Simaki, as far as the Turn at, to achieve the final pacification of the
South. While in this neighbourhood, his attention was directed to the
old town of Atlîla,** built by Sibir,*** an ancient king of Karduniash,
but which had been half ruined by the barbarians. He re-named it
Dur-Assur, "the fortress of Assur," and built himself within it a palace
and storehouses, in which he accumulated large quantities of corn,
making the town the strongest bulwark of his power on the Cossæan
border.

*The approximate site of Arakdi is indicated in the
itinerary of Assur-nazir-pal itself; the king comes from
Zamru in the neighbourhood of Sulei-manabad, crosses Mount
Lara, which is the northern part of the Azmir-dagh, and
arrives at Arakdi, possibly somewhere in Surtash. In the
course of the preceding campaign, after having laid waste
Bara, he set out from this same town (Arakdi) to subdue
Nishpi, all of which bears out the position I have
indicated. The present town of Baziân would answer fairly
well for the site of a place destined to protect the
Assyrian frontier on this side.

** Given its position on the Chaldæan frontier, Atlîla is
probably to be identified with the Kerkuk of the present
day.

*** Hommel is inclined to believe that Sibir was the
immediate predecessor of Nabubaliddin, who reigned at
Babylon at the same time as Assur-nazir-pal at Nineveh;
consequently he would be a contemporary of Rammân-nirâri
III. and of Tukulti-ninip II. Peiser and Rost have