118 THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, LL.D., M.R.A.S., ON 



beyond a doubt. The dialect, which is Semitic, is peculiar, and 

 of considerable importance. Such of the letters as I have been 

 able to translate are what we should expect from a community 

 living far from its home. The impressions of a cylinder-seal 

 on the envelope of an ancient Cappadocian letter, showing a four- 

 wheeled chariot, drawn by horses, are of considerable interest. 



After this, it is not surprising that Sam'alla, a town at 

 present represented by the ruins of Zenjirli, should have 

 acknowledged, in common with other places in the west, the 

 over-lordship of the great Assyrian king. The inscriptions 

 found at Zenjirli extend from a period preceding the time of 

 the Biblical Tiglath-Pileser (740 B.C.) to the reign of Esarhaddon, 

 and it is probable that the allegiance of the people of Sam'alla 

 only ended with the downfall of Assyrian power in 606 B.C. 

 Sam'alla was apparently the capital of an Aramaic state of some 

 antiquity. The most important object of general interest is 

 the stele sculptured with a representation of Esarhaddon 

 holding, by cords attached to their lips, two prisoners, that 

 nearer to him being Tirhakah, the w^ell-known Ethiopian king 

 of Egypt, whose identity is shown by the urseus ornament on 

 his head. On the side are portraits of Panammu, the king of 

 Zenjirli, Esarhaddon's vassal. 



The inscription on the stele bearing the representation of 

 Esarhaddon and his captives is noteworthy, as it shows how far 

 Assyrian power extended. Besides the title of King of 

 Assyria, he calls himself also King of Babylon, King of Sumer 

 and Akkad (practically the same thing). King of Kar-Dunias 

 (it is uncertain whether there be any distinction in this, but 

 probably the words " all of them," which follow, explain it, and 

 indicate that Kar-Dunias stands for Babylonia in general), 

 King of the kings of Egypt, Patros, and Gush or Ethiopia. He 

 traces his descent in the usual way, namely, through 

 Sennacherib and Sargon to Belibni, son of Adasi, whom he calls 

 the founder of Assyrian dominion {mitldn sarruti mat Assur). 

 He then refers to his campaign against Tirhakah {Tarq%£), 

 King of Egypt and Ethiopia, whom he defeated every day for 

 fifteen days, and fought with personally on five occasions, taking, 

 in the end, the city of Memphis. Among the captives were 

 Tirhakah's women-folk, and his son Usanahuru. The usual 

 curses against anyone who should take away or destroy this 

 monument, and appeals to future princes to read the inscrip- 

 tion and perform the usual ceremonies of anointing, etc., close 

 the text. 



Though the statue of the god Hadad found there is ugly, the 



