Barbara Toy followed the Mediterranean coastline of North Africa, travelling through what was then French Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, to Cyprus, then down through Lebanon, Syria and then through Jordan to Iraq. While in Iraq she visited several archaeological sites, including in May 1951 Sir Max Mallowan's excavations at Nimrud where his wife Agatha Christie was helping with processing the finds. The work on the site had just finished, and the finds for that season included the stele of King Assur-nasir-pal II. Her journey home is not described in the book, although in her second book "A Fool in the
Old Assyrian Empire fathers are known"), often interpreted as a list of Shamshi-Adad's ancestors. Hildegard Levy, writing in the Cambridge Ancient History, rejects this interpretation and sees Puzur-Ashur I as part of a longer dynasty started by one of his predecessors, Sulili. Inscriptions link Puzur-Ashur I to his immediate successors, who, according to the Assyrian King List, are related to the following kings down to Erishum II. Shalim-ahum (c. 2025 BC – c. 1995 BC), son and successor of Puzur-Ashur I, is the earliest independent ruler to be attested in a contemporary inscription. Carved in curious archaic character mirror-writing in old Assyrian on