Page 417 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

piesence oi an Assyrian army. They had expelled their garrisons,
and no tribute had been sent. But again they had underestimated
the striking power of the new Assyrian army. This time Tiglath-

pileser was going to teach them a lesson, and the soldiers, furious
at having to conquer the same people twice, were not disposed to
interpret his orders leniently. They carried fire and the sword
along the length of the west road, and forayed up every valley of

the steep brown hills to the north. Everything that could not be
carried off was burnt, everyone who could not escape into the

upper mountains was enslaved or slaughtered. This time there
was to be no clemency.
But one lesson the rebels had learnt. Their army avoided a
pitched battle and retreated into the hills, crossing the Tigris

near its source and making an alliance with the Kurds, those dour
warriors of the mountains who had never accepted Assyrian rule.

And there, in a pass of the mountains, on territory which gave
them every advantage, they did at last turn and fight.
It was a long and bloody battle, the infantry stubbornly
advancing up the rocky slopes under continuous arrow fire, gain­

ing a ridge only to meet new fire from the ridge above, and only
the overwhelmingly superior numbers of the Assyrians won the
day. But won it was, and the paramount chief of the Kurds was

captured, with considerable booty. Again envoys came in from
the city-states to the north and west, on the borders of Asia
Minor, promising submission and friendship.

And again in the winter that followed, while the snow lay on
the mountains that ringed Assyria, the unconquered countries

took heart and repudiated their submission. Again the army took
the road in the spring, to redo the work they had twice done.
Again the week-long marches, again the sacking and burning of
towns and villages, the indiscriminate slaughter of all who were

not active enough to escape to the high hills. But this time there
were no battles. The rebel armies kept their distance, and the

countries beyond the ravaged lands were abject in their pro­
testations of submission.
After another winter at home, and the spring sowing, Tig-
lathpileser led out his army once more, but this time to the east.

It was necessary to show the independent mountaineers of