but several monuments,
discovered near Armavir and Erzerum, testify that he pushed his arms
a considerable distance towards the north and north-west.* He obliged
Etius to acknowledge his supremacy, sending a colony to its capital,
Lununis, whose name he changed to Menua-lietzilinis.**
* The inscription of Erzerum, discovered by F. de Saulcy and
published by him, shows that Menuas was in possession of the
district in which this town is situated, and that he rebuilt
a palace there.
** Inscriptions of Yazli-tash and Zolakert. It follows from
these texts that the country of Etius is the district of
Armavir, and Lununis is the ancient name of this city. The
now name by which Menuas replaced the name Lununis signifies
_the abode of the people of Menuas_; like many names arising
from special circumstances, it naturally passed away with
the rule of the people who had imposed it.
Towards the end of his reign he partly subjugated the Mannai, planting
colonies throughout their territory to strengthen his hold on the
country. By these campaigns he had formed a kingdom, which, stretching
from the south side of the Araxes to the upper reaches of the Zab and
the Tigris, was quite equal to Assyria in size, and probably surpassed
it in density of population, for it contained no barren steppes such as
stretched across Mesopotamia, affording support merely to a few wretched
Bedawin. As their dominions increased, the sovereigns of Biainas began
to consider themselves on an equality with the kings of Nineveh, and
endeavoured still more to imitate them in the luxury and display of
their domestic life, as well as in the energy of their actions and the
continuity of their victories. They engraved everywhere on the rocks
triumphal inscriptions, destined to show to posterity their own exploits
and the splendour of their gods. Having made this concession to their
vanity, they took effective measures to assure possession of their
conquests. They selected in the various provinces sites difficult of
access, commanding some defile in the' mountains, or ford over a river,
or at the junction of two roads, or the approach to a plain; on such
spots they would build a fortress or a town, or, finding a citadel
already existing, they would repair it and remodel its fortifications
so as to render it impregnable. At Kalajik, Ashrut-Darga, and the older
Mukhrapert may still be seen the ruins of ramp
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