“What thou didst send me, saying, Has the King of Armenia with his troops moved away? He has gone. Where is he dwelling? The commander of Uesi, the commander of the district of the Ukkai, came, they sacrificed in the temple, they say that the king has gone, he is dwelling in Uesi; the commanders returned and went away. In Muṣaṣir they sacrificed. What thou didst send, saying, Without the king's order let no one put his hand to the work, when the king of Assyria shall come, I will serve him, what I have [always] done I will keep doing, and this according to his hand (?).”
Evidently Urzana lived in Muṣaṣir and was anxious to be thought a faithful vassal. An unknown writer[874] tells the king that
“five commanders of Armenia entered the city of Uesi, Sêteni [of whom we heard above] commander of ... teni, Ḳaḳḳadânu of the writer's district, or of Ukkai, Sakuatâ of Ḳaniun, Siblia of Alzi, Ṭutu of Armiraliu, these are their names. With three underlings, they entered Uesi. Now their forces are weak and weakening (?), the forces are (?), the king has set out from Ṭurushpîa, he has come into Kaniun. What the king, my lord, sent me, saying, ‘Send scouts,’ I have sent a second time. The spies (?) came, these are the words they say, and the spies as yet have not started.”
The whole tone of the letter and the fact that Ashur-riṣûa above acknowledges having received an order to send scouts make us think he is the unknown writer. But, of course, the king may have sent the order to other commanders as well. In an unpublished text we read that the commander of Uesi was slain.
The references to Ṭurushpîa are also significant. We know that this city was once the stronghold of Sardaurri, King of Armenia, and was doubtless still attached to its old rulers. We have a letter written by Upaḫḫir-Bêl, doubtless the Eponym of b.c. 706, and governor of Amedi. He writes in the same style as Sennacherib and Ashur-riṣûa:[875]
Concerning news of Armenia I sent scouts, they have returned; thus they say: “The commander of that district, and the deputy-commander with him, in Ḥarda, the district of the sukallu, keep ward from city to city as far as Ṭurushpîa; weakness is written down, the messenger of Argista has come,”
and so on. The rest does not concern us here. But another letter,[876] evidently from the same writer, gives news from Armenia and a message from Argista, which the writer says [pg 345] he has answered, as the king directed. It also states that the commander keeps ward in Ḥarda. Ṭurushpîa is also mentioned on fragments not yet published.
Other fragments occur which clearly belong to this group. Thus[877] a letter from an unknown writer names Ashur-riṣûa in connection with Kumai, Babutai, Ukkai, and Uliai, and narrates something about ten commanders. The loss of nine commanders in Armenia, at one time, is the subject of a very fragmentary letter,[878] but it is not clear that it refers to this period.
To the same period seems to belong another letter of Sennacherib, probably to his father Sargon.[879] It begins with precisely the same formulæ of greeting in the first seven lines. Then it goes on:
The chieftains of the land of Kumuḫai (Commagene) have come and brought tribute. Seven mule mares apiece they brought and tribute with the mules. The chieftains are in the house appointed for the Kumuḫai. They are fed at their own expense, they would journey on to Babylon [where Sargon evidently is]. They have brought šaklâ (?), they have received them here. As we have told the king, my lord, let him send quickly. They brought cloth and fruit each of them. The factors say that we have received seven talents from them, that the Kumuḫai are not contented, saying, “Our produce is reduced, let them bring the king's weavers and let them take charge.” Let the king, my lord, send word to whom they shall assign them.