384 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
supported by a powerful ally. The Assyrian king is described as 
walking in the strength of Assur his lord. Assur was the national 
god of the Assyrians, amd was king of all the great gods ; so that 
when it is said that he walked in the strength of this great god, 
the scribe means to explain by this how it is that Assurnazirpal is 
so successful and powerful. The phrase "four regions" is one 
which often occurs in the inscriptions. Sayce says that this is a 
frequently recurring expression, which refers to the four races of 
Syria. Cyrus is called " great king, mighty king, king of Babylon, 
king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four regions." The king 
Bin-nirari III., who reigned over Assyria about fifty years after 
Assurnazirpal, is said to have subjugated, by the help of Assur 
his lord, the princes of the four regions. This inscription of Bin- 
nirari, belonging to a period immediately succeeding that to which 
our tablets belong, will throw a little light on our text. They both 
have expressions exactly the same, and I am inclined to agree 
with Sayce that these four regions refer to the four races of Syria 
(about whom I can only say that these are probably the four 
quarters — north, south, east, west — of Syria). It is, however, a point 
about which I am not able to say anything further than that the 
above view of Sayce's seems to me not only probable, but correct. 
Lebanon is written Lab-na-na syllabically on the tablet. The Great 
Sea is written Tiamtu-rabu. Tiamtu is the Hebrew Dinn I referred 
to in the Creation account as meaning chaos or deep ; here = sea. 
Eabu is the usual word for great, and occurs in the names of the 
titles of two of the three officers whom Sennacherib sends to 
Hezekiah — Rabshakeh and Rabsaris. The Great Sea can be no 
other than the Mediterranean, and it is interesting to note that it 
was known in this ninth century B.C. to the Assyrian king. The 
Zupnat is a small stream at present unknown to us. All that we 
know of the districts Kirruri and Kilzani is, that they were beyond, 
i.e. to the east of the Lower Zab, so called to distinguish it from 
the Upper Zab, both of which were tributaries of the Tigris. 
Assurnazirpal is best known as the rebuilder of the city of 
Calah, written Kalkhu, which is now represented by the mounds of 
Nimroud, from which mounds the treasures in the Mmroud Gallery 
of the British Museum have been brought. This town is situated a 
little to the south of Mneveh, now called Mosul, at the junction of 
the Upper Zab with the Tigris. You will remember that this 
second tablet tells us that the " city Kalkhu anew I took." This 
