172 THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, LL.D., M.R.A.S., ON 
and a thousand cornfields above and below the city, forms a fit 
conclusion to this portion of the narrative. 
To retard the current of the river Khosr the king construeted 
a swamp, in which its waters lost themselves. Reeds and 
rushes were planted within it, and wild fowl, wild swine, and 
apparently deer placed therein. All the trees which he planted 
throve exceedingly, in accordance with the word of the god. The 
reed-plantations prospered, the birds of heayen and the wild 
fowl of distant places built their nests, and the wild swine and 
forest-creatures spread abroad their young. The trees useful for 
building he used in the construction of his palaces—the trees 
bearing wool they stripped, and beat out for garments. 
To celebrate the completion of the work a great festival was 
held, worthy of such a king, who, whatever may have been his 
conduct with regard to other nations, seems to have attended 
well to the needs of his own people. Assembling the gods and 
goddesses of Assyria in his palace, numerous victims were 
sacrificed, and gifts were offered. There was oil from the trees 
called sirdi (which may therefore have been the olive), and 
there was produce from the plantations more than in the lands 
whence the trees therein came. On that occasion, too, when 
the palace was dedicated, he saturated the heads of the people 
of his land with oil, probably from those trees, and filled their 
bodies with wine and mead. The inscription ends with the 
usual exhortation to those “among the king’s his sons, whom 
Assur should call for the shepherding of land and people,” to 
repair the wall when it should fall into ruin; and having found 
the inscription inscribed with his name, to anoint it with oil, 
sacrifice a victim, and restore it toits place. “ Assur and I8tar 
will hear his prayers.” 
After this pious wish comes the date :— 
““Month Ab, eponymy of Ilu-itti-ia, governor of Damascus.” 
In all probability many will say that we have here a view of 
the great and (it must be admitted) cruel conqueror in an 
entirely new light, namely, as the benefactor of his country. 
And if what he states be true, the question naturally arises : 
What modern ruler could say that he had done as much for his 
capital as Sennacherib claims to have done for Nineveh? And 
who shall say that he claimed unwarrantedly to be the benefactor 
of the great city? The sculptures from his palace exist to 
confirm his record. We see the winged bulls, of colossal size, 
lying down on the sledges on which they were transferred from 
the quarries to the site of the palace, sometimes placed uprightly, 
