lled in the citadel, and an ordinary governor, Azilu by name,
replaced the dynasty of native princes. The report of this terrible
retribution induced the Laqi* to tender their submission, and their
example was followed by Khaian, king of Khindanu on the Euphrates.
He bought off the Assyrians with gold, silver, lead, precious
stones, deep-hued purple, and dromedaries; he erected a statue of
Assur-nazir-pal in the centre of his palace as a sign of his vassalage,
and built into the wall near the gates of his town an inscription
dedicated to the gods of the conqueror.
* The Laqi were situated on both banks of the Euphrates,
principally on the right bank, between the Khabur and the
Balikh, interspersed among the Sukhi, of whom they were
perhaps merely a dissentient fraction.
Six, or at the most eight, months had sufficed to achieve these rapid
successes over various foes, in twenty different directions--the
expeditions in Nummi and Kirruri, the occupation of Kummukh, the flying
marches across the mountains and plains of Mesopotamia--during all of
which the new sovereign had given ample proof of his genius. He had, in
fine, shown himself to be a thorough soldier, a conqueror of the type
of Tiglath-pileser, and Assyria by these victories had recovered her
rightful rank among the nations of Western Asia.
The second year of his reign was no less fully occupied, nor did it
prove less successful than the first. At its very beginning, and even
before the return of the favourable season, the Sukhi on the Euphrates
made a public act of submission, and their chief, Ilubani, brought to
Nineveh on their behalf a large sum of gold and silver. He had scarcely
left the capital when the news of an untoward event effaced the good
impression he had made. The descendants of the colonists, planted in
bygone times by Shalmaneser I. on the western slope of the Masios, in
the district of Khalzidipkha, had thrown off their allegiance, and
their leader, Khulai, was besieging the royal fortress of Damdamusa.*
Assur-nazir-pal marched direct to the sources of the Tigris, and
the mere fact of his presence sufficed to prevent any rising in that
quarter. He took advantage of the occasion to set up a stele beside
those of his father Tukulti-ninip and his ancestor Tiglath-pileser,
and then having halted to receive the tribute of Izalla,** he turned
southwards, and took up a position on the slopes of the Kashiari.
* The posit
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