Six, or at the most eight, months had sufficed to achieve these rapid successes over various foes, in twenty different directions—the expeditions in Nummi and Kirruri, the occupation of Kummukh, the flying marches across the mountains and plains of Mesopotamia—during all of which the new sovereign had given ample proof of his genius. He had, in fine, shown himself to be a thorough soldier, a conqueror of the type of Tiglath-pileser, and Assyria by these victories had recovered her rightful rank among the nations of Western Asia.
The second year of his reign was no less fully occupied, nor did it prove less successful than the first. At its very beginning, and even before the return of the favourable season, the Sukhi on the Euphrates made a public act of submission, and their chief, Ilubâni, brought to Nineveh on their behalf a large sum of gold and silver. He had scarcely left the capital when the news of an untoward event effaced the good impression he had made. The descendants of the colonists, planted in bygone times by Shalmaneser I. on the western slope of the Masios, in the district of Khalzidipkha, had thrown off their allegiance, and their leader, Khulaî, was besieging the royal fortress of Damdamusa.* Assur-nazir-pal marched direct to the sources of the Tigris, and the mere fact of his presence sufficed to prevent any rising in that quarter. He took advantage of the occasion to set up a stele beside those of his father Tukulti-ninip and his ancestor Tiglath-pileser, and then having halted to receive the tribute of Izalla,** he turned southwards, and took up a position on the slopes of the Kashiari.
* The position of Khalzidipkha or Khalzilukha, as well as
that of Kina-bu, its stronghold, is shown approximately by
what follows. Assur-nazir-pal, marching from the sources of
the Supnat towards Tela, could pass either to the east or
west of the Karajah-dagh; as the end of the campaign finds
him at Tushkhân, to the south of the Tigris, and he returns
to Naîri and Kirkhi by the eastern side of the Karajah-dagh,
we are led to conclude that the outgoing march to Tela was
by the western side, through the country situated between
the Karajah-dagh and the Euphrates. On referring to a modern
map, two rather important places will be found in this
locality: the first, Arghana, commanding the road from
Diarbekîr to Khar-put; the other, Severek, on the route from
Diarbekîr to Orfah. Arghana appears to me to correspond to
the royal city of Damdamusa, which would, thus have
protected the approach to the plain on the north-west.
Severek corresponds fairly well to the position which,
according to the Assyrian text, Kinabu must have occupied;
hence the country of Khalzidipkha (Khalzilukha) must be the
district of Severek.
** Izalla, written also Izala, Azala, paid its tribute in
sheep and oxen, and also produced a wine for which it
continued to be celebrated down to the time of
Nebuchadrezzar II. Lenormant and Finzi place this country-
near to Nisibis, where the Byzantine and Syrian writers
mention a district and a mountain of the same name, and this
conjecture is borne out by the passages of the Annals of
Assur-nazir-pal which place it in the vicinity of Bît-Adini
and Bît-Bakhiâni. It has also been adopted by most of the
historians who have recently studied the question.
At the first news of his approach, Khulai had raised the blockade of Damdamusa and had entrenched himself in Kinabu; the Assyrians, however, carried the place by storm, and six hundred soldiers of the garrison were killed in the attack. The survivors, to the number of three thousand, together with many women and children, were, thrown into the flames. The people of Mariru hastened to the rescue;* the Assyrians took three hundred of them, prisoners and burnt them alive; fifty others were ripped up, but the victors did not stop to reduce their town. The district of Nirbu was next subjected to systematic ravaging, and half of its inhabitants fled into the Mesopotamian desert, while the remainder sought refuge in Tela at the foot of the Ukhira.**
* The site of Mariru is unknown; according to the text of
the Annals, it ought to lie near Severek (Kinabu) to the
south-east, since after having mentioned it, Assur-nazir-pal
speaks of the people of Nirbu whom he engaged in the desert
before marching against Tela.
** Tila or Tela is the Tela Antoninopolis of the writers of
the Roman period and the present Veranshehr. The district of
Nirbu, of which it was the capital, lay on the southern
slope of the Karajah-dagh at the foot of Mount Urkhira, the
central group of the range. The name Kashiari is applied to
the whole mountain group which separates the basins of the
Tigris and Euphrates to the south and south-west.
The latter place was a strong one, being surrounded by three enclosing walls, and it offered an obstinate resistance. Notwithstanding this, it at length fell, after having lost three thousand of its defenders:—some of its garrison were condemned to the stake, some had their hands, noses, or ears cut off, others were deprived of sight, flayed alive, or impaled amid the smoking ruins. This being deemed insufficient punishment, the conqueror degraded the place from its rank of chief town, transferring this, together with its other privileges, to a neighbouring city, Tushkhân, which had belonged to the Assyrians from the beginning of their conquests.* The king enlarged the place, added to it a strong enclosing wall, and installed within it the survivors of the older colonists who had been dispersed by the war, the majority of whom had taken refuge in Shupria.**
* From this passage we learn that Tushkhân, also called
Tushkha, was situated on the border of Nirbu, while from
another passage in the campaign of the Vth year we find that
it was on the right bank of the Tigris. Following H.
Rawlinson, I place it at Kurkh, near the Tigris, to the east
of Diarbekîr. The existence in that locality of an
inscription of Assur-nazir-pal appears to prove the
correctness of this identification; we are aware, in fact,
of the particular favour in which this prince held Tushkhân,
for he speaks with pride of the buildings with which he
embellished it. Hommel, however, identifies Kurkh with the
town of Matiâtô, of which mention is made further on.
** Shupria or Shupri, a name which has been read Ruri, had
been brought into submission from the time of Shalmaneser I.
We gather from the passages in which it is mentioned that it
was a hilly country, producing wine, rich in flocks, and
lying at a short distance from Tushkhân; perhaps Mariru,
mentioned on p. 28, was one of its towns. I think we may
safely place it on the north-western slopes of the Kashiari,
in the modern caza of Tchernik, which possesses several
vineyards held in high estimation. Knudtzon, to whom we are
indebted for the reading of this name, places the country
rather further north, within the fork formed by the two
upper branches of the Tigris.
He constructed a palace there, built storehouses for the reception of the grain of the province; and, in short, transformed the town into a stronghold of the first order, capable of serving as a base of operations for his armies. The surrounding princes, in the meanwhile, rallied round him, including Ammibaal of Bît-Zamani, and the rulers of Shupria, Naîri, and Urumi;* the chiefs of Eastern Nirbu alone held aloof, emboldened by the rugged nature of their mountains and the density of their forests. Assur-nazir-pal attacked them on his return journey, dislodged them from the fortress of Ishpilibria where they were entrenched, gained the pass of Buliani, and emerged into the valley of Luqia.**
* The position of Bît-Zamani on the banks of the Euphrates
was determined by Delattre. Urumi was situated on the right
bank of the same river in the neighbourhood of Sumeisat, and
the name has survived in that of Urima, a town in the
vicinity so called even as late as Roman times. Nirdun, with
Madara as its capital, occupied part of the eastern slopes
of the Kashiari towards Ortaveran.
** Hommel identifies the Luqia with the northern affluent of
the Euphrates called on the ancient monuments Lykos, and he
places the scene of the war in Armenia. The context obliges
us to look for this river to the south of the Tigris, to the
north-east and to the east of the Kashiari. The king coming
from Nirbu, the pass of Buliani, in which he finds the towns
of Kirkhi, must be the valley of Khaneki, in which the road
winds from Mardin to Diarbekir, and the Luqia is probably
the most important stream in this region, the Sheikhân-Su,
which waters Savur, chief town of the caza of Avinch. Ardupa
must have been situated near, or on the actual site of, the
present Mardîn, whose Assyrian name is unknown to us; it was
at all events a military station on the road to Nineveh,
along which the king returned victorious with the spoil.