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 Nami; 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 Aia, the Shuira, 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-tchai.

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-
     tchai and the Bohtan-tchai, in the neighbourhood of Mildish.

** 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 Mildish; 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-tchai.  The position of Muraddash and Saradaush is indirectly pointed out by the mention of the Lower Zab and the Lulume; 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.

Beyond this, again, on the banks of the Lesser Zab and the confines of Lulumo, the principalities of Muraddash and of Saradaush refused to come to terms.  Tiglath-pileser broke their lines within sight of Muraddash, and entered the town with the fugitives in the confusion which ensued; this took place about the fourth hour