire. As

long as it remained in existence, it necessarily took
precedence of all others, thanks to its extensive area,
the beauty and antiquity of its buildings, and the number
of its inhabitants. The pride of its nobles and priests,
subdued for a moment by defeat, would almost instantly
have reasserted itself, had the victor sought to lower
the dignity of their city ; Babylon only consented to accept
an alien master provided he bowed himself respectfully
before its superiority, and was willing to forget that he
was a stranger within its gates, and was ready to comply
with its laws and masquerade as a Babylonian. Tiglath-
pileser III. never dreamt, therefore, of treating the
Babylonians as slaves, or of subordinating them to their
Assyrian descendants, but left their liberties and territory
alike unimpaired. He did not attempt to fuse into a
single empire the two kingdoms which his ability had
won for him; he kept them separate, and was content
to be monarch of both on similar terms. He divided
himself, as it were, into two persons, one of whom reigned
in Calah, while the other reigned in Karduniash, and
his Chaldean subjects took care to invest this dual réle
—hbased on a fiction so soothing to their pride—with
every appearance of reality; he ‘received from them,
together with all the titles of the Babylonian kings, that
name of Pulu, which later on found its way into their
chronicles, and which was so long a puzzle to historians,
both ancient and modern. Experience amply proved
that this was the only means by which it was possible
to yoke temporarily together the two great powers of
304 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

the Euphrates and the Tigris. Among the successors of

Tiglath-pileser, the only sovereigns to rule over Babylon
without considerable difficulty were those who followed
the precedent set by him and were satisfied to divide their
functions and reign as dual kings over a dual kingdom.’
This combination, while gratifying to the ambition of
its rulers, was, perhaps, more a source of loss than of gain
to Assyria itself. It is true that the power of Karduniash
had decreased under the previous dynasty, but it had
still been strong enough to hold back the Arameans of 7
the Persian Gulf on one side, and the EHlamite hordes
on the other. It lay like a broad barrier between these
barbarians and the cities of the Middle Tigris; when an
unusually vigorous attack compelled it to give way at
some point, it appealed to Nineveh for help, and an
Assyrian army, entering the country at the fords of the
Zab, hastened to drive back the aggressors to the place
from which they had set out. When, however, the kings
of Assyria had become kings of Babylon as well, the
situation was altered. Several branches of the Kalda
had hitherto held possession of the city, and still possessed
representatives and allies among the other tribes, especially
among the Bit-Yakin, who believed themselves entitled
to reassert their supremacy within in. The Elamite
princes, on their part, accustomed to descend at will
into the plains that lay between the Tigris and the

* This was so in the case of Tiglath-pileser III.’s immediate successor,

Shalmaneser V., of Esarhaddon, and of Assur-bani-pal; Shalmaneser was
known at Babylon by the name of Ululai, Assur-bani-pal by that of Kanda-
lanu.
 TIGLATH-PILESER IN SYRIA 805

Euphrates, and to enrich themselves by frequent raids,

could not make up their minds to change the habits of
centuries, until they had at least crossed swords with
the new despot, and put his mettle to the test. The
Ninevite King of Babylon was thus in duty bound to
protect his subjects against the same enemies that had
ceaselessly harassed his native-born predecessors, and
as the unaided resources of Karduniash no longer enabled
him to do so effectively, he was, naturally, obliged to fall
back on the forces at his disposal as King of Assyria.
Henceforward it was no longer the Babylonian army that
protected Nineveh, but rather that of Nineveh which had
to protect Babylon, and to encounter, almost every year,
foes whom in former days it had met only at rare intervals,
and then merely when it chose to intervene in their affairs.
Where the Assyrian sovereigns had gained a kingdom for
themselves and their posterity, Assyria itself found little
else but fresh battle-fields and formidable adversaries, in the
effort to overcome whom its energies were all but exhausted.
In Syria and on the shores of the Mediterranean,
Tiglath-pileser had nations of less stubborn vitality to
deal with, nor was he bound by the traditions of a common
past to show equal respect to their prejudices. Arpad, -
Unki, the Bek&éa, Damascus, and Gilead were all con-
secutively swallowed up by Assyria, but, the work of
absorption once completed, difficulties were encountered
which now had to be- met for the first time. The
subordinate to whom he entrusted the task of governing
these districts’ had one or two Assyrian regiments assigned
1 The governor was called Shaknu = “he whom the king has established
VOL. VII. x
 306 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

him as his body-guard,' and these exercised the same

ascendency over the natives as the Egyptian archers had
done in days gone by: it was felt that they had the whole
might of Assyria behind them, and the mere fact of their
presence in the midst of the conquered country was, as
a rule, sufficient to guarantee the safety of the Assyrian
governor and ensure obedience to his commands. ‘This
body-guard was never a very numerous one, for the army
would have melted away in the course of a campaign or
two, had it been necessary, after each fresh conquest, to
detach from it a sufficient force to guard against rebellion.
It was strengthened, it is true, by auxiliaries enlisted on
the spot, and the tributary chiefs included in the provincial
district were expected to furnish a reasonable quota of
men in case of need;? but the loyalty of all these people
was, at the best, somewhat doubtful, and in the event of
their proving untrustworthy at a critical moment, the
little band of Assyrian horse and foot would be left to
deal with the revolt unaided until such time as the king
could come and relieve them. The distance between the

in his place,” and pekhu = “the pilot,” “the manager,” whence pikhaitu =
“a district,” and bel-pikhati = “ the master of a district.” It seems that
the shaknu was of higher rank than the bel-pikhati, and often had the latter
under his command.
1 Thus Assur-nazir-pal selected the horsemen and other soldiers who
were to form the body-guard of the governor of Parzindu.
2 In a despatch from Belibni to Assur-bani-pal we find Aramezans from
the Persian Gulf submitting to the authority of an Assyrian officer, and
_ fighting in Elam side by side with his troops. Again, under Assur-bani-pal,
an army sent to repress a revolt on the part of Kedar and the Nabateans
included contingents from Ammon, Moab, and Edom, together with the
Assyrian garrisons of the Hauran and Zobah.
 EGYPTIAN SECRET INTRIGUES 307

banks of the Jordan or Abana and those of the Tigris

was a long one, and in nearly every instance it would
have been a question of months before help could arrive.
Meanwhile, Egypt was at hand, jealous of her rival, who
was thus encroaching on territory which had till lately
been regarded as her exclusive sphere of influence, and
vaguely apprehensive of the fate which might be in store
for her if some Assyrian army, spurred by the lust of
conquest, were to cross the desert and bear down upon
the eastern frontiers of the Delta. Distrustful of her
own powers, and unwilling to assume a directly offensive
attitude, she did all she could to foment continual dis-
turbances among the Hebrews and Pheenicians, as well
as in Philistia and Aram; she carried on secret intrigues
with the independent princes, and held out tempting hopes
of speedy intervention before the eyes of their peoples ;
her influence could readily be traced in every seditious
movement. The handful of men assigned to the governors
of the earlier provinces close to the capital would have
been of little avail against perils of this kind. Though
Tiglath-pileser added colony to colony in the distant
regions annexed by him, he organised them on a different -
plan from that which had prevailed before his time. His
predecessors had usually sent Assyrians to these colonies,
and filled the villages vacated by them with families taken
from the conquered region: a transfer of inhabitants was
made, for instance, from Nairi or from Media into Assyria,
and vice versd. By following this system, Tiglath-pileser
would soon have scattered his whole people over the
dependencies of his empire, and have found his hereditary
308 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

states peopled by a motley and incoherent collection of

aliens; he therefore left his Assyrians for the most part
at home, and only effected exchanges between captives.-
In his earlier campaigns he brought back with him, on
one occasion, 65,000 prisoners from the table-land of Iran,
in order to distribute them over a province which he
was organising on the banks of the Turnat and the Zab:
he levied contributions of this kind without mercy from
all the states that he conquered from year to year, and
dispersed the captives thus obtained over the length and
breadth of his empire; he transplanted the Arameans
of the Mesopotamian deserts, and the Kalda to the slopes
of Mount Amanus or the banks of the Orontes, the
Patinians and Hamatheans to Ulluba, the inhabitants of
Damascus to Kir or to the borders: of Elam,’ and the
Israelites to some place in Assyria.2 He allowed them
to take with them their wives and their children, their
herds, their chattels, their gods, and even their money.
Drafted into the towns and country districts in batches-
sufficiently numerous to be self-supporting, but yet not
large enough to allow of their at once re-establishing
themselves as a distinct nation in their new home, they
seem to have formed, even in the midst of the most
turbulent provinces, settlements of colonists who lived
unaffectedby any native influence or resentment. The
aborigines hated them because of their religion, their
customs, their clothing, and their language; in their
eyes they were mere interlopers, who occupied the property
of relations or fellow-countrymen who had fallen in battle
1 2 Kings xvi. 9, 2 2 Kings xv. 29.
 DEPORTATION OF THE CONQUERED RACES 309

or had been spirited away to the other end of the world.

And even when, after many years, the. native owners of
the soil had become familiarised with them, this mutual
antipathy had struck such deep root in their minds that
any understanding between the natives and the descendants
of the immigrants was quite out of the question: what
had been formerly a vast kingdom, occupied by a single
homogeneous race, actuated by a common patriotic spirit,
became for many a year a region capriciously subdivided
and torn by the dissensions of a number of paltry
antagonistic communities. The colonists, exposed to the
same hatreds as the original Assyrian conquerors, soon
forgot to look upon the latter as the oppressors of all,
and, allowing their present grudge to efface the memory
of past injuries, did not hestitate to make common cause
with them. In time of peace, the governor did his best
to protect them against molestation on the part of the
natives, and in return for this they rallied round him
whenever the latter threatened to get out of hand, and
helped him to stifle the revolt or hold it in check until
the arrival of reinforcements. ‘Thanks to their help, the
empire was consolidated and maintained without too many
violent outbreaks in regions far removed from the capital
and beyond the immediate reach of the sovereign.*
We possess very few details with regard to the adminis-
tration of these prefects.2, The various functionaries,

1 This was the history of the only one of those colonies whose fate is
known to us—that founded at Samaria by Sargon and his successors.
2 The texts contain a certain number of names of offices, the precise
nature of which it is not easy to ascertain, e.g. the Khazanu, the Labuttu,
 310 TIGLATH-PILESER Il]. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

governors of towns, tax-collectors, heads of stations, and

officers whose duty it was to patrol the roads and look
after the safety of merchants, were, for the most part,
selected from among natives who had thrown in their
lot with Assyria, and probably few Assyrians were to be
found outside the more turbulent cities and important
fortresses. The kings and chiefs whose territory was
attached to a given province, either took their instructions
direct from Nineveh, or were sometimes placed under
the control of a resident, or kipu, with some sort of escort
at his back, who kept watch over their movements and
reported them to the suzerain, and saw that the tribute
was paid regularly, and that the military service provided
for in the treaties was duly rendered.’ Governors and
residents alike kept up a constant correspondence with
the court,.and such of their letters as have chanced to
come down to us show what a minute account of even
the most trifling occurrences was required of them by the
central authorities. They were not only obliged to report
any fluctuation in the temper or attitude of their subordi-
nates, or any intrigues that were being entered into across
the frontier; they had also to record the transfer of troops,
the return of fugitives, the pursuit of deserters, any chance
scufile between soldiers and natives, as well as the punish-
ment inflicted on the rebellious, the appearance of a
portent in the heavens, or omens noticed by the augurs.
There were plenty of envious or officious tongues among
and others. One of them, apparently, should be read Shuparshak, and identical
with one of the titles mentioned in Ezra (v. 6, vi. 6) as being in existence
during the Persian epoch.
 PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATORS 311

their followers to report to headquarters the slightest failure

of duty, and to draw attention to their negligence. More-
over, it seems certain that the object of thus compelling
them to refer to the king at every turn, was not merely
in order to keep him informed of all that took place
in his dependencies, but also to lay bare the daily life
of his prefects before his eyes. The latter were entrusted
with the command of seasoned troops; they had consider-
able sums of money passing through their hands, and
were often obliged to take prompt decisions and enter
into diplomatic or military transactions on their own
responsibility ; in short, most of them, at any rate, who
were stationed at the furthest confines of the empire
were really kings in all but title, insignia, and birth.
There was always the danger lest some among them
should be tempted to reassert, in their own interest, the
independence of the countries under their rule, and seek
to found a dynasty in their midst. The strict supervision
maintained over these governors generally nipped any
ambition of this kind in the bud; in some cases, however,
it created the very danger it was intended to prevent.
If a governor who had been recalled to Nineveh or Calah
in order to explain his conduct failed to clear himself
completely, he at once fell into disgrace; and disgrace
in Assyria, as in other countries of the Hast, meant, nine
times out of ten, confiscation of property, mutilation and
lifelong imprisonment, or death in its most hideous form.
He would, therefore, think twice before quitting his post,
and if he had any reason to suppose himself suspected,
or viewed with disfavour in high quarters, he would be
 3812 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

in no hurry to obey asummons to the capital. A revolt

was almost certain to be crushed without fail, and offered
merely a very precarious chance of escape, but the governor
was seldom likely to hesitate between almost certain
condemnation and the vague possibility of a successful
rising; in such a case, therefore, he staked everything
on a single throw.
The system was
a defective one,
in that it exposed
to strong tempta-
tion the very
functionaries
whose loyalty was
most essential to
the proper work-
ing of the admin-
istration, but its
dangers were out-
TIGLATH-PILESER II. BESIEGING A REBELLIOUS ciTy,! weighed by such
important advan-
tages that we cannot but regard it as a very real im-
provement on the haphazard methods of the past. In
the first place, it opened up a larger recruiting-ground
for the army, and, in a measure, guaranteed it against that
premature exhaustion which had already led more than
once to an eclipse of the Assyrian power. It may be that
the pick of these provincial troops were, preferably, told
off
for police duties, or for the defence of the districts in which
* Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Mansel
l.
 THE FINANCES OF THE KINGDOM 313

they were levied, and that they seldom left it except to

do battle in the adjacent territory;' but, even with these
limitations they were none the less of inestimable value,
since they relieved the main army of Assyria from garrison
duties in a hundred scattered localities, and allowed the
king to concentrate it almost in its entirety about his own
person, and to direct it en masse upon those points where
he wished to strike a decisive blow. On the other hand,
the finances of the kingdom were put on a more stable
and systematic basis. For nearly the whole of the two
previous centuries, during which Assyria had resumed its
victorious career, the treasury had been filled to some
extent by taxes in kind or in money, and by various dues
claimed from the hereditary kingdom and its few immediate
dependencies, but mainly by booty and by tribute levied
after each campaign from the peoples who had been
conquered or had voluntarily submitted to Assyrian rule.
The result was a budget which fluctuated greatly, since
all forays were not equally lucrative, and the new depend-
encies proved so refractory at the idea of perpetual tribute,
that frequent expeditions were necessary in order to
persuade them to pay their dues. We do not know how
Tiglath-pileser III. organised the finances of his provinces,
but certain facts recorded here and there in the texts
show that he must have drawn very considerable amounts
from them. We notice that twenty or thirty years after
his time, Carchemish was assessed at a hundred talents,
Arpad and Kui at thirty each, Megiddo and Manzuatu at
1 Thus, in the reign of Assur-bani-pal, we find the militia of the governor
of Uruk marching to battle against the Gambulu.
 314 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

fifteen, though the purposes to which these sums were

applied is not specified. On the other hand, we know
the precise object to which the contributions of several
other cities were assigned; as, for instance, so much for
the maintenance of the throne in the palace, or for the
divans of the ladies of the harem; so much for linen
garments, for dresses, and for veils; twenty talents from

A HERD OF HORSES BROUGHT IN AS TRIBUTE.!

Nineveh for the armaments of the fleet, and ten from

the same city for firewood. Certain provinces were
expected to maintain the stud-farms, and their contribu-
tions of horses were specially valuable, now that cavalry
played almost as important a part as infantry in military
operations. The most highly prized animals came,
perhaps, from Asia Minor; the nations of Mount Taurus,
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bronze bas-reli
efs on the
gates of Balawat. The breed here represented seems to have been common
in Urartu, as well as in Cappadocia and Northern Syria.
 BUILDINGS OF TIGLATH-PILESER III. 315

who had supplied chargers to Israel and Egypt five

centuries earlier, now furnished war-horses to the
squadrons of Nineveh. The breed was small, but robust,
inured to fatigue and hard usage, and in every way similar
to that raised in these countries at the present day. In
war, horses formed a very considerable proportion of the

TYPICAL CAPPADOCIAN HORSE.!

booty taken ; in time of peace, they were used as part of

the payment of the yearly tribute, and a brisk trade in
them was carried on with Mesopotamia. After the king had
deducted from his receipts enough to provide amply for
the wants of his family and court, the salaries of the
various functionaries and officials, the pay and equipment
of his army, the maintenance and construction of palaces
—
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Alfred Boissier.
 316 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

and fortresses, he had still sufficient left over to form

an enormous reserve fund on which he and his successors
might draw in the event of their ordinary sources of
income being depleted by a series of repeated reverses.
Tiglath-pileser thus impressed upon Assyria the character
by which it was known during the most splendid century
of its history, and the organisation which he devised for
it was so admirably adapted to the Oriental genius that it
survived the fall of Nineveh, and served as a model for
every empire-maker down to the close of the Macedonian
era and even beyond it. The
wealth of the country grew
rapidly, owing to the influx
of capital and of foreign
population; in the intervals
A SYRIAN BiT-KHILANI.! between their campaigns its
rulers set to work to remove
all traces of the ruins which had been allowed
to accu-
mulate during the last forty years. The king
had built
himself a splendid palace at Calah, close to
the monu-
ments of Assur-nazir-pal and Shalmaneser
IiT.; and “ite
terraces and walls overhung the waters
of the Tigris.
The main entrance consisted of a Bit-khildn
i, one of
those porticoes, flanked by towers
and supported by
columns or pillars, often found in Syrian towns, the
fashion for which was now beginning to
spread to Western
Asia.” Those discovered at Zinjirli afford
fine examples
* Reproduced by Faucher-Gudin, from the restoration published by
Luschan.
* The precise nature of the edifices referred
to in the inscriptions under
 THE BIT-KHILANI IN ASSYRIA 317
of the arrangements adopted in buildings of this kind;
the lower part of the walls was covered with bas-reliefs,
figures of gods and men, soldiers mounted or on foot,
victims and fantastic animal shapes; the columns, where
there were any, rested on the back of a sphinx or on a
pair of griffins of a type which shows a curious mixture

THE FOUNDATIONS OF A BiT-

KHILANI AT ZINJIRLI.*

of Egyptian and Semitic influences. The wood-work of

the-Ninevite Bit-khilam was of cedar from Mount Amanus,
the door-frames and fittings were of various rare woods,

the name of Bit-khilani is still a matter of controversy. It has been identified

with the pillared hall, or audience-chamber, such as we find in Sargon’s
palace at Khorsabad, and with edifices or portions of edifices which varied
according to the period, but which were ornamented with columns. It seems
clear, however, that it was used of the whole series of chambers and buildings
which formed the monumental gates of Assyrian palaces, something analogous
to the Migdol of Ramses III. at Medinet-Habu, and more especially to the
gates at Zinjirli. ;
1 Drawn by Boudier, from a sketch published by Luschan.
 318 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

inlaid with ivory and metal. The entrance was guarded

by the usual colossal figures, and the walls of the state
reception-rooms were covered with slabs of alabaster; on
these, in accordance with the usual custom,’ were carved
scenes from the royal wars, with explanatory inscriptions.
The palace was subsequently dismantled, its pictures
defaced and its inscriptions obliterated,” to mark the hatred

BASE OF A COLUMN AT
ZINJIRLI.?

felt by later generations towards the hero whom they were

pleased to regard as a usurper ; we can only partially succeed
in deciphering his annals by the help of the fragmentary
sentences which have escaped the fury of the destroyer.
The cities and fortresses which he raised throughout the
length and breadth of Assyria proper and its more recently
acquired provinces have similarly disappeared ; we can
* The building of Tiglath-pileser’s palace is described
in the Mimroud
Inscription. It stood near the centre of the platform of
Nimroud.
* The materials were utilised by Esarhaddon, but it does
not necessarily
follow that the palace was dismantled by that monarc
h ; this was probably
done by Sargon or by Sennacherib.,
° Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph published
by Luschan.
 THE CITY OF DUR-BEL-HARRAN-BELUZUR 319

only conjecture that the nobles of his court, fired by his

example, must have built and richly endowed more than
one city on their hereditary estates, or in the territories
under their rule. Bel-harran-beluzur, the marshal of the
palace, who twice gave his name to years of the king’s
reign, viz. in 741 and 727 B.c., possessed, it would seem,
an important fief a little to the north of Assur, near the
banks of the Tharthar, on the site of the present Tel-Abta.
The district was badly cultivated, and little better than a
wilderness; by express order of the celestial deities—
Marduk, Nabu, Shamash, Sin, and the two Ishtars—he
dug the foundations of a city which he called Dur-Bel-
harran-beluzur. The description he gives of it affords
conclusive evidence of the power of the great nobles, and
shows how nearly they approached, by their wealth and
hereditary privileges, to the kingly rank. He erected, we
are told, a ziggurdt on a raised terrace, in which he placed
his gods in true royal fashion ; he assigned slaves, landed
property, and a yearly income to their priests, in order
that worship might be paid to them in perpetuity; he
granted sanctuary to all freemen who settled within the
walls or in the environs, exemption from forced labour,
and the right to tap a water-course and construct a canal.
A decree of foundation was set up in the temple in memory
of Bel-harran-beluzur, precisely as if he were a crowned
king. It is a stele of common grey stone with a circular
top. The dedicator stands erect against the background
of the carving, bare-foot and bare-headed, his face clean-
shaven, dressed in a long robe embroidered in a chess-
board pattern, and with a tunic pleated in horizontal
 320 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

rows; his right elbow is supported by the left hand,

while the right is raised to a level with his eyes, his
fist is clenched, and the thumb inserted between the first
and second fingers
in the customary
gesture of adora-
tion. What the pro-
vost of the palace
had doneon his land,
the other barons in
all probability did
on theirs; most of
the departments
which had fallen
away and languished
during the disturb-
ances at the close
of the previous
dynasty, took a new
lease of life under
their —_ protection.
Private documents
—which increase in
STELE OF BEL-HARRAN-BELUZUR.!
number as the cen-
tury draws to an end—contracts, official reports, and
letters of scribes, all give us the impression of a wealthy
and industrous country, stirred by the most intense
activity, and in the enjoyment of unexampled prosperity.
The excellent administration of Tiglath-pileser and his
* Drawn by Boudier, from the photograph published by Father Scheil,
 BEL-HARRAN-BELUZUR 321
nobles had paved the way for this sudden improvement,
and had helped to develop it, and when Shalmaneser V.
succeeded his father on the throne it continued unchecked.
The new-comer made no changes in the system of govern-
ment which had been so ably inaugurated. He still kept
Assyria separate from Karduniash ; his Babylonian subjects,
faithful to ancient custom, soon devised a nickname for
him, that of Ululai, as though seeking to persuade them-
selves that they had a king who belonged to them alone;
and it is under this name that their annalists have in-
scribed him next to Pulu in the list of their dynasties.”
His reign was, on the whole, a calm and peaceful one;
the Kalda, the Medes, Urartu, and the races of Mount
Taurus remained quiet, or, at any rate, such disorders
as may have arisen among them were of too trifling a
nature to be deemed worthy of notice in the records of
the time. Syria alone was disturbed, and several of its
independent states took advantage of the change of rulers
to endeavour to shake off the authority of Assyria.
1 It was, for a long time, an open question with the earlier Assyriologists
whether or not Shalmaneser and Sargon were different names for one and
the same monarch. As for monuments, we possess only one attributed to
Shalmaneser, a weight in the form of a lion, discovered by Layard at Nim-
roud, in the north-west palace. The length of his reign, and the scanty
details we possess concerning it, have been learnt from the Lponym Canon
_ and Pinches’ Babylonian Chronicle, and also from the Hebrew texts (2 Kings
xvii. 3-6 ; xviii. 9-12).
2 The identity of Ululai and Shalmaneser V., though still questioned by
Oppert, has been proved by the comparison of Babylonian records, in some
of which the names Pulu and Ululai occur in positions exactly correspond-
ing with those occupied, in others, by Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser. The
name Ululai was given to the king because he was born in the month of
Ulul ; in Pinches’ list we find a gloss, “ Dynasty of Tinu,” which probably
VOL. Vil. : bg
 322 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

Egypt continued to give them secret encouragement

in these tactics, though its own internal dissensions
prevented it from offering any effective aid. The Tanite
dynasty was in its death-throes. Psamuti, the last of
its kings, exercised a dubious sovereignty over but a
few of the nomes on the Arabian frontier... His neigh-
bours the Saites were gradually gaining the upper hand
in the Delta and in the fiefs of middle Egypt, at first
under Tafnakhti, and then, after his death, under his son
Bukunirinif, Bocchoris of the Greek historians. They
held supremacy over several personages who, like them-
selves, claimed the title and rank of Pharaoh; amongst
others, over a certain Rudamanu Miamun, son of Osorkon:
their power did not, however, extend beyond Siut, near
the former frontier of the Theban kingdom. The with-
drawal of Piénkhi-Miamun, and _ his subsequent death,
had not disturbed the Ethiopian rule in the southern
half of Egypt, though it somewhat altered its character.
While an unknown Ethiopian king filled the place of
the conquerer at Napata, another Ethiopian, named
Kashta, made his way to the throne in Thebes. It is
possible that he was a son of Piénkhi, and may have
been placed in supreme power by his father when the —
latter reinstated the city in its place as capital. With
all their partiality for real or supposed descendants of the
indicates the Assyrian town in which Tiglath-pileser-III, and his son were
born.
+ He is the Psammous mentioned by Manetho, The cartouches
attributed to him by Lepsius really belong to the Psammuthis of the
XXIX*
dynasty. It is possible that one of the marks found at Karnak indicating
the level of the Nile belong to the reign of this monarch.
 tT

3YNLO!d
NI 3H WIVH4O 3HL SdYVH
NI SHL HisId SWOLJO 3HL
NY3LSV3 “SONIM
 THE KUSHITE INVASION OF EGYPT 323

Ramesside dynasty, the Thebans were, before all things,

proud of their former greatness, and eagerly hoped to
regain it without delay. When, therefore, they accepted
this Kushite king who, to their eyes, represented the
only family possessed of a legitimate claim to the throne,
it was mainly because they counted on him to restore them
. to their former place among the cities of Egypt. They must
have been cruelly disappointed when he left them for the
Sacred Mountain. His invasion, far a
from reviving their prosperity, merely
served to ratify the suppression of that
pontificate of Amon-R& which was
the last remaining evidence of their
past splendour. All hope of re-estab-
lishing
F
it had now to be abandoned,
B CONE BEARING THE NAME
since the sovereign who had come to or xasuta anv or us
them from Napata was himself by birth DAUGHTER
AMENERTAS.!

and hereditary privilege the sole priest of Amon: in his

absence the actual head of the Theban religion could lay
claim only to an inferior office, and indeed, even then,
the only reason for accepting a second prophet was that
he might direct the worship of the temple at Karnak.
The force of circumstances compelled the Ethiopians
to countenance in the Thebaid what their Tanite or
Bubastite predecessors had been obliged to tolerate at
Hermopolis, Heracleopolis, Sais, and in many another
lesser city; they turned it into a feudatory kingdom,
and gave it a ruler who, like Auiti, half a century earlier,
had the right to use the cartouches. Once installed,
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after Prisse d’Avennes.
 324 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

Kashta employed the usual methods to secure his seat

on the throne, one of the first being a marriage alliance.
The disappearance of the high priests had naturally in-
creased the importance of the princesses consecrated to
the service of Amon. From henceforward they were
the sole visible intermediaries between the god and his
people, the privileged guardians of his body and his
double, and competent to perpetuate the line of the
solar kings. The Theban appanage constituted their dowry,
and even if their sex prevented them from discharging
all those civil, military, and religious duties required by
their position, no one else had the right to do so on
their behalf, unless he was expressly chosen by them
for the purpose. -When once married they deputed
their husbands to act for them; so long as they re-
mained either single or widows, some exalted personage,
the prophet of Amon or Montu, the ruler of Thebes,
or the administrator of the Said, managed their houses
and fiefs for them with such show of authority that
strangers were at times deceived, and took him for the
reigning monarch of the country. The Pharaohs had,
therefore, a stronger incentive than ever to secure exclusive
possession of these women, and if they could not get
all of them safely housed in their harems, they en-
deavoured, at any rate, to reserve for themselves the
chief among them, who by purity of descent or seniority
1 Thus Harua, in the time of Amenertas, was prince and chief over the
servants of the “Divine Worshipper.” Mantumihait, in the time of
_ Taharga and of Tanuatamanu, was ruler of Thebes, and fourth prophet of
Amon, and it is he who is described in the Assyrian monuments as King of
Thebes.
 EGYPT IN THE TIME OF SHALMANESER V. 325
in age had attained the grade of Divine Worshipper.
Kashta married a_ certain Shapenuapit, daughter of
Osorkon III. and a Theban pallacide;! it is uncertain
whether he eventually became king over Kthiopia and
the Sudan or not. So far, we have no proof that he did,
but it seems quite possible when we remember that one
of his children, Shabaku (Sabaco), subsequently occupied
the throne of Napata in addition to that of Thebes. Kashta
does not appear to have possessed sufficient energy to
prevent the Delta and its nomes from repudiating the
Ethiopian supremacy. The Saites, under Tafnakhti or
Bocchoris, soon got the upper hand, and it was to them
that the Syrian vassals of Nineveh looked for aid, when
death removed the conqueror who had trampled them so
ruthlessly underfoot. Ever since the fall of Arpad,
Hadrach, and Damascus, Shabarain, a town situated some-
where in the valley of the Orontes or of the Upper Litany,?
and hitherto but little known, had served as a rallying-
point for the disaffected Aramean tribes: on the accession
of Shalmaneser V. it ventured to rebel, probably in 727 z.c.,
* It may be that, in accordance with a custom which obtained during
the generations that followed, and which possibly originated about this
period, this daughter of Osorkon III. was only the adoptive mother of
Amenertas.
Shabarain was originally confounded with Samaria by the early com-
mentators on the Babylonian Chronicle. Halévy, very happily, referred it to
the biblical Sepharvaim, a place always mentioned in connection with
Hamath and Arpad (2 Kings xvii. 24, 31; xviii. 34; xix. 13: cf. Isa. xxxvi,
19; xxxvii. 13), and to the Sibraim of Ezekiel (xlvii. 16), called in the
Septuagint Samaréim, Its identification with Samaria has, since then, been
generally rejected, and its connection with Sibraim admitted. Sibraim (or
Sepharvaim, or Samaréim) has been located at Shomeriyeh, to the east of the
Bahr-Kades, and south of Hamath.
326 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

but was overthrown and destroyed, its inhabitants being

led away captive. This achievement proved, beyond the
possibility of doubt, that in spite of their change of rulers
the vengeance of the Assyrians was as keen and sharp
as ever. Not one of the Syrian towns dared to stir,
and the Phoenician seaports, though their loyalty had
seemed, for a moment, doubtful, took care to avoid any
action which might expose them to the terrors of a like
severity. The Israelites and Philistines, alone of the
western peoples, could not resign themselves to a prudent
policy ; after a short period of hesitation they drew the
sword from its scabbard, and in 725 war broke out.?

1 The siege of Tyre, which the historian Menander, in a passage

quoted by Josephus, places in the reign of Shalmaneser, ought really to be
referred to the reign of Sennacherib, or the fragment of Menander must
be divided into three parts dealing with three different Assyrian cam-
paigns against Tyre, under Tiglath-pileser, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon
respectively.
2 The war cannot have begun earlier, for the Hponym Canon, in dealing
with 726, has the words ‘‘in the country,” thus proving that no expedition
took place in that year; in the case of the year 725, on the other hand, it
refers to a campaign against some country whose name has disappeared.
The passages in the Book of Kings (2 Kings xvii, 1-6, and xviii. 9-12) which
deal with the close of the kingdom of Israel, have been interpreted in such
a way as to give us two campaigns by Shalmaneser against Hoshea: (1)
Hoshea having failed to pay the tribute imposed upon him by Tiglath-pileser,
Shalmaneser made war upon him and compelled him to resume its payment
(2 Kings xvii. 1-3) ; (2) Hoshea having intrigued with Egypt, and declined
to pay tribute, Shalmaneser again took the field against him, made him
prisoner, and besieged Samaria for three years (2 Kings xvii. 4-6; xviii.
9-12). The first expedition must, in this case, have taken place in 727,
while the second must have lasted from 725-722. Most modern historians
believe that the Hebrew writer has ascribed to Shalmaneser the subjection
of Hoshea which was really the act of Tiglath-pileser, as well as the final
war against Israel. According to Winckler, the two portions of the narrative
 HOSHEA AND THE REVOLT OF SAMARIA 327

Hoshea, who had ascended the throne with the consent

of Tiglath-pileser, was unable to keep them quiet. The
whole of Galilee and Gilead was now an Assyrian province,
subject to the governor of Damascus; Jerusalem, Moab,
Ammon, and the Beddwin had transferred their allegiance
to Nineveh; and Israel, with merely the central tribes of
Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin left, was now barely
equal in area and population to Judah. Their tribute
weighed heavily on the Israelites ; passing armies had laid
waste their fields, and townsmen, merchants, and nobles
alike, deprived of their customary resources, fretted with
impatience under the burdens and humiliations imposed
on them by their defeat ; convinced of their helplessness,
they again looked beyond their own borders for some
nation or individual who should restore to them their lost
prosperity. Amid the tottering fortunes of their neigh-
bours, Egypt alone stood erect, and it was, therefore, to
Egypt that they turned their eyes. Negotiations were
opened, not with Pharaoh himself, but with Shabi, one of
the petty kings on the eastern frontier of the Delta, whose
position made him better qualified than any other to deal
with Syrian affairs." Hannon of Gaza had by this time
returned from exile, and it was, doubtless, owing to Shabi’s
support that he had been able to drive out the Assyrian

must have been borrowed from two different versions of the final war, which
the final editor inserted one after the other, heedless of the contradictions
contained in them.
1 This individual is called Sua, Seveh, and So in the Hebrew text (2 Kings
xvii. 4), and the Septuagint gives the transliteration Sebek side by side with
Ségés. He is found again under the forms Shibahi, Shabi, Shabé, in Sargon’s
inscriptions.
 :

328 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

generals and recover his crown.' The Israelite aristocracy

was led away by his example, but Shalmaneser hastened
to the spot before the Egyptian bowmen had time to cross
the isthmus. Hoshea begged for mercy, and was deported
into Assyria and condemned to lifelong imprisonment.’
Though deserted by her king, Samaria did not despair;
she refused to open her gates, and, being strongly fortified,
compelled the Assyrians to lay regular siege to the city.
It would seem that at one moment, at the beginning of
operations, when it was rumoured on all sides that Pharaoh
would speedily intervene, Ahaz began to fear for his own
personal safety, and seriously considered whether it would
not be wiser to join forces with Israel or with Egypt.?
The rapid sequence of events, however, backed by the
counsel of Isaiah, speedily recalled him to a more reason-
able view of the situation. The prophet showed him
Samaria spread out before him like one of those wreaths of
flowers which the guests at a banquet bind round their

1 This seems to be the inference from Sargon’s inscription, in which he

is referred to as relying on the army of Shabi, the tartan of Egypt.
22 Kings xvii. 4.
° The Second Book of Kings (xviii. 9,10 ; cf. xvii. 6) places the beginning
of the siege of Samaria in the seventh year of Hoshea (= fourth year of
Hezekiah), and the capture of the town in the ninth year of Hoshea (= sixth
year of Hezekiah) ; further on it adds that Sennacherib’s campaign against
Hezekiah took place in the fourteenth year of the latter’s reign (2 Kings
xvill. 13 ; cf. Isa, xxxvi. 1). Now, Sennacherib’s campaign against Heze-
kiah took place (as will be shown later on, in vol. viii. Chapter I.) in 702
B.C., and Samaria was captured in 722. The synchronisms in the Hebrew
narrative are therefore fictitious, and rest on no real historical basis—at any
Yate, in so far as the king who occupied the throne of Judah at the time of
the fall of Samaria is concerned ; Ahaz was still alive at that date, and
continued to reign till 716 or 715, or perhaps only till 720.
 THE SIEGE OF SAMARIA 329

brows, and which gradually fade as their wearers drink

deeper and deeper. ‘‘ Woe to the crown of pride of the
drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his
glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of
them that are overcome with wine. Behold, the Lord hath
a mighty and strong one; as a tempest of hail, a destroying
storm, as a tempest of mighty waters overflowing, shall he
cast down to the earth with violence. The crown of the
pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under-
foot, and the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which
is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the first ripe fig
before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it
seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.” While
the cruel fate of the perverse city was being thus accom-
plished, Jahveh Sabaoth was to be a crown of glory to those
of His children who remained faithful to Him; but Judah,
far from submitting itself to His laws, betrayed Him even
as Israel had done. Its prophets and priests were likewise
distraught with drunkenness; they staggered under the
effects of their potations, and turned to scorn the true
prophet sent to proclaim to them the will of Jehovah.
“Whom,” they stammered between their hiccups—‘“ whom
will He teach knowledge? and whom will He make to-
understand the message? them that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breasts? For it is precept upon
precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon
line, here a little and there a little!” And sure enough
it was by the mouth of a stammering people, by the lips
of the Assyrians, that Jahveh was to speak to them. In
vain did the prophet implore them: ‘“‘ This is the rest, give
 330 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

ye rest to him that is weary ;”’ they did not listen to him,
and now Jahveh turns their own gibes against them:
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little and there a little,’”’—*‘ that
they may go and fall backward, and be broken and snared
and taken.” There was to be no hope of safety for
Jerusalem unless it gave up all dependence on human
counsels, and trusted solely to God for protection.'
Samaria was doomed ; this was the general belief, and men
went about repeating it after Isaiah, each in his own
words; every one feared lest the disaster should spread
to Judah also, and that Jahveh, having once determined
to have done with the northern kingdom, would turn His
wrath against that of the south as well. Micah the
Morashtite, a prophet born among the ranks of the middle
class, went up and down the land proclaiming misery
to be
the common lot of the two sister nations sprung from
the
loins of Jacob, as a punishment for their common
errors
and weaknesses. “The Lord cometh forth out
of His
place, and will come and tread upon the high places
of the
earth. And the mountains shall be molten
under Him,
and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before
the fire, as
waters that are poured down a steep place. For the trans-_
1 Isa. xxviii. Giesebrecht has given it as his opinion that
only verses
1-6, 23-29 of the prophecy were delivered
at this epoch: the remainder
he believes to have been written during
Sennacherib’s campaign against
Judah, and suggests that the prophet added
on his previous oracle to them,
thus diverting it from its original application.
Others, such as Stade and
Wellhausen, regard the opening verses
as embodying a mere rhetorical
figure. Jerusalem, they say, appeared to
the prophet as though changed
into Samaria, and it is this transformed
city which he calls “ the crown of
pride of the drunkards of Ephraim.”
 THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH 331

gression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house
of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not
Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they
not Jerusalem?” The doom pronounced against Samaria
was already being carried out, and soon the hapless city
was to be no more than ‘“‘an heap of the field, and as the
plantings of a vineyard; and I will pour down the stones
thereof into the valley,’’ saith the Lord, “and I will dis-
cover the foundations thereof. And all her graven images
shall be beaten to pieces, and all her hires shall be burned
with fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate; for of the
hire of an harlot hath she gathered them, and into the
hire of an harlot shall they return.” Yet, even while
mourning over Samaria, the prophet cannot refrain from
thinking of his own people, for the terrible blow which had
fallen on Israel “is come even unto Judah; it reacheth
unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.” * Doubt-
less the Assyrian generals kept a watchful eye upon Ahaz
during the whole time of the siege, from 724 to 722, and
when once the first heat of enthusiasm had cooled, the
presence of so formidable an army within striking distance
must have greatly helped the king to restrain the ill-
advised tendencies of some of his subjects. Samaria still
held out when Shalmaneser died at Babylon in the month
of Tebeth, 722. Whether he had no son of fit age to
succeed him, or whether a revolution, similar to that which
had helped to place Tiglath-pileser on the throne, broke out
clear.
as soon as he had drawn his last breath, is not quite
him,
At any rate, Sargon, an officer who had served under
1 Micah i, 3-9.
 332 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

was proclaimed king on the 22nd day of Tebeth, and his

election was approved by the whole of Assyria. After
some days of hesitation, Babylon declined to recognise
him, and took the oath of allegiance to a Kaldu named
Marduk-abalidinna, or Merodach-baladan. While these
events were taking place in the heart of the empire,
Samaria succumbed; perhaps to famine, but more probably
to force. It was sacked and dismantled, and the bulk of
its population, amounting to 27,280 souls, were carried
away into Mesopotamia and distributed along the Balikh,
the Khabur, the banks of the river of Gozan, and
among the towns of the Median frontier. Sargon
made the whole territory into a province; an Assyrian
governor was installed in the palace of the kings of
Israel, and soon the altars of the strange gods smoked
triumphantly by the side of the altars of Jahveh (722
Be02)2
1 Sargon does not mention where he deported the Israelites to,
but we learn
this from the Second Book of Kings (xvii. 6 ; xviii. 11). There has
been much
controversy as to whether Samaria was taken by Shalmaneser, as
the Hebrew
chronicler seems to believe (2 Kings xvii. 3-6; xviii. 9, 10), or by
Sargon, as
the Assyrian scribes assure us, At first, several scholars suggeste
d a solution
of the difficulty by arguing that Shalmaneser and Sargon were
one and the
same person; afterwards the theory took shape that Samaria
was really
captured in the reign of Shalmaneser, but by Sargon, who was
in command
of the besieging army at the time, and who transferred this
achievement, of
which he was naturally proud, to the beginning of
his own reign. The
simplest course seems to be to accept for the present
the testimony of
contemporary documents, and place the fall of Samaria
at the beginning
of the reign of Sargon, being the time indicated
by Sargon in his
inscriptions.
2 2 Kings xvii. 24-41, a passage to which I shall
have occasion to refer
farther on in the present volume. The following is a list of the kings of
Israel, after the division of the tribes :-—
 DESTRUCTION OF THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL 335

Thus fell Samaria, and with Samaria the kingdom of

Israel, and with Israel the last of the states which had
aspired, with some prospect of success, to rule over Syria.
They had risen one after another during the four centuries
in which the absence of the stranger had left them masters
of their own fate—the Hittites in the North, the Hebrews
and the Philistines in the South, and the Arameans and
Damascus in the centre; each one of these races had
enjoyed its years of glory and ambition in the course of
which it had seemed to prevail over its rivals. Then those
whose territory lay at the extremities began to feel the
disadvantages of their isolated position, and after one or
two victories gave up all hope of ever establishing a
supremacy over the whole country. The Hittite sphere of
influence never at any time extended much further south-
wards than the sources of the Orontes, while that of the
_ Hebrews in their palmiest days cannot have gone beyond
the vicinity of Hamath. And even progress thus far had
cost both Hebrews and Hittites a struggle so exhausting
that they could not long maintain it. No sooner did they
relax their efforts, than those portions of Cole-Syria which
they had annexed to their original territory, being too

|
I. Jerosoam I. VI. Omri. XI. JEHOAHAZ. XVI. MenaHEM.
| | |
TL, Mite: VII. Awaz. XII. JeEHOASH. XVII. Peranraz.
Hex |
III. Baaswa. VIII. | AHAZIAH, XIII. Jeropoam II. |XVIII. Pzxaz. .

IV. oe IX. oe XIV. ZecwARIAd. XIX. HosHeEa.

V. Zima. X. JEHU. XV. Szarrom.
|
[In this table father and son are shown by a perpendicular line. The king’s
name in italics signifies that he died a violent death.—Tr. ] .
 834 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

remote from the seat of power to feel its full attraction,

gradually detached themselves and resumed their indepen-
dence, their temporary suzerains being too much exhausted
by the intensity of their own exertions to retain hold over

Ie orieroaks

SARGON OF ASSYRIA AND HIS VIZIER.!

them. Damascus, which lay almost

in the centre, at an
equal distance from the Huphrates
and the “river of
Egypt,” could have desired no better
position for grouping
the rest of Syria round her. If any city had a chance of
establishing a single kingdom, it
was Damascus, and
Damascus alone. But lulled to blis
sful slumbers in her
| ? Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Flandin.
 DESTRUCTION OF THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL 335

shady gardens, she did not awake to political life and to the
desire of conquest until after all the rest, and at the very
moment when Nineveh was beginning to recover from her
early reverses. Both Ben-hadads had had a free hand
given them during the half-century which followed, and
they had taken advantage of this respite to reduce Ceele-
Syria, the Lebanon, Arvadian Pheenicia, Hamath, and the
Hebrews—in fact, two-thirds of the whole country—to
subjection, and to organise that league of the twelve kings
which reckoned Ahab of Israel among its leaders. This
rudimentary kingdom had scarcely come into existence,
and its members had not yet properly combined, when
Shalmaneser III. arose and launched his bands of veterans
against them ; it however successfully withstood the shock,
and its stubborn resistance at the beginning of the struggle
shows us what it might have done, had its founders been
allowed time in which to weld together the various
elements at their disposal. As it was, it was doomed to
succumb—not so much to the superiority of the enemy as
to the insubordination of its vassals and its own internal
discords. The league of the twelve kings did not survive
Ben-hadad II.; Hazael and his successors wore themselves
out in repelling the attacks of the Assyrians and in
repressing the revolts of Israel; when Tiglath-pileser III.
arrived on the scene, both princes and people, alike at
Damascus and Samaria, were so spent that even their final
alliance could not save them from defeat. Its lack of
geographical unity and political combination had once
more doomed Syria to the servitude of alien rule; the
Assyrians, with methodical procedure, first conquered and
336 TIGLATH-PILESER III. AND THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

then made vassals of all those states against which they

might have hurled their battalions in vain, had not fortune
kept them divided instead of uniting them in a compact
mass under the sway of a single ruler. From Carchemish
to Arpad, from Hamath to Damascus and Samaria, their
irresistible advance had led the Assyrians on towards
Egypt, the only other power which-still rivalled their
prestige in the eyes of the world; and now, at Gaza, on the
frontier between Africa and Asia, as in days gone by on the
banks of the Euphrates or the Balikh, these two powers
waited face to face, hand on hilt, each ready to stake the
empire of the Asiatic world on a single throw of the dice.
 SARGON OF ASSYRIA (722-705 so).
—!_+4——_.

SARGON AS A WARRIOR AND AS A BUILDER.

The origin of Sargon If.: the revolt of Babylon, Merodach-baladan and

Hlam—The kingdom of Elam from the time of the first Babylonian empire; the
conquests of Shutruk-nakhunta I. ; the princes of Malamir—The first encounter
of Assyria and Elam, the battle of Durilu (721 3.c.)—Revolt of Syria, Iaubtdi
of Hamath and Hannon of Gaza—Bocchoris and the XXIV" Egyptian
dynasty ; the first encounter of Assyria with Egypt, the battle of Raphia
(720 B.c.).

Urartu and the coalition of the peoples of the north-east and north-west—
Defeat of Zikartu (719 B.c.), of the Tabal (718), of the Khdti (717), of the
/ Mannai, of the Medes and Ellipi (716), and of the Medes (715)—Commencement
of XXV Ethiopian dynasty: Sabaco (716)—The fall of Urzana and Rusas
(714) and the formation of an Assyrian province in Cappadocia (713-710)—
The revolt and fall of Ashdod.

The defeat of Merodach-baladan and of Shutruk-nakhunta IT.: Sargon

conquers Babylon (710-709 B.c.)—Success of the Assyrians at Mushki : homage
VOL. VII. Z
 (4.3854
of the Greeks of Cyprus (710) —The buildings of Sargon: Dur-sharrukin—The
gates and walls of Dur-sharrukin ; the city and its population—The royal
palace, its courts, the ziggurdt, the harem—Revolt of Kummukh (709 B.c.) and
of Ellipi (708 B.c.)\—Inauguration of Dur-sharrukin (706 B.c.)—Murder of
Sargon (705 8.0.) : his character.
 THE MOUND OF KHORSABAD, BEFORE BOTTA’S EXCAYATIONS.!

CHAPTER III
SARGON OF ASSYRIA (722-705 B.c,)
Sargon as a warrior and as a builder.

HETHER Sargon was even re-

motely connected with the royal
line, is a question which for the
present must remain unanswered. He
mentions in one of his inscriptions the
three hundred princes who had pre-
ceded him in the government of
Assyria, and three lines further on
he refers to the kings his ancestors,
but he never mentions his own father
by name, and this omission seems
to prove that he was not a direct
1 Drawn by Boudier, after Flandin. The vignette is copied by Faucher-
Gudin,
 340 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

descendant of Shalmaneser V., nor of Tiglath-pileser III.

nor indeed of any of their immediate predecessors. It is,
however, probable, if not certain, that he could claim
some sort of kinship with them, though more or less
remote. It was customary for the sovereigns of Nineveh
to give their daughters in marriage to important officials
or lords of their court, and owing to the constant con-
traction of such alliances through several centuries, there
was hardly a noble family but had some royal blood
in its veins; and that of Sargon was probably no ex-
ception to the rule. His genealogy was traced by the
chroniclers, through several hundred generations of princes,
to the semi-mythical heroes who had founded the city
of Assur; but as Assur-nazir-pal and his descendants
had claimed Bel-kapkapi and Sulili as the founders of
their race, the Sargonids chose a different tradition, and
drew their descent from Belbani, son of Adasi. The
cause and incidents of the revolution which raised Sargon
to the throne are unknown, but we may surmise that
the policy adopted with regard to. Karduniash was a factor
in the case. Tiglath-pileser had hardly entered Babylon
before the fascination of the city, the charm of its
associations, and the sacred character of the legends
which hallowed it, seized upon his imagination; he re-
turned to it twice in the space of two years to ‘take the
hands of Bel,” and Shalmaneser V. much preferred it to
Calah or Nineveh as a place of residence. The Assyrians
doubtless soon became jealous of the favour shown by
_their princes to their ancient enemy, and their discontent —
must have doubtless conduced to their decision to raise
 HIS ORIGIN AND THE REVOLT OF BABYLON 341

a new monarch to the throne. The Babylonians, on the

other hand, seem to have realised that the change in
the dynasty presaged a disadvantageous alteration of
government; for as soon as the news reached them a
movement was set on foot and search made for a
rival claimant to set up in opposition to Sargon.'
Of all the nations who had in turn occupied the
plains of the Lower Euphrates and the marshes border-
ing on Arabia, the Kaldé alone had retained their full
vitality. They were constantly recruited by immigrants
from their kinsfolk of the desert, and the continual infil-
tration of these semi-barbarous elements kept the race
from becoming enervated by contact with the indigenous
population, and more than compensated for the losses
in their ranks occasioned by war. The invasion of
Tiglath-pileser and the consequent deportations of prisoners
had decimated the tribes of Bit-Shiléni, Bit-Shaali, and
Bit-Amuhkani, the principalities of the Kaldé which lay
nearest to Babylonian territory, and which had _ borne
the brunt of attack in the preceding period; but their
weakness brought into notice a power better equipped
for warfare, whose situation in their rear had as a rule
1 The succession of events, as indicated in Pinches’ Babylonian Chronicle, -
seems indeed to imply that the Babylonians waited to ascertain the dis-
position of the new king before they decided what line to adopt. In fact,
Shalmaneser died in the month Tebeth, and Sargon ascended the throne at
Assur in the same month, and it was only in the month Nisan that Mero-
dach-baladan was proclaimed king. The three months intervening between
the accession of Sargon and that of Merodach-baladan evidently represent a
period of indecision, when it was not yet known if the king would follow the
policy of his predecessors with regard to Babylon, or adopt a different attitude
towards her,
342 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

hitherto preserved it from ‘contact with the Assyrians,

namely, Bit-Yakin. The continual deposit of alluvial soil
at the mouths of the rivers had ‘greatly altered the coast-
line from the earliest historic times downwards. The
ancient estuary was partly filled up, especially on .the
western side, where the Euphrates enters the Persian
Gulf: a narrow barrier of sand and silt extended between
the marshes of Arabia and Susiana, at the spot where
the streams of fresh water met the tidal waters of the
sea, and all that was left of the ancient gulf was a vast
lagoon, or, as the dwellers on the banks called it, a kind
of brackish river, Ndr marratum. Bit-Yakin occupied the
southern and western portions of this district, from the
mouth of the Tigris to the edge of the desert. The
aspect of the country was constantly changing, and pre-
sented no distinctive features; it was a region difficult
to attack and easy to defend; it consisted first of a
spongy plain, saturated with water, with scattered artificial
mounds on which stood the clustered huts of the villages;
between this plain and the shore stretched a labyrinth
of fens and peat-bogs, irregularly divided. by canals
and channels freshly formed each year in flood-time,
meres strewn with floating islets, immense reed-beds
where the neighbouring peasants took refuge from
attack, and into which no one would venture to
penetrate without hiring some friendly native as a
guide. In this fenland dwelt the Kaldé in their low,
small conical huts of reeds, somewhat resembling giant
beehives, and in all respects similar to those which the
Bedawin of Irak inhabit at the present day. Dur-Yakin,
 MERODACH-BALADAN OF BIT-YAKIN AND ELAM 348

their. capital, was probably situated on the borders of

the gulf, near the Huphrates, in such a position as to
command the mouths of the river. Merodach-baladan,
who was King of Bit-Yakin at the time of Sargon’s
accession, had become subject to Assyria in 729 B.c.,

ASSYRIAN SOLDIERS PURSUING KALDA REFUGEES IN A BED OF REEDS.!

and had paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser, but he was

nevertheless the most powerful chieftain who had borne
rule over the Chaldeans since the death of Ukinzir.’
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief reproduced in Layard.
2 Dur-Yakin was situated on the shores of the Persian gulf, as is proved
by a passage in the Bull Inscription, where it is stated that Sargon threw
into the sea the corpses of the soldiers killed during the siege ; the neighbour-
hood of the Euphrates is implied in the text of the Inscription des Fastes,
and the Annals, where the measures taken by Merodach-baladan to defend
 344 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

It was this prince whom the Babylonians chose to succeed

Shalmaneser V. ‘He presented himself before the city,
was received with acclamation, and prepared without delay
to repulse any hostilities on the part of the Assyrians.

A REED-HUT OF THE BEDAWIN OF IRAK.'

He found a well-disposed ally in Elam. From very

ancient times the masters of Susa had aspired to the
possession of Mesopotamia or the suzerainty over it, and
his capital are described. The name of Bit-Yakin, and probably also that of
Dur-Yakin, have been preserved to us in the name of Aginis or Aginné, the
name of a city mentioned by Strabo, and by the historians of Alexander.
- Its site is uncertain, but can be located near the present town of Kornah.
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph in Peters.
 THE MASTERS OF SUSA 345

fortune had several times favoured their ambitious designs.

On one occasion they had pressed forward their victorious
arms as far as the Mediterranean, and from that time
forward, though the theatre of their operations was more
restricted, they had never renounced the right to interfere
in Babylonian affairs, and indeed, not long previously,
one of them had reigned for a period of seven years in
Babylon in the interval between two dynasties. Our
information with regard to the order of succession and the
history of these energetic and warlike monarchs is as yet
very scanty; their names even are for the most part lost, and
only approximate dates can be assigned to those of whom
we catch glimpses from time to time." Khumban-numena,
the earliest of whom we have any record, exercised a
doubtful authority, from Anshan to Susa, somewhere about
the fourteenth century s.c., and built a temple to the god
Kirisha in his capital, Liyan.2 His son Undasgal carried
on the works begun by his father, but that is all the

1 These names are in the majority of cases found written on stamped and
baked bricks. They were first compared with the names contained in the
Annals of Sargon and his successors, and assimilated to those of the princes
who were contempor ary with Sennacherib and Assur-bani-pal ; then they
were referred to the time of the great Elamite empire, and one of them was
identified with that Kudur-Nakhunta who had pillaged Uruk 1635 years -
inter-
before Assur-bani-pal. Finally, they were brought down again to an
century B.C.
mediate period, more precisely, to the fourteenth or thirteenth
permissible , by
This last date appears to be justified, at least as the highest
the mention of Durkurigalzu, in a text of Undasgal.
and the
2 Jensen was the first to recognise that Liyan was a place-name,
was the capital of the
inscriptions of Shilkhak-Inshusinak add that Liyan
of Susa. Khumba n-nume na
kingdom ; perhaps it was the name of a part
is mention ed on those of his
has left us no monuments of his own, but he
son,
 346 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

information the inscriptions afford concerning him, and

the mist of oblivion which for a moment lifted and
allowed us to discern dimly the outlines of this sovereign,
closes in again and hides everything from our view for
the succeeding forty or fifty years. About the thirteenth
century a gleam
once more pierces
the darkness, and
a race of warlike
and pious kings
emerges into view
—Khalludush-In-
shushinak, his
son Shutruk-nak-
hunta, the latter’s
two sons, Kutur-
nakhunta and
Shilkhak - Inshu-
shinak,’ and then -

BRICK BEARING THE NAME

perhaps a certain
OF THE SUSIAN KING SHILKHAK- Kutir. - khuban
INSHUSHINAK.? ¥
The inscriptions
on their bricks boast of their power, their piety, and
their
inexhaustible wealth. One after another they repa
ired and
enlarged the temple built by Khumban-numena
at Liyan,
erected sanctuaries and palaces at Susa, fortified
their
+ The order of succession of these princes is
proved by the genealogies
with which their bricks are covered. J ensen has shown that we ought to
read Khalludush-Inshushinak and Shilkhak-I
nshushinak, instead of the
shorter forms Khalludush and Shilkhak read
previously.
? Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by
Marcel Dieulafoy,
 THE CONQUESTS OF SHUTRUK-NAKHUNTA I. 347

royal citadel, and ruled over Habardip and the Cossxans

as well as over Anshan and Elam. They vigorously con-
tested the possession of the countries on the right bank
of the Tigris with the Babylonians, and Shutruk-nakhunta
even succeeded in conquering Babylon itself. He deprived
Zamima-shumiddin, the last but one of the Cossxan
kings, of his sceptre and his life, placed his own son
Kutur-nakhunta on the throne, and when the vanquished
Babylonians set up Bel-nadinshumu as a rival sovereign,
he laid waste Karduniash with fire and sword. After the
death of Bel-nadinshumu, the Pashé princes continued
to offer resistance, but at first without success. Shutruk-
nakhunta had taken away from the temple of Hsagilla
the famous statue of Bel-Merodach, whose hands had
to be taken by each newly elected king of Babylon, and
had carried it off in his waggons to Elam, together with
much spoil from the cities on the Euphrates." Nebu-
chadrezzar I. brought the statue back to Babylon after
many vicissitudes, and at the same time recovered most
of his lost provinces, but he had to leave at Susa the
bulk of the trophies which had been collected there in
course of the successful wars. One of these represented
the ancient hero Naram-sin standing, mace in hand, on
the summit of a hill, while his soldiers forced their way

1 The name of the king is destroyed on the Babylonian document, but

on
the mention of Kutur-nakhunta as his son obliges us, till further informati
the Shutruk- nakhunta of the bricks of
comes to light, to recognise in him
khunta. This would confirm the restoratio n
Susa, who also had a son Kutur-na
of a sovereign who boasts, in a mutilated
of Shutruk-nakhunta as the name
and even up
inscription, that he had pushed his victories as far as the Tigris,
to the Euphrates.
 348 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

up the slopes, driving before them the routed hosts of

Susa. Shutruk-nakhunta left the figures and names un-
touched, but carved in one corner of the bas-relief a
dedicatory inscription, trans-
forming this ancient proof of
Babylonian victories over
Elam into a trophy of Elamite
victories over Babylon. His
descendants would assuredly
have brought Mesopotamia
into lasting subjection, had
not the feudal organisation
of their empire tolerated the
existence of contemporary
local dynasties, the members
¢ of which often disputed the
#4 supreme authority with the
bi rightful king. The dynasty
which ruled Habardip? seems
to have had its seat of
faeces government at Tarrisha in the
BAS-RELIEF OF NARAM-SIN, TRANSPORTED valley of Malamir.2 Three
TO SUSA BY SHUTRUK-NAKHUNTA.? hundred figures Carved sin gly

or in groups on the rocks of Kul-Firaun portray

its
princes and their ministers in every posture of adoration,
1 The prince represented on the bas-reliefs gives himself
the title Apirra,
the name of Apir, Apirti, or Habardip.
* Tarrisha is the name of a town, doubtless the
capital of the fief of
Malamir ; it is probably represented by the consid
erable ruins which Layard
identified as the remains of the Sassanid city of Aidej.
* Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. de
Morgan.
 THE PRINCES OF MALAMIR 349

but most of them have no accompanying inscription. One

large bas-relief, however, forms an exception, and from its
legend we learn the name of Khanni, son of Takhkhi-
khikhutur.! This prince, even if possessed of no royal

THE GREAT ROCK BAS-RELIEF OF MALAMIR.?

protocol, was none the less a powerful and wealthy person- .

age. His figure dominates the picture, the central space of
which it completely fills;* his expression is calm, but

1 The name of Khanni has been explained by Sayce as the desirable, and
that of his father, Takhkhi-khikhutur, as help this thy servant.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Babin and Houssay.
at
8 Perrot and Chipiez, misled by the analogy of the Hittite bas-relief
the image of a god. The inscripti on
Ibriz, took the largest figure for
 350 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

somewhat severe. His head is covered by a low cap, from

which long locks escape and flow over his shoulders ;
the hair on his face is symmetrically curled above the
level of his mouth, and terminates in a pointed beard.
The figure is clothed from head to foot in a stiff robe
and mantle adorned with tufted fringes, and borders of
embroidered rosettes; a girdle at the waist completes
the misleading resemblance to the gala-dress of a Ninevite
monarch. The hands are crossed on the breast in an
attitude of contemplation, while the prince gazes thought-
fully at a sacrifice which is being offered on his behalf.
At the bottom of the picture stands a small altar, behind
which a priest in a short tunic seems to be accomplish-
ing some ceremonial rite, while two men are cutting
the throat of a ram. Higher up the heads of three
rams
lie beside their headless trunks, which are resting on
the
ground, feet in the air, while a servant brandishes
a short
sword with which he is about to decapitate the
fourth
beast. Above these, again, three musicians march in
procession, one playing on a harp, another on
a five-
stringed lyre, and the third on a tambourine.
An at-
tendant holding a bow, and the minister Shutsururazi,
stand quietly waiting till the sacrifice is accompl
ished.
The long text which runs across several of
the figures
is doubtless a prayer, and contains the names
of peoples
and princes mingled with those of deities.
The memory
of these provincial chiefs would be revived,
and more
engraved on the robe, U Khanni shak Takkhi
-khikutur, “T.am Khanni, son
of Takhkhi-khikhutur,” leaves no doubt that
the figure represents the prince
himself, and not a divinity. :
 THE SEMI-NOMADIC TRIBES ON THE TIGRIS dol

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 Arameans 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 Rutu, and the Itua—had a natural tendency
to join forces with Elam for the purpose of raiding the
wealthy cities of Chaldea, and this alliance, or subjec-
tion, 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 3.c. committed
the error of allowing Tiglath-pileser to crush these allies.
Khumban-igash, who succeeded this misguided monarch
in 742 8.c.,1 did not take up arms to defend Bit-Amuk-
k4ni 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
1 The date of his accession is furnished by the passage in Pinches’
of Elam
Babylonian Chronicle, where it is stated that he ascended the throne
of Nabonazi r, The Assyrian and Babyloni an scribes
in the fifth year
Susian 6 to the m, and also suppress ed the initial
assimilated the
Hlamite name, writing generall y Umman- igash for Khum-
aspirate of the
ban-igash,
 392 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

allies, applied to him, he unhesitatingly promised him his

support.* ;
Assyria and Elam had hitherto seldom encountered one
another on the field of battle. A wide barrier of semi-
barbarous states had for a long time held them apart, and
they would have had to cross the territory of the Baby-
lonians or the Cosseans before coming into contact with
each other. Tiglath-pileser I., however, had come into
conflict with the northern districts of Elam towards the
end of the twelfth century 3B.c., and more recently the
campaigns of Assur-nazir-pal, Shalmaneser III., and
Ramman-nirari had frequently brought these sovereigns
into contact with tribes under the influence of Susa ; but
the wildness and poverty of the country, and the difficulties
it offered to the manceuvres of large armies, had always
prevented the Assyrian generals from advancing far into
its mountainous regions. The annexation of Aramean
territory beyond the Tigris, and the conquest of Babylon
by Tiglath-pileser III., at length broke through the barrier
and brought the two powers face to face ata point where
they could come into conflict without being impeded by
almost insurmountable natural obstacles, namely, in the
plains of the Umliash and the united basins of the Lower
Ulai and the Uknu. Ten years’ experience had probably
sufficed to convince Khumban-igash of the dangers
to
which the neighbourhood of the Assyrians exposed his
subjects. The vigilant watch which the new-comers kept
over their frontier rendered raiding less easy ; and if one
* Sargon declares distinctly that Merodach-baladan
had invoked the aid
of Khumban-igash,
 THE FIRST ENCOUNTER OF ASSYRIA AND ELAM 353

of the border chieftains were inclined to harry, as of old,

an unlucky Babylonian or Cossean village, he ran the risk
of an encounter with a well-armed force, or of being
plundered in turn by way of reprisal. An irregular but
abundant source of revenue was thus curtailed, without
taking into consideration the wars to which such incidents
must perforce lead sooner or later. Even unaided the
Elamites considered themselves capable of repelling any
attack; allied with the Babylonians or the Kalda, they felt
certain of victory in any circumstances. Sargon realised
this fact almost as fully as did the Elamites themselves; as
soon, therefore, as his spies had forewarned him that an
invasion was imminent, he resolved to take the initiative
and crush his enemies singly before they succeeded in
uniting their forces. Khumban-igash had advanced as far
as the walls of Durilu, a stronghold which commanded.
the Umliash, and he there awaited the advent of his allies
before laying siege to the town: it was, however, the
Assyrian army which came to meet him and offered him
battle. The conflict was a sanguinary one, as became an
engagement between such valiant foes, and both sides
claimed the victory. The Assyrians maintained their
ground, forcing the Elamites to evacuate their positions,
and tarried some weeks longer to chastise those of their
~Aramean subjects who had made common cause with
the enemy: they carried away the Tumuna, who had
given up their sheikh into the hands of the emissaries
of the Kalda, and transported the whole tribe, without
Merodach-baladan making any attempt to save his allies,
although his army had not as yet struck a single
VOL. VII. | 2A
354 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

blow. Having accomplished this act of vengeance, the

Assyrians suspended operations and returned to Nineveh
to repair their losses, probably intending to make a great
effort to regain the whole of Babylonia in the ensuing year.
Grave events which occurred elsewhere prevented them,
however, from carrying this ambitious project into effect.
The fame of their war against Elam had spread abroad in
the Western provinces of the empire, and doubtless ex-
aggerated accounts circulated with regard to the battle of
Durilu had roused the spirit of dissatisfaction in the west.
Sargon had scarcely seated himself securely on a throne
to which he was not the direct heir, when he was menaced
by Elam and repudiated by Chaldwa, and it remained to
be seen whether his. resources would prove equal to main-
taining the integrity of his empire, or whether the example
set by Merodach-baladan would not speedily be imitated
by all who groaned under the Assyrian yoke. Since the
decline of Damascus and Arpad, Hamath had again taken
a prominent place in Northern Syria; prompt submission
had saved this city from destruction in the time of
Tiglath-pileser III., and it had since prospered under the
foreign rule; it was, therefore, on Hamath that all hopes
1 The history of this first campaign against Merodach-baladan, which is
found in a mutilated condition in the Annals of Sargon, exists nowhere else
in a complete form, but the facts are very concisely referred to in the Fastes
and in the Cylinders. The general sequence of events is indicated by
Pinches’ Babylonian Chronicle, but the author places them in 720 B.c., the
second year of Merodach-baladan, contrary to the testimony of the Annals,
and attributes the victory to the Elamites in the battle of Durilu, in
deference to Babylonian patriotism. The course of events after the battle
of Durilu seems to prove clearly that the Assyrians remained masters of the
field,
 THE SYRIAN REVOLT, IAUBfDI AND BOCCHORIS 355
of deliverance still cherished by rulers and people now
centred. A low-born fellow, a smith named Iaubidi, rose
in rebellion against the prince of Hamath for being mean-
spirited enough to pay tribute, proclaimed himself king,
and in the space of a few months revived under his
own leadership the coalition which Hadadezer and Rezon
II. had formed in days gone by. Arpad and Bit-Agusi,
Zimyra and Northern Pheenicia, Damascus and_ its
dependencies, all expelled their Assyrian garrisons, and
Samaria, though still suffering from its overthrow,
summoned up courage to rid itself of its governor.
Meanwhile, Hannon of Gaza, recently reinstated in his
city by Egyptian support, was carrying on negotiations
with a view to persuading Egypt to interfere in the
affairs of Syria. The last of the Tanite Pharaohs,
Psamuti, was just dead, and Bocchoris, who had long
been undisputed master of the Delta, had now ventured
to assume the diadem openly (722 B.c.), a usurpation
which the Hthiopians, fully engaged in the Thebaid and
on the Upper Nile, seemed to regard with equanimity.
As soon as the petty kings and feudal lords had recog-
nised his suzerainty, Bocchoris listened favourably to the
entreaties of Hannon, and promised to send an army to
Gaza under the command of his general Shabé. Sargon, |
- threatened with the loss of the entire western half of his
empire, desisted for a time from his designs on Babylon,
Khumban-igash was wise enough to refrain from pro-
voking an enemy who left him in peace, and Merodach-
baladan did not dare to enter the lists without the support
_of his confederate: the victory of Durilu, though if had
356 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

not succeeded in gaining a province for Nineveh, had

at least secured the south-eastern frontier from attack,
at all events for so long as it should please Sargon to
remain at a distance.

IAUBIDI OF HAMATH BEING FLAYED ALIVE.!

The league formed by Hamath had not much power

of cohesion. Jaubidi had assembled his forces and the
contingents of his allies at the town of Qargar as
Hadadezer had done before: he was completely defeated,
taken prisoner, and flayed alive. His kingdom was
annexed to the Assyrian empire, Qargar was burnt to
+ Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Flandin.
 THE FIRST ENCOUNTER OF ASSYRIA AND EGYPT 857

the ground, the fortifications of Hamath were demolished,

and the city obliged to furnish a force of two hundred
charioteers and six hundred horsemen, probably recruited
from among the families of the upper classes, to serve
as hostages as well as auxiliaries. Arpad, Zimyyra,
Damascus, Samaria, all succumbed without serious oppo-
sition, and the citizens who had been most seriously
compromised in the revolt paid for their disaffection
with their lives. This success confirmed the neighbour-
ing states of Tyre, Sidon, Judah, Ammon, and Moab
in their allegiance, which had shown signs of wavering
since the commencement of hostilities; but Gaza re-
mained unsubdued, and caused the more uneasiness because
it was perceived that behind her was arrayed all the majesty
of the Pharaoh. The Egyptians, slow to bestir themselves,
had not yet crossed the Isthmus when the Assyrians
appeared beneath the walls of Gaza: Hannon, worsted
in a preliminary skirmish, retreated on Raphia, where
Shabé, the Egyptian general, had at length arrived, and
the decisive battle took place before this town. It was
the first time that the archers and charioteers of the Nile
valley had measured forces with the pikemen and cavalry of
that of the Tigris; the engagement was hotly contested,
but the generals and soldiers of Bocchoris, fighting ac-
cording to antiquated methods of warfare, gave way
before the onset of the Assyrian ranks, who were better
equipped and better led. Shabé fled ‘like a shepherd
whose sheep had been stolen,’’ Hannon was taken prisoner
and loaded with chains, and Raphia fell into the hands
of the conqueror; the inhabitants who survived the sack
858 ' SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

of their city were driven into captivity to the number of

9033 men, with their flocks and household goods. The
manifest superiority of Assyria was evident from the first
encounter, but the contest had been so fierce and the
result so doubtful that Sargon did not consider it pru-
dent to press his advantage. He judged rightly that
these troops, whom he had not dispersed without con-
siderable effort, constituted merely an advanced guard.
Egypt was not like the petty kingdoms of Syria or Asia
Minor, which had but one army apiece, and could not
risk more than one pitched battle. Though Shabé’s force
was routed, others would not fail to take its place and
contend as fiercely for the possession of the country,
and even if the Assyrians should succeed in dislodging
them and curbing the power of Bocchoris, the fall of
Sais or Memphis, far from putting an end to the war,
would only raise fresh complications. Above Memphis
stretched the valley of the Nile, bristling with fortresses,
Khininsu, Oxyrhynchus, Hermopolis, Siut, Thinis, and
Thebes, the famous city of Amon, enthroned on the banks
of the river, whose very name still evoked in the minds
of the Asiatics a vivid remembrance of all its triumphal
glories.’ Thebes itself formed merely one stage in the
journey towards Syene, Ethiopia, Napata, and the un-
known regions of Africa which popular imagination filled
with barbarous races or savage monsters, and however

* Thebes was at that time known among the Semites by its-popular

name of the city of Amon—which the Hebrew writers transcribed as N6-Amon
(Nahum iii. 8) or N6 alone (Jer, xlvi. 25 ; Ezek. xxx, 14, 15, 16), and the
Assyrians by Ni,
 THE ADVANCE OF SARGON STAYED 309

far an alien army might penetrate in a southerly direc-

tion, if would still meet with the language, customs,
and divinities of Egypt—an Egypt whose boundary seemed
to recede as the invader advanced, and which was ever
ready to oppose the enemy with fresh forces whenever
its troops had suffered from his attacks. Sargon, having
reached Raphia, halted on the very threshold of the
unexplored realm whose portals stood ajar ready to admit
him: the same vague disquietude which had checked
the conquering career of the Pharaohs on the borders
of Asia now stayed his advance, and bade him turn back as
he was on the point of entering Africa, He had re-
pulsed the threatened invasion, and as a result of his victory
the princes and towns which had invoked the aid of the
foreigner lay at his mercy; he proceeded, therefore, to
reorganise the provinces of Philistia and Israel, and re-
ceived the homage of Judah and her dependencies. Ahaz,
while all the neighbouring states were in revolt, had not
wavered in his allegiance; the pacific counsels of Isaiah
had once more prevailed over the influence of the party
which looked for safety in an alliance with Egypt.’
he
1 Sargon probably alludes to homage received at this time, when
subduer of far-off Judah.” It is not certain that Ahaz
styles himself “ the
was
was still King of Judah ; it was for a long time admitted that Hezekiah
already king when these events took place, in accordan ce with 2 Kings xviii.
sixth year of
9, 10, where it is stated that Samaria was destroyed in the
Hezekiah. I consider, in agreement with several historians, that the date
firmly fixed in
of Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah must have remained more
of Samaria, and
the minds of the Jewish historians than that of the taking
year of Hezekiah,
as 2 Kings xviii. 13 places this invasion in the fourteenth
rib, or 702
which corresponds, as we shall see, to the third year of Sennache
about 715, and
B,¢., it seems better to place the accession of Hezekiah
 360 . SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

The whole country from the Orontes to the mountains of

Seir and the river of Hgypt was again reduced to
obedience, and set itself by peaceful labours to repair
the misfortunes which had befallen it during the previous
quarter of a century. Sargon returned to his capital, but
fate did not yet allow him to renew his projects against
Babylon. Rarely did an insurrection break out in any
part of the country on the accession of a new king at
Nineveh without awaking echoes in the distant provinces
of the empire. The report of a revolt in Chaldwa roused
a slumbering dissatisfaction among the Syrians, and finally
led them into open rebellion: the episodes of the Syrian
campaign, narrated in Armenia or on the slopes of the
Taurus with the thousand embellishments suggested by
the rancour of the narrators, excited the minds of the
inhabitants and soon rendered an outbreak inevitable.
The danger would have been serious if the suppressed
hatred of all had found vent at the same moment, and
if insurrections in five or six different parts of his empire
had to be faced by the sovereign simultaneously ; but
as a rule these local wars broke out without any con-
centrated plan, and in localities too remote from each
other to permit of any possible co-operation between
the assailants; each chief, before attempting to assert
his independence, seemed to wait until the Assyrians
had had ample time to crush the rebel who first
took
the field, having done which they could turn the
whole
of their forces against the latest foe. Thus Iaubidi
did
prolong the reign of Ahaz till after the campaign
of Sargon against Hannon
of Gaza.
 ACCESSION OF SARGON 361

not risk a campaign till the fall of Hlam and Karduniash

had been already decided on the field of Durilu; in the -
same way, the nations of the North and Hast refrained
from entering the lists till they had allowed Sargon
time to destroy the league of Hamath and repel the
attack of Pharaoh. |
They were secretly incited to rebellion by a power
which played nearly the same part with regard to them
that Egypt had played in Southern Syria. Urartu had
received a serious rebuff in 735 B.c., and the burning of
Dhuspas had put an end to its ascendency, but the victory
had been effected at the cost of so much bloodshed that
Tiglath-pileser was not inclined to risk losing the advantage
already gained by pushing it too far: he withdrew, there-
fore, without concluding a treaty, and did not return, being
convinced that no further hostilities would be attempted
till the vanquished enemy had recovered from his defeat.
He was justified in his anticipations, for Sharduris died
about 730, without having again taken up arms, and his
son Rusas I. had left Shalmaneser V. unmolested:! but
‘the accession of Sargon and the revolts which harassed him
had awakened in Rusas the warlike instincts of his race,
and the moment appeared advantageous for abandoning his
policy of inactivity. The remembrance of the successful
exploits of Menuas and Argistis still lived in the minds of
1 The name of this king is usually written Ursa in the Assyrian inscrip-
tions, but the Annals of Sargon give in each case the form Rusa, in
accordance with which Sayce had already identified the Assyrian form Ursa
or Rus& with the form Rusas found on some Urartian monuments. Belck
and Lehmann have discovered several monuments of this Rusas I., son of
Sharduris.
362 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

his people, and more than one of his generals had entered
upon their military careers at a time when, from Arpad and
Carchemish to the country of the Medes, quite a third of
the territory now annexed to Assyria had been subject to
the king of Urartu; Rusas, therefore, doubtless placed
before himself the possibility of reconquering the lost
provinces, and even winning, by a stroke of fortune, more
than had been by a stroke of fortune wrested from his
father. He began by intriguing with such princes as were
weary of the Assyrian rule, among the Mannai, in
Zikartu,* among the Tabal, and even among the Knhati.
Iranzu, who was at that time reigning over the Mannai,
refused to listen to the suggestions of his neighbour, but
two of his towns, Shuandakhul and Durdukka, deserted him
in 719 B.c., and ranged themselves under Mitatti, chief of
the Zikartu, while about the same time the strongholds of
Sukkia, Bala, and Abitikna, which were on the borders of
Urartu, broke the ties which had long bound them to
Assyria, and concluded a treaty of alliance with Rusas.
Sargon was not deceived as to the meaning of these events,
and at once realised that this movement was not one of
those local agitations which broke out at intervals in one
or other of his provinces. His officers and spies must have
kept him informed of the machinations of Rusas and of the
revolutions which the migrations of the last thirty years
had provoked among the peoples of the Iranian table-land.
A new race had arisen in their rear, that of the Cimmerians
and Scythians, which, issuing in irresistible waves from
? Zikruti, Zikirtu, Zikartu, may probably be identified with the Sagartians
of Herodotus.
 COALITION OF THE NATIONS OF THE NORTH 363

the gorges of the Caucasus, threatened to overwhelm the

whole ancient world of the Hast. The stream, after a
moment’s vacillation, took a westerly direction, and flooded
Asia Minor from one end to the other. Some tribes,
however, which had detached themselves from the main
movement sought an outlet towards the south-east, on to
the rich plains of the Araxes and the country around Lake
Urumiah. The native races, pressed in the rear by these
barbarians, and hemmed in on either side and in front by
Urartu and Assyria, were forced into closer proximity, and,
conscious of their individual weakness, had begun to form
themselves into three distinct groups, varying considerably
in compactness,—the Medes in the south, Misianda in the
north, with Zikartu between them. Zikartu was at that
time the best organised of these nascent states, and its
king, Mitatti, was not deficient either in military talent or
political sagacity. The people over whom he ruled were,
moreover, impregnated with the civilisation of Mesopo-
tamia, and by constantly meeting the Assyrians in battle
they had adopted the general principles of their equipment,
organisation, and military tactics. The vigour of his
soldiers and the warlike ardour which inspired them
rendered his armies formidable even to leaders as
experienced, and warriors as hardened, as the officers and
soldiers of Nineveh. Mitdtti had strongly garrisoned the
two rebel cities, and trusted that if the Assyrians were
unable to recapture them without delay, other towns would
not be long in following their example; Iranzu would, no
doubt, be expelled, his place would be taken by a hostile
chief, and the Mannai, joining hands with Urartu on the
 364 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

right and Zikartu on the left, would, with these two states,
form a compact coalition, whose combined forces would
menace the northern frontier of the empire from the Zagros
to the Taurus. Sargon, putting all the available Assyrian
forces into the field, hurled them against the rebels, and
this display of power had the desired effect upon the
neighbouring kingdoms: Rusas and Mitatti did not dare to

TAKING OF A CASTLE IN ZIKARTU!

interfere, the two cities were taken by assault, burnt and

razed to the ground, and the inhabitants of the surrounding
districts of Sukkia, Bala, and Abitikna were driven
into
exile among the Khati. The next year, however, the war
thus checked on the Iranian table-land broke out in
the
north-west, in the mountains of Cilicia. A Tabal chief,
Kiakku of Shinukhta, refused to pay his tribute
(718).
Sargon seized him and destroyed his city; his family
and
adherents, 7500 persons in all, were carried away captiv
es
+ Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the facsimile
by Flandin,
 THE FALL OF PISIRIS 365

to Assyria, and his principality was given to a rival chief,

Matti of Atuna, on a promise from the latter of an increased
amount of tribute... In 717 B.c. more serious dangers openly
declared themselves. The Khati had not forgotten that
they had once been the allies of Urartu, and that their king,
Pisiris, together with Matilu of Agusi, had fought for
Sharduris against Tiglath-pileser III. Pisiris conspired with
Mita, chief of the Mushki, and proclaimed his indepen-
dence; but vengeance swiftly and surely overtook him.
He succumbed before his accomplice had time to come
to his assistance, and was sent to join Kiakku and his
adherents in prison, while the districts which he had ruled
were incorporated into Assyrian territory, and Carchemish
became the seat of an Assyrian prefect who ranked among
the Jimmi from whom successive years took their names.
The fall of Pisiris made no impression on his con-
temporaries. They had witnessed the collapse of so many
great powers—Hlam, Urartu, Egypt—that the misfortunes
of so insignificant a personage awakened but little interest ;
and yet with him foundered one of the most glorious
wrecks of the ancient world. For more than a century the
Khati had been the dominant power in North-western
Asia, and had successfully withstood the power of Thebes ;
crushed by the Peoples of the Sea, hemmed in and
encroached upon by the rising wave of Aramean invasion,
they had yet disputed their territory step by step with the
1 The name of Atuna is a variant of the name Tuna, which is found in
the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III., and Tuna recalls the name of the old
city of Tyana, or that of Tynna or Tunna, near Tyana, in the Taurus. Shin-
situated on the
ukhta, not far from Atuna, must be the capital of a district
Karmalas or the Saros, on the borders of Cilicia or Cataonia.

>
 366 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

Assyrian generals, and the area over which they spread can
be traced by the monuments and inscriptions scattered over
Cilicia, Lycaonia, Cappadocia, and Northern Syria as far as
the basins of the Orontes and the Litany. So lasting had
proved their influence on all around them, and so fresh was
the memory of their greatness, that it would have seemed
but natural that their vitality should survive this last blow,
and that they should enjoy a prosperous future which
should vie with their past. But events proved that their
national life was dead, and that no recuperative power
remained: as soon as Sargon had overthrown their last
prince, their tribes became merged in the general body of
Aramzans, and their very name ere long vanished from the
pages of history.
Up to this time Rusas had not directly interfered in
these quarrels between the suzerain and his vassals: he
may have incited the latter to revolt, but he had avoided
compromising himself, and was waiting till the Mannai
had decided to make common cause with him before
showing his hand openly. Ever since the skirmish of the
year 719, Mitatti had actively striven to tempt the Mannai
from their allegiance, but his intrigues had hitherto proved
of no avail against the staunch fidelity first of Iranzu and
then of Aza, who had succeeded the latter about (18.
At
the beginning of the year 716 MitAtti was more successful
;_
the Mannai, seduced at length by his promises and
those
of Rusas, assembled on Mount Uaush, murdered
their king,
and leaving his corpse unburied, hastened to place
them-
selves under the command of Bagadatti, regent of
Umildish.
Sargon hurried to the spot, seized Bagadatti, and
had him
 DEFEAT OF THE MANNAI AND OF ELLIPI 367

flayed alive on Mount Uaush, which had just witnessed the

murder of Azad, and exposed the mass of bleeding flesh
before the gaze of the people to demonstrate the fate
reserved for his enemies. But though he had acted
speedily he was too late, and the fate of their chief, far
from discouraging his subjects, confirmed them in their
rebellion. They had placed upon the throne Ullusunu,
the brother of Aza, and this prince had immediately con-
cluded an alliance with Rusas, Mitatti, and the people of
Andia; his example was soon followed by other Eastern
chiefs, Assurli of Karallu and Itti of Allabria, whereupon,
as the spirit of revolt spread from one to another, most of
the districts lately laid under tribute by Tiglath-pileser
took up arms—Niksama, Bitsagbati, Bitkhirm4mi, Kilam-
bati, Armangu, and even the parts around Kharkhar, and
Ellipi, with its reigning sovereign Dalta. The general
insurrection dreaded by Sargon, and which Rusas had
for five years been fomenting, had, despite all the efforts
of the Assyrian government, af last broken out, and the
whole frontier was ablaze from the borders of Elam to
those of the Mushku. Sargon turned his attention to
where danger was most urgent; he made a descent on
the territory of the Mannai, and laid it waste “as a
swarm of locusts might have done;” he burnt their
capital, Izirtu, demolished the fortifications of Zibia and
Armaid, and took Ullusunu captive, but, instead of con-
demning him to death, he restored to him his liberty
and his crown on condition of his paying a regular tribute.
This act of clemency, in contrast with the pitiless severity
shown at the beginning of the insurrection, instantly
 368 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

produced the good effects he expected: the Mannai laid

down their arms and swore allegiance to the conqueror.
and their defection broke up the coalition. Sargon did
not give the revolted provinces time to recover from the
dismay into which his first victories had thrown them,
but marched rapidly to the south, and crushed them
severally ;commencing with Andia, where he took 4200
prisoners with their cattle, he next attacked Zikartu,
whose king, Mitatti, took refuge in the mountains and
thus escaped death at the hands of the executioner.
Assurli of Karalla had a similar fate to Bagadatti, and
was flayed alive. Itti of Allabria, with half of his subjects,
was carried away to Hamath. The towns of Niksame and
Shurgadia were annexed to the province of Parsuash. The
town of Kishisim was reduced to ashes, and its king,
Belsharuzur, together with the treasures of his palace,
was carried away to Nineveh. Kharkhar succumbed after
a short siege, received a new population, and was hence-
forward known as Kar-Sharrukin; Dalta was restored to
favour, and retained his dominion intact. Never had so
great a danger been so ably or so. courageously averted.
It was not without good reason that, after his victory
over the Mannai, Sargon, instead of attacking Rusas, the
most obstinate of his foes, turned against the Medes.
Hllipi, Parsuash, and Kharkhar, comprising half the
countries which had joined in the insurrection, were
on
the borders of Elam or had frequent relations with
that
state, and it is impossible to conjecture what
turn affairs
might have taken had Elam been induced to join
their
league, and had the EHlamite armies, in conjunction
with
 SARGON PROMPTLY RE-ESTABLISHES ORDER 369

those of Merodach-baladan, unexpectedly fallen upon the

Assyrian rear by the valleys of the Tigris or the TurnAt.
Had the Hlamites, however, entertained a desire to mingle
in the fray, the promptness with which Sargon had re-

TAKING OF THE CITY OF KISHiSIM BY THE ASSYRIANS.!

established order must have given them cause to reflect

and induced them to maintain their neutrality. The year
which had opened so inauspiciously thus ended in victory,
though. the situation was still fraught with danger. The
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the facsimile by Flandin. The figures
resembling stags’ horns, which crown three of the upper towers, are tongues
of flame, as was indicated by the red colouring which still remained on them
when the bas-relief was discovered.
VOL. VII. 2B
370 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

agitation which had originated in the east and north-

east in 716 reached the north-west in 715, and spread as
far as the borders of Southern Syria. Rusas had employed
the winter in secret negotiations with the Mannai, and
had won over one of their principal chiefs, a certain
Dayaukku, whose name seems to be identical with that
which the Greeks transliterated as Deiokes.* As soon as
spring had returned he entered the territory of Ullusunu,
and occupied twenty-two strongholds, which were probably
betrayed into his hands by Dayaukku. While this was
taking place Mit&é of Mushki invaded Cilicia, and the
Arab tribes of the Idumean desert—the Thamudites, the
Ibadites, the Marsimanu, and Khayapa—were emboldened
to carry their marauding expeditions into Assyrian territory.
The Assyrian monarch was thus called on to conduct three
distinct wars simultaneously in three different directions;
he was, moreover, surrounded by wavering subjects whom
terror alone held to their allegiance, and whom the
slightest imprudence or the least reverse might turn into
open foes. |
Sargon resolutely faced the enemy at all three points of
attack. As in the previous year, he reserved for himself
the position where danger was most threatening, directing
the operations against the Mannai. He captured one
by one the twenty-two strongholds of Ullusunu which
Rusas had seized, and laying hands on Dayaukku, sent
him and hig family into exile to Hamath. This display
of energy determined Ianzu of Natri to receive the
* The identity of the name Dayaukku with that of Deiokes is admitted
by all historians,
 THE DEFEAT OF THE MEDES 371

Assyrian monarch courteously within the royal residence

of Khubushkia and ‘to supply him with horses, cattle,
sheep, and goats in token of homage. Proceeding from
thence in an oblique direction, Sargon reached Andia
and took prisoner its king Tilusinas. Having by this
exploit reduced the province of Mannai to order, he
restored the twenty-two towns to Ullusunu, and halting
some days in Izirtu, erected there a statue of himself,
according to his custom, as a visible witness of Assyrian
supremacy, having done which, he retraced his steps to
the south-east. The province of Kharkhar, which had
been reduced to subjection only a few months previously,
was already in open revolt, and the district of Kar-
Sharrukin alone remained faithful to its governor: Sargon
had to reconquer it completely, town by town, imposing
on the four citadels of Kishislu, Kindau, Bit-Bagaia, and
Zaria the new names of Kar-Nabu, Kar-Sin, Kar-Rammanu,
and Kar-Ishtar, besides increasing the fortifications of
Kar-Sharrukin. The Medes once more acknowledged his
suzerainty, and twenty-two of their chiefs came to tender
the oath of allegiance at his feet; two or three districts
which remained insubordinate were given up to pillage
as far as Bit-Khambdn, and the inhabitants of Kimirra
were sent into captivity. The eastern campaign was |
thus brought to a most successful issue, fortune, mean-
while, having also favoured the Assyrian arms in the
other menaced quarters. Mita, after pushing forward at
one point as far as the Mediterranean, had been driven
back into the mountains by the prefect of Kui, and the
Bedawin of the south had sustained a serious reverse.
 372 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

These latter were mere barbarians, ignorant of the arts

of reading and writing, and hitherto unconquered by any
foreign power: their survivors were removed to Samaria,
where captives from Hamath had already been established,
and where they were soon joined by further exiles from
Babylon. This episode had greater effect than its impor-

THE TOWN OF BiT-BAGAIA BURNT BY THE ASSYRIANS.1

tance warranted ; or perhaps the majority of the neighbour-

Ing states made it a convenient pretext for congratulating
Sargon on his victories over more serious enemies. He
received gifts from Shamshié, the Arabian queen who
had formerly fought against Tiglath-pileser, from Itamar
the Saban, and the sheikhs of the desert, from the
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the facsimile by Flandin. The
tongues
of flame which issue from the towers still bore traces of
red and yellow
colouring when the bas-relief was discovered.
 BOCCHORIS 373

kings of the Mediterranean sea-board, and from the

Pharaoh himself. Bocchoris had died after a troublous
reign of seven years.’ His real character is unknown,
but as he left a deep impression on the memories of his
people, it is natural to conclude that he displayed, at
times, both ability and energy. Many legends in which
the miraculous element prevailed were soon in circulation
concerning him. He was, according to these accounts,
weak in body and insignificant in appearance, but made
up for these defects by mental ability and sound judgment.
He was credited with having been simple in his mode
of life, and was renowned as one of the six great legislators
produced by Egypt. A law concerning debt and the
legal rates of interest, was attributed to him; he was
also famed for the uprightness of his judgments, which
were regarded as due to divine inspiration. Isis had
bestowed on him a serpent, which, coiling itself round
his head when he sat on the judgment-seat, covered him
with its shadow, and admonished him not to forget for
a moment the inflexible principles of equity and truth.
1 The two dynasties of Tanis and Sais may be for the present recon-
stituted as follows :—
XXIII. (Tanite) Dynasty. XXIV. (Saite) Dynasty.
I, Sawaruri Patisi- I. Uauxart Buxuntini-
BASTiT . . . PETUBASTIS NIF . . . . . BOocCHORIS
II. Axupirri Sorrv-
NIAMONU OsoR-
Kon Mariamonu Osorxon III.
TII. Psamutr . . . PSAMMUTHIS
Neither Tafnakhti nor any of the local sovereigns mentioned on the stele of
Piénkhi were comprised in the official computation ; there is, therefore, no
reason to add them to this list.
374 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

A collection of the decisions he was reputed to have

delivered in famous cases existed in the Greco-Roman
period, and one of them is quoted at length: he had
very ingeniously condemned a courtesan to touch the
shadow of a purse as payment for the shadowy favours
she had bestowed in a dream on her lover. An Alexandrian
poet, Pancrates, versified the accounts of this juridical
collection, and the artists of the Imperial epoch drew

KING BOCCHORIS GIVING JUDGMENT BETWEEN TWO WOMEN, RIVAL CLAIMANTS

TO A CHILD.?

from it motives for mural decoration; they portrayed the

king pronouncing judgment between two mothers who
disputed possession of an infant, between two beggars
laying claim to the same cloak, and between three men
asserting each of them his right to a wallet full of food.’
A less favourable tradition represents the king as an
avaricious and irreligious sovereign: he is said one day
1 Pancrates lived in the time of Hadrian, and Atheneus, who has pre-
served his memory for us, quotes the first book of his Bocchoreidion,
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin.
3 Considerable remains of this decorative cycle have been discovered at
Pompeii and at Rome, in a series of frescoes, in which Lumbroso and E, Lewy
recognise the features of the legends of Bocchoris ; the dispute between the two
mothers recalls the famous judgment of Solomon (1 Kings iii. 16-28).
 THE ACCESSION OF SABACO 875

- to have conceived the sacrilegious desire to bring about

a conflict between an ordinary bull and the Mnevis adored
at Heliopolis. The gods, doubtless angered by his crimes,
are recorded to have called into being a lamb with eight
feet, which, suddenly breaking into articulate speech,
predicted that Upper and Lower Egypt would be disgraced
by the rule of a stranger." The monuments of his reign
which have come down to us tell
us nothing of his deeds; we can
only conjecture that after the
defeat sustained by his generals at
Raphia, the discords which had
ruined the preceding dynasties
again broke out with renewed vio-
lence. Indeed, if he succeeded in
preserving his crown for several
years longer, he owed the fact more
SABACO.?
to the feebleness of the Ethiopians
than to his own vigour: no sooner did an enterprising
prince appear at Barkal and demand that he should render
an account of his usurpation, than his power came to an
end. Kashto having died about 716,’ his son Shabaku,
the Sabaco of the Greeks, inherited the throne, and his

1 This legend, preserved by Manetho and Ailian is also known from the
fragments of a demotic papyrus at Vienna, which contains the prophecy of
the lamb.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius.
8 The date of the accession of Sabaco is here fixed at 716-715, because
as the
T follow the version of the lists of Manetho, which gives twelve years
mentions his twelfth
reign of that prince ; an inscription from Hammamat
year,
376 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

daughter Amenertas the priesthood and principality of

Thebes, in right of her mother Shapenuapit. Sabaco was
an able and energetic prince, who could by no means
tolerate the presence of a rival Pharaoh in the provinces
which Piénkhi had conquered. He declared war, and, being
doubtless supported in his undertaking by all the petty
kings and great feudal nobles whose jealousy was aroused
by the unlooked-for prosperity of the Saite monarch, he
defeated Bocchoris and took him prisoner. Tafnakhti had
formerly recognised the Ethiopian supremacy, and Boc-
choris, when he succeeded to his father’s dominions, had
himself probably sought investiture at the hands of the
King of Napata. Sabaco treated him as a rebel, and
either burnt or flayed him alive (715). The struggle was
hardly over, when the news of Sargon’s victories reached
Egypt. It was natural that the new king, not yet securely
seated on his throne, should desire to conciliate the
friendship of a neighbour who was so successful in war,
and that he should seize the first available pretext to
congratulate him. The Assyrian on his part received
these advances with satisfaction and pride: he perceived
in them a guarantee that Egyptian intrigues with Tyre
and Jerusalem would cease, and that he could henceforth
devote himself to his projects against Rusas without being
distracted by the fear of an Ethiopian attack and the
subversion of Syria in his rear.
Sargon took advantage of these circumstances to strike
a final blow at Urartu. He began in the spring of 714 .by
1 According to Manetho, he was burnt alive; the tadition which
mentions that he was flayed alive is found in John of Antioch.
 OVERTHROW OF URZANA AND RUSAS 377

collecting among the Mannai the tribute due from Ullusuna,

Daltd, and the Median chiefs; then pushing forward into
the country of the Zikartu, he destroyed three forts and
twenty-four villages, and burnt their capital, Parda.
Mitatti escaped servitude, but it was at the price of his
power: a proscribed fugitive, deserted by his followers,
he took refuge in the woods, and never submitted to his
conqueror; but he troubled him no further, and disappeared
from the pages of history. Having achieved this result,
Sargon turned towards the north-west, and coming at
length into close conflict with -Rusas, did not leave his
enemy till he had crushed him. He drove him into the
gorges of Uaush, slaughtered a large number of his troops,
of
and swept away the whole of his body-guard—a body
d
cavalry of two hundred men, all of whom were connecte
by blood with the reigning family. Rusas quitted his
of the
chariot, and, like his father Sharduris on the night
over-
disaster at Kisht4n, leaped upon a mare, and fled,
His towns,
whelmed with shame, into the mountains.
summons
terror-stricken, opened their gates at the first
he could
to the victor; Sargon burnt those which he knew
his vassal
not retain, granted the district of Uaush to
marched
Ullusunu as a recompense for his loyalty, and then
his troops”
up to rest awhile in Nairi, where he revictualled
He had, no doubt,
at the expense of Ianzu of Khubushkia.
the friends of
hoped that Urzana of Muzazir, the last of
make good use of
Rusas to hold out against Assyria, would
afforded
the respite thus, to all appearances unintentionally,
the appeal to his
him, and would come to terms; but as
determined to
clemency was delayed, Sargon suddenly
 378 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

assume the aggressive. Muzazir, entrenched within its

mountain ranges, was accessible only by one or two
dangerous passes; Urzana had barricaded these, and
believed himself in a position to defy every effort of the
Assyrians. Sargon, equally convinced of the futility of
a front attack, had recourse to a surprise. Taking with
him his chariots and one thousand picked horsemen, he

TAKING OF A TOWN IN URARTU BY THE ASSYRIANS.!

left the beaten track, and crossing the four or five mountain
chains—the Shiak, the Ardinshi, the Ulayau, and the
Alluria—which lay between him and Muzazir, he un-
expectedly bore down upon the city. Urzana escaped
after
a desperate resistance, but the place was taken by assault
and sacked, the palace destroyed, the temple overth
rown,
and the statues of the gods Khaldia and Bagbartu
dragged
from their sanctuary. The entire royal family
were sent
into slavery, and with them 20,170 of the inhabitants
who
had survived the siege, besides 690 mules,
920 oxen,
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the drawing by Botta.
 THE CLOSE OF THE URARTIAN EMPIRE 379

100,225 sheep, and incalculable spoils in gold, silver,

bronze, iron, and precious stones and stuffs, the furniture
of Urzana, and even his seal, being deposited in the
treasury at Nineveh. The disaster at Muzazir was the
final blow to Urartu; it is impossible to say what took
place where Rusas himself was, and whether the feudatories
refused him any further allegiance, but in a short time he
found himself almost forsaken, without friends, troops, or
a place of refuge, and
reduced to choose be-
tween death or the degra-
dation of appealing to
the mercy of the con-
queror. He stabbed him-
self rather than yield;
and Sargon, only too THE SEAL OF URZANA, KING OF MUZAZIR.!
thankful to be rid of such
a dangerous adversary, stopped the pursuit. Argistis IT.
succeeded to what was left of his father’s kingdom,’ and,
being anxious above all things to obtain peace for his sub-
jects, suspended hostilities, without however disarming his
troops. As was the case under Tiglath-pileser III., Urartu
neither submitted to Assyria, nor was there any kind of
treaty between the belligerents to prescribe the conditions
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an impression of the original seal
which is preserved at the Hague.
2 No text states positively that Argistis II. immediately succeeded his
father ;but he is found mentioned as King of Urartu from 708 onwards,
and hence it has been concluded, not without some reason, that such was the
fact. The Vannic inscriptions have not as yet given us this sovereign’s
name.
 380 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

of this temporary truce. Both sides maintained their

positions on their respective territories: Sargon kept the
frontier towns acquired by him in previous years, and which
he had annexed to the border provinces, retaining also
his suzerainty over Muzazir, the Mannai, and the Median
states implicated in the struggle; Argistis, on his side,
strengthened himself in the regions around the sources
of the Huphrates and Lake Van—in Biainas, in Htius, and
in the plains of the Araxes. The material injuries which
he had received, however considerable they may appear,
were not irreparable, and, as a fact, the country quickly
recovered from them, but the people’s confidence in their
prince and his chiefs was destroyed. The defeat of
Sharduris, following as it did on a period of advantageous
victories, may have seemed to Argistis one of those
unimportant occurrences which constantly take place
in
the career of the strongest nations ; the disaster of
Rusas
proved to him that, in attempting to wipe out
his first
repulse, he had only. made matters worse, and the
conviction
was borne in upon his princes that they were
not in a
position to contest the possession of Western
Asia with the
Assyrians. They therefore renounced,
more from instinct
than as the result of deliberation, the
project of enlarging
their borders to the south, and if they
subsequently re-
appeared on the Mesopotamian plains, it
was in search of
booty, and not to acquire territory. Any
attempt to stop
their incursions, or to disturb them in.their mountain
fastnesses, found them prepared to hold
their own with
the same obstinacy as of old, and they
were quite able to
safeguard their independence against an
intruder. Besides
 DEFEAT OF AMITASHSHI 381

this, the Cimmerians and the Scythians were. already

pressing on their frontier, and were constantly harassing
them. This fresh danger absorbed their entire attention,
and from this time forward they ceased to play a part in
general history ; the century which had seen the rise and
growth of their
power was also a
witness of their
downfall under the
attacks of Assyria.
During the last
months of 714, the
tribes which had for-
merly constituted
the kingdom of
Karalla mutinied
against the tyranny
of their governor,
and invited Ami- THE ASSYRIANS TAKING A MEDIAN Town.!

tashshi, the brother of their ancient lord Assurli, to rule

over them. Sargon attacked them in the spring of 713,
dispersed their troops, held them to ransom, and after
having once more exacted homage from Bit-Dayaukku,*
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the facsimile by Flandin. It seems
that this town was called Amkaru, and its name appears, as far as I know,
in none of the accounts which we possess of the campaigns. The town was
apparently situated in Karalla or in Median territory.
2 The Dayaukku who gave his name to this province was at first con-
founded with the personage who was entangled in the affairs of Ullusunu,
and was then banished by Sargon to Hamath. A good number of historians
now admit that they were different persons. Bit-Dayaukku is evidently the
district of Ecbatana,
382 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

Ellipi, and Allabria, made a raid extending as far as the

confines of the Iranian desert, the barren steppes of
Eastern Arabia,’ and the district of Nagira belonging to
the ‘powerful’? Manda.? While he was thus preparing
the way for peace in his Median domains, one of his
generals crossed the Euphrates to chastise the Tabal for
their ill deeds. The latter had figured, about the year
740 B.c., among the peoples who had bowed before the
supremacy of Urartu, and their chief, Uassarmi, had been
the ally or vassal of Sharduris. Contemptuously spared
at the taking of Arpad, he had not been able to resign
himself to the Assyrian yoke, and had, in an ill-timed
moment, thrown it off in 731; he had, however, been
overcome and forced to surrender, and Tiglath-pileser had
put in his place a man of obscure birth, named Khulli,
whose fidelity had remained unshaken throughout the
reign of Shalmaneser V. and the first years of Sargon.
Khulli’s son, Ambaridis, the husband of a Ninevite princess,
who had brought him as dowry a considerable part of
Cilicia, had been unable to resist the flattering offers of
Rusas ; he had broken the ties which attached him to the
new Assyrian dynasty, but had been left unmolested so
long as Urartu and Muzazir remained unshaken, since

1 The Eastern Arabs mentioned here were nomadic, and inhabite

d the
confines of the Great Desert to the south-east of Media, or
the steppes of
Northern Iran. They are those mentioned in a passage of
Appian, together
with Parthians, Bactrians, and Tapyreans, as having submitt
ed to Seleucus.
2 The “powerful” Manda, encamped in the mountain
and desert, and
who were named after the Eastern Arabs, must be the peoples
situated
between the Caspian and the steppes of the Iranian plateau,
and a branch of
the Scythians who are soon to appear in Asiatic history.
 AN ASSYRIAN PROVINCE IN CAPPADOCIA 383

his position at the western extremity of the empire

prevented him from influencing in the smallest degree
the issue of the struggle, and it was well known that
when the fall of Rusas took place Ambaridis would be
speedily brought to account. He was, in fact, seized,
banished to the banks of the Tigris, and his hereditary
fief of Bit-Burutash annexed to Cilicia, under the rule
of an Assyrian. The following year was signalised by a
similar execution at which Sargon himself deigned to
preside in person. Tarkhunazi, the King of Miliddu, not
only had taken advantage of the troubles consequent on
the Armenian war to rebel against his master, but had
attacked Gunzinanu, who held, and had ruthlessly pillaged,
the neighbouring district of Kammanu.* Sargon overcame
him in the open field, took from him his city of Miliddu,
and stormed the town of Tulgarimmé in which he had
taken refuge.2 Here again the native kingdom dis-
appeared, and was replaced by an Assyrian administration.
Kammanu, wedged in between Urartu and Mushki,
separated these two countries, sometimes rivals to each
other, but always enemies to Nineveh. Its maintenance
as an independent kingdom prevented them from com-
bining their efforts, and obtaining that unity of action
which alone could ensure for them, if not a definite
triumph, at least preservation from complete extinction

1 Kammanu is probably not the Kammanéné of the Greek geographers,

which is too far north relatively to Meliténé, but is probably Comana of
Cappadocia and its district.
2 Tulgarimmé has been connected with the Togarmah of the Bible (Gen.
x. 3) by Halévy and Delitzsch, and their views on this subject have been
adopted by most historians.
 384 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

and an opportunity of maintaining their liberty; the

importance of the position, however, rendered it particularly
perilous to hold, and the Assyrians succeeded in so doing
only by strongly fortifying it. Walls were built round
ten cities, five on the Urartian frontier, three on that
of Mushki, and two on the north, and the country which
they protected was made into a new province, that of
Tulgarimmé, the district of Miliddu being confided to
the care of Mutallu, Prince of Kummukh (710). An incident
which took place in the-following year furnished a pretext
for completing the organisation and military defence of
this western border province. Gurgum had been for thirty
years or more in the possession of Tarkhulara; this prince,
after having served Sharduris, had transferred his homage
to Tiglath-pileser, and he had thenceforward professed an
unwavering loyalty to the Assyrian sovereigns. This accom-
“modating personage was assassinated by his son Mutallu;
and Sargon, fearing a revolt, hastened, at the head of a
detachment of picked troops, to avenge him. The murderer
threw down his arms almost without having struck a blow,
and Gurgum was thenceforward placed under the direct
tule of Nineveh. The affair had not been brought to a
close before an outbreak took place in Southern Syria,
which might have entailed very serious consequences had
it not been promptly dealt with. Egypt, united from
end to end under the sceptre of Sabaco, jealously
kept
watch over the political complications in Asia, and
though
perhaps she was not sure enough of her own strength
to
interfere openly before the death of Rusas, she had
renewed
hegotiations with the petty kingdoms of the Hebrews
and
 THE REVOLT AND THE FALL OF ASHDOD 385

Philistines. Ashdod had for some time past showed signs

of discontent, and it had been found necessary to replace
their king, Azuri, who had refused to pay tribute, by his
brother Akhimiti; shortly after this, however, the people
had risen in rebellion: they had massacred Akhimiti,
whom they accused of being a mere thrall of Assyria,
and had placed on the throne Yamani, a soldier of fortune,
probably an adventurer of Hellenic extraction. The other
Philistine cities had immediately taken up arms; Edom
and Moab were influenced by the general movement, and
Isaiah was striving to avert any imprudent step on the
part of Judah. Sargon despatched the Tartan,? and the
rapidity with which that officer carried out the campaign
prevented the movement from spreading beyond Philistia.
He devastated Ashdod, and its vassal, Gath, carried off
their gods and their inhabitants, and peopled the cities
afresh with prisoners from Asia Minor, Urartu, and Media:
Yamani attempted to escape into Egypt, but the chief
of Milukhkha intercepted him on his way, and handed
him over in chains to the conqueror.’ The latter took

1 This prince’s name, usually written Yamani, is also written Yatnani in

the Annals, and this variation, which is found again in the name of the
island of Cyprus and the Cypriotes, gives us grounds for believing that the
Assyrian scribe took the race-name of the prince for a proper name: the
new king of Ashdod would have been a Yamani, a Greek of Cyprus.
2 The Assyrian narratives, as usual, give the honour of conducting the
campaign to the king. Isaiah (xx. 1) distinctly says that Sargon sent the
Tartan to quell the revolt of Ashdod.
3 The Annais state that Yamani was made prisoner and taken to Assyria.
The Fastes, more accurate on this point, state that he escaped to Muzri, and
that he was given up by the King of Milukhkha, The Muzri mentioned in
this passage very probably here means Egypt.
VOL. VII. . 20
 386 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

care not to call either Moab, Edom, or Judah to account

for the part they had taken in the movement, perhaps
because they were not mentioned in his instructions, or
because he preferred not to furnish them, by an untimely
interference, with a pretext for calling in the help of
Egypt. The year was doubtless too far advanced to allow
him to dream of marching against Pharaoh, and moreover
that would have been one of those important steps which
the king alone had the right to take. There was, however,
no doubt that the encounter between the two empires
was imminent, and Isaiah ventured to predict the precise
date of its occurrence. He walked stripped and barefoot
through the streets of Jerusalem—a strange procedure
which he explained by the words which Jahveh had put
into his lips: “ Like as My servant Isaiah hath walked
naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder
upon Egypt and upon Kush (Ethiopia); so shall the King
of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles
of Kush, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with
buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they
shall be dismayed and ashamed, because of Kush their
expectation, and of Egypt their glory. And the in-
habitants of this coastland shall say in that day, Behold,
such is our expectation, whither we fled for help to be
delivered from the King of Assyria: and we, how shall
we escape ?’’?
The fulfilment of this prophecy did not take place as
quickly as the prophet perhaps desired. HKgypt appeared
too strong to be openly attacked by a mere section of the
1 Tea. xx.
 WAR AGAINST MERODACH-BALADAN 387

battalions at the disposal of Assyria, and besides, it may

have been deemed imprudent to involve the army to any
serious extent on so distant a field as Africa, when Babylon
was ready and waiting to fall upon the very heart of
Assyria at the first news of a real or supposed reverse.
Circumstances seemed, moreover, to favour a war against
Merodach-baladan. ‘This sovereign, who had been received
with acclamation by the Babylonians, had already lost the
popularity he had enjoyed at his accession. The fickle
character of the people, which made them nearly always
welcome a fresh master with enthusiasm, soon led them
from love and obedience to hatred, and finally to revolt.
Merodach-baladan trusted to the Kaldé to help him to
maintain his position, and their rude barbarity, even if it
protected him against the fickleness of his more civilised
subjects, increased the discontent at Kutha, Sippar, and
Borsippa. He removed the statues of the gods from these
towns, imprisoned the most turbulent citizens, confiscated
their goods, and distributed them among his own followers ;
the other cities took no part in the movement, but Sargon
must have expected to find in them, if not effective support,
at least sympathies which would facilitate his work of
conquest. It is true that Elam, whose friendship for the
Aramean was still undiminished, remained to be reckoned
with, but Elam had lost much of its prestige in the last few
years. The aged Khumban-igash had died in 717,’ and his

1 The date of the death of Khumban-igash is indirectly given in the

passage of the Babylonian Chronicle of Pinches, where it is said that in
the first year of Ashshur-nadin-shumu, King of Babylon, Ishtar-khundu
(= Shutruk-nakhunta) was dethroned by his brother, Khallushu, after
388 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

successor, Shutruk-nakhunta, had not apparently inherited

all the energy of his father,’ and it is possible that troubles
had arisen among the vassals of his own kingdom which
prevented him from interfering on behalf of his ally.
Sargon took account of all these circumstances in arranging
his plan of campaign. He divided his army into two forces,
one of which, under his own command, was to be directed
against Merodach-baladan, while the other was to attack
the insurgent Arameans on the left bank of the Tigris, and
was to be manceuvred so as to drive Shutruk-nakhunta
back on the marshes of the Uknu.? The eastern force was
the first to be set in movement, and it pushed forward into
the territory of the Gambulu. These latter had con-
centrated themselves round Dur-Atkharas, one of their
citadels ;* they had increased the height of the walls, and

having reigned over Elam eighteen years: these events actually took place,
as we shall see below, about the year 699 before our era,
* Shutruk-nakhunta is the Susian form of the name ; the Assyrian texts
distort it into Shutur-nankhundi, and the Babylonian Chronicle of Pinches,
into Ishtar-khundu, owing to a faint resemblance in the sound of the name
of the goddess Ishtar with the form Shutur, Sthur, itself derived from Shutruk,
with which the name began.
* The earlier historians of Assyria, misled in the first place by the form
in which the scribes have handed down the account in the Annals and
the
Fastes, assumed the existence of a single army, led by Sargon himself,
and
which would have marched on all the above-mentioned places of the
country,
one by one. Tiele was the first to recognise that Sargon must have
left part
of his forces to the command of one of his lieutenants, and Winckler, en-
larging on this idea, showed that there were then two armies, engaged
at
different seats of war, but mancuvring as far as possible by mutual
arrange-
ment.
° The site of Dur-Atkharas is unknown. Billerbeck places it hypotheti-
cally on the stream of Mendeli, and his conjecture is in itself
very plausible.
I should incline, however, to place it more to the south, on
account of the
 THE DEFEAT OF SHUTRUK-NAKHUNTA II. 389

filled the ditches with water brought from the Shurappu by

means of a canal, and having received a reinforcement of
600 horsemen and 4000 foot soldiers, they had drawn them
up in front of the ramparts. A single morning sufficed to
disperse them, and the Assyrians, entering the city with
the fugitives, took possession of it on the same day. They
made 16,490 prisoners, and seized horses, mules, asses,
camels, and both sheep and oxen in large numbers. Hight
of the chiefs of the neighbourhood, who ruled over the flat
country between the Shurappu and the Uknu, begged for
mercy as soon as they learned the result of the engagement.
The name of Dur-Atkharas was changed to that of Dur-
Nebo, the territory of the Gambulu was converted into a
province, and its organisation having been completed, the
army continued its march, sweeping before it the Rua, the
Khindaru, the Puqudu, in short, all the tribes occupying
the district of Yatbur. The chiefs of these provinces
sought refuge in the morasses of the lower Kerkha, but
finding themselves surrounded and short of provisions, they
were forced by famine to yield to the enemy, and came to
terms with the Assyrians, who imposed a tribute on them
and included them within the new province of Gambulu.
The goal of this expedition was thus attained, and Elam —
separated from Karduniash, but the issue of the war
the
passage in which it is said that the Kalda, to complete the defences of
its banks. The
town, brought a canal from the Shurappu and fortified
emal ;
Shurappu, according to Delitzsch, would be the Shatt Umm-el-J
of the campaign under con-
according to Delattre, the Kerkha ; the account
se like the Tib, which
' sideration would lead me to recognise in it a watercour
Kherib would
runs into the Tigris near Amara, in which case the ruins of
perhaps correspond with the site of Dur-Atkharas.
 390 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

remained undecided as long as Shutruk-nakhunta held the

cities at the edge of the plain, from which he could emerge
at will into the heart of the Assyrian position. The
conqueror therefore turned in that direction, rapidly took
from him the citadels of Shamuna and Babduri, then those
of Lakhirimmu and Pillutu, and pitched his camp on the
bank of the Naditi, from whence he despatched marauding
bands to pillage the country. Dismay spread throughout
the district of Rashi; the inhabitants, abandoning their
cities—Til-Khumba, Durmishamash, Bubt, and Khamanu—
migrated as far as Bit-Imbi; Shutruk-nakhunta, overcome
with fear, took refuge, so it was said, in the distant
mountains to preserve his life.1 Sargon, meanwhile, had
crossed the Huphrates with the other force, and had
marched straight upon Bit-Dakkuri; having there noticed
that the fortress of Dur-Ladinu was in ruins, he rebuilt it,

+ None of these places can be identified with certainty. So far as I can

follow the account of this campaign on the map, it seems that the attacks
upon Shutruk-nakhunta took place on the plain and in the mountains
between
the Ab-i-Gengir and the Tib, so that the river Naditi would be the Aftah
or
one of its tributaries, If this were so, Lakhirimmu and Pillutu would
be
situated somewhere near the Jughat ben Ruan and the Tépé Ghulame
n of
de Morgan’s map of Elam, Shamuna near Zirzir-tépi, Babduri
near Hosseini-
yeh. But I wish it to be understood that I do not consider
these com-
parisons as more than simple conjectures. Bit-Imbi was certainly out of the
reach of the Assyrians, since it was used as a place of refuge
by the inhabi-
tants of Rashi ; at the same time it must have been close
to Rashi, since the
people of this country fled thither. The site of Ghilan
which de Morgan has
adopted on his map seems to me to be too far north
to comply with these
conditions, and that of Tapa, approved by Billerbeck,
too southerly. If, as
I believe, Rashi corresponds to the regions of Pushti-k
uh which lie 6n both
sides of the upper waters of the Mendeli stream, we ought
to.look for Bit-
Imbi somewhere near the Desht-i-Ghoaur and the
Zenjan, near a point where
communication with the banks of the Ab-t-Kirind
would be easy.
 THE CONQUEST OF BABYLON 391

and, firmly installed within the heart of the country, he

patiently waited until the eastern force had accomplished
its mission. Like his adversary, Merodach-baladan, he had
no desire to be drawn into an engagement until he knew
what chance there was of the latter being reinforced by the
King of Elam. At the opening of hostilities Merodach-
baladan claimed the help of the Hlamite king, and lavished
on him magnificent presents—a couch, a throne, a portable
chair, a cup for the royal offerings, and his own pectoral
chain; these all reached their destination in good con-
dition, and were graciously accepted. But before long the
Elamite prince, threatened in his own domain, forgot
everything except his own personal safety, and declared
himself unable to render Merodach-baladan any assistance.
The latter, on receiving this news, threw himself with his
face in the dust, rent his clothes, and broke out into loud
weeping ; after which, conscious that his strength would
not permit of his meeting the enemy in the open field, he
withdrew his men from the other side of the Tigris, escaped
secretly by night, and retired with his troops to the fortress
of Ikbibel. The inhabitants of Babylon and Borsippa did
not allow themselves to be disconcerted ; they brought the
arks of Bel, Zarpanit, Nebo, and Tashmit out of their ©
sanctuaries, and came forth with chanting and musical
instruments to salute Sargon at Diir-Ladinu. He entered
the city in their company, and after he had celebrated the
customary sacrifices, the people enthroned him in
Merodach-baladan’s palace. Tribute was offered to him,
but he refused to accept any part of it for his personal use,
and applied it to a work of public utility—the repairing of
392 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

the ancient canal of Borsippa, which had become nearly

filled up. This done, he detached a body of troops to occupy
Sippara, and returned to Assyria, there to take up his
winter quarters.
Once again, therefore, the ancient metropolis of the
Kuphrates was ruled by an Assyrian, who united in one
protrocol the titles of the sovereigns of Assur and Kar-
duniash. Babylon possessed for the kings of Nineveh
the same kind of attraction as at a later date drew
the German Cesars to Rome. Scarcely had the Assyrian
monarchs been crowned within their own domains, than
they turned their eyes towards Babylon, and _ their
ambition knew no rest till the day came for them to
present themselves in pomp within the temple of its god
and implore his solemn consecration. When at length
they had received it, they scrupulously secured its renewal
on every occasion which the law prescribed, and their
chroniclers recorded among the important events of the
year, the ceremony in which they “took the hand of
Bel.” Sargon therefore returned, in the month Nisan
of the year 709, to preside over the procession of the
god, and he devoutly accomplished the rites which con-
stituted him the legitimate successor of the semi-fabulous
heroes of the old empire, foremost among whom was his
namesake Shargani of Agadé. He offered sacrifices to
Bel, Nebo, and to the divinities of Sumir and Akkad,
and he did not return to the camp until he had fulfilled
all the duties incumbent on his new dignity. He was in-
volved that year in two important wars at opposite
points of his empire. One was at the north-western
 SARGON ENCOUNTERS MERODACH-BALADAN 3938

extremity, against the Mushki and their king Mita, who,

after having supported Rusas, was now intriguing with
Argistis; the other in the south-east, against the Kalda,
and probably also against Elam. He entrusted the
conduct of the former to the governor of Kui, but
reserved to himself the final reckoning with Merodach-
baladan. The Babylonian king had made good use of
the respite given him during the winter months. ‘Too
prudent to meet his enemy in the open plain, he had
transformed his hereditary principality into a formidable
citadel. During the preceding campaign he had devas-
tated the whole of the country lying between the
marshes and the territory occupied by the Assyrians,
and had withdrawn the inhabitants. Most of the
towns—Ikbibel, Uru, Uruk, Kishik, and Nimid-laguda—
were also deserted, and no garrisons were left in them.
He had added to the fortifications of Dur-Yakin, and
enlarged the moat till it was two hundred cubits wide
and eighteen deep, so as to reach the level of infil-
tration ; he then turned into it the waters of the Euphrates,
so that the town appeared to be floating on a lake,
without either bridges or quays by means of which the
besiegers might have brought their machines within range
and their troops been able to approach for an assault.
Merodach-baladan had been careful not to shut himself
within the town, but had taken up a position in the
marshes, and there awaited the arrival of the Assyrians.
Sargon, having left Babylon in the month of Iyyar,
- encountered him within sight of Dur-Yakin. The Ara-
man infantry were crushed by repeated charges from
 394 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

the Ninevite chariotry and cavalry, who pursued the

fugitives to the outer side of the moat, and seized the
camp with all its baggage and the royal train, includ-
ing the king’s tent, a canopy of solid silver which
protected the throne, his sceptre, weapons, and stores of
all kinds. The peasants, to the number of 90,580, crowded
within the lines, also fell into their hands, together with
their flocks and herds—2500 horses, 610 mules, and
854 camels, as well as sheep, oxen, and asses; the re-
mainder of the fugitives rushed within the outworks for
refuge “like a pack of wild boars,’ and finally were
driven into the interior of the place, or scattered among
the beds of reeds along the coast. Sargon cut down
the groves of palm trees which adorned the suburbs,
and piled up their trunks in the moat, thus quickly
forming a causeway right up to the walls. Merodach-
baladan had been wounded in the arm during the
engagement, but, nevertheless, fought stubbornly in defence
of his city; when he saw that its fall was inevitable,
he fled to the other side of the gulf, and took refuge
among the mud flats of the Lower Ulai. Sargon set
fire to Dur-Yakin, levelled its towers and walls with the
ground, and demolished its houses, temples, and palaces.
It had been a sort of penal settlement, to which the
Kalda rulers used to consign those of their subjects
belonging to the old aboriginal race, who had rendered
themselves obnoxious by their wealth or independence
of character; the number of these prisoners was consider-
able, Babylon, Borsippa, Nipur, and Sippar, not to
speak
of Uru, Uruk, Eridu, Larsam, and Kishik, having all
 SUBMISSION OF THE MUSHKI 395

of them furnished their share. Sargon released them

all, and restored their gods to the temples; he expelled
the nomads from the estates which, contrary to all
justice, had been distributed among them in preceding
years, and reinstated the former owners. Karduniash,
which had been oppressed for twelve long years by a
semi-barbarian despot, now breathed again, and hailed
Sargon as its deliverer, while he on his part was actively
engaged in organising his conquest. The voluntary sub-
mission of Upiri, King of Dilmun, who lived isolated in
the open sea, ‘‘as though in a bird’s nest,” secured to
Sargon possession of the watercourses which flowed
beyond the Chaldean lake into the Persian Gulf: no
sooner had he obtained it than he quitted the neigh-
bourhood of Dur-Yakin, crossed the Tigris, and reinforced
the garrisons which lined his EHlamite frontier on this
side. He had just finished building a strongly fortified
citadel on the site of Sagbat,! when ambassadors arrived
from Mita. The governor of Kui had at length triumphed
over the obstinacy of the Mushki, and after driving them
from village to village, had compelled them to sue for terms :
the tidings of the victories over the Kald& had doubtless
hastened their decision, but they were still so powerful
that it was thought wiser not to impose too rigorous
conditions upon them. Mita agreed to pay tribute, and
surrendered one or two districts, which were turned into

the district of Bit-

1 This Sagbat, which must not be confused with
r III., seems to correspond
Sagbati mentioned in the reign of Tiglath-pilese
the ruins of Baksay eh, on the
with a post to the south of Durilu, perhaps
Tchengula.
 396 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

an Aramean settlement: the inhabitants were transferred

to Bit-Yakin, where they had to make the best they
could of lands that had been devastated by war. At this
juncture the Greeks of Cyprus flattered the pride of the
Assyrians in a most unexpected way: after the manner
of their race they scoured the seas, and
their fleets persistently devastated the
coasts of Syria and Cilicia. Seven of
their kings were so far alarmed by the
report of Sargon’s achievements as to
dread punishment for their misdeeds.
They therefore sent him presents, and,
for the moment, abandoned their pirati-
cal expeditions in Phoenician waters.
The homage of these inveterate robbers
raised Sargon in his own eyes and in
those of his subjects. Some years later,
about 708 B.c., he presented them with
a stele of black marble, on which he
had engraved his own portrait, together
St
2
ES
ae
>
with a long inscription setting forth his
SRG Rte Weenies eag¥
most glorious exploits. They set it up
STELE AT LARNAKA!
at Kition (Citium), where it has been
preserved amongst the ruins, a priceless witness to the
greatness of Assyria.
While war thus raged around him, Sargon still found
time for works of a peaceful character. He set himself
to remodel and complete the system of irrigation in the
Assyrian plain; he repaired the dykes, and cleaned out
* Drawn. by Faucher-Gudin, from the plaster cast in
the Louvre.
 BUILDINGS AT DUR-SHARRUKIN 397

and made good the beds of the canals which had been
neglected during the troublous times of the last generation.
He erected buildings at Calah* and at Nineveh, but in
these cities everything seemed to recall too vividly the
memory of the sovereigns who had gone before him: he
wished for a capital which should belong to himself alone,
where he would not be reminded of a past in which he had
no part. After meditating day and night, his choice fell
upon the village of Maganubba, a little to the north-east
of Nineveh, in a wide plain which extends from the banks
of the Khuzur to the hills of Muzri, and by a single decree
he expropriated all its inhabitants. He then built on the
land which he had purchased from them a city of unrivalled
magnificence, which he called by his own name, Dur-
Sharrukin.? The ground plan of it is of rectangular shape,
the sides being about 1900 yards long by 1800 yards wide,
each corner exactly facing one of the four points of the
compass. Its walls rest on a limestone sub-structure some
three feet six inches high, and rise fifty-seven feet above
the ground; they are strengthened, every thirty yards or

1 At Calah, he lived in an old palace of Assur-nazir-pal restored and

adapted for his use, as shown by the inscription published by Layard.
2 In most of the texts the village of Maganubba is not named; it is
mentioned in the Cylinder Inscription, and this document is the only one
which furnishes details of the expropriation, etc. The modern name of the
place is Khorsabad, the city of Khosroes, but the name of its founder was still
associated with its ruins, in the time of Yakut, who mentions him under the
name of Sarghun. It was first explored in 1843 by Botta, then by Place and.
Oppert. The antiquities collected there by Botta and Place constitute the
bulk of the Assyrian Museum in the Louvre ; unfortunately, a part of the
objects collected by Place went to the bottom of the Tigris with the lighter
which was carrying them.
 398 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

so, by battlemented towers which project thirteen feet from

the face of the wall and stand sixteen feet higher than the
ramparts.’ Access was gained to the interior by eight
gates, two on each side of the square, each of them marked

We aA a

PLAN OF THE ROYAL CITY OF DUR-SHARRUKIN.”

by two towers separated from one another by the width of

the bay. Every gate had its patron, chosen from among
the gods of the city; there was the gate of Shamash, the
1 Place reckoned the height of the wall at 75 feet,
a measurement
adopted by Perrot and Chipiez ; Dieulafoy has shown
that the height of the
wall must be reduced to 47 feet, and that of the towers
about 65 feet.
2 Reduction by Faucher-Gudin, from the plan publis
hed in Place.
 THE GATES AND WALLS OF DUR-SHARRUKIN 399

gate of Ramman, those of Bel and Beltis, of Anu, of Ishtar,

of Ha, and of the Lady of the Gods. Hach of them was
protected externally by a migdol, or small castle, built in
the Syrian style, and flanked at each corner by a low tower
thirteen yards in width; -five allowed of the passage of
beasts as well as men. It was through these that the
peasants came in every morning, driving their cattle before
them, or jolting along in waggons laden with fruit and
vegetables. After passing the outposts, they crossed a
paved courtyard, then made their way between the two
towers through a vaulted passage over fifty yards long,
intersected at almost equal intervals by two transverse
galleries. The other three gates had a special arrangement
of their own; a flight of twelve steps built out in front
of the courtyard rendered them inaccessible to animals or
vehicles. At the entrance to the passage towered two
colossal bulls with human heads, standing like sentinels—
their faces and foreparts turned outward, their hind-quarters
ranged along the inner walls—as though gazing before
them into space in company with two winged genii. The
arch supported by their mitred heads was ornamented by
a course of enamelled bricks, on which other genii, facing
one another in pairs, offered pine-cones across a circular
ornament of many colours. These were the mystic
guardians of the city, who shielded it not only from the
attacks of men, but also from invasions of evil spirits and
pernicious diseases. The rays of the sun made the fore-
court warm in winter, while it was always cool under the
archway in summer; the gates served as resorts for pleasure
or business, where old men and idlers congregated to discuss
400 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

their affairs and settle the destinies of the State, merchants

bargained and disposed of their goods, and the judge and
notables of the neighbouring quarter held their courts.
It was here that the king generally exposed to view the
chieftains and kings whom he had taken captive; here
they lay, chained like dogs in cages, dependent on the
pity of their guards or of passers-by for such miserable fare

PART OF THE ENAMELLED COURSE OF A GATE.!

as might be flung to them, and, the first feeling of curiosity

once passed, no longer provoking ‘even the jeers of the
crowd, until a day came when their victor took it into his
head to remove them from their ignominious position, and
either restored them to their thrones or sent them to the
executioner.” The town itself, being built from plans
drawn up by one mind, must have presented few of the
irregularities of outline characteristic of ancient cities.
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a drawing published in Place,
2 To mention but a single instance, it was in this way that Assur-bani-
pal treated the Arab kings captured by him.
 THE POPULATION OF THE CITY 401

The streets leading from the gates were of uniform breadth

throughout, from one side of the enclosure to the other.
They were paved, had no sideways or footpaths, and crossed
one another at right angles. The houses on either side
of them seem, for the most part, to have consisted of a
single story. They were built of bricks, either baked or
unbaked, the outer surfaces of which were covered with
white or tinted rough-casting. The high and narrow doors
were nearly always hidden away in a corner of the front;
the bare monotony of the walls was only relieved here and
there at long intervals by tiny windows, but often instead
of a flat roof the building was surmounted by a conical
dome or by semi-cupolas, the concave sides of which were
turned inwards. The inhabitants varied greatly in race
and language: Sargon had filled his city with prisoners
collected from all the four quarters of his empire, from
Elam, Chaldea, and Media, from Urartu and Tabal, Syria
and Palestine, and in order to keep these incongruous
elements in check he added a number of Assyrians, of the
mercantile, official, or priestly classes. He could overlook
the whole city from the palace which he had built on both
sides the north-eastern wall of the town, half within and
half without the ramparts. Like all palaces built on the
EHuphratean model, this royal castle stood on an artificial
eminence of bricks formed of two rectangles joined together
in the shape of the letter T. The only entrance to it was
on the city side, foot-passengers being admitted by a double
flight of steps built out in front of the ramparts, horsemen
and chariots by means of an inclined plane which rose in a
gentle gradient along the right flank of the masonry work,
VOL. VII. 2 D
 402 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

and terminated on. its eastern front. Two main gates

corresponded to these two means of approach; the one
on the north-east led straight to the royal apartments, the
other faced the city and opened on to the double staircase.
It was readily distinguishable from a distance by its two

BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF SARGON’S PALACE AT DUR-SHARRUKIN,!

fiagstaffs bearing the royal standard, and its two towers,

at the base of which were winged bulls and colossal figures
of Gilgames crushing the lion. Two bulls of still more
monstrous size stood sentry on either side of the gate, the
arch was outlined by a course of enamelled bricks, while
higher up, immediately beneath the battlements, was an
enamelled mosaic showing the king in all his glory. This
2 Drawn by Boudier, from the restoration by Thomas in Place.
 ROYAL PALACE AT DUR-SHARRUKIN 403

triumphal arch was reserved for his special use, the

common people being admitted by two side doors of
smaller size less richly decorated.
Sargon resided at Calah, where he had taken up his
quarters in the former palace of Assur-
nazir-pal, while § his new city was still

ONE OF THE GATES OF THE PALACE AT DUR-SHARRUKIN.!

in the hands of the builders. Every moment that he could

spare from his military and administrative labours was
devoted to hastening on the progress of the work, and when-
ever he gained a victory or pillaged a district, he invariably
set aside a considerable part of the booty in order to meet
the outlay which the building involved. Thus we find that
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the restoration by Thomas, in
Place.
404 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

on returning from his tenth campaign he brought with him

an immense convoy laden with timber, stone, and precious
metals which he had collected in the neighbourhood of
Mount Taurus or among the mountains of Assyria, includ-
ing coloured marbles, lapis-lazuli, rock crystal, pine, cedar,
and cypress-wood, gold, silver, and bronze, all of which
was destined for Dur-Sharrukin; the quantity of silver
included among these
materials was so great
that its value fell to a
level with that of copper.
The interior of the build-
ing, as in the case of the
old Chaldean palaces,
was separated into two
well-marked divisions.
The larger of these was
used by the king in his
i public capacity, and to
ras of amenreviney
tom oT T=" this the nobles and sol
diers, and even the com-
mon people, were admitted under certain conditions and on
certain days prescribed by custom. The outer court was
lined on three sides by warehouses and depdts, in which
were stored the provisions, commodities, and implements
required for the host of courtiers and slaves who depended
on the sovereign for support. Hach room had, as may
still be seen, its own special purpose. There were cellars
for wine and oil, with their rows of large oblong jars;
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the plan by Thomas, in Place.
 THE ROYAL APARTMENTS AT DUR-SHARRUKIN 405

then there were store-rooms for implements of iron, which

Place found full of rusty helmets, swords, pieces of armour,
maces, and ploughshares; a little further on were rooms
for the storage of copper weapons, enamelled bricks, and
precious metals, and the king’s private treasury, in which
were hidden away the spoils of the vanquished or the
regular taxes paid by his subjects; some fine bronze lions

ONE OF THE BRONZE LIONS FROM DUR-SHARRUKIN.!

of marvellous workmanship and lifelike expression were

found still shut up here. The kitchens adjoined the
pantries, and the stables for horses and camels com-
municated direct with the coach-houses in which the
state chariots were kept, while the privies were discreetly
hidden in a secluded corner. On the other side, among
the buildings occupying the southern angle of the court-
yard, the menials of the palace lived huddled together,
each family quartered in small, dark rooms. The royal
apartments, properly so called, stood at the back . of
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the original in the Louvre,
406 . SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

these domestic offices, facing the south-east, near the

spot where the inclined plane debouched on to the city
ramparts. The monumental entrance to these apartments
was guarded, in accordance with religious custom, by a
company of winged bulls; behind this gate was a lawn,
then a second gate, a corridor and a grand quadrangle in

A HUNTING EXPEDITION IN THE WOODS NEAR DUR-SHARRUKiN.!

the very centre of the palace. The king occupied a suite

of some twenty rooms of a rather simple character; here
he slept, ate, worked, and transacted the greater part of his
daily business, guarded by his eunuchs and attended by his
ministers and secretaries. The remaining rooms were apart-
ments of state, all of the same pattern, in which the crowd
of courtiers and employés assembled while waiting for a
private audience or to intercept the king as he passed.
A subdued light made its way from above through narrow
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a drawing by Flandin, in Botta.
 INTERIOR DECORATIONS OF THE PALACE 407

windows let into the massive arches. The walls were lined
to a height of over nine feet from the floor with endless bas-
reliefs, in greyish alabaster, picked out in bright colours, and
- illustrating the principal occupations in which the sovereign
spent his days, such as the audiences to ambassadors,
hunting in the woods, sieges and battles. A few brief
inscriptions interspersed above pictures of cities and
persons indicated the names of the vanquished chiefs or
the scenes of the various events portrayed; detailed
descriptions were engraved on the back of the slabs .
facing the brick wall against which they rested. This
was a precautionary measure, the necessity for which
had been but too plainly proved by past experience.
Hvery one—the king himself included—well knew that
some day or other Dur-Sharrukin would be forsaken just
as the palaces of previous dynasties had been, and it
was hoped that inscriptions concealed in this manner
would run a better chance of escaping the violence of
man or the ravages of time; preserved in them, the
memory of Sargon would rise triumphant from the ruins.
The gods reigned supreme over the north-east angle
of the platform, and a large irregular block of buildings
was given up to their priests; their cells contained nothing
of any particular interest, merely white walls and black
plinths, adorned here and there with frescoes embellished
by arabesques, and pictures of- animals and symbolical
geniil. The ziggurdt rose to a height of some 141 feet
above the esplanade. It had seven storeys dedicated
to the gods of the seven planets, each storey being painted
in the special colour of its god—the first white, the second
408 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

black, the third purple, the fourth blue, the fifth a

vermilion red; the sixth was coated with silver, and the
seventh gilded. There was no chamber in the centre
of the tower, but a small gilded chapel probably stood
at its base, which was used for the worship of Assur
or of Ishtar. The harem, or Biét-riduti, was at the
southern corner of the enclosure, almost in the shadow
rn ananmnan Of the ziggurdt. Sargon had pro-
| JL bably three queens when he
THOTT NTE | , founded his city, for the harem
is divided into three separate
apartments, of which the two
NAT TPAUAIA, larger look out on the same
TH I | \ quadrangle. Two courses
TT alOT Nin ii Hl TMENTE ri of enamelled bricks ran
a oe vk Tit along the base of the
| AWA Al = facade, while statues
were placed at intervals
THE ZIGGURAT AT DUR-SHARRUKIN.?
againt the wall, and the
bay of the gateway was framed by two bronze palm trees
gilt : the palm being the emblem of fruitfulness and grace,
no more fitting decoration could have been chosen for
this part of the building. The arrangement was the same
in all three divisions: an ante-chamber of greater width
than length; an apartment, one half of which was open
to the sky, while the other was covered by a half-dome,
and a flight of twelve steps, leading to an alcove in
which stood a high wooden couch. The queens and
princesses spent their lives in this prigon-like Jét-riduti:
* Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the restoration by Thomas, in Place.
 THE HAREM OF DUR-SHARRUKIN 409
their time was taken up with dress, embroidery, needle-
work, dancing and singing, the monotony of this routine
being relieved by endless quarrels, feuds, and intrigues.
The male children remained in the harem until the age
of puberty, when they
left it in order to con- eeu
tinue their education as ce)
princes and _ soldiers
under the guidance of
their father.’ This group
of buildings was com-
pleted by a park, in
whichcedarsof Lebanon,
pines, cypresses, gazelles,
stags, wild asses and

AHi
cattle, and even lions, Lliit
were acclimatised, in ad-

Peo iofher
taco 7
and animals. Here, the SECTION OF A BEDROOM IN THE HAREM.?

king gave himself up to

the pleasures of the chase, and sometimes invited one or
other of his wives to come thither and banquet or drink
with him.
After Mita’s surrender, Sargon had hoped to be allowed
to finish building his city in peace; but an ill-advised
ion of the
1 An inscription of Assur-bani-pal, gives a summary descript
the throne, and describe s generall y the kind
life led in the harem by heirs to
of education received by them from their earliest childhoo d.
Thomas, in Place.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the restoration by
410 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

movement in Kummukh obliged him to don his harness

again (708 3.c.). King Mutallu had entered into an
alliance with Argistis of Urartu, and took the field with
his army; but when details of what had taken place in
Chaldea reached his ears, and he learnt the punishment
that had been inflicted on the people of Bit-Yakin, his

eLJOLig

MAIN DOOR OF THE HAREM AT DUR-SHARRUKiN.!

courage failed him. He fled without waiting for the

Assyrians to appear, and so great was his haste that he
had no time to take his family and treasure with him.
Sargon annexed his kingdom, placed it under the govern-
ment of the tartan, and incorporated into his own the
whole army of Kummukh, including 150 chariots, 1500
horsemen, 20,000 archers, and 10,000 pikemen. In the
following year (707) his vassal Dalta died, leaving two
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the restoration by Thomas, in Place,
 CONSECRATING A NEW CITY 411

sons, Nibi and Ishpabara, both of whom claimed possession

of the fief of Ellipi; Nibi appealed to Hlam for help, and
Ishpabara at once turned for aid to Assyria. Sargon sent
him a body of troops, commanded by seven of his generals,
while Shutruk-nakhunta lent his protégé 4500 bowmen;
Ishpabara won the day, took the city of Marubishti by
storm, and compelled his brother to take refuge in Susian
territory. The affair was over so quickly that it caused
practically no delay in the completion of the works at
the capital. The consecration of a new city necessitated
the observance of a host of complicated ceremonies, which
extended over several months. First of all provision had
to be made for its religious worship; the omens were
consulted in order to determine which of the gods were
to be invoked, and, when this was decided, there followed
the installation of the various statues and arks which were
to preside over the destinies of the city and the priests to
whom they were intrusted; the solemn inauguration took
place on the 22nd day of Tisri, in the year 707 B.c., and
from that day forward Dur-Sharrukin occupied the rank
officially assigned to it among the capitals of the empire.
Sargon, however, did not formally take up his residence
within it till six months later, on the 6th day of Iyyar,
in
706. He must, by this time, have been advancing
a young
years, and even if we assume him to have been
years
man when he ascended the throne, after the sixteen
he had
of bodily fatigue and mental worry through which
needed
passed since coming into power, he must have
northern
repose. He handed over the government of the
known to
provinces to his eldest son Sin-akhé-irba, better
412 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA.

us as Sennacherib, whom he regarded as his successor;

to him he transferred the responsibility of keeping watch
over the movements of the Mannai, of Urartu, and of the
restless barbarians who dwelt beyond the zone of civilised
states on the banks of the Halys, or at the foot of the
distant Caucasus: a revolt among the Tabal, in 706, was
promptly suppressed by his young and energetic deputy.
As for Sargon himself, he was content to retain the direct
control of the more pacific provinces, such as Babylon, the
regions of the Middle Euphrates, and Syria, and he doubt-
less hoped to enjoy during his later years such tranquillity
as was necessary to enable him to place his conquests on
a stable basis. The envious fates, however, allowed him
but little more than twelve short months: he perished
early in 705 B.c., assassinated by some soldier of alien birth,
if I interpret rightly the mutilated text which furnishes
us with a brief mention of the disaster. Sennacherib was
recalled in haste from the frontier, and proclaimed king
immediately on his arrival, thus ascending unopposed to
the throne on the 12th day of Ab.. His father’s body had
been left unburied, doubtless in order that he might verify
with his own eyes the truth of what had been told him
concerning his death, and thus have no ground for harbour-
ing suspicions that would have boded ill for the safety of
the late king’s councillors and servants. He looked upon
his father’s miserable ending as a punishment for some
unknown transgression, and consulted the gods to learn
what it was that had aroused their anger, refusing to
authorise the burial within the palace until the various
explatory rites suggested by the oracle had been duly
 DEATH OF SARGON—HIS CHARACTER 413

performed. Thus mysteriously disappeared the founder of

the mightiest dynasty that ever ruled in Assyria, perhaps
even in the whole of Western Asia. At first sight, it
would seem easy enough to determine what manner of
man he was and to what qualities he owed his greatness,
thanks to the abundance of documents which his con-
temporaries have bequeathed to us; but when we come
to examine more closely, we soon find the task to be by no
means a simple one. The inscriptions maintain so discreet
a silence’ with regard to the antecedents of the kings
before their accession, and concerning their education and
private life, that at this distance of time we cannot succeed
in forming any clear idea as to their individual tempera-
ment and character. The monuments record such achieve-
ments as they took pride in, in terms of uniform praise
which conceal or obliterate the personality of the king in
question ; it is always the ideal Assyrian sovereign who
is held up for our admiration under a score of different
names, and if, here and there, we come upon some trait
which indicates the special genius of this or that monarch,
we may be sure that the scribe has allowed it to slip in
by accident, quite unconscious of the fact that he is thus
affording us a glimpse of his master’s true character and.

1 This is my interpretation of the text published and translated by

Winckler. Winckler sees in it the account of a campaign during which
the
Sargon was killed by mountaineers, as was Cyprus in later times by
(according to him) remained unburied, and was
Massagete ; the king’s body
of his
recovered by Sennacherib only after considerable delay. In support
cites the passage in Isa. xiv. 4-20a, which he
version of this event Winckler
composed to exult over the death of Sargon, and then
takes as having been
afterwards adapted to the death of a king of Babylon.
414 SARGON II. OF ASSYRIA

disposition. A study of Sargon’s campaigns as revealed

in his annals will speedily convince us that he was some-
thing more than a fearless general, with a keen eye to
plunder, who could see nothing in the most successful
expedition but a means of enriching his people or adding
to the splendours of his court. He was evidently con-
vinced that certain nations, such as Urartu and Hlam,
would never really assimilate with his own subjects, and,
in their case, he adhered strictly to the old system of
warfare, and did all he could to bring about their ruin;
other nations, on the contrary, he regarded as capable of
amalgamation with the Assyrians, and these he did his
best to protect from the worst consequences of their re-
bellion and resistance. He withdrew them from the
influence of their native dynasties, and converted their
territories into provinces under his own vigilant administra-
tion, and though he did not scruple to send the more
turbulent elements among them into exile, and did his
best to weaken them by founding alien colonies in their
midst, yet he respected their religion, customs, and laws,
and, in return for their obedience to his rule, guaranteed
them an equitable and judicious government. Moreover,
he took quite as much interest in their well-being as in
his own military successes, and in the midst of his heroic
struggles against Rusas and Merodach-baladan he con-
trived to find time for the consideration of such prosaic
themes as the cultivation of the vine and of corn; he
devoted his attention to the best methods of storing wine,
and sought to prevent “ oil, which is the life of man and
healeth wounds, from rising in price, and the cost of
 SARGON’S CHARACTER 415

, sesame from exceeding that of wheat.” We seem to see

in him, not only the stern and at times cruel conqueror,
but also the gracious monarch, kind and considerate to
his people, and merciful to the vanquished when policy
permitted him to indulge his natural leaning to clemency.

END OF VOL. VII.

 INDEX

A Arpad, Assyrian campaign around, 224

Adaush, 20 Arrapkha, 144, 168
Agusi. See Bit-Agusi Arvad, 62, 104, 106, 126
Ahab, 103, 105, 113-115, 126, 335 Arzashkun, 100
Ahaz, 239, 291, 328, 359 Ashdod, 385
Ahaz appeals to Assyria, 282, 285 Asherah, The, 201
Ahkaziah (of Israel), 117-123 Asia Minor, 179, 298
Ahaziah (of Judah), 126, 127 Asianic steppes, 180
Akhiababa, 25 5 Assur (the city), 143, 168
Akhuni, 49, 93-101 Assur (the god), 111, 148, 234
Akkadians, 302 Assur, Fighting for the king, 1
Allabria, 367, 368, 382 Assur (Assyria), Limmu of, 297
Amadai (Madai). See Medes Assur-dain-pal, 144-147
Amanos. See Amanus Assurdan II., 4
Amanus (or Amanos), 117, 119, 132, 168, Assurdén III., 167
317 Assurirba, 3, 48
Amaziah, 182, 184, 239 Assur-nadinakhé II., 4
ee ee Frontispiece, 8, 18, 19,
Ambaridis (Ambaris), 383
Amika (of Zamru), 35-89 1
Campaign on the Euphrates, 43, 44
Ammibaal (Prince of Bit-Zamani), 30, Character of, 75
41, 47
Extent of his empire, 63
Ammon (or Ammonites), 103, 106, 154,
291, 327 Flotilla of, 45
Mediterranean reached by, 61
Amon, Priests of, 253, 261, 322, 324
Amorites, The, 62 Obelisk of, 3
Stele of, 68
Amos (the prophet), 209, 210
Winged bulls of, 70
Ansh4n, or Anzan, 345, 347
Assur-nirari III., 169, 179
Aramean tribes, 304
The, 65, 214, 2383, 805, 308, Assyria (or Assur), 162, 351
Arameans,
333 Art of, 70, 400
Cities of, 143
Aramé (King of Bit-Agusi), 104, 112, 119, First encounter of with Egypt, 353
137
vo
Hebrew ideas of, 219
Aramé (King of Nairi), 91, 99, 101 Limits of, 177
Ararat, Mount, 79
Arashtua, 34, 35 Limmi in, 297
Araziash, 150 Losses in Syria, 165
; Map of, 299
Arbela, 144, 297 State of, under Assur-nazir-pal, 30
Argistis I. (see also Urartu), 161, 162,
165, 175, 235 Assyrian attack on a fortress, 175
Assyrian battering-ram, 12, 13
Argistis II., 380, 410
Aribua, 65 Assyrian besieging engines, 11, 12
Aridi, 92 Assyrian cavalry, 9, 11, 290
Assyrian carrying an inflated skin, 339
Arm4n, 108 Assyrian finance, 313
Armenia, 151 Assyrian head, Ivory, 171
Arpad, 51, 150, 166, 179, 222, 225, 305, Assyrian militia, 313
355
 INDEX

Assyrian provincial administrators, 310, C

31
Assyrian soldier, crossing a river, 2 Calah, 169, 297, 340, 397, 403
Assyrian war-chariot, 55 Calah, Palace of, 66, 67, 73, 75
Athaliah, 114, 152, 193 Cappadocia, 366, 383
Atlila (or Dur-Assur), 38 Carchemish, 50, 59, 94-98, 181, 228
Azariah (Uzziah) of Judah, 185, 231, Carchemish, an Assyrian prefecture, 365
279 Chaldza, 401. See also Karduniash
Azriyahu, 229, 231 Chalybes, 180
Cilicia, 94, 185, 188, 366, 383, 396
B Cilician empire, 50
Cimmerians, The, 381
Baalirasi, Stele at, 130 Coele-Syria, 167
Babylon, 142, 148, 149, 341, 347, 392 Cosseans, The, 4, 301, 347
Babylonian army, 305 Cyprus submits to Sargon, 395
Babylonian Canon, The, 5
Babylonian empire, 302 D
Balawat, Bronze gates of, 90-93, 101,
144, 314 Dagara, 32, 33
Baqani, 110 Damascus, 62, 103, 105, 111, 119, 124,
Bau-akhiddin (King of Babylon), 149 126, 142, 166, 181, 182, 185, 286,
Bazi, 5 305, 334, 354
Bedawin, The, 371 Fall of kingdom of, 287
‘*Bel, Taking the hands of,’’ 15, 295, List of kings of, 289
340, 392 Map of kingdom of, 283
Bel-harran-beluzur, Stele of, 820 Damdamusa, 27, 28, 65, 75
Ber oredeck or Marduk, Statue of, Damunu, 177
847 Dayaini, 161
Bel-nadinshumu, 347 Day4n-assur, 1388-140
Benhadad I., 104, 113, 335 Delta, The, 253-255
Benhadad II. (Adadidri or Hadadezer), Demavend (Bikni), 217
aa 115-120, 124 (death of), 125, Demavend, Peaks of, 218
835 Dhibon (Dibon), 120, 122, 186
Benhadad III. (see also Mari), 154, 181 Dhuspas, 159. See also Van
Bethel, 210 Dirreans, The, 40
Biainas (or Biaina), 90, 158, 880 Durilu, 3538
Bit-Adini (in Bit-Dakkuri), 109, 110 Dur-Ladinu, 390, 391
Bit-Adini (in Mesopotamia), 45-49, 93, Dur-papsukal, 148
98-102, 118, 119 Dur-Sharrukin, 397, 402-408
Bit-Agusi (lakhanu), 51, 97, 104, 117, Palace at, 403, 404
167, 180, 224, 228, 355 Plan of, 402
Bit-Amukk4ni, 109, 110, 2938, 294 Dur-Yakin, 342, 344, 394, 395
Bit-Bagaia, Town of, 371
Bit-Bakhiani, 47, 49 E
Bit-Dakkuri (or Bit-Dakuri), 109, 390
Bit-Khalupi, 238, 24 Eamukin-shumu, 5, 6
Bit-Shalani, 109 a Bs also Idumea), 154, 231, 291,
Bit-Shalli, 109 3
Bit- Yakin, 109, 110, 304, 342, 348, 410 Edomites, The, 184
Bit-Zamani, 41, 65, 138. See also Am- AE Meee of (Wady-el-Arish), 182,
mibaal
Black obelisk, The, 105, 185, 141, 189 First encounter of, with Assyria, 357
Bocchorsi (Bukunirinif), 322, 373 Isaiah’s prophecy ‘against, 885
Borsippa, 149 Map of middle Egypt, 262
Borsippa, Canal of, 392 Egyptian altar, 203
Bubastis, Festival hall at, 245 Egyptian ivory from Nineveh, 171, 337
Bubastis, Temple of, 243 Elam, 348, 347, 351, 367, 393, 401
Burramman, 41 Elamites, 302
Byblos, 183, 230 Elealeh, 186
 INDEX

Elephants as tribute, 1387 Trade of, 187

Elijah, 125 Heliopolis, 245
Elisha, 125, 183, 206 Heracleopolis, 246, 264
Ellipi, 367, 382, 411 Hermon, Mount, 288
Eponym Canon, 7 Hermopolis, 246
Ethiopia, 254, 386 Hermopolis, Temple of, 263
Ethiopian empire in Egypt, 275 Heshbon, 186
Ethiopian kings, The, 256 Hittite, 30
Ethiopian types, 260 Hittite empire, 165
Ethiopians, The, 255 Hittite states, 62, 162
Etius (Etiaus), 165, 179, 380 Hittites, The, 82, 333. See also Khati
Eulbar-shakinshumi, 4, 5 and Patina
Euphrates, The, 43, 342 Hittites, Submission of, 59
Ezion-geber, 121, 188 Horses as tribute, 314, 315
Hosea (the prophet), 211, 231
F Hoshea, King of Israel, 289, 327

Fariua (or Paripa), 98

Ianzu, The, 119
G Tasbuki, 94
Taubidi of Hamath, 354, 357
Gambul& (or Gambulu), The, 177, 351, Iaubidi flayed alive, 356
388, 389 Taudi, 166
Gananaté, 107, 168 Idumea, 103. See alzo Edom
Garparuda, 104 | Tlaniu, 36, 37
Gath, 154 Imgur-Bel (Balawat), 74
Gaza, 336, 355, 357 Tranzu, 362
Gebel-Barkal, 256 Irba-ramman, 4
Gilead, 151, 305 Irkanata (Arqanatu), 103
GilzAn, 20, 38, 92, 142, 156 Isaiah, the prophet, 279, 828, 359, 385
Gilzan, Tribute from, 100-103 Isaiah’s prophecy against Egypt, 386
Gizilbunda, 146, 150 Ishpuinis (Ushpina), 156-160, 235
Gordyzan mountains, 79, 91, 140, 156 ‘Israel, 103, 116, 153
Gozan, 150 Fall of, 333
Gurgum, 51, 93, 104, 181, 223, 228, 384 Kingdom of, 151
Tribute to Shalmaneser, 1382
H Israelite captives, 152
Israelites, The, 326
Habardip, 347, 348 Bas-relief of, 189
Hadad, The god, 57 Itua, 178
Hadadezer (or Adadidri). See Benhadad Izalla, 27, 47, 65
106 Izirtu. See Zirtu
Hadrach (Katarika), 151, 166, 185, 280
Halebiyeh, Gorge of, 43, 45 J
Hamath, 61, 103, 105, 117, 126, 181, 185,
354, 370, 372 Jehoahaz (of Israel), 153, 182
Hamath, Captive from, 151 Jehoash (of Israel), 182, 183
Hannon of Gaza, 355, 357 Jehoram (of Judah), 114, 123
Harilu, The, 177 Jehoshaphat, 114, 115, 121, 123, 188
Harran, 148, 144 Jehu, 127-129, 142, 151, 153, 207
Harsiisit, 253 Jehu, Tribute of, 131
Hauran, The, 130 Jeroboam II., 185, 231, 278
Hazael, 125, 151, 182, 335 Jerusalem, 128, 281, 327
Hebrew literature, 195 Besieged by Rezin, 241
Hebrew merchants, 188 Jewish concepts of God, 198, 199
Hebrews, 187, 335 Jewish histories, 197
Dress of, 190 Jewish priesthood, 201
Industry and commerce of, 187 Jewish prophets, 205
Political organization of, 192 Jezebel, 128
 INDEX

Jezreel, 129 Kissirtu, 34, 35

Joash (of Judah), 152, 153, 182 Kition, or Citium (Amathus), 396
Joram (of Israel), 116, 120, 128, 127 Kui, The, 93, 94, 106, 182, 187, 181, 371,
Jotham (of Judah), 231, 289, 279 393, 395
Judah, Kingdom of, 113, 114, 152, 153, Kummukh, 23, 39, 51, 98, 181, 222, 384,
359 410
Judah, Kings of Kunulua, 58
Subjects of, 190, 191 Kurkh, Monolith of, 143
Their mercenaries, 192 Kurkhi, 40
Kush, 386. See also Ethiopia
K Kuta, 149
Kakzi, 33 Kutur-nakhunta, 346
Kalakh. See Calah
Kalda, The (or Aramezans), 4, 106, 148, L
150, 177, 215, 289, 296, 304, 345,
851, 387, 393 Labdudu, 177
Kalda refugees, 343 Lachish (Tell-el-Hesy), 185
Kaldu, A, 294 Lalati (or Lulati), 93
Kammanu (Comana), 383 Laqi, 26, 42, 45
Karduniash (or Babylonia), 149, 214, Libnah, 124
804, 847, 395 Limmi, The, 297
Karomama, Statuette of Queen, 175 Litau, 177
Kashshu-nadinakhé, 5 Liyan, 345
Kashta, 322-325 Lubarna, 52, 57-61
Kelishin, Stele of, 156, 157 Lubarna II., 139
Khabur, The, 22 Lullumé, 32
Khaldi, The, of Urartu, 82
Khaldis (the Urartian god), 86, 87, 160 M
Khalludush, 346
Khalybes, The, 83 Malamir, Bas-relief of, 349
Khalzidipkha, 27 Malamir, Princes of, 349
Khamanu, 42 Manda, The, 382
Kharkhar, 371 Mannai, The (the Minni), 81, 90, 140,
Kharu (see also Israel, Judah, Ammon, 150, 155, 157, 164, 868, 366, 368, 371
and Moab), 243 Mansuati (or Mansuate), 151, 187
Khatdrika, 151. See also Hadrach Marduk, 107
Khati, The, 48, 49, 82, 111, 119, 157, Marduk-abal-uzur, 142
180, 181, 362-365. See also Hittites Marduk-balatsu-ikbi (King of Babylon),
Khati, Chariot of, 54 147, 148
Khati, Twelve kings of, 103, 126 Marduk-belusaté, 107, 108
Khind4nu, 26, 43, 45 Marduk-mudammigq of Namri, 119
Khindaru, 177 Marduk-nadin-shumu, 107-109
Khirki, 20 Mari (see also Benhadad III.), 154, 181
Khmunu, 246 Mariru, 28
Submission of, 269 Mashauasha, The (Maxyes), 246
Khninsu (Heracleopolis — Ahnas), 246 Matiaté, 39
Khninsu, 246, 254, 258 Medes, The, 168, 363
Khninsu, Temple at, 249 Defeat of, by Sargon, 371
Khubushkia, 20, 38, 92, 101, 140, 150, Media, 150, 216, 234, 298, 401
156, 162, 179, 371, 377 Map of, 216
Khudun, 34, 35 Median town, 381
Khumban-igash, 351 Mediterranean reached by Assur-nazir-
Khumban-numena, 345 pal, 62
Kinalua, 139, 167, 228 Megiddo, 128
Kir-hareseth, or Ker-Moab (Kerak), 122 Melitene, 104, 157, 223
Kirkhi, 20, 30 Memphis, 246, 358
Kir of Moab (same as Kir-hareseth), 186 Captured by Pionkhi, 271
Kirruri, 19, 20 Menahem, 198, 232, 288, 278
Kishisim, City of, 369 Homage of, 233
 INDEX

Menuas, 156, 175, 235 Nishpi, 34

Conquests of, 157 Nisibis, 144
Merodach-baladan, or Marduk-abalidinna Nomes, The seven, 253
ov of Babylon), 3832, 348, 387, Nummi (or Nimmi), 19
SE ace (sheikh of Dagara), 32, 33,
Mesha (King of Moab), 120, 122
Mesha, Stele of, 122, 194 O
Mesopotamia, Map of, 44
Mé-Turnat (or Meturnat), 107, 147 Obelisk (Black). See Black
Miliddu, 383, 384 Omri, 126, 194
Misi (or Misu), 146, 150 Omri, Fall of the house of, 129
Misianda in the North (see also Misi), Orontes, 52
363 Osorkon I., 244, 245
Mita (of Mushki), 870, 395, 409 Osorkon I., Statuette of, 242
Mitatti, 362-368, 377 Osorkon II., 244, 247, 250
Moab, 121, 189, 291, 327, 385 Osorkon III., 253, 275
Moab, delivered from Israel, 122 Oxyrrhynchos, Ruins of, 263
Moabite stone, 123, 193
Mushezib-marduk, The, submit to Sar- P
gon, 895
Mushku (or Mushki), The, 23, 82, 393, Palestine, 401
394 Paripa (or Farina), 98
Mutton II. (or Mattan), 289, 291 Parsua (Parsuash), 135, 140, 150, 163,
Muzazir, 87, 140, 156, 379 368
Muzri, 137, 142 Patina, The, 52, 93, 94, 98, 104, 117,
Muzri, Tribute of, 137 139, 142, 166
Captivity of, 151
N Gods of, 56
Submission of, 59
Naaman, 125 Tribute from, 1056
Nabonazir (or Nabunazir), King of Baby- Pefzaabastit, 254, 268, 275
lon, 215, 292 Pekah, 239, 240, 278, 285
Naboshumishkun, 6 Persian Gulf, 342
Nabu-baliddin, 5, 63, 107, 215 Petubastis, King, 252, 253
Nairi, 7, 30, 31, 64, 99, 118 Philistines, The, 158, 276, 285, 291, 326,
(Assur-nazir-pal’s First Campaign in), 383, 885
25 Phoenicia, 103, 150
(Assur-nazir-pal’s Second Campaign Cities of, 52, 61, 230, 285
in), 27 Northern, 355
(Assur-nazir-pal’s Third Campaign in), Phoenician alphabet, 195
29 Phoenician bowl with Egyptian decora-
(Assur-nazir-pal’s Fourth Campaign tion, 178
in), 31 Pheenician intaglio, belonging to M. de
Tanzu of, 370 Rougé, 338
Map of, 21 : Phrygians, 180
Namri, 119, 135, 140, 150, 163, 164, 169, Pidnkhi, 261, 322
216 Pidnkhi captures Memphis, 271
Namroti, 247, 250, 254, 263, 264, 275 Piénkhi invades Middle Egypt, 263
Napata, 255 Pitru (Pethor), 99
Ruins of, 255 Psamuti, 322, 355
Temple of Amon at, 257, 258 Pukudu (or Puqudu), The (Pekod), 177,
Nappigi, 99 298, 351, 389
Pul (or Pulu). See also Tiglath-pileser
Narmarratum, The, 342
Naram-sin, Bas-relief of, 348 III., 169
Negub (tunnel of), 73
Nineveh, 143, 301, 340, 397 Q
Ninip (patron of Calah), 68
Ninip-kudurusur, 6 Qargar, 105, 111, 356
Nirbu, 28, 29, 65, 162 Qarqar, Battle of, 106, 153

-—
 INDEX

R Shapalulumé, 94, 98
Sharduris I., King of Urartu, 91
RammAan-nirari II., 4 Sharduris II. (or Seduri), 138, 155, 213,
Ramman-nirari III., 4, 149, 154, 178 221, 223, 234
Ramoth (Gilead), 115, 182 . Sharduris III., 178, 179
Raphia, 375 Sheshong II., 252
-Raphia, Battle of, 357 Shianu (Sin) or Sianu, 103, 106
Razappa. See Rezeph Shilanimshukamuna, 6
Rezeph (Razappa), 297 Shilkhak-inshushinak, Brick of, 346
Rezin II. (or Rezon), 232, 239, 240, 288 Shugunia, Prisoners from, 94
Fall of, 291 Shupria, 29
Homage of, 233 Shutruk-nakhunta I., 347, 348
Rowandiz, Stele of (see also Kelishin, Shutruk-nakhunta II., 389
Stele of), 156 Siamun, Sphinx of, 248
Rubuu, The, 178 Sidon (see also Tyre), 133
Rusas I., 361, 362, 366, 367, 370 Siloam, Hebrew inscription of, 241
Ruua, The, 178 Simashshikhu (or Simbarshiku), 4, 5
Simbarshikhu. See Simashshikhu
Ss Sippara, 392 .
Sukhi, 42, 45, 64, 142
Sabaco (Shabaka), 325, 375, 384 Sukhi, Country of, 142
Samalla, 52, 93-98, 104, 166, 181, 225, Sumerians, 302
229 Suru, 25
Samalla, Gods of, 57 Susa, 345
Samaria, 114, 124, 231, 327, 355 Susa, Kings of, 346
Egyptian faction in, 278 Syria, 8, 50, 151, 321, 401
Fall of, 332 ; Map of, 50
Revolt of, under Hosea, 327 Northern, 68, 180, 228, 298, 366
Samsi-ramman IV., 145, 148, 149, 156, Revolt of, 355
298 Tiglath-pileser III.’s campaigns in, 288
Samsi-rammfn, Monolith of, 148 Syrian armies, 55
Sargon of Assyria, 334, 339 Syrian arts, 55
Bas-relief of, 334 Syrian religions, 55
Death of, 413 Syrian states and civilisation, 51
Defeats the Medes, 371
Glass vessel bearing name of, 336 T
Stele of, at Kition, 396
Sargon’s conquest of Babylon, 391 Tabal, The, 82, 134, 180, 364, 382, 401,
Sargonids, The, 340 412
Scythians, The, 382 Tafnakhti, 262, 273, 322
Sennacherib (Sin-akhé-irba), 412 Tafnakhti’s offerings, 276
Sepharvaim (or Sibraim), 325 Takeloti II., 250, 251
Shabaka. See Sabaco ‘¢Tarshish, Ship of,’’? 121
Shabaku. See Sabaco Tartan, The, 188; of 2 Kings xviii. 17,
Shabarain. See Sepharvaim 292 ; of Isaiah xx. 1, 385
Shadikanni, 24 Teisbas (Urartian god), 89
Shalmaneser III. (known also as Shal- Tela or Tila (in Nirbu), 20, 28
maneser II.), 77, 89, 101, 297, 335 Tentramu, 254
Building works of, 141 Thebes, 209, 255, 358
Campaigns of, 77, 187 Thebes, Principality of, 247
In Syria, 116 Tiglath-pileser IT., 4
In Urartu, 90 Tiglath-pileser III. (or Pul), 166, 175,
In Van, 91 192, 295, 310
War against Babylon, 107 Spee in Karduniash and Media,
Shalmaneser IV., 162, 185 5
Campaigns in Urartu, 163 Campaigns against Ukinzir, 298
Eom V. (Ululai), 169, 321, 331, In his chariot, 232
4 In Syria, 288
Shamash-mudammiq, 6 Takes Babylon, 295
 INDEX

Tila. See Tela Town in, 878

Tilluli, 65 View of, 221
Toprah-Kaleh, 84, 85 Urumiah, Lake (Lower Sea of Nairi), 80,
_ Tukulti-ninip, 27 81, 102, 140, 156, 162, 163
‘Tukulti-ninip II., 7 Urzana, 379
*Tul-Abni, 106 Usanata, 106
Tul-Barsip (capital of Bit-Adini), 46, 98, Ushanat (Uznu), 104
99, 104, 112 Uzziah (see also Azariah), 279
Tulgarimmé, 383, 384
Turat, Quarries of, 134 Ma
Tushkh4n, 29, 42, 65, 148, 144
Tyre, 130, 133 2 Van, Lake (Upper Sea of Nairi), 80, 81,
100
Van, Lake, Gods of, 95
Ukinzir, 292, 294 Van (or Dhuspas), 84, 160, 161
Ukinzir, Tiglath-pileser III., Campaigns Citadel of, 161
against, 293 View of, 235
Ullusunu, 367, 370, 377
Unki, 58, 166, 181, 228, 238, 305 Z
Urartian empire, Close of, 379
Urartian stele, 164 Zab, the lesser (Zab Shupalu), 34, 178
Urartu, or Kingdom of Van (Armenia), Zab, the greater (Zabu Ilu), 15, 17, 73
78, 81, 90, 99, 119, 188, 140, 142, Zamru. See Amika
168, 228, 234, 362, 401 Zamua, 32, 34, 35
Assyrian conquest of, 237 Zamua, Map of, 33
Assyrian invasion of, 219 Zikartu, 363, 364, 368, 377
Civilisation of, 83 Zinjirli (or Sinjirli), 52
Expansion of, 181 Column at, 318
Growth of, 155 Gates of, 226
In Syria, 218 Plan of, 226
Map of, 82 Portico at, 316
Shalmaneser III. in, 89 Royal Castle of, 227
Shalmaneser IV., campaigns in, 163 Zirtu (Izirtu), 140
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