s, in Egypt, Ramses
III. imitated Ramses II., or whether, in similar circumstances, he
instinctively and naturally followed the same line of march. In
either case, he certainly showed on all sides greater wisdom than his
predecessor, and having attained the object of his ambition, avoided
compromising his success by injudiciously attacking Damascus or Babylon,
the two powers who alone could have offered effective resistance. The
victory he had gained, in 879, over the brother of Nabu-baliddin had
immensely flattered his vanity. His panegyrists vied with each other in
depicting Karduniash bewildered by the terror of his majesty, and the
Chaldaeans overwhelmed by the fear of his arms; but he did not allow
himself to be carried away by their extravagant flatteries, and
continued to the end of his reign to observe the treaties concluded
between the two courts in the time of his grandfather Ramman-nirari.*

* His frontier on the Chaldaean side, between the Tigris and
the mountains, was the boundary fixed by Ramman-nirari.

He had, however, sufficiently enlarged his dominions, in less than ten
years, to justify some display of pride. He himself described his empire
as extending, on the west of Assyria proper, from the banks of the
Tigris near Nineveh to Lebanon and the Mediterranean;* besides which,
Sukhi was subject to him, and this included the province of Rapiku on
the frontiers of Babylonia.**

* The expression employed in this description and in similar
passages, _ishtu ibirtan naru_, translated _from the ford
over the river_, or better, _from the other side of the
river_, must be understood as referring to Assyria proper:
the territory subject to the king is measured in the
direction indicated, starting from the rivers which formed
the boundaries of his hereditary dominions. _From the other
bank of the Tigris_ means from the bank of the Tigris
opposite Nineveh or Oalah, whence the king and his army set
out on their campaigns.

** Rapiku is mentioned in several texts as marking the
frontier between the Sukhi and Chaldaea.

He had added to his older provinces of Amidi, Masios and Singar, the
whole strip of Armenian territory at the foot of the Taurus range, from
the sources of the Supnat to those of the Bitlis-tchai, and he held the
passes leading to the banks of the Arzania, in Kirruri and Gilzan, while
the extensive country of Nairi had sworn hi