The most powerful among
these peoples were the Shubari, who, like the Kuti on the eastern
border of Assyria, had already been conquered by Adad-nirari I, but had
regained their independence and were once more threatening the border on
this side. The third group of his conquests consisted of the districts
ruled over by forty kings of the lands of Na'iri, which was a general
term for the mountainous districts to the north of Assyria, including
territory to the west of Lake Van and extending eastwards to the
districts around Lake Urmi. The forty kings in this region whom
Tukulti-Ninib boasts of having subdued were little more than chieftains
of the mountain tribes, each one possessing authority over a few
villages scattered among the hills and valleys. But the men of Na'iri
were a warlike and hardy race, and, if left long in undisturbed
possession of their native fastnesses, they were tempted to make raids
into the fertile plains of Assyria. It was therefore only politic for
Tukulti-Ninib to traverse their country with fire and sword, and, by
exacting heavy tribute, to keep the fear of Assyrian power before their
eyes. From the king's records we thus learn that he subdued and crippled
the semi-independent races living on his borders to the north, to the
northwest, and to the east. On the west was the desert, from which
region he need fear no organized attack when he concentrated his army
elsewhere, for his permanent garrisons were strong enough to repel and
punish any incursion of nomadic tribes.
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