taken an oblique course towards some of the spurs of this formidable chain, and had endeavoured to neutralise its defences by outflanking them, either by proceeding westwards along the basins of the Supnat and the Arzania, or eastwards through the countries bordering on Lake Urumiah; but even this method presented too many difficulties and too little certainty of success to warrant Tiglath-pileser in staking the reviving fortunes of his empire on its adoption.  He rightly argued that Sharduris would be most easily vulnerable in those provinces whose allegiance to him was of recent date, and he resolved to seek out his foe in the heart of Northern Syria.

[Illustration:  221.jpg VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS WHICH GUARD THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF UARTU]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Binder.  Taken at Julamerk, near the junction of the mountain tracks leading from the Zab valley to the south-eastern corner of the basin of Lake Van.

There, if anywhere, every chance was in his favour and against the Armenian.  The scene of operations, while it had long been familiar to his own generals and soldiers, was, on the other hand, entirely new ground to those of the enemy; the latter, though unsurpassed in mountain warfare, lost much of their superiority on the plains, and could not, with all their courage, make up for their lack of experience.  Moreover, it must not be forgotten that a victory on the banks of the Afrin or the Orontes would have more important results than a success gained in the neighbourhood of the lakes or of Urartu.  Not only would it free the Assyrians from the only one of their enemies whom they had any cause to fear, but it would also bring back the Hittite kings to their allegiance, and restore the Assyrian supremacy over the wealthiest regions of Western Asia:  they would thus disable Urartu and reconquer Syria at one and the same time.  Tiglath-pileser, therefore, crossed the Euphrates in the spring of 743 B.C., neither Matilu of Agusi, Kushtashpi of Kummukh, nor their allies daring to interfere with his progress.  He thus advanced as far as Arpad, and, in the first moment of surprise, the town threw open its gates before him.*

* Different writers have given different versions of this campaign.  Some think that Arpad resisted, and that Tiglath- pileser was laying siege to it, when the arrival of Sharduris compelled him to retire; others prefer to believe that Arpad was still in the hands of the Assyrians, and that Tiglath-pileser used it as his base of operations.  The formula ina Arpadda in the Eponym Canon proves that Tiglath- pileser was certainly in Arpad:  since Arpad belonged to the Bit-Agusi, and they were the allies or vassals of Sharduris, we must assume, as I have done here, that in the absence of the Urartians they did not dare to resist the Assyrians, and opened their gates to them.

There, while he was making ready to claim the homage