A complete submission was brought about, and its permanency secured by the erection of two strongholds, one of which, Kar-assur-nazir-pal, commanded the left, and the other, Nibarti-assur, the right bank of the Euphrates.*
This last expedition had brought the king into contact with the most important of the numerous Aramaean states congregated in the western region of Mesopotamia. This was Bît-Adini, which lay on both sides of the middle course of the Euphrates.** It included, on the right bank, to the north of Carchemish, between the hills on the Sajur and Arabân-Su, a mountainous but fertile district, dotted over with towns and fortresses, the names of some of which have been preserved—Pakarrukhbuni, Sursunu, Paripa, Dabigu, and Shitamrat.*** Tul-Barsip, the capital, was situated on the left bank, commanding the fords of the modern Birejîk,**** and the whole of the territory between this latter and the Balîkh acknowledged the rule of its princes, whose authority also extended eastwards as far as the basaltic plateau of Tul-Abâ, in the Mesopotamian desert.
* The account in the Annals is confused, and contains
perhaps some errors with regard to the facts. The site of
the two towns is nowhere indicated, but a study of the map
shows that the Assyrians could not become masters of the
country without occupying the passes of the Euphrates; I am
inclined to think that Kar-assur-nazir-pal is El-Halebiyeh,
and Nibarti-assur, Zalebiyeh, the Zenobia of Roman times.
** Bît-Adini appears to have occupied, on the right bank of
the Euphrates, a part of the cazas of Aîn-Tab, Rum-kaleh,
and Birejîk, that of Suruji, minus the nakhiyeh of Harrân,
the larger part of the cazas of Membîj and of Rakkah, and
part of the caza of Zôr, the cazas being those represented
on the maps of Vital Cuinet.
*** None of these localities can be identified with
certainty, except perhaps Dabigu, a name we may trace in
that of the modern village of Dehbek.
**** Tul-Barsip has been identified with Birejîk.
To the south-east, Bît-Adini bordered upon the country of the Sukhi and the Laqi,* lying to the east of Assyria; other principalities, mainly of Aramoan origin, formed its boundary to the north and north-west—Shugab in the bend of the Euphrates, from Birejîk to Samosata,** Tul-Abnî around Edessa,*** the district of Harrân,**** Bît-Zamani, Izalla in the Tektek-dagh and on the Upper Khabur, and Bît-Bakhiâni in the plain extending from the Khabur to the Kharmish.^
* In his previous campaign Assur-nazir-pal had taken two
towns of Bît-Adini, situated on the right bank of the
Euphrates, at the eastern extremity of Mount Bisuru, near
the frontier of the Lâqi.
** The country of Shugab is mentioned between Birejîk (Tul-
Barsip) and Bît-Zamani, in one of the campaigns of
Shalmaneser III., which obliges us to place it in the caza
of Rum-kaleh; the name has been read Sumu.
*** Tul-Abnî, which was at first sought for near the sources
of the Tigris, has been placed in the Mesopotamian plain.
The position which it occupies among the other names obliges
us to put it near Bît-Adini and Bît-Zamani: the only
possible site that I can find for it is at Orfah, the Edessa
of classical times.
**** The country of Harrân is nowhere mentioned as belonging
either to Bît-Adini or to Tul-Abnî: we must hence conclude
that at this period it formed a little principality
independent of those two states.
^ The situation of Bît-Bakhiâni is shown by the position
which it occupies in the account of the campaign, and by the
names associated with it in another passage of the Annals.
Bît-Zamani had belonged to Assyria by right of conquest ever since the death of Ammibaal; Izalla and Bît-Bakhiâni had fulfilled their duties as vassals whenever Assur-nazir-pal had appeared in their neighbourhood; Bît-Adini alone had remained independent, though its strength was more apparent than real. The districts which it included had never been able to form a basis for a powerful state. If by chance some small kingdom arose within it, uniting under one authority the tribes scattered over the burning plain or along the river banks, the first conquering dynasty which sprang up in the neighbourhood would be sure to effect its downfall, and absorb it under its own leadership. As Mitâni, saved by its remote position from bondage to Egypt, had not been able to escape from acknowledging the supremacy of the Khâti, so Bît-Adini was destined to fall almost without a struggle under the yoke of the Assyrians. It was protected from their advance by the volcanic groups of the Urâa and Tul-Abâ, which lay directly in the way of the main road from the marshes of the Khabur to the outskirts of Tul-Barsip. Assur-nazir-pal, who might have worked round this line of natural defence to the north through Nirbu, or to the south through his recently acquired province of Lâqi, preferred to approach it in front; he faced the desert, and, in spite of the drought, he invested the strongest citadel of Tul-Abâ in the month of June, 877 B.C. The name of the place was Kaprabi, and its inhabitants believed it impregnable, clinging as it did to the mountain-side “like a cloud in the sky.” *
* The name is commonly interpreted “Great Rock,” and divided
thus—Kap-rabi. It may also be considered, like Kapridargila
or Kapranishâ, as being formed of Kapru and abi; this
latter element appears to exist in the ancient name of
Telaba, Thallaba, now Tul-Abâ. Kapr-abi might be a fortress
of the province of Tul-Abâ.
Drawn by Boudier, from a bas-relief.