by storm, and six hundred soldiers of the garrison were killed in the attack.  The survivors, to the number of three thousand, together with many women and children, were, thrown into the flames.  The people of Mariru hastened to the rescue;* the Assyrians took three hundred of them, prisoners and burnt them alive; fifty others were ripped up, but the victors did not stop to reduce their town.  The district of Nirbu was next subjected to systematic ravaging, and half of its inhabitants fled into the Mesopotamian desert, while the remainder sought refuge in Tela at the foot of the Ukhira.**

* The site of Mariru is unknown; according to the text of the Annals, it ought to lie near Severek (Kinabu) to the south-east, since after having mentioned it, Assur-nazir-pal speaks of the people of Nirbu whom he engaged in the desert before marching against Tela.

** Tila or Tela is the Tela Antoninopolis of the writers of the Roman period and the present Veranshehr.  The district of Nirbu, of which it was the capital, lay on the southern slope of the Karajah-dagh at the foot of Mount Urkhira, the central group of the range.  The name Kashiari is applied to the whole mountain group which separates the basins of the Tigris and Euphrates to the south and south-west.

The latter place was a strong one, being surrounded by three enclosing walls, and it offered an obstinate resistance.  Notwithstanding this, it at length fell, after having lost three thousand of its defenders:—­some of its garrison were condemned to the stake, some had their hands, noses, or ears cut off, others were deprived of sight, flayed alive, or impaled amid the smoking ruins.  This being deemed insufficient punishment, the conqueror degraded the place from its rank of chief town, transferring this, together with its other privileges, to a neighbouring city, Tushkhan, which had belonged to the Assyrians from the beginning of their conquests.* The king enlarged the place, added to it a strong enclosing wall, and installed within it the survivors of the older colonists who had been dispersed by the war, the majority of whom had taken refuge in Shupria.**

* From this passage we learn that Tushkhan, also called Tushkha, was situated on the border of Nirbu, while from another passage in the campaign of the Vth year we find that it was on the right bank of the Tigris.  Following H. Rawlinson, I place it at Kurkh, near the Tigris, to the east of Diarbekir.  The existence in that locality of an inscription of Assur-nazir-pal appears to prove the correctness of this identification; we are aware, in fact, of the particular favour in which this prince held Tushkhan, for he speaks with pride of the buildings with which he embellished it.  Hommel, however, identifies Kurkh with the town of Matiato, of which mention is made further on.

** Shupria or Shupri, a name which has been read Ruri, had been brought into submission