The governor of Kuî had at length triumphed over the obstinacy of the Mushki, and after driving them from village to village, had compelled them to sue for terms: the tidings of the victories over the Kaldâ had doubtless hastened their decision, but they were still so powerful that it was thought wiser not to impose too rigorous conditions upon them. Mita agreed to pay tribute, and surrendered one or two districts, which were turned into an Aramæan settlement: the inhabitants were transferred to Bît-Yakîn, where they had to make the best they could of lands that had been devastated by war. At this juncture the Greeks of Cyprus flattered the pride of the Assyrians in a most unexpected way: after the manner of their race they scoured the seas, and their fleets persistently devastated the coasts of Syria and Cilicia.
Seven of their kings were so far alarmed by the report of Sargon’s achievements as to dread punishment for their misdeeds. They therefore sent him presents, and, for the moment, abandoned their piratical expeditions in Phoenician waters. The homage of these inveterate robbers raised Sargon in his own eyes and in those of his subjects. Some years later, about 708 B.C., he presented them with a stele of black marble, on which he had engraved his own portrait, together with a long inscription setting forth his most glorious exploits. They set it up at Kition (Citium), where it has been preserved amongst the ruins, a priceless witness to the greatness of Assyria.
While war thus raged around him, Sargon still found time for works of a peaceful character. He set himself to remodel and complete the system of irrigation in the Assyrian plain; he repaired the dykes, and cleaned out and made good the beds of the canals which had been neglected during the troublous times of the last generation. He erected buildings at Calah* and at Nineveh, but in these cities everything seemed to recall too vividly the memory of the sovereigns who had gone before him: he wished for a capital which should belong to himself alone, where he would not be reminded of a past in which he had no part. After meditating day and night, his choice fell upon the village of Maganubba, a little to the north-east of Nineveh, in a wide plain which extends from the banks of the Khuzur to the hills of Muzri, and by a single decree he expropriated all its inhabitants. He then built on the land which he had purchased from them a city of unrivalled magnificence, which he called by his own name, Dur-Sharrukîn.**
* At Calah, he lived in an old palace of Assur-nazir-pal
restored and adapted for his use, as shown by the
inscription published by Layard.
** In most of the texts the village of Maganubba is not
named; it is mentioned in the Cylinder Inscription, and
this document is the only one which furnishes details of the
expropriation, etc. The modern name of the place is
Khorsabad, the city of Khosroes, but the name of its
founder was still associated with its ruins, in the time of
Yakut, who mentions him under the name of Sarghun. It was
first explored in 1843 by Botta, then by Place and Oppert.
The antiquities collected there by Botta and Place
constitute the bulk of the Assyrian Museum in the Louvre;
unfortunately, a part of the objects collected by Place went
to the bottom of the Tigris with the lighter which was
carrying them.
The ground plan of it is of rectangular shape, the sides being about 1900 yards long by 1800 yards wide, each corner exactly facing one of the four points of the compass. Its walls rest on a limestone sub-structure some three feet six inches high, and rise fifty-seven feet above the ground; they are strengthened, every thirty yards or so, by battlemented towers which project thirteen feet from the face of the wall and stand sixteen feet higher than the ramparts.*
* Place reckoned the height of the wall at 75 feet, a
measurement adopted by Perrot and Chipiez; Dieulafoy has
shown that the height of the wall must be reduced to 47
feet, and that of the towers about 65 feet.
Reduction by Faucher-Gudin, from the plan published in
Place.
Access was gained to the interior by eight gates, two on each side of the square, each of them marked by two towers separated from one another by the width of the bay. Every gate had its patron, chosen from among the gods of the city; there was the gate of Shamash, the gate of Rammân, those of Bel and Beltis, of Ami, of Tshtar, of Eâ, and of the Lady of the Gods. Each of them was protected externally by a migdol, or small castle, built in the Syrian style, and flanked at each corner by a low tower thirteen yards in width; five allowed of the passage of beasts as well as men. It was through these that the peasants came in every morning, driving their cattle before them, or jolting along in waggons laden with fruit and vegetables. After passing the outposts, they crossed a paved courtyard, then made their way between the two towers through a vaulted passage over fifty yards long, intersected at almost equal intervals by two transverse galleries. The other three gates had a special arrangement of their own; a flight of twelve steps built out in front of the courtyard rendered them inaccessible to animals or vehicles. At the entrance to the passage towered two colossal bulls with human heads, standing like sentinels—their faces and foreparts turned outward, their hind-quarters ranged along the inner walls—as though gazing before them into space in company with two winged genii. The arch supported by their mitred heads was ornamented by a course of enamelled bricks, on which other genii, facing one another in pairs, offered pine-cones across a circular ornament of many colours. These were the mystic guardians of the city, who shielded it not only from the attacks of men, but also from invasions of evil spirits and pernicious diseases. The rays of the sun made the forecourt warm in winter, while it was always cool under the archway in summer; the gates served as resorts for pleasure or business, where old men and idlers congregated to discuss their affairs and settle the destinies of the State, merchants bargained and disposed of their goods, and the judge and notables of the neighbouring quarter held their courts.