r intestine divisions; and
there was thus every reason to expect a long continuance of the success
which had naturally attended a large centralized state in her contests
with small kingdoms or loosely-united confederacies. Names celebrated in
the after history of the world, as those of the Medes and Persians, are
now indeed for the first time emerging into light from the complete
obscurity which has shrouded there hitherto; and tinged as they are with
the radiance of their later glories, they show brightly among the many
insignificant tribes and nations with which Assyria has been warring for
centuries; but it would be a mistake to suppose that these names have
any present importance in the narrative or represent powers capable as
yet of contending on equal terms with the Assyrian Empire, or even of
seriously checking the progress of her successes. The Medes and Persians
are at this period no more powerful than the Zimri, the Minni, the
Urarda, or than half a dozen others of the border nations, whose
appellations sound strange in the ears even of the advanced student.
Neither of the two great Arian peoples had as yet a capital city,
neither was united under a king: separated into numerous tribes, each
under its chief, dispersed in scattered towns and villages, poorly
fortified or not fortified at, all, they were in the same condition as
the Nairi, the Qummukh, the Patena, the Hittites, and the other border
races whose relative weakness Assyria had abundantly proved in a long
course of wars wherein she had uniformly been the victor.

The short reign of Shamas-Vul II., presents but little that calls for
remark. Like Shalmaneser II., he resided chiefly at Calah, where,
following the example of his father and grandfather, he set up an
obelisk (or rather a stele) in commemoration of his various exploits.
This monument, which is covered on three sides with an inscription in
the hieratic or cursive character, contains an opening invocation to Nin
or Hercules, conceived in the ordinary terms, the genealogy and titles
of the king, an account of the rebellion of Asshur-bani-pal, together
with its suppression, and Shamas-Vul's own annals for the first four
years of his reign. From these we learn that he displayed the same
active spirit as his two predecessors, carrying his arms against the
Nairi on the north, against Media and Arazias on the east, and against
Babylonia on the south. The people of Hupuska, the Minni, and the
Persia