the Zagros to Hamadan; an examination of the general features of the country leads me to believe that the town of Kharkhar should occupy the site of Kirmanshahan, or rather of the ancient city which preceded that town.

It was at this juncture, perhaps, that he received from the people of Muzri the gift of an elephant and some large monkeys, representations of which he has left us on one of his bas-reliefs.  Elephants were becoming rare, and it was not now possible to kill them by the hundred, as formerly, in Syria:  this particular animal, therefore, excited the wonder of the Ninevites, and the possession of it flattered the vanity of the conqueror.  This was, however, an interlude of short duration, and the turbulent tribes of the Taurus recalled him to the west as soon as spring set in.

He laid waste Kui in 836 B.C., destroyed Timur, its capital, and on his return march revenged himself on Arame of Agusi, whose spirit was still unbroken by his former misfortunes.

[Illustration:  137.jpg ELEPHANT AND MONKEYS BROUGHT AS A TRIBUTE TO NINEVEH BY THE PEOPLE OF MUZBI]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the bas-reliefs of the
     Black Obelisk.

Tanakun and Tarsus fell into his hands 835 B.C.; Shalmaneser replaced Kati, the King of Kui, by his brother Kirri, and made of his dominions a kind of buffer state between his own territory and that of Pamphylia and Lycaonia.  He had now occupied the throne for a quarter of a century, not a year of which had elapsed without seeing the monarch gird on his armour and lead his soldiers in person towards one or other points of the horizon.  He was at length weary of such perpetual warfare, and advancing age perchance prevented him from leading his troops with that dash and vigour which are necessary to success; however this might be, on his return from Cilicia he laid aside his armour once for all, and devoted himself to peaceful occupations.

But he did not on that account renounce all attempts at conquest.  Conducting his campaigns by proxy delegated the command of his army to his Tartan Dayan-assur, and the northern tribes were the first on whom this general gave proof of his prowess.  Urartu had passed into the hands of another sovereign since its defeat in 845 B.C., and a second Sharduris* had taken the place of the Arame who had ruled at the beginning of Shalma-neser’s reign.

* The name is written Siduri or Seduri in the text of the Obelisk, probably in accordance with some popular pronunciation, in which the r was but slightly rolled and finally disappeared.  The identity of Seduri and Sharduris, has been adopted by recent historians.  Belck and Lehmann have shown that this Seduri was not Sharduris, son of Lutipris, but a Sharduris II., probably the son of Arame.

It would appear that the accession of this prince, who was probably young and active, was the signal for a disturbance among the people of the Upper Tigris