of Jeroboam; but the very same defects which had
led to the ruin of Israel were at work also in Judah, and Menahem, in
spite of his enfeebled condition, had nothing to fear in this direction.

[Illustration: 232.jpg TIGLATH-PILESER III. IN HIS STATE CHARIOT]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch published by Layard.

The danger which menaced him came rather from the east and the north,
where Damascus, aroused from its state of lethargy by Rezon [Rezin] II.,
had again begun to strive after the hegemony of Syria.*

* The name of this king, written Rezin in the Bible (2 Kings
xv. 37; xvi. 5, 6, 9), is given as _Razunu_ in the Assyrian
texts; he was therefore Ilezon II. A passage in the _Annals_
seems to indicate that Rezin's father was prince of a city
dependent on Damascus, not king of Damascus itself;
unfortunately the text is too much mutilated to warrant us
in forming any definite conclusion on this point.

All these princes, when they found that the ambition of Tiglath-pileser
threatened to interfere with their own intrigues, were naturally
tempted to combine against him, and were willing to postpone to a more
convenient season the settlement of their own domestic quarrrels. But
Tiglath-pileser did not give them time for this; he routed Azriyahu, and
laid waste Kullani,* the chief centre of revolt, ravaged the valley of
the Orontes, and carried off the inhabitants of several towns, replacing
them with prisoners taken the year before during his campaign in Nairi.

* Kullani is the Calno or Calneh mentioned by Isaiah (x. 9)
and Amos (vi. 2), which lay somewhere between Arpad and
Hamath; the precise spot is not yet known.

After this feat the whole of Syria surrendered. Rezin and Menahem were
among the first to tender their homage, and the latter paid a thousand
talents of silver for the _firman_ which definitely confirmed his tenure
of the throne; the princes of Tyre, Byblos, Hamath, Carchemish, Milid,
Tabal, and several others followed their example--even a certain Zabibi,
queen of an Arab tribe, feeling compelled to send her gifts to the
conqueror.

A sudden rising among the Aramaean tribes on the borders of Elam obliged
Tiglath-pileser to depart before he had time to take full advantage of
his opportunity. The governors of Lullumi and Nairi promptly suppressed
the outbreak, and, collecting the most prominent of the rebels together,
sent them to the king