When I was in Gurra in durance, a workman gave me two knives, a lance and two baskets (?) for nothing. And as the lance was broken, he will repair it and send it by Buritpi. Further: Is there [yet] wine for thy cities, or hast thou again put thyself in possession of it? Over my head is one, who is over the cities. Now behold, whether he will give thee good! Further: If he show anger, they [i. e., the enemies] will come to destruction, and the victory will be great. Further: Let Ilurabî enter Rachab and either send my man to thee or protect him.

Highway, Highway (i. e., for the messenger).

(1) a-na(m) Ištar-wa-šur [k]i-be

(2) um-ma (m) Ahi-ia-mi bel ilânu(-nu)

(3) napišti-ka lì-is-sur ahu at-ta

(4) u na-ra-am i-na aš-ri ma-à-at

(5) u i-na lib-bi-ka i-nu-ma

(6) ar-ba-ku i-na Gur-ra(ki) (7) u id-na-an-ni u-ma-an

(8) II (iṣu) ma-ga-ri-ma u (iṣu) be-lit (9) u II ku-up-pa ina ia-ni-ma u

(10) šum-ma ga-am-ra-at (isu) be-lit (11) i-bi-ša-am u uš-ši-ra-aš-ši

(12) i-na kat (m) Bu-ur-it-pi

(13) ša-ni-tam bi-ki-it a-na alâni-ka (14) u lu-u ti-bu-šu ib-ša-šu-nu

(15) eli kakkadi-ia ma-am-ma-an

(16) ša it-tab-šu a-na alâni

(17) i-na-an-na a-mur ni i-nu-ma (18) i-bu-šu țâbta it-ti ka

(19) ša-ni-tam šum-ma zi-ni u-dag-ga-al (20) i-ba-aš-šu u lu-u-tu id-nu-na

(21) ša-ni-tam li-ru-ba-am (m) Ilu-ra-bi-i (22) a-na(àlu) Ra-ha-bi u lu-u

(23) i-wa-ši-ra amêli-ia a-na mah-ri-ka (24) u lu-u i-bu-šu ha-at-nu-tam

maš-ru

mas-ru

III. ASHURNAZIRPAL (885-860 B. C.)

The great advance of Assyria in the twelfth century B. C. under Tiglathpileser I carried its power far beyond the point which had been attained under Shalmaneser I (about 1300 B. C.), when the Assyrians first.

began to play a leading role in western Asia. Tiglathpileser dared even to push his campaigns all the way to the Phoenician coast, where he held court in Arvad, received presents even from Egypt, and sailed out upon the great sea. The threat which this campaign made against the west sufficed to disturb all the arrangement which had been made between the Hittites and the Egyptians during the reign of Rameses II, by which the former had secured an undisputed suzerainty and a free hand over the whole of northern Syria. The Hittite power had been waning, as had also the Egyptian, and there seemed to be every likelihood for the transfer of the hegemony from these two to the Assyrians. But the death of the great king put an end to his conquests, and his successors for centuries were unable to emulate his achievements.

During the period of comparative inactivity which followed the reign of Tiglathpileser I great changes in western Asia took place because of the absence of the Assyrian peril. The kingdom of Saul and David in Israel was founded and made considerable progress in internal development and in the achievement of external safety. In Damascus the original Amorite stock gradually gave place to a predominant Aramaic wave of migration, and about 950 B. C. Rezon became the founder of a new dynasty,' which came into conflict with Israel and seriously disputed its material advance. During this same period of Assyrian decline Israel entered into important relations with Tyre, and the whole face of the west was changed.

The revival of Assyrian power began in 885 B. C., when a king of extraordinary energy and power came to the throne who named himself Ashurnazirpal. The

11 Kings 11. 23.

inscriptions which have come down from his reign preserve abundant historical material to display the course and conduct of his campaigns and the development of his policy. His standard inscription upon a monolith of alabaster contains, in three hundred and eighty-nine lines, an account, almost epic in grandeur, of his campaigns of blood and fire by which Assyrian power was carried to new heights.

His first campaigns were directed against the Mesopotamian communities along the Chabor and the eastern bank of the Euphrates. Thereafter he made a victorious invasion of the territories of Naïri, about the head waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates, by the latter of which in a grotto he left an inscription, as Tiglathpileser had done before him. During the next ten years he was chiefly engaged in further conquests in Mesopotamia and along the banks of the Euphrates. It was probably in 868, though the year is uncertain, that he began his invasion of the west. His course was almost due west to Carchemish, where King Sangara unsuccessfully opposed him. The Euphrates crossed, he had little opposition until he met the forces of the powerful little kingdom of Patin on the Orontes, whose capital city was Kunulua, under King Lubarna. From him he received a heavy tribute, and then crossed the Orontes and proceeded toward the west and then southward along the Lebanon into Phoenicia. On this successful march he received tribute from Arvad, Byblos, Sidon, Tyre, and ascending the Amanus (Anti-Lebanon), he cut cedar beams for use in his building operations at home. We do not know how far south along the coast this campaign extended, nor do we know at what point the stela, mentioned at the conclusion of the text following, was set up. It is not probable that he went

further down the coast than the mouth of the Nahr-elKelb (the Dog River), which discharges into the Mediterranean at Beirut. There the ancient road over the Lebanon would invite him inland, and the tribute which he received from Tyre and Sidon may have been sent to him, as, indeed, these two cities frequently, if not usually, did send tribute to other conquerors at a distance, to prevent their near approach. The stela referred to above may have been set up on the banks of the Dog River, where there are no less than five such records by Assyrian kings.

Ashurnazirpal does not mention Israel. Had he gone much farther south he would have come into contact with the outposts of the northern kingdom, of which Omri was now king. He was preparing the way for the attack which was to come in the next reign.

After this important campaign there remains very little of achievement in his reign, which closes after brief campaigns in northern Mesopotamia. At the beginning of his reign Nineveh was his capital city, but after the sixth year his expeditions begin at Calah, which had been made the capital by Shalmaneser I, and which was now rebuilt and restored by Ashurnazirpal. There most of his important inscriptions have been found.

THE ANNALS OF ASHURNAZIRPAL1 COLUMN III: (78) From Kunulua, the royal city of Lubarna (79) of the land of Patini I departed. The river The passage is taken from the Annals of Ashurnazirpal, col. iii, lines 78-89. The text is published I R., 17-26, and translated and transliterated by Peiser, in Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, i, pp. 50ff. It is republished and translated in Budge and King, Annals of the Kings of Assyria (1902), pp. 254ff. For the passage here quoted see also Ungnad in Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte und Bilder, i, pp. 108, 109.

(78). ištu (alu) Ku-nu-lu-a al šarru-ti-šu ša (m) Lu-bar-na (79) (mâtu) Pa-ti-na-ai at-tu-muš (nâru) [A-ra-an]-tu e-te-bir ina

Orontes I crossed, and by the river Orontes I encamped. From the river Orontes I departed and between (80) the mountains of Jaraki and Jaturi I marched. The land of

ku I traversed and encamped by the river Sangura. From the river Sangura I departed and between (81) the mountains of Saratini and Duppani I marched, and upon ba I encamped. Into Aribua, the royal city of Lubarna of the land of Patini, I entered. (82) The city I took for my own possession, and the grain and straw from the land of Lukhuti I gathered and heaped up therein. I made a feast in his palace, and men from Assyria (83) I settled therein. While I remained in the city of Aribua, I captured the cities of the land of Lukhuti, and slew many of their inhabitants. I laid them waste, and destroyed them and burned them with fire. (84) I took men alive and impaled them on stakes before their cities.

At that time I marched along the Lebanon and to the great (85) sea1 of the land of Amurru I went up. In the great sea I washed my weapons, and made offerings to the gods. The tribute of the kings by the side of the sea (86) from the lands of Tyre and Sidon, and Byblus and Makhallat and Maisa, and Kaisa, and Amurru and

1 The Mediterranean.

eli (nâru) A-ra-an-te asakan(an) mid-dak ištu eli (nâru) A-ra-an-te at-tu-muš ina bi-rit (80) (šadú) Ia-ra-ki (šadû) Ia-'-tu-ri a-şa-bat (mâtu) [. .]-ku a-ta-bal-kat ina eli (nâru) Sa-an-gu-ra asakan(an) ištu eli (nâru) Sa-[an]-gu-ra at-tu-muš ina bi-rit (81) (šadů) Sa-rati-ni (šadů) Dup-pa-a-ni a-sa-bat ina eli [...]-ba asakan(an) a-na (alu) A-ri-bu-a al dan-nu-ti-šu ša (m) Lu-bar-na (mâtu) Pa-ti-na-ai etarba (ba) (82) ala a-na ra-me-ni-ia as-bat še-am u tibnu ša (mâtu) Lu-bu-ti e-si-di ina libbi atbuk (uk) ta-ši-il-tu ina ekalli-šu aškun (un) nišê(e) (mâtu) Aš-šu-ra-ai (83) ina lib-bi u-še-šib ki-i ina (alu) A-ri-bu-a us-ba-ku-ni alâni(ni) ša (mâtu) Lu-bu-ti aktašad (ad) dîkta-šu-nu ma'atta-šu-nu a-duk ab-bul ak-kur ina išâti (84) aš-ru-up șâbê balțûti ina kâti u-ṣab-bi-ta ina (iṣu) zi-ķi-bi ina pu-ut alâni-šu-nu u-za-kip ina u-me-šu-ma ši-di (šadů) Lab-nana fu as-bat a-na tam-di (85) rabîte(te) ša (mâtu) A-mur-ri lu-u e-li ina tamdi rabîte(te) kakkê-a lu-u-lil (immeru) nikê a-na ilâni(ni) lu aş-bat ma-da-tu ša šarrâni (ni) ša ši-di tâmdi (86) ša (mâtu) Sur-ra-ai (mâtu) Si-du-na-ai (mâtu) Gu-bal-ai (mâtu) Ma-bal-lata-ai (mâtu) Ma-i-sa-ai (mâtu) Ka-i-ga-ai (mâtu) A-mur-ra-ai (alu)