ABSTRACT
THE month of Ab is very fatal to armed expeditions, but the following month, Elul, is equally propitious, and as soon as it opens, the army commences its march. Elam is covered, upon the side nearest to Nineveh, by high, woody, almost impracticable mountains, inhabited by the half-barbarous tribes of the Kashshi. They could not be crossed without great sacrifices, and the Assyrians might leave half their army there before reaching the seat of war. They therefore usually attack Susiana by the south-western frontier, towards the spot where the waters of the Ouknou and the Ulai join those of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Even then the route is full of difficulties for the assailants. It is marshy, unhealthy, intersected with ponds, rivers, and canals, which interfere with the operations; but at all events the invaders are in the very heart of the country as soon as the watery barrier is crossed. The army rapidly marches by the side of the Tigris, and ten days after starting has already reached the city of Duri!. During the last century the great wars between Assyria and Elam have been waged at frequent in-
tervals, and Duril ,has acquired an importance that no {me could have foreseen. Here Sargon fought his first battle against ,Umbanigash, a hotly disputed field, in which each party claimed the victory. He fortified it, and established a garrison and a governor, to whom Sennacherib and Assurbanipal confided the administration of a large territory. It is now the centre of an important road, which commands the lower course of the Tigris, and can interrupt, if it does not entirely cut off, the communications between Susa and Babylon.
