Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/387

ASSYRIA 309 ASSYRIA Tiglath-pileser I,, one of the greatest of the sovereigns of the first Assyrian monarchy, ascended the throne, and carried his conquests to the Mediter- ranean on the one side and to the Caspian and the Persian Gulf on the other. At his death ensued a period of decline, tvhich lasted over 150 years. Under Assur- nasir-pal, who reigned from 884 to 859 B. C, Assyria once more advanced to the Omri, and Jehu of Israel, from whom he exacted tribute, as also from the kings of Tyre and Sidon. The old dynasty came to an end in the person of As- surnirari II., who was driven from the throne by a usurper, Tiglath-pileser III., in 745, after a struggle of some years. He was the first Assyrian king mentione(? by the Hebrews, identical with Pul. No sooner was this able ruler firmly seated THE ASSOUAN DAM position of the leading power in the world, his kingdom being greater in ex- tent than that of Tiglath-pileser. History. — In 859 Assur-nasir-pal was succeeded by his son Shalmaneser II. (859- 824), who was the first Assyrian king to have relations with Israel, and whose annals are found inscribed on the famous Black Obelisk in the British Museum, and on the bulls and slabs from his palace at Calah. His career of conquest was equally successful. He reduced Babylon to a state of vassalage, and came into hostile contact with Benhadad and Hazael of Damascus, and with Ahab, son of on the throne than he made an expedition into Babylonia, followed by another to the east in 744. A year later he defeated the confederate princes of Armenia, Syria, etc., and, advancing against Syria, overthrew the ancient kingdoms of Da- mascus and Hamath, and in 733 he placed his vassal Hosea on the throne of Samaria. Having reduced the west to submission the Assyrian King now at- tacked Chaldea, and, after a severe war, commencing in 731 B. c, he defeated and slew Ukin-ziru, the Kinziros of the Canon of Ptolemy, and was proclaimed King of Sumir and Akkad, in 729 B. c. Tiglath-