EXCHANGE TIGLATH PILESER III COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS SALES AGENTS NEW YOEK: LEMCKE & BUECHNER 30-32 WEST 2TTH STREET LONDON : HENRY FROWDE AMBN COENKE, E.G. TOEONTO : HENRY FROWDE 25 RICHMOND ST., W- CONTRIBUTIONS TO ORIENTAL HISTORY AND PHILOLOGY No. V. TIGLATH PILESER III BY ABRAHAM S. ANSPACHER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIRE- MENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK 1912 COPYBNJHT, 1912, BY THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PEE88. Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1912, J. 8. Cushing Co. Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. NOTE The following thesis by Dr. A. S. Anspacher gives the most succinct account of the reign of Tiglath Pileser III which has yet been attempted. The author has systemat- ically endeavored to place a number of localities, men- tioned in the documents of this great Assyrian king, and in so doing he has made a distinct contribution to ancient geography. Tiglath Pileser's map has always been some- what uncertain, and, in his work, Dr. Anspacher has succeeded not only in establishing several new locations, but he has traced, more carefully than has been done hitherto, the routes of march of the principal campaigns inaugurated by this notable conqueror. In compiling the tale of an ancient nation, it is neces- sary to specialize on the material of each period, and also on that of each important reign ; and this is what Dr. Anspacher has done. While it is true that all the riddles of the history of a vanished people can never be satisfac- torily solved, a careful study, such as this dissertation undoubtedly is, cannot fail to be of value to the historian. J. DYNELEY PRINCE. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK CITY. 254229 INTRODUCTION The attempt to solve all the problems connected with the life and history of Tiglath Pileser III can never be fully successful as long as we remain without new in- scriptional material by means of which to fill in the lacunae which so unfortunately abound in the existing tablets. With but one exception, all the inscriptions which we now possess were found by Layard in the South- west Palace of Nimrod. Some of the tablets came originally from the Northwest, some from the Central Palace; and since all three of the mounds which mark the sites of these three palaces have been thoroughly explored, it is perhaps too much to hope that more records of Tiglath Pileser's reign will come down to us. This thesis is an attempt to fix in some detail the prin- cipal facts in the history of Tiglath Pileser III. Although every standard work on Assyrian history has some pages devoted to this theme, no author has treated it with such detail as to present the full story. The entire subject has appealed to me as one deserving far more considera- tion than is usually accorded to it in the histories. The reign of Tiglath Pileser III was from one point of view the most important in Assyrian history, and the revolu- tionary tendencies which characterized it are of as much importance to civilization as they were to the then welfare of Assyria itself. It needed a revolution to make the ix x INTRODUCTION conservative Assyrian politicians of the time realize that the very existence of the state was in danger. To curtail the immense revenues of the priests so that sufficient means to carry on the extensive military operations always necessary to Assyria's safety might never be lacking was the immediate aim of the revolution. That result it speedily achieved. But from the viewpoint of world history it also accomplished a far more valuable work, in that it gave Tiglath Pileser the opportunity so to shape Assyria's policies as to give her a longer lease of life than would otherwise have been hers. When Tiglath Pileser III came to the throne, Assyria was already beginning to succumb to the forces of decay. Her dependencies were being gradually taken from her, and her armies were meeting frequent reverses. It needed a great warrior and statesman to save her, not only for herself, but for the accomplishment of her cul- tural work. The value of this king to civilization, there- fore, lies not in the fact of his extensive conquests themselves, but rather in the fact that without him Assyria would not have endured long enough to bequeath anything to the world. The proper fixing of the geographical locations men- tioned in the inscriptions is of prime importance. I have, wherever possible, tried to determine these and also the routes of march by the aid of all the historical inscrip- tions that were available to me, and believe that I have fixed some of these with exactness. One fact I wish to note here. At first thought it would seem that the Arabic geographers should yield material for the determination of some of the localities in question, but on the contrary no such aid is forthcoming. They deal with a later INTRODUCTION xi period of the history of Western Asia, and only a very few of the geographical names of the times of which they treat preserve even a reminiscence of old Assyrian nomen- clature. In conclusion I wish to thank Professor Prince, under whom I have studied my major subject, Assyriology, and whose aid and suggestion as well as able instruction have given to my work whatever value it may possess. To Professor Richard Gottheil I also owe a debt of gratitude for many helpful suggestions, and have much pleasure in expressing my appreciation and gratitude. ABRAHAM S. ANSPACHER. CONTENTS I. THE SOURCES ......... 1 II. ACCESSION .......... 10 III. THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS ... 18 IV. SYRIA AND THE WEST ....... 32 V. MEDIA AND URARTU ........ 54 VI. THE CONQUEST OF BABYLONIA ..... 64 sail PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS Assy. Can. . . . G. Smith, Assyrian Eponym Canon, 1869. Disc G. Smith, Assyrian Discoveries, 1875. Br Rudolph E. Briinnow, Classified List, 1889. Rost Paul Rost, Die Keilschrifttexte TiglatnPileser's HI. Band I : Einleitung, Transcription und Ueberset- zung, Worterverzeichniss mit Commentar. Band II : Autographierte Texte, 1893. Ann Annals : in Rost, Band I. pp. 2 ff. Th. A Die Thontaf elinschrift, obverse ; in Rost, Band I. pp. 55-69. Th. R Die Thontafelinschrift, reverse ; in Rost, Band I. pp. 70-77. PI. I Platteninschrift von Nimrud, No. I ; in Rost, Band I. pp. 42-47. PI. II. . o . . . Platteniuschrift von Nimrud, No. II ; in Rost, Band I. pp. 48-53. Kl. I Kleinere Inschriften ; in Rost, Band I. pp. 78-83. Kl. II Kleinere Inschriften ; in Rost, Band I. pp. 84-85. KAT. 2 Schrader, Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament, 2d ed., 1883. KB Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, Vols. I-IV. KGF Schrader, Keilinschriften und Geschichtsforschung, 1878. Kritik Schrader, Zur Kritik der Inschriften Tiglath-Pileser's II, des Asarhaddon und des Ashurbanipal, 1879. Forsch Winckler, Altorientalische Forschungen. Untersuchgn. . Winckler, Untersuchungen zur altorientalische Ge- schichte, 1889. Lay, Layard Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Character, 1851. xv xvi PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS Paradies. . . . Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies ? 1881. Sulm Billerbeck, Das Sandschak Suleimania, 1898. R Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia. RP Records of the Past. PSBA Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. ZA Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie. JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. TIGLATH PILESER III CHAPTER I THE SOURCES From the time of the destruction of the Babylonian Empire until the middle of the last century, when Layard began his excavations, Tiglath Pileser III 1 was known only because of the mention of his name in a few Biblical verses. 2 Nothing was certain about him, except that a king of that name had ruled in Assyria and had made his power felt in Palestine. All knowledge of his history had passed from human memory, and even the inscrip- tions which finally proved to be his, when they were unearthed and deciphered, presented many a puzzling problem. The mutilated condition in which the tablets were found did not, at the time, promise much for a future solution of the difficulties ; besides which, one of the tablets the longest inscription was so badly cracked and broken in shipment to the British Museum that many attempts to correct the first faulty piecing together were for a long time unsuccessful. When this 1 Schrader, KAT? p. 240 and note, reads the name "Tu-kul-ti (Tuk-lat)-habal-i-sarra " ; he translates, "Trust (i.e. Object of Trust) is the Son of thelSarra Temple." Note ABK. p. 148, No. 9, and p. 151 : the "Son of the Sarra Temple is the God Adar" ; the basic meaning of the name, therefore, is " Trust is Adar." 2 2 K. xv. 29 and xv. 7 ; 1 Chr. v. 6, 26; 2 Chr. xxviii. 20. The form Tiglath Pilneser in Chronicles is due to "an accidental corruption of the familiar name at the hands of the Chronicler or of his Midrashic source." (Kittel, Chron. Heb. SBOT. 68.) He was known as Tiglath 1 2 TIGLATH PILESER III had finally been accomplished, it was discovered that about a hundred lines were missing altogether. When Layard had in the course of his excavations reached what he afterwards called " the Southwest Pal- ace of Nimrod," he found that the whole interior of one of the large halls remained " fairly intact," 3 and that it was panelled with slabs brought from elsewhere. Some of the slabs came originally from the Northwest, some from the Central Palace. " The bas-reliefs always, when left entire, turned toward the wall of sun-dried brick, . . . and upon the faces of most of the slabs forming wall E were the marks of a chisel; . . . the bas-reliefs had been purposely destroyed. Only parts of the wall F had been finished. Many of the slabs not having been used and still lying in the centre of the chamber, ... it was evi- dent that these were entire, having only suffered from fire. They were, moreover, arranged in rows with great regu- larity, and, in one or two instances, heaped the one above the other." The analysis of these inscriptions, at whose interpreta- tion several partial attempts were made before Schrader's authoritative work, was all rendered secondary by that scholar's investigation. 4 Schrader divided the inscrip- tions into Annals and the so-called Prunkinschriften: the Pileser II, until, in 1886, Th. G. Pinches, in "Guide to the Kouyunjik Gallery," p. 9, No. 72, described an inscription of Ramman-Nirari II, which showed that a grandfather of that king was also called Tiglath Pileser. This is the second king of the name, and our king is, therefore, the third. Winckler published the inscription in KB. 1 pp. 48-49, and in ZA. II. p. 311. 3 " Nineveh and its Remains," vol. II. pp. 27 ff. 4 Zur Kritik der Inschriften Tiglath Pileser 's II, des Asarhaddon und des Asurbanipal, in Kong. Akademie der Wissenschaft zu Berlin, 1879. A description of all the inscriptions published up to 1886 is given in THE SOURCES 3 last being arranged not chronologically, but geographically. Both have been published, transliterated, and translated in part, by many scholar's. Schrader divides the Annals into those composed of 7, 12, and 16 lines, respectively. Of the seven-line inscriptions (seven in number), Layard published five. 5 They are those which in his collection are designated as 69, A, 1 ; 69, A, 2 ; 69, B, 1 ; 69, B, 2; and 34, B. The last was translated by Smith, 6 and the remaining two inscriptions of this set were published by the same author. 7 The second group is made up of twelve- line inscriptions, although one, Lay. 45, B, in its present condition contains only eight lines, the first four being broken away. Another, III R 9, No. I, 8 is so badly muti- lated that not a single Kne remains intact. Lay. 50, A (III R 9, No. 3, p. 41-52) is in a very fair condition and is continued in Lay. 50, B, and Lay. 67, A ; both these last being written on one stone ; while Lay. 67, B, is a con- tinuation of Lay. 67, A ; making of the four inscriptions a complete sub-group. Lay. 51, A, and 51, B, 9 are writ- ten on tablets the last half of which is entirely broken away, but what remains is perfectly legible; Lay. 51, B, being damaged to the extent of only a small lacuna in the last line. Lay. 52, A, and Lay. 52, B, 10 are fairly well preserved and form a continuous narrative. 11 The Bezold, Kurzgefasster Vberblick uber die Babylonisch-Assyrische Litera- tur. (Leipzig, 1886.) 6 " Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Character," 1851. 6 Disc. pp. 266 ff. 7 In III R 10, No. 1, a and b. He translated them in Disc. pp. 281 ff. 8 Translated by Smith, Disc. pp. 274 ff. 9 Translated in Disc. pp. 269 ff. 10 Translated in Smith, Disc. pp. 267 ff. 11 This group also includes two fragments, Lay. 19, B, and Lay. 29, B ; the last was translated by Smith, Disc. pp. 283 ff. 4 TIGLATH PILESER III third group (16 lines), is made up of inscriptions which are badly mutilated ; viz. Lay. 71, B, which is continued in Lay. 73, A, 12 the merest fragment. Only about a third of the original tablet has come down to us. Lay. 71, A is scarcely in a better condition, and is continued on the same stone by Lay. 71, B. The two inscriptions are separated by a perpendicular line through the width of the stone, so that Lay. 71, B, line 1, is the continuation of Lay. 71, A, line 16. There remain a few Annal Inscriptions which cannot be classified by the number of their lines : viz. III. R. 9, No. 2 ; a fragmentary 19 line tablet ; 13 III. R. 9, No. 3, lines 22-41 (Lay. 65), a 20 line inscription ; 14 the very badly broken 18 line tablet, Lay. 66 ; 15 III. R. 10, No. 2, consisting of the broken parts of an originally 47 line inscription, 16 and III. R. 10, No. 3, composed of 24 lines. Schrader's second division, the Prunkinschriften, includes a long fragment of a tablet which was inscribed on both sides, the middle portion (about 50 lines on the obverse, and 50 on the reverse, i.e. about 100 in all), being missing. It was published II. R. 67 ; and translated by Smith, 17 Eneberg, 18 and S. Arthur Strong. 19 The duplicate of this 12 Translated by Schrader, EAT* pp. 261 ff.; and Smith, Disc. pp. 282 ff. 13 Translated by Smith, Disc. pp. 275 ff. ; Rodwell, EP. V. p. 45 ; and Schrader, KAT* pp. 217 ff. 14 Translated by Smith, Disc. pp. 276 ff.; Menant, Annales, p. 146 ; and Rodwell, EP. V. pp. 46 ff. is Translated by Smith, Disc. pp. 285 ff. ^Translated by Schrader, KAT. 2 pp. 225 ff.; Kodwell, HP. V. pp. 61 ff.; and by Smith, Disc. p. 284. 17 Disc. pp. 256 ff. 1 8 Journ. Asiatique, VI, pp. 441 ff.; cf. KAT* p. 224, lines 23-28, and p. 257, lines 57-62. 19 EP. V. pp. 115 ff. THE SOURCES 5 inscription (Brit. Mus. D. T. 30) is of special interest, having been found by Smith at Kalah in the Temple of Nimroud, and is apparently a Babylonian copy. 20 It was published by Schrader, 21 and translated by Smith. 22 Lay. 17, F, is a 36 line tablet, translated by Schrader, 23 Menant, 24 and Oppert. 25 In 1893 P. Rost supplied the need of a complete edition of all the inscriptions, with a new set of autographs, a transliteration, and translation. 26 In it he publishes for the first time three small tablets. 27 He was fortunate enough to discover a squeeze of Lay. 17/18 ; which was made before the tablet was broken. To what kings these mutilated sculptures and tablets belonged was for a long time a puzzling question. Layard himself, 28 having compared them with a pavement slab of the same period and with reliefs of the Central Palace, concluded that they all belonged to the same king. After Hincks 29 had deciphered on one of the reliefs the name of Menahem, king of Israel, as a tributary to the Assyrian king in the eighth year of the latter's reign, on the basis of a reference to 2 K. xv. 19 and 20, and 1 Chr. v. 26, Layard concluded that this king must be " an immediate predecessor of Pul, Pul himself, or Tiglath Pileser." With the discovery of the Eponym Canon the possibility 20 Rost, vol. I. p. 11. 21 Kong. Ak. d. Wiss. 1879. 22 Disc. pp. 264 ff. 23 Lines 20-25 in KGF. p. 206, and lines 4-10 in KGF. p. 106. 24 Annales, pp. 138 ff. 25 Expedition des Hois d'Assyrie, p. 336. 26 Keilschrifttexte Tiglat-Pileser" 1 s III in two volumes. All references to the inscriptions hereafter are to this work. 2 ? Vol. II. p. 15, PI. No. 24, and Kuj. Gallery, No. 66 and No. 64 ; also K 2469. 28 " Disc, in Nineveh and Babylon," p. 617. 29 Athenaeum, June 3, 1852. 6 TIGLATH PILESER III of this king being an immediate predecessor of Pul was obviated. But on the other hand, the difficulty was not lightened, because Pul is mentioned in 2 K. xv. 19, as the conqueror of Menahem, and again, together with Tiglath Pileser in 1 Chr. v. 26. He was not recorded in any Assyrian inscriptions, and, of course, not in the Eponym Canon. It would have been easy to have as- cribed the tablets to Tiglath Pileser without further debate. But although no name was found upon what afterwards turned out to be the mutilated Annal Inscrip- tions of the king in question, 30 yet to have thus arbitrarily assigned them to Tiglath Pileser still left the question of the identity of Pul undecided. George Smith 31 conjectured that Pul was, . . . "either, Vul-Nir&ri III, who might still have been reigning in 772, or a monarch immediately succeeding Ashurdan II or III, or that Pul and Tiglath Pileser are identical." This last theory had already been propounded by Sir Henry Rawlinson, 32 and independently by R. Lepsius. 83 It was finally established as the correct one by Schrader. 34 We may add here what is the clinching proof. In one of the Babylonian King Lists, 35 we read, Col. iv : * 30 Lay. 17 and 18, and II. R. 67 are not Annals. 81 " The Assyr. Ep. Can.," p. 76. Smith still placed some faith in the Ussher Chronology, according to which Menahem began to rule in 773- 772. Then, of course, Vul-Nirari (Ramman-Nirari) would have to reign until 772. Smith himself inclines to the identity of Pul and Tiglath Pileser. 82 H. Rawlinson in G. Rawlinson's Herodotus, 1862, I., p. 382; and Athenceum, Aug. 22, 1869, p. 245. 33 Uber d. Chronologischen Werth d. Assy. Eponymen, 1869, p. 56 ; also Schrader, KAT. 2 p. 227, and KGF. pp. 442 ff. 34 JT.Ar.2p. 227. 6 Pinches, PSBA. May 6, 1894. 36 Translated, Sayce in BP. New Series, I, pp. 18 and 23. THE SOURCES 7 line 5. Ndbu-sum-ukin his son for one month and 12 days. line 6. The 31 (years) of the dynasty of Babylon. line 7. Ukin-zira of the dynasty of Sasi for three years. line 8. Pulu for 2 (years). Compare this with the Babylonian Chronicle, 37 Col. I. 36 line 17. For 2 months and . . . days Suma-ukin reigned over Babylon. line 18. Ukin-zira seized upon the throne. line 19. In the 3d year of Ukin-zira, Tiglath Pileser. line 20. When he had descended into the country of Akkad. line 21. Destroyed Bit-Ammukani and captured Ukin- zira. 38 line 22. For three years Ukin-zira reigned over Babylon. line 23. Tiglath Pileser sat upon the throne of Babylon. A comparison of lines 7 and 8 of the first inscription with lines 17 ff. of the second proves conclusively the identity of Tiglath Pileser and Pul, showing that the impartial Babylonian historian gave him the respective names he bore in both Assyria and Babylon. 39 All this is in perfect accord with the entry in the Ptole- maean Canon, 40 which notes for the year 731, the year in which Tiglath Pileser was crowned in Babylon, " Ohinzi- rus and Porus." This is, of course, the Ukin-zira and the Pulu of the Babylonian King Lists; Porus being a Persian 87 Winckler in ZA. II. 23. 38 Th. A. 23, where the name is Ukinzir. 89 Similar changes of name are the following : Shalmaneser IV and Ashurbanipal are in the Babylonian King Lists called Ululai and Kandulu respectively. For comment, see Winckler, Geschichte, p. 221, n. * See Smith, "Assy. Eponym Canon," p. 102. 8 TIGLATH PILESER III corruption of Pul.- The fact that Berosus tt makes Pulus, " Rex Chaldaeorum" is in agreement with the above evi- dence. It simply means that Tiglath Pileser III came to the throne of Babylon only after having conquered Ukin- zira, head of the Bit-Amukkani, a powerful Chaldean tribe. Finally, Schrader 43 settled for all time that all the inscriptions belong to Tiglath Pileser. There is in all these sources of Tiglath Pileser's reign scarcely any specific reason for doubt as to the accuracy and trustworthiness of the reports which they give us. We have not, for instance, as is the case with Sargon, 44 any variant records and versions of the inscriptions; and while they are, of course, subject to such doubt as always attaches to the official records of a time which so far lacks the historical sense and the morale of the scientific historian, as to glorify a king or a nation at the expense of exact truth, still, we find no contradictory testimony in them. Even the figures in the records of captives and of tribute furnish scant reason for doubt. If we possessed contemporaneous documents from other nations to control the official records, there could be no hesitancy in using them to check the inscriptions, but in the one instance where we do possess such a contempora- neous inscription, an inscription mentioning the name of Tiglath Pileser, 46 the latter's reports are confirmed. And this is also true of the Biblical references to him. The KAT* p. 238, and Pinches, PSBA. 1883-84, pp. 190 ff. 42 Polyhistor ap. Eusb. Chrn. I. 4. 48 Eritik, pp. 10 ff. Although previously he had denied the identity of TP. and Pul, in ZDMG. XXV, p. 453. 44 Olmstead, " Sargon of Assyria," p. 7. 45 Published by Eduard Sachau, in Mitthl. aus d. Orientalischen Sammlungen, Kong. Mus. zu Berlin, Heft XI. p. 55. THE SOURCES 9 clues given us in the Eponym Canon, the Assyrian Chron- icle, the Ptolemaean Canon, the Babylonian Chronicle, and the Babylonian King Lists, refer, of course, mainly to the fixing of dates, and in the case of Tiglath Pileser at least, confirm each other, although they are independent witnesses. The reign of Tiglath Pileser III is especially important, because with him began a new era in Assyrian history. This king prepared the way for that period of his country's progress in which Assyria attained her greatest territorial extent. Perhaps in his time it was not yet evident that Assyria was too small a nation to hold her own against the half civilized hordes which later on accomplished her downfall. The fact that Assyria remained intact long enough to establish much which has become valuable and even essential to civilization and culture is in no small degree a credit due to this great warrior, who founded a well organized Empire upon foundations which his prede- cessors had enfeebled, and who was a personality great enough to have dominated his day. This was so not only because the times into which he was born invited revolu- tion and change, but because his own power as warrior, statesman, and organizer, forced even the priesthood, al- ways a tremendous influence, to bow to his energy and will. A great pity it is that his " literary remains " fell prey not only to the ravages of time and accident, but also to the desecrating hand of one of his great successors, Esarhaddon, who wilfully mishandled the records of Tiglath Pileser and is mainly responsible for the sadly mutilated condition in which they have come down to us. CHAPTER II ACCESSION The Eponym Canon for the year 745 announces that on the 12th day of Airu, Tig]ath Pileser III ascended the throne of Assyria. Because of the entry for the previous year 746, " rebellion in Kalah" it has been assumed that his accession was due to a military revolution, and every known fact tends to corroborate that view. Certain it is that Tiglath Pileser only gained the throne because of the condition of Assyrian affairs, and not because he was the legitimate successor to the royal office. The Empire was in very deep trouble. Its prestige was at low ebb. Abroad its influence was fast waning, and at home all the elements of a vast political upheaval had for some time been steadily tending toward revolution. The land was priestridden. Its wealth swelled the coffers of the temple treasuries, and its soldiers nourishing the traditions of ancient prowess had to be content with feeding upon the memories of former national glory. There was crying need for a leader of real ability. The land was not a victim of natural impoverishment. There were means sufficient for all purposes of national aggrandizement, could but the man be found who possessed the requisite qualities of leadership, the man who could compel the greedy priesthood to relinquish its hold upon those re- sources which it had come to look upon as rightful and legitimate prey. The people and the army demanded a 10 ACCESSION 11 sufficient portion of the national income to defray the cost of military and civil affairs. It must have been a sad reflection for the Assyrian soldier to review the fortunes of his country for about a century before the year 745. Persistently and steadily ancient foes were encroaching upon Assyrian territory. The mother country was still intact, but on every hand the buffer states which great conquerors had been at extreme pains to erect as barriers against invasion, had thrown off the yoke ; and even worse, powerful monarchs of other nations, taking advantage of the lethargy which had come over Assyria, were conquering lesser peoples and building empires which in their new greatness boded ill for Assyria's future. Since 860, when Shalmaneser II ascended the throne, lasting and effective victory was seldom with Assyria, although royal scribes, courtier-like, record a number of military triumphs. With the excep- tion of Ramman-Nir&ri III (810-782), no able, vigorous king had ruled. That king reigned over a vast empire which stretched from the borders of Elam on the south, to Na'iri and Andia in the north, and as far as the Medi- terranean on the east. 1 He was warlike, and only one of his reign years, the eleventh, was spent at home. Four campaigns against Hubtiskia, and six expeditions to the East, are a proof of the energy which Assyria, under him, was exerting in its efforts for conquest. Even against the successor of Hazael of Damascus, who had conquered and probably ruled over Israel, Ammon, and Philistia, he ventured to war and probably took Damascus. 2 But dur- 1 Die sogenannte synchronistische Gfeschichte in KB. 1 pp. 194 ff. is to be assigned to Ramman-Nirari III ; cf. Winckler, Untersuchungen, III. p. 25. 2 Steinplatteninschrift aus Kalah, in KB. 1 I. pp. 189 ff., lines 5-12. 12 TIGLATH PILESER III ing his reign he was stoutly opposed by the growing power of Urartu. Menuas of Urartu took from Assyria the tribes around Lake Urumia, and annexed large parts of Hubtiakia, erecting on the rocks of Rowandiz Pass the steles which record his achievements. 3 He drove the Assyrians from Lake Van, 4 and got as far East as beyond the Euphrates, levying taxes on Miletene. 5 His son Ar- gistis continued the work of his mighty father, 6 and from at least one passage of his Annals, 7 we must conclude that he defeated the Assyrians in a great battle. The year 778 in the Chronological Lists 8 records a campaign against Urartu. This is the defeat suffered by Shalmaneser at Sarisadas. 9 The years 776 and 774 both record Urartian campaigns, in both of which Assyria lost ground. 10 Thus Assyria, under the feeble rule of Shalmaneser, lost her northern possessions and those of Miletene. In 773 and 772, 11 in order to hold the West, campaigns had to be undertaken against Damascus and Hadrak, the former of which had been thoroughly subdued by Ramman-Nirari III. There must also have been disturbances in Syria, for the land of Patin of Ashurbanipal has already in the time of Tiglath Pileser III become split up into the four principalities of Unqi, Santal, Yaudi, and Patin. Also against Hatarilca, which had become the dominant power 8 Scheil and de Morgan, Stele de Kelichen, in Recueil de Travaux, Vol. XIV. pp. 153 ff. * " Inscription of Palu," Sayce, CIV. JRAS. vol. XIV. pp. 558 ff. Op. cit. JRAS. XXIX, A and B. 6 "Annals of Argistis," op. cit. pp. 572-582. 7 Op. cit. pp. 558 ff. 8 Cf. KB. 1 pp. 210-211, entry for the years 766 and 755. 9 "Annals of Argistis," JRAS. XXIX. p. 693. 10 Op. cit. pp. 602-609. 11 JTjB.i pp. 210-211. ACCESSION 13 in Northern Syria, Ashurdan had twice to wage war, 12 while in 754 he was engaged with Arpad, which together with Hatarika had come to share supremacy in Northern Syria. Thus it will be seen that Assyria was gradually losing its grip, and the revolt recorded for 746 in Kalah, which resulted in the enthroning of Tiglath Pileser III, by showing the feebleness of his predecessors, only em- phasized the weakness which had come over Assyria. Now there was need of a great man, a need which was supplied in the person of the soldier who, whatever his real name was, seized the reins of government and began his rule, assuming the name of one of Assyria's greatest conquerors, and becoming Tiglath Pileser III. The fact that he gained the crown raised the uprising to the dignified status of a revolution ; and it was certainly anti-priestly in its essential character. So much is evident from the history of his successors, from Shalmaneser to Esarhaddon. As long as the tribute of dependencies was available for military purposes, so long the imposition of the temple taxes by the priesthood caused no appreciable fiscal difficulties. Once this source of income became cur- tailed, the immense revenues of the priesthood must have loomed large in the eyes of all divisions of secular society. And these revenues were exempt from the ordinary uses of the state. The larger cities (these were of priestly origin) also enjoyed such privileged exemptions that an anti -priestly movement would be sure to arouse antagonism from them. Hence a successful revolution certainly did not receive its inspiration from them. For the country population, however, and those interested in them, it would provide relief. Upon them the burden of taxes fell with . 210-213. 14 TIGLATH PILESER III impoverishing force as soon as the stream of tribute ceased to flow into the imperial coffers. This state of affairs found in Tiglath Pileser the man who knew how to take advantage of the situation. 13 His son had in the nature of things to follow the policy of his father. But, whereas the former could rest his de- mand for popular approbation upon the success of his military exploits, and did not have to support his reputa- tion for anti-priestly feelings on an exaggerated repression of the priesthood, his son, lacking the glamour of military achievements, could only prove his loyalty to the forces which had crowned his father and himself by consistent antagonism to the priests and the priestly cities. He went so far as to levy tribute upon the sacred city of Ashur. 14 The statement that Ashur in his anger 15 gave the throne of Shalmaneser to Sargon can only mean that the priestly party, profiting by the feelings of revulsion which this sacrilege must have caused, regained sufficient power to overthrow the military party. How basic the conflict between priest and people was can be determined from the actions of the subsequent kings, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal. The first once again favored the military party, 16 and the last followed in his footsteps, while Esarhaddon, like Sargon, never failed to exalt the hierarchy. The affiliations of Tiglath Pileser III are amply evidenced when we compare his attitude towards Babylon with that of the two last named kings. 13 Cf . Peiser, Skizze der Babylonischen Gesellschaft, in Mittheilungen d. Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, 1896, Heft IV. s. 162-163. 14 K. in Winckler's Sammlungen, II, 1, and translation in Forsch. I. pp. 403 ff. Op. tit. 34 ft 16 KB! p. 121. ACCESSION 15 He was as hostile as they were favorable. Esarhaddon indeed showed his feelings by an act unique in Assyrian history. In providing materials for the building of his palace at Kaldh, he purposely mutilated and then removed the sculptures and tablets of Tiglath Pileser from the Central Palace of Shalmaneser II. About the ancestry of Tiglath Pileser III we know little. But despite the fact that he was a usurper, which may only mean that he was a younger son and not in the direct line of .succession, 17 there is no need to assume that he was not of royal blood. 18 In truth he never mentions his father. But that proves little, for the same is true of Sennacherib, whose relationship to Sargon we know only from the words of Esarhaddon. 19 Nor does Esarhaddon's desecration of the Central Palace monuments compel us to deny royal lineage to the usurper. As we have seen, this can be reasonably explained as Esarhaddon's protest against the actions of an " impious " king. In fact, there is good reason to believe that he was the son of Adad- Nirari IV. 20 " See also Tiele, Geschichte, p. 226. 18 Host, vol. I. p. viii, n. 1, makes the scribe (Ann. 31 and Th. A. 26) merely a flatterer who manufactures a royal ancestry for TP. Such a view is unnecessary, and, I believe, incorrect. The reference to Ann. 31 is a mistake. 19 JD?. 2 p. 125, lines 3 and 4, and Prisms A and C. 20 Forsch. Band II, 1905, pp. 356 ff. The usual succession of the kings preceding TP. is as follows (cf. Tiele, Geschichte, p. 206); Ramman- Nirari III (811-783); Shalmaneser III (782-773); Ashurdan II (772- 755) ; Ashur-Nirari (754-746). A glance at the Chronological List fully justifies this order. But two facts are to be noted in connection with it. First, the line between the years 764 and 763 in the Eponym Canon. The presence of this line was usually explained by the notice for 763, "In the month of Sivan an eclipse." But this explanation will not serve, since in all other cases such a line is only found between the begin- ning of one reign and the close of a preceding one. Secondly, the years 16 TIGLATH PILESER III The personality of the new ruler can only be drawn in meagre outline. We have no evidence by means of which to characterize him, further than to say in the most gen- eral way that he was brilliant and energetic as a military leader, and that his natural endowments as a statesman were fully equal to the demands of the circumstances surrounding him. That he was far-sighted, his policy of colonization, which we discuss elsewhere, proves. He seems to have set a new fashion quite remarkable for an ancient conqueror, in that no indication of wanton cruelty can be cited from the inscriptions. As with his successors, Sargon and Esarhaddon, torture and wholesale slaughter are limited to occasions where such actions arose out of imperative need. Nor can he be justly charged with mere lust for conquest. As an usurper he had of course to make good his position. But his continuous campaign- ing, with its accompanying exploitation of foreign ter- ritory, and the imposition of enormous tribute, arose out of the needs of the Empire when he came to the throne. If he had to make extensive conquests for any other reason 763, 762, 761, 760, and 759 all record revolts. Only with 758 does this state of affairs end with " Peace in the land." Added to this an Arme- nian inscription (see Belck and Lehmann, Berl. Ak. 1900, p. 118) calls Ashur-Nirari (the immediate predecessor of TP.) the son of Adad-Nirari. Was this Adad-Nirari III (810-781) ? That is not likely ; for, in that case, Ashur-Nirari (754-746) began to rule twenty-seven years after his father, and we would have to assume that Shalmaneser III, Ashur- dan III, and Ashur-Nirari II were brothers. In other words, three suc- cessive kings were brothers. Certainly an unique occurrence. Winckler's reconstruction of the succession is probably true to all the facts. The line between 764 and 763, as do all similar lines in the Canon, denotes the succession of a new king. The Armenian Inscription referred to calls Ashur-Nir,ri the son of Adad-Nirari. Since this cannot be Adad- Nirari III (812-783), we must postulate for the year 763 a king, Adad- Nirari IV, who ruled until 754. ACCESSION 17 than to enlarge the Empire, it was only to secure a steady inflow of tribute with which to relieve the burdened finan- cial condition of the people. Only in that way could he verify the contention of the revolutionists, that the cur- rent poverty was due to the unreasonable exactions of the priesthood. Had the mere lust of conquest animated him, he would have been an usurper of only the common Ori- ental type. An examination of the records strongly mili- tates against such a conclusion. While the Assyrian chronologists, not being historians in the modern sense, tell us nothing of the circumstances leading to the revolu- tion, we are enabled to infer the truth of the situation from one very significant fact. The first care of an or- dinary usurper is to secure himself against the claims and operations of the legitimate heir whom he has displaced. In the case of Tiglath Pileser III, the party of the natural heir was the priesthood. Had the demand for a complete change not been nation-wide, he could not have ventured to leave his capital shortly after his coronation. Hardly had six months elapsed, however, i.e. in the first half of his first regnal year, 21 when he went forth upon his initial campaign. No merely usurping adventurer would have dared to risk such a move. 21 Rost, vol. I. p. XI. Since he came to the throne after but two months had elapsed, he reckoned 745 as his first regnal year. As a rule the "res Sarruti " denoted the first full calendar year of a king's reign. CHAPTER III THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS From the very first it was evident that Tiglath Pileser had formulated plans to meet the problems which faced him and his country. So far as mere conquest was con- cerned many of his predecessors had been eminently suc- cessful. It was only when the question of organizing conquered territory and peoples had arisen that they had failed. Up to Tiglath's Pileser's time, conquest and revolt succeeded one another with almost unfailing regu- larity, and the length of time during which most de- pendencies remained loyal was in direct proportion to the military capacity of the then ruling king. Tiglath Pileser planned to make an end of such opportunist allegiance. He inaugurated a system of colonization designed to make of the Assyrian Empire a well-regulated and organic whole, whose farthest possessions would be firmly united with the imperial country by organic ties. In this respect Tiglath Pileser was an innovator ; but in the general plan of conquest which former kings pursued he could well afford to be an imitator. They had followed a perfectly natural and reasonable course. The practical aim of all these monarchs was identical ; viz., on the south Babylon was to be held as a dependent vassal, and on the east the tribes which had colonized in Baby- lonia had to be restrained, lest, obtaining a permanent 18 THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS 19 foothold there, they might prove a serious obstacle to Assyrian expansion in that direction. In the north the people of Urartu and their natural allies had to be weakened by the constant embarrassment of battle, lest by an alliance with the Armenians they should finally displace Assyria as mistress of the " Four Quarters of the World." The large stretch of territory on the west which reached to the Mediterranean contained no single nation sufficiently powerful to threaten the domination of Assyria, but the peoples settled in that region were rich in many products required by Assyria. In the imperial plan these western lands were destined to furnish a field for terri- torial expansion, to provide the means necessary to keep Assyrian finances abreast of its great needs, and to supply the country with the desired commodities of import. In full accord with this traditional plan Tiglath Pileser III undertakes his first campaign against Babylonia, setting out in September 745. But to think that he moved against Babylon as an enemy 1 is to miss entirely the statesman- like insight which he displayed throughout his reign. Assyria was the suzerain of Babylon ; and it is very probable that Nabun&gir, the Babylonian king, seeing that an energetic man of ability now ruled at Kalah, was glad to be able to invoke his aid against the Arameans and the Chaldeans who were threatening the eastern and southern borders of Babylonia. Tiglath Pileser's prompt response to the appeal was not only animated by 1 So Host, vol. I. p. XIII. Tiele also shares this view ; cf. Geschichte, pp. 217 ff. Against it are Winckler, Hist. pp. 113 ff., and Hommel, Geschichte, pp. 651 ff. Rost's claim that TP. took the title of "King of Sumer and Akkad" from the beginning, does not prove that he went to Babylon as an enemy. Assyrian suzerainty over Babylon is sufficient to account for his assumption of the title. 20 TIGLATH PILESER III the need of checking these tribes, but also by personal and political considerations. He was king by right of revolution, but no religious consecration had legitimized his accession. In Assyria he could not stoop to receive such consecration, for the priesthood would not have accorded it, and the military classes, whose antagonism to the priesthood had fathered the revolution, would not have condoned him had he accepted it. To them it would have appeared that he had secretly compounded with the Temple interests; but from the Babylonian priesthood, whose consecration made his rule just as valid as that of the priests of Assyria, he could and did receive religious sanction. Nor would they withhold it provided he consented to come to the aid of their king and country, threatened as it was by powerful foes on the frontier. Under their auspices he could offer sacrifices to Bel, Nebo, Nergal (Th. A. 11 and 12), to arpanit and TaSmit, in those Babylonian cities which he visited during his first campaign. Then he could return home as a king whose coronation had lost the last vestige of illegitimacy be- cause the gods had accepted his offerings and granted him victory. It would also for another reason have served no profit- able purpose for Tiglath Pileser to play the role of enemy against Babylon at this time. In his first campaign a usurper must be victorious. Had he gone forth as the avowed enemy of Babylon in this campaign, he could not have claimed a complete victory, unless he had succeeded in dethroning Nabunagir. Doubtless he could have done so, for Nabunagir was in no position to offer effective resist- ance, but such a step would have caused Tiglath Pileser great embarrassment. To make his coronation legitimate, THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS 21 he would then have been compelled to " grasp the hands of Bel." This, as we shall see below, he was unable to do at this time, and to have omitted that ceremony would have spelled a capital offence against the priesthood of Babylon. At home he could afford to antagonize the priesthood, but he could not risk a similar policy in Babylon. Unlike their compeers in the north, the Babylonian priests were at this time normally powerful in the political affairs of their country. Their influence was also strongly felt in Assyria. The Assyrians, although they had very re- cently participated in a revolution against their own priest- hood, had no feeling of antipathy to the priests of Babylon. On the contrary, the religious influence of Babylon over Assyria was never really enfeebled during the entire period of Assyrian supremacy. It was very strong at this time. Had Tiglath Piles er crowned himself king of Babylon without " grasping the hands of Bel," he would not only have been looked upon as a sacrilegious despot by the people of the South, but also by his own countrymen, and he would have earned the enmity of a proud vassal state whose sense of independence was strong in addition to the opposition of a large part of Assyrian society. If on the other hand, in 745, he had submitted to priestly corona- tion, he might have gained power and popularity at home and in the South, but such added popularity would have been short-lived, especially in Babylonia, for the ceremony of " grasping the hands of Bel " had to be repeated annually in the city of Babylon. To have missed it only once would have invalidated his sovereignty. Had he attempted de- spite the omission to retain the crown, the feelings of the priesthood and of all Babylonians would have been out- raged, and in their eyes Tiglath Pileser would have 22 TIGLATH PILESER III ranked as a ruthless tyrant trampling the rights and cherished convictions of his subjects under foot. He would have provided for himself a tireless enemy at his very gates and endangered his great plans. In the years to come all his campaigns would have to be arranged with a view to being present in Babylon for the imperative annual ceremony. A king whose future operations were already mapped out, and who in accord- ance with them would have to travel as far afield as Urartu, or even the Caspian Sea on the north and the Medi- terranean on the west, had to postpone the assumption of full kingship over Babylon until such a time as his farthest provinces were enduringly bound to the Empire, and his governors and lieutenants had learned, under his own tuition, how to hold the king's possessions by the aid of the system which the crown intended to inaugurate. His purpose in this campaign 2 was, then, not to sub- jugate Babylon, but to prevent its falling into the hands of the Arameans and Chaldeans. These tribes 3 were his first concern, since to leave them unmolested might at some future time have occasioned serious obstacles to the full prosecution of any distant expedition in which he might 2 The account of this campaign is given in Ann. 1-7 (Lay. 68). Schrader, Kritik, on the basis of a comparison between Lay. 60 B, lines 5-6, and Lay. 67 A, line 5, assigns the campaign to the 18th and 19th palu, i.e. 733-732. This assignment Host (vol. I. p. V) rightly rejects. Ann. 1-7 belong to 745, because the continuation of this record (Lay. 34 B) tells of the conquest of Dur-Kurigalzu and Sippar, which (cf. Ann. 12) occurred in the first palu or regnal year. 3 Th. A. 5-9 mentions all these tribes. Also Sargon, Prism, I, 41-46 and V, 36-38 ; and Khorsabad, 18-19 (cf. 126-127) gives the following order from west to east. Tu 1 Ru-bu', Ha-ri-lum, Kal-(?)-du-du, Ham- ra-mt, U-bu-lum, J?#a, Li' } -(ta)-ta-ai sa a-ah Su-rap-pi Uk-ni-i, Gam- 6w-w, Hi-in-da-ru, Pu-qu-du. For .Rwa, Glaser (Skizze, 189) thinks of "BlM." Cf. Gen. xi. 19. THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS 23 happen to be engaged ; and it is conceivable that while he was in the far West they might even seriously threaten Assyria. Later on he had to wage strenuous war with the Chaldeans, and their power is shown by the fact that, even when he did get an opportunity to devote his undivided attention to them, they were strong enough to hold Sapid, their capital, against every exertion of Tiglath Pileser, al- though at that time (733) his troops were veterans, and he a mighty conqueror with a long record of brilliant vic- tories. Now, in 745, these Aramean and Chaldean tribes had come within striking distance of Babylon. A branch of these two tribes on the east of the Tigris was nomadic, but the most dangerous although not the more numerous sections had possessed themselves of several important cities on the right bank of the Euphrates, any one of which might be used as a base of operations for an attack upon Babylon. That city once in their hands, they would have been in a position to threaten Assyria itself. March- ing directly south, Tiglath Pileser attacks and takes in order the cities which were held by his enemies. These were (cf. Ann. 12 ff. and Th. A. 11), Dur-Kurigalzu^ Sippar, Pazitu, Pahhaz, Nippur, Babylon, Borsippaf Kis? Dilbat, and Uruk. s He drove the Aramean 4 Kuins of Akar-Kuf ; so Paradies, pp. 207 f . But more probably Til-Nimrud, west of Bagdad on the Nahr Ifa, where Sir H. Rawlinson found a brick marked " Dur Kurigalzu." 5 Barsip. Its god was Nebo and his temple was called E-zida. The Talmud (Ab. Zar. XI. b) reads, " Beth N'bo ftBursi." 1 6 Cf. Paradies, p. 217. The ruins of Til-Ibrahim a little west of Babylon. The location is made certain by the reference in the Nabuna'id Chronicle, Col. III. 10 f. 7 J. Jensen, ZA. XV. pp. 211 ff., in a very painstaking investigation, distinguishes three different cities named Kis. One in the extreme south 24 TIGLATH PILESER III tribes from the banks of the Lower Zab to the banks of the Uknu River. 9 He redug the Patti-Canal, and on the of Babylonia. This cannot be the city mentioned for the year 745, since in the campaign of that year TP. went no farther south than Nippur. A second Kis lay in northern Babylonia near Bagdad, east of the Euphrates. A third Kis is always mentioned as a neighboring city of Harsagkalama, in a hill district on the road between Assur and Babylon. Its name is always written Kis or Ki-su. Which of the two last named cities is the Kis captured by TP. ? I think we may eliminate the Kis near Bagdad. Had TP. conquered two cities named Kis, he would have distinguished between them. That he dealt with the one near Harsagkalama we may confidently assume, because at Harsagkalama (cf. PI. I. 16) he offered sacrifices to Nergal. II. E. 50, 13, mentions a temple at that place, Har- sagkalama means, " mount of the Zemd." Thus Harsagkalama, and its near by city Kis, lay in a hilly district. Since there are no hills between the Tigris and the Euphrates, it is, I think, evident that we must look for the Kis we are seeking east of the Tigris. If this be correct, then the Kis placed by Winckler (Hist, map) between the Tigris and the Euphrates is not the city which TP. took. And again, if our Kis lay east of the Tigris, then TP. , marching south from Kalah, got as far south as Nippur, and returning north from there, crossed the Tigris, and, while homeward bound, took Kis and Harsagkalama. This explains why he, after review- ing (PI. I. 16) the accomplishments of the campaign, sacrificed at Har- sagkalama. It was the last city he took, hence he there celebrated his victory over the conquered tribes by offerings to the gods. 8 i.e. Warka ; cf. Jensen, ZA. XV. 211. 9 When the Uknu is mentioned with the Tigris andj the Surapi it is always in the following order : Tigris, Surapi, Uknu. This order points from west to east. But if, as has been proved (Paradies, p. 195), the Uknu is the modern Kercha, then the question arises what modern river is the same as the ancient^ Surapi ? For there is no river between the Tigris and the Kercha. Delitzsch thinks of a canal corresponding to the modern Umm-el-Jemel. But this canal is west of the Tigris, and the order should then be: Surapi, Tigris, Uknu. The probable solution (cf. Bil- lerbeck, Mitthl. Vorderas. G-esellschaft, 1898, pp. 81 f.) is that the course of the Tigris has changed since Assyrian times. Its course then corre- sponded to that of the Shatt-el-Hai, and what was then known as the Surapi is our present lower Tigris, which was the channel into which poured the various small rivers rising in the Pushti-Kuh, and which pursued the course of the modern Shatt-el 'Arab to the Persian Gulf. De Goeje, ZDMG. vol. XXXIX. p. 8, thinks that the Uknu may be the Sura Canal. THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS 25 site of " Til-Kamri which is called Humut " he built a fortified city, to which he gave the name Kar-Assur; also a second city the name of which was written at the end of Annals, line 21, but which has been broken away. Rost thinks it may have been Dur-Tukulti-apil-isarra. These two cities became the central garrison-posts of the con- quered districts, where he settled his lieutenants, having put the territory under the jurisdiction of the two neigh- boring provinces of Barhazia and Mazamua} The lieuten- ants had not only to raise sufficient revenues for the purposes of military occupation, but had also to deliver a considerable sum to the imperial treasury, since their an- nual assessment was fixed at the large sum of ten talents of gold and one thousand talents of silver, besides tribute in cattle and other goods. From E-sagila, E-zida, and E-sitlam the priests brought gifts n as tokens of their sub- mission to the conqueror. With the completion of his first conquest Tiglath Pileser began to put into practice his policy of colonization. The conquered peoples were scattered and their lands repeopled with colonists from Mazamua and Barhazia. His object was of course to obviate future opportunities for conspiracy 10 Rost, vol. I. p. 7, n. 1. A comparison of line 50 of the Annals of Shalm. II, with his Monolith Inscription, Col. II, 75, shows that the country was interchangeably called Mazamua and Zamua ; its capital was probably Zamri (cf. Annals ofAsrh. II. 61, 62) . Host (vol. I. p. 5) trans- lates, "Ba-ar-ha-zi-ia, pan pihat (mat} Ma-za-mu-a" {Ann. 17), " der Provinz Barhaza, Mazamua.'''' Billerbeck (Sulm. p. 72) leaves out the comma between the two names, and taking them together makes of them the designation of a district in Mazamua, called Barhazia. TP. felt him- self secure in the possession of this district from the very beginning of his reign, since he annexed the conquered territory to it. It must, therefore, have been situated near the Assyrian border. 11 The bringing of rihati = * gifts' (Rost, p. 127), not only symbolized submission, but was in itself a priestly sanction of TP.'s coronation. 26 TIGLATH PILESER III or revolution, and he rendered the subjugated tribes im- potent, both by garrisoning their land and by scattering them in widely different colonies, thereby preventing the possibility of concerted action on their part. But, although in this campaign he penetrated as far as Nippur in the south and had subjugated the country all the way to the foothills of Elam, clearing the plains and river basins of hostile tribes, his work would eventually have gone for nought, had he not penetrated to the hill- tribes in their mountain fastnesses in the country beyond. To have left these unmolested must have invalidated his exertions in the lowlands. From the highlands an uncon- quered enemy could have descended into the plains to undo all the victorious results of the first campaign. To make Assyria secure, and to settle matters on his immediate southern frontier and his eastern borders, he undertook in the following year (744) his second expe- dition, that against Namri. 12 However, the southern frontier could not be considered safe until the passes east of the Diala had been secured. Their occupation and fortification would serve the double purpose of a defensive border outpost, and in case of any future advance into the country beyond, the roads would be clear for any invasion he might contemplate. Not only is it probable that Tiglath Pileser divided his army into two corps for this campaign, but in all likelihood one of these corps moved in at least two columns. One corps 12 Namri used to be read " Zimri ' ' (cf. Smith, " Assyrian Canon," p. 64) . Misled by this reading, Delitzsch (Paradies, p. 237) refers to the Zimri of Jer. xxv. 25. Host (vol. I. p. xvi. n. 1) believes that the designation Namri may have been a general term for " East." This would be due to a popular etymology which derived Namri from namaru, ' to be or to become light, to shine,' and is probably incorrect. THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS 27 operated to the south. Starting from a point not far north of modern Bakuba, it followed a course generally parallel to the east bank of the Diala arid presumably crossed the divide where one of the branches of the Konchitum River breaks through the hills, not far from modern Iinam-Esker; proceeding east they overran Erinziam^ Bit-Hamban, Bit-Sumurzu^ Bit-Barrua, Bit-Zualzaz, and then Ari- arma^ Tarsarranihu, and Saksukni. The northern corps under the provincial governor Assur-danin-ani, had the task of subjugating the " mighty Medes." They succeeded in conquering so extensive a territory that it is more than probable that they operated in at least two separate columns. But the Annals give us little aid in tracing their respective routes. It is probable, however, that they did not divide forces until they had reached the plain of the Shehrizor. This, so far as the nature of the country is concerned, they could have en- tered most easily by marching along the west bank of the 18 This locality is to be sought northwest of Kizilrobat. After conquer- ing the three countries, Erinziasu, Bit-gamban, and Bit-Sumurzu, TP. could write (Ann. 49): " I smote them to the borders of Assur." His aim was to control the mountain passes of these countries. They gave access to the more distant East, and prepared the way for the campaign of 737, "to Media." 14 In the Annals, Bit-Sumurzu is mentioned alone. In the other inscriptions, it is always coupled with Bit-Barrua, the country which was immediately to the north of it, and which lay in the neighborhood of the modern Kamiran. Streck, ZA. XV. p. 325, locates Blt-gamban east of the Diala between Bakuba and Mendeli. This is surely too far south. It was probably north of Kizilrobat in the vicinity of Saripul, in the hill country through which the boundary line between Suleimania and the southern part of Ardelan runs. 15 Ariarma, Tarsarranihu, and Saksukni are mentioned in that order in Ann. 56 and Th. A, 31. Bit-Sumurzu (together with Bustus) corre- spond to modern Azerbaijan; and Ariarma, which is mentioned after Bustus in PI. II. 22, is to be located in Southern Azerbaijan and Northern Ardelan, and Tarsarranihu and Saksukni in Southwestern Khamseh. 28 TIGLATH PILESER III Diala, south of the Segrime Dagh, and continuing parallel to the Shirwan, a branch of the Diala. At some point which commanded the various roads into Media, perhaps near modern Behistun, they separated. One division, going northwest, overran Bit-Abdadani 16 and Bit-Zatti, then turning to the northeast, on the right flank of their former route, they defeated the troops of Bit-Tazzaki. 17 The second division, starting in the direction of the south- east, overcame Bit-Istar, and thence going south, carried its victorious arms through Bit-Sangibutti &nd.Bit-$angi. A half turn round towards the north brought them to Bit- Kapsi and finally still further north to Arazias and Par- sua. ld The two divisions had together traced an almost complete circle, and now probably reunited their forces at the appointed rendezvous. Most likely this was their point of departure near Behistun. Here it seems was the site of Nikur, the fortress which in Annals 28 was re- corded as having been destroyed. It was rebuilt as a 16 The Eamman-Nirari Inscription from Kalah (KB. 1 p. 191, lines 8-9) r eads, Mu-un-a Par-su-a Al-lab-ri-a Ab-da-da-na Na-^-ri ana pat gim- n'-sw. A comparison with a passage in Sargon (Annals, Botta, 73, 7), which reads, " Al-lab-ri-a Ma-an-na-ai Ur-ar-tu," shows that Allabria was situated between Parsua and Mannai to the east of Lake Urimia, and Abdadana east of Allabria, perhaps in the district around Kuh- Karawal. 17 Bit-Tazzaki and Blt-Kapsi are Median districts (Ann. 26 and Th. A. 29 f. 34 f.), stretching from eastern Mazamua northward to Lake Urumia. Their location will depend on the location of Zakruti, with which they are twice mentioned ( Th. A. 30, 36 and PI. 1. 18). If Zakruti was, as is probable, in the vicinity of the Pundsch-Ali, then Blt-Kapsi lay between it and the Talvantu-Dagh. 18 East of modern Sinna. 19 East and southeast of Lake Urumia. Together with Bustus it cov- ered modern Azerbaijan. 20 Near Behistuan. The reading is not certain; it may be " Sal-lat." Cf. Br. pp. 231 and 309. THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS 29 strategic base, to control the whole country which had been overrun by both corps. Here a large number of people from the various conquered tribes were settled and a provincial governor was placed over them, while others from the north were colonized in Bit-Sumurzu and Bit- Hamban, and still others in Zakruti. Before arriving at Nikur, the two corps had effected a junction, possibly in Arazias? 1 which they may have conquered together. Whether Arakuttu 1 and Nisai were also reached in this year cannot be determined. 23 Neither is mentioned in the An- nals. More probably their turn did not come until 737, when a second war was waged in the regions here considered. The booty yield of the campaign must have been enor- mous. Horses, mules, large and small cattle, camels, weapons, precious metals and stones, and all manner of 21 Host's emendation for Arazi. Location probably just west of Divan- dere ; cf . Sulm. p. 34. 22 Fr. Lenormant (Sur la campagne de Tiglath Phalazar II dans VAriane, in ZA. 1870, pp. 48 ff. and 69-71) thinks that the presence of such names as Nisai, Arakutti, Ariarma, and Zakruti shows that TP. penetrated into Ariana and Arachosia. But Delattre (Le Peuple et la Langue des Medes, pp. 85 f.) has disproved that hypothesis. Host (vol. I. p. vi. n. 1) suggests that since TP. did not penetrate into farther Media, the presence of the names may be due to the fact that some Iranian tribes did at one time press westward, and then later, because of numerous migrations of different races into Media, they returned to the East. TP.'s claim to have conquered these tribes bearing Iranian names, may be only the record of a tribute which they were forced to pay him temporarily. 23 The following places mentioned in this campaign are not recorded in any other Assyrian inscriptions : Sanastiku, garsu, {larsai, Kiskitara, Aiubak, Tutasdi, Kusianas. The lines, Ann. 51-58, are not meant to convey the idea that the cities and princes recorded in them were over- come after the fall of Blt-gamban. They are a summary of the results of the campaign (lines 26-50), and are not to be regarded as chronological ; i. e. the cities and lands mentioned are all to be sought in any of the lands conquered during 744. 30 TIGLATH PILESER III products were carried away as trophies and as profit. A tribute of 300 talents of " uknfi stone" (lapis lazuli) and 500 talents of silver M was imposed, and 65,000 prisoners were deported for colonization in other dependencies. The nearest foes were now helpless. At the end of two years' reign enough tribute and booty must have been brought into Assyria to satisfy even a people whose previous supply for some years had been a minimum. Tiglath Pileser had undoubtedly made his position so strong that for the future his campaigns might carry him to great dis- tances without his having to fear that any revolution at home would seriously threaten his crown. These first two expeditions had proved brilliantly successful. The usurper had justified all prophecies as to his powers. Whole districts were in ashes. Old fortified towns, which had become a menace, were destroyed. Powerful enemies had been terrified by the sight of heaps of their slain and wounded, and were taught to understand what the future held in store for Assyria's foes. At important points Tiglath Pileser had erected ' calam sarrutiaS 4 images of my royalty.' Much booty was dedicated to the god Assur, and his terror was ever before the eyes of the smitten peoples (TJi. A. 40). Although not all the conquered districts were formally incorporated into the Empire, Tiglath Pileser had, in 744, begun the real work of assimilation and amalgamation. These eastern tribes were mostly Iranian and Kassite. The last had at one time established a dynasty of thirty- six kings in Babylon, 25 and as late as 702, Sennacherib x had 24 Ann. 53 is broken ; but surely the tribute could not have amounted to five hundred talents of gold. 25 Cf. Winckler, Hist. pp. 72 f. 2 6 Tiele, GescUchte, p. 287. THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN FRONTIERS 31 found it necessary to suppress them. Their traditions must have made them cherish a degree of independence so strong that it proved well-nigh impossible to subdue them entirely. Perhaps it was because of this close cherishing of their independent Babylonian identity that Tiglath Pileser's plan of colonization never really resulted in their full assimilation, and they may have been the cause of his campaign of 737. CHAPTER IV SYRIA AND THE WEST The object of the campaign of 743 did not contemplate direct conflict with Urartu 1 itself. The day for such a vital move was not yet at hand. The triumph over Median foes, although decisive, was in no way to be compared with the struggle which Sardurri III of Urartu was prepared to wage for supremacy in Asia. He was a foe worthy of the utmost consideration; nor would he and his people fight the less furiously and bitterly against Assyria, because the gage of the coming battle was not some petty principality, but overlordship of the whole of the northern half of the continent or perhaps independence itself. There was not room for two great powers of equal strength and resources in Asia. Great nations had not yet learned how to live amicably side by side. Between them there was sure to be constant conflict until one or the other was either thoroughly subjugated and rendered dependent upon its conqueror or was altogether annihilated. To be less powerful than a neighboring people was in itself a prophecy that inde- pendence would be shortlived. As the situation now stood in Asia, either Assyria or Urartu must expect to bow to the superior prowess of the 1 Urartu is the Assyrian form. The great god of the nation was Haldis, and the name Haldean is sometimes used ; cf. Olmstead, " Sargon of Assyria," p. 36, n. 30. C. F. Lehmann has shown (Verhandlungen der Berliner Anthropologischen Gesellschaft, 1900, pp. 34 f.), that the Haldeans are the Chaldoi of the Greek and Byzantine writers ; not to be confused with the jKaZcfo'-Chaldeans. 32 SYRIA AND THE WEST 33 other, and the issue might hinge upon the result of a single engagement. Nor was that issue at all a foregone conclu- sion. Assyria's glorious tradition was a valuable asset in the struggle to come, but this great tradition was not by any means her only weapon. As has been seen, when Tiglath Pileser III came to the throne, Assyria was in a state of lethargy, but her fundamental vitality and vigor were not impaired. It only needed a vigorous, able ruler, with whom the majority of the nation should be in full accord, to arouse her to great endeavor. That Tiglath Pileser was such a man his two previous campaigns clearly indicated ; but the Urartian, too, had become accustomed to victory, and not only over petty nations, but over Assyria itself. As we saw in Chapter II, from the time of Ramman-Nirari III, up to the very date of Tiglath Pileser's coronation, Urartian power had been steadily increasing. Menuas had measured strength with Assyria, and both he and his son Argistis had proved themselves the most aggressive and successful monarchs of their dynasty. Tiele 2 has made a list of the most important of the possessions of Menuas, and it in- cludes the land of the Hittites, Melitene, Man, and Urmedi. He in his turn bequeathed to his successor, Sardurri III, an empire the largest part of which had been wrested from Assyria, and had*been among her most valuable possessions. When Tiglath Pileser came into contact with Sardurri, Urartian territory had attained its widest extent. Its northern and northeastern boundary line ran through the Plains of Alexandrapal 3 and Gokcha Lake (Transcaucasia) 2 Geschichte, p. 215 ; cf. also Sayce, CIV. XXXVII-XLIV. 8 See C. F. Lehmann, Verhandlungen der Berliner Anthropologischen Gesellschaft, 1900, p. 33. No account of Urartian history, geography, and culture can afford to overlook the work of Belck and Lehmann. Most of it has been published in the journal referred to. 34 TIGLATH PILESER III and stretched on the northwest to Hassankala nearErzerum, Aschgerd, and Delibaba. On the west was the Murad Tschai, with the furthest outposts at Masgerd north of Kharput, and at Isoli. On the south its line ran along the mountain range between Armenia and Mesopotamia, and on the extreme east, from Gokcha Lake to Ordaklu. Nor does this large empire seem to have hung together loosely. The manner in which many of the independent states re- sisted Tiglath Pileser proves that the Urartian kings had succeeded to a surprising degree in rendering vassals and tributaries firm in their fidelity. The determined and bitter opposition which the Syrian princes offered to the arms of Tiglath Pileser, compelling him to spend three years in the West before they could be forced to forswear their adherence to Sardurri, indicates the large measure of Urartian mastery over very wide territorial possessions. Sardurri had also shown his capacity for military accomplishments. By the year 755 he had conquered Melitene, 4 and by 744 the countries of Taurus and Amanus were also his. Upon these and the support of Arpad he could depend in the contest now before him. It is indeed a matter of wonder that he did not press on to the further West and conquer both Damascus and Israel. The first was at this time very weak, and Israel, though apparently prosperous during the reign of Jeroboam II, was, as Amos testifies, not inherently strong. The weakness of neigh- boring kingdoms fully accounts for the outward glory of Jeroboam's reign ; and even this was beginning to fade during the last years of his life. 5 Perhaps Sardurri real- ized that it was impolitic to attempt further extension of * Cf Inscriptions of Isoglu, Sayce, JEAS. XVI, pp. 642 ft 5 Cf. Hosea, i, ii, iii. SYRIA AND THE WEST 35 territory at this time, because Tiglath Pileser had shown that he was no weakling. It would suffice the Urartian king for the time being, if he could only hold his own against Assyria. Nor was it any part of his plan to push further west away from his home provinces, and leave a strong enemy in his rear. He could afford to let the Assyrian make the first move. This, Tiglath Pileser was compelled to do. Perhaps one of the secret wishes he entertained in making his campaign of the previous year in Armenia and the East was that Sardurri would leave Van and come south to meet him on neutral ground. But Sardurri did not stir. To have attempted to march against Sardurri's capital 6 and strike at the very centre of things would have meant a long trying journey through snow-bound mountain passes, easy for the Armenian to defend. For a hazardous attempt of that kind Tiglath Pileser was not prepared in 744. He dared not risk the chance of a reverse. In that case the Urartian allies would have clung all the closer to their allegiance, and it was with these allies, particularly with the Hittites and Syrians, that much of Sardurri's power lay. The most promising plan, therefore, was to strike some- where in Northern Syria. The tribute and taxes from this rich part of Asia were essential to Sardurri, and their threatened loss would not fail to bring him from his mountain-guarded capital into the plains. Here without incurring the danger, fatigue, and delay of a long march around Lake Van, the advantage was with Tiglath Pileser. Should Sardurri stay at home, he would be the loser, since that must have amounted to a confession of fear, 6 The name of the capital was Turuspa. It is the classical Thospites. For the various forms of the name, see Sayce, JBAS. 1882. 36 TIGLATH PILESER III and as such have been a moral blow at the influence of Urartu. The sources mention 7 Agtisi? Qummuh, Melid, Sarn'ol, 9 and G-argum, as the active allies with whom Tiglath Pileser had to deal. Early in 743 he marched west, and the Canon entry for that year 10 reads, "ina Arpadda" in the city of Arpad. Nowhere in his inscriptions does Tiglath Pileser hint of a battle or a siege which secured to him the possession of the city in this year. There is no justification, with Rost, 11 to change the preposition from, "ina" to " igir had remained loyal to Tiglath Pileser. But in all probability there al- ways existed a pro-Babylonian party in Babylon, which had never ceased to agitate against the overlordship of Assyria, and had rendered Nabun&gir's reign precarious. The fact that Borsippa revolted is significant, for it was one of the cities captured by Tiglath Pileser in 745. Nabunagir was succeeded by Nabu-nadin-zir, who, after a very brief reign, was killed by Nabu-sum-ukin, an usurper. He was perhaps successful in his usurpation be- cause the anti- Assyrian party were his sponsors. Through- out all this turmoil of rapid regnal and dynastic change Tiglath Pileser remained at home, watchful and appar- ently passive. As long as the strife in Babylonia was purely domestic he had no urgent need to fear for his own plans ; but soon the inevitable happened. The Chaldeans, who never allowed an opportunity of gaining a foothold in Babylonia to escape them, took advantage of the dis- turbed conditions of government. Their most powerful tribe, the Bit-Ammukani^ under the leadership of Ukinzir, 2 entered Babylon. Ukinzir proclaimed himself king. Tig- lath Pileser's excuse had come. As the suzerain of Baby- lon, he was her natural protector from foreign foes, and he could not allow the always dangerous Chaldeans to come into such threatening proximity to the Assyrian border line. If no Babylonian could hold the throne, certainly neither must a Chaldean be permitted to do so. Tiglath Pileser marches south, his objective point being Sapia, the capital of Ukinzir and the metropolis of the 2 Cf. Chapter I. p. 6. Cf. Esarh. Cyln. II. 42-43 (KB. 2 p. 128). 66 TIGLATH PILESER III Bit-Ammukani. En route he conquered the Puqudu 3 and thoroughly subjugated them. Their cities, Hilimmu and Pillutu, were sacked 4 and the whole district placed under a governor whose seat of administration was at Arrapha. 5 A large number of the inhabitants of the conquered terri- tory were transported into Assyria and settled there in scattered colonies. The Silani people fared even worse. Nabu-usabli, their king, was killed, and Sarrdbani, his royal city, ruined, while the cities of Tarbapu and labullu were added to the number of ash heaps left in the wake of the destroyer. The whole territory gave up 55,000 prisoners. Next came the Bit-So? alii. Their king must in some way have perjured himself (Th. A. 19). He retreated into his capital, Dur-Illatai, which he fortified, but to no 3 The Puqudu are not mentioned in PL IT. 6, or in Th. A. 13. It is possible to include them in the list of peoples conquered in 745, but in view of their having been the most important Aramean tribe, it is strange that they should not be mentioned in the Annals. Th. A. arranged, of course, geographically, enumerates the conquests of 745 and 731 together. I think it best fits the known facts to assign the expedition against the Puqudu to the latter year. The Puqudu were located on the extreme eastern borders of Elam. They are the Pekod of Jer. 1. 21. It has been claimed that the name Pekod in that passage is only symbolical and not a proper noun, since the term mentioned with it, Merathaim, is certainly figurative, meaning ** double rebellion." But Ez. xxiii. 23 disproves this claim. There Pekod, Sutu, and Kutu are mentioned in connection with the Assyrians. Talmud, Hulin, 107 a, mentions a Nahr Peko in the vicinity of a city called Ner. 4 Whether I-di-bi-ri-i-na is a proper name is in doubt. Host (vol. I. p. 67) is undecided. He transliterates the text (Th. A. 13), $a I-di-bi- ri-i-na, and in the translation simply repeats the same words ; nor does he give the word a place in his index of proper names. Schrader, KB. 2 33, reads " a idi U-ri-i-na (mahaza) Hi-li-im-mu " ; and translates, 4 'which on the side of the biriina of the city Hilimmu." Strong, RP. V. p. 121, reads, "$a idi biri ina Khilummu," translating, "which (looks) towards the midst of the city of Khilummu." 5 Near Tuz-Khurmah ; cf. Scheil in Sec. d. Trav. p. 186. THE CONQUEST OF BABYLONIA 67 purpose. The city was obliged to surrender, and together with Amlilatu, rendered up its treasure and contributed its large quota to the 50,400 prisoners who were parcelled out into widely distributed settlements. But the city which Tiglath Pileser was most anxious to take, Sapia, success- fully resisted every siege device. All its surrounding country was devastated, but Ukinzir retained his capital, at least for the time being. To complete the subjugation of the Chaldeans was impossible while Ukinzir remained unsubdued, but all the rest of the tribes were made tribu- tary. Balasu, too, of the Dakkuri? sent tokens of submis- sion; while Merodach Baladan 7 of the Bit-Yakin, a country no king of which had ever done homage to Assyria (Tli. A. 26), journeyed to Tiglath Pileser's camp while the latter was besieging Sapia, and rendered his voluntary tribute of precious metals and the products of his swamp- land country. To the list of subject princes was added Nadin of Larrak. 8 All that now stood between Tiglath Pileser and the throne of Babylon, was Ukinzir. To achieve his ambition, the Bit-Amukkani and their leader had to be put out of the way. The year 730 Tiglath Pileser spent at home, preparing for the final campaign. e Usually Bit-Dakkuri (Esarh. II. 42) (m&tu) Bit-Dak-kur-i $a ki-rib (mutu) Kal-di ai-ab Ba-bi-lu ka-mu-u. " Bit-Dakkuri in Chaldea, inimi- cal to Babylon." West of the Euphrates near Babylon and Borsippa. It is mentioned together with all the tribes which TP. mentions in 731, in Sargon, Prunk. 21 (KB. 2 p. 55): a mi-sir (matu) Elamtu (matu) Kar- duniaS i-US u ap-li (matu) Bit-Amukkani (matu) Blt-Dak-ku-ri (matu) Bit-Si-la-ni (matu) Bit-Sa'al-la si-Ur-ti (m&tu} Kal-di ma-la-ba-Su-u, " In the district of Elam throughout its whole extent ... all of Elam as much as it is." 7 The form Berodach Baladan in 2 K. xx. 12 is a textual corruption. 8 Lenormant, La Langue Primitive, p. 34, identifies it with the Ellasar of Gen. xiv. 1. According to Loftus, " Travels and Researches," p. 256, it is identical with the ruins of Sankereh. 68 TIGLATH PILESER III In all likelihood, this interval of preparation was a busy time in diplomacy and intrigue. Even with Ukinzir out of the way, there was still an anti-Assyrian party in Baby- lon, who could be depended upon to resist to the last the crowning of a foreigner. These pro-Babylonians would accept Tiglath Pileser's aid in freeing their country of the Chaldean danger, but would insist on having a native sov- ereign. How did the always powerful priesthood stand in the matter ? In 745, while a native king ruled, they had hailed Tiglath Pileser as king of Assyria, and as such had brought him gifts for clearing their country of her enemies. Would they accept him as king of their own land in 729? To ascertain their attitude with surety Tiglath Pileser during his stay at home in 730, probably carried on nego- tiations with the priests. Perhaps the defeat of Ukinzir was part of the price which the priests exacted in exchange for any aid they might promise to render to the Assyrian king, in his efforts to gain the Babylonian crown. Cyrus in later times probably gained just such an easy access to Babylon because of a previous compact with the priest- hood, and it demands no great stretch of the imagination to think that Tiglath Pileser too had a perfectly clear un- derstanding with the priestly caste. At any rate in 729 he proceeded south a second time, and this time his operations against Sapia were successful. Ukinzir was captured and of course executed. The way to the throne of Babylon was now clear. On the New Year's day Tiglath Pileser III " grasped the hands of Bel," and was crowned under the name of Pulu. De facto and de jure king of Assyria, king of Sumer and Akkad, conqueror of Western Asia, a prince without rival, the usurper of 745 has become the master of civilization. THE CONQUEST OF BABYLONIA 69 Great pity it is that the records are mutilated. Were the sources not so meagre, a fuller knowledge would per- haps compel us to class Tiglath Pileser III as the equal of Cyrus, than whom the Eastern world produced no mightier warrior and administrator. From the Caspian to Egypt, all of Asia was dependent upon Assyria. No future king would hold his empire more firmly than Tiglath Pileser had held it, nor inspire greater respect and fear of his mighty power. In 728 Tiglath Pileser repeated the cere- mony of coronation at Babylon, and in 727, in the month of Tebet, he died. His son, Shalmaneser IV, succeeded him, but the dynasty was short-lived, for Shalmaneser ruled but five years, and in 722 the stranger Sargon founded a new line. He, too, was a usurper, his succession to the throne resulting from a reaction to the tendencies which had been responsible for the elevation of Tiglath Pileser. The latter king's reign was only of compara- tively brief duration, but it sufficed him to make Assyria strong enough to endure until her cultural work for civili- zation was finished. In modern eyes that must consti- tute his chief glory. During his reign he had time to build but one palace, and that, as has been noted, was dismantled by Esarhaddon. But better than a palace, he builded an empire, far-flung, but well governed and fairly compact, despite the hetero- geneous elements of which it was composed. The central problem of Assyrian statecraft was to weld the subject races and peoples into a homogeneous unit. Such a task was never fully accomplished, either by Assyria or by any of the great world powers that succeeded her, but Tiglath Pileser approximated to it sufficiently well to erect a structure far more stable than that of any of his prede- 70 TIGLATH PILESER III cessors and to render Assyria safe until her work was done. After he had conquered a territory, he, like his prede- cessors, placed it under the administrative supervision of the governor of the immediately adjoining province, or else made an entirely new province out of it. Tiglath Pileser's innovation consisted in this : whereas former kings had colonized a newly acquired land with settlers from Assyria proper, and had placed portions of the conquered subjects in scattered colonies throughout Assyria, he kept his Assyrian subjects at home. His empire was too ex- tensive to do otherwise. Had he colonized subject lands with Assyrians he must soon have depleted the native and homogeneous population of the home country. Instead, he effected a transfer of subjugated peoples from one de- pendency to a far distant one. His aim was to keep As- syria intact and thus to minimize the danger of rebellion and revolt. He allowed no colony of foreign settlers to be large enough or near enough to one of their own affiliation to permit the possibility of any concerted action against the imperial government. The colonies were so located that their thought-habit, their customs, their religion, and even their language made them, if not offensive to their new neighbors, at least a segregated unit among them. No collusion, in fact, no bond of sympathy between the old and the new population was possible. It might even happen that an uprising on the part of the old settlers would operate to attach the new colonists more closely to Assyria. For the first step in a rebellion is generally a demonstration against the stranger within the gates. In the event of such demonstrations the new settler would have no recourse but to appeal to Assyria. He had no THE CONQUEST OF BABYLONIA 71 greater love for Assyria than had the strangers among whom he had been settled, but to feed fat his grudge and nurse vengeance would in no wise answer his need of self- preservation. Assyria had to be petitioned for help, and granting it, came naturally to be regarded as a deliverer. Thus a measure of real loyalty was secured, and it was probably 'in this way that Panammu of Sam'al was rendered faithful. The Assyrian army was never so numerous as to permit large detachments to be stationed at garrison posts. At most, a governor might have a small company to aid him in the enforcement of his authority. The realization that Assyria was ready to back up her officials might not deter a determined people from revolt. If the rebellion arose in a district far from Assyria, aid might be long in coming and the uprising have assumed very serious proportions before its arrival; but with Tiglath Pileser's plan in effect there was a colony of strange settlers on the spot. These had no affiliations with the indigenous pop- ulation and could readily be pressed into service to aid the governor until reinforcements arrived. It is more than probable that this plan of colonization resulted in furnishing a source of, recruiting for the army which ob- viated too great a drain upon the male portion of Assyrian population. With only a fair-sized force from home, a considerable contingent of vassals could be enlisted en route to the seat of disturbance, together with a number of troops from among the foreign colonists in the vicinity. It was this system of colonization that gave Assyria the lease of life which she enjoyed. It might even have in- sured her a longer national existence, had she not been far too small to hold out against the barbarians who later on overran Babylonia and put an end to its career. To 72 TIGLATH PILESER III his high ability as a warrior, and the glory with which he graced his country's name, there must be ascribed to Tiglath Pileser III as his greatest credit, that administra- tive system which conserved the existence of the Empire until Babylon once again came into her own. VITA The author, Abraham S. Anspacher, was born in New York City, June 28, 1877. He entered Woodward High School of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Hebrew Union College of the same city in September, 1892, graduating from the former in 1896, and receiving from the latter the degree of Bachelor of Hebrew in that year. In 1896 he entered the University of Cincinnati, from which he was graduated in 1900, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the same year the degree of Rabbi was conferred upon him by the Hebrew Union College, his thesis being a " Com- mentary on Zachariah." In October, 1900, he was called as the Rabbi of the Madison Avenue Temple of Scranton, Pa. He was in attendance as a graduate student in the Department of Semitic Languages at Columbia University from September, 1909, to June, 1911. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS W^L BE ASSESSED FOR FA.LURE TO RETURN ?H.S BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE FEALTY WILL INCREASE TO 5O CENTS ^ THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $I.OO ON THE SEVENTH OVERDUE. iOCT rcc.cis.oer 2 ; 6 Jan' 5- JAN 5 1953 LU R 2 9 195 c I.C.L* INTER tIBF LOAN I 4EWABI.E LD 21-50m-l,' YC 38426 tfl 254229