ys, and was not terminated till 822
B.C., at which date Shalmaneser had been dead two years. This prolonged
crisis had shaken the kingdom to its foundations; the Syrians, the
Medes, the Babylonians, and the peoples of the Armenian and Aramaean
marches were rent from it, and though Samsi-ramman IV. waged continuous
warfare during the twelve years that he governed, he could only
partially succeed in regaining the territory which had been thus lost.*

* All that we know of the reign of Samsi-ramman IV. comes
from an inscription in archaic characters containing the
account of four campaigns, without giving the years of each
reign or the _limmu_, and historians have classified them in
different ways.

His first three campaigns were-directed against the north-eastern and
eastern provinces. He began by attempting to collect the tribute from
Nairi, the payment of which had been suspended since the outbreak of
the revolution, and he re-established the dominion of Assyria from the
district of Paddir to the township of Kar-Shulmanasharid, which his
father had founded at the fords of the Euphrates opposite to Carchemish
(821 B.C.). In the following campaign he did not personally take part,
but the Rabshakeh Mutarriz-assur pillaged the shores of Lake Urumiah,
and then made his way towards Urartu, where he destroyed three hundred
towns (820). The third expedition was directed against Misi and
Gizilbunda beyond the Upper Zab and Mount Zilar.* The inhabitants of
Misi entrenched themselves on a wooded ridge commanded by three peaks,
but were defeated in spite of the advantages which their position
secured for them;** the people of Gizilbunda were not more fortunate
than their neighbours, and six thousand of them perished at the assault
of Urash, their capital.***

* Mount Zilar is beyond the Upper Zab, on one of the roads
which lead to the basin of Lake Urumiah, probably in
Khubushkia. There are two of these roads--that which passes
over the neck of Kelishin, and the other which runs through
the gorges of Alan; "with the exception of these two points,
the mountain chain is absolutely impassable." According to
the general direction of the campaign, it appears to me
probable that the king crossed by the passes of Alan; Mount
Zilar would therefore be the group of chains which cover the
district of Pishder, and across which the Lesser Zab passes
before desce