life,
with its ceremonies, duties, and recreations, differed little from that
prevailing in the palaces of Calah or Babylon. They hunted big game,
including the lion, according to the laws of the chase recognised at
Nineveh, priding themselves as much on their exploits in hunting, as on
their triumphs in war.

[Illustration: 056.jpg A KING OF THE KHATI HUNTING A LION IN HIS
CHARIOT]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Hogarth, published in
the _Recueil de Travaux_.

Their religion was derived from the common source which underlay all
Semitic religions, but a considerable number of Babylonian deities were
also worshipped; these had been introduced in some cases without any
modification, whilst in others they had been assimilated to more ancient
gods bearing similar characteristics: at Nerab, among the Patina, Nusku
and his female companion Nikal, both of Chaldaean origin, claimed the
homage of the faithful, to the disparagement of Shahr the moon and
Shamash the sun. Local cults often centred round obscure deities held
in little account by the dominant races; thus Samalla reverenced Uru the
light, Bekubel the wind, the chariot of El, not to mention El himself,
Besheph, Hadad, and the Cabin, the servants of Besheph.

[Illustration: 057.jpg THE GOD HADAD]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the photograph in Luschan.

These deities were mostly of the Assyrian type, and if one may draw
any conclusion from the few representations of them already discovered,
their rites must have been celebrated in a manner similar to that
followed in the cities on the Lower Euphrates. Scarcely any signs of
Egyptian influence survived, though here and there a trace of it might
be seen in the figures of calf or bull, the vulture of Mut or the
sparrow-hawk of Horus. Assur-nazir-pal, marching from the banks of the
Khabur to Bit-Adini, and from Bit-Adini passing on to Northern Syria,
might almost have imagined himself still in his own dominions, so
gradual and imperceptible were the changes in language and civilisation
in the country traversed between Nineveh and Assur, Tul-Barsip and
Samalla.

His expedition was unattended by danger or bloodshed. Lubarna, the
reigning prince of the Patina, was possibly at that juncture meditating
the formation of a Syrian empire under his rule. Unki, in which lay his
capital of Kunulua, was one of the richest countries of Asia,* being
well watered by the Afrin, Orontes, and Saluara;** no fi