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Records of the Past, 2nd series, Vol. I

By A. H. Sayce

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Coloumn III

1. had seized the cities of Subarti which looked to
2. the face 1 of Asur my lord,
3. heard of my march against the land of Subarti;
4. the glory of my valour overwhelmed them;
5. they avoided battle; my feet
6. they took.
7. Together with their property and 120
8. chariots (and the horses) harnessed to their yokes
9. I took them; as the men
10. of my own country I counted them.

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11. In the fierceness of my valour for the second time
12. to the country of Kummukh I marched. All
13. their cities I captured. Their spoil
14. their goods and their property I carried away.
15. Their cities with fire I burned,
16. I threw down (and) dug up, and the relics
17. of their armies, who before my powerful weapons
18. were terror-stricken and the onset of my mighty battle
19. avoided, to save
20. their lives sought the mighty summits
21. of the mountains, an inaccessible region.
22. To the fastnesses of the lofty ranges
23. and the ravines of the inaccessible mountains
24. which were unsuited for the tread of men
25. I ascended after them. Trial of weapons, combat
26. and battle they essayed with me.
27. A destruction of them I made. The bodies
28. of their warriors in the ravines of the mountains
29. like the inundator (Rimmon) I overthrew. Their corpses
30. over the valleys and high places of the mountains
31. I spread. Their spoil, their goods
32. and their property from the mighty

33. summits of the mountains I brought down.
34. The land of Kummukh to its whole extent I subjugated, and
35. added to the territory of my country.

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36. Tiglath-pileser the powerful king,
37. the mighty overwhelmer of the disobedient, he who sweeps away
38. the opposition of the wicked.

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39. In the supreme power of Asur my lord
40. against the land of Kharia 1 and the widespread armies
41. of the land of Qurkhi,—lofty mountain-ranges
42. whose site no king at all
43. had sought out—Asur the lord commanded (me)
44. to march. My chariots and armies
45. I assembled. The neighbourhood 2 of the mountains of Idni
46. and Aya, an inaccessible district, I reached,
47. lofty mountains, which like the point of a sword
48. were formed, which for the passage of my chariots
49. were unsuited. The chariots in idleness
50. I left there. The precipitous mountains
51. I crossed. All the land of Qurkhi
52. had collected its widespread armies, and
53. to make trial of arms, combat and battle
54. in the mountain of Azutabgis 3 was stationed, and
55. in the mountain, an inaccessible spot, with them
56. I fought, a destruction of them I made.

57. The bodies of their warriors on the high places of the mountains
58. into heaps I heaped.
59. The corpses of their warriors over the valleys and high places
60. of the mountains I spread. Against the cities
61. which were situated in the ravines of the mountains fiercely
62. I pierced (my way). 1 Twenty-five cities of the land of Kharia
63. which lie at the foot of the mountains of Aya, Suira, Idni,
64. Sizu, Selgu, Arzanibiu, Uru’su, and Anitku,
65. I captured. Their spoil,
66. their goods and their property I carried off.
67. Their cities with fire I burned,
68. I threw down (and) dug up.

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69. The country of Adaus feared the onset of my mighty battle,
70. and their dwelling-place (the inhabitants) abandoned.
71. To the ravines of the lofty mountains
72. like birds they fled. The glory of Assur my lord
73. overwhelmed them, and
74. they descended and took my feet.
75. Tribute and offering I imposed upon them.

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76. The lands of ’Saraus and Ammaus
77. which from days immemorial had not known
78. subjection, like the flood of the deluge
79. I overwhelmed. With their armies
80. on the mountain of Aruma 2 I fought, and
81. a destruction of them I made. The bodies
82. of their fighting-men like sling-stones (?)

83. I flung to the ground. Their cities I captured.
84. Their gods I removed. Their spoil,
85. their goods (and) their property I carried away.
86. Their cities with fire I burned,
87. I threw down (and) dug up; to mounds and ruins
88. I reduced. The heavy yoke of my lordship
89. I laid upon them. The face of Assur my lord
90. I made them behold. 1

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91. The powerful countries of I’sua 2 and Daria
92. which were disobedient I conquered. Tribute
93. and offering I imposed upon them.
94. The face of Assur my lord I caused them to behold.

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95. In my supremacy when my enemies
96. I had conquered, my chariots and armies
97. I took. The lower Zab 3
98. I crossed. The countries of Murattas and Saradaus
99. which are in the midst of the mountains of A’saniu and Adhuma
100. an inaccessible region, I conquered.
101. Their armies like lambs
102. I cut down. The city of Murattas,
103. their stronghold, in the third part of a day
104. from sunrise I captured.
105. Their gods, their goods, (and) their property,
106. 60 plates of bronze,

Footnotes
100:1 That is, were subject to.

101:1 It is clear that Kharia was a district of Qurkhi which lay eastward of Diarbekir and the Supnat or Sebeneh Su, in the direction of Bitlis. It is perhaps the Arua of Assur-natsir-pal which adjoined the western frontier of Ararat, a kingdom at that time confined to Lake Van and the district south of the Lake. The name reminds us of the classical Korra, now Karia, a little to the south-east of Kolkhis (on Lake Goldshik), and to the north-west of Diarbekir.

101:2 Birti, from baru "to see."

101:3 Perhaps to be read Azues.

102:1 Aznig, not a’snig.

102:2 As, according to ii. 78, Aruma lay on the frontier of Mildis, Adaus, ’Saraus, and Ammaus must have been Kurdish districts to the eastward of Kummukh. The country of Adaus is mentioned by Assur-natsir-pal in connection with Kirruri, which lay between Nimme and Qurkhi.

103:1 That is, "I reduced them to subjection to Assur."

103:2 I’sua, according to Shalmaneser II, adjoined Enzite or Anzitênê (on the Sebbeneh Su) and lay on the southern bank of the Arsanias between Palu and Mush. It is probably the U’su of Assur-natsir-pal, on the western frontier of Arua (see note on iii. 40).

103:3 The lower Zab falls into the Tigris a little below Kalah Sherghat (Assur). It rises in the Kurdish mountains, flowing past Arbela, and was called Kapros by the classical geographers in contradistinction to the Lykos or Upper Zab.