These included the Bit-Sangibuti, the Bit-Khamban, the Barrua, the Bit-Zualzash, the Bit-Matti, the Umliash, the Parsua, the Bit-Zatti, the Bit-Zabdadani, the Bit-Ishtar, the city of Zakruti, the Nina, the Bustus, the Arakuttu, by which the conqueror gradually made his way into the heart of Media, reaching districts into which none of his predecessors had ever penetrated.  Those least remote he annexed to his own empire, converting them into a province under the rule of an Assyrian governor; he then returned to Calah with a convoy of 60,500 prisoners, and countless herds of oxen, sheep, mules, and dromedaries.  Whilst he was thus employed, Assur-dainani, one of his generals to whom he had entrusted the pick of his army, pressed on still further to the north-east, across the almost waterless deserts of Media.  The mountainous district on the shores of the Caspian had for centuries enjoyed a reputation for wealth and fertility among the races settled on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris.  It was from thence that they obtained their lapis-lazuli, and the hills from which it was extracted were popularly supposed to consist almost entirely of one compact mass of this precious mineral.  Their highest peak, now known as the Demavend, was then called Bikni,* a name which had come to be applied to the whole district.

     * The country of Bikni is probably Rhagian Media and Mount
     Bikni, the modern Demavend.

To the Assyrians it stood as the utmost boundary mark of the known world, beyond which their imagination pictured little more than a confused mist of almost fabulous regions and peoples.  Assur-dainani caught a distant glimpse of the snow-capped pyramid of Demavend, but approached no nearer than its lower slopes, whence he retraced his steps after having levied tribute from their inhabitants.  The fame of this exploit spread far and wide in a marvellously short space of time, and chiefs who till then had vacillated in their decision now crowded the path of the victor, eager to pay him homage on his return:  even the King of Illipi thought it wise to avoid the risk of invasion, and hastened of his own accord to meet the conqueror.  Here, again, Tiglath-pileser had merely to show himself in order to re-establish the supremacy of Assyria:  the races of the plain, for many years familiar with defeat, made no pretence of serious resistance, but bowed their necks beneath a fresh yoke almost without protest.

[Illustration:  218.jpg PRINCIPAL PAK OF MOUNT BIKNI (DEMAVEND)]

     Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. de Morgan.

Having thus secured his rear from attack for some years at any rate, Tiglath-pileser no longer hesitated to try conclusions with Urartu.  The struggle in which he now deliberately engaged could not fail to be a decisive one; for Urartu, buoyed up and borne on the wave of some fifty years of prosperity, had almost succeeded in reaching first rank among the Asiatic powers:  one more victory over Nineveh,