In a small town near one of the sources of the Tigris, Assur-nazir-pal
founded a colony on which he imposed his name; he left there a statue
of himself, with an inscription celebrating his exploits carved on its
base, and having done this, he returned to Nineveh laden with booty.

[Illustration: 022.jpg THE SITE OF SHADIKANNI AT ARBAN, ON THE KHABUR]

Drawn by Boudier, from a sketch taken by Layard.


A few weeks had sufficed for him to complete, on this side, the work
bequeathed to him by his father, and to open up the neighbourhood of the
northeast provinces; he was not long in setting out afresh, this time to
the north-west, in the direction of the Taurus.*

* The text of the "Annals" declares that these events took
place "in this same limmu," in what the king calls higher up
in the column "the beginning of my royalty, the first year
of my reign." We must therefore suppose that he ascended the
throne almost at the beginning of the year, since he was
able to make two campaigns under the same eponym.

He rapidly skirted the left bank of the Tigris, burned some score of
scattered hamlets at the foot of Nipur and Pazatu,* crossed to the right
bank, above Amidi, and, as he approached the Euphrates, received
the voluntary homage of Kummukh and the Mushku.** But while he was
complacently engaged in recording the amount of vessels of bronze, oxen,
sheep, and jars of wine which represented their tribute, a messenger of
bad tidings appeared before him. Assyria was bounded on the east by a