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188 who followed him as kings of Assyria. Interestingly, their first target was the area of the Khabur River, with its impor- tant trade and religious center—Harran. Their successors took it from there. Frequently bearing the same name as previous glorified kings (hence the numera- tions I, II, HI, etc. for them), the successive kings expande! Assyrian control in all directions, but with special emphasis on the coastal cities and mountains of La-ba-an (Lebanon). Circa 860 B.c.E. Ashurnasirpal Il—who wore the cross sym- bol on his chest (see Fig. 76)—boasted of capturing the Phoe- nician coastal cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Gebal (Byblos), an of ascending the Cedar Mountain with its sacred site, the olden Landing Place of the Anunnaki. His son and successor Shalmaneser III recorded the erect- ing there of a commemorative stela calling the place Bit Adini. The name literally meant “the Eden Abode”—an was known by that same name to the biblical Prophets. The Prophet Ezekiel castigated the king of Tyre for deeming him- self a god because he had been to that sacred place an “moved within its fiery stones”; and the Prophet Amos listed it when he spoke of the coming Day of the Lord. As could be expected, the Assyrians then turned their at- THE END OF DAYS FIGURE 87b