** Izalla, written also Izala, Azala, paid its tribute in
sheep and oxen, and also produced a wine for which it
continued to be celebrated down to the time of
Nebuchadrezzar II. Lenormant and Finzi place this country-
near to Nisibis, where the Byzantine and Syrian writers
mention a district and a mountain of the same name, and this
conjecture is borne out by the passages of the _Annals of
Assur-nazir-pal_ which place it in the vicinity of Bît-Adini
and Bît-Bakhiâni. It has also been adopted by most of the
historians who have recently studied the question.

At the first news of his approach, Khulai had raised the blockade of
Damdamusa and had entrenched himself in Kinabu; the Assyrians, however,
carried the place by storm, and six hundred soldiers of the garrison
were killed in the attack. The survivors, to the number of three
thousand, together with many women and children, were, thrown into the
flames. The people of Mariru hastened to the rescue;* the Assyrians took
three hundred of them, prisoners and burnt them alive; fifty others
were ripped up, but the victors did not stop to reduce their town. The
district of Nirbu was next subjected to systematic ravaging, and half of
its inhabitants fled into the Mesopotamian desert, while the remainder
sought refuge in Tela at the foot of the Ukhira.**

* The site of Mariru is unknown; according to the text of
the Annals, it ought to lie near Severek (Kinabu) to the
south-east, since after having mentioned it, Assur-nazir-pal
speaks of the people of Nirbu whom he engaged in the desert
before marching against Tela.

** Tila or Tela is the Tela Antoninopolis of the writers of