Coming now to the reign of Tiglath-Pileser I., 1120 B.C., we meet one of the great warriors of antiquity, and with his administration, a new era opened for Assyria. The first five years of his reign were occupied with campaigns to the north, east, and west, in which directions tribes had been menacing the borders of his kingdom. In these campaigns we see the beginnings of those cruel, relentless punishments, amounting often to mere savagery,--which fill the pages of Assyrian history. These were meted out to all who failed to submit to Assyrian arms. An inscription commemorating the victories of the warrior says: "With their corpses I strewed the mountain passes and the heights. I took away their property, a countless booty. Six thousand warriors, the remnant of their army, who had fled before my arms, embraced my feet. I carried them away and counted them among the inhabitants of my own land." And again: "In those days, ... Asshur, the Lord, sent me, who knows no victor in war, no rival in battle, whose rule is righteous over the four quarters of the world, towards distant kingdoms on the shores of the Upper Sea, which knew not submission, and I went forth. Across impracticable heights and through precipitous defiles the inside of which no king had beheld before, I passed. Through sixteen mountain ridges I marched in my chariot where the ground was good; where it was inaccessible, I cleared away with axes, and bridges for the passage of my troops I constructed excellently well. I crossed the Euphrates.... Twenty-three kings of the land of Nairi, assembled their chariots and troops in the midst of their countries and came forth to do battle against me. By the impetuous onslaught of my mighty arms I conquered them. I destroyed their numerous armies like Raman's thundershower; with the corpses of their warriors I strewed the mountain heights and the enclosures of their cities as with straw. Their 120 chariots I destroyed in the battle; sixty kings of the lands of Nairi, with those who had come to their assistance, I pursued to the Upper Sea. Their great cities I took, their spoils, their possessions I carried off, their towns I burned with fire, I destroyed, laid them waste, made heaps of them and land for the plough. Numerous herds of steeds, colts, calves, and implements without number I carried home. The kings of the lands of the Nairi my hand captured alive, all of them. To these same kings I granted favor. Captive and bound, I released them before Shamash, my lord, and made them swear allegiance forever. Their children, the offspring of their royalty, I took as hostages. I imposed on them a tribute of 1,200 steeds and 2,000 bulls and dismissed them to their respective countries.... The vast lands of Nairi I took in all their extent, and all their kings I brought low to my feet."