History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 6 (of 12)Maspero, G. (Gaston)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 6 (of 12)
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Civilization, Ancient; Egypt -- History -- To 640 A.D.; History, Ancient; Middle East -- History
In his third campaign Tiglath-pileser succeeded in bringing about the
pacification of the border provinces which shut in the basin of the
Tigris to the north and east. The Kurkhi did not consider themselves
conquered by the check they had received at the Nâmi; several of their
tribes were stirring in Kharia, on the highlands above the Arzania, and
their restlessness threatened to infect such of their neighbours as
had already submitted themselves to the Assyrian yoke. My master Assur
commanded me to attack their proud summits, which no king has ever
visited. I assembled my chariots and my foot-soldiers, and I
passed between the Idni and the Ala, by a difficult country, across
cloud-capped mountains whose peaks were as the point of a dagger,
and unfavourable to the progress of my chariots; I therefore left my
chariots in reserve, and I climbed these steep mountains. The community
of the Kurkhi assembled its numerous troops, and in order to give me
battle they entrenched themselves upon the Azubtagish; on the slopes of
the mountain, an incommodious position, I came into conflict with
them, and I vanquished them. This lesson cost them twenty-five towns,
situated at the feet of the Aîa, the Shuîra, the Idni, the Shizu, the
Silgu, and the Arzanabiu*--all twenty-five being burnt to the ground.
* The site of Kharia must be sought for probably between the
sources of the Tigris and the Batman-tchaî.
The dread of a similar fate impelled the neighbouring inhabitants of
Adaush to beg for a truce, which was granted to them;* but the people of
Saraush and of Ammaush, who from all time had never known what it was
to obey, were cut to pieces, and their survivors incorporated into the
empire--a like fate overtaking the Isua and the Daria, who inhabited
Khoatras.**
* According to the context, the Adaush ought to be between
the Kharia and the Saraush; possibly between the Batman-
tchaî and the Bohtân-tchaî, in the neighbourhood of Mildîsh.
** As Tiglath-pileser was forced to cross Mount Aruma in
order to reach the Ammaush and the Saraush, these two
countries, together with Isua and Daria, cannot be far from
Mildîsh; Isua is, indeed, mentioned as near to Anzitene in
an inscription of Shalmaneser II., which obliges us to place
it somewhere near the sources of the Batman-tchaî. The
position of Muraddash and Saradaush is indirectly pointed
out by the mention of the Lower Zab and the Lulumê; the name
of Saradaush is perhaps preserved in that of Surtash, borne
by the valley through which runs one of the tributaries of
the Lower Zab.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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