nt raids, could not make up their minds to change the habits of
centuries, until they had at least crossed swords with the new despot,
and put his mettle to the test. The Ninevite King of Babylon was thus
in duty bound to protect his subjects against the same enemies that had
ceaselessly harassed his native-born predecessors, and as the unaided
resources of Karduniash no longer enabled him to do so effectively, he
was, naturally, obliged to fall back on the forces at his disposal as
King of Assyria. Henceforward it was no longer the Babylonian army
that protected Nineveh, but rather that of Nineveh which had to protect
Babylon, and to encounter, almost every year, foes whom in former days
it had met only at rare intervals, and then merely when it chose to
intervene in their affairs. Where the Assyrian sovereigns had gained a
kingdom for themselves and their posterity, Assyria itself found little
else but fresh battle-fields and formidable adversaries, in the effort
to overcome whom its energies were all but exhausted. In Syria and on
the shores of the Mediterranean, Tiglath-pileser had nations of less
stubborn vitality to deal with, nor was he bound by the traditions of a
common past to show equal respect to their prejudices. Arpad, Unki,
the Bekaa, Damascus, and Gilead were all consecutively swallowed up by
Assyria, but, the work of absorption once completed, difficulties were
encountered which now had to be met for the first time. The subordinate
to whom he entrusted the task of governing these districts* had one
or two Assyrian regiments assigned him as his body-guard,** and these
exercised the same ascendency over the natives as the Egyptian archers
had done in days gone by: it was felt that they had the whole might of
Assyria behind them, and the mere fact of their presence in the midst of
the conquered country was, as a rule, sufficient to guarantee the safety
of the Assyrian governor and ensure obedience to his commands.

* The governor was called _Shaknu_ = "he whom the king has
established in his place," and _pekhu_ = "the pilot," "the
manager," whence _pikhatu_ = "a district," and _bel-pikhati_
= "the master of a district." It seems that the _shaknu_ was
of higher rank than the _bel-pikhati_, and often had the
latter under his command.

** Thus Assur-nazir-pal selected the horsemen and other
soldiers who were to form the body-guard of the governor of
Parzindu.

T