reigned twenty-nine years,
from 857 to 828. An inscription of his, engraved in the first years of
his reign, describing the extent of the empire, says that he governed
on one side "From the land of Siluna, toward the rising sun, the
countries of Elam, Albania (at the foot of Caucasus), Kharkhar,
Araziash, Misu, Media, Giratbunda (a portion of Atropatene, frequently
mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions), the lands of Munna, Parsua
(Parthia), Allabria (Hyrcania), Abdadana (Hecatompyla), Namri (the
Caspian Scythians), even to all the tribes of the Andiu (a Turanian or
Scythian people, whose country is far off), the whole of the mountainous
country as far as the sea of the rising sun, the Caspian Sea; on the
other side from the Euphrates, Syria, all Phoenicia, the land of Tyre,
of Sidon, the land of Omri (Samaria), Edom, the Philistines, as far as
the sea of the setting sun (the Mediterranean)"; on all these countries
he says that "he imposed tribute."

"I marched," he says again, "against the land of Syria, and I took
Marih, king of Syria, in Damascus, the city of his kingdom. The great
dread of Asshur, my master, persuaded him; he embraced my knees and made
submission."

Binlikhish III was a warlike prince; every year of his reign was marked
by an expedition. We have a summary of these in a chronological tablet
in the British Museum, containing a fragment--from the end of the reign
of Shamash-Bin to that of Tiglath-pileser II--of a canon of eponymes
mentioning the principal events year by year. They nearly all occurred
in Southern Armenia and in the land of Van, where obedience was only
maintained by incessant military demonstrations, and subsequently in the
countries to the north of Media as far as the Caspian Sea. Other
expeditions were also made as far as Parthia, toward Ariana and the
various countries that, to the Assyrians, were the extreme East. We do
not, however, know what that region was called by them, as it is always
designated by a group of ideographic characters of unknown
pronunciation. By the defeat of Marih, king of Damascus, the submission
of the western provinces was secured for the remainder of this reign,
for there is no record of any other campaign there.

The year 849 was marked by a great plague in Assyria; 834 by a religious
festival, of which unfortunately no particulars are known; and, lastly,
833 by the solemn inauguration of a new temple to the god Nebo, in the
capital.

But the most i