Assurbanipal (Hastings' Dictionary)

Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, died in i'..c'. (i08, while on his way to suppress a re- bellion in Egypt. Samas-sum-ukin (Saoo-Soux'i'os of Ptolemy), an illegitimate son, had been set over the province of Babylon. Assurbanipal was heir to the throne of Nineveh. A Heb. writing of the name is probably found in Ezr 4'" "'?2°; (Schrader, COT ii. 65; Delitzsch, Paradies, 329; contra, Hal§vy, Revue iStudes Juives, ix. 12).

His own cuneiform annals and letters give us an abundance of information regarding his long reign. His first expedition was the prosecution of the unfinished campaign of his father against the Ethiopian Tirhakah. Tliis rebellious leader fled to Ethiopia only to await the withdrawal of the Assyr. forces. The native governors of the provinces, as Xecho and fSarludari, were aroused by Tirhakah to form a coalition against foreign authority.

But Assyria pounced down upon them, carried oft prisoners, and drove Tirhakah back to his lair, where he died about B.C. 604. Egypt was again tranquil, though hid'ng a volcano. An invasion of Egypt by Taniitamon (Assyr. XJrdamani) precipitated the last and decisive campaign of A. In B.C. 662 the Assyr. army fell upon Egypt, and drove Tanut- amon out of its bounds, captured and plundered Thebes, and carried off to Nineveh great booty.

This concluded the sway of Ethiopia over the land of the thrifty Egyptian. A.'s next expedition enveloped the E. coast of the Mediter. Sea, which rendered him submission. The king of Lydia, .Janus-like, gave presents to A., and made a league with Tusamilki of Egypt. This combination svicceeded finally in throwing Assyria out of Egypt. The country of Van next fell before the arms of A.

Elam, which had for centuries stood as a peer of its neighbours, fell at last, after several bloody battles continuing through a course of years, at the feet of the conqueror from Nineveh. His half-brother at Babylon, elated with flatteries and thirsting for independence, threw off the yoke of Nineveh. A. swept down upon Bab., overthrew the opposition, and captured the city. The secedhig ruler, fearing the wrath of A., took refuge in his palace, and burned it over his head (li.c. 648).

The secession of Samas-sum-ukin is probably (Schrader, COT ii. 53-59) but a hint at a general ui)rising against As.syria throughout the S. \V., in which Jlanasseh of .ludah was involved (2 Ch 331'). The Arabians likewise were forced to sub- mission, and A. was again lord of his empire. This great warrior was also an enthusiast in other occupations. With the help of Assur and Istar he was able to cope with and slay lions.

One of his chief sports seems to have been fighting lions, either those which were wild in the forests or those which were loosed from cages for the purpose. But the most important feature of his career for us was his interest in literature. His library in Nineveh, which was uncovered by G. Smith, has preserved for us thousands of clay tablets, which were copied from older tablets in other libraries of his land.

The topics treated are historical, etliical, linguistic, religious, and many others — all pertain- ing to Assyria and Babylonia. •• ronriririht. 1598. ty As a builder, he was equal to his predecessors. The remains of his palace at Kouyunjik testify to the architectural ingenuity and taste of the monarch. In many cities of his empire he built beautiful temples to the gods, and adorned aU with exquisite pieces of art. He laid every available source under tribute to his royal enterprises.

As a ruler and warrior, as a builder, as a littera- teur, he is well deserving the title given him in Ezrii". The last years of his reign are compara- tively wrapped in obscurity. Literati-re. — In the original. G. Smith, Hist, of As»urb., original and interlinear tr, 1^71 : An. Disc. p. 317 ff.; KawllnsoD, Went. Asiutic JiiKciij,. iii. 17-27, 8(1-84, v. 1-10. iii. 2S, 35-38, iv.' ■15— i" ; S. A. Smith, Ktihckriftte^te Aaurb. Heften ii. una ill. In tr. JIP Tol. 1. Ist series, p. 55 f.

; Keilinsch. Bibliot, ii. pp. 162-2C9 ; 8. A. Smith, Keilnchrifttexte Amirb. Heft. i. IKA M. PRICE. ASSWAGE (so AV, after the common, though not invariable, spelling of the 16th to 18th cent., RV 'assuage') is used trans. Job \&-^, Sir 18"> ' shall not the . dew a. the heat ? ' ; and intrans. Gn 81 ' the waters a''.' J. HASTINGS. "ASSYRIA C"-!).— i. Natural Features and Civilization, ii. History. 1. Sources. 2. Chronolo^. 3. Annals of the Kings. Iii. Literature. A.

is the country, famed in antiquity, on the east of the middle Tigris between 35° and 37° N. lat. The only town on the west of the Tigris, on the Jlesopotamian tableland, was the old capital of the kingdom, Assur, from which the whole land takes its name. Its northern boundary is formed by the wilds of the Arinenian-Ivurdish mountains, in which the Tigris rises, and through which it flows till it enters the plain near Nineveh, ovei against the town which is now called jlosul.

On the east it is bounded by the ranges of Zagros, which derive their name from the Assyrian zakru, 'pointed, higli.' These ranges form a continuation of the Armenian mountain.s, and reach as far as Elam. They are the source of the great and little Zab, which flow into the valley of the Tigris.

Of the other tributaries of the Tigris the Khusnr may be mentioned (the Khuser, Khosr-Su of to-day), which empties itself into the Tigris between the ruin-mounds of Kouyunjik and Nebi-yunus, and thus flows right through the midst of ancient Nineveh.

Ancient Assyria ex- tended in later times beyond these narrow boundaries ; on the north-west to the left source of the Tigris, the Subnat (now Sebbeneh-Su) ; on the west to Ivhabur and Belikh, two well-known tributaries of the Euphrates in Mesopotamia ; and on the south to the Radinu and Turnat, tributaries of the Tigris — one of wliich is to be identified with the modern Diy^la.

'i'he Climate of Assyria— as we might imagine from its comparatively northern situation — may be said to be really very temperate. The general nature of the country Is preponderatingly moun- tainous. Only the capitals were situated on the Tigris in the valley, e.r/. ancient Assur, Nineveh, and Kal.akh (Cahih Gn lO'-).

The new royal residence built by Sargon, Bur-Sarrnkin (Sargon's ca-stle), the modern l^horsabad, was situated to the north of Nhieveh, just at the foot of the mountains; while the well-known city of Istar, the market-town Arbela (Arbailu, i.e. Town of the Four Gods — now called Erbil), together with the great juilitary place to the south-west of it, Kakzi (modern Shemamek), etc., were situated in the higher p,arts of Assyria.

With regard to the Flora of Assyria, the slopes of the last-mentioned mountain districts were Charles Scribner's .Simj* ASSYRIA ASSYKIA i: covered with oak, plane, and wild pine trees ; while on the plain proper, besides abundance iif nuts, fig and olive trees flourished, together with the vine plant. These last were originally unknown to the East-Semitic districts, and were first iniiwrted by the Assyrian kings from Syria.

Agriculture was confined mainly to the cultivation of wheat, barley, hemp, and millet. The Fauna was formerly far more varied than it is to-day, as the pictures on the monuments and the statements in tlie inscriptions prove beyond the possibility of doubt. In addition to hares, roes, stags, and mountain goats, lions and wild oxen (rimu, Heb.

rii'eni) were found in great numbers — the former in the tall reed plantations on the banks of the Tigris, the latter in the moun- tain districts, the happy hunting-grounds of the Assyrians. Magnificent horses — the famous Assyrian chargers, which were probably of the Medo-Elaraite type — and cattle, goats, and sheep pastured on the slopes ; while wild asses and camels are known only in later times, through the As.syrian incursions into the Syro-Arabian desert.

The culture of bees was also actively carried on. Of domestic animals, the dog may be mentioned ; of wild beasts, the panther, the wolf, the bear, and some othere. Witli regard to hinds of sto)ie — alabaster (pilu), which was employed for the Assyrian ba.s-reliefs, was found on the left bank of theTigris in abundance. Of metals — iron, copper, and lead were found in any quantity in the Tiyari mountains near Nineveh.

Not only is Assyria far more rugged by nature than Babylonia, which is mucli more southerly and lies nearer the sea, but the in- habitants of the two countries differed in character, the Assyrians being of a much more powerful and rugged type than their Babylonian brothers, in spite of the fact of their common Semitic origin and speech. The Babylonians have been very appropriately called the Greeks, and the Assyrians the Komans of the ancient East.

Especially striking is the resemblance between the Assyrian type of face, as it appears in pictorial representa- tions on the monuments, and the features which we meet with to-<lay in the majority of Jews ; while the pictures of the Babylonian kings suggest no such associations to our minds. The ancient Assyrians had purer Semitic blood in their veins than the Babylonians, for the latter in very early times show traces of an admixture of other races.

The best authorities advocate the view implied in the table of races in Gn 10, which reckons only Assur and Aram (not Babel or Shinar) among the sons of Shem. In proof of thi.s, v." may be cited ('out of that land,' viz. Shinar or Babylonia, 'he [i.e. Nimrod] went forth into Assyria and builded Nineveh,' etc.), a statement which is confirmed by thc^ mommients.

As Assyria was originally only an offshoot from Babylonia, its language — at any rate tlie language of its litera- ture, which is the only one known to us — is also Babylonian. The writings themselves, as well as the art and science, bear the clearest witness that they are equally dependent upon the motherland of Babylonia. It is noteworthy lliat while the oldest Assyrian inscriptions exhibit most clearly the old I!al)yloMian cuneiform characters, after the time of T'iglath-pileser i. (c lie.

1100) they evolved a style of writing which fell back upon what can be proved to be a deb;ised form of Babylonian writing, which previously existed only in North Mesopo- tamia. Hence there arose, in distinction fnun the new Bab. writing, a special form of new Assyr., in which were written most of the As.syr. royal inscriptions, and, above all, the many clay tablets of the Assyr. court libraries, up to the time of Assurbanipal. VOL. I. — 12 The As.

syrian Religion, too, is essentially the same as the Babylonian, with some modifications. When, for instance, on the so-called Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II. (n.c. 859-825) mention is made of the following gods : Asur, Anu, Bel, Ea, Sin, Ramuian, Samas, Merodach, Nindar (or Ninib), Nergal, Nusku, Belit, and Istar, this list is identical with the Babylonian Pantheon (.see B.viiV- LO.MA), witli the exception of the god Asur, who heads the list, but is entirely wanting to the Babylonians. This A.

sur, the chief god of Assyria, was originally only a differentiation of Aim, or the god of heaven. His name An-sar, which after- wards became Assar, Assur, Asur, ' Host of Heaven,' appears in the Bab. cosmogony, but plays in the Bab. religion a far less iinjiortant jiart.

Probably on account of the similarity of sound between the name of the god and the name of the counti-y Assur (originally Asur, from the Sumerian A-usar ' water plain '), the originally more abstract god of heaven, Asur, was exalted to the highest place and became king of the gods. Special reverence was also paid to the storm god liamman. who in the most ancient times cannot be very clearly dis- tinguished from the god of the air, In-liUa or Bel.

Assur and Ramnian, therefore, held a similar place in As.syria to Anu and Bel, who were the two chief divinities of the old Babylonians. Further, we find an Istar of Nineveh, an Istar of Arbela, and an Istar of Kitmur, the two former being goddesses of war, while the latter appears to be a goddess cif love ; and finally, two masculine divinities of hunting and war, Nindar (Nin-ib) and Nergal.

Proper names, especially those of the kings, always servo as a test which enables us to determine the amount of favour meted out to the different divinities. Here we meet most frequently with Assur and Ramman (=Bel, cf. Kamman-nir3.ri, ' Kamman is my help,' with Bel-nirSri). In the ca.se of the word Shalman-asarid (Shal- maneser), the name Shidmfln appears to be a cognomen of the god Nindar. The latter the As.syrians preferred to call AsharUI Il'ini, ' Prince of the gods.'

'i'he pronunciation Adar instead of Nind.ar (written Nin-ib) has no foundation to rest on. While in Babylonia, the mother, country of Assyria, the priests were always more powerful than the kings, in Assyria the king himself was also chief priest, and upon him the priesthood was completely dependent. Primarily, however, the king of Assyria was a general. The army always played the chief rOle in Assyria. The king was also the chief judge.

All his subjects might come direct to him with their petitions and suits, which were always decided with the strictest impartiality and in accordance with the provisions of tlie laws, to which the king himself always bowed. Hence disobedience and rebellion were severely imnished, as all the enemies of the king were regarded as rebels against Assyria as well. In tlie treatment of captives and ])risoners the Assyrians displayed an inhumanity which we rightly regard as revolting.

The court, as the political power of the nation increased, became ever more and more magnificent. In Architecture, again, the Assyrians seem, in course of time, to have surpassed their original teachers, the Babylonians. It is characteristic of the Assyrians, that far more magnificence and wealth were expended on the palaces than on the temples.

For although the kings in their inscriji- tioiis never omit to lay due emphasis on the temples which they built, yet, as a matter of fact, the excavations (see below) have brought to liglit the remains of far more palaces than temples. The statues of the kings, like those of the gods, were made with great skill and care, but pre-eminence was reached by the Assyrian artists in bas-relief, with ITS ASSYRIA ASSYRIA which the walls of the palaces were adorned.

The older specimens are rather stiff and clumsy ; but the productions of the age of Sargon and Sennacherib show a very marked improvement, and the highest perfection was reached in the reign of Assurbanipal. The British Museum affords the best opiiortunity for admiring the war scenes, the triumphal prueessions, the jiictures of private life, and especially the realistic hunting pictures, which form the masterpieces of the Assyrian artist.

But the impulse to this development of Assyrian art will probably have coi'ie from with- out. With the increasing growth of the Assyrian empire, immense treasures of merchaiulise and art poured into Nineveh and Kalakh (cf. Nah 2^) from the newly-conquered provinces ; and these imports ations stand in direct relation to the refinement that took place in the taste for art. In Literature the Assyrians entirely followed Bab. models, a.

s, to take a single illustration, the prayer of Assur-nazir-jjal II. (c. H.c. 1060) to the goddess Istar proves. In most cases they con- tented themselves with simply copying out Baby- lonian literature. But in this way they did us a greater service than if they had composed 100 or 1000 poetical imitations of a second-rate char- acter.

For It is owing entirely to the activity of the Assyrians as collectors of books, and especially of Assurbanipal, the M:Bcenas of literature, that the bulk of Ball, literature has been preserved for us. In scientific literature too — astronomy, mathe- matics, medicine, grammar, lexicography — all alike were simply copies of Bab. originals. It was only in practical mechanics tliat the Assyrians advanced beyond their Bab.

masters, as can be proved from the process they adopted for transporting the colossal images of bulls, as it is depicted on the ba,s-reliefs. In this connexion brief reference may also be made to the convex lenses found in Nimrond, used perhaps for the purpose of magni- fying the writing on the clay tablets, which was often very minute. As far "as Agriculture is concerned, As.

syria was not, owing to its more northern aspect, the rich corn-bearing land that Babylonia was; but all the more on this account efforts were made on the jiart of the kings, by the construction of canals and weirs, to increase the fertility of the soil. The water needed for the land, whicli was supplied in such abundance by the inountaiu streams, was in this way properly regulated and distributed. HisiiiKV (IF Assvi:i.\.

— Thanks entirely to the excavations of the ruins of the oUl cities, especially Nineveh and Kalakh, the history of Assyria from its earliest beginning.s, c. 2000 li.c, to the fall of Nineveh, can be set forth with great detail and exactness. The great number of inscriptions * which have been brought to light puts us in the position of being able to write an uninterrujited history of the Assyr. empire for many centuries.

In these Discoveries the palm belongs witliout doubt to Englishmen — especially to Sir Austin Henry Layard (d. 1S9I) and Ilnrmnzd R.a.ssam. It was Claudius James Uicli who lirst discovered the ruins of Nineveh, and drew the attention of investigators to this city, which is of such imi)ort- ance to antiquarians. After visiting Mo.

sul three times (the first visit being paid in 1811), and super- ficially examining the rubbish-mound which is to be found on the opposite bank of the Tigris, he resolved in the year 1820 to make a thorough examination of it, the results of which were published sixteen years later (18.'5fl), in accordance with the terms of his will.

The scanty remains of * With reffni-ft to tho dfripfterment of these inscriptions, without which thev would n-innin ft dcnrl muss, see the nrticlt' on the subji^et in rtoniiiiel. trgsi-hic/iff B'fh, ti. As8tjr. Cf. Itio literature of the subject at the end of this article.

sculptures and inscribed stones brought by him to Europe formed the basis of the Assyrian collection in the British Museum, which has since become so splendid, and confirmed the conjecture made by Josepli liager in 1801, that the same cuneiform writing which hatl been found in Babylon at the end of the previous century was the foundation of the culture of the Assyrian world-empire. New paths of rich promise were thus pointed out to Oriental archaeology. The excavations of the Frenchman P. E.

BoUa, 184:1!— tu, at Khorsabad, a village five miles to the north of Nineveh, and, above all, of the Englisli- man Aristin Henry Lnyard at Nimroud, the site of ancient Kalakh (end of 1815 to miildle of 1847), and at Kouyunjik, ancient Nineveh (1849-51), brought to light a whole series of Assyr. palaces and a multitude of sculptures and inscriptions, after a slumber of 2500 years.

It was Layard who urged Botta to persevere with his excavations, which at first were fruitless ; and some j-ears afterwards, when Layard himself commenced to excavate, he found in the consul, Hormuzd Uasgam, an indefatigable helper — a fact which was first clearly recognised and duly acknowledged some ten years later. At Khorsabad, Botta had the good fortune to lay bare the first Assyr.

palace, which had been built by king Sargon (Is 20'), Dur-Sarrukin (castle of Sargon), the bas-reliefs and inscriptions of which now embellish the Louvre in Paris; while Layard, in Nimrouil and Kouyunjik, excavated no fewer than five great palaces, of which the antiquities were brought to the British Museum. By this stroke of good fortune the greater part of the famous clay tablets of the library of king Sardanapalus (Assurbanipal) now came to light.

Additions were made in the following years to these discoveries of Botta and Layard by the after-gleanings of Kassam. from 1851-.54, in Kou- yunjik, and of the French architect Mclor Place in Khorsabad. In 1854 Rassam excavated the North Palace of Assurbanipal, and by this stroke of fortune discovered a fresh portion of the library mentioned above. During the next decades Assyr. excavation was at a standstill ; but, to make up for this, the first three volumes of the great work on As.syr.

inscrip- tions, The Cuneiform fuseriptirms of Western Asia (18(51, 1860, 1870), were published during that period by Henry Rawlinson, Edwin Norris, and George Smith. This book was preceded by a volume of Assyr. inscriptions, edited by Layard, 1801, a work which, it nuist be admitted, wa.s not nearly so accurate as that of Rawlinson. To this period also belongs the ]ireliminary settle- ment of the grand iiroblem of decijiherment inaugu- rated by Rawlinson, Ilincks, and Oppert.

In the years 1873 and 1874 the excavations in Nineveh were resumed, the unfortunate George Smith, who died of fever in Aleppo on Aug. 19, 1875, making two journeys of investiga- tion, which produced rich results. Amongst many other finds, this enthusiastic and gifted young investigator discovered a number of clay tablets lielonging to the library of Assurbanipal, amongst them being the Bab. account of the Flood and other allied mythological texts (see B.MiYLo.viA).

These discoveries won for him a celebrity and popularity such as few others have attained. The work which had been resumed by Smith, and which was unfortunately cut short by his jiri'inature death, was continued by the veteran Hormuzd llassam in a further expedition in the years 1877-78, from which he came back with far richer spoil than even G. Smith's.

Jlcntion must here be made of the discoveries of a temiile in Nimroud, the famous bronze gateway of Bala- ASSYRIA ASSYRIA 179 wat, witli its sculptures dating from the 9th cent. B.C. (see below, under Slialmaneser II.), and 1400 more tablets from the library of As.surbanipal, not to speak of the ' finds ' on Bab. ground niaile in 1878-71t and 1880-81. Since then no further systematic excavations have been organised in Assyria, but every year some fresh Assyr.

relics are brought to England through the agents of the British .Museum. Several Assyr. monuments and inscriptions have also coine to light outside Assyria. To this class belong, first of all, the statues of the As.syr. kings found at Xahr el-lvelb, or Dog Kiver, two leagues north of Beirut ; next, some inscriptions of the kings found in the district at the source of the Tigris, and in the ruins of Kurkh, 20 miles beyond Diarbekr ; and, above all, the tablets, dating from li.C.

1500, discovered about the end of 1887 at Tel el-Amarna in Upper Ksypt. Among these were the letters written in cuneiform charac- ters and directed to the I'haraohs Amenhotep HI. and IV., the greater number of which are now in the Berlin .Museum, though a good many are in the Briti.sh Museum, and a few in Cairo. The last included a letter written by the Assyr. king Assur-uballit to Amenhotep IV.

It may be here remarked that the letters of the kings of Mitanni (on the middle Euphrates), which belong to tlie Tel el-Amarna find, are also written in Assyr. cuneiform characters, as is the case with the so- called Van inscriptions of the Armenian kings, which belong to a later time, B.C. 800. As.syr. inscriptions have also been found in Cappadocia, which probably date about B.C. 2000, but unfor- tunately they do not contain the names of any kinss.

Kiiially, a short account must be given of the valuable find some years ago — also made outside As.syria — in Zinjirli near Mar'a.sh, on the borders of Cilicia and Syria, by the Oriental ethnologist Felix von l.uschan. After the discovery by L. Ho.ss in 1845 of a stele of Sargon in Cyprus, Luschan found in the neighbourhood of Zinjirli (the A.ssyr. va-ssal slate of Sam'al) a monument of the Assyr.

king Esarliaddon, with a full inscription, besides eighteen llittite scul)>tures and three old Aramaic inscriptions. Both the moiuunent of Sargon and that of Ksailmddon are in the Hoyal Museum .at Berlin, which also contains the many relics dug up in Zinjirli. The excavations just described have brought to light Assyr. inscriptions which constitute our primnrij simrccs for As.syr. history.

These sources are most copious, being composed not only of annals and the so-called votive insrriptions which form the most important element, but also of decrees, letters, reports, sale-contracts, etc. Chronicles too, which date from the first beginnings of real historiography, were discovered. While the inscriptions of the kings were written either on the walls of the palaces or on obeli.sks and monoliths, lu- even on the sides of rocks, the chronicles were found in the As.syr. librarii's.

The two most complete wiu"ks that have vtniw down to us are: (I) the so-calliHl <S'vh- chronistic llinUirtj of ISiihiilniiia and Aiinyria, from c. B.C. 1400-HiH), in which there is unfortunately a great g.ap between li.c. 1050-000; and (2) the lialiiiliiiiitdi Vhronirle, which covers the time from Nabona.ssar t« A.ssurbanipal (744-(JU8).

Since Babylonia all through this period was subject to the supremacy of Assyria, the last-mentioned do<Miinent, which is of paramount importance, affords far more valuable contributions towards Assyrian th.an towards Babylonian history. Most welcome light is also thrown on As.syrian history by other Babylonian documents, of which we may mention a long inscription, which has been brought to Constantinople, of the Babylonian king Nabo- nidus, dealing with the invasions of Assyria by the .Medes.

Second in importance as sources for the history of Assyria come the Books of the Kings of Israel. which form a most valuable complement to the official account of the Assyr. kings, the latter being sometimes a little coloured and not always absolutely true to fact. Furthermore, we have tiie Prophetic Literature of the OT, which is in many respects more important for our subject than the historical records.

Last of all may be mentioned the records of the Classical Uistoriuns, which, how- ever, with the single exception of the famous Canon of I'tolemy, as it is called, are of very little use. This table of rulers, which begins with Xabon- assar, B.C. 747, brings us to the question of Chron- ology. It contains the list of Bab. kings (including also the As.syrians Poros [Puru, Tiglath-pileser], Sargon, and Esarhaddon), with accurate particulars of the dates of their reigns, down to Xabonidu.s.

Then it gives their Acliieinenid;ean successors down to Alexander the Great, and ends with the rulers of Egypt (the Ptolemies and the Bomans). The Canon of Ptolemy was appended to the well-known astronomical work of Claudius Plolemanis, as a commentary (based on Bab. and Alex, computa- tions) upon the ccliijses of the sun and moon alleged to have been seen; and consequently it bears within itself the guarantee of its trust- worthiness. The statements of the Bab.

Chronicle and the many chronological notes on Assyr. and Bab. inscriptions were confirmed by it, and, con- versely, confirmed its accuracy. It also furnished the key for determining the chronology of the most im- portant Assyr. chronological document, the Eponym Canon, found in the library of Assurbanijial. From B.1-. 900 to (i(17 (that is.

to the time of Assurbanipal) these incomparable and invaluable lists give year by year the chief officers of state, and always make a special point of noting the accession of every new king to the throne. After the time of Sanisi-Hainnian IV. (B.C. 824-812) this list is further supplemented by the contents of the so-called 'List of Expeditiims' (extending to B.C. 700), in which, opposite to every name, there is a .short notice of the different campaigns carried out in each year.

But it was by the lielp of the Canon of Ptolemy that we were first able to bind the Eponym Canon together in chronological order from beginning to end, and thus establish the fact that the first officer mentioned in it. Assur- dan, belongs to the year B.C. 902, the l.i.st, Gabbaru, to B.C. 007. It is therefore possible to fix the exact dates of the reigns of all the As.syr. kings who fall within this period, from Uammfm-nirari II. to the accession of Assurbanipal.

The earlier epochs, also, can be dated from these fixed points, at any rate partially and ajiproxi- mately. The rulers of As.syria have left us some special chronological notes in their inscrijitions which refer to kings who lived long before Ihein. (a) Sennacherib relates that the Bab. king Marduk-nailin-aklii carried off to Babylon, at the time when Tiglath-pileser I. wtis king of Assyria, two images of gods, which he him.self, 418 years later, liad brought back.

It is clear, therefore, since this statement belongs to the year of the destruction of B.ibylon by Sinnacheiib, viz. B.C. (i80, that the year" B.C. 1107 may be definitely fixed as a certain date in the reign of Tiglath-pileacr I. (r. B.C. 112n-IliM)?) (fc) The same Sennacherib remarks, on another occasion, that he recognised amongst the Bab. trea.sures a seal of Tuklat- Nindar, the son of Sh.ilmane.ser I., which had been taken to Babylon OIH) years before.

This fixes the reign of Tuklal- Xindar .somewhere about B.C. KlOO (more exactly 1289). We must take into consideraticui, how- 180 ASSYRIA ASSYRIA ever, the fact that the round number 600 may, if necessary, stand for 560, or even 550 ; in this latter case, we should have the average date of B.C. 1250. (c) Finally, Tiglath, pileser I., whose date is approximately fi.

\ed by consideration (a), says that, CO years before, his great-grandfallier, the long-lived Assur-dan, pulled down a temple which had fallen into ruins, and evidently had not finished rebuilding it when death overtook him. Thus Assur-dan died somewhere about B.C. 1175. (d) The same Tiglath, pileser, in the same passage, had previously remarked that the temple in question was built by the old high, priest Samsi-Raniman, son of Ismi-Dagan, 641 years before.

The date of Samsi-Ramman is therefore fixed about B.C. 1815. A series of specially important dates for Bab. chronology is to be found in the inscriptions of the Bab. king Nabonidus (B.C. 555-539). (See B.vBTLONiA.) We possess also a list of the kings of Babylon, which unfortunately is not quite complete, beginning c. 2000 B.C., as well as the so-called 'Synchronistic History' (see above), which gives side by side a complete enumeration of the kings of Babylon and their Assyr. con- temporaries.

From these sources we secure, although indirectly, some fresh basal points for Assyr. chronology. Finally, we conclude, from some astronomical notices in Egyp. inscriptions, that Tahutmes HI. reigned from 1503-1449, and further obtain B.C. 1400 as the date of the death of Amenhotep III. and the accession of Amenhotep IV. Thus tlie date of both these kings, with their Bab. and Assyr. contemporaries, is approximately fixed (see above, on tbe discoveries at Tel el-Amarna).

The fii-st beginnings of Assyrian History will probably always remain veiled in darkne.ss. That the Assyrian state was originally an offshoot from Babylonia may be regarded as certain from its writing, language, and religion, as well as from the witness, by no means to be despised, of Heb. tradition (Gn 10"), which confirms this inference, and which is itself of Bah. origin. It is certain, too, that the oldest rulers of Assyria known to us styled themselves 'priest (Sumerian, pa-te-.ii; Assyr.

issaku) of the god Assur.' Besides the two priest-kings mentioned in the chronology, viz. Samsi-RamniS.n * and his father Ismi-Dagan, t we know of others whose tablets have come down to us, viz. a certain Irisu and liIs father KhaUu, as well as of a second Samsi-Ramman and his father Igur- (or Bel-) kapliapu.X It is noticeable that the title ' Patesi ' is not bestowed on the last-named, so that it looks as if he or his son Samsi-Ramman was the first founder of the A.ssyr. state.

In that case we must, of course, place this Samsi-Ramman before B.C. 1810, probably about 1!.C. 18-50 or even B.C. 1900. On the other hand, the later king, Ramm!in-nir4ri III. (c. B.C. 800) calls himself ' the descendant of the old king Jielkapkapu, who ruled even before the primitive period of the reign of the Sulili.' Finally, Esarhaddon, grandson of the usurper Sargon, claims to be ' the perpetual descendant of Bii-liani, son of Adasi, king of A.ssyria.'

By this Bel-bani is probably meant one of the kings who sat on the Assyr. throne during the period between B.C. 1800 and 1500. It was during this period that tlie rulers of Assyria assumed the official title ' King of Assur,' instead of the old title 'Patesi.' About B.C. 1800 we find in Assyria • I.t. 'my son l.i Bnmman' (Bel). t I.e. ' Dofiran lu-nnl.' I)af;an is another name fop Bel. An old Bab. kinjr of Nl.sin bore the same name. i I.e. ' Bel Is inlffhty.'

Igur (Ocean of Heaven] Is another name for the god Bel. the arrangement by which the year (limm^t) was called after the chief officer of state ; and even at that time Assyria, which, owing to the position of its old capital Assur on the west bank of the Tigris, had begun to gravitate unduly towards the north-west, must have cultivated commercial relations with Cappadncia. Only on this supposi- tion can we account for the fact that a considerable number of Assyr.

contract-tablets, containing lists of contracts in ancient writing, which belong to this period, have been discovered in Cappadocia. We may also infer that the intermediate territory, especially Mesopotamia and Harran, was probably at times under Assyr. rule, or, at any rate, Assyr. influence. To the period when the As.syrian rulers bore the title 'Patesi' probably belong most of the half, mythological, half, historical narratives which have been preserved tor us in the Assyrian libraries.

In one of these a description of the building of temples in SirguUa, Nippur, and Nisin is followed by an account ' of terrible wars, and a famine so fearful that brothers ate one another, and parents sold their children for gold, and the treasures of Babylon were carried to the land of Su, the king of Babylon allowing the treasures of his own palace to be handed over to the prince of A.ssur.' It is of some importance that in this text the ruler is called, not 'king,' but 'prince' (ruhu) of .

Xssur at that time. The so-called ' Legends of the Plague-Demon ' (see Bahtluxi.v) seem to refer to the same events. The inhabitants of Su, tlie wild Sutieans, who at that time possessed the greater part of Assyria, and a part of Mesopotamia as well, are proved to have been the originators of the fearful devastations in Babylonia ; and it appears from the same text, that not the Sutieans, but the Elamites, those old foes of Babylon and Assur, were the instigators.

Finally, the dis- astrous wars were diverted from the territories of the Euphrates and Tigris to the west, from which we may surmise that the predatory Sutieans poured also over a part of Syria and Palestine. As a matter of fact, some centuries later, in the Tel el- Amarna letters, the Sutaeans are mentioned as the enemies of the Phren. town Gebal (Byblos). In the Egyp. inscriptions of the New Kingdom (somewhere about B.C.

1600) a similar name {Setct) proves that the Asiatics in general, and more particularly the Asiatic hunting tribes, as well as the Bedawin of the Syro-Arabian desert, ex- tended their marauding expeditions at that time, just as the}' do to-day, to Palestine and Phoenicia, on the one side, and beyond Mesopotamia and the territory to the east of the Tigris, on the other. Accurate and uninterrupted knowledge of Assyr. history begins about the year B.C. 1500.

Possibly, however, the two kings Assur-nirari and Xabti- dan belong to the previous centuries, which as far as our knowledge is concerned are complete blanks. All that we know about these kings is that they were contemporaries of a king — about whom also we know nothing — Bamman-mnshi'shir of Kar- dunias (I'.p. of Babylon, at the time of the Ka.ssite rulers). From B.C. 1500 to B.C. 14:50 AsurJid- nishe-shn, who was contemporaneous with the liab.

Kara-indixsh, and I'uznr-Assur, the contemporary of Burnaburias I., ruled over Assyria. The Syn- chronistic History relates that they settled the boundaries between Habylonia and Assyria. We do not know whether Pnzur-Assur ('security of tlie god Assur') was the direct succes.sor, or, as is possible, the grandson of Asur-bel -nish6, shu (' Assur is lord of his people'). It mast have been one of these kings, however, who sent presents to the powerful Plniraoh Talmtmes III. (B.C.

1504- 1450) in token of his allegiance, as was also done by ASSYRIA ASSYRIA 181 the kings of Mitanni and Haityar (West and East Mesopotamia) and the king of Arrapach (east of Assyria, in the mountainous district, at the source of tlie lower Zab). The presents of the king of Assyria and tliose of liis nearest neighbours stand out pre-eminently on the Bab. Blue Stone (lapis- lazuli, Assyr. nkntt) which has been brought from Jit. Bikni in .Media. From Asnr-nadiii-akhi (f. n.r. 1430) to the year K.

C. 1050 we posse.ss an absolutely complete series of the kings — the son as a rule succeeding his father. Almost all these rulers are to be found mentioned on the inscriptions, and the ' Synchron- istic History ' gives us further information about most of them. We can with perfect certainty, therefore, draw out the following list: — Babylon. KnrigriJzu I. (?) linrnahurins II. Knrakhardas. Kadash ma n-kharbi. Kurigalzu II. Nazi-maraddash. Kadashman-turgu. Kadashman-bitrias.

Sh'trinrakti-shuriash. ( Bih'iiaah i to ( liammayt-shum-uzur. liamman-shum-tiznr. Z(tm(lma-shum-idina, li.c. 1180. Nahxi-kudur-uzur H.C. 1140-1122. Marduk-nadin-akh i. I., c. Assyria. A.'>i'ur-it<)din-akhi. A.ittr-ttballit, son of above (c. B.C. 1400). Bel-nirUri, son of above. Pudu-iln, son of above. Samman-nirtlri /., son of above. Shalmaneser I., son of above. (probably also) Tuklati-Nindar, son of above. Assur-nazir-pal I., son of above. Bel-kudur-uz/iir.

Nindnr-pftl-isharra{\>rci\y- ably son of above). Assur-diut, son of above (<1. r. li.c. 1170). Jlntakkil-Xuaku, son of above (reigned till c. lloO). Asstir-rish-ishi, son of above. Tuklal-pal-i.tharra I. (Tiglatli-pile.ser), son of above. Assur-bfl-kala, son of above. Sams't-IiammSn, brother of above. Assur-nazir-pal II.. son of above (c. B.C. 1050). While at the beginning of this period (c. B.C. 1400) Babylonia had .still the supremacy in the Kuphrates and 'I'igi'is districts, and aspiring As.

syria possessed in Mitanni a powerful and dangerous rival, in a few centuries the picture was totally changed. As early as the reign of Kammaii- nirari I., who has given us the first long royal inscriiitioii that we pos.se.ss, Assyria commenced the upward marcji wliieli was afterwards so steadily maintained, and the campaigns of Tiglath-pileser I, laid the fciuiidatioii of the great world-empire which A.ssyria became in later times. As.iur-nhatlit' I. is well known to u.

s from a letter whicli he wrote to the I'haraoh Anien- hotep (Amenciphis) IV. expressing his allegiance to him, in which he describes hini.self as the son of Assui-nadin-akhi. lie is also distingiiished for his energetic atlem)it to secure, by family relation- ships, the right of interference in the affairs of • Or Asiir-iitmlllt, or Aslinr-iibdlllt. Thp Assyrlnns noinftlines .'»|K'U the imine of tlii-fr iintlonn) ffi»\ A)»!*iir, find soinctlmcH Asnr. 1 hi' sibilant Ih [>roj><?

rly itronounccd sh, but wns very varly pro- nounced H In Asj*vrifi, In contraill.itlnctlon to Hatiylonla. Mardnk-shapik-zirim. Mamman-pal-idina. Babylon. The Bab. crown prince Kara-khardaa had become his son-in-law. Assur-uballit lived to see not only his accession to the throne, but also the accession of his grandson luidashman-kharbi. The last-named, however, Wiis overthrown by the Kassites, who were then predominant in Babylon, because the interference of his royal As.syr.

motlier MubaUitat-nhertia and of his grandfatlier proved dangerous to them. The murderers of KadnKltman- kharbi placed a certain Suziijas (or, according to another tradition, Nazihuijas) upon the throne in his stead. But the aged Assur-uballit did not allow him to be unavenged. He got Suzigas put to death, and placed his own great-grandson, Knrirjalzu, who was still a minor, upon the throne. The last-nameil king, who reigned c. 50 years, came into conflict with two As.syr.

kings, liel-nirari and his grand.son linrninnn-niriiri, about the posses- sion of a portion of Mesopotamia. Under Assur-ubaUil and his grandson Pudu-ilu, the As.syrians succeeded in freeing themselves from the suzerainty of the kings of Mitanni. TuxhratUi,* the powerful king of Mitanni, wlio -was the con- temjiovary of .-Xssnr-nadin-akhi (the father of As.

sur- uballit), as well as of Assur-uballit himself, lent the image of Istar of Nineveh to Egypt, obviously in order that his daughter, who was married to the Pharaoh, might be able by its help to practise her native cultiis. The natural infer- ence is that A.ssyria was then a mere vassal state of Mitanni, and that Nineveh had become, to say the very least, the common Istar sanctuary for both Mitanni and Assyria.

In tlie language nf Mitanni, which is a Ilittite and not a Semitic dialect, Istar of Nineveh is called ShaUispi ; and Sargon, 700 years later, lifted up his hands to 'Sha'uspi, the ruler of Nineveh' (Cylinder Inscriji. 1. 04), tlius calling Istar by a name which reminds us of the times of Tiishratta. Now it is expre.ssly stated that Asniir-nballit destroyed the military forces of the extensive region of Shubari (i.e.

Mesopotamia), and that Pudu-ilu not only subju- gated the mountaineers of Guti (Arrapachilis), but al.so defeated the Akhlami and Sutieans, the pre- datory nomads of Mesopotamia. These territories, however, in the days of Taluitines III. were under the absolute and uncontrolled rule of the inde- pendent kings of Arrapach and Mitanni.

We may regard it as almost certain, that even in the days of Bel-niriiri the once powerful Mitainii was overthrown liy the sudden attacks of these Sutieans, a result which was heartily welcomed by the as])iring Assur. liumman-niriin /.

, in the inscription mentioned above, briefly recounts all these events in the reigns of his tJiree immediate predecessors, in order to relate how he rebuilt the towns which had been destroyed in (he previous wars which devastated the territories on the east and west of Assyria. Owing to the fact that the land of the Guti ((ioiim, (in 14) had been overthrown by his predecessors, some boundary disputes arose with Babylonia, since the territoi-y in que.stion had formerly been within the Bab.

sphere of influence.t The Bab. king Nazi-Mara<ldash, however, was con(|uered by Kani- man-nirari, and compelled to consent to a fresh delimitation of the boundaries, more favourable to Assyria. Under the rule of his son Slialman-AslKirid (Shalmaneser) /., r. It.c. l.'iOO, Assyria made an im- portant advance. This king undertook a whole series of canii)aigns against the mountainous regions to • Son of Sntarnn. who waft the son of Artjitaina, a contempo- rary of tlio IMiaraoli 'I'alintini-h iv.

Ta)lUtIn('^ iv. was ri'Iali-! bv ' marrlaec lo the kines of Mitanni. An elder brother of Tushrattn. who dle<l early, wa; called .Artji-ithilniara. + There existt* an Insciiptlon of a klnt' of (Jutl. written in old Bab. eunetform charaeterH, which vlvldlv calls to mind the eni of old Sarffon of .\(,'ude, 0. U.C. 8700.

182 ASSYRIA ASSYRIA the north of Mesopotamia, between the modern Diarbekr and Malatiyeh, advancing into the in- terior of Western Armenia as far as tlie country which is often called in the cuneiform inscriptions itlitsri (Musur-dagh on the Upper Euphrates). It is interesting to note that North Mesopotamia, near the mountains of Masius (Assyrian, nits, of Kasyar), is always called the land of Arimi or the Aramceans, not only in the inscriptions of Shalman- eser I.

himself, but also in a later account of the campaign, which dates from the time of Assur- nazir-pal II. We naturally compare with this the biblical derivation of the four peoples, Uz, Hul, Gelher, and Mash (this latter = Mt. MasiiLs), from Aram (Gn 10-^) . As a matter of fact, shortly before the reign of Shalmaneser, the Aramiean nomads must have been driven away from the Bab.-Elamite frontier (the bil)lical Kir, Am 9', cf. Is 22'', Kir near Elam), their original home, into Mesopotamia.

The A/chlami too (after whom a stone in the breast- plate of the Heb. priests was called Akhlamah, Ex 28'^), who were conquered by Pudu-ilu, are expressly stated by Tiglatb-pileser I. to have been Aramseans. Shalmaneser I. took from the Bab. king Kadash- mnn-buriash several towns in the district of Dur-Kurigalzu (near the modern Baghdad). He wished, too, to be regarded as a builder.

He laid the foundation of a new residence Kalakh (Gn 10'-), Assur having up to this time been the capital town, and built afresh the sanctuary of Istar in Nineveh, which Assur-uballit had only very roughly restored. And, finally, it is worth remarking that he was the first Assyr.

king who assumed the title ' Kiug of the World ' (sar kissati) on his inscrip- tions, a circumstance which obviously stands in special relation to the conquest of Mesopotamia, and more particularly to the acquisition of the primitive sanctuary-town Harran. Shalnianeser's son Tuklat-Nindar I.* was prob- ably still a contemporary of the Babylonian king Sharjarakti-shuriash (c. B.C. 1269-1257 ( ? ) ), certainly of his successors Bibeiash (B.C. r25(5-1249(?)), Bel- nadin-shumi (li.c.

1248), Kadashman-kharhi (u.c. 1247-6), and Ramman-shum-idina (B.C. 1246- 1240(?)) The last-mentioned was king only in name, for after Babylon had been enfeebled by the invasion of the Elamite king KkliH-kh^Ul•utash, Tuklat-Nindar seized the Bab. empire for himself for seven years, calling himself king of Sumer and Akkad. Finally, however, he was overthrown by his own son Assur-nazir-pal /., while the throne of Babylon was successfully occupied by Bammdn- shu)n-uztir,1 son of Ramman-shum-idina.

A seal with the inscription ' overthrow of Kardunias,' which was struck at Babylon in the time of TukUit- Niiuhtr, was brought to Assyria 600 years later by Sennacherib. Of course 600 is a round number, and the event may reasonably be connected with the year 1246 of "the Chronicle of the Kings of Babyh)nia (coinp. above, p. 179''). We do not know whether the next Assyr. king, Bi^l-kuditr-ttzur, was a son, or, as is possible, a bi-oilier of Assur-nazir-pal I.

The Synchj-onistic History informs us that he was conquered by the powerful Babylonian king Ramnian-shum-uzur (li.c:. 12:!»-1209(?)) and lost his life in the battle. His successor Xindar-pal-isliarra had great diffi- culty in repulsing Uamman-shum-iizur's attack on the town of Assur. It appears, however, that he was successful at last in victoriously driving back the Bab. army. He was succeeded by liis son Asstir-dan I., who lived to an advanced age, and towards the end of his reign (B.C.

1181) con- * Or Tukulti-Nindar (i.e. 'Nindar is inv help'). The Hebrew-'i write a similarly formed name, 7'«^'K??i-paI-ishnrra as Tiirlatli-jiiieser. Tliey seem therefore to have written Tuklat-p- lunteail of Tukulti-])-. t The name ideopraphically written is liaimnan-MU-SIS. Possibly Kamman-nadin-akhi could also be read. quered Zam&ma-shum-idlna of Babylon, and by this means extended the Assyr. frontier beyond the lower Zab.

In the reign of Assur-dan's son Mutakkil-Nusku, the Mosks (the biblical T^'c), a people from Asia Minor, made an incursion into North Syria and the contiguous district of North- West Mesopo- tamia. This incursion seems to have set in motion other waves. The Akhlami (who had been formerly subdued by the Assyrians) on the Middle Euphrates, the Lullumi* and the Guti to tlie north ami ea.

st of Assyria, lifted up their heads again ; and so Mutakkil-Nuskn's son, the energetic ^sswr- rish-ishi (' Assur lifted u]) his head '), had to under- take the great task of reconquering these old enemies before he could think of subduing the Mosks. His Bab. contemporary Nabu-kudw-iizur I. (c.

1145-1122) had the glory of conquering the same LuUubi (as the Babylonians call them, instead of Lullumi), who had extended their settlements into the mountains between Armenia and Media, some distance within the frontiers of Assyria and Babylonia. Probably it came at last to a struggle between the two kingdoms, which was settled by the Assyr. king obtaining a victory over Nebu- chadrezzar I., who was, notwithstanding, a dis- tinguished and powerful prince. The first really great Assyr.

conqueror, liowever, was Assur-rish-ishi's son Tuklat-pal-isharra (Tig- lath-pileser) /., whose name means ' Help of the son of Isharra' {i.e. the god Nindar). While, in former times, only the Babylonian kings — and last of these Kadashman-kharbi and Nebuchadrezzar — had penetrated as far as the so-called ' Westland ' or Martu, he was the first Assyrian king to under- take campaigns in this direction, reaching even the frontiers of Palestine.

He journej'ed on ships of Arvad in the north of Phoenicia, to the Mediter. Sea, and killed a great sea monster called a nCiklur ('snorting'), probably somewhere between Arvad and the Gulf of Issus. He also hunted wild oxen {rhnu, Heb. re'em) at the foot of Lebanon. His renown reached even to Egypt, and the Pharaoh of the day sent to Assyria a female pariti (probably an ape), a crocodile, and a hippopotamus for his zoological gardens.

In his annals, which contain about 800 lines, there is a detailed account of his first six cam- paigns (B.C.

1120-1115), the results of which are summed up in the following words: 'Altogether 42 countries with their rulers, reaching from beyond the lower Zab — the districts of the moun- tain forests on the other side of the Euphra- tes—to the land of the Khatti and the Upper Western Sea (Gulf of Issus), from the beginning of my reign to the end of the fifth year, have been conquered by my hand, and I have received tribute and taxes from them.' A further cainjiai^'n.

which carried him to Lebanon, is not included, as it was undertaken in a later year. Unfortunately, up to the present we know of this last-named campaign only incidentally through another in- scription which describes his hunting expeditions. Tiglath-pileser was also the first A.ssyr. king who, besides the title ' King of the World ' (Sar kissati) which his predecessors had borne before him, assumed another title known to old Babylonian hi.story, viz.

' King of the Fimr Quarters of the World,' and rightly, for he was the first to reach the Mediterranean Sea. With regard to his special campaigns, by far the most important was the war against the ^iosks of Asia Minor (Mesliech, (}n 10-, Ezk 27'2 38-), who, 60 years before, had made an • Luliratii means ' ring.'

Probably by the Lullumi are meant the mountain races in peneral which were scattered round about, and formed, as it were, a rin^ from the tapper Euphrates to the little Zab, reaching to Mesopotamia and Assyria and eveo the IVontiers of Babylonia. ASSYRIA ASSYRIA 183 incursion into Xorth Mesopotamia and conquered the land of Kuinmttkk (^Coniinagene, on the farther bank of the Euphrates). The Kurl<hi (Kurdi?)

who lived in the mountainous districts towards Armenia, had also joined the Mosks as allies. The scene of the war lay between Comma!;ene on the Euphrates and the Gordyan mountains on the Upper Tisiris. We may conclude from their names that the tribes of th«:se districts were all of Hittite and non-Semitic nationality. The names of two of the hostile kings conquered by Tiglath-pileser are of special interest, Kili-Tishup son of Kali- Tishup, and StiJi- Tish up son of Khatu- shar.

Tishup was tlie name of one of the Hittite gods. In the tiiue of Ramses II. we hear of a Hittite named Tar-Tishbu. Moreover, the old storm god of Armenia and Mitanni was called Tishupash ; and, finally, the same name for a god turns up again in Susa as Tishpak. Khatu-shar, too, is identical with Kheta-sar, by whicli name a Hittite foe of Ramses II. is called. Now Khitu was a divinity of tlie Hittite poi)ulation scattered about from the west of Asia Minor to Elam.

The names of the Lydian kings, Aly-attes and Sady-attcs, which were formed like Kali-Tishup and Satli-Tishup, prove this, for the god Attes, spelt in Aramaic in- scriptions ijhate ('??, -7aTi5 in 'Xrap-yaTit ; -xfTu in AepKtTw), cannot be any other than the one which apijcars in Khatu-shar. Xorth of Kunimukh, Tiglath-pileser made tri- butarj' the land of Khani-rabhat, so often men- tioned in the cuneiform inscriptions (the great Kheta-land of the Egyp. inscriptions), near Milid (.Malatiyeh).

This country (erroneously transcribed Khani-galbat by some Assyriologists) was the old mother-land of the Hitlites. There was no longer, however, a great Hittite empire at the lime of Tiglath-pileser, but the Aramaeans had attempted to establish themselves in several places in the north of Syria and Mesopotamia. Tiglath-pileser expelled them from the region between the Euphrates and Belikh, the original country of the .

Mit,anni, and plundered their pasture-grounds which were situated along the farther bank of the Euphrates, the land of Sukhi (Shuah, (lU 2'y- ; Job i'l, • Uildad the Shuhite'). lie also conquered by force of arms the land of Mnsri in West Armenia, again.st which Shalnianeser I. had formerly waged war, and the Cappadocian district of Kumiinu, which w.is in alliance with it. Thus he not only restored his kingdom to the size it had attained in the time of .Shalmaneser I.

, but expanded it still farther, especially in the direction of Armenia ; and by jiashing forward towards North Syria and the .Mediterranean, mapped out the path for Assyr. expeditions in the future. The Bab. king Mnrdnk- nadin-akhi (cf. above, p. 179'') succeeded in robbing the Assyrians of the images of Ramman and his consort Sliala which belonged to the (Mesojio- tamian?) town Ikallati, but Tiglath-pileser in- flicted a signal defeat upon him in his own country.

Amidst all these exjieditions, architecture and the material welfare of the country were not neglected by Tiglath-pileser, who bestowed special attentiim upon the restoration of the old temple of the gods Anu and Ramman in the ancient capital .Vssur (cf. above, p. 180"). Tiillath-pileser was succeeded by his son Ashur- licl-kala (' Assur is Lord of All'), who removed the royal residence from Kalakh to Nineveh, lie married the daughter of the Rab.

king Rammiin- l)al-idina, but evidently died without children, since liis lirotlier tiamsi-RiKiimUn III. succeeded him on the throne. We possess an earnest petition of the son of the latter, As.iHr-na::ir-prtl II., to the goddess Istar of Nineveh, in which he prays that he may be cured of an illness. After this (c. VW) As^yi-i:! uiid'Twcnt a ]i<>riod of di'cliiie. during which not even the names of the kings have been preserved. We only know of one of them, Assur-Mii (c. 900?)

, who set up an image of himself at the Gulf of Issus, and from whom the Araniieans took away the two fortresses on the Euphrates, Pitrii (Peihor, Nu 22', Dt 23<) and Mutkhitt, which had been conquered in the time of Tiglath-pileser I. The powerful development of the Aramaeans at this time is also clearly reflected in OT, in the hi.story of David (see 2 S 10"', where Hadadezer brings Aramaeans from the other sitle of the Euphrates).

The growth of the power of Israel under Saul, David, and Solomon forms a striking contrast to the decline of Assyria about H.c. 1000. Probably the immediate successor of this Assur- irbi was Tuklut-pat-i^arra (Tiglath-pileser) //. After him we have an accurate and genealogical list of kings, without any gaps at all. Tighath-pileser 1 1, c. 970. Assur-dan II. (son of above) c. K.c. 930-913. (Here the Eponym Canon begins). Ramman-nirari II. (son of above) B.C. 912-801. Tuklat-Nindar II.

(son of above) B.C. 890-885. Assur-nazir-pal III. (son of above) B.C. 884-860. Under the last named king a new period of development commenced for Assyria. Of the four predecessors of Assur-nazir-pal, we only know that Ramman-nir3,ri II. waged some wars against his Bab.

contemporaries Samas-mudammik and the latter's successor Nabultim-iskun ; and that Tuklat-Nindar advanced to the sources of the Tigris, and threw his heart into the task of again reducing to subjection the mountainous districts in the north, a work which was continued by Assur-nazir-pal and .Shalmaneser II. For the con- quests made by Tiglath-pileser I., after so much effort, had been lost again long ago.

Aasur-nanrpal rebuilt Kalakh, and selected it for his royal residence in memory of his great predecessor Shalmaneser I., after whom he also named his son (Shalmaneser II.) His main ambi- tion was to ainiex the whole of Mesopotamia to Assyria, which he succeeded at any rate partially in accomplishing.

The little Aramanin jirincipality BU-Adini (which is called ISene-Eden 2 K 10'-, and is situated between the Euphrates and Belikh) offered strong resistance to the Assj'rians, and Assyria oidy succeeiled in getting the payment of a temporary tribute from it. Greater results, however, were achieved among the mountain tribes on the ea.st, between the lakes Van and Urmi.a, in the countries of Manual (.

MinnI, Jer Ol-"^, which certainly ought to be vocaliseil '17, near Ararat), Kirnir, and Zamua, the la.st-mentioned being situated to the south of the lake of Urmia. In North Syria further op|)osition was experienced from the little states that had sprung up on the wrecks of the Hittite empire, whose princes still bore Hittite names, though the populations were Canaanite. The most noteworthy of these was Karkhemis, where king Sangar reigned ; and next to that the land of Unki ('.

Amk) or Khattin* on the Orontes, the capital of which vv:us called Kunidua, and the king Lubarna. Both these territories were traversed by the Assyrians. The Assyrians advanced right up to Lebanon and the coast of Phconicia, so that the towns of Tyre, Sidon, Gebal, .Xrvad, etc., were compelled to send valuable presents in order to induce the hostile forces to march away. The Bab. contemporary of Asstir-n^ir-pal waa Nabu-pal-idinS. (See Baby- lonia.) The reign of As.

sur-nazir-pal's son Sholmanu- asliarid (Sh.almanescr II.), B.C. 850-82'i, marks a turning-point in Assyr. history in sever.al direc- • Wrilt.ii /'.l-f(-(n, but probably A'/I<i«iri (lln> IIIlUli') la the riffhl rtiulliiK. 18i ASSYRIA ASSYRIA tions.

Instead of being satisfied with merely sending threatening expeditions to exact a fresh payment of tribute, he introduced a systematic plan— afterwards always adopted— of placing governors over conquered territories, and thus making tliem actual provinces and putting them under direct Assyr. control. Moreover, it was in his reign that the first contact between Assyria and the kings of Israel (Aliab and Jehu) took place.

Lastly, it was his reign that saw the first beginnings of the Armenian empire under the kings Arimi and Sarduri (^Siduri, or, more accur- ately, Sardu'arri), whose successors gave Assyria so much trouble, till they brought it to the brink of ruin. Tiglath-pileser III. and Sargon were the first to succeed in breaking its power, and in helping Assyria forward to new development. The oldest Armenian inscriptions, which date from Sarduri I., are written in Assyr.

cuneiform characters and Semitic-Assyrian, whde his suc- cessors employ their own Armenian dialect (related to the Georgian), though they use the Assyr. method of writing as well. We are very fortunate in possessing pictorial representations of several events in the reign of Shalmaneser. These are to be found chiefly in the magnificent reliefs on the bronze doors of Balawal (Imgur-Bel), and also in the remarkable pictures on t"he ' Black Obelisk.' as it is called.

In five series and on four panels are to be seen ambassadors from Gurzan (on Lake Urmia), from king Jahna (.lehu) of Israel, from the land of Miiari in West Armenia, from Marduk-pal-uzur of Suchi, and from Karparunda of Khattin. Both monuments are in the British Museum. The in- scription on the series devoted to the land of Musri says : ' Tribute from Musri. Camels with double humps, oxen from the river Saktya (or Irkia?), a SMS!t (kind of antelope), female elephants, and apes.'

The words of the inscription are con- firmed by the pictures, which actually contain double-hiimped camels, wild steers, an antelope, an elephant, and four apes. This land of Musri, which must be looked for neither in Afghanistan nor in India, but to the north-east of Cilicia, is mentioned in the Bible, 1 K lO-s, according to which Solomon brought his horses from Muzrtm and from Ku'i (Cilicia), as the emended reading runs. Double-humped camels (Assyr. iidrfiti, from the Arm. uldu, Sansk.

nstra) were to be found in different parts of Armenia, and Assur-nazir-pal boasted, as did also Tiglath-pileser r. and Tahut- mes 111., that he had killed elephants in Mesopo- tamia.

Shalmaneser made his way into the land of Tabal (the biblical Tubal), which lies to the west of Malatiyeh, where he took possession of the silver, salt, aiid alabaster works which he found on the mountains, and took the opportunity of exacting tribute from the neighbouring Musri ; then he invaded the land of Ku'i (on the Ciliclan coast), reacliing the city of Tarzi, the well-known Tarsus, the birthplace of the apostle Paul.

He advanced into Armenia as far as the sources of the Euphrates ; then he proceeded eastward to Parsua, the motherland of the Persians, lying to the east of Lake Urmia, and southwards to Xamar, wliich was formerly a protectorate of Babylon, lying to the south of Lake Urmia. His journeys were thus more extensive than those of any of his predecessors. In Babylonia, In the year H.c.

853, Nabu-pal-ldlna was overthrown by his son Marduk-shum-ldlna, whose brother Marduk- bel-usati, however, raised a revolt against liim. Thereupon Marduk-shuin-ldinS. relinquished to his brotlier the southern part of Babylonia, formerly known as the land of Kaldu* (or Imgi), at the same • The Ttnme existed ftl an earlier date in an older form. Kardii (whence Kardunias). The form Kasdu (Ucb. Kasdiin) Is only time calling upon the king of Assyria for assist- ance.

Shalmaneser attacked and killed the re- bellious brother of the Babylonian king, and naturally claimed an extension of frontier in return for his services. Of far greater interest for biblical history is the campaign of Shalmaneser against the town of Hamath (Amattu or AmStu) on the Orontes, and its allies, in B.C. 854, the sixth year of his reign. Shalmaneser had scarcely conquered (B.C.

8bG) and imprisoned one of his most stubborn op- ponents, king AkhunI of Bit-Adini (see above), when a powerful army came out to meet him near Karkar (on the line of march from Aleppo to Hamath) : Chariots. Uorsemen. Foot. Bir-idri of Damascus . 1200 1200 20,000 Irkhulini of Hamath . 700 700 10,1X10 Akhabbu of Sir'il . . 2000 . 10,000 Gui . soft Musri . 1,000 Irkanat ... 10 . 10,000 Matln-ba'ai of .\rvad .... . 200 Usanat . 200 Adunuba'alof Shiana . 80 ..

10,000 Ba'sa (son of Rukhub) of AmmoQ .... • . • 1,000 Camels. Glndibu the Arab . . . 1,000 A mere glance at this table shows that the three most important princes of this league were Bir- idri (Benhadad) of Damascus, Irkhulinioi Hamath, and Akhabbu of Sir'il. Besides these, two Phcen. cities were prominent in supplying troops, Irkanat (probably ='Arka, 't'?!- Gn W-') and Shiana (or Siana, '.' of Gn 10", which must be corrected to '?;?)

Akhabbu of Sir'il is no other than king Ahab of Israel, who chose Jezreel (the modern Zer'tn) for his royal residence ; and who, in his last year (B.C. 864)', before he went to the war against the Syrians, In which he lost his life, had undertaken the obligation of leading an army against the Assyrians. Shalmaneser's victory over Damascus and Hamath does not seem to have been very permanent, since on two occasions, in B.C.

849 and 846, his annals give an account of the repulse of the Syrians and their twelve allies. On the first occasion (li.c. 840), in all probability, the Israelites were present in the battle under the leadership, not of Ahab, but of his son Joram. Joram, how- ever, soon after was attacked by Benhadad, and Samaria was in a state of siege. The Syrians withdrew only upon receiving information that a hostile force was marching against Damascus. The foes, however, were not Hi'.

tites and Musrites (2 K 7«, i.e. from the land of Mu.sri in West Armenia), as the Syrians In their panic at first believed, but there Is the highest probability that they were the Assyrians who, in the year 84C, made a new expedition against Damascus. Finally, in the year 842 Shalmaneser made a fresh attack on Syria, this time against Blr-ldrl's (Benhadad's) successor Khaza-ilu (Hazael), whom he defeated, and ultimately besieged in Damascus. The sur- rounding country was deva.

stated, and Shalmaneser took the opportunity of exacting tribute from Tyre. SIdon, and ' ./ahua of the house of Omri.' On the black obelisk already mentioned there are pictures of the ambaswadors of this same .lahua, bringing gifts, with the following in.scription : 'Tribute of .lahua, son of Khumrl ; silver, gold, a vessel of gold, a ladle of gold, golden drinking cups, golden buckets, tin (or lead), a staff for the king's hand, and spear-shafts {hudilkhati) I received.'

That this Jahua, in spite of the inaccuracy of the expression 'son (i.e. according to the Assyr. use of the word, 'of the dynasty') of Omri,' must be identified with ,7e7iM of Israel, is a fact which does a dialcelio variant. Hv this we see, at the same time, that the Ileb. ex|iression L'r-Kasdlm had its origin long before the time of Shaiiu. II. ASSYRIA ASSYRIA ISu not admit of the least doubt. Although at first a good deal of difficulty was felt on account of the dati-s (Aliab nx. ^M.

-Ichu 842), the identification of Ahab with Akhabbu of Sir'il, and of Jahua with .leliu, must now be regarded as settled. The chronology of the period of the kings of Israel, as is generally admitted, has been confu.sed by later redactors, a fact which is clearly proved from the summary of the length of the reigns • alone. Now that the dates 854 and 842 have been absolutely fixed, we have obtained data of the highest value for restoring the original numbers in the te.

\t of the Bible (see below, under Tiglath-pileser III). The great Shalmaueser II., who lost his life in a rebellion, was succeeded by his son f>amsi- Rainman IV. B.C. 824-812, who led expeditions against the Bab. kings liaUt-nkhi-idina and Mariluk-lialat-su-ikbi, and also again.st the land of Ivaldu.

Advancing into Media ;is far as the so- called ' White Jlouiitain,' Ehvend, near Ecbatana (llaniadau), he sought to make the lands of Mannai and I'arsua, to the north and east of Lake Urmia, secure against the ambition of the Armenian king Ispuiiiis, son of Sardu'arri I., who was eager to conquer them. His son JCamruaii-niran III. (B.C. 811-78.3) suc- ceeded in advancing still farther into the heart of .Media — right up to the Caspian Sea. He was Very youm; when he came to the throne.

In all probaliility his mother, the Bab. princess Summu- riimnt (the Srmiramis of Greek legend), held the regency for him at first. In Armenia, his powerful rival .Menuas, who lived at 'J'uruspa (I'hosp) on the Lake of Van, caused him much trouble, wrest- ing from the Assyrians seveial powerful vassal states, e.g. Khani-rabbat (Melitene) and Dayami.

It is to be regretted that the account of Ramman- nirari's campaigns against Syria and Palestine are so very scanty : ' From the upper part of the Euphrates to the land of Khatti (North Syria), Amurri (Coelesyria) to its farthest borders, Tyre, Sidon, the land of Omri (Israel), Udumu (Edom), and Palastu (I'hilistia), right up to the great western sea, I reduced to subjection and exacted tribute and imjiosts : I marched against the "land of a.s.ses " (Damascus), and shut up .

VdriVi, king of the land of asses (mUt imiri .lit), in his chief town Damascus. Dread of renowned Assur struck him to the earth: he clasprd my feet and gave himself up. . His countless wealth and goods I seized in Damascus ; his residence in the midst of his royal palace.' The Assyr. list of officers for the year 804 mentions an expedition to the town of Ba'ali (=-ir^;'3 at the foot of Hermon ?), and for the year 797 one to Manzn'ati (^''^>'" ? ), which is evidently a town of the Israelites.

In one of these years Kamman- nirari's expedition against Damitscus, Edom, and Philistia nuist have taken place. It happened either at the end of the reign of the Isr. king Jehoaliaz, or at the commencement of the reign of his successor .Joash. According to the Bible, Benhadad .son of Ilazael was king of Damascus at the lime. If this bi! so, .Mari'a is only a title, like the Aramaic Maryii', ' Lord,' unless we see in Mari'a a brother of ilazael of whom nothing else is known. I'nder the succes.

sors of Ramman-nirari, Shal- »»<nic.ier ///. B.C. 782-773), Ansur-tlaii Iff. (B.C. 772-705), and A.i.inr-niriin II. (Itf. 754-745), Assyria was always losing more territory to the Arnienians. Armenia was ruled at this time by • From Uohohonm to llie Rl.xth vear uf llozeklnli tliepo nru 2(l't years. whilt) from.Icrolxniin i. tn l)(ishen(r<ini|iu-Ht (ifSninarln) Itii-re are only '241. \n n mutter of fact. IVoiii the denth of Solomon to h'.c. ""22 there are only 2IS vears.

The mistake niiset* with rejjanl to Pekah. Innlead of Pekahlah '2 years. iV-kah 20 years, we oiijrht stinply to read I'ekah 2 years. I'ekahlah Is only the fuller form of the name I'ekah. the mighty kings Argistis (c. H.c. 780-700) and Sardu'arri II. (B.C. 700-730), and ultimately all ' the lands of Na'iri ' to the north of the Tigris, from Melitene to Lake Urmia, came into its po.ssession. This period of deepest eclip.se (whilst Israel flourished at the same time under .Jeroboam li.)

was followed by an era of prosperity, which lasted for a long time without a break under the usurper Pulu or (to give him his official title) Tuklat-pal- isharra 111., called in the Bible Ti<ihUh-piles(fr (B.C. 745-727), who raised Assyria to a height unreached before, and may lliercfore be called, and with much reason, the real founder of the great A.ssyriau monarchy (in its largest sense).

For the first time in history Tiglath-pileser brought Babylonia, where Nabu-nazir (Nabo- nassar) reigned from B.C. 747-732 and Nabu-nadin- zir from B.C. 733-732, directly under the sway of the Assyr. sceptre. He also reconcpiered the territories that had been lost to Armenia, and annexed to the Assyr. empire a great part of Syria, where before there had only been at the best of times some vassal states — -never any properly con.stituted provinces. In Unhylonin.

Tiglath- pileser had next to deal w-ith the Arannean tribes on the frontiers of Babylon and IChim, among whom the Pukudu (PekOcl, Ezk 23!, jg,. ,;jo21) and Gambulu played tlie chief part, an<l to whom also belonged the Nabatu, who at later times emigrated to the north-west of Arabia. The in- stigators of this rebellion were jirobably the small states of the Iiakli, or Chahlivans, in the south and middle of Babylonia.

The prime mover was a certain Ukinzir (Chinzeros) from Bit-Amukkan, who ultimately, in M.c. 731, .succeeded in seizing the Bab. throne. Already after the defeat of the Araiiueans in 745, Tiglath-pileser had assumed the title ' King of Snmer and Akkad,' but now, after his victory over Ukiii-zir, he got him.self crowned ' King of Babylon ' with great solemnity at the new-year festival of B c. 728. In the year B.C.

744 Tiglath-pileser marched through the land of Namri (see above) right into the interior of Media to the Bikni mountains, to Demavend, that lies to the south of the Ca.spian Sea, in order to reassert Assyr. influence, wliich had been destroyed by the Armenians. He re- conquered also (B.C. 737) the provinces of Parsua and Bustus, that lie between Armenia and Media.

In the North of Syria the Armenians had been driven out by Matiel of Jakhan (also written Akhan), who was called, in accordance with his descent. Prince of Bit-Agfisi. Tiglath-pileser besieged him in his royal residence at Arp.ad (Tell Erfud, north of Aleppo, the biblical Arpad), which, after three years' resistance, fell into his hands in B.C. 740. " He had previously (B.C.

743) repelled the Armenian army which tried to impede the siege of Ar|)ad, and had defeated it in a de- cisive battle on the I'jipcr Euphrates. Tiglath-pileser was now able for the first time to advance into the inlerior of Syria. In the year B.C. 738 he coiKpiered the town of Kiiilaiil (Calno, Is U|9), which lies to the north of Hainath, and overpowered 'Asriya'u of .la'udi.'

t Nineteen districts of Hamath fell before him and were captured, while Kullani, which was evidently the residence of Asriya'u, became the seat of an As.syr. governor. Thereupon all the indeiirndcnt kings of Syria who lived in the neighbcuiriiiL' regions (Kustxspi of Kummukh, Ila^unnu of Damascus, •The .\rahlaii Xitfuii/i'iti mentioneil In Asstirhanlpal'slnserlp. tlon are a totallv illirerent neojite. They are the .\'ehitiol/i of the OT. The Nat.alu (Arab.

03:1, on the other hand, ore the wi-U-kiiown Nahata'ans. They wore of Arania'an orlffln, as the Nabala-an Inserlptlons Inform us. t Not .luclah C'Ji'e) but n country In the north of Syria ^■'N*. as the Inscription of kln^ Panammii of Sam'al makes obvious. 186 ASSYRIA ASSYRIA Minikhimmi of Samirhia, Hiram of Tyre, Sibitti- Iji'il of Gebal, Urik of Ku'i, I'isiris of Carchemish, lui-el of Hamalli, Panammu of Sam'al, Tarkhulara of Gurgum), and some also who lived in more re- mote districts, viz.

the princes of Milid (Malatiyeli) and Tabal (Tubal), and a North-Arabian (iiieuii, Zabibi,* came to do homage to the great king. Vnother expedition to the West followed in the year it.C. TM, which was specially directed against Philistia, where king Khanunu (Hanno) of Gaza was defeated. Tlie main campaign against Damascus and Israel, however, belongs to the yeare n.('. ~3ii and 732. In Israel, Pekah (Assyr. Pakakhu) had just succeeded Jlenahem on the throne.

Kezin (Ka- zunnu), king of Syria, was defeated. Damascus was besieged (B.C. 733) and captured (B.C. 732). In Israel, Tiglath-pileser took a series of towns, in- cluding the whole land of Xaphtali (2 K 15-'), and I'ekah was compelled to pay a very considerable tribute. In the year B c. 731 he was murdered, and Hoshea (Assyr. AusVi'') was confirmed by Tiglath- pileser as king of Israel. After the fall of Damascus (B.C. 732), which forthwith became the seat of an Assyr.

governor, the following princes, Sanib of Amnion, SalamHn of Moah, Mitinti of Ashkelon, JiCnkhazi (i.e. Joahaz = fuller form of Ahaz) of Judah, and Kaus-malak of Edoin, were compelled to pay tribute. Ahaz had some time previously called in Tiglath-pileser to protect him against Pekah and Kezin, who had robbed him of the harbour of Elath. The Arabian queen Samsi was also conquered by the Atsyrians, who took the opportunity of advancing into the north of Arabia for the first time.

Thereupon certain Arab tribes, even the remote Sabfeans, sent him rich presents. The following synchronisms in Tiglath-pileser's annals, which may be safely trusted, are of supreme importance for the chronology of Israel and Judah: — 738 B.C., Menahem of Israel. 733-2 ,, Pekah of Israel. 732 ,, Ahaz of Judah. 731 (?) ,, Hoshea of Israel. To this it may be added that Rezin of Damascus, as is stated both in the Bible and in the inscriptions, was the contemporary of all these kings. If we accept n.

c. S54 as the last year of Ahab, B.C. 842 as the first year of Jehu, and B.C. 722 as the date of the destruction of Samaria, we may construct the chronology of Israel as follows :— 842 B.C., 1st year of Jehu, who reigned 28 years. 814 ,, 1st year of Joahaz, ,, 17 ,, 797 ,, 1st year of Joash, ,, 16 ,, 782 ,, Iflth year of Joash and 1st year of Jeroboam II. ,, 41 ,, 742 „ 41st year of „ Zechariah reigned 6 months. 741 ,, Shallum one month.

1st year of Menahem, ,, 10 ,, 732 „ 10th „ „ 1st year of Pekah. 731 „ 2nd year of Pekah 730 ,, 1st year of Hoshea „ 9 ,, 722 ,, 9lh year of Hoshea and conquest of Samaria. There is room in this arrangement for only a two- years' reign of I'ekah. Exactly the .same things are related of Pekahiah as of Pekah, and the two names are virtually the same (see above). It is clear that the original text of the 13k.

of Kings had only one Pekah (or Pekahiah), who reigned • Probably she was the princess of the BirVans (for which we may, however, substitute Sab'ft'ans, ndd . not to be con- founded with the Sal)ieans. Nat), an Arat)ian tribe which is always mentioned lirst in the inscriptions of Tifrlatli-itileser that speak of the tribute of the Arabians. (Mas'ieans = s;;'C, Temieans = N2>n, Saba'ans= Na;:% Khayappa'ans = nD*>\ etc.) two years, between ilenahem and Hoshea.

The addition of Pekah's twenty years to Pekahiah's two was the work of a later editor, and, as a result, all the synchronisms of Israel and Judah for this period naturally fell into disorder.

Instead of there being an iireconcilable antagonism between the Bible and the inscriptions in relation to chronology, the latter rather help us to correct an old error in the text of the Bible (not in the Bible itself as the word of God — only in the text), while they have essentially confirmed the truth of the biblical narrative throughout.

We have still to speak of a policy which Tiglath- pileser was the first to introduce, and which essentially contributed to the strengthening of the Assyrian empire. In forming new provinces, he and his successors adopted the following plan. As the cuneiform inscriptions and the Books of Kings {e.g. 2 K 15-' 17'') relate, all sections of the population were transplanted into distant pro- vinces, and, conversely, the territories thus left empty were settled with other prisoners of war.

Finally, with regard to king Panammu of Sam'al, mentionea above in connexion with the year B.C. 738, the Berlin Museum now possesses several inscriptions from Zinjirli (south of Mar'ash, Assyr. Markasi) belonging to Panam- mu's son Sir-Iiokeb (33^2), which are written in old Phoen. characters, and composed in a dialect which is a mixture of Can. and Aramaic.

These inscriptions mention Tiglath-pileser, — the word being spelt in the same way as in the OT, -lo'^a-^jn (it is also on one occasion spelt iD'SorSjr) — calling him ii^'ni'":, and on one occasion ' Lord of the four quarters of the earth ' nic Np-iN 'yai (Assyr. shar-kibrat-irbitti, king of the four quarters of the world). Panammu, son of Bir-zur, died in the camp of Tiglath-pileser at Damascus B.C. 733 or 732, whereupon Bir-Rokeb was appointed king of Sani'al by the Assyr. king.

The inscriptions of Zinjirli relate that Bir-zur, the grandfather of Bir-Kokeb, was murdered by a usurper (probably the Asriya'u mentioned in the annals of Tiglath-pileser) from the neighbouring country of Ja'udi ('">«■), whereupon Panammu turned to Tiglath-))ileser for protection. It seems that in previous times another Panammu, son of Karal, had ruled over Ja'udi ('tn')! o"*^ of whose iuscripticins (in somewhat ancient writing) has lately been found.

Both these Panammu belonged to the dynasty of Gabbar, which in the time of Shal- maneser ll. was in possession of Sam'al, and whose kings were called 1^3 ■j'ro (kings of Kabbar). The gods of Sam'al and Ja'udi are Iladad-El, Kokeb- Kl (who was also called ,i'a '';3 = Lord of the House), Shemesh, and Keshep — the last-named being a special god of Ja'udi. The name of the usurper Asriya'u (most probably = n<-i;;') points to an Israelitish descent.

A usurper of Haraath in the time of Sargon was called sometimes IlCi- bi'di, sometimes la'u-bi'di, which also points to his Isr. origin. The redactors of the Books of Kings appear to have possessed information about this Asriya'u of Ja'udi, since they evidently identified hiin with king Uzziah • of Judah, antl in many places the name n-\r; has been substituted in the text for nvji. Sam'al, too ( = Northland), was not unknown to the Bible, for Nu 24-'* evidently ought to read : 'A vessel (?)

shall come from Sam'al ('".sars) and boats from Kittira ((Cyprus) which .shall afflict Asshur (not Assyria, but = Asshurim, Gn 25^, 2 S 2'-'), and shall afflict Eber ; moreover, he himself also ( = ()g of Ba.shan, cf. LXX) shall come to destructicm.' The whole pa.ssage refers to the attacks made by the populations of the Mediter. Proplietlc literature clearly shows that Uzziah was his only name, as also does the well-linown old Ileb. Seal of Shebanyo, servant of Uzziyo,' ivy 13y vja;:*^.

ASSYRIA ASSYRIA 187 (Europe and Asia Minor) upon Syria and Egypt in the (lays of Hamses 111. Tiglath-pileser was followed by Slialman-asliarid IV., the Shalmaneser oithv Bible (li.c. 726-722), who waa probably his son. As Iving of Babylon he was called llulai (Eluheus), i.e. 'lie who was born in the nienlh Elul.' Immediately after liis accession to tlie throne, before the year B.C. 727 was over (720 wiis tlie firet official year of his reign), he conquered the Assyr.

town Shabarain(Sepharvaim, 2 K 17-* ?) In the year H.C. 724 he began to invest Samaria, which fell at the end of a three yeai's' siege, in the fir.st month of the reign of his suc- cessor Saryon, wlio took all the credit for this achievement, as well as for the transportation of the tin tribes, without thinking of his predecessor. Tlie Bible account, however, very justly connects the name of Shahiianeser with the fall of the Northern Kingdom (li.c. 722).

Israel now, like the kingdom of Damascus before, became an Assyr. province, Samaria being tlie seat of the governor. The zenith of Assyr. power was reached in the reign of the usurper Sargon* (Assyr. Sharru-ukiu = ' the king has restored order'), li.c. 721-7()-'), who is only (mce mentioned in the Bible (Is 20'), in connexion with tlie taking of Aslidod. In tlie very year that he entered upon his reign ('at the beginning of his reign,' as the official e.xpression runs), li.c.

722, he carried of the inhabitants of Samaria, 27,2'.H) men, to the rivers Belikh and Kliabor, the river of Gozan, and the cities of Media (2 K 17"), .settling Babylonian (Cuthiiites) and other colonists in the territories of the conquered city. Sargon's main political ambition was the con- solidation of Babylonia, as well as the provinces of A.s.syrla which bonU'red upon Armenia, and finally Syria.

This ambition was realised by the final reduction of Armenia, whose king at that time was Uusa (or Ursa), the son of Irimenas, and also by the humiliation of the Mannseans t (', ? Jer 51-'), who were the most powerful allies Armenia po.s.sc.ssed, and of the Sagartmans (Assyr. Zikirtu), an Eranian nomadic tribe which lived to the east of the .Mannscans ; and finally by the war against Elam. The last-named state was henceforth the most dangerous foe the power of A.

ssyria possessed, and was always in firm alliance with the small states of South Babylonia (the so- called Chaldseans), and above all with liii-yakiii. The prince of Bit-yakin, Marduk-pal-idina, im- mediately after the death of Shalinane.ser, had seized the throne of Babylonia for himself. In li.c. 721 Sargon, who had till then been occupied with other duties, marched again.st him and his ally Kliuinbanigas of Elam.

The battle was inde- cisive ; and Sargon had to march against the Armenians; so that it was not till li.c. 710 that he was successful in defeating Marduk-pal-idina, and getting himself crowned king of Babylon (li.c. 700-705). This Marduk-i)al-idina is the Merodach- baladan of the liibli', whose embas.sy to Ilezekiah, which is related in 2 K 20'-"'- as a supplement to Sennacherib's campaign, belongs either to li.c.

715 (first year of Ilczekiairs reign) or to 703, in whicli year Merodach-baladan was king of Babylon a second time. Of Sargon's other camiiaigns, those against ♦ The Hebrew PJ"^P Is based u]nm a ^llnltn^ word In |inpulitr ».H0, Saru'unn (= ' mik'hty '). t In llic yi'iir n.c, T-l.'* a Slanna^ari povcrnor Dainkkn In nten- tloned In the annals of Sargon. and In u.c. "l.S a land of liit- llalukkti between Man and lllip On the west of Media). In Assyrian It In called .lAi^ /y/Mliilllkkn.

' Lunrl of the Dynasty (House of the I'rlncu) of Dalitkkn.' This llalukkll Is evldently the DfjoA'fti (Deloces) of (Jreek trailltion. who. aeeonllnif to tin- later story, was the Ilrst klnt'of Meilia. (ianiir also ^(ioIner, On 10') Is mentioned as havinif broken into Armenia even In the time of Sargon. Syria, Palestine, and Arabia have special interest for the OT student. The first, li.C. 720, was an expedition to suppress an insurrection which a certain Ilu-bi'di,* who is al.

so called la'u-bi'di, had raised in Uamath. This Ilu-bi'di had not only induced the Assyr. provinces of Arpad, Simyra, Damascus, and Samaria to revolt, but had also formed an alliance with Khanunu (Ilanno) of Gaza and Sib'i (nid 2 K 17*, i.e. Sev'e) of Egypt. Probably Judah, where Ahaz was still on the throne, was al.so included in the alliance, since Sargon once calls himself (indeed before he speaks of Haniath at all) the ' Conqueror of the remote land of Judah.' The Egyp.

army was, however, defeated at Kapikhu (Raphia, south of Gaza), and llanno found him.self in an Assyr. prison, while Ilu-bi'di and his other allies were defeated and destroyed at Karkar (in the neighbourhood of Hamath). In the year 715 Sargon undertook a campaign into the interior of North Arabia 'against the remote Arabians of the Desert, of whom the wisi' and learned knew nothing.' The tribes of Tliamfid, Ibadid, Marsiman (Gn 25'^ oz'zz, accoi-ding to LXX iMaa-ffa/n, 1 Ch i-'> Maffc/aaM?)

, and Khayappa ('"'?':'., L.\.\ Valipa.) were conquered, and partially settled in Samaria. Thereupon Pir'u (cf. ax-i; Jos 10^, scarcely ei|uivalent to Pharaoh) of Musur (the territory called .Ma'iu-Muzran of the South Arabian in-scriptions, in the north of the peninsula of Sinai ?), queen Samsi of Aribi (a part of North Arabia), and the Sabajan Ita'amar (ncNyn' of the South Arabian inscriptions), ' the kings of the sea- coast and the de.

sert,' brought rich presents, among which were 'sweet-smelling spices of the moun- tains' (frankincense), gold, precious stones, hor.ses, and camels. In the year li C. 711, the same year in which the North Syrian state Gurgnm (capital town Markasi, modern .Mar' ash) became an As.syr. province, t a certain Vamani, who is also called Yatna, } over- threw king Akhitniti of Ashdod. When the As.syrians despatched an expedition against Ash- dod (cf.

Is 20), Philistia (Pilistu), Juda (Ja'iidu), Edom (Udumu), and Moab (Ma'ab), instead of .sending their presents to Assur, sent them to king I'ir'u of Musur, who has been already mentioned, because they trusted to him and to Arabia (Cush, Is 20^* and often in the ()T). Ashdod and Gath (Gimtu) were con<iuered and made into an Assyr. province, but Yamani fied to the 'king of Milukh ' (north-we.st of Arabia, cf. Job :!0i' "'vl?',-, parallel to ^Jl':).

It is evidently the same Pir'u of Musur who is alluded to in a iiarallel jiassage wliich runs, ' He (Yamani) lied to the territory of .Musur which belongs to the di.strict of Milukh,' the last plira.sc being added to distinguish this Musur from the Musur which is the ei|uivalent of I'^gypt. Besides these campaigns of Sargon's, which are of great iinjiortance for tlie study of the Bible, we may further mention that in li.c. 700 he received presents from seven Cyprian kings.

An image of him, which is now in lieiliii, was dis- covered on the island of Cy])rus (see above, p. 17**"). The new residence which Sargon built for him- self in Klionsabad (see above, p. 178'') was con.se- crated in tlie year li.c. 707. In the year li.c. 705, however, he fell by the hand of an assa.ssin, who w;is probably instigated by his own son Sennacherib. 'I'he latter, strangely enough, nrver mentions his father in his iii.scriptions.

As far as the character of Sargon is concerned, it is sullieicntly clear from • On this nanie, see above. Oth'Ts rend llu-ubl'dl andda-nbi'di (or Ilia-nhi'dil with inueh less |mibal.liHy. t Already, in n.i-. "IT, a similar fate had befallen the powerful town of Cnrrhemish ((T. Is In"). Kntmnnkh tComnnmeue), loo, came nncler the power of Assyria In li.r. "08. J Compare the Assyrian name for Cvprns, .tatnann, of which f*ertiai>s Jainan, .luvan (lunln) Is a parallel (dialectical) form.

188 ASSYRIA ASSYRIA his inscriptions that as ' Father of his country ' he deserves the praise of being called a ' righteous and noble prince ' (cf. especially on this point the very instructive cylinder inscription which has been translated by Lyon). Sin-akhi-irba ('Sin multiply the brothers'), the biblical Seiinackerib, reigned from B.C. 704-681.

He it was who removed the royal residence from Kalakh back again to Nineveh, which, by exten- sive building operations, and at the expense of Babylon, which he destroyed in a very barbarous fashion, lie elevated into the capital of the united empire of Assyria and Babylonia. The great palace, too, in the south-west of Kouyunjik deserves to be specially mentioned — the ' peerless palace,' which in later times the grandson of Sennacherib, Assurbanipal, surrounded with buildings.

Nor must we forget the great arsenal (bU kiitalli) at Nebi-yunus, which Esarhaddon extended, and the magnilicent waterworks in the neighbourhood of Nineveh. The most important political undertakings of Sennacherib were his wars against Elain and Baby- lonia on the one side, and his expeditions to the West on the other.

The only other campaign worth mentioning was one against Cilicia (properly KhUakku, the mountain district in the interior* of Cilicia) and Tabal (the biblical Tubal), which probably belongs to the year B.C. 69.5. Probably it is this expedition that is referred to in the re- mark of Berosus, that Sennacherib, ' after a severe struggle -conquered the lonians who dwelt on the Cilician coast, and then [re] founded Tarsus.'

The Assyrians had also to deal with this district a second time in the days of Sennacherib, in the year B.C. 681 ; for at the moment when Sennacherib was murdered, the crown prince Esarhaddon was in Khani-rabbat (east of Tabal) with his troops. In Babylonia, Merodach-baladan the Chaldee, who is so well known from the inscriptions of Sargon, had established himself once more upon the throne, having allied himself for this purpose with Kudur- nankhundi of Elam and the Aramasan nomad tribes.

Sennacherib conquered Merodach-baladan and his allies, and placed a certain Bel-ibni on the throne of Babylon. After several vicissitudes, when the Elamites, as allies of Babylonia, always had a hand in the game (Merodach-baladan himself on one occa.sion taking part in the struggle again), in B.C.

6yi the bloody battle of Khallilin, which ended unsuccessfully, or at any rate indecisively, for Sennacherib, was fought against the united armies of the Elamites, Babylonians, Aramaeans, Chal- daans, and certain districts of Media. The Median districts Anzan (also written Anshan), where the dynasty of Cyrus originated, and Illip, were now, as allies of Elam, for the first time called after Parsua, the motherland of the later Persians. At last, in the year B.C.

080, Sennacherib succeeded in taking possession of Babylon, and in wreaking fearful vengeance upon it. It was levelled to the ground, and only rebuilt again in later times under Sennacherib's gentler and nobler-hearted son Esar- haddon.

Sennacherib's great expedition to the West, which was undertaken in the year 701, began with the punishment of king Lull (EluUeus) of Sidon, who fled ' into the sea,' possibly to Cyprus or else to the island of Tyre, which, if we are to trust our Greek sources of information, was besieged by the Assyr. king in vain. In Sidon a new king, Tuba'al (Ethobaal), was appointed, to whom Sarepta, Akko, and other Phcou. states were given.

Arvad and Gebal • Ku'i (^V 1 K 10"), on the other hand, is the Cllii-lan coast- lnri<l. Khilakku rirobablv occurs in the Bible, Ezk iV iS'nl ll-iN, Arvad and Kheiak. Thus both names for Cilicia are found in tho OT. (Byblus), however, like Ashdod of Philistia and the states bordering on Jud;ea, Ammnn, Muab, and Edom, offered a voluntary tribute.

The town of Ashkelon in Philistia, whose king Sidka (Zedekiah) refused to pay tribute, together with Joppa (Yappfl) and other towns, were conquered and plundered. The town of Ekron (Amkarrfma) handed its king Padi, who had submitted to the Assyrians, over to Ilezekiah {Iihazaki!ia''u) of Judah. Ekron and Judah called in to their assist- ance the king of Musur (see above) and the archers of the king of Milukh, but were defeated by Sennacherib at Eltekeh (Altaku).

Sennacherib next besieged and conquered 46 fenced cities and villages of Judah, and carried off 200,150 of their inhabitants as prisoners, until at last he pitched his camp in Lacliish (Assyr. Lakishu), the extreme south-western corner of Judah. Up to this point the passage in 2 K 18'^ agrees with the Assyr. narrative : ' In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah (B.C. 701) did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.'

Then the Bible account goes on to say that Hezekiah sent a message of peace to Sennacherib at Lachish, and that Senna- cherib promised to ab.stain from further hostilities on the payment of 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold (2 K 18"- ii^). In spite of this, as the biblical narrative continues (2 K 18" to 19*), Sennacherib sent his chief officer with an army to invest Jerusalem, but was obliged to return to Assyria again without having effected his purpose.

The main points of this record agree with Senna- cherib's own account ; ' and Hezekiah himself I shut up like a bird in a cage in Jerusalem (Ur-Salimmu), his royal city. I threw up entrenchments against him, and when any one came out of the gate of the city, I punished hitn. The cities that had been taken away from him I cut off from his land and gave them to the kings of Ashdod, Ekron (Padi), and Gaza. In addition to his former as.

sessment (see above, ' the -300 talents of silver and the 30 talents of gold '), I added other tribute, and exacted it from him. Dread of the greatness of my majesty overwhelmed Hezekiah ; while the Be- dawin (? Assyr. amel Urbi) and his own special warriors, whom he had collected together to defend Jerusalem, rendered him no assistance (iV.vh baflnti). In addition to the 30 talents of gold and 8U0* talents of silver, precious stones, antimony t . .

his daughters and women from his harem, male and female slaves, he sent his ambassadors after me, to bring to Nineveh an extra gift of tribute and an expression of his fealty.' To a later period (this we must infer from the fact that mention is made of the Ethiopian king Tirhakah, called Tarku by Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal), belongs the account given in the Bible (2 K 19*-^") .

It really appears as if Sennacherib had undertaken, shortly before his death, an ex- pedition against the Arabians (cf. the inscriptions of Esarhaddon, and Herodotus ll. 141), and had made use of the opportunity to march a second time against Hezekiah as well. Shortly after this, on the 20th of Tebet 681 B.C., he was murdered by his own son, or, according to the account in 2 K 19'", by liis two sons, Adramtnelech and Sharezer.

The rebellion lasted till the 2nd of Adar, about a month and a half, because Esar- haddon, who had been appointeii by Sennacherib to succeed him, was at that time absent in Armenia, whither the conspirators marched against him, only, however, to be defeated. Esarhaddon thereupon ascended the throne * The annual tribute of 300 t.ilents of silver imposed on Ilozekiali was thus increased by 500 talents. t Here follows an enumeration of a series of other special presents.

ASSYRIA ASSYRIA 189 amidst general rejoiciiij;, on 18tli of Adar 681 B.i ., and set himself to the task of rebuilding the town of Babylon, towards which he had always shown special favour. Ash ur-akhi-idiua (i.e. ' Asur give still a brother '), tile Esnrhaddiiii of the Bible, reigned from li.C. CSO-OOl). During his reign a great danger threatened Assyria, on account of an invasion of the Cimmerians (Gimirrai ; their land was called Gamir ; see above, p.

187», note), who joined with the Mi'des and burst like a storm upon the country. These Cimmerians were Kranian nnmads, who, according to classical tradition, had originally come from the north coast of the Black Sea, and who had threatened even in the time of Sargon to cross the Caucasus into Armenia. There was a certain Du.ianiii of Hapwda C"^??, Ob v.-*), an Ispuk-ai of Ishk-uza (ij^^'n), a Median chief Mdiniiiarstt, and a Kastarit of Karkansi (the Karkasia of the inscriptions of Sargon) in .

Media, who, in conjunction with the Mann;eans, and with Tiii.ipa, leader of the Gimirrai, threatened the ca.st frontier of Assyria, and more especially yv7.<Ans.sK, which, since the time of Sargon, had been an Assyr. town, and which probably they were suc- cessful in taking. Ashur-akhi-idina, however, ad- vanced into Media as far as Patus'arra (narjiir- xopeis, Strabo xv. 3), 'to the borders of the salt desert at the verge of the Bikni mountains' (or Demavend).

In the north-west he conquered the Cilicians, who had allied themselves with Ishkallu of Tabal, iluggallu of .Milida, and the Kuzzurakai, enli.sting Greek soldiers against them, as Berosus narrates. Ashur-akhi-idina's chief .successes, however, were in the West. After he had conquered and beheaded (<i7(i) the king of Sidmi, Abdi-Milkut, he besieged king Ba'al in Tyre, and brought to a successful issue a very hazardous expedition to the remote land of Stizu (iia of .

Job ;J2'-), in the interior of Arabia. He also led on two occasions (lie. 674 and 671) expeditions to Egypt against the Pharaoh Tirhakah. He conquered Memphis (B.C. 671), and established over it an As.syr. va.ssal-king, Xecho by name. The Assyr. troops advanced as far as Thebes (Ni'i, Hi), so that Tirhak.ih was compelled to Wee into his Kthioplan motherland. Ashur-akhi-idina was the first Assyr.

king able to assume the proud title 'King of Assyria, Kgypt, Paturisi ( = Upper Kgypt, D'i^d), and Kfls (Nubia or Ethiopia).' He boasted of the palaces he built, and especially of the great arsenal in Kebi-yunus, for the rebuilding of which, he tells us, 22 kings (of whom 10 were princes of towns in Cyprus) were cnmpelled to send materials : Ha'al of Tyre, MnnnKseh (Minasi) of Judnh, Kau.sgabri of Edom, Musur of .Moah, and the kings of Amnion, Gaza, .\shkelon, Ekron, Ashdod, Gebal, and Arvad.

Mana.sseh is also mentioned in the time of Assurbanijial, though only briefly, at the conniu-nce- ment of his reign (li.f. 6(i8) ; and as the Bible account says that he reigned till 642, his trans- portation to Babyhin, mentioned in the Hooks of Chronicles, must have taken place under A.ssur- banipal, and not undisr Esarhaddon. Esarhaddon was about to invade Egypt a third time, in H.c. 6(!'), when he was taken ill on the journey.

He died on the lOth of Arahsamna (Marclicslivan) in the same year. His son and successor, Asuur-hani-pal (the Sarda- napalus of the (Jreeks, the Osnappar of the Bible, Ezr 4'"), II*'- 668-626, was marked out by Esar- haddon as heir to the throne with great solemnity on the 12th of lyyar It c. 66i). After coming to the throne, he allowed his brother Samas-sum-ukin (Saminughes, or Sao.sduchinos), in accordance with Ksarhaddon's wishes, to be crowned king of Habyhm (in lyyar K.c. 668).

He was the last great king of As.syria. In his reign we clearly see the downfall of the Assyr. world-empire approaching. Assur- bani-pal had been educated from early youth in the arts and sciences of the Babylonians, and it is entirely owing to his literary tastes that we possess so many remains of old Bab. literature in new As.syr. copies (see above, p. 178"). He was a real Oriental despot, keeping his generals and armies bu.sy in the provinces and along the frontiers, while he him.

self lived at home, with his wives, his sciences, and the service of his gods. One of the first of Assur-bani-pal's under- takings was directed against Egypt. Tirhakah had regained possession of Jlemphis. The expedition, which had been broken off owing to the death of Esarhaddon, was resumed. Tirhakah was de- feated and pursued to Thebes, whence, however, as before, he escaped to Ethiopia. The smaller princes of the delta were enrolled as Assyr. vassal-kings.

Some of them (such as Xecho of Sais) who tried to throw off the Assyr. yoke, and called in Tirhakah to help them, were compelled to go in chains to Nineveh. Necho obtained favour with Assurbanipal again, and was reinvested with the rule of Sais.* Meanwhile Tirhakah had died, and his nephew Tandamani (Tanut-Amon), .son of Sabako, conquered Thebes and On (Ileliopolis). Assurb.anipal marched against Egypt a second time, drove out the king of Ethiopia, and made Necho's son Psamtik (Assyr.

Pisamilku) Pharaoh H.c. 603. Afterwards Psamtik, by the help of the Ionian and Carian troops which Gyges, king of the Lydians, had sent to him, succeeded in freeing himself from the control of Assyria. The (Jyges, just mentioned (Assyr. Gfigu), requested help from Assurbanipal, when the Cimmerians (see above) invaded Lydia in H.c. 6.'57. His son Ardys drove out the Cimmerians from Lydi.a, and after- wards conquered the whole of Asia Minor up to the river Halys.

The might of Assyria spent itself, in the time of Assurbanipal, in the conflict with Babylonia and Elam. It was only after a furious struggle that Assurbanipal succeeded in defeating his insurrec- tionary brother Samns-siim-nk-in (who in I!.<'. 648 threw himself, in desjiair on account of his defeat, into the flames of burning Babylon), and his allies the Elamites, and in concpiering Susa li.c, 640, thus putting an end to the kingdom of Elam.

Samas- « urn -uk ill's other allies, the Chaldaians, the Baby- lonian Aramaians, the kings of the West (probably Manasseh was amongst them) and of Arabia (specially of Kidru, i.e. "'^i'?, and Xabayati, i.e. '"'"??) were also subdued. These contests, however, so wiakened the resources of A.ssyria, that revolt following on revolt was the order of the day, especi- ally in the Manniean and Median districts (between Armenia and Elam).

Some expeditions against Aklisir, king of the Mannicans, against Biris- khadri, a Jledian, and against the sons of (liifji (cf. Kzk 38 and 30, Gog and Magog, i.e. the land of Gog) and of Sakhi (the JSakcs?), could not keej) back for many decades the storm that was even now beginning to rage. With regard to the attacks instigated by Tugdammi (cf. Lygdamis, captain of the Cimmerians, Strabo i. 3. 21 ?) and his son Sanda-kahittra against As.

syria, our information is based on dark hints contained in a prayer of Assurbanipal to Merodach, the god of the city of Babylon. Whether Assurbanipal reigned from lie. 648-62') over Babylonia, uiulcr the name Kandal.inu, kn nvn to us from contract-tabhts and through I'tolemy, or whether this Wiis the The Aamo thlnff also probably happenod In the cano of Mntm.s<(eh, orilv at a Intor time, when j\«»iir-banl-pal wai staylitf? In lliit.ylon (ln'«U'i\il of NIncvoh).

probably Bliortly after tbeilealh of Ills rebellion!" brother ^aiuas-auin-ukln (n.c. tUS), wlione ally .ManaHiteh had been. 190 ASSYRIA ASTONISHED name of a rival king, cannot be definitely deter- mined. We only know that after the deatli of Assurbanipal, the Chaldican Xabopolnssar (Nabu- pal-uzur), who was originally one of Assiirbanipal's generals, obtained for himself the Bab. tlirone ( li.C. 625-605). In Assyria itself As.

surbanipal was succeeded by his son Axur-itil-Uani (the fuller form of which was Assur-itil-ilani-ukin), who ruled at least four years, and by his other son Sin-sltnr-ishkun (at least seven years), who was probably the Sarakus of Berosus, aiid hence the last king Assyria ever had. It was in his day that the swamping of anterior Asia, by the Saka;an Scythians (men- tioned in Of), the Uminan-manda (or hordes of the Manda) of the Assyr. inscriptions, took place.

This was only the prelude to the end. As a newly- discovered cylinder of the Bab. king Naboiiidus relates, fifty-four years before the consecration of the temple of Sin in Harran, which had been destroyed by the Manda hordes, a Manda king, who was probably called Arbak,* working in con- junction, as the cylinder just mentioned clearly proves, with Nabopolassar (Belesys), razed to the ground the famous Assyrian capital.

Nineveh probably fell into the hands of the Medes in 607, after a two years' siege, since the comple- tion of the temple of Sin seems to belong to some- where about the third year of Nabonidus (55:3). Naluim's prophecy was literally fulfilled, and the whole of Western Asia breathed freely again when tlie stronghold of their tyrants was demolished. The small remaining territory (since the Pharaoh Neclio II.

had taken away Palestine and Syria) was divided between the Scythians, to whom tlie Medes of classical tradition (Cyaxares) belonged, and the Bribylonians, Mesopotamia falling to the latter. Tlie names Assur and Nineveh survived, to a large extent, because of the lasting effects of the influence of the Assyr. empire in politics and culture alike.

Even down to the Christian era this is proved by (among other reasons) the fact that the whole district of the Euphrates and Tigris (including Babylonia) was called Assyria by the Greeks and Romans, and even to-day we call the science whicli has to do with the antiquities of both Assyria and Babylonia, and which has tlirown new light on many important passages in Holy Writ — Assyriology. LITER ATtJRE. — {A) Excavations and Inscriptions.— C.J. Rich.

lii'nidence in Koordistanand o» theSiteof Ancient I^ine- vek, 2 vels. 1830 ; A. II. Layflrd. Nin. and itn /iemaiun, IS4S ; T/ie Monuments n/Xin., 149, ISM ; P. E. Botta. Von mncntii de .Viniir, ^yoU. Paris, 149-51; A. H. Layard, Jnxci-i/ilii'nn in Cull. Char. 1S.51 ; P. H. Gosse, Assyria, her Manners and Cns/nnts.l^omUm. IS.'J^; A. H. Layard. Discoperii'-'i in the lluitis of .Vinerth and Bahylou, ISM;" Ffli.v .Jones, Ti'jKmraiihij of .

Xinereh (8 lari^re maps of the whole country between the Tii,'ris and the Upper ZaW, Isio; II. Rawlinson. Citn. Inscr. nf II'. A>ii<i, .% vols. lSt)l-^ : ir. Smith, Assijr. Discoveries : Erptor. and Discov.on Siteo/Xinereh,l>>~bl Delitzschu. llauitU Beitr. e. Assijrioloffie u. se'm. Sprachirissensch 8 vols. Leipzig, 1SS9- 96; Assi/r. Bitdiot. 18 vols. Leipzig. ISSl-96. i,B) The LANorAoK. — Oppert, Elements de la Orammaire Assyr, Paris.

IStiO; Sayce, An Assyrian Grammar for Com- parative I'urposes, London, 1ST2 ;'Friedr. Delitzsch, Assyrian Grammar, ir. hv Kennedy, Berlin, 1*S9; also Assyr. Hand, mirlerh. Leipzis, Islli-On; C. Bezold, Kursgf. Veberblick fiber die Bab.-Assyr. Lileratur. Leipzig, 1S96. (/'X'oMiMi.ATiossi periodicals, iuurnals. etc.) — T.9^ .4 . London, IST'J H'.l:!, 9 vols. ; I'SBA. London, lS7s-ls9r,, ISvols. ; Zeitsch. f. Kt'itschriftfor\chttn{i, founded by F. Ilonimel, edited by C. Ik-zoM and I'.'

Ilonimel, ■_> vols. Leipzig, 18S4 and ISS,',; Zeilsch. /'. issyriotoffie (continuation of above), edited by C. Bezold, Leipzig, l>^'^iV-'.ir), 11 vols.; liecneil de travaux rehitifs d la philolo{]ie etd./'Archt^o/n(/ie E{iyp. et Assyr. cd.by G. ^Iaspe^o, Paris, lsT9-9t», Is vols.; Iierue<-VAHsyriol<tifieetd^Archiologie, ed. by Oppert and Ledrain, Paris, 1SS4-9G, S vols. ; Bab. and Orient, liecord, a monthly magazine, ed. by de Lacouperie, • .According to Ctesias, he was called Arbakes.

A clear allusion to this name is found in Xabonidus' cylinder inscription. ' Vengeance took iirlha tuf:ti\ the fearless king of Manda' : cf. turrit inkti (=shakan gimilli). to take vengeance, pnd Ileb. 3^">, 1 S 255*. Justin i. Sgives thcDiller form Arbactus (prob. the Eranlan Arba-tukhta, of which Arbak is a form of endearment). lSST-93, 6 vols. ; RP, licing Eng. tr. of tlie Assyr. and Egyc. Monuments, vols. 1, ."i. '\ T. it, 1 1. London. Is7:i foi. ; New Series, London, ISSS, fol.

; Keilinschrifdiche Bitdiothek, collection ot Assyr. and Bab. Texts, inscribed and translated, ed. by E. ^chi-ader, vols, 1 and 2 (Assyr, Konigs-insciir.), Berlin, 1S'9-9U. (/>) .\kt. — Perrot et Cliipitrz, Jiistoire de t'Art dans t\'inti(jnife, vol. ii. Chaldi'ens t;t Assyriens, Paris, 184; S. Birch and T. G. Pinches, Bronze Ornaments from Balawat, 4 pts. 1>5SU-S2. ( E) Gko«k vphy or Assyria, and its Relations to thk OT. — Schrader, Keilinsch.

und Geschichtsforschung ; Ein Beitrag znr monumentalen Geographie. Gewhii-hte, und Chronologie (/c/-4««y;''/'. Giessen, ISTo ; Delitzsch, Fried. H'o tag das Para- dies f (pp. Ilj9-:i29 give a detailid description of the geography of Upper .\sia, based on the Assyr. Ko^al lnscri|itions) ; Delattre, //.isie Occidenttile dansl, s insiTiptions .\ssyriennes, Hrux- elles, 1SS5; Schrader, COT- tr. from tiio Germ.byO. 0. White- house, 2 vols. London, 1SS9.

(/') Special Books on ttir History of Assyria. — George Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchiesof the Ancient Eastern iro;-W,4vols. London, lsG2-tM ;4thed. Is7!U.Vssyria= the second monarchy); George Smith, Assyria/rout the Earliest Times to the Falt'of Kineveii, London, IST,"!; llommel, Geschichte Bab. n, Assyr., Berlin, 1S85-S9 (pp. 5S-I,S4 give a detailed account of the decipherment and excavations) ; C. P. Tiele. Bab.-Assyr. Gesch. 2 vols. Gotha, 18S6 and 18BS ; Wincklor, Gesch. Bab', u. Assyr.

, Letp. 1S92 ; Altar ient. Forschungen, Leip. 1893-95; Lincke. Assi/rien und 2v^ineveh in Geschichte und .'^age nach B.C. 607, Berlin, 1894. F. HOM.MEL. AST&D (A 'ATT^ci, B 'kpyai, AV Sadas).— lo22 oi 3622 of his descendants are mentioned as returning with Zerubbabel (1 Es 5'^). He is called Azgad Cj^'^I) in the can. books ; and 1222 descendants are mentioned in the par,allel list in Kzr 2'- (B 'A(r7a^, A 'AS7a5), 2322 in Neh 1^' (B 'Air^as, n 'Ao-raS, A "A-yeraS).

He appears as Astath ('Ao-rae), 1 Es 8^*, when a second detachment of 111 return under Ezra( = Ezr8i-, B 'Ao-raS, A 'Afytifl). A zg.ad appears among the leaders who sealed the covenant with Neh. (Neh IQi^ B 'Atryin, A "aCtoS). H. St. J. Thackeray,