ttle. The fugitives escaped over the Euphrates, vainly
hoping that they would be secure in the very heart of the Khati.
Tiglath-pileser, however, crossed the river on rafts supported on skins,
and gave the provinces of Mount Bishri over to fire and sword:* six
walled towns opened their gates to him without having ventured to strike
a blow, and he quitted the country laden with spoil before the kings of
the surrounding cities had had time to recover from their alarm.

* The country of Bishri was situated, as the _Annals_ point
out, in the immediate neighbourhood of Carchemish. The name
is preserved in that of Tell Basher still borne by the
ruins, and a modern village on the banks of the Sajur. The
Gebel Bishri to which Hommel alludes is too far to the south
to correspond to the description given in the inscription of
Tiglath-pileser.

This expedition was for Tiglath-pileser merely an interlude between
two more serious campaigns; and with the beginning of his fifth year
he reappeared in the provinces of the Upper Euphrates to complete his
conquest of them. He began by attacking and devastating Musri, which lay
close to the territory of Milid. While thus occupied he was harassed by
bands of Kumani; he turned upon them, overcame them, and imprisoned the
remainder of them in the fortress of Arini, at the foot of Mount Aisa,
where he forced them to kiss his feet. His victory over them, however,
did not disconcert their neighbours. The bulk of the Kumani, whose
troops had scarcely suffered in the engagement, fortified themselves
on Mount Tala, to the number of twenty thousand; the king carried the
heights by assault, and hotly pursued the fugitives as far as the range
of Kharusa before Musri, where the fortress of Khunusa afforded them
a retreat behind its triple walls of brick. The king, nothing daunted,
broke his way through them one after another, demolished the ramparts,
razed the houses, and strewed the ruins with salt; he then constructed
a chapel of brick as a sort of trophy, and dedicated within it what
was known as a copper thunderbolt, being an image of the missile which
Eamman, the god of thunder, brandished in the face of his enemies. An
inscription engraved on the object recorded the destruction of Khunusa,
and threatened with every divine malediction the individual, whether
an Assyrian or a stranger, who should dare to rebuild the city. This
victory terrified the Kumani, and th