flourished in the Mesopotamian plains, thoroughly impregnated
with Babylonian civilisation. Shadikanni, the most important of them,
commanded the right bank of the Khabur, and also the ford where the road
from Nineveh crossed the river on the route to Harian and Carche-mish.
The palaces of its rulers were decorated with winged bulls, lions,
stelae, and bas-reliefs carved in marble brought from the hills of
Singar. The people seem to have been of a capricious temperament, and,
nothwithstanding the supervision to which they were subjected, few
reigns elapsed in which it was not necessary to put down a rebellion
among them. Bit-Khalupi and its capital Suru had thrown off the Assyrian
yoke after the death of Tukulti-ninip; the populace, stirred up no doubt
by Aramaean emissaries, had assassinated the Harnathite who governed
them, and had sent for a certain Akhiababa, a man of base extraction
from Bit-Adini, whom they had proclaimed king. This defection, if not
promptly dealt with, was likely to entail serious consequences, since it
left an important point on the frontier exposed: and there now remained
nothing to prevent the people of Adini or their allies from spreading
over the country between the Khabur and the Tigris, and even pushing
forward their marauding bands as far as the very walls of Singar and
Assur.

[Illustration: 024b.jpg NO. 1. ENAMELED BRICK (NIMROD). NO. 2. FRAGMENT
OF MURAL PAINTING (NIMROD).]

[Illustration: 025.jpg STELE FROM ARBAN]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Layard's sketch

Without losing a moment, Assur-nazir-pal marched down the course of the
Khabur, hastily collecting the tribute of the cities through which he
passed. The defenders of Sura were disconcerted by his sudden appearance
before their town, and their rulers came out and prostrated themselves
at the king's feet: "Dost thou desire it? it is life for us;--dost thou
desire it? it is death;--dost thou desire it? what thy heart chooseth,
that do to us!" But the appeal to his clemency was in vain; the alarm
had been so great and the danger so pressing, that Assur-nazir-pal was
pitiless. The town was handed over to the soldiery, all the treasure
it contained was confiscated, and the women and children of the best
families were made slaves; some of the ringleaders paid the penalty of
their revolt on the spot; the rest, with Akhiabaha, were carried away
and flayed alive, some at Nineveh, some elsewhere. An Assyrian garrison
was insta