for he speaks with pride of the buildings with which he
embellished it. Hommel, however, identifies Kurkh with the
town of Matiâtô, of which mention is made further on.

** Shupria or Shupri, a name which has been read Ruri, had
been brought into submission from the time of Shalmaneser I.
We gather from the passages in which it is mentioned that it
was a hilly country, producing wine, rich in flocks, and
lying at a short distance from Tushkhân; perhaps Mariru,
mentioned on p. 28, was one of its towns. I think we may
safely place it on the north-western slopes of the Kashiari,
in the modern caza of Tchernik, which possesses several
vineyards held in high estimation. Knudtzon, to whom we are
indebted for the reading of this name, places the country
rather further north, within the fork formed by the two
upper branches of the Tigris.

He constructed a palace there, built storehouses for the reception of
the grain of the province; and, in short, transformed the town into
a stronghold of the first order, capable of serving as a base of
operations for his armies. The surrounding princes, in the meanwhile,
rallied round him, including Ammibaal of Bît-Zamani, and the rulers
of Shupria, Naîri, and Urumi;* the chiefs of Eastern Nirbu alone held
aloof, emboldened by the rugged nature of their mountains and the
density of their forests. Assur-nazir-pal attacked them on his return
journey, dislodged them from the fortress of Ishpilibria where they were
entrenched, gained the pass of Buliani, and emerged into the valley of
Luqia.**

* The position of Bît-Zamani on the banks of the Euphrates