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- $Unique_ID{how01486}
- $Pretitle{}
- $Title{History Of The Babylonians And Assyrians
- Ashurnacirpal III. And The Conquest Of Mesopotamia. 885-860 B.C.}
- $Subtitle{}
- $Author{Godspeed, George}
- $Affiliation{}
- $Subject{king
- assyrian
- ashurnacirpal
- city
- mountains
- brought
- euphrates
- tigris
- years
- upper}
- $Date{1903}
- $Log{}
- Title: History Of The Babylonians And Assyrians
- Book: Part III: The Ascendancy Of Assyria
- Author: Godspeed, George
- Date: 1903
-
- Ashurnacirpal III. And The Conquest Of Mesopotamia. 885-860 B.C.
-
- 158. The year 950 B.C., by which date the confusion of the past century
- had spent itself and in the various districts bordering on the Mesopotamian
- valley was beginning to yield to order and progress, affords a convenient
- point from which also to observe the revival of the ancient kingdoms whose
- activity had been so suddenly interrupted during the preceding years. In
- Egypt a Libyan general, Sheshonk, high in position at the court, had usurped
- the throne and founded the twenty-second dynasty. His accession was soon
- followed by a forward movement into Palestine and an attack upon the Hebrew
- kingdoms. In Babylonia the eight dynasty (sect. 152) ruled under a king of
- unknown name and origin, who remained on the throne for thirty-six years and
- was followed by ten or eleven rulers of the same line. Assyria, however,
- showed most clearly the beginnings of recovery. There also a new dynasty
- occupied the throne, and thenceforth the crown descended in the same family,
- from father to son, through at least ten generations. Of Tiglathpileser
- II., the founder of the line, nothing is known. His son, Ashurdan II. about
- 930 B.C., comes forward somewhat clearly as a canal-builder, a founder of
- fortresses, and a restorer of temples in Assur. With Adadnirari II. his son
- (911-890 B.C.), the upward movement was accelerated. The Assyrian limu list
- (sect. 38), that invaluable document of ancient chronology, begins with him,
- as though the compiler regarded his reign as a new epoch in the national
- history. He built upon the walls of Assur, and, according to one of his
- descendants, "overthrew the disobedient and conquered on every side." No
- record has been preserved of any of his wars except that with Babylonia. A
- difficulty about boundaries between the countries seems to have brought on
- the conflict. A forward movement by the Babylonian king Shamash-mudammiq
- was met by Adadnirari near Mount Yalman (Holwan) in the eastern mountains.
- The Babylonians were driven back, and the defeat apparently cost their king
- his life, for he was immediately succeeded on the throne by a usurper,
- Nabushumishkun. Adadnirari advanced against him, defeated his army, spoiled
- several cities, and brought him speedily to terms. A treaty was made in
- which the kings exchanged daughters, and the boundaries were adjusted, no
- doubt to the satisfaction of Assyria. The son of Adadnirari II. was Tukulti
- Ninib II., in whose case the direct report of a campaign in the north has
- been preserved. At the sources of the Tigris, where Tiglathpileser I. had
- recorded his victories (sect. 146), his successor also inscribed his name
- and exploits, how with the help of his god he traversed the mighty mountains
- from the rising of the sun to its setting, and reduced their peoples to
- submission. It is evident that the work of his predecessor of two centuries
- before had to be done over again. He valiantly undertook the task. It is
- not probable that his own campaigns extended beyond the valley of the upper
- Tigris between the first two ranges of mountains. He reigned but six years
- (890-885 B.C.), giving promise of what Assyria was about to achieve and
- winning from his successors characteristic appreciations of his valor; his
- son asserted that he "laid the yoke on his adversaries and set up their
- bodies on stakes," and his grandson, that "he subjugated all his enemies and
- swept them like a tempest."
-
- 159. With Ashurnacirpal III. (885-860 B.C.), the son and successor of
- Tukulti Ninib II., dawns the bright morning of the Assyrian revival. The
- brief reign of his father brought him to the throne at an early age, and,
- like Tiglathpileser I., he plunged immediately into a series of warlike
- activities. Of the eleven campaigns recorded in his inscriptions, out of
- his twenty-four full years on the throne, seven were carried through before
- the first quarter of his reign was over. His first concern was with the
- north, whither his father had already led the way. There important changes
- had taken place since Tiglathpileser had made his campaigns. The commotions
- in the far north had pushed the tribes and peoples out of their old seats,
- crowded them together, or brought new peoples on the scene. The Nairi
- (sect. 144) were now to the southwest of Lake Van, and partly within the
- southern valley to the east of the sources of the Tigris. The Kirkhi had
- been pressed together and lay toward the south of the same valley. On the
- western side Aramean tribes had crowded up on the east of the Qummukhi, and
- formed several communities about Amid and to the west of the upper Tigris,
- pushing the Qummukhi back towards the mountains through which the Euphrates
- flows. Several tribes about the upper Tigris had retired into Kashiari, and
- there occupied the passes and valleys on the border of the Mesopotamian
- plain. On the east and northeast the mountain peoples had been thrown
- forward to the ridges overlooking the valley, and constituted a new problem
- for the Assyrian rulers. Ashurnacirpal marched into the very centre of the
- disturbed region to check the advance of the Nairi, found their easternmost
- tribe (the Nimme) already to the south of Lake Van, and crushed them. A
- dash over the mountains to the east brought the Kirruri to terms, and
- secured the homage of peoples to the far east in the upper valleys of the
- greater Zab (Gilzan and Khubushkia).
-
- 160. The western plateau south of the Armenian Taurus was then entered.
- Back and forth and up and down from the Bitlis to Qummukh and from Taurus to
- Kashiari, he marched and fought in the four campaigns of the years 885, 884,
- 883, and 880 B.C. The upper Tigris was first cleared by the overthrow of
- the Kirkhi, and the tribute of Qummukh was gathered. At this time
- apparently the Aramean communities of that valley submitted. Then followed
- the recovery of the southwestern part of the plateau, where vigorous
- opposition had developed under the leadership of a city which had once been
- an Assyrian outpost. The trouble was spreading northward among the Aramean
- cities. Reaching the sources of the Tigris, where he set up his image by
- the side of those of his predecessors, Ashurnacirpal marched southward along
- the ridge overlooking Qummukh to Kashiari, on whose southwestern flanks were
- the strongholds of the enemy. Here the cities of the Nirbi were destroyed,
- and a fortified post on the right bank of the Tigris was established in the
- city of Tushkha, as the centre of Assyrian influence in the southwestern
- plateau. The reduction of the Nairi in the northern valleys was undertaken
- in the campaign of 880 B.C., and their tribute brought to Tushkha. With
- this the conquest of the various peoples of these districts was completed.
- A governor was appointed for the whole region, with his seat in that city.
-
- 161. The king's movement into the north, in the beginning of his reign,
- seems to have been regarded by the hill peoples of the eastern border as a
- menace, against which it behooved them to prepare. That they were growing
- into a sort of confederacy is shown in the common name attached to the
- region - Zamua. A chieftain whose tribe occupied the outermost fringe of
- mountains at the head of the pass of Babite, succeeded after two years in
- uniting all Zamua in an alliance. The united tribes presented an
- independent front to Assyria and proceeded to fortify the pass. To
- Ashurnacirpal this move was equivalent to rebellion. Besides, it threatened
- the security of his eastern border as well as the control of the trade with
- the hinterland. He withdrew, therefore, from active operations in the
- northwest, and for two years (882-881 B.C.) campaigned among these eastern
- mountains. His first attack had for its purpose the opening of the pass.
- The struggle was a severe one, and the summer was gone before the first line
- of defences was pierced. The king then withdrew to the Assyrian border.
- Winter came on early in the high mountain valleys, and the inhabitants must
- have felt secure for the time, but in September the Assyrian army appeared
- again within the mountain barrier. A fortified camp was established, and
- expeditions sallied out in all directions into the heart of the enemy's
- country, striking hard blows, and retiring swiftly on their base of
- operations. All Zamua was terrified and hastened to do homage. The next
- year's campaign was in the southeast, where some Zamuan chiefs continued in
- rebellion. A rapid march to the sources of the Turnat brought the king into
- the centre of the disaffected region, which was laid waste; thence the army
- turned northward, burning and plundering through the upper, valleys, and
- descended to the fortified camp of the previous winter. A second time all
- the chieftains of Zamua came and kissed the king's feet. While the leading
- rebels had escaped the vengeance of the king, the confederacy had been
- broken up, and the country severely punished. From the northern border were
- brought down the gifts of Gilzan and Khubushkia, lands which had tendered
- their submission in his opening year. Fortified posts were established in
- Zamua, and a governor was appointed with his seat at Kalkhi.
-
- 162. These six years of campaigning (885-880 B.C.) make up a cycle of
- vigorous achievement of which any warrior might be proud. From the head-
- waters of the river Turnat on the southeast, to the northwestern mountains
- through which the Euphrates flowed, the long arc of mountain borderland had
- been brought under Assyrian authority. The advancing tribes had been
- repressed and Assyria's borders relieved. A change of capital followed,
- possibly was occasioned by this extension of territory. In connection with
- his eastern wars the attention of Ashurnacirpal had been directed to Kalkhi.
- Its favorable situation, in the angle where the greater Zab falls into the
- Tigris, and equidistant from the eastern and northern mountain borders, may
- have been the ground which induced him to remove the seat of government
- thither. His first work was piously to rebuild the temple of his patron
- god, Ninib, and place in it a colossal statue of that divinity, to set up
- his shrine and appoint his festal seasons. Building went forward from this
- time upon the various edifices which were to adorn the site, while the king
- himself turned to a new field of warfare, and undertook a series of
- expeditions that occupied him for at least four years.
-
- 163. While in Qummukh, on the expedition of 884 B.C., word was brought
- to Ashurnacirpal that the communities on the Khabur River were in commotion.
- The Arameans had already established petty principalities in the rich plains
- bordering on the Euphrates from the Khabur to the mountains (sect. 154).
- One of these states was aspiring to something more than local supremacy.
- This community, to the north of the Balikh, and situated in a fertile
- region, the seat of an ancient civilization, and an immemorial centre of
- trade, was called by the Assyrians Bit Adini from a certain Adinu, probably
- the founder of a dynasty of ambitious chiefs. How far it had extended its
- influence by this time cannot be determined, but its interference in the
- affairs of Suru on the Khabur had brought about a revolution there, whereby
- a chief from Bit Adini was raised to the throne. When the king heard of it,
- he at once recognized the gravity of the situation. A union of these
- communities was a serious danger to Assyria, and, as in the case of the
- tribes of the eastern mountains, he regarded it as an act of "rebellion,"
- warranting immediate action on his part. Marching southward to the upper
- waters of the Khabur, he descended along the river bank to the scene of
- disturbance. A portion of the inhabitants of Suru submitted. The
- remainder, showing resistance, were cruelly punished, and their new chief
- carried off to be flayed alive at Nineveh. The neighboring tribes up and
- down the Euphrates brought tribute.
-
- 164. The four years following saw the completion of the work undertaken
- in the north and east (sects. 160, 161). Not till 879 B.C. did the king
- undertake another western expedition. Unfortunately, the three expeditions
- that follow 879 B.C. are left undated in his inscriptions, and it is
- uncertain whether these occupied the years immediately following (i.e. 878-
- 876 B.C.), though it is usually assumed that they did. In the first two
- campaigns (879-878) he took Suru on the Khabur as a base of operations, and
- chastised the tribes north and south on either bank of the Euphrates. The
- southern tribes, the Sukhi, were supported by Babylonian troops under the
- command of Zabdanu, the brother of Nabupaliddin, king of Babylonia, and
- Ashurnacirpal proudly claims to have "stricken with terror" the land of
- Babylonia and the Kaldi, by taking prisoner the Babylonian general and three
- thousand of his troops. He obtained boats, and, sailing across and down the
- Euphrates, plundered the villages, burned the grainfields, and marched into
- the desert. Somewhere in the region between the Khabur and the Balikh he
- built two fortresses on either side of the Euphrates, called Kar
- Ashurnacirpal and Nibarti Ashur. The third expedition (877?) was aimed
- directly at Bit Adini, and the resistance offered by Akhuni, its king,
- collapsed with the storming of his citadel of Kaprabi. With the submission
- of this Aramean kingdom Ashurnacirpal was in control of all upper
- Mesopotamia.
-
- 165. The last western campaign (876?) had the Mediterranean for its
- objective point. From Bit Adini the Euphrates was crossed, and Karkhemish,
- the capital of Sangara, king of the Khatti, surrendered without fighting.
- Ashurnacirpal now had before him the plateau of upper Syria, which, lying
- behind the Euphrates hills, stretched away westward to the mountains and the
- seacoast in a series of fruitful plains, filled with inhabitants. Petty
- city-states divided the land between them and occupied themselves in
- perpetual warfare. At this time the leading state was that of Patin, which,
- under its king Lubarna, controlled the country about the lower Orontes and
- its northern affluents. Ashurnacirpal marched directly on Patin. Lubarna
- offered no resistance, and was left in possession of his kingdom as an
- Assyrian vassal. The march led across the Orontes southward through the
- mountains. The city of Aribua was selected as an Assyrian outpost and base
- of supplies. From thence the march may be told in the king's own words:
-
- Then I approached the slopes of Lebanon. To the great sea of Akharri
- [i. e. the Mediterranean] I ascended. In the great sea I purified my
- weapons and offered sacrifices to the gods. Tribute of the kings on the
- shores of the sea, of Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, Makhallata, Maica, Kaica,
- Akharri, and Aramada [Arvad] in the midst of the sea, silver, gold, lead,
- copper, copper vessels, variegated and linen garments, a large and small
- pagutu, ushu and ukarinu wood, tusks of the nakhiri, the sea monster, I
- received in tribute. They embraced my feet (Standard Inscr., col. iii. 84-
- 88).
-
- Returning northward, he went up into the Amanus mountains to cut choice
- timber for his palaces and temples, and, after setting up the usual image of
- himself with a memorial of his deeds, made his way back to Assyria.
-
- 166. The chronicle of these conquests naturally suggests comparison
- with those of Tiglathpileser I. That warrior undoubtedly extended Assyria's
- fame and influence more widely than did Ashurnacirpal, whose campaigns did
- not carry him beyond the upper Euphrates, or the boundaries of Babylonia.
- In many of his measures the later king imitated the earlier, - in the
- personal leadership of his troops, in the imposition of tribute upon
- conquered countries and the requirement of hostages, in the deportation of
- subdued populations, and in the treatment of enemies. On the other hand, in
- some respects, Ashurnacirpal shows himself in advance of his predecessor.
- His army was improved by the addition of a calvary squadron, supplementing
- the infantry and chariots. This first appears in the Zamuan campaigns, and
- is developed in the western wars, where it may have been modelled after the
- Aramean cavalry. It was certainly useful in following up the Bedouin when
- foot-soldiers and chariots would have been useless; it formed thenceforth a
- constantly enlarging division of the Assyrian force. Another measure of the
- king was the incorporation of the troops of subject peoples in his army.
- This appears on the largest scale in his Syrian expedition, in which he
- added, successively, the soldiers of the Aramean communities on the
- Euphrates, of Karkhemish, and of Patin. While the desire to leave no
- enemies in his rear may have been a partial ground of this action, it is
- probable that these detachments continued to remain under his control and
- were carried with him to Kalkhi. There he seems to have established a great
- military centre, where these and other troops were maintained and drilled.
- In this procedure he solved a standing problem of Assyrian politics, namely,
- how to continue the wars without drawing too heavily on Assyria's citizens.
- While thereby introducing elements of serious danger into the state, he was,
- nevertheless, enabled thus to hand down to his successor an undiminished
- power, and make it possible for him to undertake an even greater series of
- military operations.
-
- 167. In organizing his conquered territory the king made a distinct
- advance. A line of Assyrian outposts was established. Some of these
- guarded exposed districts; others formed the central points of regions more
- or less geographically compacted. Of the former class were Atlila, called
- Dur Assur, in Zamua on the Elamite-Babylonian border, the fortified post of
- Tukulti-ashur-acbat among the eastern mountains, the city of Ashurnacirpal
- at the sources of the Tigris, the "royal cities" Damdamusa in the northwest
- and Uda in Kashiari, the two fortresses on opposite sides of the Euphrates
- (sect. 164), and Aribua in Patin, apparently guarding the Orontes valley.
- To the latter type belonged Kakzi, in the eastern Assyrian plain, the
- starting-point of the Zamuan campaigns, and Tushkha in Kirkhi, where the
- king built a palace and granaries. Various officials represented Assyria in
- these districts. Their names and jurisdiction are not altogether clear.
- Sometimes the former rulers were confirmed in their dignities on submission
- to the conqueror, or native nobles were chosen, whose exaltation to posts of
- honor and influence would be expected to insure their fidelity. Thus, the
- zabilkuduri, stationed among the northern peoples, had charge of the
- collection and delivery of tribute to the king. The exact duties of a qipu,
- the honorable title given to local chiefs, are not defined. An office of
- higher and wider jurisdiction is that of shaknu, which may be held by a
- native chief or, in some cases apparently, by an Assyrian noble who, in
- important territories like those of the Kirkhi and Nairi, is responsible
- directly to the king. The position of the urasi, another personage
- mentioned in the inscriptions, may have been hardly more than that of
- "resident" in cities under Assyrian control. The placing of Assyrian
- colonists in some of the cities, though not a new measure, is with all the
- rest a significant indication of the new beginning of systematic endeavors
- toward close supervision and control of the subjugated lands.
-
- 168. The method of Ashurnacirpal in reducing many of these regions to
- subjection was so severe as potently to aid in holding them to Assyrian
- allegiance. One illustration, drawn from the conqueror's own account of the
- overthrow of Tela on the slopes of Kashiari, is sufficient:
-
- I drew near to the city of Tela. The city was very strong; three walls
- surrounded it. The inhabitants trusted to their strong walls and numerous
- soldiers; they did not come down or embrace my feet. With battle and
- slaughter I assaulted and took the city. Three thousand warriors I slew in
- battle. Their booty and possessions, cattle, sheep, I carried away; many
- captives I burned with fire. Many of their soldiers I took alive; of some
- I cut off hands and limbs; of others the noses, ears, and arms; of many
- soldiers I put out the eyes. I reared a column of the living and a column
- of heads. I hung up on high their heads on trees in the vicinity of their
- city. Their boys and girls I burned up in the flame. I devastated the
- city, dug it up, in fire burned it; I annihilated it (Standard Inscr., col.
- i. 113-118).
-
- Such punishment was reserved for those communities which once under Assyrian
- authority now offered opposition. This was regarded as rebellion and
- punished by extermination, or by penalties which rendered the unhappy
- survivors a warning to their neighbors. Native officials, once trusted by
- their Assyrian masters, but afterwards rebellious, were, when captured,
- flayed alive and their skins hung upon the city walls. Communities for the
- first time summoned to submit to Assyria, if they resisted, were subject to
- the ordinary fate of the conquered, but not otherwise treated with special
- cruelty. The opposition encountered by Ashurnacirpal was usually not very
- strong; the cities were beaten in detail; they had not yet learned how to
- unite against the common enemy. The numbers definitely mentioned in the
- inscriptions indicate a total of less than thirty thousand soldiers slain by
- the Assyrians in all these campaigns, but this estimate does not probably
- include more than a third of the persons who perished in the storming of the
- cities. Without doubt the stress of suffering fell upon the northern
- mountaineers, for more than half of the slain recorded by the king belong to
- this region, which evidently had caused the chief trouble and required the
- most strenuous efforts to keep under control. In fact, the last campaign of
- Ashurnacirpal, in his eighteenth year (867 B.C.), directed against the
- districts to the northwest, was something of a failure. The city of Amid
- seems to have held out, and further trouble was promised for the future.
-
- 169. The importance of the conquests is shown in the long lists of the
- spoil and tribute obtained, beside which the booty of Tiglathpileser I.
- seems insignificant. Least productive were the lands of Zamua, yet they had
- one important and indispensable product, the splendid horses raised on their
- plateaus and famed throughout the Orient. From all the mountain regions
- came cattle and sheep in countless numbers, besides wine and corn. Of
- precious metals, these districts produced copper, which was manufactured in
- various forms, and gold and silver. The Aramean communities of the western
- Mesopotamian plain were the most remunerative, and their spoil reveals the
- wealth and civilization of that region. Even the Aramean states to the west
- of the sources of the Tigris contributed, besides horses, cattle, and sheep,
- chariots and harness, armor, silver, gold, lead, copper, variegated garments
- and linen cloths, wood and metal work, and furniture in ivory and gold. To
- these the chief of Bit Adini added ivory plates, couches and thrones, gold
- beads and pendants and weapons of gold; the king of Karkhemish, cloths of
- purple light and dark, marvellous furniture, silver baskets, precious woods
- and stones, elephant tusks and female slaves; and Syria, her fragrant cedars
- and the other woods of her mountain-forests.
-
- 170. Abundant opportunity for the use and bestowment of these spoils of
- war was given in the king's building enterprises at his capital of Kalkhi.
- Besides the temple already referred to (sect. 162), his crowning work was
- his magnificent palace. This stood on the western side of a rectangular
- platform which was reared along the east bank of the Tigris from north to
- south. Around its base to the north and east lay the city. The palace
- itself was about three hundred and fifty feet square; its entrances looked
- northward upon the great temple structure that occupied the northwestern
- corner of the platform and overhung the city and the river. A series of
- long narrow galleries, lined with sculptured alabaster slabs, surrounded a
- court in size one hundred and twenty-five by one hundred feet. The chief of
- these rooms, probably a throne chamber, one hundred and fifty-four by
- thirty-three feet, still contains at its eastern end the remains of a dais
- which once may have supported the throne. On the slabs were wrought, in low
- relief, scenes from the life and experiences of the king. Now he offers
- thanksgiving for the slaying of a wild ox or a lion; now he pursues the
- fleeing enemy in his chariots; now his army besieges a city, or advances to
- the attack across a river, or, led by the king, marches through the
- mountains. Everywhere inscriptions commemorate his achievements and recite
- his titles. At the doorways stood the monstrous man-headed bulls, or lions,
- only head and shoulders completely wrought out, as if leaping forth from the
- wall, the rest still half sculptured in the stone, - divine spirits guarding
- the entrances. Scenes of religious worship abound, gods, spirits, and
- heroes engaged in exercises of which the meaning is not yet clear.
- Everywhere is the combination of energy with repose, of massive strength
- with dignity; though crude and imperfect in the technique of the sculptor,
- the reliefs are the most vivid and lifelike achievements of Assyrian art,
- the counterpart in stone of the grandiose story of the king's campaigns,
- which is written above and on either side of them. The narrow galleries
- were spanned with cedar beams and decorated with silver and gold and bronze.
- The priceless ivories of the west, showing by subject and style the
- unmistakable influence of Egypt, have been picked up from the palace floors
- by modern explorers. All was a wonderful commentary upon Ashurnacirpal's
- own words:
-
- A palace for my royal dwelling-place, for the glorious seat of my
- royalty, I founded for ever and splendidly planned it. I surrounded it with
- a cornice (?) of copper. Sculptures of the creatures of land and sea carved
- in "alabaster," I made and placed them at the doors. Lofty door-posts of .
- . . wood I made, and sheathed them with copper and set them up in the gates.
- Thrones of "costly" woods, dishes of ivory containing silver, gold, lead,
- copper, and iron, the spoil of my hand, taken from conquered lands I
- deposited therein. (Monolith Inscr., concl. 12-24).
-
- The king had a place in Nineveh also, and built temples there and elsewhere.
- The evidence of his having contributed to the inner development of his
- country is not abundant. An aqueduet to supply Kalkhi with water drawn from
- the upper Zab was referred to; it brought fruitfulness to the surrounding
- country, as its name "producer of fertility" proves. The rebuilding of
- Kalkhi, and the wealth in cattle and sheep, as well as other property,
- brought in by the successful wars, must be regarded as most important
- contributions to Assyrian economic resources.
-
- 171. Varying judgments have been passed on the character of
- Ashurnacirpal. Of his energy there can be no question. As hunter and
- warrior he was untiring and resistless. But to some he is chiefly a monster
- of remorseless cruelty, whose joy it was to maim, flay, burn, or impale his
- conquered enemies. If this verdict is finally to be rendered, he will be
- convicted out of his own mouth, for the evidence is derived solely from his
- frank, unsoftened narrative of his own ruthless barbarities. But while they
- are not to be palliated, it must be remembered that war has since engendered
- even more hideous crimes, of which his narrative shows him to be guiltless;
- that in an iron age, when Assyria was recovering from a century of dishonor
- and collapse, fierce and bloody vengeance had come to be the rule; and that
- in almost every instance these last penalties were inflicted upon
- communities which, from the Assyrian point of view, had violated their
- pledges to God and man. It is evident, moreover, that the statements of the
- king are not inspired by the lust of cruelty and blood, but have been
- inscribed with the same purpose as that with which the punishments were
- inflicted, - to strike terror into the heart of the opposer and to warn the
- intending rebel of his fate. That this verdict is more reasonable is
- strengthened by the probability that, with the sole exception of the
- campaign of 867 B.C., the king's wars ceased before his reign was half over.
- The lesson had been learned, and the king, having taught it in this savage
- fashion, was well content to turn his energies to the pursuits of peace. Of
- these latter years there is but scanty record. Wisely to govern a peaceful
- empire had not yet come to stand among the glories of monarchs.
- Nevertheless in the remarkable statue of Ashurnacirpal found in the temple
- of Ninib, not far from his palace, "the only extant perfect Assyrian royal
- statue in the round," a suggestion is given of the statesman as well as the
- warrior. A rude heroic figure, he stands upright before the god, looking
- straight forward, his brawny arms bare, the left hand holding to his breast
- the mace, weapon of the soldier, but the right dropped by his side, grasping
- the sceptre, emblematic of the shepherd of his people.
-
-