is
troops, and swept away the whole of his body-guard--a body of cavalry of
two hundred men, all of whom were connected by blood with the reigning
family. Eusas quitted his chariot, and, like his father Sharduris on
the night of the disaster at Kishtan, leaped upon a mare, and fled,
overwhelmed with shame, into the mountains. His towns, terror-stricken,
opened their gates at the first summons to the victor; Sargon burnt
those which he knew he could not retain, granted the district of Uaush
to his vassal Ullusunu as a recompense for his loyalty, and then marched
up to rest awhile in Nairi, where he revictualled his troops at the
expense of Ianzu of Khubushkia. He had, no doubt, hoped that Urzana of
Muzazir, the last of the friends of Eusas to hold out against
Assyria, would make good use of the respite thus, to all appearances
unintentionally, afforded him, and would come to terms; but as the
appeal to his clemency was delayed, Sargon suddenly determined to assume
the aggressive. Muzazir, entrenched within its mountain ranges, was
accessible only by one or two dangerous passes; Urzana had barricaded
these, and believed himself in a position to defy every effort of the
Assyrians. Sargon, equally convinced of the futility of a front attack,
had recourse to a surprise.

[Illustration: 378.jpg TAKING OF A TOWN IN URARTU BY THE ASSYRIANS]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the drawing by Botta.

Taking with him his chariots and one thousand picked horsemen, he left
the beaten track, and crossing the four or five mountain chains--the
Shiak, the Ardinshi, the Ulayau, and the Alluria--which lay between him
and Muzazir, he unexpectedly bore down upon the city. Urzana escaped
after a desperate resistance, but the place was taken by assault and
sacked, the palace destroyed, the temple overthrown, and the statues of
the gods Khaldia and Bagbartu dragged from their sanctuary. The entire
royal family were sent into slavery, and with them 20,170 of the
inhabitants who had survived the siege, besides 690 mules, 920 oxen,
100,225 sheep, and incalculable spoils in gold, silver, bronze, iron,
and precious stones and stuffs, the furniture of Urzana, and even his
seal, being deposited in the treasury at Nineveh.

[Illustration: 379.jpg THE SEAL OF URZANA, KING OF MUZAZIR]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an impression of the original
seal which is preserved at the Hague.

The disaster at Muzazir was the final blow to Urartu; it