ortant was the Kuti, who probably dwelt in the
districts to the east of the Lower Zab. They were a turbulent race and
they had already been conquered by Arik-den-ilu and Adad-nirari I, but
on neither occasion had they been completely subdued, and they had soon
regained their independence. Their subjugation by Tukulti-Ninib was
a necessary preliminary to any conquest in the south, and we can well
understand why it was undertaken by the king at the beginning of his
reign. Other conquests which were also made in the same region were the
Ukumani and the lands of Elkhu-nia, Sharnida, and Mekhri, mountainous
districts which probably lay to the north of the Lower Zab. The country
of Mekhri took its name from the mekhru-tree, a kind of pine or fir,
which grew there in abundance upon the mountainsides, and was highly
esteemed by the Assyrian kings as affording excellent wood for building
purposes. At a later period Ashur-nasir-pal invaded the country in the
course of his campaigns and brought back beams of mekhru-wood, which he
used in the construction of the temple dedicated to the goddess Ishtar
in Nineveh.

The second group of tribes and districts enumerated by Tukulti-Ninib as
having been subdued in his early years, before his conquest of Babylon,
all lay probably to the northwest of Assyria. The most powerful among
these peoples were the Shubari, who, like the Kuti on the eastern
border of Assyria, had already been conquered by Adad-nirari I, but had
regained their independence and were once more threatening the border on
this side. The third group of his conquests consisted of the districts
ruled over by forty kings of the lands of Na'iri, which was a general
term for the mountainous districts to the north of Assyria, including
territory to the west of Lake Van and extending eastwards to the
districts around Lake Urmi. The forty kings in this region whom
Tukulti-Ninib boasts of having subdued were little more than chieftains
of the mountain tribes, each one possessing authority over a few
villages scattered among the hills and valleys. But the men of Na'iri
were a warlike and hardy race, and, if left long in undisturbed
possession of their native fastnesses, they were tempted to make raids
into the fertile plains of Assyria. It was therefore only politic for
Tukulti-Ninib to traverse their country with fire and sword, and, by
exacting heavy tribute, to keep the fear of Assyrian power before their
eyes. From the king's reco