ASSUR AND NINEVEH. 165 
any statue, but there may well have been a bas-relief above 
the inscription to which he refers. Confirmation of Polyhistor’s 
statement that Sennacherib rebuilt the city of Tarsus after the 
likeness of Babylon, and changed its name to Tharsis, may 
possibly be confirmed by records of a later date—if such ever 
come to light. Though it is not much, this new chapter in the 
history of ‘the Apostle Paul’s native city is interesting. It had 
already been taken by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser IL., about 
850 B.c., when Kati, the then ruler, was deposed, and his 
brother Kirri placed on the throne in his stead. 
The other campaign referred to was against Tilgarimmu, a 
city on the borders of Tubal, which Assyriologists have iden- 
tified with the Biblical Togarmah—a comparison, however, 
which is not altogether satisfactory ; though it may, by chance, 
turn out to be correct. This place was ruled by a king named 
Hidi, who had “ consolidated ” (such seems to be the meaning of 
the verbal form irkusw) “his kingdom,” apparently meaning that 
he wished to be considered as independent of Assyria. Again 
the superior armament, and, it may be supposed, the organiza- 
tion of the Assyrians, prevailed ; and after the usual siege, the 
city was taken and destroyed, and the gods of the people carried 
into captivity. At the end, Sennacherib mentions the amount 
of military supplies which he captured and distributed among 
his forces. This was apparently not an important expedition, 
but it added to the glory of his reign, and is on that account 
recorded. 
But the longest section of the text is that detailing the work 
which Sennacherib did at Nineveh, his capital, to which he has 
devoted no less than 345 lines of writing. He describes the city 
as the place beloved by the goddess Istar, wherein exist the 
shrines of all the gods and goddesses—and i in this statement we 
may see why he thought more of Nineveh than of Dtr-Sarru- 
ukin, his father’s great foundation—the new city and royal 
residence did not appeal to him because it was a place of but 
little religious and historical interest. This view of his favour 
towards Nineveh is rather contirmed by the words which follow, 
wherein he goes on to say, that Nineveh is the eternal ground- 
work, the everlasting foundation, whose design had been 
fashioned and whose structure shone forth from of old with the 
writing of the (starry) heavens—practically a claim that it had 
a divine origin. It was a place craftily wrought, wherein was 
the seat of the oracle, and all kinds of art- works, every kind of 
shrine, treasure, and thing of delight (7). It was there that the 
kings his fathers had ruled the land of Assyria before him, and 
