Chapter I: The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria (2)

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 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, unsuspected 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 Suâni.**

* 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.

** I think we may recognise the ancient name of Ilaniu in
that of Alan, now borne by a district on the Turkish and
Persian frontier, situated between Kunekd ji-dagh and the
town of Serdesht. The expedition, coming from the fief of
Arashtua, must have marched northwards: the Idir in this
case must be the Tchami-Kizildjik, and Mount Sabua the chain
of mountains above Serdesht.

Despairing of taking Amika prisoner, Assur-nazir-pal allowed him to lie 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.

* Parsindu, mentioned between Mount Ilaniu and the town of
Zamru, ought to lie somewhere in the valley of Tchami-
Kizildjik, near Murana.

He placed garrisons in the principal towns---at Parsindu, Zamru, and at Arakdi in Lullumê, which one of his predecessors had re-named Tukulti-Ashshur-azbat,* --I 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 Gilzân, and the whole of Northern Zamua bowed before the splendour of his arms; it now needed only a few raids resolutely directed against Mounts Azîra and Simaki, as far as the Turn at, to achieve the final pacification of the South. While in this neighbourhood, his attention was directed to the old town of Atlîla,** built by Sibir,*** an ancient king of Karduniash, but which had been half ruined by the barbarians. 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 Cossæan border.

*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 Baziân would answer fairly
well for the site of a place destined to protect the
Assyrian frontier on this side.

** Given its position on the Chaldæan frontier, Atlîla 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 Rammân-nirâri
III. and of Tukulti-ninip II. Peiser and Rost have
identified him with Simmash-shikhu.

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. de Morgan.

The two campaigns of B.C. 882 and 881 had cost Assur-nazir-pal great efforts, and their results had been inadequate to the energy expended. His two principal adversaries, Nurrammân 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 kings 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 withdrawn, 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 Euphrates from the palace of Tilluli, where the accustomed tribute of Kummukh was brought to him, to the fortress of Ishtarâti, and from thence to Kibaki. The town of Matiatê, having closed its gates against him, was at once sacked, and this example so stimulated the loyalty of the Kurkhi chiefs, that they ha*tened to welcome him at the neighbouring military station of Zazabukha. The kings progress continued thence as before, broken by frequent halts at the most favourable points for levying contributions on the inhabitants.1 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 Tushkhân, 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 Dirrabans.*** It was surrounded by a strong double enceinte, through which he broke after forty-eight hours of continuous assault: 800 of its men perished in the breach, and 700 others were impaled before the gates.

* 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 Diarbeldr and the Euphrates, probably at the foot
of the Mihrab-dagh and the Kirwântchernen-dagh.

** Madara belonged to a certain Lapturi, son of Tubusi,
mentioned in the campaign of the kings 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 Lirrâ would be
between the Hazu-tchaî and the Batman-tchaî. The Matni, with
its passes leading in to Naîri, must in this case be the
mountain group to the north of Mayafarrikîn, known as the
Dordoseh-dagh or the Darkôsh-dagh.

Arbaki, at the extreme limits of Eirkhi, was the next to succumb, after which the Assyrians, having pillaged Dirra, carried the passes of Matni after a bloody combat, spread themselves over Naîri, burning 250 of its towns and villages, and returned with immense booty to Tushkhân. They had been there merely a few days when the newt arrived that the people of Bît-Zamâni, always impatient of the yoke, had murdered their prince Ammibaal, and had proclaimed a certain Burramman in his place. Assur-nazir-pal marched upon Sinabux 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 kings 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 Naîri; 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 strongholds.

* Hommel thinks that Sinabu is very probably the same as the
Kinabu mentioned above; but it appears from Assur-nazir-
pals own account that this Kinabu was in the province of
Khalzidipkha (Khalzilukha) on the Kashiari, whereas Sinabu
was in Bît-Zamâni.

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.).

* Shur is mentioned on the return to Nairi, possibly on the
road leading from Amidi and Tushkhân 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 articulations.

However high we may rate the value of this campaign, it was eclipsed by the following one. The Aramæans 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 Cossoan troops, commanded 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,--Tabiti,** Magarisi,*** Shadikanni, Shuru in Bît-Khafupi, and Sirki.****

* The Kharmish has been identified with the Hirmâs, the
river flowing by Nisibis, and now called the Nahr-Jaghjagha.

** 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.

*** Magarisi ought to be found on the present Nahr-
Jaghjagha, near its confluence with the Nahr-Jerrâhi and its
tributaries; unfortunately, this part of Mesopotamia is
still almost entirely unexplored, and no satisfactory map of
it exists as yet.

**** Sirki is Circesium at the mouth of the Khabur.

Between the embouchures of the Khabur and the Balîkh, the Euphrates 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.*

* It is at this defile of El-Hammeh, and not at that of
Birejik at the end of the Taurus, that we must place the
_Khinqi sha Purati_--the narrows of the Euphrates--so often
mentioned in the account of this campaign.

Assur-nazir-pal, on leaving Sirki, made his way along the left bank, levying toll on Supri, Naqarabâni, 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, Khindânu, made him a 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 without having obtained from them anything which could be construed into a mark of vassalage.*

* The detailed narrative of the _Annals_ informs us that
Assur-nazir-pal encamped on a mountain between Khindânu and
Bît-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. Khindânu is therefore identical with the ruins of
Tabus, the Dabausa of Ptolemy; hence Supri and Naqabarâni
are situated between this point and Sirki, the former in the
direction of Tayebeh, the latter towards El-Hoseîniyeh. On
the other hand, the ruins of Kabr Abu-Atîsh would correspond
very well to Bît-Shabaia: is the name of Abu-Sbé borne by
the Arabs of that neighbourhood a relic of that of Shabaia.
Kharidi ought in that case to be looked for on the opposite
bank, near Abu-Subân and Aksubi, where Chesney points out
ancient remains. A days march beyond Kabr Abu-Atîsh brings
us to El-Khass, so that the town of Anat would be in the
Isle of Moglah. Shuru must be somewhere near one of the two
Tell-Menakhîrs on this side the Balikh.

At length, on reaching Shuru, Shadadu, the Prince of Sukhi, trusting in his Cossoans, offered him battle; but he was defeated by Assur-nazir-pal, who captured the King of Babylons 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 Aramaeans 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 enemys country. He built a flotilla at Shuru in Bît-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, landed at Kharidi, and inflicted a salutary punishment on the cities which had defied the kings wrath on his last expedition. Khindânu, Kharidi, and Kipina were reduced to ruins, and the Sukhi and the Laqi defeated, the Assyrians pursuing them for two days in the Bisuru mountains as far as the frontiers of Bit-Adini.**

* The _Annals_ do not give us either the _limmu_ or the date
of the year for this new expedition. The facts taken
altogether prove that it was a continuation of the preceding
one, and it may therefore be placed in the year B.C. 878.

** The campaign of B.C. 878 had for its arena that of the
Euphrates which 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 Maidân and Sabkha.

A complete 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 Euphrates.*

This last expedition had brought the king into contact with the most important of the numerous Aramaean states congregated in the western region of Mesopotamia. This was Bît-Adini, which lay on both sides of the middle course of the Euphrates.** It included, on the right bank, to the north of Carchemish, between the hills on the Sajur and Arabân-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 Birejîk,**** and the whole of the territory between this latter and the Balîkh acknowledged the rule of its princes, whose authority also extended eastwards as far as the basaltic plateau of Tul-Abâ, in the Mesopotamian desert.

* 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-pal is El-Halebiyeh,
and Nibarti-assur, Zalebiyeh, the Zenobia of Roman times.

** Bît-Adini appears to have occupied, on the right bank of
the Euphrates, a part of the cazas of Aîn-Tab, Rum-kaleh,
and Birejîk, that of Suruji, minus the nakhiyeh of Harrân,
the larger part of the cazas of Membîj and of Rakkah, and
part of the caza of Zôr, the cazas being those represented
on the maps of Vital Cuinet.

*** None of these localities can be identified with
certainty, except perhaps Dabigu, a name we may trace in
that of the modern village of Dehbek.

**** Tul-Barsip has been identified with Birejîk.

To the south-east, Bît-Adini bordered upon the country of the Sukhi and the Laqi,* lying to the east of Assyria; other principalities, mainly of Aramoan origin, formed its boundary to the north and north-west--Shugab in the bend of the Euphrates, from Birejîk to Samosata,** Tul-Abnî around Edessa,*** the district of Harrân,**** Bît-Zamani, Izalla in the Tektek-dagh and on the Upper Khabur, and Bît-Bakhiâni in the plain extending from the Khabur to the Kharmish.^

* In his previous campaign Assur-nazir-pal had taken two
towns of Bît-Adini, situated on the right bank of the
Euphrates, at the eastern extremity of Mount Bisuru, near
the frontier of the Lâqi.

** The country of Shugab is mentioned between Birejîk (Tul-
Barsip) and Bît-Zamani, in one of the campaigns of
Shalmaneser III., which obliges us to place it in the caza
of Rum-kaleh; the name has been read Sumu.

*** Tul-Abnî, which was at first sought for near the sources
of the Tigris, has been placed in the Mesopotamian plain.
The position which it occupies among the other names obliges
us to put it near Bît-Adini and Bît-Zamani: the only
possible site that I can find for it is at Orfah, the Edessa
of classical times.

**** The country of Harrân is nowhere mentioned as belonging
either to Bît-Adini or to Tul-Abnî: we must hence conclude
that at this period it formed a little principality
independent of those two states.

^ The situation of Bît-Bakhiâni is shown by the position
which it occupies in the account of the campaign, and by the
names associated with it in another passage of the _Annals_.

Bît-Zamani had belonged to Assyria by right of conquest ever since the death of Ammibaal; Izalla and Bît-Bakhiâni had fulfilled their duties as vassals whenever Assur-nazir-pal had appeared in their neighbourhood; Bît-Adini alone had remained independent, though its strength was more apparent than 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 Mitâni, saved by its remote position from bondage to Egypt, had not been able to escape from acknowledging the supremacy of the Khâti, so Bît-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 Urâa and Tul-Abâ, 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 Lâqi, preferred to approach it in front; he faced the desert, and, in spite of the drought, he invested the strongest citadel of Tul-Abâ in the month of June, 877 B.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 sky. *

* The name is commonly interpreted Great Rock, and divided
thus--Kap-rabi. It may also be considered, like Kapridargila
or Kapranishâ, as being formed of _Kapru_ and _abi_; this
latter element appears to exist in the ancient name of
Telaba, Thallaba, now Tul-Abâ. Kapr-abi might be a fortress
of the province of Tul-Abâ.

The 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, whom he installed in one of the suburbs of Calah. Akhuni, who was then reigning in Bît-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-Abnî followed his example, and the dominion of Assyria was carried at a blow to the very frontier of the Khâti. 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 Agadê 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.,* receiving the customary taxes from Bît-Bakhiâni, Izalla, and Bît-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 rafts of inflated skins, he marched his columns against Oarchemish.

* On the 8th Iyyâr, but without any indication of limmu, or
any number of the year or of the campaign; the date 876 B.C.
is admitted by the majority of historians.

The political organisation of Northern Syria had remained entirely unaltered since the days when Tiglath-pileser made his first victorious inroad into the country. The Cilician empire which succeeded to the Assyrian--if indeed it ever extended as far as some suppose--did not last long enough to disturb 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 old, 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.

Of these states, the most famous, though not then the most redoubtable, was that with which the name of the Khâti 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 Bît-Adini had intruded themselves between this state and Kummukh, Arazik hemmed it in on the south, Khazazu and Khalmân 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 Khâti 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. Kuî maintained its uneventful existence amid the pastures of Cilicia, near the marshes at the mouth of the Pyramos. To the south of the Sajur, Bît-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.

* Mikhri or Ismikhri, i.e. the country of larches, was the
name of a part of the Amanos, possibly near the Pyramos.

** The real name of the country was Iakhânu, but it was
called Bît-Gusi or Bît-Agusi, like Bît-Adini, Bît-Bakhiâni,
Bît-Omri, after the founder of the reigning dynasty. We must
place Iakhânu to the south of Azaz, in the neighbourhood of
Arpad, with this town as its capital.

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 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 Lubarna, 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 Bît-Adini had superseded Mitâni; the fertile meadow-lands to the south of Samalla on the Afrîn and the Lower Orontes, together with the mountainous district between the Orontes and the sea as far as the neighbourhood of Eleutheros, also belonged to the Patina.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Perrot and Chipiez.

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 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 Chaldæa 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 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.

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph reproduced in Peters.

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 Aramæan immigrants and the Phoenician alphabet gradually superseded the ancient language and mode of writing.*

* 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
Aramæan alphabet as being in current use in Northern Syria
at the beginning of the ninth century, some forty years
before the date of Meshas inscription (i.e. the Moabite
stone).

Thus these Northern Syrians became by degrees assimilated to the people of Babylon and Nineveh, much as the 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.*

* One can judge of their social condition from the
enumeration of the objects which formed their tribute, or
the spoil which the Assyrian kings carried off from their
country.

Drawn by Boudier, from a bas-relief.

Their armies were modelled on similar lines, and consisted of archers, plkemen, slingers, 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.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bronze bas-relief on the
gates of Balawât.

The Syrian princes 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, as on their triumphs in war.

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Hogarth, published in
the _Recueil de Travaux_.

Their religion was derived from the common source which underlay all Semitic 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 Patina, Nusku and his female companion Nikal, both of Chaldæan origin, 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, Bekubêl the wind, the chariot of El, not to mention El himself, Besheph, Hadad, and the Cabin, the servants of Besheph.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the photograph in Luschan.

These deities were mostly of the Assyrian type, and if one may draw any conclusion from the few representations of them already discovered, their rites must have been celebrated in a manner similar to that followed in the cities on the Lower Euphrates. 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, marching from the banks of the Khabur to Bît-Adini, and from Bît-Adini passing on to Northern Syria, might almost have imagined himself still in his own 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 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.

* The Unki of the Assyrians, the Uniuqa 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-Kunâna, written for Tell-Kunâla by
the common substitution of _n_ for _l_ at the end of proper
names.

** The Saluara of the Assyrian texts is the present Kara-su,
which flows into the Ak-Denîz, the lake of Antioch.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the impression taken from a
Hittite cylinder.

His mountain provinces yielded him wood and minerals, and provided a reserve of semi-savage woodcutters and herdsmen 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 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 embroidered stuffs, and the state carriage of its King Shangara. The Hittite troops, assembled in haste, joined forces with the Aramæan auxiliaries, and the united host advanced on Coele-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 Munzigâni and Khamurga, skirting Bît-Agusi, at length arrived under the walls of Khazazu among the Patina.*

* Khazazu being the present Azaz, the Assyrian army must
have followed the route which still leads from Jerabis to
this town. Mount Munzigâni and Khamurga, mentioned between
Carchemish and Akhânu or Iakhânu, must lie between the Sajur
and the Koweik, near Shehab, at the only point on the route
where the road passes between two ranges of lofty hills.

The town having purchased immunity by a present of gold and of finely woven stuffs, the army proceeded to cross the Apriê, on the bank of which an entrenched camp was formed for the storage of the spoil. Lubarna offered no resistance, but nevertheless refused to acknowledge his inferiority; after some delay, ifc was decided to make a direct attack on his capital, Kunulua, whither he had retired. The appearance of the Assyrian vanguard put a speedy end to his ideas of resistance: prostrating himself before his powerful adversary, he offered hostages, and emptied his palaces and stables to provide a 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. Bît-Agusi at once sent messengers to congratulate the conqueror, but the mountain provinces awaited the invaders 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 laraku and Iaturi,* reached the banks of the Sangura* without encountering any difficulty.

* The spot where Assur-nazir-pal must have crossed the
Orontes is determined by the respective positions of Kunulua
and Tell-Kunâna. At the iron bridge, the modern traveller
has the choice of two roads: one, passing Antioch and Beît-
el-Mâ, leads to Urdeh on the Nahr-el-Kebîr; 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 laraku must be the northern
part of Gebel Kosseir in the neighbourhood of Antioch, and
Iaturi, the southern part of the same mountain near Derkush.
laraku 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-Kebîr, 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,
mentioned by Shalmaneser III. in this region, after the name
of laraku. The country of Ashtamaku would thus be the
present canton of Urdeh, which is traversed before reaching
the banks of the Nahr-el-Kebîr.

After a brief halt there in camp, he turned his back on the sea, and passing between Saratini and Duppâni,* 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 mountain cantons of Saratini and Duppâni (Kalpâni
lAdpâni?), situated immediately to the south of the Nahr-el-
Kebîr, correspond to the southern part of Gebel-el-Akrad,
but I cannot discover any names on the modern map at all
resembling them.

** Beyond Duppâni, Assur-nazir-pal encamped on the banks of
a river whose name is unfortunately effaced, and then
reached Aribua; this itinerary 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 Rabaô, er-Rabahu, which is
applied to a wady and village in the neighbourhood of
Masiad.

*** Lukhuti must not be sought in the plains of the Orontes,
where Assur-nazir-pal would have run the risk of an
encounter with the King of Hamath or his vassals; it must
represent the part of the mountain of Ansarieh lying between
Kadmus, Masiad, and Tortosa.

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 Mediterranean. 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, Maîza, Kaîza, the Amorites and Arvad,* all sending tribute.

* The point where Assur-nazir-pal touched the sea-coast
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.

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 Phoenicians, 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 appear at 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 Euphrates, 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 instinctively 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 Chaldæans 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 Rammân-nirâri.*

* His frontier on the Chaldæan side, between the Tigris and
the mountains, was the boundary fixed by Rammân-nirâri.

He had, however, 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.**

* The expression employed in this description and in similar
passages, _ishtu ibirtan nâru_, 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 Oalah, 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 Chaldæa.

He had added to his older provinces 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-tchaî, and he held the passes leading to the banks of the Arzania, in Kirruri and Gilzân, while the extensive country of Naîri had sworn him allegiance. Towards the south-east the wavering tribes, which alternately gave their adherence to Assur or Babylon according to circumstances, 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, 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 Aramaeans gold, silver, lead, copper, both wrought and in the ore, purple, and coloured or embroidered stuffs; while Izalla, Nirbu, Nirdun, and Bît-Zamâni had to furnish horses, chariots, metals, and cattle.

* There were royal governors in Suru in Bit-Khalupi, in
Matiâte, in Madara, and in Naîri.

** There were Assyrian residents in Kirruri and the
neighbouring countries, in Kirkhi, and in Naîri.

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 depots for storing the commodities collected by the royal officials; such outposts were, Damdamusa on the north-west of the Kashiari range, Tushkhân 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 Naîri. These strongholds served as places of refuge for the residents and their guards in case of a revolt, and as food-depots 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 building fortresses at the points most open to attack; he repaired 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 apartments 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 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 where he would have ample space at his disposal.

Drawn by Boudier, from Layard. The pointed mound on the left
near the centre of the picture represents the ziggurât of
the great temple.

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 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 almost rectangular terrace on which to lay out his new buildings.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Mansell.

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 ziggurât with its usual temple precincts. Here the god was represented as a bull with a mans head and bust in gilded alabaster, and two yearly feasts were instituted in his honour, one in the month Sebat, the other in the month Ulul. The ziggurât 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 independent series of chambers and passages, which may have been parts of other temples, but it is now impossible to say which belonged to the local Belît, which to Sin, to Gula, to Rammân, or to the ancient deity Râ. 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 attitude 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, appropriated 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 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.

* At the east end of the hall Layard found a block of
alabaster covered with inscriptions, forming a sort of
platform on which the kings throne may have stood.

** Layard points out the traces of colouring still visible
when the excavations were made.

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Layard.

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 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 Chaldæa 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 muscles extraordinarily enlarged, and the features ludicrously accentuated.

Drawn by Boudier, after Layard.