erely awaited some favourable
occasion to break out into open revolt. Shalmaneser enjoyed the dignity
of _limmu_ for the second time after thirty years, and had celebrated
this jubilee of his inauguration by a solemn festival in honour of Assur
and Eamman.****

* Nineveh is mentioned as the starting-place of nearly all
the first campaigns in the inscription on the _Monolith_;
also in the Balawat inscription, on the other hand, towards
the end of the reign, Calah is given as the residence of the
king on the _Black Obelisk_

** Mention of the buildings of Shalmaneser III. at Harran
occurs in an inscription of Nabonidus.

*** The Monolith discovered at Kurkh is in itself a proof
that Shalmaneser executed works in this town, the Tushkhan
of the inscriptions.

**** Any connection established between this thirty-year
jubilee and the thirty years' festival of Egypt rests on
facts which can be so little relied on, that it must be
accepted with considerable reserve.

[Illustration: 144.jpg THE BRONZE-COVERED GATES OF BALAWAT]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the sketch by Pinches.

It is possible that he may have thought this a favourable moment for
presenting to the people the son whom he had chosen from among his
children to succeed him. At any rate, Assur-dain-pal, fearing that
one of his brothers might be preferred before him, "proclaimed himself
king," and nearly the whole of Assyria gathered around his standard.
Assur and twenty-six more of the most important cities revolted in his
favour--Nineveh, Imgur-bel, Sibaniba, Dur-balat, Arbela, Zaban in the
Chaldaean marches, Arrapkha in the valley of the Upper Zab, and most
of the colonies, both of ancient and recent foundation--Amidi on the
Tigris, Khindanu near the mouths of the Kha-bur and Tul-Abni on the
southern slopes of the Masios. The aged king remained in possession only
of Calah and its immediate environs--Nisibis, Harran, Tushkhan, and the
most recently subdued provinces on the banks of the Euphrates and the
Orontes. It is probable, however, that the army remained faithful to
him, and the support which these well-tried troops afforded him enabled
the king to act with promptitude. The weight of years did not permit him
to command in person; he therefore entrusted the conduct of operations
to his son Samsi-ramman, but he did not live to see the end of the
struggle. It embittered his last da