He had, no doubt, hoped that Urzana of Muzazir, the last of the friends of Eusas to hold out against Assyria, would make good use of the respite thus, to all appearances unintentionally, afforded him, and would come to terms; but as the appeal to his clemency was delayed, Sargon suddenly determined to assume the aggressive. Muzazir, entrenched within its mountain ranges, was accessible only by one or two dangerous passes; Urzana had barricaded these, and believed himself in a position to defy every effort of the Assyrians. Sargon, equally convinced of the futility of a front attack, had recourse to a surprise. [Illustration: 378.jpg TAKING OF A TOWN IN URARTU BY THE ASSYRIANS] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the drawing by Botta. Taking with him his chariots and one thousand picked horsemen, he left the beaten track, and crossing the four or five mountain chains--the Shiak, the Ardinshi, the Ulayau, and the Alluria--which lay between him and Muzazir, he unexpectedly bore down upon the city. Urzana escaped after a desperate resistance, but the place was taken by assault and sacked, the palace destroyed, the temple overthrown, and the statues of the gods Khaldia and Bagbartu dragged from their sanctuary. The entire royal family were sent into slavery, and with them 20,170 of the inhabitants who had survived the siege, besides 690 mules, 920 oxen, 100,225 sheep, and incalculable spoils in gold, silver, bronze, iron, and precious stones and stuffs, the furniture of Urzana, and even his seal, being deposited in the treasury at Nineveh. [Illustration: 379.jpg THE SEAL OF URZANA, KING OF MUZAZIR] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an impression of the original seal which is preserved at the Hague. The disaster at Muzazir was the final blow to Urartu; it is impossible to say what took place where Eusas himself was, and whether the feudatories refused him any further allegiance, but in a short time he found himself almost forsaken, without friends, troops, or a place of refuge, and reduced to choose between death or the degradation of appealing to the mercy of the conqueror. He stabbed himself rather than yield; and Sargon, only too thankful to be rid of such a dangerous adversary, stopped the pursuit. Argistis II. succeeded to what was left of his father's kingdom,* and, being anxious above all things to obtain peace for his subjects, suspended hostilities, without however disarming his troops. * No text states positively that Argistis II. immediately succeeded his father; but he is found mentioned as King of Urartu from 708 onwards, and hence it has been concluded, not without some reason, that such was the fact. The Vannic inscriptions have not as yet given us this sovereign's name.