oductory phrases with which the text opens. They recorded
the conquests achieved not only by Adad-nirari but by his father
Arik-den-ilu, his grandfather Bel-nirari, and his great-grandfather
Ashur-uballit. They thus enabled the historian to trace the gradual
extension and consolidation of the Assyrian empire during a critical
period in its early history.

* For the text and translation of the inscription, see King,
Studies it Eastern History, i (1904).

The recently recovered memorial slab of Tukulti-Ninib I is similar to
that of his grandfather Adad-nirari I, and ranks in importance with it
for the light it throws on the early struggles of Assyria. Tukulti-Ninib
's slab, like that of Adad-nirari, was a foundation memorial intended to
record certain building operations carried out by order of the king.
The building so commemorated was not the restoration of a portion of
a temple, but the founding of a new city, in which the king erected
no less than eight temples dedicated to various deities, while he also
records that he built a palace therein for his own habitation, that he
protected the city by a strongly fortified wall, and that he cut a canal
from the Tigris by which he ensured a continuous supply of fresh water.
These were the facts which the memorial was primarily intended to
record, but, like the text of Adad-nirari I, the most interesting events
for the historian are those referred to in the introductory portions of
the inscription. Before giving details concerning the founding of the
new city, named Kar-Tukulti-Mnib, "the Fortress of Tukulti-Mnib,"
the king supplies an account of the military expeditions which he
had conducted during the course of his reign up to the time when the
foundation memorial was inscribed. These introductory paragraphs record
how the king gradually conquered the peoples to the north and northeast
of Assyria, and how he finally undertook a successful campaign against
Babylon, during which he captured the city and completely subjugated
both Northern and Southern Babylonia. Tukulti-Mnib's reign thus marks an
epoch in the history of his country.

We have already seen how, during the early ages of her history, Assyria
had been merely a subject province of the Babylonian empire. Her rulers
had been viceroys owing allegiance to their overlords in Babylon,
under whose orders they administered the country, while garrisons of
Babylonian soldiers, and troops commanded by Babylonian o