Tukultiabalesharra, familiar to us under the name of Tiglath-pileser,* is the first of the great warrior-kings of Assyria to stand out before us with any definite individuality.
* Tiglath-pileser is one of the transcriptions given in the
LXX. for the Hebrew version of the name: it signifies, “The
child of Esharra is my strength.” By “the child of Esharra”
the Assyrians, like the Chaldæans, understood the child of
Ninib.
We find him, in the interval between two skirmishes, engaged in hunting lions or in the pursuit of other wild beasts, and we see him lavishing offerings on the gods and enriching their temples with the spoils of his victories; these, however, were not the normal occupations of this sovereign, for peace with him was merely an interlude in a reign of conflict. He led all his expeditions in person, undeterred by any consideration of fatigue or danger, and scarcely had he returned from one arduous campaign, than he proceeded to sketch the plan of that for the following year; in short, he reigned only to wage war. His father, Assurîshishi, had bequeathed him not only a prosperous kingdom, but a well-organised army, which he placed in the field without delay. During the fifty years since the Mushku, descending through the gorges of the Taurus, had invaded the Alzi and the Puru-kuzzi, Assyria had not only lost possession of all the countries bordering the left bank of the Euphrates, but the whole of Kummukh had withdrawn its allegiance from her, and had ceased to pay tribute. Tiglath-pileser had ascended the throne only a few weeks ere he quitted Assur, marched rapidly across Eastern Mesopotamia by the usual route, through Singar and Nisib, and climbing the chain of the Kashiara, near Mardîn, bore down into the very heart of Kummukh, where twenty thousand Mushku, under the command of five kings, resolutely awaited him. He repulsed them in the very first engagement, and pursued them hotly over hill and vale, pillaging the fields, and encircling the towns with trophies of human heads taken from the prisoners who had fallen into his hands; the survivors, to the number of six thousand, laid down their arms, and were despatched to Assyria.*
* The king, starting from Assur, must have followed the
route through Sindjar, Nisib, Mardîn, and Diarbekîr—a road
used later by the Romans, and still in existence at the
present day. As he did not penetrate that year as far as the
provinces of Alzi and Purukuzzi, he must have halted at the
commencement of the mountain district, and have beaten the
allies in the plain of Kuru-tchaî, before Diarbekîr, in the
neighbourhood of the Tigris.
The Kummukh contingents, however, had been separated in the rout from the Mushku, and had taken refuge beyond the Euphrates, near to the fortress of Shirisha, where they imagined themselves in safety behind a rampart of mountains and forests. Tiglath-pileser managed, by cutting a road for his foot-soldiers and chariots, to reach their retreat: he stormed the place without apparent difficulty, massacred the defenders, and then turning upon the inhabitants of Kurkhi,* who were on their way to reinforce the besieged, drove their soldiers into the Nâmi, whose waters carried the corpses down to the Tigris. One of their princes, Kilite-shub, son of Kaliteshub-Sarupi, had been made prisoner during the action. Tiglath-pileser sent him, together with his wives, children, treasures, and gods,** to share the captivity of the Mushku; then retracing his steps, he crossed over to the right bank of the Tigris, and attacked the stronghold of Urrakhinas which crowned the summit of Panâri.
* The country of the Kurkhi appears to have included at this
period the provinces lying between the Sebbeneh-Su and the
mountains of Djudî, probably a portion of the Sophene, the
Anzanone and the Gordyenc of classical authors.
** The vanquished must have crossed the Tigris below
Diarbekîr and have taken refuge beyond Mayafarrikîn, so that
Shirisha must be sought for between the Silvan-dagh and the
Ak-dagh, in the basin of the Batman-tchai, the present Nâmi.
The people, terror-stricken by the fate of their neighbours, seized their idols and hid themselves within the thickets like a flock of birds. Their chief, Shaditeshub, son of Khâtusaru,* ventured from out of his hiding-place to meet the Assyrian conqueror, and prostrated himself at his feet. He delivered over his sons and the males of his family as hostages, and yielded up all his possessions in gold and copper, together with a hundred and twenty slaves and cattle of all kinds; Tiglath-pileser thereupon permitted him to keep his principality under the suzerainty of Assyria, and such of his allies as followed his example obtained a similar concession. The king consecrated the tenth of the spoil thus received to the use of his god Assur and also to Rammân;** but before returning to his capital, he suddenly resolved to make an expedition into the almost impenetrable regions which separated him from Lake Van.
* The name of this chief’s father has always been read
Khâtukhi: it is a form of the name Khâtusaru borne by the
Hittite king in the time of Ramses II.
** The site of Urrakhinas—read by Winckler Urartinas—is
very uncertain: the town was situated in a territory which
could belong equally well to the Kummukh or to the Kurkhi,
and the mention of the crossing of the Tigris seems to
indicate that it was on the right bank of the river,
probably in the mountain group of Tur-Abdîn.
This district was, even more than at the present day, a confused labyrinth of wooded mountain ranges, through which the Eastern Tigris and its affluents poured their rapid waters in tortuous curves. As hitherto no army had succeeded in making its way through this territory with sufficient speed to surprise the fortified villages and scattered clans inhabiting the valleys and mountain slopes, Tiglath-pileser selected from his force a small troop of light infantry and thirty chariots, with which he struck into the forests; but, on reaching the Aruma, he was forced to abandon his chariotry and proceed with the foot-soldiers only. The Mildîsh, terrified by his sudden appearance, fell an easy prey to the invader; the king scattered the troops hastily collected to oppose him, set fire to a few fortresses, seized the peasantry and their flocks, and demanded hostages and the usual tribute as a condition of peace.*
* The Mildîsh of our inscription is to be identified with
the country of Mount Umildîsh, mentioned by Sargon of
Assyria.