people, that illness may not befall his posterity. (12) Let every later prince trust in Nebo, trust not in any other god.1

1 Winckler (Keilinscriftliches Textbuch, 3te Auf., p. 28, footnote) refers to the last line as having a "monotheistic tendency." It may, rather, have a henotheistic tendency, but even this is dubious in the light of the king's other inscriptions.

murus pirhi-šu (12) u-še-piš-ma iķîš ma-nu ar-ku-u a-na (ilu) Nabû na-at-kil ana ilu ša-ni-ma la ta-tak-kil

VI. TIGLATHPILESER IV (745-727 B. C.)

There was a great civil war in Assyria in the year 746, and at its close there appeared a new order in the kingdom. Before it there had ruled a weak descendant of the ancient line of kings who had made the name of Assyria feared from the eastern mountains to the western sea. In his hands the power which had swept with a force almost resistless was a useless thing. When he was gone the sceptre was grasped by a hand as firm as ever had been known in the kingdom, and its every move was directed by a mind full of original creative impulse.

The new king was proclaimed under the name and style of Tiglathpileser in Assyria, and later under the name of Pulu' in Babylonia. He does not give the name of his father in any of his inscriptions, and it is quite clear that he was not a descendant of the royal line, but a usurper raised to the throne by his own ability.2

1 The name in Assyrian is Tukulti-abal-ešarra, which signifies, "My help is in the son of Esharra." The name in the Old Testament is written regularly Tiglathpileser, but appears erroneously written Tilgathpilneser in 1 Chron. 5. 6, 26, and 2 Chron. 28. 20. The name is written exactly the same as in the former Hebrew writing in the inscription of Panammu found at Sinjirli (Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli, veröffentlicht vom Orient-Komitee zu Berlin, i, pp. 55ff.). The Ptolemaic Canon writes the name Poros; see p. 239.

2 Winckler (Vorderasiatische Geschichte, p. 39) hazards the conjecture that he may have been a son of Adad-nirari IV, but marks it with a query. He gives no ground for the suggestion, nor do I know of any.

In the very first year of his reign Tiglathpileser found the opportunity for a display of his double skill as a general and as an organizer. Since 747 Babylonia had been under the rule of Nabonassar, who was unable to hold in check the Aramæans, who were invading the land from the south, threatening to engulf Babylonian civilization and supplant it with their own. They were in possession of Sippar and Dur-Kurigalzu, from which every semblance of Nabonassar's dominion had disappeared. It is probable that he had asked for the intervention of his powerful neighbor, for Tiglathpileser was hailed as a deliverer as he marched southward. He drove the Aramæans before him, and reorganized the administrative system of the country. Nabonassar retained, indeed, the royal title, but the real king was Tiglathpileser.

Two expeditions east of the Tigris speedily brought those great provinces of which Namri was the chief into subjection, but Media still remained practically independent.

During the period of Assyrian decline, before Tiglathpileser came to power, the kingdom of Khaldia (Urartu) had enjoyed a succession of kings whose prowess had gradually won all that had been lost to Assyria under the vigorous blows of Shalmaneser III. Sarduris II, perhaps the greatest of these kings, had broken down the whole circle of tribute-paying states dependent upon Assyria in the north. He had overrun the territory north of the Taurus and west of the Euphrates, and even dared to call himself king of Suri, that is, of Syria. Assisted by a coalition of several northern princes, he marched westward and seemed ready to make this claim good. Tiglathpileser accepted the challenge, and struck his first blow by laying siege to Arpad. Sarduris

responded, not by attempting to assist the endangered city, but by striking directly at Assyria. Tiglathpileser turned upon him, and the two armies met in the southeastern part of Kummukh,' where the Assyrians gained a victory and pursued the fleeing Sarduris as far as the Euphrates north of Amid. Arpad held out for three years (742-740), and when finally reduced it was made the first Assyrian province in Syria. Immediately upon its surrender deputations from nearly all the SyroPhoenician states arrived bearing presents in token of their acceptance of the overlordship of Assyria. The small state of Unqi continued in rebellion, and had to be brought into subjection by the capture of its capital, Kinalia. It received an Assyrian governor, and was formed into a province of the now rapidly growing empire. During the years 739-735 Tiglathpileser was busied with campaigns into Armenia and into Media. From the former were taken two districts, Ulluba and Kilkhi, to receive Assyrian governors, and so assist in holding back the kings of Khaldia from invasions of Syria.

As soon as the Assyrian army had been withdrawn from Syria the states which had sent tribute were quickly ready to unite in resisting any further payments to the new monarch of Assyria. It was natural enough to pay tribute when an Assyrian army was standing near by threatening reprisals; it was quite a different matter to send treasure away to Assyria when there was none to enforce its collection. Nineteen states united to resist the payment, emboldened by the absence of Tiglathpileser, among them Hamath, Damascus, Kummukh, Tyre, Gebal, Que, Melid, Carchemish, and

1 The later well-known Kommagene, but covering more territory 2 An echo of this victorious campaign appears in 2 Kings 19. 11-13.

Samaria, while Azariah of Ja'udi' (Yaudi) was the leader among them. Tiglathpileser came west at once and captured "the city of Kullani,”2 as the eponym canon informs us, but with the order of the campaign we are, unhappily, not fully acquainted because of the fragmentary character of the king's annals. The remaining states, except Yaudi, paid the tribute, and so for a time at least assured their security. The territory of the rebels, in its northern portion, received 30,000 colonists from Ulluba and Kilkhi, and thousands were carried out of it. Menahem of Israel paid a tribute of 1,000 shekels, which secured for him the continuation of his rule, but a new province was constituted in the north, and over it was seated as governor the son of Tiglathpileser, who afterward succeeded to the throne under the name of Shalmaneser.

The difficulties in the west were by no means concluded; they were, indeed, scarcely more than well begun. Damascus had sent tribute, but it had not surrendered, and no Assyrian king had set foot within its walls. Rezon was now king and was determined to hold out against the Assyrians to the last. The

1 The name "Azariah" corresponds exactly with the name of the King Azariah of Judah (2 Kings 15. 1, 2), called also Uzziah (2 Chron. 26. 1), and the name "Ja'udi," "Yaudi," "corresponds perfectly with "Judah." It was natural, therefore, that, as they were contemporaneous, the King Azariah of these inscriptions should be accepted as the Azariah (Uzziah) of Judah; so Schrader argued (Keilinschriften und Geschichtforschung, pp. 395-421), and so scholars generally agreed, as I also did myself (History of Babylonia and Assyria, ii, pp. 119.). It is now clear that this is incorrect. The land here referred to is a district of Sam'al (Zenjirli), of which Panammu was king, whose inscription, found at Zenjirli, repeatedly invokes the gods of Ja'udi (Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli I, Mittheilungen aus den Orientalischen Sammlungen, Königl. Museen zu Berlin, Heft xi, Berlin, 1893, pp. 64, 79). The credit of perceiving these facts belongs in the first instance to Winckler (Altorientalische Forschungen, i, p. 1, Das Syrische Land Jaudi und der angebliche Azarja von Juda).

2 Kullani, the modern Kullanhou, located about six miles from Tell Arfad (Arpad). It appears in Isa. 10. 9 in the form Calno and in Amos 6. 2 is called Calneh. See Gray and Driver on the passages.

2 Kings 15. 19.

strategy of Tiglathpileser was of the highest order, and his plans for strangling Damascus proceeded steadily and resistlessly. In 734 he went straight to the coast of the Mediterranean, having crossed the plains of Syria near Damascus. His course was southward, and either Ashdod or Ekron was first taken, and then Gaza was approached. Hanno, the king, fled to Egypt, Gaza was taken and its gods and goods carried away to Assyria.

Pekah was now king of Samaria, and the weak and vacillating Ahaz was on the throne of Judah which had so lately been occupied by Ahaziah. Even in the very presence of the Assyrian menace these western states were ever engaged in a game of small and selfish politics. Rezon of Damascus and Pekah now united to wreak vengeance upon Ahaz and enrich their own kingdoms. Helpless before such a threat, Ahaz appealed to Tiglathpileser for assistance, an appeal certain of a speedy hearing. Tiglathpileser determined to strike Samaria first, and immediately upon his reappearance in the west the SyroPhoenician allies withdrew from southern Judah. Tiglathpileser apparently entered Samaria from the plain of Esdraelon, and took Ijon, Abel-Beth-Ma'aka, Janoah, Qadesh, and Hazor, and overran the whole of Gilead, Galilee, and Naphtali, carrying away large numbers into captivity.' Pekah was slain by a party of assassins, and Hosea appointed king in his stead by the Assyrian monarch.

Tiglathpileser was now free to turn to the far greater task of overcoming Damascus. Rezon met him and was defeated, making a very narrow personal escape. The whole country was desolated, Tiglathpileser boasting that he had destroyed at this time five hundred and ninety-one cities, whose inhabitants, numbering thousands, were carried away, with all their possessions, to

12 Kings 15. 29.