5. Flora. The mountains were covered with oak, plane, and wild pine trees; while on the plain proper, besides abundance of nuts, fig and olive trees flourished, together with the vine plant. These last were originally unknown to the East-Semitic districts, and were first im ported by the Assyrian kings from Syria. Ag riculture was confined mainly to the cultivation of wheat, barley, hemp, and millet. (F. Hom mel, Hastings' Bib. Diet.) 6. Chief Cities. The chief cities of As syria in the time of its greatness appear to have been the following: Nineveh, which is marked m by the mounds opposite Mosul (Nebbi-runus and Kosunjik); Calah or Halal), now Nimrad; Asshur, now Kilel: Sargina or Dur Sargina, now Khorsabod ; Arbela, still Arbil; Opis, at the junction of the Diyalch with the Tigris; and Sittace, a little further down the latter river, if this place should not rather be reckoned to Babylonia.
7. History. Assur was at first but a de pendency of the then old monarchy of Babylon. In the sixteenth or seventeenth century B. C. it had gained sufficient power to free itself from Babylon, but what the exact boundaries were, it is hard to tell, as they were constantly varying with the strength of the military power. At times they reached from the Tigris to the plateau of lesopotamia, and from Babylonia to the Kurdish mountains, embracing a territory about equal to Italy in extent.
At an early period of time the capital of As syria was moved to a group of cities composed of Nineveh, Calah, and Dur-Sargina, the sites of the modern Kouyunjik, Nimrud and Khorsa bad. It was in the sixteenth or seventeenth century B. C. that Bel-kapkapi, the governor of the country of Assur, invested himself with the title of king. From this time little is known of the Assyrians. from their own records, until about 132o B. C., when Rimmonnirari I recounts, in an inscription, his wars with the Babylonians, the Kurds, Shuites. and Aram Bans.
(1) Tiglath-pIleser. For two centuries his descendants occupied the throne in orderly suc cession until the reign of Tiglath-pileser I. whose conquests of the I littites and capture of Babylon in 113o B. C. made him virtually the founder of the Assyrian empire. With his death the Assyrian power languished for a time, and the kingdom of David and Solomon arose during the interim in the west.
(2) Assur-natsir-pal. In the reign of Assur natsir-pal (883-58 B. C.) Assyria once more be came a formidable power, Babylon, Pheenicia and the Hittite king of Carchemish poured their rich offerings of tribute into the Assyrian treas ury. Splendid palaces arose at Calah, where a
library was created, and it became the favorite city of the king.
(3) Shalmaneser II. Under his son, maneser II, Assyria reached the height of her imperial power. The annals of this king scribed upon three monuments are now in the British Museum. One of these is a monolith from Kurkh, and a full length figure of Shal maneser is sculptured upon it while the surface of the stone is covered with the inscription. Another is a small obelisk of polished black stone, the upper part of which is shaped like three ascending steps. The third consists of the bronze framework of two colossal doors or gates more than twenty feet square. Tbey me covered with relief work representing the va rious campaigns of the king, and there are short texts which explain the figures. (See ASSYRIAN AND BAIIYIAINIAN DIsmVERIEN.) Shalmaneser's first campaign was against the tribes of Kurdistan. Ile then fell upon the Arme nian king of Van and Nlanna or :Omni (Jer. li :27). I le reduced the Hittites and their allies and regained l'ethor Inch again gave the Assy rians the command of the ford over the Eu phrates.
In B. C. 8c4 Shalmaneser came into conflict ))ith the kingdom of Ilamath, and the common danger roused Benhadad II of Damascus, who. with Ahab of Israel, and others, formed a con federacy to resist the Assyrian advance.
But the confederacy was shatti red at Karkar or Aroer. although Shalmaneser had suffered too severely to be able to follow up his victory. For a time, therefore, Syria remained unmolested and the Assyrian king turned his attention to Baby lonia, which he reduced to a state of vassalage.
In B. C. 841 Shalmaneser was again in the West. Ilazael had succeeded Ben-hadad upon the throne of Damascus, and against him the tide of Assyrian power was turned. He suffered a crushing defeat on the heights of Shcnir (see Deut. :9), and his camp fell into the hands of the Assyrians. Damascus was besieged and the ambassadors of Jehu brought tributes and offers of submission. Shalmaneser made expedi tions to Phoenicia, Kapadokia and Armenia for the purpose of exacting tribute, but the king was growing feeble and disaffections arose at home, and when he died about B. C. 823, the vigor of his kingdom was failing.
(4) Other Princes. He was succeeded by a few princes of his own line, but their reigns were short. One revolt followed another, and at last even the army declared itself against the king about B. C. 75o, and he and his dynasty fell together.