TEPE GAWEA SPEISER 427 



US to the latter half of the third millennium. Gawra III is reduced 

 to a small fort, and Gawra I to a minor observation post perched 

 atop a steep-sloped mound. From this spot the watchman could 

 see the Nineveh of 1500 B.C., a city as yet free from Assyrian domi- 

 nation. When a Tighlath-Pileser or an Ashurnasirpal dreamed the 

 dream of a world empire, Gawra was already a lofty and mysterious 

 tell. Sargon may have watched it daily from his palace at Dur- 

 Sharruldn. If Gawra had then revealed to him its long history, 

 would the King's plans have been modified? We wonder. 



