before 853, the practical loss of this edition need trouble us little
as it seems merely to have copied the original of the Monolith. That
it might have had some slight value in restoring the text of that lost
original seems indicated by a hint of a fuller text in one place
[Footnote: II.6 f.] and a more moderate number of enemies slaughtered
in another. [Footnote: Balawat kills but 300 while Monolith slaughters
3400.] For the events of 853, as given in this edition, we have only
the abstract of it in the Bulls inscription. [Footnote: Bull 75 ff.]

The year 845, the year of the expedition to the sources of the Tigris,
seems to mark the end of a third period, commemorated by a third
edition, extracts from which are given in the inscriptions on the
Bulls. [Footnote: Discovery, Layard, NR. I. 59. L. 12 ff.; 46 f.;
Rasmussen, XVff.; 42 ff. Amiaud-Scheil, _passim_; Delitzsch,
_op. cit._, 144 ff.; Menant, 113 ff.] That it actually began with
the year 850 is shown by the use of a new system of dating, by the
king's year and the number of the Euphrates crossing. Comparison with
passages preserved in the Balawat extracts shows that the work of
excerpting has been badly done by the editor of the third edition. The
capture of Lahiru is placed in the wrong year, [Footnote: Bull 79;
cf. Balawat IV. 6.] the graphical error of Ukani for Amukkani shows it
derived from the Balawat edition, while variations between the two
copies of the bull inscription indicate that we cannot be sure of the
exact words of the original. [Footnote: Variants in Amiaud-Scheil,
_passim_. The most striking is the different text with which they
end, of. Amiaud-Scheil, 58 n. 1.] And we can also point to deliberate
falsification in the insertion of an expedition to Kashiari against
Anhitti of Shupria, when the older edition, the Monolith, knew of no
expedition for the year 855. It has already been shown elsewhere that
this is closely connected with the attempt of the turtanu (prime