minister) Dan Ashur to date his accession to power to 856 instead of
854, and to hide the fact of the palace revolution which seems to have
marked the year 855. [Footnote: Cf. below under the Obelisk, and, for
fuller discussion, Olmstead, _Jour. Amer. Or. Soc._ XXXIV. 346
f.]

From various hints, it is possible to prove that a fourth edition was
prepared in 837, the end of the wars with Tabal. The most striking
evidence for this is the fact that, after this year, the Obelisk
suddenly becomes much fuller, a clear proof that the author knew that
he was now dealing with events not previously written up. We may see,
then, in the Obelisk account from 844 to 837 an abstract of the lost
edition of 837. But we are not confined to this. One actual fragment
of this edition is the fragment which deals with the events of 842 and
is so well known because of its reference to Jehu. [Footnote: III
R. 5, 6; Rasmussen, XXI; 56; Delitzsch, _Assyr. Lesestuecke_, 51f
Amiaud-Scheil, 58; Winckler, KB. I. 140; Ungnad, I. 112; Rogers, 303
f.] The first half of this is also intercalated after the introduction
to one of the Bull inscriptions, and before year four, thus showing
that it was inserted to bring the edition of 845 up to
date. [Footnote: L. 12f; Rasmussen, XIX; 53.] Based on this edition,
though only in very brief abstract, seems also the so called throne
inscription from Ashur, whose references to Damascus, Que, Tabal, and
Melidi form a group which can best be correlated with the events of
the years 839, 840, 838, and 837, respectively. [Footnote: Discovery,
Layard, NR. II. 46 ff.; cf. G. Smith, TSBA. I. 77. L. 76f; Craig,
_Hebraica_, II 140 ff.; Rasmussen, XXXVIII; 84 ff.;
Amiaud-Scheil, 74 ff.; Delitzsch, _Beitr. z. Assyr._, VI. 152f;
cf. Jastrow, _Hebraica_, V. 230 ff.] Another Ashur inscription on
a royal statute gives selections from the events of the reign, up to