156 THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, LL.D., M.R.A.S., ON 
“the house of the mountain of the lands,” but in the course of 
179 years it fell into ruin, and was rebuilt by Samfi-Adad, 
viceroy of A&Sur. Ikunum, who reigned after Erisum, rebuilt 
the temple of the goddess Eres-ki-yal, the queen of Hades so 
often referred to in the account of the Descent of the goddess 
star to that region. At this early date the records are mainly 
architectural, but it is to be expected that something more of the 
history of the country may come to light, though as the viceroys 
of Assyria seem to have been under the suzerainty of Babylonia, 
their natural warlike nature would be somewhat hidden. It 
seems to be only when they became kings in their own right 
that those long and often tedious but exceedingly valuable 
historical records, giving details of their conquests, and recount- 
ing their relations with the countries around—relations generally 
the result of those conquests—meet our wondering gaze. The 
Assyrians seem not to have engaged in military exploits for 
the mere lust of conquest, but because they were ambitious, and 
wished to hand down their names to posterity as more renowned 
than any ruler who had preceded them. 
According to Mr. Hormuzd Rassam’s account, the site of 
Qal’a Shergat, as ASSur is now called, is unlike that of the 
ruin-mounds of other Assyrian cities. Instead of standing out 
boldly and distinctly from the natural and artificial hills around, 
it is comparatively flat, the greater portion being simply a 
gradual slope upwards from south to north. When approaching 
it from the south or south-east, therefore, nothing can be seen 
except the ruins of the great temple-tower, f-hursag-kurkura, 
the lower boundary being simply a continuation of the natural 
hills at those points. Viewed from the north and north-west, 
however, the platform upon which the city is built has the 
appearance of a structure towering almost perpendicularly to 
a height of about 100 feet above the level of the plain. 
It is at’ the north-east corner of the city-enclosure that the 
temple of the god Assur, founded, apparently, by USpia, lies ; 
and immediately adjoining it is the palace of Shalmaneser I. 
(about 1330 B.c.) and another small temple. The great ziqqgurat 
or temple-tower lies a little farther to the W.S.W. Still farther 
to the same point is the palace of ASSur-nasir-dpli (885 B.c.), 
and W.S.W. of that again, lies the most noteworthy ruin of the 
place, namely, the temple of Anu and Adad—the well-known 
god of the heavens and his son, Hadad or Rimmon, the god of 
the atmosphere. The westernmost erection is the terrace of 
the new palace of Tukulti-En-usati (Tukulti-Ninip) I. (1300 B.c.), 
which seems to have been a building of considerable extent. 
