Aasur-nanrpal rebuilt Kalakh, and selected it for his royal residence in memory of his great predecessor Shalmaneser I., after whom he also named his son (Shalmaneser II.). His main ambi- tion was to ainiex the whole of Mesopotamia to Assyria, which he succeeded at any rate partially in accomplishing. The little Aramanin jirincipality BU-Adini (which is called ISene-Eden 2 K 10'-, and is situated between the Euphrates and Belikh) offered strong resistance to the Assj'rians, and Assyria oidy succeeiled in getting the payment of a temporary tribute from it. Greater results, however, were achieved among the mountain tribes on the ea.st, between the lakes Van and Urmi.a, in the countries of Manual (.MinnI, Jer Ol-"^, which certainly ought to be vocaliseil '17, near Ararat), Kirnir, and Zamua, the la.st-mentioned being situated to the south of the lake of Urmia. In North Syria further op|)osition was experienced from the little states that had sprung up on the wrecks of the Hittite empire, whose princes still bore Hittite names, though the populations were Canaanite. The most noteworthy of these was Karkhemis, where king Sangar reigned ; and next to that the land of Unki ('.Amk) or Khattin* on the Orontes, the capital of which vv:us called Kunidua, and the king Lubarna. Both these territories were traversed by the Assyrians. The Assyrians advanced right up to Lebanon and the coast of Phconicia, so that the towns of Tyre, Sidon, Gebal, .Xrvad, etc., were compelled to send valuable presents in order to induce the hostile forces to march away. The Bab. contemporary of Asstir-n^ir-pal waa Nabu-pal-idinS. (See Baby- lonia.)
The reign of As.sur-nazir-pal's son Sholmanu- asliarid (Sh.almanescr II.), B.C. 850-82'i, marks a turning-point in Assyr. history in sever.al direc-
• Wrilt.ii /'.l-f(-(n, but probably A'/I<i«iri (lln> IIIlUli') la the riffhl rtiulliiK.
18i
ASSYRIA
ASSYRIA
tions. Instead of being satisfied with merely sending threatening expeditions to exact a fresh payment of tribute, he introduced a systematic plan— afterwards always adopted— of placing governors over conquered territories, and thus making tliem actual provinces and putting them under direct Assyr. control. Moreover, it was in his reign that the first contact between Assyria and the kings of Israel (Aliab and Jehu) took place. Lastly, it was his reign that saw the first beginnings of the Armenian empire under the kings Arimi and Sarduri (^Siduri, or, more accur- ately, Sardu'arri), whose successors gave Assyria so much trouble, till they brought it to the brink of ruin. Tiglath-pileser III. and Sargon were the first to succeed in breaking its power, and in helping Assyria forward to new development. The oldest Armenian inscriptions, which date from Sarduri I., are written in Assyr. cuneiform characters and Semitic-Assyrian, whde his suc- cessors employ their own Armenian dialect (related to the Georgian), though they use the Assyr. method of writing as well.
We are very fortunate in possessing pictorial representations of several events in the reign of Shalmaneser. These are to be found chiefly in the magnificent reliefs on the bronze doors of Balawal (Imgur-Bel), and also in the remarkable pictures on t"he ' Black Obelisk.' as it is called. In five series and on four panels are to be seen ambassadors from Gurzan (on Lake Urmia), from king Jahna (.lehu) of Israel, from the land of Miiari in West Armenia, from Marduk-pal-uzur of Suchi, and from Karparunda of Khattin. Both monuments are in the British Museum. The in- scription on the series devoted to the land of Musri says : ' Tribute from Musri. Camels with double humps, oxen from the river Saktya (or Irkia?), a SMS!t (kind of antelope), female elephants, and apes.' The words of the inscription are con- firmed by the pictures, which actually contain double-hiimped camels, wild steers, an antelope, an elephant, and four apes. This land of Musri, which must be looked for neither in Afghanistan nor in India, but to the north-east of Cilicia, is mentioned in the Bible, 1 K lO-s, according to which Solomon brought his horses from Muzrtm and from Ku'i (Cilicia), as the emended reading runs. Double-humped camels (Assyr. iidrfiti, from the Arm. uldu, Sansk. nstra) were to be found in different parts of Armenia, and Assur-nazir-pal boasted, as did also Tiglath-pileser r. and Tahut- mes 111., that he had killed elephants in Mesopo- tamia. Shalmaneser made his way into the land of Tabal (the biblical Tubal), which lies to the west of Malatiyeh, where he took possession of the silver, salt, aiid alabaster works which he found on the mountains, and took the opportunity of exacting tribute from the neighbouring Musri ; then he invaded the land of Ku'i (on the Ciliclan coast), reacliing the city of Tarzi, the well-known Tarsus, the birthplace of the apostle Paul. He advanced into Armenia as far as the sources of the Euphrates ; then he proceeded eastward to Parsua, the motherland of the Persians, lying to the east of Lake Urmia, and southwards to Xamar, wliich was formerly a protectorate of Babylon, lying to the south of Lake Urmia. His journeys were thus more extensive than those of any of his predecessors. In Babylonia, In the year H.c. 853, Nabu-pal-ldlna was overthrown by his son Marduk-shum-ldlna, whose brother Marduk- bel-usati, however, raised a revolt against liim. Thereupon Marduk-shuin-ldinS. relinquished to his brotlier the southern part of Babylonia, formerly known as the land of Kaldu* (or Imgi), at the same
• The Ttnme existed ftl an earlier date in an older form. Kardii (whence Kardunias). The form Kasdu (Ucb. Kasdiin) Is only