AS. R 198 f2 (v.2) TO Z ZER LIBRARY Alfred Marston Tozzer 1877 - 1954 PEABODY MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY HARVARD UNIVERSITY Received January 5, 1946 THE FIVE GREAT MONARCHIES OP THE ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD; OR, THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDÆA, ASSYRIA, BABYLON, MEDIA, AND PERSIA, COLLECTED AND ILLUSTRATED FROM ANCIENT AND MODERN SOURCES. BY GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF EXETER COLLEGE. SECOND EDITION. IN THREE VOLUMES.-Vol. II. WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. NEW YORK: SCRIBNER, WELFORI), AND CO. MDCCCLXXI. AS. R 198f2 v. a Frust the library ay James Harvey Grul Jan 5, 1946 CONTENTS OF VOL. II. THE SECOND MONARCHY (concluded). avenue ASSYRIA. CHAPTER VIII. Page TELIGION .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 CHAPTER IX. CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 43 APPENDIX .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 245 THE THIRD MONARCHY. MED I A. CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 284 CHAPTER III. CHARACTER, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, ART, ETC. OF THE PEOPLE .. 306 CONTENTS OF VOL. II. CHAPTER IV. le Page RELIGION .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. CHAPTER V. LANGUAGE AND WRITING CHAPTER VI. CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. APPENDIX .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. BABYLON I A. CHAPTER I. EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 435 ; CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. CHAPTER IJI. Tue PEOPLE .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 497 CHAPTER IV. THE CAPITAL .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 510 CHAPTER V. ARTS AND SCIENCES .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 541 -------- ---- --- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Map of Mesopotamia and adjacent Regions Map of Media .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. To face title. At the end. :: 29 ::::: :::::: :::::: 31 37 37 Page 1. Emblems of Asshur (after Lajard).. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2. Emblems of the principal gods (from an obelisk in the British Museum) .. 3. Curious emblem of Asshur, from the signet-cylinder of Sennacherib (after Layard) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 4. Simplest forms of the Sacred Tree, Nimrud (from the originals in the British Museum) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 5. Sacred Tree-final and most elaborate type, Nimrud (from the original in the British Museum). .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .8 6. The Moon-god, from a cylinder (after Lajard) .. .. .. .. .. .. 16 7. Emblems of the sun and moon, from the cylinders .. .. .. .. .. .. 8. The god of the atmosphere, from a cylinder (after Lajard) .. .. 9. Winged figure in horned cap, Nimrud (from the original in the British Museum) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 10. The sacred basket, Khorsabad (after Botta) .. .. .. .. .. 11. The hawk-headed genius, Khorsabad (ditto) .. .. .. .. 12. Evil genii contending, Koyunjik (after Boutcher) .. .. .. .. 13. Sacrificial scene, from an obelisk found at Nimrud (ditto) .. .. 35 14. Triangular altar, Khorsabad (after Botta) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 15. Portable altar in an Assyrian camp, with priests offering, Khorsabad (ditto) 16. Worshipper bringing an offering, from a cylinder (after Lajard) .. .. .. 38 17. Figure of Tiglath-Pileser I. (from an original drawing by Mr. John Taylor) 18. Plan of the palace of Asshur-izir-pal (after Fergusson) .. .. .. .. 19. Stele of Asshur-izir-pal with an altar in front, Nimrud (from the original in the British Museum) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 20. Israelites bringing tribute to Shalmaneser II., Nimrud (ditto) .. .. .. 105 21. Assyrian sphinx, time of Asshur-bani-pal (atter Layard) .. .. .. .. 199 22. Scythian soldiers, from a vase found in a Scythian tomb . 224 23. Stone base of a pillar at Hamadan (after Morier) .. .. .. .. 266 24. Plan of the country about Hamadan (after Flandin) .. .. .. 267 25. Plan of Takht-i-Suleiman, perhaps the Northern Ecbatana (Sir H. Rawlinson) 271 26. View of the great Rock of Behistun (after Ker Porter) .. .. .. .. 27. View in Mazanderan-the Caspian Sea in the distance (after Fraser) ... 278 28. Pigeon-towers near Isfahan (after Morier) .. .. .. .. 297 29. The destructive locust (Acridium peregrinum) .. .. .. .. .. .. 299 30. The scorpion (Scorpio crassicauda) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... 300 31. Persepolitan horse, perhaps Nisæan (after Ker Porter).. .. .. .. .. 302 32. Arian physiognomy, from Persepolis (after Prichard) .. .. 308 33. Mede or Persian carrying a bow in its case, from Persepolis (after Ker Porter) 313 34. Bow and quiver, from Persepolis (after Flandin) .. .. .. .. .. .. 314 79 97 :::: 274 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, : : : ::::: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Page 35. Persian or Median spear, from Persepolis (after Ker Porter) 314 36. Shield of a warrior, from Persepolis (after Flandin) .. .. .. 315 37. Median robe, from Persepolis (after Ker Porter) .. .. .. .. .. .. 315 38. Median shoe, from Persepolis (after Flandin) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 316 39. Median head-dress, from Persepolis (ditto) .. .. 316 40. A Mede or Persian wearing a collar and ear-rings, from Persepolis (after Ker Porter) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 317 41. Colossal lion, from Ecbatana (after Flandin) .. .. .. 321 42. Fire-temples near Nakhsh-i-Rustam (ditto) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 345 43. Lydian coins (after Humphreys) .. .. .. .. 407 44. View of the Lebanon range .. .. .. .. .. 442 45. The Sea of Antioch, from the east (after Ainsworth) 471 46. Hares, from Babylonian cylinders (after Lajard) .. .. .. 490 47. Babylonian fish, from the sculptures .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 492 48. Locusts, from a cylinder .. .. .. .. .. 493 49. Susianian mule, Koyunjik (drawn by the author from a slab in the British Museum) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 493 50. Susianian horses, Koyunjik (after Layard) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 494 51. Babylonian dog, from a gem (after Lajard) .. . 495 52. Oxen, from Babylonian cylinders (ditto).. .. . 495 53. Heads of Babylonian men (drawn by the author from the Assyrian sculptures in the British Museum) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 499 54. Head of a Babylonian woman (ditto) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 500 55. Heads of Susianians, Koyunjik (ditto) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 500 56. Heads of Babylonians, from the cylinders (after Lajard) .. 501 57. Head of an Elamitic chief, Koyunjik (drawn by the author from a relief in the British Museum) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... 501 58. Chart of the country round Babylon, with the limits of the ancient city (reduced from the map of M. Oppert) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 512 59. View of the Babil mound from the Kasr (after Oppert) .. .. .. .. 522 60. Ground-plan of the Babil mound, with its rampart, and traces of an old canal (after Opport and Selby) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 523 61. Ground-plan of the Kasr mound (after Oppert) .. .. .. .. .. .. 524 62. Ground-plan of the Amran mound (ditto) .. . .. .. .. .. 526 63. General chart of the ruins of Babylon (reduced from the map of Capt. Selby) 527 64. Chart of ancient Babylon .. .. .. 539 65. Birs-i-Nimrud, near Babylon .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 545 66. Elevation of the Birs, restored .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 547 67. Part of a stone frieze, from the Kasr mound, Babylon (after Layard) .. 552 68. Pier of bridge at Babylon, restored .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 554 69. Babylonian brick (after Birch) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 555 70. Lion standing over a prostrate man, Babylon (from a sketch drawn on the spot by Claude Clerk, Esq.).. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 558 71. Statuette of a mother and child, found at Babylon (after Ker Porter) .. 559 72. Figure of a Babylonian king, probably Merodach-iddin-akhi (drawn for the present work from an engraved figure in the British Museum) .. .. 560 73. Figure of a dog, from a black stone of the time of Merodach-iddin-akhi, found at Babylon (drawn by the author from the original in the British Museum) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 561 .. .. .. 74. Figure ot'a biril, from the same stone (litto) .. .. .. .. .. .. 561 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page 562 562 563 563 75. Animal forms, from the cylinders (after Lajard) .. .. .. 76. Grotesque figures of men and animals, from a cylinder (ditto) 77. Men and monsters, from a cylinder (ditto) .. .. ... 78. Serio-comic drawing, from a cylinder (ditto).. .. .. .. 79. Gate and gateway, from a cylinder (ditto) .. .. .. 80. Bronze ornament, found at Babylon (after Ker Porter) 81. Vases and jug, from the cylinders (after Lajard) .. .. .. 82. Vases in a stand, from a cylinder (ditto) .. .. .. .. .. 83. Vase with handles, found in Babylonia (after Birch) .. .. .. .. .. 84. Babylonian glass bottles (after Layard) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 85. Conical top of an engraved black stone, bearing figures of constellations (drawn for the present work from the original in the British Museum).. 86. Babylonian zodiac (ditto).. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. : ::::::: ::::::::: 567 :::::::::: :::::::::: 568 569 569 569 570 573 574 THE SECOND MONARCHY. • ASSYRIA. CHAPTER VIII. RELIGION. “ The graven image, and the molten image.”—Nahun i. 14. The religion of the Assyrians so nearly resembled, at least in its external aspect, in which alone we can contemplate it—the religion of the primitive Chaldæans, that it will be unnecessary, after the full treatment which that subject received in an earlier portion of this work,' to do much more than notice in the pre- sent place certain peculiarities by which it would appear that the cult of Assyria was distinguished from that of the neigh- bouring and closely connected country. With the exception that the first god in the Babylonian Pantheon was replaced by a distinct and thoroughly national deity in the Pantheon of Assyria, and that certain deities whose position was prominent in the one occupied a subordinate position in the other, the two rcligious systems may be pronounced, not similar merely, but identical. Each of them, without any real monotheism, com- mences with the same pre-eminence of a single deity, which is followed by the same groupings of identically the same divini- ties;; and, after that, by a multitudinous polytheism, which is chiefly of a local character. Each country, so far as we can see, | See vol. i. ch. vii. pp. 110-148. • Though Il or Ra in Chaldæa, and Asshur in Assyria, were respectively chief gods, they were in no sense sole gods. Not only are the other deities VOL. II. viewed as really distinct beings, but they are in many cases self originated, and always supreme in their several spheres. 23 See vol. i. p. 112. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. VIII. has nearly the same worship-temples, altars, and ceremonies of the same type—the same religious emblems—the same ideas. The only difference here is, that in Assyria ampler evidence exists of what was material in the religious system, more abundant representations of the objects and modes of worship; so that it will be possible to give, by means of illustrations, a more graphic portraiture of the externals of the religion of the Assyrians than the scantiness of the remains permitted in the case of the primitive Chaldæans. At the head of the Assyrian Pantheon stood the “great god,” Asshur. His usual titles are “ the great Lord,” “ the King of all the Gods,” “ he who rules supreme over the Gods."4 Some- times he is called “the Father of the Gods,” though that is a title which is more properly assigned to Belus. His place is always first in invocations. He is regarded throughout all the Assyrian inscriptions as the special tutelary deity both of the kings and of the country. He places the monarchs upon their throne, firmly establishes them in the government, lengthens the years of their reigns, preserves their power, protects their forts and armies, makes their name celebrated, and the like. To him they look to give them victory over their enemies, to grant them all the wishes of their heart, and to allow them to be suc- ceeded on their thrones by their sons, and their sons' sons, to a remote posterity. Their usual phrase when speaking of him is “ Asshur, my lord.” They represent themselves as passing their lives in his service. It is to spread his worship that they carry on their wars. They fight, ravage, destroy in his name. Finally, when they subdue a country, they are careful to “set up the emblems of Asshur," and teach the people his laws and his worship. The tutelage of Asshur over Assyria is strongly marked by the identity of his name with that of the country, which in the original is complete. It is also indicated by the curious fact + See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay in the represented by the same term, which author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 482, 2nd is written both A-shur and As-shur. The edition. s Ibid. pp. 491, 492. | “determinative" prefixed to the term 0 The god, the country, the town í (see vol. i. p. 271) tells us which mean- Asshur, and "an Assyrian,” are all , ing is intended. Chap. VIII, ASSYRIAN GODS-ASSHUR. that, unlike the other gods, Asshur had no notorious temple or shrine in any particular city of Assyria, a sign that his worship was spread equally throughout the whole land, and not to any extent localised. As the national deity, he had indeed given name to the original capital ;' but even at Asshur (Kileh-Sher- ghat) it may be doubted whether there was any building which was specially his. Under these circumstances it is a reasonable njecture that all the shrines throughout Assyria were open to his worship, to whatever minor god they might happen to be dedicated. In the inscriptions the Assyrians are constantly described as “the servants of Asshur," and their enemies as “the enemies of Asshur.” The Assyrian religion is “the worship of Asshur.” No similar phrases are used with respect to any of the other gods of the Pantheon. We can scarcely doubt that originally the god Asshur was the great progenitor of the race, Asshur, the son of Shem,"º deified. It was not long, however, before this notion was lost, and Asshur came to be viewed simply as a celestial being—the first and highest of all the divine agents who ruled over heaven and earth. It is indicative of the (comparatively speaking) elevated character of Assyrian polytheism that this exalted and awful deity continued from first to last the main object of worship, and was not superseded in the thoughts of men by the lower and more intelligible divinities, such as Shamas and Sin, the Sun and Moon, Nergal the God of War, Nin the God of Hunt- ing, or Vul the wielder of the thunderbolt." · The favourite emblem under which the Assyrians appear to have represented Asshur in their works of art was the winged circle or globe, from which a figure in a horned cap is frequently seen to issue, sometimes simply holding a bow (Fig. I.), some- i See vol. i. p. 203. 10 Gen. x. 22. • Sir H. Rawlinson, in the author's In the worship of Egypt we may Herodotus (vol. i. p. 483), inclines to trace such a gradual descent and de- allow that the great fane at Kileh-| terioration, from Amun, the hidden god, Sherghat was a temple of Asshur; but to Phtha, the demiurgus, thence to Ra, the deity whose name appears upon the the Sun-God, from him to Isis and bricks is entitled Ashit. Osiris, deities of the third order, and 9 Sir H. Rawlinson, I. s. C. I finally to Apis and Serapis, mere dæmons. B 2 THE SECOND MONARCHY. CHAP. VIII. times shooting his arrows against the Assyrians' enemies (Fig. II.). This emblem has been variously explained ;? but the most probable conjecture would seem to be that the circle typifies eternity, while the wings express omnipresence, and the human figure symbolises wisdom or intelligence. The emblem appears under many varieties. Sometimes the figure which issues from it has no bow, and is represented as simply extending the right hand (Fig. III.); occasionally both hands are extende Fig. I. Fig. II. and the left holds a ring or chaplet (Fig. IV.). In one instance we see a very re- markable variation : for the complete hu- Fig. III. man figure is substi- tuted a mere pair of hands, which seem to come from behind the winged disk, the right open and exhibiting Fig. IV. the palm, the left closed and holding a bow.In a large num- ber of cases all sign of a person is dispensed Emblems of Asshur (after Lajard). with, the winged cir- cle appearing alone, with the disk either plain or ornamented. On the other hand, there are one or two instances where the emblem exhibits 1 SUELOLA 2 M. Lajard is of opinion that the view that the symbol mainly grew out foundation of the winged circle is a bird, of a bird, he adduces the above form which he pronounces to be a dove, and which appears upon a cylinder. to typify the Assyrian Venus. To this * See the woodcut on the next page. he supposes were afterwards added the ! This emblem is taken from a mutilated circle as an em- | obelisk found at Koyunjik. 3 blem of eternity, I See Layard's Monuments of Ninereh, and the human | Ist Series, Pls. 6, 39, and 53; 2nd Series, figure, which he Pls. 4 and 69; and compare above, regards as an image, vol. i. p. 399. of Baal or Bel. In confirmation of his CHAP. VIII. EMBLEMS OF ASSHUR. three human heads instead of one-the central figure having on either side of it a head, which seems to rest upon the fea- thers of the wing. It is the opi- nion of some Emblems of the principal gods. (From an obelisk in the British Museum.) critics, based upon this form of the emblem, that the supreme deity of the Assyrians, whom the winged circle seems always to represent, was in reality a triune god. Now certainly see the triple human form is very remarkable, and X lends a colour to this conjecture; but, as there is absolutely nothing, either in the statements of ancient writers, or in the Assyrian inscrip- Curious emblem of Asshur. (From the tions, so far as they have been deciphered, to signet cylinder of confirm the supposition, it can hardly be ac- Sennacherib.) cepted as the true explanation of the phenomenon. The doc- trine of the Trinity, scarcely apprehended with any distinctness even by the ancient Jews, does not appear to have been one of those which primeval revelation made known throughout the heathen world. It is a fanciful mysticism which finds a Trinity in the Eicton, Cneph, and Phtha of the Egyptians, the Oromasdes, Mithras, and Arimanius of the Persians, and the Monas, Logos, and Psyche of Pythagoras and Plato," There are abundant Triads in ancient mythology, but no real Trinity. The case of Asshur is, however, one of simple unity. He is not even regularly in- cluded in any Triad. It is possible, however, that the triple figure shows him to us in temporary combination with two other gods, who may be exceptionally represented in this way rather * See the cylinder of Sennacherib (supra, vol. i. p. 383); and compare a cylinder engraved in M. Lajard's Culte de Mithra, Pl. xxxii. No. 3. 6 Layard, Ninereh and Babylon, p. 160; Lajard, Culte de Mithra, Explication des planches, p. 2. ? So Cudworth (Intellectual System of the Universe, ch. iv. $ 16, et seq.) and others. Mosheim, in his Latin trans- lation of Cudworth's great work, ably combats his views on this subject. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. VIII. than by their usual emblems. Or the three heads may be merely an exaggeration of that principle of repetition which gives rise so often to a double representation of a king or a god, and which is seen at Bavian in the threefold repetition of another sacred emblem, the horned cap. It is observable that in the sculptures the winged circle is seldom found except in immediate connection with the monarch. The Great King wears it embroidered upon his robes, 1° carries it engraved upon his cylinder," represents it above his head in the rock-tablets on which he carves his image, la stands or kneels in adoration before it,13 fights under its shadow,14 under its pro- tection returns victorious,15 places it conspicuously in the scenes where he himself is represented on his obelisks. And in these various representations he makes the emblem in a great measure conform to the circumstances in which he himself is engaged at the time. Where he is fighting, Asshur too has his arrow on the string, and points it against the king's adversaries. Where he is returning from victory, with the disused bow in the left hand and the right hand outstretched and elevated, Asshur takes the same attitude. In peaceful scenes the bow disappears altogether. If the king worships, the god holds out his hand to aid ; if he is engaged in secular acts, the divine presence is thought to be sufficiently marked by the circle and the wings without the human figure. An emblem found in such frequent connection with the sym- bol of Asshur as to warrant the belief that it was attached in a special way to his worship, is the sacred or syinbolical tree. & Layard, Monuments, Pls. 6, 25, 39, | 6; supra, vol. i. p. 399. · &c. fil Layard, Ninereh and Babylon, p. 9 The occurrence of the emblem of ! 160; supra, vol. i. p. 383. Asshur without the king in the ivory 12 As at the Nahr-el-Kelb (Lajard, representing women gathering grapes Culte de Mithra, Pl. i. No. 39); at Ba- (supra, vol.i. p. 573) is remarkable. Pro- | vian (Layard, Ninerch and Babylon, p. bably the ivory formed part of the orna 211), &c. mentation of a royal throne or cabinet, 3 Layard, Monuments, Ist Series, Pls. There are cylinders, however, apparently 6, 25, and 39. not royal, on which the emblem occurs, 14 Ibid. Pl. 13. (Cullimore. Nos. 145, 154, 155, 158, 160, 15 Ibid. Pl. 21. 162; Lajard, Pls. xiii. 2; xvi. 2; xvii. 16 Ibid. Pl. 53. Compare the repre- 5, 8, &c.) sentation (supra, p. 5) which heads 10 Layard, Monuments, Ist Series, Pl.another royal obelisk. CHAP. VIII. : THE SACRED TREE. Like the winged circle, this emblem has various forms. The simplest consists of a short pillar springing from a single pair of rams' horns, and surmounted by a capital composed of two Simplest forms of the Sacred Tree (Nimrud). pairs of rams' horns separated by one, two, or three horizontal bands; above which there is, first, a scroll resembling that which commonly surmounts the winged circle, and then a flower, very much like the “honeysuckle ornament” of the Greeks. More advanced specimens show the pillar elongated, with a capital in the middle in addition to the capital at the top, while the blossom above the upper capital, and generally the stem likewise, throw out a number of similar smaller blos- soms, which are sometimes replaced by fir-cones or pomegranates. Where the tree is most elaborately portrayed, we see, besides the stem and the blossoms, a complicated network of branches, which after interlacing with one another form a sort of arch surrounding the tree itself as with a frame. (See next page.) It is a subject of curious speculation, whether this sacred tree This resemblance, which Mr. Layard; I suspect that the so-called “flower” notes (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. was in reality a representation of the p. 294) is certainly very curious; but head of a palm-tree, with the form of it does not tell us anything of the origin which, as portrayed on the earliest sculp- or meaning of the symbol. The Greeks tures (Layard, Monuments, Pl. 53), it probably adopted the ornament as ele nearly agrees. gant, without caring to understand it. THE SECOND MONARCHY. CHAP. VIII. cho does not stand connected with the Ashérah of the Phænicians, which was certainly not a “grove,” in the sense in which we commonly understand that word. The Asherah, which the Jews adopted from the idolatrous nations with whom they came in contact, was an artificial struc- ture, originally of wood, but in the later times probably of metal, capable of being“set” in the temple at Jerusalem by one king, and “brought out” by another. It was a structure for which “hangings” could be made, to cover and protect it, while at the same time it was so far like a tree that it could be properly said to be “ cut down,” rather than “broken” or otherwise demo- lished.” The name itself seems to imply something which stood straight up; 8 and the conjecture is reasonable that its Secred Tree — final and most noontiolelement wogo the straight ste essential element was “the straight stem elaborate type. (Nimrud.) of a tree," ! though whether the idea con- nected with the emblem was of the same nature with that which underlay the phallic rites of the Greeks 10 is (to say the least) ex- tremely uncertain. We have no distinct evidence that the Assyrian sacred tree was a real tangible object: it may have been, as Mr. Layard supposes," a mere type. But it is perhaps on the whole more likely to have been an actual object; 12 in which ? Judges vi. 26. “Take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove (Asherah) which thou shalt cut down." 3 According to the account in the Second Book of Kings, Josiah “burnt the grove at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people" (xxiii. 6). Un- less the Asherah had been of metal there would have been no need of stamping it to powder after burning it. 4 2 Kings, xxi. 7. 5 Ibid. xxiii. 6. Ibid. verse 7. ? Judges vi. 25, 28; 2 Kings xviii. 4; xxiii. 14; 2 Chron. xiv. 3; xxxi. 1, &c. 8 Ashérah (1708) is from wwx, the true root of which is uir,“ to be straight” or “ upright.” So Dr. Gotch in Smith's Biblical Dictionary, vol. i. p. 120. 10 Ibid. loc. cit. 11 Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 447. “The sacred tree is before him, but only, it may be presumed, as a 12 It is found with objects which are all certainly material, as on Lord Aber- type.” IO Chap. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. For the special characteristics of these various gods--common objects of worship to the Assyrians and the Babylonians from a very remote epoch-the reader is referred to the first volume of this work, where their several attributes and their position in the Chaldæan Pantheon have been noted. The general resemblance of the two religious systems is such, that almost everything which has been stated with respect to the gods of the First Empire may be taken as applying equally to those of the Second; and the reader is requested to make this application in all cases, except where some shade of difference, more or less strongly marked, shall be pointed out. In the following pages, without repeating what has been said in the former volume, some account will be given of the worship of the principal gods in Assyria, and of the chief temples dedicated to their service, ANU. The worship of Anu seems to have been introduced into Assyria from Babylonia during the times of Chaldæan supremacy which preceded the establishment of the independent Assyrian kingdom. Shamas-Vul, the son of Ismi-Dagon, king of Chaldæa, built a temple to Anu and Vul at Asshur, which was then the Assyrian capital, about 1.c. 1820. An inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I. states that this temple lasted for 621 years, when, having fallen into decay, it was taken down by Asshur- dayan, his own great-grandfather. Its site remained vacant for sixty years. Then Tiglath-Pileser I., in the beginning of his reign, rebuilt the temple more magnificently than before ;' and from that time it seems to have remained among the principal shrines in Assyria. It was from a tradition connected with this ancient temple of Shamas-Vul, that Asshur in later times acquired the name of Telané or “ the Mound of Anu” which it bears in Stephen. Anu's place among the “Great Gods” of Assyria is not so Assyria. (See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay | in the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 516, 2nd edition.) ? Vol. i. ch. vii. pp. 110-148, 3 Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., $ 45, p. 62. • Ibid. pp. 64-66.' Steph. Byz. ad voc. Tedávn. Vide supra, vol. i. p. 116, note? CHAP. VIII. ANU. II well marked as that of many other divinities. His name does not occur as an element in the names of kings or of other im- portant personages. He is omitted altogether from many solemn invocations. It is doubtful wbether he is one of the gods whose emblems were worn by the king and inscribed upon the rock-tablets.? But, on the other hand, where he occurs in lists, he is invariably placed directly after Asshur; 8 and he is often coupled with that deity in a way which is strongly indica- tive of his exalted character. Tiglath-Pileser I., though omitting him from his opening invocation, speaks of him in the latter part of his great Inscription, as his lord and protector in the next place to Asshur. Asshur-izir-pal uses expressions as if he were Anu's special votary, calling himself “him who honours Anu,” or “him who honours Anu and Dagan."His son, the Black Obelisk king, assigns him the second place in the invo- cation of thirteen gods with which he begins his record.10 The kings of the Lower Dynasty do not generally hold him in much repute; Sargon, however, is an exception, perhaps because his own name closely resembled that of a god mentioned as one of Anu's sons." Sargon not unfrequently glorifies Anu, coupling him with Bel or Bil, the second god of the first Triad. He even made Anu the tutelary god of one of the gates of his new city, Bit-Sargina (Khorsabad), joining him in this capacity with the goddess Ishtar. Anu had but few temples in Assyria. He seems to have had none at either Nineveh or Calah, and none of any importance in all Assyria, except that at Asshur. There is, however, reason to believe that he was occasionally honoured with a shrine in a temple dedicated to another deity: 2 6 As from that of Tiglath-Pileser I. / where he precedes Bel. Compare Inscrip- at the commencement of his great In- | tion of Tiglath-Pileser I, pp. 40, 68, &c. scription (p. 18). See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay in i Esarhaddon omits him from the list the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 487, of gods whose emblems he places over 2nd edition, his image (Assyrian Terts, p. 12). If 10 See the Dublin Unirersity Magazine the horned cap is rightly ascribed to for October, 1853, p. 420. Bel (see below, p. 13), there will be no 11 Sir H, Rawlinson reads the name emblem for Anu, since the others may of one of Anu's sons as Sargana. (See be assigned with certainty to Asshur, the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 488.) Sin, Shamas. Vul, and Gula. 12 Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., p. * As in the Black Obelisk Inscription, | 40. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. VIII. BIL or BEL. The classical writers represent Bel as especially a Babylonian god, and scarcely mention his worship by the Assyrians ; 13 but the monuments show that the true Bel (called in the former volume Bel-Nimrod) was worshipped at least as much in the northern as in the southern country. Indeed, as early as the time of Tiglath-Pileser I., the Assyrians, as a nation, were especially entitled by their monarchs “the people of Belus ;”? and the same periphrasis was in use during the period of the Lower Empire. According to some authorities, a particular quarter of the city of Nineveh was denominated “the city of Belus;"3 which would imply that it was in a peculiar way under his protection. The word Bel does not occur very frequently as an element in royal names; it was borne, however, by at least three early Assyrian kings;4 and there is evidence that in later times it entered as an element into the names of leading personages, with almost as much frequency as Asshur. The high rank of Bel in Assyria is very strongly marked. In the invocations his place is either the third or the second. The former is his proper position, but occasionally Anu is omitted, and the name of Bel follows immediately on that of Asshur. In one or two places he is made third, notwithstand- 13 Herodotus seems to regard Belus, fusion between the first Bel and the as an exclusively Babylonian god (i. second Bel-Bel-Merodach-the great 181). So Diodorus (ii. 8), Berosus (Frs. seat of whose worship was Babylon. 1 and 2), Abydenus (Frs. 8 and 9), Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I. pp. Dionysius Periegetes (1. 1007), Claudian 20 and 62. (De laude Stilich. i. 62), and others. Ac ? See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. 491. cording to many he was the founder and “Sargon speaks of the 350 kings who first king of Babylon (Q. Curt. v. 1, from remote antiquity ruled over Assyria $ 24; Eustath. ad. Dion. Per. 1. s. C., and pursued after” (i.e. governed) “ the &c.), which some regarded as built by people of Bilu-Nipru (Bel)." his son (Steph. Byz. ad voc. Baßunúv). 3 Fox Talbot, Assyrian Texts, p. 6, Some considered that the great temple notes. of Belus at Babylon was his tomb (Strab. + See below, ch. ix. p. 49. xvi. p. 1049; com pare Ælian, Hist. Var. In the list of Eponyms contained in xiii. 3). His worship by the Assyrians the famous Assyrian Canon I find, during is, however, admitted by Pliny (H. N. 250 years, twenty-six in whose names xxxvii. 53 and 58), Nonnus (Dionys. Bel is an element, to thirty-two who xviii. 14), and a few others. The ground have names com pounded with Asshur. of the difference thus made by the 6 As in the invocation of Tiglath- classical writers is probably the con i Pileser I. (Inscription, &c. p. 18). Chap. VIII. BIL OR BEL. 13 ing that Anu is omitted, Shamas, the Sun-god, being advanced over his head ;' but this is very unusual. The worship of Bel in the earliest Assyrian times is marked by the royal names of Bel-sumili-kapi and Bel-lush borne by two of the most ancient kings. He had a temple at Asshur in conjunction with Il or Ra, which must have been of great antiquity, for by the time of Tiglath-Pileser I. (B.C. 1130) it had fallen to decay and required a complete restoration, which it received from that monarch. He had another temple at Calah; besides which he had four "arks” or “ tabernacles," the emplacement of which is uncertain. Among the later kings, Sargon especially paid him honour. Besides coupling him with Anu in his royal titles, he dedicated to him-in con- junction with Beltis, his wife—one of the gates of his city, and in many passages he ascribes his royal authority to the favour of Bel and Merodach.11 He also calls Bel, in the dedication of the eastern gate at Khorsabad, “the establisher of the founda- tions of his city.” 12 It may be suspected that the horned cap, which was no doubt a general emblem of divinity, was also in an especial way the symbol of this god. Esarhaddon states that he set up over “ the image of his majesty the emblems of Asshur, the Sun, Bel, Nin, and Ishtar.”13 The other kings always include Bel among the chief objects of their worship. We should thus expect to find his emblem among those which the kings specially affected; and as all the other common emblems are assigned to distinct gods with tolerable certainty, the horned cap alone remaining doubtful, the most reasonable conjecture seems to be that it was Bel's symbol.14 It has been assumed in some quarters that the Bel of the ? As by Sennacherib (Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xix. p. 163) and Esarhaddon (Assyrian Texts, p. 16). $ See below, ch. ix. p. 49. * Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., pp. 56-58. 10 See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. 492. 11 Oppert, Expedition scientifique en Mésopotamie, vol. ii. p. 337. 12 Sir H. Rawlinson, 1. s. c. 13 Assyrian Texts, p. 16. 14 It is possible that the horned cap symbolised Anu, Bel, and Hoa equally; and the three caps at Bavian (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 211) may repre- sent the entire Triad. 14 CHAP. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Assyrians was identical with the Phænician Dagon. A word which reads Da-gan is found in the native lists of divinities, and in one place the explanation attached seems to shew that the term was among the titles of Bel.16 But this verbal resem- blance between the name Dagon and one of Bel's titles is pro- bably a mere accident, and affords no ground for assuming any connection between the two gods, who have nothing in common one with the other. The Bel of the Assyrians was certainly not their Fish-god; nor had his epithet Da-gan any real connection with the word dag, 17, “ a fish.” To speak of “ Bel-Dagon ” is thus to mislead the ordinary reader, who naturally supposes from the term that he is to identify the great god Belus, the second deity of the first Triad, with the fish forms upon the sculptures. HEA or HOA. Hea or Hoa, the third god of the first Triad, was not a pro- minent object of worship in Assyria. Asshur-izir-pal mentions him as having allotted to the four thousand deities of heaven and earth the senses of hearing, seeing, and understanding; and then, stating that the four thousand deities had transferred all these senses to himself, proceeds to take Hoa's titles, and, as it were, to identify himself with the god. His son, Shalmaneser II., the Black-Obelisk king, gives Hoa his proper place in his opening invocation, mentioning him between Bel and Sin. Sargon puts one of the gates of his new city under Hoa's care, joining him with Bilat Ili—“ the mistress of the gods”—who is, perhaps, the Sun-goddess, Gula. Sennacherib, after a success- ful expedition across a portion of the Persian Gulf, offers sacri- fice to Hoa on the seashore, presenting him with a golden boat, a golden fish, and a golden coffer. But these are exceptional instances; and on the whole it is evident that in Assyria Hoa was not a favourite god. The serpent, which is his emblem, though found on the black stones recording benefactions and 15 Oppert, Expedition scientifique, l 17 Sir H. Rawlinson, Essay, pp. 494, vol. ii. pp. 88, 263, 264, &c. 495. Compare above, vol. i. p. 123, 18 Sir H. Rawlinson, Essay, p. 487. | note. Cilap. VIII. MYLITTA OR BELTIS. 15 frequent on the Babylonian cylinder-seals, is not adopted by the Assyrian kings among the divine symbols which they wear or among those which they inscribe above their effigies. The word Hoa does not enter as an element into Assyrian names. The kings rarely invoke him. So far as we can tell, he had but two temples in Assyria, one at Asshur (Kileh-Sherghat), and the other at Calah (Nimrud). Perhaps the devotion of the Assyrians to Nin—the tutelary god of their kings and of their capital—who in so many respects resembled Hoa, caused the worship of Hoa to decline and that of Nin gradually to super- sede it. MYLITTA or BELTIS. Beltis, the “Great Mother,” the feminine counterpart of Bel, ranked in Assyria next to the Triad consisting of Anu, Bel, and Hoa. She is generally mentioned in close connection with Bel, her husband, in the Assyrian records. She appears to have been regarded in Assyria as especially “ the queen of fertility,” or “fecundity," and so as “the queen of the lands,”? thus resembling the Greek Demeter, who, like Beltis, was known as “ the Great Mother.” Sargon placed one of his gates under the protection of Beltis in conjunction with her husband, Bel; and Asshur-bani-pal, his great-grandson, repaired and rededicated to her a temple at Nineveh, which stood on the great mound of Koyunjik. She had another temple at Asshur, and probably a third at Calah. She seems to have been really known as Beltis in Assyria, and as Mylitta (Mulita) in Babylonia, though we should naturally have gathered the reverse from the extant classical notices. | See vol. i. p. 132. 2 See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. 496. 3 Ibid. p. 497. A vast number of in- scribed slabs have been brought from this edifice. It was originally erected by Asshur-izir-pal. * It is doubtful whether the Calah temple was dedicated to Beltis or to Ishtar, as the epithets used would apply to either goddess. 5 Herodotus, in two places (i. 131 and 199), gives Mylitta as the Assyrian i name of the goddess, while Hesychius calls Belthes (Bhaons) the Babylonian Juno or Venus, and Abydenus makes Nebuchadnezzar speak of “Queen Bel- tis" (ń Bacinela Bîtis, Fr. 9). Nicolas of Damascus, however, gives Molis as the Babylonian term (Fr. Hist. Gr. vol. iii. p. 361, note 16). The fact seems to be that Mulita was Hamitic-Chaldæan, 16 Chap. VIII THE SECOND MONARCHY. SIN or THE MOON. Sin, the Moon-god, ranked next to Beltis in Assyrian mytho- logy, and his place is thus either fifth or sixth in the full lists according as Beltis is, or is not, inserted. His worship in the time of the early empire appears from the invocation of Tiglath- Pileser I., where he occurs in the third place, between Bel and Shamas. His emblem, the crescent, was worn by Asshur-izir- pal," and is found wherever divine symbols are inscribed over their effigies by the Assyrian kings. There is no sign which is more frequent on the cylinder-seals, whether Babylonian or Assyrian, and it would thus seem that Sin was among the most popular of Assyria's deities. The Moon-god (from His name occurs sometimes, though not so fre- a cylinder). quently as some others, in the appellations of important personages, as e.g. in that of Sennacherib, which is explained to mean “Sin multiplies brethren." Sargon, who thus named one of his sons, appears to have been specially attached to the worship of Sin, to whom, in conjunction with Shamas, he built a temple at Khorsabad,' and to whom he assigned the second place among the tutelary deities of his city.10 The Assyrian monarchs appear to have had a curious belief in the special antiquity of the Moon-god. When they wished to mark a very remote period, they used the expression “from the origin of the god Sin."" This is perhaps a trace of the ancient connection of Assyria with Babylonia, where the earliest capital, Ur, was under the Moon-god's protection, and the most primeval temple was dedicated to his honour. 12 Bilta Semitic-Assyrian. Mulita was, represented as issuing from the crescent, however, known to the Assyrians, who as in the above woodcut. derived their religion from the southern 9 Oppert, Expédition scientifique, vol. country, and Bilta was adopted by the ii. p. 330. 10 Ibid. p. 343. (later) Babylonians, who were Semitized 1 Sargon speaks of the Cyprians as from Assyria. "a nation of whom from the remotest 6 Inscription, &c., p. 18. times, from the origin of the God Sin, the ? Layard, Monuments, Ist Series, Pl. kings my fathers, who ruled over As- 25. syria and Babylonia, had never heard $ The form is always a crescent, with mention." (See Sir H. Rawlinson's the varieties represented in vol. i. p. 125: | Essay, p. 507.) sometimes, however, the god himself is 12 See vol. i. pp. 125, 126. IS Cap. VIII. SHAMAS. Only two temples are known to have been erected to Sin in Assyria. One is that already mentioned as dedicated by Sargon at Bit-Sargina (Khorsabad) to the Sun and Moon in conjunction. The other was at Calah, and in that Sin had no associate. SHAMAS. Shamas, the Sun-god, though in rank inferior to Sin, seems to have been a still more favourite and more universal object of worship. From many passages we should have gathered that he was second only to Asshur in the estimation of the Assyrian monarchs, who sometimes actually place him above Bel in their lists. His emblem, the four-rayed orb, is worn by the king upon his neck, and seen more commonly than almost any other upon the cylinder-seals. It is even in some instances united with that of Asshur, the central circle of Asshur's emblem being marked by the fourfold rays of Shamas.15 The worship of Shamas was ancient in Assyria. Tiglath- Pileser I. not only names him in his invocation, but represents himself as ruling especially under his auspices.16 Asshur- izir-pal mentions Asshur and Shamas as the tutelary deities under whose influence he carried on his various wars.17 His son, the Black-Obelisk king, assigns to Shamas his proper place among the gods whose favour he invokes at the commencement of his long Inscription. The kings of the Lower Empire were even more devoted to him than their predecessors. Sargon · dedicated to him the north gate of his city, in conjunction with Vul, the god of the air, built a temple to him at Khorsabad in conjunction with Sin, and assigned him the third place among the tutelary deities of his new town.19 Sennacherib and Esar- 13 As. Soc. Journal, vol. xix. p. 163; | 16 Inscription, &c., p. 20. Assyrian Texts, p. 16. 17 See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. i Layard, Monuments, 1st Series, Pl. 501. 82; 2nd Series, Pl. 4. 18 Dublin Univ. Mag. for Oct. 1853, 15 See vol. i. p. 399, and compare p. 420. Layard, Monuments, Ist Series, Pl. 6, 19 Oppert, Expedition, &c., pp. 330, where the representation is more ac. 344. curately given. VOL. II. THE SECOND MONARCHY. CHAP. VIII. haddon mention his name next to Asshur's in passages where they enumerate the gods whom they regard as their chief protectors. Excepting at Khorsabad, where he had a temple (as above mentioned) in conjunction with Sin, Shamas does not appear to have had any special buildings dedicated to his honour. His images are, however, often noticed in the lists of idols, and it is Emblems of the sun and probable therefore that he received worship moon (from cylinders). were in temples dedicated to other deities. His emblem is generally found conjoined with that of the moon, the two being placed side by side or the one directly under the other. VUL or IVA. This god, whose name is still so uncertain,” was known in Assyria from times anterior to the independence, a temple having been raised in his sole honour at Asshur, the original Assyrian capital, by Shamas-Vul, the son of the Chaldæan king Ismi-Dagon, besides the temple (already mentioned)* which the same monarch dedicated to him in conjunction with Anu. These buildings having fallen to ruin by the time of Tiglath- Pileser I., were by him rebuilt from their base; and Vul, who was worshipped in both, appears to have been regarded by that monarch as one of his special "guardian deities.”5 In the Black-Obelisk invocation Vul holds the place intermediate between Sin and Shamas, and on the same monument is recorded the fact that the king who erected it held, on one occasion, a festival to Vul in conjunction with Asshur.6 Sargon names Vul in the fourth place among the tutelary deities of his - - - See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. , in that character. (See below, p. 21.) 802. @ Dublin Univ. Mogazine for Oct. 1853, Sce vol. i. p. 112, note 5. p. 426. Vul is often joined with Asshur 3 Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., p. in invocations, more especially where a curse is invoked on those who injure * Supra, p. 10. the royal inscriptions. (See the Tiglath- s See Inscription, &c., p. 30, where | Pileser Inscription, p. 72, and compare Vul is called “my guardian God." | the still earlier inscription on Tiglathi- Ninip, however, occurs more frequently Nin's signet-seal, infra, ch. ix ) 66. CHAP. VII. VUL OR IVA. 19 city,' and dedicates to him the north gate in conjunction with the Sun-god, Shamas. Sennacherib speaks of hurling thunder on his enemies like Vul,' and other kings use similar expres- sions. The term Vul was frequently employed as an element in royal and other names ;" and the emblem which seems to have symbolized him—the double or triple bolt 12—appears con- stantly among those worn by the kings13 and engraved above their heads on the rock-tablets. 14 Vul bad a temple at Calah 15 besides the two temples in which he received worship at Asshur. It was dedicated to him in conjunction with the goddess Shala, who appears to have been regarded as his wife. It is not quite certain whether we can recognise any repre- sentations of Vul in the Assyrian remains. Perhaps the figure with four wings and a horned cap,16 who wields a thunderbolt in either hand, and attacks there- with the monster, half lion, half eagle, which is known to us from the Nimrud sculptures, may be intended for this deity. If so, it will be rea- sonable also to recognise him in the figure with uplifted foot, sometimes perched upon an ox, and bearing, like the other, one or two thunder- bolts, which occasionally occurs upon the cylin- ders. It is uncertain, however, whether the former of these figures is not one of the many .00 different representations of Nin, the Assyrian The god of the at- Hercules; and, should that prove the true ex- a cylinder). planation in the one case, no very great confi- dence could be felt in the suggested identification in the other, fro ? Oppert, Expédition scientifique, vol. / In the Assyrian Canon ten of the Epo- ii. p. 344. nyms have names in which Vul is an $ Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. 499. element. • Journal of As. Society, vol. xix. P. 12 Supra, vol. i. p. 130. 163. 13 Supra, vol. i. p. 489. 19 They “rush on the enemy like the 14 As at Bavian (Layard, Nincreh and whirlwind of Vul,” or “sweep a country Babylon, p. 211). as with the whirlwind of Vul.” Vul is 15 Sir H. Rawlinson, Essay, p. 500. "he who causes the tempest to rage 16 Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, over hostile lands," in the Tiglath-Pi Pl. 5. leser inscription. 17 Layard, Pl. xxvii. No. 5; Culli- 11 As in Vul-lush, Shamas-Vul, &c. more, Pl. 21, No. 107. C2 20 CHAP. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. GULA. Gula, the Sun-goddess, does not occupy a very high position among the deities of Assyria. Her emblem, indeed, the eight- rayed disk, is borne, together with her husband's, by the Assyrian monarchs,18 and is inscribed on the rock-tablets, on the stones recording benefactions, and on the cylinder-seals, with remarkable frequency. But her name occurs rarely in the inscriptions, and, where it is found, appears low down in the lists. In the Black-Obelisk invocation, out of thirteen deities named, she is the twelfth.19 Elsewhere she scarcely appears, unless in inscriptions of a purely religious character. Perhaps she was commonly regarded as so much one with her husband that a separate and distinct mention of her seemed not to be requisite. Gula is known to have had at least two temples in Assyria. One of these was at Asshur, where she was worshipped in combination with ten other deities, of whom one only, Ishtar, was of high rank.20 The other was at Calah, where her husband had also a temple. She is perhaps to be identified with Bilat- Ili, “the mistress of the gods,” to whom Sargon dedicated one of his gates in conjunction with Hoa.22 NINIP or NIN. Among the gods of the second order, there is none whom the Assyrians worshipped with more devotion than Nin or Ninip. In traditions which are probably ancient, the race of their kings was derived from him, and after bim was called the mighty city which ultimately became their capital. As early as the thirteenth century B.C. the name of Nin was used as an element in royal appellations ;? and the first king who has left 18 Layard, Monuments, Ist Series, Pl. see pp. 503, 504. 82; 2nd Series, Pl. 4. The Ninus of the Greeks can be no 19 Dublin Unir. Mag. p. 420. other than the Nin or Ninip of the 20 Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. 504, | Inscriptions. Herodotus probably (i. 7), Ctesias certainly (Diod. Sic. ii. 1-21), 21 Ibid. 1. s. C. | derived the kings of the Upper Dynasty 22 Ibid. p. 494; and on the presumed from Ninus. identification of Gula with Bilat-lli, i ? See below, ch. ix. p. 58. note 6. CHAP. VIII. NINIP OR NIN. 21 us an historical inscription regarded himself as being in an especial way under Nin’s guardianship. Tiglath-Pileser I. is “ the illustrious prince whom Asshur and Nin have exalted to the utmost wishes of his heart." He speaks of Nin sometimes singly, sometimes in conjunction with Asshur, as his “guardian deity.” Nin and Nergal make his weapons sharp for him, and under Nin's auspices the fiercest beasts of the field fall beneath them. Asshur-izir-pal built him a magnificent temple at Nimrud (Calah). Shamas-Vul, the grandson of this king, dedicated to him the obelisk which he set up at that place in commemoration of his victories.? Sargon placed his newly- built city in part under his protection, and specially invoked him to guard his magnificent palace. The ornamentation of that edifice indicated in a very striking way the reverence of the builder for this god, whose symbol, the winged bull,0 guarded all its main gateways, and who seems to have been actually represented by the figure strangling a lion, so con- spicuous on the Hareem portal facing the great court." Nor did Sargon regard Nin as his protector only in peace. He ascribed to his influence the successful issue of his wars; and it is probably to indicate the belief which he entertained on this point that he occasionally placed Nin's emblems on the sculp- tures representing his expeditions. Sennacherib, the son and successor of Sargon, appears to have had much the same feelings towards Nin as bis father, since in his buildings he gave the same prominence to the winged bull and to the figure strangling the lion; placing the former at almost all his door- ways, and giving the latter a conspicuous position on the grand 3 Inscription, p. 60. * Ibid. pp. 54-56. 3 Ibid. l. s. C. 6 This is the edifice described by Mr. Layard (Ninereh and Babylon, pp. 123- 129 and 348-357). i Sir H. Rawlinson in the author's Herodotus, vol. i. pp. 512, 513, 2nd edition. * Oppert, Expellition scientifique, vol. ii. p. 344. * Ibid. pp. 333, 334. 16 Supra, vol. i. p. 133. 11 See the woodcut, vol. i. p. 288. For representations of the many modifica- tions which this figure underwent, see Mons. F. Lajard's work, Culte de Mithra, Pls. Ixxiv. to cii.; and on the general subject of the Assyrian Hercules, see M. Raoul Rochette's memoir in the Mémoires de l'Institut, vol. xvii. 12 Botta, Monument, Pls. 32 to 34. The emblems given are 1. the winged bull (Pl. 33), 2. the winged bull with a human head (Pl. 32), and 3. the human- headed fish (Pls. 32 and 34). 22 Chap. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. façade of his chief palace." Esarhaddon relates that he con- tinued in the worship of Nin, setting up his emblem over his own royal effigy, together with those of Asshur, Shamas, Bel, and Ishtar.14 It appears at first sight as if, notwithstanding the general prominency of Nin in the Assyrian religious system, there was one respect in which he stood below a considerable number of the gods. We seldom find his name used openly as an element in the royal appellations. In the list of kings three only will be found with names into which the term Nin enters. But there is reason to believe that, in the case of this god, it was usual to speak of him under a periphrasis ;16 and this peri- phrasis entered into names in lieu of the god's proper designa- tion. Five kings (if this be admitted) may be regarded as named after him ; which is as large a number as we find named after any god but Vul and Asshur. The principal temples known to have been dedicated to Nin in Assyria were at Calah, the modern Nimrud. There the vast structure at the north-western angle of the great mound, in- cluding the pyramidical eminence which is the most striking feature of the ruins, was a temple dedicated to the honour of Nin by Asshur-izir-pal, the builder of the North-West Palace. We can have little doubt that this building represents the “ busta Nini” of the classical writers, the place where Ninus (Nin or Nin-ip), who was regarded by the Greeks as the hero- founder of the nation, was interred and specially worshipped. Nin bad also a second temple in this town, which bore the name of Bit-kura (or Beth-kura), as the other one did of Bit-zira (or Beth-zira).?? It seems to have been from the fane of Beth-zira that Nin had the title Pal-zira, which forms a substitute for Nin, as already noticed,18 in one of the royal names. 13 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 1 “the son of Zira.” The latter title is 137. that which the Jews have represented 14 Assyrian Texts, p. 16. by the second element in Tiglath-Pileser. 15 Nin-pala-zira and the two Tiglathi 17 Sir H. Rawlinson in the author's Ning. (See below, ch. ix.) Herodotus, vol. i. pp. 512, 513, 2nd 16 Nin was called “Pal-kura" and l edition. “ Pal-zira," “the son of Kura," and 18 See above, note 16. CHAP. VIII. MERODACH AND NERGAL. 23 MERODACII. Most of the early kings of Assyria mention Merodach in their opening invocations, and we sometimes find an allusion in their inscriptions, which seems to imply that he was viewed as a god of great power. 19 But he is decidedly not a favourite object of worship in Assyria until a comparatively recent period. Vul- lush III. indeed claims to have been the first to give him a prominent place in the Assyrian Pantheon ; 20 and it may be conjectured that the Babylonian expeditions of this monarch furnished the impulse which led to a modification in this respect of the Assyrian religious system. The later kings, Sargon and his successors, maintain the worship introduced by Vul-lush. Sargon habitually regards his power as conferred upon him by the combined favour of Merodach and Asshur, 21 while Esarhaddon sculptures Merodach's emblem, together with that of Asshur, over the images of foreign gods brought to him by a suppliant prince.22 No temple to Merodach is, however, known to have existed in Assyria, even under the later kings. His name, however, was not infrequently used as an element in the appel- lations of Assyrians.23 NERGAL. Among the minor gods, Nergal is one whom the Assyrians seem to have regarded with extraordinary reverence. He was the divine ancestor from whom the monarchs loved to boast that they derived their descent — the line being traceable, according to Sargon, through three hundred and fifty genera- tions. They symbolized him by the winged lion with a human 19 The Black-Obelisk king says in one place that “ the fear of Asshur and Merodach" fell upon his enemies. (Dulin Unio. Mug. for Oct. 1853, p. 426.) 20 See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. 516, note. 21 Oppert, Expédition scientifique, vol. ii. p. 397. 22 Assyrian Terts, p. 13. 23 Merodach, though an element in so many names of Babylonian kings, is no part of the name of any Assyrian monarch. In M. Oppert's list of Epo- nyms, however, out of about 240 names, twelve are compounded with Merodach. See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay in the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 519, 2nd edition. 24 Chap. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. head, or possibly sometimes by the mere natural lion ;3 and it was to mark their confident dependence on his protection that they made his emblems so conspicuous in their palaces. Nin and Nergal—the gods of war and hunting, the occupations in which the Assyrian monarchs passed their lives—were tutelary divinities of the race, the life, and the homes of the kings, who associate the two equally in their inscriptions and their sculptures.. Nergal, though thus honoured by the frequent mention of his name and erection of his emblem, did not (so far as appears) often receive the tribute of a temple. Sennacherib dedicated one to him at Tarbisi (now Sherif-khan), near Khorsabad ;* and he may have had another at Calah (Nimrud), of which he is said to have been one of the “resident gods."5 But generally it would seem that the Assyrians were content to pay him honour in other ways without constructing special buildings devoted exclusively to his worship. ISHTAR. Ishtar was very generally worshipped by the Assyrian monarchs, who called her “their lady,” and sometimes in their invocations coupled her with the supreme god Asshur. She had a very ancient temple at Asshur, the primeval capital, which Tiglath-Pileser I. repaired and beautified. Asshur-izir- pal built her a second temple at Nineveh,' and she had a third at Arbela, which Asshur-bani-pal states that he restored. 10 Supra, vol. i. pp. 136-138. Nimrud mound, a temple of Nergal, as 3 The natural lion is more extensively | the larger one is of Ninip? used as an architectural form by the Nergal was not, however, often Assyrians than the winged lion. It ! chosen to furnish an element of a name. occurs not only in central Assyria, as at By no Assyrian sovereign was he thus Nimrud (Layard's Nin. and Bab. p. 359), honoured. In the case of the Eponyms, but also in the remoter provinces, as at only about one out of thirty has a name Arban (Layard, p. 278) and Seruj compounded with Nergal. (Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. See the Inscription of Sennacherib p. 114; supra, vol. i. p. 197). in the Asiatic Society's Journal, vol. xix. * See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. p. 170. 520. & Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., pp. 5 Ibid. p. 519, note 5. Is not the 40, 41. smaller temple, with the Lion entrance, Sir H. Rawlinson, Essay, p. 522. at the north-western corner of the 10 Ibid. 1. s. c. Chap. VIII. NEBO. 25 Sargon placed under her protection, conjointly with Anu, the western gate of his city; and his son, Sennacherib, seems to have viewed Asshur and Ishtar as the special guardians of his progeny." Asshur-bani-pal, the great hunting king, was a devotee of the goddess, whom he regarded as presiding over his special diversion—the chase. What is most remarkable in the Assyrian worship of Ishtar is the local character assigned to her. The Ishtar of Nineveh is distinguished from the Ishtar of Arbela, and both from the Ishtar of Babylon, separate addresses being made to them in one and the same invocation. It would appear that in this case there was, more decidedly than in any other, an identifica- tion of the divinity with her idols, from which resulted the mul- tiplication of one goddess into many. The name of Ishtar appears to have been rarely used in Assyria in royal or other appellations. It is difficult to account for this fact, which is the more remarkable, since in Phænicia Astarte, which corresponds closely to Ishtar, is found repeatedly as an element in the royal titles. 13 NEBO. Nebo must have been acknowledged as a god by the Assyrians from very ancient times, for his name occurs as an element in a royal appellation as early as the twelfth century B.C. He seems, however, to have been very little worshipped till the time of Vul-lush III., who first brought him prominently forward in the Pantheon of Assyria after an expedition which he conducted into Babylonia, where Nebo had always been in high favour. Vul-lush set up two statues to Nebo at Calah,15 11 Sennacherib speaks of Asshur and Ishtar as about to “call the kings his sons to their sovereignty over Assyria," and begs Asshur and Ishtar to “hear their prayers" (Journal of Asiatic Society, I, s.c.). 19 As in that of Esarhaddon (Assyrian Terts, p. 10) and in that of Sennacherib (A3. Soc. Journal, vol. xix. p. 163). Compare the inscription on the slab brought from the Negub tunnel. 13 As in the names Astartus, Abdas- tartus, Delæastartus, and Gerastartus. (Menand. Ephes. Frs. 1 and 2.) In M. Oppert's list of Eponyms, only five out of more than 240 have names in which Ishtar is an element, 14 See below, ch, ix. p. 61. 15 One of these is represented in the woodcut, vol. i. p. 141. The two are, as nearly as possible, facsimiles. 26 Cuar. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. and probably built him the temple there which was known as Bit-Saggil, or Beth-Saggil, from whence the god derived one of his appellations.16 He did not receive much honour from Sargon; but both Sennacherib and Esarhaddon held him in considerable reverence, the latter even placing him above Merodach in an importart invocation. Asshur-bani-pal also paid him considerable respect, mentioning him and his wife Warmita, as the deities under whose auspices he undertook certain literary labours. 18 It is curious that Nebo, though he may thus almost be called a late importation into Assyria, became under the Later Dynasty (apparently) one of the most popular of the gods. In the latter portion of the list of eponyms obtained from the celebrated “ Canon,” we find Nebo an element in the names as frequently as any other god excepting Asshur. Regarding this as a test of popularity we should say that Asshur held the first place; but that his supremacy was closely contested by Bel and Nebo, who were held in nearly equal repute, both being far in advance of any other deity. Besides these principal gods, the Assyrians acknowledged and worshipped a vast number of minor divinities, of whom, how- ever, some few only appear to deserve special mention. It may be noticed in the first place, as a remarkable feature of this people's mythological system, that each important god was closely associated with a goddess, who is commonly called his wife, but who yet does not take rank in the Pantheon at all in accordance with the dignity of her husband. Some of these goddesses have been already mentioned, as Beltis, the feminine counterpart of Bel; Gula, the Sun-goddess, the wife of Shamas; and Ishtar, who is sometimes represented as the wife of Nebo.? To the same class belong Sheruha, the wife of Asshur; Anata, 16 Nebo was called Pal-Bit-Saggil, as author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 484, note ?. Ninip was called Pal-zira (supra, p. 22; | While Beltis, the wife of Bel, and Gula, compare Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. the wife of Shamas, are deities of high 524). rank and importance, Sheruha, the wife 11 Assyrian Terts, p. 10. of Asshur, and Anuta, the wife of Anu, 18 Sir H. Rawlinson, Essays, I. . c. occupy a very insignificant position. | See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay in the ? Supra, pp. 15, 20, and 24. CHAP. VIII. TABLE OF ASSYRIAN DEITIES. 27 or Anuta, the wife of Anu ; Dav-Kina, the wife of Hea or Hoa; Shala, the wife of Vul or Iva ; Zir-banit, the wife of Merodach; and Laz, the wife of Nergal. Nin, the Assyrian Hercules, and Sin, the Moon-god, have also wives, whose proper names are unknown, but who are entitled respectively “the Queen of the Land” and “the Great Lady.”3 Nebo’s wife, according to most of the Inscriptions, is Warmita; but occasionally, as above remarked,“ this name is replaced by that of Ishtar. A tabular view of the gods and goddesses, thus far, will probably be found of use by the reader towards obtaining a clear conception of the Assyrian Pantheon :- TABLE of the Chief Assyrian Deities, arranged in their proper order. Gods. Correspondent Goddesses. Chief Seat of Worship (if any). Asshur .. Sberuha. .. .. .. .. Anu Bel Hoa .. .. .. .. . .. Anuta .. Beltis .. Dav-Kina Asshur (Kileh-Sherghat). Asshur, Calah (Nimrud). Asshur, Calah. Sin .. .. “ The Great Lady” .. " (Khor- Calah, Bit-Sargina sabad). Bit-Sargina. Asshur, Calah. Shamas Vul .. ..! Gula .. Shala .. .. .. ... .. Nin Merodach .. Nergal.. .. Nebo .. .. • The Queen of the Land” Zir-Banit. Laz .. Warmita rmita (Ishtar?) .. Calah, Nineveh. Tarbisi (Sherif-Khan). Calah. .. Tarbis .. It appears to have been the general Assyrian practice to unite together in the same worship, under the same roof, the female and the male principle. The female deities had in fact, for the most part, an unsubstantial character; they were ordinarily the mere reflex image of the male, and consequently could not stand alone, but required the support of the stronger sex to give them something of substance and reality. This was the general rule; but at the same time it was not without certain ex- ceptions. Ishtar appears almost always as an independent and 3 Sir II. Rawlinson's Essay, pp. 506 and 513. 4 Supra, p. 26, See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, § 9, note 6, p. 514. 28 Chap. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHI. unattached divinity;6 while Beltis and Gula are presented to us in colours as strong and a form as distinct as their husbands, Bel and Shamas. Again, there are minor goddesses, such as Telita, the goddess of the great marshes near Babylon, who stand alone, unaccompanied by any male. The minor male divinities are also, it would seem, very generally without female counterparts. Of these minor male divinities the most noticeable are Martu, a son of Anu, who is called “the minister of the deep,” and seems to correspond to the Greek Erebus;' Sargana, another son of Anu, from whom Sargon is thought by some to have derived his name;' Idak, god of the Tigris; Supulat, lord of the Euphrates ; 2 and Il or Ra, who seems to be the Babylonian chief god transferred to Assyria, and there placed in a humble position. Besides these, cuneiform scholars recognise in the Inscriptions some scores of divine names, of more or less doubtful etymology, some of which are thought to designate distinct gods, while others may be names of deities known familiarly to us under a different appellation. Into this branch of the subject it is not proposed to enter in the present work, which addresses itself to the general reader. It is probable that, besides gods, the Assyrians acknowledged the existence of a number of genii, some of whom they regarded as powers of good, others as powers of evil. The winged figure wearing the horned cap, which is so constantly represented as & It is only in Babylonia, and even & Martu, however, has a wife, who is there during but one reign (that of called “the lady of Tigganna” (Sir Nebuchadnezzar), that Ishtar appears H. Rawlinson's Essay, $ 3, ii., note '), as the wife of Nebo. (See above, vol. i. and Idak, the god of the Tigris (men- p. 139.) Elsewhere she is separate and tioned below), has a wife, Belat Muk independent, attached as wife to no (ibid. § 4, p. 526). male deity, though not unfrequently See vol. i. p. 115. conjoined with Asshur. See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. i Telita is, apparently, the goddess | 488. mentioned by Berosus as the original of ? Ibid. p. 526. the Greek Oárasoa. (Fr. 1.) The in 3 Tiglath-Pileser I. repairs & temple scriptions of Sargon mention a city of Il or Ra at Asshur about B.c. 1150. named after her, which was situated on (Inscription, pp. 56-58.) Otherwise we the lower Tigris. This is probably the scarcely hear of the worship of Ra out Oanála of Ptolemy (Geograph. v. 20), of Babylonia. which he places near the mouth of the " See Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. river. 527. CHAP. VIII. GOOD GENII. 29 attending upon the monarch when he is employed in any sacred function, would seem to be his tutelary genius—a benignant spirit who watches over him, and protects him from the spirits of darkness. This figure commonly bears in the right hand either a pomegranate or a pine-cone, while the left is either free or else supports a sort of plaited bag or basket. Where the pine-cone is carried, it is invariably pointed towards the monarch, as if it were the means of communication between the protector and the protected, the instrument by which grace and C via Winged figure in horned cap (Nimrud). The sacred basket (Khorsabad). power passed from the genius to the mortal whom he had under- taken to guard. Why the pipe-cone was chosen for this pur- pose it is difficult to form a conjecture. Perhaps it had originally become a sacred emblem merely as a symbol of productiveness, after which it was made to subserve a further purpose, without much regard to its old symbolical meaning. The sacred basket, held in the left hand, is of still more s Layard, Monuments, 1st Series, Pls. 6, 25, 36; Botta, Monument, Pls. 27 and 28. 6 Supra, page 9. 30 Chap. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. dubious interpretation. It is an object of great elegance, always elaborately and sometimes very tastefully ornamented. Pos- sibly it may represent the receptacle in which the divine gifts are stored, and from which they can be taken by the genius at his discretion, to be bestowed upon the mortal under his care. Another good genius would seem to be represented by the hawk-headed figure, which is likewise found in attendance upon the monarch, attentively watching his proceedings. This figure has been called that of a god, and has been supposed to represent the Nisroch of Holy Scripture;but the only ground for such an identification is the con- jectural derivation of Nisroch from a root nisr, which in some Semitic lan- guages signifies a “hawk” or “falcon.” As nisr, however, has not been found with any such meaning in Assyrian, and as the word “ Nisroch" nowhere appears in the Inscriptions, it must The hawk-headed genius be regarded as in the highest degree (Khorsabad). doubtful whether there is any real connection between the hawk-headed figure and the god in whose temple Sennacherib was assassinated. The various readings of the Septuagint version 10 make it extremely uncertain what was the name actually written in the original Hebrew text. Nisroch, which is utterly unlike any divine name hitherto found in the Assyrian records, is most probably a corruption. At any rate there are no sufficient grounds for identifying the god mentioned, whatever the true reading of his name may be, with the hawk- ADAMAMAMAMAMMANAMANSOANNA SAMA MWW ? The basket is often ornamented with winged figures in adoration before the sacred tree, and themselves holding baskets. (See Layard, Monuments, First Series, Pls. 34 and 36.) 8 Layard, Ninerch and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 459. 9 M. Oppert, it is true, reads a certain monogram as “ Nisruk," and recognises in the god whom it designates—Hea or Hoa--the Nisroch of Holy Scripture. But sounder scholars regard his reading as a very wild and rash conjecture. 10 In Is. xxxvii. 38 the MSS. give either 'Ασαράχ Or Nασαράχ. In 2 Kings xix. 37 the greater part of the MSS. have Meoopáx. CHAP. VIII. EVIL GENII. beaded figure, which has the appearance of an attendant genius rather than that of a god, and which was certainly not included among the main deities of Assyria." Representations of evil genii are comparatively infrequent; but we can scarcely be mistaken in regarding as either an evil JOGODIOD hoigocolog MULLI Evil genii contending (Koyunjik). genius, or a representation of the evil principle, the monster-half lion, half eagle-.which in the Nimrud sculptures 12 retreats from the attacks of a god, probably Vul,13 who assails him with thunder- bolts. Again, in the case of certain grotesque statuettes found 11 The deities proper are not repre- sented as in attendance on the monarch. This is an office too low for them. Oc- casionally, as in the case of Asshur, they from hearen guard and assist the king. But even this is exceptional. Ordinarily they stand, or sit, in solemn state to receive offerings and worship. 12 A representation on a large scale is given by Mr. Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, Pl. 5. 13 See above, page 19. 32 CHAP. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. at Khorsabad, one of which is engraved in the first volume of this work,'4 where a human figure has the head of a lion with the ears of an ass, the most natural explanation seems that an evil genius is intended. In another instance, where see two monsters with heads like the statuette just men placed on human bodies, the legs of which terminate in by to claws—both of them armed with daggers and maces, and engase in a struggle with one another 15—we seem to have a symbolick representation of the tendency of evil to turn upon itself, and reduce itself to feebleness by internal quarrel and disorder.! A considerable number of instances occur in which a human figure, with the head of a hawk or eagle, threatens a winged human- headed lion—the emblem of Nergal—with a strap or mace.!? In these we may have'a spirit of evil assailing a god, or possibly one god opposing another—the hawk-headed god or genius driving Nergal (i. e. War) beyond the Assyrian borders. If we pass from the objects to the mode of worship in Assyria, we must notice at the outset the strongly idolatrous character of the religion. Not only were images of the gods worshipped set up, as a matter of course, in every temple dedicated to their honour, but the gods were sometimes so identified with their images as to be multiplied in popular estimation when they had several famous temples, in each of which was a famous image. Thus we hear of the Ishtar of Arbela, the Ishtar of Nineveh, and the Ishtar of Babylon, and find these goddesses invoked separately, as distinct divinities, by one and the same king in one and the same Inscription.18 In other cases, without this multiplication, we observe expressions which imply a similar identification of the actual god with the mere image. Tiglath-Pileser I. boasts that he has set Anu and Vul (i. e. their images) up in their places.' He identifies repeatedly the images which he carries har 14 Supra, vol. i. p. 342. 15 See the woodcut on the preceding page. This scene was represented in the great palace of Asshur-bani-pal at Koyunjik. The sculpture is in the British Museum. 16 This tendency is well illustrated by Plato in the first Book of his Republic, 1 23. 1: Layard, Monuments, 1st Series, Pls. 45, 1; 48, 3; 49, 4; compare above, vol. i. p. 346. 18 Assyrian Texts, p. 10; Journal of As. Society, vol. xix. p. 163. 19 Inscription, pp. 66 and 70. Chap. VIII. IDOLS. off from foreign countries with the gods of those countries. In a similar spirit Sennacherib asks, by the mouth of Rabshakeh, “Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad ? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah ?”—and again, unable to rise to the conception of a purely spiritual deity, supposes that, because Hezekiah has destroyed all the images throughout Judæa, he has left his people without any divine protection.* The carrying off of the idols from conquered countries, which we find universally practised, was not perhaps intended as a mere sign of the power of the conqueror, and of the superiority of his gods to those of his enemies: it was probably designed further to weaken those enemies by depriving them of their celestial protectors;, and it may even have been viewed as strengthening the conqueror by multiplying his divine guar- dians. It was certainly usual to remove the images in a reve- rential manner;. and it was the custom to deposit them in some of the principal temples of Assyria. We may presume that there lay at the root of this practice a real belief in the super- natural power of the images themselves, and a notion that, with the possession of the images, this power likewise changed sides and passed over from the conquered to the conquerors. Assyrian idols were in stone, baked clay, or metal. Some images of Nebo and of Ishtar have been obtained from the ruins. Those of Nebo are standing figures, of a larger size than the human, though not greatly exceeding it. They have been much injured by time, and it is difficult to pronounce decidedly on their original workmanship; but, judging by what appears, it would seem to have been of a ruder and coarser character than that of the slabs or of the royal statues. The Nebo images are heavy, formal, inexpressive, and not over well- proportioned; but they are not wanting in a certain quiet dignity which impresses the beholder. They are unfortunately dis- 1 Inscription, pp. 28, 30, 40, 50, &c. the removal of gods in Mr. Layard's ? 2 Kings xviii. 34. Sennacherib works. (Monumento, Ist Series, Pls. 65 means to say—“ Where are their gods and 67 A ; 2nd Series, Pl. 50; Ninereh now? [i.e. their idols.] Are they not and its Remains, vol.' ii, opposite p. captive in Assyria ? ” See above, vol. i. 451. P. 475. 6 Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., pp. 3 Ibid. verse 4. Ibid. ver. 22. | 30 and 40. 5 See the various representations of ļ See the representation, vol. i. p. 141, VOL. II. 34 CHAP. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. figured, like so many of the lions and bulls, by several lines of cuneiform writing inscribed round their bodies; but this artistic defect is pardoned by the antiquarian, who learns from the inscribed lines the fact that the statues represent Nebo, and the time and circumstances of their dedication. Clay idols are very frequent. They are generally in a good material, and are of various sizes, yet never approaching to the full stature of humanity. Generally they are mere statuettes, less than a foot in height. Specimens have been selected for representation in the preceding volume, from which a general idea of their character is obtainable. They are, like the stone idols, formal and inexpressive in style, while they are even ruder and coarser than those figures in workmanship. We must regard them as intended chiefly for private use among the mass of the population,' while we must view the stone idols as the objects of public worship in the shrines and temples. Idols in metal have not hitherto appeared among the objects recovered from the Assyrian cities. We may conclude, however, from the passage of Nahum prefixed to this chapter, as well as from general probability, that they were known and used by the Assyrians, who seem to have even admitted them-no less than stone statues-into their temples. The ordinary metal used was no doubt bronze; but in Assyria as in Babylonia," silver, and perhaps in some few instances gold, may have been em- ployed for idols, in cases where they were intended as proofs to the world at large of the wealth and magnificence of a monarch. The Assyrians worshipped their gods chiefly with sacrifices and offerings. Tiglath-Pileser I. relates that he offered sacrifice to Anu and Vul on completing the repairs of their temple. 12 See vol. i. pp. 140, 341, and 312. 9 Clay idols were also deposited in holes below the pavement of palaces, which (it may be supposed) were thus placed under their protection. (See M. Botta's Monument de Ninire, vol. v. p. 41 ) 16 Nahum i. 14. - And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee 1 (Nineveh), that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image." 11 Dan. iii, 1; Herod. i. 183; Diod. Sic. ii. 9, &c. Compare Sir H. Rawlin- son's Essay in the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 517, note 8. 12 Inscription, pp. 68-70. CHAP. VIII, SACRIFICES. 35 20001 Asshur-izir-pal says that he sacrificed to the gods after embark- ing on the Mediterranean.13 Vul-lush IV. sacrificed to Bel- Merodach, Nebo, and Nergal, in their respective high seats at Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha.! Sennacherib offered sacri- fices to Hoa on the sea-shore after an expedition in the Persian Gulf.15 Esarhaddon “ slew great and costly sacrifices” at Nineveh upon completing his great palace in that capital.16 Sacrifice was clearly regarded as a duty by the kings generally, and was the ordi- nary mode by which they propi- tiated the favour of the national deities. With respect to the mode of sacrifice we have only a small amount of information, derived from a very few bas-reliefs. These unite in representing the bull as the special sacrificial animal. In one is we simply see a bull brought up to a temple by the king; but in another,"º wbich is more elaborate, we seem to have the whole of a sa- crificial scene fairly, if not exactly, Sacrificial scene (from an obelisk found at Nimrud). 13 Assyrian Texts, p. 28. 14 Sir H. Rawlinson's Essay, p. 516. 15 Ibid. p. 495. 16 Assyrian Texts, p. 18. 17 That sheep and goats were also used for sacrifice we learn from the inscriptions. (As- Syrian Terts, pp. 3, 4.) There is one repre- sentation of a ram, or wild-goat, being led to the altar (Layard, Ninereh and its Reinains, vol. ii. p. 469.) Is This is on Lord Aberdeen's Black Stone, a monument of the reign of Esarhaddon. A representation of it will be found in Mr. Fergusson's Palaces of Nineveh Restored, p. 298. 19 This scene is represented on a mutilated obelisk belonging to the time of Asshur-izir- pal, which is now in the British Museum. The sculptures on this curious monument are still unpublished. D 2 36 CHAP. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. brought before us. Towards the front of a temple, where the god, recognisable by his horned cap, appears seated upon a throne, with an attendant priest, who is beardless, paying adora- tion to him, advances a procession consisting of the king and six priests, one of whom carries a cup, while the other five are em- ployed about the animal. The king pours a libation over a large bowl, fixed in a stand, immediately in front of a tall fire- altar, from which flames are rising. Close behind this stands the priest with a cup, from which we may suppose that the monarch will pour a second libation. Next we observe a bearded priest directly in front of the bull, checking the advance of the animal, which is not to be offered till the libation is over. The bull is also held by a pair of priests, who walk behind him and restrain him with a rope attached to one of his fore-legs a little above the hoof. Another pair of priests, following closely on the footsteps of the first pair, completes the procession: the four seem, from the position of their heads and arms, to be engaged in a solemn chant. It is probable, from the flame upon the altar,' that there is to be some burning of the sacrifice; while it is evident, from the altar being of such a small size, that only certain parts of the animal can be consumed upon it. We may conclude therefore that the Assyrian sacrifices resembled those of the classical nations, consisting not of whole burnt offerings, but of a selection of choice parts, regarded as specially pleasing to the gods, which were placed upon the altar and burnt, while the remainder of the victim was consumed by priest or people. Assyrian altars were of various shapes and sizes. One type was square, and of no great height; it had its top ornamented with gradines, below which the sides were either plain or fluted. Another, which was also of moderate height, was triangular, but with a circular top, consisting of a single flat 1 Altars of the shape here repre- sented are always crowned with flames, which generally take a conical shape, but are here made to spread into a number of tongues. At Khorsabad the flames on such altars were painted red. (Botta, Monument de Ninire, Pl. 146.) 2 See Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, sub voc. SACRIFI- CIUM. 3 See above, vol. i. p. 308, No. I., and p. 310, No. V. CHAP. VIII. ALTARS. 37 EN AB stone, perfectly plain, except that it was sometimes inscribed round the edge.* A third type is that represented in the sacrificial scene on the last page but one. This is a sort of port- able stand-narrow, but of con- siderable height, reaching nearly to a man's chin. Altars of this kind seem to have been carried about by the Assyrians in their expeditions: we see them oc- casionally in the entrenched camps, and observe priests offi- ciating at them in their dress of office. Besides their sacrifices of ani- Triangular altar (Khorsa bad). mals, the Assyrian kings were accustomed to deposit in the temples of their gods, as thank- offerings, many precious products from the countries which they overran in their expeditions. Stones and marbles of various kinds, rare metals, and images of foreign deities, are particularly mentioned; but it would seem to be most probable that some por- tion of all the more valuable articles was thus dedicated. T A Silver and gold were certainly Portable altar in an Assyrian camp, used largely in the adornment with priests offering (Khorsabad). of the temples, which are sometimes said to have been made “ as splendid as the sun," by reason of the profuse employment upon them of these precious metals.? It is difficult to determine how the ordinary worship of the * An altar of this shape was found by M. Botta at Khorsabad. (Monument, PI. 157.) Another nearly similar was discovered by Mr. Layard at Nimrud (Monuments, 2nd Series, Pl. 4), and is now in the British Museum. 5 Botta, Pl. 146; Layard, 2nd Series, Pl. 24. 6 Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., pp. | 30, 38, 66, &c. ? Assyrian Texts, p. 16. 38 CHAP. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. gods was conducted. The sculptures are for the most part monuments erected by kings; and, when these have a religious character, they represent the performance by the kings of their own religious duties, from which little can be concluded as to the religious observances of the people. The kings seem to have united the priestly with the regal character; and in the religious scenes representing their acts of worship, no priest ever intervenes between them and the god, or appears to assume any but a very subordinate position. The king himself stands and worships in close proximity to the holy tree; with his own hand he pours libations; and it is not unlikely that he was entitled with his own arm to sacrifice victims. But we can scarcely suppose that the people had these privileges. Sacerdotal ideas have prevailed in almost all Oriental monarchies, and it is notorious that they had a strong hold upon the neighbouring and nearly connected kingdom of Babylon. The Assyrians gene- rally, it is probable, approached the gods through their priests; and it would seem to be these priests who are represented upon the cylinders as introducing worshippers to the gods, dressed themselves in long robes, and with a curious mitre upon their heads. The worshipper seldom comes empty-handed. Worshipper bringing He carries commonly in his arms an antelope an offering (from a or young goat,' which we may presume to be cylinder). an offering intended to propitiate the deity. It is remarkable that the priests in the sculptures are gene- rally, if not invariably, beardless. 10 It is scarcely probable that UTITZINULLIUM UTIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTIIULID & The kings often say that they sacri- | No. 7; xxxviii. Nos. 2, 3, 6; xxxix. ficed. (Tiglath-Pileser Inscription, pp. No. 7, &c. 66 and 68; Assyrian Texts, p. 18, &c.) 10 See Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, But we cannot conclude from this with Pls. 24 and 50; Botta, Monument, Pl. any certainty that it was with their 146. If the figure carrying an antelope, own hand they slew the victims. (Com- and having on the head a highly orna- pare 1 K. viii. 63.) Still they may have mented fillet (Botta, Pl. 43) is a priest, done so. and if that character belongs to the 9 Lajard, Culte de Mithra, Pls. xxxvii. l. attendants in the sacrificial scene above CHAP. VIII. FESTIVALS AND FASTS. they were eunuchs, since mutilation is in the East always re- garded as a species of degradation. Perhaps they merely shaved the beard for greater cleanliness, like the priests of the Egytians;” and possibly it was a custom only obligatory on the upper grades of the priesthood.'2 We have no evidence of the establishment of set festivals in Assyria. Apparently the monarchs decided, of their own will, when a feast should be held to any god ; 13 and, proclamation being made, the feast was held accordingly. Vast numbers, especially of the chief men, were assembled on such occasions ; numerous sacrifices were offered, and the festivities lasted for several days. A considerable proportion of the worshippers were accommodated in the royal palace, to which the temple was ordinarily a mere adjunct, being fed at the king's cost, and lodged in the halls and other apartments.14 The Assyrians made occasionally a religious use of fasting. The evidence on this point is confined to the Book of Jonah,15 which, however, distinctly shows both the fact and the nature of the usage. When a fast was proclaimed, the king, the nobles, and the people exchanged their ordinary apparel for sackcloth, sprinkled ashes upon their heads, and abstained alike from food and drink until the fast was over. The animals also that were within the walls of the city where the fast was commanded, had sackcloth placed upon them ;' and the same abstinence was enforced upon them as was enjoined on the inhabitants. Ordi- nary business was suspended, and the whole population united in prayer to Asshur, the supreme god, whose pardon they en- represented (supra, p. 35), we must con- i p. 426. sider that the beard was worn at least 14 See the account given by Esar- by some grades of the priesthood. haddon of his great festival (Assyrian 11 Herod, iii, 37. Texts, p. 18). 12 Observe that in the sacrificial 15 Jonah iii. 5-9. scene (supra, p. 35) the priest who 1 There is a remarkable parallel to approaches close to the god is beardless; this in a Persian practice mentioned by and that in the camp scene (Layard, Herodotus (ix. 24). In the mourning Monuments, 2nd Series, Pl. 50) the priest for Masistius, a little before the battle in a tall cap is shaven, while the other, 1 of Platæa, the Persian troops not only who has no such dignified head-dress, shaved off their own hair, but similarly wears a beard. disfigured their horses and their beasts 13 Assyrian Terts, pp. 11 and 18. ' of burthen. Compare the Black Obelisk Inscription, 1 40 CHAP. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. treated, and whose favour they sought to propitiate. These proceedings were not merely formal. On the occasion men- tioned in the Book of Jonah, the repentance of the Ninevites seems to have been sincere. “God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them: and he did it not." 2 The religious sentiment appears, on the whole, to have been strong and deep-seated among the Assyrians. Although religion had not the prominence in Assyria which it possessed in Egypt, or even in Greece-although the temple was subordinated to the palace, and the most imposing of the representations of the gods 4 were degraded to mere architectural ornaments—yet the Assyrians appear to have been really, nay, even earnestly, religious. Their religion, it must be admitted, was of a sensuous character. They not only practised image-worship, but believed in the actual power of the idols to give protection or work mischief; nor could they rise to the conception of a purely spiritual and immaterial deity. Their ordinary worship was less one of prayer than one by means of sacrifices and offerings. They could, however, we know, in the time of trouble, utter sincere prayers; and we are bound therefore to credit them with an bonest purpose in respect of the many solemn addresses and invocations which occur both in their public and their private documents. The numerous mythological tablets 5 testify to the large amount of attention which was paid to religious subjects by the learned; while the general character of their names, and the practice of inscribing sacred figures and emblems upon their signets, which was almost universal, seem to indicate a spirit of piety on the part of the mass of the people. The sensuous cast of the religion naturally led to a pompous ceremonial, a fondness for processional display, and the use of magnificent vestments. These last are represented with great miputeness in the Nimrud sculptures. The dresses of those 2 Jonah iii. 10. 1 5 Supra, vol. i. p. 400. 3 See above, vol. i. p. 278. 6 See Mr. Layard's Monuments, Ist * The winged bulls and lions, which 'Series, Pls. 5, 6, 8, 9, &c; respectively symbolise Nin and Nergal, i CHAP. VIII. SUMMARY 41 engaged in sacred functions seem to have been elaborately embroidered, for the most part with religious figures and emblems, such as the winged circle, the pine-cone, the pome- granate, the sacred tree, the human-headed lion, and the like. Armlets, bracelets, necklaces, aud ear-rings were worn by the officiating priests, whose heads were either encircled with a richly-ornamented fillet, or covered with a mitre or high cap of imposing appearance. Musicians had a place in the proces- sions, and accompanied the religious ceremonies with playing or chanting, or, in some instances, possibly with both. It is remarkable that the religious emblems of the Assyrians are almost always free from that character of grossness which, in the classical works of art, so often offends modern delicacy. The sculptured remains present us with no representations at all parallel to the phallic emblems of the Greeks. Still we are perhaps not entitled to conclude, from this comparative purity, that the Assyrian religion was really exempt from that worst feature of idolatrous systems—a licensed religious sensualism. According to Herodotus, the Babylonian worship of Beltis was disgraced by a practice which even he, heathen as he was, re- garded as “most shameful.”9 Women were required once in their lives to repair to the temple of this goddess, and there offer themselves to the embrace of the first man who desired their company. In the Apocryphal Book of Baruch we find a clear allusion to the same custom, so that there can be little doubt of its having really obtained in Babylonia ; but if so, it would seem to follow, almost as a matter of course, that the worship of the same identical goddess in the adjoining country included a similar usage. It may be to this practice that the prophet Nahum alludes, where he denounces Nineveh as a “well- favoured harlot," the multitude of whose harlotries was notorious.'1 * Botta, Monument, Pl. 43. seth by, lie with him, she reproaches $ Supra, vol. i. p. 570. her fellow, that she was not thought as 9 Herod. i. 199. AYOXLOTOS Tv worthy as herself, nor her cord broken.” róuor. 11 Nahum iii. 4. It is, however, more 10 Baruch vi. 43. "The women also likely that the allusion is to the idola- with cords about them, sitting in the trous practices of the Ninevites. (See ways, burn bran for perfume ; but if | above, vol. i. p. 246, note '.) any of them, drawn by some that pas- 42 CHAP. VIII. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Such then was the general character of the Assyrian religion. We have no means of determining whether the cosmogony of the Chaldæans formed any part of the Assyrian system, or was con- fined to the lower country. No ancient writer tells us anything of the Assyrian notions on this subject, nor has the decipher- ment of the monuments thrown as yet any light upon it. It would be idle therefore to prolong the present chapter by specu- lating upon a matter concerning which we have at present no authentic data. CHAP. IX. ASSYRIAN CHRONOLOGY. CHAPTER I X. CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY. Τα παλαιά τοιαύτα εύρον, χαλεπά όντα παντί εξής τεκμηρίω πιστεύσαι.--- Tarcis. i. 20. The chronology of the Assyrian kingdom has long exercised, and divided, the judgments of the learned. On the one hand, Ctesias and his numerous followers—including, among the ancients, Cephalion, Castor, Diodorus Siculus, Nicolas of Damascus, Trogus Pompeius, Velleius Paterculus, Josephus, Eusebius, and Moses of Chorêné; among the moderns, Freret, Rollin, and Clinton-have given the kingdom a duration of between thirteen and fourteen hundred years, and carried back its antiquity to a time almost coeval with the founding of Babylon; on the other, Herodotus, Volney, Heeren, B. G. Niebuhr, Brandis, and many others, have preferred a chronology which limits the duration of the kingdom to about six centuries and a half, and places the commencement in the thirteenth century B.C., when a flourishing Empire had already existed in Chaldæa, or Babylonia, for a thousand years, or more. The questions thus mooted remain still, despite of the volumes which have been written upon them, so far undecided, that it will be necessary to entertain and discuss them at some length in this place, before entering on the historical sketch which is needed to complete our account of the Second Monarchy. The duration of a single unbroken empire continuously for 1306 (or 1360) years, which is the time assigned to the Assyrian i See particularly the long Essays of the Abbé Sevin and of Freret in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, vols, iv, and vii. (12th edition). Com- pare Volney, Recherches sur l'Histoire ancienne, vol. i. pp.381-511, and Clinton, Fisti Hellenici, vol. i. Ap. ch. iv. ? The latter is the number in the present text of Diodorus (ii. 21). But Agathias and Syncellus seem to have had 1306 in their copies. (See Agath. ii. 25, p. 120; Syncell. p. 359, C. Com- pare Augustin. Cir. D. xviii. 21.) 44 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Monarchy by Ctesias, must be admitted to be a thing hard of belief, if not actually incredible. The Roman State, with all its elements of strength, had (we are told), as kingdom, common- wealth, and empire, a duration of no more than twelve centu- ries. The Chaldæan Monarchy lasted, as we have seen,4 about a thousand years, from the time of the Elamite conquest. The duration of the Parthian was about five centuries ;5 of the first Persian, less than two and a half; 6 of the Median, at the utmost, one and a half; of the later Babylonian, less than one. The only monarchy existing under conditions at all similar to Assyria, whereto an equally long—or rather a still longer- duration has been assigned with some show of reason, is Egypt. But there, it is admitted that the continuity was in- terrupted by the long foreign domination of the Hyksos, and by at least one other foreign conquest—that of the Ethiopian Sabacos or Shebeks. According to Ctesias, one and the same dynasty occupied the Assyrian throne during the whole period of thirteen hundred years, Sardanapalus, the last king in his list, being the descendant and legitimate successor of Ninus.10 There can be no doubt that a monarchy lasting about six centuries and a half, and ruled by at least two or three different dynasties, is per se a thing far more probable than one ruled by one and the same dynasty for more than thirteen centuries. And, therefore, if the historical evidence in the two cases is at all equal—or rather, if that which supports the more improbable account does not greatly preponderate—we ought to give 3 See Gibbon's Decline and Fall, ch. I commencement of a settled monarchy xxv. (vol. iv. pp. 251, 252, Smith's in Egypt to about B.C. 2600 or 2500 edition). (Wilkinson in the author's llerodotus, 4 Supra, vol. i. p. 171. vol. ii. pp. 288-290; Stuart Poole in 3 From B.C. 256 to A.n), 226. (See Smith's Biblical Dictionary ad voc. Heeren's Manual of Ancient History, pp. CHRONOLOGY). Mr. Palmer (Egyptian 29-304, E. T.) Chronicles, vol. ii. p. 896) brings the 6 From B.c. 559 to b.c. 331, the date date down to B.C. 2224, and Mr. Nash of the battle of Arbela. (Pharaoh of the Erodus, p. 305) to B.C. ; Herod, i. 130. 1785. The lowest of these dates would & From B.C. 625 to B.C. 538. (See the make the whole duration, from Menes Historical Chapter of the “ Fourth to Nectanebus, fourteen and a half cen- Monarchy.") turies. Moderate Egyptologers refer the , 10 Ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 21, $ 8. CHAP. IX. SCHEMES OF CTESIAS AND HERODOTUS. 45 credence to the more moderate and probable of the two statements. Now, putting aside authors who merely re-echo the statements of others, there seem to be, in the present case, two and two only distinct original authorities—Herodotus and Ctesias. Of these two Herodotus is the earlier. He writes within two centuries of the termination of the Assyrian rule, whereas Ctesias writes at least thirty years later. He is of unimpeach- able honesty, and may be thoroughly trusted to have reported only what he had heard. He had travelled in the East, and had done his best to obtain accurate information upon Oriental matters, consulting on the subject, among others, the Chaldæans of Babylon. He had, moreover, taken special pains to inform himself upon all that related to Assyria, which he designed to make the subject of an elaborate work distinct from his general history.5 Ctesias, like Herodotus, had had the advantage of visiting the East. It may be argued that he possessed even better opportunities than the earlier writer for becoming acquainted with the views which the Orientals entertained of their own past. Herodotus probably devoted but a few months, or at most a year or two, to his Oriental travels; Ctesias passed seventeen years at the Court of Persia. Herodotus was merely an ordinary traveller, and had no peculiar facilities for acquiring information in the East; Ctesias was court-physician to Arta- xerxes Mnemon,” and was thus likely to gain access to any archives which the Persian kings might have in their keeping The Assyrian rule terminated B.C. - Greece, vol. iv. p. 351. 625 (or, according to some, B.C. 606). 4 Herod. i. 183. Herodotus seems to have died about B.C. 5 Ibid. i. 106 and 184. Whether this 425. (See the author's Herodotus, Intro intention was ever executed or no, is duction, ch. i. p. 27, 2nd edition.) still a moot point among scholars. (See 2 Ctesias returned from Persia to the author's Herodotus, vol. i. pp. 198, Greece in the year B.c. 398. (See Mure's 199, note ", 2nd edit.) Literature of Greece, vol. v. p. 483.) He 6 Diod. Sic. ii. 32, § 4. may have published his Persica about Xen. Anah. i. 8, § 26. B.C. 395. Xenophon quotes it about I 6 Ctesias appears to have stated that B.C. 380. he drew his history from documents 3 See the author's Herodotus, Intro written upon parchment belonging to duction, ch. iii. (vol. i. pp. 61-64, 2nd the Persian kings (ék twv Baotik@v ed.) Compare Mure's Literature of 8100epôv, Diod. Sic. I. 8. c.). 46 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. But these advantages seem to have been more than neutralised by the temper and spirit of the man. He commenced his work with the broad assertion that Herodotus was “a liar," 9 and was therefore bound to differ from him when he treated of the same periods or nations. He does differ from him, and also from Thucydides, lº whenever they handle the same transactions; but in scarcely a single instance where he differs from either writer does his narrative seem to be worthy of credit. The cuneiform monuments, while they generally confirm Herodotus, contradict Ctesias perpetually." He is at variance with Manetho on Egyptian, with Ptolemy on Babylonian, chronology. 12 No in- dependent writer confirms him on any important point. His Oriental history is quite incompatible with the narrative of Scripture.13 On every ground, the judgment of Aristotle, of Plutarch, of Arrian, of Scaliger, 14 and of almost all the best critics of modern times,15 with respect to the credibility of Ctesias, is to be maintained, and his authority is to be regarded as of the very slightest value in determining any controverted matter. The chronology of Herodotus, which is on all accounts to be preferred, assigns the commencement of the Assyrian Empire to about B.C. 1250, or a little earlier, 16 and gives the monarchy a duration of nearly 650 years from that time. The Assyrians, 9 Phot. Bibliothec. Cod. LXXII., p. | History, vol. i. pp. 21, 22, 28, 30); 107. Bunsen (Egypt's Place in Unirersal His- 10 Compare Ctes. Pers. Exc. $ 32 et tory, vol. iii. p. 432); Mure (History of seq. with Thucyd i. 104, 109, and 110. Greek Literature, vol. v. pp. 487-497), 11 For proofs see the author's Hero. &c. dotus, Introduction, ch. iii. (vol. i. p. 63, 16 The Assyrian “Empire,” according note %). to Herodotus (i. 95), lasted 520 years. 12 In the number of years which he The Medes then revolted, and remained assigns to the reigns of Cambyses and for some time without a king. After a Darius Hystaspis. while the regal power was conferred on 13 E.g. he places the destruction of Deïoces, who reigned 53 years. He was Nineveh about B.c. 875, long before the succeeded by his son Phraortes, who time of Jonah! reigned 22 years. Cyaxares then as- 14 See Arist. llist. An. ii. 3, § 10; iii. cended the Median throne, and after sub fin.; viii. 26, $ 3; Gen. An. ii. 2; reigning at least 30 years, took Nineveh Pol. v. 8; Plut. Vit. Artaxerx. 13; Ar and destroyed the Assyrian kingdom. rian. Exp. Alex. v. 4; Scaliger, De This was (according to Herodotus) about emend. temp. Not. ad Fragm, subj. pp. B.C. 603. The commencement of the 39-43. empire was (520+*+53 +22+30=) 15 As Niebuhr (Lectures on Ancient | 625+x years earlier, or B.c. 1228 +x. CHAP. IX. SCHEME OF BEROSUS. 47 according to him, held the undisputed supremacy of Western Asia for 520 years, or from about B.C. 1250 to about B.C. 730– after which they maintained themselves in an independent but less exalted position for about 130 years longer, till nearly the close of the seventh century before our era. These dates are not indeed to be accepted without reserve; but they approxi- mate to the truth, and are, at any rate, greatly preferable to those of Ctesias. The chronology of Berosus was, apparently, not very different from that of Herodotus. There can be no reasonable doubt that his sixth Babylonian dynasty represents the line of kings which ruled in Babylon during the period known as that of the Old Empire in Assyria. Now this line, which was Semitic, appears to have been placed upon the throne by the Assyrians, and to have been among the first results of that conquering energy which the Assyrians at this time began to develop. Its commencement should therefore synchronise with the foundation of an Assyrian Empire. The views of Berosus on this latter subject may be gathered from what he says of the former. Now the scheme of Berosus gave as the date of the establishment of this dynasty about the year B.c. 1300; and as Berosus undoubtedly placed the fall of the Assyrian Empire in B.C. 625, it may be concluded, and with a near approach to certainty, that he would have assigned the empire a duration of about 675 years, making it commence with the beginning of the thirteenth century before our era, and terminate midway in the latter half of the seventh. If this be a true account of the ideas of Berosus, his scheme of Assyrian chronology would have differed only slightly from that of Herodotus; as will be seen if we place the two schemes side by side. ASSYRIAN CHRONOLOGY. ACCORDING TO HERODOTUB. ab. B.C. ab. B.C. Great Empire, lasting 520 years, 1250 to 730 Rerolt of Medes . 730 Curtailed Kingdom, lasting 130 yrs. 730 to 600 Destruction of Nineveb. 600 ACCORDING TO BEROSUS. ab. B.C. ab. B.C. Assyrian Dynasty of 45 kings in Babylon (526 years). . . . 1301 to 775 Reign of Pul (about 28 years). . 775 to 747 Assyrian kings from Pul to Saracus (122 years) . . . . . . 747 to 625 Destruction of Nineveh :: 625 48 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. In the case of a history so ancient as that of Assyria, we might well be content if our chronology were vague merely to the extent of the variations here indicated. The parade of exact dates with reference to very early times is generally fallacious, unless it be understood as adopted simply for the sake of convenience. In the history of Assyria, however, we may make a nearer approach to exactness than in most others of the same antiquity, owing to the existence of two chronological documents of first-rate importance. One of these is the famous Canon of Ptolemy, which, though it is directly a Babylonian record, has important bearings on the chronology of Assyria. The other is an Assyrian Canon, discovered and edited by Sir H. Rawlinson in 1862,17 which gives the succession of the kings for 251 years, commencing (as in thought) B.C. 911 and termi- nating B.C. 660, eight years after the accession of the son and successor of Esarhaddon. These two documents, which har- monise admirably, carry up an exact Assyrian chronology almost from the close of the empire to the tenth century before our era. For the period anterior to this we have, in the Assyrian records, one or two isolated dates, dates fixed in later times with more or less of exactness; and of these we might have been inclined to think little, but that they harmonise remarkably with the state- ments of Berosus and Herodotus, which place the commence- ment of the Empire about B.C. 1300, or a little later. We have, further, certain lists of kings, forming continuous lines of descent from father to son, by means of which we may fill up the blanks that would otherwise remain in our chronological scheme with approximate dates calculated from an estimate of generations. From these various sources the subjoined scheme has been composed, the sources being indicated at the side, and the fixed dates being carefully distinguished from those which are uncertain or approximate. 17 See Atheneum, No. 1812. M. Op- | gonides, p. 15) is simply (and literally) pert's claim to the first publication of preposterous. this document (Inscriptions des Sare i CHAP. IX. PROBABLE ACTUAL CHRONOLOGY. 49 KINGS OF ASSYRIA. Bel-sumili-kapi - - Irba-vul Called the founder of the kingdom on a genealogical tablet. Mentioned by Tiglath-pileser I. as a former king. A very archaic tallet in the British Museumn is dated in his reign. Mentioned by Tiglath-pileser as a former king. Asshur-iddin-akhi Ab. 1440 to 147 - 1420 to 1400 - 1400 to 1380 As hur-hil-nist-sn Buzur-Asshur (successor) Asshur-upallit (successor) Mentioned on a synchronistic tablet, which connects them with the time of Purna-puriyas, the Chaldean king. Asshur-upallit mentioned on Kileh. Sherghat bricks. Early Kingdom. 1390 to 1360) Bel-lush (bis son) 1360 to 1340 Pud-il (his son) - 1340 to 1320 Vul-lush I. (his son) 1320 to 1300 Shalmaneser L. (bis son) Names and succession found on Kilch- Sherghat bricks, vases, &c. Shalma- neser mentioned also on a genealogical slab and in the standard inscription of Nimrud. - 1300 to 1280 Tiglathi-Nin (his son) Mentioned on a genealogical tablet. Called "the conqueror of Babylon," and placed by Sennacherib 600 years before his own capture of Babylon in BC, 703. Mentioned on the synchronistic tablet as the predecessor of Nin-pala-zira. - 1230 to 1210 | Bel-kudur-uzur - 1210 to 1190 Nin-pala-zira (successor) 1190 to 1170 Asshur-Layan I. (bis son) 1170 te 1150 Mutaggil-Nebo (his son) 1150 to 1130 Assbur-ris-ilim his son) 1130 to 1110 Tiglath-pileser I. (his son) 1110 to 1090 Aashur-bil-kala (his son) 1090 to 1070 | Shamas-Vul I. (his brother) - Names and relationship given in cylinder of Tiglatb-pileser I. Mentioned on the synchronistic tablet above spoken of, Date of Tiglath- pileser 1. fixed by the Bavian inscrip- tion. Dates of the other kings calcu. lated from bis at 20 years to a genera- tion. Mentioned in an inscription of Shalma- neser II. Assbur-mazur Great Empire of Herodotus, 526 years of Berosus. 230 to 911 911 to $49 89 to 883 883 to $59 658 to 823 823 to 810 $10 to 781 781 to 771 771 to 753 753 to 745 Assbur-davan IT. Vul-lush II. (bis son) Tiglatbi-Nin II (his son) Arsbur-izir-pal (his son) Shalmaneser IL (bis son) Shamas-Vul II. (his son) Vul-lush III. (his son) Sbalmaneser Ill. Asshur-dayan III. Asshur-lush The kings from Assbur-davan II, to Vul-lush Ill, are proved to bave been in direct succession by the Kileh- Sherghat and Nimrud monuments. The last nine reigns are given in the Assyrian Canon. The Canon is the sole authority for the last three. The dates of the whole series are deter- mined from the Canon of Ptolemy by calculating back from B.C. 680, his date for the accession of Esar-baddon (Asaridanus). They might also be fixed from the year of the great eclipse. 745 to 727 Tiglath-pileser II. 727 to 722 Shalmaneser IV. 722 to 705 Sargon 705 to 681 Sennacherib (his son) 681 to 668 Esar-baddon (bis son) 668 to 626) Asshur.bani-pal (bis son) 626 () to 625 Assbur-ernid-ilin The years of these kings, from Esar. haddon upwards, are taken from the Assyrian Canon. The dates accord strictly with the Canon of Puolemy. The last year of Asshur-bani-pal is to some extent conjectural Later Kingdom of Herodotus and Berosus. It will be observed that in this list the chronology of Assyria is carried back to a period nearly a century and a half anterior to B.C. 1300, the approximate date, according to Herodotus and VOL. II. 50 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Berosus, of the establishment of the “Empire.” It might have been concluded, from the mere statement of Herodotus, that Assyria existed before the time of which he spoke, since an Empire can only be formed by a people already fourishing. Assyria as an independent kingdom is the natural antecedent of Assyria as an Imperial power; and this earlier phase of her existence might reasonably have been presumed from the later." The monuments furnish distinct evidence of the time in question in the fourth, fifth, and sixth kings of the above list, who reigned while the Chaldæan Empire was still flourishing in Lower Meso- potamia. Chronological and other considerations induce a belief that the four kings who follow likewise belonged to it; and that the “ Empire" commenced with Tiglathi-Nin I., who is the first great conqueror. The date assigned to the accession of this king, B.C. 1300, which accorils so nearly with Berosus' date for the commence- ment of his 526 years, is obtained from the monuments in the following manner. First, Sennacherib, in an inscription set up in or about his 10th year (which was B.C. 694), states that he recovered from Babylon certain images of gods, which had been carried thither by Merodach-iddin-akhi, King of Babylon, who had obtained them in his war with Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria, 418 years previously. This gives for the date of the war with Tiglath-Pileser the year B.c. 1112. As that monarch does not mention the Babylonian war in the annals which relate the events of his early years, we must suppose his defeat to have taken place towards the close of his reign, and assign him the space from B.c. 1130 to Bc. 1110, as, approximately, that during i Some writers have endeavoured to 3 This important statement is con- reconcile Ctesias with Herodotus by tained in a rock-inscription at Bavian. supposing the former to speak of the It is evident from the employment of beginning of the kingd m of Assyria, I an exact number (418), that Senna- the latter of the commencement of the | cherib believed himself to be in posses- empire. (See Clinton, Fusti Hellenici, i sion of a perfectly accurate chronology vol. i. Appendix, ch. iv.) But this is a for a period exceeding four centuries mere forced and artificial mode of pro- ' from his own time. The discovery of ducing an apparent reconciliation, since the Assyrian Canon shows us the mode it was really the Empire which Ctesias in which such an exact chronology would made to begin with Ninus and Semi- | have been kept. ramis (Diod. Sic. ii. 1-19). 4 Infra, pp. 65-68, and p. 77. ? Infra, p. 55. Chap. IX. GROUNDS OF THE CHRONOLOGY, 51 which he is likely to have held the throne. Allowing then to the six monumental kings, who preceded Tiglath-Pileser, aver- age reigns of twenty years each, which is the actual average furnished by the lines of direct descent in Assyria, where the length of each reign® is known, and, allowing fifty years for the break between Tiglathi-Nin and Bel-kudur-uzur, we are brought to (1130+120+50) B.C. 1300 for the accession of the first Tiglathi-Nin, who took Babylon, and is the first king of whom extensive conquests are recorded. Secondly, Sennacherib in another inscription reckons 600 years from his first conquest of Babylon (B.C. 703) to a year in the reign of this monarch. This "six hundred ” may be used as a round number; but as Senna- cherib considered that he had the means of calculating exactly, he would probably not have used a round number, unless it was tolerably near to the truth. Six hundred years before B.c. 703 brings us to B.C. 1303. The chief uncertainty which attaches to the numbers in this part of the list arises from the fact that the nine kings from Tiglathi-Nin downwards do not form a single direct line. The inscriptions fail to connect Bel-kudur-uzur with Tiglathi-Nin, and there is thus a probable interval between the two reigns, the length of which can only be conjectured. The dates assigned to the later kings, from Vul-lush II. to Esar- haddon inclusive, are derived from the Assyrian Canon taken in combination with the famous Canon of Ptolemy. The agree- ment between these documents, and between the latter and the Assyrian records generally, is exact;' and a confirmation is thus 5 Two such lines only are obtainable i to Sargon and 24 to Sennacherib, or 41 from the Assyrian lists. The first ex- | to the two together. Sargon's first year, tends from Vul-lush II, to Vul-lush III. according to an Inscription of his own, inclusive; this contains six kings, whose synchronised with the first of Merodach- united reigns amount to 130 years, fur Baladan, in Babylon. Now from this nishing thus anaverage of 21} years. The to the first of Esarhaddon, Sennacherib's other begins with Sargon and terminates son and successor, is exactly 41 years in with Saül-mugina (Saosduchinus), his the Canon of Ptolemy. Again, Sargon great-grandson, containing four reigns, ascribes to Merodach-Baladan, just as which cover a space of 74 years. The Ptolemy does, a reign of 12 years. Sen- average length of a reign is here 181 nacherib assigns 3 years to Belibor years. The mean average is therefore, Belipni, as Ptolemy does to Belibus, and as nearly as possible, 20 years. mentions that he was superseded in his 6 See below, pp. 58, 59. office by Asshur-inadi-su— Ptolemy's : The Assyrian Canon assigns 17 years Aparanadius or Assaranadius. Add to E 2 52 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. afforded to Ptolemy which is of no small importance. The dates from the accession of Vul-lush II. (B.C. 911) to the death of Esarhaddon (B.C. 668) would seem to have the same degree of accuracy and certainty which has been generally admitted to attach to the numbers of Ptolemy. They have been confirmed by the notice of a great eclipse in the eighth year of Asshur- dayan III., which is undoubtedly that of June 15, B.C. 763.8 The reign of Asshur-bani-pal (Sardanapalus), the son and successor of Esarhaddon, which commenced B.C. 668, is carried down to B.C. 626 on the combined authority of Berosus, Ptolemy, and the monuments. The monuments show that Asshur-bani- pal proclaimed himself King of Babylon after the death of Saül-mugina, whose last year was (according to Ptolemy) B.C. 647; and that from the date of this proclamation he reigned over Babylon at least twenty years. Polyhistor, who reports Berosus, has left us statements which are in close accordance, and from which we gather that the exact length of the reign of Asshur-bani-pal over Babylon was twenty-one years. Hence, B.C. 626 is obtained as the year of his death. As Nineveh appears to have been destroyed B.C. 625 or 624, two years only are left for Asshur-bani-pal's son and successor, Asshur-emid- ilin, the Saracus of Abydenus. The framework of Assyrian chronology being thus approxi- mately, and, to some extent, provisionally settled, we may proceed to arrange upon it the facts, so far as they have come down to us, of Assyrian history. In the first place, then, if we ask ourselves where the Assy- rians came from, and at what time they settled in the country which thenceforth bore their name, we seem to hare an answer, at any rate, to the former of these two questions, in Scripture. “Out of that land ”- the land of Shinar—“went forth Asshur, this that in no case has the date of a | Sennacherib, his son (i.e. Esarhaddon), king's reign on any tablet been found Sammughes (Saül-mugina), Sardana- to exceed the number of years which palus, his brother (Asshur-bani-pal), Ptolemy allows him. Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, &c. The 8 See Appendix A. “On the record reign of Sardana palus lasted (he said) of an eclipse in the Assyrian Canon." 21 years. (Ap. Euseb. Chr. Can. Pars 9 Polyhistor gave the succession of ima. v. $$ 2, 3.) the later Bubylonian kings as follows : CHAP. IX. ORIGIN OF THE ASSYRIANS. 53 and builded Nineveh.”! The Assyrians, previously to their settlement on the middle Tigris, had dwelt in the lower part of the great valley—the flat alluvial plain towards the mouths of the two streams. It was here, in this productive region, where nature does so much for man, and so little needs to be sup- plied by himself, that they had grown from a family into a people; that they had learnt or developed a religion, and that they had acquired a knowledge of the most useful and necessary of the arts. It has been observed in a former chapter 2 that the whole character of the Assyrian architecture is such as to indi- cate that their style was formed in the low flat alluvium, where there were no natural elevations, and stone was not to be had. It has also been remarked that their writing is manifestly derived from the Chaldæan ; 3 and that their religion is almost identical with that which prevailed in the lower country from a very early time. The evidence of the monuments accords thus, in the most striking way, with the statement of the Bible, exhibiting to us the Assyrians as a people who had once dwelt to the south, in close contact with the Chaldæans, and had removed after a while to a more northern position. With regard to the date of their removal, we can only say that it was certainly anterior to the time of the Chaldæan kings, Purna-puriyas and Kurri-galzu, who seem to have reigned in the fifteenth century before our era. If we could be sure that the city called in later times Asshur bore that name when Shamas-Vul, the son of Ismi-Dagon, erected a temple there to Anu and Vul,' we might assign to the movement a still higher antiquity; for Shamas-Vul belongs to the nineteenth century B.C.6 As, however, we have no direct evidence that either the Gen. x. 10 and 11. The true meaning i versions agree. (Compare Rosenmüller, of the Hebrew has been doubted, and our Schol, in Genes. p. 215.) translators have placed in the margin 2 See vol. i. ch, vi. p. 338. as an alternative version, “He (i.e. 3 Ibid. ch. v. p. 268. Nimrod) went out into Assyria, and • Supra, ch. viii. p. 1. builded Nineveh, &c.” But the real 5 Tiglath-Pileser calls Shamas-Vul meaning of 1108 XY, NID Y?xml? and his father “high-priests of the god Asshur” (Inscription, p. 62), but says would seem to be almost certainly that nothing of the name of the city at the given in the text. So the Septuagint time when the temple was erected. renders 'Ek Tris yrs ékeivns Eñadev See vol. i. p. 164, 'Assoup, and the Syriac and Vulgate 54 CHAP: IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. city or the country was known as Asshur until four centuries later, we must be content to lay it down that the Assyrians had moved to the north certainly as early as B.C. 1440, and that their removal may not improbably have taken place several centuries earlier. The motive of the removal is shrouded in complete obscurity. It may have been a forced colonization, commanded and carried out by the Chaldæan kings, who may have originated the system of transplanting to distant regions subject tribes of doubtful fidelity; 8 or it may have have been the voluntary self- expatriation of an increasing race, pressed for room and dis- contented with its condition. Again, it may have taken place by a single great movement, like that of the Tartar tribes, who transferred their allegiance from Russia to China in the reign of the Empress Catherine, and emigrated in a body from the banks of the Don to the eastern limits of Mongolia ; 9 or it may have been a gradual and protracted change, covering a long term of years, like most of the migrations whereof we read in history. On the whole, there is perhaps some reason to believe that a spirit of enterprise about this time possessed the Semitic inbabi- tants of lower Mesopotamia, who voluntarily proceeded north- wards in the hope of bettering their condition. Terah conducted one body from Ur to Harran ; 10 another removed itself from the shores of the Persian Gulf to those of the Mediterranean ; 11 while probably a third, larger than either of these two, ascended the course of the Tigris, occupied Adialené with the adjacent regions, and, giving its own tribal name of Asshur to its chief city and territory, became known to its neighbours first as a distinct, and then as an independent and powerful, people. The Assyrians for some time after their change of abode were : It is important to bear in mind that iii. p. 149; 2nd edition. on the mutilated Synchronistic tablet the 1 9 See the account of this emigration names of Asshur-bel-nisi-su, &c., occur | in M. Hommaire de Hell's Trarels in the half way down the first column; which Steppes of the Caspian Sea, pp. 227-235. makes it probable that ten or a dozen 10 Gen. xi. 31. names of Assyrian kings preceded them. 11 On the Phænician emigration see 8 On the prevalence of this system in Kenrick's Phoniciri, pp. 46-48; and the East, see the author's Herodotus, compare the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. vol. i. p. 405; vol. ii. p. 467; and vol. 1 pp. 196-202, 2nd edition. Chap. IX. FIRST EVIDENCE OF INDEPENDENCE. 55 probably governed by Babylonian rulers, who held their office under the Chaldæan Emperor. Bricks of a Babylonian character have been found at Kileh-Sherghat, the original Assyrian capital, which are thought to be of greater antiquity than any of the purely Assyrian remains, and which may have been stamped by these provincial governors." Ere long, however, the yoke was thrown off, and the Assyrians established a separate monarchy of their own in the upper country, while the Chaldæan Empire was still flourishing under native monarchs of the old ethnic type in the regions nearer to the sea. The special evidence which we possess of the co-existence side by side of these two kingdoms is furnished by a broken tablet of a considerably later date,13 which seems to have contained, when complete, a brief but continuous sketch of the synchronous history of Babylonia and Assyria, and of the various transactions in which the monarchs of the two countries had been engaged one with another, from the most ancient times. This tablet has pre- served to us the names of three very early Assyrian kings, Asshur-bil-nisi-su, Buzur-Asshur, and Asshur-upallit, of whom the two former are recorded to have made treaties of peace with the contemporary kings of Babylon ;? while the last-named intervened in the domestic affairs of the country, depriving an usurping monarch of the throne, and restoring it to the legitimate claimant, who was his own relation. Intermarriages, it appears, took place at this early date between the royal families of Assyria and Chaldæa ; and Asshur-upallit, the third of the three kings, had united one of his daughters to Purna- puriyas, a Chaldæan monarch who has received notice in the preceding volume. On the death of Purna-puriyas, Kara- khar-das, the issue of this marriage, ascended the throne ; but he had not reigned long before his subjects rebelled 12 See the Essay of Sir H. Rawlinson | time of Esarhaddon or Asshur-bani-pal. in the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 366, Asshur-bel-nisi-su is said to have note'. made a treaty with a Babylonian king 13 As the tablet is mutilated at both otherwise unknown, whose name is extremities, its date is uncertain ; but it read doubtfully as Kara-in-das. Buzur- cannot anyhow be earlier than the time Asshur, his successor, made a treaty of Shalmaneser II., to whose wars it | with Purna-puriyas. alludes. Most probably it belongs to the 1 ? See vol. i. p. 169. 56 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. against his authority. A struggle ensued, in which he was slain, whereupon a certain Nazi-bugas, an usurper, became king, the line of Purna-puriyas being set aside. Asshur-upallit, upon this, interposed. Marching an army into Babylonia, he defeated and slew the usurper, after which he placed on the throne another son of Purna-puriyas, the Kurri-galzu 3 already men- tioned in the account of the kings of Chaldæa. What is most remarkable in the glimpse of history which this tablet opens to us is the power of Assyria, and the apparent terms of equality on which she stands with her neighbour. Not only does she treat as an equal with the great Southern Empire —not only is her royal house deemed worthy of furnishing wives to its princes—but when dynastic troubles arise there, she exer- cises a predominant influence over the fortunes of the contend- ing parties, and secures victory to the side whose cause she espouses. Jealous as all nations are of foreign interposition in their affairs, we may be sure that Babylonia would not have succumbed on this occasion to Assyria's influence, had not her weight been such that, added to one side in a civil struggle, it produced a preponderance which defied resistance. After this one short lift,“ the curtain again drops over the history of Assyria for a space of about sixty years, during which our records tell us nothing but the mere names of the kings. It appears from the bricks of Kileh-Sherghat that Asshur-upallit was suceeded upon the throne by his son, Bel-lush, or Bel- likhus (Belochus ?), who was in his turn followed by his son, Pudil, his grandson, Vul-lush, and his great-grandson, Shalma- neser, the first of the name. Of Bel-lush, Pudil, and Vul-lush I., we know only that they raised or repaired important buildings in their city of Asshur (now Kileh-Sherghat), which in their time, and for some centuries later, was the capital of the monarchy. 3 See vol. i. p. 170. • Asshur-upallit is also mentioned on a tablet of Tiglath-Pileser I. as having repaired a temple built by Shamas-Vul, which was again repaired at a later date by Shalmaneser I. 5 The regular succession of these early Assyrian monarchs has been discovered | since the first edition of this work was | published. A brick of Pudil's, on which | he speaks of his father, Bel-lush, and his grandfuther, Asshur-upallit, has enabled us definitely to connect the first group of three Assyrian monarchs with the second group of five. Chap. IX. SHALMANESER I. 52 This place was not very favourably situated, being on the right bank of the Tigris, which is a far less fertile region than the left, and not being naturally a place of any great strength. The Assyrian territory did not at this time, it is probable, extend very far to the north: at any rate, no need was as yet felt for a second city higher up the Tigris valley, much less for a transfer of the seat of government in that direction. Calah was certainly, and Nineveh, probably, not yet built;/ but still the kingdom had obtained a name among the nations ; the term Assyria was applied geographically to the whole valley of the middle Tigris ;2 and a prophetic eye could see in the hitherto quiescent power the nation fated to send expeditions into Palestine and to bear off its inhabitants into captivity. 3 Shalmaneser I. (ab. B.c. 1320) is chiefly known in Assyrian his- tory as the founder of Calah (Nimrud), the second, apparently, of those great cities which the Assyrian monarchs delighted to build and embellish. This foundation would of itself be suffi- cient to imply the growth of Assyria in his time towards the north, and would also mark its full establishment as the domi- nant power on the left as well as the right bank of the Tigris. Calah was very advantageously situated in a region of great fertility and of much natural strength, being protected on one side by the Tigris, and on the other by the Shor-Derreh torrent, while the Greater Zab further defended it at the dis- tance of a few miles on the south and south-east, and the Khazr or Ghazr-Su on the north-east." Its settlement must have secured to the Assyrians the undisturbed possession of the fruitful and important district between the Tigris and the mountains, the Aturia or Assyria Proper of later times, which 1 It may be objected that these cities, ? See Gen. ii. 14, and compare above, are mentioned as already built in the | vol. i. p. 6. time of Moses (Gen. x. 11), who pro 1 3 Numbers, xxiv. 22. bably lived in the 15th century B.C. To Shalmaneser is also called the this it may be replied, in the first place, founder (or enlarger) of the Temple of that the date of Moses is very uncertain, Kharris-matira, which was probably at and, secondly, that the eleventh and Calah. twelfth verses of the tenth chapter of 3 See the Chart, supra, vol. i. p. 565. Genesis are very possibly an addition 6 Strabo, xvi. 1, § 1; Arrian. E.cp. made by Ezra on the return from the Alex. iii. 7. Captivity. 58 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. ultimately became the great metropolitan region, in which almost all the chief towns were situated. It is quite in accordance with this erection of a sort of second capital, further to the north than the old one, to find, as we do, by the inscriptions of Asshur-izir-pal, that Shal- maneser undertook expeditions against the tribes on the upper Tigris, and even founded cities in those parts, which he colo- nized with settlers brought from a distance. We do not know what the exact bounds of Assyria towards the north were before his time, but there can be no doubt that he advanced them; and he is thus entitled to the distinction of being the first known Assyrian conqueror. With Tiglathi-Nin, the son and successor of Shalmaneser I., the spirit of conquest displayed itself in a more signal and striking manner. The probable date of this monarch has already been shown to synchronise closely with the time assigned by Berosus to the commencement of his sixth Baby- lonian dynasty, and by Herodotus to the beginning of his “ Assyrian Empire."? Now Tiglathi-Nin appears in the In- scriptions as the prince who first aspired to transfer to Assyria the supremacy hitherto exercised, or at any rate claimed by Babylon. He made war upon the Southern kingdom, and, with such success, that he felt himself entitled to claim its conquest, and to inscribe upon his signet-seal the proud title of “Conqueror of Babylonia.”8 This signet-seal, left by him (as is probable) at Babylon, and recovered about six hundred years later by Sennacherib, shows to us that he reigned for some time in person at the southern capital, where it would - seem that he afterwards established an Assyrian dynasty- a branch perhaps of his own family. This is probably the exact event of which Berosus spoke as occurring 526 years before Phul or Pul, and which Herodotus regarded as marking · Supra, pp. 50, 51. may Asshur and Vul destroy his name & The full inscription was as follows, and country." according to Sennacherib:- 9 Hence, on the genealogical tablet "Tiglathi-Nin, king of Assyria, son he is called “king of Sumir and Akkad” of Shalmancser, king of Assyria, and (i.e. of Babylonia), a title not given to conqueror of K’ar-Dunyas (or Babylonia). | any of the other kings. Whoever injures my device (?) or name, I CHAP. IX. TIGLATHI-NIN I. 59 the commencement of the Assyrian “Empire.” We must not, however, suppose that Babylonia was from this time really subject continuously to the Court of Nineveh. The subjection may have been maintained for a little less than a century; but about that time we find evidence that the yoke of Assyria had been shaken off, and that the Babylonian monarchs, who have Semitic names, and are probably Assyrians by descent, had become hostile to the Ninevite kings, and were engaged in frequent wars with them.'No real permanent subjection of the Lower country to the Upper was effected till the time of Sargon; and even under the Sargonid dynasty revolts were frequent; nor were the Babylonians reconciled to the Assyrian sway till Esarhaddon united the two crowns in his own person, and reigned alternately at the two capitals. Still, it is pro- bable that, from the time of Tiglathi-Nin, the Upper country was recognised as the superior of the two: it had shown its might by a conquest and the imposition of a dynasty-proofs of power which were far from counter balanced by a few retaliatory raids adventured upon under favourable circumstances by the Babylonian princes. Its influence was therefore felt, even while its yoke was refused; and the Semitising of the Chal- dæans, commenced under Tiglathi-Nin, continued during the whole time of Assyrian preponderance; no effectual Turanian reaction ever set in ; the Babylonian rulers, whether submissive to Assyria or engaged in hostilities against her, have equally Semitic names; and it does not appear that any effort was at any time made to recover to the Turanian element of the popu- lation its early supremacy. The line of direct descent, which has been traced in unin- terrupted succession through eight monarchs, beginning with Asshur-bel-nisi-su, here terminates; and an interval occurs which can only be roughly estimated as probably not exceeding fifty years. Another consecutive series of eight kings follows, known to us chiefly through the famous Tiglath-Pileser cylinder (which gives the succession of five of them), but completed 19 Infra, pp. 61, 62, 77, 78, &c. THE SECOND MONARCHY. CHAP. IX. from the combined evidence of several other documents. These monarchs, it is probable, reigned from about B.C. 1230 to B.C, 1070, Bel-kudur-uzur, the first monarch of this second series, is known to uś wholly through his unfortunate war with the con- temporary king of Babylon. It seems that the Semitic line of kings, which the Assyrians had established in Babylon, was not content to remain very long in a subject position. In the time of Bel-kudur-uzur, Vul-baladan, the Babylonian vassal monarch, revolted; and a war followed between him and his Assyrian suzerain, which terminated in the defeat and death of the latter, who fell in a great battle, about B.c. 1210. Nin-pala-zira succeeded. It is uncertain whether he was any relation to his predecessor, but clear that he avenged him. He is called “the king who organized the country of Assyria, and established the troops of Assyria in authority."? It appears that shortly after his accession, Vul-baladan of Babylon, elated by his previous successes, made an expedition against the Assyrian capital, and a battle was fought under the walls of Asshur, in which Nin-pala-zira was completely successful. The Babylonians fled, and left Assyria in peace during the remainder of the reign of this monarch. Asshur-dayan, the third king of the series, had a long and prosperous reign. He made a successful inroad into Babylonia, and returned into his own land with a rich and valuable booty. He likewise took down the temple which Shamas-Vul, the son of Ismi-Dagon, had erected to the gods Asshur and Vul at 1 The chief of these are, 1. the Baby- | 3 Ibid. 1.c. We may gather, how- lonian and Assyrian synchronistic tablet, I ever, indirectly from the Tiglath-Pileser which gives the names of Bel-kudur Inscription that at least one considerable uzur and Nin-pala-zira, and again those calamity took place in his reign. The of Asshur-ris-ilim, Tiglath Pileser, and Muskai (Moschi) are said to have occu- Asshur-bil-kala, in apparent succession; pied the countries of Alzi and Purukhuz, and, 2. an inscription on a mutilated and stopped their payment of tribute to statue of the goddess Ishtar, now in the Assyria pity years before the commence- British Museum, which contains these ment of Tiglath-Pileser's reign (ibid. last three royal names, and determi. p. 22). This event must certainly have nately proves the direct genealogical fallen into the time either of. Asshur- succession of the three monarchs. dayan or of his son, Mutaggil-Nelto. ? Inscription of Tigluth-Pileser I. p. Most probably it belonged to the reign 62. of the former. Chap. IX. MUTAGGIL-NEBO AND ASSHUR-RIS-ILIM. 61 Asshur, the Assyrian capital, because it was in a ruinous con- dition and required to be destroyed or rebuilt. Asshur-dayan seems to have shrunk from the task of restoring so great a work, and therefore demolished the structure, which was not rebuilt for the space of sixty years from its demolition. He was succeeded upon the throne by his son, Mutaggil-Nebo. Mutaggil-Nebo reigned probably from about B.c. 1170 to B.C. 1150. We are informed that “ Asshur, the great Lord, aided him according to the wishes of his heart, and established. him in strength in the government of Assyria.”5 Perhaps these expressions allude to internal troubles at the commence- ment of his reign, over which he was so fortunate as to triumph. We have no further particulars of this monarch. Asshur-ris-ilim, the fourth king of the series, the son and successor of Mutaggil-Nebo, whose reign may be placed between B.c. 1150 and B.C. 1130, is a monarch of greater pretensions than most of his predecessors. In his son's Inscription he is called “the powerful king, the subduer of rebellious countries, he who has reduced all the accursed.” These expressions are so broad, that we must conclude from them, not merely that Asshur-ris-ilim, unlike the previous kings of the line, engaged in foreign wars, but that his expeditions had a great success, and paved the way for the extensive conquests of his son and successor, Tiglath-Pileser. Probably he turned his arms in various directions, like that monarch. Certainly he carried them southwards into Babylonia, where, as we learn from the synchronistic tablet of Babylonian and Assyrian history, he was engaged for some time in a war with a Nebuchadnezzar (Nabu- kudur-uzur), the first known king of that name. It has been conjectured that he likewise carried them into Southern Syria and Palestine;' and that, in fact, he is the monarch designated in the Book of Judges by the name of Chushan-ris-athaim, who is called “the king of Mesopotamia (Aram-Naharaim),” and is said to have exercised dominion over the Israelites for eight * Inecription of Tiglath-Pileser, p. 62. | for Aug. 22, 1863 (No. 1869, p. 244, • Ibid. p. 60. « Ibid. note *). 7 Sir H. Rawlinson in the Athenæum 8 Judges iv. 4, 62 Cuap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. years. This identification, however, is too uncertain to be assumed without further proof. The probable date of Chushan- ris-athaim is some two (or three) centuries earlier; and his title, “king of Mesopotamia," is one which is not elsewhere applied to Assyrian monarchs. A few details have come down to us with respect to the Babylonian war of Asshur-ris-ilim. It appears that Nebuchad- nezzar was the assailant. He began the war by a march up the Diyaleh and an advance on Assyria along the outlying Zagros bills, the route afterwards taken by the great Persian road described by Herodotus. Asshur-ris-ilim went out to meet him in person, engaged him in the mountain region, and repulsed his attack. Upon this the Babylonian monarch re- tired, and after an interval, the duration of which is unknown, advanced a second time against Assyria, but took now the direct line across the plain. Asshur-ris-ilim on this occasion was content to employ a general against the invader. He “sent” his chariots and his soldiers towards his southern border, and was again successful, gaining a second victory over his antagonist, who fled away, leaving in his hands forty chariots and a banner. Tiglath - Pileser I., who succeeded Asshur-ris-ilim about B.C. 1130, is the first Assyrian monarch of whose history we possess copious details which can be set forth at some length. This is owing to the preservation and recovery of a lengthy document belonging to his reign-in which are recorded the events of his first five years. As this document is the chief 9 This document exists on two dupli- | the inscription, which was then un- cate cylinders in the British Museum, published; and these gentlemen, working which are both nearly complete. The independently, produced translations, Museum also contains fragments of more or less complete, of the document. several other cylinders which bore the The translations were published in pa- same inscription. rallel columns by Mr. Parker, of the The translation from which the fol- | Strand, under the title of - Inscription lowing quotations are made was exe of Tiglath-Pileser I., King of Assyria, cuted in the year 1857, under peculiar B.c. 1150. London, J. W. Parker, 1857." circumstances. Four gentlemen, Sir H. ! A perusal of this work would probably Rawlinson, Mr. Fox Talbot, Dr. Hincks, remove any incredulity which may still and Dr. Oppert, were furnished simul exist in any quarter on the subject of tancously with a lithographed copy of | Assyrian decipherment. Cuar. IX. TIGLATH-PILESER I. 63 evidence we possess of the condition of Assyria,' the character and tone of thought of the kings, and indeed of the general state of the Eastern world, at the period in question—which synchronises certainly with some portion of the dominion of the Judges over Israel, and probably with the early conquests of the Dorians in Greece—it is thought advisable to give in this place such an account of it, and such a number of extracts, as shall enable the reader to form his own judgment on these several points. The document opens with an enumeration and glorification of the “great gods,” who “rule over heaven and earth,” and are “the guardians of the kingdom of Tiglath-Pileser.” These are “ Asshur, the great Lord, ruling supreme over the gods; Bel, the lord, father of the gods, lord of the world ; Sin, the leader (?), the lord of empire (3); Shamas, the establisher of heaven and earth; Vul, he who causes the tempest to rage over hostile lands; Nin, the champion who subdues evil spirits and enemies; and Ishtar, the source of the gods, the queen of victory, she who arranges battles.” These deities, who (it is declared) have placed Tiglath-Pileser upon the throne, have “made him firm, have confided to him the supreme crown, have appointed him in might to the sovereignty of the people of Bel, and have granted him pre-eminence, exaltation, and warlike power,” are invoked to make the “duration of his empire continue for ever to his royal posterity, lasting as the great temple of Kharris-Matira.” 3 In the next section the king glorifies himself, enumerating his royal titles as follows:-“Tiglath-Pileser, the powerful king, king of the people of various tongues; king of the four regions; king of all kings; lord of lords; the supreme (?); monarch of monarchs; the illustrious chief, who, under the auspices of the | The British Museum contains | ceded him, and whose buildings he re- another inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., pairs, Irba-Vul, Asshur-iddin-akhi, Vul- but it is in an exceedingly bad con lush, Tiglathi-Nin, Asshur-dayan, and dition, and has not been published. It Asshur-ris-ilim. is written on three sides of the broken ? The date of Eratosthenes for the top of an obelisk, and seems to have Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese contained an account of the monarch's was b.c. 1104. Thucydides, apparently, buildings, his hunting exploits, and would have placed it seventy or eighty some of his campaigns, month by month. I years earlier. (Thuc. v. 112.) le mentions as monarchs who have pre-i 3 Inscription, &c., pp. 18-20. 64 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Sun-god, being armed with the sceptre and girt with the girdle of power over mankind, rules over all the people of Bel; the mighty prince, whose praise is blazoned forth among the kings; the exalted sovereign, whose servants Asshur bas appointed to the government of the four regions, and whose name he has made celebrated to posterity; the conqueror of many plains and mountains of the Upper and Lower country; the victorious hero, the terror of whose name has overwhelmed all regions; the bright constellation who, as he wished, has warred against foreign countries, and under the auspices of Bel—there being no equal to him-has subdued the enemies of Asshur.”4 The royal historian, after this introduction, proceeds to narrate his actions—first in general terms declaring that he has subdued all the lands and the peoples round about, and then proceeding to particularise the various campaigns which he had conducted during the first five years of his reign. The earliest of these was against the Muskai, or Moschians, who are probably identical with the Meshech of Holy Scripture—a people governed (it is said) by five kings, and inhabiting the countries of Alzi and Purukhuz, parts (apparently) of Taurus or Niphates. These Moschians are said to have neglected for fifty years to pay the tribute due from them to the Assyrians, from which it would appear that they had revolted during the reign of Asshur-dayan, having previously been subject to Assyria. At this time, with a force amounting to 20,000 men, they had invaded the neigh- bouring district of Qummukh (Commagêné), an Assyrian 4 Inscription, pp. 20-22. seph. Ant. Jud. i. 6; Mog. Chor. His. 5 Ps. cxx. 5; Ezek. xxvii. 13; xxxii. Armen, i. 13), the Cæsaræa Mazaca of 26; xxxviii. 2; xxxix. I, &c. They are the Roman Empire. Hence they seem constantly coupled in the Inscriptions to have been driven northwards by the with the Tuplui, just as Meshech is Cappadocians, and in the time of Hero- coupled with Tubal in Scripture, and dotus they occupy a small tract upon the Moschi with the Tibareni in Hero the Euxine. (See the author's Herodotus, dotus (iii. 94; vii. 78). vol. iv. pp. 179-181.) 6 From the Inscription of Tiglath- | ? Supra, p. 60, note : Pileser we can only say that these regions & This is one of the very few geo- formed a portion of the mountain country graphic names in the early Assyrian in the vicinity of the Upper Tigris. In records which seems to have a classical later times the main seat of the Mos equivalent. It must not, however, be chian power was the Taurus range im supposed that the locality of the tribe mediately to the west of the Euphrates. | was the same in Tiglath-Pileser's time Here was their great city, Mazaca (Jo- as in the days of Strabo and Pliny. CHAP. IX. WARS OF TIGLATH-PILESER I. 65 dependency, and had made themselves masters of it. Tiglath- Pileser attacked them in this newly-conquered country, and completely defeated their army. He then reduced Commagêné, despite the assistance which the inhabitants received from some of their neighbours. He burnt the cities, plundered the temples, ravaged the open country, and carried off, either in the shape of plunder or of tribute, vast quantities of cattle and treasure.' The character of the warfare is indicated by such a passage as the following: “The country of Kasiyara, a difficult region, I passed through. With their 20,000 men and their five kings, in the country of Qummukh I engaged. I defeated them. The ranks of their warriors in fighting the battle were beaten down as if by the tempest. Their carcasses covered the valleys and the tops of the mountains. I cut off their heads. Of the battlements of their cities I made heaps, like mounds of earth (?). Their moveables, their wealth, and their valuables I plundered to a countless amount. Six thousand of their common soldiers, who fled before my servants, and accepted my yoke, I took and gave over to the men of my own territory as slaves."? The second campaign was partly in the same region and with the same people. The Moschians, who were still loth to pay tribnte, were again attacked and reduced. Commagêné was completely overrun, and the territory was attached to the Assy- rian empire. The neighbouring tribes were assailed in their fastnesses, their cities burnt, and their territories ravaged. At the same time war was made upon several other peoples or nations. Among these the most remarkable are the Khatti (Hittites), two of whose tribes, the Kaskians and Urumians, had committed an aggression on the Assyrian territory: for this they Was Tiglath-Pileser's Qummukh or Com-1 + Ibid. pp. 34-36. mukha appear to occupy the mountain 5 These Urumians (Hurumaya) were region extending from the Euphrates at | perhaps of the same race with a tribe Sumeisat to beyond the Tigris at Diar of the same name, who dwelt near and bekr. probably gave name to Lake Urumiyeh. Inscription, &c., pp. 22-30. The name of the Kaskians recalls that 1 Ibid. p. 24. of a primitive Italic people, the Casci. 2 lbid. pp. 30-32. (See Niebuhr, Roman History, vol. i. p. • Ibid. pp. 32-34. | 78, E.T.) VOL. II. STU 66 CHAP, IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. were chastised by an invasion which they did not venture to resist, by the plundering of their valuables, and the carrying off of 120 of their chariots. In another direction the Lower Zab was crossed and the Assyrian arms were carried into the moum- tain region of Zagros, where certain strongholds were reduced and a good deal of treasure taken? The third campaign was against the numerous tribes of the Naïri, who seem to have dwelt at this time partly to the east of the Euphrates, but partly also in the mountain country west of the stream from Sumeïsat to the Gulf of Iskenderun. These tribes, it is said, had never previously made their submission to the Assyrians.10 They were governed by a number of petty chiefs or “kings,” of whom.no fewer than twenty-three are particularised. The tribes east of the Euphrates seem to have been reduced with little resistance, while those who dwelt west of the river, on the contrary, collected their troops together, gave battle to the invaders, and made a prolonged and desperate defence. All, however, was in vain. The Assyrian monarch gained a great victory, taking 120 chariots, and then pursuing the vanquished Naïri and their allies as far as “the Upper Sea,” i.e., the Mediterranean. The usual ravage and destruction fol- lowed, with the peculiarity that the lives of the “kings” were spared, and that the country was put to a moderate tribute, viz., 1200 horses and 200 head of cattle. 11 In the fourth campaign the Aramæans or Syrians were attacked by the ambitious monarch. They occupied at this time the valley of the Euphrates, from the borders of the Tsukhi, or Shuhites 12 (who held the river from about Anah to 6 The chariots of the Hittites are monuments may, however, be “the Naïri more than once mentioned in Scripture. country.” (See 1 K. x. 29 and 2 K. vii, 6.) 9 This is the district which after- · Inscription, p. 38. wards became Commagéné. It is a laby- & The fact that the country occupied rinth of mountains, twisted spurs from by the Naïri is, in part, that which the Amanus. Jews knew as Aram-Naharaim, would 10 Inscription, p. 42. seem to be a mere accidental coincidence. 11 Ibid. p. 44. Naïri is a purely ethnic title; Naharaim 12 This identification is made partly is from 9a, "a river,” and Aram-Na- ! on etymological and partly on geo- haraim is Syria of the two rivers." | graphical grounds. (See the author's i.e. Mesopotamia. (See above, vol. i. p. article on ShuhITE in Dr. Smith's Bibli- 2.) The Naharayn of the Egyptian | cal Dictionary, vol. iii. p. 1298.) CHAP. IX. WARS OF TIGLATH-PILESER I. 67 Hit), as high up as Carchemish, the frontier town and chief stronghold of the Khatti or Hittites. Carchemish was not, as has commonly been supposed, Circesium, at the junction of the Khabour with the Euphrates,13 but was considerably higher up the stream, certainly near to, perhaps on the very site of, the later city of Mabog or Hierapolis.14 Thus the Aramæans had a territory of no great width, but 250 miles long between its north- western and its south-eastern extremities. Tiglath-Pileser smote this region, as he tells us, “at one blow.” 15 First attacking and plundering the eastern or left bank of the river, he then crossed the stream in boats covered with skins, took and burned six cities on the right bank, and returned in safety with an immense plunder. The fifth and last campaign was against the country of Jusr or Muzr, by which some Orientalists have understood Lower Egypt.16 This, however, appears to be a mistake. The Assyrian Inscriptions designate two countries by the name of Musr or Muzr, one of them being Egypt, and the other a portion of Upper Kurdistan. The expedition of Tiglath-Pileser I. was against the eastern Musr, a highly mountainous country, con- sisting (apparently) of the outlying ranges of Zagros between the Greater Zab and the Eastern Khabour. Notwithstanding its natural strength and the resistance of the inhabitants, this country was completely over-run in an incredibly short space. The armies which defended it were defeated, the cities burnt, the strongholds taken. Arin, the capital, submitted, and was spared, after which a set tribute was imposed on the entire region, the amount of which is not mentioned. The Assyrian arms were then turned against a neighbouring district, the country of the Comani. The Comani, though Assyrian subjects, had lent assistance to the people of Musr, and it was to punish this insolence that Tiglath-Pileser resolved to invade their terri- 13 Circesium is identified by Mr. Fox | ment Carchemish is translated, or rather Talbot with the Assyrian Sirki, which replaced, by Mabog. was apparently in this position. (As. 15 Inscription, p. 46. syrian Terts, p. 31.) 16 So Mr. Fox Talbot (Inscription, p. 14 See Biblical Diction iru, vol. i. p. 278. 48). In the Syriac version of the Old Testa- F 2 THE SECOND MONARCHY, CHAP. IX. tory. Having defeated their main army, consisting of 20,000 men, he proceeded to the attack of the various castles and towns, some of which were stormed, while others surrendered at discretion. In both cases alike the fortifications were broken down and destroyed, the cities which surrendered being spared, while those taken by storm were burnt with fire. Ere long the whole of the “ far-spreading country of the Comani” was reduced to subjection, and a tribute was imposed exceeding that which had previously been required from the people. After this account of the fifth campaign, the whole result of the wars is thus briefly summed up:—“There fell into my hands altogether, between the commencement of my reign and my fifth year, forty-two countries with their kings, from the banks of the River Zab to the banks of the River Euphrates, the country of the Khatti, and the upper ocean of the setting sun. I brought them under one government; I took hostages from them; and I imposed on them tribute and offerings.”? From describing his military achievements, the monarch turns to an account of his exploits in the chase. In the country of the Hittites he boasts that he had slain “four wild bulls, strong and fierce,” with his arrows; while in the neighbourhood of Harran, on the banks of the River Khabour, he had killed ten large wild buffaloes (?), and taken four alive. These cap- tured animals he had carried with him on his return to Asshur, his capital city, together with the horns and skins of the slain beasts. The lions which he had destroyed in his various jour- neys he estimates at 920. All these successes he ascribes to the powerful protection of Nin and Nergal. The royal historiographer proceeds, after this, to give an account of his domestic administration, of the buildings which he had erected, and the various improvements which he had introduced. Among the former he mentions temples to Ishtar, Martu, Bel, Il or Ra, and the presiding deities of the city of Asshur, palaces for his own use, and castles for the protection of his territory. Among the latter he enumerates the construction i Inscription, &c., pp. 48-52. ? See above, vol. i. p. 514, note ?. 3 Ibid. pp. 52-54 * Inscription, pp. 1-56. CHAP. IX. HIS RESTORATIONS OF TEMPLES. 69 of works of irrigation, the introduction into Assyria of foreign cattle and of numerous beasts of chase, the naturalization of foreign vegetable products, the multiplication of chariots, the extension of the territory, and the augmentation of the popula- tion of the country. A more particular account is then given of the restoration by the monarch of two very ancient and venerable temples in the great city of Asshur. This account is preceded by a formal statement of the particulars of the monarch's descent from Nin- pala-zira, the king who seems to be regarded as the founder of the dynasty-which breaks the thread of the narrative somewhat strangely and awkwardly. Perhaps the occasion of its introduc- tion was, in the mind of the writer, the necessary mention, in connection with one of the two temples, of Asshur-dayan, the great-grandfather of the monarch. It appears that in the reign of Asshur-dayan, this temple, which, having stood for 641 years, was in a very ruinous condition, had been taken down, while no fresh building had been raised in its room. The site remained vacant for sixty years, till Tiglath-Pileser, having lately ascended the throne, determined to erect on the spot a new temple to the old gods, who were Anu and Vul, probably the tutelary deities of the city. His own account of the circumstances of the build- ing and dedication is as follows:- “In the beginning of my reign, Anu and Vul, the great gods, my lords, guardians of my steps, gave me a command to repair 5 Inscription, pp. 56-60. 6 The most important points of the statement have been quoted in the earlier portion of this chapter, but as the reader may wish to see the entire passage as it stands in the original document, it is here appended :- *Tiglath-Pileser, the illustrious prince, whom Asshur and Nin have exalted to the utmost wishes of his heart; who has pursued after the ene- mies of Asshur, and has subjugated all the earth "The son of Asshur-ris-ilim, the powerful king, the subduer of rebellious countries, he who has reduced all the accursed (?)— “ The grandson of Mutaggil-Nebo, whom Asshur, the Great Lord, aided according to the wishes of his heart, and established in strength in tne government of Assyria- " The glorious offspring of Asshur. dayan, who held the sceptre of do- minion, and ruled over the people of Bel; who in all the works of his hands and the deeds of his life placed his reliance on the great gods, and thus obtained a long and prosperous life “The beloved child of Nin-pala-zira, the king who organised the country of Assyria, who purged his territories of the wicked, and established the troops of Assyria in authority.” (Inscription, pp. 60-62.) 70 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. this their shrine. So I made bricks; I levelled the earth; I took its dimensions (?); I laid down its foundations upon a mass of strong rock. This place, throughout its whole extent, I paved with bricks in set order (?); fifty feet deep I prepared the ground; and upon this substructure I laid the lower foundations of the temple of Anu and Vul. From its foundations to its roof I built it up better than it was before. I also built two lofty towers (?) in honour of their noble godships, and the holy place, a spacious hall, I consecrated for the convenience of their wor- shippers, and to accommodate their votaries, who were numerous as the stars of heaven. I repaired, and built, and completed my work. Outside the temple I fashioned everything with the same care as inside. The mound of earth on which it was built I enlarged like the firmament of the rising stars. (?), and I beau- tified the entire building. Its towers I raised up to heaven, and its roofs I built entirely of brick. An inviolable shrine (3) for their noble godships I laid down near at hand. Anu and Vul, the great gods, I glorified inside the shrine. I set them up in their honoured purity, and the hearts of their noble godships I delighted.”? The other restoration mentioned is that of a temple to Vul only, which, like that to Anu and Vul conjointly, had been originally built by Shamas-Vul, the son of Ismi-Dagon. This building had likewise fallen into decay, but had not been taken down like the other. Tiglath-Pileser states that he “ levelled its site," and then rebuilt it “from its foundations to its roofs," enlarging it beyond its former limits, and adorning it. Inside of it he “sacrificed precious victims to his lord, Vul.” He also deposited in the temple a number of rare stones or marbles, which he had obtained in the country of the Naïri in the course of his expeditions. The inscription then terminates with the following long in- vocation :- “Since a holy place, a noble hall, I have thus consecrated for the use of the Great Gods, my lords Anu and Vul, and have laid down an adytum for their special worship, and have finished it ? Inscription, pp. 64-66. & Ibid. p. 66. CHAP. IX. HIS INVOCATION. 71 successfully, and have delighted the hearts of their noble god ships, may Anu and Vul preserve me in power! May they support the men of my government! May they establish the authority of my officers! May they bring the rain, the joy of the year, on the cultivated land and the desert, during my time! In war and in battle may they preserve me victorious! Many foreign countries, turbulent nations, and hostile kings I have reduced under my yoke: to my children and my descendants, may they keep them in firm allegiance! I will lead my steps” (or, “ may they establish my feet”), “ firm as the mountains, to the last days, before Asshur and their noble godships ! “ The list of my victories and the catalogue of my triumphs over foreigners hostile to Asshur, which Anu and Vul have granted to my arms, I have inscribed on my tablets and cylin- ders, and I have placed, ſto remain] to the last days, in the temple of my lords, Anu and Vul. And I have made clean (3) the tablets of Shamas-Vul, my ancestor; I have made sacrifices, and sacrificed victims before them, and have set them up in their places. In after times, and in the latter days .... if the temple of the Great Gods, my lords Anu and Vul, and these shrines should become old and fall into decay, may the Prince who comes after me repair the ruins! May he raise altars and sacrifice victims before my tablets and cylinders, and may he set them up again in their places, and may be inscribe his name on them together with my name! As Anu and Vul, the Great Gods, have ordained, may he worship honestly, with a good heart and full trust! “Whoever shall abrade or injure my tablets and cylinders, or shall moisten them with water, or scorch them with fire, or ex- pose them to the air, or in the holy place of God shall assign them a place where they cannot be seen or understood, or shall erase the writing and inscribe his own name, or shall divide the sculptures (?) and break them off from my tablets, may Anu and Vul, the Great Gods, my lords, consign his name to perdition! May they curse him with an irrevocable curse! May they cause his sovereignty to perish! May they pluck out the stability of the throne of his empire! Let not his offspring survive him in 72 СНАР. ІХ. THE SECOND MONARCHY. the kingdom! Let his servants be broken! Let his troops be defeated! Let him fly vanquished before his enemies! May Vul in his fury tear up the produce of his land! May a scarcity of food and of the necessaries of life afflict his country! For one day may he not be called happy! May his name and his race perish!”? The document is then dated—“In the month Kuzalla (Chisleu), on the 29th day, in the year presided over by Ina- iliya-pallik, the Rabbi-Turi.” ? Perhaps the most striking feature of this inscription, when it is compared with other historical documents of the same kind belonging to other ages and nations, is its intensely religious character. The long and solemn invocation of the Great Gods with which it opens, the distinct ascription to their assistance and guardianship of the whole series of royal successes, whether in war or in the chase; the pervading idea that the wars were undertaken for the chastisement of the enemies of Asshur, and that their result was the establishment in an ever-widening circle of the worship of Asshur; the careful account which is given of the erection and renovation of temples, and the dedica- tion of offerings; and the striking final prayer-all these are so many proofs of the prominent place which religion held in the thoughts of the king who set up the inscription, and may fairly be accepted as indications of the general tone and temper of his people. It is evident that we have here displayed to us, not a decent lip-service, not a conventional piety, but a real, hearty, earnest religious faith-a faith bordering on fanaticism-a spirit akin to that with which the Jews were possessed in their warfare with the nations of Canaan, or which the soldiers of Mahomet breathed forth when they fleshed their maiden swords upon the infidels. The king glorifies himself much; but he glorifies the gods more. He fights, in part, for his own credit, and for the extension of his territory; but he fights also for the honour of the gods, whom the surrounding nations reject, and for the diffusion of their worship far and wide throughout all known 1 Inscription, pp. 64-72. ? Ibid. p. 72. 3 See above, vol. i. pp. 239-241. CHAP. IX. RELIGIOUS TONE OF HIS INSCRIPTION. 73 regions. His wars are religious wars, at least as much as wars of conquest; his buildings, or, at any rate, those on whose con- struction he dwells with most complacency, are religious build- ings; the whole tone of his mind is deeply and sincerely re- ligious; besides formal acknowledgments, he is continually letting drop little espressions which show that his gods are “in all his thoughts,” 4 and represent to him real powers governing and directing all the various circumstances of human life. The religious spirit displayed is, as might have been expected, in the highest degree exclusive and intolerant; but it is earnest, con- stant, and all-pervading. In the next place, we cannot fail to be struck with the ener- getic character of the monarch, so different from the temper which Ctesias ascribes, in the broadest and most sweeping terms, to all the successors of Ninus. Within the first five years of his reign the indefatigable prince conducts in person expeditions into almost every country upon his borders; attacks and reduces six important nations, besides numerous petty tribes;' receiving the submission of forty-two kings ;8 traversing the most difficult * E. 9. even when bent on glorifying | gal” (p. 54), or of “Nin and Asshur" himself, the monarch is still " the illus-1 (p. 58); he puts his tablets under the trious chief, who, under the auspices of protection of Anu and Vul (p. 68); he the Sun God, rules over the people of Bel” ascribes the long life of one ancestor (Inscription, p. 20), and “whose servants to his eminent piety (p. 62), and the Asshaur has appointed to the government prosperity of another to the protection of the four regions" (ibid.); if his which Asshur vouchsafed him (p. 60). enemies fly, “the fear of Asshur has The name of Asshur occurs in the in- overwhelmed them” (pp. 28, 36, &c.); scription nearly forty times, or almost if they refuse tribute, they “ withhold once in each paragraph. The sun-god, the offerings due to Asshur” (p. 24); if Shamas, the deities Anu, Vul, and Bel, the king himself feels inclined to make are mentioned repeatedly. Acknow- an expedition against a country, "his ledgment is also made of Sin, the moon- lord, Asshur, invites him” to proceed god, of Nin, Nergal, Ishtar, Beltis, thither (pp. 34, 42, 48); if he collects Martu, and Il or Ra. And all this is in an army, * Asshur hus committed the an inscription which is not dedicatory troops to his hand” (p. 32). When a but historical ! country not previously subject to As 5 Ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 19. syria is attacked, it is because the 6 The Moschi, the people of Com- people “do not acknowledge Asshur" magêné, the Naïri, the Aramæans, the (p. 38); when its plunder is carried off, people of Muzr, and the Comani. it is to adorn and enrich the temples of * As the Kaski and Urumi, tribes of Asshur and the other gods (p. 40); the Hittites, the people of Adavas, when it yields, the first thing is to Tsaravas, Itsua, Daria, Muraddan, ** attach it to the worship of Asshur" Khanni-rabbi, Miltis, or Melitêné, (pp. 38, 40, &c.). The king hunts Dayan, &c. ** under the auspices of Nin and Ner 1 . Inscription of Tiglath-l'ileser I., p. 52. 74 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. mountain regions; defeating armies, besieging towns, destroying forts and strongholds, ravaging territories; never allowing him- self a moment of repose; when he is not engaged in military operations, devoting himself to the chase, contending with the wild bull and the lion, proving himself (like the first Mesopo- tamian king) in very deed “a mighty hunter,"9 since he counts his victims by hundreds ; 10 and all the while having regard also to the material welfare of his country, adorning it with buildings, enriching it with the products of other lands, both animal and vegetable, fertilizing it by means of works of irrigation, and in every way "improving the condition of the people, aná obtaining for them abundance and security.” 11 With respect to the general condition of Assyria, it may be noted, in the first place, that the capital is still Asshur, and that no mention is made of any other native city. The king calls himself “ King of the four regions,"? which would seem to imply a division of the territory into districts, like that which certainly obtained in later times. The mention of " four” districts is curious, since the same number was from the first affected by the Chaldæans," while we have also evidence that, at least after the time of Sargon, there was a pre-eminence of four great cities in Assyria. The limits of the territory at the time of the In- scription are not very clearly marked; but they do not seem to extend beyond the outer ranges of Zagros on the east, Niphates on the north, and the Euphrates upon the west. The southern boundary at the time was probably the commencement of the alluvium; but this cannot be gathered from the Inscription, which contains no notice of any expedition in the direction 9 Gen. x. 9. they were, l, the country east of the 10 See above, p. 68. Tigris; 2, that between the Tigris and 11 Inscription, p. 60. the Khabour; 3, that between the Kha- 1 The existence of “great fortified bour and the Euphrates; and, 4, the cities throughout the dominions of the mountain region upon the upper Tigris king" is mentioned (p. 58), but none is north of the Mesopotamian plain. named except Asshur. 3 See above, vol. i. p. 193. ? Inscription, p. 20. And a little 4 Ibid. p. 14. further on he is “the exalted sovereign 3 Ibid. p. 198. whose servants Asshur has appointed 6 l.e, the more westerly ranges. to the government of the country of the | When the monarch crosses the Lower four regions." What the four regions Zab, he is immediately in a hostile were we can only conjecture. Perhaps i country. (Inscription, p. 38.) CHAP. IX. GENERAL CONDITION OF ASSYRIA. of Babylonia. The internal condition of Assyria is evidently flourishing. Wealth flows in from the plunder of the neigh- bouring countries; labour is cheapened by the introduction of enslaved captives;7 irrigation is cared for; new fruits and animals are introduced; fortifications are repaired, palaces reno- vated, and temples beautified or rebuilt. The countries adjoining upon Assyria on the west, the north, and the east, in which are carried on the wars of the period, present indications of great political weakness. They are divided up among a vast number of peoples, nations, and tribes, whereof the most powerful is only able to bring into the field a force of 20,000 men. The peoples and nations possess but little unity. Each consists of various separate communities, ruled by their own kings, who in war unite their troops against the common enemy; but are so jealous of each other, that they do not seem even to appoint a generalissimo. On the Euphrates, between Hit and Carchemish, are, first, the Tsukhi or Shuhites, of whom no particulars are given; and, next, the Aramæans or Syrians, who occupy both banks of the river, and possess a number of cities, no one of which is of much strength. Above the Ara- means are the Khatti or Hittites, whose chief city, Carchemish, is an important place; they are divided into tribes, and, like the Aramæans, occupy both banks of the great stream. North and north-west of their country, probably beyond the mountain- range of Amanus, are the Muskai (Moschi), an aggressive people, who were seeking to extend their territory eastward into the land of the Qummukh or people of Commagêné. These Qum- mukh hold the mountain country on both sides of the Upper Tigris, and have a number of strongholds, chiefly on the right bank. To the east they adjoin on the Kirkhi, who must have inhabited the skirts of Niphates, while to the south they touch the Naſri, who stretch from Lake Van, along the line of the Tigris, to the tract known as Commagêné to the Romans. The i Six thousand are enslaved on one! the people of Assyria.” occasion (Inscription, p. 24); four thou- $ Only two nations, the Moschi and sand on another (p. 32). They are not the Comani, have armies of such strength reserved by the monarch for his own as this. (Inscription, pp. 22 and 48.) use, but are given over for a spoil to 76 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Naïri have, at the least, twenty-three kings, each of whom governs his own tribe or city. South of the more eastern Naïri is the country of Muzr—a mountain tract well-peopled and full of castles, probably the region about Amadiyeh and Rowandiz. Adjoining Muzr to the east or north-east, are the Quwanu or Comani,1° who are among the most powerful of Assyria's neigh- bours, being able, like the Moschi, to bring into the field an army of 20,000 men. At this time they are close allies of the people of Muzr. Finally, across the Lower Zab, on the skirts of Zagros, are various petty tribes of small account, who offer but little resistance to the arms of the invader. Such was the position of Assyria among her neighbours in the latter part of the twelfth century before Christ. She was a compact and powerful kingdom, centralised under a single monarch, and with a single great capital, in the midst of wild tribes which clung to a separate independence, each in its own valley or village. At the approach of a great danger, these tribes might consent to coalesce and to form alliances, or even confederations; but the federal tie, never one of much tenacity, and rarely capable of holding its ground in the presence of monarchic vigour, was here especially weak. After one defeat of their joint forces by the Assyrian troops, the confederates commonly dispersed, each flying to the defence of his own city or territory, with a short-sighted selfishness which deserved and ensured defeat. In one direction only was Assyria confronted by a rival state possessing a power and organization in character not unlike her own, though scarcely of equal strength. On her southern frontier, in the broad flat plain intervening between the Mesopotamian upland and the sea—the kingdom of Babylon was still existing; its Semitic kings, though originally established upon the throne by Assyrian influence," had dissolved all con- nection with their old protectors, and asserted their thorough 9 Twenty-three are particularised, times reckoned to Cappadocia. Each of (Inscription, pp. 42-44). But it is not these districts had a town called Comana, said that there were no others. the inhabitants of which were Comani 10 The Comani in later times disap- or Comaneis. (See Strab. xii. pp. 777 peared from these parts; but there are and 793 ; Ptol. v. 6 and 7; Plin. H, V. traces of them both in Pontus and in 'vi. 3; Greg. Nyss. Vit. Thaumat. p. the Lesser Armenia, which was some 561.) 11 Supra, p. 59. CHAP. IX. TIGLATH-PILESER'S WAR WITH BABYLON. 77 independence. Here, then, was a considerable state, as much centralised as Assyria herself, and not greatly inferior either in extent of territory or in population,' existing side by side with her, and constituting a species of check, whereby something like a balance of power was still maintained in Western Asia, and Assyria was prevented from feeling herself the absolute mis- tress of the East, and the uncontrolled arbitress of the world's destinies. Besides the great cylinder inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., there exist five more years of his annals in fragments, from which we learn that he continued his aggressive expeditions during this space, chiefly towards the north-west, subduing the Lulumi in Northern Syria, attacking and taking Carchemish, and pursuing the inhabitants across the Euphrates in boats. No mention is made during this time of any collision between Assyria and her great rival, Babylon. The result of the wars waged by Asshur-ris-ilim against Nebuchadnezzar I.had, apparently, been to produce in the belligerents a feeling of mutual respect; and Tiglath-Pileser, in his earlier years, neither trespassed on the Babylonian territory in his aggressive raids, nor found himself called upon to meet and repel any invasion of his own dominions by his southern neighbours. Before the close of bis reign, however, active hostilities broke out between the two powers. Either provoked by some border ravage or actuated simply by lust of conquest, Tiglath-Pileser marched his troops into Babylonia. For two consecutive years he wasted with fire and sword the “upper” or northern provinces, taking the cities of Kurri-Galzu—now Akkerkuf-Sippara of the Sun, and Sippara of Anunit (the Sepharvaim or “two Sipparas” of the Hebrews), and Hupa or Opis, on the Tigris; and finally capturing Babylon itself, wbich, strong as it was, proved unable to resist the invader. On his return he passed up the valley of the Euphrates, and 1 Assyria, within the limits above actual size not being very different. assigned to it (p. 75), must have con Babylonia, however, was probably more tained an area of from 50,000 to 60,000 thickly peopled than Assyria ; so that square miles. Babylonia contained about the disproportion of the two populations 25,000. The proportion is nearly that i would not be so great. between England and Scotland, the ? See above, p. 62. 78 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. took several cities from the Tsukhi. But here, it would seem that he suffered a reverse. Merodach-iddin-akhi, his opponent, if he did not actually defeat his army, must, at any rate, have greatly harassed it on.its retreat; for he captured an important part of its baggage. Indulging a superstition common in ancient times,3 Tiglath-Pileser had carried with him in his expedition certain images of gods, whose presence would; it was thought, secure victory to his arms. Merodach-iddin-akhi obtained possession of these idols, and succeeded in carrying them off to Babylon, where they were preserved for more than 400 years, and considered as mementoes of victory.4 The latter days of this great Assyrian prince were thus, unhappily, clouded by disaster. Neither he, nor his descendants, nor any Assyrian monarch for four centuries succeeded in recovering the lost idols, and replacing them in the shrines from which they were taken. A hostile and jealous spirit appears henceforth in the relations between Assyria and Babylon; we find no more intermarriages of the one royal house with the other; wars are frequent-almost constant- nearly every Assyrian monarch, whose history is known to us in any detail, conducting at least one expedition into Babylonia. A work still remains, belonging to the reign of this king, from which it appears that the peculiar character of Assyrian mimetic art was already fixed in his time, the style of representation being exactly such as prevailed at the most flourishing period, and the workmanship, apparently, not very inferior. In a cavern from which the Tsupnat river or eastern branch of the Tigris 3. It was a feeling of this kind which | images that they sent expressly to fetch induced the Israelites to send and fetch them when they were about to engage the ark of the covenant to their camp, the Persian fleet at Salamis (Herod. viii. when they were contending with the 64 and 83). Com pa re Strab. viii. p. Philistines (1 Sam. iv. 4), and which 558, and Macrob. Sit. i. 23. made the Spartans always take with • The chief authority for this war is them to battle one or both of two images the “Synchronistic Tablet” already (or rather symbols) of the Tynda rids, frequently quoted. The capture of the Castor and Pollux (Herod. v. 75). So images is not mentioned on that tablet, when the Baotians asked aid from the į but is taken from a rock-inscription of Eginetans, these last sent them certain Sennacherib's at Bavian near Khorsabad. images of the acida (llerod. v. 80); The idols are said to have been cap- and the United Greeks set so high a tured at the city of Ilekulin, which is value on the presence of these same thought to have been near Tekrit. CHAP. IX. ROCK TABLET OF TIGLATH-PILESER I. ' rises, close to a village called Korkhar, and about fifty or sixty miles north of Diarbekr, is a bas-relief sculptured on the natural rock, which has been smoothed for the purpose, consisting of a figure of the king in his sacerdotal dress with the right arm extended and the left hand grasping the sacrificial mace, accom- panied by an inscription which is read as follows:-"By the grace of Asshur, Shamas, and Vul, the Great Gods, I, Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, son of Asshur-ris-ilim, king of Assyria, who was the son of Mutaggil-Nebo, king of Assyria, marching from the great sea of Akhiri” (the Mediterranean) “to the sea of Naïri” (Lake of Van), “for the third time bave invaded the country of Naïri.”6 Figure of Tiglath-Pileser I. The fact of his having warred in (From a rock tablet near Lower Mesopotamia is almost the whole for that is known of Tiglath-Pileser's son and successor, Asshur- bil-kala. A contest in which he was engaged with the Baby- lonian prince, Merodach-shapik-ziri (who seems to have been the successor of Merodach-iddin-akhi), is recorded on the famous synchronistic tablet, in conjunction with the Babylonian wars of his father and grandfather; but the tablet is so injured in this place that no particulars can be gathered from it. From a monument of Asshur-bel-kala's own time—one of the earliest Assyrian sculptures that has come down to us—we may perhaps further conclude that he inherited something of the religious Korkh $ The above woodcut is made from his great Inscription; and it was mainly a very rough drawing sent to Eng- | in consequence of this mention that Mr. land by the explorer, who is not a John Taylor, being requested by Sir H. skilled draughtsman; and it must there- | Rawlinson to explore the sources of the fore be regarded as giving a mere Tigris, discovered, in 1862, the actual general notion of the bas-relief. tablet, a circumstance which may serve $ This monument, the earliest As- i to clear away any lingering doubts that syrian sculpture which is known to still exist in any quarters as to the exist, is mentioned by Asshur-izir-pal, actual decipherment of the Assyrian the father of the Black Obelisk king, in inscriptions. 80 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY, spirit of his father, and gave a portion of his attention to the adornment of temples, and the setting up of images. The probable date of the reign of Asshur-bil-kala is about B.C. 1110-1090. He appears to have been succeeded on the throne by his younger brother, Shamas-Vul, of whom nothing is known, but that he built, or repaired, a temple at Nineveh. His reign probably occupied the interval between B.C. 1090 and 1070. He would thus seem to have been contemporary with Smendes in Egypt and with Samuel or Saul in Israel. So apparently insignificant an event as the establishment of a kingdom in Palestine was not likely to disturb the thoughts, even if it came to the knowledge, of an Assyrian monarch. Shamas-Vul would no doubt have regarded with utter contempt the petty sovereign of so small a territory as Palestine, and would have looked upon the new kingdom as scarcely more worthy of his notice than any other of the ten thousand little principalities which lay on or near his borders. Could he, however, have possessed for a few moments the prophetic foresight vouchsafed some centuries earlier to one who may almost be called his countryman, he would have been astonished to recognise in the humble kingdom just lifting its head in the far West, and struggling to hold its own against Philistine cruelty and oppression,º a power which in little more than fifty years would stand forth before the world as the equal, if not the superior, of his own state. The imperial splendour of the king- dom of David and Solomon did, in fact, eclipse for a while the more ancient glories of Assyria." It is a notable circumstance • A mutilated female figure, which is thought to be an image of the goddess Ishtar or Astarte, discovered by Mr. Loftus at Koyunjik, and now in the British Museum, bears a dedicatory in- scription, almost illegible, from which it appears to have been set up by As- shur-bil-kala, the son of Tiglath-Pi- leser I. and grandson of Asshur-ris-ilim. (See below, p. 94, note 6.) & According to the ordinary Biblical chronology, Saul's accession fell about the year B.c. 1096. Samuel's judgeship, which immediately preceded this, is placed between B.c. 1128 and B.c. 1096. (See Clinton, F. H. vol. i. p. 320, and compare Palmer, Egyptin Chroni les, vol. ii. p. 899.) The Assyrian chronology tends to lower these dates by the space of about forty years. 9 Pethor, where Balaam lived, was on the left bank of the Euphrates, in Aram- Naharaim or Mesopotamia. (Deut. xxiii. 4; compare Num. xxii. 5 and xxiii. 7.) 10 1 Sam. xiii. and xiv. 11 The true character of the Jewish kingdom of David and Solomon as one of the Great Oriental Empires, on a par Chap. IX. OBSCURE INTERVAL. that, exactly at the time when a great and powerful monarchy grew up in the tract between Egypt and the Euphrates, Assyria passed under a cloud. The history of the country is almost a blank for two centuries between the reigns of Shamas-Vul and the second Tiglathi-Nin, whose accession is fixed by the Assyrian Canon to B.C. 889. During more than three-fourths of this time, from about B.c. 1070 to B.C. 930, the very names of the monarchs are almost wholly unknown to us.12 It seems as if there was not room in Western Asia for two first-class monarchies to exist and flourish at the same time; and so, although there was no contention, or even contact, between the two empires of Judæa and Assyria,13 yet the rise of the one to greatness could only take place under the condition of a coincident weakness of the other. It is very remarkable that exactly in this interval of darkness, when Assyria would seem, from the failure both of buildings and records, to have been especially and exceptionally weak, occurs with Chaldæa and Assyria, and only by the Aramæans who had defeated him less celebrated than the others from the in battle. accident of its being short-lived, has 13 The “Syrians that were beyond rarely been seized by historians. Mil the river," who came to the assistance man indeed parallels the architectural of the Ammonites in their war with glories of Solomon with those of the David (2 Sam. x. 16), may possibly have *older monarchs of Egypt and Assyria” been subjects or rather tributaries of (History of the Jews, vol. i. p. 261, 1st Assyria (and in this sense is perhaps edition), and Ewald has one or two to be understood Ps. Ixxxiii. 8); but the similar expressions; but neither writer Assyrian empire itself evidently took appears to recognise the real greatness no part in the struggle. The Assyrian of the Hebrew kingdom. It remained i monarchs at this time seem to have for Dean Stanley, with his greater claimed no sovereignty beyond the Eu- power of realising the past, to see that phrates, while David and Solomon were David, upon the completion of his con content to push their conquests up to quests, " became a king on the scale of that river. the great Oriental Sovereims of Egypt 14 Perhaps the true cause of Assyria's and Persia,” founding “an imperial weakness at this time was that her star dominion," and placing himself “ on a now paled before that of Babylon. The level with the great potentates of the story told by Macrobius (Sut. i. 23) of world," as, for instance, “Rameses or communications between an Egyptian Cyrus." (Stanley in Smith's Bibl. Dict. king, Senemur, or Senepos, and a certain art. David, vol. i. p. 408.) Deleboras, or Deboras, whom he calls 12 The single name of Asshur-mazur, | an Assyrian monarch, belongs probably which has been assigned to this period to this period. Deboras was most likely (supra, p. 49), is recovered from an in a Babylonian, since he was lord of the scription of Shalmaneser II., the Black | Mesopotamian Heliopolis, which was Obelisk king, who speaks of certain Tsipar, or Sippara. It is suspected that cities on the right bank of the Euphrates, he may be the Tsibir, who according as having been taken from Asshur-Mazur to Asshur-izir-pal (infra, p. 86), de. VOL. II. 82 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. the first appearance of her having extended her influence beyond Syria into the great and ancient monarchy of Egypt. In the twenty-second Egyptian dynasty, which began with Sheshonk I. or Shishak, the contemporary of Solomon, about B.C. 990, Assyrian names appear for the first time in the Egyptian dynastic lists. It has been supposed from this circumstance that the entire twenty-second dynasty, together with that which succeeded it, was Assyrian; but the condition of Assyria at the time renders such an hypothesis most improbable. The true explanation would seem to be that the Egyptian kings of this period sometimes married Assyrian wives, who naturally gave Assyrian names to some of their children. These wives were perhaps members of the Assyrian royal family; or perhaps they were the daughters of the Assyrian nobles who from time to time were appointed as viceroys of the towns and small states which the Ninevite monarchs conquered on the skirts of their empire. Either of these suppositions is more probable than the establishment in Egypt of a dynasty really Assyrian at a time of extraordinary weakness and depression. When, at the close of this long period of obscurity, Assyria once more comes into sight, we have at first only a dim and indistinct view of her through the mists which still enfold and shroud her form. We observe that her capital is still fixed at Kileh-Sherghat, where a new series of kings, bearing names which, for the most part, resemble those of the earlier period, are found employing themselves in the repair and enlargement of public buildings, in connection with which they obtain honour- able mention in an inscription of a later monarch. Asshur-dayan, the first monarch of this group, probably ascended the throne about B.C. 930, shortly after the separation of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. He appears to have reigned from about B.C. 930 to B.C. 911. He was succeeded in B.C. 911 by his son, Vul-lush II., who held the throne from B.C. 911 to 1.c. 889. stroyed a city named Atlil, on the con- fines of Assyria. At any rate the very existence of communications between Babylon and Egypt would imply that Assyria was not at the time the great Mesopotamian power. This relationship is established by the great inscription of Asshur-izir-pal. (British Museum Series, Pls. 17 to 26.) CHAP. IX. ASSHUR-IZIR-PAL. Nothing is known at present of the history of these two monarchs. No historical inscriptions belonging to their reigns have been recovered; no exploits are recorded of them in the inscriptions of later sovereigns. They stand up before us, the mere “shadows of mighty names”-proofs of the uncertainty of posthumous fame, which is almost as often the award of chance as the deserved recompense of superior merit. Of Tiglathi-Nin, the second monarch of the name and the third king of the group which we are considering, one important historical notice, contained in an inscription of his son, has come down to us. In the annals of the great Asshur-izir-pal inscribed on the Nimrud monolith, that prince, while commemorating his warlike exploits, informs us that he set up his sculptures at the sources of the Tsupnat river alongside of sculptures previously set up by his ancestors Tiglath-Pileser and Tiglathi-Nin. That Tiglathi-Nin should have made so distant an expedition is the more remarkable from the brevity of his reign, which only lasted for six years. According to the Canon, he ascended the throne in the year B.C. 889; he was succeeded in B.C. 883 by his son Asshur-izir-pal. With Asshur-izir-pal commences one of the most flourishing periods of the Empire. During the twenty-five years of his active and laborious reign, Assyria enlarged her bounds and increased her influence in almost every direction, while, at the same time, she advanced rapidly in wealth and in the arts; in the latter respect leaping suddenly to an eminence which (so far as we know) had not previously been reached by human genius. The size and magnificence of Asshur-izir-pal's buildings, the artistic excellence of their ornamentation, the pomp and splendour which they set before us as familiar to the king who raised them, the skill in various useful arts which they display ? There is some reason to believe that Vul-lush II. was a monarch of energy and character. The fact that several copies of the Canon commence with his reign, shows that it constituted a sort of era. The mention, too, of this Vul- lush by the third king of the name among his picked ancestors is indicative of his reputation as a great monarch. 8 Asshur-izir-pal, it will be observed, does not call this Tiglathi-Nin his father ; and it is therefore possible that the former Tiglathi-Nin may be intended (see above, p. 59). But as Tiglathi-Nin is mentioned after Tiglath-Pileser, it would rather scem that he was a later monarch. G 2 84 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. or imply, have excited the admiration of Europe, which has seen with astonishment that many of its inventions were anticipated, and that its luxury was almost equalled, by an Asiatic people nine centuries before the Christian era. It will be our pleasing task at this point of the history, after briefly sketching Asshur- izir-pal's wars, to give such an account of the great works which he constructed as will convey to the reader at least a general idea of the civilization and refinement of the Assyrians at the period to which we are now come. Asshur-izir-pal's first campaign was in north-western Kurdistan and in the adjoining parts of Armenia. It does not present any very remarkable features, though he claims to have penetrated to a region “never approached by the kings, his fathers.” His enemies are the Numi or Elami + (i.e. the mountaineers), and the Kirkhi, who seem to have left their name in the modern Kurkh.” Neither people appears to have been able to make much head against him; no battle was fought; the natives merely sought to defend their fortified places; but these were mostly taken and destroyed by the invader. One chief, who was made prisoner, received very barbarous treatment; he was carried to Arbela, and there flayed and hung up upon the town wall. The second expedition of Asshur-izir-pal, which took place in the same year as his first, was directed against the regions to the west and north-west of Assyria. Traversing the country of Qummukh' and receiving its tribute, as well as that of Sirki? and Sidikan (Arbanº), he advanced against the Laki, who seem 4 It has been supposed that the Numi , miles below Diarbekr. These ruins cover of this passage are the same as those of a raised platform, six miles in circum- many later inscriptions, and represent ference, crowned towards the south-east the Susianians or Elamites. (See Mr. corner by a lofty mound, about 180 feet Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, p. 353.) high. Some important Assyrian remains But the entire series of geographical have been found on the site, which are names disproves this, and fixes the now in the British Museum. locality of the campaign to north-western Kurkh is probably the Carcathiocerta Kurdistan and southern Armenia. The l of the classical writers. (Strab. xi. p. terms Numi and Elami, meaning simply 766; Plin, H. N. vi. 9.) It is believed “mountaineers ” (compare Heb. Sy, to be the same city as the Tuskha of the Assyrian inscriptions. Sy and the like), would naturally be Supra, p. 64, note 8. applied to many quite distinct tribes. | 2 Circesium, according to Mr. Fox 5 The name of kurkh is given by the Talbot. ? (Assyrian Texts, p. 31.) natives to some important ruins on the See above, vol. i. pp. 187 and 205. right bank of the Tigris, about twenty CHAP. IX. WARS OF ASSHUR-IZIR-PAL. 85 to have been at this time the chief people of Central Mesopo- tamia, extending from the vicinity of Hatra as far as, or even beyond, the middle Euphrates. Here the people of a city called Assura bad rebelled, murdered their governor, and called in a foreigner to rule over them. Asshur-izir-pal marched hastily against the rebels, who submitted at his approach, delivering up to his mercy both their city and their new king. The latter he bound with fetters and carried with him to Nineveh; the former he treated with almost unexampled severity. Having first plundered the whole place, he gave up the houses of the chief men to his own officers, established an Assyrian governor in the palace, and then, selecting from the inhabitants the most guilty, he crucified some, burnt others, and punished the remainder by cutting off their ears or their noses. We can feel no surprise when we are informed that, while he was thus “arranging" these matters, the remaining kings of the Laki submissively sent in their tribute to the conqueror, paying it with apparent cheerfulness, though it was “a heavy and much increased burthen.” In his third expedition, which was in his second year, Asshur- izir-pal turned his arms to the north, and marched towards the Upper Tigris, where he forced the kings of the Naïri, who had, it appears, regained their independence, to give in their sub- mission, and appointed them an annual tribute in gold, silver, horses, cattle, and other commodities. It was in the course of this expedition that, having ascended to the sources of the Tsupnat river, or Eastern Tigris, Asshur-izir-pal set up his 4 The only parallel to this severity, stroyed, and consumed, and burnt with which the Inscriptions offer, is furnished fire.” (Inscription, col. i. ad fin.) by Asshur-izir. pal himself in his ac 5 The Tsupnator Tsupna is now count of an expedition undertaken in called the Tsebench-a slight corruption the next year, where, on taking a re of the original appellation. It is pro- volted city (Tela), he tells us, “their bably the native term from which the men, young and old, I took prisoners. Greeks and Romans formed the name Of some I cut off the feet and hands; Sophéné, whereby they designated the of others I cut off the noses, ears, and entire region between the Mons Masius lips; of the young men's ears I made a | and the Upper Euphrates. (See Strab. heap; of the old men's heads I built a xi. p. 766; Plin. H. N. vi. 27; D, Cass. minaret. I exposed their heads as a 'xxxvi. 36; Plut. Vit. Lucull. c. 24; Pro- trophy in front of their city. The male cop. De Æd. iii. 2, &c.) Mr. John Taylor children and the female children I his recently explored this region, and burnt in the flames. The city I de- finds that the Tsupnat has an under- 86 CHAP. IX. · THE SECOND MONARCHY. memorial side by side with monuments previously erected on the same site by Tiglath-Pileser and by the first or second Tiglathi-Nin. Asshur-izir-pal's fourth campaign was towards the south-east. He crossed the lesser Zab, and, entering the Zagros range, carried fire and sword through its fruitful valleys-pushing his arms further than any of his ancestors, capturing some scores of towns, and accepting or extorting tribute from a dozen petty kings. The furthest extent of his march was probably the district of Zohab across the Shirwan branch of the Diyaleh, to which he gives the name of Edisa. On his return he built, or rather rebuilt, a city, which a Babylonian king called Tsibir had destroyed at a remote period, and gave to his new founda- tion the name of Dur-Asshur, in grateful acknowledgment of the protection vouchsafed him by " the chief of the gods." In his fifth campaign the warlike monarch once more directed his steps towards the north. Passing through the country of the Qummukh, and receiving their tribute, he proceeded to war in the eastern portion of the Mons Masius, where he took the cities of Matyat (now Mediyat) and Kapranisa. He then appears to have crossed the Tigris and warred on the flanks of Niphates, where his chief enemy was the people of Kasiyara. Returning thence, he entered the territory of the Naïri, where he declares that he overthrew and destroyed 250 strong walled cities, and put to death a considerable number of the princes. The sixth campaign of Asshur-izir-pal was in a westerly direction. Starting from Calah or Nimrud, he crossed the ground course of a considerable length three memorials mentioned by Asshur- through a cavern, which seems to be izir-pal. These were his own and Ti- the fact exaggerated by Pliny (I. s.c.) glath-Pileser's. The third had probably into a passage of the Tigris underneath been destroyed by the falling in of a Mount Taurus. The Arab geographer, part of the cave. Yacut, gives an account far nearer the o Supra, pp. 79, 83. truth, making the Tigris flow from a Ptolemy calls the Diyaleh the Gor- dark cave near Hilluras ("IX upis of gus, rópyos (vi. i.), which is an Arian Procopius). It thus appears that both equivalent of the Semitic Edisa ; for the Arabians and the Romans regarded edus in Arabic is the same as gurg in the Tsupnat as the true Tigris, which Persian, meaning "a wolf or hyæna." is incorrect, as the stream that flows Compare the name Aúkos given to the down from Lake Göljik is decidedly the Zab, which had almost the same mean- main river. In the cave above men- ! ing. (Heb. .) tioned Mr. Taylor found two of the СНАР. ІХ. WARS OF ASSHUR-IZIR-PAL. 87 Tigris, and, marching through the middle of Mesopotamia a little to the north of the Sinjar range, took tribute from a number of subject towns along the courses of the rivers Jerujer, Khabour, and Euphrates, among which the most important were Sidikan (now Arban), Sirki, and Anat (now Anah). From Anat, apparently his frontier-town in this direc- tion, he invaded the country of the Tsukhi (Shuhites), captured their city Tsur, and forced them, notwithstanding the assistance which they received from their neighbours, the Babylonians, to surrender themselves. He then entered Chaldæa, and chas- tised the Chaldæans, after which he returned in triumph to his own country. His seventh campaign was also against the Shuhites. Re- leased from the immediate pressure of his arms, they had rebelled, and had even ventured to invade the Assyrian Empire. The Laki, whose territory adjoined that of the Shubites towards the north and east, assisted ther. The combined army, which the allies were able to bring into the field, amounted probably to 20,000 men, including a large number of warriors who fought in chariots. Asshur-izir-pal first attacked the cities on the left bank of the Euphrates, which had felt his might on the former occasion; and, having reduced these and punished their rebellion with great severity, he crossed the river on rafts, and fought a battle with the main army of the enemy. In this engagement he was completely victorious, defeating the Tsukhi and their allies with great slaughter, and driving their routed forces heallong into the Euphrates, where great numbers perished by drowning. Six thousand five hundred of the rebels fell in the battle ; and the entire country on the right bank of ? This river, the Hermas of the and hence there is no mention of the Arabians, appears in Asshur-izir-pal's war on the synchronistic tablet. inscriptions under the name of Khar 5 The scribe has accidentally written mesh. the number as “ 6000," instead of Tsur, Tyre, may perhaps be cognate • 10,000 or 20,000." Immediately after- to the Hebrew X, the original mean wards he states that 6500 of these 6000 ing of which is “a rock.” The initial were slain in the battle ! sibilant is however rather than 3. 6 Asshur-izir-pal says that he “ made The Babylonian monarch of the a desert ” of the banks of the Khabour. time was Nebo-bal-adan. He was not | Thirty of the chief prisoners were im- directly attacked by Asshur-izir-pal; paled on stakes. THE SECOND MONARCHY. CHAP. IX. the river, which had escaped invasion in the former campaign, was ravaged furiously with fire and sword by the incensed monarch. The cities and castles were burnt, the males put to the sword, the women, children, and cattle carried off. Two kings of the Laki are mentioned, of whom one escaped, while the other was made prisoner, and conveyed to Assyria by the conqueror. A rate of tribute was then imposed on the land considerably in advance of that to which it had previously been liable. Besides this, to strengthen his hold on the country, the conqueror built two new cities, one on either bank of the Euphrates, naming the city on the left bank after himself, and that on the right bank after the god Asshur. Both of these places were no doubt left well garrisoned with Assyrian soldiers, on whom the conqueror could place entire reliance. · Asshur-izir-pal's eighth campaign was nearly in the same quarter; but its exact scene lay, apparently, somewhat higher up the Euphrates. Hazilu, the king of the Laki, who escaped capture in the preceding expedition, had owed his safety to the refuge given him by the people of Beth-Adina. Asshur-izir- pal, who seems to have regarded their conduct on this occasion as an insult to himself, and was resolved to punish their pre- sumption, made his eighth expedition solely against this bold but weak people. Unable to meet his forces in the field, they shut themselves up in their chief city, Kabrabi (?), which was immediately besieged, and soon taken and burnt by the Assy- rians. The country of Beth-Adina, which lay on the left or east bank of the Euphrates, in the vicinity of the modern Balis, was overrun and added to the empire. Two thousand five hundred prisoners were carried off and settled at Calah. The most interesting of Asshur-izir-pal's campaigns is the ninth, which was against Syria. Having marched across Upper Mesopotamia and received various tributes upon his way, the ? It may be conjectured that the people of Beth-Adina are "the children of Eden," of whom we have mention in Kings (2 K. xix. 12) and Isaiah (xxxvii. 12), and who in Sennacherib's time in- habited a city called Tel-Asshur. The indications of locality mentioned in these passages, and also those furnished by Ezek. xxvii. 25, suit well with the vicinity of Balis. Tel-Asshur may pos- sibly be the city built by Asshur-izir- pal, and named after the god Asshur at the close of his seventh campaign. CHAP. IX. WARS OF ASSHUR-IZIR-PAL. Assyrian monarch passed the Euphrates on rafts, and, entering the city of Carchemish, received the submission of Sangara, the Hittite prince, who ruled in that town, and of various other chiefs, “who came reverently and kissed his sceptre.” He then "gare command to advance towards Lebanon.” Entering the territory of the Patena, who adjoined upon the northern Hittites, and held the country about Antioch and Aleppo, he occupied the capital, Kinalua, which was between the Abri (or Afrin) and the Orontes ;. alarmed the rebel king, Lubarna, so that he submitted, and consented to pay a tribute; and, then, crossing the Orontes and destroying certain cities of the Patena, passed along the northern flank of Lebanon, and reached the Mediterranean. Here he erected altars and offered sacrifices to the gods, after which he received the submission of the prin- cipal Phænician states, among which Tyre, Sidon, Byblus, and Aradus may be distinctly recognised. He then proceeded inland, and visited the mountain range of Amanus, where he cut timber, set up a sculptured memorial, and offered sacrifice. After this he returned to Assyria, carrying with him, besides other plunder, a quantity of wooden beams, probably cedar, which he carefully conveyed to Nineveh, to be used in his public buildings. The tenth campaign of Asshur-izir-pal, and the last which is recorded, was in the region of the Upper Tigris. The geographical details here are difficult to follow. We can only say that, as usual, the Assyrian monarch claims to have over- powered all resistance, to have defeated armies, burnt cities, and carried off vast numbers of prisoners. The “ royal city” of the monarch chiefly attacked was Amidi, now Diarbekr, which sufficiently marks the main locality of the expedition.' & Mr. Fox Talbot compares this name with that of the city Batnæ visited by Julian. (Assyrian Texts, p. 32.) Sir H. Rawlinson has suggested a com- parison with the Batanæa of the Greeks and Romans. The position of the Patena at this time was, however, much further north than Batanæa, which rather cor- responds with Bashan. * Amidi continued to be known as Amida through the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine periods, and is mentioned under that name by Zosimus (iii. 34), Procopius (Bell, Pers. i. 17), Eustathius of Epiphania, and others. The Arabic name of Diarbekr (“the country of Bekr") superseded that of Amida in the seventh century. Diarbekr is, however, still known as Amid or Kara Amid to the Turks and Armenians. 90 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. While engaged in these important wars, which were all included within his first six years, Asshur-izir-pal, like his great predecessor, Tiglath-Pileser, occasionally so far unbent as to indulge in the recreation of hunting. He interrupts the account of his military achievements to record, for the benefit of posterity, that on one occasion he slew fifty large wild bulls on the left bank of the Euphrates, and captured eight of the same animals; while, on another, he killed twenty ostriches (?), and took captive the same number. We may conclude, from the example of Tiglath-Pileser,2 and from other inscriptions of Asshur-izir-pal himself, that the captured animals were con- veyed to Assyria either as curiosities, or, more probably, as objects of chase. Asshur-izir-pal's sculptures show that the pursuit of the wild bull was one of his favourite occupations ;3 and, as the animals were scarce in Assyria, he may have found it expedient to import them. Asshur-izir-pal appears, howerer, to have possessed a mena- gerie park in the neighbourhood of Nineveh, in which were maintained a variety of strange and curious animals. Animals called pagúts or pagáts—perhaps elephants—were received as tribute from the Phænicians during his reign, on at least one occasion, and placed in this enclosure, where (he tells us) they throve and bred. So well was his taste for such curiosities known, that even neighbouring sovereigns sought to gratify it, and the king of Egypt, a Pharaoh probably of the twenty- second dynasty, sent him a present of strange animals when he was in Southern Syria, as a compliment likely to be appre- ciated. His love of the chase, which he no doubt indulged to some extent at home, found in Syria, and in the country on the Upper Tigris, its amplest and most varied exercise. In an obelisk inscription, designed especially to commemorate a great hunting expedition into these regions, he tells us that, besides antelopes of all sorts, which he took and sent to Asshur, he captured and destroyed the following animals :- lions, wild sheep, red deer, fallow-deer, wild goats or ibexes, leopards large and small, bears, wolves, jackals, wild boars, ostriches, 2 Supra, p. 64. 3 Sce vol. i. pp. 512, et seqq. CAAP. IX. ASSHUR-IZIR-PAL'S BUILDINGS. 91 foxes, hyænas, wild asses, and a few kinds which have not been identified. From another inscription we learn that, in the course of another expedition, which seems to have been in the Mesopotamian desert, he destroyed 360 large lions, 257 large wild cattle, and thirty buffaloes, while he took and sent to Calah fifteeń full-grown lions, fifty young lions, some leo- pards, several pairs of wild buffaloes and wild cattle, together with ostriches, wolves, red deer, bears, cheetas, and hyænas.” Thus in his peaceful hours he was still actively employed, and, in the chase of many dangerous beasts, was able to exercise the same qualities of courage, coolness, and skill in the use of weapons, which procured him in his wars such frequent and such great successes. Thus distinguished, both as a hunter and as a warrior, Asshur-izir-pal, nevertheless, excelled his predecessors most remarkably in the grandeur of his public buildings and the free use which he made of the mimetic and other arts in their ornamentation. The constructions of the earlier kings at Asshur (or Kileh-Sherghat), whatever merit they may have had, were beyond a doubt far inferior to those which, from the time of Asshur-izir-pal, were raised in rapid succession at Calab, Nineveh, and Beth-Sargina by that monarch and his successors upon the throne. The mounds of Kileh-Sherghat have yielded no bas-reliefs, nor do they show any traces of buildings on the scale of those which, at Nimrud, Koyunjik, and Khorsabad, provoke the admiration of the traveller. The great palace of Asshur-izir-pal was at Calah, which he first raised from a provincial town to be the metropolis of the empire. It was a building 360 feet long by 300 broad, consisting of seven or eight large halls, and a far greater number of small chambers, grouped round a central court 130 feet long and nearly 100 wide. The longest of the halls, which faced towards the north, and was the first room entered by one who approached from the 4 See a paper published by Sir H. in the text. They have the sanction of Rawlinson in the Transactions of the the writer. Royal Society of Literature, vol. vii. New 5 This inscription is on the altar found Series, p. 9. A few variations from the at Nimrud in front of this king's sculp- passage in the Transactions will be found ! tured effigy. (Infra, p. 97.) 92 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. town, was in length 154 and in breadth thirty-three feet. The others varied between a size little short of this, and a length of sixty-five with a breadth of less than twenty feet. The chambers were generally square, or nearly so, and in their greatest dimensions rarely exceeded ten yards. The whole palace was raised upon a lofty platform, made of sun-burnt brick, but externally cased on every side with hewn stone. There were two grand façades, one facing the north, on which side there VI V COURT. Plan of Palace of Asshur-izir-pal. was an ascent to the platform from the town; and the other facing the Tigris, which anciently flowed at the foot of the platform towards the west. On the northern front two or three great gateways, flanked with andro-sphinxes, gave direct 6 This, at least, is the opinion of Mr. ? Only two were uncovered by Mr. Layard (Ninereh and Babylon, p. 654), Layard; but he believes that there was who has even ventured, with the help a third between them, as at Koyunjik of Mr. Fergusson, to reconstruct the ! and Khorsabad. (Nin, and Bab. l. s. c. river façade. (Monuments, 2nd Series, i Compare above, vol. i. p. 291, et seq.) Pl. 1.) 8 This term is intended to express Chap. IX. GREAT PALACE OF ASSHUR-IZIR-PAL. 93 access to the principal hall or audience chamber, a noble apartment, but too narrow for its length, lined throughout with sculptured slabs representing the various actions of the king, and containing at the upper or eastern end a raised stone platform cut into steps, which, it is probable, was intended to support at a proper elevation the carved throne of the monarch.' A grand portal in the southern wall of the chamber, guarded on either side by winged human-headed bulls in yellow lime- stone, conducted into a second hall considerably smaller than the first, and having less variety of ornament,10 which commu- nicated with the central court by a handsome gateway towards the south; and, towards the east, was connected with a third hall, one of the most remarkable in the palace. This chamber was a better-proportioned room than most, being about ninety feet long by twenty-six wide; it ran along the eastern side of the great court, with which it communicated by two gateways; and, internally, it was adorned with sculptures of a more finished and elaborate character than any other room in the building. Behind this eastern hall was another opening into it, of somewhat greater length, but only twenty feet wide; and this led to five small chambers, which here bounded the palace. South of the Great Court were, again, two halls communicating with each other; but they were of inferior size to those on the north and west, and were far less richly ornamented. It is conjectured that there were also two or three halls on the west side of the Court between it and the river ;? but of this there was no very clear evidence, and it may be doubted whether the court towards the west was not, at least partially, open to p. 6. the winged lions which have the form of this hall was obtained the magni- of a man durn to the waist. (Layard, ficently dressed group, figured by Mr. Monuments, Ist Series, Pl. 42.) Layard in the lst Series of his Monu- » Layard, Ninereh and its Remains, ments, Pl. 5, and now in the British vol. i. p. 383; Monuments, Ist Series, Museum. “All the figures in the chamber,” says Mr. Layard, “are co- 10 This hall was about 100 feet long lossal, and are remarkable for the careful by 25 broad. All the slabs except one finish of the sculptures and elaborate were ornamented with colossal eagle nature of the ornaments." (Nineveh und headed figures in pairs, facing one its Remains, vol. i. p. 305.) another, and separated by the sacred See the plan of the Nimrud ruins tree. in Mr. Layard's Ninerch and Babylon, Il From the upper or northern end | opp. p. 655. 94 Chap. IX. THE SECOND, MONARCHY. the river. Almost every hall had one or two small chambers attached to it, which were most usually at the ends of the halls and connected with them by large doorways. Such was the general plan of the palace of Asshur-izir-pal. Its great halls, so narrow for their length, were probably roofed with beams stretching across them from side to side, and lighted by small louvres in their roofs after the manner described in the former volume. Its square chambers may have been domed, and perhaps were not lighted at all, or only by lamps and torches. They were generally without ornamenta- tion. The grand halls, on the contrary, and some of the narrower chambers, were decorated on every side, first with sculptures to the height of nine or ten feet, and then with enamelled bricks, or patterns painted in fresco, to the height, probably, of seven or eight feet more. The entire height of the rooms was thus from sixteen to seventeen or eighteen feet. The character of Asshur-izir-pal's sculptures has been suffi- ciently described in an earlier chapter. They have great spirit, boldness, and force; occasionally they shew real merit in the design; but they are clumsy in the drawing and somewhat coarse in the execution. What chiefly surprises us in regard to them is the suddenness with which the art they manifest appears to have sprung up, without going through the usual stages of rudeness and imperfection. Setting aside one muti- lated statue of very poor execution and a single rock tablet, we have no specimens remaining of Assyrian mimetic art more p. 322.) 2 See vol. i. p. 304. | the two arms from the elbows, and the 3 Like the rooms in ordinary Assyrian front part of the feet. It is in a coarse houses. (See the representation, vol. i. įstone, and appears to have been very rudely carved. The size is a little below 4 Their walls had the usual covering that of life. The proportions are bad, of alabaster slabs, but these slabs were the length of the body between the inscribed only, and not sculptured. arms and the legs being much too short. 5 Vol. i. ch. vi. pp. 344 et seq. There are appearances from which it is 6 A mutilated female statue, brought concluded that the statue had been from Koyunjik, and now in the cellars made to subserve the purposes of a of the British Museum, is inscribed with fountain. the name of Asshur-bil-kala, son of: ? The tablet of Tiglath-Pileser I., of Tiglath-Pileser, and is the earliest Ass which a representation has been already syrian sculpture which has been brought , given (supra, p. 79). to Europe. The figure wants the head, CHAP. IX. ASSHUR-IZIR-PAL'S SCULPTURES. 95 ancient than this monarch.8 That art almost seems to start in Assyria, like Minerva from the head of Jove, full grown. Asshur-izir-pal had undoubtedly some constructions of former monarchs to copy from, both in his palatial and in his sacred edifices; the old palaces and temples at Kileh-Sherghat must have had a certain grandeur ; and in his architecture this monarch may have merely amplified and improved upon the models left him by his predecessors; but his ornamentation, so far as appears, was his own. The mounds of Kileh-Sherghat have yielded bricks in abundance, but not a single fragment of a sculptured slab. We cannot prove that ornamental bas- reliefs did not exist before the time of Asshur-izir-pal; indeed the rock tablets, which earlier monarchs set up, were sculptures of this character; but to Asshur-izir-pal seems at any rate to belong the merit of having first adopted bas-reliefs on an extensive scale as an architectural ornament, and of having employed them so as to represent by their means all the public life of the monarch. The other arts employed by this king in the adornment of his buildings were those of enamelling bricks and painting in fresco upon a plaster. Both involve considerable skill in the preparation of colours, and the former especially implies much dexterity in the management of several very delicate pro- cesses. The sculptures of Asshur-izir-pal, besides proving directly the high condition of mimetic art in Assyria at this time, furnish indirect evidence of the wonderful progress which had been made in various important manufactures. The metallurgy which produced the swords, sword-sheaths, daggers, ear-rings, necklaces, armlets, and bracelets of this period," must have been of a very advanced description. The coach-building, which $ Some signet-cylinders of Assyrian ; a winged bull, are all the works of art workmanship may be earlier. But their which Kileh-Sherghat has yielded. The date is uncertain. statue is later than the time of Asshur- 9 Layard, Vinerch and its Remains, vol. izir-pal. ii. pp. 58-60; Ninerch and Babylon, p. 10 See vol. i. pp. 380 et seq. 581. Small bits of basalt, fragments 11 For representations, see vol. i. pp. probably of an obelisk, a rude statue 368, 369, 371, and 455. (see vol. i. p. 339), and some portions of 96 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. constructed the chariots, the saddlery which made the harness of the horses, the embroidery which ornamented the robes, 12 must, similarly, have been of a superior character. The evidence of the sculptures alone is quite sufficient to show that, in the time of Asshur-izir-pal, the Assyrians were already a great and luxurious people, that most of the useful arts not only existed among them but were cultivated to a high pitch, and that in dress, furniture, jewellery, &c., they were not very much behind the moderns. Besides the magnificent palace which he built at Calah, Asshur-izir-pal is known also to have erected a certain number of temples. The most important of these have been already described.13 They stood at the north-western corner of the Nimrud platform and consisted of two edifices, one exactly at the angle, comprising the higher tower or ziggurat, 14 which stood out as a sort of corner buttress from the great mound, and a shrine with chambers at the tower's base; the other, a little further to the east, consisting of a shrine and chambers without a tower. These temples were richly ornamented both within and without; and in front of the larger one was an erection which seems to show that the Assyrian monarchs, either during their lifetime, or at any rate after their decease, received divine honours from their subjects. On a plain square pedestal about two feet in height was raised a solid block of limestone cut into the shape of an arched frame, and within this frame was carred the monarch in his sacerdotal dress, and with the sacred collar round his neck, while the five principal divine emblems were represented above his head.15 In front of this figure, marking (apparently) the object of its erection,16 was a triangular altar 19 See vol. i. pp. 398, 399; and com- | to the National Collection. pare Layard, Minerch and its Remains, 16 The custom of placing an altar vol. ii. pp. 321 and 412-414. directly in front of a sculptured repre- 13 Supra, vol. i. pp. 315, et seq. sentation of the king appears also in 14 This tower, however, was partly one of the bas-reliefs of Asshur-bani. the work of Asshur-izir-pal's son and pal, where there is an arched frame very successor, Shalmaneser II. like this of Asshur-izir-pal, apparently 15 A stele of the same king, closely set up against a temple, with an altar resembling this, but of a ruder character, at a little distance, placed in a pathway has been recently brought to England leading directly to the royal image. from Kurkh, near Diarbekr, and added (See vol. i. p. 310, No. V.) Chap. IX. HIS STELÆ AND OBELISKS. 97 Fe with a circular top, very much resembling the tripod of the Greeks. Here we may presume were laid the offerings with which the credulous and the servile propitiated the new god, who may not improba- bly have intercepted many a gift on its way to the deity of the temple. Another temple built by this monarch was one de- dicated to Beltis at Nine- veh. It was perhaps for the ornamentation of this edi- fice that he cut “ great trees” in Amanus and else- where during his Syrian ex- pedition, and had them con- veyed across Mesopotamia to Assyria. It is expressly stated that these beams were Stele of Asshur-izir-pal with altar in front carried, not to Calal, where (Nimrud). Asshur-izir-pal usually resided, but to Nineveh. A remarkable work, probably erected by this monarch, and set up as a memorial of his reign at the same city, is an obelisk in white stone, now in the British Museum. On this monu- ment, which was covered on all its four sides with sculptures and inscriptions, now nearly obliterated, Asshur-izir-pal comme- morated his wars and hunting exploits in various countries. The obelisk is a monolith, about twelve or thirteen feet high, and two feet broad at the base. It tapers slightly, and, like the Black Obelisk erected by this monarch's son, is crowned at the summit by three steps or gradines. This thoroughly Assyrian ornamentation seems to show that the idea of the 1 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p.) 351. ? Two feet, that is, on the broader face; on the narrower one the width is less than 14 inches. VOL. II. 3 See vol. i. p. 266, where this monu- ment is represented. 4 For its constant use in Assyria, see vol. i. pp. 257, 279, 308, 309, 310, 312, &c. H 98 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. obelisk was not derived from Egypt, where the pyramidical apex was universally used, being regarded as essential to this class of ornaments. If we must seek a foreign origin for the invention, we may perhaps find it in the pillars (orijlal or Kloves) which the Phænicians employed, as ornaments or me- morials, from a remote antiquity, objects possibly seen by the monarch who took tribute from Tyre, Sidon, Aradus, Byblus, and most of the maritime Syrian cities.? Another most important work of this great monarch was the tunnel and canal already described at length, by which at a vast expenditure of money and labour he brought the water of the Greater Zab to Calah. Asshur-izir-pal mentions this great work as his in his annals; and he was likewise commemorated as its author in the tablet set up in the tunnel by Sennacherib, when, two centuries later, he repaired it and brought it once more into use. It is evident that Asshur-izir-pal, though he adorned and beautified both the old capital, Asshur, and the now rising city of Nineveh, regarded the town of Calah with more favour than any other, making it the ordinary residence of his court, and bestowing on it his chief care and attention. It would seem that the Assyrian dominion had by this time spread so far to the north that the situation of Asshur (or Kileh-Sherghat) was no longer sufficiently central for the capital. The seat of government was consequently moved forty miles further up the 5 Amm. Marc. xvii. 4; Plin. H. N. | the city of Asshur. This had two gra- xxxvi. 14. dines at the top, and was two feet wide 6 See Kenrick's Phænicia, p. 356 ; and on its broader, and sixteen inches on compare Eupolemus in Polyhistor's its narrower face. The other obelisk Fragments (Fr. Hist. Gr. vol. iii. p. 228), was in black basalt, and had sculptures Menander (Fr. 1), and Herodotus (ii. on every side, representing the king 44). receiving tribute-bearers. It must have i Fragments of two other obelisks, been larger than any other work of this one certainly, the other probably, erected kind which has been found in Assyria; by this monarch, were discovered at for its width at top was two feet eight Koyunjik by Mr. Loftus, and are also inches on the broader, and nearly two in the British Museum. One was in feet on the narrower face, which would white stone, and had sculptures on one imply a height of from fifteen to twenty side only, being chiefly covered with fect. It is uncertain whether this obelisk an inscription commemorating, in two terminated in gradines. columns, first, certain hunting exploits Supra, vol. i. pp. 564 et seq. in Syria, and secondly, the repairs of CHAP. IX. SHALMANESER II. 99 river. At the same time it was tranferred from the west bank to the east, and placed in the fertile region of Adiabêné,near the junction of the Greater Zab with the Tigris. Here, in a strong and healthy position, on a low spur from the Jebel Maklub, protected on either side by a deep river, the new capital grew to greatness. Palace after palace rose on its lofty platform, rich with carved woodwork, gilding, painting, sculp- ture, and enamel, each aiming to outshine its predecessors; while stone lions, sphinxes, obelisks, shrines, and temple-towers embellished the scene, breaking its monotonous sameness by variety. The lofty ziggurat attached to the temple of Nin or Hercules, dominating over the whole, gave unity to the vast mass of palatial and sacred edifices. The Tigris, skirting the entire western base of the mound, glassed the whole in its waves, and, doubling the apparent height, rendered less observable the chief weakness of the architecture. When the setting sun lighted up the view with the gorgeous hues seen only under an Eastern sky, Calah must have seemed to the traveller who beheld it for the first time like a vision from fairy-land. After reigning gloriously for twenty-five years, from B.C. 883 to B.C. 858, this great prince—“the conqueror” (as he styles hii- self), “ from the upper passage of the Tigris to Lebanon and the Great Sea, who has reduced under his authority all countries from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same” 10 — died, probably at no very advanced age," and left his throne to his son, who bore the name of Shalmaneser. Shalmaneser II., the son of Asshur-izir-pal, who may pro- bably have been trained to arms under his father, seems to have inherited to the full his military spirit, and to have warred with at least as much success against his neighbours. His reign was extended to the unusual length of thirty-five years,2 during 9 Adiabéné is properly the country 1 shur-izir-pal is not likely to have been beticeen the Upper and Lower Zab, but i much more than twenty or twenty-five it is not unusual to extend the term years old when he came to the throne. to the whole Zab region. 12 No other Assyrian king except As- 10 See Mr. Layard's Nineveh and shur-bani-pal is known to have reigned B bylon, p. 361. so long. The nearest approach to a 11 As his father reigned only six, and reign of this length among the earlier his grandfather only twenty years, As- monarchs is made by Vul-lush III., Shal- H 2 CAAP. IX. WARS OF SHALMANESER II. 101 It appears, then, that Shalmaneser, during the first twenty- seven years of his reign, led in person twenty-three expeditions into the territories of bis neighbours, attacking in the course of these inroads besides petty tribes—the following nations and countries:-Babylonia, Chaldæa, Media, the Zimri, Armenia, Upper Mesopotamia, the country about the bead-streams of the Tigris, the Hittites, the Patena, the Tibareni, the Hamathites, and the Syrians of Damascus. He took tribute during the same time from the Phoenician cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Byblus, from the Tsukhi or Shubites, from the people of Muzr, from the Bartsu or Partsu, who are almost certainly the Persians, and from the Israelites. He thus traversed in person the entire country between the Persian Gulf on the south and Mount Niphates upon the north, and between the Zagros range (or' perhaps the Persian desert) eastward, and, westward, the shores of the Mediterranean. Over the whole of this region he made his power felt, and even beyond it the nations feared him and gladly placed themselves under his protection. During the later years of his reign, when he was becoming less fit for warlike toils, he seems in general to have deputed the command of his armies to a subject in whom he had great confidence, a noble named Dayan-Asshur. This chief, who held an important office as early as Shalmaneser's fifth year," was in his twenty- seventh, twenty-eighth, thirtieth, and thirty-first, employed as commander-in-chief, and sent out, at the head of the main army of Assyria, to conduct campaigns against the Armenians, against the revolted Patena, and against the inhabitants of the modern Kurdistan. It is uncertain whether the king himself took any part in the campaigns of these years. In the native record the first and third persons are continually interchanged, some of 2 In the fifth year of Shalmaneser, 1 “In my 30th year, while I was waiting Dayan-Asshur was Eponym, as appears in Calah, I sent out in haste Dayan- both from the Assyrian Canon and the Asshur, the general-in-chief of my whole Inscription on the Black Obelisk. The army, at the head of my army. He fourth place after the king was at this crossed the Zab, and arrived among time ordinarily held by an officer called! the towns of Hupuska. I received the the Tukul, probably the Vizier, or tribute of Datan, the Hupuskan. I de- Prime Minister. | parted from the towns of the Hupus- 3 The subjoined passage will show the kans. He arrived at the towns of Mag- curious intermixture of persons :- dubi, the Madakhirian. I received 102 Chap. IX. THE SECOND. MONARCHY. the actions related being ascribed to the monarch and others to the general; but on the whole the impression left by the narrative is that the king, in the spirit of a well-known legal maxim,- assumes as his own the acts which he has accomplished through his representative. In his twenty-ninth year, however, Shalmaneser seems to have led an expedition in person into Khirki (the Niphates country), where he “overturned, beat to pieces, and consumed with fire the towns, swept the country with his troops, and impressed on the inhabitants the fear of his presence.” The campaigns of Shalmaneser which have the greatest in- terest are those of his sixth, eighth, ninth, eleventh, fourteenth, eighteenth, and twenty-first years. Two of these were directed · against Babylonia, three against Ben-hadad of Damascus, and two against Khazail (Hazael) of Damascus. In his eighth year Shalmaneser took advantage of a civil war in Babylonia between King Merodach-sum-adin, and a younger brother, Merodach-bel-usati (?), whose power was about evenly balanced, to interfere in the affairs of that country, and under pretence of helping the legitimate monarch, to make himself master of several towns. In the following year he was still more fortunate. Having engaged, defeated, and slain the pre- tender to the Babylonian crown, he marched on to Babylon itself, where he was probably welcomed as a deliverer, and from thence proceeded into Chaldæa, or the tract upon the coast, which was at this time independent of Babylon, and forced its kings to become his tributaries. “ The power of his army,” he tells us, “ struck terror as far as the sea.” The wars of Shalmaneser in Southern Syria commenced as early as his ninth year. He had succeeded to a dominion in Northern Syria, which extended over the Patena, and probably over most of the northern Hittites; 5 and this made his territo- ries conterminous with those of the Phænicians, the Hamathites, tribute. He departed from the towns of “Quod facit per alium, facit per se." the Madakhirians, and arrived among 5 Sangara, king of Carchemish, and the towns of Udaki the Mannian. Udaki | Lubarna, king of the Patena, had sub- Aed to save his life. I pursued him," mitted to Asshur-izir-pal. (Supra, p. &c. 89.) CHAP. IX. WARS OF SHALMANESER II.. 103 the southern Hittites, and perhaps the Syrians of Damascus. At any rate the last-named people felt themselves threatened by the growing power on or near their borders, and, convinced that they would soon be attacked, prepared for resistance by entering into a close league with their neighbours. The king of Damascus, who was the great Ben-hadad, Tsakhulena, king of Hamath, Ahab, king of Israel, the kings of the southern Hittites, those of the Phoenician cities on the coast, and others, formed an alliance, and, uniting their forces,? went out boldly to meet Shalmaneser, offering him battle. Despite, however, of this confidence, or perhaps in consequence of it, the allies suffered a defeat. Twenty thousand men fell in the battle. Many chariots and much of the material of war were captured by the Assyrians. But still no conquest was effected. Shalma- neser does not assert that he either received submission or imposed a tribute; and the fact that he did not venture to renew the war for five years seems to show that the resistance which he had encountered made him hesitate about continuing the struggle. Five years, however, having elapsed, and the power of Assyria being increased by her successes in Lower Mesopotamia, Shalmaneser, in the eleventh year of his reign, advanced a second time against Hamath and the southern Hittites. Enter- ing their territories unexpectedly, he was at first unopposed, and succeeded in taking a large number of their towns. But the troops of Ben-hadad soon appeared in the field. Phænicia, apparently, stood aloof, and Hamath was occupied with her own difficulties; but Ben-hadad, having joined the Hittites, again gave Shalmaneser battle ; and, though that monarch, as usual, claims the victory, it is evident that he gained no important advantage by his success. He had once more to return to his $ This is doubtful. The southern | 1200 chariots, Adoni-baal of Sizana Hittites may have entirely separated 20,000 men and 30 chariots, Ahab of the Damascus territory from that now Jezreel 10,000 men and 2000 chariots, possessed by Assyria. Tsakhulena of Hamath 10,000 men and ? The allied force is estimated by the 700 chariots, and the king of Egypt Assyrian monarch at 3940 chariots, | 1000 men. The camels were furnished 1000 camels, and 77,900 men. Of these by Gindibua (Djendib) the Arabian. Ben-hadad furnished 20,000 men and S See above, p. 102. 104 Cuar. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. own land without having extended his sway, and this time (as it would seem) without even any trophies of conquest. Three years later, he made another desperate effort. Collect- ing his people “in multitudes that were not to be counted,” he crossed the Euphrates with above a hundred thousand men.' Marching southwards he soon encountered a large army of the allies, Damascenes, Hamathites, Hittites, and perhaps Phoni- cians; the first-named still commanded by the undaunted Ben-hadad. This time the success of the Assyrians is beyond dispute. Not only were the allies put to flight, not only did they lose most of their chariots and implements of war, but they appear to have lost hope, and, formally or tacitly, to bave forthwith dissolved their confederacy. The Hittites and Hama- thites probably submitted to the conqueror; the Phænicians withdrew to their own towns, and Damascus was left without allies, to defend herself as she best might, when the tide of conquest should once more flow in this direction. In the fourth year the flow of the tide came. Shalmaneser, once more advancing southward, found the Syrians of Damascus strongly posted in the fastnesses of the Anti-Lebanon. Since his last invasion they had changed their ruler. The brave and experienced Ben-hadad had perished by the treachery of an ambitious subject, and his assassin, the infamous Hazael, held the throne. Left to his own resources by the dissolution of the old league, this monarch had exerted himself to the utmost in order to repel the attack which he knew was impending. He had collected a very large army, including above eleven hundred chariots, andi, determined to leave nothing to chance, had care- fully taken up a very strong position in the mountain range 1 He estimates his troops at 102,000. (Black Obelisk Inscription, p. 423.) 2 The Hittites and the Phænicians are probably both included in the “ twelve kings from the shores of the Upper and Lower Seas," who are said to have joined Ben-hadad on this occasion. (Inscription, I. s. c.) 3 See 2 Kings viii. 15. Attempts have been made to clear Hazael of this murder (Calmet, Commentaire littéral, vol. ii. p. 884; Cotton, in Smith's Biblical Dic- tionary, ad voc. BENHADAD), because it is thought that otherwise Elisha would be involved in his crime. But Elisha no more suggested murder to Hazael by telling him that he would be king than Samuel suggested & similar crime to David by actually anointing him as king (1 Sam. xvi. 1-13). Hazael might have acted as David did. CHAP. IX, TRIBUTE TAKEN FROM JEHU. 105 which separated his territory from the neighbouring kingdom of Hamath, or valley of Coele-Syria. Here he was attacked by Shalmaneser, and completely defeated, with the loss of 16,000 of his troops, 1121 of his chariots, a quantity of his war material, and his camp. This blow apparently prostrated him; and when, three years later, Shalmaneser invaded his territory, Hazael brought no army into the field, but let his towns, one after another, be taken and plundered by the Assyrian. It was probably upon this last occasion, when the spirit of Damascus was cowed, and the Phænician cities, trembling at the thought of their own rashness in having assisted Hazael and Israelites bringing tribute to Shalmaneser II. (Nimrud). Ben-hadad, hastened to make their submission and to resume the rank of Assyrian tributaries, that the sovereign of another Syrian country, taking warning from the fate of his neighbours, determined to anticipate the subjection which he could not avoid, and, making a virtue of necessity, to place himself under the Assyrian yoke. Jehu, “ son of Omri," as he is termed in the Inscription—i.e. successor and supposed descendant of the great Omri who built Samaria "—sent as tribute to Shalmaneser * Inscription, p. 424. The expression, monarchs of this period as Beth-Khumri used is, “I went to the towns of Hazael 1 -“the house or city of Omri”—a form of Damascus, and took part of his pro-, of name with which they were familiar, visions." Immediately afterwards we and one which implied the existence at read, “I received the tributes of Tyre, some previous time of a great king, Sidon, and By blus." Omri, the founder. Jehu, in his dealings • Samaria was known to the Assyrian with the Assyrians, seems to have 106 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. a quantity of gold and silver in bullion, together with a number of manufactured articles in the more precious of the two metals. In the sculptures which represent the Israelitish ambassadors presenting this tribute to the Great King, these articles appear carried in the hands, or on the shoulders, of the envoys, but they are in general too indistinctly traced for us to pronounce with any confidence upon their character. Shalmaneser bad the same taste as his father for architecture and the other arts. He completed the ziggurat of the Great Temple of Nin at Calah, which his father had left unfinished, and not content with the palace of that monarch, built for him- self a new and (probably) more magnificent residence on the same lofty platform, at the distance of about 150 yards. This edifice was found by Mr. Layard in so ruined a condition, through the violence which it had suffered, apparently at the hands of Esarhaddon, that it was impossible either to trace its plan or to form a very clear notion of its ornamentation. Two gigantic winged bulls, partly destroyed, served to show that the grand portals of the chambers were similar in character and design to those of the earlier monarch, while from a number of sculptured fragments it was sufficiently plain that the walls had been adorned with bas-reliefs of the style used in Asshur-izir- pal's edifice. The only difference observable was in the size and subjects of the sculptures, which seemed to have been on a grander scale and more generally mythological than those of the North-West palace. 10 The monument of Shalmaneser which has attracted most attention in this country is an obelisk in black marble, similar in shape and general arrangement to that of Asshur-izir-pal, represented himself to them as this I “ Central Palace" of the Nimrud plat- man's “son” or “descendant." It is | form. It was discovered by Mr. Layard possible that his representation may on his first expedition (See Ninereh and have been true, and that he was de its Remains, vol. i. pp. 344-347.) scended from Omri, at least on the & It will be hereafter seen that Esar- mother's side. haddon's palace at Nimrud-called by 6 Besides the representation given Mr. Layard the South-West edifice-was above, the woodcut on page 502 of vol. i. almost entirely composed of materials belongs to this series. It represents the taken from the earlier buildings in its chief ambassador of the Israelites pros- | neighbourhood. trating himself before the Assyrian king. · Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. * This is commonly known as the | 656. 10 Ibid. I. s. c. and note. CHAP. IX. THE BLACK OBELISK. 107 already described, but of a handsomer and better material. This work of art was discovered in a prostrate position under the débris which covered up Shalmaneser's palace. It contained bas-reliefs in twenty compartments, five on each of its four sides; the space above, between, and below them being covered with cuneiform writing, sharply inscribed in a minute character. The whole was in most excellent preservation. The bas-reliefs represent the monarch, accompanied by his vizier and other chief officers, receiving the tribute of five nations, whose envoys are ushered into the royal presence by officers of the court, and prostrate themselves at the Great King's feet ere they present their offerings. The gifts brought are, in part, objects carried in the hand-gold, silver, copper in bars and cubes, goblets, elephants' tusks, tissues, and the like-in part, animals, such as horses, camels, monkeys and baboons of different kinds, stags, lions, wild bulls, antelopes, and strangest of all—the rhinoceros and the elephant. One of the nations, as already mentioned. is that of the Israelites. The others are, first, the people of Kir- zan, a country bordering on Armenia, who present gold, silver, copper, horses, and camels, and fill the four highest compart- ments with a train of nine envoys; secondly, the Muzri, or people of Muzr, a country nearly in the same quarter," who are For a representation of this obelisk | their occurrence. We must then de- sce vol. i. p. 266. It is on a somewhat scend to the second line of compart- smaller scale than that of Asshur-izir ments, then to the third, and so on, pal, being only about seven feet high, reading them in the same way. In the whereas that is more than twelve, and black Obelisk the five lines of compart- twenty-two inches wide on the broad ments correspond exactly to the five face, whereas that is two feet. Its pro nations, except in a single instance. portions make it more solid-looking The figures in the bottom compartment and less taper than the earlier monu of the first side seem not to belong to ment. the fifth nation, nor (apparently) to the ? See above, p. 105. fourth, but either to the first or second. 3 Kirzan seems to be the country on The envoys of the fifth nation are intro- the southern slopes of Mount Niphates, duced by Assyrian officers in the bottom between the Bitlis and Myafarekin compartment of the second side. rivers. It retains its name almost un 5 Muzr is north-western Kurdistan, changed to the present day. (See Layard, especially the district about Rowandiz Nineceh and Bubulon, p. 37, where it is and Amadiyeh. Bit-Sargina (Khorsa- called the district of Kherzan.") bad) is always said to be “at the foot * To read the sculptures of an As of the mountains of Muzr." The Muzri syrian obelisk we must begin at the top must have traded with India, probably with the four topmost compartments, by the line of the Caspian and the Oxus which we must take in the order of | river, 108 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. represented in the four central compartments, with six envoys conducting various wild animals; thirdly, the Tsukhi, or Shu- hites, from the Euphrates, to whom belong the four compart- ments below the Muzri, which are filled by a train of thirteen envoys, bringing two lions, a stag, and various precious articles, among which bars of metal, elephants’ tusks, and shawls or tissues, are conspicuous; and lastly, the Patena, from the Oror- tes, who fill three of the lowest compartments with a train of twelve envoys bearing gifts like those of the Israelites. Besides this interesting monument, there are very few remains of art which can be ascribed to Shalmaneser's time with any confidence. The sculptures found on the site of his palace belonged to a later monarch, who restored and embellished it. His own bas-reliefs were torn from their places by Esarhaddon, and by him defaced and used as materials in the construction of a new palace. We are thus left almost without materials for judging of the progress made by art during Shalmaneser's reign. Architecture, it may be conjectured, was modified to a certain extent, precious woods being employed more frequently and more largely than before; a fact of which we seem to have an indication in the frequent expeditions made by Shalmaneser into Syria, for the single purpose of cutting timber in its forests.* Sculpture, to judge from the obelisk, made no advance. The same formality, the same heaviness of outline, the same rigid adherence to the profile in all representations both of man and beast, characterise the reliefs of both reigns equally, so far as we have any means of judging. Shalmaneser seems to have held his court ordinarily at Calah, where he built his palace and set up his obelisk; but sometimes he would reside for a time at Nineveh or at Asshur.' He does 6 A stele of this monarch, closely re- | Scripture. (See below, p. 135.) sembling those of his father already 8 Shalmaneser made expeditions for mentioned (supra, p. 96), was brought this sole purpose in his first, his seven- from Kurkh in 1863, and is now in the teenth, and his nineteenth years. (See British Museum. It is not inferior to Inscription, pp. 422-424.) the similar works of Asshur-izir-pal; See Shalmaneser's account of his but it shows no advance upon them. proceedings during his fifth and twenty- ? This was Tiglath-Pileser II., the sixth years. (Inscription, pp. 422, 425.) monarch of that name mentioned in CHAP. IX. REBELLION OF ASSHUR-DANIN-PAL. log not appear to have built any important edifice at either of these two cities, but at the latter he left a monument which possesses some interest. This is the stone statue, now in a mutilated condition, representing a king seated, which was found by Mr. Layard at Kileh-Sherghat, and of which some notice was taken in the former volume. Its proportions are better than those of the small statue of the monarch's father, standing in his sacrificial dress, which was found at Nimrud;" and it is superior to that work of art, in being of the size of life; but either its execution was originally very rude, or it must have suffered grievously by exposure, for it is now wholly rough and unpolished. The later years of Shalmaneser appear to have been troubled by a dangerous rebellion. The infirmities of age were pro- bably creeping upon him. He had ceased to go out with his arinies; and had handed over a portion of his authority to the favourite general who was entrusted with the command of his forces year after year. The favour thus shown may bave pro- voked jealousy and even alarm. It may have been thought that the legitimate successor was imperilled by the exaltation of a subject, whose position would enable him to ingratiate him- self with the troops, and who might be expected, on the death of his patron, to make an effort to place the crown on his own head. Fears of this kind may very probably have so worked on the mind of the heir-apparent as to determine him not to await his father's demise, but rather to raise the standard of revolt during his lifetime, and to endeavour, by an unexpected coup- de-main, to anticipate and ruin his rival. Or, possibly, Asshur- danin-pal, the eldest son of Shalmaneser, like too many royal youths, may have been impatient of the long life of his father, and have conceived the guilty desire, with which our fourth Henry is said to have taxed his first-born, a “hunger for the 19 See vol. i. p. 339. set up by Shamas-Vul II., Shalmaneser's 11 Representations of these two statues son and successor. This inscription has are given on pages 339 and 340 of the been translated by Sir H. Rawlinson, first volume. and will be found in the Journal of the The main features of this rebellion Asiatic Society, vol. xvi., Annual Report, are given in an inscription on a stele i p. xii et seq. Supra, p. 101. 110 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. oder Tigether forbed by the himself empty chair," of which the aged monarch? still held possession. At any rate, whatever may have been the motive that urged him on, it is certain that Asshur-danin-pal rebelled against his sire's authority, and, raising the standard of revolt, succeeded in carrying with him a great part of the kingdom. At Asshur, the old metropolis, which may have hoped to lure back the Court by its subservience, at Arbela in the Zab region, at Amidi on the Upper Tigris, at Tel-Apni near the site of Orfa, and at more than twenty other fortified places, Asshur-danin-pal was proclaimed king, and accepted by the inhabitants for their sovereign. Shalmaneser must have felt himself in imminent peril of losing his crown. Under these circumstances he called to his assistance his second son Shamas-Vul, and placing him at the head of such of his troops as remained firm to their allegiance, invested him with full power to act as he thought best in the existing emergency. Shainas-Vul at once took the field, attacked and reduced the rebellious cities one after an- other, and in a little time completely crushed the revolt, and re- established peace throughout the empire. Asshur-danin-pal, the arch conspirator, was probably put to death; his life was justly forfeit; and neither Shamas-Vul nor his father is likely to have been withheld by any inconvenient tenderness from punishing treason in a near relative, as they would have punished it in any other person. The suppressor of the revolt became the heir of the kingdom; and when, shortly afterwards, Shalmaneser died, the piety or prudence of his faithful son was rewarded by the rich inheritance of the Assyrian Empire. Shalmaneser reigned, in all, thirty-five years, from B.C. 858 to B.C. 823. His successor, Shamas-Vul, held the throne for thirteen years, from B.C. 823 to B.c. 810. Before entering upon the consideration of this latter monarch's reign, it will be well 2 Shalmaneser may not have been more than about sixty at his death. But this is an age which Eastern monarchs, with their habits of life, rarely exceed. Only two kings of Judah after David exceeded sixty years of age. 3 Shalmaneser reigned 35 years. His annals terminate with his thirty-first year, B.C. 828. As they make no men- tion of Asshur-danin-pal's revolt, we may conclude that it broke out and was suppressed in the course of the monarch's last five years. He could not, therefore, have survived its suppression more than four years. Chap. IX. ESTENT OF ASSYRIAN DOMINION. III to cast our eyes once more over the Assyrian Empire, such as it had now become, and over the nations with which its growth had brought it into contact. Considerable changes had occurred since the time of Tiglath-Pileser I., the Assyrian boundaries having been advanced in several directions, while either this progress, or the movements of races beyond the frontier, had brought into view many new and some very important nations. The chief advance which the “ Terminus” of the Assyrians had made was towards the west and the north-west. Instead of their dominion in this quarter being bounded by the Euphrates, they had established their authority over the whole of Upper Syria, over Phænicia, Hamath, and Samaria, or the Kingdom of the Israelites. These countries were not indeed reduced to the form of provinces; on the contrary, they still retained their own laws, administration, and native princes; but they were hence- forth really subject to Assyria, acknowledging her suzerainty, paying her an annual tribute, and giving a free passage to her armies through their territories. The limit of the Assyrian Empire towards the west was consequently at this time the Mediterranean, from the Gulf of Iskanderun to Cape Carmel, or perhaps we should say to Joppa. Their north-western boundary was the range of Taurus next beyond Amanus, the tract between the two belonging to the Tibareni (Tubal), who had submitted to become tributaries." Northwards little if any progress had been made. The chain of Niphates—“ the high grounds over the affluents of the Tigris and Euphrates”—where Shalmaneser set up “an image of his majesty,” 6 seems still to be the furthest limit. In other words, Armenia is unconquered ;; the strength of the region and the valour of its inhabitants still protecting it from the Assyrian arms. Towards the east some territory seems to have been gained, more especially in the central Zagros + That is, if we view the subjection. This must be understood especially of the kingdom of Israel as complete. of Northern and Western Armenia. Perhaps it was scarcely received as yet Shalmaneser, as we learn from the fully into the empire. Kurkh stele, reduced all the Van region, * See the Blick Obelisk Inscription, and set up his image on the shores of p. 424. 6 Ibid. p. 423. the lake. 112 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. region, the district between the Lower Zab and Holwan, which at this period bore the name of Hupuska ;8 but the tribes north and south of this tract were still for the most part unsubdued.” The southern frontier may be regarded as wholly unchanged; for, although Shalmaneser warred in Babylonia, and even took tribute on one occasion from the petty kings of the Chaldæan towns, he seems to have made no permanent impression in this quarter. The Tsukhi or Shubites are still the most southern of his subjects. The principal changes which time and conquest had made among the neighbours of Assyria were the following. Towards the west she was brought into contact with the kingdom of Damascus, and, through her tributary Samaria, with Judea. On the north-west she had new enemies in the Quïn," (Coans? ), who dwelt on the further side of Amanus, near the Tibareni, in a part of the country afterwards called Cilicia, and the Cilicians themselves, who are now first mentioned. The Moschi seem to have withdrawn a little from this neighbourhood, since they no longer appear either among Assyria's enemies or her tribu- taries. On the north all minor powers had disappeared ; and the Armenians (Urarda) were now Assyria's sole neighbours. Towards the east she had come into contact with the Mannai, or Minni, about Lake Urumiyeh, with the Kharkhar in the Van region and in north-western Kurdistan, with the Bartsu or Persians' and the Mada or Medes in the country east of Zagros, & From Hupuska may have been | extent of the Empire. The Patena and formed the Greek name of Physcus, i Israelites mark the bounds on the north- which was assigned to the Diyaleh by west and south-west, the Muzri those Sophænetus and Xenophon. (See Xen. on the north-east. The extreme north Anab. ii. 25; Steph. Byz. ad voc. is marked by the people of Kirzan, the Φύσκος.) extreme south by the Tsukhi. 9 One important exception, however, 11 This term may possibly correspond must be noticed—the submission of the to the Hebrew Dild, Goin-the singular, Muzri, the chief people of north-western which is Quë (Coé), answering to 2, Kurdistan. By this the Assyrian Em Goi. pire was considerably extended to the The Bartsu at this time inhabit north-east. south-eastern Armenia. By Sennacherib's 10 In the selection of the five nations time they had descended to a much more whose tributes are commemorated by southerly position. In fact they are then the sculptures on the Black Obelisk there in, or very near, Persia Proper. is an evident intention to exhibit the Chap. IX. SHAMAS-VUL II. 113 the modern province of Ardelan, and with the Tsimri, or Zimri.? in Upper Luristan. Among all her fresh enemies she had not, however, as yet found one calculated to inspire any serious fear. No new organized monarchy presented itself. The tribes and nations upon her borders were still either weak in numbers or powerless from their intestine divisions; and there was thus every reason to expect a long continuance of the success which had naturally attended a large centralized state in her contests with small kingdoms or loosely-united confederacies. Names celebrated in the after history of the world, as those of the Medes and Persians, are now indeed for the first time emerging into light from the complete obscurity which has shrouded them hitherto; and, tinged as they are with the radiance of their later glories, they show brightly among the many insignificant tribes and nations with which Assyria has been warring for centuries, but it would be a mistake to suppose that these names have any present importance in the narrative, or repre- sent powers capable as yet of contending on equal terms with the Assyrian Empire, or even of seriously checking the pro- gress of her successes. The Medes and Persians are at this period no more powerful than the Zimri, the Minni, the Urarda, or than half-a-dozen others of the Lorder nations, whose appel- lations sound strange in the ears even of the advanced student, Neither of the two great Arian peoples had as yet a capital city, neither was united under a king ; separated into numerous tribes, each under its chief, dispersed in scattered towns and villages, poorly fortified or not fortified at all, they were in the same condition as the Naïri, the Qummukh, the Patena, the Hittites, and the other border races whose relative weakness Assyria hari abundantly proved in a long course of wars wherein she had uniformly been the victor. The short reign of Shamas-Vul II. presents but little that calls for remark. Like Shalmaneser II. he resided chiefly at Calah, where, following the example of his father and grandfather, he • See Jerem. xxv. 25. * This term is the Assyrian represen- tation of the Biblical Ararat (0778), VOL. 11. and is probably the original of the 'Alapod101 of Herodotus (iii. 94; vii. 79). 114 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. set up an obelisk (or rather a stele) in commemoration of his various exploits. This monument, which is covered on three sides with an inscription in the hieratic or cursive character, contains an opening invocation to Nin or Hercules, conceived in the ordinary terms, the genealogy and titles of the king, an account of the rebellion of Asshur-danin-pal, together with its sup- pression, and Shamas-Vul's own annals for the first four years of his reign. From these we learn that he displayed the same active spirit as his two predecessors, carrying his arms against the Naïri on the north, against Media and Arazias on the east, and against Babylonia on the south. The people of Hupuska, the Minni, and the Persians (Bartsu), paid him tribute. His principal success was that of his fourth campaign, which was against Babylon. He entered the country by a route often used, which skirted the Zagros mountain range for some dis- tance, and then crossed the flat, probably along the course of the Diyaleh, to the southern capital. The Babylonians, alarmed at his advance, occupied a strongly fortified place on his line of route, which he besieged and took after a vigorous resistance, wherein the blood of the garrison was shed like water. Eighteen thousand were slain; three thousand were made prisoners; the city itself was plundered and burnt, and Shamas-Vul pressed forward against the flying enemy. Hereupon the Babylonian monarch, Merodach-belatzu-ikbi, collecting his own troops and those of his allies, the Chaldæans, the Aramæans or Syrians, and the Zimri—a vast host-met the invader on the river Daban perhaps a branch of the Euphrates—and fought a great battle in defence of his city. He was, however, defeated by the Assyrians, with the loss of 5000 killed, 2000 prisoners, 100 chariots, 4 This inscription has been engraved wars. In the time of Herodotus it in the British Muscun Series, vol. i. Pls. seems to have been the ordinary line by 29 to 31; in which a transcript of the which travellers reached Babylon. (See inscription in the ordinary character Herod. v. 52, and compare the author's has been also published (ibid. Pls. 32 to “Outline of the Life of Herodotus " in 34). his Herodotus, vol. i. p. 9, note '.) s See above, pp. 109 et seq. ? Sir H. Rawlinson regards the Daban 6 The first Nebuchadnezzar, king of as probably the Babylonian Upper Zab Babylon, attacked Assyria by this route (or Nil), which left the Euphrates at in his first expedition. (Supra, p. 62.) | Babylon and joined the Tigris at the It was also followed by Asshur-izir-pal site of A pamea, near the commencement and Shalmaneser II. in their Babylonian of the Shat-el-Hlie. CHAP. IX. SHAMAS-VUL II. 115 200 tents, and the royal standard and pavilion. What further military or political results the victory may have had is un- certain. Shamas-Vul's annals terminate abruptly at this point, and we are left to conjecture the consequences of the campaign and battle. It is possible that they were in the highest degree important; for we find, in the next reign, that Babylonia, which has so long been a separate and independent kingdom, is reduced to the condition of a tributary, while we have no account of its reduction by the succeeding monarch, whose relations with the Babylonians, so far as we know, were of a purely peaceful character. The stele of Shamas-Vul contains one allusion to a hunting exploit, by which we learn that this monarch inherited his grandfather's partiality for the chase. He found wild-bulls at the foot of Zagros when he was marching to invade Babylonia, and delaying his advance to hunt them, was so fortunate as to kill several. We know nothing of Shamas-Vul as a builder, and but little of him as a patron of art. He seems to have been content with the palaces of his father and grandfather, and to have been devoid of any wish to outshine them by raising edifices which should throw theirs into the shade. In his stele he shows no originality; for it is the mere reproduction of a monument well known to his predecessors, and of which we have several specimens from the time of Asshur-izir-pal down- wards. It consists of a single figure in relief-a figure repre- senting the king, dressed in his priestly robes and wearing the sacred emblems round his neck, standing with the right arm upraised, and enclosed in the customary arched frame. This figure, which is somewhat larger than life, is cut on a single solid block of stone, and then placed on another broader block, which serves as a pedestal. It closely resembles the a . $ One copy of the Assyrian Canon | after year until B.c. 810, when he died. contains brief notices of Shamas-Vul's The most important of these were against expeditions during his last six years. Chaldæa and Babylonia in his 11th and From this document (Brit. Mus. series, 12th years. The reduction of Babylonia vol. ii. pl. 52) it appears that he was | was probably effected by these campaigns engaged in military expeditions year (B.C. 813 and 812). I 2 116 Char. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. figure of Asshur-izir-pal, whereof a representation has been already given. The successor of Shamas-Vul was his son Vul-lush, the third monarch of that name, who ascended the throne B.C. 810, and held it for twenty-nine years, from B.C. 810 to B.C. 781. The memorials which we possess of this king's reign are but scanty. They consist of one or two slabs found at Nimrud, of a short dedicatory inscription on duplicate statues of the God Nebo brought from the same place, of some brick inscriptions from the mound of Nebbi Yunus, and of the briefest possible notices of the quarters in which he carried on war, contained in one copy of the Canon. As none of these records are in the shape of annals except the last, and as only these and the slab notices are historical, it is impossible to give any detailed account of this long and apparently important reign. We can only say that Vul-lush III. was as warlike a monarch as any of his pre- decessors, and that his efforts seem to have extended the Assyrian dominion in almost every quarter. He made seven expeditions across the Zagros range into Media, two into the Van country, and three into Syria. He tells us that in one of these expedi- tions he succeeded in making himself master of the great city of Damascus, whose kings had defied (as we have seen the repeated attacks of Shalmaneser. He reckons as his tribut- ries in these parts, besides Damascus, the cities of Tyre and Sidon, and the countries of Khumri or Samaria, of Palestine or Philistia, and of Hudum (Idumæa or Edom). On the north and east he received tokens of submission from the Naïri, the Minni, the Medes, and the Partsu, or Persians. On the south, he exercised a power, which seems like that of a sovereign, in Babylonia ; where homage was paid him by the Chaldæans, and where, in the great cities of Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha (or Tiggaba), he was allowed to offer sacrifice to the gods, Bel, Nebo, and Nergal. There is, further, some reason to suspect ----- - 9 See above, p. 97. | found in the Atheneum, No. 1476. More | An abstract of this Inscription of recently Mr. Fox Talbot has translated Vul-lush III. was published by Sir II. ' the Inscription word for word. (See the Rawlinson in the year 1856, and will be, Journal of the Asiutic Society, vol. xix. Chap. IX. VUL-LUSH III. 117 that, before quitting Babylonia, he established one of his sons as viceroy over the country ; since he seems to style himself in one place “the king to whose son Asshur, the chief of the gods, has granted the kingdom of Babylon.” It thus appears that by the time of Vul-lush III., or early in the eighth century B.C., Assyria had with one hand grasped Babylonia, while with the other she bad laid hold of Philistia and Edom. She thus touched the Persian Gulf on the one side, while on the other she was brought into contact with Egypt. At the same time she had received the submission of at least some portion of the great nation of the Medes, who were now probably moving southwards from Azerbijan and gradually occupying the territory which was regarded as Media Proper by the Greeks and Romans. She held Southern Arme- nia, from Lake Van to the sources of the Tigris; she possessed all Upper Syria, including Commagêné and Amanus; she had tributaries even on the further side of that mountain-range; she bore sway over the whole Syrian coast from Issus to Gaza; her authority was acknowledged, probably by all the tribes and kingdoms between the coast and the desert,” certainly by the Phænicians, the Hamathites, the Patena, the Hittites, the Syrians of Damascus, the people of Israel, and the Idumeans, or people of Edom. On the east she had reduced almost all the valleys of Zagros, and had tributaries in the great upland on the eastern side of the range. On the south, if she had not absorbed Babylonia, she had at least made her influence para- pp. 182-186.) The original has been published in the British Museum Series, vol. i. Pl. 35, No. I. ? It is an interesting question at what time exactly Judæa first acknowledged the suzerainty of the Assyrians. The general supposition has been that the submission of Ahaz to Tiglath-Pileser 11. (about B.c. 730) was the beginning of the subjection (see 2 K. xvi. 7); but a notice in the 14th chapter of the Second Book of Kings appears to imply a much earlier acknowledgment of Assyrian sovereignty. It is said there that “as Surn as the kingilom ras confi m d in dmezial's hand, he slew the servants who had slain the king his father." Now this is the very expression used of Menahem, King of Israel, in ch. xv. 19, where the “ confirmation" intended is evidently that of the Assyrian monarch. We may suspect, therefore, that Judæa had admitted the suzerainty of a foreign power before the accession of Amaziah ; and, if so, it must be regarded as almost certain that the power which exercised the suzerainty was Assyria. Amaziah's accession fell probably towards the close of the reign of Shalmaneser II., and the submission of Judæa may therefore be assigned with much probability to the time of that monarch (ab. B.c. 840 or 850). 118 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. mount there. The full height of her greatness was not indeed attained till a century later; but already the “tall cedar” was “exalted above all the trees of the field ; his boughs were mul- tiplied; his branches had become long; and under his shadow dwelt great nations." 3 Not much is known of Vul-lush III. as a builder, or as a patron of art. He calls himself the “ restorer of noble buildings which had gone to decay,” an expression which would seem to imply that he aimed rather at maintaining former edifices in repair than at constructing new ones. He seems however to have built some chambers on the mound of Nimrud, between the north-western and the south-western palaces, and also to have had a palace at Nineveh on the mound now called Nebbi Yunus. The Nimrud chambers were of small size and poorly ornamented; they contained no sculptures; the walls were plastered and then painted in fresco with a variety of patterns. They may have been merely guard-rooms, since they appear to have formed a portion of a high tower. The palace at Nebbi-Yunus was probably a more important work; but the superstitious regard of the natives for the supposed tomb of Jonah has hitherto frustrated all attempts made by Europeans to explore that mass of ruins. Among all the monuments recovered by recent researches, the only works of art assignable to the reign of Vul-lush are two rude statues of the god Nebo, almost exactly resembling one another. From the representation of one of them, contained in the first volume of this work, the reader will see that the figures in question have scarcely any artistic merit. The head is dis- proportionately large, the features, so far as they can be traced, 3 Ezek. xxxi. 5, 6. and relics of Vul-lush III., of Sennacherib, 4 The patterns were in fair taste. and of Esar-haddon. They consisted chiefly of winged bulls, · Sir H. Rawlinson, who discovered zigzags, arrangements of squares and these statues in a temple dedicated to circles, and the like. Mr. Layard calls Nebo by Vul-lush III., which adjoined them “ elaborate and graceful in de the S.E. palace at Nimrud, found with sign." (Ninereh and its Remains, vol. ii. them six others. Of these four were p. 15.) 5 Ibid. p. 16. colossal, while two resembled those in the The Turks themselves at one time Museum. The colossal statues were desti- excavated to some extent in the Nebbi ! tute of any inscription. Yunus mound, and discovered buildings • Page 141. CHAP. IX. SCULPTURES OF VUL-LUSH III. * 119 are coarse and heavy, the arms and hands are poorly modelled, and the lower part is more like a pillar than the figure of a man. We cannot suppose that Assyrian art was incapable, under the third Vul-lush, of a higher flight ihan these statues indicate; we must therefore regard them as conventional forms, reproduced from old models, which the artist was bound to follow. It would seem, indeed, that while in the representation of animals and of men of inferior rank, Assyrian artists were untrammelled hy precedent, and might aim at the highest possible perfection, in religious subjects, and in the representation of kings and nobles, they were limited, by law or custom, to certain ancient forms and modes of expression, which we find repeated from the earliest to the latest times, with monotonous uniformity. If these statues, however, are valueless as works of art, they have yet a peculiar interest for the bistorian, as containing the only mention which the disentombed remains have furnished, of one of the most celebrated names of antiquity-a name which for many ages vindicated to itself a leading place, not only in the history of Assyria, but in that of the world. To the Greeks and Romans Semiramis was the foremost of women, the greatest queen who had ever held a sceptre, the most extraordinary con- queror that the East had ever produced. Beautiful as Helen or Cleopatra, brave as Tomyris, lustful as Messalina, she had the virtues and vices of a man rather than a woman, and performed deeds scarcely inferior to those of Cyrus or Alexander the Great. It is an ungrateful task to dispel illusions, more especially such as are at once harmless and venerable for their antiquity; but truth requires the historian to obliterate from the pages of the past this well-known image, and to substitute in its place a very dull and prosaic figure-a Semiramis no longer decked with the pris- matic hues of fancy, but clothed instead in the sober garments of fact. The Nebo idols are dedicated, by the Assyrian officer who had them executed, “to his lord Vul-lush and his lady Sammura- Thesinscription on the statues shows | his wife Sammuramit, that the god that they were offered to Nebo by an might' lengthen the king's life, prolong officer, who was governor of Calah, his days, increase his years, and give Khamida (Amadiyeh), and three other peace to his house and people, and places, for the life of Vul-lush and of victory to his armies. 120 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. mit ;"10 from whence it would appear to be certain, in the first place, that that monarch was married to a princess who bore this world-renowned name, and, secondly, that she held a position superior to that which is usually allowed in the East to a Queen consort. An inveterate Oriental prejudice requires the rigid seclusion of women; and the Assyrian monuments, thoroughly in accord with the predominant tone of Eastern manners, throw a veil in general over all that concerns the weaker sex, neither representing to us the forms of the Assyrian women in the sculptures, nor so much as mentioning their existence in the inscriptions.11 Very rarely is there an exception to this all but universal reticence. In the present instance, and in about two others, the silence usually kept is broken ; and a native woman comes upon the scene to tantalize us by her momentary appa- rition. The glimpse that we here obtain does not reveal much. Beyond the fact that the principal queen of Vul-lush III. was named Semiramis, and the further fact, implied in her being mentioned at all, that she had a recognised position of authority in the country, we can only conclude, conjecturally, from the exact parallelism of the phrases used, that she bore sway con- jointly with her husband, either over the whole or over a part of his dominions. Such a view explains, to some extent, the wonderful tale of the Ninian Semiramis, which was foisted into Joistory by Ctesias; for it shows that he had a slight basis of fact to go up on. It also harmonizes, or may be made to harmonize, with the story of Semiramis as told by Herodotus, who says that she was a Babylonian queen, and reigned five generations before Nitocris, 12 or about B.C. 755.13 For it is quite possible that the Sammuramit married to Vul-lush III. was a Babylonian princess, the last descendant of a long line 10 See the Inscription in the British | (the supposed son of Nitocris), whose Museum Series, vol. i. Pl. 35, No. II. reign commenced B.c. 555, according to 11 See vol. i. p. 492. the Canon of Ptolemy. The date thus 12 Herod. i. 184. produced is not quite high enough for the 13 This date is obtained by adopting reign of Vul-lush III., but it approaches the estimate of three generations to a sufficiently near to make it probable century which was familiar to Hero- | that the Semiramis of Herodotus and dotus (ii. 142), and counting six genera- the Sammuramit of the Nebo statues tions between Semiramis and Labynetus are one and the same person. Cuap. IS. SEMIRAMIS, THE WIFE OF VUL-LUSH III. 121 of kings, whom the Assyrian monarch wedded, to confirm through her his title to the southern provinces; in which case a portion of his subjects would regard her as their legiti- mate sovereign, and only recognise his authority as secondary and dependent upon hers. The exaggeration in which Orientals indulge, with a freedom that astonishes the sober nations of the West, would seize upon the unusual circumstance of a female having possessed a conjoint sovereignty, and would gradually group round the name a host of mythic details,14 which at last accumulated to such an extent that, to prevent the fiction from becoming glaring, the queen had to be thrown back into mythic times, with which such details were in harmony. The Babylonian wife of Vul-lush III., who gave him his title to the regions of the south, and reigned conjointly with him both in Babylonia and Assyria, became first a queen of Babylon ruling independently and alone;' and then an Assyrian empress, the conqueror of Egypt and Ethiopia, the invader of the distant India, the builder of Babylon,and the constructor of all the great works wbich were anywhere to be found in Western Asia.” The grand figure thus produced imposed upon the uncritical ancients, and was accepted even by the moderns for many centuries. At length the school of Heeren 6 and Niebuhr, calling common sense to their aid, pronounced the figure a myth. It remained for the patient explorers of the field of Assyrian antiquity in our own day to discover the slight basis of fact on which the myth was founded, and to substitute for the shadowy marvel of Ctesias a very prosaic and common-place princess, who, like Atossa or Elizabeth of York, strengthened her hus- band's title to his crown, but who never really made herself conspicuous by either great works or by exploits. 14 See Diod. Sic. ii. 4, where Semiramis is made the daughter of the Syrian goddess Derceto, and ii. 20, where she is said to have been turned into a dove and to have flown away from earth to heaven. Compare Mos. Chor. Hist. Armen. i. 14 et seq., and the whole narrative in Diodorus (ii. 4-20), which is full of extravagancies. i Herod. I. 8. c. 2 Diod. Sic. ii. 14. 3 Ibid. ii. 18. • Ibid. ii. 7-10. 3 Ibid. ii. 11, 13, 14, &c. ; Mos. Choren. | Hist. Arm. i. 15; Strab. xi. p. 529, xii. I p. 559. o Manual of Ancient History, Book i. p. 26, E. T. ; Vorträge über alte Geschichte, vol. i. | p. 27. I 22 Cuap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. With Vul-lush III. the glories of the Nimrud line of monarchis come to a close, and Assyrian history is once more shrouded in a partial darkness for a space of nearly forty years, from B.C. 781 to B.c. 745. The Assyrian Canon shows us that three monarchs bore sway during this interval-Shalmaneser III., who reigneil from B.C. 781 to B.c. 771, Asshur-dayan III., who reigned from B.C. 771 to B.c. 753, and Asshur-lush, who held the throne from the last-mentioned date to B.c. 745, when he was succeeded by the second Tiglath-Pileser. The brevity of these reigns, which average only twelve years apiece, is indicative of troublous times, and of a disputed, or, at any rate, a (listurbed, succession. The fact that none of the three monarchs left buildings of any im- portance, or, so far as appears, memorials of any kind, marks a period of comparative decline, during which there was a pause in the magnificent course of Assyrian conquests, which had scarcely known a check for above a century. The causes of the temporary inaction and apparent decline of a power which had so long been steadily advancing, would form an interesting subject of speculation to the political philosopher; but they are too obscure to be investigated here, where our space only allows us to touch rapidly on the chief known facts of the Assyrian history. One important difficulty presents itself, at this point of the narrative, in an apparent contradiction between the native records of the Assyrians and the casual notices of their history contained in the Second Book of Kings. The Biblical Pul- the “ king of Assyria," who came up against the land of Israel, and received from Menahem a thousand talents of silver, " that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand,” ! is unnoticed in the native inscriptions, and even seems to be excluded from the royal lists by the absence of any name at all resembling his in the proper place in the famous Canon. 10 & From the accession of Asshur-izir- | Pileser II., thus separating their reigns pal to the death of Vul-lush III. is above | by a space of 36 years, it was thought a century (103 years). that Vul-lush III. might possibly repre- 9 2 Kings xv. 19. sent the Biblical Pul, the two names 10 Until the discovery of the Assyrian not being so very different. (See the Canon had furnished us with three | author's Herodo:18, vol. i. p. 382.) The kings between Vul-lush III. and Tiglath- | identification was never very satis. CHAP. IX. PUL. 123 Pul appears in Scripture to be the immediate predecessor of Tiglath-Pileser. At any rate, as his expedition against Menahem is followed within (at the utmost) thirty-two years 11 by an expe- dition of Tiglath-Pileser against Pekah, bis last year (if he was indeed a king of Assyria) cannot have fallen earlier than thirty- two years before Tiglath-Pileser's first. In other words, if the Hebrew numbers are historical, some portion of Pul's reign must necessarily fall into the interval assigned by the Canon to the kings for which it is the sole authority-Shalmaneser III., Asshur-dayan III., and Asshur-lush. But these names are so wholly unlike the name of Pnl that no one of them can possibly be regarded as its equivalent, or even as the original from which it was corrupted. Thus the Assyrian records do not merely omit Pul, but exclude him; and we have to enquire how this can be accounted for, and who the Biblical Pul is, if he is not a regular and recognised Assyrian monarch. Various explanations of the difficulty have been suggested. Some would regard Pul as a general of Tiglath-Pileser (or of some earlier Assyrian king), mistaken by the Jews for the actual monarch. Others would identify him with Tiglath- Pileser himself.12 But perhaps the most probable supposi- tion is, that he was a pretender to the Assyrian crown, never factory, for the phonetic value of all tribute being taken from him by Ti- the three elements which make up the glath-Pileser, while the Assyrian monu- naine read as Vul-lush, is very uncertain. ments mention that Tiglath-Pileser took Chronological considerations have now I tribute from him, but say nothing of induced the advocates of the identity to Pul. 2. The improbability (?) that two give it up. consecutive kings of Assyria could have 11 The argument is here based upon pushed their conquests to the distant the Scriptural numbers only. As Mena land of Judæa during the short reign of liem reigned 10 years, Pekahiah 2 years, Menahem. 3. The way in which Pul and Pekah 20, if Pul's expedition had and Tiglath-Pileser are coupled together fallen in Menahem's first year, and in 2 Chron. v. 26, as if they were one Tiglath-Pileser's in Pekah's last, they and the same individual (?) or at any would have been separated at the utmost rate were acting together; and 4. The by a space of 32 years. We shall fact that in the Syriac and Arabic ver- liereafter shew reasons for thinking that | sions of this passage one name only is in fact they were separated by no longer given instead of the two. To me these an interval than 18 or 20 years. arguments do not appear to be of much 1: See the Athena um for Aug. 22, weight. I think that neither the writer 1863 (No. 1869, p. 245). The chief argue of Chronicles nor the writer of Kings ments for the identity are, 1. The fact could possibly have expressed themselves that Scripture mentions Pul's taking tri- ; as they have if they regarded Pul and bute from Menahem, but says nothing of Tiglath-Pileser as the same person, 124 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. acknowledged at Nineveh, but established in the western (and southern '3) provinces so firmly, that he could venture to conduct an expedition into Lower Syria, and to claim there the fealty of Assyria's vassals. Or possibly he may have been a Babylonian monarch, who in the troublous times that had now evidently come upon the northern empire, possessed himself of the Euphrates valley, and thence descended upon Syria and Pales- tine. Berosus, it must be remembered, represented Pul as a Chaldæan king ; 14 and the name itself, which is wholly alien to the ordinary Assyrian type,is has at least one counterpart among known Babylonian names.16 The time of Pul's invasion may be fixed, by combining the Assyrian and the Hebrew chronologies, within very narrow limits. Tiglath-Pileser relates that he took tribute from Menahem in a war which lasted from his fourth to his eighth year, or from B.C. 742 to B.c. 738. As Menahem only reigned ten years, the earliest date that can be assigned to Pul's expedition will be B.C. 752,17 while the latest possible date will be B.c. 746, the year before the accession of Tiglath-Pileser. In any case the expedition falls within the eight years assigned by the Assyrian Canon to the reign of Asshur-lush, Tiglath-Pileser's immediate predecessor. It is remarkable that into this interval falls also the famous era 13 See the next note. 14 See Euseb. Cron. Can. Pars Ima, c. iv. “ Post hos ait extitisse Chala | dicorum regem, cui nomen Phulus erat." Eusebius makes the quotation from Polyhistor; but Polyhistor's authority beyond a doubt was Berosus. Pul there- fore must have figured in the Babylonian annals, either as a native king, or as an Assyrian who had borne sway over Chaldæa. 15 Assyrian names are almost always compounds, consisting of two, three, or more elements. It is difficult to make two elements out of Pul. There is, how- ever, it must be granted, an Assyrian Eponym in the Canon, whose name is not very far from Pul, being Palaya, or Palluya (=“my son"). The same name was borne by a grandson of Merodach- Baladan. Mr. G. Smith, moreover, in- , forms me that he has found Pulu as the name of an ordinary Assyrian on a tablet, 16 The “Porus” of Ptolemy's Canon is a name closely resembling the “ Phu- lus” of Polyhistor. The one would be in Hebrew nie, the other is 540 17 According to Ussher (see the mar- ginal dates in our Bibles) Menahem reigned from B.C. 771 to B.C. 761, or twenty years earlier than this. Clinton lowers the dates by two years (F. H. vol. i. p. 325). Nine more may be de- ducted by omitting the imaginary "in- terregnum" between Pekah and Hoshea, which is contradicted by 2 K. xv. 30. The discrepancy, therefore, between the Assyrian Canon and the Hebrew num- bers at this point does not exceed ten years. CHAP. IX. NABONASSAR AT BABYLON. 125 of Nabonassar,' which must have marked some important change, dynastic or other, at Babylon. The nature of this change will be considered more at length in the Babylonian section. At present it is sufficient to observe, that, in the declining condition of Assyria under the kings who followed Vul-lush III., there was naturally a growth of power and independence among the border countries. Babylon, repenting of the submission which she had made either to Vul-lush lII., or to his father, Shamas-Vul II., once more vindicated her right to freedom, and resumed the position of a separate and hostile monarchy. Samaria, Damascus, Judæa, ceased to pay tribute. Enterprising kings, like Jero- boam II. and Menahem, taking advantage of Assyria's weak- ness, did not content themselves with merely throwing off her yoke, but proceeded to enlarge their dominions at the expense of her feudatories. Judging of the unknown from the known, we may assume that on the north and east there were similar defections to those on the west and south-that the tribes of Armenia and of the Zagros range rose in revolt, and that the Assyrian boundaries were thus contracted in every quarter.3 At the same time, within the limits of what was regarded as the settled Empire, revolts began to occur. In the reign of Asshur-Dayan III. (B.C. 771-753), no fewer than three important insurrections are recorded—one at a city called. Libzu, another at Arapkha, the chief town of Arrapachitis, and a third at Gozan, the chief city of Gauzanitis or Mygdonia. Attempts were made to suppress these revolts; but it may be doubted whether they were successful. The military spirit had declined; the monarchs had ceased to lead out their armies regularly year by year; preferring to pass their time in inglorious ease at their rich and luxurious capitals. Asshur-Dayan III., during nine years of his eighteen, remained at home, undertaking no warlike enter- prise. Asshur-lush, his successor, displayed even less of military vigour. During the eight years of his reign he took the field B.c. 747. The near synchronism office or manipulation whatsoever. Tiglath-Pileser's accession (BC. 745) ! ? See 2 Kings xiv. 25-28; xv. 16. with this date is remarkable, resulting 3 This general defection and depres- as it does simply from the numbers in sion is stated somewhat over strongly the Assyrian Canon, without any arti- | by llerodotus (i. 95, 96). 126 Cuar. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. twice only, passing six years in complete inaction. At the end of this time, Calah, the second city in the kingdom, revolted; and the revolution was brought about, which ushered in the splendid period of the Lower Empire. It was probably during the continuance of the time of depres- sion, when an unwarlike monarch was living in inglorious ease amid the luxuries and refinements of Nineveh, and the people, sunk in repose, gave themselves up to vicious indulgences more hateful in the eye of God than even the pride and cruelty which they were wont to exbibit in war, that the great capital was suddenly startled by a voice of warning in her streets—a voice which sounded everywhere through corridor, and lane, and square, bazaar and caravanserai, one shrill monotonous cry- “ Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”5 A strange wild man, clothed in a rough garment of skin, moving from place to place, announced to the inhabitants their doom. None knew who he was or whence he had come; none had ever beheld him before; pale, haggard, travel-stained, he moved before them like a visitant from another sphere; and his lips still framed the fearful words—“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Had the cry fallen on them in the prosperous time, when each year brought its tale of victories, and every nation upon their borders trembled at the approach of their arms, it would probably have been heard with apathy or ridi- cule, and would have failed to move the heart of the nation. But coming, as it did, when their glory had declined; when their enemies, having been allowed a breathing space, had taken courage and were acting on the offensive in many quarters; when it was thus perhaps quite within the range of probability that some one of their numerous foes might shortly appear in arms before the place, it struck them with fear and consterna- 4 The date of Jonah's preaching to the latter part of the reign of Jero- the Ninevites has been much disputed. | boam II. (Bailey), which would be about It has been placed as early as 860 (see B.C. 780, according to the ordinary our Bibles), or from that to B.C. 840 chronology, or about B.C. 760-750, ac- (Drake), which would throw it into a cording to the views of the present most flourishing Assyrian period, the writer. 5 Jonah iii. 4. reign of Shalmaneser II. Others have 6 This was the prophetic dress. (See 8 ani Zech. xiii. 11 ve s well belo observed that it may as well LO 24N1 CHAP. IX. THE PROPHET JONAH AT NINEVEH. 127 tion. The alarm communicated itself from the city to the palace; and his trembling attendants “came and told the king of Nineveh,” who was seated on his royal throne in the great audience-chamber, surrounded by all the pomp and magnificence of his court. No sooner did he hear, than the heart of the king was touched, like that of his people; and he “ arose from his throne, and laid aside his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.”? Hastily summoning his nobles, he had a decree framed, and “caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.”. Then the fast was pro- claimed, and the people of Nineveh, fearful of God's wrath, put on sackcloth “from the greatest of them even to the least of them.” 10 The joy and merriment, the revelry and feasting of that great city were changed into mourning and lamentation ; the sins that had provoked the anger of the Most High ceased ; the people humbled themselves ; they “turned from their evil way,”\ and by a repentance, which, if not deep and enduring, was still real and unfeigned, they appeased for the present the Divine wrath. Vainly the prophet sate without the city, on its eastern side, under his booth woven of boughs, 2 watching, wait- ing, hoping (apparently) that the doom which he had announced would come, in spite of the people's repentance. God was more merciful than man. He had pity on the “ great city," with its “six score thousand persons that could not discern between their right hand and their left," 13 and, sparing the penitents, left their town to stand unharmed for more than another century. The circumstances under which Tiglath-Pileser II. ascended the throne in the year B.C. 745 are unknown to us. No con- ; Jonah iii, 6. 10 Ibid. verse 5. * On the custom of putting beasts in / 11 Ibid. verse 10. 12 Ibid. iv. 5. mourning, see above, p. 39, note'. 13 Ibid. verse ll. On the meaning * Jonah iii. verses 7 and 8. 1 of the phrase see vol. i. pp. 251, 252. 128 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. fidence can be placed in the statement of Bion and Polyhistor, 2 which seems to have been intended to refer to this monarch, whom they called Belêtaras—a corruption perhaps of the latter half of the name 3—that he was, previously to his elevation to the royal dignity, a mere vine-dresser, whose occupation was to keep in order the gardens of the king. Similar tales of tbe low origin of self-raised and usurping monarchs are too common in the East, and are too often contradicted by the facts, when they become known to us, for much credit to attach to the story told by these late writers, the earlier of whom must have written five or six hundred years after Tiglath-Pileser's time. We might, however, conclude, without much chance of mistake, from such a story being told, that the king intended acquired the throne irregularly; that either he was not of the blood royal, or that, being so, he was at any rate not the legi- timate heir. And the conclusion at which we should thus arrive is confirmed by the monarch's inscriptions; for, though he speaks repeatedly of “the kings his fathers," and even calls the royal buildings at Calab “the palaces of his fathers," yet he never mentions his actual father's name in any record that has come down to us. Such a silence is so contrary to the ordinary practice of Assyrian monarchs, who glory in their descent and parade it on every possible occasion, that, where it occurs, we are justified in concluding the monarch to have been an usurper, deriving his title to the crown not from his ancestry, or from any law of succession, but from a successful revolution, in which he played the principal part. It matters little that such i Fr. Hist. Gr. vol. iv. p. 351. | the kingdom next to that of the monarch 2 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 210. (Nic. Dam. Fr. 49). Cyrus, son (ac- 3 The native form is Pal-tsira, or cording to Herodotus, i. 107) of an Palli-tsir (Oppert), whence Beletar, by ordinary Persian noble, declares himself a change of the initial tenuis into the to have been the son of a “powerful media, and a hardening of the dental ! king." (See the author's Herodotus, sibilant. vol. i. p. 200, note", 2nd edit.) There - Compare the stories of Gyges, Cyrus, | are good grounds for believing that the Amasis, &c. Gyges, the herdsman of low birth of Amasis is likewise a fiction. Plato (Rep. ii. 3), and the guardsman of Ibid. vol. ii. p. 222, note ?.) Herodotus (i. 8), appears in the narrative 5 Bion's date is uncertain, but it pro- of Nicolaus Damascenus, who probably | bably was not much before B.c. 200. (See follows the native historian Xanthus, the remarks of C. Müller in the Fr. Hist. as a member of the noblest house in Gr. vol. iv. p. 347.) CHAP. IX. REIGN OF TIGLATH-PILESER II. 129 a monarch, when he is settled upon the throne, claims, in a vague and general way, connection with the kings of former times. The claim may often have a basis of truth; for in monarchies where polygamy prevails, and the kings have numerous daughters to dispose of, almost all the nobility can boast that they are of the blood royal. Where the claim is in no sense true, it will still be made ; for it flatters the vanity of the monarch, and there is no one to gainsay it. Only in such cases we are sure to find a prudent vagueness—an assertion of the fact of the connection, expressed in general terms, without any specification of the particulars on which the supposed fact rests. On obtaining the crown—whatever the circumstances under which he obtained it-Tiglath-Pileser immediately proceeded to attempt the restoration of the Empire by engaging in a series of wars, now upon one, now upon another frontier, seeking by his unwearied activity and energy to recover the losses suffered through the weakness of his predecessors, and to compensate for their laches by a vigorous discharge of all the duties of the kingly office. The order of these wars, which formerly it was impossible to determine, is now fixed by means of the Assyrian Canon, and we may follow the course of the expeditions con- ducted by Tiglath-Pileser II. with as much confidence and certainty as those of Tiglath-Pileser I., Asshur-izir-pal, or the second Shalmaneser. It is scarcely necessary, however, to detain the reader by going through the entire series. The interest of Tiglath-Pileser's military operations attaches espe- cially to his campaigns in Babylonia and in Syria, where he is brought into contact with persons otherwise known to us. His other wars are comparatively unimportant. Under these circum- stances it is proposed to consider in detail only the Babylonian and Syrian expeditions, and to dismiss the others with a few general remarks on the results which were accomplished by them, Tiglath-Pileser's expeditions against Babylon were in his first and in his fifteenth years, B.C. 745 and 731. No sooner did he find himself settled upon the throne, than he levied an VOL. II. 130 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. army, and marched against Southern Mesopotamia, which appears to have been in a divided and unsettled condition. According to the Canon of Ptolemy, Nabonassar then ruled in Babylon. Tiglath-Pileser's annals confuse the accounts of his two campaigns; but the general impression which we gather from them is that, even in B.c. 745, the country was divided up into a number of small principalities, the sea-coast being under the dominion of Merodach-Baladan, who held his court in his father's city of Bit-Yakin ;' while in the upper region there were a number of petty princes, apparently independent, among whom may be recognised names which seem to occur later in Ptolemy's list, among the kings of Babylon to whom he assigns short reigns in the interval between Nabonassar and Mardoc- empalus (Merodach-Baladan). Tiglath-Pileser attacked and defeated several of these princes, taking the towns of Kur-Galzu (now Akkerkuf), and Sippara or Sepharvaim, together with many other places of less consequence in the lower portion of the country, after which he received the submission of Merodach- Baladan, who acknowledged him for suzerain, and consented to pay an annual tribute. Tiglath-Pileser upon this assumed the title of “King of Babylon " (B.C. 729), and offered sacrifice to the Babylonian gods in all the principal cities. The first Syrian war of Tiglath-Pileser was undertaken in his third year (B.C. 743), and lasted from that year to his eighth. In the course of it he reduced to subjection Damascus, which had regained its independence,lº and was under the government of Rezin ; Samaria, where Menabem, the adversary of Pul, was still reigning; Tyre, which was under a monarch bearing the 6 This fact is stated on a mutilated When Merodach-Baladan is called tablet belonging to Tiglath-Pileser's “the son of Baladan” in 2 Kings xx. reign. 12, and Is. xxxix. 1, the reference is i Merodach-Baladan is called “the probably to a grandfather or other son of Yakin" in the Assyrian Inscrip ancestor. tions. His capital, Bit-Yakin, had ap & As Nadina, who would seem to be parently been built by, and named after, Nadius; and Zakiru, who may possibly his father. Compare Bit-Omri (i. e. Sa be Chinzirus. maria), Bit-Sargina, &c. It has been 9 Babylon, Borsippa, Nipur, Cutha, suggested that Yakin may be intended | Erech, Kis, and Dilmun. Compare the by Jugæus, if that be the true reading, I conduct of Vul-lush III. (supra, p. 116). in Ptolemy's Canon. 1 10 See above, p. 116. CHAP. IX. TIGLATH-PILESER'S WARS. 131 familiar name of Hiram ;11 Hamath, Gebal, and the Arabs bordering upon Egypt, who were ruled by a queen 12 called Khabiba. He likewise met and defeated a vast army under Azariah (or Uzziah), king of Judah, but did not succeed in inducing him to make his submission. It would appear by this that Tiglath-Pileser at this time penetrated deep into Palestine, probably to a point which no Assyrian king but Vul-lush III. had reached previously. But it would seem, at the same time, that his conquests were very incomplete; they did not include Judæa or Philistia, Idumæa, or the tribes of the Hauran; and they left untouched the greater number of the Phænician cities. It causes us, therefore, no surprise to find that in a short time, B.C. 734, he renewed his efforts in this quarter, commencing by an attack on Samaria, where Pekah was now king, and taking “ Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali, and carrying them captive to Assyria,” 13 thus “lightly afflicting the land of Zebulun and the land of Naph- tali,” ? or the more northern portion of the Holy Land, about Lake Merom, and from that to the Sea of Gennesareth. This attack was followed shortly (B.C. 733) by the most important of Tiglath-Pileser's Syrian wars. It appears that the common danger, which had formerly united the Hittites, Hamathites, and Damascenes in a close alliance, now caused a league to be formed between Damascus and Samaria, the sovereigns of which—Pekah and Rezin—made an attempt to add Judæa to their confederation, by declaring war against Ahaz, attacking his territory, and threatening to substitute in his place as king of Jerusalem a creature of their own, “ the son 11 Besides the great Hiram, the friend | Arabs were near neighbours of the Sa- of Solomon, there is a Tyrian king of bæans, it is suggested that the queen of the name mentioned by Menander as Sheba came from their country, which contemporary with Cyrus (Fr. 2); and was in the neighbourhood of Sinai. (See another occurs in Herodotus (vii. 98), Trinsactions of the Royal Society of who must have been contemporary with Literature, vol. vii. New Series, p. 14.) Darius Hystaspis. 18 2 Kings xv. 29. 1: The Arabs of the tract bordering 1 Isaiah ix. 1. This war is slightly on Egypt seem to have been regularly | alluded to in the inscriptions of Tiglath- governed by queens. Three such are Pileser; but no details are given. mentioned in the Inscriptions. As these ? See above, p. 103. K 2 132 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. of Tabeal."3 Hard pressed by his enemies, Ahaz applied to Assyria, offering to become Tiglath-Pileser's “servant”-i.e. his vassal and tributary—if he would send troops to his assistance, and save him from the impending danger. Tiglath-Pileser was not slow to obey this call. Entering Syria at the head of an army, he fell first upon Rezin, who was defeated and fled to Damascus, where Tiglath-Pileser besieged him for two years, at the end of which time he was taken and slain. Next he attacked Pekah, entering his country on the north-east, where it bordered upon the Damascene territory, and, overrunning the whole of the Trans-Jordanic provinces, together (apparently) with some portion of the Cis-Jordanic region. The tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who had pos- sessed the country between the Jordan and the desert from the time of Moses, were seized and carried away captive by the con- queror, who placed them in Upper Mesopotamia, on the affluents of the Bilikh and the Khabour, from about Harran to Nisibis.? Some cities situated on the right bank of the Jordan, in the territory of Issachar, but belonging to Manasseh, were at the same time seized and occupied. Among these Megiddo in the great plain of Esdraelon, and Dur or Dor upon the coast, some way below Tyre, were the most important. Dur was even thought of sufficient consequence to receive an Assyrian governor at the same time with the other principal cities of Southern Syria. After thus chastising Samaria, Tiglath-Pileser appears to ! 3 Isaiah vii. 1-6. Comp. 2 Kings xvi. 5. 4 2 Kings xvi. 7. 52 Kings xvi. 9. There is an im perfect notice of the defeat and death of Rezin in a mutilated inscription now in the British Museum. 6 2 Chron. v. 26. That Tiglath-Pileser attacked Pekah twice seems to follow from the complete difference between the localities mentioned in 2 Kings xv. 29, and 2 Chron. v. 26. In Isaiah ix. 1, both expeditions seem to be glanced at. ? That the Gozan of Scripture was this country is apparent enough from Scripture itself, which joins it with Ilalah (Chalcitis of Ptolemy), Habor (the Khabour), Haran (Harran or Carrhæ), Rezeph, and Fden (Beth- Adini). It is confirmed by the Assyrian inscriptions, which connect Guzan with Nisibis. & Megiddo and Dora are mentioned under the forms of Muqilu and Duru among the Syrian cities tributary to Tiglath-Pileser. They are joined to a place called Manatsrah, which now for the first time appears in the lists, and which probably represents the land of Manassch. The south-western limit of Assyria was now advanced to about lat. 32° 30'. Dur and Megiddo seem to have been her frontier towns. 1 CHAP. IX. · TIGLATH-PILESER'S WARS. 133 have passed on to the south, where he reduced the Philistines and the Arab tribes, who inhabited the Sinaitic desert as far as the borders of Egypt. Over these last he set, in lieu of their native queen, an Assyrian governor. He then returned towards Damascus, where he held a court, and invited the neighbouring states and tribes to send in their submission. The states and tribes responded to his invitation. Tiglath-Pileser, before quitting Syria, received submission and tribute not only from Ahaz, king of Judah, but also from Mit'enna,'' king of Tyre; Pekah, king of Samaria ; Khanun, king of Gaza; and Mitinti, king of Ascalon; from the Moabites, the Ammonites, the people of Arvad or Aradus, and the Idumæans. He thus completely re-established the power of Assyria in this quarter,12 once more recovering to the Empire the entire tract between the coast and the desert from Mount Amanus on the north to the Red Sea and the confines of Egypt. One further expedition was led or sent by Tiglath-Pileser into Syria, probably in his last year. Disturbances having occurred from the revolt of Mit'enna of Tyre, and the murder of Pekah of Israel by Hoshea, an Assyrian army marched west- ward, in B.c. 728, to put them down. The Tyrian monarch at once submitted; and Hoshea, having entered into negotiations, agreed to receive investiture into his kingdom at the hands of the Assyrians, and to hold it as an Assyrian territory. On these terms peace was re-established, and the army of Tiglath-Pileser retired and recrossed the Euphrates. 19 2 Kings xvi. 10. Tiglath-Pileser | it with so wicked a monarch; but per- records his reception of tribute from haps it is more probable that the name a king of Judah, whom he calls Yohu was changed by Tiglath-Pileser, when thazi, or Jehoahaz. It was at one time Ahaz became his tributary, just as the suggested that the monarch intended name of Eliakim was turned by Necho might be Uzziah, whose name would to Jehoiakim (2 Kings xxiii. 34), and become Jehoahaz by a metathesis of the that of Mattaniah to Zedekiah by Nebu- two elements; but the late date of the chadnezzar (ibid. xxiv. 17). His im- tribute-giving, which was certainly pieties may have prevented the Jews towards the close of Tiglath-Pileser's from recognising the change of name as reign, renders this impossible. Yahu legitimate, and made them still call khazi must represent Ahaz. It has him simply Ahaz. been suggested that Jehoahaz was the 11 Compare the Matgenus (Mátynvos) monarch's real appellation, and that the of Menander, the father of Pygmalion Jews dropped the initial element because and Dido (Fr. 1). they were unwilling to profane the 12 See above, p. 117. sacred name of Jehovah by connecting CHAP. IX. REIGN OF SHALMANESER IV. 135 drawing is rather freer and more spirited than that of the sculptures of Asshur-izir-pal; animal forms, as camels, oxen, sheep, and goats, are more largely introduced, and there is somewhat less formality in the handling. But the change is in no respect very decided, or such as to indicate an era in the progress of art. Tiglath-Pileser appears, by the Assyrian Canon, to have bad a reign of eighteen years. He ascended the throne in B.C. 745, and was succeeded in B.C. 727 by Shalmaneser, the fourth monarch who had borne that appellation. It is uncertain whether Shalmaneser IV. was related to Tiglath-Pileser or not. As, however, there is no trace of the succession having been irregular or disputed, it is most probable that he was his son. He ascended the throne in B.c. 727, and ceased to reign in B.C. 722, thus holding the royal power for less than six years. It was probably very soon after his acces- sion, that, suspecting the fidelity of Samaria, he “ came up" against Hoshea, king of Israel, and, threatening him with con- dign punishment, so terrified him that he made immediate submission. The arrears of tribute were rendered, and the homage due from a vassal to his lord was paid ; and Shalmaneser either returned into his own country or turned his attention to other enterprises. But shortly afterwards he learnt that Hoshea, in spite of his submission and engagements, was again contem- plating defection; and, conscious of his own weakness, was endeavouring to obtain a promise of support from an enter- prising monarch who ruled in the neighbouring country of Egypt.* The Assyrian conquests in this quarter had long been tending to bring them into collision with the great power of For representations of Tiglath-Pi- ! (marginal rendering). leser's sculptures, see Mr. Layard's honu. 3 It was probably now that Shal- ments, 1st Series, Plates 57 to 67; and maneser made his general attack upon compare, in vol. i. of this work, the Phænicia. (Infra, p. 137.) woodcut on p. 242, the second woodcut + 2 Kings xvii. 4. “And the king of on p. 243, and the woodcuts on pp. 376 Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea ; and 404. for he had sent messengers to So king : 2 Kings xvii. 3. “ Against him came of Egypt, and brought no present to up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and I the king of Assyria, as he had done year Hoshea became his servant and gave him by year.” presents,” or “rendered him tribute" 136 CHAP. IX. . THE SECOND MONARCHY. Eastern Africa, which had once held, and always coveted, the dominion of Syria. Hitherto such relations as they had had with the Egyptians appear to bave been friendly. The weak and unwarlike Pharaohs who about this time bore sway in Egypt had sought the favour of the neighbouring Asiatic power by demanding Assyrian princesses in marriage and affecting Assyrian names for their offspring. But recently an important change had occurred. A brave Ethiopian prince had descended the valley of the Nile at the head of a swarthy host, had defeated the Egyptian levies, had driven the reigning monarch into the marshes of the Delta, or put him to a cruel death,' and bad established his own dominion firmly, at any rate, over the • upper country. Shebek the First bore sway in Memphis in lieu of the blind Bocchoris;10 and Hoshea, seeing in this bold and enterprising king the natural foe of the Assyrians," and therefore his own natural ally and friend, “sent messengers” with proposals, which appear to have been accepted; for on their return Hoshea revolted openly, withheld his tribute, and declared himself independent. Shalmaneser, upon this, came up against Samaria for the second time, determined now to punish his vassal's perfidy with due severity. Apparently, he was unresisted; at any rate, Hoshea fell into his power, and s Several kings of the 18th and 19th | not to be trusted ; and it is allowable dynasties seem to have ruled over Syria, | therefore to assign to the two Ethiopian and even to have made war across the kings who preceded Tirhakah ordinary Euphrates in Western Mesopotamia. reigns of (say) 20 years each, which (See Wilkinson in the author's Hero would bring the Ethiopian conquest fo dutus, vol. ii. pp. 302-305 and p. 311; B.C. 730. and compare Sir H. Rawlinson's Illustra 9 Manetho stated that Bocchoris the tions of Egyptian History, published in Saite was burnt alive by Sa baco I. (Eu- the Transactions of the Royal Society of seb. Chr. Can. i. p. 104.) Herodotus Literature, vol. vii. New Series.) gave a different account (ii. 137-140). 6 The invasions of Shishak (Sheshonk) 10 According to Herodotus, the native and Zerah (Osorkon) show that the idea king whom Sabaco superseded (called by of annexing Syria continued even during him Anysis) was blind. Diodorus calls a period of comparative depression. Bocchoris T owuati Tarteaevkata- ? Vide supra, p. 82. opóvntov, but does not specify any par- $ If we were obliged to follow Mane ticular infirmity. (Diod. Sic. i. 65, tho's dates, as reported to us through $ 1.) Eusebius and Africanus, we should have 11 That the So, or rather Seveh (10), to place the accession of the first Sabaco of 2 Kings xvii. 4, represents the Egyp- 22 or 24 years only before Tirhakah, tian name Shebek is the general opinion B.C. 712 or 714. But the Apis stelve of commentators. It is not perhaps have shown that Manetho's numbers are quite certain, but it is highly probable, CHAP. IX. WARS OF SHALMANESER IV. 137 was seized, bound, and shut up in prison. A year or two later 12 Shalmaneser made his third and last expedition into Syria. What was the provocation given him, we are not told; but this time, he “came up throughout all the land," 13 and, being met with resistance, he laid formal siege to the capital. The siege commenced in Shalmaneser's fourth year, B.C. 724, and was protracted to his sixth, either by the efforts of the Egyptians, or by the stubborn resistance of the inhabitants. At last, in B.C. 722, the town surrendered, or was taken by storm ; 14 but before this consummation had been reached, Shalmaneser's reign would seem to have come to an end in consequence of a successful revolution. While he was conducting these operations against Samaria, either in person or by means of his generals, Shalmaneser appears to have been also engaged in hostilities with the Phæni- cian towns. Like Samaria, they had revolted at the death of Tiglath-Pileser; and Shalmaneser, consequently, marched into Phoenicia at the beginning of his reign, probably in his first year, overran the entire country,'and forced all the cities to resume their position of dependence. The island Tyre, how- ever, shortly afterwards shook off the yoke. Hereupon Shal- maneser “ returned” 16 into these parts, and collecting a fleet from Sidon, Palæ-Tyrus, and Akko, the three most important of the Phænician towns after Tyre, proceeded to the attack of the revolted place. His vessels were sixty in number, and were manned by eight hundred Phoenician rowers, co-operating with, probably, a smaller number of unskilled Assyrians. Against 12 It has not been generally seen that I lovu nanpwo á v T W v uŮto vaûs étń- there is an interval of time between | Kovta). It is uncertain how many rowers verses 4 and 5 of 2 Kings xvii.; yet the Phænician vessels of this time re- this is sufficiently clear to an attentive quired. In Sargon's sculptures they are reader. represented with only four or five 1: 2 Kings xvii. 4. rowers on each side; in Sennacherib's 14 So Josephus. Elle Katà kpáros with eight, nine, or eleven, and also with Thy Lauaplav. (Ant. Jud. ix. 13.) two steersmen. Probably the latter re- 15 'Erade pouvikov mon Euôn ama presentation is the more correct; and sav. (Menand. Eph. ap. Joseph. Ant. this would make the average number of Jud. ix. 14.) rowers to be twenty. In that case each 18 'THÉOTREUE. (Ibid.) crew on this occasion would have been Menander speaks of the Phænicians two-thirds Phænician to one-third As- as “ helping to man the sixty ships” | syrian. 138 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. this fleet the Tyrians, confiding in their maritime skill, sent out a force of twelve vessels only, which proved, however, quite equal to the occasion; for the assailants were dispersed and driven off, with the loss of 500 prisoners. Shalmaneser, upon this defeat, retired, and gave up all active operations, content- ing himself with leaving a body of troops on the mainland, over against the city, to cut off the Tyrians from the supplies of water, which they were in the habit of drawing from the river Litany, and from certain aqueducts which conducted the pre- cious fluid from springs in the mountains. The Tyrians, it is said, held out against this pressure for five years, satisfying their thirst with rain water, which they collected in reservoirs. Whether they then submitted, or whether the attempt to sub- due them was given up, is uncertain, since the quotation from Menander, which is our sole authority for this passage of his- tory, here breaks off abruptly. The short reign of Shalmaneser IV. was, it is evident, suffi- ciently occupied by the two enterprises, of which accounts have now been given-the complete subjugation of Samaria, and the attempt to reduce the island Tyre. Indeed, it is probable that neither enterprise had been concluded when a dynastic revolution, caused by the ambition of a subject, brought the unhappy monarch's reign to an untimely end. The conquest of Samaria is claimed by Sargon as an event of his first year; and the resistance of the Tyrians, if it really continued during the full space assigned to it by Menander, must have extended beyond the term of Shalmaneser's reign, into the first or second year of his successor. It was probably the prolonged absence ? It has been usual to see in this reading. He would propose to change Tyrian war of Shalmaneser's an expedi- i TOÚTous into TOūTOV. tion against Cyprus; and the author 3 Shalmaneser's first attack on Pho- originally understood the passage in nicia may be assigned to his first year. this sense (see his Herodotus, vol. ii. p., The revolt of the island Tyre, and his 234, note 8). But he now thinks with naval attack on it, cannot fall earlier, Mr. Kenrick (Phienicia, p. 379, note '), | but may easily have fallen later, than that, even if the present text of Jose. ! his second year. The blockade of the phus is correct, no Cyprian expedition fountains might possibly be established is intended. At the same time he sus in the autumn of that year (B.C. 7:26), pects that the words which cause the in which case the five years of resistance difficulty ('E ni TOÚTUUS mérvas ó Tv would terminate in the autumn of B.C. 'Agouplwr Baureus) contain a wrong 721, which is Sargon's second year. CHAP. IX. REVOLT OF SARGON. 139 of the Assyrian monarch from his capital, caused by the ob- stinacy of the two cities which he was attacking, that encouraged a rival to come forward and seize the throne; just as in the Persian history we shall find the prolonged absence of Cam- byses in Egypt produce a revolution and change of dynasty at Susa. In the East, where the monarch is not merely the chief but the sole power in the state, the moving spring whose action must be continually exerted to prevent the machinery of go- vernment from standing still, it is always dangerous for the reigning prince to be long away from his metropolis. The Orientals do not use the language of mere unmeaning com- pliment when they compare their sovereigns with the sun, and speak of them as imparting light and life to the country and people over which they rule. In the king's absence all lau- guishes; the course of justice is suspended; public works are stopped; the expenditure of the Court, on which the prosperity of the capital mainly depends, being withdrawn, trade stagnates, the highest branches suffering most; artists are left without employment; workmen are discharged; wages fall; every industry is more or less deranged, and those engaged in it suffer accordingly; nor is there any hope of a return of prosperity until the king comes home. Under these circumstances a general discontent prevails; and the people, anxious for better times, are ready to welcome any pretender who will come for- ward, and, on any pretext whatever, declare the throne vacant, and claim to be its proper occupant. If Shalmaneser continued to direct in person the siege of Samaria during the three years of its continuance, we cannot be surprised that the patience of the Ninevites was exhausted, and that in the third year they accepted tue rule of the usurper who boldly proclaimed himself king. What right the new monarch put forward, what position he had previously held, what special circumstances, beyond the mere absence of the rightful king, facilitated his attempts, are * This is the probable origin of the 1 sovereigns are “ the light of the Uni. title Pharaoh, which Ph’ Ra, “the Sun." verse," "the brother of the Sun and Among the common titles of Oriental | Moon," and the like. 140 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. matters on which the monuments throw no light, and on which we must therefore be content to be ignorant. All that we can see is, that either personal merit or official rank and position, must have enabled him to establish himself; for he certainly did not derive any assistance from his birth, which must have been mediocre, if not actually obscure. It is the custom of the Babylonian and Assyrian kings to glory in their ancestry, and when the father has occupied a decently high position, the son declares his sire's name and rank at the commencement of each inscription ;5 but Sargon never, in any record, names his father, nor makes the slightest allusion to his birth and descent, unless it be in vague phrases, wherein he calls the former kings of Assyria, and even those of Babylonia, his ancestors. Such expressions seem to be mere words of course, having no his- torical value: and it would be a mistake even to conclude from them that the new king intended seriously to claim the con- nection of kindred with the monarchs of former times. It has been thought, indeed, that Sargon, instead of cloaking his usurpation under some decent plea of right, took a pride in boldly avowing it. The name Sargon has been supposed to be one which he adopted as his royal title at the time of his esta- blishment upon the throne, intending by the adoption to make it generally known that he had acquired the crown, not by birth or just claim, but by his own will and the consent of the people. Sargon, or Sar-gina, as the native name is read," means “the firm ” or “ well-established king,” and (it has been argued) “ shows the usurper.”! The name is certainly unlike the gene- ral run of Assyrian royal titles ;? but still, as it is one which is found to have been previously borne by at least one private 5 Nabonidus always styles himself | 1 “Sargon (Sır-kin) veut dire, roi de “the son of Nebo-belatzu-ikbi, the Rab- fait, et indique l'usurpateur." (Oppert, Mag.” Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 8.) See Oppert, Inscriptions des Sar 2 The religious character of the As- gonides, p. 31. syrian royal names has been already re- ? M. Oppert now prefers the form peatedly noticed. (Supra, pp. 13, 19, Saryuukin. (Chronologie Biblique, p. 20.) 22, &c.) They consist almost univer- Mr. G. Smith regards Sargina as the sally of two or three elements, forming Accadian and Suru-kina as the As a short sentence, and including the name syrian form. (Zeitschrift für Aegyptische | or designation of a god. (See Appendix Sprache for 1869, p. 93.) | A,“On the Assyrian Royal Names.") CHAP. IX. WARS OF SARGON. 141 person in Assyria, it is perhaps best to suppose that it was the monarch's real original appellation, and not assumed when he came to the throne; in which case no argument can be founded upon it. Military success is the best means of confirming a doubtful title to the leadership of a warlike nation. No sooner, therefore, was Sargon accepted by the Ninevites as king than he com- menced a series of expeditions, which at once furnished employ- ment to unquiet spirits, and gave the prestige of military glory to his own name. He warred successively in Susiana, in Syria, on the borders of Egypt, in the tract beyond Amanus, in Melitêné and Southern Armenia, in Kurdistan, in Media, and in Baby- lonia. During the first fifteen years of his reign, the space which his annals cover, he kept his subjects employed in a continual series of important expeditions, never giving himself, nor allow- ing them, a single year of repose. Immediately upon his acces- sion he marched into Susiana, where he defeated Humbanigas, the Elamitic king, and Merodach-Baladan, the old adversary of Tiglath-Pileser, who had revolted and established himself as king over Babylonia. Neither monarch was, however, reduced to subjection, though an important victory was gained, and many captives taken, who were transported into the country of the Hittites. In the same year, B.c. 722, he received the sub- mission of Samaria, which surrendered, probably, to his generals, after it had been besieged two full years. He punished the city by depriving it of the qualified independence which it had enjoyed hitherto, appointing instead of a native king an Assyrian officer to be its governor, and further carrying off as slaves 27,280 of the inhabitants. On the remainder, however, he con- tented himself with re-imposing the rate of tribute to which the town had been liable before its revolt. The next year, 3 Zeitschrift, I. 8. c. It had also been borne by an ancient Chaldæan monarch, of whom mention is made in two or three places, but whose date cannot be fixed. In reference to this early king, the Assyrian Sargon is sometimes called Suruhinj- trk the later Sargon." * This is the usual estimate. M. Op- pert regards the annals as covering sixteen years, from B.c. 721 to B.c. 706, inclusively. 5 Sargon seems not to have effected the deportation of the Samaritans at once. Apparently he acted towards them as Sennacherib intended to act towards the Jews of Jerusalem. (2 Kings 142 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. B.C. 721, he was forced to march in person into Syria in order to meet and quell a dangerous revolt. Yahu-bid (or Ilu-bid), king of Hamath-a usurper, like Sargon himself—had rebelled, and had persuaded the cities of Arpad, Zimira, Daniascus, and Samaria, to cast in their lot with his, and to form a confederacy, by which it was imagined that an effectual resistance might be offered to the Assyrian arms. Not content merely to stand on the defensive in their several towns, the allies took the field; and a battle was fought at Karkar or Gargar (perhaps one of the many Aroers ?), where the superiority of the Assyrian troops was once more proved, and Sargon gained a complete victory over his enemies. Yahu-bid himself was taken and beheaded ; and the chiefs of the revolt in the other towns were also put to death. Having thus crushed the rebellion and re-established tran- quillity throughout Syria, Sargon turned his arms towards the extreme south, and attacked Gaza, which was a dependency of Egypt. The exact condition of Egypt at this time is open to some doubt. According to Manetho's numbers, the twenty-fifth or Ethiopian dynasty had not yet begun to reign. Bocchoris the Saite occupied the throne, a humane but weak prince, of a contemptible presence, and perhaps afflicted with blindness." No doubt such a prince would tempt the attack of a powerful neighbour; and, so far, probability might seem to be in favour of the Manethonian dates. But, on the other hand, it must be remembered that Egypt had lately taken an aggressive attitude, incompatible with a time of weakness ; she had intermeddled xviii. 31, 32. “Thus saith the king of ? The Hebrew literation of Aroer is Assyria, Make an agreement with me why, which is very likely to be re- by a present, and come out to me, and I presented by Gargar, since the Hebrew then eat ye every man of his own vine, ain is very nearly a g. On the position and every one of his fig-tree, and drink of the various Aroers, see Mr. Grove's ye every one the waters of his cistern, article in Smith's Biblical Dictionary, until I come to take you away to a land vol. i. p. 115. like your own land," &c.) Manetho placed the accession of the 6 The Simyra of the classical geo Ethiopian dynasty 191 or 193 years graphers, which was near Marathus. before the invasion of Cambyses, i.e. in (Plin. H. N. v. 20; Mela, i, 12; &c.) | B.c. 716 or 718. The city is not mentioned in Scripture; • Supra, p. 136, note 10. Bocchoris, but we hear in Genesis (x. 16) of the according to Manetho, reigned either “ Zemarites," in conjunction with the six or forty-four years! Hamathites and Arvadites. CHAP. IX. SARGON AND SABACO. 143 between the Assyrian crown and its vassals, by entering into a league with Hoshea; and she had extended her dominion over, a portion of Philistia,lo thereby provoking a collision with the Great Power of the East. Again, it is worthy of note that the name of the Pharaoh who had dealings with Hoshea, if it does not seem at first sight very closely to resemble the Egyptian Shebek, is, at any rate, a possible representative of that word," while no etymological skill can force it into agreement with any other name in this portion of the Egyptian lists. Further, it is to be remarked, that at this point of the Assyrian annals, a Shebek appears in them,'2 holding a position of great authority in Egypt, though not dignified with the title of king. These facts furnish strong grounds for believing that the Manethonian chronology, which can be proved to be in many points in- correct,'3 has placed the accession of the Ethiopians somewhat too late, and that that event occurred really as early as B.C. 725 or B.c. 730. At the same time, it must be allowed, that all difficulty is not removed by this supposition. The Shebek (Sibahé or Sibaki) of the Assyrian record bears an inferior title, and not that of king. He is also, apparently, contemporary with another authority in Egypt, who is recognised by Sargon as the true s Pharaoh,” or native ruler. Further, it is not till eight or 19 Philistia had submitted to Vul- lush III. (supra, p. 116), and probably to Tiglath-Pileser II. (p. 133). The extension of Egyptian influence over the country is perhaps glanced at in the prophecy of Isaiah :-" In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan.” The “five cities” of the Philistines were Ashdod, Gaza, Ascalon, Gath, and Ekron. (See Josh. xiii. 3; and I Sam. vi. 17.) "Supra, p. 136, note 11. 12 See Oppert, Inscriptions des Sare gunedes, p. 22; and compare Sir H. Raw- linson in the Athenaum, No. 1869, p. 217, note 28 ; and Dr. Hicks in the same journal, No. 1878, p. 534. 13 Manetho assigned to Neco six years only, whereas it is certain that he reigned sixteen. He interposed three kings, whose reigns covered a space of twenty-one years, between Tirhakah and Psammetichus, whereas the monu- ments show that Psammetichus followed Tirhakah immediately. Again, he gave Tirhakah eighteen years, whereas the monuments give him twenty-six. His numbers may have been falsified; but certainly, as they come to us, no depend- ance can be placed on them. (See M. de Rouge's Notice sommaire des Monuments éruptiens du Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1855.) The title borne by Shebek is read as Tar-dinu by Sir H. Rawlinson, and ex- | plained as honorific, signifying "the high in rank.” M. Oppert reads it as Sil-tan, and compares the Hebrew shilton (piose), “ power,” and the Arabic Sub- tan. In either case the title is a subor- dinate one, occurring in an Assyrian list of officers after that of Tartan, . 1 ? That Shebek the Tar-dan or Siltan 144 CHAP, IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. nine years later that any mention is made of Ethiopia as having an authority over Egypt, or as in any way brought into contart with Sargon. The proper conclusion from these facts seems to be, that the Ethiopians established themselves gradually; that in B.C. 7:20, Shebek or Sabaco, though master of a portion of Egypt, had not assumed the royal title, which was still borne by a native prince of little power-Bocchoris, or Sethos-who held his court somewhere in the Delta ; and that it was not till about the year B.C. 712 that this shadowy kingdom passed away, that the Ethiopian rule was extended over the whole of Egypt, and that Sabaco assumed the full rank of independent inonarch. If this be the true solution of the difficulty which has here presented itself, we must conclude that the first actual collision between the powers of Egypt and Assyria took place at a time very unfavourable to the former. Egypt was, in fact, divided against itself, the fertile tract of the Delta being under one king, the long valley of the Nile under another. If war was not actually going on, jealousy and suspicion, at any rate, must have held the two sovereigns apart; and the Assyrian monarch, coming at such a time of intestine feud, must have found it comparatively easy to gain a triumph in this quarter. The armies of the two great powers met at the city of Rapikh, which seems to be the Raphia of the Greeks and Romans, and consequently the modern R«fah—a position upon the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about half-way between Gaza and the Wady-el-Arish, or “River of Egypt.” Here the forces of the Philistines, under Khanun, king of Gaza, and those of Shebek, the Tar-dan (or perhaps the Sultan 4) of Egypt, had effected a junction, and awaited the approach of the invader. Sargon, having arrived, immediately engaged the allied army, and succeeded in defeating it completely, capturing Khanun, and is not the Pharaoh who gave the tribute marked in Polybius, who places it be- is evident from the great Chamber In tween Rhinocolura and Gaza (v. 80, scription of Khorsa bad, where the two $ 3). It was the scene of a great battle names stand contrasted in two con between l'tolemy Philopator and Antio- secutive paragraphs. (Oppert, Inscrip chus the Great, B.c. 217. Pliny calls it tions des Suryonides, p. 22.) | Raphea. (H. N. v. 13.) 3 The position of Raphia is well, See above, p. 143, note'. Char. IX. BATTLE OF RAPHIA. 145 forcing Shebek to seek safety in flight. Khanun was deprived of his crown and carried off to Assyria by the conqueror, Such was the result of the first combat between the two great powers of Asia and of Africa. It was an omen of the future, though it was scarcely a fair trial of strength. The battle of Raphia foreshadowed truly enough the position which Egypt would hold among the nations from the time that she ceased to be isolated, and was forced to enter into the struggle for pre- eminence, and even for existence, with the great kingdoms of the neighbouring continent. With rare and brief exceptions, Egypt has from the time of Sargon succumbed to the superior might of whatever power has been dominant in Western Asia, owning it for lord, and submitting, with a good or a bad grace, to a position involving a greater or less degree of dependence. Tributary to the later Assyrian princes, and again, probably, to Nebuchadnezzar, she had scarcely recovered her independence when she fell under the dominion of Persia. Never successful, notwithstanding all her struggles, in thoroughly shaking off this hated yoke, she did but exchange her Persian for Greek masters, when the empire of Cyrus perished. Since then, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, and Turks have, each in their turn, been masters of the Egyptian race, which has paid the usual penalty of precocity in the early exhaustion of its powers. After the victories of Aroer and Raphia, the Assyrian monarch appears to have been engaged for some years in wars of comparatively slight interest towards the north and the north-east. It was not till B.c. 715, five years after his first fight with the Egyptians, that he again made an expedition towards the south-west, and so came once more into contact with nations to whose fortunes we are not wholly indifferent. His chief efforts on this occasion were directed against the peninsula of Arabia. The wandering tribes of the desert, tempted by the weak condition to which the Assyrian conquest had reduced Samaria, made raids, it appears, into the territory at their pleasure, and carried off plunder. Sargon determined to chastise s Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 36. VOL. II. 146 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. these predatory bands, and made an expedition into the interior, where “be subdued the uncultivated plains of the remote Arabia, which had never before given tribute to Assyria,” and brought under subjection the Thamudites, and several other Arab tribes, carrying off a certain number and settling them in Samaria itself, which thenceforth contained an Arab element in its population. Such an effect was produced on the surrounding nations by the success of this inroad, that their princes hastened to propitiate Sargon's favour by sending embassies, and accepting the position of Assyrian tributaries. The reigning Pharaoh, whoever he may have been, It-hamar, king of the Sabæans, and Tsamsi,' queen of the Arabs, thus humbled themselves, sending presents, and probably entering into engagements which bound them for the future. Four years later (B.C. 711) Sargon led a third expedition into these parts, regarding it as important to punish the misconduct of the people of Ashdod. Ashdod had probably submitted after the battle of Raphia, and had been allowed to retain its native prince, Azuri. This prince, after a while, revolted, withheld his tribute, and proceeded to foment rebellion against Assyria among the neighbouring monarchs; whereupon Sargon deposed him, and made his brother Akhimit king in his place. The people of Ashdod, however, rejected the authority of Akhimit, and chose a certain Yaman, or Yavan, to rule over them, who strengthened himself by alliances with the other Philistine cities, with Judæa, and with Edom. Immediately upon learning this, Sargon assembled his army, and proceeded to Ashdod to punish the rebels; but, before his arrival, Yaman had fled away, and “escaped to the dependencies of Egypt, which ” (it is said) “ were under the rule of Ethiopia.”3 Ashdod itself, trusting in 6 The Thamudites are a well-known horses, and camels. The Egyptian Arabian tribe, belonging anciently to : horses were much prized, and were care- the central portion of the peninsula. fully preserved by Sargon in the royal They occupied seats to the south of stables at Nineveh. Arabia Petræa in the time of Ptolemy. 1 3 M. Oppert understands the passage (Geograph, vi. 7.) somewhat differently. He translates, 1 Compare Nehem. ii. 19 and iv. 7. . "Yaman apprit de loin l'approche de mon i Tsamsi appears to have been the ! expédition; il s'enfuit an delà de l'Egypte, successor of Khabiba (supra, p. 131). I du côlé de Mroe.” (Inscriptins des 2 These presents were gold, spices (?), Sargonides, p. 27.) CHAP. IX. CAPTURE OF ASHDOD. 147 the strength from wnich it derived its name,“ resisted; but Sargon laid siege to it, and in a little time forced it to surrender.5 Yaman fled to Egypt, but his wife and children were captured, and, together with the bulk of the inhabitants, were transported into Assyria, while their place was supplied by a number of persons who had been made prisoners in Sargon's eastern wars. An Assyrian governor was set over the town. The submission of Ethiopia followed. Ashdod, like Samaria, had probably been encouraged to revolt by promises of foreign aid. Sargon's old antagonist, Shebek, had recently brought the whole of Egypt under his authority, and perhaps thought the time had come when he might venture once more to measure his strength against the Assyrians. But Sargon’s rapid move- ments and easy capture of the strong Ashdod terrified him, and produced a change of his intentions. Instead of marching into Philistia and fighting a battle, he sent a suppliant embassy, surrendered Yaman, and deprecated Sargon's wrath. The Assyrian monarch boasts that the king of Meroë, who dwelt in the desert, and had never sent ambassadors to any of the kings his predecessors, was led by the fear of his majesty to direct his steps towards Assyria and humbly bow down before him. At the opposite extremity of his empire, Sargon soon after- wards gained victories which were of equal or greater import- ance. Having completely reduced Syria, humiliated Egypt, and struck terror into the tribes of the north and east, he determined on a great expedition against Babylon. Merodach- Baladan had now been twelve years in quiet possession of the kingdom. He had established his court at Babylon, and, * The name Ashdod (7172X) is pro- | that Sargon may claim as his own act bably derived from the root 70), “strong," what was really effected by a general. But perhaps it is most probable that the which appears in '70 and 770. She- capture by the Tartan or general was deed is strong" in Arabic. the earlier one, when Azuri's revolt was It is perhaps this capture of Ashdod put down, and Akhimit was made king of which Isaiah speaks -"In the year in his place. that Tartan came unto Ashdod (when I See Mr. G. Smith's paper in the Sargon the king of Assyria sent him), | Zeitschrift für Aegypt. Sprache for 1869, and fought against Ashdod, and took it; | p. 107. at the same time spake the Lord by : Luscriptions des Sargonides, p. 28. Isaiah," &c. (xx.1,2). For it is possible It is this statement, joined with the L 2 148 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY, suspecting that the ambition of Sargon would lead him to attempt the conquest of the south, he had made preparations for resistance by entering into close alliance with the Susi- anians under Sutruk-Nakhunta on the one hand, and with the Aramæan tribes above Babylonia, on the other. Still, when Sargon advanced against him, instead of giving him battle, or even awaiting him behind the walls of the capital, he at once took to flight. Leaving garrisons in the more important of the inland towns, and committing their defence to his generals, he himself hastened down to his own city of Beth- Yakin, which was on the Euphrates, near its mouth, and, summoning the Aramæans to his assistance,lº prepared for a vigorous resistance in the immediate vicinity of his native place. Posting himself in the plain in front of the city, and, protecting his front and left flank with a deep ditch, which he filled with water from the Euphrates, he awaited the advance of Sargon, who soon appeared at the head of his troops, and lost no time in beginning the attack. We cannot follow with any precision the exact operations of the battle, but it appears that Sargon fell upon the Babylonian troops, defeated them, and drove them into their own dyke, in which many of them were drowned, at the same time separating them from their allies, who, on seeing the disaster, took to flight, and succeeded in making their escape. Merodach-Baladan, abandoning his camp, threw himself with the poor remains of his army into Beth- Yakin, which Sargon then besieged and took. The Babylonian monarch fell into the hands of his rival, who plundered his palace and burnt his city, but generously spared bis life. He fact that the expedition took place in Sargon's 12th year, that enables us defi- nitely to fix the accession of Sargon to B.c. 722-1, which is the first year of Merodach-Baladan (Mardocempalus) in the Canon of Ptolemy. & Sargon seems by skilful movements to have interposed his army between Merodach - Baladan and Sutruk - Na- khunta, and even to have threatened to cut off Merodach-Baladan from the sea. Hence, probably, his basty evacuation of his capital. (See Mr. G. Smith's parer in the Zeitschrift, p. 109.) See above, p. 130, note ?. 10 The tribes summoned were the Gam- bulu, the Bukudu or Puhudu (perhaps the Pekod of the Jewish prophets, Jer. 1. 21; Ezek, xxiii. 23), the Tumuna, the Bithia khu, and the Khindari, who all appear among the Aramæans plundered by Sennacherib. (Infra, p. 157.) The Gambulu or Gumbulu were known to the Arab geographers and historians as Junbula. They place the Junbula in the Lemlun marsh district. CHAP. IX. OTHER CONQUESTS OF SARGON. 149 was not however allowed to retain his kingdom, the government of which was assumed by Sargon himself, who is the Arceanus of Ptolemy's Canon.' The submission of Babylonia was followed by the reduction of the Aramæans, and the conquest of at least a portion of Susiana. To the Susianian territory Sargon transported the Commukha from the Upper Tigris, placing the mixed population under a governor, whom he made dependent on the viceroy of Babylon. The Assyrian dominion was thus firmly established on the shores of the Persian Gulf. The power of Babylon was broken. Henceforth the Assyrian rule is maintained over the whole of Chaldæa and Babylonia, with few and brief interruptions, to the close of the Empire. The reluctant victim struggles in his captor's grasp, and now and then for a short space shakes it off; but only to be seized again with a fiercer gripe, until at length his struggles cease, and he resigns himself to a fate which he has come to regard as inevitable. During the last fifty years of the Empire, from B.C. 680 to 3.c. 625, the province of Babylon was almost as tranquil as any other. The pride of Sargon received at this time a gratification which he is not able to conceal, in the homage which was paid to him by sovereigns who had only heard of his fame, and who were safe from the attacks of his armies. While he held his court at Babylon, in the year B.C. 708 or 707, he gave audience to two embassies from two opposite quar- ters, both sent by islanders dwelling (as he expresses it) “ in the middle of the seas” that washed the outer skirts of his dominions. Upir, king of Asmun, who ruled over an "I have hitherto doubted this identi- | statement that Cyprus, which is less fication since the initial S of an Assyrian than 65 miles distant from the nearest name is nowhere else replaced by a part of the Phænician coast, was “ seven mere breathing. But the discovery that days' sail from the shore," sufficiently Sargon took the title of “ king of Babil”. mark the ignorance of the Assyrians in the very year which Ptolemy makes where nautical matters are concerned. the 1st of Arceanus, B.C. 709 (Zeitschrift, Sargon calls Cyprus “a country of p. 95), convinces me that I have been which none of the kings of Assyria or wrong. Babylonia had ever heard the naine," 2 Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 30. (Inscriptions, &c., p. 31.) 3 This expression, and the subsequent 150 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. island in the Persian Gulf, Khareg perhaps or Bahrein, sent messengers, who bore to the Great King the tribute of the far East. Seven Cyprian monarchs, chiefs of a country which lay “at the distance of seven days from the coast, in the sea of the setting sun,” offered him by their envoys the treasures of the West. The very act of bringing presents implied sub- mission; and the Cypriots not only thus admitted his suze- rainty, but consented to receive at his hands and to bear back to their country a more evident token of subjection. This was an effigy of the Great King carved in the usual form, and accompanied with an inscription recording his name and titles, which was set up at Idalium, nearly in the centre of the island, and made known to the Cypriots the form and appearance of the sovereign whom it was not likely that they would ever see. The expeditions of Sargon to the north and north-east had results less splendid than those which he undertook to the south-west and the south; but it may be doubted whether they did not more severely try his military skill and the valour of his soldiers. The mountain tribes of Zagros, Taurus, and Niphates, Medes, Armenians, Tibareni, Moschi, &c., were probably far braver men and far better soldiers than the levies of Egypt, Susiana, and Babylon. Experience, moreover, had by this time taught the tribes the wisdom of uniting against the common foe, and we find Ambris the Tibarenian in alliance with Mita the Moschian, and Urza the Armenian, when he ventures to revolt against Sargon. The submission of the . northern tribes was with difficulty obtained by a long and fierce struggle, which—so far as one belligerent was concerned- terminated in a compromise. Ambris was deposed, and his 4 The tribute of Upir is not stated. ; represented in the bas-reliefs. (See That of the Cyprians consisted of gold, Botta, Monument de Ninire, Pl. 64.) silver, vases, logs of ebony, and the 6 There was peculiar ingratitude in manufactures of their own land. the conduct of Ambris. Sargon had se- 5 This effigy of Sargon, found on the lected him from among the neighbouring site of Idalium, is now in the Berlin kings for the honour of a matrimonial Museum. In the Inscriptions, "setting alliance; and had given him the pro- up the image of his majesty” is always i vince of Cilicia as the dowry of the a sign that a monarch has conquered a į daughter whom he sent to Ambris to be country. Such images are sometimes i his wife. CHAP. IX. SARGON'S ELAMITIC WAR. 151 country placed under an Assyrian governor; Mita' consented, after many years of resistance, to pay a tribute; Urza was defeated, and committed suicide; but the general pacification of the north was not effected until a treaty was made with the king of Van, and his good will purchased by the cession to him of a considerable tract of country which the Assyrians had previously taken from Urza. On the side of Media the resistance offered to the arms of Sargon seems to have been slighter, and he was consequently able to obtain a far more complete success. Having rapidly overrun the country, he seized a number of the towns and “ annexed them to Assyria,”! or, in other words, reduced a great portion of Media into the form of a province. He also built in one part of the country a number of fortified posts. He then imposed a tribute on the natives, consisting entirely of horses, which were perhaps required to be of the famous Nisæan breed.io After his fourteenth year, B.c. 708, Sargon ceased to lead out his troops in person, employing instead the services of his generals. In the year B.C. 707 a disputed succession gave him an opportunity of interference in Illib, a small country bordering on Susiana. Nibi, one of the two pretenders to the throne, had applied for aid to Sutruk-Nakhunta, king of Elam, who held his court at Susa," and had received the promise of his favour and protection. Upon this, the other claimant, who was named Ispabara, made application to Sargon, and was readily received into alliance. Sargon sent to his assistance “seven captains ? This name has been compared with covered and brought to Europe. It the Phrygian Midas. (Sir H. Rawlin- | bears a four-winged genius, grasping son in the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. | with either hand an ostrich by the neck. 131, 2nd ed.) The name of another chief (See Cullimore, Cylinders, pl. 8, fig. 40.) engaged in this war- Daiukka the Man. It is now in the Museum of the Hague. nian--has been compared with that of 9 Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 25. the supposed Median monarch Dežoces. Compare p. 37. Some go so far as to identify the per 10 On the Nisæan horses see the sonages. author's Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 33, note“, Inøriptions des Sargonides, p. 24. 2nd ed. Sargon represents this as a pure act of " Sutruk-Nakhunta's inscriptions have favour on his part: but we cannot be | been found on the great mound of Susa. mistaken in considering it as an act of (Sir H. Rawlinson, in the author's Hero- prudence. dotus, vol. i. p. 363, note *, 2nd ed.) Urza's signet-cylinder has been dis- CHAP. IX. SARGON'S TOWN AND PALACE. 153 esception of the great palace of Asshur-bani-pal at Koyunjik. Covered with sculptures, both internally and externally, gene- rally in two lines, one over the other, and, above this, adorned with enamelled bricks, arranged in elegant and tasteful patterns; approached by noble flights of steps and through splendid propylæa; having the advantage, moreover, of standing by itself, and of not being interfered with by any other edifice, it had peculiar beauties of its own, and may be pronounced in many respects the most interesting of the Assyrian buildings. United to this palace was a town enclosed by strong walls, which formed a square two thousand yards each way. Allowing fifty square yards to each individual, this space would have been capable of accommodating 80,000 persons. The town, like the palace, seems to have been entirely built by Sargon, who imposed on it his own name, an appellation which it retained beyond the time of the Arab conquest.? It is not easy to understand the exact object of Sargon in building himself this new residence. Dur-Sargina was not the Windsor or Versailles of Assyria-a place to which the sovereign could retire for country air and amusements from the bustle and heat of the metropolis. It was, as we have said, a town, and a town of considerable size, being very little less than half as large as Nineveh itself. It is true that it possessed the advantage of a nearer vicinity to the mountains than Nineveh ; and had Sargon been, like several of his predecessors, “a mighty hunter,” We might have supposed that the greater facility of obtaining sport in the woods and valleys of the Zagros chain formed the attraction which led him to prefer the region where he built his town to the banks of the Tigris. But all the evidence that we possess seems to show that this monarch was destitute of any love for the chase ;3 and seemingly we must attribute his change · The Arab geographer Yacut speaks, hunting in any of his inscriptions, nor of Khursta badh (Khorsa bad) as a represents himself as engaged in it in village east of the Tigris, opposite toi his sculptures. The only representation Josul, and adjoinin, the old ruined city of sport which his bas reliefs furnish of Surghwn. (See As. Soc. Journ, vol. xii. consists of one series of slabs, where P. 419, note ?.) partridges, hares, and gazelles are the * It is true the evidence is only nega objects of pursuit. The king is present, tive, but is as strong as negative evi driving in his chariot, but seems to take dence can be. Sargon neither mentions no part in the sport. (See vol. i. f. 524.) 154 Char. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. of abode either to mere caprice, or to a desire to be near the mountains for the sake of cooler water, purer air, and more varied scenery. It is no doubt true, as M. Oppert observes, that the royal palace at Nineveh was at this time in a ruinous state; but it could not have been more difficult or more expensive to repair it than to construct a new palace, a new mound, and a new town, on a fresh site. Previously to the construction of the Khorsabad palace, Sargon resided at Calah. He there repaired and renovated the great palace of Asshur-izir-pal, which had been allowed to fall to decay. At Nineveh he repaired the walls of the town, which were ruined in many places, and built a temple to Nebo and Merodach; while in Babylonia he improved the condition of the embankments, by which the distribution of the waters was directed and controlled.? He appears to have been to a certain extent a patron of science, since a large number of the Assyrian scientific tablets are proved by the dates upon them to have been written in bis day. The progress of mimetic art under Sargon is not striking; hut there are indications of an advance in several branches of industry, and of an improved taste in design and in ornamenta- tion. Transparent glass seems now to have been first brought into use, and intaglios to have been first cut upon hard stones. 10 The furniture of the period is greatly superior in design to any previously represented," and the modelling of sword-bilts, maces, armlets, and other ornaments is peculiarly good 12 The enamel- ling of bricks was carried under Sargon to its greatest perfection ; and the shape of vases, goblets, and boats shows a marked im- provement upon the works of former times.13 The advance in animal forms, traceable in the sculptures of Tiglath-Pileser II., + Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 31, | specimens belong to this reign. (See note? vol. i. p. 391.) This must have been his principal 10 King, Antique Gems, p. 127. residence, as the Khorsa bad palace was 11 See the following representations not finished till his fifteenth year. in vol. i. of this work: 1. the table, 6 Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 35. No. IV., p. 393 ; 2. the throne, p. 394; ? Ibid. 3. the seat without a back on the same 8 Zeitschrift für Aegypt. Sprache for! page. 1869, p. 110. 12 See vol. i. pp. 457, 458 and 490. • At any rate the earliest known 13 See vol. i. pp. 309, 388, 549, 580. CHAP. IX. ACCESSION OF SENNACHERIB. 155 continues; and the drawing of horses' heads, in particular, leaves little to desire.14 After reigning gloriously over Assyria for seventeen years, and for the last five of them over Babylonia also, Sargon died, leaving his crown to the most celebrated of all the Assyrian monarchs, his son Sennacherib, who began to reign B.C. 705. The long notices which we possess of this monarch in the Books of the Old Testament, his intimate connection with the Jews, the fact that he was the object of a preternatural exhibition of the Divine displeasure, and the remarkable circumstance that this miraculous interposition appears under a thin disguise in the records of the Greeks, have always attached an interest to his name, which the kings of this remote period and distant region very rarely awaken. It has also happened, curiously enough, that the recent Mesopotamian researches have tended to give to Sennacherib a special prominence over other Assyrian monarchs, more particularly in this country, our great excavator having devoted his chief efforts to the disinterment of a palace of this king's construction, which has supplied to our National Collection almost one-half of its treasures. The result is, that while the other sovereigns who bore sway in Assyria are gene- rally either wholly unknown, or Aoat before the mind's eye as dim and shadowy forms, Sennacherib stands out to our ap- prehension as a living and breathing man, the impersonation of all that pride and greatness which we assign to the Ninevite kings, the living embodiment of Assyrian haughtiness, Assyrian violence, and Assyrian power. The task of setting forth the life and actions of this prince, which the course of the history now imposes on its compiler, if increased in interest, is augmented also in difficulty, by the grandeur of the ideal figure which has possession of men's minds. The reign of Sennacherib lasted twenty-four years, from B.C. 705 to B.c. 681. The materials which we possess for his history consist of a record written in his filteenth' year, describ- 14 See vol. i. p. 350. | in the Assyrian Canon as the Eponym This document is known as “the of Sennacherib's fifteenth year, B.C. 691, Taylor Cylinder.” It is dated in the and again of his twentieth year, B.C. Eponymy of Bel-emur-ani, who appears | 686. An abstract of the most important 156 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. ing his military expeditions and his buildings up to that time;2 of the Scriptural notices to which reference has already been made;3 of some fragments of Polyhistor preserved by Eusebius : 4 and of the well-known passage of Herodotus which contains a mention of his name. From these documents we shall be able to make out in some detail the chief actions of the earlier portion of his reign; but they fail to supply any account of his later years, unless we may assign to that portion of his life some facts mentioned by Polyhistor, to which there is no allusion in the native records. It seems probable that troubles both abroad and at home greeted the new reign. The Canon of Ptolemy shows a two years' interregnum at Babylon (from B.C. 704 to B.C. 702) exactly coinciding with the first two years of Sennacherib. This would imply a revolt of Babylon from Assyria soon after his accession, and either a period of anarchy or a rapid succes- sion of pretenders, none of whom held the throne for so long a time as a twelvemonth.? Polyhistor gives us certain details, from which we gather that there were at least three monarchs in the interval left blank by the Canon &_first, a brother of Sennacherib, whose name is not given; secondly, a certain Hagisa, who wore the crown only a month; and, thirdly, portion of this inscription was given by | little of any value that is not also men- Sir H. Rawlinson so long ago as 1852, in tioned by Polyhistor. his Outlines of Assyrian History, while de 5 Herod. ii. 141. tailed translations have been since pub 6 The Assyrians and Babylonians lished by Mr. Fox Talbot (Journ. As. Soc., counted as their “first year" not the vol. xix. pp. 135-181), and M. Oppert actual year of their accession, but the (Inscriptions des Sargonides, pp. 41-53). year following. Thus if Sennacherib 2 There is a second document called ascended the throne B.c. 705, his “first “the Bellino Cylinder," which was year" would be B.c. 704. written in Sennacherib's fourth year, It is an admitted feature of Ptolemy's and contains his first two campaigns, Canon that it takes no notice of kings together with an account of his early who reigned less than a year. buildings at Nineveh. In general it & The following is Polyhistor's state- agrees closely with the Taylor Cylinder; | ment, as reported by Eusebius: “ Post- but it adds some few facts, as the ap | quam regno defunctus est Senecheribi pointment of Belipni. Mr. Fox Talbot frater, et post Hagisæ in Babylonios translated it in his Assyrian Terts, pp. 1-9. ' dominationem, qui quidem nondum ex- 32 Kings xviii. 13-37; Isa. xxxvi. | pleto trigesimo imperii die a Marudacho and xxxvii. Baldane interemptus est, Marudachus Euseb. Chron. Can. Pars (ma, c. iv.-v. ; ipse Baldanes tyrannidem invasit men- Eusebius has also preserved a passage of sibus sex ; donec eum sustulit vir qui. Abydenus in which Sennacherib is men- dam nomine Elibus, qui et in regnuin tioned (ib. c. ix. § 1); but it contains ! successit.” (Chron. Can. Pars 1m, v. 1.) CHAP. IS. WARS OF SENNACHERIB. 157 Merodach-Baladan, who had escaped from captivity, and, having murdered Hagisa, resumed the throne of which Sargon had deprived him six or seven years before. Sennacherib must apparently have been so much engaged with his domestic affairs that he could not devote his attention to these Baby- lonian matters till the second year after his accession.10 In B.C. 703 he descended on the lower country and engaged the troops of Merodach-Baladan, which consisted in part of native Babylonians, in part of Susianians, sent to his assistance by the king of Elam." Over this army Sennacherib gained a complete victory near the city of Kis, after which he took Babylon, and overran the whole of Chaldæa, plundering (according to his own account) seventy-six large towns and 420 villages.2 Merodach- Baladan once more made his escape, flying probably to Susiana, where we afterwards find his sons living as refugees.3 Senna- cherib, before quitting Babylon, appointed as tributary king an Assyrian named Belipni, who seems to be the Belibus of Ptolemy's Canon, and the Elibus of Polyhistor. 14 On his return from Babylonia he invaded and ravaged the territory of the Aramæan tribes on the middle Euphrates—the Tumuna, Ruhua, Gambulu, Khindaru, and Pukudu 15 (Pekod ?), the Nabatu or Nabathæans, the Hagaranu or Hagarenes, and others, carrying into captivity more than 200,000 of the inhabitants, besides great numbers of horses, camels, asses, oxen, and sheep.17 $ Supra, p. 149. | Nakhunta who had warred with Sargon. 10 It was formerly concluded from (Supra, p. 151.) Sennacherib's cylinders that his first 12 As. Soc. Journ, vol. xix. p. 137. Babylonian expedition was in his first 13 Vide infra, p. 188. and his Syrian expedition in his third 14 In Elibus the El is perhaps 5x, year. But neither the Bellino nor the “god,” used for Bel, the particular god, Taylor Cylinder is, strictly speaking, or possibly Elibus is a mere corruption in the form of annals. The Babylonian due to the double translation of Poly- was his first campaign, the Syrian his histor's Greek into Armenian, and of third. But two years seem to have passed the Armenian Eusebius into Latin. before he engaged in foreign expeditions. 15 These tribes had all assisted Me- It is confirmatory of this view, which rodach-Baladan against Sargon. (See follows from the chronology of the As above, p. 148, note 10.) syrian Canon compared with the Canon 10 Compare i Chr. v. 10, 18-22; Ps. of Ptolemy, to find that the Bellino Ixxxiii. 6. The Hagarenes are perhaps Cylinder, written in Sennacherib's fourth the Agræi of Strabo (xvi. p. 1091), year, gives, not four campaigns, but | Pliny (H. N. vi. 32), and others. two only-- those of B.c. 703 and B.c. 702. 17 As. Soc. Journ. vol. xix. p. 138. 11 This king was probably the Sutruksi 158 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY, . In the following year, B.c. 702, Sennacherib made war on the tribes in Zagros, forcing Ispabara, whom Sargon had established in power,18 to fly from his country, and conquering many cities and districts, which he attached to Assyria, and placed under the government of Assyrian officers. 19 The most important of all the expeditions contained in Sennacherib's records is that of his fourth year, B.C. 701, in which he attacked Luliya king of Sidon, and made his first expedition against Hezekiah king of Judah. Invading Syria with a great host, he made Phoenicia the first object of his attack. There Luliya-who seems to be the Elulæus of Menander,20 though certainly not the Elulæus of Ptolemy's Canon21—had evidently raised the standard of revolt, probably during the early years of Sennacherib, when domestic troubles seem to have occupied his attention. Luliya had, apparently, established his dominion over the greater part of Phænicia, being lord not only of Sidon, or, as it is expressed in the inscription, of Sidon the greater and Sidon the less, but also of Tyre, Ecdippa, Akko, Sarepta, and other cities. However, he did not venture to await Sennacherib's attack, but, as soon as he found the expedition was directed against himself, he took to flight, quitting the continent and retiring to an island in the middle of the sea-perhaps the island Tyre, or more probably Cyprus. Sennacherib did not attempt any pursuit, but was content to receive the submission of the various cities over which Luliya had ruled, and to establish in his place, as tributary monarch, a prince named Tubal. He then received the tributes of the other petty monarchs of these parts, among whom are mentioned Abdilihat king of Arvad, Hurus-milki king of Byblus, Mitinti king of Ashdod, Puduel king of Beth-Ammon, a king of Moab, a king of Edom, and (according to some writers) a “Menahem king of Samaria.” After this Senna- 16 Supra, p. 152. | Messiah the Prince, p. 385.) 19 As. Soc. Journ. vol. xix. pp. 139– This name appears as that of a 143; Inscriptions des Sargonides, pp. 42, Philistine king in the inscriptions of 43. Tiglath-Pileser II. (See above, p. 133.) 20 Ap. Joseph. Ant. Jud. ix. 14. 2 M. Oppert is, I believe, of this 21 This identity is maintained by opinion. Mr. Fox Talbot so trans- Mr. Bosanquet. (Fall of Vincereh, p. 40; | lates (Asiatic Soc. Journ. vol. xix. p. Chap. IX. WARS OF SENNACHERIB. 159 cherib marched south-wards to Ascalon, where the king, Sidka, resisted him, but was captured, together with his city, his wife, his children, his brothers, and the other members of his family. Here again a fresh prince was established in power, while the rebel monarch was kept a prisoner and transported into Assyria. Four towns dependent upon Ascalon, viz., Hazor, Joppa, Bene- berak, and Beth-Dagon, were soon afterwards taken and plundered. Sennacherib now pressed on against Egypt. The Philistine city of Ekron had not only revolted from Assyria, expelling its king, Padi, who was opposed to the rebellion, but had entered into negotiations with Ethiopia and Egypt, and had obtained a promise of support from them. The king of Ethiopia was pro- bably the second Shebek (or Sabaco) who is called Sevechus by Manetho, and is said to have reigned either twelve or fourteen years. The condition of Egypt at the time was peculiar. The Ethiopian monarch seems to have exercised the real sovereign power; but native princes were established under him who were allowed the title of king, and exercised a real though delegated authority over their several cities and districts. On the call of Ekron both princes and sovereign had hastened to its assistance, bringing with them an army consisting of chariots, horsemen, and archers, so numerous that Sennacherib calls it “ a host that could not be numbered.” The second great battle between the Assyrians and the Egyptians took place near a place called Altaku, which is no doubt the Eltekeh of the Jews, a small 144). Sir H. Rawlinson denies the 1 Euseb. Chron. Can. Pars ]ma, c. xx.; identity of the town mentioned with African, ap. Syncell. Chronograph. p. Samaria, which is ordinarily represented 184, C. in the Inscriptions by an entirely dif 3 We shall have fuller evidence of the ferent set of characters. continuation of this practice under the Joppa and Bene-Berak are con Assyrian kings when they became nected with Ekron in Josh, xix. 43–46. i masters of Egypt. (Infra, pp. 193 and There was a Hazor among the extreme 20.) It is slightly indicated by the southern cities of Judah (ib. xv. 23). Dodecarchy of Herodotus (ii. 147). And there was a Beth-Dagon in the low 6 The first great battle was that of country or coast tract of Judah, which Raphia. (Supra, p. 144.) is probably the modern Beit-Dajan be - See Josh. xix. 44, where Eltekeh tween Lydda and Joppa. These seem (pms) is mentioned next to Ekron. to be the four cities now taken by Sen. It was a city of the Levites (Josh.xix. 23.) nacherib. 160 Chap. IS. THE SECOND MONARCHY. town in the vicinity of Ekron. Again the might of Africa yielded to that of Asia. The Egyptians and Ethiopians were defeated with great slaughter. Many chariots, with their drivers, both Egyptian and Ethiopian, fell into the hands of the con- queror, who also took alive several “sons” of the principal Egyptian monarch. The immediate fruit of the victory was the fall of Altaku, which was followed by the capture of Tamna, a neighbouring town.' Sennacherib then “went on" to Ekron, which made no resistance, but opened its gates to the victor. The princes and chiefs who had been concerned in the revolt he took alive and slew, exposing their bodies on stakes round the whole circuit of the city walls. Great numbers of inferior persons, who were regarded as guilty of rebellion, were sold as slaves. Padi, the expelled king, the friend to Assyria, was brought back, reinstated in his sovereignty, and required to pay a small tribute as a token of dependance. 10 The restoration of Padi involved a war with Hezekiah, king of Judah. When the Ekronites determined to get rid of a king, whose Assyrian proclivities were distasteful to them, instead of putting him to death they arrested him, loaded him with chains, and sent him to Hezekiah for safe keeping." By accepting this charge the Jewish monarch made himself a partner in their revolt; and it was in part to punish this complicity, in part to compel him to give up Padi, that Sennacherib, when he had sufficiently chastised the Ekronite rebels, proceeded to invade Judæa. Then it was—in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, according to the present Hebrew text 12—that “Sennacherib, 8 Perhaps not real “sons,” but rather | Hezekiah to be destroyed; but he praved - servants." Compare the double use of to God, and he (God) softened their παις in Greek. hearts." It is remarkable that the de- 9 Tamna is no doubt Thimnatha terminative for “God” is here used (indon), the Oduva of the Alex an- | alone, without the addition of any name drian codex, which is mentioned in of a god. Joshua (xix. 43) immediately before 12 If it was in Hezekiah's sixth year Ekron. This is probably not the Tim- | that Samaria was taken by Sargon, he nath or Timnatha of Samson's exploits. should now have reached his twenty- 10 As. Soc. Journ. vol. xix. pp. 146, ! seventh year. The Hebrew and As- 147; Inscriptions des Sargonides, pp. 44, ! syrian numbers are here irreconcilable. 45. I should propose to read in 2 Kings 11 The first intention was, that Heze. 1 xviii. 13, “twenty-seventh” for “four- kiah should put Padi to death. The teenth.” Ekronites, we are told, “sent Padi to CHAP. IX. SENNACHERIB AND HEZEKIAH. 161 king of Assyria, came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me; that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house. At that time did Hezekiah cut off [the gold from the doors of the house of the Lord, and [from the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.” 13 Such is the brief account of this expedition and its con- sequences which is given us by the author of the Second Book of Kings, who writes from a religions point of view, and is chiefly concerned at the desecration of holy things to which the imminent peril of his city and people forced the Jewish monarch to submit. It is interesting to compare with this account the narrative of Sennacherib himself, who records the features of the expedition most important in his eyes, the number of the towns taken and of the prisoners carried into captivity, the mea- sures employed to compel submission, and the nature and amount of the spoil which he took with him to Nineveh. “ Because Hezekiah, king of Judah," says the Assyrian monarch, “would not submit to my yoke, I came up against him, and by force of arms and by the might of my power I took forty-six of his strong fenced cities; and of the smaller towns which were scattered about I took and plundered a countless number. And from these places I captured and carried off as spoil 200,150 people, old and young, male and female, together with horses and mares, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless multitude. And Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jeru- salem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers 13 2 Kings xviii. 13–16. 1 The translation of Sir H. Rawlin- son, which has already appeared in the author's Bampton Lectures (pp. 141, 142, Ist edition) is here followed. It agrees in all essential points with the transla- VOL. u. tions of Dr. Hincks (Layard, Ninereh and Babyion, pp. 143, 144), M. Oppert (Inscriptions des Sargonides, pp. 45, 46), and Mr. Fox Talbot (Journ. of As. Soc. vol. xix. pp. 147-149). 162 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. round the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to prevent escape. . . . Then upon this Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent out to me the chiefs and the elders of Jerusalem with thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, and divers treasures, a rich and immense booty. ... All these things were brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my government, Hezekiah having sent them by way of tribute, and as a token of his submission to my power." It appears then that Sennacherib, after punishing the people of Ekron, broke up from before that city, and entering Judæa proceeded towards Jerusalem, spreading his army over a wide space, and capturing on his way a vast number of small towns and villages, whose inhabitants he enslaved and carried off to the number of 200,000. Having reached Jerusalem, he com- menced the siege in the usual way, erecting towers around the city, from which stones and arrows were discharged against the defenders of the fortifications, and “casting banks” against the walls and gates. Jerusalem seems to have been at this time ? It is perhaps this desolation of the territory to which Isaiah alludes in his 24th chapter--“Behold, the Lord maketh the 'earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scat- tereth abroad all the inhabitants thereof. .... The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away; the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; there- fore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened ; and the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.” (Is. xxiv. 1-12.) 3 Demetrius regarded this as one of the great captivities, paralleling it with the previous captivity of Samaria and with the final captivity of Jerusalem in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. (Demetr. ap. Clem. Alex. Strom. i. p. 403.) Compare Is. xxix. 1-4, which seems to be a prophecy of this siege, the only one (so far as we know) that Jerusalem underwent at the hands of the Assyrians. “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. For I will dis- tress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; and it shall be unto me as Ariel. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one CHAP. IX. SIEGE OF JERUSALEM. 163 very imperfectly fortified. The “breaches of the city of David” had recently been “many;" and the inhabitants had hastily pulled down the houses in the vicinity of the wall to fortify it." It was felt that the holy place was in the greatest danger. We may learn from the conduct of the people, as described by one of themselves, what were the feelings generally of the cities threatened with destruction by the Assyrian armies. Jerusalem was at first “full of stirs and tumult;" the people rushed to the housetops to see if they were indeed invested, and beheld “the choicest valleys full of chariots, and the horsemen set in array at the gates.” Then came “ a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity”-a day of “breaking down the walls and of crying to the mountains.”? Amidst this general alarm and mourning there were, however, found some whom a wild despair made reckless, and drove to a ghastly and ill-timed merriment. When God by his judgments gave an evident “call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth-behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine-Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die.'”! Hezekiah after a time came to the conclusion that resistance would be vain, and offered to surrender upon terms, an offer which Sennacherib, seeing the great strength of the place, and perhaps distressed for water, readily granted. It was agreed that Hezekiah should undertake the payment of an annual tribute, to consist of thirty talents of gold and three hundred talents of silver, and that he should further yield up the chief treasures of the place as a “present” to the Great King. Hezekiah, in order to obtain at once a suf- ficient supply of gold, was forced to strip the walls and pillars that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust." $ ls. xxii. 9, 10. 6 lb, verses 1, 2. ? Ib. verse 5. $ Ib. verses 12, 13. It appears that Hezekiah either now, or on the second occasion, when Jerusalem was threatened by Senna- cherib, "stopped all the fountains which were without the city, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land," because the people said, “Why should the Assyrian come and find much water?” (2 Chron. xxii. 3, 4; compare Is. xxii. 9, 11.) From both passages I should infer that the blocking of the fountains took place on this, the firit, occasion. On the general subject of the changes made at this time in the water supply, see Williams's Holy City, vol. ii. Pp. 472–482. M 2 164 Char. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. of the Temple, which were overlaid in parts with this precious metal. He yielded up all the silver from the royal treasury and from the treasury of the Temple; and this amounted to five hundred talents more than the fixed rate of tribute. In addition to these sacrifices the Jewish monarch was required to surrender Padi, his Ekronite prisoner, and was mulcted in certain portions of his dominions, which were attached by the conqueror to the territories of neighbouring kings." Sennacherib, after this triumph, returned to Nineveh, but did not remain long in repose. The course of events summoned him in the ensuing year-B.C. 700—to Babylonia, where Merodach- Baladan, assisted by a certain Susub, a Chaldæan prince, was again in arms against his authority. Sennacherib first defeated Susub, and then, directing his march upon Beth-Yakin, forced Merodach-Baladan once more to quit the country and betake himself to one of the islands of the Persian Gulf, abandoning to Sennacherib's mercy his brothers and his other partisans. It would appear that the Babylonian viceroy Belibus, who three years previously had been set over the country by Sennacherib, was either actively implicated in this revolt, or was regarded as having contributed towards it by a neglect of proper precautions. Sennacherib, on his return from the sea-coast, superseded him, placing upon the throne his own eldest son Asshur-inadi-su, who appears to be the Asordanes of Polyhistor," and the Aparanadius or Assaranadius 3 of Ptolemy's Canon. The remaining events of Sennacherib's reign may be arranged in chronological order without much difficulty, but few of them can be dated with exactness. We lose at this point the invaluable aid of Ptolemy's Canon, which contains no notice of any event 10 2 Chron. iii. 4-8. riorum copias adversum Babylonios 11 These were Mitinti king of Ash- | contrahebat, prælioque cum iis conserto, dod, Padi king of Ekron, and Tsilli superior evadebat; captumque Elibum Bel king of Gaza. (Inscriptions des cum familiaribus ejus in Assyriam trans- Sargonides, p. 45; As. Soc. Journ. vol. ferri jubebat. Is igitur Babyloniorum xix. p. 148.) potitus, filium suum Asordanem eis 1 As. Soc. Journ, vol. xix. pp. 149–150; regem imponebat; ipse autem in Assy- Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 46. riam reditum matura bat." 2 Ap. Euseb, Chron. Can. Pars Ima, 1 3 This change would easily take place c. v. “Hoc (.e. Elibo) tertium jam an- | by the two sigmas (oo) being mistaken num regnante, Senecheribus rex Assy- for a pi (w). CHAP. IX. SENNACHERIB'S SECOND SYRIAN EXPEDITION. 165 recorded in Sennacherib's inscriptions of later date than the appointment of Assaranadius. It is probablet that in the year B.C. 699 Sennacherib con- ducted his second expedition into Palestine. Hezekiah, after his enforced submission two years earlier, had entered into negociations with the Egyptians, and looking to receive im- portant succours from this quarter, had again thrown off his allegiance. Sennacherib, understanding that the real enemy whom he had to fear on his south-western frontier was not Judæa but Egypt, marched his army through Palestine-pro- bably by the coast route—and without stopping to chastise Jerusalem, pressed southwards to Libnah and Lachish, which were at the extreme verge of the Holy Land, and were pro- bably at this time subject to Egypt. He first commenced the siege of Lachish “ with all his power;"? and while engaged in this operation, finding that Hezekiah was not alarmed by his proxiinity, and did not send in his submission, he detached a body of troops from his main force, and sent it under a Tartan or general, supported by two high officers of the court—the Rabsbakeh or Chief Cup-bearer, and the Rab-saris or Chief Eunuch-to summon the rebellious city to surrender. Heze- kiah was willing to treat, and sent out to the Assyrian camp, which was pitched just outside the walls, three high officials of his own to open negociations. But the Assyrian envoys had not come to debate or even to offer terms, but to require the unconditional submission of both king and people. The Rab.. shakeh or cup-bearer, who was familiar with the Hebrew language, took the word and delivered his message in insulting * There is nothing in the Assyrian records to fix, or even to suggest, this date. It is required in consequence of the length of Hezekiah's reign. As Hezekiah is given only 29 years (2 Kings xviii. 2; 2 Chron. xxix. 1), if Sen- nacherib's first invasion was in his twenty-seventh year, the second must, at the latest, have fallen two years later, since that would be Hezekiah's twenty-ninth or last year. The ar- rangers of the dates in the margin of our Bibles made three years intervene between the first and second expedi- tions. 5 This is implied in the reproach of Rabshakeh (2 Kings xviii. 21; Is. xxxvi. 6). It seems to be alluded to in Is. xxxi. 1-3, and stated positively in Is. xxx. 4. 6' 2 Kings xix. 8. ? 2 Chron. xxxii. 9. & 2 Kings xviii. 17; Is. xxxvi. 2. 9 It has been supposed from this fact that he was a renegade Jew (Prideaux, Milman). But there is no need of this supposition. Hebrew is so like Assyrian 166 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY, phrase, laughing at the simplicity which could trust in Egypt, and the superstitious folly which could expect a divine deli- verance, and defying Hezekiah to produce so many as two thousand trained soldiers capable of serving as cavalry. When requested to use a foreign rather than the native dialect, lest the people who were upon the walls should hear, the bold envoy, with an entire disregard of diplomatic forms, raised his voice and made a direct appeal to the popular fears and hopes, thinking to produce a tumultuary surrender of the place, or at least an outbreak of which his troops might have taken advantage. His expectations however were disappointed; the people made no response to his appeal, but listened in profound silence; and the ambassadors, finding that they could obtain nothing from the fears of either king or people, and regarding the force that they had brought with them as insufficient for a siege, returned to their master with the intelligence of their ill-success. The Assyrian monarch had either taken Lachish or raised its siege, and was gone on to Libnah, where the envoys found him. On receiving their report be determined to make still another effort to overcome Hezekiah's obstinacy; and accordingly he despatched fresh messengers with a letter to the Jewish king, in which he was reminded of the fate of various other kingdoms and peoples which had resisted the Assyrians, and once more urged to submit himself." It was this letter-perhaps a royal autograph—which Hezekiah took into the Temple and there “spread it before the Lord,” praying God to “ bow down his ear and hear”—to “open his eyes and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which had sent to reproach the living God.” 12 Upon this Isaiah was commissioned to declare to his afflicted sovereign that the kings of Assyria were mere instruments in God's hands to destroy such nations as He pleased, and that none of Sennacherib's threats against Jerusalem should be accomplished. Gud, Isaiah told him, that an Assyrian would acquire it with great facility. At any rate, it is not more surprising that an Assyrian officer should know Hebrew than that three Jewish officers should understand Ara- maic. (2 Kings xviii. 26.) 10 2 Kings xix. 8. 11 Ibid. 9-13. 12 Ibid. 14-16. Chap. IX. DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB'S ARMY. 167 would “put his hook in Sennacherib's nose, and his bridle in his lips, and turn him back by the way by which he came.” The Lord had said, concerning the king of Assyria, “He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city. For I will defend this city, to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.” 13 Meanwhile it is probable that Sennacherib, having received the submission of Libnah, had advanced upon Egypt. It was important to crush an Egyptian army which had been collected against him by a certain Sethos, one of the many native princes who at this time rule l in the Lower country,' before the great Ethiopian monarch Tebrak or Tirhakah, who was known to be on his march, should effect a junction with the troops of this minor potentate. Sethos, with his army, was at Pelusium ;3 and Sennacherib, advancing to attack him, had arrived within sight of the Ezyptian host, and pitched his camp over against the camp of the enemy, just at the time when Hezekialı received his letter and made the prayer to which Isaiah was instructed to respond. The two hosts lay down at night in their respective stations, the Egyptians and their king full of anxious alarm, Sennacherib and his Assyrians proudly con- fident, intending on the morrow to advance to the combat and 13 2 Kings xix. 20–34. On the re- | 1856, ad voc. Zoan.) The fact of a ceipt of the message sent by Rabshakeh, number of princes at this time dividing Isaiah had declared—“ Thus saith the Egypt is apparent both in Scripture (Is. Lord God, Be not afraid of the words xix. 2), and in the Assyrian inscrip- which thou hast heard, with which the tions. (Inscriptions des Surgonides, p. servants of the king of Assyria have 44.) blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a 2 Kings xix. 9. The Apis stelæ blast upon him, and he shall hear a show that Tirhakah did not ascend the rumour, and shall return to his own throne of Eypt till s.c. 690 eight years land; and I will cause him to fall by the after this; but he may have been already sword in his own land.'” (Ibid. 6, 7.) --as he is called in Scripture—“king of Herod. ii. 141. According to some Ethiopia." writers, the Sethos of Herodotus is the 3 Herod. ii. 141. It is thought that Zet of Manetho, the last king of the the main outline of the narrative in this twenty-third dynasty, who reigned at writer is compatible with the account Tanis (Zoan), while Bocchoris was in the Book of Kings, and may be used reigning at Sais, and the Ethiopians in to fill up its chasms. Upper Egypt. (Hincks in Atiendum, And it came to pass that night, that No. 1878, p. 534: Stuart Poole in the angel of the Lord went out,” &c. Smith's Biblical Dictionary, vol. iii. p. (2 Kings xix. 35.) 168 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. repeat the lesson taught at Raphia and Altaku. But no morrow was to break on the great mass of those who took their rest in the tents of the Assyrians. The divine fiat had gone forth. In the night, as they slept, destruction fell upon them. “ The angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” A miracle, like the destruction of the first-born, had been wrought, but this time on the enemies of the Egyptians, who naturally ascribed their deliverance to the interposition of their own gods; and seeing the enemy in confusion and retreat, pressed hastily after him, distressed his flying columns, and cut off his stragglers. The Assyrian king returned home to Nineveh, shorn of his glory, with the shattered remains of his great host, and cast that proud capital into a state of despair and grief, which the genius of an Æschylus might have rejoiced to depict, but which no less powerful pen could adequately portray. It is difficult to say how soon Assyria recovered from this terrible blow. The annals of Sennacherib, as might have been expected, omit it altogether, and represent the Assyrian monarch as engaged in a continuous series of successful cam- paigns, which seem to extend uninterruptedly from his third to his tenth year. It is possible, that while the Syrian expedi- tion was in progress under the eye of Sennacherib himself, a successful war was being conducted by one of his generals in the mountains of Armenia, and that Sennacherib was thus .enabled, without absolutely falsifying history, to parade as his own certain victories gained by this leader in the very year 5 Supra, pp. 144 and 159. 6 I cannot accept the view that the Assyrian army was destroyed by the Simoom, owing to the foreign forces of Sennacherib being little acquainted with the means of avoiding this unusual enemy. (Milman, History of the Jews, vol. i. p. 307.) The Simoom would not have destroyed one army and left the other unhurt. Nor would it have re- mained for the survivors to find when they arcoke in the morning that the camp contained 185,000 dead men. The nar- rative implies a secret, sudden taking away of life during sleep, by direct Divine interposition. ? Herod. ii. 141, ad fin. & Ibid. 9 See the Persæ, 893-1055. 10 Sennacherib, however, does not speak of years, but of campaigns. ("In my first campaign," “In my second campaign," and the like.) M. Oppert translates more correctly than Mr. Fox Talbot. CHAP. IX. EFFECTS OF THE DESTRUCTION. 169 of his own reverse. It is even conceivable that the power of Assyria was not so injured by the loss of a single great army, as to make it necessary for her to stop even for one year in the course of her aggressive warfare; and thus the expeditions of Sennacherib may form an uninterrupted series, the eight cam- paigns which are assigned to him occupying eight consecutive years. But on the other hand it is quite as probable that there are gaps in the history, some years having been omitted altogether. The Taylor Cylinder records but eight campaigns, yet it was certainly written as late as Sennacherib's fifteenth year. It contains no notice of any events in Sennacherib's first or second year; and it may consequently make other omissions covering equal or larger intervals. Thus the de- struction of the Assyrian army at Pelusium may have been followed by a pause of some years' duration in the usual aggres- sive expeditions; and it may very probably have encouraged the Babylonians in the attempt to shake off the Assyrian yoke, which they certainly made towards the middle of Sennacherib's reign. But while it appears to be probable that consequences of some importance followed on the Pelusiac calamity, it is tolerably certain that no such tremendous results flowed from it as some writers have imagined. The murder of the disgraced Sennacherib “ within fifty-five days” of his return to Nineveh, 12 seems to be an invention of the Alexandrian Jew who wrote the Book of Tobit. The total destruction of the empire in conse- quence of the blow, is an exaggeration of Josephus,13 rashiy credited by some moderns.14 Sennacherib did not die till B.C. 681, seventeen years after his misfortune ; 15 and the empire suffered so little that we find Esar-haddon, a few years later, in full possession of all the territory that any king before him bad 11 This is proved by the name of the Eponym. The date may be later, for 1 the same person, or a person of the same name, was Eponym five years afterwards, in Sennacherib's twentieth year. 12 Tobit i. 21. 1. Ant. Jhul. A. 2. 'EP ToÚTệ nạ Xpovụ συνέβη την των Ασσυρίων άρχήν υπό Mýdwv katalvonvai. is As Clinton, Fasti Hellenici, vol. i. pp. 279, 280. 15 The expression in 2 Kings xix. 36, that “ Sennacherib departed, and went, and returned, and duelt at Nineveh," implies some considerable length of time, and shows the unhistorical character of Tobit. 170 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. ever held, ruling from Babylonia to Egypt, or (as he himself expresses it) “from the rising up of the sun to the going down of the same.” 16 Even Sennacherib himself was not prevented by his calamity from undertaking important wars during the latter part of his reign. We shall see shortly that he recovered Babylon, chastised Susiana, and invaded Cilicia, in the course of the seventeen years which intervened between his flight from Pelusium and his decease. Moreover, there is evidence that he employed himself during this part of his reign in the consolida- tion of the Western provinces, which first appear about his twelfth year as integral portions of the empire, furnishing Eponyms in their turn,' and thus taking equal rank with the ancient provinces of Assyria Proper, Adiabêné, and Mesopotamia. The fifth campaign of Sennacherib, according to his own annals, was partly in a mountainous country which he calls Nipur or Nibur—probably the most northern portion of the Zagros range? where it abuts on Ararat. He there took a number of small towns, after which he proceeded westward and contended with a certain Maniya, king of Dayan, which was a part of Taurus bordering on Cilicia. He boasts that he pene- trated further into this region than any king before him; and the boast is confirmed by the fact that the geographical pames which appear are almost entirely new to us. The expedition was a plundering raid, not an attempt at conquest. Sennacherib ravaged the country, burnt the towns, and carried away with him all the valuables, the flocks and herds, and the inhabitants. 16 Assyrian Texts, p. 10. Pileser cylinder among the countries of 1 In B.c. 694, Sennacherib's 12th year,' the Naïri. (Inscription, p. 46.) A bull- the Prefect of Damascus is Eponym; in'inscription of Sennacherib shows that B.C. 692 the Prefect of Arpad ; and in it lay to the extreme west of their B.C. 691 the Prefect of Carchemish. None country, where it abutted on Cilicia of these places had furnished eponyms į and the country of the Tibareni (Tubal). previously. " Dayan is not new; but Urz0, its 2 This emplacement depends almost capital, and its strongholds, Anara and entirely on the name Nibur, which seems Uppa, are new names. Mr. Fox Talbot to be represented by the Mt. Nibarus conjectures that Anara is “the cele. (Nißapos) of Strabo. This range lay i brated Aornus, besieged many ages east of Niphates, stretching as far as afterwards by Alexander the Great." Media (wapateiver ué xpi tûs Mndias, xi. | (ds. Soc. Journ. vol. xix. p. 153.) But p. 766). It seems rightly regarded as Aornus was in Bactria, far beyond the the Ala Dagh, a range due north of utmost limit to which the Assyrian Lake Van. arms ever penetrated castward. 3 Dayan is mentioned on the Tiglath- CHAP. IX. SENNACHERIB'S WAR WITH SUSIANA. 171 After this it appears that for at least three years he was engaged in a fierce struggle with the combined Babylonians and Susianians. The troubles recommenced by an attempt of the Chaldæans of Beth-Yakin to withdraw themselves from the Assyrian territory and to transfer their allegiance to the Elymæan king. Carrying with them their gods and their treasures, they embarked in their ships, and crossing “the Great Sea of the Rising Sun”-i.e. the Persian Gulf—landed on the Elamitic coast, where they were kindly received and allowed to take up their abode. Such voluntary removals are not uncommon in the East;and they constantly give rise to complaints and reclamations, which not unfrequently terminate in an appeal to the arbitrament of the sword. Sennacherib does not inform us whether he made any attempt to recover his lost subjects by diplomatic representations at the court of Susa. If he did, they were unsuccessful ; and in order to obtain redress, he was com- pelled to resort to force, and to undertake an expedition into the Elamitic territory. It is remarkable that he determined to make his invasion by sea. Their frequent wars on the Syrian coasts had by this time familiarised the Assyrians with the idea, if not with the practice, of navigation; and as their suzerainty over Phænicia placed at their disposal a large body of skilled shipwrights, and a number of the best sailors in the world, it was natural that they should resolve to employ naval as well as military force to advance their dominion. We have seen that, as early as the time of Shalmaneser, the Assyrians ventured themselves in ships, and, in conjunction with the Phænicians of the mainland, engaged the vessels of the Island Tyre. It is probable that the precedent thus set was followed by later kings, and that both Sargon and Sennacherib had had the permanent, or occasional, services of a fleet on the Mediterranean. But there was a wide difference between such an employment of the navies belonging to their subjects on the sea to which they were accustomed, and the transfer to the opposite extremity of Compare the removal of the Scyths | (Herod. i. 73, 74), and the instances from Media to Lydia in the reign of collected by Mr. Grote (History of Greece, Cyaxares, which is said to have pro vol. ii. p. 417, note", 2nd edition). duced the Lydian war of that king! 6 Supra, p. 137. 172 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. the empire of the naval strength hitherto confined to the Medi- terranean. This thought-certainly not an obvious one-seems to have first occurred to Sennacherib. He conceived the idea of having a navy on both the seas that washed his dominions ; and, possessing on his western coast only an adequate supply of skilled shipwrights and sailors," he resolved on transporting from his western to his eastern shores such a body of Phoenicians as would enable him to accomplish his purpose. The shipwrights of Tyre and Sidon were carried across Mesopotamia to the Tigris, where they constructed for the Assyrian monarch a fleet of ships like their own galleys, which descended the river to its mouth, and astonished the populations bordering on the Persian Gulf with a spectacle never before seen in those waters. Though the Chaldæans had for centuries navigated this inland sea, and may have occasionally ventured beyond its limits, yet neither as sailors nor as ship-builders was their skill to compare with that of the Phænicians. The masts and sails, the double tiers of oars, the sharp beaks of the Phoenician ships were (it is probable) novelties to the nations of these parts, who saw now, for the first time, a fleet debouche from the Tigris, with which their own vessels were quite incapable of contending. When his fleet was ready Sennacherib put to sea, and crossed in his Phænician ships from the mouth of the Tigris to the tract occupied by the emigrant Chaldæans, where he landed and destroyed the newly-built city, captured the inhabitants, ravaged the neighbourhood, and burnt a number of Susianian towns, finally re-embarking with his captives—Chaldæan and Susianian—whom he transported across the Gulf to the Chal- dæan coast, and then took with him into Assyria. This whole expedition seems to have taken the Susianians by surprise. They had probably expected an invasion by land, and had collected their forces towards the north-western frontier, so ? The Chaldæans, whose “cry was in the ships” (Is. xliii. 14), no doubt pos- sessed a mercantile marine which had long been accustomed to the navigation of the Persian Gulf. (See above, vol. i. pp. 26 and 101.) But they probably fell very far short of the Phænicians both as respected their vessels and their nautical skill. & Sennacherib calls them “Syrian vessels.” Most probably they were bi- remes. CHAP. IX, REVOLT OF THE BABYLONIANS. 173 that when the troops of Sennacherib landed far in their rear, there were no forces in the neighbourhood to resist them. However, the departure of the Assyrians on an expedition re- garded as extremely perilous, was the signal for a general revolt of the Babylonians, who once more set up a native king in the person of Susub,' and collected an army with which they made ready to give the Assyrians battle on their return. Perhaps they cherished the hope that the fleet which had tempted the dangers of an unknown sea would be seen no more, or expected that, at the best, it would bring back the shattered remnants of a defeated army. If so, they were disappointed. The Assyrian troops landed on their coast flushed with success, and finding the Babylonians in revolt, proceeded to chastise them; defeated their forces in a great battle; captured their king, Susub; aud when the Susianians came, somewhat tardily, to their succour, attacked and routed their army. A vast number of prisoners, and among them Susub himself, were carried off by the victors and conveyed to Nineveh.10 Shortly after this successful campaign, possibly in the very next year, Sennacherib resolved to break the power of Susiana by a great expedition directed solely against that country. The Susianians had, as already related," been strong enough in the reign of Sargon to deprive Assyria of a portion of her territory; and Kudur-Nakhunta,' the Elymæan king, still held two cities, Beth-Kahiri and Raza, which were regarded by Sennacherib as a part of his paternal inheritance. The first object of the war was the recovery of these two towns, which were taken without any difficulty and reattached to the Assyrian Empire.Sennacherib then pressed on into the heart of Susiana, taking and destroying thirty-four large cities, whose names he mentions, together with a still greater number of villages, all of which he gave to the flames. Wasting and destroying in this way he drew near to Vadakat or Badaca, the second city See above, p. 164. Sargon (supra, p. 151). Bricks of Ku- 10 Inscriptions des Sargonides, pp. 47, | dur-Nakhunta, brought from Susa, are 48; Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. 1 in the Assyrian Collection of the British xix, pp. 154-156. 11 Supra, p. 152. Museum. Kudur-Nakhunta was the son of 2 Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 48. Sutruk-Nakhunta, the antagonist of 3 Badaca is placed by Diodorus on 174 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. of the kingdom, where Kudur-Nakbunta had for the time fixed bis residence. The Elamitic king, hearing of his rapid approach, took fright, and hastily quitting Badaca, fled away to a city called Khidala, at the foot of the mountains, where alone he could feel himself in safety. Sennacherib then advanced to Badaca, besieged it, and took it by assault; after which affairs seem to have required his presence at Nineveh, and, leaving his conquest incomplete, he returned home with a large booty. A third campaign in these parts, the most important of all, followed. Susub, the Chaldæan prince whom Sennacherib had carried off to Assyria in the year of his naval expedition, escaped from his confinement, and, returning to Babylon, was once more hailed as king by the inhabitants. Aware of his inability to maintain himself on the throne against the will of the Assyrians, unless he were assisted by the arms of a powerful ally, he resolved to obtain, if possible, the immediate aid of the neighbouring Elamitic monarch. Kudur-Nakhunta, the late antagonist of Sennacherib, was dead, having survived his dis- graceful flight from Badaca only three months; 5 and Umman- minan, his younger brother, held the throne. Susub, bent on contracting an alliance with this prince, did not scruple at an act of sacrilege to obtain his end. He broke open the treasury of the great temple of Bel at Babylon, and seizing the gold and silver belonging to the god, sent it as a present to Umman- minan, with an urgent entreaty that he would instantly collect his troops and march to his aid. The Elamitic monarch, yielding to a request thus powerfully backed, and perhaps suf- ficiently wise to see that the interests of Susiana required an independent Babylon, set his troops in motion without any delay, and advanced to the banks of the Tigris. At the same time a number of the Aramæan tribes on the middle Euphrates, which Sennacherib had reduced in his third year,' revolted, and the Eulaus, between Susa and Ecbatana | passage (As. Soc. Journ, vol. xix. p. 159). (xix. 19). It seems to have been situated It is thought, however, by some to mean at the point where the Kerkhah ori that the whole reign of Kudur-Na- ginally bifurcated, sending down an | khunta lasted only three months. eastern arm which fell into the Kuran • Compare the conduct of Abaz (2 at Ahwaz. (See Loftus, Chaldæa and Kings xvi. 8). Susiana, p. 424.) ^ See above, p. 173. . Supra, p. 157. The principal of 5 So Mr. Fox Talbot understands the these tribes were the Pukudu (Pekod), Chap. IX. DEFEAT OF SUSUB. 175 sent their forces to swell the army of Susub. A great battle was fought at Khaluli, a town on the lower Tigris, between the troops of Sennacherib and this allied host; the combat was long and bloody; but at last the Assyrians conquered. Susub and his Elamitic ally took to flight and made their escape. Nebo- sum-iskun, a son of Merodach-Baladan, and many other chiefs of high rank, were captured. The army was completely routed and broken up. Babylon submitted, and was severely punished; the fortifications were destroyed; the temples plundered and burnt; and the images of the gods broken to pieces. Perhaps the rebel city now received for viceroy Regibelus or Mesesi- mordachus, whom the Canon of Ptolemy, which is silent abont Susub, makes contemporary with the middle portion of Senna- cherib's reign. The only other expedition which can be assigned, on important evidence, to the reign of Sennacherib, is one against Cilicia, in which he is said to have been opposed by Greeks. According to Abydenus, a Greek fleet guarded the Cilician shore, which the vessels of Sennacherib engaged and defeated. Polyhistor seems to say that the Greeks also suffered a defeat by land in Cilicia itself, after which Sennacherib took possession of the country, and built Tarsus there on the model of Babylon. The the Gambulu, the Khindaru, the Ruhua, aggressus est, prælioque inito, multis and the Damunu. suorum amissis, hostes nihilominus pro- Inscriptions de: Sorjonilles, pp. 49– fligavit: suamque imaginem, ut esset 51; Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. victoriæ monumentum, eo loco erectam xix. pp. 159–165. reliquit; cui Chaldaicis litteris res a se 9 Regibelus ascends the throne in B.C. gestas insculpi mandavit ad memoriam 693, and Mesesimordachus in the fol temporum sempiternam. Tarsum quoque lowing year. These are the 13th and urbem ab eo structam ait ad Babylonis Itth years of Sennacherib. The omission exemplar, eidemque nomen inditum of Susub from the Canon may be ac- || Tharsin." Abyden, ap. eund. c. ix. :- counted for by the probable fact that “ His temporibus quintus denique et neither of his two reigns lasted for a vigesimus rex fuit Senacheribus, qui full year. That he was actual king is Babylonem sibi subdidit, et in Cilicii proved by a “contract” tablet in the maris litore classem Græcorum profli- British Museum dated in his reign. gatum disjecit. Hic etiam templum 18 Polybist. ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. Atheniensium (!) struxit. Erea quoque Pars 1 ma, c. v.:-"Is igitur (i.e, Sena signa facienda curavit, in quibus sua cheribus) Babyloniorum potitus, filium facinora traditur inscripsisse. Tarsum suum Asordanem eis regem imponebat, denique ea forma, qua Babylon utitur, ipse autem in Assyriam reditum matu- ! condidit, ita ut media Tarso Cydnus rabat. Mox quum ad ejus aures rumor amnis transiret, prorsus ut Babylonem Eset perlatus, Græcos in Ciliciam coactis dividit Arazanes." copiis bellum transtulisse, eos protinus ' It is not certain that this means 176 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. prominence here given to Greeks by Greek writers is undoubtedly remarkable, and it throws a certain amount of suspicion over the whole story. Still, as the Greek element in Cyprus was (ertainly important at this time, and as the occupation of Cilicia by the Assyrians may have appeared to the Cyprian Greeks to endanger their independence, it is conceivable that they lent some assistance to the natives of the country, who were a hardy race, fond of freedom, and never very easily brought into subjection. The admission of a double defeat makes it evident that the tale is not the invention of Greek national vanity. Abydenus and Polyhistor probably derive it from Berosus, who must also have made the statement that Tarsus was now founded by Sennacherib, and constructed after the pattern of Babylon. The occupation of newly conquered countries, by the establishment in them of large cities in which foreign colonists were placed by the conquerors, was a practice commenced by Sargon, which his son is not unlikely to have followed. Tarsus was always regarded by the Greeks as an Assyrian town ;5 and although they gave different accounts of the time of its foundation, their disagreement in this respect does not invalidate their evidence as to the main fact itself, which is intrinsically probable. The evidence of Polyhistor und Abydenus as to the date of the foundation, representing, as it must, the testimony of Berosus upon the point, is to be pre- ferred; and we may accept it as a fact, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the native city of St. Paul derived, if not its origin, yet, at any rate, its later splendour and magnificence, from the antagonist of Hezekiah.“ more than the emplacement of the town foundation of Tarsus to Sardanapalus, on both sides of the Cydnus, so that the the best known of the Assyrian monarchs. stream ran through it. (See the parallel (See Hellan. Fr. 158; Apollodor. Fr. 69 ; passage in Abydenus.) Strab. xiv. p. 968; Arrian. Exp. Aler. ? See below, p. 200, note 8. ii. 5 ; Athenæus, Deipn. xii. 7; Eustath, 3 Cilicia remained independent at the, ad Dionys. Per. 873.) time of the formation of the Lydian o If the Tarshish of Gen. x. 4, which Empire (Herod. i. 28). It had its own ! is joined · with Kittim (Cyprus), Ro- kings, and enjoyed a certain amount of | danim (Rhodes), and Elishah (Folis, independence under the Persians (ibid. | Elis) is allowed to be Tarsus (Joseph. vii. 98; Eschyl. Pers. 328–330; Xen. Ant. Jud. i. 6), the original foundation Anab. i. 2, $ 25). of the city must have preceded the time 4 See above, p. 151. of Sennacherib. 5 The Greeks generally ascribed the Char. IX. RENEWED DEFECTION OF BABYLON. 177 That this Cilician war occurred late in the reign of Senna- cherib, appears to follow from the absence of any account of it from his general annals.? These, it is probable, extend no further than his sixteenth year, B.C. 689, thus leaving blank his last eight years, from B.C. 689 to 681. The defeat of the Greeks, the occupation of Cilicia, and the founding of Tarsus, may well have fallen into this interval. To the same time may have belonged Sennacherib's conquest of Edom.s There is reason to suspect that these successes of Sennacherib on the western limits of his empire were more than counter- balanced by a contemporaneous loss at the extreme south-east. The Canon of Ptolemy marks the year B.c. 688 as the first of an interregnum at Babylon, which continues from that date till the accession of Esar-haddon in B.C. 680. Interregna in this document—ětn áßaoiheuta, as they are termed-indicate periods of extreme disturbance, when pretender succeeded to pretender, or when the country was split up into a number of petty kingdoms. The Assyrian yoke, in either case, must have been rejected ; and Babylonia must have succeeded at this time in maintaining, for the space of eight years, a separate and independent exist- ence, albeit troubled and precarious. The fact that she con- tinued free so long, while she again succumbed at the very commencement of the reign of Esar-haddon, may lead us to suspect that she owed this spell of liberty to the increasing years of the Assyrian monarch, who, as the infirmities of age crept upon him, felt a disinclination towards distant expe- ditions. The military glory of Sennacherib was thus in some degree tarnished; first, by the terrible disaster which befell his host on the borders of Egypt; and, secondly, by his failure to maintain the authority which, in the earlier part of his reign, he had established over Babylon. Still, notwithstanding these misfor- In the Epitome of Sennacherib's ! pedition-ab. B.C. 695. If therefore the wars inscribed upon the Koyunjik bulls, | war to which it alludes is the same there is a statement that he "tri as that mentioned by the Greeks, the un phantly subdued the men of Cilicia date in the text must be modified. inhabiting the inaccessible forests." This & Infra, p. 189. epitome dates from the first Susian ex- VOL. 11. 178 Chap. IX. , THE SECOND MONARCHY. tunes, he must be pronounced one of the most successful of Assyria's warrior kings, and altogether one of the greatest princes that ever sate on the Assyrian throne. His victories of Eltekeh and Khaluli seem to have been among the most im- portant battles that Assyria ever gained. By the one Egypt and Ethiopia, by the other Susiana and Babylon, were taught that, even united, they were no match for the Assyrian hosts. Sennacherib thus wholesomely impressed his most formidable enemies with the dread of his arms; while at the same time he enlarged, in various directions, the limits of his dominions. He warred in regions to which no earlier Assyrian monarch had ever penetrated; and he adopted modes of warfare on which none of them had previously ventured. His defeat of a Greek fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean, and his employment of Phænicians in the Persian Gulf, show an enterprise and versa- tility which we observe in few Orientals. His selection of Tarsus for the site of a great city indicates a keen appreciation of the merits of a locality. If he was proud, haughty, and self- confident, beyond all former Assyrian kings, it would seem to have been because he felt that he had resources within himself —that he possessed a firm will, a bold heart, and a fertile inven- tion. Most men would have laid aside the sword and given themselves wholly to peaceful pursuits, after such a disaster as that of Pelusium. Sennacherib accepted the judgment as a warning to attempt no further conquests in those parts, but did not allow the calamity to reduce him to inaction. He wisely turned bis sword against other enemies, and was rewarded by important successes upon all his other frontiers. But if, as a warrior, Sennacherib deserves to be placed in the foremost rank of the Assyrian kings, as a builder and a patron 9 On the importance of Tarsus in of Assyria, the king of the four regions, Greek and Roman times, see Xen. Anab. the diligent ruler, the favourite of the i. 2, § 23; Cæs. Bell. Aler. 66; Strab. great gods, the observer of sworn faith, xiv. p. 960; Dionys. Perieg. 1. 869; the guardian of the law, the embellisher Solin. 41, &c. Tersoos is still a city of public buildings, the noble hero, the with a population of 30,000. strong warrior, the first of kings, the 10 Isaiah x. 12-14; 2 Kings xix. 23 punisher of unbelievers, the destroyer 28. Sennacherib calls himself in his of wicked men.” (Inscriptions des Sar- inscriptions, “the great king, the power gonides, p. 41 ; compare As. Soc. Journ. ful king, the king of nations, the king | vol. xix. p. 135.) Cuap. IX. SENNACHERIB'S PALACE AT NINEVEH. 179 of art he is still more eminent. The great palace which he raised at Nineveh surpassed in size and splendour all earlier edifices, and was never excelled in any respect except by one later building. The palace of Asshur-bani-pal, built on the same platform by the grandson of Sennacherib, was, it must be allowed, more exquisite in its ornamentation; but even this edifice did not equal the great work of Sennacherib in the number of its apartments, or the grandeur of its dimensions. Sennacherib's palace covered an area of above eight acres. It consisted of a number of grand halls and smaller chambers, arranged round at least three courts or quadrangles. These courts were respectively 154 feet by 125, 124 feet by 90, and probably a square of about 90 feet. Round the smallest of the courts were grouped apartments of no great size, which, it may be suspected, belonged to the seraglio of the king. The seraglio seems to have been reached through a single narrow passage, leading out of a long gallery-218 feet by 2.) 3—which was approached only through two other passages, one leading from each of the two main courts. The principal halls were imme- diately within the two chief entrances-one on the north-east, the other on the opposite or south-west front of the palace. Neither of these two rooms has been completely explored; but the one appears to have been more than 150 and the other was probably 180 feet in length, while the width of each was a little more than forty feet. Besides these two great halls and the grand gallery already described, the palace contained about twenty rooms of a considerable size, and at least forty or fifty smaller chambers, mostly square, or nearly so, opening out of some hall or large apartment. The actual number of the rooms explored is about sixty ;5 but as in many parts the examination 1 This third or Flareom Court was ' tion, as it was not explored to the end ; very partially explored. The one side but its apparent object was to conduct uncovered measured ninety-three feet. | to the north-west group of chambers. Mr. Layard in his restoration (Vinereh 3 Lavard, Ninereh und Babylon, p. 103. and Babylon, Plan I, opp. p. 67) makes + This hall was traced to a distance the width of the court eighty-four feet, of 160 feet. Assuming that it had the but it may easily have been ninety feet same sort of correspondence and regu- or even more. larity as the halls at Khorsa bad, its 2 It is not quite certain that this entire length must have been 180 feet. passage led to the apartments in ques. 5 Mr. Layard counts seventy-one N 2 180 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. of the building is still incomplete, we may fairly conjecture that the entire number was not less than seventy or eighty. The palace of Sennacherib preserved all the main features of Assyrian architecture. It was elevated on a platform, eighty or ninety feet above the plain, artificially constructed and covered with a pavement of bricks. It had probably three grand façades—one on the north-east, where it was ordinarily ap- proached from the town, and the two others on the south-east and the south-west, where it was carried nearly to the edge of the platform, and overhung the two streams of the Khosr-su and the Tigris. Its principal apartment was that which was first entered by the visitor. All the walls ran in straight lines, and all the angles of the rooms and passages were right angles. There were more passages in the building than usual;? but still the apartments very frequently opened into one another; and almost one half of the rooms were passage-rooms. The doorways were mostly placed without any regard to regularity, seldom opposite to one another, and generally towards the corners of the apartments. There was the curious feature, so common in Assyrian edifices, of a room being entered from a court, or from another room, by two or three doorways;& which is best explained by supposing that the rank of the person determined the door by which he might enter. Squared recesses in the sides of the rooms were common. The thickness of the walls was great. The apartments, though wider than in other palaces, were still narrow for their length, never much exceeding forty feet; while the courts were much better proportioned. It was in the size and the number of his rooms, in his use of passages, and in certain features of his ornamentation, that Sen- nacherib chiefly differed from former builders. He increased the width of the principal state apartments by one-third, which seems to imply the employment of some new mode or material chambers; but he includes in this esti- | steps, or inclined ways, which led up to mate the three courts, the long gallery, the platform from the lower level of the four passages, and four rooms which city. were imagined rather than proved to ! i On the rare use of passages by the exis:. Assyrians, see above, vol. i. p. 285. 6 Two great ravines on this side 8 So at Khorsabad (vol. i. p. 281) and probably mark the position of Hights of at Nimrud (supra, p. 92). CHAP. IX. SENNACHERIB'S PALACE AT NINEVEH. 181 for roofing. In their length he made less alteration, only advancing from 150 to 180 feet, evidently because he aimed, not merely at increasing the size of his rooms, but at improving their proportions. In one instance alone—that of a gallery or passage-room, leading (apparently) from the more public part of the palace to the hareem or private apartments—did he exceed this length, uniting the two portions of the palace by a noble corridor, 218 feet long by twenty-five wide. Into this corridor he brought passages from the two public courts, which he also united together by a third passage, thus greatly facili- tating communication between the various blocks of building which composed his vast palatial edifice. The most striking characteristic of Sennacherib's ornamenta- tion is its strong and marked realism. It was under Senna- cherib that the practice first obtained of completing each scene by a background,10 such as actually existed at the time and place of its occurrence. Mountains, rocks, trees, roads, rivers, lakes, were regularly portrayed, an attempt being made to represent the locality, whatever it might be, as truthfully as the artist's skill and the character of his material rendered possible. Nor was this endeavour limited to the broad and general features of the scene only. The wish evidently was to include all the little accessories which the observant eye of an artist might have noted if he had made his drawing with the scene before him. The species of trees is distinguished in Sennacherib's bas-reliefs; gar-, dens, fields, ponds, reeds, are carefully represented; wild animals are introduced, as stags, boars, and antelopes; birds fly from tree to tree, or stand over their nests feeding the young who stretch up to them; fish disport themselves in the waters; fishermen ply their craft; boatmen and agricultural labourers pursue their avccations; the scene is, as it were, photographed, with all its 9 Sennacherib used foreign timber in his palace to a large extent, cutting it in Lebanon and Amanus. Perhaps, by choosing the tallest trees, he was able to span with single beams the wide space of forty-one or forty-two feet. (See vol. i. p. 307.) 10 Backgrounds occur, but very rarely, in the reliefs of Asshur-izir-pal (Layard, Monuments, 1st Series, Pls. 15, 16, and 33). They are employed more largely by Sargon (Botta, Monument, Pls. 31 to 35, and 108 to 114); but even then they continue the exception. With Senna- cherib they become the rule, and at the same time they increase greatly in elaboration. 182 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. features—the least and the most important-equally marked, and without any attempt at selection, or any effort after artistic unity. In the same spirit of realism Sennacherib chooses for artistic representation scenes of a common-place and every-day cha- racter. The trains of attendants who daily enter his palace with game and locusts for his dinner, and cakes and fruit for his dessert, appear on the walls of his passages,' exactly as they walked through his courts, bearing the delicacies in which he delighted. Elsewhere he puts before us the entire process of carving and transporting a colossal bull, from the first removal of the huge stone in its rough state from the quarry, to its final elevation on a palace mound as part of the great gateway of a royal residence. We see the trackers dragging the rough block, supported on a low flat-bottomed boat, along the course of a river, disposed in gangs, and working under taskmasters who use their rods upon the slightest provocation. The whole scene mu-t be represented, and so the trackers are all there, to the number of three hundred, costumed according to their nations, and each delineated with as much care as if he were not the exact image of ninety-nine others. We then observe the block transferred to land, and carved into the rough semblance of a bull, in which form it is placed on a rude sledge and conveyed along level ground by gangs of labourers, arranged nearly as before, to the foot of the mound at whose top it has to be placed. The con- struction of the mound is most elaborately represented. Bricks makers are seen moulding the bricks at its base, while workmen, with baskets at their backs, full of earth, bricks, stones, or rub- bish, toil up the ascent-for the mound is already half raised and empty their burdens out upon the summit. The bull, still lying on its sledge, is then drawn up an inclined plane to the top by four gangs of labourers, in the presence of the monarch and his attendants. After this the carving is completed, and the colossus, having been raised into an upright position, is conveyed along the surface of the platform to the exact site which it is to For a representation see Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, Pls. 8 and 9; com care Ninevch and Babylon, pp. 338-310. Chap. IX. HIS EMPLOYMENT OF FORCED LABOUR. 183 occupy. This portion of the operation has been represented in one of the woodcuts contained in the first volume. From the representation there given the reader may form a notion of the minuteness and elaboration of this entire series of bas-reliefs. Besides constructing this new palace at Nineveh, Sennacherib seems also to have restored the ancient residence of the kings at the same place,' a building which will probably be found when- ever the mound of Nebbi-Yunus is submitted to careful exami- nation. He confined the Tigris to its channel by an embankment of bricks. He constructed a number of canals or aqueducts for the purpose of bringing good water to the capital. He improved the defences of Nineveh, erecting towers of a vast size at some of the gates.? And, finally, he built a temple to the god Nergal at Tarbisi (now Sherif Khan), about three miles from Nineveli, up the Tigris. In the construction of these great works he made use, chiefly, of the forced labour with which his triumphant expeditions into foreign countries had so abundantly supplied him. Chaldæans, Aramæans, Armenians, Cilicians, and probably also Egyptians, Ethiopians, Elamites, and Jews, were employed by thousands in the formation of the vast mounds, in the transport and elevation of the colossal bulls, in the moulding of the bricks, and the erec- tion of the walls of the various edifices, in the excavation of the canals, and the construction of the embankments. They wrought in gangs, each gang having a costume peculiar to it,which probably marked its nation. Over each was placed a number of task-masters, armed with staves, who urged on the work with blows,º and severely punished any neglect or remissness. ? Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, Pls. | have also been found along the curtain 10 to 17. of the east side of the city. 3 Supra, vol. i. p. 402. 8 On the Bellino Cylinder Sennacherib • Assyriun Texts, p. 7; As. Soc. Journ. tells us that he employed these four vol. xix. p. 166. races, together with the Quhu (Coans), 5 Assyrian Texts, 1. s. C. on his great works. (Assyrin Texts, Ibid. p. 8. pp. 6, 7.) From a bull-inscription we ? The great gate of Nineveh, de learn that the number of Aramæans scribed in the first volume of this work carried off as slaves in one raid was (P. 258), was composed of bricks marked 208,000. (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, with Sennacherib's name (Layard, Nine- | p. 141.) Det and Babylon, p. 123). Another | so Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, Pls, similar gateway in the eastern wall | 10, 11, 13, 15, and 16. (ibid.) was probably his; and his bricks 10 The same practice prevailed in 184 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. Assyrian foremen had the general direction of the works, and were entrusted with all such portions as required skill or judge ment." The forced labourers often worked in fetters, which were sometimes supported by a bar fastened to the waist, while sometimes they consisted merely of shackles round the ankles. The king himself often witnessed the labours, standing in his chariot, which, on these occasions, was drawn by some of his attendants. 12 The Assyrian monuments throw but little light on the circum- stances which led to the assassination of Sennacherib; and we are reduced to conjecture the causes of so strange an event. Our various sources of information make it clear that he had a large family of sons. The eldest of them, Asshur-inadi-su, had been entrusted by Sennacherib with the government of Babylon, 13 and might reasonably have expected to succeed him on the throne of Assyria ; but it is probable that he died before his father, either by a natural death, or by violence, during one of the many Babylonian revolts. It may be suspected that Senna- cherib had a second son, of whose name Nergal was the first element;' and it is certain that he had three others, Adram- melech (or Ardumuzanes),- Sharezer, and Esar-haddon. Perhaps, upon the death of Asshur-inadi-su, disputes arose about the succession. Adrammelech and Sharezer, anxious to obtain the throne for themselves, plotted against the life of their father, and having slain him in a temple as he was worshipping, pro- ceeded further to remove their brother Nergilus, who claimed the crown and wore it for a brief space after Sennacherib's death. Having murdered him, they expected to obtain the Persia (Herod. vii. 22); and there must ? The Adram melech of Scripture (2 be something akin to it wherever forced Kings xix, 37; Is. xxxvii. 38) is men- labour is used. tioned as Adrameles by Abydenus " See vol. i. p. 587. (Euseb. Chron. Can. Pars Ima, c. ix.), 12 Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, and as Adramelus by Moses of Chorené Pls. 12 and 15. (Hist. Armen. i. 22.) This latter writer 13 Supra, p. 164. calls him also Argamozanus (ibid.), 1 Abydenus, who alone mentions this i while Polyhistor gives his name as Ar- Nergilus, omits to state his relationship dumuzanes (ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. Pars to Sennacherib. He makes him the Ima, c. v. $ 1). 32 Kings, I. s. C. father of Adrammelech and Esar-haddon * See Abydenus, l. s. c. “Proximus (Axerdis), which is certainly incorrect. ' huic (i.e. Senacheribo) regnavit Ner. In the text I have followed probability. I gilus, quem Adrameles filius (?) occidit." CHAP. IX. SENNACHERIB MURDERED, ' . 185 throne without further difficulty; but Esar-baddon, who at the time commanded the army which watched the Armenian fron- tier, now came forward, assumed the title of King, and prepared to march upon Nineveh. It was winter, and the inclemency of the weather precluded immediate movement. For some months probably the two assassins were recognised as monarchs at the capital, while the northern army regarded Esar-haddon as the rightful successor of his father. Thus died the great Senna- cherib, a victim to the ambition of his sons. It was a sad end to a reign which, on the whole, had been so glorious; and it was a sign that the empire was now verging on that decline which sooner or later overtakes all kingdoms, and indeed all things sublunary. Against plots from without, arising from the ambition of subjects who see, or think they see, at any particular juncture, an opportunity of seizing the great prize of supreme dominion, it is impossible, even in the most vigorous empire, to provide any complete security. But during the period of vigour, harmony exists within the palace, and con- fidence in each other inspires and unites all the members of the royal house. When discord has once entered inside the gates, when the family no longer holds together, when suspicion and jealousy have replaced the trust and affection of a happier time, the empire has passed into the declining stage, and has already begun the descent which conducts, by quick or slow degrees, to destruction. The murder of Sennacherib, if it was, as perhaps it was, a judgment on the individual," was, at least equally, a judgment on the nation. When, in an absolute monarchy, the palace becomes the scene of the worst crimes, the doom of the kingdom is sealed—it totters to its fall—and requires but a touch from without to collapse into a heap of ruins. Esar-haddon, the son and successor of Sennacherib, is proved by the Assyrian Canon to have ascended the throne of Assyria in B.C. 681—the year immediately previous to that which the Canon of Ptolemy makes his first year in Babylon, viz., B.C. 680. s See 2 Kings xix. 7 and 37. 6 A king was not entered on the Babylonian list until the Thoth, which followed his accession. Thoth fell at | this time in February. Hence the Baby- lonian dates are in almost every case one year later than the Assyrian. 186 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. He was succeeded by his son, Asshur-bani-pal or Sardanapalus, in B.C. 668, and thus held the crown po more than thirteen years. Esar-haddon's inscriptions show that he was engaged for some time after his accession in a war with his half-brothers, who, at the head of a large body of troops, disputed bis right to the crown.? Esar-haddon marched from the Armenian frontier, where (as already observed) he was stationed at the time of his father's death, against this army, defeated it in the country of Khanirabbat (north-west of Nineveh), and proceeding to the capital, was universally acknowledged king. According to Abydenus, Adrammelech fell in the battle; 8 but better autho- rities state that both he and his brother, Sharezer, escaped into Armenia, where they were kindly treated by the reigning monarch, who gave them lands, which long continued in the possession of their posterity,'' The chief record which we possess of Esar-haddon is a cylinder inscription, existing in duplicate," which describes about nine campaigns, and may probably have been composed in or about his tenth year. A memorial which he set up at the mouth of the Nahr-el-Kelb, and a cylinder of his son's add some important information with respect to the latter part of his reign.12 One or two notices in the Old Testament connect him with the history of the Jews.13 And Abydenus, besides the passage already quoted, has an allusion to some of his foreign conquests.14 Such are the chief materials from which the modern inquirer has to reconstruct the history of this great king.15 See Mr. G. Smith's article in the 11 British Museum Series, Pls. 45 to North British Vieciew for July, 1870, pp. 147. Both copies of the cylinder are im- 324, 325. The war in question is also perfect; but together they supply a very mentioned by Abydenus, I. s. C. “Hunci tolerable text. M. Oppert has trauslated (i.e. Adramelem) frater suus Axerdis the second in his Inscriptions des sur- interfecit, patre eodem alia tamen matregonides, pp. 53-60. genitus, atque Byzantium (?) usque ejus i 12 See Sir H, Rawlinson's Illustrations exercitum persecutus est quem antea i of Egyptian History and Chronology from mercede conduxerat auxiliarem." the Cuneiform Inscriptions, p. 23. 8 See the preceding note. 13 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11; Ezra iv. 2. 9 2 Kings, xix. 37. Mos. Chor. I. 8.c. 14 Abyden. ap. Euseb. I. s.c.“ Egyp- “ Eum vero (i.e. Senecharimum) filii tum præterea partesque interiores Syriæ ejus Adrammelus et Sanasarus ubi inter acquirebat Axerdis." fecerunt, ad nos confugere." Is There is a second cylinder inscrip- 10 Mos. Chor. 1. 8. c. tion belonging to the reign of Esur- Chap. IX. REIGN OF ESAR-HADDON. 187 It appears that the first expedition of Esar-haddon was into Phænicia.6 Abdi-Milkut king of Sidon, and Sandu-arra king of the adjoining part of Lebanon, had formed an alliance and revolted from the Assyrians, probably during the troubles which ensued on Sennacherib's death. Esar-haddon attacked Siden first, and soon took the city; but Abdi-Milkut made his escape to an island-Aradus or Cyprus—where, perhaps, he thought himself secure. Esar-haddon, however, determined on pursuit. He traversed the sea “like a fish,” 17 and made Abdi-Milkut 18 prisoner; after which he turned his arms against Sandu-arra, attacked him in the fastnesses of his mountains, defeated his troops, and possessed himself of his person. The rebellion of the two captive kings was punished by their execution; the walls of Sidon were destroyed ; its inhabitants, and those of the whole tract of coast in the neighbourhood, were carried off into Assyria, and thence scattered among the provinces; a new town was built, which was named after Esar-haddon, and was intended to take the place of Sidon as the chief city of these parts; and colonists were brought from Chaldæa and Susiana to occupy the new capital and the adjoining region. An Assyrian governor was appointed to administer the conquered province.19 Esar-haddon's next campaign seems to have been in Armenia. He took a city called Arza * *, which, he says, was in the neighbourhood of Muzr,20 and carried off the inhabitants, toge- ther with a number of mountain animals, placing the former in haddon, which would be of great im- ' expedition (infra, p. 188) before the portance if it were complete. It is pub- Syrian. lished in Mr. Layard's Inscriptions of '17 Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 54. Assyria, pp. 54-58. It contains the 18 The name Abdistartus occurs among account of Esar-haddon's wars with his the kings of Tyre mentioned by Me- brothers, and some particulars of his nander (Fr. 1). Abdi-Milkut, or Abed- * Arabian and Syrian expeditions not Melkarth, is formed on the same model, elsewhere mentioned. (See North British and would mean *Servant of Melkarth” kecier, p. 310.) (Hercules), just as Abdistartus is “Ser- 16 As the records of Esar-haddon's vant of Ishtar” (Venus). Compare Ab- reign are not written in the form of, diel, Abdallah, Obadiah, &c. annals, it is very difficult to determine 19 It was probably with special re- the order of his campaigns. The order i ference to this campaign and conquest given in the text will be found to differ that Abydenus spoke of Esar-haddon as somewhat from that preferred by Mr. having added to the empire " the more G. Smith (N. B. kerier, pp. 325-333), ! inland parts of Syria.” (See supra, p. the most important difference being 186, note 14.) that Mr. Smith places the Babylonian 20 M. Oppert understands Egypt here 188 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. a position “ beyond the eastern gate of Nineveh.” At the same time he received the submission of Tiuspa the Cimmerian. 21 His third campaign was in Cilicia and the adjoining regions. The Cilicians, whom Sennacherib had so recently subdued, re-asserted their independence at his death, and allied them- selves with the Tibareni, or people of Tubal, who possessed the high mountain tract about the junction of Amanus and Taurus. Esar-haldon inflicted a defeat on the Cilicians, and then invaded the mountain region, where he took twenty-one towns and a larger number of villages, all of which he plun ered and burnt. The inhabitants he carried away captive, as usual; but he made no attempt to hold the ravaged districts by means of new cities or fresh colonists.? This expedition was followed by one or two petty wars in the north-west and the north-east;3 after which Esar-haddon, pro- bably about his sixth year, B.C. 675, made an expedition into Chaldæa. It appears that a son of Merodach-Baladan, Nebo- zirzi-sidi by name, had re-established himself on the Chaldæan coast, by the help of the Susianians; while his brother, Nahid- Marduk, had thought it more prudent to court the favour of the great Assyrian monarch, and had quitted his refuge in Susiana to present himself before Esar-haddon's footstool at Nineveh. This judicious step had all the success that he could have ex- pected or desired. Esar-haddon, having conquered the ill-judging Nebo-zirzi-sidi, made over to the more clear-sighted Nahid- Marduk the whole of the maritime region that had been ruled by his brother. At the same time the Assyrian monarch deposed a Chaldæan prince who had established his authority over a small town in the neighbourhood of Babylon, and set up another vra, P. 175. (Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 54), as who must have been king of Persia also does Mr. G. Smith (N. Brit. Revievo, about this time. p. 329); but Sir H. Rawlinson has shown that the Eastern Muzr must be meant. 2 Inscriptions des Sargonides, pp. 54, (Illustrations, &c. p. 21.) 55; Assyrian Terts, pp. 11, 12 21 This is the first mention of Cim 3 The scene of the first of these wars merians in the Assyrian Inscriptions. was Northern Syria ; the second was in Herodotus places the great Cimmerian South-Eastern Armenia --against the invasion of Asia in the reign of Ardys Mannai or Minni, the Lydian, which, according to him, * Mr. G. Smith reads this name as was from B.C, 686 to B.c. 637. The name Nabu-zira-na pisti-esir (N. Brit. Rerice, of Tiuspa is curiously neur to Teispes, \ p. 326). CHAP. IX. WARS OF ESAR-HADDON. 189 in his place, thus pursuing the same system of division in Baby- lonia which we shall hereafter find that he pursued in Egypt.6 Esar-haddon after this was engaged in a war with Edom. He there took a city which bore the same name as the country -a city previously, he tells us, taken by his father'—and trans- ported the inhabitants into Assyria, at the same time carrying off certain images of the Edomite gods. Hereupon the king, who was named Hazael, sent an embassy to Nineveh, to make submission and offer presents, while at the same time he sup- plicated Esar-haddon to restore his gods and allow them to be conveyed back to their own proper country.8 Esar-haddon granted the request, and restored the images to the envoy; but as a compensation for this boon, he demanded an increase of the annual tribute, which was augmented in consequence by sixty-five camels. He also nominated to the Edomite throne, either in succession or in joint sovereignty, a female named Tabua, who had been born and brought up in his own palace. The expedition next mentioned on Esar-haddon's principal cylinder is one presenting some difficulty. The scene of it is a country called Bazu, which is said to be “ remote, on the ex- treme confines of the earth, on the other side of the desert.” 10 It was reached by traversing a hundred and forty farsakhs (490 miles) of sandy desert, then twenty farsakhs (70 miles) of fertile land, and beyond that a stony region. None of the kings of Assyria, down to the time of Esar-haddon, had ever penetrated so far. Bazu lay beyond Khazu, which was the name of the stony tract, and Bazu had for its chief town a city called Yedih, which was under the rule of a king named Lailé. It is thought, from the combination of these names, and from The name of the Chaldæan prince | Tacit. Ann. ii. 2.) Was Tabua an Ara- de posed is read as Shamas-ipni; his suc bian princess, taken as an hostage, and cessor was Nebo-sallim, the son of Ba so bred up in the palace of the Assyrian lazu (Belesys). king? It is highly improbable that & Infra, p. 193. ? Supra, p. 177. she was a native Assyrian. © This appeal recalls Laban's address 10 Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 56. to Jacob (Gen. xxxi. 30), when Rachel 11 Mr. G. Smith reads these numbers had - stolen his gods." somewhat differently; but comes to the Is this a trace of a system like that same conclusion as the present writer, viz., which the Romans adopted in the case that Esar-haddon " penetrated into the of the Parthians and Armenians during middle of Arabia" (N. B. Rerie'r, p. 332 . the early part of the empire? (See 12 The combination of Bazu and 190 Char. IX THE SECOND MONARCHY. the general description of the region-of its remoteness and of the way in which it was reached—that it was probably the district of Arabia beyond Nedjif which lies along the Jebel Shammer and corresponds closely with the modern Arab kingdom of Hira. Esar-haddon boasts that he marched into the middle of the territory, that he slew eight of its sovereigns, and carried into Assyria their gods, their treasures, and their subjects; and that, though Lailé escaped him, he too lost bis gods, which were seized and conveyed to Nineveh. Then Lailé, like the Idumaan monarch above mentioned, felt it necessary to humble himself. He went in person to the Assyrian capital, prostrated himself before the royal footstool, and entreated for the restoration of his gods; which Esar-haddon consented to give back, but solely on the condition that Lailé became thence- forth one of his tributaries.13 If this expedition was really carried into the quarter here supposed, Esar-haddon performed a feat never paralleled in history, excepting by Augustus 14 and Nushirvan. He led an army across the deserts which everywhere guard Arabia on the land side, and penetrated to the more fertile tracts beyond them, a region of settled inhabitants and of cities. He there took and spoiled several towns; and he returned to his own country without suffering disaster. Considering the physical perils of the desert itself, and the warlike character of its in- habitants, whom no conqueror has ever really subdued, this was Khazu closely resembles that of Huz | Yelua, queen of Dihyan; Mannuki, king and Buz (Gen. xxij. 21). That Huz and of Maraban (?); Tabkharu, king of Gah- Buz both gave names to countries is ap- | van; Leifu, queen of Yakhilu; and Kla- parent from the Book of Job (i. 1, and baziru, king of Sidah, xxxi. 2); and both countries seem to 13 Inscriptions, &c., I. s. c. have been in Arabia. (See Jer. xxv. 25, 14 It has been disputed how far the and cf. Smith's Biblical Dictionary, ad expedition of Ælius Gallus in the reign voc.) Bazu, it may be noted, is the of Augustus (Strab. xvi. pp. 1107-1110) nearest possible Assyrian representation penetrated. According to some it of the Hebrew 112. The names of the reached Yemen ; according to others, it king, Laile, and of the other potentates proceeded no further than the eastern mentioned, are thoroughly Arabic, as foot of the great Nejd chain. (See a are also the places, some of which are note by Dr. W. Smith in his edition of well known. The entire list is as fol | Gibbon's Decline and Fall, vol. i. pp. lows:-Kitsu (Keis), king of Kholti!; | 138, 139.) Akbaru (Acbar), king of Dupynt; Kha 16 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. v. p. bizu, king of Qadatsia (Qadessiyeh); | 364, Smith's edition. CHAP. IX. ESAR-HADDON'S INVASION OF ARABIA. 191 a most remarkable success. The dangers of the simoom may have been exaggerated, and the total aridity of the northern region may have been over-stated by many writers; 16 but the difficulty of carrying water and provisions for a large army, and the peril of a plunge into the wilderness with a small one, can scarcely be stated in too strong terms, and have proved sufficient to deter most Eastern conquerors from even the thoughts of an Arabian expedition. Alexander would, perhaps, had he liver, have attempted an invasion from the side of the Persian Gulf ; 17 and Trajan actually succeeded in bringing under the Roman yoke an outlying portion of the country--the district between Damascus and the Red Sea; but Arabia has been deeply pene- trated thrice only in the history of the world; and Esar-haddon is the sole monarch who ever ventured to conduct in person such an attack. From the arid regions of the great peninsula Esar-haddon proceeded, probably in another year, to the invasion of the marsh-country on the Euphrates, where the Aramæan tribe of the Gambulu? had their habitations, dwelling (he tells us) “ like fish, in the midst of the waters ”2_doubtless much after the fashion of the modern Knuzeyl and Affej Arabs, the latter of whom inhabit nearly the same tract. The sheikh of this tribe had revolted; but on the approach of the Assyrians he submitted himself, bringing in person the arrears of his tribute and a present of buffaloes (?)," whereby he sought to propitiate the wrath of his suzerain. Esar-haddon states that he forgave him; that he strengthened his capital with fresh works, placed a garrison in it, and made it a stronghold to protect the terri- tory against the attacks of the Susianians. 16 Stuart Poole in Smith's Biblical ? Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 56. Dictionary, vol. i. p. 92. Much of Nejd : On the Khuzeyl, see Loftus, Chaldaa is no doubt a good grazing country, and Suvana, pp. 38-40; on the Affej, and the best horses in the world are | see the same work, pp. 91-93, and Layard, bred in it. But still large portions are ! Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 551-555. Com- desert, and the outskirts of Arabia on pare also the present work, vol. i. pp. the north and east are still more arid 37, 38. and desolate. 4 Cattle of some kind or other are 17 Arrian, Erped. Aler. vii. 19, sub fin. | certainly mentioned. The rarsh region See above, p. 148, note 10, and com is the special resort of the buttalo. pare pp. 157 and 175. (Layard, p. 553.) 192 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. The last expedition mentioned on the cylinder, which seems not to have been conducted by the king in person, was against the country of Bikni or Bikan, one of the more remote regions of Media—perhaps Azerbijan. No Assyrian monarch before Esar-haddon had ever invaded this region. It was under the government of a number of chiefs—the Arian character of whose names is unmistakeable 6—each of whom ruled over his own town and the adjacent district. Esar-haddon seized two of the chiefs and carried them off to Assyria, whereupon several others made their submission, consenting to pay a tribute and to divide their authority with Assyrian officers.? It is probable that these various expeditions occupied Esar- haddon from B.C. 681, the year of his accession, to B.C. 671, when it is likely that they were recorded on the existing cylinder. The expeditions are ten in number, directed against countries remote from one another; and each may well have occupied an entire year. There would thus remain only three more years of the king's reign, after the termination of the chief native record, during which his history has to be learnt from other sources. Into this space falls, almost certainly, the greatest of Esar-haddon's exploits—the conquest of Egypt; and, probably, one of the most interesting episodes of his reign-the punishment and pardon of Manasseh. With the consideration of these two events the military history of his reign will terminate. The conquest of Egypt by Esar-haddon, though concealed from Herodotus, and not known even to Diodorus, was no secret to the more learned Greeks, who probably found an account of the expedition in the great work of Berosus. All that we know of its circumstances is derived from an imperfect tran- script of the Nahr-el-Kelb tablet, and a short notice in the annals of Esar-haddon's son and successor, Asshur-bani-pal, who 5 The -bijan or -bigan of Azerbijan may possibly represent the Bikun of the inscriptions. Azerbijan can scarcely be, as commonly supposed, a corruption of Atropaténé. 6 Ē. g. Sitirparna or Sitra phernes, Eparna or Ophernes, Ramatiya or Ra- mates, and Zanasana or Zanasanes. ? Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 57. & See the passage of Abydenus above quoted, p. 186, note". Abydenus, it is almost certain, drew from Berosus. Chap. IX. ESAR-HADDON'S CONQUEST OF EGYPT. 193 finds it necessary to make an allusion to the former doings of his father in Egypt, in order to render intelligible the state of affairs when he himself invades the country. According to these notices, it would appear that Esar-haddon, having entered Egypt with a large army, probably in B.C. 670, gained a great battle over the forces of Tirhakah in the lower country, and took Memphis, the city where the Ethiopian held his court, after which he proceeded southwards, and conquered the whole of the Nile valley as far as the southern boundary of the Theban district. Thebes itself was taken ;' and Tirhakah retreated into Ethiopia. Esar-haddon thus became master of all Egypt, at least as far as Thebes or Diospolis, the No or No-Amon of Scripture. He then broke up the country into twenty govern- ments, appointing in each town a ruler who bore the title of king, but placing all the others to a certain extent under the authority of the prince who reigned at Memphis. This was Neco, the father of Psammetichus (Psamatik 1.)—a native Egyptian of whom we have some mention both in Herodotus" and in the fragments of Manetho.2 The remaining rulers were likewise, for the most part, native Egyptians; though in two or three instances the governments appear to have been committed to Assyrian officers.13 Esar-haddon, having made these arrangements, and having set up his tablet at the mouth of the Nahr-el-Kelb side by side with that of Rameses II., returned to his own country, and proceeded to introduce sphinxes into the ornamentation of his palaces,l4 while, at the 9 It is either to this capture or to al 10 On the question of identity see subsequent one under Esar-haddon's Mr. Stuart Poole's article in Smith's son that the prophet Nahum alludes Biblical Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 576. In when threatening Nineveh-“ Art thou the Assyrian inscription Thebes is better than populous No, that was called “Nia." situate among the rivers, that had the 11 Herod. ii. 152. waters round about it; whose rampart 12 Manetho ap. Euseb. Chron. Cun. was the flood (D), and her wall from Pars 1ma, c. xx. p. 10. the flood ? Ethiopia and Egypt were 13 See Sir H. Rawlinson's paper in her strength, and it was infinite. Put the Transactions of the Royal Society of and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet was Literature, New Series, vol. vii. p. 136 she carried away, she went into cap- et seq. Compare G. Smith in the Zeit- tivity; her young children also were schrift für Aegyptische Sprache for 1868, dashed in pieces at the top of all the p. 94, and the V. Brit. Reviero tor July, streets: and they cast lots for her 1870, pp. 334, 335. honourable men; and all her great men 14 Infra, pp. 198, 199 ; Layard, Nine- were bound in chains." (Ch. iii. 8-10.) veh and its Remuins; vol. i. p. 318. VOL. II. 194 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. same time, he attached to his former titles an additional clause, in which he declared himself to be “king of the kings of Egypt, and conqueror of Ethiopia.” 15 The revolt of Manasseh king of Judah may have happened shortly before or shortly after the conquest of Egypt. It was not regarded as of sufficient importance to call for the personal intervention of the Assyrian monarch. The “captains of the host of the king of Assyria” were entrusted with the task of Manasseh's subjection; and, proceeding into Judæa, they “ took him, and bound him with chains, and carried him to Babylon," 16 where Esar-haddon had built himself a palace, and often held his court." The Great King at first treated his prisoner severely; and the "affliction ” which he thus suffered is said to have broken his pride and caused him to humble himself before God,18 and to repent of all the cruelties and idolatries which had brought this judgment upon him. Then God “was en treated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him back again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.” 19 The crime of defection was overlooked by the Assyrian monarch ; 20 Manasseh was pardoned, and sent back to Jerusalem ; where he was allowed to resume the reins of government, but on the con- dition, if we may judge by the usual practice of the Assyrians in such cases, of paying an increased tribute 21 It may have been in connection with this restoration of Manasseh to his throne—an act of doubtful policy from an Assyrian point of view—that Esar-haddon determined on a project by which the hold of Assyria uſon Palestine was con- siderably strengthened. Sargon, as has been already observed," when he removed the Israelites from Samaria, supplied their 15 This title, which does not appear might as well have fallen into the reign on the cylinders, is found on the back of his son. 18 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12. of the slabs at the entrance of the S.W. 19 Ibid. verse 13. palace at Nimrud, where the sphinxes 20 It has been supposed that Manasseh occur; on a bronze lion dug up at may have been released by Esar-had- Nebbi Yunus; and on the slabs of the don's successor, as Jehoiachin was by palace which Esar-haddon built at Nebuchadnezzar's. (Ewald, Geschichte Sherif Khan. d. Volkes Isruel, vol. iji. p. 678.) And 16 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. this is certainly possible. But it is a 17 It is this circumstance that serves | mere conjecture. to fix the Captivity of Manasseh to the 21 See above, pp. 85, 88, &c. reign of Esar-haddon. Otherwise it 1 Supra, p. 152. CHAP. IX. COLONISATION OF PALESTINE. 195 place by colonists from Babylon, Cutha, Sippara, Ava, Hamath, and Arabia ;3 thus planting a foreign garrison in the region, which would be likely to preserve its fidelity. Esar-haddon resolved to strengthen the foreign element. He gathered menº from Babylon, Orchoë, Susa, Elymais, Persia, and other neigh- bouring regions, and entrusting them to an officer of high rank -“ the great and noble Asnapper”-had them conveyed to Palestine and settled over the whole country, which until this time must have been somewhat thinly peopled. The restora- tion of Manasseh, and the augmentation of the foreign element in Palestine, are thus portions, but counter-balancing portions, of one scheme-a scheme, the sole object of which was the paci- fication of the empire by whatever means, gentle or severe, seemed best calculated to effect the purpose. The last years of Esar-haddon were, to some extent, clouded with disaster. He appears to have fallen ill in B.C. 669; and the knowledge of this fact at once produced revolution in Egypt. Tirhakah issued from his Ethiopian fastnesses, descended the valley of the Nile, expelled the kings set up by Esar-haddon, and re-established his authority over the whole country. Esar- haddon, unable to take the field, resolved to resign the cares of the empire to his eldest son, Asshur-bani-pal, and to retire into a secondary position. Relinquishing the crown of Assyria, and retaining that of Babylon only, he had Asshur-bani.pal proclaimed king of Assyria, and retired to the southern capital. ? See 2 Kings xvii. 24, 3 Supra, p. 146. * It has been usually supposed that the colonisation to which reference is made in Ezra iv, 2, 9, is the same as that whereof an account is given in 2 Kings xvii. 24. But a comparison of the places named will show that the two colonisations are quite distinct. Sargon brought his colonists from Ha- math in Cæle-Syria, and from four cities in Babylonia -- Babylon itself, Cutha, Sippara, and Ava or Ivah. Esar- haddon brought his mainly from Su- siana and the countries still further to the east. They were Susianians, Flymæans, Persians (&?DEN), Dai (8977), &c. Those of Esar-haddon's oolonists who were furnished by Baby- lonia came from Babylon and Erech, or Orchoë. The Dinaites (1997) were probably from Dayan, a country often mentioned in the Inscriptions, which must have adjoined on Cilicia. The Tar- pelites and the Apharsathchites are still unrecognised. When wild beasts multiply in a country, we may be sure that its human occupants are diminishing. The danger from lions, of which the first colonists complained to Sargon, is indicative of the depopulation produced by his con- quests. (See 2 Kings xvii. 25, 26.) () 2 196 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. There he appears to have died in B.C. 668, or early in B.C. 667, leaving Asshur-bani-pal sole sovereign of the entire empire. Of the architecture of Esar-haddon, and of the state of the arts generally in his time, it is difficult to speak positively. Though he appears to have been one of the most indefatigable constructors of great works that Assyria produced, having erected during the short period over which his reign extended, no fewer than four palaces and above thirty temples ;6 yet it happens un- fortunately that we are not as yet in a condition to pronounce a decisive judgment, either on the plan of his buildings or on the merits of their ornamentation. Of his three great palaces, which were situated at Babylon, Calah, and Nineveh, one only—that at Calah or Nimrud—has been to any large extent explored. Even in this case the exploration was far from complete, and the ground-plan of his palace is still very defective. But this is not the worst. The palace itself had never been finished ;) its ornamentation had scarcely been begun; and the little of this that was original had been so damaged by a furious con- flagration, that it perished almost at the moment of discovery. We are thus reduced to judge of the sculptures of Esar-haddon by the reports of those who saw them ere they fell to pieces, and by one or two drawings, while we have to form our con- ception of his buildings from a half-explored fragment of a half-finished palace, which was moreover destroyed by fire before completion. The palace of Esar-haddon at Calah was built at the south- western corner of the Nimrud mound, abutting towards the west on the Tigris, and towards the south on the valley formed by the Shor-Derreh torrent. It faced northwards, and was entered on this side from the open space of the platform, through a portal guarded by two winged bulls of the ordinary character. The visitor on entering found himself in a large court, 280 feet by 100,9 bounded on the north side by a mere wall, but on the Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 57; , strongholds of Assyria and Babylonia." Assyrian Texti, p. 16. Sir H. Rawlin ? Layard, Ninerch and its Romulins, son reads this passage differently. He | vol. ii. p. 30. understands Esar-haddon to say that he 8 Ibid. vol. i. p. 349. “repaired ten of the high-places or ! Layard, Nineuch und Babylon, p. 654. CHAP. IX. ESAR-HADDONS PALACE AT CALAH. 197 other three sides surrounded by buildings. The main building was opposite to him, and was entered from the court by two portals, one directly facing the great northern gate of the court, and the other a little to the left hand, the former guarded by colossal bulls, the latter merely revetted with slabs. These portals both led into the same room—the room already described in the first volume of this work 10—which was designed on the most magnificent scale of all the Assyrian apartments, but was so broken up through the inability of the architect to roof in a wide space without abundant supports, that, practically, it formed rather a suite of four moderate-sized chambers than a single grand hall. The plan of this apartment will be seen by reference to the former volume (p. 283). Viewed as a single apartment, the room was 165 feet in length by sixty-two feet in width, and thus contained an area of 10,230 square feet, a space nearly half as large again as that covered by the greatest of the halls of Sennacherib, which was 7200 feet. Viewed as a suite of chambers, the rooms may be described as two long and narrow halls running parallel to one another, and communi- cating by a grand doorway in the middle, with two smaller chambers placed at the two ends, running at right angles to the principal ones. The smaller chambers were sixty-two feet long, and respectively nineteen and twenty-three feet wide; the larger ones were 110 feet long, with a width respectively of twenty and twenty-eight feet." The inner of the two long parallel chambers communicated by a grand doorway, guarded by sphinxes and colossal lions, either with a small court or with a large chamber extending to the southern edge of the 10 See above, vol. i. p. 282. Il Mr. Fergusson seems to be of opinion that the divisions which broke up this! grand room into four parts would not have greatly interfered with the general effect. His account of the apartment is as follows: “Its general dimensions are 165 feet in length, by 62 feet in width; and it consequently is the largest hall yet found in Assyria. The architects, how- ever, do not seem to have been quite equal to roofing so large a space, even with the number of pillars with which they seem usually to have crowded their floors (?); and it is consequently divided down the centre by a wall sup- porting dwarf columns (?), forming a centre gallery (?), to which access was had (?) by bridge galleries at both ends, a mode of arrangement capable of great variety and picturesqueness of effect, and of which I have little doubt that the builders availed themselves to the fullest extent.” (Handbook of Architec- ture, vol. i. pp. 176, 177.) 198 Char. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. mound ; 12 and the two end rooms communicated with smaller apartments in the same direction. The buildings to the right and left of the great court seem to have been entirely separate from those at its southern end: to the left they were wholly unexamined ; on the right some explorations were conducted, which gave the usual result of several long narrow apartments, with perhaps one or two passages. The extent of the palace westward, southward, and eastward is uncertain : eastward it was unexplored; southward and westward the mound had been eaten into by the Tigris and the Shor-Derreh torrent.13 The walls of Esar-haddon's palace were composed, in the usual way, of sun-dried bricks, revetted with slabs of alabaster. Instead, however, of quarrying fresh alabaster slabs for the purpose, the king preferred to make use of those which were already on the summit of the mound, covering the walls of the north-western and central palaces, which, no doubt, had fallen into decay. His workmen tore down these sculptured monu- ments from their original position, and transferring them to the site of the new palace, arranged them so as to cover the freshly-raised walls, generally placing the carved side against the crude brick, and leaving the back exposed to receive fresh sculptures, but sometimes exposing the old sculpture, which, however, in such cases, it was probably intended to remove by the chisel. This process was still going on, when either Esar- haddon died and the works were stopped, or the palace was destroyed by fire. Scarcely any of the new sculptures had been executed. The only exceptions were the bulls and lions at the various portals, a few reliefs in close proximity to them, and some complete figures of crouching sphinxes," which had been 12 The excavations here were incom- by the chisel in some cases. (Layard, plete. Mr. Layard speaks in one place. Ainevch and its komains, vol, ii. p. 29.) as if he had uncovered the southern ! I conceive that the intention was to façade of the building (Ninereh and remove them in all. Bubylon, p. 655); but his plan (Nineveh Layard, vol. i. pp. 347, 376; vol. ii. and its Remains, vol. i. opp. p. 3+) rather pp. 25, 26. indicates the existence of further rooms **3 Ibid. vol. i. p. 348; vol. ii. p. 26. in this direction, * The sphinxes were sometimes double : 13 Supra, vol. i. p. 201. Compare As. i.e. two were placed side by side. (Ibid. Soc. Jour urnal, vol. xv. p. 347. vol. i. p. 349.) The sculptures had been removed CAP. IX. ESAR-HADDON'S PALACE AT CALAH. 199 placed as ornaments, and possibly also as the bases of supports, within the span of the two widest doorways. There was nothing very remarkable about the bulls; the lions were spirited, and more true to nature than usual ; the sphinxes were curious, being Egyptian in idea, but thoroughly Assyrianized, having the horned cap common on bulls, the Assyrian arrangement of hair, Assyrian ear-rings, and wings nearly like those of the ordinary winged bull or lion. The figures near the lions were mythic, and exhibited somewhat more than the usual grotesque- ness, as we learn from the representations of them given by Mr. Layard. UUS PREADS Assyrian sphinx. (Time of Asshur-bani-pal.) While the evidence of the actual monuments as to the character of Esar-baddon's buildings and their ornamentation is thus scanty, it happens, curiously, that the Inscriptions furnish a particularly elaborate and detailed account of them. It appears, from the principal record of the time, that the teruples which Esar-haddon built in Assyria and Babylonia- thirty-six in number—were richly adorned with plates of silver and gold, which made them in the words of the Inscription) “ as splendid as the day.” 6 His palace at Nineveh, a building s Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. pp. | Assyrian Terts, p. 16. Compare above, 462, 463. p. 196, note 6. o’Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 57; ! 200 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. situated on the mound called Nebbi Yunus, was, we are told, erected upon the site of a former palace of the kings of Assyria. Preparations for its construction were made, as for the great buildings of Solomon, by the collection of materials, in wood, stone, and metal, beforehand: these were furnished by the Phænician, Syrian, and Cyprian monarchs, who sent to Nineveh for the purpose great beams of cedar, cypress, and ebony (?), stone statues, and various works in metals of different kinds. The palace itself is said to have exceeded in size all buildings of former kings. It was roofed with carved beams of cedar- wood; it was in part supported by columns of cypress wood, ornamented and strengthened with rings of silver and of iron; the portals were guarded by stone bulls and lions; and the gates were made of ebony and cypress, ornamented with iron, silver, and ivory. There was, of course, the usual adornment of the walls by means of sculptured slabs and enamelled bricks. If the prejudices of the Mahometans against the possible dis- turbance of their dead, and against the violation by infidel hands of the supposed tomb of Jonah, should hereafter be dis- pelled, and excavations be freely allowed in the Nebbi Yunus mound, we may look to obtain very precious relics of Assyrian art from the palace of Esar-baddon, now lying buried beneath the village or the tombs, which share between them this most important site. Of Esar-haddon's Babylonian palace nothing is at present 71 Kings v. 6-18; 2 Chr. ii. 3-18. 8 Esar-haddon gives a list of twenty- two kings, who supplied him with ma- terials for his palace at Nineveh. Among them are Manasseh, king of Judah ; Baal, king of Tyre; Mitinti, king of Ascalon; Puduel, king of Beth-Ammon; Ægisthus, king of Idalium; Pytha- goras, king of Citium; Ithodagon, king of Paphos : Euryalus, king of Soli; Damastes, king of Curium ; and kings of Edom, Gaza, Ekron, By blus, Aradus, Ashdod, Salamis, Tamissus, Ammo- chosta, Limenium, and Aphrodisia, (See the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 397, note 9, 2nd edition; and compare Oppert, Inscriptions des Sargonides, p. 58.) À Mr. Layard made stealthily a single slight excavation in the Nebbi Yunus mound (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 598), which produced a few fragments bear- ing the name of Esar-haddon. The Turks afterwards excavated for nearly a year, but without much skill or judg- ment. They uncovered a long line of wall belonging to a palace of Senna. cherib, and also a portion of the palace of Esar-haddon. On the outer surface of the former were winged bulls in high relief, sculptured apparently after the wall was built, each bull covering some ten or twelve distinct blocks of stone. The slab-inscription published in the British Museum Series, Pls. 43 and 44, was obtained from this palace. A bronze lion with legend was obtained from the Esar-haddon palace. CHAP. IX. ACCESSION OF ASSHUR-BANJ-PAL. 201 known, beyond the mere fact of its existence; but if the mounds at Hillah should ever be thoroughly explored, we may expect to recover at least its ground-plan, if not its sculptures and other ornaments. The Sherif Khan palace has been exa- mined pretty completely.10 It was very much inferior to the ordinary palatial edifices of the Assyrians, being in fact only a house which Esar-haddon built as a dwelling for his eldest son during his own lifetime. Like the more imposing buildings of this king, it was probably unfinished at his decease. At any rate its remains add nothing to our knowledge of the state of art in Esar-haddon's time, or to our estimate of that monarch's genius as a builder. After a reign of thirteen years, Esar-haddon, “king of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Meroë, and Ethiopia,” as he styles himself in his later inscriptions, died, leaving his crown to his eldest son, Asshur-bani-pal, whom he had already associated in the government." Asshur-bani-pal ascended the throne in B.C. 668, or very early in B.C. 667; and his first act seems to have been to appoint as viceroy of Babylon his younger brother Saül-Mugina," who appears as Sam-mughes in Polyhistor,13 and as Saosduchinus in the Canon of Ptolemy. The first war in which Asshur-bani-pal engaged was most probably with Egypt. Late in the reign of Esar-baddon, Tir- hakah (as already stated 14) had descended from the upper country, had recovered Thebes, Memphis, and most of the other Egyptian cities, and expelled from them the princes and governors appointed by Esar-haddon upon his conquest.15 Asshur-bani-pal, shortly after his accession, collected his forces, and marched through Syria into Egypt, where he defeated the army sent against him by Tirhakah in a great battle near the city of Kar-banit. Tirhakah, who was at Memphis, hearing of 10 By Mr. Layard (Nineveh and Baby- lon, 1. s. c.), and afterwards by Sir H. Rawlinson. 11 See above, p. 195. 12 See British Museum Series, Pl. 8, No. II., I. 11. 13 Ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. Pars ]ma, 1 c. v. $ 2. “Sub Ezechia enim Senec | cherimus regnavit, uti Polyhistor in- nuit, annis octodecim ; post quem ejus- dem filius, annis octo: tum annis vi- ginti et uno Sammughes." The octo here is probably an error of Eusebius or Polyhistor, ir having been mistaken for H. 14 Supra, p. 195. 15 Supra, p. 193. 202 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. the disaster that had befallen his army, abandoned Lower Egypt, and sailed up the Nile to Thebes, whither the forces of Asshur-bani-pal followed him; but the nimble Ethiopian re- treated still further up the Nile valley, leaving all Egypt from Thebes downwards to his adversary. Asshur-bani-pal, upon this, re-instated in their former governments the various princes and rulers, whom his father had originally appointed, and whom Tirhakah had expelled; and then, having rested and refreshed his army by a short stay in Toebes, returned victo- riously by way of Syria to Nineveh. Scarcely was he departed when intrigues began for the restoration of the Ethiopian power. Neco and some of the other Egyptian governors, whom Asshur-bani-pal had just re-instated in their posts, desertel the Assyrian side and went over to the Ethiopians. Attempts were made to suppress the incipient revolt by the governors who continued faithful; Neco and one or two of his co-partners in guilt were seized and sent in chains to Assyria; and some of the cities chiefly implicated, as Sais, Mendes, and Tanis (Zoan), were punished. But the efforts at suppression failed. Tirhakah entered Upper Egypt, and having established himself at Thebes, threatened to extend his authority once more over the whole of the Nilotic valley. Thereupon Asshur-bani-pal, having forgiven Neco, sent him, accompanied by a strong force, into Egypt; and Tirbakah was again compelled to quit the lower country and retire to Upper Egypt, where he soon after died. His crown fell to his stepson,' Urdamané, who is perhaps the Rud-Amun of the Hieroglyphics. This prince was at first very successful. He descended the Nile valley in force, defeated the Assyrians near Mempbis, drove them to take refuge within its walls, besieged and took the city, and recovered Lower Egypt. Upon this Asshur-bani-pal, who was Urdamané is called “son of the , with the record of Asshur-bani-pal as to wife of Tarqu." It is conjectured that raise a strong suspicion that he, rather Tirhakah had married the widow of than Rud-Amun, is the monarch with Sabaco II. whom Asshur-ba ni-pal contended (See ? Lepsius, Königsbuch, Taf. xlix, No. the parallel drawn out by Dr. Hlaigh 661. A stele, however, of another king, in the Zeitschrit für Acgyptische Spruche, whose name is read as Nut-amun-mi or January, 1869, pp. 3-4.) Rut-mun-mi, is in such close agreement Chap. IX. WARS OF ASSHUR-BANI-PAL. 203 in the city of Asshur when he heard the news, went in person against his new adversary, who retreated as he advanced, flying from Memphis to Thebes, and from Thebes to a city called Kipkip, far up the course of the Nile. Asshur-bani-pal and his army now entered Thebes, and sacked it. The plunder which was taken, consisting of gold, silver, precious stones, dyed gar- ments, captives male and female, ivory, ebony, tame animals (such as monkeys and elephants) brought up in the palace, obelisks, &c., was carried off and conveyed to Nineveh. Governors were once more set up in the several cities, Psammetichus being pro- bably among them ; 3 and, hostages having been taken to secure their fidelity, the Assyrian monarch returned home with his booty. Between his first and second expedition into Egypt, Asshur- bani-pal was engaged in warlike operations on the Syrian coast, and in transactions of a different character with Cilicia. Re- turning from Egypt he made an attack on Tyre, whose kiny, Baal, had offended him, and having compelled him to submit, exacted from him a large tribute, which he sent away to Nineveh. About the same time Asshur-bani-pal entered into communication with the Cilician monarch, whose name is not given, and took to wife a daughter of that princely house, which was already connected with the royal race of the Sargonids." Shortly after his second Egyptian expedition, Asshur-bani-pal seems to have invaded Asia Minor. Crossing the Taurus range, he penetrated to a region never before visited by any Assyrian monarch ;5 and, having reduced various towns in these parts and returned to Nineveh, he received an embassy of a very unusual character. “Gyges, king of Lydia,”6 he tells us, "a 3 The Egyptians regarded the reign of Psammetichus as commencing im- mediately upon the termination of the reign of Tirhakah. (Sir G. Wilkinson, in the author's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 320, 2nd edition.) The Apis stelæ give for the year of Psammetichus's accession B.C. 664. Asshur-bani-pal's second Egyp- tian expedition was probably in B.C. 666 or 665. * Sargon gave one of his daughters in marriage to the King of Cilicia, con- temporary with him. (See above, p. 150, note ®.) 5 This is his own statement. It is confirmed by the fact that the geo- graphical names are entirely new to us. 6 We learn from this that Gyges was still living in B.C. 667. Herodotus placed his death about nine or ten years earlier. (See the author's llerudotus, vol. i. p. 287, 2nd edition.) But in this he differed from other writers. (See Dionys. Hal. Ep. ad Cn. Pomp. c. 3; Euseb. Chron. Cun. Pars 2nda, p. 325; Hieronym. p. 107.) The reigns of the Lydian kings in Herodotus are im- probably long. 204 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. country on the sea-coast, a remote place, of which the kings his ancestors had never even heard the name, had formerly learnt in a dream the fame of his Empire, and had sent officers to his presence to perform homage on his behalf.” He now sent a second time to Asshur-bani-pal, and told him that since his sub- mission he had been able to defeat the Cimmerians, who had formerly ravaged his land with impunity; and he begged his acceptance of two Cimmerian chiefs,” whom he had taken in battle, together with other presents, which Asshur-bani-pal regarded as a “tribute." About the same time the Assyrian monarch repulsed the attack of the “ king of Kharbat,” on a district of Babylonia, and, having taken Kharbat, transported its inhabitants to Egypt. After thus displaying his power and extending his dominions towards the south-west, the north-west, and the south-east, Asshur-bani-pal turned his arms towards the north-east, and invaded Minni, or Persarmenia—the mountain-country about Lakes Van and Urumiyeh. Akhsheri, the king, having lost his capital, Izirtu, and several other cities, was murdered by his subjects; and his son, Vahalli, found himself compelled to make submission, and sent an embassy to Nineveh to do homage, with tribute, presents, and hostages. Asshur-bani-pal received the envoys graciously, pardoned Vahalli and maintained him upon the throne, but forced him to pay a heavy tribute. He also in this expedition conquered a tract called Paddiri, which former kings of Assyria had severed from Minni and made independent, · but which Asshur-bani-pal now attached to his own empire and placed under an Assyrian governor. A war of some duration followed with Elam, or Susiana, the flames of which at one time extended over almost the whole empire. This war was caused by a transfer of allegiance.s Certain tribes, pressed by a famine, had passed from Susiana into the territories of Asshur-bani-pal, and were allowed to settle there ; but when, the famine being over, they wished ? The invasion of Lydia by the Cim- decessor. merians which Herodotus assigns to the ! See above, p. 171, and compare the reign of Ardys, is thus proved to have narrative of Herodotus, i. 73. really occurred in the time of his pre- Chap. IX. ELAMITIC WAR OF ASSHUR-BANI-PAL. 205 to return to their former country, Asshur-bani-pal would not consent to their withdrawal. Urtaki, the Susianian king, took umbrage at this refusal, and, determining to revenge himself, commenced hostilities by an invasion of Babylonia. Belu-bagar, king of the important Aramæan tribe of the Gambulu,' assisted him; and Saül-Mugina, in alarm, sent to his brother for protec- tion. An Assyrian army was dispatched to his aid, before which Urtaki fled. He was, however, pursued, caught, and defeated. With some difficulty he escaped and returned to Susa, where within a year he died, without having made any fresh effort to injure or annoy his antagonist. His death was the signal for a domestic revolution, which proved very advantageous to the Assyrians. Urtaki had driven his elder brother, Umman-aldas, from the throne,' and, passing over the rights of his sons, had assumed the supreme authority. At bis death, his younger brother, Temin-Umman, seized the crown, disregarding not only the rights of the sons of Umman- aldas, but likewise those of the sons of Urtaki.” As the pre- tensions of those princes were dangerous, Temin-Umman endeavoured to seize their persons with the intention of putting them to death; but they, having timely warning of their danger, fled; and, escaping to Nineveh with their relations and adherents, put themselves under the protection of Asshur-bani- pal. It thus happened that in the expedition which now fol- lowed, Asshur-bani-pal had a party which favoured him in Elam itself. Temin-Umman, however, aware of this internal weak- ness, made great efforts to compensate for it by the number of s See above, pp. 148, 157, 174, 191, &c. & clearer comprehension of the narra- i Umman-aldas was subsequently put | tive in the text to exhibit the genea- to death by command of Urtaki, and logical tree of the Susianian royal with the consent of Temin-Umman. family at this time, so far as it is known ? It may assist the reader towards to us. A king, perhaps Umman-minan (supra, p. 174). Umman-aldas, Urtaki. Temin-Umman, Umman-aldas Kuduru patu. Ummal-bi. Ummal-appa. Tammarit. Ummanlaidas. Temin-Umman. Undast. Palé. de. Paritu. Tammarit. Umman-aldas. Paritu. 206 Char. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. his foreign allies. Two descendants of Merodach-Baladan, who had principalities upon the coast of the Persian Gulf, two mountain-chiefs, one of them a blood-connection of the Assyrian crown, two sons of Belu-bagar, sheikh of the Gambulu, and several other inferior chieftains, are mentioned as bringing their troops to his assistance and fighting in his cause against the Assyrians. All, however, was in vain. Asshur-bani-pal defeated the allies in several engagements, and finally took Temin-Umman prisoner, executed him, and exposed his head over one of the gates of Nineveh. He then divided Elam between two of the sons of Urtaki, Umman-ibi and Tammarit, establishing the former in Susa, and the latter at a town called Khidal in Eastern Susiana. Great severities were exercised upon the various princes and nobles who had been captured. A son of Temin-Umman was executed with his father. Several grandsons of Merodach-Baladan suffered mutilation. A Chal- dæan prince and one of the chieftains of the Gambulu bad their tongues torn out by the roots. Another of the Gambulu chiefs was decapitated. Two of the Temin-Umman's principal officers were chained and flayed. Palaya, a grandson of Merodach- Baladan, was mutilated. Asshur-bani-pal evidently hoped to strike terror into his enemies by these cruel, and now unusual, punishments, which, being inflicted for the most part upon royal personages, must have made a profound impression on the king-reverencing Asiatics. The impression made was, however, one of horror, rather than of alarm. Scarcely had the Assyrians returned to Nineveh, when fresh troubles broke out. Saül-Mugina, discontented with his position, which was one of complete dependence upon his brother, rebelled, and, declaring himself king of Babylon in his own right, sought and obtained a number of important allies among bis neiglıbours. Umman-ibi, though he had received his crown from Asshur-bani-pal, joined him, seduced by a gift of treasure from the various Babylonian temples. Vaitela, a * Khidal or Khaidala (Oppert, Fox Talbot) is mentioned also in the annals of Sennacherib. It was the place to which Kudur-Nakhunta fled from Ba- daca. (Supra, p. 174.) CHAF. IX. ELAMITIC WAR OF ASSHUR-BANI-PAL. 207 powerful Arabian prince, and Nebo-bel-suimi, a surviving grand- son of Merodach-Baladan, came into the confederacy; and Saül- Mugina had fair grounds for expecting that he would be able to maintain his independence. But civil discord-the curse of Elam at this period—once more showed itself, and blighted all these fair prospects. Tammarit, the brother of Umman-ibi, finding that the latter had sent the flower of his army into Babylonia, marched against him, defeated and slew him, and became king of all Elam. Maintaining, however, the policy of his brother, he entered into alliance with Saül-Mugina, and proceeded to put himself at the head of the Elamitic contin- gent, which was serving in Babylonia. Here a just Nemesis overtook him. Taking advantage of his absence, a certain Inda- bibi* (or Inda-bigas), a mountain-chief from the fastnesses of Luristan, raised a revolt in Elam, and succeeded in seating himself upon the throne. The army in Babylonia declining to maintain the cause of Tammarit, he was forced to fly and con- ceal himself, while the Elamitic troops returned home. Saül- Mugina thus lost the most important of his allies at the moment of his greatest danger; for his brother had at length marched against him at the head of an immense army, and was over- running his northern provinces. Without the Elamites it was impossible for Babylon to contend with Assyria in the open field. All that Saül-Mugina could do was to de end his towns, which Asshur-bani-pal besieged and took, one after another. The rebel fell into his brother's hands, and suffered a punish- ment more terrible than any that the relentless conqueror had as yet inflicted on his captured enemies. Others had been mutilated, or beheaded ; Saül-Mugina was burnt. The tie of blood, which was held to have aggravated the guilt of his re- bellion, was not allowed to be pleaded in mitigation of his sentence. A pause of some years' duration now occurred. The relations between Assyria and Susiana were unfriendly, but not actually hostile. Inda-bibi had given refuge to Nebo-bel-sumi at the • Inda-bibi appears to have belonged to the Susianian royal family, and to have held his crown as a sort of appanage or fief. 208 Chap. IS. THE SECOND MONARCHY. time of Saül-Mugina's discomfiture, and Asshur-bani-pal re- peatedly but vainly demanded the surrender of the refugee. He did not, however, attempt to enforce his demand by an appeal to arms; and Inda-bibi might have retained bis king- dom in peace, had not domestic troubles arisen to disturb him. He was conspired against by the commander of his archers, a second Umman-aldas, who killed him and occupied his throne. Many pretenders, at the same time, arose in different parts of the country; and Asshur-bani-pal, learning how Elam was distracted, determined on a fresh effort to conquer it. He renewed his demand for the surrender of Nebo-bel-sumi, who would have been given up, had he not committed suicide. Not content with this success, he (ab. B.C. 645) invaded Elam, be- sieged and took Bit-Imbi, which had been strongly fortified, and drove Umman-aldas out of the plain country into the moun- tains. Susa and Badaca, together with twenty-four other cities, fell into his power; and Western Elam being thus at his dis- posal, he placed it under the government of Tammarit, who, after his flight from Babylonia, had become a refugee at the Assyrian court. Umman-aldas retained the sovereignty of Eastern Elam. But it was not long before fresh changes occurred. Tammarit, finding himself little more than a puppet-king in the hands of the Assyrians, formed a plot to massacre all the foreign troops left to garrison his country, and so to make himself an indepen- dent monarch. His intentions, however, were discovered, and the plot failed. The Assyrians seized him, put him in bonds, and sent him to Nineveh. Western Elam passed under purely military rule, and suffered, it is probable, extreme severities. Under these circumstances, Umman-aldas took heart, and made ready in the fastnesses to which he had fled, for another and a final effort. Having levied a vast army, he, in the spring of the next year, made himself once more master of Bit-Imbi, and, establishing himself there, prepared to resist the Assyrians. Their forces shortly appeared ; and, unable to hold the place against their assaults, Umman-aldas evacuated it with his troops, and fought a retreating fight all the way back to Susa, CHAP. IX. ASSHUR-BANI-PAL'S RELATIONS WITH LYDIA. 209 holding the various strong towns and rivers? in succession. Gallant, however, as was his resistance, it proved ineffectual. The lines of defence which he chose were forced, one after another; and finally both Susa and Badaca were taken, and the country once more lay at Asshur-bani-pal's mercy. All the towns made their submission. Asshur-bani-pal, burning with anger at their revolt, plundered the capital of its treasures, and gave the other cities up to be spoiled by his soldiers for the space of a month and twenty-three days. He then formally abolished Susianian independence, and attached the country as a province to the Assyrian empire. Thus ended the Susianian war, after it had lasted, with brief interruptions, for the space of (probably) twelve years. The full occupation given to the Assyrian arms by this long struggle encouraged revolt in other quarters. It was probably about the time when Asshur-bani-pal was engaged in the thick of the contest with Umman-ibi and Saül-Mugina that Psamme- tichus declared himself independent in Egypt, and commenced a war against the princes who remained faithful to their Assyrian suzerain. Gyges, too, in the far north-west, took the opportunity to break with the formidable power with which he had recently thought it prudent to curry favour, and sent aid to the Egyptian rebel, which rendered him effective service. Egypt freed her- self from the Assyrian yoke, and entered on the prosperous period, wbich is known as that of the twenty-sixth (Saite) dynasty. Gyges was less fortunate. Assailed shortly by a terrible enemy,' which swept with resistless force over his whole land, he lost his life in the struggle. Assyria was well and 1 Among the rivers the Eulæus (Hu- lai) is distinctly mentioned as that on which Susa was situated. . Among these are particularised eighteen images of gods and goddesses, thirty-two statues of former Susianian kings, statues of Kudur-Nakhunta, Tammarit, &c. 3 In a later passage of the annals there is a further mention of Umman- aldas, who appears to have been cap- tured and sent as a prisoner to Nineveh. • There can be little doubt that the VOL. II. “ Ionians and Carians” who gave the victory to Psammetichus (Herod. ii. 152) represent the aid which Gyges sent from Asia Minor. It is a reasonable conjecture that this enemy was the Cimmerians (Le- normant, Manuel, tom. ii. p. 117); and that the invasion which Herodotus places in the reign of Ardys (i. 15) fell really in that of his father. But it is highly improbable that the invasion took place (as M. Lenormant thinks) at | the call of the Assyrians. 210 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. quickly avenged; and Ardys, the new monarch, hastened to resume the deferential attitude towards Asshur-bani-pal, which his father had unwisely relinquished. Asshur-bani-pal's next important war was against the Arabs. Some of the desert tribes had, as already mentioned, lent assist- ance to Saül-Mugina during his revolt against his suzerain, and it was to punish this audacity that Asshur-bani-pal undertook his expedition. His principal enemy was a certain Vaiteha, who had for allies Natun, or Nathan, king of the Nabathæans, and Ammu-ladin, king of Kedar. The fighting seems to have extended along the whole country bordering the Euphrates valley from the Persian Gulf to Syria, and thence southwards by Damascus to Petra. Petra itself, Muhab (or Moab), Hudumi- mukrab (Edom), Zaharri (perhaps Zoar), and several other cities were taken by the Assyrians. The final battle was fought at a place called Khukhuruna, in the mountains near Damascus, where the Arabians were defeated with great slaughter, and the two chiefs who had led the Arab contingent to the assist- ance of Saül-Mugina were made prisoners by the Assyrians. Asshur-bani-pal had them conducted to Nineveh, and there publicly executed. The annals of Asshur-bani-pal here terminate. They exhibit him to us as a warrior more enterprising and more powerful than any of his predecessors, and as one who enlarged in almost every direction the previous limits of the empire. In Egypt he completed the work which his father Esar-haddon had begun, and established the Assyrian dominion for some years, not only at Sais and at Memphis, but at Thebes. In Asia Minor he carried the Assyrian arms far beyond any former king, con- quering large tracts which had never before been invaded, and extending the reputation of his greatness to the extreme western limits of the continent. Against his northern neigh- bours he contended with unusual success, and towards the close 6 A lake is mentioned, which, ap- parently, was the Sea of Nedjif. (Supra, vol. i. p. 14.) ? The only additional facts mentioned are the reception of tribute from llu- suva, a city on the Syrian coast, the ! capture of Umman-aldas, and the sub- mission of Belat-Duri, king of the Ar- menians (Urarda). CAAP. IX. ASSHUR-BANI-PAL'S LOVE OF HUNTING. 211 of his reign he reckoned, not only the Minni, but the Urarda, or true Armenians, among his tributaries. Towards the south, he added to the empire the great country of Susiana, never subdued until his reign; and on the west, he signally chastised, if he did not actually conquer, the Arabs. To his military ardour Asshur-bani-pal added a passionate addiction to the pleasures of the chase. Lion-hunting was his especial delight. Sometimes along the banks of reedy streams, sometimes borne mid-channel in his pleasure galley, he sought the king of beasts in his native haunts, roused him by means of hounds and beaters from his lair, and despatched him with his unerring arrows. Sometimes he enjoyed the sport in his own park or paradise. Large and fierce beasts, brought from a distance, were placed in traps about the grounds,' and on his approach were set free from their confinement, while he drove among them in his chariot, letting fly his shafts at each with a . strong and steady hand, which rarely failed to attain the mark it aimed at. Aided only by two or three attendants armed with spears, he would encounter the terrific spring of the bolder beasts, who rushed frantically at the royal marksman, and en- deavoured to tear him from the chariot-board. Sometimes he would even voluntarily quit this vantage-ground, and, engaging with the brutes on the same level, without the protection of armour, in his everyday dress, with a mere fillet upon his head, he would dare a close combat, and smite them with sword or spear through the heart. When the supply of lions fell short, or when he was satiated with this kind of sport, Asshur-bani-pal would vary bis occupa- tion and content himself with game of an inferior description. Wild bulls were probably no longer found in Assyria or the adjacent countries, so that he was precluded from the sport, which, next to the chase of the lion, occupied and delighted the & See the preceding note. their respective names. (See vol. i. pp. 9 See vol. i. p. 508 ; and compare vol. i. 234 and 342.) p. 361. Asshur-bani-pal's love of sport i See vol. i. p. 509. appears further by the figures of his ? It is Asshur-ba ni-pal who is repre- favourite hounds, which he had made sented, vol. i. pp. 506, 507. in clay, painted, and inscribed with > See vol. i. p. 513. P 2 212 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. earlier monarchs. He could indulge, however, freely in the chase of the wild ass—still to this day a habitant of the Mesopotamian regions;s and he could hunt the stag, the hind, and the ibex or wild goat. In these tamer kinds of sport he seems, however to have indulged only occasionally — as a light relaxation scarcely worthy of a great king. Asshur-bani-pal is the only one of the Assyrian monarchs to whom we can ascribe a real taste for learning and literature. The other kings were content to leave behind them some records of the events of their reigns, inscribed on cylinders, slabs, bulls, or lions, and a few dedicatory inscriptions, addresses to the gods whom they specially worshipped. Asshur-bani-pal's literary tastes were far more varied-indeed they were all-embracing. It seems to have been under his direction that the vast collec- tion of clay tablets—a sort of Royal Library—was made at Nineveh, from which the British Museum has derived perhaps the most valuable of its treasures. Comparative vocabularies, lists of deities and their epithets, chronological lists of kings and Eponyms, records of astronomical observations, grammars, histories, scientific works of various kinds, seem to have been composed in the reign, and probably at the bidding, of this prince, who devoted to their preservation certain chambers in the palace of his grandfather, where they were found by Mr. Layard. The clay tablets, on which they were inscribed, lay here in such multitudes—in some instances entire, but more commonly broken into fragments—that they filled the chambers to the height of a foot or more from the floor.6 Mr. Layard observes with justice, that “the documents thus discovered at Nineveh probable exceed [in amount of writing all that has yet * Layard, Ninerch and Babylon, p. 1 270; Ainsworth, Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand, p. 77. 5 The greater part of the tablets, and more especially those of a literary cha- racter-are evidently copies of more ancient documents, since & blank is constantly left where the original was defective, and a gloss entered, “want- ing." There are a large number of re- ligious documents, prayers, invocations, &c., together with not a few juridical treatises (the fines, e.g. to be levied for certain . social offences; and finally, there are the entire contents of a Registry office-deeds of sale and barter referring to land, houses, and every species of property, coutracts, bonds for loans, benefactions, and various other kinds of legal instruments. A selection from the tablets has been published, and a further selection is now being prepared for publication by Sir H. Rawlinson. 6 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 345, CHAP. IX. ASSHUR-BANI-PAL'S BUILDINGS. 213 been afforded by the monuments of Egypt.”. They have yielded of late years some most interesting results, and will probably long continue to be a mine of almost inexhaustible wealth to the cuneiform scholar. As a builder, Asshur-bani-pal aspired to rival, if not even to excel, the greatest of the monarchs who had preceded him. His palace was built on the mound of Koyunjik, within a few hundred yards of the magnificent erection of his grandfather, with which he was evidently not afraid to challenge compa- rison. It was built on a plan unlike any adopted by former kings. The main building consisted of three arms branching from a common centre, and thus in its general shape resembled a gigantic T. The central point was reached by a long ascending gallery lined with sculptures, which led from a gateway, with rooms attached, at a corner of the great court, first a distance of 190 feet in a direction parallel to the top bar of the T, and then a distance of eighty feet in a direction at right angles to this, which brought it down exactly to the central point whence the arms branched. The entire building was thus a sort of cross, with one long arm projecting from the top towards the left or west. The principal apartments were in the lower limb of the cross. Here was a grand hall, running nearly the whole length of the limb, at least 145 feet long by 281 feet broad, opening towards the east on a great court, paved chiefly with the exquisite patterned slabs, of which a specimen is given in the first volume of this work, and communicating towards the west with a number of smaller rooms, and through them with a second court, which looked towards the south-west and the south. The next largest apartment was in the right or eastern arm of the cross. It was a hall 108 feet long by twenty-four wide, divided by a broad doorway, in which were two pillar- bases, into a square antechamber of twenty-four feet each way, and an inner apartment about eighty feet in length. Neither of the two arms of the cross was completely explored; and it is · Layard, Ninereh and Babylon, p. 347. | lets, which has been called “the Assyrian & As especially the chronological | Canon.” scheme drawn from seven different tab-| See vol. i. p. 279. 214 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. uncertain whether they extended to the extreme edge of the eastern and western courts, thus dividing each of them into two; or whether they only reached into the courts a certain distance. Assuming the latter view as the more probable, the two courts would have measured respectively 310 and 330 feet from the north-west to the south-east, while they must have been from 230 to 250 feet in the opposite direction. From the comparative privacy of the buildings, and from the character of the sculptures," it appears probable that the left or western arm of the cross formed the hareem of the monarch. The most remarkable feature in the great palace of Asshur- bani-pal was the beauty and elaborate character of the orna- mentation. The courts were paved with large slabs elegantly patterned. The doorways had sometimes arched tops beauti- Tully adorned with rosettes, lotuses, &c.2 The chambers and passages were throughout lined with alabaster slabs, bearing reliefs designed with wonderful spirit, and executed with the most extraordinary minuteness and delicacy. It was here that were found all those exquisite hunting scenes which have furnished its most interesting illustrations to the present his- tory.13 Here, too, were the representations of the private life of the monarch,' of the trees and flowers of the palace garden, of the royal galley with its two banks of oars of the libation over four dead lions,“ of the temple with pillars supported on lions, and of various bands of musicians, some of which have been already given. Combined with these peaceful 10 So far as appeared, only one door- / wheel (p. 358); the King shooting a way led from the rest of the palace to i Lion (p. 359); the Lion - hunt on a these western rooms. river (p. 361); the King killing Lions 1 Here was the representation of the (pp. 506, 507); the Lion let out of a trap royal garden, with vines, lilies, and (p. 509); the Hound held in leash (p. flowers of different kinds (see vol. i. pp. 510); the Wounded Lioness (p. 512); 353 and 354), among which musicians the Hound chasing a Wild Ass (p. 516); and tame lions were walking. the Wild Asses (1 p. 516 and 517); the 12 See the representation, vol. i. p. Hound chasing a Doe (p. 518); the Stag taking the Water (p. 519); and the 13 As especially the following: The Ibexes (p. 521). Wild Ass (vol. i. p. 222); the Stag See vol. i. p 493, and Hind (p. 224); the dying Wild Ibid. pp. 353 and 354. Asses, and the Lion about to spring 3 Ibid. p. 361. - Ibid. p. 515. (p. 355); the Wounded Wild Ass seized 5 Ibid. p. 312. The temple (No. V. by Hounds (p. 356); the Wounded Lion \ p. 310) also belongs to this monarch. (P. 357); the Lion biting a Chariot- / • Ibid. pp. 535 and 542. 335. CHAP. IX. CHARACTER OF ASSHUR-BANI-PAL'S SCULPTURES, 215 scenes and others of a similar character, as particularly a long train, with game, nets, and dogs, returning from the chase, which formed the adornment of a portion of the ascending passage, were a number of views of sieges and battles, repre- senting the wars of the monarch in Susiana and elsewhere. Reliefs of a character very similar to these last were found by Mr. Layard in certain chambers of the palace of Sennacherib, which had received their ornamentation from Asshur-bani-pal.? They were remarkable for the unusual number and small size of the figures, for the variety and spirit of the attitudes, and for the careful finish of all the little details of the scenes re- presented upon them. Deficient in grouping and altogether destitute of any artistic unity, they yet give probably the best representation that has come down to us of the confused mélée of an Assyrian battle, showing us at one view, as they do, all the various phases of the flight and pursuit, the capture and treatment of the prisoners, the gathering of the spoil, and the cutting off the heads of the slain. These reliefs form now a portion of our National Collection. A good idea may be formed of them from Mr. Layard's Second Series of Monuments, where they form the subject of five elaborate engravings. Besides his own great palace at Koyunjik and his additions to the palace of his grandfather at the same place, Asshur-bani- pal certainly constructed some building, or buildings, at Nebbi Yunus, where slabs inscribed with his name and an account of his wars have been found. If we may regard him as the real monarch whom the Greeks generally intended by their Sarda- napalus, we may say that, according to some classical authors, he was the builder of the city of Tarsus in Cilicia, and likewise of the neighbouring city of Anchialus ; 10 though writers of more authority tell us that Tarsus, at any rate, was built by Sennacherib." It seems further to have been very generally believed by the Greeks that the tomb of Sardanapalus was · Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, pp.) 446-159. & Monuments, Second Series, Pls. 45 to 49. Nineveh and Babylon, p. 459. 10 Or Anchjale. (See Arrian, Erp. Aler. ii. 5; Apollod. Fr. 69; Hellanic. Fr. 158; Schol. ad Aristoph. At. 1021, &c.) 11 See above, p. 175. 216 Char. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. in this neighbourhood. They describe it as a monument of some height, crowned by a statue of the monarch, who appeared to be in the act of snapping his fingers. On the stone base was an inscription in Assyrian characters, of which they believed the sense to run as follows:-“Sardanapalus, son of Anacyn- daraxes, built Tarsus and Anchialus in one day. Do thou, O stranger, eat, and drink, and amuse thyself; for all the rest of human life is not worth so much as this "_“this” meaning the sound which the king was supposed to be making with his fingers. It appears probable that there was some figure of this kind, with an Assyrian inscription below it, near Anchialus; but, as we can scarcely suppose that the Greeks could read the cuneiform writing, the presumed translation of the inscription would seem to be valueless. Indeed, the very different versions of the legend which are given by different writers 13 sufficiently indicate that they had no real knowledge of its purport. We may conjecture that the monument was in reality a stele con- taining the king in an arched frame, with the right hand raised above the left, which is the ordinary attitude,14 and an inscription below commemorating the occasion of its erection. Whether it was really set up by this king or by one of his predecessors, 15 we cannot say. The Greeks, who seem to have known more of Asshur-bani-pal than of any other Assyrian monarch, in con- sequence of his war in Asia Minor and his relations with Gyges and Ardys, are not unlikely to have given his name to any 12 See, besides the authors quoted in ! (Athen. I. s. c.). I regard all these tales note 10, Strab. xiv. p. 958, and Athen. ! as nearly worthless. Deipn. xii. 7, p. 530, B. L 14 See above, p. 79. 13 Clearchus said that the inscription i 15 I incline to believe that the so- was simply, “Sardanapalus, son of Ana- called tomb of Sardanapalus was in cyndaraxes, built Tarsus and Anchiale reality the stele set up by Sennacherib in one day-yet now he is dead” (ap. (as related by Polyhistor, supra, p. 175, Athen. I. s. c.). Aristobulus gave the note 19) on his conquest of Cilicia and inscription in the form quoted above settlement of Tarsus. I cannot agree (Strab. 1. s. c.; Athen. I. s. c.). Later with those who see in the architectural writers enlarged upon the theme of this emblem on the coins of Tarsus a repre- last version, and turned it into six or 'sentation of the monument in question. seven hexameter lines (Strab. l. s. c.; . (See M. Raoul Rochette's Memoir in the Diod. Sic. ii. 23; Schol. ad Aristoph. Mémoires de l'Institut, tom. xvii.) That Av. 1021). Amyntas said that the tomb , emblem appears to me to be the temple of Sardanapalus was at Nineveh, and of a god. gave a coinpletely different inscription ! Chap. IX. ASSHUR-BANI-PAL KNOWN TO THE GREEKS. 217 Assyrian monument which they found in these parts, whether in the local tradition it was regarded as his work or no. Such then, are the traditions of the Greeks with respect to this monarch. The stories told by Ctesias of a king, to whom he gives the same name, and repeated from him by later writers, 16 are probably not intended to have any reference to Asshur- bani-pal, the son of Esar-haddon, but rather refer to his suc- cessor, the last king. Even Ctesias could scarcely have ven- tured to depict to his countrymen the great Asshur-bani-pal, the vanquisher of Tirhakah, the subduer of the tribes beyond the Taurus, the powerful and warlike monarch whose friendship was courted by the rich and prosperous Gyges, king of Lydia, 18 as a mere voluptuary, who never put his foot outside the palace gates, but dwelt in the seraglio, doing woman's work, and often dressed as a woman. The character of Asshur-bani-pal stands really in the strongest contrast to the description-be it a portrait, or be it a mere sketch from fancy-which Ctesias gives of his Sardanapalus. Asshur-bani-pal was beyond a doubt one of Assyria's greatest kings. He subdued Egypt and Su- siana; he held quiet possession of the kingdom of Babylon ;' he carried his arms deep into Armenia ; he led his troops across the Taurus, and subdued the barbarous tribes of Asia Minor. When he was not engaged in important wars, he chiefly occu- pied himself in the chase of the lion, and in the construction and ornamentation of temples 2 and palaces. His glory was well known to the Greeks. He was no doubt one of the “two 18 As Diodorus Siculus (ii. 23-27); I came inmates of his hareem. (See Mr. Cephalion (ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. Pars G. Smith's article in the N. British Re- jma, c. xv.); Justin, i. 3; Mos. Chor. view, July, 1870, p. 344.) Hist. Armen. i. 20; Nic. Damasc. Fr. 18 On the wealth and power of Gyges, 8; Clearch. Sol. Fr. 5; Duris Sam, Fr. see Herod. i. 14; and compare Arist. 14; &c. Rhet. iii. 17; Plutarch, ii. p. 470, C. 17 In one point only does the character The short revolt of Saül-Mugina of Asshur-bani-pal, as revealed to us by (supra, p. 207), which was begun and his monuments, show the least resem ended within a year, is an unimportant blance to that of the Sardana palus of exception to the general rule of tranquil Ctesias, Asshur-bani-pal desired and possession, secured to himself a multitude of wives. ? Asshur-bani-pal raised a temple to On almost every occasion of the sup | Ishtar at Koyunjik (Sir H. Rawlinson pression of a revolt, he required the in the author's Ilcrodotus, vol. i. p. 497), conquered vassal to send to Nineveh, and repaired a shrine of the same god- together with his tribute, one or more dess at Arbela (ibid. p. 522). of his daughters. These princesses be- 218. Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. kings called Sardanapalus," celebrated by Hellanicus ; 3 he must have been “the warlike Sardanapalus" of Callisthenes ; Herodotus spoke of his great wealth ;; and Aristophanes used his name as a by-word for magnificence. In his reign the Assyrian dominions reached their greatest extent, Assyrian art culminated, and the empire seemed likely to extend itself over the whole of the East. It was then, indeed, that Assyria most completely answered the description of the Prophet—“The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. The waters made him great; the deep set him up on high with her rivers running about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. All the fowls of the heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all greut nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches; for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him ; the fir-trees were not like his boughs; and the chestnut-trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty."? In one respect, however, Assyria, it is to be feared, had made but little advance beyond the spirit of a comparatively barbarous time. The “lion” still “tore in pieces for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.” 8 Advancing civilisation, more abundant literature, improved art, had not softened the tempers of the Assyrians, nor rendered them more tender and compassionate in their treatment of captured enemies. Sennacherib and Esar- haddon show, indeed, in this respect, some superiority to former 3 Hellanic, Fr. 158. * Suidas ad voc. Lapdavánalos. $ Herod. ii. 150. 8 Aristoph. Av. I. 988, ed. Bothe. : Ezek. xxxi. 3-8. & Nahum ii. 12. Chap. IX. ASSHUR-BANI-PAL'S CRUELTIES. 219 kings. They frequently spared their prisoners, even when rebels, and seem seldom to have had recourse to extreme punishments. But Asshur-bani-pal reverted to the antique system of executions, mutilations, and tortures. We see on his bas-reliefs the unresisting enemy thrust through with the spear, the tongue torn from the month of the captive accused of blasphemy, the rebel king beheaded on the field of battle, and the prisoner brought to execution with the head of a friend or brother hung round his neck." We see the scourgers preceding the king as his regular attendants, with their whips passed through their girdles;' we behold the operation of flaying per- formed either upon living or dead men ;? we observe those who are about to be executed first struck on the face by the execu- tioner's fist. Altogether we seem to have evidence, not of mere severity, which may sometimes be a necessary or even a merciful policy, but of a barbarous cruelty, such as could not fail to harden and brutalise alike those who witnessed and those who inflicted it. Nineveh, it is plain, still deserved the epithet of “a bloody city,” or “a city of bloods."4 Asshur-bani-pal was harsh, vindictive, unsparing, careless of human suffering—nay, glorying in his shaine, he not merely practised cruelties, but handed the record of them down to posterity by representing them in all their horrors upon his palace walls. It has been generally supposed that Asshur-bani-pal died about B.C. 648 or 647, in which case he would have continued to the end of his life a prosperous and mighty king. But recent discoveries render it probable that his reign was extended to a much greater length—that, in fact, he is to be identified with the Cinneladanus of Ptolemy's Canon, who held the throne of Babylon from B.C. 647 to 626. If this be so, we See above, pp. 159, 173, 191, and 1 Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, Pl. 194. 49; compare Nineveh and Babylon, p. 452. 10 The great Asshur-izir-pal (B.c. 88 +- ? Monuments, Pl. 47. 859) was apparently the most cruel of 3 Nineveh and Babylon, p. 458; Monu- all the Assyrian kings. (See above, p. ments, Pl. 48. 85, note.) Asshur-bani-pal does not + Nahum iii. 1. exactly revive his practices; but he acts 5 Lenormant, Manual, vol. ii. p. 114. in his spirit. 6 Asshur-bani-pal distinctly states 11 Layard, Ninereh anul Babylon, pp. that when he conquered Babylon, and 457 and 458. put Saül-Mugina to death (see above, 220 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. must place in the later years of the reign of Asshur-bani-pal the commencement of Assyria's decline—the change whereby she passed from the assailer to the assailed, from the undisputed primacy of Western Asia to a doubtful and precarious position. This change was owing, in the first instance, to the rise upon her borders of an important military power in the centralised monarchy, established, about B.C. 640, in the neighbouring terri- tory of Media. The Medes had, it is probable, been for some time growing in strength, owing to the recent arrival in their country of fresh immigrants from the far East. Discarding the old system of separate government and village autonomy, they had joined together and placed themselves under a single monarch; and about the year B.C. 634, when Asshur-bani-pal had been king for thirty-four years, they felt themselves sufficiently strong to undertake an expedition against Nineveh. Their first attack, however, failed utterly. Phraortes, or whoever may have been the real leader of the invading army, was completely defeated by the Assyrians; his forces were cut to pieces, and he himself was among the slain. Still, the very fact that the Medes could now take the offensive and attack Assyria was novel and alarm- ing; it showed a new condition of things in these parts, and foreboded no good to the power which was evidently on the decline and in danger of losing its preponderance. An enter- prising warrior would doubtless have followed up the defeat of the invader by attacking him in his own country before he could recover from the severe blow dealt him; but the aged Assyrian monarch appears to have been content with repelling his foe, and made no effort to retaliate. Cyaxares, the successor of the slain Median king, effected at his leisure such arrange- p. 207), he ascended the Babylonian throne himself. Numerous tablets exist, dated by his regnal years at Babylon. The eponyms assignable to his reign are, at the lowest computation, twenty-six or twenty-seven. Add to this that the king of Babylon, who followed Sam- mughes (Saül-Mugina), is distinctly stated by Polyhistor to have been his brother (ap. Euseb. Chron. Can, i. 5, § 2), and to have reigned at Babylon 21 years; and the conclusion seems inevitable that Asshur-bani-pal is Cinneladanus, how- ever different the names, and that his entire reign was one of 42 years, from B.C. 668 to B.C. 626. 1 'Επί τούτους δή στρατευσάμενος και Φραορτης αυτός τε διεφθάρη, και ο στρα- Tòs aŭtoŮ O tomós. (Herod. i. 102.) CHAP. IX. DECLINE OF ASSYRIA-SCYTHIAN INROAD. 221 ments as he thought necessary before repeating his predecessor's attempt. When they were completed—perhaps in B.C. 632— he led his troops into Assyria, defeated the Assyrian forces in the field, and, following up his advantage, appeared before Nineveh and closely invested the town. Nineveh would perhaps have fallen in this year; but suddenly and unexpectedly a strange event recalled the Median monarch to his own country, where a danger threatened him previously unknown in Western Asia. When at the present day we take a general survey of the world's past history, we see that, by a species of fatality—by a law, that is, whose workings we cannot trace—there issue from time to time out of the frozen bosom of the North vast bordes of uncouth savages — brave, hungry, countless — who swarm into the fairer southern regions determinedly, irre- sistibly; like locusts winging their flight into a green land. How such multitudes come to be propagated in countries where life is with difficulty sustained, we do not know; why the im- pulse suddenly seizes them to quit their old haunts and move steadily in a given direction, we cannot say: but we see that the phenomenon is one of constant recurrence, and we there- fore now scarcely regard it as being curious or strange at all. In Asia, Cimmerians, Scythians, Parthians, Mongols, Turks ; in Europe, Gauls, Goths, Huns, Avars, Vandals, Burgundians, Lombards, Bulgarians, have successively illustrated the law, and made us familiar with its operation. But there was a time in history before the law had come into force; and its very existence must have been then unsuspected. Even since it began to operate, it has so often undergone prolonged suspen- sion, that the wisest may be excused if, under such circum- stances, they cease to bear it in mind, and are as much startled when a fresh illustration of it occurs, as if the like had never happened before. Probably there is seldom an occasion of its coming into play in which it does not take men more or less by surprise, and rivet their attention by its seeming strangeness and real unexpectedness. 8 Herod. i. 103. 222 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. If Western Asia had ever, in the remote ages before the Assyrian monarchy was established, been subject to invasions of this character—which is not improbable '—at any rate so long a period had elapsed since the latest of them, that in the reigns of Asshur-bani-pal and Cyaxares they were wholly for- gotten; and the South reposed in happy unconsciousness of a danger which might at any time bave burst upon it, had the Providence which governs the world so willed. The Asiatic steppes had long teemed with a nomadic population, of a war- like temper, and but slightly attached to its homes, which ignorance of its own strength and of the weakness and wealth of its neighbours had alone prevented from troubling the great Empires of the South. Geographic difficulties had at once prolonged the period of ignorance, and acted as obstructions, if ever the idea arose of pushing exploring parties into the southern regions; the Caucasus, the Caspian, the sandy deserts of Khiva and Kharesm, and the great central Asiatic mountain- chains, forming barriers which naturally restrained the Northern hordes from progressing in this direction. But a time had now arrived when these causes were no longer to operate; the line of demarcation which had so long separated North and South was to be crossed; the flood-gates were to be opened, and the stream of Northern emigration was to pour itself in a resistless torrent over the fair and fertile regions from which it had hitherto been barred out. Perhaps population had increased beyond all former precedent; perhaps a spirit of enterprise had arisen; possibly some slight accident—the exploration of a hunter hard pressed for food, the chattering tongue of a mer- chant, the invitation of a traitor 2—may have dispelled the igno- rance of earlier times, and brought to the knowledge of the hardy North the fact, that beyond the mountains and the seas, which they had always regarded as the extreme limit of the world, there lay a rich prey inviting the coming of the spoiler. The condition of the Northern barbarians, less than two hundred years after this time, has been graphically portrayed i Supra, vol. i. p. 55. | vasion of Italy by the Gauls. (Niebuhr's 2. Compare the stories as to the first in- | Roman History, vol. ii. p. 510, E. T.) Chap. IX. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCYTHS. 223 by two of the most observant of the Greeks, who themselves visited the Steppe country to learn the character and customs of the people. Where civilisation is unknown, changes are so slow and slight, that we may reasonably regard the descrip- tions of Herodotus and Hippocrates, though drawn in the fifth century before our era, as applying, in all their main points, to the same race two hundred years earlier. These writers de- scribe the Scythians as a people coarse and gross in their habits, with large fleshy bodies, loose joints, soft swollen bellies, and scanty hair. They never washed themselves ;* their nearest approach to ablution was a vapour-bath, or the appli- cation of a paste to their bodies which left them glossy on its removal. They lived either in waggons, or in felt tents of a simple and rude construction ;8 and subsisted on mare's milk and cheese,' to which the boiled flesh of horses and cattle was added, as a rare delicacy, occasionally.10 In war their customs were very barbarous. The Scythian who slew an enemy in battle immediately proceeded to drink his blood. He then cut off the head, which he exhibited to his king in order to obtain his share of the spoil; after which he stripped the scalp from the skull and hung it on his bridle-rein as a trophy. Some- times he flayed his dead enemy's right arm and hand, and used the skin as a covering for his quiver. The upper portion of the skull he commonly made into a drinking-cup. The greater part of each day he spent on horseback, in attendance on the huge herds of cattle which he pastured. His favourite weapon was the bow, which he used as he rode, shooting his • Hippocrat. De aere, aqua, et locis, l around three bent sticks inclined to- c. vi. p. 558. wards one another. Æschylus calls + Herod. iv. 75. Oů gàp Sir Aoûvtal them πλεκτάς στέγας, perhaps regarding ύδατι τοπαράπαν το σώμα. the covering as composed of mats rather 3 Ibid. ch. 73. than felts. (See the author's Herodotus, * It seems to have been only the vol. iii. p. 54, note *, 2nd edition.) women who made use of this latter sub- ! Taktopáyou inamuonyol. (Hom. II. stitute. (Ibid. ch. 75.) xiii. 6, 7; Hes. Fr. 122; Herod. iv. 2; i 'Auaçoßlor or pepeoikot. (See Herod. Callimach. Hymn. ad Dian. I. 252; Nic. iv. 46; Hes. Frs. 121 and 122, ed. Gött- Damasc. Fr. 123; &c.) ling; Hippocrat. De aere, aqua, &c., 10 Herod. iv. 61. So too the modern $ 44; Æschyl, P.V. 734-736; &c.) Calmucks. (See De Hell's Travels in the & Herodotus describes these tents (i. | Steppes, p. 244, E. T.) 73) as composed of woollen felts arranged 1 Herod, iv. 64, 65, 224 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. arrows with great precision. He generally carried, besides his bow and arrows, a short spear or javelin, and sometimes bore also a short sword or a battle-axe.13 HTTPS Scythian soldiers, from a vase found in a Scythian tomb. The nation of the Scythians comprised within it a number of distinct tribes.14 At the head of all was a Royal tribe, corre- sponding to the “Golden Horde ” of the Mongols, which was braver and more numerous than any other, and regarded all the remaining tribes in the light of slaves. To this belonged the families of the kings, who ruled by hereditary right, and seem to have exercised a very considerable authority.15 We often hear of several kings as bearing rule at the same time; but there is generally some indication of disparity, from which we gather that—in times of danger at any rate—the supreme power was really always lodged in the hands of a single man. The religion of the Scythians was remarkable, and partook of the barbarity which characterised most of their customs. They worshipped the Sun and Moon, Fire, Air, Earth, Water, and a god whom Herodotus calls Hercules. 16 But their principal religious observance was the worship of the naked sword. The country was parcelled out into districts, and in every district was a huge pile of brushwood, serving as a temple to the neigh- bourhood, at the top of which was planted an antique sword or scimitar.? On a stated day in each year solemn sacrifices, human and animal, were offered at these shrines; and the warm 12 Herod. iv. 46. Compare Æschyl. / P. P. 1. 736. 13 Herod. iv. 70. 4 Ibid. chs. 17-20, 15 Ibid. ch. 81. 11 Ibid. ch. 62. 16 Ibid. ch. 59. Chap. IX. THE SCYTHIANS INVADE MEDIA. 225 blood of the victims was carried up from below and poured upon the weapon. The human victims-prisoners taken in war -were hewn to pieces at the foot of the mound, and their limbs wildly tossed on high by the votaries, who then retired, leaving the bloody fragments where they chanced to fall. The Scythians seem to have had no priest caste; but they believed in divination; and the diviners formed a distinct class which possessed important powers. They were sent for whenever the king was ill, to declare the cause of his illness, which they usually attributed to the fact that an individual, whom they named, had sworn falsely by the Royal Hearth. Those accused in this way, if found guilty by several bodies of diviners, were beheaded for the offence, and their original accusers received their property.' It must have been important to keep on good terms with persons who wielded such a power as this. Such were the most striking customs of the Scythian people, or at any rate of the Scythians of Herodotus, who were the dominant race over a large portion of the Steppe country.? Coarse and repulsive in their appearance, fierce in their tempers, sarage in their habits; not individually very brave, but power- ful by their numbers, and by a mode of warfare which was difficult to meet, and in which long use had given them great expertness, they were an enemy who might well strike alarm even into a nation so strong and warlike as the Medes. Pouring through the passes of the Caucasus—whence coming or what intending none knew 3—horde after horde of Scythians blackened the rich plains of the South. . On they came, as before observed, like a flight of locusts, countless, irresistible-swarming into * Herod. iv. 68, 69, 2 The Scythians Proper of Herodotus and Hippocrates extended from the Da- nube and the Carpathians on the one side, to the Tanais or Don upon the other. The Sauromata, a race at least half-Scythic (Herod. iv. 110-117), then succeeded, and held the country from the Tanais to the Wolga. Beyond this were the Massagetæ, Scythian in dress and customs (ib. i. 215), reaching down to the Jaxartes on the east side of the Caspian. In the same neighbourhood VOL. II. were the Asiatic Scyths or Sacæ, who seem to have bordered upon the Bactrians. 3 The opinion of Herodotus that they entered Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians is childish, and may safely be set aside. (See the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 301, 2nd edition ; compare Mr. Grote's Hise tory of Greece, vol. ii. p. 431, 2nd edi- tion.) The two movements may, how- ever, have been in some degree con- nected, both resulting from some great disturbance among the races peopling the Steppe region, 226 Chap. IX THE SECOND MONARCHY, Iberia and ppring it behind them the inhabitants of Iberia and Upper Media— finding the land before them a garden, and leaving it behind them a howling wilderness. Neither age nor sex would be spared. The inhabitants of the open country and of the villages, if they did not make their escape to high mountain tops or other strongholds, would be ruthlessly massacred by the invaders, or, at best, forced to become their slaves. The crops would be consumed, the herds swept off or destroyed, the villages and homesteads burnt, the whole country made a scene of desolation. Their ravages would resemble those of the Huns when they poured into Italy, or of the Bulgarians when they overran the fairest provinces of the Byzantine Empire. In most instances the strongly fortified towns would resist them, unless they had patience to sit down before their walls and by a prolonged blockade to starve them into submission. Sometimes, before things reached this point, they might consent to receive a tribute and to retire. At other times, convinced that by per- severance they would reap a rich reward, they may have remained till the besieged city fell, when there must have ensued an indescribable scene of havoc, rapine, and bloodshed. According to the broad expression of Herodotus, the Scythians were masters of the whole of Western Asia from the Caucasus to the borders of Egypt for the space of twenty-eight years.? This statement is doubtless an exaggeration ; but still it would seem to be certain that the great invasion of which he speaks was not confined to Media, but extended to the adjacent countries of Armenia and Assyria, whence it spread to Syria and Palestine. The hordes probably swarmed down from Media through the Zagros passes into the richest portion of Assyria, the flat country between the mountains and the Tigris. Many of the old cities, rich with the accumulated stores of ages, were besieged, and perhaps taken, and their palaces wantonly burnt, by the barbarous invaders. The tide then swept on. Wandering from district to district, plundering everywhere, settling no- • On the employment of slaves by the | pp. 239-245, Smith's edition. Scythians, see Herod. iv. 1-4. Ibid. vol. v. pp. 170-172. Ś Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. iv.| Herod. i. 106; iv. 1, &c. CHAP. IX. EXTENT OF THEIR RAVAGES. 227 where, the clouds of horse passed over Mesopotamia, the force of the invasion becoming weaker as it spread itself, until in Syria it reached its term through the policy of the Egyptian king, Psammetichus. This monarch, who was engaged in the siege of Ashdod, no sooner heard of the approach of a great Scythian host, which threatened to overrun Egypt, and had advanced as far as Ascalon, than he sent ambassadors to their leader and prevailed on him by rich gifts to abstain from his enterprise. From this time tlie power of the invaders seems to have declined. Their strength could not but suffer by the long series of battles, sieges, and skirmishes in which they were engaged year after year against enemies in no wise con- temptible; it would likewise deteriorate through their ex- cesses; 10 and it may even have received some injury from intestine quarrels. After a while, the nations whom they had overrun, whose armies they had defeated, and whose cities they had given to the flames, began to recover themselves. Cyax- ares, it is probable, commenced an aggressive war against such of the invaders as had remained within the limits of his domi- nions, and soon drove them beyond his borders. Other kings may have followed his example. In a little while-long, probably, before the twenty-eight years of Herodotus had expired—the Scythian power was completely broken. Many bands may have returned across the Caucasus into the Steppe country. Others submitted and took service under the native rulers of Asia. Great numbers were slain ; and except in a province of Armenia, which henceforward became known as Sacasêné, and perhaps in one Syrian town, which we find called Scythopolis,” the invaders left no trace of their brief but terrible inroad. --- - - & Herod. ii. 157. Ibid. i. 105. ! Sacasêné, is regarded as a part of Armenia 10 The tale connecting the Enarees, by Strabo (xi. p. 767), Eustathius (ad with the Syrian Venus and the sack of | Dionys. Per. I. 750), and others. It lay Ascalon (ibid.) seems to glance at this towards the north-east, near Albania source of weakness. and Iberia. (Plin. H. N. vi. 10; Arrian, 11 Herod. i. 106; iv. 4. 1. 8. c.) 12 Ibid, i. 73. ? The earliest mention of Scythopolis 1 The Sacassani or Sacesinæ were first ! is probably that in the LXX. version of mentioned by the historians of Alexander | Judges (i. 27), where it is identified (Arrian, Exp. Al. iii. 8). Their country, with Beth-shean or Beth-shan. The Q 2 Chap. IX. EFFECTS OF THE INVASION ON ASSYRIA. 229 almost equal dearth of classical notices of his life and actions. Searcely anything has come down to us from his time but a few legends on bricks, from which it appears that he was the builder of the south-east edifice at Nimrud, a construction presenting some remarkable but no very interesting features. The classical notices, apart from the tales which Ctesias origi- nated, are limited to a few sentences in Abydenus, and a word or two in Polyhistor.? Thus nearly the same obscurity which enfolds the earlier portion of the history gathers about the monarch in whose person the empire terminated; and instead of the ample details which have crowded upon us now for many consecutive reigns, we shall be reduced to a meagre outline, partly resting upon conjecture, in our portraiture of this last king. Saracus, as the monarch may be termed after Abydenus, ascended the throne at a most difficult and dangerous crisis in his country's history. Assyria was exhausted ; and perhaps half depopulated by the Scythic ravages. The bands which united the provinces to the sovereign state, though not broken, liad been weakened, and rebellion threatened to break out in various quarters. Ruin had overtaken many of the provincial towns; and it would require a vast outlay to restore their public buildings. But the treasury was well-nigh empty, and did not allow the new monarch to adopt in his buildings the No. 3. 3 See British Museum Series, Pl. viii. ' News orahels, Katà toù aútoù Lapákov εις Νίνον επιστρατεύει· ου την έφοδον 6 Abyden. ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. Pars arondeis ó Lápakos, é autor oùy tois Ima, c. ix. : “Post quem (i. e. Sardana βασιλείοις ενέπρησεν, και την αρχήν pallum) Saracus imperitabat Assyriis : | Xandalwe kal Baßunwvos tapénaßer ó qui quidem certior factus turmarum avtos Nabotondo apos. Chronograph. p. vulgi collecticiarum quæ à mari ad- i 210, B. versus se adventarent, continuo Busalus i Ap. eund. c. v. § 2. Polyhistor sorum militiæ ducem Babylonem mitte here makes Sammughes succeeded by bat. Sed enim hic, capto rebellandi his brother after a reign of 21 years ; consilio, Amuhiam Asdahagis Medorum and then gives this “brother” a reign principis filiam nato suo Nabucodrossoro of the same duration. After him he despondebat; moxque raptim contra places Nabopolassar, to whom he assigns Ninum, seu Ninivem, urbem impetum 20 years. In the next section there is faciebat. Re omni cognita, rex Sara an omission (as the text now stands) cus regiam Evoritam (?) inflammabat." either of this “brother” or of Nabopo- Compare the parallel passage of Syncel lassar-probably of the latter. lus :-OTOS ( NaBotondoapos) otpurn 8 As especially in Susiana (see below, học trò saoảogo To0 Xa Salav Baơ - 1 p. 231). 230 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. grand and magnificent style of former kings. Still Saracus attempted something. At Calah he began the construction of a building, which apparently was intended for a palace, but which contrasts most painfully with the palatial erections of former kinys. The waning glory of the monarchy was made patent both to the nation and to strangers by an edifice where coarse slabs of common limestone, unsculptured and uninscribed, replaced the alabaster bas-reliefs of former times; and where a simple plaster above the slabs' was the substitute for the richly-patterned enamelled bricks of Sargon, Sennacherib, and Asshur-bani-pal. A set of small chambers, of which no one ex- ceeded forty-five feet in length and twenty-five feet in its greatest breadth, sufficed for the last Assyrian king, whose shrunken Court could no longer have filled the vast halls of his ancestors. The Nimrud palace of Saracus seems to have covered less than one half of the space occupied by any former palace upon the mound; it had no grand façade, no magnificent gateway; the rooms, curiously misshapen, as if taste had declined with power and wealth, were mostly small and inconvenient, running in suites which opened into one another without any approaches from courts or passages, roughly paved with limestone flags, and composed of sun-dried bricks faced with limestone and plaster. That Saracus should have been reduced even to contemplate residing in this poor and mean dwelling is the strongest possible proof of Assyria's decline and decay at a period preceding the great war which led to her destruction. It is possible that this edifice may not have been completed at the time of Saracus's death, and in that case we may suppose that its extreme rudeness would have received certain em- bellishments bad he lived to finish the structure. While it was being erected, he must have resided elsewhere. Apparently, be held his court at Nineveh during this period; and it was certainly there that he made his last arrangements for defence," and his final stand against the enemy, who took advantage Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, L vol. ii. pp. 38, 39; Nincreh and Babylon, p. 655. 10 See Mr. Layard's plan (Ninerch and its Remains, p. 39). " Abydenus, l. s.c. CHAP. IX. CYAXARES ATTACKS NINEVEH. 231 of his weak condition to press forward the conquest of the empire. The Medes, in their strong upland country, abounding in rocky hills, and running up in places into mountain-chains, had probably suffered much less from the ravages of the Scyths than the Assyrians in their comparatively defenceless plains. Of all the nations exposed to the scourge of the invasion they were evidently the first to recover themselves, 12 partly from the local causes here noticed, partly perhaps from their inherent vigour and strength. If Herodotus's date for the original inroad of the Scythians is correct,"3 not many years can have elapsed before the tide of war turned, and the Medes began to make head against their assailants, recovering possession of most parts of their country, and expelling or overpowering the hordes at whose insolent domination they had chafed from the first hour of the invasion. It was probably as early as B.c. 627, five years after the Scyths crossed the Caucasus, according to Herodotus, that Cyaxares, having sufficiently re-established his power in Media, began once more to aspire after foreign con- quests. Casting his eyes around upon the neighbouring coun- tries, he became aware of the exhaustion of Assyria, and per- ceived that she was not likely to offer an effectual resistance to a sudden and vigorous attack. He therefore collected a large army and invaded Assyria from the east, while it would seem that the Susianians, with whom he had perhaps made an alliance, attacked her from the south.14 To meet this double danger, Saracus, the Assyrian king, determined on dividing his forces; and, while he entrusted a portion of them to a general, Nabopolassar, who had orders to proceed to Babylon and engage the enemy advancing from the 12 Herod. i. 106; iv. 4. first appearance of the Scyths in Media 13 I do not regard this date as pos and the second siege of Nineveh by sessing much value, since the Median Cyaxares. chronology of Herodotus is purely arti 14 The “turmæ vulgi collecticiæ quæ ficial. (See Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i. à mari adversus Saracum adventabant” pp. 340-312.) I incline to believe that (Abyd. 1. s. c.) can only, I think, be Su- the Scythian invasion took place earlier sianians, or Susianians assisted by Chal- than Herodotus allows, and that eight | dæans. or ten years intervened between the 232 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. sea, he himself with the remainder made ready to receive the Medes. In idea this was probably a judicious disposition of the troops at his disposal ; it was politic to prevent a junction of the two assailing powers; and, as the greater danger was that which threatened from the Medes, it was well for the king to reserve himself with the bulk of his forces to meet this enemy. But the most prudent arrangements may be disconcerted by the treachery of those who are entrusted with their execution; and so it was in the present instance. The faithless Nabopolassar saw in his sovereign's difficulty his own opportunity; and, instead of marching against Assyria's enemies, as his duty required him, he secretly negotiated an arrangement with Cyaxares, agreed to become his ally against the Assyrians, and obtained the Median king's daughter as a bride for Nebuchad- nezzar, his eldest son. Cyaxares and Nabopolassar then joined their efforts against Nineveh ;2 and Saracus, unable to resist them, took counsel of his despair, and, after all means of resistance were exhausted, burned himself in his palace. It is uncertain whether we possess any further historical details of the siege. The narrative of Ctesias may embody a certain number of the facts, as it certainly represented with truth the strange yet not incredible termination. But on the other hand, we cannot feel sure, with regard to any statement made solely by that writer, that it has any other source than his imagination. Hence the description of the last siege of Nineveh, as given by Diodorus on the authority of Ctesias, seems undeserving of a I See above, p. 229, note 6; and com- | however, are wrongly named), and pare Polyhistor (ap. Syncell. Chronograph. Joseph. Ant. Jud. x. 5, § 1. p. 210, A.), Toûtov (Tov NaBoronáoapov] 3 Abyden, ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. Pars ο Πολυίστωρ Αλέξανδρος Σαρδανάπαλ Ima, c. ix. p. 25; Syncell. Chronograph, Nov Kalci néuyavta mpos 'Aotváynu i p. 210, B. σατράπην Μηδείας και την θυγατέρα • The self-immolation of Saracus has aŭtoù 'Auvírny AaBóvta vúmonv eis tov a parallel in the conduct of the Israelitish viòv aŭtoi Naſovxodovóowp. Or, as Eu- | king, Zimri, who,“ when he saw that sebius reports him (Chron. Cun. Pars 1mą, the city was taken, went into the palace c. iv.), “Sardana pallus ad Asdahagem, of the king's house, and burnt the king's qui erat Medicæ gentis præses et sa house over him, and died” (1 Kings xvi. trapa, copias auxiliares misit, videlicet 18); and again in that of the Persian ut filio suo Nabucod rossoro desponderet governor, Boges, who burnt himself with Amuhiam e filiabus Asdahagis unam." | his wives and children at Eion (Herod. ? See besides Abydenus and Poly- vii, 107). histor, Tobit xiv. 15 (where both kings, Chap. IX. FALL OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE. 233 place in history, though the attention of the curious may pro- perly be directed to it." The empire of the Assyrians thus fell, not so much from any inherent weakness, or from the effect of gradual decay, as by an unfortunate combination of circumstances—the occurrence of a terrible inroad of Northern barbarians just at the time when a warlike nation, long settled on the borders of Assyria, and within a short distance of her capital, was increasing, partly by natural and regular causes, partly by accidental and abnormal ones, in greatness and strength. It will be proper, in treating of the history of Media, to trace out, as far as our materials allow, these various causes, and to examine the mode and extent of their operation. But such an inquiry is not suited for this place, since, if fully made, it would lead us too far away from our present subject, which is the history of Assyria; while, if made partially, it would be unsatisfactory. It is therefore deferred to another place. The sketch here attempted of Assyrian history will now be brought to a close by a few observations on the general nature of the monarchy, or its extent in the most flourishing period, and on the character of its civilisation. 5 See Diod, Sic. ii. 24-27. According | upon which the king, whom an oracle to Ctesias, the Medes were accompanied had told to fear nothing till the river by the Persians, and the Babylonians by became his enemy, despaired, and making some Arabian allies. The assailing army a funeral pile of all his richest furniture, numbered 400,000. In the first engage burnt himself with his concubines and ment the Assyrians were victorious, his eunuchs in his palace. The Medes and the attacking army had to fly to the and their allies then entered the town mountains (Zagros). A second and a | on the side which the flood had laid third attempt met with no better suc open, and after plundering it, destroyed it. cess. The fortune of war first changed 6 The author has transferred these on the arrival of a contingent from observations, with such alterations as Bactria, who joined the assailants in a the progress of discovery has rendered night attack on the Assyrian camp, | necessary, from an Essay “On the Chro- which was completely successful. The nology and History of the great Assyrian Assyrian monarch sought the shelter of Empire,” which he published in 1858, his capital, leaving his army under the in his Herodotus. He found that eight command of his brother-in-law Sala- years of additional study of the subiect menes. Salæmenes was soon defeated had changed none of his views, and that and slain ; and the siege of the city then if he wrote a new “Summary,” he would commenced. It continued for more than merely repeat in other words what he two years without result. In the third had already written with a good deal of year an unusually wet season caused the care. Under these circumstances, and river to rise extraordinarily, and destroy having reason to believe that the present above two miles (?) of the city wall; / work is read in quarters to which his 234 Char. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. The independent kingdom of Assyria covered a space of at least a thousand years; but the empire can, at the utmost, be considered to have lasted a period short of seven centuries, from B.c. 1300 to B.c. 625 or 624—the date of the conquest of Cyaxares. In reality, the period of extensive domination seems to have commenced with Assur-ris-ilim,' about B.c. 1150, so that the duration of the true empire did not much exceed five centuries. The limits of the dominion varied considerably within this period, the empire expanding or contracting accord- ing to the circumstances of the time and the personal character of the prince by whom the throne was occupied. The extreme extent appears not to have been reached until almost imme- diately before the last rapid decline set in, the widest dominion belonging to the time of Asshur-bani-pal, the conqueror of Egypt, of Susiana, and of the Armenians. In the middle part of this prince's reign Assyria was paramount over the portion of Western Asia included between the Mediterranean and the Halys on the one hand, the Caspian Sea and the great Persian desert on the other. Southwards the boundary was formed by Arabia and the Persian Gulf; northwards it seems at no time to have advanced to the Euxine or to the Caucasus, but to have been formed by a fluctuating line, which did not in the most flourishing period extend so far as the northern frontier of Armenia. Besides her Asiatic dominions Assyria possessed also at this time a portion of Africa, her authority being acknow- ledged by Egypt as far as the latitude of Thebes. The coun- tries included within the limits thus indicated, and subject during the period in question to Assyrian influence, were chiefly the following :-Susiana, Chaldæa, Babylonia, Media, Matiene or the Zagros range, Mesopotamia ; parts of Armenia, Cappadocia, and Cilicia; Syria, Phænicia, Palestine, Idumæa, a portion of Arabia, and almost the whole of Egypt. The island of Cyprus was also, it is probable, a dependency. On the other hand, Persia Proper, Bactria, and Sogdiana, even version of Herodotus never penetrated, 1 valid objection. he has thought that a republication of : Supra, pp. 61, 62. his former remarks would be open to no & Supra, pp. 210, 211. CHAP. IX. REVIEW OF ASSYRIAN HISTORY. 235 Hyrcania, were beyond the eastern limit of the Assyrian sway, which towards the north did not on this side reach further than about the neighbourhood of Kasvin, and towards the south was confined within the mountain barrier of Zagros. Similarly on the west, Phrygia, Lydia," Lycia, even Pamphylia, were inde- pendent, the Assyrian arms having never, so far as appears, penetrated westward beyond Cilicia or crossed the river Halys. The nature of the dominion established by the great Mesopo- tamian monarchy over the countries included within the limits above indicated, will perhaps be best understood if we compare it with the empire of Solomon. Solomon “reigned over all the kingdoms from the river (Euphrates) unto the land of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents and served Solomon all the days of his life."! The first and most striking feature of the earliest empires is, that they are a mere congeries of kingdoms: the countries over which the dominant state acquires an influence, not only retain their distinct individuality, as is the case in some modern empires, but reinain in all respects such as they were before, with the simple addition of certain obligations contracted towards the paramount authority. They keep their old laws, their old religion, their line of kings, their law of succession, their whole internal organization and machinery; they only acknow- ledge an external suzerainty, which binds them to the per- formance of certain duties towards the Head of the Empire. These duties, as understocd in the earliest times, may be summed up in the two words “ homage” and “tribute;” the subject kings “serve” and “bring presents;” they are bound to acts of submission, must attend the court of their suzerain when summoned,” unless they have a reasonable excuse, must 9 The homage of the Lydian kings, and that the amount of the annual Gyges and Ardys, to Asshur-bani-pal revenue from all sources was 666 talents scarcely constitutes a real subjection of l of gold (ver. 14). See also 2 Chron, ix. Lydia to Assyria. 13-28, and Ps. lxxii. 8-11, 11 Kings iv. 21. Compare ver. 24; ? Our own, for instance, and the and for the complete organization of the Austrian. empire, see ch. X., where it appears that 3 There are several cases of this kind the kings" brought every man his in the Inscriptions. (Journal of the present, a rate year by year” (ver. 25); Asiatic Society, vol. xix. p. 145; Inscrip- 236 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY, there salute him as a superior, and otherwise acknowledge his rank;above all, they must pay him regularly the fixed tribute which has been imposed upon them at the time of their sub- mission or subjection, the unauthorised withholding of which is open and avowed rebellion. Finally, they must allow his troops free passage through their dominions, and must oppose any attempt at invasion by way of their country on the part of his enemies. Such are the earliest and most essential obliga- tions on the part of the subject states in an empire of the primitive type, like that of Assyria ; and these obligations, with the corresponding one on the part of the dominant power of the protection of its dependants against foreign foes, appear to have constituted the sole links? which joined together in one the heterogeneous materials of which that empire consisted. It is evident that a government of the character here described contains within it elements of constant disunion and disorder. Under favourable circumstances, with an active and energetic prince upon the throne, there is an appearance of strength, and a realisation of much magnificence and grandeur. The subject monarchs pay annually their due share of “the regulated tribute tions des Sargonides, p. 56, &c.) Perhaps be added to the proofs elsewhere adduced the visit of Ahaz to Tiglath-Pileser (see the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 195, (2 Kings xvi. 10) was of this character. 2nd ed.) of the lateness of its composi- * Cf. Ps. lxxii. 11: “ All kings shall tion. We do not find, either in Scrip- fall down before him.” This is said ture or in the Inscriptions, any proof of primarily of Solomon. The usual ex the Assyrian armies being composed of pression in the Inscriptions is that the others than the dominant race. Mr. subject kings “kissed the sceptre” of Vance Smith assumes the contrary (Pro- the Assyrian monarchs. phecies, $c., pp. 92, 183, 201); but the 5 See 2 Kings xvii. 4, and the Inscrip only passage which is important among tions passim. all those explained by him in this sense Josiah perhaps perished in the per (Isa. xxii. 6) is somewhat doubtfully re- formance of this duty (2 Kings xxiii. ferred to an attack on Jerusalem by the 29; 2 Chron. xxv. 20-23). Assyrians. Perhaps it is the taking of . In some empires of this type, the Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar which subject states have an additional obliga- | forms the subject of the prophetic vision, tion—that of furnishing contingents to as Babylon has been the main figure in swell the armies of the dominant power. the preceding chapter. The negative of But there is no clear evidence of the course cannot be proved; but there Assyrians having raised troops in this seem to be no grounds for concluding way. The testimony of the book of that “the various subject races were in- Judith is worthless; and perhaps the corporated into the Assyrian army." circumstance that Nebuchodonosor is An Assyrian army, it should be remem- made to collect his army from all quarters bered, does not ordinarily exceed one, or (as the Persians were wont to do) may 1 at most two, hundred thousand men. Chap. IX. STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE EMPIRE. 237 of the empire;"8 and the better to secure the favour of their common sovereign, add to it presents, consisting of the choicest productions of their respective kingdoms. The material re- sources of the different countries are placed at the disposal of the dominant power; and skilled workmen" are readily lent for the service of the court, who adorn or build the temples and the royal residences, and transplant the luxuries and refine- ments of their several states to the imperial capital. But no sooner does any untoward event occur, as a disastrous expedition, a foreign attack, a domestic conspiracy, or even an untimely and unexpected death of the reigning prince, than the inherent weakness of this sort of government at once displays itself- the whole fabric of the empire falls asunder-each kingdom re-asserts its independence-tribute ceases to be paid—and the mistress of a hundred states suddenly finds herself thrust back into her primitive condition, stripped of the dominion which has been her strength, and thrown entirely upon her own resources. Then the whole task of reconstruction has to be commenced anew-one by one the rebel countries are overrun, and the rebel monarchs chastised—tribute is re-im- posed, submission enforced, and in fifteen or twenty years the empire has perhaps recovered itself. Progress is of course slow and uncertain, where the empire has continually to be built up again from its foundations, and where at any time & This is an expression not uncommon tion, by comparing Scripture with the in the Inscriptions. We may gather account given by Sennacherib. The from a passage in Sennacherib's annals, tribute in this instance was “ 300 talents where it occurs, that the Assyrian tri of silver and 30 talents of gold" (2 bute was of the nature either of a poll Kings xviii, 14); the additional presents tax or of a land-tax. For when portions were, 500 talents of silver, various of Hezekiah's dominions were taken mineral products, thrones and beds and from him and bestowed on neighbouring rich furniture, the skins and horns of princes, the Assyrian king tells us that beasts, coral, ivory, and amber. ** according as he increased the do 10 The Assyrian kings are in the habit minions of the other chiefs, so he aug of cutting cedar and other timber in mented the amount of tribute which Lebanon and Amanus. Tiglath-Pileser I, they were to pay to the imperial derived marbles from the country of the treasury.” Naïri (supra, p. 70). 9 It is not always easy to separate the 11 Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. tribute from the presents, as the tribute xix. pp. 137, 148, &c. Sennacherib uses itself is sometimes paid partly in kind Phænicians to construct his vessels on (supra, p. 66); but in the case of Heze the Tigris and to navigate them. (See kiah we may clearly draw the distinc-| above, p. 172.) 238 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY, a day may undo the work which it has taken centuries to accomplish. To discourage and check the chronic disease of rebellion, recourse is bad to severe remedies, which diminish the danger to the central power, at the cost of extreme misery and often almost entire ruin to the subject kingdoms. Not only are the lands wasted, the flocks and herds carried off,' the towns pil- laged and burnt, or in some cases razed to the ground, the rebel king deposed and his crown transferred to another, the people punished by the execution of hundreds or thousands, as well as by an augmentation of the tribute money;3 but sometimes wholesale deportation of the inhabitants is practised, tens or hundreds of thousands being carried away captive by the conquerors,' and either employed in servile labour at the capi- tal, or settled as colonists in a distant province. With this practice the history of the Jews, in which it forms so prominent a feature, has made us familiar. It seems to have been known to the Assyrians from very early times, and to have become by degrees a sort of settled principle in their government. In the most flourishing period of their dominion—the reigns of Sargon, Sennacherib, and Esar-haddon—it prevailed most widely, and was carried to the greatest extent. Chaldæans were trans- 1 The numbers are often marvellous. | persons, and an equal or greater number Sennacherib in one foray drives off 7200 from the tribes along the Euphrates. horses, 11,000 mules, 5230 camels, 120,000 The practice is constant, but the numbers oxen, and 800,000 sheep! Sometimes are not commonly given. the sheep and oxen are said to be “ count 5 As the Aramzans, Chaldæans, Ar- less as the stars of heaven." menians, and Cilicians, by Sennacherib 2 The usual modes of punishment are (supra, p. 183), and the numerous cap- beheading and impaling. Asshur-izir tives who built his temples and palaces, pal impales on one occasion “thirty by Sargon (Inscriptions des Sargoniles, chiefs ;" on another he beheads 250 p. 31). The captives may be seen en- warriors; on a third he impales captives gaged in their labours, under task- on every side of the rebellious city. masters, upon the monuments. (Supra, Compare the conduct of Darius (Herod. vol. i. p. 402.) iii. 159). 6 See the annals of Asshur-izir-pal, 3 This frequently takes place. (See where, however, the numbers carried off above, pp. 85, 88, &c.) Hezekiah evi are small in one case 2600, in another dently expects an augmentation when | 2500, in others 1200, 500, and 300. he says, “That which thou puttest upon Women at this period are carried off in me I will bear" (2 Kings xviii. 14). vast numbers, and become the wives of 4 It has been noticed (supra, pp. 158 the soldiery. Tiglath-Pileser II. is the and 161) that Sennacherib carried into first king who practises deportation on captivity from Judæa more than 200,000 a large scale, 240 Chap. IS. THE SECOND MONARCHY. regions divided and subdivided among hundreds of petty chiefs, incapable of union, and singly quite unable to contend with the forces of a large and populous country. Frequently endangered by revolts, yet always triumphing over them, it maintained itself for five centuries, gra-lually advancing its influence, and was only overthrown after a fierce struggle by a new kingdom 5 formed upon its borders, which, taking advantage of a time of exhaustion, and leagued with the most powerful of the subject states, was enabled to accomplish the destruction of the long- dominant people. In the curt and dry records of the Assyrian monarchs, while the broad outlines of the government are well marked, it is difficult to distinguish those nicer shades of system and treat- ment which no doubt existed, and in which the empire of the Assyrians differed probably from others of the same type. One or two such points, however, may perhaps be made out. In the first place, though religious uniformity is certainly not the law of the empire, yet a religious character appears in many of the wars, and attempts at any rate seem to be made to diffuse everywhere a knowledge and recognition of the gods of Assyria. Nothing is more universal than the practice of setting up in the subject countries “the laws of Asshur ” or “altars to the Great Gods.” In some instances not only altars but temples are erected, and priests are left to superintend the worship and secure its being properly conducted. The history of Judæa is, however, enough to show that the continuance of the national worship was at least tolerated, though some formal acknowledge. ment of the presiding deities of Assyria on the part of the subject nations may not improbably have been required in most cases.? * In the inscriptions of Tiglath-Pi- , it is not permanently under a single leser I. and Asshur-izir-pal, each city of king. Mesopotamia and Syria seems to have s Although Assyria came into contact its king. Twelve kings of the Hittites, with Median tribes as early as the reign twenty-four kings of the Tibareni (Tu-1 of Shalmaneser II. (B.C. 850), yet the bal), and twenty-seven kings of the Median kingdom which conquered As- Partsu, are mentioned by Shalmaneser II. syria must be regarded as a new forma- The Phænician and Philistine cities are tion--the consequence of a great immi- always separate and independent. In gration from the East, perhaps led by Media and Bikan during the reign of Cyaxares. Esar-haddon, every town has its chief. 6 See above, p. 73. Armenia is perhaps less divided : still! : It is probable that the altar which Cuap. IX. CIVILISATION OF THE ASSYRIANS. 241 Secondly, there is an indication that in certain countries im- mediately bordering on Assyria endeavours were made from time to time to centralise and consolidate the empire, by sub- stituting, on fit occasions, for the native chiefs, Assyrian officers as . governors. The persons appointed are .of two classes- “ collectors” and “ treasurers.” Their special business is, of course, as their names imply, to gather in the tribute due to the Great King, and secure its safe transmission to the capital; but they seem to have been, at least in some instances, entrusted with the civil government of their respective districts. It does not appear that this system was ever extended very far. Lebanon on the west, and Mount Zagros on the east, may be regarded as the extreme limits of the centralised Assyria. Armenia, Media, Babylonia, Susiana, most of Phænicia,' Pales- tine, Philistia, retained to the last their native monarchs; and thus Assyria, despite the feature here noticed, kept upon the whole her character of a “kingdom-empire.” The civilisation of the Assyrians is a large subject, on which former chapters of this work bave, it is hoped, thrown some light, and upon which only a very few remarks will be here offered by way of recapitulation. Deriving originally letters and the elements of learning from Babylonia, the Assyrians appear to have been content with the knowledge thus obtained, and neither in literature nor in science to have progressed much beyond their instructors. The heavy incubus of a dead language lay upon all those who desired to devote themselves to scientific pursuits; and, owing to this, knowledge tended to become the exclusive possession of a learned, or perhaps a priest class, which did not aim at progress, but was satisfied to hand Ahaz saw at Damascus, and of which The general continuance, however, of he sent a pattern to Jerusalem (2 Kings native kings in these parts is strongly xvi. 10), was Assyrian rather than marked by the list of 22 subject monarchs Syrian, and that he adopted the worship in an inscription of Esar-haddon (supra, connected with it in deference to his p. 200, note *). Assyrian suzerain. 1 The old scientific treatises appear to * See above, pp. 147, 149, 158, &c. have been in the Hamitic dialect of the 9 For one exception in this district, | Proto-Chaldæans. It was not till the see above, p. 187. Another is furnished time of Asshur-bani-pal that translations by the Assyrian Canon, which gives a were made to any great extent. prefect of Arpad as Eponym in B.c. 692. VOL. II. 242 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY. , on the traditions of former ages. To understand the genius of the Assyrian people we must look to their art and their manu- factures. These are in the main probably of native growth ; and from them we may best gather an impression of the national character. They show us a patient, laborious, pains- taking people, with more appreciation of the useful than the ornamental, and of the actual than the ideal. Architecture, the only one of the fine arts which is essentially useful, forms their chief glory; sculpture, and still more painting, are sub- sidiary to it. Again, it is the most useful edifice—the palace or house—whereon attention is concentrated the temple and the tomb, the interest attaching to which is ideal and spiritual, are secondary, and appear (so far as they appear at all) simply as appendages of the palace. In the sculpture it is the actual — the historically true-which the artist strives to represent. Unless in the case of a few mythic figures connected with the religion of the country, there is nothing in the Assyrian bas- reliefs which is not imitated from nature. The imitation is always laborious, and often most accurate and exact. The laws of representation, as we understand them, are sometimes departed from, but it is always to impress the spectator with ideas in accordance with truth. Thus the colossal bulls and lions have five legs, but in order that they may be seen from every point of view with four—the ladders are placed edgeways against the walls of besieged towns, but it is to show that they are ladders, and not mere poles-walls of cities are made dis- proportionately small, but it is done, like Raphael's boat, to bring them within the picture, which would otherwise be a less complete representation of the actual fact. The careful finish, the minute detail, the elaboration of every hair in a beard, and every stitch in the embroidery of a dress, reminds us of the Dutch school of painting, and illustrates strongly the spirit of faithfulness and honesty which pervades the sculptures, and gives them so great a portion of their value. In conception, in grace, in freedom and correctness of outline, they fall un- doubtedly far behind the inimitable productions of the Greeks; but they have a grandeur and a dignity, a boldness, a strength, ChapIX. ASSYRIAN ART AND MANUFACTURES. 243 and an appearance of life, which render them even intrinsically valuable as works of art, and, considering the time at which they were produced, must excite our surprise and admiration. Art, so far as we know, had existed previously, only in the stiff and lifeless conventionalism of the Egyptians. It belonged to Assyria to contine the conventional to religion, and to apply art to the vivid representation of the highest scenes of human life. War in all its forms—the march, the battle, the pursuit, the siege of towns, the passage of rivers and marshes, the sub- mission and treatment of captives—and the “mimic war” of hunting, the chase of the lion, the stag, the antelope, the wild bull, and the wild ass—are the chief subjects treated by the Assyrian sculptors; and in these the conventional is discarded ; fresh scenes, new groupings, bold and strange attitudes per- petually appear, and in the animal representations especially there is a continual advance, the latest being the most spirited, the most varied, and the most true to nature, though perhaps lacking somewhat of the majesty and grandeur of the earlier. With no attempt to idealise or go beyond nature, there is a growing power of depicting things as they are—an increased grace and delicacy of execution ; showing that Assyrian art was progressive, not stationary, and giving a promise of still higher excellence, had circumstances permitted its development. The art of Assyria has every appearance of thorough and entire nationality; but it is impossible to feel sure that her manufactures were in the same sense absolutely her own. The practice of borrowing skilled workmen from the conquered states would introduce into Nineveh and the other royal cities the fabrics of every region which acknowledged the Assyrian sway; and plunder, tribute, and commerce would unite to enrich them with the choicest products of all civilised countries. Still, judging by the analogy of modern times, it seems most reason- able to suppose that the bulk of the manufactured goods con- sumed in the country would be of home growth. Hence we may fairly assume that the vases, jars, bronzes, glass bottles, carved ornaments in ivory and mother-of-pearl, engraved gems, bells, dishes, ear-rings, arms, working implements, &c., which R 2 244 Chap. IX. THE SECOND MONARCHY, have been found at Nimrud, Khorsabad, and Koyunjik, are mainly the handiwork of the Assyrians. It has been conjectured that the rich garments represented as worn by the kings and others were the product of Babylon, always famous for its tissues; but even this is uncertain; and they are perhaps as likely to have been of home manufacture. At any rate the bulk of the ornaments, utensils, &c., may be regarded as native products. These are almost invariably of elegant form, and indicate a considerable knowledge of metallurgy and other arts, as well as a refined taste. Among them are some which anticipate inventions believed till lately to have been modern. Transparent glass (which, however, was known also in ancient Egypt) is one of these ;4 but the most remarkable of all is the lens: discovered at Nimrud, of the use of which as a magnifying agent there is abundant proof. If it be borne in mind, in addition to all this, that the buildings of the Assyrians show them to have been well acquainted with the principle of the arch, that they constructed tunnels, aqueducts, and drains, that they knew the use of the pulley, the lever, and the roller, that they understood the arts of inlaying, enamelling, and over- laying with metals, and that they cut gems with the greatest skill and finish, it will be apparent that their civilisation equalled that of almost any ancient country, and that it did not fall im- measurably behind the boasted achievements of the moderns. With much that was barbaric still attaching to them, with a rude and inartificial government, savage passions, a debasing religion, and a general tendency to materialism, they were towards the close of their empire, in all the ordinary arts and appliances of life, very nearly on a par with ourselves; and thus their history furnishes a warning—which the records of nations constantly repeat—that the greatest material prosperity may co- exist with the decline—and herald the downfall—of a kingdom. ? Quarterly Review, No. clxvii. pp. 150, the Assyrians used magnifying glasses, 151. from the fact that the inscriptions were 3 See above, vol. i. pp. 365-372. often so minute that they could not pos- 4 See vol. i. p. 389. sibly be read, and therefore could not s Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 197. | have been formed, without them. (Sce 6 Long before the discovery of the i vol. i. pp. 263 and 391.) Nimrud lens it had been concluded that ( 245 ) APPENDIX, A. ON THE MEANINGS OF THE ASSYRIAN ROYAL NAMES. The names of the Assyrians, like those of the Hebrews, seem to have been invariably significant. Each name is a sentence, fully or elliptically expressed, and consists consequently of at least two elements. This number is frequently-indeed, commonly- increased to three; which are usually a noun in the nominative case, a verb active agreeing with it, and a noun in the objective or accusative case governed by the verb. The genius of the language requires that in names of this kind the nominative case should invariably be placed first; but there is no fixed rule as to the order of the two other words; the verb may be either preceded or followed by the accusative. The number of elements in an Assyrian name amounts in rare cases to four, a maximum reached by some Hebrew names, as Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Only one or two of the royal names comes under this category. No Assyrian name exceeds the number of four elements.” An example of the simplest form of name is Sar-gon, of Sar-gina, " the established king,” i. e. “ (I am) the established king.” The roots are Sar, or in the full nominative, sarru, the common word for “king” (compare lleb. TV, 77, &c.), and kin (or gin)," “ to esta- blish,” a root akin to the Hebrew jio. A name equally simple is Buzur-Asshur, which means either “ Asshur is a stronghold,” or “ Asshur is a treasure ;" buzur being the Assyrian equivalent of the Hebrew 73, which has this double signification. (See Gesen. Lex. p. 155.) A third name of the same simple form is Saül-mugina (Sammughes), which probably means 1 Isaiah viii. 3. ¡ the Eponym of the 18th year of Asshur- 2 The list of Eponyms in the famous izir-pal. Mr. G. Smith finds in the name, Canon, which contains nearly 250 names, however, only four elements. furnishes (according to the reading of 3 Gin or gina is the Turanian equiva- M. Oppert) one exception to this rule- lent of the Assyrian kin or kin .. 246 APPENDIX A. THE SECOND MONARCHY. “Saül (is) the establisher,” mugina being the participial form of the same verb which occurs in Sar-gina or Sargon." There is another common form of Assyrian name consisting of two elements, the latter of which is the name of a god, while the former is either shamas or shamsi (Heb. wow), the common word for “servant,” or else a term significative of worship, alloration, reverence, or the like. Of the former kind, there is but one royal name, viz., Shamas-Vul, “the servant of Vul,” a name exactly resembling in its formation the Phænician Abdistartus, the Hebrew Obadiah, Ahdiel, &c., and the Arabic Abdallah. Of the latter kind are the two royal names, Tiglathi-Nin and Mutaggil-Nebo. Tiglathi-Nin is from tiglat or tiklat, “ adoration, reverence” (comp. Chald. 5an, “to trust in"), and Nin or Ninip, the Assyrian Her- cules. The meaning is “ Adoratio (sit) Herculi”—“Let worship (be given to) Hercules.” Mutaggil-Nebo is “confiding in ” or “ worshipping Nebo”—mutaggil being from the same root as tiglat, but the participle, instead of the abstract substantive. A name very similar in its construction is that of the Caliph Motawakkil Billah. With these names compounded of two elements it will be con- venient to place one which is compounded of three, viz., Tiglath- Pileser, or Tiglat-pal-zira. This name has exactly the same mean- iny as Tiglathi-Nin—"Be worship given to Hercules;" the only difference being that Nin or Hercules is here designated by a favourite epithet, Pal-zira, instead of by any of his proper names. In Pal-zira, the first element is undoubtedly pal, “a son;" the other element is obscure ;' all that we know of it is that Nin was called " the son of Zira," apparently because he had a temple at Calah which was called Bit-Zira, or “ the house of Zira."8 M. Oppert be- lieves Zira to be “ the Zodiac;"! but there seem to be no grounds for this identification. Names of the common threefold type are Asshur-iddin-akhi, Asshur-izir-pal," Sin-akhi-irib (Sennacherib), Asshur-akh-iddina (Esar-haddon), and Asshur-bani-pal. Asshur-idden-akhi is “ Asshur * Or Saül-mugina may be in good ! : Sir H. Rawlinson believes Zira to Turanian “Saül establishes me," the mean “lord," as Zirat certainly means syllable mu being a separate element, i “lady," " mistress," or "wite." Bitrina sometimes equivalent to our “me." would thus be “the Lord's house," or s Other names of this kind are Abdi- “the holy house." Milkut (supra, p. 187), A bdolominus (or : See above, p. 22. rather Abdalonimus), Abed-Nego, Abd- 9 Expédition scientifique, I, s. e. er-Rahman, Abd-el-Kader. 10 Asshur-izir-pal seems to be the true * So Oppert, Expedition scientifique en name of the king who was formerly called Mésopotamie, vol. ii. p. 352. Sardanapalus I. or Asshur-idanni-pal. APPENDIX A. MEANINGS OF ROYAL NAMES. 247 has given brothers," iddin being the third person singular of nadan, * to give” (comp. Heb. in?), and akhi being the plural of akhu, “ a brother” (comp. Heb. 'nx). Asshur-izir-pal is “ Asshur protects (my) son,” izir (for inzir) being derived from a root corresponding to the Hebrew 789, “ to protect,” and pal being (as already ex- plained") the Assyrian equivalent for the Hebrew ? and the Syriac bar, “a son.” The meaning of Sin-akhi-irib (Sennacherib) is “Sin (the Moon) has multiplied brethren,” irib being from raba (Heb. 1737), “ to angment, multiply.” Asshur-akh-iddina is “ Asshur- has given a brother," from roots already explained ; and Asshur- bani-pal is “ Asshur has formed a son," from Asshur, bani, and pal; bani being the participle of bana, “ to furm, make” (comp. Heb. 1732). Other tri-elemental names are Asshur-ris-ilim, Bel-kudur-uzur, Asshur-bil-kala, Nin-pala-zira, and Bel-sumili-kapi. Asshur-is-ilim either signifies “ Asshur (is) the head of the gods," from Asshur, ris, which is equivalent to Heb. was, “head,” and ilim, the plural of il or e, “god;" or perhaps it may mean “ Assbur (is) high- headed," from Asshur, ris, and elam, "high,” ris-elim being equiva- lent to the sir-buland of the modern Persians. Bel-kudur-uzur means “ Bel protects my seed,” or “ Bel protects the youth,” as will be explained in the next volume under Nebuchadnezzar. Asshur- bil-kala means probably “ Asshur (is) lord altogether," from Asshur, bil, “a lord” (Heb. Sya), and kala, “wholly;" a form connected with the Hebrew ba or 52, all.” Nin-pala-zira is of course “ Nin (Hercules) is the son of Zira," as already explained under Tiglath- pileser.? Bel-sumili-kapi is conjectured to be “ Bel of the left hand,” 3 or “ Bel (is) left-handed,” from Bel, sumilu, an equivalent of Spain, “the left," and kapu (= 72), “ a hand.” , Only two Assyrian royal names appear to be compounded of four elements. These are the first and last of our list, Asshur-bil-nisi-su, and the king commonly called Asshur-emid- ilin, whose complete name was (it is thought) Asshur-emid-ili- kin, or possibly Asshur-kinat-ili-kain. The last king's name is thought to mean “ Asshur is the establisher of the power 11 See vol. i. p. 272. In Semitic Baby- 1 to be connected with by and abyra. lonian pal becomes bal, as in Merodach- ; 2 Supra, p. 246. bol-adan, “ Merodach has given a son;" ! 3 Sir H. Rawlinson, in Athenæum, No. whence the transition to the Syriac bar | 1869, p. 243, note 2. (as in Bar-Jesus, Bar-Jonas, &c.) was! In the list of Eponyms, six names easy. out of nearly 250 are composed of four i Sir H. Rawlinson, in Athenæum, No. elements. 1869, p. 244, note ? Elam, “high,” is! 248 APPENDIX A. THE SECOND MONARCHY. of the gods”—the second element, which is sometimes written as emid (comp. 7oy), sometimes as nirik, being translated in a vocabulary by kinat,“ power," while the last element (which is omitted on the monarch's bricks) is of course from kin (the equivalent of j1D), which has been explained under Sargon. The name of the other monarch presents no difficulty. Asshur-bil-nisi-su means “ Asshur (is) the lord of his people,” from bil or bilu, “ lord,” nis, “a man” (comp. Heb. Die), and su,“ his” ( = Heb. :). To these names of monarchs may be added one or two names of princes, which are mentioned in the records of the Assyrians, or elsewhere; as Asshur-danin-pal, the eldest son of the great Shalmaneser, and Adrammelech and Sharezer, sons of Sennacherib. Asshur-danin-pal seems to be “ Asshur strengthens a son," from Asshur, pal, and danin, which has the force of “strengthening” in Assyrian. Adrammelech has been explained as decus regis," the king's glory ;" but it would be more consonant with the proposi- tional character of the names generally to translate it “the king (is) glorious,” from adir (978 or 797x), “great, glorious," and melek (7??), “ a king." Or Adrammelech may be from ediru (comp. 779), a common Assyrian word meaning "the arranger” and melek, and may signily “ the king arranges,” or “the king is the arranger." ; Sharezer, if that be the true reading, would seem to be “ the king protects,” from sar or sarru, “a king” (as in Sargon), and a form, izir, from nazar or natsar, " to guard, protect.” The Armenian equivalent, however, for this name, San-asar, may be the proper form; and this would apparently be “ The Moon (Sin) protects.” Nothing is more remarkable in this entire catalogue of names than their predominantly religious character. Of the thirty-nine kings and princes which the Assyrian lists furnish, the names of no fewer than thirty-one contain, as one element, either the name or the designation of a god. Of the remaining eight, five have doubtful names, so that there remain three only whose names are known to be purely of a secular character. Thirteen names, one of ---- 5 Danin is Benoni of a root 107 con- | Herodotus, vol. i. p. 502, 2nd ed. stantly used in Assyrian in the sense of 8 See above, p. 247. ** being strong” or “strengthening." 1 These five kings bear only two Sarru dannu, "the powerful king,” is names, Pud-il and Shalma neser, the the standard expression in all the royal latter of which occurs four times in our inscriptions. The root has not, I believe, list. Various explanations have been any representative in other Semitic given of the name Shalmaneser (sec languages. Athenæum, No. 1869, p. 244, note 5. 6 Oppert, Expedition scientifique en Oppert, Erpedition scientifique, vol. ii. Mésopotamie, vol. ii. p. 355. I p. 353); but none is satisfactory. i Sir H. Rawlinson, in the author's į 2 Sargon, Adrammelech, and Sharezer. APPENDIX A. MEANINGS OF ROYAL NAMES. 249 which was borne by two kings, contain the element Asshur; three, two of which occur twice, contain the element Nin;' two, one of which was in such favour as to occur four times,* contain the element Vul; three contain the element Bel; one the element Nebo ; and one the element Sin.: The names occasionally express mere facts of the mythology, as Nin-pala-zira, “ Nin (is) the son of Zira," Bel-sumili-kapi, “ Bel (is) left-handed,” and the like. More often the fact enunciated is one in which the glorification of the deity is invı lved; as, Asshur-bil-nisi-su, “ Asshur (is) the lord of his people ;” Buzur-Asshur, “a stronghold (is) Asshur;" Asshur- bil-kala, “ Asshur (is) lord altogether.” Frequently the name seems to imply some special thankfulness to a particular god for the par- ticular child in question, who is viewed as having been his gift, in answer to a vow or to prayer. Of this kind are Asshur-akh-iddina (Esar-haddon), Sin-akhi-irib (Sennacherib), Asshur-bani-pal, &c.; where the god named seems to be thanked for the child whom he has caused to be born. Such names as Tiglathi-Nin, Tiglath- Pileser, express this feeling eren more strongly, being actual ascrip- tions of praise by the grateful parent to the deity whom he regards as his benefactor. In a few of the names, as Mutaggil-Nebo and Shamas-Iva, the religious sentiment takes a different turn. Instead of the parent merely expressing his own feelings of gratitude towards this or that god, he dedicates in a way his son to him, assigning to him an appellation which he is to verify in his after- life by a special devotion to the deity of whom in his very name he profeuses himself the “servant" or the “worshipper.” Even here some doubt attaches to one third are also of uncertain meaning. name. If we read Sanasar for Sharezer, 5 Sir H. Rawlinson has collected a list the name will be a religious one. of nearly a thousand Assyrian names. 3 l.e. they either contain the name About two-thirds of them have the Nin, or the common designation of the name of a god for their dominant ele- god, Pal-Zira. inent. Asshur and Nebo hold the fore- This is the name which has been most place, and are of about equal fre- given as Vul-lush, a name composed of quency. The other divine names occur three elements, each one of which is of' much less often than these, and no one uncertain sound, while the second and of them has any particular prominence. 250 APPENDIX B. THE SECOND MONARCHY. B. TABULAR VIEW OF THE NAMES ASSIGNED TO THE ASSYRIAN KINGS AT DIFFERENT TIMES AND BY DIFFERENT WRITERS. Sir H. Rawlinsou in 1860. G. Smith in 1870. Dr. Hincks. M. Oppert in 1869.1 Bel-lush Pud-il Vul.lush 1.2 Sbalma-Bar 3 Divanu-rish Bel.kat-irassu. Asur.bel-pisi-su. Busur-Asur. Asus-liballat. Bel-likh-kbis. l'udi-el. Bin-likh-khis I. Sulman-asir II. Tuklat-Ninip I. Bin-likh-kbis 11. Ninip-habal-asar. Asur-dayan. Mutakkil-Nabu. Asur-ris-isi. Tuklat-habal-asar I. Asur-iddanne-babal. Ninip-pal-isri Assur-dayan Nin-pala-kura * Assliur-daba-il Mutaggil-Nebo A suur-ris-ilim Tiglath-Pileser I. Assuur bani-pal I. Tiklat-pal-isri I.' Bel-sumili-kapi () Arshur bilu-nisi-su Buzur. Asshur A:shur-upallit Bilu-nirari (0) Pudi-el Vul-nirari I. (?) Sallim-manu uzur I, Tukulti mipl. Vul-nirari 11. (3) Nin-pala-zara Asshur-dayan I. Mutaggil-Sabu A shur-ris-clim Tukulti-pal-zara l. Asshur-bil-kala Sanısi-Vull. Asshur-rabu-amar Ashur muzur Asshur-iddin-akbi Asshur-dayan II. Vul Dirari III. (?) Tukulti-Ninip II. A:shur-nazir.pal 5 Sullim-manu-uzur 11. Samsi. Vul II. Vul-nirari IV () Sallim-manu-uzur III. Asshur-davan III. Asshur-nirari (0) Tukulti-pal-zura II. Sallim-manu-uzur IV. Sar-gina 8 Sennacherib? Esar-haddon 9 Asshur-beni-pal Asshur-emit-ilin Asshur-adan-akhi Assbur-dan-il Vul-lush II. Tiglathi-Ninip Ashur-idanni-pal Shalmanu-sar 1. Shamash-Vul Vul-lisb III. Shimish-Bar Asshur.yuzhur-bal 6 Divanu-Bara Sbamsi-Yar Asur-iddin.akhe, Asur-evil-el I. Bin-likh-ktis III. Tuklai-Ninip II Asur-nazir-babatl. Saman-zsir III. Samas-Bin. Bin-likh-khis IV. Salman-asir IV. Asur-dil-4.1 II. Asur-likl-kbis. Tuklat-halulusar II. Salman-asir V. Saryu-kin. Sin-akhe-irib. Asur-akbiddin. Asur-buni-bolsil. | Asur-edil-el III. Tikla Tiglath-Pileser 11.7 Shilinan-sar II. Sargin: Sennacherib Esar-baddon Assbur-bani-pal A-sur-emii ili Sar-gina Tsin-akhi.irib Asshur-akh-idin Asshur-id inna-bal 1 In this list I have taken the forms of the names either from M. Oppert's own ariicle in the Revue archéologique for 1869, or from the Manuel d'Histoire ancienne de l'Orient of his disciple, M. François Lenormant (5th ed, 1869). ? This name is composed of three elements, all of which are doubtful. The first is the god of the atmosphere, who has been called Ful, Iva, Yav, Yam, Yem, Ao, Bin, and l er Hu, The second element bas ben read us likh, zalu, aud erim; the third as gab, khus, and pathir. Both of them are most uncertain. 3 Or Shalma-ris. This name was originally thought to be different from that of the Black-Obelisk king, but is now regarded as a mere variant, and as equivalent to the Scriptural Shalmaneser. The name of the Assyrian Hercules, who has been called Bar, Vin or Ninip, and Ussur, and who possibly bore all these appellations, Sir H. Rawlinson originally called this king Temenbar. (Commentary p. 22.) • Or Nin-pala-zira. (Rawlinson's Herodotus, 1st edition.) 5 The middle element of this fame was thought to represent the root " to give," and to have the power of idilin or idanni; but a variant reading in the recently discovered Canon employs the phonetic complement of ir, thus shewing that the root must be the one ordin trily represented by the character, namely " to protect," wbich will form nazir in the Benoni, and izir (for inzi) in the third person of the aorist. 6 Originally Dr. Ilincks called this monarch Asshur-akh-bal. (Layard's Nin, and Bab. r. 615.) Mr. Fox Talbot still preters this reading. (atronulum, No. 1839, p. 120.) ; This, of course, is following the Hebrew literation. The Assyrian is read as Tukulti-pal-zara. 8 Or, more fully, Suru-gina. 9 The Assyrian names of Sennacherib and Esar-baddun, according to Mr. G. Smith, were Sin-akui. irla and Asshur-akh-iddina. THE THIRD MONARCHY. MEDIA. CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. Χώρην ναιετάοντες απείριτον, οι μεν επ' αυτάς Πέτρας αι φύουσιν άφεγγέα ναρκισσίτην, oi d'écàs èv daoingi vevao uévoi ciapevñol, Πώεα καλά νέμοντες άδην βεβριθότα μαλλοίς. Dionys. Perieg. 1030-1033. Along the eastern flank of the great Mesopotamian lowland, curving round it on the north, and stretching beyond it to the south and the south-east, lies a vast elevated region, or high- land, no portion of which appears to be less than 3000 feet above the sea-level.' This region may be divided, broadly, into two tracts, one consisting of lofty mountainous ridges, which form its outskirts on the north and on the west; the other, in the main a high flat table-land, extending from the foot of the mountain-chains, southwards to the Indian Ocean, and eastward to the country of the Affyhans. The western mountain-country consists, as has been already observed, of six or seven parallel ridges, having a direction nearly from the north-west to the south-east, inclosing between them valleys of great fertility and well-watered by a large number of plentiful and refreshing streams. This district was known to the ancients as Zagros, See the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p., 3 Polyb. v. 44, $ 6; 54, $ 7; 55, $ 6; 440, 2nd edition. Compare Chesney, Strab. xi. p. 759; Plin. II. N. vi. 27; xii. Euphrates Espeditin, vol. i. p. 65; | 12; Ptol. vi. 2; Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6, Geographical Journal, vol. iii. p. 112: p. 404; &c. The name Zagros more Fraser, khoras in, p. 162, note. especially attached to the central portion 2 See vol. i. p. 206. of the chain from the mountain district 252 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. while in modern geography it bears the names of Kurdistan and Luristan. It has always been inhabited by a multitude of war- like tribes," and has rarely formed for any long period a portion of any settled monarchy. Full of torrents, of deep ravines, of rocky summits, abrupt and almost inaccessible; containing but few passes, and those narrow and easily defensible; secure, moreover, owing to the rigour of its climate, from hostile inra- sion during more than half the year; it has defied all attempts to effect its permanent subjugation, whether made by Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Parthians, or Turks, and remains to this day as independent of the great powers in its neighbourhood as it was when the Assyrian armies first penetrated its recesses. Nature seems to have constructed it to be a nursery of hardy and vigorous men, a stumbling-block to conquerors, a thorn in the side of every powerful empire which arises in this part of the great Eastern continent. The northern mountain country—known to modern geogra- phers as Elburz—is a tract of far less importance. It is not composed, like Zagros, of a number of parallel chains, but con- sists of a single lofty ridge, furrowed by ravines and valleys, from which spurs are thrown out, running in general at right angles to its axis. Its width is comparatively slight; and, instead of giving birth to numerous large rivers, it forms only a small number of insignificant streams, often dry in summer, which have short courses, being soon absorbed either by the Caspian or the Desert. Its most striking feature is the snowy peak of Demavend, which impends over Teheran, and appears south of Lake Van to the latitude of ! 5 Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 357; Isfahan. A good general description of Fraser, khorasan, p. 244. the range is given by Q. Curtius:-- 6 Ker Porter well describes the majes- “ Namque Persis ab altero latere per tic appearance of Dema vend from the petuis montium jugis clauditur, quod in neighbourhood of Teheran, the present longitudinem MDC stadia, in latitudinem capital of Persia : “The mountain of clxx procurrit. Hoc dorsum a Caucaso Demavend bears N. 65° E. of Teheran, monte ad Rubrum mare pertinet ; qua about forty miles distant; and is seen, que deficit mons, aliud munimentum, raising its lofty and pale summit to the fretum objectum est." (Vit. Alex, Mag. ! north-east of the town; forming a mag- v. 4.) Diodorus Siculus well describes nificent pyramid that shoots up from the the delightful character of the region high range of Elburz, which bounds the 'xix. 21). wide plain in that direction." (Travels, . + Xen. Anab. iii. 5; Strab. xi. 13, $ 3; 1. s. c.) Recent ascents of Demavend Arr. E p. Al. iii. 17. have proved it to have an elevation of CHAP. I. GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF MEDIA, 253, to be the highest summit in the part of Asia west of the Himalayas. The elevated plateau which stretches from the foot of these two mountain regions to the south and east is, for the most part, a flat sandy desert, incapable of sustaininy more than a sparse and scanty population. The northern and western portions are, however, less arid than the east and south, being watered to some distance by the streams that descend from Zagros and Elburz, and deriving fertility also from the spring rains. Some of the rivers which flow from Zagros on this side are large and strong. One, the Kizil-Uzen, reaches the Caspian. Another, the Zenderud, fertilises a large district near Isfahan. A third, the Bendamir, flows by Persepolis and terminates in a sheet of water of some size-Lake Bakhtigan. A tract thus intervenes between the mountain regions and the desert which, though it cannot be called fertile, is fairly productive, and can support a large settled population. This forms the chief portion of the region which the ancients called Media, as being the country inhabited by the race on whose history we are about to enter. Media, however, included, besides this, another tract of con- siderable size and importance. At the north-western angle of the region above described, in the corner whence the two great chains branch out to the south and to the east, is a tract com- posed almost entirely of mountains, which the Greeks called Atropatêné,' and which is now known as Azerbijan. This dis- trict lies further to the north than the rest of Media, being in the same parallels with the lower part of the Caspian Sea. It comprises the entire basin of Lake Urumiyeh, together with the country intervening between that basin and the high mountain chain which curves round the south-western corner of the Cas- pian. It is a region generally somewhat sterile, but containing a certain quantity of very fertile territory, more particularly in the Urumiyeh basin, and towards the mouth of the river Araxes. more than 20,000 feet. (See the author's i pates, the governor of the region at the Herodotus, vol. i. p. 442, note!) Ararat ! time of the battle of Arbela, who made is only 17,000 feet; and the highest peak terms with Alexander, and was allowed in the Caucasus does not exceed 18,000 to keep the province, where he shortly feet. made himself independent. (Strab. xi. 1 This name was derived from Atro- | 13, § 1; Diod. Sic. xviii. 3.) .254 Chap. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. The boundaries of Media are given somewhat differently by different writers, and no doubt they actually varied at dif- ferent periods; but the variations were not great, and the natural limits, on three sides at any rate, may be laid down with tolerable precision. Towards the north the boundary was at first the mountain chain closing in on that side the Urumiyeh basin, after which it seems to have been held that the true limit was the Araxes, to its entrance on the low country, and then the mountain chain west and south of the Caspian. Westward, the line of demarcation may be best regarded as, towards the south, running along the centre of the Zagros region; and, above this, as formed by that continuation of the Zagros chain, which separates the Urumiyeh from the Van basin. Eastwarı, the boundary was marked by the spur from the Elburz, across which lay the pass known as the Pylæ Caspiæ, and below this by the great salt desert, whose western liinit is nearly in the same longitude. Towards the south there was no marked line or natural boundary; and it is difficult to say with any exactness how much of the great plateau belonged to Media and how much to Persia. Having regard, however, to the situation of Hamadan, which, as the capital, should have been tolerably central, and to the general account which historians and geographers give of the size of Media, we may place the southern limit with much probability about the line of the thirty-second parallel, which is nearly the present boundary between Irak and Fars. The shape of Media has been called a square ;' but it is 2 Strabo makes Media to be bounded 363). According to the most extensive on the north by Matiane and the moun. ! view, Media begins at the Araxes, in- tain region of the Cadusians (Elburz); i cludes the whole low region between the on the east by Parthia and the Cos- | mountains and the Caspian as far as sæans ; on the south by Sittacené, Hyrcania, extends southwards to a little Zagros, and Elymais ; on the west by below Isfahan, and westward includes Matiané and Armenia (xi. 13). Pliny, the greater part of Zagros. More mo- says that it has on the east the Parthians 'derate dimensions are assumed in the and Caspians; on the south Sittacené, ! text. Susiana, and Persis; on the west Adia 3 The salt desert projects somewhat bené; and on the north Armenia (H. N. I further to the west, a portion being vi. 26). The Armenian Geography crossed on the route from Teheran to makes the northern boundary Armenia Isfahan. (See Fraser's Khorasan, p. 1+2 ; and the Caspian, the eastern Aria or Ouseley, Travels, vol. iii. p. 109; Ker Khorasan, the southern Persia, and the Porter, Tracels, vol. i. p. 372.) western Armenia and Assyria (pp. 357- Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6. “Medi- CHAP. I. GENERAL STERILITY OF THE TERRITORY. 255 rather a long parallelogram, whose two principal sides face respectively the north-east and the south-west, while the ends or shorter sides front to the south-east and to the north-west. Its length in its greater direction is about 600 miles, and its width about 250 miles. It must thus contain nearly 150,000 square miles, an area considerably larger than that of Assyria and Chaldæa put together, and quite sufficient to constitute a state of the first class, even according to the ideas of modern Europe. It is nearly one-fifth more than the area of the British Islands, and half as much again as that of Prussia, or of penin- sular Italy. It equals three-fourths of France, or three-fifths of Germany. It has, moreover, the great advantage of compact- ness, forming a single solid mass, with no straggling or outlying portions; and it is strongly defended on almost every side by natural barriers offering great difficulties to an invader. In comparison with the countries which formed the seats of the two monarchies already described, the general character of the Median territory is undoubtedly one of sterility. The high table-land is everywhere intersected by rocky ranges, spurs from Zagros, which have a general direction from west to east, and separate the country into a number of parallel broad valleys, or long plains, opening out into the desert. The appearance of these ranges is almost everywhere bare, arid, and forbidding. Above, they present to the eye huge masses of grey rock piled one upon another; below, a slope of detritus, destitute of trees or shrubs, and only occasionally nourishing a dry and scanty herbaye. The appearance of the plains is little superior; they are flat and without undulations, composed in general of gravel or hard clay, and rarely enlivened by any show of water; except for two months in the spring, they exhibit to the eye a uniform brown expanse, almost treeless, which impresses the pugnatrix natio, regiones inhabitans ad speciem quadratæ figuræ formatas." Comp. Strab. xi. 13, $ 8. 3 See vol. i. pp. 5 and 182. 6 Compare Polybius, x. 27, $ 1:- Εστί τοίνυν ή Mηδία κατά το μέγεθος tñs xúpas à Ecoxpewtán TW v Kutà The 'Agiay duvaotelov. So Strabo: ' H ollis uen oův úvnań &OTI Kai yuxpá (xi. 13, $ 7). Compare Kinneir, Persian Empire, pp. 108, 144, 149, with Fraser, Khorusun, pp. 162- 165. 8 This is more especially the case in Irak, the most southern portion of the country. (Kinneir, p. 108.) 256 Chap. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. traveller with a feeling of sadness and weariness. Even in Azerbijan, which is one of the least arid portions of the territory, vast tracts consist of open undulating downs, desolate and sterile, bearing only a coarse withered grass and a few stunted bushes. Still there are considerable exceptions to this general aspect of desolation. In the worst parts of the region, there is a time after the spring rains when nature puts on a holiday dress, and the country becomes gay and cheerful. The slopes at the base of the rocky ranges are tinged with an emerald green ;'° a richer vegetation springs up over the plains," which are covered with a fine herbage or with a variety of crops; the fruit trees which surround the villages burst out into the most luxuriant blossom; the roses come into bloom, and their perfume everywhere fills the air. 2 For the two months of April and May the whole face of the country is changed, and a lovely verdure replaces the ordinary dull sterility. In a certain number of more favoured spots, beauty and fertility are found during nearly the whole of the year. All round the shores of Lake Urumiyeh,' more especially in the rich plain of Miyandab at its southern extremity, along the valleys of the Aras," the Kizil-Uzen, and the Jaghetu,' in the great ballook of Linjan,' fertilised by irrigation from the Zenderud, in the Zagros valleys, and in various other places, there is an excellent soil which produces abundantly with very slight cultivation. The general sterility of Media arises from the scantiness of the water supply. It has but few rivers, and the streams that it possesses run for the most part in deep and narrow valleys o Sir 11. Rawlinson in Geograph. Journ. 1 ? Ker Porter, Travels, vol. i. p. 217: vol. x. pp. 43, 44, 55, &c. Even here a | Kinneir, p. 153; Morier, pp. 234-236. tree is a rarity. (Morier, Second Journey, ! The plain of Moghan on the lower Aras p. 237.) is famous for its rich soil and luxuriant 10 Fraser, p. 163. pastures. The Persians say that the 11 Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 283, 367, grass is sufficiently high to hide an &c. army from view when encam ped. (Kin- 12 Ibid. pp. 228, 231, &c.; Geograp'. neir, I. s. c.) Journ. vol. x. p. 29. 3 Journal of Geograph. Society, vol. x. Journul of Geographical Society, vol. p. 59; Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 267. x. pp. 2, 5, 10, 13, 39, &c.; Kinneir, Geograph. Journ, vol. x. pp. 11, 40, Persian Empire, pp. 153-156; Morier, &c. 5 Kinneir, p. 110. Second Journey, p. 284; Ker Porter, vol. • Rich, Kurdistan, pp. 60, 130-134, ii. pp. 592-607. &c. CHAP. I. RIVERS OF MEDIA—THE ARAS. 257 sunk below the general level of the country, so that they cannot be applied at all widely to purposes of irrigation. Moreover, some of them are, unfortunately, impregnated with salt to such an extent, that they are altogether useless for this purpose ;7 and indeed, instead of fertilising, spread around them desolation and barrenness. The only Median streams which are of sufficient importance to require description are the Aras, the Kizil-Uzen, the Jaghetu, the Aji-Su, and the Zenderud, or river of Isfahan. The Aras is only very partially a Median stream. It rises from several sources in the mountain tract between Kars and Erzeroum,' and runs with a generally eastern direction through Armenia to the longitude of Mount Ararat, where it crosses the fortieth parallel and begins to trend southward, flowing along the eastern side of Ararat in a south-easterly direction, nearly to the Julfa ferry on the high-road from Erivan to Tabriz. From this point it runs only a little south of east to long. 46° 30' E. from Greenwich, when it makes almost a right angle and runs directly north-east to its junction with the Kur at Djavat. Soon after this it curves to the south and enters the Caspian by several mouths in lat. 39° 10' nearly. The Aras is a considerable stream almost from its source. At Hassan-Kaleh, less than twenty miles from Erzeroum, where the river is forded in several branches, the water reaches to the saddle girths.10 At Keupri-Kieui, not much lower, the stream is crossed by a bridge of seven arches. At the Julfa ferry it is fifty yards wide, and runs with a strong current. At Megree, thirty miles further down, its width is eighty yards.13 In spring and early summer the stream receives enormous accessions from the spring rains and the melting of the snows, which produce floods that often cause great damage to the lands and villages along the valley. Hence the difficulty of maintaining bridges over the Aras, which was noted as early ? Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 220, 370, | Median; and the upper course of the &c.; Morier, Second Journey, pp. 167, river was entirely in Armenia. 233; Geograph. Journ. vol. xxxi. p. 38. 9 See Hamilton's Asia Minor, vol. i. p. & According to Strabo (xi. 13, $ 3), 183. the lower Araxes was the boundary be. 10 Ibid. 1. s. c. 11 Ibid. p. 185. tween Armenia and Media Atropatêné. 12 Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 215. Thus even here one bank only was ' 3 Kinneir, p. 321. VOL. II. 258 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. as the time of Augustus,"4 and is attested by the ruins of many such structures remaining along its course. Still, there are at the present day at least three bridges over the stream, one, which has been already mentioned, at Keupri-Kieui, another a little above Nakshivan, and the third at Khudoperinski, a little below Megree.16 The length of the Aras, including only main windings, is 500 miles.7 The Kizil-Uzen, or (as it is called in the lower part of its course) the Sefid-Rud, is a stream of less size than the Aras, but more important to Media, within which lies almost the whole of its basin. It drains a tract of 180 miles long by 150 broad before bursting through the Elburz mountain chain, and descending upon the low country which skirts the Caspian. Rising in Persian Kurdistan almost from the foot of Zagros, it runs in a meandering course with a general direction of north- east through that province into the district of Khamseh, where it suddenly sweeps round and flows in a bold curve at the foot of lofty and precipitous rocks,18 first north-west and then north nearly to Miana, when it doubles back upon itself and turning the flank of the Zenjan range runs with a course nearly south- east to Menjil, after which it resumes its original direction of north-east, and rushing down the pass of Rudbar?9 crosses Ghilan to the Caspian. Though its source is in direct distance no more than 220 miles from its mouth, its entire length, owing to its numerous curves and meanders, is estimated at 490 miles.20 It is a considerable stream, forded with difficulty, even in the dry season, as high up as Karagul,21 and crossed by a bridge of three wide arches before its junction with the Garongu river near Miana.22 In spring and early summer it is an impetuous torrent, and can only be forded within a short distance of its source. 14 Virgil, Æn. viii. 728. “Pontem indignatus Araxes.” 15 Ker Porter, vol. ii. pp. 610, 641, 16 Kinneir, I. s. c. 17 Colonel Chesney estimates the whole cours of the Araxes, including all its windings, at 830 miles. (Euphrates Ex- pedition, vol. i. p. 12.) 18 Sir H. Rawlinson estimated the height of these rocks above the stream | at 1500 feet. (Geograph. Juurn. vol. x. p. 59.) 19 Ibid. p. 64; Kinneir, p. 124. 20 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. p. 191. 21 Geograph, Jo'rn. vol. x. p. 59. 22 Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 267; Morier, First Journey, p. 267. Chap. I. THE JAGHETU, AJI-SU, AND ZENDERUD. 259 The Jaghetu and the Aji-Su are the two chief rivers of the Urumiyeh basin. The Jaghetu rises from the foot of the Zagros chain, at a very little distance from the source of the Kizil-Uzen. It collects the streams from the range of bills which divides the Kizil-Uzen basin from that of Lake Urumiyeh, and flows in a tolerably straight course first north and then north-west to the south-eastern shore of the lake. Side by side with it for some distance flows the smaller stream of the Tatau, formed by torrents from Zagros; and between them, towards their mouths, is the rich plain of Miyandab, easily irrigated from the two streams, the level of whose beds is above that of the plain,23 and abundantly productive even under the present system of cultivation. The Aji-Su reaches the lake from the north-east. It rises from Mount Sevilan, within sixty miles of the Caspian, and flows with a course which is at first nearly due south, then north-west, and finally south- west, past the city of Tabriz, to the eastern shore of the lake, which it enters in lat. 37° 50'. The waters of the Aji-Su are, unfortunately, salt,24 and it is therefore valueless for purposes of irrigation. The Zenderud or river of Isfahan rises from the eastern flank of the Kuh-i-Zerd (Yellow Mountain), a portion of the Bakhti- vari chain, and receiving a number of tributaries from the same mountain district, flows with a course which is generally east or somewhat north of east, past the great city of Isfahan-so long the capital of Persia-into the desert country beyond, where it is absorbed in irrigation. Its entire course is perhaps not more than 120 or 130 miles; but running chiefly through a plain region, and being naturally a stream of large size, it is among the most valuable of the Median rivers, its waters being capable of spreading fertility, by means of a proper arrangement of canals, over a vast extent of country, and giving to this part of 23 Geograph. Journ. vol. x. p. 11. | cut from the Zenderud, which render it 24 Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 220; Morier, one of the most productive parts of Se ond Journey, p. 233. Persia (p. 110). Ker Porter speaks of ? Kinneir, p. 109. the “great quantities of water which 2 According to Kinneir the whole are drawn off from the Zenderud for the ballook of Linjan, a district seventy miles | daily use of the rice-fields all around long and forty wide, is irrigated by canals Isfahan” (vol. i. p. 420). S 2 260 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. Iran a sylvan character, scarcely found elsewhere on the plateau. It will be observed that of these streams there is not one which reaches the ocean. All the rivers of the great Iranic plateau terminate in lakes or inland seas, or else lose them- selves in the desert. In general the thirsty sand absorbs, within a short distance of their source, the various brooks and streams which flow south and east into the desert from the northern and western mountain chains, without allowing them to collect into rivers or to carry fertility far into the plain region. The river of Isfahan forms the only exception to this rule within the limits of the ancient Media. All its other important streams, as has been seen, flow either into the Caspian or into the great lake of Urumiyeh. That lake itself now requires our attention. It is an oblong basin, stretching in its greater direction from N.N.W. to S.S.E., a distance of above eighty miles, with an average width of about twenty-five miles. On its eastern side a remarkable peninsula, projecting far into its waters, divides it into two portions of very unequal size-a northern and a southern. The southern one, which is the larger of the two, is diversified towards its centre by a group of islands, some of which are of a considerable size. The lake, like others in this part of Asia,is several thousand feet above the sea level. Its waters are heavily impregnated with salt, resembling those of the Dead Sea. No fish can live in them. When a storm sweeps over their surface it only raises the waves a few feet; and no sooner is it passed than they rapidly subside again into a deep, heavy, death-like sleep. The lake is shallow, nowhere exceeding four fathoms, and averaging about two fathoms-a depth which, however, is rarely attained within two miles of the land. The water is pellucid. To the eye it has the deep blue colour of 3 Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 411 and 431 ; | the sea level ; Lake Van 5400 feet. Lake vol. ii. p. 60. Sivan is less elevated than either of • Kinneir goes considerably beyond these ; but still its height above the sea the truth when he estimates the circum is considerable. ference at 300 miles. (Persian Empire, 6 See Geographical Journal, vol. x. p. 7. p. 155.) Compare vol. iii. p. 56; and see also 5 Lake Urumiyeh is 4200 feet above | Kinneir, 1. s.c. Chap. I. CHIEF DISTRICTS OF MEDIA. 261 some of the northern Italian lakes, whence it was called by the Armenians the Kapotan Zow or “ Blue Sea.” According to the Armenian Geography, Media contained eleven districts; 8 Ptolemy makes the number eight;' but the classical geographers in general are contented with the two-fold division already indicated,' and recognise as the constituent parts of Media only Atropatêné (now Azerbijan) and Media Magna, a tract which nearly corresponds with the two provinces of Irak Ajemi and Ardelan. Of the minor subdivisions there are but two or three which seem to deserve any special notice. One of these is Rhagiana, or the tract skirting the Elburz Mountains from the vicinity of the Kizil-Uzen (or Sefid-Rud) to the Caspian Gates, a long and narrow slip, fairly productive, but excessively hot in summer, which took its name from the important city of Rhages. Another is Nisæa, a name which the Medes seem to have carried with them from their early eastern abodes," and to have applied to some high upland plains west of the main chain of Zagros, which were peculiarly favourable to the breeding of horses. As Alexander visited these pastures on his way from Susa to Ecbatana,l2 they must necessarily have lain to the south of the latter city. Most probably they are to be identified with the modern plains of Khawah and Alishtar, between Behistun and Khorramabad, which are even now considered to afford the best summer pasturage in Persia.13 It is uncertain whether any of these divisions were known in Armen. Geogr. p. 364. It has been thrêné, Elymais, Sigriana, Rhagiana, Da- ingeniously conjectured that Strabo’s ritis, and Syro-Media (Geograph. vi. 2). Inauta (xi. 13, $ 2) is a corruption of 10 See above, p. 253. Karauta, due to some ancient copyist. 11 The proper Nisæa is the district (See St. Martin's Recherches sur l’ Ar of Nishapur in Khorasan (Strabo, xi. 7, ménie, tom. i. p. 59 ; and compare $ 2; Isid. Char. p. 7), whence it is pro- Ingigi, Archæolog. Armen, vol, i. p. 160, bable that the famous breed of horses and Geograph. Journ. vol. x. p. 9.) was originally brought. The Turkoman * These were Atropatia (or Atropa horses of the Atak are famous through- téné), Rhea (Rhagiana), Gilania (Ghi- | out Persia. (See the Geograph, Journ. lan), Mucania, Dilumia, Amatania vol, ix, p. 101.) (Hamadan), Dambuaria, Sparastania, 12 Arrian, Exp. Aler, vii. 13. Compare Amlia, Chesosia, and Rhovania (pp. Diod. Sic. xvii. 110, $ 6. 363, 364). 13 Geographical Journal, vol. ix. pp. Ptolemy's districts are Margiana, 100, 101. Compare Ker Porter, vol. ii. Tropatêné (i. e. Atropatêne), Choromi- p. 84. 262 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. the time of the great Median Empire. They are not consti- tuted in any case by marked natural lines or features. On the whole it is perhaps most probable that the main division—that into Media Magna and Media Atropatêué—was ancient, Atro- patêné being the old home of the Medes, 14 and Media Magna a later conquest; but the early political geography of the country is too obscure to justify us in laying down even this as certain. The minor political divisions are still less distinguishable in the darkness of those ancient times. From the consideration of the districts which composed the Median territory, we may pass to that of their principal cities, some of which deservedly obtained a very great celebrity. The most important of all were the two Ecbatanas—the northern and the southern—which seem to have stood respectively in the position of metropolis to the northern and the southern pro- vince. Next to these may be named Rhages, which was probably from early times a very considerable place; while in the third rank may be mentioned Bagistan-rather perhaps a palace than a town-Concobar, Adrapan, Aspadan, Charax, Kudrus, Hyspaostes, Urakagabarna, &c. The southern Ecbatana or Agbatana—which the Medes and Persians themselves knew as Hagmatán was situated, as we learn from Polybius” and Diodorus, on a plain at the foot of Mount Orontes, a little to the east of the Zagros range. The notices of these authors, combined with those of Eratosthenes, Isidore," Pliny, Arrian, and others, render it as nearly certain as possible, that the site was that of the modern town of 14 I suspect that the Varena of the | v. 26 drops the same letter from Har- Vendidad is Atropatêne, so named from | ran); but otherwise it fairly represents its capital city, which was often called the native word. Of the two Greek Vara or Vera (infra, p. 268, note 17); forms, Agbatana, which is the more and I believe that the Bikan of the ancient, is to be preferred. Assyrian inscriptions designates the ? Polyb, x. 27. same district. (See above, p. 192, 3 Diod. Sic, ii. 13, § 6. note5.) * Ap. Strab. ii. p. 79. Hagmatana, or Hagmatan, is the swuns. Parth. p. 6; ed. Hudson, in form used in the Behistun inscription, | his Geographi Mlinores. The “ Apoba- which was set up in Media within a tana ” of this passage is beyond a doubt short distance of the city itself. The Ecbatana. Achmetha (x7008) of Ezra (vi. 2) 6 H. N. vi. 14 and 26. drops the last consonant (just as I Chr. Exp. Alex, iii, 19, 20. CHAP. I. MEDIAN CITIES-ECBATANA. 263 Hamadan, the name of which is clearly but a slight corruption of the true ancient appellation. Mount Orontes is to be recognised in the modern Elwend or Erwend—a word etymo- logically identical with Oront-es—which is a long and lofty mountain standing out like a buttress from the Zagros range, with which it is connected towards the north-west, while on every other side it stands isolated, sweeping boldly down upon the flat country at its base. Copious streams descend from the mountain on every side, more particularly to the north-east, where the plain is covered with a carpet of the most luxuriant verdure, diversified with rills, and ornamented with numerous groves of large and handsome forest trees. It is here, on ground sloping slightly away from the roots of the mountain, so that the modern town, which lies directly at its foot, is built. The ancient city, if we may believe Diodorus, did not approach the mountain within a mile or a mile and a half." At any rate, if it began where Hamadan now stands, it most certainly extended very much further into the plain. We need not suppose indeed that it had the circumference, or even half the circumference, which the Sicilian romancer assigns to it; since his two hundred and fifty stades 12 would give a probable area of fifty square miles, more than double that of London ! Ecbatana is not likely to have been at its most flourishing period a larger city than Nineveh; and we have already seen that Nineveh covered a space, within the walls, of not more than 1800 English acres.13 & Chardin believed Hamadan to oc- | Travels, vol. ii. pp. 99-115, &c.) cupy the site of Susa (Voyayes en Perse, 9 Ker Porter estimates the length of tom. iii, p. 15), and the late Archdeacon Mount Orontes at 30 miles from the Williams argued with much learning point where it leaves the main range and ability that Ecbatana was at or near (Travels, vol. ii. p. 139). Kinneir (Per- Isfahan (Geography of Ancient Asia, pp. sian Empire, p. 126) says that “ Elwend 9-48); but with these exceptions there proper” is “not more than twelve miles" is an almost unanimous consent among long. The height of Orontes is esti- scholars and travellers as to the identity | mated by Ritter at “10,000 feet at the of Hamadan with the great Median least.” (Erdkunde, vol. ix. p. 87.) capital. (See Ritter's Erdkunde, vol. ix. 10 Ker Porter, p. 101. pp. 98-100; and compare Heeren, As. 11 Τών γαρ 'Εκβατάνων ως δώδεκα Nat. vol. i. p. 250, E. T.; Sainte-Croix, σταδίους απεχον εστίν όρος. και καλείται Mém. de l'Académie des Inscriptions, vol. 'Opórtns. (Diod. Sic. ii. 13, $ 7.) 1. pp. 108-141 ; Ouseley, Travels in the 12 Diod. Sic. xvii. 110, $ 7. East, vol. iii. p. 411; Morier, Second 13 See above, vol. i. p. 256. Journey, pp. 264-271 ; Ker Porter, 264 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. The character of the city and of its chief edifices has, unfor- tunately, to be gathered almost entirely from unsatisfactory authorities. Hitherto it has been found possible in these volumes to check and correct the statements of ancient writers, which are almost always exaggerated, by an appeal to the incontrovertible evidence of modern surveys and explorations. But the Median capital has never yet attracted a scientific expedition. The travellers by whom it has been visited have reported so unfavourably of its character as a field of anti- quarian research, that scarcely a spadeful of soil has been dug, either in the city or in its vicinity, with a view to recover traces of the ancient buildings. Scarcely any remains of antiquity are apparent. As the site has never been deserted, and the town has thus been subjected for nearly twenty-two centuries to the destructive ravages of foreign conquerors, and the still more injurious plunderings of native builders, anxious to obtain materials for new edifices at the least possible cost and trouble, the ancient structures have everywhere disappeared from sight, and are not even indicated by mounds of a sufficient size to attract the attention of common observers. Scientific explorers have consequently been deterred from turning their energies in this direction ; more promising sites have offered and still offer themselves; and it is as yet uncertain whether the plan of the old town might not be traced and the position of its chief edifices fixed by the means of careful researches conducted by fully competent persons. In this dearth of modern materials we have to depend entirely upon the classical writers, who are rarely trustworthy in their descriptions or measurements, and who, in this instance, labour under the peculiar disadvantage of being mere reporters of the accounts given by others. . Ecbatana was chiefly celebrated for the inagnificence of its palace, a structure ascribed by Diodorus to Semiramis,14 but most probably constructed originally by Cyaxares, and improved, enlarged, and embellished by the Achæmenian monarchs. According to the judicious and moderate Polybius, who pre- faces his account by a protest against exaggeration and over- 14 Diod. Sic. ii. 13, $ 6. CHAP. I. ECBATANA-ITS PALACE. 265 colouring, the circumference of the building was seven stades, 15 or 1420 yards, somewhat more than four-fifths of an English mile. This size, which a little exceeds that of the palace mound at Susa, while it is in its turn a little exceeded by the palatial platform at Persepolis,16 may well be accepted as probably close to the truth. Judging, however, from the analogy of the above- mentioned palaces, we must conclude that the area thus assigned to the royal residence was far from being entirely covered with buildings. One-half of the space, perhaps more, would be occu- pied by large open courts, paved probably with marble, sur- rounding the various blocks of building and separating them from one another. The buildings themselves may be conjec- tured to have resembled those of the Achæmenian monarchs at Susa and Persepolis, with the exception, apparently, that the pillars, which formed their most striking characteristic, were for the most part of wood rather than of stone. Polybius distin- guishes the pillars into two classes,' those of the main buildings (oi èv tais oſoais), and those which skirted the courts (oi év tois TTEPLOTúlous), from which it would appear that at Ecbatana the courts were surrounded by colonnades, as they were commonly in Greek and Roman houses. These wooden pillars, all either of redar or of cypress, supported beams of a similar material, which crossed each other at right angles, leaving square spaces (pat- võuata) between, which were then filled in with wood-work. Above the whole a roof was placed, sloping at an angle, and composed (as we are told) of silver plates in the shape of tiles. The pillars, beams, and the rest of the wood-work, were likewise coated with thin laminæ of the precious metals, even gold being used for this purpose to a certain extent.5 15 Polyb. x. 27, $ 9. | yards. 16 The circumference of the palace Polyb. x. 27, $ 10. mound at Susa is about 4000 feet, or 2 The Assyrian courts seem, on the 1333 yards. (Loftus, Chaldæaand Susiana, contrary, to have been quite open. plan, opp. p. 340.) That of the Perse 3 Polyb. I. 8. c. Ovons gap tñis guaías politan platform is 4578 feet, or 1526 árréons ke Opívns Kal KumaPittivns, K.T.A. yards. (Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 582.) The i * That the Persians in some cases Assyrian palace mounds are in some used sloping roofs, rather than flat ones, instances still larger. The circuit of the we may gather from the “ Tomb of Nimrud mound is nearly 1900, and that i Cyrus." of the Koyunjik platform exceeds 2000 's Polyb. I. s.c. Tous clovas, Toùs per 266 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. Such seems to have been the character of the true ancient Median palace, which served probably as a model to Darius and Xerxes, when they designed their great palatial edifices at the more southern capitals. In the additions which the palace received under the Achæmenian kings, stone pillars may have been introduced ; and hence probably the broken shafts and bases, so nearly resembling the Persepolitan, one of which Sir R. Ker Porter saw in the immediate neighbourhood of Hamadan on his visit to that place in 1818. But, to judge from the de- scription of Polybius, an older and ruder style of architecture pre- vailed in the main building, which depended for its effect not on the beauty of architectural forms, but on the richness and costliness of the material. A pillar architec- ture, so far as appears, began in this part of Asia with the Medes, who, however, were content to use the more readily obtained and more easily worked material of Stone base of a pillar. (Hamadan.) wood; while the Persians after- wards conceived the idea of substituting for these inartificial props the slender and elegant stone shafts which formed the glory of their grand edifices. At a short distance from the palace was the “ Acra," or cita- άργυραϊς τους δε χρυσαις λεπίσι πε- ριειλήφθαι, τάς δε κεραμίδας αργυράς είναι πάσας. 6 See his Trarels, vol. ii. p. 115. The shaft and base were also seen by Mr. Morier in 1813, and are figured by him in his work entitled a Second Journey through Persia. (See p. 268.) It is from this work that the above illustration is taken. Sir H. Rawlinson, who visited Hama- dan frequently between 1835 and 1839, saw five or six other pillar bases of the same type. * The rare use of pillars by the As- syrians has been noticed in the first volume (vol. i. p. 303, note ®). If, as seems probable, they were more largely employed by the later Babylonians, we may ascribe their introduction to Me- dian influence. (See the chapter on the * Arts and Sciences of the Babylonians."') A pillar architecture naturally began in a country where there was abundant wood. The first pillars were mere rough posts, like those which support the houses of the Kurds and Yezidis. (See Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, p. 252.) These were after a time shaped regu- larly, then carved and ornamented; while finally they were replaced by stone shafts, which may have been first used where wood was scarce, but were soon perceived to be of superior beauty. CHAP. I. ECBATANA-ITS CITADEL. 267 del, an artificial structure, if we may believe Polybius, and a place of very remarkable strength. Here probably was the treasury, from which Darius Codomannus carried off 7000 talents of silver, when he fled towards Bactria for fear of Alexander.' And here, too, may have been the Record Office, in which were deposited the royal decrees and other public documents under the earlier Persian kings.10 Some travellers 11 Baghdit Roud to NRAMADAN Road to Isfahan Orontes Hasseh UTM 3. Old quarries Fatkherah Ola quarries Plan of the country about Hamadan. A. Ancient citadel. B. Figure of lion. C. Remains of buildings. D. Cunelform inscriptions. are of opinion that a portion of the ancient structure still exists; and there is certainly a ruin on the outskirts of the modern town towards the south, which is known to the natives as “the inner fortress,” and which may not improbably occupy some portion of the site whereon the original citadel stood. But the remains of building which now exist are certainly not of an 10 Ezra vi. 2. 1 As Ker Porter (Travels, vol. ii. p. & Polyb. x. 27, § 6. "Akpay év attñ XElporontové xel, Davuaoiws após oxu- ρότητα κατασκευασμένην. 9 Arrian, Exp. Alex, iii. 19. 101). 268 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. earlier date than the era of Parthian supremacy,l2 and they can therefore throw no light on the character of the old Median stronghold. It may be thought perhaps that the description which Herodotus gives of the building called by him “the palace of Deïoces” should be here applied, and that by its means we might obtain an exact notion of the original structure. But the account of this author is wholly at variance with the natural features of the neighbourhood, where there is no such conical hill as he describes, but only a plain surrounded by mountains. It seems, therefore, to be certain that either his description is a pure myth, or that it applies to another city, the Ecbatana of the northern province. It is doubtful whether the Median capital was at any time surrounded with walls. Polybius expressly declares that it was an unwalled place in his day; 13 and there is some reason to suspect that it had always been in this condition. The Medes and Persians appear to have been in general content to esta- blish in each town a fortified citadel or stronghold, round which the houses were clustered, without superadding the further defence of a town wall.14 Ecbatana accordingly seems never to have stood a siege.15 When the nation which held it was de- feated in the open field, the city (unlike Babylon and Nineveh) submitted to the conqueror without a struggle.' Thus the mar- vellous description in the Book of Judith,16 which is internally very improbable, would appear to be entirely destitute of any, even the slightest, foundation in fact. The chief city of northern Media, which bore in later times the names of Gaza, Gazaca, or Canzaca,? is thought to have 19 This is the decided opinion of Sir H. 16 Judith i. 2-4. According to this Rawlinson, who carefully examined the account the walls were built of hewn ruins in 1836. stones nine feet long, and four and a 13 Polyb. 1. s. c. half broad. The height of the walls 14 Herodotus expressly states that the was 105 feet, the width 75 feet. The northern Ecbatana was a city of this gates were of the same altitude as the character (i. 98, 99). Modern researches walls; and the towers over the gates have discovered no signs of town walls at were carried to the height of 150 feet. any of the old Persian or Median sites. 17 See Strab. xi. 13, $3; Plin. H. N. is Ecbatana yielded at once to Cyrus, vi. 13; Ptol. Geograph. vi. 2; Am. Marc. to Alexander (Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. | xxiii. 6; Armen. Geogr. $ 87, p. 364, &c. 19), and to Antiochus the Great (Polyb. 1 Another name of the city was Vera. x. 27). (Strabo, I. s. c.) CHAP, I. GAZA, THE NORTHERN ECBATANA. 269 • been also called Ecbatana, and to have been occasionally mis- . taken by the Greeks for the southern or real capital.18 The description of Herodotus which is irreconcileably at variance with the local features of the Hamadan site, accords sufficiently with the existing remains of a considerable city in the province of Azerbijan; and it seems certainly to have been a city in these parts which was called by Moses of Chorêné, “ the second Ec- batana, the seven-walled town."1 The peculiarity of this place was its situation on and about a conical hill, which sloped gently down from its summit to its base, and allowed of the interpo- sition of seven circuits of wall between the plain and the hill's crest. At the top of the hill, within the innermost circle of the defences, were the Royal Palace and the treasuries ; the sides of the hill were occupied solely by the fortifications; and at the base, outside the circuit of the outermost wall, were the domestic and other buildings which constituted the town. According to the information received by Herodotus, the battlements which crowned the walls were variously coloured. Those of the outer circle were white, of the next black, of the third scarlet, of the fourth blue, of the fifth orange, of the sixth silver, and of the seventh gold. A pleasing, or at any rate a striking effect was thus produced—the citadel, which towered above the town, presenting to the eye seven distinct rows of colours. If there was really a northern as well as a southern Ecba- tana, 4 and if the account of Herodotus, which cannot possibly 18 See the paper of Sir H. Rawlinson, ! There is reason to believe that in Baby- * On the Site of the Atropatenian Ec lonia at least one temple was orna- batana," in the tenth volume of the mented almost exactly as the citadel of Journal of the Geographical Society, pp. Ecbatana is declared to have been by 65-158. Herodotus. (See the author's Herodotus, 1 Mos. Chor. Hist. Armen. ii. 84. vol. ii. p. 484, 2nd edition, and compare : Herod. i, 98, ch. vi, of the “Fourth Monarchy.") 3 This whole description has no doubt 4 The view maintained by Sir H. a somewhat mythical air; and the Rawlinson in the paper already referred plating of the battlements with the to (supra, note 18), while in England precious metals seems to the modern it has been very generally accepted, reader peculiarly improbable. But the has been combated on the Continent, people who roofed their palaces with more especially in France, where an silver tiles, and coated all the internal elaborate reply to his article was pub- wood-work either with plates of silver lished by M. Quatremère in the Me- or of gold, may have been wealthy | moires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et enough and lavish enough to make even | Belles-Lettres, tom. xix. part i. p. 419 such a display as Herodotus describes. | et seq. It must be admitted that the CHAP. I. GAZA, THE NORTHERN ECBATANA. 271 notwithstanding the quantity of mineral matter held in solu- tion, is exquisitely clear, and not unpleasing to the taste.' Formerly it was believed by the natives to be unfathomable; but experiments made in 1837 showed the depth to be no more than 156 feet. The ruins which at present occupy this remarkable site consist of a strong wall, guarded by numerous bastions and pierced by four gateways, which runs round the brow of the hill in a slightly irregular ellipse, of some interesting remains Scale of Yards a 100 200 300 400 R$ Centre Plan of Takht-i-Suleiman (perhaps the Northern Ecbatana). of buildings within this walled space, and of a few insignificant traces of inferior edifices on the slope between the plain and the summit. As it is not thought that any of these remains are of a date anterior to the Sassanian kingdom,º no descrip- tion will be given of them here. We are only concerned with the Median city, and that has entirely disappeared. Of the seven walls, one alone is to be traced ;' and even here the Median structure has perished and been replaced by masonry of a far later age. Excavations may hereafter bring to light 9 Geographical Journal, vol, x. p. 50; | Ker Porter, vol. ii. p. 558. 10 Geograph. Journal, vol. x. p. 51. 11 In its present condition the hill could not receive seven complete circular walls, from the fact that towards the east it abuts upon the edge of the hilly country, and is consequently on that side only a little elevated above the adjacent ground. But as the water hag now for some time been drawn off on this side, the hill has probably grown in this direction. 272 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. some remnants of the original town, but at present research has done no more than recover for us a forgotten site. The Median city next in importance to the two Ecbatanas was Raga or Rhages, near the Caspian Gates, almost at the extreme eastern limits of the territory possessed by the Medes. The great antiquity of this place is marked by its occurrence in the Zendavesta among the primitive settlements of the Arians. Its celebrity during the time of the Empire is indi- cated by the position which it occupies in the romances of Tobit? and Judith. It maintained its rank under the Persians, and is mentioned by Darius Hystaspis as the scene of the struggle which terminated the great Median revolt. The last Darius seems to have sent thither his heavy baggage and the ladies of his court, when he resolved to quit Ecbatana and fly eastward. It has been already noticed that Rhages gave name to a district; and this district may be certainly identified with the long narrow tract of fertile territory intervening between the Elburz mountain-range and the desert," from about Kasvin to Khaar, or from long. 50° to 52° 30'. The exact site of the city of Rhages within this territory is somewhat doubtful. All accounts place it near the eastern extremity; and as there are in this direction ruins of a town called Rhei or Rhey, it has been usual to assume that they positively fix the locality.s But 1 Rhages occurs as Ragha in the first | Rhagiana in his expression, tà tepi tas Fargard of the Vendidad. It is the | 'Páyas kai tàs Kacrious múdas (xi. 13, twelfth settlement, and one in which | $ 7). Diodorus calls it an eparchy-T)Y the faithful were intermingled with un επαρχίαν την προσαγορευομένην Ράγας believers. (Haug in Bunsen's Egypt, (xix. 44, § 5). vol. iii. p. 490, E. T.) See especially Isidore, I. s. c.; and 2 Tobit i. 14; iv. 1; ix. 1; &c. compare C. Müller's Map to illustrate 3 Judith i. 5 and 15. this author (Tab. in Gcographos Minorez, + Behistun Inscription, col. ii. par. 13. No. 10). C. Müller makes the boundary 5 Arrian, Exp. Alex, jii. 19. Arrian westward the karghan hills, thus ex- only mentions the Caspian Gates; but tending Rhagiana half a degree to the there can be little doubt that Rhages west of Kasvin. He greatly exaggerates was the place where they were to await the rivers of the region. Darius. Compare ch. 20. * Fraser, Khorasan, p. 286; Morier, 6 Rhagiana occurs as a district in Second Journey, p. 365 ; Ousely, Travels, Isidore (Mans, Purth. p. 6) as well as in vol. iii. p. 174; Ker Porter, Travels, vol. Ptolemy. In the former the MSS. have i. p. 357; Heeren, Asiatic Notions, vol. Rhatiana (PATIANH for PACIANH), 1 i. p. 233, E. T.; Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. which Hudson perversely transforms viii. pp. 595-604; Winer, Realörter. into Matiana, a district lying exactly in buch, ad voc.; C. Müller, Tabula, 1. s. c.; the opposite direction. Strabo points to Geographical Journ. vol. xxxi. p. 38. CHAP. I. RHAGES. 273 similarity, or even identity, of name is an insufficient proof of a site;' and, in the present instance, there are grounds for placing Rhages very much nearer to the Caspian Gates than the position of Rhei. Arrian, whose accuracy is notorious, dis- tinctly states that from the Gates to Rhages was only a single day's march, and that Alexander accomplished the distance in that time. Now from Rhei to the Girduni Surdurrah pass, which undoubtedly represents the Pylæ Caspiæ of Arrian," is at least fifty miles, a distance which no army could accomplish in less time than two days. 12 Rhages consequently must have been considerably to the east of Rhei, about half-way between it and the celebrated pass which it was considered to guard. Its probable position is the modern Kaleh Erij, near Veramin, about 23 miles from the commencement of the Sudurrah pass, where there are considerable remains of an ancient town.13 In the same neighbourhood with Rhages, but closer to the Straits, perhaps on the site now occupied by the ruins known as Lewanukit, or possibly even nearer to the foot of the pass, 14 was the Median city of Charax, a place not to be confounded with the more celebrated city called Charax Spasini, the birth- place of Dionysius the geographer, which was on the Persian Gulf, at the mouth of the Tigris.15 9 Names travel. The modern Mara- ! main chain. This pass is one of a tre- thon is more than three miles from the ! mendous character. It is a gap five miles ancient site. New Ilium was still further long between precipices 1000 feet high, (six miles) from old Troy. The shores scarped as though by the hand of man, of the Black Sea have witnessed still its width varying from ten to forty feet. more violent changes. The ancient Eu (Sir H. Rawlinson, MS, notes.) patoria was at Inkerman ; the modern! 12 Alexander's marches seem to have is 50 miles to the northward. Cherson ! averaged 190 stades, or about 22 miles. (or Chersonesus) was at the mouth of The ordinary Roman march was 20 the Sebastopol inlet; it is now on the Roman miles, equivalent to 18 English Borysthenes or Dniepr. Odessus was miles. at Varna ; Odessa is three degrees to! : Odessa is three degrees to! 13 Sir H. Rawlinson, MS, notes. In the north-east. Erij we have probably a corruption of 10 Ecp. Alex. iii. 20. Rhag-es. 11 This point is well argued by Mr. 14 Uewanukif is six or seven miles Fraser (Khurasan, pp. 291-293, note), from the commencement of the pass whose conclusion seems to be now gene (Fraser, p. 291). Isidore places Charax rally adopted. Pliny's Pylæ Caspiæ, on directly under the hill. (ÚTÒ Tò opos the other hand (H. N. vi. 14), would και καλείται Κάσπιος, αφ' ου αι Κασπίαι appear to be the Girduni Siyaluk, another Túran, p. 6.) pass over the same spur, situated three 15 Plin. H. N. iv. 27, ad fin.; Ptol. or four miles further north, at the point Geograph. vi. 3; Steph. Byz. ad voc. where the spur branches out from the Xápas. Hudson's identification of Cha- VOL. II. 274 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. The other Median cities, whose position can be determined with an approach to certainty, were in the western portion of the country, in the range of Zagros, or in the fertile tract between that range and the desert. The most important of these are Bagistan, Adrapan, Concobar, and Aspadan. Bagistan is described by Isidore 16 as “a city situated on a hill, where there was a pillar and a statue of Semiramis.” Diodorus has an account of the arrival of Semiramis at the place, of her establishing a royal park or paradise in the plain below the mountain, which was watered by an abundant spring, . View of the Rock of Behistun. of her smoothing the face of the rock where it descended pre- cipitously upon the low ground, and of her carving on the surface thus obtained her own effigy, with an inscription in rax Spasini with Anthemusias or Charax Bdotava) abais ét' opos Keluévm, &voa Sida (Isid. Mans. Parth. p. 2) is a strange Leucpáuidos šyakua kal othan. Com- error. pare with Báorava the modern Bostan 16 Mans. Parth. p. 6. Bártava (leg. / and Behistun. CHAP. I. BAGISTAN. 275 Assyrian characters. The position assigned to Bagistan by both writers, and the description of Diodorus, 18 identify the place beyond a doubt with the now famous Behistun, where the plain, the fountain, the precipitous rock, and the scarped surface are still to be seen,19 though the supposed figure of Semiramis, her pillar, and her inscription have disappeared.20 This remarkable spot, lying on the direct route between Babylon and Ecbatana, and presenting the unusual combination of a copious fountain, a rich plain, and a rock suitable for sculp- tures, must have early attracted the attention of the great monarchs who marched their armies through the Zagros range, as a place where they might conveniently set up memorials of their exploits. The works of this kind ascribed by the ancient writers to Semiramis were probably either Assyrian or Baby- lonian, and it is most likely) resembled the ordinary monu- ments which the kings of Babylon and Nineveh delighted to erect in countries newly conquered.21 The example set by the Mesopotamians was followed by their Arian neighbours, when the supremacy passed into their hands; and the famous moun- tain, invested by them with a sacred character, 22 was made to su bserve and perpetuate their glory by receiving sculptures and inscriptions which showed them to have become the lords of Asia. The practice did not even stop here. When the Par- thian kingdom of the Arsacidæ had established itself in these parts at the expense of the Seleucidæ, the rock was once more called upon to commemorate the warlike triumphs of a new race. Gotarzes, the contemporary of the Emperor Claudius, after defeating his rival Meherdates in the plain between 1: Diod. Sic. ii. 13, SS 1-2. 18 Diodorus, as usual, greatly exag- gerates the height of the mountain, which he estimates at seventeen stades, or above 10,000 feet, whereas it is really about 1700 feet. (Journal of Asiatic Juiety, vol. x. p. 187.) 19 Ker Porter, Trarels, vol. ii. pp. 150, 151; Sir H. Rawlinson, in Journit of the Geographic il Society, vol. ix. pp. 112, 113. 20 They were perhaps destroyed by Chosroe Parviz, when he prepared to build a palace on the site. (Ibid. p. 114.) 21 See vol. i. p. 484; vol. ii. pp. 97 216, &c. 22 Bagistan is “the hill of Jove" (Aids ópos), according to Diodorus (ii. 13, § 1). It seems to mean really “the place of God." We may thus compare the name with the “Bethel" of the Hebrews. I The tablet and inscriptions of Da- rius, which have made Behistun famous in modern times, are in a recess to the right of the scarped face of the rock, and at a considerable elevation. (Ker Porter, vol. ii. p. 154.) T 2 276 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. Behistun and Kermanshah, inscribed upon the mountain, which already bore the impress of the great monarchs of Assyria and Persia, a record of his recent victory.” The name of Adrapan occurs only in Isidore, who places it between Bagistan and Ecbatana, at the distance of twelve schoni-36 Roman or 34 British miles from the latter. It was, he says, the site of an ancient palace belonging to Ecbatana, which Tigranes the Armenian bad destroyed. The name and situation sufficiently identify Adrapan with the modern village of Arteman," which lies on the southern face of Elwend near its base, and is well adapted for a royal residence. Here, “during the severest winter, when Hamadan and the surrounding country are buried in snow, a warm and sunny climate is to be found; whilst in the summer a thousand rills descending from Elwend diffuse around fertility and fragrance.” 5 Groves of trees grow up in rich luxuriance from the well-irrigated soil, whose thick foliage affords a welcome shelter from the heat of the noonday Bun. The climate, the gardens, and the manifold blessings of the place are proverbial throughout Persia ; and naturally caused the choice of the site for a retired palace, to which the court of Ecbatana might adjourn, when either the summer heat and dust or the winter cold made residence in the capital irksome. In the neighhourhood of Adrapan, on the road leading to Bagistan, stood Cuncobar, which is undoubtedly the modern Kungawar, and perhaps the Chavon of Diodorus.? Here, according to the Sicilian historian, Semiramis built a palace and laid out a paradise; and here, in the time of Isidore, was a famous temple of Artemis. Colossal ruins crown the summit of the acclivity on which the town of Kungawar stands, which 2 The inscription, which is in the ' Arteman is one of three villages -- Greek character and language, is much -Tooee, Sirkan, and Arteman-which mutilated ; but the name of Gotarzes lie close together, and are generally (TATAPZHC) appears twice in it. His i known under the common title of Too- rival, Meherdates, is perhaps mentioned i sirkan. (Sir H. Rawlinson, MS, notes.) under the name of Mithrates. (Sir H. s Ibid. Rawlinson, in Geograph, Journ, vol. ix. i Isidore, Mans. Parth. I. s. C. pp. 114-116.) 7 Diod. Sic. ii. 13, $ 3. 3 Mons. Parth. p. 6. The true reading & Ker Porter, Trarels, vol. ii. pp. 141, seems to be 'Adpatávav, as edited by 142; Ollivier, Voyage dans l'Empire Höschel. othoman, tom. v. pp. 47, 48. CHAP. I. COUNTRIES BORDERING ON MEDIA. 277 may be the remains of this latter building ; but no trace has been found that can be regarded as either Median or Assyrian. The Median town of Aspadan, which is mentioned by no writer but Ptolemy,' would scarcely deserve notice here, if it were not for its modern celebrity. Aspadan, corrupted into Isfahan, became the capital of Persia under the Sefi kings, who rendered it one of the most magnificent cities of Asia. It is uncertain whether it existed at all in the time of the great Median empire. If so, it was, at best, an outlying town of little consequence on the extreme southern confines of the territory, where it abutted upon Persia proper.10 The district wherein it lay was inhabited by the Median tribe of the Parætaceni." Upon the whole it must be allowed that the towns of Media were few and of no great account. The Medes did not love to congregate in large cities, but preferred to scatter themselves in villages over their broad and varied territory. The protection of walls, necessary for the inhabitants of the low Mesopotamian regions, was not required by a people whose country was full of natural fastnesses to which they could readily remove on the approach of danger. Excepting the capital and the two im- portant cities of Gazaca and Rhages, the Median towns were insignificant. Even those cities themselves were probably of moderate dimensions, and had little of the architectural splendour which gives so peculiar an interest to the towns of Mesopotamia. Their principal buildings were in a frail and perishable material," unsuited to bear the ravages of time; they have consequently altogether disappeared; and in the whole of Media modern researches have failed to bring to light a single edifice which can be assigned with any show of probability to the period of the Empire. The plan adopted in former portions of this work 13 makes it necessary, before concluding this chapter, to glance briefly at the character of the various countries and districts by which 9 Geograph. vi. 4. 10 See above, p. 254. It is strange that so acute a writer as the late Archdeacon Williams should not have seen that this position was fatal to his theory, that Isfahan represented Ecbatana. 11 The Parætaceni had another city, called Parætaca, the site of which is un- certain. (Steph. Byz. ad voc.) 1? See above, p. 265. 13 See vol. i. pp. 25 and 206. 278 CHAP. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. Media was bordered—the Caspian district upon the north, Armenia upon the north-west, the Zagros region and Assyria upon the west, Persia proper upon the south, and upon the east Sagartia and Parthia. North and north-east of the mountain range which under different names skirts the southern shores of the Caspian Sea and curves round its south-western corner, lies a narrow but important strip of territory—the modern Ghilan and Mazan- deran. This is a most fertile region, well watered and richly achiwa View in Mazanderan—the Caspian Sea in the distance. wooded, and forms one of the most valuable portions of the modern kingdom of Persia. At first it is a low flat tract of deep alluvial soil, but little raised above the level of the Caspian ; gradually however it rises into swelling hills which form the supports of the high mountains that shut in this sheltered region, a region only to be reached by a very few passes orer CHAP. I. THE CASPIAN DISTRICT. 279 or through them. The mountains are clothed on this side nearly to their summit with dwarf oaks, or with shrubs and brushwood; while, lower down, their flanks are covered with forests of elms, cedars, chesnuts, beeches, and cypress trees. The gardens and orchards of the natives are of the most superb character; the vegetation is luxuriant; lemons, oranges, peaches, pomegranates, besides other fruits, abound; rice, hemp, sugar- canes, mulberries are cultivated with success; vines grow wild ; and the valleys are strewn with flowers of rare fragrance, among which may be noted the rose, the honeysuckle, and the sweet- briar. Nature, however, with her usual justice, has balanced these extraordinary advantages with peculiar drawbacks: the tiger, unknown in any other part of Western Asia, here lurks in the thickets, ready to spring at any moment on the unwary traveller; inundations are frequent, and carry desolation far and wide; the waters, which thus escape from the river beds, stagnate in marshes, and during the summer and autumn heats pestilential exhalations arise, which destroy the stranger, and bring even the acclimatised native to the brink of the grave.3 The Persian monarch chooses the southern rather than the northern side of the mountains for the site of his capital, pre- ferring the keen winter cold and dry summer heat of the high and almost waterless plateau to the damp and stilling air of the Jow Caspian region. The narrow tract of which this is a description can at no time have sheltered a very numerous or powerful people. During the Median period, and for many ages afterwards, it seems to have been inhabited by various petty tribes of pre- datory habits — Cadusians, Mardi, Tapyri, &c. — who passed 14 The mountains are pierced by the | 163; Ouseley, Travels, vol. iji. pp. 221- two streams of the Aras and the Kizil | 336; Fraser, Khorusan, p. 165; Chesney, Uzen or Sefid Rud, and the low country Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. pp. 216, may be entered along their courses. 217; Todd, in Journal of Geographical There is a pass over the Elburz chain Society, vol. viii. pp. 102-104. from Firuz-kuh to l'uli-se fid, 80 or 90 2 Tigers sometimes stray from this miles to the east of Teheran. This would region into Azerbijan. (See Morier, seem to be the “ Pylæ Caspiæ " of Diony Second Journey, p. 218.) sius (Perieg. 1035-1038). 3 Kinneir, p. 166; Chesney, vol. i. p. 1 The authorities for this description | 216; Fraser, Trurels near the C'espian are Kinneir, Persian Empire, pp. 159. Sea, p. 11. 280 Chap. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. their time in petty quarrels among themselves and in plunder- ing raids upon their great southern neighbour. Of these tribes the Cadusians alone enjoyed any considerable reputation. They were celebrated for their skill with the javelin 5-a skill pro- bably represented by the modern Persian use of the djereed. According to Diodorus, they were engaged in frequent wars with the Median kings, and were able to bring into the field a force of 200,000 men !6 Under the Persians they seem to have been considered good soldiers, and to have sometimes made a struggle for independence. But there is no real reason to believe that they were of such strength as to have formed at any time a danger to the Median kingdom, to which it is more probable that they generally acknowledged a qualified sub- jection. The great country of Armenia, which lay north-west and partly north of Media, bas been generally described in the first volume ;9 but a few words will be here added with respect to the more eastern portion, which immediately bordered upon the Median territory. This consisted of two outlying districts, separat-d from the rest of tlie country, the triangular basin of Lake Van, and the tract between the Kur and Aras rivers—the molern Karabagh and Erivan. The basin of Lake Van, sur- rounded by high ranges, and forming the very heart of the mountain system of this part of Asia, is an isolated region, a sort of natural citadel, where a strong military power would be likely to establish itself. Accordingly it is here, and here alone in all Armenia, that we find signs of the existence, during the Assyrian and Median periods, of a great organised monarchy. The Van inscriptions indicate to us a line of kings who bore sway in the eastern Armenia,—the true Ararat—and who were both in civilisation and in military strength far in advance of any of the other princes who divided among them the Armenian territory. The Van monarchs may have been at times formid- --- - - - - * Strab. xi, 13, $3; Diod. Sic. ii. 33, $ 4. s Strab. xi. 13, $ 4. 'AKOVTiotai είσιν άριστοι. 6 Diod. Sic. xv. 33, $$ 3 and 6. • After the battle of Arbela, Darius hoped to retrieve his fortunes by means of a fresh army of Cadusians and Sacæ. | (Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 19.) 's Diod, Sic. xv. 8, § 4; xvii. 6, § 1. See pp. 207, 208. CHAP. I. ARMENIA. 281 able enemies of the Medes. They have left traces of their dominion, not only on the tops of the mountain passes 10 which lead into the basin of Lake Urumiyeh, but even in the compa- ratively low plain of Miyandab on the southern shore of that inland sea. It is probable from this that they were at one time masters of a large portion of Media Atropatêné; and the very name of Urumiyeh, which still attaches to the lake, may have been given to it from one of their tribes.12 In the tract between the Kur and Aras, on the other hand, there is no sign of the early existence of any formidable power. Here the mountains are comparatively low, the soil is fertile, and the climate temperate.13 The character of the region would lead its inhabitants to cultivate the arts of peace rather than those of war, and would thus tend to prevent them from being formidable or troublesome to their neighbours. The Zagros region, which in the more ancient times separated between Media and Assyria, being inhabited by a number of independent tribes, but which was ultimately absorbed into the more powerful country, requires no notice here, having been sufficiently described among the tracts by which Assyria was bordered.14 At first a serviceable shield to the weak Arian tribes which were establishing themselves along its eastern base upon the high plateau, it gradnally passed into their possession as they increased in strength, and ultimately became a main nursery of their power, furnishing to their armies vast numbers both of men and horses. The great horse pastures, from which the Medes first, and the Persians afterwards, supplied their numerous and excellent cavalry, were in this quarter; 15 and the troops which it furnished_hardy mountaineers accustomed to brave the severity of a most rigorous climate-must have been among the most effective of the Median forces.16 10 Journal of the Geographical Society, 1 13 Morier, Second Journey, p. 245 ; Ker vol. x. pp. 21, 22; compare above, vol. Porter, Travels, vol. i. pp. 192-194.' i. p. 553. 14 See vol. i. pp. 206, 207. il Geographical Journıl, vol x. p. 12. 1 15 Supra, p. 261. 12 The Urumi are coupled with the i 16 On the known superiority of moun- Naïri in an inscription of Asshur-izir- | tain troops in ancient times see Herod, pal; and the Van monarchs always call ix. 122, and compare Plat. Ley. iii. p. themselves "kings of the Naïri." | 695, A. 282 Chap. I. THE THIRD MONARCHY. On the south Media was bounded by Persia proper-a tract which corresponded nearly with the modern province of Far- sistan. The complete description of this territory, the original seat of the Persian nation, belongs to a future volume of this work, which will contain an account of the “Fifth Monarchy.” For the present it is sufficient to observe that the Persian terri- tory was for the most part a highland, very similar to Media, from which it was divided by no strongly marked line or natural boundary. The Persian mountains are a continuation of the Zagros chain, and Northern Persia is a portion—the southern portion-of the same great plateau, whose western and north- western skirts formed the great mass of the Median territory. Thus upon this side Media was placed in the closest connection with an important country, a country similar in character to her own, where a hardy race was likely to grow up, with which she might expect to have difficult contests. Finally, towards the east lay the great salt desert, sparsely inhabited by various nomadic races, among which the most important were the Cossæans and the Sagartians. To the latter people Herodotus seems to assign almost the whole of the sandy region, since he unites them with the Sarangians and Thama- næans on the one hand, with the Utians and Mycians upon the other. They were a wild race, probably of Arian origin, who hunted with the lasso over the great desert mounted on horses,” and could bring into the field a force of eight or ten thousand men. Their country, a waste of sand and gravel, in parts thickly incrusted with salt, was impassable to an army, and formed a barrier which effectively protected Media along the greater portion of her eastern frontier. Towards the extreme north- east the Sagartians were replaced by the Cossæans and the Parthians, the former probably the people of the Siah-Koh i Herod. iii. 93. The Sarangians dwelt about the lake in which the Hel. mend ends; the Thamanæans between that lake and Herat. The Utians (Uxians) inhabited a part of the Zagros range; the Mycians seem to have dwelt on the Persian Gulf, in a part of the modern Mek-ran. ? See the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. | p. 172, and compare vol. i. p. 554 (2nd edition). 3 We can only account for carrying the lasso into battle (Herod. vii. 85) by regarding it as the weapon with which daily use had made them familiar. They furnished 8,000 horsemen to the army of Xerxes (Herod. I. 8. c.), which was probably not their full force. Cuap. I. PERSIA, SAGARTIA, AND PARTHIA. 283 mountain, the latter the inhabitants of the tract known now as the Atak, or “Skirt,” which extends along the southern flank of the Elburz range from the Caspian Gates nearly to Herat, and is capable of sustaining a very considerable popula- tion. The Cossæans were plunderers, from whose raids Media suffered constant annoyance; but they were at no time of suffi- cient strength to cause any serious fear. The Parthians, as we learn from the course of events, had in them the materials of a mighty people; but the hour for their elevation and expansion was not yet come, and the keenest observer of Median times could scarcely have perceived in them the future lords of Western Asia. From Parthia, moreover, Media was divided by the strong rocky spur' which runs out from the Elburz into the desert in long. 52° 10' nearly, over which is the narrow pass already mentioned as the Caspian Gates.' Thus Media on most sides was guarded by the strong natural barriers of seas,º moun- tains, and deserts, lying open only on the south, where she adjoined upon a kindred people. Her neighbours were for the most part weak in numbers, though warlike. Armenia, however, to the north-west, Assyria to the west, and Persia to the south, were all more or less formidable. A prescient eye might have foreseen that the great struggles of Media would be with these powers, and that if she attained imperial proportions it must be by their subjugation or absorption. s Cossæans is explained by some as ! Gates" is given by Mr. Fraser in his Koh-Sins, inhabitants of the Koh-Siah, Khorasan, pp. 291-293, note. The reader or Siah-koh, a remarkable isolated ! may compare the author's article on mountain in the salt desert, nearly due | Rhages in Dr. Smith's Biblical Dictionary, south of the Caspian Gates. vol, ii, p. 990. 6 Fraser, Khorasan, p. 245. See above, p. 273. ? Apotpikoí. Strab. xi. 13, $ 6. 10 The Caspian Sea was a great pro- & A good description of this spur and ! tection from the barbarians of the of the true character of the “Caspian North. 284 Char. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS. * Η πολλή μεν υψηλή εστι και ψυχρά ή δ' εν ταπεινοίς εδάφεσι και κοίλοις oùoa cúduipwv opodpa ?oti kai támpopos.-STRAB. xi. 13. MEDIA, like Assyria, is a country of such extent and variety, that, in order to give a correct description of its climate, we must divide it into regions. Azerbijan, or Atropatêné, the most northern portion, bas a climate altogether cooler than the rest of Media; while in the more southern division of the country there is a marked difference between the climate of the east and of the west, of the tracts lying on the high plateau and skirting the Great Salt Desert, and of those contained within or closely abutting upon th, Zagros mountain range. The differ- ence here is due to the difference of physical conformation, which is as great as possible, the broad mountainous plains about Kasvin, Koum, and Kashan, divided from each other by low rocky ridges, offering the strongest conceivable contrast to the perpetual alternations of mountain and valley, precipitous height and deep wooded glen, which compose the greater part of the Zagros region. The climate of Azerbijan is temperate and pleasant, though perhaps somewhat over warm,' in summer; while in winter it is bitterly severe, colder than that of almost any other region in the same latitude. This extreme rigour seems to be mainly owing to elevation, the very valleys and valley plains of the tract being at a height of from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea Morier complains of the “ oppres- Bæotia, Corfu, Southern Italy, Sardinia, sive heat of the low countries” in Azer- Southern Spain, the Azores, Washington, bijan during the summer (Second Journey, and San Francisco. It is also that of p. 295). He found the thermometer rise ! Balkh, Yarkand, and Diarbekr. These to 99. degrees at Miana early in June. | last-named places, and some others in Ibid. p. 208.) | the same latitude in Tartary and China, ? The latitude of Azerbijan is that of i are perhaps as cold. CHAP. II. CLIMATE OF NORTHERN MEDIA. 285 lerel. Frost commonly sets in towards the end of November, or at latest early in December; snow soon covers the ground to the depth of several feet; the thermometer falls below zero; the sun shines brightly except when from time to time fresh deposits of snow occur; but a keen and strong wind usually prevails, which is represented as "cutting like a sword,"3 and being a very “assassin of life.”4 Deaths from cold are of daily occurrence ;' and it is impossible to travel without the greatest risk. Whole companies or caravans occasionally perish beneath the drift, when the wind is violent, especially if a heavy fall happen to coincide with one of the frequent easterly gales. The severe weather commonly continues till March, when travelling becomes possible, but the snow remains on much of the ground till May, and on the mountains still longer. The spring, which begins in April, is temperate and delightful; a sudden burst of vegetation succeeds to the long winter lethargy; the air is fresh and balmy, the sun pleasantly warm, the sky generally cloud- less. In the month of May the heat increases-thunder hangs in the air-and the valleys are often close and sultry. Fre- quent showers occur, and the hail-storms are sometimes so violent as to kill the cattle in the fields. As the summer advances the heats increase, but the thermometer rarely reaches 90° in the shade, and except in the narrow valleys the air is never oppressive. The autumn is generally very fine. Foggy mornings are common; but they are succeeded by bright, plea- sant days, without wind or rain. On the whole the climate is pronounced healthy,lº though somewhat trying to Europeans, who do not readily adapt themselves to a country where the range of the thermometer is as much as 9 )° or 100°. 3 Ker Porter, Trarels, vol. i. p. 257. According to Kinneir (Persian Empire, + Ibid. p. 260. i p. 158), the snow remains on the • Jbid. p. 247. “Scarcely a day mountains for nine months. passes," says the writer, “ without one ? Morier, Second Journey, p. 303. or two persons being found frozen to 8 Kinneir, 1. 8. c. Compare Morier, death in the neighbourhood of the town” Second Journey, p. 309. (Tabriz). 9 Morier, pp. 213, 297, &c. . Fraser speaks of the winter in 10 Kinneir, 1. s. c. ; Chesney, Eve Azerbijan as lasting six or seven months' phrates Espedition, vol. i. p. 221; Morier, (Winter Journell, p. 332). Birds, he 1 p. 2 0. says, are often frozen to death (p. 341). 1 285 CHAP. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. In the part of Media situated on the great plateau-the modern Irak Ajemi-in which are the important towns of Teheran, Isfahan, Hamadan, Kashan, Kasvin, and Koum, the climate is altogether warmer than in Azerbijan, the summers being hotter, and the winters shorter and much less cold. Snow indeerl covers the ground for about three months, from early in December till March ; but the thermometer rarely shows more than ten or twelve degrees of frost, and death from cold is uncommon." The spring sets in about the beginning of March, and is at first somewhat cool, owing to the prevalence of the baude Caucasan or north wind,12 which blows from dis- tricts where the snow still lies. But after a little time the weather becomes delicious; the orchards are a mass of blossom; the rose gardens come into bloom ; the cultivated lands are covered with springing crops; the desert itself wears a light livery of green. Every sense is gratified; the nightingale bursts out with a full gush of song; the air plays softly upon the cheek, and comes loaded with fragrance. Too soon, howerer, this charming time passes away, and the summer heats begin, in some places as early as June. 13 The thermometer at midday rises to 90 or 100 degrees. Hot gusts blow froin the desert, sometimes with great violence. The atmosphere is described as choking;14 and in parts of the plateau it is usual for the inha- bitants to quit their towns almost in a body, and retire for several months into the mountains.18 This extreme heat is, however, exceptional ; in most parts of the plateau the summer warmth is tempered by cool breezes from the surrounding mountains, on which there is always a good deal of snow. At Hamadan, which, though on the plain, is close to the mountains, the thermometer seems scarcely ever to rise above 90°, and that degree of heat is attained only for a few hours in the day. The mornings and evenings are cool and refreshing; and altogether 11 An instance of death from cold in 13 “ The heats of Teheran," says Mr. this region is recorded by Mr, Fraser Morier, “become insupportable by the (khoras in, p. 144). middle of June.” (Second Journey, p. 12 Kinneir, p. 121; Ker Porter, vol. i. 1 14 Ibid. p. 358. p. 291. According to the latter writer, I 15 This is especially the practice at this wind "continues to blow at inter: Teheran. (Kinneir, p. 119; Morier, vals till the end of May." | p. 331 ; Ollivier, Voyage, tom. v. p. 91.) CHAP. II. CLIMATE OF THE PLATEAU. 287 the climate quite justifies the choice of the Persian monarchs, who selected Ecbatana for their place of residence during the hottest portion of the year. Even at Isfahan, which is on the edge of the desert, the heat is neither extreme nor prolonged. The hot gusts which blow from the east and from the south raise the temperature at times nearly to a hundred degrees ; but these oppressive winds alternate with cooler breezes from the west, often accompanied by rain ; and the average highest temperature during the day in the hottest month, which is August, does not exceed 90°. A peculiarity in the climate of the plateau which deserves to be noticed, is the extreme dryness of the atmosphere. In summer the rains which fall are slight, and they are soon absorbed by the thirsty soil. There is a little dew at nights, especially in the vicinity of the few streams; but it disappears with the first hour of sunshine, and the air is left without a par- ticle of moisture. In winter the dryness is equally great; frost taking the place of heat, with the same effect upon the atmo- spliere. Unhealthy exhalations are thus avoided, and the salu- brity of the climate is increased ;* but the European will sometimes sigh for the soft, balmy airs of his own land, which have come flying over the sea, and seem to bring their wings still dank with the ocean spray. Another peculiarity of this region, produced by the unequal rarefaction of the air over its different portions, is the occurrence, especially in spring and summer, of sudden gusts, hot or cold, which blow with great violence. These gusts are sometimes accompanied with whirlwinds, which sweep the country in dif- ferent directions, carrying away, with them leaves, branches, i See Morier, Second Journe"), p. 270. | Morier, however, notes that he saw Compare Kinneir, Persi in Empire, p. ' several (p. 154, note). 126 ; Ker Porter, Travels, vol. ii. p. 121; | 3 Morier, p. 154. Ollivier, Voyage, tom. v. p. 53. Ollivier • On the salubrity of Isfahan, see says : “En été le climat est le plus doux, Morier, p. 153; Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 407. le plus tempéré de la Perse.'' 5 See Morier, Second Joirnoy, Ap- 2 Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 441 ; vol. ij. | pendix, pp. 406-408 ; Ouseley, vol. iii. p. 123; Morier, p. 153; Ollivier, tom. 1 pp. 110-112; and the passages quoted in v. pp. 199 and 209. The last-named į the next note, writer mentions as a proof of the dry 6. Morier, First Journey, p. 174; ness, that during a long stay in the Second Journey, p. 202; Ouseley, vol. iii. region he never saw a single snail! | pp. 73 and 375, 288 CHAP. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. stubble, sand, and other light substances, and causing great annoyance to the traveller. They occur chiefly in connection with a change of wind, and are no doubt consequent on the meeting of two opposite currents. Their violence, however, is moderate, compared with that of tropical tornados, and it is not often that they do any considerable damage to the crops over which they sweep. One further characteristic of the flat region may be noticed. The intense heat of the summer sun striking on the dry sand or the saline efflorescence of the desert, throws the air over them into such a state of quivering undulation as produces the most wonderful and varying effects, distorting the forms of objects, and rendering the inost familiar strange and hard to be recog- nised. A mud bank furrowed by the rain will exhibit the appearance of a magnificent city, with columns, domes, minarets, and pyramids; a few stunted bushes will be transformed into a forest of stately trees; a distant mountain will, in the space of a minute, assume first the appearance of a lofty peak, then swell out at the top, and resemble a mighty mushroom, next split into several parts, and finally settle down into a flat table- land. Occasionally, though not very often, that semblance of water is produced® which Europeans are apt to suppose the usual effect of mirage. The images of objects are reflected at their base in an inverted position; the desert seems converted into a vast lake; and the thirsty traveller, advancing towards it, finds himself the victim of an illusion, which is none the less successful because he has been a thousand times forewarned of its deceptive power. In the mountain range of Zagros and the tracts adjacent to it, the climate, owing to the great differences of elevation, is more varied than in the other parts of the ancient Media. Severe cold prevails in the higher mountain regions for seven months out of the twelve, while during the remaining five the heat is never more than moderate. In the low valleys, on the con- ? Fraser, Khorasın, p. 165, note. 1 i. p. 80; Kinneir, p. 144; Journal of & Morier, Second Journey, p. 282. 'the Geographical Society, vol. x. pp. 20-22. 9 Chesney, Euphrutes E.ch edition, vol. 10 Chesney, I. s. C. In Ardelan, which CHAP. II. VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 289 trary, and in other favoured situations," the winters are often milder than on the plateau ; while in the summers, if the heat is not greater, at any rate it is more oppressive. Owing to the abundance of the streams and the proximity of the melting snows, the air is moist; and the damp heat, which stagnates in the valleys, breeds fever and ague.2 Between these extremes of climate and elevation every variety is to be found; and, except in winter, a few hours' journey will almost always bring the traveller into a temperate region.. In respect of natural productiveness, Media (as already observed) 13 differs exceedingly in different, and even in adjacent, districts. The rocky ridges of the great plateau, destitute of all vegetable mould, are wholly bare and arid, admitting not the slightest degree of cultivation. Many of the mountains of Azerbijan, naked, rigid, and furrowed,14 may compare even with these desert ranges for sterility. The higher parts of Zagros and Elburz are sometimes of the same character; but more often they are thickly clothed with forests, affording excellent timber and other valuable commodities. In the Elburz, pines are found near the summit," while lower down there occur first the wild almond and the dwarf oak, and then the usual timber- trees of the country, the Oriental plane, the willow, the poplar, and the walnut.16 The walnut grows to a large size both here and in Azerbijan, but the poplar is the wood most commonly used for building purposes. 17 In Zagros, besides most of these trees, the ash and the terebinth or turpentine-tree are common; the oak bears gall-nuts of a large size; and the gum-tragacanth plant frequently clothes the mountain-sides. 18 The valleys of this region are full of magnificent orchards, as are the low grounds and more sheltered nooks of Azerbijan. The fruit-trees - - - is much lower than many parts of the range, Morier found the air quite “cool” in June (Second Journey, p. 272). Kin- neir notes that in the same region there was frost in July, 1810 (Persian Einpire, p. 144). " As at Toosirkan (supra, p. 276, note *). 12 See Layard, Ninerch and its Remains, vol. i. pp. 159-165. VOL. II. 13 See above, pp. 255, 256. 14 Fraser, Winter Journey, p. 353. 15 Morier, Second Journey, p. 362. 16 Ibid. I. s. C. ; and see also p. 354. 17 Morier, First Journey, pp. 274 and 277; Second Journey, p. 262. The wood of the plane is preferred for furniture. 18 Ollivier, tom. v. p. 59; Chesney, | vol. i. p. 123. 290 Char, II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. comprise, besides vines and mulberries, the apple, the pear, the quince, the plum, the cherry, the almond, the nut, the chesnut, the olive, the peach, the nectarine, and the apricot.19 On the plains of the high plateau there is a great scarcity of vegetation. Trees of a large size grow only in the few places which are well watered, as in the neighbourhood of Hamadan, Isfahan, and in a less degree of Kashan.20 The principal tree is the Oriental plane, which flourishes together with poplars and willows along the watercourses; cypresses also grow freely; elms and cedars are found, 21 and the orchards and gardens contain not only the fruit-trees mentioned above, but also the jujube, the cornel, the filbert, the medlar, the pistachio nut, the pomegranate, and the fig.2 Away from the immediate vicinity of the rivers and the towns, not a tree, scarcely a bush, is to be seen. The common thorn is indeed tolerably abundant 23 in a few places; but elsewhere the tamarisk and a few other sapless shrubs 24 are the only natural products of this bare and arid region. In remarkable contrast with the natural barrenness of this wide tract are certain favoured districts in Zagros and Azer- bijan, where the herbage is constant throughout the summer, and sometimes only too luxuriant. Such are the rich and extensive grazing grounds of Khawah and Alishtar near Ker- manshah,25 the pastures near Ojan 26 and Marand, 27 and the cele- brated Chowal Moghan or plain of Moghan, on the lower course of the Araxes river, where the grass is said to grow sufficiently 19 Journal of the Geographical Society, | Kashan (1. 8. c.). Morier notices elms vol. X. p. 3; Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 394; | “with very thick and rich foliage," and Rich, Kurdistan, pp. 105, 163, &c. It a peculiarly “formal shape," near Isfa- was probably from some knowledge of han (First Journey, p. 169; com pare this tract that Virgil spoke of Media as Second Journey, p. 263). "abounding in trees.” (Georg. ii. 136. 22 Ollivier, tom. v. p. 191. “ Medorum silvæ ditissima terra.") 23 Morier, Second Journey, p. 271. 20 On the verdure and shade of Isfa 24 As the soap-wort, which is the han, see Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 411; on | “most common shrub” in the country that of Hamadan, see Morier, Second ! between Koum and Teheran. (Morier, Journey, p. 262, and Ker Porter, vol. ii. First Journey, p. 183.) p. 91. On Kashan, see the last-named 25 Journal of the Geographical Society, writer, vol. i. p. 389; and compare Ol vol. ix. p. 100. livier, tom. v. p. 169. 26 Morier, Second Journey, p. 277. 21 Ker Porter notes "a species of 97 Ibid. p. 302. cedar not unlike that of Lebanon” at CHAP. II. FERTILITY UNDER CULTIVATION. 291 high to cover a man on horseback.28 These, however, are rare exceptions to the general character of the country, which is by nature unproductive, and scarcely deserving even of the qualified encomium of Strabo.29 Still Media, though deficient in natural products, is not ill adapted for cultivation. The Zagros valleys and hill-sides produce under a very rude system of agriculture, besides the fruits already noticed, rice, wheat, barley, millet, sesame, Indian corn, cotton, tobacco, mulberries, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and the castor-oil plant.' In Azerbijan the soil is almost all cultivable, and if ploughed and sown, will bring good crops of the ordinary kinds of grain. Even on the side of the desert, where Nature has shown herself most niggardly, and may seem perhaps to deserve the reproach of Cicero, that she behaves as a step-mother to a man rather than as a mother, a certain amount of care and scientific labour may render considerable tracts fairly productive. The only want of this region is water; and if the natural deficiency of this necessary fluid can be any how supplied, all parts of the plateau will bear crops, except those which form the actual Salt Desert. In modern, and still more in ancient times, this fact has been clearly perceived, and an elaborate system of artificial irrigation, suitable to the peculiar circumstances of the country, has been very widely established. The system of kanats, as they are called at the present day, aims at utilising to the uttermost all the small streams and rills which descend towards the desert from the surrounding moun- tains, and at conveying as far as possible into the plain the spring water, which is the indispensable* condition of cultivation in a country where-except for a few days in spring and autumn -rain scarcely ever falls. As the precious element would rapidly evaporate if exposed to the rays of the summer sun, the 28 Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 153, 1 ? Morier, First Journey, pp. 261-266 : note. Second Journey, p. 257 ; Kinneir, Persian 29 See the passage quoted at the head Empire, p. 149. of this chapter. 3 “Homo non ut a matre sed ut a i Ollivier, Voyage, tom. v. p. 14; i novercâ naturâ editus est in vitam." Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. 4 Ollivier says: “Il faut noter que p. 123; Rich, Kurdistan, pp. 60, 130, dans presque toute la Perse il n'y a 134, &c. Manna is also a product of this aucune sorte de culture sans arrose- region. (See above, vol. i. p. 219.) ment.” (Voyage, tom. v. p. 217.) U 2 292 Caap. 11. THE THIRD MONARCHY. Iranian husbandman carries his conduit underground, laboriously tunnelling through the stiff argillaceous soil, at a depth of many feet below the surface. The mode in which he proceeds is as follows:-At intervals along the line of his intended conduit he first sinks shafts, which he then connects with one another by galleries, seven or eight feet in height, giving his galleries a slight incline, so that the water may run down them freely, and continuing them till he reaches a point where he wishes to bring the water out upon the surface of the plain. Here and there, at the foot of his shafts, he digs wells, from which the fluid can readily be raised by means of a bucket and a windlass; and he thus brings under cultivation a considerable belt of land along the whole line of the kanat, as well as a large tract at its ter- mination. These conduits, on which the cultivation of the plateau depends, were established at so remote a date that they were popularly ascribed to the mythic Semiramis, the supposed wife of Ninus. It is thought that in ancient times they were longer and more numerous than at present, when they occur only occasionally, and seldom extend more than a few miles from the base of the hills. By help of the irrigation thus contrived, the great plateau of Iran will produce good crops of grain, rice, wheat, barley, Indian corn, doura, millet, and sesame. It will also bear cotton, tobacco, saffron, rhubarb, madder, poppies which give a good opium, senna, and assafetida.' Its garden vegetables are excellent, and include potatoes, cabbages, lentils, kidney-beans, peas, turnips, carrots, spinach, beet-root, and cucumbers. 10 The variety of its fruit-trees has been already noticed." The flavour of their produce is in general good, and in some cases sur- 5 Ollivier, tom. v. pp. 308, 309; Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 296; Morier, Second Journey, pp. 163, 164. 6 Strab. xvi. 1, § 2. Compare Diod. Sic. ii. 13, $ 7. An excellent description of the kanut system is given by Polybius (x. 28, § 2). ? Ollivier, p. 214. This writer also supposes that much more care was taken in ancient times to economise the water arising from the melting of the snows and from the spring rains, by means of embankments across the lower valleys of the mountains, and the formation thereby of large reservoirs (p. 214). These reser- voirs would be the Speia of Strabo. & Ollivier, pp. 163, 198, &c.; Kinneir, p. 108. o Ollivier, p. 198; Kinneir, p. 38. 10 Chesney, Euphrates Erpedition, vol. | i. p. 80; Ollivier, 1. s. C.; Kinneir, p. 38. " Supra, p. 289. CHAP, II. MINERALS. 293 passingly excellent. No quinces are so fine as those of Isfahan, 12 and no melons have a more delicate flavour.13 The grapes of Kasvin are celebrated, and make a remarkably good wine.14 Among the flowers of the country must be noted, first of all, its roses, which flourish in the most luxuriant abundance, and are of every variety of hue.15 The size to which the tree will grow is extraordinary, standards sometimes exceeding the height of fourteen or fifteen feet.16 Lilacs, jasmines, and many other flowering shrubs are common in the gardens, while among wild flowers may be noticed hollyhocks, lilies, tulips, crocuses, anemones, lilies of the valley, fritillaries, gentians, primroses, convolvuluses, chrysanthemums, heliotropes, pinks, water-lilies, ranunculuses, jonquils, narcissuses, hyacinths, mallows, stocks, violets, a fine campanula (Michauxia levigata), a mint (Nepeta longiflora), several sages, salsolas, and fagonias.7 In many places the wild flowers during the spring months cover the ground, painting it with a thousand dazzling or delicate hues.18 The mineral products of Media are numerous and valuable. Excellent stone of many kinds abounds in almost every part of the country, the most important and valuable being the famous Tabriz marble. This curious substance appears to be a petri- faction formed by natural springs, which deposit carbonate of lime in large quantities. It is found only in one place, on the flanks of the hills, not far from the Urumiyeh lake. The slabs are used for tombstones, for the skirting of rooms, and for the pavements of baths and palaces; when cut thin they often take the place of glass in windows, being semi-transparent.19 The marble is commonly of a pale yellow colour, but occasionally it is streaked with red, green, or copper-coloured veins.20 13 Kinneir, p. 38; Ollivier, p. 191 ; || particulars are collected chiefly from Morier, First Journey, p. 230. Ollivier and Chardin. 13 Ollivier, pp. 191, 192. 18 Morier, First Journey, pp. 263 and 14 Morier, Second Journey, p. 203. 300. Rich, Kurdistan, p 360. Hence 15 Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 440: Geo the abundance of excellent honey. (Rich, graphical Journal, vol. x. p. 29; Ollivier, p. 142.) tom. v. pp. 49, &c. 19 Geographical Journal, vol. x. p. 4; 16 Ollivier, p. 184; Ker Porter, vol. i. Morier, Second Journey, p. 285; Ker p. 337. Porter, vol. ii. p. 527. 17 A correct account of the botany of 20 Morier, 1. s. c. Persia is still a desideratum. The above 294 Chap. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. In metals the country is thought to be rich, but no satis- factory examination of it has been as yet made. Iron, copper, and native steel are derived from mines actually at work; while Europeans have observed indications of lead, arsenic, and antimony in Azerbijan, in Kurdistan, and in the rocky ridges which intersect the desert. Tradition speaks of a time when gold and silver were procured from mountains near Takht-i- Suleiman, and it is not unlikely that they may exist both there and in the Zagros range. Quartz, the well-known matrix of the precious metal, abounds in Kurdistan. Of all the mineral products none is more abundant than salt. On the side of the desert, and again near Tabriz, at the mouth of the Aji Su, are vast plains, which glisten with the substance, and yield it readily to all who care to gather it up. Saline springs and streams are also numerous, from which salt can be obtained by evaporation. But, besides these sources of supply, rock salt is found in places, and this is largely quarried, and is preferred by the natives.? Other important products of the earth are saltpetre, which is found in the Elburz, and in Azerbijan ; ' sulphur, which abounds in the same regions, and likewise on the high pla- teau ; 10 alum,” which is quarried near Tabriz; naphtha and gypsum, which are found in Kurdistan ; 12 and talc, which exists in the mountains near Koum,13 in the vicinity of Tabriz, and probably in other places. The chief wild animals which have been observed within the i Chardin, Voyages en Perse, tom. iii. | Chardin, I. 8. c.; Morier, Second Journey, P 29; Ker Porter, Trarels, vol. i. pp. pp. 257 and 288; Rich, Kurdistan, p. 123. 266 and 380; Geographical Journal, vol. ? Morier, Second Journey, p. 288. x. p. 55; Morier, First Journey, pp. 283, & Kinneir, p. 40; Chardin, tom. iii. 284; Ouseley, Travels, vol. iii. p. 406. p. 29. ? Geographical Journal, vol. x. p. 55. Morier, First Journey, p. 284. A mountain in this quarter is called by 10 Kinneir, I. 8. c.; Morier, First the natives Zerreh Shurán, or the moun Journey, p. 284; Second Journey, p. 355; tain of the “Gold-washers." Rich, Kurdistan, p. 123; Ker Porter, 3 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. vol. i. p. 374. i. p. 72. 11 Geographical Journal, vol. x. p. 62. i Chardin says: “Il n'y a rien de plus Alum is also found in the Zagros range. commun en Perse que le sel.” (Voyages, (Rich, I. s. c.) tom, iii. p. 30.) 12 Ibid. pp. 123 and 231. S Supra, p. 257, note. 13 Ker Porter, vol. i. p. 380. Geographical Journal, vol. x. p. 62; 1 Morier, Second Journey, p. 289. Cuap. II. WILD ANIMALS. 295 limits of the ancient Media are the lion, the tiger, the leopard, the bear, the beaver, the jackal, the wolf, the wild ass, the ibex or wild goat, the wild sheep, the stag, the antelope, the wild boar, the fox, the hare, the rabbit, the ferret, the rat, the jerboa, the porcupine, the mole, and the marmot. The lion and tiger are exreedingly rare: they seem to be found only in Azer- bijan,15 and we may perhaps best account for their presence there by considering that a few of these animals occasionally stray ont of Mazanderan, which is their only proper locality in this part of Asia. Of all the beasts, the most abundant are the stag and the wild goat, which are numerous in the Elburz, and in parts of Azerbijan,16 the wild boar, which abounds both in Azerbijan and in the country about Hamadan,7 and the jackal, which is found everywhere. Bears flourish in Zagros, ante- lopes in Azerbijan, in the Elburz, and on the plains near Sultaniyeh.18 The wild ass is found only in the desert parts of the high plateau ; 19 the beaver only in Lake Zeribar, near Suleïmaniyeh.20 The Iranian wild ass differs in some respects from the Meso- potamian. His skin is smooth, like that of a deer, and of a reddish colour, the belly and hinder parts partaking of a silvery grey; his head and ears are large and somewhat clumsy ; but his neck is fine, and his legs are beautifully slender. His mane is short and black, and he has a black tuft at the end of his tail, but no dark line runs along his back or crosses his shoulders.21 The Persians call him the gur-khur, and chase him with occasional success, regarding his flesh as a great 15 Sir W. Ouseley heard of lions near | 19 Ouseley saw them near Kasvin Koum, but he saw no signs of them. (vol. iii. p. 381); Ker Porter in the (Trarels, vol. iii. p. 108.) Mr. Morier desert below Isfahan (vol. i. pp. 459- observed marks of a lion's foot in Mount 461). Sehend, which impends over Tabriz. 20 Rich, Kurdisti, p. 186. (Second Journey, p. 294.) He heard of 21 See the description of Ker Porter tigers in the same region, and saw the (1. s.c.), who carefully examined a speci- skin of one which had been killed. (Ibid. men killed by one of his party. Morier p. 218.) and Ollivier differ from him with respect 16 Ibid. pp. 241, 359, 364. to the existence of a line down the back 17 Ibid. pp. 241, 302; Ollivier, tom. and a bar across the shoulders (Ollivier, iii. p. 64. tom. iii. p. 65; Morier, Second Journey, 18 Ouseley, Travels, vol. iii. pp. 213, p. 201); but they appear to have had 217, and 216 ; Morier, Second Journey, less satisfactory means of judging. p. 205. 296 CHAP. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. delicacy. He appears to be the Asinus onager of naturalists, a distinct species from the Asinus hemippus of Mesopotamia, and the Asinus hemionus of Thibet and Tartary.22 It is doubtful whether some kind of wild cattle does not still inhabit the more remote tracts of Kurdistan. The natives mention among the animals of their country “the mountain ox;" and though it has been suggested that the beast intended is the elk,23 it is perhaps as likely to be the Aurochs, which seems certainly to have been a native of the adjacent country of Mesopotamia in ancient times.24 At any rate, until Zagros bas been thoroughly explored by Europeans, it must remain uncertain what animal is meant. Meanwhile we may be tolerably sure that, besides the species enumerated, Mount Zagros contains within its folds some large and rare ruminant. Among the birds the most remarkable are the eagle, the bustard, the pelican, the stork, the pheasant, several kinds of partridges, the quail, the woodpecker, the bee-eater, the hoopoe, and the nightingale. Besides these, doves and pigeons, both wild and tame,25 are common; as are swallows, goldfinches, sparrows, larks, blackbirds, thrushes, linnets, magpies, crows, hawks, falcons, teal, snipe, wild ducks, and many other kinds of waterfowl. The most common partridge is a red-legged species (Caccabis chukar of naturalists), which is unable to fly far, and is hunted until it drops.26 Another kind, common both in Azerbijan and in the Elburz, is the black-breasted partridge (Perdix nigra)—a bird not known in many countries. Besides these, there is a small grey partridge in the Zagros range, 22 See the Anuals and Magazine of | Morier, First Journey, p. 155; Second Natural History, vol. vi. No. 34, p. 243. | Journey, p. 140.) 23 Rich, Kurdistun, p. 237. 26 Rich says: “Hundreds of partridges 24 Supra, vol. i. pp. 226, 512, 513. are taken by parties of sportsmen sta- 25 Tame pigeons are bred on a large tioned on opposite hills, who frighten scale, mainly for the sake of their dung, the covey by shouting as soon as it which is the favourite manure of the comes in their direction. The birds at melon-grounds. All travellers remark last become alarmed and confused, and the numerous pigeon-towers, especially drop to the ground, when they are easily in the neighbourhood of Isfahan, some taken." (l'urdistun, p. 237.) Compare of which bring in an income of two 1 Sam. xxvi. 20. or three hundred pounds a-year. (See 27 Morier, Second Journej, pp. 23+ and Kinneir, p. 110; Chardin, tom. iii. p. 39; | 359. CHAP. II. BIRDS-FISH. 297 which the Kurds call seska.28 The bee-eater (Merops Persicus) is rare. It is a bird of passage, and only visits Media in the autumn, preparatory to retreating into the warm district of Mazanderan for the winter months.29 The hoopoe (Upupa) is probably still rarer, since very few travellers mention it.30 The woodpecker is found in Zagros, and is a beautiful bird, red and grey in colour. 31 H OR Pigeon towers near Isfahan. Media is, on the whole, but scantily provided with fish. Lake Urumiyeh produces none, as its waters are so salt that they even destroy all the river-fish which enter them.' Salt streams, like the Aji Su, are equally unproductive, and the fresh-water rivers of the plateau fall so low in summer, that fish cannot 28 Rich, Kurdistan, p. 143. L 31 Rich, Kurdistan, p. 184. 29 Ollivier, Voyages, tom. v. p. 125. Geographical Journul, vol. iii. p. 56; 30 I have found a mention of the hoo- | vol. x. p. 7; Morier, Second Journey, p. poe only in Morier, who saw it near 288; Kinneir, p. 155. Kasvin. (First Journey, p. 255.) 298 CAAP. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. become numerous in them. Thus it is only in Zagros, in Azer- bijan, and in the Elburz, that the streams furnish any consider- able quantity. The kinds most common are barbel, carp, dace, bleak, and gudgeons. In a comparatively few streams, more especially those of Zagros, trout are found, which are handsome and of excellent quality. The river of Isfahan produces a kind of cray-fish, which is taken in the bushes along its banks, and is very delicate eating.* It is remarkable that fish are caught not only in the open streams of Media, but also in the kanats or underground con- duits, from which the light of day is very nearly excluded. They appear to be of one sort only, viz., barbel, but are abun- dant, and often grow to a considerable size. Chardin supposed them to be unfit for food ;6 but a later observer declares that, though of no great delicacy, they are "perfectly sweet and wholesome.” 6 Of reptiles the most common are snakes, lizards, and tortoises. In the long grass of the Moghan district, on the lower course of the Araxes, the snakes are so numerous and venomous, that many parts of the plain are thereby rendered impassable in the summer-time. A similar abundance of this reptile near the western entrance of the Girduni Siyaluk pass 8 induces the natives to abstain from using it, except in winter. Lizards of many forms and hues º disport themselves about the rocks and stones, some quite small, others two feet or more in length.11 They are quite harmless, and appear to be in general very tame. Land tortoises are also common in the sandy regions.'2 In Kurdistan there is a remarkable frog, with a smooth skin and of an apple-green colour, which lives chiefly in trees, roost- ? Morier, Second Journey, p. 253; | Expedition, vol. i. p. 82. Chardin, tom. iii. p. 44; Ouseley, vol. See above, p. 273, note 11. iii. p. 50; Rich, Kurdistan, p. 60. • Sir H. Rawlinson, MS. notes. Com- 3 Rich, p. 67 ; Fraser, Travels in Kur- | pare Pliny, H. N. vi. 14: “Præterea distan, vol. i. p. 7. Trout occur also in serpentium multitudo, nisi hyeme, tran- the Elburz. (Ouseley, vol. iii. p. 125.) ! situm non sinit." + Chardin, tom. iii. p. 44. “Un 10 Ker Porter, vol. i. pp. 390, 391. manger fort délicat.'' 11 Ker Porter measured one, and found 3 Ibid. it exceed two feet (1. s. c.). Chardin says 6 Fraser. Khorasan. p. 406. that some which he saw were an ell • Kinneir, p. 153, note; Morier, Second in length. (Voyages, tom. iii. p. 38.) Journey, p. 250; Chesney, Euphrates: 12 Ker Porter, 1. s.c. Chap. II. INSECTS. 299 ing in them at night, and during the day employing itself in catching flies and locusts, which it strikes with its fore paw, as a cat strikes a bird or a mouse.13 Among insects, travellers chiefly notice the mosquito, which is in many places a cruel torment; the centipede, which grows to an unusual size ; 15 the locust, of which there is more than one variety; and the scorpion, whose sting is sometimes fatal. The destructive locust (the Acridium peregrinum, probably) comes suddenly into Kur- distan 16 and southern Me- dia 17 in clouds that obscure the air, moving with a slow and steady flight, and with The destructive locust (Acridium peregrinum). a sound like that of heavy rain, and settling in myriads on the fields, the gardens, the trees, the terraces of the houses, and even the streets, which they sometimes cover completely. Where they fall, vegetation pre- sently disappears; the leaves, and even the stems of the plants, are devoured ; the labours of the husbandman through many a weary month perish in a day; and the curse of famine is brought upon the land which but now enjoyed the prospect of an abun- dant harvest. It is true that the devourers are themselves devoured to some extent by the poorer sort of people ; 18 but the compensation is slight and temporary; in a few days, when all verdure is gone, either the swarms move to fresh pastures, or they perish and cover the fields with their dead bodies, while the desolation which they have created continues. Another kind of locust, observed by Mr. Rich in Kurdistan, is called by the natives shira-kulla, a name seemingly identical with the chargól of the Jews, and perhaps the best clue which we possess to the identification of that species. Mr. Rich de- 1: Rich, Kurdistan, p. 173. 14 Ibid. p. 172; Chardin, tom. iii. p. 38; Ouseley, vol. iii. p. 122. 15 Chardin, l. 8. c. This writer adds that its bite is dangerous, and has been known to prove fatal in some cases. But recent travellers do not confirm this statement. 16 Rich, p. 171. 17 Kinneir, p. 43; Chardin, I. s. c. 18 Chardin, tom. ii. p. 221. 19 Lev. xi. 22. The resemblance of the word shira-kulla to chargol (370) is striking, and can scarcely be a mere accident. Shira-kulla, however, is trans- lated “the lion locust," a meaning which cannot possibly be given to churgol. Chap. II. DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 301 -the Bactrian or two-humped camel, which is coarse and low ; the taller and lighter Arabian breed; and a cross between the two, which is called ner, and is valued very highly.26 The ordi- nary burden of the Arabian camel is from seven to eight hundred- weight; while the Bactrian variety is said to be capable of bearing a load nearly twice as heavy. 27 Next to the camel, as a beast of burden, must be placed the mule. The mules of the country are small, but finely propor- tioned, and carry a considerable weight. They travel thirty miles a day with ease,” and are preferred for journeys on which it is necessary to cross the mountains. The ass is very inferior, and is only used by the poorer classes.3 Two distinct breeds of horses are now found in Media, both of which seem to be foreign-the Turkoman and the Arabian. The Turkoman is a large, powerful, enduring animal, with long legs, a light body, and a big head. The Arab is much smaller, but perfectly shaped, and sometimes not greatly inferior to the very best produce of Nejd. A third breed is obtained by an intermixture of these two, which is called the bid-paï, or “wind- footed," and is the most prized of all.6 The dogs are of various breeds, but the most esteemed is a large kind of greyhound, which some suppose to have been introduced into this part of Asia by the Macedonians, and which is chiefly employed in the chase of the antelope. The animal is about the height of a full-sized English greyhound, but rather stouter; he is deep-chested, has long, smooth hair, and the tail 26 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. 1 6 Chesney, 1. s.c. i. p. 82. 27 Ibid. p. 582. L ? The antelope is commonly chased by i Chesney says that the ordinary the falcon and greyhound in combina- burden of a mule in Persia is three , tion. The falcon, when loosed, makes hundred weight. (Euphrates Expedition,' straight at the game, and descending on vol. i. p. 81.) ? Ibid. 1. s.c. . its head, either strikes it to the ground, 3 Chardin, Voyages, tom. iii. p. 33; or at least greatly checks its course. If Chesney, I. s.c. shaken off, it will strike again and • Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 40; again, at once so frightening and re- Fraser, khorasan, pp. 269, 270. Fraser | tarding the animal that the dogs easily observes, that “on the whole the Tur- 1 reach it. (See Chardin, tom. iii. p. 42, koman horses approach more to the and Kinneir, p. 42. Compare the similar character of the English horse than any practice of the Mesopotamian Arabs, de- other breed in the East.” scribed in Layard's Nineveh and Bubylon 5 Kinneir, 1. s. C. P. 482.) 302 Chap. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. considerably feathered. His pace is inferior to that of our greyhounds, but in strength and sagacity he far surpasses them.' We do not find many of the products of Media celebrated by ancient writers. Of its animals, those which had the highest reputation were its horses, distinguished into two breeds, an ordinary kind, of which Media produced annually many thou- sands,'° and a kind of rare size and excellence, known under the name of Nisæan. These last are celebrated by Herodotus,11 Strabo, 12 Arrian, 13 Ammianus Marcellinus, 14 Suidas, 15 and others. Persepolitan horse, perhaps Nisæan. They are said to have been of a peculiar shape; 16 and they were equally famous for size, speed, and stoutness."7 Strabo remarks that they resembled the horses known in his own time as Parthian ; 18 and this observation seems distinctly to connect 8 Ollivier, tom. v. p. 104; Chesney, ! all Asia." (oxedov änavav xopnyei Thy vol. i. p. 587 ; Layard, p. 482, note. 'Aglav. Polyb. x. 27, $ 2.) 9 See the narrative of Ker Porter, | 11 Herod. vii. 40. Compare iii. 106 Travels, vol. i. pp. 444, 445. and i. 189. 12 Strab. xi. 13, $ 7. 10 Diodorus Siculus says that the great 13 Arrian, Exp. Aler. vii. 13. Arrian horse pastures near Bagistan nourished gives the form Nuoaior, in place of the at one time 160,000 horses (xvii. 110, | Niraio. of Herodotus, and the Nnoaio: $ 6). Strabo tells us that Media fur- of Strabo. nished annually to the Persian king 14 Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6. 3000 horses as a part of its fixed tribute 1 15 Suidas, ad voc. Níoalov. (xi. 13, § 8). Polybius speaks of the 16 'Idibuoppou. Strab. I. s. c. vast number of horses in Media, which 11 Méyiotou (Strab.), ÁKIOTO (Suid.), supplied with those animals “almost | úplotou (Strab.). 18 Loc. cit. Chap. II. KNOWN ANCIENT PRODUCTS. 303 them with the Turkoman breed mentioned above, which is derived exactly from the old Parthian country. In colour they were often, if not always, white. We have no representation on the monuments which we can regard as certainly intended for a Nisæan horse, but perhaps the above figure from Persepolis may be a Persian sketch of the animal.19 The mules and small cattle (sheep and goats) were in suffi- cient repute to be required, together with horses, in the annual tribute paid to the Persian king20 Of vegetable products assigned to Media by ancient writers the most remarkable is the “ Median apple” or citron.2 Pliny says it was the sole tree for which Media was famous, and that it would only grow there and in Persia.23 Theophrastus, 24 Dios- corides,25 Virgil,26 and other writers, celebrate its wonderful qualities, distinctly assigning it to the same region. The citron, however, will not grow in the country which has been here termed Media.27 It flourishes only in the warm tract between Shiraz and the Persian Gulf, and in the low sheltered region south of the Caspian, the modern Ghilan and Mazanderan. No doubt it was the inclusion of this latter region within the limits of Media by many of the later geographers that gave to this product of the Caspian country an appellation which is really a misnomer. Another product whereto Media gave name, and probably with more reason, was a kind of clover or lucerne, which was said to have been introduced into Greece by the Persians in the reign of Darius 28 and which was afterwards cultivated 19 The horse represented, though not | side nasci noluit." large according to English notions, is 24 llist. Plant, iv. 4. considerably above the standard usual 25 De Mat, Ved, i. $ 166, on the Persian monuments. 26 Georg. ii. 126-135). 20 Strab. xi. 13, $ 8. “Media fert tristes succos tardumque saporem 21 It has been questioned whether the Felicis mali: quo non praisentius ullum, * Malum medicum" was the orange or Pocula si quando save infecere novercæ, the citron. I decide in favour of the Miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba, Auxilium venit, ac membris agit atra venena. citron, on account of the description in Ipsa ingens arbos, faciemque simillima lauro; Dioscorides. To uïdovétríunkes (oblong), Et, si non alium late jactaret odorem, &pØut lowuévov (wrinkled), xpuoilov TÔ Laurus erat; fulia haud ullis labentia ventis ; Flos ad prima tenax ; animas et olentia Medi xpóą, k. T. . (De Mat. Med. i. $ 166.) Ora fovent illo, et senibus medicantur anhelis." * 22 H. N. xii. 3. “Nec alia arbor lau- datur in Medis." 27 Ollivier, tom. v. p. 191; Chesney, 23 Ibid. “Nisi apud Medos et in Per- | vol. i. p. 80. 28 Pliny, H, N. xviii, 16. 304 Cuar. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. largely in Italy.29 Strabo considers this plant to have been the chief food of the Median horses, 30 while Dioscorides assigns it certain medicinal qualities.31 Clover is still cultivated in the Elburz region,32 but horses are now fed almost entirely on straw and barley. Media was also famous for its silphium, or assafetida, a plant which the country still produces, 33 though not in any large quantity. No drug was in higher repute with the ancients for medicinal purposes; and though the Median variety was a coarse kind, inferior in repute, not only to the Cyrenaic, but also to the Parthian and the Syrian,34 it seems to have been exported both to Greece and Rome, 35 and to have been largely used by druggists, however little esteemed by physicians. 36 The other vegetable products which Media furnished, or was believed to furnish, to the ancient world were bdellium, amomum, cardamomum, gim tragacanth, wild-vine oil, and sagapenum, or the Ferula persica.37 Of these, gum tragacanth is still largely produced, and is an important article of com- merce.38 Wild vines abound in Zagros 39 and Elburz, but no oil is at present made from them. Bdellium, if it is benzoin, ainomum, and cardamomum were perhaps rather imported through Media 40 than the actual produce of the country, which is too cold in the winter to grow any good spices. The mineral products of Media noted by the ancient writers are nitre, salt, and certain gems, as emeralds, lapis lazuli, and the following obscurer kinds, the zathene, the gassinades, and the 29 See Varro, De Re Rvstica, i, 42; 21) and Theophrastus (De Hist, Plant. Virg. Georg. i. 215; Pliny, I. s. c. ix. 1); saga penum by Dioscorides (iii. 30 Strab. xi. 13, $ 7. 85); wild-vine oil (Enanthe) by Pliny 31 De Mat. Med. i. $ 176; iv. $ 18. (xii. 28); and cardamomum by the same 32 See Morier, Second Journey, p. 361. writer (xii. 13). Theophrastus expresses 33 Chesney, vol. i. p. 80; Chardin, i a doubt whether amomum and carda- tom. iii. p. 17. momum came from Media or from India 34 Pliny, H. N. xxii. 23. Compare (viii. 7). Strab. xi, 13, $ 7. 38 Ollivier, tom. v. p. 343. 35 Diosc. De Mat. Med. iii. 81; Plin. 39 Rich, Kurdistan, p. 14+. H. N. xix. 3. 40 See above, note 37. Kuhn argues 56 Compare Strab. xi. 13, § 7 ad fin. that this was the case also with the with Diosc. iii. 81. | silphium or assafetida, which (he 37 Bdellium is called a Median pro- thinks) is scarcely to be found in Media duct by Pliny (11. N. xii. 9); amomum Proper. (See his edition of Dioscorides, by Pliny and Dioscorides (De Mat. Med. ! vol. ii. p. 530.) i. $ 14); gum tragacanth by Pliny (xiii. 306 Cuar. III. THE THIRD MONARCHY. CHAPTER III. CHARACTER, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, ART, &c., OF THE PEOPLE. “Pugnatrix natio et formidanda.”—AMM. Marc. xxiii. 6. The ethnic character of the Median people is at the present day scarcely a matter of doubt. The close connection which all history, sacred and profane, establishes between them and the Persians, the evidence of their proper names? and of their language, so far as it is known to us, together with the express statements of Herodotus4 and Strabo, combine to prove that they belonged to that branch of the human family known to us as the Arian or Iranic, a leading subdivision of the great Indo- European race. The tie of a common language, common man. ners and customs, and to a great extent a common belief, united in ancient times all the dominant tribes of the great plateau, extending even beyond the plateau in one direction to the Jaxartes (Syhun) and in another to the Hyphasis (Sutlej). Persians, Medes, Sagartians, Chorasmians, Bactrians, Sogdians, Hyrcanians, Sarangians, Gandarians, and Sanskritic Indians, 1 On this connection see Dan. v. 28 | shown by the indifferent use in the (" Thy kingdom is divided and given to Greek writers of the expressions Tà lep- the Medes and Persians "), vi. 8, 12, 15 i Orkd and td Mndikà for the Persian war, ("the law of the Medes and Persians"), ο Πέρσης and ο Μήδος for the invader. Esther i. 3 (“the power of Persia and Compare undi(elv, undiouós, and the Media"), i. 14 (“the princes of Persia like. and Media"), i. 19 (“the laws of the ? See the analysis of the Median and Persians and the Medes "), x. 2 ** the Persian Proper Names in the author's book of the chronicles of Media and Herodotus, vol. iii. pp. 444-455, 2nd edi- Persia"); and compare Herod. i. 102, tion. 130; Æsch. Pers. 761-775; Xen. Cyrop. 3 See the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. i. 2, § 1, et passim ; Beh. Ins. col. i. par. 552, note. 10, § 10; par. 11, $ 7; par. 12, $ 3; par. Herod. vii. 62. Oi Mņdou ékaMÉOVTO 13, § 2; par. 14, § 7. Medes were fre πάλαι προς πάντων 'Aριοι. quently employed as generals by the Strab. xv. 2, $ 8.' 'ETEKTELVETA. 8è Persians. (See Herod. i. 156, 162; vi. τούνομα της 'Αριανής μέχρι μέρους τινός 94; Beh. Ins. col. ii. par. 14, $ 6; col. kal nepowy kal Mýdwv. ..... Eiol iii. par. 14, $ 3.) The closeness of the γάρ πως και ομόγλωττοι παρά μικρόν. connection is perhaps most strikingly Chap. III. ARIAN PHYSIOGNOMY.. 307 belonged all to a single stock, differing from one another pro- bably not much more than now differ the various subdivisions of the Teutonic or the Slavonic race. Between the tribes at the two extremities of the Arian territory the divergence was no doubt considerable; but between any two neighbouring tribes the difference was probably in most cases exceedingly slight. At any rate this was the case towards the west, where the Medes and Persians, the two principal sections of the Arian body in that quarter, are scarcely distinguishable from one another in any of the features which constitute ethnic type. The general physical character of the ancient Arian race is best gathered from the sculptures of the Achæmenian kings, which exhibit to us a very noble variety of the human species- a form tall, graceful, and stately; a physiognomy handsome and pleasing, often somewhat resembling the Greek ;8 the forehead high and straight, the nose nearly in the same line, long and well formed, sometimes markedly aquiline, the upper lip short, commonly shaded by a moustache, the chin rounded and gene- rally covered with a curly beard. The hair evidently grew in great plenty, and the race was proud of it. On the top of the head it was worn smooth, but it was drawn back from the fore- head and twisted into a row or two of crisp curls, while at the same time it was arranged into a large mass of similar small close ringlets at the back of the head and over the ears. Of the Median women we have no representations upon the sculptures; but we are informed by Xenophon that they were remarkable for their stature and their beauty. The same qualities were observable in the women of Persia, as we learn 6 See the author's Herodotus, vol. i. pp. l fied; and if the expression is not full of 550-555, 2nd edition. life and genius, it is intellectual and i The only certain representations of indicative of reflection. The shape of actual Medes which the sculptures fur- ! the head is entirely Indo-European, and nish are the prostrate figure and the has nothing that recalls the Tartar or third standing rebel in the Behistun Mongolian." (Natural History of Man, bas-relief. But the artist in this sculp- | p. 173.) ture makes no pretence of marking 9 Xen. Anab. iii. 2, $ 25. In accord- ethnic difference by a variety in the ance with his statement in this place, physiognomy. Xenophon makes the daughter of Cy- & Dr. Prichard observes of the type axares, whom he marries to Cyrus the in question: " The outline of the coun Great, an extraordinary beauty. (Cyrop. tenance is here not strictly Grecian, for viii, 5, $ 28.) it is peculiar; but it is noble and digni- i x 2 308 CHAP. III. THE THIRD MONARCHY. from Plutarch,0 Ammianus Marcellinus," and others. The Arian races seem in old times to have treated women with a certain chivalry, which allowed the full development of their physical powers, and rendered them specially attractive alike to their own husbands and to the men of other nations. No 09903 60696 96 9600 GOOG 02 Arian physiognomy (Persepolis). The modern Persian is a very degenerate representative of the ancient Arian stock. Slight and supple in person, with quick, glancing eyes, delicate features, and a vivacious manner, 10 Plut. Vit. Alexand. p. 676, D. " Amm. Marc. xxiv. 14. “Ex vir. ginibus, quæ speciosæ sunt captæ, ut in Perside, ubi feminarum pulchritudo ex- cellit.” Compare Quint. Curt. iii. 11; Arrian, Exp. Alex, ix, 19, &c. Char. II. MORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MEDES. 309 he lacks the dignity and strength, the calm repose and simple grace of the race from which he is sprung. Fourteen centuries of subjection to despotic sway have left their stamp upon his countenance and his frame, which, though still retaining some traces of the original type, bave been sadly weakened and lowered by so long a term of subservience. Probably the wild Kurd or Lur of the present day more nearly corresponds in physique to the ancient Mede than do the softer inhabitants of the great plateau. Among the moral characteristics of the Medes, the one most obvious is their bravery. “Pugnatrix natio et formidanda," says Ammianus Marcellinus in the fourth century of our era, summing up in a few words the general judgment of antiquity. 12 Originally equal, if not superior, to their close kindred, the Persians, they were throughout the whole period of Persian supremacy only second to them in courage and warlike qualities. Mardonius, when allowed to take his choice out of the entire host of Xerxes, selected the Median troops in immediate suc- cession to the Persians. Similarly, when the time for battle came he kept the Medes near himself, giving them their place in the line close to that of the Persian contingent. It was no doubt on account of their valour, as Diodorus suggests, that the Medes were chosen to make the first attack upon the Greek position at Thermopylæ, where though unsuccessful they evi- dently showed abundant courage.“ In the earlier times, before riches and luxury had eaten out the strength of the race, their valour and military prowess must have been even more con- spicuous. It was then especially that Media deserved to be called, as she is in Scripture, “ the mighty one of the heathen"5 _" the terrible of the nations.”6 Her valour, undoubtedly, was of the merciless kind. There was no tenderness, no hesitancy about it. Not only did her armies “dash to pieces” the fighting men of the nations opposed 12 Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6. Compare ! 3 Diod. Sic. xi. 6, § 3. Ai óvopelav Nic. Dam. Fr. 9; Diod. Sic. xi. 6; Herod. , apospívas aŭtoús. i. 95 ; &c. See Herod. vii. 210. Herod. viii. 113. ? Ibid... ix. 31., Ezek. xxxi. 11. 6 Ibid. verse 12. 310 CHAP. III. THE THIRD MONARCHY. to her, allowing apparently no quarter, but the women and the children suffered indignities and cruelties at the hands of her savage warriors, which the pen unwillingly records. The Median conquests were accompanied by the worst atrocities which lust and hate combined are wont to commit when they obtain their full swing. Neither the virtue of women nor the innocence of children were a protection to them. The infant was slain before the very eye of the parent. The sanctity of the hearth was invaded, and the matron ravished beneath her own roof-tree. Spoil, it would seem, was disregarded in com- parison with insult and vengeance; and the brutal soldiery cared little either for silver or gold, provided they could indulge freely in that thirst for blood which man shares with the hyæna and the tiger. The habits of the Medes in the early part of their career were undoubtedly simple and manly. It has been observed with justice that the same general features have at all times dis- tinguished the rise and fall of Oriental kingdoms and dynasties. A brave and adventurous prince, at the head of a population at once poor, warlike, and greedy, overruns a vast tract, and acquires extensive dominion, while his successors, abandoning themselves to sensuality and sloth, probably also to oppressive and irascible dispositions, become in process of time victims to those same qualities in another prince and people, which had enabled their own predecessors to establish their power.10 It was as being braver, simpler, and so stronger than the Assyrians, that the Medes were able to dispossess them of their sovereignty over Western Asia. But in this, as in most other cases of con- quest throughout the East, success was followed almost imme- diately by degeneracy. As captive Greece captured her fierce conqueror, 11 so the subdued Assyrians began at once to corrupt their subduers. Without condescending to a close imitation of Assyrian manners and customs, the Medes proceeded directly * Isaiah xiii. 15 and 18. 8 Ibid. verse 16. “ Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished." 9 See verse 17. 10 Grote, History of Greece, vol. iji. p. 157, 2nd ed. 11 Horat. Epist. ii. 1, 156. “Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit." CHAP. III. READY ADOPTION OF LUXURIOUS HABITS. 311 after their conquest to relax the severity of their old habits and to indulge in the delights of soft and luxurious living. The historical romance of Xenophon presents us probably with a true picture, when it describes the strong contrast which existed towards the close of the Median period between the luxury and magnificence which prevailed at Ecbatana, and the primitive simplicity of Persia Proper,12 where the old Arian habits, which had once been common to the two races, were still maintained in all their original severity. Xenophon's anthority in this work is, it must be admitted, weak, and little trust can be placed in the historical accuracy of his details; but his general statement is both in itself probable, and is also borne out to a considerable extent by other authors. Herodotus and Strabo note the luxury of the Median dress,13 while the latter author goes so far as to derive the whole of the later Persian splendour from an imitation of Median practices. We must hold then that towards the latter part of their empire the Medes became a comparatively luxurious people, not indeed laying aside alto- gether their manly habits, nor ceasing to be both brave men and good soldiers, but adopting an amount of pomp and mag- nificence to which they were previously strangers, affecting splendour in their dress and apparel, grandeur and rich orna- ment in their buildings,15 variety in their banquets, 16 and attaining on the whole a degree of civilisation not very greatly inferior to that of the Assyrians. In taste and real refine- ment they seem indeed to have fallen considerably below their teachers. A barbaric magnificence predominated in their orna- mentation over artistic effort, richness in the material being preferred to skill in the manipulation. Literature, and even letters, were very sparingly cultivated." But little originality was developed. A stately dress, and a new style of architecture, 12 Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, § 2, et seq. seems to be implied by the mention in 13 Herod. i. 135 ; Strab. xi. 13, $ 9. Esther of the “book of the chronicles 14 Strab. I. s. C. of the kings of Media and Persia ” (x. 2). is See above, p. 265. The actual work alluded to may perhaps 16 Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, § 4. Mavrodana have been a Persian compilation; but εμβάμματα και βρώματα. the Persian writer would scarcely have 1. The use of writing by the Medes is ventured to write the “ chronicles of the indicated in the Book of Daniel (vi. 9). kings of Media," unless he had Median The existence of a Median literature | materials to go upon. 312 CHAP. III. THE THIRD MONARCHY. are almost the only inventions to which the Medes can lay claim. They were brave, energetic, enterprising, fond of dis- play, capable of appreciating to some extent the advantages of civilised life; but they had little genius, and the world is scarcely indebted to them for a single important addition to the general stock of its ideas. Of the Median customs in war we know but little. Herodotus tells us that in the army of Xerxes the Medes were armed exactly as the Persians, carrying on their heads a soft felt cap, on their bodies a sleeved tunic, and on their legs trowsers. Their offensive arms, he says, were the spear, the bow, and the dagger. They had large wicker shields, and bore their quivers suspended at their backs. Sometimes their tunic was made into a coat of mail by the addition to it on the outside of a number of small iron plates arranged so as to overlap each other, like the scales of a fish. They served both on horseback and on foot, with the same equipment in both cases." There is no reason to doubt the correctness of this description of the Median military dress under the early Persian kings. The only question is how far the equipment was really the ancient warlike costume of the people. It seems in some respects too elaborate to be the armature of a simple and primi- tive race. We may reasonably suppose that at least the scale armour and the unwieldy wicker shields (yéppa), which re- quired to be rested on the ground, were adopted at a some- what late date from the Assyrians. At any rate the original character of the Median armies, as set before us in Scripture, and as indicated both by Strabo 5 and Xenophon, is simpler than the Herodotean description. The primitive Medes seem to have been a nation of horse-archers.” Trained from their early boyhood to a variety of equestrian exercises, and well i Herod. vii. 61. On the scale armour, of the Assyrians, see above, vol. i. pp. 431-433, and 441-444. On that of the Egyptians, see Wilkinson in the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 65, 2nd edit. 2 Herod. vii. 86. 3 See above, vol. i. pp. 444-446; and compare Herod. ix. 62; Xen. Anab. i. 8, $ 9, &c. - Compare Isaiah xiii. 18; Jerem. I. 9, 29, li. 11, &c. 5 Strab. xi. 13, $ 9. 6 Xen. Cyrop. ii. 1, $ 6. ? Of course the Medes had always some footmen, but their strength was in their horse. I do not believe in their using chariots. (Nic. D. Fr. 10.) o Xen. Cyrop. i. 4, § 4. Compare CHAP. III. MILITARY EQUIPMENT. 313 practised in the use of the bow, they appear to have proceeded against their enemies with clouds of horse, almost in Scythian fashion, and to have gained their victories chiefly by the skill with which they shot their arrows as they advanced, retreated, or manoeuvred about their foe. No doubt they also used the sword and the spear. The employment of these weapons has been almost universal throughout the East from a very remote antiquity, and there is some mention of them in connection with the Medes and their kindred, the Persians, in Scripture;' but it is evident that the terror which the Medes inspired arose mainly from their dexterity as archers.10 No representation of weapons which can be distinctly recognised as Median has come down to us. The general character of the military dress and of the arins appears, pro- bably, in the Persepolitan sculptures; but as these reliefs are in most cases representations, not of Medes, but of Persians, and as they must be here- after adduced in illustration of the military customs of the latter people, only a very sparing use of them can be made in the present chapter. It would seem that the bow employed was short and very much curved, and that, like the Assyrian," it was usually carried in a bow-case, which Mede or Persian carrying a might either be slung at the back bo:v in its case (Persepolis). or hung from the girdle. The arrows, which were borne in a quiver slung behind the riglit shoulder, must have been short, Strabo, who says (1. s.c.) that the famous ! 10 The fame of the Medes as archers Persian educational system was wholly passed on to the Persians, and even to copied from the Median. ECO the Parthians, who with the tastes in- The sword is mentioned in connec- | herited the name of the earlier people. tion with the Medes and Persians in Hence the “horribilis Medus" (Hor. Jeremiah 1. 35–37. “The bow and the Od. i. 29, 4) and the “Medi pharetra spear” are united in vi. 23, and again decori” of Horace (Od. ii. 16, 6.) " Supra, vol. i. p. 451. in l. 42. 314 CHAP. III. THE THIRD MONARCHY. certainly not exceeding the length of three feet. The quiver appears to have been round: it was covered at the top, and was fastened by means of a flap and strap, which last passed over a button. Bow and quiver (Persepolis). The Median spear or lance was from six to seven feet in length. Its head was lozenge-shaped and flattish, but strength- Persian or Median spear (Persepolis). ened by a bar or line down the middle.12 It is uncertain whether the head was inserted into the top of the shaft, or whether it did 12 Compare the Assyrian spearheads, vol. i. p. 457. CHAP. III. DRESS. 315 Law not rather terminate in a ring or socket into which the upper end of the shaft was itself inserted. The shaft tapered gra- dually from bottom to top, and terminated below in a knob or ball, which was perhaps sometimes carved into the shape of some natural object.13 The sword was short, being in fact little more than a dagger.14 It depended at the right thigh from a belt which encircled the waist, and was further secured by a strap attached to the bottom Shield of a warrior of the sheath, and passing round the soldier's (Persepolis). right leg a little above the knee. Median shields were probably either round or oval. The oval specimens bore a resemblance to the shield of the Baotians, having a small oval aperture at either side, apparently for the sake of greater lightness. They were strengthened at the centre by a circular boss or disk, ornamented with knobs or circles. They would seem to ☺ have been made either of metal or wood. The favourite dress of the Medes in peace is well known to us from the sculptures. There can be no reasonable doubt that the long flowing robe so remarkable for its grace- ful folds, which is the garb of the kings, the chief nobles, and the officers of the court in all the Persian bas-reliefs, and which is seen also upon the darics and the gems, is the famous “Median garment” of Herodotus, Xenophon, and Strabo. This garment fits the chest and shoulders closely, but falls over 5 the arms in two large loose sleeves, open at Median robe (Perse- the bottom. At the waist it is confined by a polis). 13 The lower end of the Persian spears p 514, D.) terminated frequently in an apple or 1 4 So Xenophon calls the Persian sword, pomegranate (Herod. vii. 41; Athen. Máxaipov konída. (Cyrop. i. 2, § 13.) Deipn. xii. p. 514, B. According to î 'EoOtis Mnoikń. Herod. i. 135; vii. Clearchus of Soli, this practice was 116; EtonMndinh. Xen. Cyrop. viii. adopted by the Persians from the Medes, \ 8, § 15; Etonn Tiepoikń. Strab. xi. 13, and was intended as a reproach to the i $ 9. This, Strabo expressly says, was latter for their unmanly luxury. (Athen. adopted from the Medes. 316. Сніг. ІІІ. THE THIRD MONARCHY. cincture. Below it is remarkably full and ample, drooping in two clusters of perpendicular folds at the two sides, and between these bang- ing in festoons like a curtain. It ex- tends down to the ankles, where it is met by a high shoe or low boot, opening in front and secured by buttons. Median shoe (Persepolis). These Median robes were of many colours. Sometimes they were purple, sometimes scarlet, occa- sionally a dark grey, or a deep crimson.” Procopius says that they were made of silk," and this statement is confirmed to some extent by Justin, who speaks of their transparency. It may be doubted, however, whether the material was always the same; probably it varied with the season, and also with the wealth of the wearer. Besides this upper robe, which is the only garment shown in the sculptures, the Medes wore as under garments a sleeved shirt or tunic of a purple colour, and embroidered drawers or trowsers. They co- Median head-dress (Persepolis). vered the head, not only out of doors, but in their houses,” wearing either felt caps (Tirol) like the Persians, or a head-dress of a more elaborate character, 3 OS Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3, $ 3. 'EEÉPEPE | Parthian standards were of silk (Florus, δή και άλλας Μηδικάς στολάς: παμπόλ. iii. 11); and there can be little doubt λας γαρ παρεσκευάσατο, ουδέν φειδό that the looms of China, India, and μενος, ούτε πορφυρίδων, ούτε ορφνίνων, Cashmere produced rich silken fabrics ούτε φοινικίδων ούτε καρυκίνων ιματίων, from a remote period, which were ex- Another kind of Median robe, called sara ported into the neighbouring countries pis, seems to have been striped alternately of Media and Persia. white and purple. (Compare Pollux, vii. • Justin says of the Parthians: “Ves- 13, with Hesychius ad voc. oápanis.) tis olim sui moris; posteaquam acces- 3 Procop. De Bell. Pers. i. 20, p. 106, sere opes, ut Medis, perlucida ac fluida" C. Silken fabrics were manufactured (xli. 2). by the Greeks from the middle of the 's See Xen, Anab. i. 5, § 8, and com- fourth century B.C. (Aristot. Hist. An. pare Cyrop. i. 3, $ 2. v. 19.) They probably imported the o Nokias åvačvpidas. Xen. Anab. raw silk from Asia, where the material I. s. c. Compare Strab. xi. 13, $ 9. was in use from a very early time. The ! ? Strab. I. s. c.; Herod. iii. 12. CHAP. III. MEDIAN LOVE OF ORNAMENT, 317 which bore the name of tiara or cidaris. This appears to have been, not a turban, but rather a kind of high-crowned hat, either stiff or flexible, made probably of felt or cloth, and dyed of different hues, according to the fancy of the owner. The Medes took a particular delight in the ornamentation of their persons. According to Xenophon they were acquainted with most of the expedients by the help of which vanity attempts to conceal the ravages of time, and to create an arti- ficial beauty. They employed cosmetics which they rubbed into the skin, for the sake of improving the complexion. They made use of an abundance of false hair.10 Like many other Oriental nations, both ancient and modern, they applied dyes to enhance the brilliancy of the eyes," and give them a greater apparent size and soft- ness. They are also fond of wearing golden ornaments. Chains or collars of gold usually adorned their necks, bracelets of the same precious metal encircled their wrists,12 and ear-rings were inserted into their ears.13 Gold was also used in the caparisons of their A Mede or Persian wear- horses, the bit and other parts of the har- ing a collar and ear- ness being often of this valuable material.14 rings (Persepolis). . We are told that the Medes were very luxurious at their ban. quets. Besides plain meat and game of different kinds, with the ordinary accompaniments of wine and bread, they were accustomed to place before their guests a vast number of side- dishes, together with a great variety of sances.15 They ate with & Strictly speaking these words are narus the Babylonian (Nic. Dam. Fr. 10). not synonyms. The name tiara was It seems to have been adopted from the generic, applying to all the tall caps ; | Medes by the Persians. (Xen. Cyrop. while cidaris or cituris was specific, being | viii. 8, § 20.) properly applied to the royal head-dress 12 Strab. 1. s. C.; Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, $ 2. only. (See Brisson, De Regn. Pers. ii. 13 Ear-rings commonly accompany the pp. 309-312.) Median dress on the Persepolitan sculp- • Xpouamos by puts. (Xen. Curop. tures. They are mere plain rings without i. 3, & 2.) any pendant. See the above woodcut. 16 Xóuai apbobetoi. (Ibid.) Nicolas of Damascus assigns ear-rings 11 'Opañv únoypačń. (Ibid.) This (exbbia) to Nanarus, a satrap under practice is ascribed to Sardanapalus (Nic. the Medes. (Fr. 10.) Dam. Fr. 8; Athen. Deipn. xii. 7, p. 529, 14 Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, $ 3. A; Diod. Sic. ii. 23); and again to Na- 15 Ibid. $ 4. 318 Chap. III. THE THIRD MONARCHY. the hand, as is still the fashion in the East, and were sufficiently refined to make use of napkins.16 Each guest had his own dishes, and it was a mark of special honour to augment their number.17 Wine was drunk both at the meal and afterwards, often in an undue quantity; and the close of the feast was apt to be a scene of general turmoil and confusion.18 At the Court it was customary for the king to receive his wine at the hands of a cupbearer, who first tasted the draught, that the king might be sure it was not poisoned, and then presented it to his master with much pomp and ceremony.19 The whole ceremonial of the Court seems to have been imposing. Under ordinary circumstances the monarch kept himself secluded, and no one could obtain admission to him unless he formally requested an audience, and was introduced into the royal presence by the proper officer. On his admission he prostrated himself upon the ground, with the same signs of adoration which were made on entering a temple. The king, surrounded by his attendants, eunuchs, and others, maintained a haughty reserve, and the stranger only beheld him from a dis- tance. Business was transacted in a great measure by writing. The monarch rarely quitted his palace, contenting himself with such reports of the state of his Empire as were transmitted to him from time to time by his officers. 3 The chief amusement of the Court, in which however the king rarely partook," was hunting. Media always abounded in beasts of chase;' and lions, bears, leopards, wild boars, stags, gazelles, wild sheep, and wild asses, are mentioned among the animals hunted by the Median nobles. Of these the first four 16 Xespóuaktpa. (Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, $ 5.) | Median kings. Certainly neither Xeno- 17 Ibid. $ 6. phon in his Cyropædia, nor Ctesias in 18 See the description in Xenophon. the fragments which remain of his (Cyrop. i. 3, § 10.) Compare the Persian writings, appears to hold such extreme practice. (Herod. i. 133.) views on the subject as “the Father of 19 Cyrop. i. 3, $ 8. History." i Herod. i. 99. Compare Nic. Dam. Herodotus's account would neces. Fr. 66. (Fr. Hist. Gr. vol. iii. p. 402.) i sarily imply this. Xenophon furnishes 2 Strab. 1. s.c. LeBaruds OOTPETTÝs i no contradiction; for he does not make els Toùs 17époas napà Mhowy åpiktai. | the king hunt in person. 3 This, at least, is the account of Hero- i. s See above, p. 295. dotus (i. 100). But it may be doubted! 6 Xen. Cyrop. i, 4, $ 7. Nicolas of whether he does not somewhat over-state Damascus mentions the wild boars, the the degree of seclusion affected by the stags, and the wild asses. (Fr. 10.) CHAP. III. PRACTICE OF POLYGAMY. 319 were reckoned dangerous, the others harmless. It was cus- tomary to pursue these animals on horseback, and to aim at them with the bow or the javelin. We may gather a lively idea of some of these hunts from the sculptures of the Parthians, who some centuries later inhabited the same regions. We see in these the rush of great troops of boars through marshes dense with water-plants, the bands of beaters urging them on, the sportsmen aiming at them with their bows, and the game falling transfixed with two or three well-aimed shafts. Again we see herds of deer driven within enclosures, and there slain by archers who shoot from horseback, the monarch under his parasol looking on the while, pleased with the dexterity of his servants." It is thus exactly that Xenophon portrays Astyages as contem- plating the sport of his courtiers, complacently viewing their enjoyment, but taking no active part in the work himself.10 Like other Oriental sovereigns, the Median monarch main- tained a seraglio of wives and concubines ; 11 and polygamy was commonly practised among the more wealthy classes. Strabo speaks of a strange law as obtaining with some of the Median tribes-a law which required that no man should be content with fewer wives than five.2 It is very unlikely that such a burthen was really made obligatory on any: most probably five legiti- mate wives, and no more, were allowed by the law referred to, just as four wives, and no more, are lawful for Mahometans. Polygamy, as usual, brought in its train the cruel practice of castration; and the Court swarmed with eunuchs, chiefly foreigners purchased in their infancy.13 Towards the close of the Empire this despicable class appears to have been all- powerful with the monarch.14 Thus the tide of corruption gradually advanced; and there is + Xen. Cyrop. I. s. C. I ricortas. * See the engraving in Ker Porter's 1 11 Strab. xi. 13, $ 11. Compare Nico- Travels, vol. ii. opp. p. 175, or the more! las of Damascus, Fr. 66 (Fr. Hist, Gr. carefully drawn representation in Flan vol. iii. p. 403). din's Voyage en Perse, tom. i. pl. 10. 12 Strab. I. s. c. . Ker Porter, vol. ii. opp. p. 177; i 13 Clearch, Sol. ap. Athen. Deipn, xii. Flandin, tom. i. pl. 12. 2, p. 514, D. 10 Xen. Cyrop. i. 4, § 15. 'Ebeato 14 Nic. Dam. Fr. 66 (Fr. Hist. Gr. tous auidiwuévous éti Tá Onpia, kal vol. iii. pp. 398 and 402). φιλονεικούντας, και διώκοντας, και ακον- 320 Chap. III. THE THIRD MONARCHY. reason to believe that both Court and people had in a great measure laid aside the hardy and simple customs of their forefathers, and become enervated through luxury, when the revolt of the Persians came to test the quality of their courage, and their ability to maintain their Empire. It would be im- proper in this place to anticipate the account of this struggle, which must be reserved for the historical chapter; but the well- known result—the speedy and complete success of the Persians- must be adduced among the proofs of a rapid deterioration in the Median character between the accession of Cyaxares and the capture-less than a century later—of Astyages. We have but little information with respect to the state of the arts among the Medes. A barbaric magnificence charac- terised, as has been already observed, their architecture, which differed from the Assyrian in being dependent for its effect on groups of pillars rather than on painting or sculpture. Still sculpture was, it is probable, practised to some extent by the Medes, who, it is almost certain, conveyed on to the Persians those modifications of Assyrian types which meet us everywhere in the remains of the Achæmenian monarchs. The carving of winged genii, of massive forms of bulls and lions, of various gro- tesque monsters, and of certain clumsy representations of actual life, imitated from the bas-reliefs of the Assyrians, may be safely ascribed to the Medes; since, had they not carried on the tra- ditions of their predecessors, Persian art could not have borne the resemblance that it does to Assyrian. But these first mimetic efforts of the Arian race have almost wholly perished, and there scarcely seems to remain more than a single fragment which can be assigned on even plausible grounds to the Median period. A portion of a colossal lion, greatly injured by time, is still to be seen at Hamadan, the site of the great Median capital, which the best judges regard as anterior to the Persian period, and as therefore most probably Median. It consists of the head and body of the animal, from which the four legs and the tail have been broken off, and measures between eleven and twelve feet from the crown of the head to the point from which Flandin, Voyage en Perse, p. 17. Sir H. Rawlinson is of the same opinion, CHAP. III. MEDIAN SCULPTURE. 321 the tail sprang. By the position of the head and of what remains of the shoulders and thighs, it is evident that the animal was represented in a sitting posture, with the fore legs straight and the hind legs gathered up under it. To judge of the feeling and general character of the sculpture is difficult, owing to the worn and mutilated condition of the work; but we Colossal lion (Ecbatana), seem to trace in it the same air of calm and serene majesty that characterises the colossal bulls and lions of Assyria, together with somewhat more of expression and of softness than are seen in the productions of that people. Its posture, which is unlike that of any Assyrian specimen, indicates a certain amount of originality as belonging to the Median artists, while its colossal size seems to show that the effect on the spectator was still to be produced, not so much by expression, finish, or truth to nature, as by mere grandeur of dimension. VOL. II. 322 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. CHAPTER IV. RELIGION. αυτούς είναι το -DIOd. L. Το μεν όνομα 'Αριστοτέλης φησί δύο κατ' αυτούς είναι αρχάς, αγαθόν δαίμονα και κακόν δαίμονα και το μεν όνομα είναι Ζεύς και Ωρομάσδης, το δε "Αδης και 'Αρειμάνιος. -Diog. LAERT. Proæm. p. 2. THE earliest form of the Median religion is to be found in those sections of the Zendavesta? which have been pronounced on internal evidence to be the most ancient portions ? of that venerable compilation; as, for instance, the first Fargard of the Vendidad, and the Gâthâs, or “ Songs,"3 which occur here and 1 The Zend-Avesta, or sacred volume | Burnouf of the first and ninth chapters of the Parsecs, which has now been | of the Yacna (Commentaire sur le Yucna, printed both by Westergaard (1852 Paris, 1833; and the Journal asiatique 1854) and Spiegel (1851-1858), and for 1844-1846), and Martin Haug of the translated into German by the latter, is Gâthâs (2 vols., Leipsic, 1858-1860), a compilation for liturgical purposes and other fragments (Essays on the from various older works which have Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion been lost. It is composed of eight pieces of the Parsees, Bombay, 181,2). Pro- or books, entitled Yacna, Visporatu or fessor Westergaard of Copenhagen is Visparad, Vendidad, Yashts, Nyâyish, understood to be engaged upon a com- Afrigâns, Gâhs, Sirozah. It is written plete translation of the whole work into in the old form of Arian speech called English. When this version appears it the Zend, a language closely cognate to will probably leave little to be desired. the Sanscrit of the Vedas and to Achæ The word “ Zend-Avesta," introduced menian Persian, or the Persian of the into the languages of Europe by Du Cuneiform inscriptions. A Pehlevi trans Perron, is incorrect. The proper form lation of the more important books, is “Avesta-Zend," which is the order made probably under the Sassunidæ always used in the Pehlevi books. This (A.D. 235-640) is extant, and a Sanscrit word, “ Avesta-Zend," is a contraction translation of the Yacna, made about ! of Avesta u Zend, “Avesta and Zend," the end of the fifteenth century by a i.e. Text and Comment. Avesta (aca- certain Neriosengh. The celebrated sthâ) means “text, scripture;" its Peh- Frenchman, Anquetil du Perron, first levi form is apistak, and it is cognate with acquainted the learned of Europe with the late Sanscrit and Mahratta pustak, this curious and valuable compilation. “ book.” Zend (zand) is “explanation, His translation (Paris, 1771), confused in comment." (See Haug's Essays, pp. 120- its order, and often very incorrect, is now 122; and compare Bunsen's Egypt, vol. antiquated ; and students unacquainted iii. p. 474, note.) with Zend will do well to have recourse to 2 Haug, Essays, pp. 50-116; Bunsen, Spiegel, who, however, is far from a per-| Egypt, vol. iii. p. 476. fect translator. The best Zend scholars i 3 It was doubted for some time whether have as yet attempted versions of some | the Gâthàs were really ** songs.” Brock. portions of the Zendavesta only — as haus said in 1850, “Jusqu'ici je n'ai pu CAAP. IV. RELIGION OF THE MEDES. 323 there in the Yaşna, or Book on Sacrifice. In the Gâthâs, which belong to a very remote era indeed, we seem to have the first beginnings of the Religion, We may indeed go back by their aid to a time anterior to themselves—a time when the Arian race was not yet separated into two branches, and the Easterns and Westerns, the Indians and Iranians, had not yet adopted the conflicting creeds of Zoroastrianism and Brahminism. At that remotep eriod we seem to see prevailing a polytheistic nature-worship—a recognition of various divine beings, called indifferently Asuras (Ahuras), or Devas, each independent of the rest, and all seemingly nature-powers rather than persons, whereof the chief are Indra, Storm or thunder; Mithra, Sun- light; Aramati (Armaiti), Earth; Vayu, Wind; Agni, Fire; and Soma (Homa), Intoxication. Worship is conducted by priests, who are called kavi, “ seers;" kara pani, “sacrificers," or riçikhs, “ wise men.". It consists of hymns in honour of the Gods; sacrifices, bloody and unbloody, some portion of which is burnt upon an altar; and a peculiar ceremony, called that of Soma, in which an intoxicating liquor is offered to the gods, and then consumed by the priests, who drink till they are drunken. Such, in outline, is the earliest phase of Arian religion, and it is common to both branches of the stock, and anterior to découvrir la moindre trace de mesure | Laert. Pref. 6; Plin. II, N. xxx, 1; Her- dans les morceaux que l'on peut regarder mipp. Fr. 79; Xan. Lyd. Fr. 29, &c.) comme des Gâthâs.” (Vendead-Sade, | Their style shows them to be consider- p. 357, ad voc. gatha.) But Haug has ably anterior to the first Fargard of the shown distinctly, not only that they are Vendidad, which must have been com- metrical, but that the metres are of the posed before the great migration of the same nature as those which are found in Medes southward from the Caspian the Vedic hymns. (Essays, pp. 136 region. Haug is inclined to date the 138.) And Westergaard has shown by Zoroastrian Gâthâs as early as the time his mode of printing that he regards of Moses. (Essays, p. 255.) them as metrical. 6 The Sanscrit s is replaced most com- + Yacna in Zend is equivalent to monly by h in Zend. Asura or anur is yajna in Sanscrit, and means “sacri properly an adjective meaning “living." fice.” The Yacna consists chiefly of But it is ordinarily used as a substantive, prayers, hymns, &c., relating to sacri and means “divine or celestial being." ficial rites, and intended to be used ? The word deva is clearly cognate during the performance of sacrifice. to the Latin Deus, Dirus, Lithuanian 3 Traditionally several of the Gathâs dicwas, Greek Zeus or goeus, &c. In are ascribed to Zoroaster, whose date modern Persian it has become div. was anterior to B.C. 2000 according to & Aramati is the Sanscrit, Armaiti the Berosus, and whom other writers place Zend form. still earlier. (See Aristot. ap. Diog. 1 º Haug, Essays, pp. 245-247. Y 2 324 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. the rise of the Iranic, Median, or Persian system. That system is a revolt from this sensuous and superficial nature-worship. It begins with a distinct recognition of spiritual intelligences real persons with whom alone, and not with powers, religion is concerned. It divides these intelligences into good and bad, pure and impure, benignant and malevolent. To the former it applies the term Asuras (Ahuras), “ living” or “spiritual beings,” in a good sense; to the latter, the term Deva's, in a bad one. It regards the “ powers” hitherto worshipped as chiefly Devas; but it excepts from this unfavourable view a certain number, and, recognising them as Asuras, places them among the Izeds, or “angels.” Thus far it has made two ad- vances, each of great importance, the substitution of real “ per- sons” for “ powers,” as objects of the religious faculty, and the separation of the persons into good and bad, pure and impure, righteous and wicked. But it does not stop here. It proceeds to assert, in a certain sense, monotheism against polytheism. It boldly declares that, at the head of the good intelligences, is a single great Intelligence, Ahurô-Mazdão,º the highest object of adoration, the true Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the universe. This is its great glory. It sets before the soul a single Being as the source of all good and the proper object of the highest worship. Ahurô-Mazdâo is “ the creator of life, the earthly and the spiritual;” 11 he has made “the celestial bodies,” 12 “ earth, water, and trees," 13 “ all good creatures," 14 and “ all good, true things.” 15 He is “ good, 16.” “ holy;" 17 " pure,"1 “true,"2 “ the Holy God,"3" the Holiest,"4 " the essence of truth,"5 “ the father of all truth,” 6 “ the best being of all," ? “ the master of purity.” He is supremely “happy,"\ pos- 10 Great difference of opinion exists | monly to express the idea of "a god." as to the meaning of this name. It has 11 Haug, Essays, p. 257. been translated “the great giver of life" 12 Yaçna, xxxi, 7. 13 Ibid. li. 7. (Sir H. Rawlinson's Persian Vocabulary, 14 Ibid. xxxi. 7. 18 Ibid. xliii. 2. ad voc. Auramazda); “the living wise'? 16 Ibid. xii. 1. 17 Jbid, xliii. 4, 5. (Haug, Essays, p. 33); "the living 1 Ibid. xxxv. 1. ? Ibid. xlvi. 2. Creator of all” (ibid. pp. 256, 257); 3 Ibid. xliii. 5. 4 Ibid. xlv. 5. “the divine much-knowing" (Brockhaus, 3 Ibid. xxxi. 8. 6 Ibid. xlvii. 1. Vendidad-Sadė, pp. 347 and 385); and * Ibid. xliii. 2. $ Ibid. xxxv. 1. “the divine much-giving" (ibid.). Both 9 Ibid. xxxv. 3. elements of the name were used com- 326 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. and the fidelity of the Jews towards the Persians. The Lord God of the Jews being recognised as identical with Ormazd, a sympathetic feeling united the peoples. The Jews, so impatient generally of a foreign yoke, never revolted from the Persians; and the Persians, so intolerant, for the most part, of religions other than their own, respected and protected Judaism. The sympathy was increased by the fact that the religion of Ormazd was anti-idolatrous. In the early nature-worship, idolatry had been allowed; but the Iranic system pronounced against it from the first.3 No images of Ahura-mazda, or of the Izeds, profaned the severe simplicity of an Iranic temple. It was only after a long lapse of ages, that, in connection with a foreign worship, idolatry crept in. The old Zoroastrianism was in this respect as pure as the religion of the Jews, and thus a double bond of religious sympathy united the Hebrews and the Arians. Under the supreme God, Ahura-mazda or Ormazd, the ancient Iranic system placed (as has been already observed) a number of angels. Some of these, as Vohu-mano, “the Good Mind;" Mazda, “the Wise” (?); and Asha, “ the True," are scarcely distinguishable from attributes of the Divinity. Armaiti, how- ever, the genius of the Earth, and Sraosha or Serosh, an angel, are very clearly and distinctly personified. Sraosha is Ormazd's messenger. He delivers revelations,” shows men the paths of happiness, and brings them the blessings which Ormazd has assigned to their share. Another of his functions is to protect the following :-" The Lord God of | xv. p. 159 ; Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiano, hearen hath given me (i.e. Cyrus) all the p. 378. On the first erection of statues kingdoms of the earth, and he hath! in honour of Anaitis, see the Chapter charged me to build him a house at / on the Persian Religion in the third Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who volume of this work, is there among you of all his people ? 5 Yazatas or izeds. His God be with him, and let him go 6 “ While the Amesha Spentas," says up to Jerusalem, and build the house of Ilaug," represent nothing but the quali- the Lord God of Israel-he is the God ties and gifts of Ahura-mazda; Sraosha which is in Jerusalem.” (Ezra i, 2, 3.) seems to have been considered as a per- ? See the Chapter on the Persian sonality.” (Essays, p. 261.) Haug even Religion in the “ Fifth Monarchy," regards Armaiti as not really a person Infra, vol, iii. (ibid.). 3 Yaçna, xxxii, 1, 2; xlv. 11; xlvi. | 1 Yaçna, xliii. 12, 14; xliv. I. 11; &c. 8 Ibid. xliii. 3. * Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. Ibid. xliii, 11 and 16. CHAP. IV. SRAOSHA AND ARMAITI. 327 the true faith.10 He is called in a very special sense, “the friend of Ormazd,” 11 and is employed by Ormazd not only to distribute his gifts, but also to conduct to him the souls of the faithful, when this life is over, and they enter on the celestial scene. 12 Armaiti is at once the genius of the Earth, and the goddess of piety. The early Ormazd worshippers were agriculturists, and viewed the cultivation of the soil as a religious duty enjoined upon them by God. Hence they connected the notion of piety with earth culture; and it was but a step from this to make a single goddess preside over the two. It is as the angel of Earth that Armaiti has most distinctly a personal character. She is regarded as wandering from spot to spot, and labouring to convert deserts and wildernesses into fruitful fields and gardens. She has the agriculturist under her immediate pro- tection, while she endeavours to persuade the shepherd, who persists in the nomadic life, to give up his old habits and com- mence the cultivation of the soil. She is of course the giver of fertility, and rewards her votaries by bestowing upon them abundant harvests. She alone causes all growth. In a cer- tain sense she pervades the whole material creation, mankind included, in whom she is even sometimes said to.“reside.” 6 Armaiti, further, " tells men the everlasting laws, which no one may abolish ” ?-laws, which she has learnt from converse with Ahura-mazda himself. She is thus naturally the second object of worship to the old Zoroastrian; and converts to the religion were required to profess their faith in her in direct succession to Ahura-mazda.8 From Armaiti must be carefully distinguished the géus urva, or “soul of the earth ”9—a being who nearly resembles the 10 Yacna, xliv. 9. 11 Ibid, xliv. 1 and 9. 12 "Ibid. xliii. 3. 1 Ibid. xxix. passim, xxxi. 9-10. ? So Haug expounds the somewhat ambiguous words of Yagna, xxxi. 9. (Essays, p. 144, note.) 3 Yacna, xxxi. 10. • Ibid. xxxv. 4. 3 Ibid. xliii, 16, ad fin. Ibid. 1. s. c. ; Ibid. xliii. 6. & See the formula by which the an- cient Iranians received men into their religious community, given in the 12th chapter of the Yacno, s 1 to $ 9, Literally “soul of the cow." In the poetical language of the old Iranians, the earth, which sustains all, was com- pared to a cow, the earliest sustainer of the family among them. (See Oxford 328 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. “ anima mundi” of the Greek and Roman philosophers. This spirit dwells in the earth itself, animating it as a man's soul animates his body. In old times, when man first began to plough the soil, geus urvâ cried aloud, thinking that his life was threatened, and implored the assistance of the archangels. They however where deaf to his entreaties (since Ormazd had decreed that there should be cultivation) and left him to bear his pains as he best could. It is to be hoped that in course of time he became callous to them, and made the discovery that mere scratches, though they may be painful, are not dan- gerous. It is uncertain whether in the most ancient form of the Iranic worship the cult of Mithra was included or no. On the one hand, the fact that Mithra is common to both forms of the Arian creed—the Indian and Iranic—would induce the belief that his worship was adopted from the first by the Zoroas- trians; on the other, the entire absence of all mention of Mithra from the Gâthâs would lead us to the conclusion that in the time when they were composed his cult had not yet begun. Perhaps we may distinguish between two forms of early Iranic worship, one that of the more intelligent and spiritual—the leaders of the secession in whose creed Mithra had no place ; the other that of the great mass of followers, a coarser and more material system, in which many points of the old religion were retained, and among them the worship of the Sun-god. This lower and more materialistic school of thought probably conveyed on into the Iranic system other points also common to the Zendavesta with the Vedas, as the recognition of Airyaman (Aryaman) as a genius presiding over marriages," of Vitrahâ as a very high angel,12 and the like. Vayu, “ the Wind," seems to have been regarded as a god from the first. He appears, not only in the later portions of the Zendavesta, like Mithra and Aryaman, but in the Gâthâs them- Essays for 1856, p. 17.) Perhaps the | 232. In the Vedas Vitraha is one of the Greek yñ (Dor. ya) is connected etymo most frequent epithets of Indra, who logically with go or ga, “cattle.” would thus seem to have retained some 10 Yaçan, xxix. 11 Ibid. liv. votaries among the Iranians. It meant . 18 See. Haug's Essays, pp. 193 and “killer of Vitra," who was a demon, CHAP. IV. VAYU–THE SOMA. 329 · which may ons did no Soma (H selves.13 His name is clearly identical with that of the Vedic Wind-god, Vâyu,14 and is apparently a sister form to the ventus, or wind, of the more western Arians. The root is probably vi, “ to go,” which may be traced in vis, via, vado, venio, &c. The ancient Iranians did not adopt into their system either Agni, “Fire” (Lat. ignis), or Soma (Homa), “ Intoxication.” Fire was indeed retained for sacrifice; 15 but it was regarded as a mere material agent, and not as a mysterious Power, the proper object of prayer and worship. The Soma worship,16 which formed a main element of the old religion, and which was retained in Brahminism, was at the first altogether discarded by the Zoroastrians; indeed, it seems to have been one of the main causes of that disgust which split the Arian body in two, and gave rise to the new religion."? A ceremony in which it was implied that the intoxication of their worshippers was 13 See Yacna, liii. 6. viously secured the assistance of Indra 34 Rig Veda Sanhita, vol. i. pp. 5, 6, | by preparing for him a solemn Soma 34, 35, &c. feast. The Kara pani” (priests) “dressed 15 Yaçna, xliii. 9; xlvi, 8; &c. it in due manner, and the Kavis " 16 The Soma ceremony is one of the (another order of priests) “ composed or most striking features of the old Hindoo | applied those verses, which were best religion. Wilson (H. H.) speaks of it calculated to induce Indra to accept the as “a singular part of their ritual” | invitation. The Kavis were believed to (Introduction to Rig-Veda Sanhita, vol. i. | recognize by certain marks the arrival p. xxxvi), and 'describes. it as follows: of the god. After he had enjoyed the “ The expressed and fermented juice of sweet beverage, the delicious honey, and the Somn plant was presented in ladles was supposed to be totally inebriated, then to the deities invoked, in what manner the Kavis promised victory. The in- does not exactly appear, although it roads were undertaken headed by those seems to have been sometimes sprinkled | Kavis who had preriously intoxicated on the fire, sometimes on the ground, or themselves, and they appear to have been rather on the Kusa, or sacred grass, in most cases successful.” (Essays, pp. strewed on the floor” (and forming the 247, 248.) These orgies may therefore supposed seat of the deities); “and in be compared with those which the Greeks all cases the residue was drunk by the celebrated in honour of Bacchus, and assistants” (p. xxiii). “ The only ex. may throw light on the supposed Indian planation," he adds, “ of which it is | origin of that deity. susceptible, is the delight, as well as as The Soma plant is said to be the acid tonishment, which the discovery of the Asclepias or Sarcostema viminalis (Wil- exhilarating, if not inebriating, proper son in Rig-Veda Sanhita, vol. i. p. 6, ties of the fermented juice of the plant notea.) The important part which it must have excited in simple minds on holds in the Vedas will be seen by re- first becoming acquainted with its ference to Mr. Wilson's translation of effects” (p. xxxvii). Haug says, “ The the Rig-Veda, vol. i. pp. 6, 11, 14, 21, early Indian tribes, as described in the 25, &c., and still more by reference to ancient songs of the Vedas, never en. Mr. Stevenson's translation of the Sâma- gaged themselves in their frequent pre. Veda, which is devoted almost entirely datory excursions for robbing cows, to its praises. horses, sheep, &c., without having pre 17 See Yacna, xxxii. 3, and xlviii. 10. 330 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. pleasing to the gods, and not obscurely hinted that they them- selves indulged in similar excesses, was revolting to the religious temper of those who made the Zoroastrian reformation; and it is plain from the Gâthâs that the new system was intended at first to be entirely free from the pollution of so disgusting a practice. But the zeal of religious reformers outgoes in most cases the strength and patience of their people, whose spirit is too gross and earthly to keep pace with the more lofty flights of the purer and higher intelligences. The Iranian section of the Arians could not be weaned wholly from their beloved Soma feasts; and the leaders of the movement were obliged to be content ultimately with so far reforming and refining the ancient ceremony as to render it comparatively innocuous. The portion of the rite which implied that the gods themselves indulged in intoxication was omitted;1 and for the intoxication of the priests was substituted a moderate use of the liquor, which, instead of giving a religious sanction to drunkenness, merely implied that the Soma juice was a good gift of God, one of the many blessings for which men had to be thankful.2 With respect to the evil spirits or intelligences, which, in the Zoroastrian system, stood over against the good ones, the teaching of the early reformers seems to have been less clear. The old divinities, except where adopted into the new creed, were in a general way called Devas, “ fiends” or “devils,” 3 in i Instead of pouring the liquor on god, the form diu was appropriated to a the fire or on the sacred grass, where particular god. (Compare our use of the the gods were supposed to sit, the Ira word “Heaven” in such expressions as nian priests simply showed it to the fire “ Heaven forbid," “ Heaven bless you!') and then drank it. (Haug, Essays, p. The particular god, the god of the air, 239.) appears in Greek as Ζεύς or Σδεύς, in ? The restoration of the modified Latin as Ju-piter, in old German as Tius, Soma (Homa) ceremony to the Iranian whence our Tuesday. Deva became Lat. ritual is indicated in “ the younger deus, dirus, Gr. deos, Lith. diecas, &c. Yaçna” (chs. ix. to xi.), more especially Thus far the word had invariably a good in the so called Homa Yasht, a transla sense. When, however, the Western tion of which by Burnouf is appended to Arians broke off from their brethren, the Vendidad-Sade of Brockhaus. and rejected the worship of their gods, 3 There is, of course, no etymological | whom they regarded as evil spirits, the connection between deva and “ devil.” word dera, which they specially applied Dera and the cognate diu are originally | to them, came to have an evil meaning, " the sky," “ the air”-a meaning which l equivalent to our “fiend” or “devil." diu often has in the Vedas. (Compare “Devil" is of course a mere corruption Lat. dium.) From this meaning, while of diábolos, Lat. diubolus, Ital, diacolo, deva passed into a general name for French diable, Negro, debbel. CHAP. IV. DUALISM NOT THE PRIMITIVE CREED. 331 contrast with the Ahuras, or “gods." These devas were repre- sented as many in number, as artful, malicious, deceivers and injurers of mankind, more especially of the Zoroastrians or Ormazd-worshippers, as inventors of spells 5 and lovers of the intoxicating Soma draught. Their leading characteristics were “ destroying” and “lying.” They were seldom, or never, called by distinct names. No account was given of their creation, nor of the origin of their wickedness. No single superior intelli- gence, no great Principle of Evil, was placed at their head. Ahriman (Angrô-mainyus) does not occur in the Gâthâs as a proper name. Far less is there any graduated hierarchy of evil, surrounding a Prince of Darkness with a sort of court, antagonistic to the angelic host of Ormazd, as in the later portions of the Zendavesta and in the modern Parsee system. Thus Dualism proper, or a belief in two uncreated and in- dependent principles, one a principle of good and the other a principle of evil, was no part of the original Zoroastrianism. At the same time we find, even in the Gâthâs, the earliest portions of the Zendavesta, the germ out of which Dualism sprang. The contrast between good and evil is strongly and sharply marked in the Gâthâs; the writers continually harp upon it; their minds are evidently struck with this sad anti- thesis, which colours the whole moral world to them; they see everywhere a struggle between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, purity and impurity; apparently they are blind to the evidences of harmony and agreement in the universe, discerning nothing anywhere but strife, conflict, antagonism. Nor is this all. They go a step further, and personify the two parties to the struggle. One is a “white,” or holy “Spirit” (spento mainyus), and the other a “dark spirit” (angro mainyus).? But this personification is merely poetical or metaphorical, not real. The “ white spirit” is not Ahura-mazda, and the “ dark spirit” is not a hostile intelligence. Both resolve themselves on examination into mere figures of speech-phantoms of poetic 4 Yacna, xii. 4; XXX. 6; xxxii. 5; 1 Ibid. xxxii. 3. xliv. 16; &c. ? See especially • Ibid, xxxii, 4, | compare xxx. 3-6. Yaçna, xlv. 2, and 332 Chap. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. imagery-abstract notions, clothed by language with an appa- rent, not a real, personality. It was natural that, as time went on, Dualism should develop itself out of the primitive Zoroastrianism. Language exercises a tyranny over thought, and abstractions in the ancient world were ever becoming persons. The Iranian mind, moreover, had been struck, when it first turned to contemplate the world, with a certain antagonism ; and, having once entered this track, it would be compelled to go on, and seek to discover the origin of the antagonism, the cause (or causes) to which it was to be ascribed. Evil seemed most easily accounted for by the sup- position of an evil Person ; and the continuance of an equal etruggle, without advantage to either side, which was what the Iranians thought they beheld in the world that lay around them, appeared to them to imply the equality of that evil Person with the Being whom they rightly regarded as the author of all good. Thus Dualism had its birth. The Iranians came to believe in the existence of two co-eternal and co-equal Persons, one good and the other evil, between whom there had been from all eternity a perpetual and never-ceasing conflict, and between whom the same conflict would continue to rage through all coming time. It is impossible to say how soon this development took place. We have evidence, however, that at a period considerably anterior to the commencement of the Median Empire, Dualism, not perhaps in its ultimate extravagant form, but certainly in a very decided and positive shape, had already been thought out and become the recognised creed of the Iranians. In the first Fargard, or chapter, of the Vendidad—the historical chapter, in which are traced the early movements of the Iranic peoples, and which from the geographical point whereat it stops must belong to a time when the Arians had not yet reached Media Magna '—the Dualistic belief clearly shows itself. The term 8 See Professor Max Müller's Essay in the Oxford Essays for 1856, pp. 34-37. 9 The date of the separation between the Eastern and Western Arians is ante-historic, and can only be vaguely guessed at. The Iranian settlements enumerated in the document extend westward no further than Rhages, or at the utmost to CHAP. IV. GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF DUALISM. 333 Angrô-mainyus has now become a proper name, and designates the great spirit of evil as definitely and determinately as Ahura- mazda designates the good spirit. The antagonism between Ahura-mazda and Angrô-mainyus is depicted in the strongest colours; it is direct, constant, and successful. Whatever good work Ahura-mazda in his benevolence creates, Angrô-mainyus steps forward to mar and blast it. If Ahura-mazda forms a “ delicious spot” in a world previously desert and uninhabitable, to become the first home of his favourites, the Arians, Angrô- mainyus ruins it by sending into it a poisonous serpent, and at the same time rendering the climate one of the bitterest severity. If Ahura-mazda provides, instead of this blasted region, another charming habitation, “the second best of regions and countries,"3 Angrô-mainyus sends there the curse of murrain, fatal to all cattle. To every land which Ahura-mazda creates for his worshippers, Angrô-mainyus immediately assigns some plague or other. War, ravages, sickness, fever, poverty, hail, earth- quakes, buzzing insects, poisonous plants, unbelief, witchcraft, and other inexpiable sins, are introduced by him into the various happy regions created without any such drawbacks by the good spirit ; and a world, which should have been“ very good,” is by these means converted into a scene of trial and suffering. The Dualistic principle being thus fully adopted, and the world looked on as the battle-ground between two independent and equal powers engaged in perpetual strife, it was natural that the imagination should complete the picture by ascribing to these superliuman rivals the circumstantials that accompany a Media Antropatêné, which may be indi- | was the centre of an empire, which cated by the Varena of $ 18. (See Bactria, he thinks, could not be after the Appendix, A.) Thus the Arians, when rise of Assyria (B.c. 1200, according to the document was written, had not yet him.) See Bunsen's Egypt, vol. i spread into Media Magna, much less 477, 478, E. T. But the Assyrian re- into Persia Proper. It must consequently cords render it absolutely certain that be anterior to the time of the first Shal Bactria was an independent country, maneser (B.C. 858-823), who found Medes even at the height of the Assyrian and Persians beyond the Zagros range. power. (See above, p. 101.) ? The mention of a serpent as the Dr. Haug thinks that the Fargard is first creation of Angrô-mainyus is anterior to B.C. 1200, because Bactria curious. Is it a paradisaïcal reminis- occurs in it accompanied by the epithet cence ? erédhuô-drafsha, “ with the tall banner” 3 Vendidad, Farg. i. $ 5. - an expression indicating that it CHAP. IV. THE SIX ARCHANGELS — THE SIX DEMONS. 335 was originally one of the great and precious gifts which Ahura- mazda possessed himself and kindly bestowed on his creatures. 10 When personification, and the needs of the theology, had made Haurvatât an archangel, he, together with Ameretât (Amerdât), “ Immortality,” took the presidency of the vegetable world, which it was the business of the pair to keep in good condition. In the council of Angrô-mainyus, Ako-manô stands in direct antithesis to Vohu-manô, as “the bad mind,” or, more literally, “the naught mind” 11—for the Zoroastrians, like Plato, regarded good and evil as identical with reality and unreality-TÒ öv, and tò un ov. Ako-mano's special sphere is the mind of man, where he suggests evil thoughts and prompts to bad words and wicked deeds. He holds the first place in the infernal council, as Vohu-manô does in the heavenly one. Indra, who holds the second place in the infernal council, is evidently the Vedic god, whom the Zoroastrians regarded as a powerful demon, and therefore made one of Angrô-mainyus's chief councillors. He probably retained his character as the god of the storm and of war, the destroyer of crops and cities, the inspirer of armies and the wielder of the thunderbolt. The Zoroastrians, however, ascribed to him only destructive actions ; while the more logical Hindoos, observing that the same storm which hurt the crops and struck down trees and buildings was also the means of fertilising the lands and purifying the air, viewed him under a double aspect, as at once terrible in his wrath and the bestower of numerous blessings.12 Çaurva, who stands next to Indra, is thought to be the Hindoo Shiva, who has the epithet çarva in one of the Vedas.? But the late appearance of Shiva in the Hindoo system : makes this highly uncertain. Haurvatât which the classical languages furnish would seem to be the Greek evetia. It is "the good condition in ! which every being of the good creation has been created by Ahura-mazda." (Haug, p. 177.) 10 Yaçna, xxxiv. 1; xlvii. 1; &c. 11 Haug, pp. 142 and 258. 12 For the character of Indra in the Hindoo mythology, see Wilson, l'ig-Veda Sanhita, Introduction, pp. xxx-xxxii. Haug, Essays, p. 230. ? Yajur Veda, xvi. 28. 3 The name of Shiva does not occur in the Rig Veda, from which the famous Trimurtti, or Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva is wholly absent. (Wilson, in Introduction to Rip-Veda Sanhita, vol. i. p. xxvi; Max Müller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 55.) 336 CHAP. IV, THE THIRD MONARCHY, Naonhaitya, the fourth member of the infernal council, corre- sponds apparently to the Vedic Nâsatyas, a collective name given to the two Aswins, the Dioscuri of Indian mythology. These were favourite gods of the early Hindoos,* to whose pro- tection they very mainly ascribed their prosperity. It was natural that the Iranians, in their aversion to their Indian brethren, should give the Aswins a seat at Angiô-mainyus's council-table; but it is curious that they should represent the twin deities by only a single councillor. Taric and Zaric, “Darkness” and “ Poison,” the occupants of the fifth and sixth places, are evidently personifications made for the occasion, to complete the infernal council to its full com- plement of six members. As the two Principles of Good and Evil have their respective councils, so have they likewise their armies. The Good Spirit has created thousands of angelic beings, who everywhere perform his will and fight on bis side against the Evil One; and the Evil One has equally on his part called into being thousands of malignant spirits, who are his emissaries in the world, doing his work continually, and fighting his battles. These are the Devas or Divs, so famous in Persian fairy mythology. They are “ wicked, bad, false, untrue, the originators of mischief, most baneful, destructive, the basest of all beings."5 The whole universe is full of them. They aim primarily at destroying all the good creations of Ahura-mazda ; but if unable to destroy they content themselves with perverting and corrupting. They dog the steps of men, tempting them to sin ; and, as soon as they sin, obtaining a fearful power over them. At the head of Ahura-mazda’s army is the angel Sraosha (Serosh). Serosh is “the sincere, the beautiful, the victorious, the true, the master of truth.”? He protects the territories of * On the large share which the As- | following particulars concerning Serosh wins occupied in the early Hindoo are also contained in the hymn. He worship, see Wilson, Rig Veda Sanhita, was the inventor of the barsom, and Introduction, p. xxxv, and compare first taught its use to mankind. He Rig-Veda, vol. i. pp. 8, 50, 94-97, 127, made the music for the five earliest 306-325, &c. Gâthâs, which were called the Gâthâs s Yacna, xii. 4. Ibid. xxx. 6. of Zoroaster. He had an earthly dwell- ? See the Serosh Yasht, or hymn in ing-place-a palace with 1000 pillars praise of Serosh (l'acna, lvii. 2). The erected on the highest summit of Elburz CHAP. IV. PRACTICAL ASPECT OF THE RELIGION. 337 the Iranians, wounds, and sometimes even slays the demons, and is engaged in a perpetual struggle against them, never slumbering night nor day, but guarding the world with his drawn sword, more particularly after sunset, when the demons have the greatest power. Angrô-mainyus appears not to possess any such general-in- chief. Besides the six councillors above mentioned, there are indeed various demons of importance, as Drukhs, “ destruction;" Aêshemô,“ rapine;" Daivis, “deceit ;” Driwis, " poverty,” &c. ; but no one of these seems to occupy a parallel place in the evil world to that which is assigned to Serosh in the good. Perhaps we have here a recognition of the anarchic character of evil, whose attacks are like those of a huge undisciplined host-casual, fitful, irregular—destitute wholly of that principle of law and order, which gives to the resisting power of good a great portion of its efficacy. To the belief in a spiritual world composed of all these various intelligences—one half of whom were good, and the other half evil—the early Zoroastrians added notions with respect to human duties and human prospects far more enlightened than those which have usually prevailed among heathen nations. In their system truth, purity, piety, and industry, were the virtues chiefly valued and inculcated. Evil was traced up to its root in the heart of man; and it was distinctly taught that no virtue deserved the name, but such as was co-extensive with the whole sphere of human activity including the thought, as well as the word and the deed. The purity required was inward as well as outward, mental as well as bodily. The industry was to be of a peculiar character. Man was placed upon the earth to preserve the good creation; and this could only be done by careful tilling of the soil, eradication of thorns and weeds, and reclamation of the tracts over which Angrô-mainyus had spread the curse of barrenness. To cultivate the soil was thus a religious duty; the (the peak of Demawend ?), which was religion. lighted within by its own light, and 8 On the triad of thought, word, and without was ornamented with stars. ¡ act, see Yaça, xii, 8; xxxii. 5 ; xxxiii. One of his employments was to walk 2 ; xxxv. l; xlvii. 1 ; xlix. 4 ; &c.; and round the world, teaching the true compare below, p. 338, note 10. VOL. II. 338 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. whole community was required to be agricultural; and either as proprietor, as farmer, or as labouring man, each Zoroastrian must “ further the works of life” by advancing tillage.' Piety consisted in the acknowledgement of the One True God, Ahura-mazda, and of his holy angels, the Amesha Spentas or Amshashpands, in the frequent offering of prayers, praises, and thanksgivings, in the recitation of hymns, the performance of the reformed Soma ceremony, and the occasional sacrifice of animals. Of the hymns we have abundant examples in the Gâthâs of the Zendavesta, and in the Yaçna haptanhaiti, or “Yacna of seven chapters,” which belongs to the second perioil of the religion. A specimen from the latter source is subjoined below.10 The Soma or Homa ceremony consisted in the extrac- tion of the juice of the Homa plant by the priests during the recitation of prayers, the formal presentation of the liquid extracted to the sacrificial fire, the consumption of a small portion of it by one of the officiating priests, and the division of the remainder among the worshippers. As the juice was drunk immediately after extraction and before fermentation had set in, it was not intoxicating. The ceremony seems to have been regarded, in part, as having a mystic force, securing the favour of heaven," in part, as exerting a beneficial influence upon the body 9 See Yacna, xxxiii. 3. beautiful and fertile fields, to the be- 10 “ We worship Ahura-mazda, the liever as well as to the unbeliever, to pure, the master of purity. We worship , him who has riches as well as to him who the Amesha spentas, the possessors of has no possession.” (Facna, xxxv. 1-4. good, the givers of good. We worship See Haug's Essays, pp. 162, 163.) the whole creation of the true spirit, See the Homa Yasht (Yugni, chs. both the spiritual and terrestrial, all ix. and x.). It has sometimes been sup- that supports the welfare of the good posed that the personal Homa addressed creation and the spread of good mazda- i in his Yasht, and appearing elsewhere yaçna religion. as an object of worship to the Zoroas- “We praise all good thoughts, all good trians, represents the Moon-God (Journal words, all good deeds, which are or shall of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. p. 254); and be; and we likewise keep clean and the author was formerly of this opinion pure all that is good. (Herodotus, vol. i., p. 349, 2nd ed.). "0) Ahura-mazda, thou true, happy But further consideration has convinced being! We strive to think, to speak, him that the Zendic Homa answers to and to do only such actions as may be one character only of the Vedic Soma, best fitted to promote the two lives" and not to both. Soma is at once the (ie, the life of the body and the life of Moon-God and the Genius of Intoxica- the soul). tion. (Rig-Veda Sanhita, vol. i. p. 118; “ We beseech the spirit of earth, for vol. ii. p. 311; &c.) Boma is the latter the sake of these our best works" (ie. only. our labours in agriculture), “ to grant us Chap. IV. BELIEF IN A FUTURE STATE. 339 of the worshipper through the curative power inherent in the Homa plant. The sacrifices of the Zoroastrians were never human. The ordinary victim was the horse ;? and we hear of occasions on which a single individual sacrificed as many as ten of these animals. Mares seem to have been regarded as the most pleasing offerings, probably on account of their superior value; and if it was desired to draw down the special favour of the Deity, those mares were selected which were already heavy in foal. Oxen, sheep, and goats were probably also used as vic- tims. A priest always performed the sacrifice, slaying the animal, and showing the flesh to the sacred fire by way of con- secration, after which it was eaten at a solemn feast by the priest and worshippers. The Zoroastrians were devout believers in the immortality of the soul and a conscious future existence. They taught that immediately after death the souls of men, both good and bad, proceeded together along an appointed path to “the bridge of the gatherer” (chinvat peretu).* This was a narrow road con- ducting to heaven or paradise, over which the souls of the pious alone could pass, while the wicked fell from it into the gulf below, where they found themselves in the place of punishment. The good soul was assisted across the bridge by the angel Serosh -"the happy, well-formed, swift, tall Serosh”5—who met the weary wayfarer and sustained his steps as he effected the difficult passage. The prayers of his friends in this world were of much avail to the deceased and greatly helped him on his journey.“ As he entered, the archangel Vohu-mano or Bahman rose from his throne and greeted him with the words—“How happy art thou who hast come here to us from the mortality to the im- mortality !” Then the pious soul went joyfully onward to Ahura-mazda, to the immortal saints, to the golden throne, ? This practice remained among the Mahomet's famous “ way, extended over Persian Fire-worshippers to a late date. | the middle of Hell, which is sharper than It is mentioned as characteristic of the a sword and finer than a hair, over which Persians by Xenophon (Cyrop. viii. 3, | all must pass.” (Pocock, Spec. Hist. Arab. $ 24) and Ovid (Fasti, i. 335). p. 278.) 3 Yacna, xliv. 18. s Vendidad, Farg. xix. 30. * This is evidently the original of ' “ Haug, Essays, p. 156, note. z 2 340 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. to Paradise." As for the wicked, when they fell into the gulf, they found themselves in outer darkness, in the kingdom of Angrô-mainyus, where they were forced to remain and to feed upon poisoned banquets. It is believed by some that the doctrine of the resurrection of the bɔdy was also part of the Zoroastrian creed. Theopompus assigned this doctrine to the Magi;' and there is no reason to doubt that it was held by the priestly caste of the Arian nations in his day. We find it plainly stated in portions of the Zend- avesta, which, if not among the earliest, are at any rate of very considerable antiquity, as in the eighteenth chapter of the Vendidad.10 It is argued that even in the Gâthâs there is an expression used which shows the doctrine to have been already held when they were composed; but the phrase adduced is so obscure, that its true meaning must be pronounced in the high- est degree uncertain. The absence of any plain allusion to the resurrection from the earlier portions of the sacred volume is a strong argument against its having formed any part of the original Arian creed—an argument which is far from outweighed by the occurrence of a mere possible reference to it in a single ambiguous passage. Around and about this nucleus of religious belief there grew up in course of time a number of legends, some of which possess considerable interest. Like other thoughtful races, the Iranians speculated upon the early condition of mankind, and conceived a golden age, and a king then reigning over a per- fectly happy people, whom they called King Yima-Yima- · Vendidad, Farg. xix, 31, 32, 8 Haug, p. 266. 9 See Diog. Laert. Proæm. $ 9. €6- πομπος αναβιώσεσθαι κατά τους Μάγους φησι τους ανθρώπους, και έσεσθαι αθάνα. ToUs. And Æn. Gaz. Dial. de an, immort. p. 77: 'O o¢ Zwpodotpns apoléyel, üs έσται πότε χρόνος εν ώ πάντων νεκρών ανάστασις έσται· οίδεν ο Θεόπομπος. 10 And again in the Zemyad Yasht, SS 89, 90. 11 Haug, Essays, pp. 143 and 266. The expression relied on is frashem kerenaon ahům, which occurs in the Gútia ahucanuiti (Yucna, xxx. 9), and is translated, “ they perpetuate the life”- literally - they make the life lasting.” Hence, it is said, was formed the sub- stantive frashó-kereti, which in the later Zend books becomes a cerbum usitatum, designating the entire period of resur- rection and palingenesis at the end of time. But this only shows that the later Zoroastrians applied a phrase taken from the older books to their doctrines. It does not prove that the phrase had origin- ally the meaning which they put upon it. In its literal sense the expression cleariy does not go beyond the general notion of a future existence. Chap. IV. LEGENDS-YIMA-THRAỆTONA. 341 khshaêta 12 —the modern Persian Jemshid. Yima, according to the legend, had dwelt originally in Aryanem vaệjo—the primitive seat of the Arians—and had there reigned gloriously and peace- fully for awhile; but, the evils of winter having come upon his country, he had removed from it with his subjects, and had retired to a secluded spot, where he and his people enjoyed un- interrupted happiness. In this place was “neither overbearing nor mean-spiritedness, neither stupidity nor violence, neither poverty nor deceit, neither puniness nor deformity, neither huge teeth nor bodies beyond the usual measure.” 14 The inhabitants suffered no defilement from the evil spirit. They dwelt amid odoriferous trees and golden pillars ; their cattle were the largest, best, and most beautiful on the earth; they were themselves a tall and beautiful race; their food was ambrosial and never failed them. No wonder that time sped fast with them, and that they, not noting its flight, thought often that what was really a year had been no more than a single day.15 Yima was the great hero of the early Iranians. His titles, besides the king” (khshaéta), are “the brilliant,” “the happy," "the greatly wealthy,” “ the leader of the peoples," “ the renowned in Aryanem vaệjo." He is most probably identical with the Yama of the Vedas, 16 who was originally the first man, the progenitor of mankind and the ruler of the blessed in Paradise, but who was afterwards trans- formed into “ the god of death, the inexorable judge of men's doings and the punisher of the wicked.” 17 Next in importance to Yima among the heroes is Thraêtona -the modern Persian Feridun. He was born in Varena? — which is perhaps Atropatêné, or Azerbijan?-and was the son of 1: With khshaéta, the epithéton usita- | habitually the title râjâ affixed to his tum of Yima, which undoubtedly means ' name; Yima has the corresponding title * king "--corresponding to the rââ, khshaéta. Yama is the son of Vivasvat; which is the epithet of Yama in the Yima, of Vitunghvat. Yama is the first Vedas-may be compared the Achæme- ! Vedic man; Yima is the first Iranic nian khshayathiyi, which is the com- king. Yama reigns over a heavenly, monest term for "king" in the Persian Yıma over an earthly paradise. cuneiform inscriptions. I 17 Haug, Essag", p. 231. 13 Vendictad, Farg. ii. $$ 4 to +1. Yashts, xv. 23 ; xvii. 33 ; Vendidad. 14 Ibid. $ 29. 15 lbid. 41. Farg. i. $ 18. 16 This identification was first made, i ? The capital of Atropatêné was I believe, by Burnouf. It rests on the sometimes called Vera or Baris, whence following resemblances. Yama has perhaps Varena. Or Varena may pos 342 CHAP, IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. a distinguished father, Athwrô. His chief exploit was the destruction of Ajis-dahaka (Zohak), who is sometimes repre- sented as a cruel tyrant, the bitter enemy of the Iranian race, sometimes as a monstrous dragon, with three mouths, three tails, six eyes, and a thousand scaly rings, who threatened to ruin the whole of the good creation. The traditional scene of the destruction was the mountain of Demavend, the highest peak of the Elburz range south of the Caspian. Thraêtona, like Yima, appears to be also a Vedic hero. He may be recog- nised in Traitana, who is said in the Rig-Veda to have slain a , mighty giant by severing his head from his shoulders. A third heroic personage known in the early times was Keresaspa, of the noble Sâma family. He was the son of Thrita -a distinct personage from Thraêtona—and brother of Urvakh- shaya the Just, and was bred up in the arid country of Vehkeret (Khorassan). The “glory” which had rested upon Yima so many years became his in his day. He was the mightiest among the mighty, and was guarded from all danger by the fairy (pairika) Knathaiti," who followed him whithersoever he went. He slew Cravara, the green and venomous serpent, who swallowed up men and horses. He killed Gandarewa with the sibly be Ghilan, since “ the initial v of the old Iranian usually becomes g in modern Persian.” (Haug in Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iii. p. 487.) 3 Yashts, xv. 8; and so in the Shah- nameh (Atkinson's dbridgment, pp. 12- 49). í Yacna, ix. 6. Burnouf thus trans- lates the passage:—"Thraetona ..... qui a tué le serpent homicide aux trois gueules, aux trois têtes, aux six yeux, aux mille forces, cette divinité cruelle qui détruit la pureté, ce pécheur qui ra- vage les mondes, et qu'Ahriman a crée le ; plus ennemi de la pureté dans le monde, existant pour l'anéantissement de la pureté des mondes." s So Haug (Essays, p. 235), Roth (Zeitschrift der D. morgenländischen Gesellschaft, vol. ii. p. 216), and Lassen (Indische Alterthumskunde, additions). Professor H. H. Wilson, on the other hand, rejects the proposed identification, kig-Veda Sunhiti, vol. i. p. 143, note.) 6 Keresaspa is mentioned in the first Fargard of the Vendidad ($ 10); which has been already shown to be older than the first occupation by the Arians of Media Magna. (See above, p. 332, note 1.) ? Yagna, ix. 7. & A special “glory” or “lustre" (qareno), the reflex of Ahura-mazda's in- born brilliancy (gâthro), attaches to certain eminent heroes, more especially to Yima and Keresaspa. (Yasns, xix. 38.) “The fairy Knathaiti, though ori- ginally a creation of Angrò-mainyus (Vendidad, Farg. i. 10; xix. 5), “ became the proctecting genius of heroes, who were indebted to her for their super- natural strength.” (Haug in Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iji. p. 482.) 10 Yashts, xix. 38-44. Compare Yacna, ix. 8, which is thus translated by Bur: nouf—“C'est lui (Kereçaçpa) qui tua le serpent agile qui dévorait les chevaux CHAP. IV. CHARACTER OF THE LEGENDS. 343 golden heel, and also Çnâvidhaka, who had boasted that, when he grew up, he would make the earth his wheel and heaven his chariot, that he would carry off Ahura-mazda from heaven and Angrô-mainyus from hell, and yoke them both as horses to his car. Keresaspa appears as Gershasp in the modern Persian legends," where, however, but little is said of his exploits. In the Hindoo books 12 he appears as Kriçãçva, the son of Samyama, and is called king of Vâiçãli, or Bengal! From these specimens the general character of the early Iranic legends appears sufficiently. Without affording any very close resemblances in particular cases, they present certain general features which are common to the legendary lore of all the Western Arians. They are romantic tales, not alle- gories; they relate with exaggerations the deeds of men, not the processes of nature.13 Combining some beauty with a good deal that is bizarre and grotesque, they are lively and graphic, but somewhat childish, having in no case any deep meaning and rarely teaching a moral lesson. In their earliest shape they appear, so far as we can judge,14 to have been brief, dis- connected, and fragmentary. They owe the full and closely interconnected form which they assume in the Shahnameh and other modern Persian writings, 15 partly to a gradual accretion during the course of centuries, partly to the inventive genius of Firdausi, who wove the various and often isolated legends into et les hommes, ce serpent vénimeux et and Scandinavian mythology which vert, sur le corps duquel ruisselait un are allegorical, and which are best ex- vert poison de l'épaisseur du pouce. plained as originally expressive of Kereçaçpa fit chauffer au-dessus de lui processes in nature; but only to assert, de l'eau dans un vase d'airain, jusqu'à that the physical element in those mili; et le monstre homicide sentait la mythologies is so overlaid by the his- chaleur, et il siffa. Le vase d'airain, torical or quasi-historical as to disap- tombant en avant, repandit l'eau faite pear from sight and be lost, like a pour s'écouler. Le serpent, effrayé, drop in the ocean. s'enfuit; Kereçaçpa, au caur d'homme, 14 It must be remembered that we do recula.” not possess the ancient Zendic writings 11 shah-nameh, pp. 117-122 (Atkin in a complete shape, as we do the son's Abridgment). Vedas, but only in a curtailed and frag- 12 See the Bh igavat Purana, and com mentary form. (See Haug, Essuys, p. pare Burnouf in the Journal asiatique, 219.) Avril Mai 1845, p. 255. 15 As the Dabistan of Mohammed 13 Jt is not intended to deny that | Mohsin Fani, and the R uzat-us-Suju of there are some portions of the Greek | Mirkhond. and Roman, and again of the German ! 344 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. a pseudo-history, and amplified them at his own pleasure. How much of the substance of Firdausi’s poem belongs to really primitive myth is uncertain. We find in the Zend texts the names of Gayo-marathan, who corresponds to Kaiomars; of Haoshyanha, or Hosheng; of Yima-shaêta, or Jemshid; of Ajis- dahaka, or Zohak; of Athwya, or Abtin; of Thraêtona, or Feridun; of Keresaspa, or Gershasp; of Kava Uç, or Kai Kavus ; of Kava Huçrava, or Kai Khosroo; and of Kava Vis- taspa, or Gushtasp. But we have no mention of Tahomars; of Gava (or Gau) the blacksmith, of Feridun's sons, Selm, Tur, and Irij; of Zal, or Mino'chihr, or Rustem; of Afrasiab, or Kai Kobad; of Sohrab, or Isfendiar. And of the heroic names which actually occur in the Zendavesta, several, as Gayo-marathan, Haoshyanha, Kava Uç, and Kava Huçrava, are met with only in the later portions, which belong probably to about the fourth century before our era.16 The only legends which we know to be primitive are those above related, which are found in por- tions of the Zendavesta, whereto the best critics ascribe a bigh antiquity. The negative argument is not, however, conclusive ; and it is quite possible that a very large proportion of Firdausi’s tale may consist of ancient legends dressed up in a garb compa- ratively modern. Two phases of the early Iranic religion have been now briefly described : the first a simple and highly spiritual creed, remark- able for its distinct assertion of monotheism, its hatred of idolatry, and the strongly marked antithesis which it main- tained between good and evil; the second, a natural corruption of the first, Dualistic, complicated, by the importance which it ascribed to angelic beings verging upon polytheism. It remains to give an account of a third phase into which the religion passed in consequence of an influence exercised upon it from without by an alien system. When the Iranic nations, cramped for space in the countries east and south of the Caspian, began to push themselves further to the west, and then to the south, they were brought into con- 16 These names occur, I believe, only in the Yashts, which Haug assigns, on good grounds, to about B.C. 450-350. (Essuys, p. 224.) CHAP. IV. FIRST CONTACT WITH MAGISM. 345 tact with various Scythic tribes 17 inhabiting the mountain regions of Armenia, Azerbijan, Kurdistan, and Luristan, whose religion appears to have been Magism. It was here, in these elevated tracts, where the mountains almost seem to reach the skies, that the most venerated and ancient of the fire-temples (Tupaideia) were established, some of which remain, seemingly BERS Fire-temples near Nakhsh-i-Rustem. in their primitive condition, at the present day. Here tradition placed the original seat of the fire-worship;2 and from hence many taught that Zoroaster, whom they regarded as the founder of Magism, had sprung:3 Magism was, essentially, the worship " The cuneiform inscriptions of Ar- ! vol. xv. pp. 235, 236. menia, Azerbijan, and Elymais are in See Ker Porter's Travels, vol. i. p. Scythic or Turanian dialects. The third 566. column of the trilingual inscriptions of ? Proofs of this are collected in Sir. the Zagros range is also Scthic. On the H. Rawlinson's Article “On the Atro- various grounds for regarding the ante- i patenian Ecbatana" in the Journal of the Arian inhabitants of these parts as Geographical Society, vol. x. pp. 79-83. Scyths, see Journal of the Asiutic Society, 3 Ctesias called Zoroaster an Arme- 346 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY, of the elements, the recognition of fire, air, earth, and water as the only proper objects of human reverence. The Magi held no personal gods, and therefore naturally rejected temples, shrines, and images, as tending to encourage the notion that gods existed of a like nature with man, i, e. possessing personality- living and intelligent beings. Theirs was a nature worship, but a nature worship of a very peculiar kind. They did not place gods over the different parts of nature, like the Greeks; they did not even personify the powers of nature, like the Hindoos; they paid their devotion to the actual material things them- selves. Fire, as the most subtle and ethereal principle, and again as the most powerful agent, attracted their highest regards; 6 and on their fire-altars the sacred flame, generally said to have been kindled from heaven, was kept burning uninterruptedly from year to year and from age to age by bands of priests, whose special duty it was to see that the sacred spark was never extinguished. To defile the altar by blowing the flame with one's breath was a capital offence;' and to burn a corpse was regarded as an act equally odious.When victims were offered to fire, nothing but a small portion of the fat was consumed in the flame. Next to fire, water was reverenced. Sacrifice was offered to rivers, lakes, and fountains, the victim being brought near to them and then slain, while great care was taken that no nian (Arnobius, Adv. Nationes, i. 52). | Trng. § 42; Clem. Alex. Protrept. v. p. Moses of Chorene regarded him as a 56. Mede (Hist. Armen, i. 16). So Clemens i Dio, Chrysost. Orat. Borystk. p. of Alexandria in one place (Strom, i. p. 449, A.; Amm. Marc. xxiii, 6; Clem. 399). Kerognit, iv. 29; Agathias, ii. 25. We sometimes find it said that the 8 Πύρ άσβεστον φυλάττουσιν οι Mayi worshipped fire and water only Máyou. (Strab. xv. 3, $ 15.) (Dino, Fr. 9); sometimes that their Ibid. 14. 'TOLATOVOI . . , où ou- gods were fire, water, and earth (Diog. σώντες αλλά ριπίζοντες, τους δε φυσή- Laert. Proom. $ 6). But there seems to Cartas ... Davarovon. be no real doubt that their worship was 10 Herod. iii. 16; Strab. I. s. c. ; Nic. actually paid to all the four elements. Dam. Fr. 68, p. 409. (Herod i. 132 ; Strab. xv. 3, $ 13; Theo 11 Some said that no part of the vic- doret, Hist. Eceles. v. 39; &c.) tim was burnt. (Strab. I. s. c; Eustath. 5 See this reason assigned in Herod i. Comment, ad Hoin. 1. i.) But Strabo's 132. statement, that a small portion was 6 Hence the name Núpaldo, borne by consumed in the fire, seems trust- the Magi in Cappadocia (Strab. xv. 3, worthy. Xenophon's “ whole burnt offer- $ 15). Compare the Aturava of the ings" must be a fiction. (Cyrop. viii. 3, Zenda vesta, derived from âlar, “ fire." $ 24.) See also Strab. xv. 3, § 14; Lucian, Jov, 348 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. and standing around them performed for an hour at a time their magical incantations.23 The credulous multitude, impressed by sights of this kind, and imposed on by the claims to super- natural power which the Magi advanced, paid them a willing homage; the kings and chiefs consulted them; and when the Arian tribes, pressing westward, came into contact with the races professing the Magian religion, they found a sacerdotal caste all powerful in most of the Scythic nations. The original spirit of Zoroastrianism was fierce and exclusive. The early Iranians looked with contempt and hatred on the creed of their Indian brethren; they abhorred idolatry; and were dis- inclined to tolerate any religion except that which they had them- selves worked out. But with the lapse of ages this spirit became softened. Polytheistic creeds are far less jealous than mono- theism; and the development of Zoroastrianism had been in a polytheistic direction. By the time that the Zoroastrians were brought into contact with Magism, the first fervour of their religious zeal had abated, and they were in that intermediate condition of religious faith which at once impresses and is impressed, acts upon other systems and allows itself to be acted upon in return. The result which supervened upon contact with Magism seems to have been a fusion—an absorption into Zoroas- trianism of all the chief points of the Magian belief and all the more remarkable of the Magian religious usages. This absorp- tion appears to have taken place in Media. It was there that the Arian tribes first associated with themselves, and formally adopted into their body the priest-caste of the Magi,24 which thenceforth was recognised as one of the six Median tribes.25 It 23 See the picture which Strabo gives maghava, which occurs twice, and twice of the Magian priests in Cappadocia only, in the whole of the Zendavesta (xv. 3, § 15) --a picture drawn from his ! (Westergaard, Introduction to Zend- own experience (Tauta Mèv oŮv ñueis ! uvesta p. 17), with the magush of the έωράκαμεν). cuneiform inscriptions and the Mayos 24 Haug imagines that the term of the Greeks. Magus is Zoroastrian, that it was used 25 Herod. i. 101. The first real proof from very ancient times among the 1 that we have of any close connection of Arians to designate the followers of the the Magi with an Arian race, is furnished true religion (Essays, pp. 160, 247), by the Median history of Herodotus, and that by degrees it came to be applied where we find them a part, but not ap- especially to the priests. For my own parently an original part, of the Median part I doubt the identity of the maga or 1 nation. Their position (fifth) in the CHAP. IV. RESULT OF THE CONTACT. 349 is there that Magi are first found acting in the capacity of Arian priests.26 According to all the accounts which have come down to us, they soon acquired a predominating influence, which they no doubt used to impress their own religious doctrines more and more upon the nation at large, and to thrust into the back- ground, so far as they dared, the peculiar features of the old Arian belief. It is not necessary to suppose that the Medes ever apostatized altogether from the worship of Ormazd, or formally surrendered their Dualistic faith. But, practically, the Magian doctrines and the Magian usages-elemental wor- ship, divination with the sacred rods, dream-expounding, incanta- tions at the fire-altars, sacrifices whereat a Magus officiated- seem to have prevailed ; the new predominated over the old; backed by the power of an organized hierarchy, Magism overlaid the primitive Arian creed, and, as time went on, tended more and more to become the real religion of the nation. Among the religionis customs introduced by the Magi into Media, there are one or two which seem to require especial notice. The attribution of a sacred character to the four so-called elements-earth, air, fire, and water-renders it ex- tremely difficult to know what is to be done with the dead. They cannot be burnt, for that is a pollution of fire; or buried, for that is a pollution of earth; or thrown into a river, for that is a defilement of water. If they are deposited in sarcophagi, or exposed, they really pollute the air ; but in this case the guilt of the pollution, it may be argued, does not rest on man, since the dead body is merely left in the element in which nature placed it. The only mode of disposal which completely avoids the defilement of every element is consumption of the dead by living beings; and the worship of the elements leads on naturally to this treatment of corpses. At present the Guebres, or Fire-Worshippers, the descendants of the ancient list of tribes, last of all except the Budii, It is in Media (at Behistun) that who were probably also Scyths, is only ! the sculptor of a Scythic inscription- to be accounted for, when we consider 1 probably himself a Median Scyth-in- their bigh rank and importance, by forms his readers that Ormazd was " the their having been added on to the god of the Arians." Remark that he nation after the four Arian tribes were says “ Arians'-not “ Persians "_thus constituted. 26 Herod, i, 107, 108.' including the Arian Medes. 350 Chap. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. Persians, expose all their dead, with the intention that they shall be devoured by birds of prey.” In ancient times, it appears certain that the Magi adopted this practice with respect to their own dead ;3 but, apparently, they did not insist upon having their example followed universally by the laity.* Probably a natural instinct made the Arians averse to this coarse and revolting custom; and their spiritual guides, compassionating their weakness, or fearful of losing their own influence over them if they were too stiff in enforcing com- pliance, winked at the employment by the people of an entirely different practice. The dead bodies were first covered com- pletely with a coating of wax, and were then deposited in the ground. It was held, probably, that the coating of wax pre- vented the pollution, which would have necessarily resulted, had the earth come into direct contact with the corpse. • The custom of divining by means of a number of rods appears to have been purely Magian. There is no trace of it in the Gâthâs, in the Yaçna haptanhaiti, or in the older portions of the Vendidad. It was a Scythic practice ; 6 and probably the best extant account of it is that which Herodotus gives of the mode wherein it was managed by the Scyths of Europe. “Scythia,” he says, “ has an abundance of soothsayers, who foretell the future by means of a number of willow wands. A ? See the author's Herodotus, vol. i. ! were buried after dogs or birds had par p. 223, note 4, 2nd ed. Round towers tially devoured them. In this he was of considerable height, without either probably mistaken. door or window, are constructed by the This appears from the statements made Guebres, having at the top a number of by Herodotus and Strabo as to the actual iron bars, which slope inwards. The practice in the passages quoted in the last towers are mounted by means of ladders; note. On the other hand, if we refer the and the bodies are placed crossways i composition of the middle portion of the upon the bars. The vultures and crows Vendidad (from the fifth to the eighteenth which hover about the towers soon strip Fargard) to the times of early Magian the flesh from the bones, and these ascendancy, we must suppose that they latter then fall through to the bottom. wished to put a stop to all burial. The Zendavesta contains particular i 5 Herod. I. 8. c. KaraknpáoavTES TOY directions for the construction of such vékuv Ilépoai y KPÚTTOVO. Strab. I. s. C. towers, which are called dakhmas, or, ÁTTOvo Knpa tepiandoaYTES Tà oá- “ Towers of Silence.” (Vendidad, Farg. uuta. v. to Farg. viii.) Schol. Nic. Ther. 613: Máyou sè kal 3 Strab. xv. 3, § 20. Tous de Má Σκύθαι μυρικίνη μαντεύονται ξύλο και γους ου θάπτουσιν αλλ' οιωνοβρώτους γαρ εν πολλοίς τόποις ράβδοις μαντεύον- éwo.. Compare Herod. (i. 140), who, Tai, Acivwy do .. kal Toùs párteis onoi however, seems to think that the bodies Mndous paßdors uarteúerbai. Chap. IV. THE BARSOM—THE KHRAFÇTHRAGHNA. 351 large bundle of these rods is brought and laid on the ground. The soothsayer unties the bundle, and places each wand by itself, at the same time uttering his prophecy : then, while he is still speaking, he gathers the rods together again, and makes them up once more into a bundle.”? A divine power seems to have been regarded as resting in the wands; and they were supposed to be “ consulted”8 on the matter in hand, both sererally and collectively. The bundle of wands thus imbued with supernatural wisdom, became naturally part of the regular priestly costume, and was carried by the Magi on all occasions of ceremony. The wands were of different lengths; and the number of wands in the bundle varied. Sometimes there were three, sometimes five; sometimes as many as seven or nine; but in every case, as it would seem, an odd number. 10 Another implement which the priests commonly bore must be regarded, not as Magian, but as Zoroastrian. This is the khrafçthraghna, or instrument for killing bad animals," frogs, toa:ls, snakes, mice, lizards, flies, &c., which belonged to the bad creation, or that which derived its origin from Angrô- mainyus. These it was the general duty of all men, and the more especial duty of the Zoroastrian priests, to put to death, whenever they had the opportunity. The Magi, it appears, adopted this Arian usage, added the khrafçthraghna to the barsom, and were so zealous in their performance of the cruel work expected from them as to excite the attention, and even draw upon themselves the rebuke, of foreigners. 12 A practice is assigned to the Magi by many classical and ecclesiastical writers,13 which, if it were truly charged on them, ; Herod, iv. 67. The only difference | 9 Vendidad, Farg. xviii. 1-6; Strab. seems to be that the European Scyths . xv. 3, $$ 14 and 15. used willow wands, the Magi twigs of 10 Yaçna, lvii. 6. 11 Vendidad, 1. s. c. the tamarisk. L 12 Herodotus had evidently seen Magi & The prophet Hosea evidently refers , pursuing their pious pastime,“ killing to this custom when he says (iv. 12)— ants and snakes, and seeming to take * My people ask council at their stocks; a delight in the employment" (i. 140). and their stutf declareth unto them." Though speaking in his usual guarded It must therefore have been practised | way of a religious custom, he does not in Western Asia at least as early así fail to indicate that he was shocked as B.c. 700. See also Ezek. viii. 17. “ And, well as astonished. lo, they put the branch to their nose." 13 Xanthus ap. Clem. Alex. Strom. iii. 352 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. would leave a very dark stain on the character of their ethical system. It is said that they allowed and even practised incest of the most horrible kind--such incest as we are accustomed to associate with the names of Lot, Edipus, and Herod Agrippa. The charge seems to have been first made either by Xanthus the Lydian, or by Ctesias. It was accepted, probably without much inquiry, by the Greeks generally, and then by the Romans, was repeated by writer after writer as a certain fact, and became finally a stock topic with the early Christian apologists. Whether it had any real foundation in fact is very uncertain. Herodotus, who collects with so much pains the strange and unusual customs of the various nations whom he visits, is evidently quite ignorant of any such monstrous prac- tice. He regards the Magian religion as established in Persia, yet he holds the incestuous marriage of Cambyses with his sister to have been contrary to existing Persian laws. At the still worse forms of incest, of which the Magi and those under their influence are accused, Herodotus does not even glance. No doubt, if Xanthus Lydus really made the statement which Clemens of Alexandria assigns to him, it is an important piece of evidence, though scarcely sufficient to prove the Magi guilty. Xanthus was a man of little judgment, apt to relate extra- vagant tales ;' and, as a Lydian, he may have been not disinclined to cast an aspersion on the religion of his country's oppressors. The passage in question, however, probably did not come from Xanthus Lydus, but from a much later writer who assumed his name, as has been well shown by a living critic. The true original author of the accusation against the Magi and their co-religionists seems to have been Ctesias, p. 515 ; Ctesias ap. Tertull. Apolog. p. 10, C.; Antisthenes ap. Athen. Deipn. v. 63, p. 220, C.; Diog. Laert. Proæm. $ 7; Strab. xv. 3, $ 20; Catull. Carm. xc. 3 ; Lucian. De Sacritic. $ 5; Philo Judæus, De deculog. p. 778; Tertull. Ad. Nat. i. 15; Orig. Cont. Cels. v. p. 218; Clem. Alex. Pæd. i. 7, p. 131 ; Minucius, Octav. 31, p. 155; Agathias, ii. 24. 14 Herod, iii. 31. i See his fragments in C. Müller's Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. i. pp. 36-14; and especially Frs. 11, 12, and 19. * See Müller's Introduction to vol. i. of the Fragm. Hist. Gr. pp. xxi and xxii. 3 If the Antisthenes quoted by Athen- æus is the philosopher, as he was con- temporary with Ctesias, he may have been the first to make the charge. But there were at least four Greek writers who bore the name of Antisthenes. (See Diog. Laert. vi. 19.) Chap. IV. CAUSES OF THE TRIUMPH OF MAGISM. 353 whose authority is far too weak to establish a charge intrin- sically so improbable. Its only historical foundation seems to have been the fact that incestuous marriages were occasionally contracted by the Persian kings; not, however, in consequence of any law, or religious usage, but because in the plenitude of their power they could set all law at defiance, and trample upon the most sacred principles of morality and religion." A minor charge preferred against the Magian morality by Xanthus, or rather by the pseudo-Xanthus, has possibly a more solid foundation. “The Magi,” this writer said, “hold their wives in common: at least they often marry the wives of others with the free consent of their husbands.” This is really to say that among the Magians divorce was over facile; that wives were often put away, merely with a view to their forming a fresh marriage, by husbands who understood and approved of the transaction. Judging by the existing practice of the Persians, we must admit that such laxity is in accordance with Iranic notions on the subject of marriage-110tions far less strict than those which have commonly prevailed among civilised nations. There is, however, no other evidence, besides this, that divorce was very common where the Magian system prevailed; and the mere assertion of the writer who personated Xanthus Lydus will scarcely justify us in affixing even this stigma on the religion. Upon the whole, Magism, though less elevated and less pure than the old Zoroastrian creed, must be pronounced to have possessed a certain loftiness and picturesqueness which suited it to become the religion of a great and splendid monarchy. The mysterious fire-altars on the mountain-tops, with their prestige of a remote antiquity--the ever-burning flame believed to have • Herod, iii, 31. Oi Baolañïou dika- oral . . ÚT E kpívovto . . egevpnkévai vó- mov, TÓ Baoin EÚOVTi Depoewy Geivai ποιέειν το αν βούληται. 3 Ker Porter says-_-". The lower ranks (of Persians), seldom being able to sup- port more than the privileged number of wives, are often ready to chinje them on any plea, when time, or any other VOL. II. cause, has a little sullied their freshness. .... When matrimonial differences arise, of sufficient magnitude to occasion a wish to separate, the grievances are stated by both parties before the judge ; and if duly substantiated, and the com- plainants persist in demanding a divorce, he furnishes both with the necessary certificates." (Trarcls, vol. i. p. 342.) 2 A 354 CHAP. IV. THE THIRD MONARCHY. been kindled from on high-the worship in the open air under the blue canopy of heaven—the long troops of Magians in their white robes, with their strange caps, and their mystic wands- the frequent prayers—the abundant sacrifices —the long in- cantations—the supposed prophetic powers of the priest-caste- all this together constituted an imposing whole at once to the eye and to the mind, and was calculated to give additional grandeur to the civil system that should be allied with it. Pure Zoroastrianism was too spiritual to coalesce readily with Oriental luxury and magnificence, or to lend strength to a government based on the ordinary principles of Asiatic des- potism. Magism furnished a hierarchy to support the throne, and add splendour and dignity to the court, while they over- awed the subject-class by their supposed possession of super- natural powers, and of the right of mediating between heaven and man. It supplied a picturesque worship, which at once gratified the senses and excited the fancy. It gave scope to man's passion for the marvellous by its incantations, its divining rods, its omen-reading, and its dream-expounding. It gratified the religious scrupulosity which finds a pleasure in making to itself difficulties, by the disallowance of a thousand natural acts, and the imposition of numberless rules for external purity.” At the same time it gave no offence to the anti-idolatrous spirit in which the Arians had hitherto gloried, but rather encouraged the iconoclasm which they always upheld and practised. It thus blended easily with the previous creed of the people, awaking no prejudices, clashing with no interests; winning its way by an apparent meekness and unpresumingness, while it was quite prepared, when the fitting time came, to be as fierce and exclusive as if it had never worn the mask of humility and moderation. 6 Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3, $$ 11 and 21; 1 out expressing my obligations to Dr. Herod. vii. +3. Martin Haug, from whose works I have ? See the minute directions for es mainly derived my acquaintance with caping or removing impurity, contained the real contents of the Zendavesta. I in the Vendidad, Farg. 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, have rarely ventured to differ from him and 17. All these chapters seem Magian in the inferences which he draws from rather than Zoroastrian. those contents. In one important respect * I cannot conclude this chapter with only do I find my views seriously at Chap. IV. MAGISM AND ZOROASTRIANISM. · 355 variance with his. I regard Magism as | thrones of Persia and Media has long in its origin completely distinct from since utterly vanished from the recol- Zoroastrianism, and as the chief cause lections of the people. It was sup- of its corruption, and of the remarkable planted by the foreign North-Iranian difference between the earlier and the mythology, which terminates with Vish- later of the Zendic books. In this view tâspa and his sons; and with these per- I am happy to find myself supported by sons the later Persian tradition has con- Westergaard, who writes as follows in nected the Achæmenian Artaxerxes, the his “ Preface" to the Zenduvesta (p. 17): Long-Handed, as if he especially had -" The faith ascribed by Herodotus to contributed to the propagation and es- the Persians is not the lore of Zoroaster; tablishment in Western Iran of the Zo- nor were the Magi in the time of Darius roastrian belief. But this latter would the priests of Ormazd. Their name, appear early to hare undergone some modi- Magu, occurs only twice in all the ex fication, perhaps eren from the influence of tant Zend texts, and here in a general Migism itself ; and it may have been in sense, while Darius opposes his creed to this period that the Magi, turning to that of the Magi, whom he treated most the faith of their sovereigns" (or rather, unmercifully. Though Darius was the turning their sovereigns to their faith), mightiest king of Persia, yet his memory “ became the priests of Ormazd." and that of his predecessors on the 2 A 2 356 CHAP. V. THE THIRD MONARCHY. CHAPTER V. LANGUAGE AND WRITING. 'Opóyd Wtrol apà pekpòv oi Ilépcai kai oi Mņdou.—STRAB. xv. 2, § 8. On the language of the ancient Medes a very few observations will be here made. It has been noticed already' that the Median form of speech was closely allied to that of the Per- sians. The remark of Strabo quoted above, and another re- mark which he cites from Nearchus,” imply at once this fact, and also the further fact of a dialectic difference between the two tongues. Did we possess, as some imagine that we do, materials for tracing out this diversity, it would be proper in the present place to enter fully on the subject, and instead of contenting ourselves with asserting, or even proving, the substantial oneness of the languages, it would be our duty to proceed to the far more difficult and more complicated task of comparing together the sister dialects, and noting their various differences. The supposition that there exist means for such a comparison is based upon a theory that in the language of the Zendavesta we have the true speech of the ancient people of Media, while in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Achæmenian kings it is beyond controversy that we possess the ancient language of Persia. It becomes necessary, therefore, to examine this theory, in order to justify our abstention from an enquiry on which, if the theory were sound, we should be now called upon to enter. The notion that the Zend language was the idiom of ancient Media originated with Anquetil du Perron. He looked on Zoroaster as a native of Azerbijan, contemporary with Darius See above, ch. iii. p. 306. | διάλεκτον των Καρμανιτών Περσικά τε ? Néapxos gė tà altiota on kah The Kal Mnoikà cipnke. Strab. xv. 2, $ 14. CHAP. V. RELATION OF ZEND TO MEDIAN. 357 Hystaspis. His opinion was embraced by Kleuker, Herder, and Rask; 3 and again, with certain modifications, by Tychsen * and Heeren. These latter writers even gave a more completely Median character to the Zendavesta, by regarding it as com- posed in Media Magna, during the reign of the great Cyaxares. The main foundation of these views was the identification of Zoroastrianism with the Magian fire-worship, which was really ancient in Azerbijan, and flourished in Media under the great Median monarch. But we have seen that Magianisin and Zoroastrianism were originally entirely distinct, and that the Zendavesta in all its earlier portions belongs wholly to the latter system. Nothing therefore is proved concerning the Zend dialect by establishing a connection between the Medes and Magism, which was a corrupting influence thrown in upon Zoroastrianism; long after the composition of the great bulk of the sacred writings. These writings themselves sufficiently indicate the place of their composition. It was not Media, but Bactria, or at any rate the north-eastern Iranic country, between the Bolor range and the Caspian. This conclusion, which follows from a con- sideration of the various geographical notices contained in the Zend books, has been accepted of late years by all the more profound Zend scholars. Originated by Rhode, it has also in its farour the names of Burnout, Lassen, Westergaard, and Haug.? If then the Zend is to be regarded as really a local dialect, the idiom of a particular branch of the Iranic people, there is far more reason for considering it to be the ancient speech of Bactria than of any other Arian country. Possibly the view is correct which recognises two nearly-allied dialects as existing side by side in Iran during its flourishing period—one pre- 3 See his work on the Antiquity and note, p. xciii; Westergaard, Preface to Genuineness of the Zendarestu. | Zendavesta, p. 16; Haug, Essays, p. 42. • Comment. Soc. Götting. vol. xi. pp. · Dr. Donaldson appears to have adopted 112 et seq. the Median theory after it was generally 5 Asiatic Nations, vol. i. p. 322, E.T. discarded on the continent. See the See his work Die heilige Saje und ! second edition of his New Cratylus (pub- das gesammte Religionssystem der alten 1 lished in 1850), where he speaks of the Baktrer, Meder und Perser, oder des | Zend language as “ exhibiting some Zendrolks, Frankfort, 1820. strongly-marked features of the Median ? Burnouf, Commentaire sur le Yacna,, dialect ” (pp. 126, 127). 358 CHAP. V. THE THIRD MONARCHY. vailing towards the west, the other towards the east-one Medo- Persic, the other Sogdo-Bactrian—the former represented to us by the cuneiform inscriptions, the latter by the Zend texts. Or it may be closer to the truth to recognise in the Zendic and Achæmenian forms of speech, not so much two contemporary idioms, as two stages of one and the same language, which seems to be at present the opinion of the best comparative philologists.' In either case Media can claim no special in- terest in Zend, which, if local, is Sogdo-Bactrian, and, if not local, is no more closely connected with Media than with Persia. It appears then that we do not at present possess any means of distinguishing the shades of difference which separated the Median from the Persian speech.10 We have in fact no speci. mens of the former beyond a certain number of words, and those chiefly proper names, whereas we know the latter toler- ably completely from the inscriptions. It is proposed under the head of the “ Fifth Monarchy" to consider at some length the general character of the Persian language as exhibited to us in these documents. From the discussion then to be raised may be gathered the general character of the speech of the Medes. In the present place all that will be attempted is to show how far the remnants left us of Median speech bear out the statement that, substantially, one and the same tongue was spoken by both peoples. Many Median names are absolutely identical with Persian ; e.g. Ariobarzanes, 11 Artabazus,12 Artæus, 13 Artembares, 14 Har- 8 This view has been maintained by Burnouf, and Lassen. It seems to be also held by Haug (Essays, pp. 42, 43), and Westergaard (Preface to Zendavesta, p. 16). o Max Müller, Languages of the Seat of War, p. 32; Bunsen, Philosophy of History, vol. iii. pp. 110-115. 10 If any difference can be pointed out, it is the greater fondness of the Medes for the termination -ak, which is perhaps Scythic. (Compare the terminal guttural so common in the primitive Chaldean, and the Basque -c at the end of names, which is said to be a suffixed article.) We have this ending in Deïoces (Dahak), Astyages (Aj-dahak), Arbac-es or Harpag-us, Mandau-es, Rhamb'ic-as, Spitac-es, &c. And we have it again in spak, “ dog." '11 A Median Ariobarzanes is men: tioned by Tacitus (Ann. ii. 4). 12 Artabazus is given as a Median name by Xenophon (Cyrop. i. 4, § 27). 13 Artæus appears as a Median king in Ctesias (ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 32, $ 6), as a Persian in Herod. (vii. 66). 16 Herodotus has both a Persian (ix. 122) and a Median Artemba res (i. 114): both a Persian (vi. 28) and a Median Harpagus (i. 108). Arbaces is probably the same name. According to Ctesias Chap. V. NAMES PROVE MEDIAN AKIN TO PERSIAN. 359 pagus, Arbaces, Tiridates, &c.15 Others which are not abso- lutely identical approach to the Persian form so closely as to be plainly mere variants, like Theodorus and Theodosius, Adelbert and Ethelbert, Miriam, Mariam, and Mariamné. Of this kind are Intaphres,16 another form of Intaphernes, Artynes, another form of Artanes,17 Parmises, another form of Parmys, 18 and the like. A third class, neither identical with any known Persian names, nor so nearly approaching to them as to be properly considered mere variants, are made up of known Per- sian roots, and may be explained on exactly the same principles as Persian names. Such are Ophernes, Sitraphernes, Mitra- phernes, Megabernes, Aspadas, Mazares, Tachmaspates, Xathri- tes, Spitaces, Spitamas, Rhambacas, and others. In O-phernes, Sitra-phernes, Mitra-phernes, and Mega-bernes, the second element is manifestly the pharna or frana which is found in Artaphernes and Inta-phernes (Vida-frana), an active parti- cipial form from pri, “to protect.” The initial element in O-phernes represents the Zend hu, Sans. su, Greek cŮ, as the same letter does in O-manes, O-martes, &c.” The Sitra of Sitra-phernes has been explained as probably khshatra, “the crown,"3 which is similarly represented in the Satro-pates of Curtius, a name standing to Sitra-phernes exactly as Arta- patas to Arta-phernes. In Mega-bernes the first element is the well-known baga, “God,” 5 under the form commonly pre- (ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 32, $ 5) it was borne daughter of Smerdis, the son of Cyrus by a Median king; according to Xeno- | (iii. 88). phon (Anab. vii. 8, § 25) by a Persian Behist. Inscr, col. iv. par. 18, $ 4. satrap. ? See the author's Herodotus, vol. iii. is Tiridates appears as the name of a p. 451, 2nd edition. Mede in Nicolas of Damascus (Fr. 66, 3 Ibid. p. 453. P. 402); in Q. Curtius (v. 5, § 2) and · Artapatas, a name mentioned by Ælian (Hist. l'ar. xii. 1) it is the name Xenophon (Anah, i. 6, § 11), means of a Persian. probably“ protected by fire.” Arta- 16 See Behistun Inscription, col. iv. phernes (Herod. v. 30) means “pro- par. 14, $ 3. For the name of Inta tecting the fire.” So Satropates means phernes, see Herod, iji, 70. “ protected by the crown” – Sitro- 17 Artynes is one of Ctesias's Royal phernes “ protecting the crown." Median names (Diod. Sic. ii. 34, § 1); 5 See the Incriptions, passim. The Artanes was a brother of Darius Hys later ones almost all begin with the for- taspis (Herod. vii. 224). mula, Buga razarka Auramazda, “Deus 18 According to Ctesias (Pers. Ecc. magnus [est] Oromasdes.” Baga has $3) Parmises was a son of Astyages. been well compared with the Slavonic Parmys, according to Herodotus, was a boy. 360 CHAP. V THE THIRD MONARCHY. ferred by the Greeks ; 6 and the name is exactly equivalent to Curtius's Bago-phanes,” which only differs from it by taking the participle of pa, “to protect," instead of the participle of pri, which has the same meaning. In Aspa-das it is easy to recognise aspa, “ horse" (a common root in Persian names, e.g. Aspa-thines, Aspa-mitras, Prex-aspes, and the like $ ), followed by the same element which terminates the name of Oromaz-des, and which means either “knowing” or “giving.” 9 Ma-zares presents us with the root meh, “ much” or “great,” which is found in the name of the M-aspii, or “ Big Horses,” a Persian tribe, 10 followed by zara, “gold,” which appears in Ctesias's Arto-xares,11 and perhaps also in Zoro-aster.12 In Tachmas- pates,13 the first element is takhma, “strong," a root found in the Persian names Ar-tochmes and Tritan-tæchmes, 14 while the second is the frequently used pati, " lord,” which occurs as the initial element in Pati-zeithes,15 Pati-ramphes, &c.,16 and as the ter- minal in Pharna-pates, 17 Ario-peithes, and the like. In Xathri- tes 18 we have clearly khshatra (Zend khshathra), “ crown" or “king," with a participial suffix -ita, corresponding to the Sanscrit participle in -it. Spita-ces 19 and Spita-mas 20 con- tain the root spita, equivalent to spenta, “holy,” 21 which is & The Greeks having really no b, since 11 Ctes. Pers. ap. Phot. Bibliothec. lxxii. their B had the sound of v, were always p. 127. inclined to express a real b by the nearest 1% Various explanations have been labial, in. Thus they said Mardus, Mer given of the name Zoroaster. Some dis, or Smerdis for Bardius, Magæus for writers regard it as Semitic, and make Bagæus, Marmaridæ for Berbers, and it equal Ziru-Ishtar, “ the seed of Ishtar" the like. On their frequent representa (Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. p. tion of the Persian Baga by Mega-- see 246). But most take it to be Arian. Bur- the author's Herodotus, vol. iii. pp. 450, nouf suggests “having yellow camels," 451, 2nd ed. Baga, however, retains from zarath, and ustra; Brockhaus its place sometimes. (See Herod. vii. | makes it “golden star,” from zara and 75; Ctes. Pers. Exc. $ 9; Q. Curt. Vit. thustra Windischmann inclines to this Aler. v. 1.) last explanation (Zoroastrische Studien, Q. Curt. Vit. Aler, 1. s. c. pp. 46, 47), but still views it as very & Compare the frequent occurrence of doubtful indeed (höchst problematisch). LITOS, both as an initial and as a ter 13 Behist. Inscr. col. ii. par. 14, $ 6. minal element, in the names of the 14 Herod. i. 192 ; vii. 73. Greeks. 15 Ibid, iii. 61. 16 Ibid. vii. 40. 9 Vâ in old Arian has this double 17 For Baga pates, see Ctes. Pers. Erc. meaning, corresponding both to dáw and § 9; for Pharna pates, see Dio. Cass. to dów (didwul) in Greek. xlviii. 41. 10 Herod. i. 125. On the animal cha 18 Behist. Inscr. col. ii. par. 5, § 4. racter of many ethnic names, see the 19 Ctes. Pers. Exc. $ 2. 0 Ibid. author's Herodotus, vol. iii. p. 450. 21 The Iranians disliked the combina- CHAP. V. ANALYSIS OF MEDIAN NAMES. 363 nasal before the dental. In the original it must have been Par- sodas, which would mean “liberal, much-giving," from pourus, “much," and da (=Gk. sídwui), “to give.” Ramates, as already observed, is from rama, “ pleasure.” It is an adjectival form, like Datis, and means probably “pleasant, agreeable.” Susiscanes 10 may be explained as “splendidus juvenis,” from çuc, “splendere," pres. part. çao-cat, and kainin, “adolescens, juvenis.” Tithæus 'l is probably for Tathæus, which would be readily formed from tatha, “one who makes.” 12 Finally, Zanasanes 13 may be referred to the root zan or jan, “to kill,” which is perhaps simply followed by the common appellative suffix -ana (Gk. -ávns). From these names of persons we may pass to those of places in Media, which equally admit of explanation from roots known to have existed either in Zend or in old Persian. Of these, Ecbatana, Bagistana, and Aspadana may be taken as convenient specimens. Ecbatana (or Agbatana, according to the ortho- graphy of the older Greeks 14) was in the native dialect Hag- matana, as appears from the Behistun Inscription.15 This form, Hagmatana, is in all probability derived from the three words ham, “with” (Sans. sam, Gk. oúvLatin cum), gam, “to go" (Zend gâ, Sans. gam), and çtana (Mod. Pers. -stan) “ a place.” The initial ham has dropped the m and become ha, just as oùv becomes ov- in Greek, and cum becomes co- in Latin; gam has become gma by metathesis; and çtan has passed into -tan by phonetic corruption. Ha-gma-tana would be “the place for assembly," or for "coming together” (Lat. comitium); the place, i.e., where the tribes met, and where, consequently, the capital grew up. Bagistan, which was “a hill sacred to Jupiter” according to Diodorus, 16 is clearly a name corresponding to the Beth-el of 8 See above, p. 360, note a The | are real names. 11 Herod. vii. 88. name Parsondas comes to us through 12 For the termination in -æus, com- Nicolas of Damascus (Fr. 10). pare Bagæus, Magæus, Mazæus, &c., * See the author's Herodotus (vol. iii. well-known names of Persians. p. 448), where Datis is explained as 13 Supra, p. 192, note 6. “ liberal." 14 So Æschylus (Pers. 16), Herodotus 10 Æschyl. Pers. 939. The foreign (i. 98), and Aristophanes (Acharn. 64). names in Æschylus are not always to be 115 Col. ii. par. 13, $ 7. depended on. (See Blomfield's note on L 16 Diod. Sic. ii. 13, § 2. 'Opos iepov the Persæ, 1. 22.) But still many of them Alós. 364 Chap. V. THE THIRD MONARCHY, the Hebrews and the Allahabad of the Mahometans. It is simply " the house, or place, of God”—from baga, “ God," and çtana, “place, abode,” the common modern Persian terminal (compare Farsi-stan, Khuzi-stan, Affghani-stan, Belochi-stan, Hindu-stan, &c.), which has here not suffered any corruption. Aspadana contains certainly as its first element the root açpa, “horse.” 17 The suffix dan may perhaps be a corruption of çtana, analogous to that which has produced Hama-dan from Hagma-çtan ; or it may be a contracted form of danhu, or dainhu, “a province,” Aspadana having been originally the name of a district where horses were bred, and having thence become the name of its chief town. The Median words known to us, other than names of persons or places, are confined to some three or four. Herodotus tells us that the Median word for “dog” was spaka ;18 Xenophon implies, if he does not expressly state, that the native name for the famous Median robe was candys ; 19 Nicolas of Damascus 20 informs us that the Median couriers were called Angari (ayya- poi); and Hesychius says that the artabé (aptáßn) was a Median measure.21 The last named writer also states that artades and devas were Magian words, 22 which perhaps implies that they were common to the Medes with the Persians. Here, again, the evidence, such as it is, favours a close connection between the languages of Media and Persia. That artabé and angarus were Persian words no less than Median, we have the evidence of Herodotus.23 Artades, “ just men” (according to Hesychius), is probably akin to ars, “ true, just," and may represent the ars-dáta, “ made just,” of the Zendavesta.24 Devas (deúas), which Hesychius translates “the evil gods” (tous kakovs Deoús),25 is clearly the Zendic daéra, 1. Acpa is a common root in Median local names, as will be seen by reference to the list in Ptolemy (Geograph. vi. 2). Besides Aspadana, which Ptolemy places in Persia, we find among his Median towns, Pharaspa, Phanaspa, and Ves- aspa. The whole country was famous for its breed of horses. 18 Herod. i. 110. 19 Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, $ 2. 20 Nic. Dam. Fr. 10, p. 361. 21 Hesych. ad voc. 10T8Bn. 22 Ibid. ad vocc. áprádes and devas. 23 Herod. i. 192; viii. 98. 24 See the Glossary of Brockhaus (Vendidad-Sadė, p. 350). 25 This is beyond a doubt the true reading, and not τους ακάκους θεούς, as the text stands in our present copies. On the old Arian notions with regard to the devas, see above, ch. iv. p. 330. Chap. V. MEDIAN WRITING. 365 Mod. Pers. div. (Sans. deva, Lat. divus). In candys we have most probably a formation from gan, “ to dress, to adorn.” Spaka is the Zendic spâ, with the Scythic guttural suffis, of which the Medes were so fond,26 spâ itself being akin to the Sanscrit çvan and so to kúw and canis.27 Thus we may connect all the few words which are known as Median with forms con- tained in the Zend, which was either the mother or the elder sister of the ancient Persian. That the Medes were acquainted with the art of writing, and practised it—at least from the time that they succeeded to the dominion of the Assyrians-scarcely admits of a doubt. An illiterate nation, which conquers one in possession of a literature, however it may despise learning and look down upon the mere literary life, is almost sure to adopt writing to some extent on account of its practical utility. It is true the Medes have left us no written monuments; and we may fairly conclude from that fact that they used writing sparingly; but besides the ante- cedent probability, there is respectable evidence that letters were known to them, and that, at any rate, their upper classes could both read and write their native tongue. The story of the letter sent by Harpagus the Mede to Cyrus in the belly of a hare,' though probably apocryphal, is important as showing the belief of Herodotus on the subject. The still more doubtful story of a dispatch written on parchment by a Median king Artæus, and sent to Nanarus, a provincial governor, related by Nicolas of Damascus,has a value, as indicating that writer's conviction, that the Median monarchs habitually conveyed their commands to their subordinates in a written form. With these statements of profane writers agree certain notices which we find in Scripture. Darius the Mede, shortly after the destruc- tion of the Median empire, “signs” a decree, which his chief nobles have presented to him in writing. He also himself “writes” another decree addressed to his subjects generally." 26 See above, p. 358, note 10. 27 The nearest representative of spak in modern European tongues is the Rus sian sobak or sabuk. i Herod. i. 123. 2 Nic. Dam. Fr. 10. 3 Dan. vi. 9. “Wherefore King Da- rius signed the writing and the decree.” Dan. vi. 25. “Then King Darius wrote unto all peoples, nations, and languages," &c. 366 Char. V. THE THIRD MONARCHY. In later times we find that there existed at the Persian court a “ book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia,"5 which was probably a work begun under the Median and con- tinued under the Persian sovereigns. If then writing was practised by the Medes, it becomes in- teresting to consider whence they obtained their knowledge of it, and what was the system which they employed. Did they bring an alphabet with them from the far East, or did they derive their first knowledge of letters from the nations with whom they came into contact after their great migration ? In the latter case, did they adopt, with or without modifications, a foreign system, or did they merely borrow the idea of written symbols from their new neighbours, and set to work to invent for themselves an alphabet suited to the genius of their own tongue? These are some of the questions which present them- selves to the mind as deserving of attention, when this subject is brought before it. Unfortunately we possess but very scanty data for determining, and can do little more than conjecture, the proper answers to be given to them. The early composition of certain portions of the Zendaresta, which has been asserted in this work, may seem at first sight to imply the use of a written character in Bactria and the adja- cent countries at a very remote era. But such a conclusion is not necessary. Nations have often had an oral literature, existing only in the memories of men, and have handed down such a literature from generation to generation, through a long succession of ages.? The sacred lore of Zoroaster may have been brought by the Medes from the East-Caspian country in an unwritten shape, and may not have been reduced to writing till 5 Esther, x. 2. 6 Supra, ch. iv. p. 332. . It is generally allowed that the Ho- meric poems were for a long time handed down in this way. (Wolf, Prolegomena de op. Homer.; Payne Knight, Prolego- mena, pp. 38-100; Matthiæ, Greek and Romin Literature, pp. 12-14; Grote, Hist, of Greece, vol. i. pp. 524-529, 2nd edition ; &c.) The best Orientalists be- lieve the same of the Vedas. The Druid- ical poems of the ancient Gauls (Cæs. Bell. Gall. vi. 13, 14), the Icelandic Skalds, the Basque tales, the Ossianic poems, the songs of the Calmucks, the modern Greeks, and the modern Per- sians, are all instances of an oral litera- ture completely independent of writing. It is quite possible that the Zendavesta was orally transmitted till the time of Darius Hystaspis-if not even to a later date. CHAP. V. KNOWLEDGE OF LETTERS, HOW ACQUIRED. 367 many centuries later. On the whole it is perhaps most probable that the Medes were unacquainted with letters when they made their great migration, and that they acquired their first know- ledge of them from the races with whom they came into collision when they settled along the Zagros chain. In these regions they were brought into contact with at least two forms of written speech, one that of the old Armenians, a Turanian dialect, the other that of the Assyrians, a language of the Semitic type. These two nations used the same alphabetic system, though their languages were utterly unlike; and it would apparently have been the easiest plan for the new comers to have adopted the established forms, and to have applied them, so far as was possible, to the representation of their own speech. But the extreme complication of a system which employed between three and four hundred written signs, and composed signs sometimes of fourteen or fifteen wedges, seems to have shocked the sim- plicity of the Medes, who recognised the fact that the varieties of their articulations fell far short of this excessive luxuriance. The Arian races, so far as appears, declined to follow the example set them by the Turanians of Armenia, who had adopted the Assyrian alphabet, and preferred to invent a new system for themselves, which they determined to make far more simple. It is possible that they found an example already set them. In Achæmenian times we observe two alphabets used through Media and Persia, both of which are simpler than the Assyrian: one is employed to express the Turanian dialect of the people whom the Arians conquered and dispossessed ;' the other, to express the tongue of the conquerors. It is possible—though we have no direct evidence of the fact—that the Turanians of Zagros and the neighbourhood had already formed for themselves the alpha- bet which is found in the second columns of the Achæmenian tablets, when the Arian invaders conquered them. This alphabet, • The Armenians may perhaps not į lyzed, it was conjectured to be Median. have been acquainted with writing when But Mr. E. Norris has plainly shown its the Medes first reached Zagros. But Scythic or Turanian character (Journal they became a literary people at least as of the Asiatic Sociсty, vol. xv.); and it is early as the 8th century B.C., while the now generally regarded as the speech of Medes were still insignificant. the subject population in Media and 9 Before this language had been ana- | Persia. 368 CHAP. . THE THIRD MONARCHY. which in respect of complexity holds an intermediate position between the luxuriance of the Assyrian and the simplicity of the Medo-Persic system, would seem in all probability to have intervened in order of time between the two. It consists of no more than about a hundred characters, and these are for the most part far less complicated than those of Assyria. If the Medes found this form of writing already existing in Zagros when they arrived, it may have assisted to give them the idea of making for themselves an alphabet so far on the old model that the wedge should be the sole element used in the formation of letters, but otherwise wholly new, and much more simple than those previously in use. Discarding then the Assyrian notion of a syllabarium, with the enormous complication which it involves," the Medes 12 strore to reduce sounds to their ultimate elements, and to represent these last alone by symbols. Contenting themselves with the three main vowel sounds, a, i, and u,13 and with one breathing, a simple h, they recognised twenty consonants, which were the following, b, d, f, g, j, k, kh, m, n, ñ (sound doubtful), p, r, s, sh, t, v, y,%, ch (as in much), and tr, an unnecessary compound. Had they stopped here, their characters should have been but twenty- four, the number which is found in Greek. To their ears, how- ever, it would seem, each consonant appeared to carry with it a short a, and as this, occurring before į and u, produced the diphthongs ai and au, sounded nearly as é and 6,4 it seemed necessary, where a consonant was to be directly followed by the sounds i or u, to have special forms to which the sound of a should not attach. This system, carried out completely, would have raised the forms of consonants to sixty, a multiplication 10 Sir H, Rawlinson, in the Journal of Medes, their predecessors in the Empire. the Asiatic Society, vol. x. p. 33. (See Herod. i. 134, 135; Xen. Cyrop. i. 11 See above, vol. i. pp. 270, 271. 3, $ 2; viii. 3, § 1; Strab, xi, 13, $ 9.) 12 It is here assumed that the Medes 13 These were of course sounded were the originators of the system which | broad, as in Italian-the a like a in was afterwards employed by the Persians. “vast;" the i like ee in “ feed;" the u There is no positive proof of this. But like oo in “food.” all the evidence which we possess favours 14 That is, as the Italian and o the notion that the early Persian civili aperto, or as the diphthongs themselves sation--and the writing belongs to the in French, e. g. fait, faux, &c. time of Cyrus-came to them from the Chap. V. MEDIAN ALPHABET. 369 that was feared as inconvenient. In order to keep down the number, it seems to have been resolved, (1.) that one form should suffice for the aspirated letters and the sibilants (viz. h, kh, ch, ph or f, s, sh, and z), and also for b, y, and tr; (2.) that two forms should suffice for the tenues, k, p, t, for the liquids n and r, and for v; and consequently (3.) that the full number of three forms should be limited to some three or four letters, as d, m, j, and perhaps g. The result is that the known alphabet of the Persians, which is assumed here to have been the inven- tion of the Medes, consists of some 36 or 37 forms, which are really representative of no more than 23 distinct sounds. 15 It appears then that, compared with the phonetic systems in vogue among their neighbours, the alphabet of the Medes and Persians was marked by a great simplicity. The forms of the letters were also very much simplified. Instead of conglomera- tions of fifteen or sixteen wedges in a single character, we have in the Medo-Persic letters a maximum of five wedges. The most ordinary number is four, which is sometimes reduced to three or even two. The direction of the wedges is uniformly either perpendicular or horizontal, except of course in the case of the double wedge or arrow-head, (, where the component elements are placed obliquely. The arrow-head has but one position, the perpendicular, with the angle facing towards the left hand. The only diagonal sign used is a simple wedge, placed obliquely with the point towards the right, \, which is a mere mark of separation between the words. The direction of the writing was, as with the Arian nations generally, from left to right. Words were frequently divided, and part carried on to the next line. The characters were inscribed between straight lines drawn from end to end of the tablet on which they were written. Like the Hebrew, they often closely resembled one another, and a slight defect in the stone will cause one to be mistaken for another. The resemblance is not between letters of the same class or kind; on the contrary, it is often between those which are most remote from one another. Thus g nearly resembles u; ch is like d; tr like p; and so on : 15 See Sir H. Rawlinson's analysis of the Persian Alphabet in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. x. pp. 53-186. VOL, II. 2 B 370 CHAP. V. THE THIRD MONARCHY. while k and kh, s and sh, p and ph (or f) are forms quite dissimilar. It is supposed that a cuneiform alphabet can never have been employed for ordinary writing purposes," but must have been confined to documents of some importance, which it was desirable to preserve, and which were therefore either inscribed on stone, or impressed on moist clay afterwards baked. A cursive cha- racter, it is therefore imagined, must always have been in use, parallel with a cuneiform one;? and, as the Babylonians and Assyrians are known to have used a character of this kind from a very high antiquity, synchronously with their lapidary cunei- form, so it is supposed that the Arian races must have possessed, besides the method which has been described, a cursive system of writing. Of this, however, there is at present no direct evi- dence. No cursive writing of the Arian nations at this time, either Median or Persian, has been found ; and it is therefore uncertain what form of character they employed on common occasions. The material used for ordinary purposes, according to Nicolas of Damascus 3 and Ctesias,+ was parchment. On this the kings wrote the dispatches which conveyed their orders to the officers who administered the government of provinces; and on this were inscribed the memorials which each monarch was careful to have composed giving an account of the chief events of his reign, The cost of land carriage probably prevented papyrus from super- seding this material in Western Asia, as it did in Greece at a tolerably early date. Clay, so much used for writing on, both in Babylonia and Assyria, appears never to have approved itself as a convenient substance to the Iranians. For public documents the chisel and the rock, for private the pen and the prepared skin, seem to have been preferred by them; and in the earlier times, at any rate, they employed no other materials. 1 The cuneiform is a very convenient | to write. character for impression upon clay, or ? Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. x. inscription upon stone. In the former pp. 31 and 42. case, a single touch of the instrument 3 Frag. 10. See above, p. 365, note ?. makes each wedge; in the latter, three * Ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 32, § 4. taps of the chisel with the hammer cause 5 Herod. v. 58. the wedge to fall out. But characters | © Supra, vol. i. pp. 67 and 267. composed of wedges are very awkward CHAP. VI. ORIGIN OF MEDIAN NATION. 371 CHAPTER VI. CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY. Media .... quam ante regnum Cyri superioris et incrementa Persidos legimus Asiæ reginam totius.— AMM. Marc. xxiii. 6. The origin of the Median nation is wrapt in a profound obscu- rity. Following the traces which the Zendavesta offers, taking into consideration its minute account of the earlier Arian migra- tions, its entire omission of any mention of the Medes, and the undoubted fact that it was nevertheless by the Medes and Per- sians that the document itself was preserved and transmitted to us, we should be naturally led to suppose that the race was one which in the earlier times of Arian development was weak and insignificant, and that it first pushed itself into notice after the ethnological portions of the Zendavesta were composed, which is thought to have been about B.C. 1000.2 Quite in accordance with this view is the further fact, that in the native Assyrian annals, so far as they have been recovered, the Medes do not make their appearance till the middle of the ninth century B.C., and when they appear are weak and unimportant, only capable of opposing a very slight resistance to the attacks of the Nine- vite kings. The natural conclusion from these data would appear to be, that until about B.C. 850 the Median name was unknown in the world, and that previously, if Medes existed at all, it was either as a sub-tribe of some other Arian race, or at 1 See the translation of the first Far- ! Margiana), Harôyû (Aria or Herat), gard of the l'endidad in the Appendix ! Gau Sughdha (Sogdiana), and Qâirizem to this “Monarchy." The only other ! (Chorasmia or Kharesm). Here again geographic notice of any considerable there is no mention of Media. length which the Zendavesta contains, is ? Haug, Essays, p. 224. In Bunsen's in the Mithra Yasht, where the countries Egypt the date suggested is B.c. 1200 mentioned are Aiskata (Sagartia, Asa (vol. iii. p. 478). garta of cuneiform inscriptions?), Pou 3 See above, pp. 101 and 113. rata (Parthia), Mouru (Meru, Merj, 2 B 2 372 | CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. any rate as a tribe too petty and insignificant to obtain mention either on the part of native or of foreign historians. Such early insignificance and late development of what ultimately becomes the dominant tribe of a race is no strange or unprecedented phenomenon to the historical enquirer; on the contrary, it is among the facts with which he is most familiar, and would admit of ample illustration, were the point worth pursuing, alike from the history of the ancient and the modern world.* But, against the conclusion to which we could not fail to be led by the Arian and Assyrian records, which agree together so remarkably, two startling notices in works of great authority but of a widely different character have to be set. In the Toldoth Beni Noah, or “Book of the Generation of the Sons of Noah,” which forms the tenth chapter of Genesis, and which, if the work of Moses, was probably composed at least as early as B.c, 1500,5 we find the word MADAI—a word elsewhere always signifying “the Medes” – in the genealogy of the sons of Japhet. The word is there conjoined with several other im- portant ethnic titles, as Gomer, Magog, Javan, Tubal, and Meshech; and there can be no reasonable doubt that it is intended to designate the Median people.? If so, the people must have had already a separate and independent existence in the fifteenth century B.C., and not only so, but they must have by that time attained so much distinction as to be thought worthy of mention by a writer who was only bent on affiliating the more important of the nations known to him. The other notice is furnished by Berosus. That remarkable 4 The Hellenes were an insignificant | 300 years earlier. Greek race until the Dorian conquests 6 Gen. x. 2. (Herod. i, 58; Thuc, i, 3). The Latins ? Kalisch says in his comment on the had originally no pre-eminence among passage-"Madai-- these are un puestion- the Italic peoples. The Turks for many i ubly the Medes or inhabitants of Media." ages were on a par with other Tatars. ; (Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. i. The race which is now forming Italy I p. 166.) Note that Gomer, Magog, into a kingdom has only recently shown Javan, Tubal, Meshech, Ashkenaz, To- itself superior to Lombards, Tuscans, garmah, Elishah, Tarshish, and Kittim and Neapolitans. (or Chittim) are all elsewhere through 5 The Exodus is indeed placed by Scripture undoubtedly names of nations Bunsen as late as B.c. 1320, and by Lep | or countries. Note, moreover, the plural sius as late as B. c. 1314. But the balance form of Kittim and Dodanim (or Ro- of authority favours a date from 200 to danim). CHAP. VI. MEDES OF BEROSUS. 373 historian, in his account of the early dynasties of his native Chaldæa, declared that, at a date anterior to B.C. 2000, the Medes had conquered Babylon by a sudden inroad, had esta- blished a monarchy there, and had held possession of the city and neighbouring territory for a period of 224 years. Eight kings of their race had during that interval occupied the Baby- lonian throne. It has been already observed that this narrative must represent a fact. Berosus would not have gratuitously invented a foreign conquest of his native land; nor would the earlier Babylonians, from whom he derived his materials, have forged a tale which was so little flattering to their national vanity. Some foreign conquest of Babylon must have taken place about the period named; and it is certainly a most im- portant fact that Berosus should call the conquerors Medes. He may no doubt have been mistaken about an event so ancient; he may have misread his authorities, or he may have described as Medes a people of which he really knew nothing except that they had issued from the tract which in his own time bore the name of Media. But, while these are mere possibilities, hypo- theses to which the mind resorts in order to escape a difficulty, the hard fact remains that he has used the word; and this fact, coupled with the mention of the Medes in the Book of Genesis, does certainly raise a presumption of no inconsiderable strength against the view which it would be natural to take, if the Zend- avesta and the Assyrian annals were our sole authorities on the subject. It lends a substantial basis to the theories of those who regard the Medes as one of the principal primeval races; 10 who believe that they were well known to the Semitic inhabit- ants of the Mesopotamian valley as early as the twenty-third century before Christ—long ere Abraham left Ur for Harran- and that they actually formed the dominant power in Western Asia for more than two centuries, prior to the establishment of the first Chaldæan kingdom. & Beros. Fr. 11. “Post hos, qui suc- ! rannorum Medorum edisserit octo, an- cessione inconcussâ regnum obtinuerunt, nosque eorum viginti quatuor supra derepente Medos collectis copiis Baby- ducentos." Supra, vol. i. p. 160. lonem cepisse ait, ibique de suis tyrannos! 10 As Bunsen. See his Egypt, vol. iii. constituisse. Hinc nomina quoque ty- | pp. 583-597. 374 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. And if there are thus distinct historical grounds for the notion of an early Median development, there are not wanting those obscurer but to many minds more satisfactory proofs, wherewith comparative philology and ethnology are wont to illustrate and confirm the darker passages of ancient history. Recent linguistic research has clearly traced among the Arba Lisun, or “ Four Tongues” of ancient Chaldæa, which are so often mentioned on the ancient monuments, an Arian formation, such as would naturally have been left in the country, if it had been occupied for some considerable period by a dominant Arian power. The early Chaldæan ideographs have often several distinct values ; and, when this is the case, one of the powers is almost always an Arian name of the object represented. Words like nir, “man” (compare Greek ävnp), ar, “ river” (compare the names Aras, Araxes, Eridanus, Rha, Rhodanus, &c., and the Greek péelv, the Slavonic rika, “ river,” &c.), san, “ the sun ” (compare German Sonne, Slavonic solnce, English “sun," Dutch zon, &c.), are seemingly Arian roots; and the very term “Arian” (ariya, “noble ") is perhaps contained in the name of a primitive Chal- dæan monarch, “Arioch, King of Ellasar.” 3 There is nothing perhaps in these scattered traces of Arian influence in lower Mesopotamia at a remote era that points very particularly to the Medes ; 4 but at any rate they harmonise with the historical account that has reached us of early Arian power in these parts, and it is important that they should not be ignored when we are engaged in considering the degree of credence that is to be awarded to the account in question. Again, there are traces of a vast expansion, apparently at a very early date, of the Median race, such as seems to imply that they must have been a great nation in Western Asia long pre- viously to the time of the Iranic movements in Bactria and the adjoining regions. In the Mat-ieni of Zagros and Cappadocia,5 I See above, vol. i. p. 61. ? As, for instance, the same ideograph -a rude representation of a house-has the three powers of ê, bit, and mal-of which ê is Hamitic, bit or beth Semitic, and mal Arian. 3 Gen. xiv. 1. Unless perhaps it be the name Arioch, which is Medo-Persic in form, and almost identical with Ariaces ('Apiá- kns), the name of a Mede or Persian in Arrian. (Exp. Al. iii. 8.) 5 Herod. i. 72; v. 52; Hecat. Frs. 188, 189; Xanth. Fr. 3. CHAP. VI. . EARLY SPREAD OF THE MEDIAN RACE. 375 in the Sauro-matæ (or Northern Medes) of the country between the Palus Mæotis and the Caspian, in the Mæta or Mæotæ of the tract about the mouth of the Don, and in the Mädi of Thrace, we have seemingly remnants of a great migratory host, which, starting from the mountains that overhung Mesopotamia, spread itself into the regions of the north and the north-west at a time which does not admit of being definitely stated, but which is clearly ante-bistoric. Whether these races generally retained any tradition of their origin, we do not know; but a tribe which in the time of Herodotus dwelt still further to the west than even the Mædi—to wit, the Sigynnæ, who occupied the tract between the Adriatic and the Danube—had a very distinct belief in their Median descent, a belief confirmed by the resein blance which their national dress bore to that of the Medes. Herodotus, who relates these facts concerning them, appends an expression of his astonishment at the circumstance that emigrants from Media should have proceeded to such a distance from their original home-how it had been brought about he could not conceive. “ Still,” he sagaciously remarks, "nothing is impossible in the long lapse of ages.” 10 A further argument in favour of the early development of Median power, and the great importance of the nation in West- ern Asia at a period anterior to the ninth century, is derivable from the ancient legends of the Greeks, which seem to have designated the Medes under the two eponyms of Medea and Andromeda. These legends indeed do not admit of being dated with any accuracy; but as they are of a primitive type, and probably older than Homer,11 we cannot well assign them to an age later than B.c. 1000. Now they connect the Median name with the two countries of Syria and Colchis, countries 6 Herod. iv. 21, 110-117; Strab. xi. 2, 1 10 Ibid. révoito d’av pây èv TQ Marpa $ 15; Diod. Sic. ii, 42, $ 6; Plin, H. V. xpóvw. vi, 7. 1 The story of the Argonauts seems i Herod. iv. 123. In the Greek in- , to have been in its main particulars scriptions found in Scythia the Mæotæ į known to Homer. (See Il. vii. 469; 0d. of Herodotus are commonly called Matæ x. 137–139; xii. 64–72.) To that of (Maitai). Perseus and Andromeda he does not . 8 Thucyd. ii. 98; Strab. vii. 5, $ 7; ! allude; but its character is peculiarly Polyb. x. +1, § 4. Herod. v. 9, primitive. 376 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. remote from each other, and neither of them sufficiently near the true Median territory to be held from it, unless at a time when the Medes were in possession of something like an empire. And, even apart from any inferences to be drawn from the localities which the Greek myths connect with the Medes, the very fact that the race was known to the Greeks at this early date-long before the movements which brought them into contact with the Assyrians--would seem to shew that there was some remote period—prior to the Assyrian domination-when the fame of the Medes was great in the parts of Asia known to the Hellenes, and that they did not first attract Hellenic notice (as, but for the myths,12 we might have imagined) by the conquests of Cyaxares. Thus, on the whole it would appear, that we must acknowledge two periods of Median prosperity, separated from each other by a lengthy interval, one anterior to the rise of the Cushite Empire in Lower Babylonia, the other parallel with the decline and subsequent to the fall of Assyria. Of the first period it cannot be said that we possess any distinct historical knowledge. The Median dynasty of Berosus at Babylon appears, by recent discoveries, to have represented those Susianian monarchs who bore sway there from B.C. 2286 to 2052.13 The early Median preponderance in Western Asia, if it is a fact, must have been anterior to this, and is an event which has only left traces in ethnological names and in mytho- logical speculations. Our historical knowledge of the Medes as a nation commences in the latter half of the ninth century before our era. Shal- maneser II.-probably the “Shalman” of Hosea 14 — who reigned 12 The ethnic character of these myths, an apparent combination of Medes with though (in one instance) vouched for by | Persians in both myths; for not only is Strabo (xi. 13, $ 10), may perhaps be Perseus the husband of Andromeda, but doubted by some persons. Medea may Persé or Perseïs is the mother of etes be derived from undos, “ craft," or un (od. x. 139; Hes. Theog. 957). It is a douai, “to act craftily”—and Perseus į profound remark of Aristotle's–Ourávu may be, and indeed has been, connected ouvovácetai tà katà ouußeßnkós. (Eth. with nepāv and Tepas, and regarded as a ſ Nic. viii. 4, $ 5.) mere Solar epithet. (Eustath. Comment. 13 See above, vol. i. pp. 160-163. ad Hom. Od.; Paley, note ad loc.) But 14 Hosea, x. 14. “ Thy fortresses shall then mere accident would have produced | be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth- CHAP. VI. FIRST CONTACT OF MEDIA WITH ASSYRIA, 377 from B.C. 859 to B.C. 824-relates that in his 24th year (B.C. 835), after having reduced to subjection the Zimri, who held the Zagros mountain range immediately to the east of Assyria, and received tribute from the Persians, he led an expedition into Media and Arazias, where he took and destroyed a number of the towns, slaying the men, and carrying off the spoil. He does not mention any pitched battle; and indeed it would seem that he met with no serious resistance. The Medes whom he attacks are evidently a weak and insignificant people, whom he holds in small esteem, and regards as only deserving of a hurried mention. They seem to occupy the tract now known as Ardelan—a varied region containing several lofty ridges, with broad plains lying between them. It is remarkable that the time of this first contact of Media with Assyria—a contact taking place when Assyria was in her prime, and Media was only just emerging from a long period of weakness and obscurity—is almost exactly that which Ctesias selects as the date of the great revolution whereby the Empire of the East passed from the hands of the Shemites into those of the Arians.16 The long residence of Ctesias among the Persians gave him a bias towards that people, which even extended to their close kin, the Medes. Bent on glorifying these two Arian races, he determined to throw back the commencement of their Empire to a period long anterior to the true date; and, feeling specially anxious to cover up their early humiliation, he assigned their most glorious conquests to the very century, and almost to the very time, when they were in fact suffering reverses at the hands of the people over wliom he represented them as triumphant. There was a boldness in the notion of thus inverting history which almost deserved, and to a considerable Arbel in the day of battle.” Beth-Arbel 16 Ctesias gave to his eight Median is probably Arbela, which was among ! kings anterior to Aspadas or Astyages the cities that joined in the revolt at a period of 282 years. Assuming his the end of Shalmaneser's reign (supra, date for Astyages' accession to have p. 110), and which may therefore very | been the same, or nearly the same, with probably have been sacked when the that of Herodotus (B.C, 593), we have rebellion was put down, B.C. 875 for the destruction of the As- 1s See above, p. 101; and compare i syrian Empire and rise of the Median the Black Obelisk Inscription (Dub | under Arbaces. lin Univ. Mag. Oct. 1853, p. 424). 378 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. extent obtained, success. The “long chronology” of Ctesias kept its ground until recently, not indeed meeting with universal acceptance,?? but on the whole predominating over the “short chronology” of Herodotus ; and it may be doubted whether any- thing less than the discovery that the native records of Assyria entirely contradicted Ctesias would have sufficed to drive from the field his figment of early Median dominion.18 The second occasion upon which we hear of the Medes in the Assyrian annals is in the reign of Shalmaneser's son and suc- cessor, Shamas-Vul. Here again, as on the former occasion, the Assyrians were the aggressors. Shamas-Vul invaded Media and Arazias in his third year, and committed ravages similar to those of his father, wasting the country with fire and sword, but not (it would seem) reducing the Medes to subjection or even attempting to occupy their territory. Again, the attack is a mere raid, which produces no permanent impression.19 It is in the reign of the son and successor of Shamas-Vul that the Medes appear for the first time to have made their sub- mission and accepted the position of Assyrian tributaries. A people which was unable to offer effectual resistance when the Assyrian levies invaded their country, and which had no means of retaliating upon their foe or making him suffer the evils that he inflicted, was naturally tempted to save itself from molestation by the payment of an annual tribute, so purchasing quiet at the expense of honour and independence. Towards the close of the ninth century B.C. the Medes seem to have followed the example set them very much earlier by their kindred and neighbours, the Persians, and to have made arrangements for 17 The “long chronology” of Ctesias I century by the Abbé Serin and Volney. was adopted, among the ancients, by Ce- ! In the present century the “ long chro- phalion, Castor, Polybius, Æmilius Sura, nology” has had few advocates. Trogus Pompeius, Nicolaus Damascenus, 18 Long after the superiority of the Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Velleius Pater- ! scheme of Herodotus was recognised, culus, and others; among the ecclesiasti- | attempts continued to be made to recon- cal writers, by Clement of Alexandria, cile Ctesias with him by supposing the Eusebius, Augustine, Sulpicius Severus,. list of the latter to be an eastern Median Agathias, Eustathius, and Syncellus; dynasty (Heeren's Manual, p. 27, E. T.), among the moderns, by Prideaux, Freret, or to contain a certain number of vice- and the French Academicians generally, roys (Clinton, F. H. vol. i. p. 261). Scaliger was, I believe, the first to dis- i 19 Compare above, p. 114. credit it. He was followed in the last The Persians paid tribute to Shal. CAAP. VI. MEDES CONQUERED BY SARGON. 379 an annual payment which should exempt their territory from ravage. It is doubtful whether the arrangement was made by the whole people. The Median tribes at this time hung so loosely together that a policy adopted by one portion of them might be entirely repudiated by another. Most probably the tribute was paid by those tribes only which bordered on Zagros, and not by those further to the east or to the north, into whose territories the Assyrian arms had not yet penetrated. No further change in the condition of the Medes is known to have occurred ? until about a hundred years later, when the Assyrians ceased to be content with the semi-independent position which had been hitherto allowed them, and deter- mined on their more complete subjugation. The great Sargon, the assailant of Egypt and conqueror of Babylon, towards the middle of his reign, invaded Media with a large army, and having rapidly overrun the country, seized several of the towns, and “ annexed them to Assyria,” while at the same time he also established in new situations a number of fortified posts. The object was evidently to incorporate Media into the empire; and the posts were stations in which a standing army was placed, to over-awe the natives and prevent them from offering an effectual resistance. With the same view deporta- tion of the people on a large scale seems to have been prac- tised ;5 and the gaps thus made in the population were filled up —wholly or in part—by the settlement in the Median cities of Samaritan captives. On the country thus re-organized and re-arranged a tribute of a new character was laid. In lieu of maneser II. (Black Obelisk Inscription, I tributary by the last-named monarch. p. 424), and again to Shamas-Vul. They That monarch even sent an officer to seem to have been at this time dwelling exercise authority in the country. (Sir in the immediate vicinity of the Medes, H. Rawlinson in the Athenæum, No. probably somewhere within the limits 1869, p. 246.) of Media Magna. • Oppert, Inscriptions des Sargonides, ? See the Inscription of this king in ' p. 25. Compare above, p. 151. the Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. 5 This is not stated in express terms; xix. p. 185. but Sargon says in one place that he 3 There are grounds, however, for sus peopled Ashdod with captives from the pecting that during the obscure period extreme East (Inscriptions, &c., p. 27), of Assyrian history which divides Vul- ' while in another he reckons Media the lush III. from Tiglath-Pileser II. (B.C. most eastern portion of his dominions. 781-744), Media became once more in- 6 2 Kings xvii, 6; xviii. 11. dependent, and that she was again made 380 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. the money payment hitherto exacted, the Medes were required to furnish annually to the royal stud a number of horses. It is probable that Media was already famous for the remarkable breed which is so celebrated in later times ;8 and that the horses now required of her by the Assyrians were to be of the large and highly valued kind known as “Nisæan." The date of this subjugation is about B.c. 710. And here, if we compare the Greek accounts of Median history with those far more authentic ones which have reached us through the Assyrian contemporary records, we are struck by a repetition of the same device which came under our notice more than a century earlier-the device of covering up the nation's disgraces at a particular period by assigning to that very date certain great and striking successes. As Ctesias's revolt of the Medes under Arbaces and conquest of Nineveh synchronises nearly with the first known ravages of Assyria within the territories of the Medes, so Herodotus’s revolt of the same people and commence- ment of their monarchy under Deïoces falls almost exactly at the date when they entirely lost their independence. As there is no reason to suspect Herodotus either of partiality towards the Medes or of any wilful departure from the truth, we must regard him as imposed upon by his informants, who were probably either Medes or Persians. These mendacious patriots found little difficulty in palming their false tale upon the simple Hali- carnassian, thereby at once extending the antiquity of their empire and concealing its shame behind a halo of fictitivus glory. After their subjugation by Sargon, the Medes of Media Magna appear to have remained the faithful subjects of Assyria for sixty or seventy years. During this period we find no notices of the great mass of the nation in the Assyrian records : only here and there indications occur that Assyria is stretching out ? Oppert, Inscriptions, &c., p. 25. - the Median monarchy to B.C. 708 (since & See above, p. 302. | 480 + 78 + 150 = 708). 9 As Herodotus gives to his four í 10 Herodotus speaks in one place only Median kings a period of exactly 150 (vii. 62) of deriving information from years, and places the accession of Cyrus , the Medes. He quotes the Persians as 78 years before the battle of Marathon, ' his authorities frequently (i. 1-5, 93 ; he really assigns the commencement of iii. 98, &c.). CAAP. VI. FICTITIOUS MEDIAN KINGS. 381 her arms towards the more distant and outlying tribes, especially those of Azerbijan, and compelling them to acknowledge her as mistress. Sennacherib boasts that early in his reign, about B.C. 702, he received an embassy from the remoter parts of Media—“ parts of which the kings his fathers had not even heard ”ll—which brought him presents in sign of submission and patiently accepted his yoke. His son, Esar-haddon, relates that, about his tenth year (B.C. 671) he invaded Bikni or Bikan,12 a distant province of Media, “ whereof the kings his fathers had never heard the name," and attacking the cities of the region one after another forced them to acknowledge his authority.13 The country was held by a number of independent chiefs, each bearing sway in his own city and adjacent territory. These chiefs have unmistakeably Arian names, as Sitriparna or Sitra- phernes, Eparna or Ophernes, Zanasana or Zanasanes, and Ramatiya or Ramates.14 Esar-haddon says that, having entered the country with his army, he seized two of the chiefs and carried them off to Assyria, together with a vast spoil and numerous other captives. Hereupon the remaining chiefs, alarmed for their safety, made their submission, consenting to pay an annual tribute, and admitting Assyrian officers into their territories, who watched, if they did not even control, the government. We are now approaching the time when Media seems to have been first consolidated into a monarchy by the genius of an individual. Sober history is forced to discard the shadowy forms of kings with which Greek writers of more fancy than judg- ment have peopled the darkness that rests upon the "origines” of the Medes. Arbaces, Maudaces, Sosarmus, Artycas, Ar- 11 Fox Talbot, Journal of the Asiatic | "stock.” In Zanasana we have the Society, vol. xix. p. 143. common Medo-Persic termination -ana 1? Probably Azer-bijan. See above, (= Gk. -ávns) suffixed to a root which is p. 262, note 14 probably connected with zan, “ to slay.” 13 Fox Talbot, Assyrian Texts, pp. 15, Ramatiya has for its first element un- 16; Oppert, Inscriptions des Saryonides, i doubtedly râm: (acc. rấn 1), “pleasant, p. 57. agreeable." The remainder of the word 14 The termination parna may be is perhaps a mere personal suffix. Or compared with the Old Persian franı, 1 the whole word may be a contraction of which is found in Vidafrana (Inta râmô-daitya, “given to be agreeable.” phernes). The initial Sitir is perhaps (Brockhaus, Veniidud-Sade, p. 390.) khshatra, “crown,” or possibly chitra, So Diodorus (ii. 32) and Eusebius 382 | CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. bianes, Artæus, Deroces—Median monarchs, according to Ctesias or Herodotus, during the space of time comprised within the years B.C. 875 and B.C. 655—have to be dismissed by the modern writer without a word, since there is reason to believe that they are mere creatures of the imagination, inventions of unscrupulous romancers, not men who once walked the earth. The list of Median kings in Ctesias, so far as it differs from the list in Herodotus, seems to be a pure forgery—an extension of the period of the monarchy by the conscious use of a system of duplication. Each king, or period, in Herodotus occurs in the list of Ctesias twice 3—a transparent device, clumsily cloaked by the cheap expedient of a liberal invention of names. Even the list of Herodotus requires curtailment. His Deïoces, whose whole history reads more like romance than truth®—the organizer of a powerful monarchy in Media just at the time when Sargon was building his fortified posts in the country and peopling with his Israelite captives the old “ cities of the Medes”—the prince (Chron. Can. i. 15). But Syncellus gives I myself noted it before I found it in the name as Mandauces (Chrono praph. Volney. The only weak point in the p. 372), and so does Moses of Chorené case is with respect to the interregnum. (Hist, Armen. i. 21). I presume that Ctesias supposed Hero- .? Moses of Chorené substitutes for Ar dotus to reckon the interregnum at a bianes the entirely different name Car generation-30 years, in round numbers diceas. (Hist. Armen. I. s. c.) Eusebius and introduced the change in the case and Syncellus take only four kings from of Arbaces, from 30 to 28, in order to Ctesias, and then change to the list of make the principle of alternations, which Herodotus. pervades his list and furnishes the key 3 This is manifest from the number to it, less glaring and palpable. of the years which Ctesias assigns to his 4 Ctesias shows no great talent or skill kings. See the subjoined table. in his invention of names. He has not half the fertility of Æschylus. (See the Crestas. HERODOTUS. Persæ, passim.) In his Median list, Artycas, Artæus, Artynes, are but vari- Kings. Yrs. Kings, &c. Yrs. ants of one and the same name-modi- Arbaces ..... Interregnum .. fications of the root artas, “great." Maudaces ... Deioces ......, (Hesych. ’Aftás, ubyas kai dautpós.) In Interregnun.. - his Assyrian list he mixes Greek and Artycas .... 50 = Deloces Arbianes ... 22 = Phraortes .... 22 Persian with Semitic names, and in one Artæus..... Cyaxares part flies off to geography for assistance. Artynes .... Phraortes ... 22 In his famous story of the joint con- 40 = Cyaxares .. spiracy of Arbaces and Belesis he simply took the actual names of the satraps of The first critic who noted this curious Media and Assyria during the time of method of duplication, so far as I know, his own residence in Persia. (See Xen. was Volney. (See his Recherches sur Anab, vii. 8, § 25.) This last fact has, l'Histoire ancienne, tom. i. pp. 144 et | I believe, never been noticed. seq.) Heeren glanced at it in the Ap- / 5 See Mr. Grote's History of Greece, pendix to his Manual (p. 476, E. T.). | vol. iii. pp. 307, 308. Sosarmus...... 30 - | 53 40 = Astibaras... CHAP. VI. GROWTH OF MEDIA IN POWER. 383 who reigned for above half a century in perfect peace with his neighbours, and who, although contemporary with Sargon, Sennacherib, Esar-baddon, and Asshur-bani-pal—all kings more or less connected with Media—is never heard of in any of their annals," must be relegated to the historical limbo in which repose so many “ shades of mighty names ;” and the Herodotean list of Median kings must, at any rate, be thus far reduced. Nothing is more evident than that during the flourishing period of Assyria under the great Sargonidæ above-named, there was no grand Median kingdom upon the eastern flank of the empire. Such a kingdom had certainly not been formed up to B.C. 671, when Esar-baddon reduced the more distant Medes, finding them still under the government of a number of petty chiefs. The earliest time at which we can imagine the consolidation to have taken place, consistently with what we know of Assyria, is about B.c. 660, or nearly half a century later than the date given by Herodotus. The cause of the sudden growth of Media in power about this period, and of the consolidation which followed rapidly upon that growth, is to be sought, apparently, in fresh migratory movements from the Arian head-quarters, the countries east and south-east of the Caspian. The Cyaxares who about the year B.c. 632 led an invading host of Medes against Nineveh, was so well known to the Arian tribes of the north-east, that, when in the reign of Darius Hystaspis a Sagartian raised the standard of revolt in that region, he stated the ground of his claim to the Sagartian throne to be descent from Cyaxares.' This great chief, it is probable, either alone, or in conjunction with his father (whom Herodotus calls Phraortes),1° led a fresh 6 Herod. i. 102. & See above, p. 381. . It has been supposed by some that! See the Behistun Inscription (printed the Deïoces of Herodotus is to be identi in the author's Herodotus, vol. ii. ad fin.), fied with a certain chief of the Manni, col. ii. par. 14, $ 4. or Minni, called Dayaukku, who was 10 The name Phraortes in this connec- made a prisoner by Sargon, and settled tion is suspicious. It was borne by a at Hamath, B.C. 715. The close resem- ! Mede who raised the standard of revolt blance of the names is certainly remark in the time of Darius Hystaspis; who, able; but there is no reason to regard however, laid it aside, and assumed the the Manni as Medes; nor is it likely , name of Xathrites (Beh, Inscr. col. ii. that a captured chief, settled at Hamath, par. 5, $ 4). If Ph raortes had been a in Syria, B.c. 715, could in B.C. 708 found royal name previously, it would scarcely a great kingdom in Media. have been made to give way to one 384 CHAP, VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. emigration of Arians from the Bactrian and Sagartian country to the regions directly east of the Zagros mountain chain; and having thus vastly increased the strength of the Arian race in that quarter, set himself to consolidate a mountain kingdom capable of resisting the great monarchy of the plain. Accepted, it would seem, as chief by the former Arian inhabitants of the tract, he proceeded to reduce the scattered Scythic tribes which had hitherto held possession of the high mountain region. The Zimri, Minni, Hupuska, &c., who divided among them the country lying between Media Proper and Assyria, were attacked and subdued without any great difficulty;ll and the conqueror, finding himself thus at the head of a considerable kingdom and no longer in any danger of subjugation at the hands of Assyria, began to contemplate the audacious enterprise of himself attacking the Great Power, which had been for so many hundred years the terror of Western Asia. The supineness of Asshur-bani-pal, the Assyrian king, who must at this time have been advanced in years, encouraged his aspirations; and about B.C. 634, when that monarch had held the throne for thirty-four vears, suddenly, without warning, the Median troops debouched from the passes of Zagros, and spread themselves over the rich country at its base. Alarmed by the nearness and greatness of the peril, the Assyrian king aroused himself, and putting himself at the head of his troops, marched out to confront the invader. A great battle was fought, probably somewhere in Adiabêné, in which the Medes were completely defeated : their whole army was cut to pieces; and the father of Cyaxares was among the slain. which had no great associations attached / right wholly to discard the authority of to it. Herodotus, where he is not absolutely On the whole it is very doubtful if contradicted by the monuments. the Phraortes of Herodotus ought not to 11 KateoTpé QETO TÀN 'Aviny [6 $paóp- be absolutely retrenched, like his Dežoces. Tns], år' &mnou épp á no idov ovos. The testimony of Eschylus, who makes (Herod. i. 102.) These wars may have Cyaxares found the Medo-Persian em been in other directions also, but they pire (Pers. 761), and the evidence of must have been in Zagros for Media the Behistun Inscription that the Medes to have come at the end of them into traced their royal race to him, and not | contact with Assyria. (See the continua- any higher, seem to show that he was tion of the passage, és 8 otpatevo áuevos really the founder of Median indepen étl tous 'Apovpluus K.T.A.) dence. Still, it has not been thought 12 'O paóptns ajtós TE OLEPOdpn, kai Chap. VI. SECOND MEDIAN ATTACK ON NINEVEH. 385 Such was the result of the first Median expedition against Nineveh. The assailants had miscalculated their strength. In their own mountain country, and so long as they should be called upon to act only on the defensive, they might be right in regarding themselves as a match for the Assyrians; but when they descended into the plain, and allowed their enemy the opportunity of manæuvring and of using his war chariots,13 their inferiority was marked. Cyaxares, now, if not previously, actual king, withdrew awhile from the war, and, convinced that all the valour of his Medes would be unavailing without discipline, set himself to organize the army on a new system, taking a pattern from the enemy, who had long possessed some knowledge of tactics. Hitherto, it would seem, each Median chief had brought into the field his band of followers, some mounted, some on foot, foot and horse alike armed variously as their means allowed them, some with bows and arrows, some with spears, some perhaps with slings or darts ;? and the army had been composed of a number of such bodies, each chief keeping his band close about him. Cyaxares broke up these bands, and formed the soldiers who composed them into distinct corps, according as they were horsemen or footmen, archers, slingers, or lancers. He then, having completed his arrange- ments at his ease, without disturbance (so far as appears) from the Assyrians, felt himself strong enough to renew the war with a good prospect of success. Collecting as large an army as he could, both from his Arian and his Scythic subjects, he marched into Assyria, met the troops of Asshur-bani-pal in the field, defeated them signally, and forced them to take refuge behind the strong works which defended their capital. He even ventured to follow up the flying foe and commence the siege of the capital itself; but at this point he was suddenly checked in d otpards aŭtou Smomós. (Herod. I. 8. c.) the Assyrians (supra, vol. i. p. 440), 13 Compare the case of the Israelites and among the Egyptians (Wilkin- and the old nations of Canaan (Judg. i. I son's Ancient Eryptians, vol. i. p. 316), 19). and as the sling is the natural weapon į Supra, vol. i. pp. 461, 462. of mountaineers, we may conclude that 2 Herod. i. 103. Herodotus does not the Medes were not without them. That mention slingers, but only spearmen and the Persians used slings is well esta- archers. Still, as we find slingers among blished. (Xen, Anitb. iii. 3. $ 16.) VOL. II. 2 c 386 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. his career of victory, and forced to assume a defensive attitude, by a danger of a novel kind, which recalled him from Nineveh to his own country. The vast tracts, chiefly consisting of grassy plains, which lie north of the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian, and the Jaxartes or Svhun river, were inhabited in ancient times by a race or races known to the Asiaties as Saka, to the Greeks as Exúdai, “Scythians.” These people appear to have been allied ethnically with many of the more southern races, as with the Parthians, the Iberians, the Alarodians, the tribes of the Zagros chain, the Susianians, and others. It is just possible that they may have taken an interest in the welfare of their southern brethren, and that, when Cyaxares brought the tribes of Zagros under his yoke, the Scyths of the North may have felt resent- ment or compassion. If this view seem too improbable, con- sidering the distance, the physical obstacles, and the little communication that there was between nations in those early times, we must suppose that by a mere coincidence it happened that the subjugation of the southern Scyths by Cyaxares was followed within a few years by a great irruption of Scyths from the trans-Caucasian region. In that case we shall have to regard the invasion as a mere example of that ever recurring law, by which the poor and hardy races of Upper Asia or Europe are from time to time directed upon the effete kingdoms of the south, to shake, ravage, or overturn them as the case may be, and prevent them from stagnating into corruption. The character of the Scythians, and the general nature of their ravages, have been described in a former portion of this work. If they entered Southern Asia, as seems probable, by the Daghestan route, they would then have been able to pass 3 This was especially the Persian name ) pp. 163, 169, 188, 204, &c. (Herod. vii. 64). It is found throughout | See above, pp. 223-227. the Achæmenian inscriptions, but not in! 6 Herodotus says of the Scythians that the Assyrian or Babylonian, where the they marched from Scythia into Media term which replaces it is Gimiri or by a roundabout route, ev detin & xortes Kimiri (apparently “ Cimmerians "). In to Kavkdo lov opos (i. 104). This descrip- the Zendavesta, Turiya ('Turanian) is the tion is exactly applicable to the route appellative of the Scythic races. along the western shores of the Caspian, * See the author's Herodotus, vol. iv. ' by Derbend and Bakou. CHAP. VI. SCYTHIAN INVASION OF MEDIA. 387 on without much difficulty, through Georgia into Azerbijan, and from Azerbijan into Media Magna, where the Medes had now established their southern capital. Four roads lead from Azerbijan to Hamadan or the Greater Ecbatana, one through Menjil and Kasvin, and across the Karaghan Hills; a second through Miana, Zenjan, and the province of Khamseh; a third by the valley of the Jaghetu, through Chukli and Tikan- Teppeh ; and a fourth through Sefer-Khaneh and Sennah. We cannot say which of the four the invaders selected; but, as they were pressing southwards they met the army of Cyaxares, which had quitted Nineveh on the first news of their invasion, and had marched in hot haste to meet and engage them. The two enemies were not ill-matched. Both were hardy and warlike, both active and full of energy ; with both the cavalry was the chief arm, and the bow the weapon on which they depended mainly for victory. The Medes were no doubt the better disciplined; they had a greater variety of weapons and of soldiers; and individually they were probably more powerful men than the Scythians : ' but these last had the advantage of numbers, of reckless daring, and of tactics that it was difficult to encounter. Moreover, the necessity of their situation in the midst of an enemy's country made it imperative on them to succeed, while their adversaries might be defeated without any very grievous consequences. The Scyths had not come into Asia to conquer so much as to ravage; defeat at their hands involved damage rather than destruction; and the Medes must have felt that, if they lost the battle, they might still hope to maintain a stout defence behind the strong walls of some of their towns.10 The result was such as might have been expected under these circumstances. Madyes," the Scythian leader, obtained the victory ; Cyaxares was defeated, and compelled to make terms with the invader. Retaining his royal name, and * The Bakou route conducts into the 9 On the Scythian physique, see above, flat Moghan district at the mouth of the p. 223. combined Kur and Aras, whence it is 16 As the Northern Ecbatana (supra, easy to march to Tabriz and the Uru- | p. 268) and perhaps Rhages. miyeh country. 11 So Herodotus (i. 103). Strabo gives * Herod. i. 104. the name as Madys (i. 3, $ 21). 2 c 2 388 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. the actual government of his country, he admitted the suze- rainty of the Scyths, and agreed to pay them an annual tribute. Whether Media suffered very seriously from their ravages, we cannot say. Neither its wealth nor its fertility was such as to tempt marauders to remain in it very long. The main com- plaint made against the Scythian conquerors is, that, not content with the fixed tribute which they had agreed to receive and which was paid them regularly, they levied contributions at their pleasure on the various states under their sway, which were oppressed by repeated exactions. The injuries suffered from their marauding habits form only a subordinate charge against them, as though it had not been practically felt to be so great a grievance. We can well imagine that the bulk of the invaders would prefer the warmer and richer lands of Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Syria,' and that, pouring into them, they would leave the colder and less wealthy Media com- paratively free from ravage. The condition of Media and the adjacent countries under the Scythians must have nearly resembled that of almost the same regions under the Seljukian Turks during the early times of their domination. The conquerors made no fixed settlements, but pitched their tents in any portion of the territory that they chose. Their horses and cattle were free to pasture on all lands equally. They were recognised as the dominant race, were feared and shunned, but did not greatly interfere with the bulk of their subjects. It was impossible that they should occupy at any given time more than a comparatively few spots in the wide tract which they had overrun and subjugated; and conse- quently, there was not much contact between them and the peoples whom they had conquered. Such contact as there was must no doubt have been galling and oppressive. The right of free pasture in the lands of others is always irksome to those who have to endure it,' and even where it is exercised with strict 12 This seems to be the meaning of See above, p. 226. the somewhat obscure passage, xwpis ? See Gibbon's Decline and full of the uév gap twv pópwy épnagov Tap' éká- ' Romun Empire, ch. lvii. (vol. v. pp. 655, OTWY TÒ ÉKSOTO01 été Baldov. (Herod., 656, 4to edition). i. 106.) 3 The Samnites seem to have had a CHAP. V CHAP. VI. SPREAD OF THE SCYTHS OVER WESTERN ASIA. 389 SPREAD F THE SCYTHS OVER ESTERV ASIA fairness, naturally leads to quarrels. The barbarous Scythians are not likely to have cared very much about fairness. They would press heavily upon the more fertile tracts, paying over- frequent visits to such spots, and remaining in them till the region was exhausted. The chiefs would not be able to restrain their followers from acts of pillage ; redress would be obtained with difficulty; and sometimes even the chiefs themselves may have been sharers in the injuries committed. The insolence, moreover, of a dominant race so coarse and rude as the Scyths must have been very hard to bear; and we can well understand that the various nations which had to endure the yoke must have looked anxiously for an opportunity of shaking it off, and recovering their independence. Among these various nations there was probably none that fretted and winced under its subjection more than the Medes. Naturally brave and high-spirited, with the love of independence inherent in mountaineers, and with a well-grounded pride in their recent great successes, they must have chafed daily and hourly at the ignominy of their position, the postponement of their hopes, and the wrongs which they continually suffered. At first it seemed necessary to endure. They had tried the chances of a battle, and had been defeated in fair fight-what reason was there to hope that, if they drew the sword again, they would be more successful ? Accordingly they remained quiet; but, as time went on and the Scythians dispersed them- selves continually over a wider and a wider space, invading Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and again Armenia and Cappadocia, everywhere plundering and marauding, con- ducting sieges, fighting battles, losing men from the sword, from sickness, from excesses, becoming weaker instead of stronger, as each year went by, owing to the drain of constant wars—the Medes by degrees took heart. Not trusting, how- right of this kind in Campania, which, I the occupation of inferior tribes. probably, as much as anything, caused / Herod. i. 105. the revolt of the Campanians and their : Strab. xi. 8, § 4. Lákal . . . tñs ’Ap- submission to Rome in B.C. 340. (See uevias kaTÉKTNJAY thu aplotnv gyñv ... Arnold, History of Rome, vol. ii. pp. 108, 1 kal uexpı Karnadókwv, kal páriota TV 109.) Powerful Arab tribes have some- tpos Evgelvw, ous lovtikoùs vûv kalovou, times such a right over Iands usually in Η προήλθον. 6 Herod. I. S. C. 390 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. ever, entirely to the strength of their right arms, a trust which had failed them once, they resolved to prepare the way for an outbreak by a stratagem which they regarded as justifiable. Cyaxares and his Court invited a number of the Scythian chiefs to a grand banquet, and, having induced them to drink till they were completely drunk, set upon them when they were in this helpless condition, and remorselessly slew them all.? This deed was the signal for a general revolt of the nation. The Medes everywhere took arms, and, turning upon their con- querors, assailed them with a fury the more terrible because it had been for years repressed. A war followed, the duration and circumstances of which are unknown ;8 for the stories with which Ctesias enlivened this portion of his history can scarcely be accepted as having any foundation in fact. According to him, the Parthians made common cause with the Scythians on the occasion, and the war lasted many years; numerous battles were fought with great loss to both sides; and peace was finally concluded without either party having gained the upper hand.' The Scyths were commanded by a queen, Zarina or Zarinæa, 10 a woman of rare beauty, and as brave as she was fair; who won the hearts, when she could not resist the swords, of her adver- saries. A strangely romantic love-tale is told of this beauteous Amazon. It is not at all clear what region Ctesias supposes ? Ibid. i. 106. Herodotus says, rhe.. the Scythian king, and accompanied him torically, in this place, that “most of to the war, taking part in all his battles. the Scythians” were destroyed by this On one occasion she was wounded, and stratagem. But he admits afterwards might have been captured by Stryan- (iv. l) that the great bulk of the in gaus, son-in-law of the King of the vaders returned into Scythia. Medes; but she begged so carnestly to It is not clear whether Strabo's notice be allowed to escape, that Stryangæus of the origin of the Lákala refers to this, let her go. Shortly afterwards Stry- occasion or no. After relating the ex- angaus himself was made prisoner by tent of the Scythian ravages (see above, i Marmareus, who was about to put him note “), he says, “the Persii generals of to death, when Zarina interposed on his the time set upon them by night as they behalf, and begged his life in return for were feasting off their spoils, and com- her own. Her prayer being refused, in pletely exterminated them." order to save her preserver, she murdered 8 The whole struggle is summed up her husband. The pair were by this by Herodotus in three words—’Egela- ! time in love with one another, and peace σθέντες υπό Μήδων οι Σκύθαι κ. τ. λ. , having been made between the Sacans 9 Diod. Sic. ii. 34, $ 2. and the Medes, Stryangæus went to visit 10 Zarinæa is the form used by Nicolas Zarina at her court. There he was of Damascus (Fr. 12); Zarina, by Dio- most hospitably received; but when, dorus (ii. 34, $ 3). after a while, he revealed the secret 11 Zarina was the wife of Marmareus, of his love, Zarina repulsed him, res Chap. VI. THEIR EXPULSION BY THE MEDES. 391 her to govern. It has a capital city, called Roxanacé (a name entirely unknown to any other historian or geographer), and it contains many other towns, of which Zarina was the foundress. Its chief architectural monument was the tomb of Zarina, a triangular pyramid, six hundred feet high, and more than a mile round the base, crowned by a colossal figure of the queen made of solid gold.12 But-to leave these fables and return to fact- we can only say with certainty that the result of the war was the complete defeat of the Scythians, who not only lost their position of pre-eminence in Media and the adjacent countries, but were driven across the Caucasus into their own proper territory. Their expulsion was so complete that they scarcely left a trace of their power or their presence in the geography or ethnography of the country. One Palestinian city only, as already observed," and one Armenian province 3 retained in their names a lingering memory of the great inroad, which but for them would have passed away without making any more permanent mark on the region than a hurricane or a snow- storm. How long the dominion of the Scythis endured is a matter of great uncertainty. It was no doubt the belief of Herodotus that from their defeat of Cyaxares to his treacherous murder of their chiefs was a period of exactly twenty-eight years. During the whole of this space he regarded them as the undisputed lords of Asia. It was not till the twenty-eight years were over that the Medes were able, according to him, to renew their attacks on the Assyrians, and once more to besiege Nineveh. But this chronology is open to great objections. There is strong reason for believing that Nineveh fell about B.C. 625 or 624;5 - - --- - minding him of his wife, Rhætæa, whom ' llerod, iv. 1 and 4. fame reported much more beautiful than 2 Scythopolis. (See above, p. 227.) herself, and exhorting him to show his Polyhistor considered that Scythopolis manhood by battling bravely with an was a town of importance in the time unseemnly passion. Hereupon Stryangæus of Nebuchadnezzar. (Polyhist. ap. Euseb. retired to his chamber and killed him- ! Prip. Ev. ix. 39.) self, having first written to reproach ! 3 Sacassêné, which Strabo says took Zarina with causing his death. (See its name from them (xi. 8, $ 4). Nic. Dam. Fr. 12; and compare Deme- 1 + Herod. i. 106. Compare iv. 1. trius, De Elocut. $ 219; Tzetz. Ceild. ! 5 This belief rests primarily on the xii. 894; and Anon. De claris mulieribus, statements of Abydenus and Polyhistor, 12 Diod. Sic. ii. 31, $ 5. which connect the fall of Nineveh with $ 2.) 392 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. but according to the numbers of Herodotus the fall would, at the earliest, have taken place in B.c. 602. There is great un- likelihood that the Scyths, if they had maintained their rule for a generation, should not have attracted some distinct notice from the Jewish writers.? Again, if twenty-eight out of the forty years assigned to Cyaxares are to be regarded as years of inaction, all his great exploits, his two sieges of Nineveh, his capture of that capital, his conquest of the countries north and west of Media as far as the Halys ;8 his six years' war in Asia Minor beyond that river, and his joint expedition with Nebu- chadnezzar into Syria, will have to be crowded most improbably into the space of twelve years, two or three preceding and ten or nine following the Scythian domination. These and other rea- sons lead to the conclusion, which has the support of Eusebius, 10 that the Scythian domination was of much shorter duration than Herodotus imagined. It may have been twenty-eight years years, as the accession of Nabopolassar (Abyd. ap. I tion that is at all reasonable. It would Euseb. Chr. Can, i. 9; Polyhist. ap. Syn- be quite fair to claim that two or three cell. Chronograph. p. 396)- an event years must have been occupied by the fixed by the Canon of Ptolemy to B.C. | organization of the army on a new 625. The value of these writers depends system ; that about the same time would of course wholly on their representing probably ela pse between the rejection of to us, where they agree, the statements i the Scythic yoke and the recovery of suffi- of Berosus. A second ground for be cient strength to attack so great a town lieving that the capture was not much as Nineveh; and that the siege may later than this is contained in the well have occupied t two full veg Lydian war of Cyaxares, which must Diodorus, following Ctesias, makes it. have been subsequent to it, yet which We should then have (633 – 3-28 - 2 seems to be best dated as between B.C. 1 - 2=) B.C. 598 as the Herodotean date 615 and B.c. 610. It is perhaps worth of the capture. noticing that Eusebius places the cap i It is possible, but not certain, that ture in B.c. 618, which is (according to two chapters of Ezekiel (chs. xxxviii. and him) the twelfth year of Cyaxares. xxxix.) refer to the Scythic ravages of (Chron. Can. ii. p. 328.) this period. 6 Herodotus represents Cyaxares as $ See below, p. 399. ascending the throne 153 years before 9 It is possible to tabulate the reign of the battle of Marathon, i.e. in B.c. 633. Cyaxares so as to bring these events He first introduces a new system of dis within the 12 years above indicated ; cipline, which must take at least one i but their all happening within so brief year. He then attacks Nineveh, and a space is most improbable. is recalled by the arming of the Scyths 10 Eusebius places the fall of Nineveh --say in B.c. 632. The massacre is 28 | in the 12th year of Cyaxares (B.C. 618, years afterwards, or B.C. 604. Suppose according to him). This would imply Nineveh attacked for the second time in that the expulsion of the Scyths was at the very next year, which is unlikely least as early as B.C. 620. He brings enough, but just possible; it can scarcely the Scyths into Asia in B.C. 631, thus have fallen till the year following, or assigning to their domination about B.C. 602. This is the shortest computa- | eleven years. Chap. VI. CYAXARES’ ALLIANCE WITH NABOPOLASSAR. 393 from the original attack on Media to the final expulsion of the last of the invaders from Asia—and this may have been what the informants of Herodotus really intended—but it cannot have been very long after the first attack before the Medes began to recover themselves, to shake off the fear which had possessed them, and to clear their territories of the invaders. If the invasion really took place in the reign of Cyaxares, and not in the lifetime of his father, where Eusebius places it, we must suppose that within eight years of its occurrence Cyaxares found himself sufficiently strong, and his hands sufficiently free, to resume his old projects, and for the second time to march an army into Assyria. The weakness of Assyria was such as to offer strong tempta- tions to an invader. As the famous inroad of the Gauls into Italy in the year of Rome 365 paved the way for the Roman conquests in the peninsula by breaking the power of the Etrus- cans, the Umbrians, and various other races, so the Scythic incursion may have really benefited, rather than injured, Media, by weakening the great power to whose Empire she aspired to succeed. The exhaustion of Assyria's resources at the time is remarkably illustrated by the poverty and meanness of the palace, which the last king, Saracus, built for himself at Calah." She lay, apparently, at the mercy of the first bold assailant, her prestige lost, her army dispirited or disorganized, her defences injured, her high spirit broken and subdued. Cyaxares, ere proceeding to the attack, sent, it is probable, to make an alliance with the Susianians and Chaldæans.13 Susiana was the last country which Assyria had conquered, and could remember the pleasures of independence. Chaldæa, though it had been now for above half a century an Assyrian fief, and had borne the yoke with scarcely a murmur during that period, could never wholly forget its old glories or the long resistance which it had made before submitting to its northern neigh- 11 Eusebius makes Phraortes reign till B.C. 629, and Cyaxares succeed him in that year. (Chron. Can. ii. p. 327.) 12 See pp. 229, 230. 13 The “ turmæ vulgi collecticiæ, quæ å mari adversus Saracum adventabant” 1 (Abyd. ap Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 9) must, I think, have been these two nations. The opportuneness of their attack makes it probable that they acted in concert with Cyaxares. 394 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. bour. The overtures of the Median monarch seem to have been favourably received ; and it was agreed that an army from the south should march up the Tigris and threaten Assyria from that quarter, while Cyaxares led his Medes from the east, through the passes of Zagros against the capital. Rumour soon conveyed the tidings of his enemies' intentions to the Assyrian monarch, who immediately made such a disposition of the forces at his command as seemed best calculated to meet the double danger which threatened him. Selecting from among his generals the one in whom he placed most confidence—a man named Nabo- polassar, most probably an Assyrian-he put him at the head of a portion of his troops and sent him to Babylon to resist the enemy who was advancing from the sea.14 The command of his main army he reserved for himself, intending to undertake in person the defence of his territory against the Medes. This plan of campaign was not badly conceived; but it was frustrated by an unexpected calamity. Nabopolassar, seeing his sovereigu's danger, and calculating astutely that he might gain more by an opportune defection from a falling cause than he could look to receive as the reward of fidelity, resolved to turn traitor and join the enemies of Assyria. Accordingly he sent an embassy to Cyaxares, with proposals for a close alliance to be cemented by a marriage. If the Median monarch would give his daughter Amuhia (or Amyitis) to be the wife of his son Nebuchadnezzar, the forces under his command should march against Nineveh 15 and assist Cyaxares to capture it. Such a proposition arriving at such a time was not likely to meet with a refusal. Cyaxares gladly came into the terms; the marriage took place; and Nabopolassar, who had now practically assumed the sovereignty of Babylon, either led or sent 17 a Babylonian contingent to the aid of the Medes. 14 Abyd. I. s.c.; Polyhist. ap. Syncell. ! 18 This is implied in his proceedings. Chronograph. p. 396. Only a king could undertake to treat 15 “Copias auxiliares misit (Nabopo- ! with a king, and to propose such a mar- lasa rus], videlicet ut filio suo Nabucho- | riage as that above spoken of. drossoro desponderet Amuhiam e filiabus. " Misit.” Polyhist. ap. Euseb. I. s.c. Asdahagis unam.” (Polyhist. ap. Euseb. | “Contra Ninivem impetum faciebat.” Chron. Com. i. 5.) “Ut" seems to mean | Abyden. ap. eund. (i. 9.) here ép , “ on condition that." CHAP. VÌ. SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF NINEVEH. 395 The siege of Nineveh by the combined Medes and Babylonians was narrated by Ctesias' at some length. He called the Assyrian king Sardanapalus, the Median commander Arbaces, the Baby- lonian Belesis. Though he thus disguised the real names, and threw back the event to a period a century and a half earlier than its true date, there can be no doubt that he intended to relate the last siege of the city, that which immediately preceded its complete destruction. He told how the combined army, consisting of Persians and Arabs as well as of Medes and Baby- lonians and amounting to four hundred thousand men, was twice defeated with great loss by the Assyrian monarch, and compelled to take refuge in the Zagros chain—how after losing a third battle it retreated to Babylonia—how it was there joined by strong reinforcements from Bactria, surprised the Assyrian camp by night, and drove the whole host in confusion to Nineveh- how, then, after two more victories, it advanced and invested the city, which was well provisioned for a siege and strongly fortified. The siege, Ctesias said, had lasted two full years, and the third year had commenced-success seemed still far off-when an unusually rainy season so swelled the waters of the Tigris, that they burst into the city, sweeping away more than two miles (!) of the wall. This vast breach it was impossible to repair; and the Assyrian monarch, seeing that further resistance was vain, brought the struggle to an end by burning himself, with his concubines and eunuchs and all his chief wealth, in his palace. Such, in outline, was the story of Ctesias. If we except the extent of the breach which the river is declared to have made, it contains no glaring improbabilities. On the contrary, it is a I See Diod. Sic. ii. 25–28. unprecedented height of 221 feet. ... ? After this capture Arbaces, ac Nedjib Pasha had, a few days previously, cording to Ctesias, destroyed Nineveh summoned the population en masse to to its foundations (την πόλιν είς έδαφος provide against the general danger by KATécKayev). raising a strong high mound completely 3 The danger which the cities on the round the walls. Mats of reed were Tigris run from the spring floods may placed outside to bind the earth com- be illustrated from the recent history of 1 pactly together. The water was thus Baghdad. In the year 1849 Mr. Loftus, I restrained from devastating the city- arriving at that place on May 5, found not so effectually, however, but that it the whole population “in a state of the filtered through the fine alluvial soil, utmost alarm and apprehension. ... and stood in the serdabs, or cellars, The rise in the Tigris had attained the several feet in depth. It had reached 396 | CHAP. VĨ. THE THIRD MONARCHY. narrative that hangs well together, and that suits both the rela- tions of the parties 4 and the localities. Moreover, it is confirmed in one or two points by authorities of the highest order. Still, as Ctesias is a writer who delights in fiction, and as it seems very unlikely that he would find a detailed account of the siege, such as he has given us, in the Persian archives, from whence he professed to derive his history, no confidence can be placed in those points of his narrative which have not any further sanction. All that we know on the subject of the last siege of Nineveh is, that it was conducted by a combined army of Medes and Babylonians, the former commanded by Cyaxares, the latter by Nabopolassar or Nebuchadnezzar, and that it was terminated, when all hope was lost, by the suicide of the Assyrian monarch. The self-immolation of Saracus is related by Aby- denus, who almost certainly follows Berosus in this part of his history. We may therefore accept it as a fact about which there ought to be no question. Actuated by a feeling which has more than once caused a vanquished monarch to die rather than fall into the power of his enemies, Saracus made a funeral pyre of his ancestral palace, and lighted it with his own hand. One further point in the narrative of Ctesias we may suspect to contain a true representation. Ctesias declared the cause of the capture to have been the destruction of the city wall by an unexpected rise of the river. Now, the Prophet Nahum in his within two fect of the top of the bank! 1 6 See besides Abydenus and Poly- On the river side the houses alone, many histor, Tobit xiv. 15, and Josephus (ant. of which were very old and frail, pre. į Jud. x. 5, $ 1). vented the ingress of the flood. It was! ? The book of Tobit makes Nebu- a critical juncture. Men were stationed chadnezzar the actual commander. night and day to watch the barriers. See the passage quoted at length, If the dam or any of the foundations p. 229, note 6. had failed, Baghdad must have been 9 The closest parallel to the conduct bodily washed away. Fortunately the of Saracus is the self-destruction of pressure was withstood, and the inunda- Zimri (1 K. xvi. 18). The unheroic tion gradually subsided.” (Loftus, Chal- i spirit of the later Persians, not being daa and Susuun!, p. 7.) able to conceive of such an act of self- 4 There is nothing improbable in the immolation, ascribed the fire to a Medes inducing the Persians to help thunderbolt. (See the distorted story of them, or in the Babylonians getting the the fall of Nineveh in Xenophon, Anah. assistance of some Arab tribes. (See iii. 4, 88 11, 12; where the Assyrians above, p. 210.) The Bactrian contingent are called Medes, and the Medes Per- might be a fresh body of emigrant sians, and where the effeminate Sardana- Medes arrived from those regions. palus becomes an actual woman-Mndia 5 See Diod. Sic. ii. 32, $ 4. + Yovì Baơ LÀéds.) CHAP. VI. DIVISION OF THE SPOIL. 397 announcement of the fate coming on Nineveh, has a very re- markable expression, which seems most naturally to point to some destruction of a portion of the fortifications by means of water. After relating the steps that would be taken for the defence of the place, he turns to remark on their fruitlessness, and says :-“ The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved ; and Huzzab is led away captive; she is led up, with her maidens, sighing as with the voice of doves, smiting upon their breasts.” 10 Now, we have already seen that at the north-west angle of Nineveh there was a sluice or floodgate, 11 intended mainly to keep the water of the Khosr-su, which ordi- narily filled the city moat, from flowing off too rapidly into the Tigris, but probably intended also to keep back the water of the Tigris, when that stream rose above its common level. A sudden and great rise of the Tigris would necessarily endanger this gate, and if it gave way beneath the pressure, a vast torrent of water would rush up the moat along and against the northern wall, which may have been undermined by its force, and have fallen in. The stream would then pour into the city; and it may perhaps have reached the palace platform, which being made of sun-dried bricks and probably not cased with stone inside the city, would begin to be “dissolved.” 12 Such seems the simplest and best interpretation of this passage, which, though it is not historical but only prophetical, must be regarded as giving an importance, that it would not otherwise have possessed, to the statement of Ctesias with regard to the part played by the Tigris in the destruction of Nineveh. The fall of the city was followed by a division of the spoil between the two principal conquerors. While Cyaxares took to his own share the land of the conquered people, Assyria Proper, and the countries dependant on Assyria towards the north and 19 Nahum ii. 6. 7. The authorised | though he allows that 19 is ordinarily version is followed mainly in this trans- “to melt, dissolve," because (he says) lation; but a few improvements are ; “ the raised terraces or platforms were adopted from Mr. Vance Smith's Pró- I very solid and faced with stone." phecies concerning Ninereh, pp. 242, 243.1 (Prophecies, p. 243, note®.) But we do not 11 See above, vol. i. p. 259. know that they were ever so faced except 12 Mr. Vance Smith argues against 1 when they formed part of the external this translation of the word is here, 1 defences of the town. 398 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. the north-west, Nabopolassar was allowed, not merely Babylonia, Chaldæa, and Susiana, but the valley of the Euphrates and the countries to which that valley conducted. Thus two considerable empires arose at the same time ont of the ashes of Assyria-the Babylonian towards the south and the south-west, stretching from Luristan to the borders of Egypt, the Median towards the north, reaching from the salt desert of Iran to Amanus and the Upper Euphrates. These empires were established by mutual consent; they were connected together, not merely by treaties, but by the ties of affinity which united their rulers; and, instead of cherishing, as might have been expected, a mutual suspicion and distrust, they seem to have really entertained the most friendly feelings towards one another, and to have been ready on all emergencies to lend each other important assistance. For once in the history of the world, two powerful monarchies were seen to stand side by side, not only without collision, but without jealousy or rancour. Babylonia and Media were content to share between them the Empire of Western Asia—the world was, they thought, wide enough for both—and so, though they could not but have had in some respects conflicting interests, they remained close friends and allies for more than half a century. To the Median monarch the conquest of Assyria did not bring a time of repose. Wandering bands of Scythians were still, it is probable, committing ravages in many parts of Western Asia. The subjects of Assyria, set free by her downfall, were likely to use the occasion for the assertion of their independ- ence, if they were not immediately shown that a power of at least equal strength had taken her place and was prepared to claim her inheritance. War begets war; and the successes of Cyaxares up to the present point in his career did but whet his appetite for power and stimulate him to attempt further con- quests. In brief but pregnant words Herodotus informs us, that Cyaxares “subdued to himself all Asia above the Halys." 3 1 The dependance of Susiana on / zar. (Dan. viii. 2 and 27.) Babylon during the Median period is ? See below, pp. 409 and 414. shown by the Book of Daniel, where 3 Herod. i. 103. Outós (Kvačápns] the prophet goes on the king's business ÈOTIV ... TINY "Alvos notauoll övw to “Shushan the palace in the province 'Agíny naoay quotñoas ewurų. of Elam," during the reign of Belshaz- CHAP. VI. ADVANCE OF THE EMPIRE. 399 How much he may include in this expression, it is impossible to determine; but, prima facie, it would seem at least to imply that he engaged in a series of wars with the various tribes and nations which intervened between Media and Assyria on the one side and the river Halys on the other, and that he succeeded in bringing them under his dominion. The most important countries in this direction were Armenia and Cappadocia, Armenia, strong in its lofty mountains, its deep gorges, and its numerous rapid rivers—the head streams of the Tigris, Euphra- tes, Kur, and Aras—had for centuries resisted with unconquered spirit the perpetual efforts of the Assyrian kings to bring it under their yoke, and had only at last consented under the latest king but one to a mere nominal allegiance. Cappadocia had not even been brought to this degree of dependance. It had lain beyond the furthest limit whereto the Assyrian arms had ever reached, and had not as yet come into collision with any of the great powers of Asia Other minor tribes in this region, neighbours of the Armenians and Cappadocians, but more remote from Media, were the Iberians, the Colchians, the Moschi, the Tibareni, the Mares, the Macrones, and the Mosy- næci. Herodotus appears to have been of opinion that all these tribes, or at any rate all but the Colchians, were at this time brought under by Cyaxares,? who thus extended his do- minions to the Caucasus and the Black Sea upon the north, and upon the east to the Kizil Irmak or Halys. It is possible that the reduction of these countries under the Median yoke was not so inuch a conquest, as a voluntary sub- , mission of the inhabitants to the power which alone seemed strong enough to save them from the hated domination of the Scyths. According to Strabo, Armenia and Cappadocia were the regions where the Scythic ravages had been most severely + We can scarcely suppose that the submission of Belat-Duri (supra, p. 210, note -) was more than this. 5 The “Sapeirians” of Herodotus (i. 104; iii. 95; vii. 79). 6 Herod. iii. 94 ; vii. 78, 79. ? His expression “all Asia above the Halys” (supra, note *), is ample enough to cover the whole of this district. That he regards it as part of the Median Empire, and as devolving upon Persia by her conquest of Media, seems to follow from his making no allusion to the conquest of any part of it by Cyrus or his succesors. 400 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. felt. Cappadocia had been devastated from the mountains down to the coast; and in Armenia the most fertile portion of the whole territory had been seized and occupied by the invaders, from whom it thenceforth took the name of Sacassêné. The Armenians and Cappadocians may have found the yoke of the Scyths so intolerable as to have gladly exchanged it for dependance on a comparatively civilised people. In the neigh- bouring territory of Asia Minor a similar cause had recently exercised a unifying influence, the necessity of combining to resist Cimmerian immigrants having tended to establish a hege- mony of Lydia over the various tribes which divided among them the tract west of the Halys. It is evidently not impro- bable that the sufferings endured at the hands of the Scyths may have disposed the nations east of the river to adopt the same remedy, and that, so soon as Media had proved her strength, first by shaking herself free of the Scythic invaders, and then by conquering Assyria, the tribes of these parts ac- cepted her as at once their mistress and their deliverer. 10 Another quite distinct cause may also have helped to bring about the result above indicated. Parallel with the great Median migration from the East under Cyaxares, or Phra- ortes (?), his father, an Arian influx had taken place into the countries between the Caspian and the Halys. In Armenia and Cappadocia, during the flourishing period of Assyria, Turanian tribes had been predominant.11 Between the middle and the end of the seventh century B.C. these tribes appear to have yielded the supremacy to Arians. In Armenia, the present language, which is predominantly Arian, ousted the former . & Strab. xi. 8, $ 4. Cyaxares by arrangement, and not on 9 See below, p. 406. compulsion. 10 It was observed above, that primâ : 11 This is especially indicated by the facie the words of Herodotus seem to i Turanian character of the names of imply a series of wars. We notice, how those who bear rule in these regions ever, when we look more narrowly at I during the whole period covered by the the passage, that the expression used, Assyrian historical inscriptions (ab. ovothoas é avtØ, is unusual and am- | B.C. 1230-650). It is further proved by biguous. It might apply to a violent | the Turanian character of the language subjugation, but it does not necessarily in the cuneiform inscriptions of Ar- imply violence. It would be a suitable i menia. (See Sir H, Rawlinson in the expression to use if the nations of this į author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 537; vol. part of Asia came under the power of iv. p. 206.) CHAP. VI. ADVANCE OF THE EXPIRE. 401 Turanian tongue, which appears in the cuneiform inscriptions of Van and the adjacent regions. In Cappadocia, the Moschi and Tibareni had to yield their seats to a new race—the Katapatuka, who were not only Arian but distinctly Medo-Persic, as is plain from their proper names, and from the close connection of their royal house with that of the kings of Persia. This spread of the Arians into the countries lying between the Caspian and the Halys must have done much to pave the way for Median supremacy over those regions. The weaker Arian tribes of the north would have been proud of their southern brethren, to whose arms the queen of Western Asia had been forced to yield, and would have felt comparatively little repugnance in sur- rendering their independence into the hands of a friendly and kindred people. Thus Cyaxares, in his triumphant progress to the north and the north-west, made war, it is probable, chiefly upon the Scyths, or upon them and the old Turanian inhabitants of the countries, while by the Arians he was welcomed as a champion come to deliver them from a grievous oppression. Ranging themselves under his standard, they probably helped him to expel from Asia the barbarian hordes which had now for many years tyrannized over them; and when the expulsion was completed, gratitude or habit made them willing to continue in the subject position which they had assumed in order to effect it. Cyaxares within less than ten years from his capture of Nineveh, had added to his empire the fertile and valuable tracts of Armenia and Cappadocia-never really subject to Assyria—and may per- haps have further mastered the entire region between Armenia and the Caucasus and Euxine. The advance of their western frontier to the river Halys, which was involved in the absorption of Cappadocia into the 1 Among Cappadocian names are 1 of Cyrus the Great. Pharnaces, Smerdis, Artamnes, Ari : 3 The fall of Nineveh has been placed arathes, Ariaramnes, Orophernes, Ari. in B.c. 625 or a little later. If the eclipse obarzanes, &c. of Thales is considered to be that of B.C. ? According to Diodorus (ap. Phot. 610, the commencement of the Lydian Bibliothec. p. 1158), Pharnaces, king war will be B.c. 615. This war could of Cappadocia (ab. B.C. 650), married not take place till the frontier had been Atossa, sister of Cambyses, an ancestor extended to the Halys. VOL. II. 2 D 402 CHAP. F. THE THIRD MONARCHY. Empire, brought the Medes into contact with a new power-a power, which, like Media, had been recently increasing in great- ness, and which was not likely to submit to a foreign yoke without a struggle. The LYDIAN kingdom was one of great antiquity in this part of Asia. According to traditions current among its people, it had been established more than seven hundred years4 at the time when Cyaxares pushed his conquests to its borders. Three dynasties of native kings-Atyadæ, Hera- clidæ, and Mermnadæ—had successively held the throne during that period. The Lydians could repeat the names of at least thirty monarchse who had borne sway in Sardis, their capital city, since its foundation. They had never been conquered. In the old times, indeed, Lydus, the son of Atys, had changed the name of the people inhabiting the country from Mæonians to Lydians?—a change which to the keen sense of an historical critic implies a conquest of one race by another. But to the people themselves this tradition conveyed no such meaning; or, if it did to any, their self-complacency was not disturbed thereby, since they would hug the notion that they belonged not to the conquered race but to the conquerors. If a Rameses or a Sesostris had ever penetrated to their country, he had met with a brave resistance, and had left monuments indicating his respect for their courage.S Neither Babylon nor Assyria had ever given a king to the Lydians-on the contrary, the Lydian tradition was, that they had themselves sent forth Belus and Ninus from their own country to found dynasties and cities in Mesopotamia. In a still more remote age they had seen their colonists embark upon the western waters,1º and start for the distant Hesperia, where they had arrived in safety, and had 4 Three Mermnad kings had reigned 99 years, according to Herodotus, 89 according to Eusebius. The Heraclidæ had reigned 505 years according to the former. The Atyadæ, who had fur- nished several kings (Atys, Lydus, Meles, Moxus, &c.), must be assigned more than a century. 3 Herod. i. 7-14. • At least four Atyadæ (see above, note *), 22 Heraclidæ (Herod. i. 7), and I four Mermnadæ, Gyges, Ardys, Sadyat- tes, and Alyattes. i Herod. i. 7; vii. 74. & Ibid. ii. 106. Compare ch. 102. 9 This is the only possible explanation of the mythic genealogy in Herod. i. 7. (See the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 292, 2nd edition.) 10 Επί Ατυος του Μάνεω βασιληος. Herod, i, 94. 404 CHAP, VÌ. THE THIRD MONARCHY. were the admiration of later ages. The relations of his pre- decessors with the Greeks of the Asiatic coast had been friendly. Gyges changed this policy, and, desirous of enlarging his sea- board, made war upon the Greek maritime towns, attacking Miletus and Smyrna without result, but succeeding in capturing the Ionic city of Colophon.18 He also picked a quarrel with the inland town of Magnesia, and after many invasions of its territory compelled it to submission 19 According to some, he made himself master of the whole territory of the Troad, and the Milesians had to obtain his permission before they could establish their colony of Abydos upon the Hellespont.20 At any rate he was a rich and puissant monarch in the eyes of the Greeks of Asia and the islands, who were never tired of cele- brating his wealth, his wars, and his romantic history. The shadow of calamity bad, however, fallen upon Lydia towards the close of Gyges' long reign. About thirty years ? before the Scythians from the Steppe country crossed the Caucasus and fell upon Media, the same barrier was passed by another great horde of nomads. The Cimmerians, probably a Celtic people, who had dwelt hitherto in the Tauric Chersonese and the country adjoining upon it, pressed on by Scythic invaders from the East, had sought a vent in this direction. Passing the great mountain barrier either by the route of Mozdok 4—the Pylæ Caucasiæ-or by some still more difficult track towards the Euxine, they had entered Asia Minor by way 17 Herod. i. 14. 18 Ibid. | vasion of Asia Minor had commenced 19 Xanth. Lyd. Fr. 19; Nic. Dam. p. before the death of Gyges, whose last 50, ed. Orelli. Herodotus does not seem 1 year is by no writer placed later than to have been aware of ihe reduction of 1 B.C. 662, The Scythic invasion has been this town, which must therefore be re- ! already assigned to B.C. 632 or 631. garded as uncertain. (Supra, pp. 391, 392.) 20 Strab. xiii. 1, $ 22. 3 On this subject see the author's 1 Archilochus celebrated the wealth Herodotus, vol. iii. pp. 150-156, 2nd of Gyges in the well-known lineo edition. μοι τα Γύγεω του πολυχρύσου μέλει + Herodotus makes them march along (Ar. Rh t. iii. 17). Mimnermus de the coast, the whole way; but this scribed the war between Gyges and the route is impracticable. Probably they people of Smyrna (Pausan. iv. 21, $ 3). proceeded along the foot of the Cau- The myth of Gyges which we find in casus, till they reached the Terek, Plato (Republ. ii. 3) was probably de which they then followed up to its rived from an early Greek poet. source, where they would come upon the ? The inscriptions of Asshur-bani famous Pylæ. pal show us that the Cimmerian in- 406 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY, period of prostration. Sadyattes, the son of Ardys, and grandson of Gyges, following the example of his father and grandfather, made war upon Miletus; 8 and Alyattes, his son and successor, pursued the same policy of aggression. Besides pressing Miletus, he besieged and took Smyrna,' and ravaged the territory of Clazomenæ.10 · But the great work of Alyattes' reign, and the one which seems to have had the most important consequences for Lydia, was the war which he undertook for the purpose of expelling the Cimmerians from Asia Minor. The hordes had been greatly weakened by time, by their losses in war, and probably by their excesses; they had long ceased to be formidable ; but they were still strong enough to be an annoyance. Alyattes is said to have “ driven them out of Asia,"11 by which we can scarcely understand less than that he expelled them from his own dominions and those of his neighbours—or, in other words, from the countries which had been the scenes of their chief ravages-Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Lydia, Phrygia, and Cilicia." But, to do this, he must have entered into a league with his neighbours, who must have consented to act under him for the purposes of the war, if they did not even admit the permanent hegemony of his country. Alyattes' success appears to have been complete, or nearly so; 13 he cleared Asia Minor of the Cimmerians; and, having thus conferred a benefit on all the nations of the region and exhibited before their eyes his great military capacity, if he had not actually constructed an Empire, he had at any rate done much to pave the way for one. Such was the political position in the regions west and south of the Halys, when Cyaxares completed his absorption of Cappa- docia, and looking across the river that divided the Cappadocians from the Phrygians, saw stretched before him a region of great fertile plains, which seemed to invite an invader. A pretext for & Herod i. 15 and 18. 9 Ibid, i. 16: Nic. Dam. p. 52, ed. Orelli. 10 Herod. 1. 8. c. 11 Keynepíous ék tñs 'Aoins éth- naoe. Herod. I. s. C. 12 On the Cimmerian invasion of Cilicia, see Strab. i. 3, $ 21. 13 According to Herodotus the Cim- merians made a permanent settlement at Sinope (iv. 12); and according to Aristotle (Fr. 190) they maintained themselves for a century at Antandros in the Troad. Otherwise they disappear from Asia, Chap. VI. GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE LYDIANS. 407 an attack was all that he wanted, and this was soon forthcoming. A body of the nomad Scyths—probably belonging to the great invasion, though Herodotus thought otherwise 14—had taken service under Cyaxares, and for some time served him faithfully, being employed chiefly as hunters. A cause of quarrel, however, arose after a while; and the Scyths, disliking their position or distrusting the intentions of their lords towards them, quitted the Median territory, and marching through great part of Asia Minor, sought and found a refuge with Alyattes, the Lydian king. Cyaxares, upon learning their flight, sent an embassy to the court of Sardis to demand the surrender of the fugitives; but the Lydian monarch met the demand with a refusal, and, fully understanding the probable consequences, immediately prepared for war. Though Lydia, compared to Media, was but a small state, yet her resources were by no means inconsiderable. In fertility she surpassed almost every other country of Asia Minor,15 which is altogether one of the richest regions in the world. At this time she was producing large quantities of gold, which was found in great abundance in the Pactolus, and probably in the other small streams that flowed down on all sides from No. 2. the Tmolus mountain-chain." Lydian Coins. Her people were at once war- like and ingenious. They had invented the art of coining money, and showed considerable taste in their devices. They No, 1. 14 Herod. i. 73. Herodotus seems toi have imagined that these Scythians were political refugees from his European Scythia. 15 On the richness and fertility of this part of Asia, see Virg. Æn. x. 141; Strabo, xiii. 4, $ 5; and compare Sir C. Fellows's Asia Minor, pp. 16-42. See Herod. i. 93 ; Soph. Philoct. 1. 393 ; Plin. H. N. v. 29, 30; &c. Cresus had also mines, which he worked, near Pergamus. (See Aristot. Mirab. Auscult. 52.) ? Xenoph. Coloph. ap. Polluc. ix. 6, $ 83; Herod. i. 94; Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 840. The claim of the Lydians to be regarded as the inventors of coin- ing has been disputed by some, among others by the late Col. Leake. (Num. Hellen. Appendix: Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, vol. iv. pp. 243, 244.) I have discussed the subject in my Herodotus (vol. i. pp. 565, 566, 2nd edition). 3 Most Lydian coins bear the device of a crowned figure about to shoot an 408 CHAP. VÌ. THE THIRD MONARCHY. claimed also to have been the inventors of a number of games, which were common to them with the Greeks. According to Herodotus, they were the first who made a livelihood by shop- keeping. They were skilful in the use of musical instruments, and had their own peculiar musical mode or style, which was in much favour among the Greeks, though condemned as effeminate by some of the philosophers.? At the same time the Lydians were not wanting in courage or manliness. They fought chiefly on horseback and were excellent riders, carrying long spears, which they managed with great skill. Nicolas of Damascus tells us that, even under the Heraclide kings, they could muster for service cavalry to the number of thirty thousand.10 In peace they pursued with ardour the sports of the field, 11 and found in the chase of the wild-boar a pastime which called forth and exercised every manly quality. Thus Lydia, even by herself, was no contemptible enemy; though it can hardly be supposed that, without help from others, she would have proved a match for the great Median Empire. But such help as she needed was not wanting to her. The rapid strides with which Media had advanced towards the west had no doubt alarmed the numerous princes of Asia Minor, who must have felt that they had a power to deal with as full of schemes of conquest as Assyria, and more capable of carrying her designs into execution. It has been already observed that arrow from a bow-which seems to be of the Lydians using both this instru- the pattern from which the Persians ment, and also the syrinx (Pan's pipe), copied the emblem on their Darics. A and the double flute, in their military few have the head of a lion, or the fore expeditions (i. 17). parts of a lion and a bull (as that figured i Plato, Repub. iii. 10. Aristotle above, No. 1, which is supposed to have seems to have entertained an opposite been struck by Crapsus). Both the animal opinion. (Pol. viii. 7, ad fin.) forms are in this case rendered with ! 8 Herodotus, speaking of the Ly- much spirit. dians, so late as the time of Crasus. + Dice, huckle-bones, ball, &c. (Herod. says, 'Hy g¢ TOÛTOY TÓv xpóvov kovos i. 94). ουδέν εν τη 'Ασίη ούτε ανδρειότερον 5 Mpôtot kérni éyévovto. (Herod. OĎTE Aktuútepov ToŮ Audiov (i. 79). 1. s. c.) They did not change their character 6 Pindar related that the magadis or 1 till after the Persian conquest. pectis, a harp with sometimes as many 9 Herod. 1. s. c. as twenty strings, had been adopted by 10 Nic. Dam. Fr. 49 (Fragm. Hist. Gr. the Greeks from the Lydians, who used vol, iii, p. 382). it at their banquets. (Ap. Athen. " Herod. i. 36-43; Nic. Dam. Fr. 49, Deipn. xiv. p. 635.) Herodotus speaks p. 384. CHAP. VI. COALITION AGAINST CYAXARES. 409 the long course of Assyrian aggressions developed gradually among the Asiatic tribes a tendency to unite in leagues for purposes of resistance. The circumstances of the time called now imperatively for such a league to be formed, unless the princes of Asia Minor were content to have their several terri- tories absorbed one after another into the growing Median Empire. These princes appear to have seen their danger. Cyaxares may perhaps have declared war specially against the Lydians, and have crossed the Halys professedly in order to chastise them ; but he could only reach Lydia' through the territories of other nations, which he was evidently intending to conquer on his way; and it was thus apparent that he was actuated, not by anger against a particular power, but by a general design of extending his dominions in this direction. A league seems therefore to have been determined on. We have not indeed any positive evidence of its existence till the close of the war; 13 but the probabilities are wholly in favour of its having taken effect from the first. Prudence would have dictated such a course ; and it seems almost implied in the fact, that a successful resistance was made to the Median attack from the very commencement. We may conclude therefore that the princes of Asia Minor, having either met in conclave or communicated by embassies, resolved to make common cause, if the Medes crossed the Halys; and that, having already acted . under Lydia in the expulsion of the Cimmerians from their territories, they naturally placed her at their head when they coalesced for the second time. Cyaxares, on his part, was not content to bring against the confederates merely the power of Media. He requested and obtained a contingent from the Babylonian monarch, Nabopo- lassar, and may not improbably have had the assistance of other allies also. With a vast army drawn from various parts of 12 See above, pp. 150, 151. | an ally of Media. But if the distant • 13 The evidence of a league is found and powerful Cilician monarch joined in the presence of Syennesis, king of į Alyattes, and fought under him, much Cilicia, at the great battle terminated more may we be sure that the princes by the eclipse. (See below, p. 411.) of the nearer and weaker states, Caria, He is manifestly there as an ally of Phrygia, Lycia, Paphlagonia, &c., Lydia, just as Labynetus, is present as placed themselves under his protection. CHAP. VI. PEACE BETWEEN ALYATTES AND CYAXARES. 411 general fear, a desire for reconciliation seized both armies.18 Of this spontaneous movement two chiefs, the foremost of the allies on either side, took advantage. Syennesis, king of Cilicia, the first known monarch of his name,19 on the part of Lydia, and a prince whom Herodotus calls “Labynetus of Babylon,”—probably either Nabopolassar? or Nebuchadnezzar -on the part of Media, came forward to propose an im- mediate armistice; and, when the proposal was accepted on either side, proceeded to the more difficult task of arranging terms of peace between the contending parties. Since nothing is said of the Scythians, who had been put forward as the ostensible grounds of quarrel, we may presume that Alyattes retained them. It is further clear that both he and his allies preserved undiminished both their territories and their inde- pendence. The territorial basis of the treaty was thus what in modern diplomatic language is called the status quo; matters, in other words, returned to the position in which they had stood before the war broke out. The only difference was that Cyaxares gained a friend and an ally where he had previously had a jealous enemy; since it was agreed that the two kings of Media and Lydia should swear a friendship, and that, to cement the alliance, Alyattes should give his daughter Aryênis in marriage to Astyages, the son of Cyaxares. The marriage thus arranged took place soon afterwards, while the oath of friend- ship was sworn at once. According to the barbarous usages of the time and place, the two monarchs having met and repeated the words of the formula, punctured their own arms, and then sealed their contract by each sucking from the wound a portion of the other's blood.? 18 Herod. i. 74. Tas páxns TE επαύσαντο και μάλλόν τι έσπευσαν και αμφότεροι ειρήνην έωυτοίσι γενέ- olar. 19 The name occurs repeatedly in later Cilician history (Eschyl. Pers. 328; Herod. vii. 98; Xen. Anah. i. 2, $ 23). Apparently it is either a royal title like Pharaoh, or a name which each king assumes when he mounts the throne. If the true date of the eclipse is B.C. 610, it would fall into the reign of Nabopolassar, which covered the space between B.C. 625 and B.C. 604. If it was the eclipse of B.C. 603, of b.c. 597, of B.c. 585, or of B.c. 583, Nabopolassar would be dead, and Nebuchadnezzar would be king of Babylon. ? Herod. i. 74, ad fin. A practice nearly similar is ascribed to the Eu- ropean Scyths by Herodotus (iv. 70), 412 CHAP. VĨ. THE THIRD MONARCHY. By this peace the three great monarchies of the time—the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian-were placed on terms, not only of amity, but of intimacy and (if the word may be used) of blood-relationship. The Crown Princes of the three kingdoms bad become brothers. From the shores of the Egean to those of the Persian Gulf, Western Asia was now ruled by interconnected dynasties, bound by treaties to respect each other's rights, and perhaps to lend each other aid in important conjunctures, and animated, it would seem, by a real spirit of mutual friendliness and attachment. After more than five centuries of almost constant war and ravage, after fifty years of fearful strife and convulsion, during which the old monarchy of Assyria had gone down and a new Empire-the Median- had risen up in its place, this part of Asia entered upon a period of repose which stands out in strong contrast with the long term of struggle. From the date of the peace between Alyattes and Cyaxares (probably B.C. 610),4 for nearly half a century, the three kingdoms of Media, Lydia, and Babylonia remained fast friends, pursuing their separate courses without quarrel or collision, and thus giving to the nations within their and to the Armenians and Iberians ! And 2. I do not regard astronomical by Tacitus (Ann. xii. 47). One not science as capable of pronouncing on very different is still found in S. Africa the exact line taken by eclipses which (Livingstone, Travels, p. 488). The happened more than 2000 years ago. rutionule of the custom seems to be, as The motions of the earth and of the moon Dr. Livingstone explains, the notion are not uniform, and no astronomer can that by drinking each other's blood the say that all the irregularities which two parties become perpetual friends may exist are known to him and have and relations. been taken into account with exactness 3 The subjoined table will illustrate in his back calculations. Fresh irregu- this statement : larities are continually discovered ; and hence the calculations of astronomers as Alyattes. Cyaxares. Nabopo- to the lines of past eclipses are continu- lassar. ally changing. (See the long note in Crosus Aryênis m. Asty. Amubia m. Nebuchad- Mr. Grote's History of Greece, vol. ii. p. ages. nezzar. 418, edition of 1862.) If, however, Mr. Bosanquet should be Nebuchadnezzar and Crasus were both right, and the eclipse was really that of brothers-in-law of Astyages. B.C. 585, there will be no need of de- 4 I am still unconvinced by the argu ranging on that account our entire ments of Mr. Bosanquet, who regards scheme of Oriental chronology. The the eclipse as positively fixed to the simple result will be that the battle year B.C. 585. The grounds of our must be transferred to the reign of difference are two-fold. 1. I do not Astyages, to which Cicero (De Dir. i. think the eclipse must necessarily have 49), Pliny (HI, N. ii. 12), and Eusebius been total. (See above, p. 410, note 17.) (Chron. Cm. ii. p. 331) assign it. CHAP, FT. LAST YEARS OF CYAXARES. 413 borders a rest and a refreshment which they must have greatly needed and desired. . In one quarter only was this rest for a short time disturbed. During the troublous period the neighbouring country of Egypt, which had recovered its freedom, and witnessed a revival of its ancient prosperity, under the Psamatik family, began once more to aspire to the possession of those provinces which, being divided off from the rest of the Asiatic continent by the impassable Syrian desert, seems politically to belong to Africa almost more than to Asia. Psamatik I., the Psam- metichus of Herodotus, had commenced an aggressive war in this quarter, probably about the time that Assyria was suf- fering from the Median and then from the Scythian inroads. He had besieged for several years the strong Philistine town of Ashdod, which commands the coast-route from Egypt to Palestine, and was at this time a most important city. Despite a resistance which would have wearied out any less pertinacious assailant, he had persevered in his attempt, and had finally succeeded in taking the place. He had thus obtained a firm footing in Syria ; and his successor was able, starting from this vantage-ground, to overrun and conquer the whole territory. About the year B.C. 608, Neco, son of Psamatik I., having recently ascended the throne, invaded Palestine with a large army, met and defeated Josiah,” king of Judah, near Megiddo in the great plain of Esdraelon, and, pressing forward through Syria to the Euphrates, attacked and took Carchemish, the strong city which guarded the ordinary passage of the river. Idumea, Palestine, Phænicia, and Syria submitted to him, and for three years he remained in undisturbed possession of his conquests. Then, however, the Babylonians, who had received these provinces at the division of the Assyrian Empire, began s Psammetichus probably became an | Such a story, however, would not have independent king about B.C. 647, at the arisen unless the siege had been one of time of the revolt of Saül-Mugina. He unusual length. was previously governor under Assyria. ? 2 Kings xxiii, 29; 2Chr. xxxv. (See above, p. 203.) 20-23. Compare Herod. ii. 159. 6 Herodotus, who is the authority for & 2 Kings xxiv. 7 ; Berosus ap. Joseph. this siege, says that it lasted 29 years. Ant. Juul, x. 11. (ii. 157), which is most improbable. 414 CHAP, VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. to bestir themselves. Nebuchadnezzar marched to Carchemish, defeated the army of Neco, recovered all the territory to the border of Egypt, and even ravaged a portion of that country. It is probable that in this expedition he was assisted by the Medes. At any rate, seven or eight years afterwards, when the intrigues of Egypt had again created disturbances in this quarter, and Jehoiakim, the Jewish king, broke into open insurrection, the Median monarch sent a contingent, which accompanied Nebuchadnezzar into Judæa, and assisted him to establish his power firmly in South-Western Asia. This is the last act that we can ascribe to the great Median king. He can scarcely have been much less than seventy years old at this time; and his life was prolonged at the utmost three years longer. According to Herodotus, he died B.C. 593, after a reign of exactly forty years,12 leaving his crown to his son Astyages, whose marriage with a Lydian princess was above related. We have no sufficient materials from which to draw out a complete character of Cyaxares. He appears to have pos- sessed great ambition, considerable military ability, and a rare tenacity of purpose, which gained him his chief successes. At the same time he was not wanting in good sense, and conld bring himself to withdraw from an enterprise, when he had misjudged the fitting time for it, or greatly miscalculated its difficulties. He was faithful to his friends, but thought treachery allowable towards his enemies. He knew how to conquer, but not how to organize, an empire; and, if we except his esta- blishment of Magism as the religion of the state, we may say that he did nothing to give permanency to the monarchy which he founded. He was a conqueror altogether after the Asiatic model, able to wield the sword, but not to guide the pen, to 9 Jerem. xlvi. 2-26. | (See above, p. 383.) If he ascended .. 10 So Polyhistor related (Fr. 24). Like the throne B.C. 633, which is the date Ctesias, he called the Median monarch of Herodotus, he would consequently Astibares. be about 67 in B.C. 597, the date of 11 We cannot suppose Cyaxares to 1 Jehoiakim's captivity. have been much less than thirty years 12 Herod. i. 106. This number is old at his accession-especially if he confirmed by Ctesias (ap. Diod. Sic. ii. tad previously led into Media a band 34, § 1). of emigrants from the Bactrian country. i CHAP. VI. ASTYAGES AND HIS COURT. 415 subdue his contemporaries to his will by his personal ascendancy over them, but not to influence posterity by the establishment of a kingdom, or of institutions, on deep and stable founda- tions. The Empire, which owed to him its foundation, was the most shortlived of all the great Oriental monarchies, having begun and ended within the narrow space of three score and ten years?—the natural lifetime of an individual. Astvages, who succeeded to the Median throne about B.C. 593,2 had neither his father's enterprise nor his ability. Born to an Empire, and bred up in all the luxury of an Oriental Court, he seems to have been quite content with the lot which fortune appeared to have assigned him, and to have coveted no grander position. Tradition says that he was remarkably handsome, cautious,4 and of an easy and generous temper.5 Although the anecdotes related of his mode of life at Ecbatana by Herodotus, Xenophon, and Nicolas of Damascus, seem to be for the most part apocryphal, and at any rate come to us upon authority too weak to entitle them to a place in history, we may perhaps gather from the concurrent descriptions of these three writers something of the general character of the Court over which he presided. Its leading features do not seem to have differed greatly from those of the Court of Assyria. The monarch lived secluded, and could only be seen by those who asked and obtained an audience. He was surrounded by guards and eunuchs, the latter of whom held most of the offices near the royal person.” The Court was magnificent in its apparel, in its banquets, and in the number and organization of its attendants. The courtiers wore long flowing robes of many different colours, amongst which red and purple predominated, 1 The real “Empire” must date, the former point certainly, on the not from the accession of Cyaxares, latter probably, he followed the sus- but from his conquest of Nineveh, picious authority of Ctesias. which was B.C. 625 at the earliest. 3 Xen, Cyrop. i, 3, § 2. From this to B.C. 558—the first year of • Æschyl. Pers, 763. opéves gàp Cyrus-is 67 years. αυτού θυμον φακοστρόφουν. * ? Eusebius makes Astyages ascend' s Tevvaióratos. Nic. Dam. Fr. 66, the throne B.C. 597; but he obtains this date by assigning to Cyrus one o Herod. i. 99 ; Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, § 8. more year, and to Astyages three more ? Nic. Dam. Fr. 66, pp. 398 and years, than Herodotus gives them. On 402. Xen. Cyrup. viii. 3, $ 3. ains p. 398. 416 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. and adorned their necks with chains or collars of gold, and their wrists with bracelets of the same precious metal. Even the horses on which they rode had sometimes golden bits to their bridles. One officer of the Court was especially called “ the King's Eye; 11 another had the privilege of introducing strangers to him ;12 a third was his cupbearer ; 13 a fourth his messenger.14 Guards, torch-bearers, serving-men, ushers, and sweepers, were among the orders into which the lower sort of attendants were divided ; 15 while among the courtiers of the highest rank was a privileged class known as “the King's table-companions” (óuotpátrecou). The chief pastime in which the Court indulged was hunting. Generally this took place in a park or “paradise” near the capital ;16 but sometimes the King and Court went out on a grand hunt into the open country, where lions, leopards, bears, wild boars, wild asses, antelopes, stags, and wild sheep abounded, and, when the beasts had been driven by beaters into a confined space, despatched them with arrows and javelins. 17 Prominent at the Court, according to Herodotus, 18 was the priestly caste of the Magi. Held in the highest honour by both King and people, they were in constant attendance, ready to expound omens or dreams, and to give their advice on all matters of state policy. The religious ceremonial was, as a matter of course, under their charge; and it is probable that high state offices were often conferred upon them. Of all classes of the people they were the only one that could feel they had a real influence over the monarch, and might claim to share in his sovereignty.19 The long reign of Astyages seems to have been almost un- 9 Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, § 2; ii. 4, $ 6, &c. 1 15 Aopupópoi, duxvooápoi, depe ForTES, 10 Ibid. i. 3, § 3. Saßdopópoi, and KalúvovTES--the last 11 'Oplanuòs Baordéos. Herod. i. ! divided into cleaners of the Palace and 114. cleaners of the courts outside the Palace, 12 Xen. Cyrop. i. 3, § 8. '0... Nic. Dam. 1. s. c. ; Dino, Fr. 7. τιμήν έχων προσάγειν τους δεομένους 16 Xen. Cyrop. i. 4, $$ 5 and 11. 'Αστυάγους, και αποκωλύειν ούς μη 1: Ibid. i. 4, $ 7. καιρός αυτώ δοκoίη είναι προσάγειν. 18 Herod. i. 107, 108, and 120. Compare Nic. Dam. p. 402. Ai evvoú 19 Herodotus makes the Magi say to χου ερόμενος την είσοδον, Astyages-Léo èVEOTEWTOS Bariños, 13 Oivoxóos. Nic. Dam. p. 398; Xen. į kai ă p xou ev td u épos, kal was C'yrop. I. s. c. " Herod. i. 114. apor oéo Meydnas čxouev. (i. 120.) CHAP. VI. . UNWARLIKE HABITS OF ASTYAGES. 417 disturbed, until just before its close, by wars or rebellions. Eusebius indeed relates that he, and not Cyaxares, carried on the great Lydian contest ; 20 and Moses of Chorêné declares that he was engaged in a long struggle with Tigranes, an Armenian king:21 But little credit can be attached to these statements, the former of which contradicts Herodotus, while the latter is wholly unsupported by any other writer. The character which Cyaxares bore among the Greeks was evi- dently that of an unwarlike king.22 If he had really carried his arms into the heart of Asia Minor, and threatened the whole of that extensive region with subjugation, we can scarcely suppose that he would have been considered so peaceful a ruler. Neither is it easy to imagine that in that case no classical writer-not even Ctesias-would have taxed Herodotus with an error which must have been so flagrant. With respect to the war with Tigranes, it is just possible that it may have a basis of truth;—there may have been a revolt of Armenia from Astyages under a certain Tigranes, followed by an attempt at subjugation. But the slender authority of Moses is insuffi- cient to establish the truth of his story, which is internally improbable, and quite incompatible with the narrative of Herodotus.23 There are some grounds for believing 24 that in one direction Astyages succeeded in slightly extending the limits of his Em- pire. But he owed his success to prudent management, and not to courage or military skill. On his north-eastern frontier, occupying the low country now known as Talish and Ghilan, was 20 Chron. Can. ii. p. 331, ed. Mai. ! 23 Moses makes Cyrus an independent This ascription of the war to Astyages : 1 prince during the reign of Astyages. is evidently connected with a belief He and Tigranes are in close alliance. that the Eclipse of Thales was that of Tigranes, and not Cyrus, attacks and de- B.c. 583. feats Astyages and kills him. After this 21 Mos. Chor. Hist, Armen, i. 23-28. 1 Cyrus assists Tigranes to conquer Media 22 This is implied in the picture drawn, and Persia, which become parts of the by Herodotus (i. 107-128), and in the Armenian king's dominions. Cyrus brief character given by Æschylus (see sinks into insignificance in the narrative above, p. 415, note *). It is expressly of Moses. stated by Aristotle, who says-Kūpos i 24 The Calusian story is told by 'Artváyn TiTidetal kal Toll Blou Nicolas of Damascus (pp. 399, 400), Katao povwv, kal tas durduews oià. who (it may be suspected) followed TO T) uèv dúvauty Encynkéval, aútov Dino, the father of Clitarchus, a writer È Tpuo av. (Pol. v. 8, § 15.) of tair authority. VOL. II. 418 | CHAP. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. a powerful tribe called Cadusians, probably of Arian origin, 25 which had hitherto maintained its independence, This would not be surprising, if we could accept the statement of Diodorus that they were able to bring into the field 200,000 men.28 Bit this account, which probably came from Ctesias, and is wholly without corroboration from other writers, has the air of a gross exaggeration ; and we may conclude from the general tenor of ancient history that the Cadusians were more indebted to the strength of their country, than to either their numbers or their prowess, for the freedom and independence which they were still enjoying. It seems that they were at this time under the government of a certain king, or chief, named Aphernes, or Onaphernes.27 This ruler was, it appears, doubtful of his position, and, thinking it could not be long maintained, made overtures of surrender to Astyages, which were gladly enter- tained by that monarch. A secret treaty was concluded to the satisfaction of both parties; and the Cadusians, it would seem, passed under the Medes by this arrangement, without any hostile struggle, though armed resistance on the part of the people, who were ignorant of the intentions of their chieftain, was for some time apprehended. The domestic relations of Astyages seem to have been un- happy. His “mariage de convenance” with the Lydian prin- cess Aryênis, if not wholly unfruitful, at any rate brought him no son;? and, as he grew to old age, the absence of such a support to the throne must have been felt very sensibly, and have caused great uneasiness. The want of an heir perhaps 25 The name, Aphernes or Onaphernes, is still more liberal, and makes him have is sufficient evidence of this. several sons by his wife Anusia, who all 26 Diod. Sic. ii. 33, $ 3. settle in Armenia. (Hist. Arm. i. 29.) 27 The Escurial MS. from which this Here, as in so many other instances. fragment of Nicolas has been recovered the monuments confirm Herodotus. For gives both these forms. Each of them when a pretender to the Median throne occurs once. starts up in the reign of Darius, who ,. 1 Herodotus declares this in the most wishes to rest his claim on descent from express terms. Astyages, he says, was the Median royal house, he does not & TOUS poevos yóvov (i. 103); so also venture to put himself forward as the Justin (i. 4); Ctesias, on the contrary, son, or even as the descendant, of Asty- gives Astyages a son, Parmises (Pers.' ages, but goes back a generation, and Err. § 3), and Xenophon (Cyrop. i. 5, says that he is “of the race of Cyaxares." § 2) a son, Cyaxares. Mos us of Chorené (Beh. Inscr, col. ii. par. 5, § 4.) Chap. VI. DOMESTIC RELATIONS OF ASTYAGES. 419 led him to contract those other marriages of which we hear in the Armenian History of Moses—one with a certain Anusia, of whom nothing more is known; and another with an Armenian princess, the loveliest of her sex, Tigrania, sister of the Ar- menian king, Tigranes. The blessing of male offspring was still, however, denied him; and it is even doubtful whether he was really the father of any daughter or daughters. Herodotus 3 and Xenophon * indeed give him a daughter, Mandané, whom they make the mother of Cyrus; and Ctesias, who denied in the most positive terms the truth of this statement, gave bim a daughter, Amytis, whom he made the wife, first of Spitaces the Mede, and afterwards of Cyrus the Persian. But these stories, which seem intended to gratify the vanity of the Per- sians by tracing the descent of their kings to the great Median conqueror, while at the same time they flattered the Medes by showing them that the issue of their old monarchs was still seated on the Arian throne, are entitled to little more credit than the narrative of the Shah-nameh, which declares that Iskander (Alexander) was the son of Darab (Darius) and of a daughter of Failakus (Philip of Macedon). When an Orientul crown pas:es from one dynasty to another, however foreign and unconnected, the natives are wont to invent a relationship between the two houses, which both parties are commonly quite ready to accept; as it suits the rising house to be pro- vided with a royal ancestry, and it pleases the fallen one and its partisans to see in the occupants of the throne a branch of the ancient stock-a continuation of the legitimate family. Tales therefore of the abuve-mentioned kind are, historically speaking, valueless; and it must remain uncertain whether the second Median monarch had any child at all, either male or female. ? Mos. Chor. Hist. Armen, i. 27 and 29. 1 & See the attempts made to prove that 3 Herod. i. 107. Cambyses was the son of an Egyptian * Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, § 1. princess (Herod. jii, 2), and other still 3 Ctes. Pers. Erc. $ 2. more wonderful attempts to show that 6 Ibid. Compare Nic. Dam. Fr. 66, Alexander the Great was the son of p. 339. Nectanebus. (Mos. Chor. Hist. Armen. See Atkinson's Shah-n emch, pp. 493, ! ii. 12 ; Syncell, Chronogruph. p. 487, B.) 494. ? E 2 CHAP. VI. CAUSES OF THE REBELLION OF CYRUS. 421 Persia continued to be ruled by her own native monarchs during the whole of the Median period, and that Cyrus led the attack upon Astyages as hereditary Persian king. The Persian records seem rather to imply actual independence of Media ; but, as national vanity would prompt to dissimulation in such a case, we may perhaps accord so much weight to the state. ment of Herodotus, and to the general tradition on the sub- ject,18 as to believe that there was some kind of acknowledgment of Median supremacy on the part of the Persian kings anterior to Cyrus, though the acknowledgment may have been not much more than a formality, and have imposed no onerous obliga- tions. The residence of Cyrus at the Median Court, which is asserted in almost every narrative of his life before he be- came king, inexplicable if Persia was independent,19 becomes thoroughly intelligible on the supposition that she was a great Median feudatory. In such cases the residence of the Crown Prince at the capital of the suzerain is constantly desired, or eren required by the superior Power,20 which sees in the pre- sence of the son and heir the best security against disaffection or rebellion on the part of the father. It appears that Cyrus, while at the Median Court, observing the unwarlike temper of the existing generation of Medes, who bad not seen any actual service, and despising the personal character of the monarch,21 who led a luxurious life, chiefly at Ecbatana, amid eunuchs, concubines, and dancing-girls," resolved on raising the standard of rebellion, and seeking at any rate to free his own country. It may be suspected that the Persian prince was not actuated solely by political motives. To earnest Zoroastrians, such as the Achæmenians are shown to have been by their inscriptions, the yoke of a Power which had so greatly corrupted, if it had not wholly laid aside, the worship of Ormazd, must have been extremely distasteful; 18 Dino, Fr. 7; Nic. Dam. Fr. 66; | Armenian princes (Tacit. Ann. ii. 1-3), Justin, i. 4-6; &c. and to the Herods (Joseph. Ant. Jud. xvi. 19 Xenophon's notion of a voluntary 1, $ 2; &c.). visit is quite contrary to all experience, 21 Arist. Pol. v. 8, § 15. in the East or elsewhere. 1 'Opxnotpisas. Nic. Dam. p. 403. 20 Compare the policy of Rome as ? See above, pp. 348, 319. shown with respect to the Parthian and I 422 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. and Cyrus may have wished by his rebellion as much to vindi- cate the honour of his religion 3 as to obtain a loftier position for his nation. If the Magi occupied really the position at the Median Court which Herodotus assigns to them, if they “were held in high honour by the king, and shared in his sovereignty”4_if the priest-ridden monarch was perpetually dreaming and perpetually referring his dreams to the Magian seers for exposition, and then guiding his actions by the advice they tendered him, the religious zeal of the young Zoroastrian may very naturally have been aroused, and the contest into which he plunged may have been, in his eyes, not so much a national struggle as a crusade against the infidels. It will be found hereafter that religious fervour animated the Persians in most of those wars by which they spread their dominion. We may suspect, therefore, though it must be admitted we cannot prove, that a religious motive was among those which led them to make their first efforts after independence. According to the account of the struggle which is most circumstantial, and on the whole most probable, the first diffi- culty which the would-be rebel had to meet and vanquish was that of quitting the Court. Alleging that his father was in weak health, and required his care, he requested leave of ab- sence for a short time; but his petition was refused on the flattering ground that the Great King was too much attached to him to lose sight of him even for a day." A second appli- cation, however, made through a favourite eunuch after a certain interval of time, was more successful; Cyrus received 3 The religious ground is just touched sequel to the romantio tale of Mandané, in one or two places by Nicolas. He Cyno, and Harpagus, which he prefers makes Cyrus assign as a reason for his to three other quite different stories con- request to leave Ecbatana a desire to cerning the early life of Cyrus (i, 95). offer sacrifice for the king, which ap The narrative of Nicolas (Fr. 66), which parently he cannot do anywhere but in 1 is followed in the text, does not come to his own country (p. 402). And he makes us on very high authority ; but it is him claim that the gods have stirred graphic, thoroughly Oriental, and in him up to undertake his enterprise its main features probable, I suspect (p. 40+). ! that its chief incidents came not from + Herod. i. 120. See above, p. 416, Ctesias, but from Dino. (Compare Dino, note 10. Fr. 7.) • Herod. i. 107, 108, 121. i i Compare the behaviour of Darius 6 The story told by Herodotus is quite | Hystaspis towards Histiæus (Herod. v. undeserving of credit. It is a mere 24). Chap. VI. CYRUS ESCAPES-WAR COMMENCES. 423 permission to absent himself from Court for the next five months; whereupon, with a few attendants, he left Ecbatana by night, and took the road learling to his native country. The next evening Astyages, enjoying himself as usual over his wine, surrounded by a crowd of liis concubines, singing-girls, and dancing-girls, called on one of them for a song. The girl took her lyre and sang as follows: 8_“ The lion had the wild- boar in his power, but let him depart to his own lair; in his lair he will wax in strength, and will cause the lion a world of toil; till at length, although the weaker, he will overcome the stronger.” The words of the song greatly disquieted the king, who had been already made aware that a Chaldæan prophecy designated Cyrus as future king of the Persians. Repenting of the indulgence which he had granted him, Astyages forthwith summoned an officer into his presence, and ordered him to take a body of horsemen, pursue the Persian prince, and bring him back, either alive or dead. The officer obeyed, overtook Cyrus, and announced his errand; upon which Cyrus expressed his perfect willingness to return, but proposed that, as it was late, they should defer their start till the next day. The Medes con- senting, Cyrus feasted them, and succeeded in making them all drunk; then, mounting his horse, he rode off at full speed with his attendants, and reached a Persian outpost, where he had arranged with his father that he should find a body of Persian troops. When the Medes had slept off their drunkenness, and found their prisouer gone, they pursued, and again overtaking Cyrus, who was now at the head of an aimed force, engaged him. They were, however, defeated with great loss, and forced to retreat, while Cyrus, having beaten them off, made good his escape into Persia. When Astyages heard what had happened, he was greatly & Dino (1. s.c.) made the singer of the ! a match for many hunters." song a certain Anga res, a professional » It is not unlikely that this “ Chal- minstrel. The words of the song, ac- ! dæan prophecy" had for its basis the de- cording to him, were the following: claration of Isaiah (xly. 1), which would "A mighty beast, fiercer than any wild have become known to the Chaldæans boar, has been let depart to the marshes; i by their intercourse with the Jews who, if he gain the lordship of the during the Captivity. country round, will in a little while bei 424 CHAP. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. vexed ; and, smiting his thigh,1° he exclaimed, “ Ah! fool, thou knewest well that it boots not to heap favours on the vile; yet didst thou suffer thyself to be gulled by smooth words; and so thou hast brought upon thyself this mischief. But even now he shall not get off scotfree.” And instantly he sent for his generals, and commanded them to collect his host, and proceed to reduce Persia to obedience. Three thousand chariots, two hundred thousand horse, and a million footmen (!), were soon brought together; 11 and with these Astyages in person invaded the revolted province, and engaged the army.which Cyrus and his father Cambyses 12 had collected for defence. This consisted of a hundred chariots, 13 fifty thousand horsemen, and three hundred thousand light-armed foot,14 who were drawn up in front of a fortified town near the frontier. The first day's battle was long and bloody, terminating without any decisive advan- tage to either side ; but on the second day Astyages, making skilful use of his superior numbers, gained a great victory. Having detached one hundred thousand men with orders to make a circuit and get into the rear of the town, he renewed the attack; and when the Persians were all intent on the battle in their front, the troops detached fell on the city and took it, almost before its defenders were aware. Cambyses, who com- manded in the town, was mortally wounded, and fell into the enemy's hands. The army in the field, finding itself between two fires, broke and fled towards the interior, bent on defending Pasargadæ, the capital. Meanwhile Astyages, having given Cambyses honourable burial, pressed on in pursuit. The country had now become rugged and difficult. Between Pasargadw and the place where the two days' battle was fouglit, 10 Maloas Toy unpóv. This energetic | as this is certainly incorrect, the name action marks well the inability of the has been altered in the text. Oriental monarchs to command their 13 Scythed chariots (ápuata Opetavne fielings. (Compare Herod. iji. 64; vii..popa), according to Nicolas; which is 212.) quite possible, as in later times they " The numbers here are excessive. ! were certainly used by the Persians To bring them within the range of pro- ; (Xen. Cyrop. vi. 1, $ 30; viii. 8. $ 24). bability, we should strike off a cypher 14 Peltasts, according to Nicolas: that from each. is, troops whosc equipment was halfway 1? In the narrative of Nicolas, the between the ordinary heavy and light father of Cyrus is called Atradates; but, , armed. CHAP. VI. ACCOUNT OF THE STRUGGLE. 425 lay a barrier of lofty hills, only penetrated by a single narrow pass. On either side were two smooth surfaces of rock, while the mountain towered above, lofty and precipitous. The pass was guarded by ten thousand Persians. Recognising the im- possibility of forcing it, Astyages again detached a body of troops, who marched along the foot of the range till they found a place where it could be ascended, when they climbed it and seized the heights directly over the defile. The Persians upon this had to evacuate their strong position, and to retire to a lower range of hills very near to Pasargada. Here again there was a two days' fight. On the first day all the efforts of the Me les to ascend the range (which, though low, was steep, and covered with thickets of wild olive!) were fruitless. Their enemy met them, not merely with the ordinary weapons, but with great masses of stone, which they hurled down with crushing force upon their ascending columns. On the second day, however, the resistance was weaker or less effective. Astyages had placed at the foot of the range, below his attack- ing columns, a body of troops with orders to kill all who refused to ascend, or who, having ascended, attempted to quit the heights and return to the valley.3 Thus compelled to advance, bis men fought with desperation, and drove the Persians before them up the slopes of the hill to its very summit, where the women and children had been placed for the sake of security. There, however, the tide of success turned. The taunts and upbraidings of their mothers and wives restored the courage of the Persians; and, turning upon their foe, they made a su:lden furious charge. The Medes, astonished and overborne, were driven headlong down the hill, and fell into such confusion that the Persians slew sixty thousand of them. Still Astyages did not desist from his attack. The authority whom we bave been following here to a great extent fails us, and we have only a few scattered notices 4 from which to re- "Konuvolge a áutn kal Opuuwves | i. 6; Plut. De Virt, Vulier. p. 246, A. àypiédaloi te oUvexeis ioar. (Nic. Dam. As Sirabo, xv. 3, § 8; Diod. Sic. ix. p. 405.) 24, $ 2; and Herod. i. 128. There is ? Xépudor. (Ibid.) also a paragraph of Nicolas, after the 3 Nic. Dam. I. s. c. Compare Justin, I lucunu, which is important (P. 406). 426 CAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. construct the closing scenes of the war. It would seem from thiese that Astyages still maintained the offensive, and that there was a fifth battle in the immediate neighbourhood of Pasargada, wherein he was completely defeated by Cyrus, who routed the Median army, and pressing upon them in their flight, took their camp. All the insignia of Median royalty fell into his hands; and, amid the acclamations of his army, he assumed them, and was saluted by his soldiers “King of Media and Persia.” Mean- while Astyages had sought for safety in flight; the greater part of his army had dispersed, and he was left with only a few friends; who still adhered to his fortunes. Could he have reached Ecbatana, he might have greatly prolonged the struggle; but his enemy pressed him close; and, being compelled to an engagement, he not only suffered a complete defeat, but was made prisoner by his fortunate adversary. By this capture the Median monarchy was brought abruptly to an end. Astyages had no son to take his place and continue the struggle. Even had it been otherwise, the capture of the mouarch would probably have involved his people's submission, In the East the king is so identified with his kingdom that the possession of the royal person is regarded as conveying to the possessor all regal rights. Cyrus, apparently, had no need even to besiege Ecbatana; the whole Median State, together with its dependencies, at once submitted to him, on learning what had happened. This ready submission was no doubt partly owing to the general recognition of a close connection between Media and Persia, which made the transfer of Empire from the one to the other but slightly galling to the subjected power, and a matter of complete indifference to the dependent countries. Except in so far as religion was concerned, the change from one Iranic race to the other woulil make scarcely a perceptible 5 If we may credit Diodorus, Astyages laid the blame of his defeat on his gene- rals whom he cruelly punished with death. This ill-judged severity pro- duced great discontent among the troops, who threatened to mutiny in conse- qnence. (Diou. Sic. I, s. c.) o Herodotus, Nicolas, and Justin all agree that Astyages was made prisoner after a battle. Ctesias said that he was taken in Ecbatana, where he had at- tempted to conceal himself in the palace (Persic. Erc. $ 2). Moses made him fall in battle with Tigranes the Ar- menian king (llist. Armen. i. 28). CHAP. VI. END OF THE MEDIAN MONARCHY." 427 difference to the subjects of either kingdom. The law of the state would still be " the law of the Medes and Persians.” ? Official employments would be open to the people of both countries. Even the fame and glory of Empire would attach, in the minds of men, almost as much to the one nation as the other.' If Media descended from her pre-eminent rank, it was to occupy a station only a little below the highest, and one which left her a very distinct superiority over all the subject races. If it be asked how Media, in ber hour of peril, came to receive no assistance from the great Powers with which she had made such close alliances-Babylonia and Lydia 10—the answer would seem to be that Lydia was too remote from the scene of strife to lend her effective aid, while circumstances had occurred in Babylonia to detach that state from her and render it un- friendly. The great king, Nebuchadnezzar, had he been on the throne, would undoubtedly have come to the assistance of his brother-in-law, when the fortune of war changed, and it became evident that his crown was in danger. But Nebuchadnezzar had died in B.c. 561, three years before the Persian revolt broke out. His son, Evil-Merodach, who would probably have main- tained his father's alliances, had survived him but two years : he had been murdered in B.C. 559 by a brother-in-law, Nergal- shar-ezer or Neriglissar, who ascended the throne in that year and reigned till B.C. 555. This prince was consequently on the throne at the time of Astyages' need. As he had supplanted the house of Nebuchadnezzar, he would naturally be on bad terms with that monarch's Median connections; and we may suppose that he saw with pleasure the fall of a power to which pretenders from the Nebuchadnezzar family would have looked for support and countenance. In conclusion a few words may be said on the general cha- i Dan. ri. 8. Compare Esther, i. 19. & On the high employments filled by Medes under the Persian Kings, see vol. iii. of this work, and compare Herod. i. 156, 162; vi. 94; vii. 88; Dan. ix. 1; Heh. Inscr, col. ii. par. 14, § 6; col. iv. par. 14, $ 6. “Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” Dan, v. 28. Compare the employment of the words • Mñdos, Tà Mndikó, undio uós, k. 1.. by the Greek writers, where the reference is really to the Persians, 10 See above, p. 412. 428 CHAP. II. THE THIRD MONARCHY. racter of the Median Empire, and the causes of its early extinction. The Median Empire was in extent and fertility of territory equal iſ not superior to the Assyrian. It stretched from Rhages and the Carmanian desert on the East 11 to the river Halys upon the West, a distance of above twenty degrees, or about 1300 miles. From North to South it was comparatively narrow, being confined between the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and the Caspian, on the one side, and the Euphrates and Persian Gulf on the other. Its greatest width, which was towards the East, was about nine, and its least, which was towards the West was about four degrees. Its area was probably not much short of 500,000 square miles. Thus it was as large as Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal put together. In fertility its various parts were very unequal. Portions of both Medias, of Persia, of Armenia, Iberia, and Cappadocia, were rich and productive ; but in all these countries there was a large quantity of barren mountain, and in Media Magna and Persia there were tracts of desert. If we estimate the resources of Media from the data furnished by Herodotus in his account of the Persian revenue, and compare them with those of the Assyrian Empire, as indicated by the same document,12 we shall find reason to conclude, that, except during the few years 11 Some authorities, as Nicolas, extend ! this would give as the sum annually raised the Median Empire much further east- | by the Persians from satrapies previously ward. According to this writer, not included in Media, 2050 talents. A only Hyrcania and Parthia, but Bactria further sum must be added for Cappa- and Sacia (!), were provinces of the docia (included in Herodotus's third Empire governed by satraps, who sub satrapy)- say 200 talents; and finally, mitted to the victorious Cyrus. But something must be allowed for Persia, better authorities tell us that Cyrus had say 300 talents. We thus reach a total to reduce these countries. (Herod. i. of 2550 talents. 153; Ctesias, Persi:. Exc. S$ 2 and 3.) i The satrapies contained within the 12 According to Herodotus, Media Assyrian Empire at its most flourishing itself furnished to Persia 450 talents, period were the 4th (Cilicia), the 5th the Caspians and their neighbours in (Syria), half the 6th (Egypt, Cyrene, the Ghilan country 200, the Armenians! &c.), the 8th (Susiana), the 9th (Assyria 400, the Sapeirians or Iberians 200, the and Babylonia), and a part (say half) Moschi, Tibareni, and other tribes on of the 10th (Media) Cilicia gave 500 the Black Sea 300. Babylonia and As talents, Syria 350, Cissia 300, Assyria syria furnished 1000 talents between and Babylonia 1000; to which may be them ; we may suppose in about equal i added for half Egypt 350, and for half shares. Allowing 500 talents to Assyria, Media 225-total 2725 talents. CHAP. VI. CHARACTER OF THE EMPIRE. 429 when Egypt was a province of Assyria, the resources of the Third exceeded those of the Second Monarchy. The weakness of the Empire arose chiefly from its want of organization. Nicolas of Damascus, indeed, in the long passage from which our account of the struggle between Cyrus and Astyages has been taken, represents the Median Empire as divided, like the Persian, into a number of satrapies ;? but there is no real ground for believing that any such organization was practised in Median times, or to doubt that Darius Hystaspis was the originator of the satrapial system. The Median Em- pire, like the Assyrian,+ was a congeries of kingdoms, each ruled by its own native prince, as is evident from the case of Persia, where Cambyses was not satrap, but monarch. Such organization as was attempted appears to have been clumsy in the extreme. The Medes (we are told) only claimed direct suzerainty over the nations immediately upon their borders; remoter tribes they placed under these, and looked to them to collect and reinit the tribute of the outlying countries. It is doubtful if they called on the subject nations for any contin- gents of troops. We never hear of their doing so. Probably, like the Assyrians,” they made their conquests with armies composed entirely of native soldiers, or of these combined with such forces as were sent to their aid by princes in alliance with them. The weakness arising from this lack of organization was increased by a corruption of manners, which caused the Medes speedily to decline in energy and warlike spirit. The conquest of a great and luxurious Empire by a hardy and simple race is followed, almost of necessity, by a deterioration in the character of the conquerors, who luse the warlike virtues, and too often ? If we deduct from the sum total of districts in Babylonia, or perhaps “coun- 2725 talents the 350 allowed for half | cillors.” (See verse 7.) Egypt, there will remain 2375 talents - See above, p. 235. 175 less than the amount which accrued If we can trust Moses, Tigranes was to Darius from the tribute of the Median also “ king” of Armenia. provinces. • Such seems to be the meaning of a 2 Fr. 66, pp. 399 and 406. very obscure passage in Herodotus (i. 3 The ó princes" appointed by Darius | 134, ad fin.). It may be doubted whether the Mele in Babylon (Dan. vi. 1) were there is much truth in the statement. not satraps, but either governors of petty! i Compare above, p. 236, note. 430 CHAP. VI. THE THIRD MONARCHY. do not replace them by the less splendid virtues of peace. This tendency, which is fixed in the nature of things, admits of being checked for a while, or rapidly developed, according to the policy and character of the monarchs who happen to occupy the throne. If the original conqueror is succeeded by two or three ambitious and energetic princes, who engage in important wars and labour to extend their dominions at the expense of their neighbours, it will be some time before the degeneracy becomes marked. If, on the other hand, a prince of a quiet temper, self-indulgent, and studious of ease, come to the throne within a short time of the original conquests, the deterioration will be very rapid. In the present instance it happened that the immediate successor of the first conqueror was of a peaceful disposition, unambitious, and luxurious in his habits. During a reign which lasted at least thirty-five years he abstained almost wholly from military enterprises; and thus an entire generation of Medes grew up without seeing actual service, which alone makes the soldier. At the same time there was a general soft- ening of manners. The luxury of the Court corrupted the nobles, who from hardy mountain chieftains, simple if not even savage in their dress and mode of life, became polite courtiers, magnificent in their apparel, choice in their diet, and averse to all unnecessary exertion. The example of the upper classes would tell on the lower, though not perhaps to any very large extent. The ordinary Mede, no doubt, lost something of his old daring and savagery; from disuse he became inexpert in the management of arms; and he was thus no longer greatly to be dreaded as a soldier. But he was really not very much less brave, nor less capable of bearing hardships, than before ;' and it only required a few years of training to enable him to recover himself and to be once more as good a soldier as any in Asia. But in the affairs of nations, as in those of men, negligence often proves fatal before it can be repaired. Cyrus saw his & Compare the case of Persia under | the Persian conquest, see Herod. viii. Cambyses, Darius, and Xerxes. | 113, and Diod. Sic. xi. 6, § 3; and com- 9 On the valour of the Medes after pare above, pp. 309, 310. CHAP. VI. CONCLUSION. 431 opportunity, pressed his advantage, and established the supre- macy of his nation, before the unbappy effects of Astyages' peace policy could be removed. He knew that his own Persians possessed the military spirit in its fullest vigour; he felt that he himself had all the qualities of a successful leader; he may have had faith in his cause, which he would view as the cause of Ormazd against Ahriman, 1° of pure religion against a corrupt and debasing nature-worship. His revolt was sudden, unex- pected, and well-timed. He waited till Astyages was advanced in years, and so disqualified for command; till the veterans of Cyaxares were almost all in their graves; and till the Babylonian throne was occupied by a king who was not likely to afford Astyages any aid. He may not at first lave aspired to do more than establish the independence of his own country. But when the opportunity of effecting a transfer of Empire offered itself, he seized it promptly; rapidly repeating his blows, and allowing his enemy no time to recover and renew the struggle. The substitution of Persia for Media as the ruling power in Western Asia was due less to general causes than to the personal cha- racter of two men. Had Astyages been a prince of ordinary vigour, the military training of the Medes would have been kept up; and in that case, they might easily have held their own against all comers. Had their training been kept up, or bad Cyrus possessed no more than ordinary ambition and ability, either he would not have thought of revolting, or he would have revolted unsuccessfully. The fall of the Median Empire was due immediately to the genius of the Persian Prince; but its ruin was prepared, and its destruction was really caused, by the shortsightedness of the Median Monarch. 10 See Nic. Dam. Fr. 66; pp. 404 and | Astyages is regarded as having been 406. Cyrus is represented as claiming deprived of his kingdom by a god (und a divine sanction to his attempt; and Dewv TOU)-query, Ormazd ? APPENDIX. FIRST FARGARD OF THE VENDIDAD, 433 mazda, created Nisai [between Mouru and Bakhdi]. Thereupon Angro-mainyus created, in opposition to it, the curse of unbelief. $ 9. “As the sixth best of regions and countries, I, Ahura-mazda, created Haroyu, the dispenser of water. Thereupon Angro-mainyus, the Death-dealing, created, in opposition to it, hail and poverty. . $ 10. “ As the seventh best of regions and countries, I, Ahura- mazda, created Vaekeret, in which Duzhaka is situated. There- upon Angro-mainyus, the Death-dealing, created, in opposition to it the fairy Kbnathaiti, who attached herself to Keresaspa. $ 11. “As the eighth best of regions and countries, I, Ahura- mazda, created Urva, abounding in rivers. Thereupon Angro- mainyus created, in opposition to it, the curse of devastation. § 12. “As the ninth best of regions and countries, I, Ahura- mazda, created Khnenta, in which Vehrkana is situated. There- upon Angro-mainyus created, in opposition to it, the evil of inex- piable sins, pæderastism. $ 13. “ As the tenth best of regions and countries, I, Ahura- mazda, created the happy Haraqaiti. Thereupon Angro-mainyus, the Death-dealing, created the evil of inexpiable acts, preserving the dead. § 14. “ As the eleventh best of regions and countries, I, Ahura- mazda, created Haetumat, the wealthy and brilliant. Thereupon Angro-mainyus, the Death-dealing, created, in opposition to it, the sin of witchcraft. . ($ 15. “And he, Angro-mainyus, is endowed with various powers and various forms. Wherever these come, on being invoked by one who is a wizard, then the most horrible witchcraft sins arise : then spring up those which tend to murder and the deadening of the heart: powerful are they by dint of concealing their hideousness _and by their enchanted potions.) $ 16. “ As the twelfth best of regions and countries, I, Ahura mazda, created Ragha with the three races. Thereupon Angro- mainyus, the Death-dealing, created, in opposition to it, the evil of unbelief in the Supreme. $ 17. “ As the thirteenth best of regions and countries, I, Ahura- mazda, created Kakra the strong, the pious. Thereupon Angro- mainyus, the Death-dealing, created the curse of inexpiable acts, cooking the dead. § 18. “ As the fourteenth best of regions and countries I, Ahura mazda, created Varena with the four corners. There was born Thraetona, the slayer of the destructive serpent. Thereupon VOL. II. 2 F 434 APPENDIX. THE THIRD MONARCHY. Angro-mainyus, the Death-dealing, created, in opposition to it, irregularly recurring evils (i, e., sicknesses) and un-Arian plagues of the country, $ 19. “ As the fifteenth best of regions and countries, I, Ahura- mazda, created Hapta Hindu, from the eastern Hindu to the western. Thereupon Angro-mainyus, the Death-dealing, created, in opposition to it, untimely evils and irregular fevers. § 20. “As the sixteenth best of regions and countries, I, Ahura- mazda, created those who dwell without ram parts on the sea-coast. Thereupon Angro-mainyus, the Death-dealing, created, in oppo- sition, snow, the work of the Devas, and earthquakes which make the earth to tremble. § 21. “There are also other regions and countries, happy, renowned, high, prosperous, and brilliant." [N.B.—I have followed, except in a few doubtful phrases, the translation of Dr. Martin Haug, as given in Chevalier Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iii. pp. 488-490.] 436 CHAP. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. the “Mesopotamia ” of the Greeks and Romans—the other interposed between the Euphrates and Arabia, a long but narrow strip along the right bank of that abounding river. The former of these two districts is shaped like an ancient amphora, the mouth extending from Hit to Samarah, the neck lying between Baghdad and Ctesiphon on the Tigris, Mohammed and Mosaib on the Euphrates, the full expansion of the body occurring between Serut and El Khithr, and the pointed base reaching down to Kornah at the junction of the two streams. This tract, the main region of the ancient Babylonia, is about 320 miles long, and from 20 to 100 broad. It may be estimated to contain about 18,000 square miles. The tract west of the Euphrates is smaller tịan this. Its length, in the time of the Babylonian Empire, may be regarded as about 350 miles, its average width is from 25 to 30 miles, which would give an area of about 9000 square miles. Thus the Babylonia of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar may be regarded as covering a space of 27,000 square miles—a space a little exceeding the area of the Low Countries. The small province included within these limits-smaller than Scotland or Ireland, or Portugal or Bavaria-became suddenly, in the latter half of the seventh century B.C., the mistress of an extensive empire. On the fall of Assyria, about B.C, 625, or a little later, Media and Babylonia, as already observed,4 divided between them her extensive territory. It is with the acquisitions thus made that we have now to deal. We have to enquire what portion exactly of the previous dominions of Assyria fell to the lot of the adventurous Nabopolassar, when Nineveh ceased to be—what was the extent of the territory which was ruled from Babylon in the latter portion of the seventh and the earlier portion of the sixth century before our era ? Now the evidence which we possess on this point is threefold. It consists of certain notices in the Hebrew Scriptures, contem- 3 From the edge of the alluvium to account of the growth of the alluvium the present coast of the Persian Gulf is during twenty-four centuries. (See vol. a distance of 430 miles. But 80 miles i. p. 4.) must be deducted from this distance on! Supra, p. 397. 438 Chap. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. not only over these countries, but also over some portion of Arabia.17 From these statements, which, on the whole, are tolerably accordant, we may gather that the great Babylonian Empire of the seventh century B.c. inherited from Assyria all the southern and western portion of her territory, while the more northern and eastern provinces fell to the share of Media. Setting aside the statement of the Book of Judith (wholly unconfirmed as it is by any other authority), that Persia was at this time subject to Babylon, we may regard as the most eastern portion of the Empire the district of Susiana, which corresponded nearly with the modern Khuzistan and Luristan. This acquisition advanced the eastern frontier of the Empire from the Tigris to the Bakhti. yari Mountains, a distance of 100 or 120 miles. It gave to Babylon an extensive tract of very productive territory, and an excellent strategic boundary. Khuzistan is one of the most valuable provinces of modern Persia." It consists of a broad tract of fertile alluvium, intervening between the Tigris and the mountains, well watered by numerous large streams, which are capable of giving an abundant irrigation to the whole of the low region. Above this is Luristan, a still more pleasant district, composed of alternate mountain, valley, and upland plain, abounding in beautiful glens, richly wooded, and full of gushing brooks and clear rapid rivers. Much of this region is of course uncultivable mountain, range succeeding range, in six or eight parallel lines," as the traveller advances to the north-east; and most of the ranges exhibiting vast tracts of bare and often pre- cipitous rock, in the clefts of which snow rests till midsummer.5 17 Beros. ap. Joseph. C. Ap. 19: 1 (Kinneir, pp. 85, 86); but a careful Kpatnoai dé onoi Toy Baßunovio (sc. | system of irrigation, such as anciently Ναβουχοδονόσορον) Αιγύπτου, Συρίας, I prevailed, would at once drain the Couvinns, 'Apaßias. marshes and spread water over the i Kinneir's Persian Empire, pp. 85. sandy tracts. Then the whole region 107; Journal of Geographical Society, would be productive. vol. ix. art. ii. ; vol. xvi. art. i. ; Loftus, 3 See Journal of the Geographical Chaldæa and Susiana, pp. 287-316. Society, vol. ix. pp. 93-97. 2 Towards the east, between the Je * Layard, Ninereh and Babylon, p. 373; rahi and the Tab or Hindyan river, Geographical Journal, vol. xvi. p. 50; and again between the Jerahi and the Loftus, Chaldæa und Susiana, p. 308. Kuran, the low country consists now in Geograph. Journ, vol, ix. p. 95. great part of sandy plains and morasses Chap. I. ELAM – THE EUPHRATES VALLEY. 439 Still the lower flanks of the mountains are in general cultivable, while the valleys teem with orchards and gardens, and the plains furnish excellent pasture. The region closely resembles Zagros, of which it is a continuation. As we follow it, however, towards the south-east into the Bakhtiyari country, where it adjoins upon the ancient Persia, it deteriorates in character; the mountains becoming barer and more arid, and the valleys narrower and less fertile.6 All the other acquisitions of Babylonia at this period lay towards the west. They consisted of the Euphrates valley, above Hit; of Mesopotamia Proper, or the country about the two streams of the Bilik and the Khabour; of Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Idumæa, Northern Arabia, and part of Egypt. The Euphrates valley from Hit to Balis is a tract of no great value, except as a line of communication. The Mesopotamian Desert presses it closely upon the one side, and the Arabian upon the other. The river flows mostly in a deep bed between cliffs of marl, gypsum, and limestone,' or else, between bare hills pro- ducing only a few dry sapless shrubs, and a coarse grass ;8 and there are but rare places where, except by great efforts, the water can be raised so as to irrigate, to any extent, the land along either bank. The course of the stream is fringed by date- palms as high as Anah,10 and above is dotted occasionally with willows, poplars, sumacs, and the unfruitful palm-tree. Cultiva- tion is possible in places along both banks, and the undulating country on either side affords patches of good pasture. The land improves as we ascend. Above the junction of the Khabour with the main stream, the left bank is mostly cultivable. Much of the land is flat and well-wooded,12 while often there are broad stretches of open ground, well adapted for pasturage. A con- 6 Geograph. Journ. vol. ix. pp. 77-82. ! that in ancient times such efforts were ? Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. I made, and that the life-giving fluid was i. pp. 48-53; Ainsworth, Trarels in the by these means transported to consider- Track of the Ten Thousand, pp. 78, 79. able distances. But the works in ques- & Compare the description of Xeno- | tion scarcely reach to Babylonian times. phon, Anab, i, 5, $i (quoted in vol. i. ! 10 Chesney, vol. i. p. 53. p. 192, note ?); and see Ainsworth, 11 On the difficulty of obtaining any Travels, &c., pp. 76 and 81. | great amount of pasture in this region, 9 Numerous remains of aqueducts on see Xen. Anab. i. 5, $ 5. both banks of the river above Hit show 12 Chesney, vol. i. p. 48. 440 Chap. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. siderable population seems in ancient times to have peopled the valley, which did not depend wholly or even mainly on its own products, but was enriched by the important traffic which was always passing up and down the great river. 13 Mesopotamia Proper,14 or the tract extending from the head streams of the Khabour about Mardin and Nisibin to the Euphrates at Bir, and thence southwards to Karkesiyeh or Circesium, is not certainly known to have belonged to the kingdom of Babylon, but may be assigned to it on grounds of probability. Divided by a desert or by high mountains from the valley of the Tigris, and attached by means of its streams to that of the Euphrates, it almost necessarily falls to that power which holds the Euphrates under its dominion. The tract is one of considerable extent and importance. Bounded on the north by the range of hills which Strabo calls Mons Masius, 15 and on the east by the waterless upland which lies directly west of the middle Tigris, it comprises within it all the numerous affluents of the Khabour and Bilik, and is thus better supplied with water than almost any country in these regions. The borders of the streams afford the richest pasture,16 and the whole tract along the flank of Masius is fairly fertile.17 Towards the west, the tract between the Khabour and the Bilik, which is diversified by the Abd-el-Aziz hills, is a land of fountains. “Such," says Ibn Haukal, “ are not to be found elsewhere in all the land of the Moslems, for there are more than three hundred pure running brooks."18 Irrigation is quite possible in this region; and many remains of ancient watercourses show that large tracts, at some distance from the main streams, were formerly brought under cultivation.19 - Opposite to Mesopotamia Proper, on the west or right bank of the Euphrates, lay Northern Syria, with its important fortress of Carchemish, which was undoubtedly included in the Empire,20 This tract is not one of much value. Towards 13 Herod, i. 185, 194; Strab. xvi. 3, § 4; Q. Curt. x. 1. 14 See Ptolemy, Geograph. v. 18. 15 Strab. xvi, 1, $ 23. 16 See Layard's Vinereh and Babylon, ; pp. 310, 312, &c. 1. Strab. xvi. 1, $ 23. 18 Chesney, vol. i. p. 49. Compare Layard, Nin, and Bab. p. 312. i' Layard, 1. s.c. 20 Jerem, xlvi, 2. CHAP. I. MESOPOTAMIA AND NORTHERN SYRIA. 441 the north it is mountainous, consisting of spurs from Amanus and Taurus, which gradually subside into the desert a little to the south of Aleppo. The bare, round-backed, chalky or rocky ranges, which here continually succeed one another, are divided only by narrow tortuous valleys, which run chiefly towards the Euphrates or the lake of Antioch.21 This mountain tract is succeeded by a region of extensive plains, separated from each other by low hills, both equally desolate.22 The soil is shallow and stony; the streams are few, and of little volume; irrigation is thus difficult, and, except where it can be applied, the crops are scanty. The pistachio-nut grows wild in places; vines and olives are cultivated with some success; and some grain is raised by the inhabitants; but the country has few natural advan- tages, and it has always depended more upon its possession of a carrying trade than on its home products for prosperity. West and south-west of this region, between it and the Mediterranean, and extending southwards from Mount Amanus to the latitude of Tyre, lies Syria Proper, the Cole-Syria of many writers,' a long but comparatively narrow tract of great fertility and value. Here two parallel ranges of mountains intervene between the coast and the desert, prolific parents of a numerous progeny of small streams. First, along the line of the coast, is the range known as Libanus in the south, from lat. 33° 20' to lat. 34° 40', and as Bargylus” in the north, from lat. 34° 45' to the Orontes at Antioch, a range of great beauty, richly wooded in places, and abounding in deep glens, foaming brooks, and precipices of a fantastic form. More inland is Antilibanus, culminating towards the south in Hermon, and prolonged northward in the Jebel Shashabu, Jebel Riha, and Jebel-el-Ala, which extends from near Hems to the latitude of Aleppo. More striking than even Lebanon at its lower extre- 21 On the character of this region see | 17, 24; iv. 48; vi, 29, &c.; 1 Mac. x. Ainsworth, Trarels in the Track, pp. 61- 69; 2 Mac. iii. 5; iv. 8, &c. 65. ? This range is now known as the 22 Porter, Handbook of Syria and Jeel Nusairiyeh. Palestine, pp. 609-616. 3 Porter, Handbook of Syria, pp. 581- Cole-Syria is used in this wide sense 589; Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, by Strabo (xvi. 2, $ 21), Polybius (v. vol. i. pp. 387, 388. 80, $3), Josephus (Ant. Jud. i. 11, $ 5), : • Chesney, vol. i. p. 388; Porter, p. and the Apocryphal writers (1 Esdr. ii. 16. CHAP. I. . THE “HOLLOW SYRIA." 443 from one another, flow in opposite directions, one hurrying northwards nearly to the flanks of Amanus, the other south- wards to the hills of Galilee. Few places in the world are more remarkable, or have a more stirring history, than this wonderful vale. Extending for above two hundred miles from north to south, almost in a direct line, and without further break than an occasional screen of low hills," it furnishes the most convenient line of passage between Asia and Africa, alike for the journeys of merchants and for the march of armies. Along this line passed Thothmes and Rameses, Sargon and Sennacherib, Neco and Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander and his warlike successors, Pompey, Antony, Kaled, Godfrey of Bouillon; along this must pass every great army which, starting from the general seats of power in Western Asia, seeks conquests in Africa, or which, proceeding from Africa, aims at the acquisi- tion of an Asiatic dominion. Few richer tracts are to be found even in these most favoured portions of the earth's surface. Towards the south the famous El-Bukaa is a land of cornfields and vineyards, watered by numerous small streams which fall into the Litany. Towards the north El-Ghab is even more splendidly fertile, with a dark rich soil, luxuriant vegetation, and water in the utmost abundance, though at present it is cultivated only in patches immediately about the towns, from fear of the Nusairiyeh and the Bedouins.10 Parallel with the southern part of the Cele-Syrian valley, to the west and to the east, were two small but important tracts, Hy Kolany évérovou érøvumov, ouver' áp | Hems. (See Kiepert's map.) αυτην Μέσσης και χθαμαλήν ορέων δύο πρώτες & Stanley, p. 399; Porter, pp. 567, 568; Chesney, vol. i. p. 389. έχoυσιν. 9 Mr. Porter says of the lower Orontes Compare Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, valley, or El Ghab, "The valley is p. 399. beautiful, resembling the Buká’a ; but This statement is, of course, to be still more fertile, and more abundantly taken as a general one. Strictly speaking, watered.” And again, "The soil is rich the valley runs first due south to Apa and vegetation luxuriant. What a noble mea (50 miles); then S.S.E. to a little be cotton-field would this valley make! yond Hamath (25 miles); then again due Two hundred square miles of splendid south nearly to Hems (20 miles); and land is waiting to pour inexhausted finally S.S.W. to Kulut-esh-Shukif (above wealth into the pocket of some western 100 miles). speculator.” (Handbook, p. 619.) One such screen lies a little north 10 Ibid. p. 620. of Baalbek; another a little north of 444 CHAP. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. usually regarded as distinct states. Westward, between the heights of Lebanon and the sea, and extending somewhat beyond Lebanon, both up and down the coast, was Phænicia, a narrow strip of territory lying along the shore, in length from 150 to 180 miles,"1 and in breadth varying from one mile to twenty. This tract consisted of a mere belt of sandy land along the sea, where the smiling palm-groves grew from which the country derived its name,13 of a broader upland region along the flank of the hills, which was cultivated in grain,14 and of the higher slopes of the mountains which furnished excellent timber.25 Small harbours, sheltered by rocky projections, were frequent along the coast. Wood cut in Lebanon was readily floated down the many streams to the shore, and then conveyed by sea to the ports. A narrow and scanty land made commerce almost a necessity. Here accordingly the first great maritime nation of antiquity grew up. The Phænician fleets explored the Mediterranean at a time anterior to Homer, and conveyed to the Greeks and the other inhabitants of Europe, and of Northern and Western Africa, the wares of Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt.16 Industry and enterprise reaped their usual harvest of success; the Phoenicians grew in wealth, and their towns became great and magnificent cities. In the time when the Babylonian Empire came into being, the narrow tract of Phænicia-smaller than many an English county-was among the most valuable countries of Asia ; and its possession was far 11 Mr. Grote estimates the length of than 20 miles in breadth.” (Hist. of Phænicia ut no more than 120 miles Greece, I. s. c.) Mr. Porter speaks of (Ilist, of Greece, vol, ii, p. 445, 2nd edi the “plain of Phænicia Proper” as tion), which is little more than the having "an average breadth of about distance, as the crow flies, between a mile.” (Handbook, p. 396). Antaradus and Tyre. My own inclina- 13 So Stanley (Sinti and Palestine, p. tion is to extend Phænicia northwards i 263) and Twistleton (Biblical Dictionary, at least as high as Gabala (Jereleh), and ! vol. ii. p. 860). Others regard the name southwards at least as low as Carmel, as descriptive of the colour of the race, This is a distance, as the crow flies, of and parallel to Edomite, Erythræan, and full 180 miles. (On the different esti- the like. (Kenrick, Phenicia, p. 35.) mates of the Phænician coast-line, see į On the Phænician palm-groves, see the author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 478, Stanley, 1. s.c. note , 2nd edition) 14 Stanley, p. 262. 12 Scylax (Peripl. p. 99) says of Phæ- 1 18 See 1 Kings, v. 6; 2 Chr. ii. 8, 16; nicia that it was “in places not ten i Ezek, xxvii. 5. furlongs across.” Mr. Grote calls it i 16 Hom. II. vi. 289; xxiii, 743; Od. “ never more, and generally much less, iv. 614; xiii. 285 ; xv. 425; Herod, i, 1. 446 Chap. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. open out into it, sending their waters to increase its beauty and luxuriance, the most remarkable of which are the long ravine of the Barada, and the romantic Wady Halbôn,“ whose vines pro- duced the famous beverage which Damascus anciently supplied at once to the Tyrian merchant-princess and to the voluptuous Persian kings. 6 Below the Cæle-Syrian valley, towards the south, came PALESTINE, the Land of Lands to the Christian, the country which even the philosopher must acknowledge to have had a greater influence on the world's history than any other tract which can be brought under a single ethnic designation. Pales- tine-etymologically the country of the Philistines ?—was some- what unfortunately named. Philistine influence may possibly have extended at a very remote period over the whole of it; but in historical times that warlike people did but possess a corner of the tract, less than one-tenth of the whole—the low coast region from Jamnia to Gaza. Palestine contained, besides this, the regions of Galilee, Samaria, and Judæa, to the west of the Jordan, and those of Ituræa, Trachonitis, Bashan, and Gilead, east of that river. It was a tract 140 miles long, by from 70 to 100 broad, containing probably abont 11,000 square miles. It was thus about equal in size to Belgium, while it was less than Holland or Hanover, and not much larger than the principality of Wales, with which it has been compared by a recent writer." The great natural division of the country is the Jordan valley. This remarkable depression, commencing on the west flank of 3. This ravine is well described by ý nalaistívn Lupin-Lipou oilalar- Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, pp. 401, otivou kalebuevot), and attaches it es- 402), and by Porter (Handbook, pp. 458, i pecially to the coast-tract (ii. 104; iii. 459). 5; vii. 89). It represents the Hebrew 4 Porter, pp. 495, 496. Philistim (o'mrko) letter for letter. 6 Ezek. xxvii. 18. “Damascus was Josephus always calls the Philistines Ia- thy merchant in the multitude of the Talotivoi. wares of thy making, for the multitude ! & Mr. Grove, in Dr. Smith's Biblical of all riches: in the wine of Helbon and Di tionary, vol. ii. p. 663. This writer white wool.” limits the name of Palestine to the tract 6 Strab. xv. 3, § 22: oi Bagres i west of the Jordan; but the present [των Περσών] πυρόν μέν έξ 'Ασσού της author prefers the wider sense which is Alonídos petnesav, olvov o el zupras | more usual among mo lerns. (Stanley, τον Χαλυβώνιον. pp. 111, 112; Robinson, vol. i., Preface, ? The word first occurs in Herodotus, I p. ix. &c.). who generally uses it as an adjective CHAP. I. PALESTINE. 447 Hermon, runs with a course which is almost due south from lat. 33° 25' to lat. 31° 47', where it is merged in the Dead Sea, which may be viewed, however, as a continuation of the valley, prolonging it to lat. 31° 8'. This valley is quite unlike any other in the whole world. It is a volcanic rent in the earth's surface, a broad chasm which has gaped and never closed up." Naturally, it should terminate at Merom, where the level of the Mediterranean is nearly reached.10 By some wonderful conyul- sion, or at any rate by some unusual freak of Nature, there is a channel (aŭlov) opened out from Merom, which rapidly sinks below the sea level, and allows the stream to flow hastily, down and still down, from Merom to Gennesareth, and from Gennesa- reth to the Dead Sea, where the depression reaches its lowest point," and the land rising into a ridge, separates the Jordan valley from the upper end of the Gulf of Akabah. The Jordan valley divides Palestine, strongly and sharply, into tiro regions. Its depth, its inaccessibility (for it can only be entered from the highlands on either side down a few steep watercourses), and the difficulty of passing across it (for the Jordan has but few fords), give it a separating power almost equal to that of an arm of the sea.2 In length above a hundred miles, in width varying from one mile to ten, and averaging some five miles, or perhaps six, it must always have been valuable as a territory, possessing, as it does, a rich soil, abundant water, and in its lower portion a tropical climate 13 On either side of the deep Jordan cleft lies a highland of moderate elevation, on the right that of Galilee, Samaria, and Judæa, on the left that of Ituræa, Bashan, and Gilead. The right or western highland consists of a mass of undulating hills, with rounded tops, composed of coarse grey stone, covered, or 9 On the traces of volcanic action in 1 50 feet above that sea. (Geogr. Journal, the neighbourhood of the Jordan, see vol. xx. p. 228.) Robinson, vol.iii. p. 313; Stanley, p. 279; 11 The surface of the Dead Sea is in an Lynch, Narratice, pp. 111, 115, &c. ordinary season about 1300 or 1320 feet 10 The exact elevation or depression below the level of the Mediterranean. of the several parts of the Jordan valley | Its bed is in places from 1200 to 1300 is perhaps not even yet fully ascertained. 1 feet lower. According to Van de Velde, the level of 12 Compare Stanley, p. 317. Merom is 120 feet above the Mediter- i 13 Ibid. p. 292. ranean. According to others it is but i 448 Chap. i. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. scarcely covered, with a scanty soil, but capable of cultivation in corn, olives, and figs. This region is most productive towards the north, barer and more arid as we proceed southwards towards the desert. The lowest portion, Judæa, is unpicturesque, ill- watered, and almost treeless ; 4 the central, Samaria, has nume- rous springs, some rich plains, many wooded heights, and in places quite a sylvan appearance ; 15 the highest, Galilee, is a land of water-brooks, abounding in timber, fertile and beautiful.16 The average height of the whole district is from 1500 to 1800 feet above the Mediterranean. Main elevations within it vary from 2500 to 4000 feet. The axis of the range is towards the East, nearer, that is, to the Jordan valley than to the sea. It is a peculiarity of the highland that there is one important break in it. As the Lowland mountains of Scotland are wholly sepa- rated from the mountains of the Highlands by the low tract which stretches across from the Frith of Forth to the Frith of Clyde, or as the ranges of St. Gall and Appenzell are divided off from the rest of the Swiss mountains by the flat which extends from the Rhine at Ragatz to the same river at Waldshut, so the western highland of Palestine is broken in twain by the famous “ plain of Esdraelon,” which runs from the Bay of Acre to the Jordan valley at Beth-Shean or Scythopolis. East of the Jordan no such depression occurs, the highland there being continuous. It differs from the western highland chiefly in this—that its surface, instead of being broken up into a confused mass of rounded hills, is a table-land, consisting of a 14 “ Those who describe Palestine asi 15 Robinson, Researches, vol. ii. pp. beautiful,” says Dean Stanley, “must 95, 96; Van de Velde, Syria and Pales- either have a very inaccurate notion of tine, vol. i. p. 388; Grove, in Dr. what constitutes beauty of scenery, or Smith's Biblical Dictionary, vol. ii. p. must have viewed the country through 669. a highly coloured medium. ... The į 16 Stanley, p. 353; Van de Velde, tangled and featureless hills of the Low- ! vol. i. p. 386; Robinson, vol. iii. pp. lands of Scotland and North Wales are 366-383. perhaps the nearest likeness, accessible 17 Jebel Jurmuk (in Galilee) is esti- to Englishmen, of the general landscape mated at 4000 feet; Hebron at 3029 of Palestine south of the plain of Es feet; Safed (in Galilee) at 2775 feet; draelon." (Sinai and Palestine, p. 136.) the Mount of Olives at 2724 feet; Ebal Compare Beaufort, Egyptian Sepulchres and Gerizim at 2700; Sinjil at 2685; and Syrian Shrines, vol. ii. p. 97; and Neby Samwil at 2650; and Jerusalem Russegger, in Ritter's Erdkunde, vol.viii. at 2610. (Biblical Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 495. p. 665.) CHAP. I. THE SHEPHÊLAH.. 449 long succession of slightly undulating plains.18 Except in Tra- chonitis and southern Ituræa, where the basaltic rock everywhere crops out,19 the soil is rich and productive, the country in places wooded with fine trees, and the herbage luxuriant. On the west the mountains rise almost precipitously from the Jordan valley, abore which they tower to the height of 3000 or 4000 feet. The outline is singularly uniform; and the effect is that of a huge wall gnarding Palestine on this side from the wild tribes of the desert. Eastward the table-land slopes gradually, and melts into the sands of Arabia. Here water and wood are scarce; but the soil is still good, and bears the most abundant crops.20 Finally, Palestine contains the tract from which it derives its name, the low country of the Philistines, which the Jews called the Shephelah," together with a continuation of this tract north- wards to the roots of Carmel, the district known to the Jews as “Sharon,” or “the smooth place.”? From Carmel to the Wady Sheriah, where the Philistine country ended, is a distance of about one hundred miles, which gives the length of the region in question. Its breadth between the shore and the bigbland varies from about twenty-five miles in the south between Gaza and the hills of Dan, to three miles, or less, in the north between Dor and the border of Manasseh. Its area is probably from 1400 to 1500 square miles. This low strip is along its whole course divided into two parallel belts or bands—the first a flat sandy track along the shore, the Ramleh of the modern Arabs; the second, more undulating, a region of broad rolling plains rich in coru, and anciently clothed in part with thick woods,3 16 Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 314 | generally translate it by to mediov or ń (" A wide table-land, tossed about in mediń; but sometimes they regard it wild confusion of undulating downs'); as a proper name. (See Jerem. xxxii. Porter, Handbook of Syria, p. 295; &c. 44; xxxiii. 14; Obad. 19; 1 Mac. xii. 19 Porter, pp. 465 and 506. 38.) 20 A recent traveller (Rev. H. B. 2 Sharon (like Mishor, the term ap- Tristram) gave strong testimony to this plied to the trans-Jordanic table-land) effect at the meeting of the British į is derived from 10", "just, straight- Association in Bath, September, 1864. forward," and thence “level.” (See · Ha-Shephelah, “the Shephelah” or Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 479, “depressed plain" (from Spui. “ to de- Appendix.) press”), is the ordinary term applied 3 Strab. xvi. 2, § 27. Eſta Opupòs to this tract in the original. The LXX. uegas tis. VOL. II. 2 G CHAP. I. IDUMÆA, 451 here. Idumæa, then, was the tract south and south-west of Palestine from about lat. 31° 10'. It reached westward to the borders of Egypt, which were at this time marked by the Wady- el-Arish,13 southward to the range of Sinai and the Elanitic Gulf, and eastward to the Great Desert. Its chief town was Petra, in the mountains east of the Arabah valley. The cha- racter of the tract is for the most part a hard gravelly and rocky desert; but occasionally there is good herbage, and soil that admits of cultivation ; brilliant flowers and luxuriantly growing shrubs bedeck the glens and terraces of the Petra range; and most of the tract produces plants and bushes on which camels, goats, and even sheep will browse, while occa- sional palm-groves furnish a grateful shade and an important fruit.4 The tract divides itself into four regions—first, a region of sand, low and flat, along the Mediterranean, the Shephelah without its fertility; next, a region of hard gravelly plain inter- sected by limestone ridges, and raised considerably above the sea level, the Desert of El-Tih, or of “the Wanderings;" then the long, broad, low valley of the Arabab, which rises gradually from the Dead Sea to an imperceptible water-shed,15 and then falls gently to the head of the Gulf of Akabah, a region of hard sand thickly dotted with bushes, and intersected by numerous torrent courses; finally, a long narrow region of mountains and hills parallel with the Arabah, constituting Idumæa Proper, or the original Edom, which, though rocky and rugged, is full of fertile glens, ornamented with trees and shrubs, and in places cultivated in terraces."? In shape the tract was a rude square 13 See 2 K. xxiv, 7. That the “river the Wady Ghurundel. (Syria and Pales- of Egypt” here mentioned is not the tine, I. s. c.) Nile, but one of the torrent-courses 16 This tract, which is the original which run from the plateau to the Edom or Idumæa Proper, consists of Mediterranean, is indicated by the word three parallel ranges. On the west, used for “river," which is not 77), adjoining the Arabah, are low calcareous but 5nd. Of all the torrent-courses at | hills. To these succeeds a range of present existing, the Wady-el-Arish is | igneous rocks, chiefly porphyry, overlaid the best fitted to form a boundary. by red sandstone, which reaches the 14 Palm-trees are found at Åkabah , height of 2000 feet. Further east is a (Stanley, p. 22); and again at the range of limestone, 1000 feet higher, Wady-Ghurundel (ib. p. 85). which sinks down gently into the pla- 15 It is scarcely yet known exactly teau of the Arabian Desert. (Biblicui where the water-shed is. Stanley places Dictionary, vol. i. p. 488.) it about four hours (14 miles) north of 17 Stanley, p. 88. 2 G 2 452 Chap. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. or oblong, with its sides nearly facing the four cardinal points, its length from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Akabah being 130 miles, and its width from the Wady-el-Arish to the eastern side of the Petra mountains 120 miles. The area is thus about 1500 square miles. Beyond the Wady-el-Arish was Egypt, stretching from the Mediterranean southwards a distance of nearly eight degrees, or more than 550 miles. As this country was not, however, so much a part of the Babylonian Empire as a dependency lying upon its borders, it will not be necessary to describe it in this place. One region, however, remains still unnoticed which seems to have been an integral portion of the Empire. This is Palmy- rêné, or the Syrian Desert—the tract lying between Cæle-Syria on the one hand and the valley of the middle Euphrates on the other, and abutting towards the south on the great Arabian Desert, to which it is sometimes regarded as belonging, 18 It is for the most part a hard sandy, or gravelly plain, intersected by low rocky ranges, and either barren or proluctive only of some sap- less shrubs and of a low thin grass. Occasionally, however, there are oases, where the fertility is considerable. Such an oasis is the region about Palmyra itself, which derived its name from the palm groves in the vicinity;19 here the soil is good, and a large tract is even now under cultivation. Another oasis is that of Karyateïn, which is watered by an abundant stream, and is well wooded, and productive of grain.20 The Palmyrêné, how- ever, as a whole, possesses but little value, except as a passage country. Though large armies can never have traversed the desert even in this upper region, where it is comparatively narrow, trade in ancient times found it expedient to avoid the long détour by the Orontes valley, Aleppo, and Bambuk, and to proceed directly from Damascus by way of Palmyra to Thapsacus on the Euphrates. Small bands of light troops also occasionally took the same course ; and the great saving of dis- 18 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. , thought to have had a similar meaning. i. p. 559. | But both derivations are doubtful. (See io Such, at least, is the common | Stanley, p. 8, note.) opinion; and the name Tadmor is 20 Chesney, vol. i. pp. 522 and 580. CHAP. I. RIVERS OF THE EMPIRE. 453 tance thus effected made it important to the Babylonians to posssess an authority' over the region in question. Such, then, in its geographical extent, was the great Baby- lonian Empire. Reaching from Luristan on the one side to the borders of Egypt on the other, its direct length from east to west was nearly sixteen degrees, or about 980 miles, while its length for all practical purposes, owing to the interposition of the desert between its western and its eastern provinces, was perhaps not less than 1400 miles. Its width was very dispro- portionate to this. Between Zagros and the Arabian Desert, where the width was the greatest, it amounted to about 280 miles; between Amanus and Palmyra it was 250; between the Mons Musius and the middle Euphrates it may bave been 200; in Syria and Idumaa it cannot have been more than 100 or 160. The entire area of the Empire was probably from 210,000 to 250,000 square miles—which is about the present size of Austria. Its shape may be compared roughly to a gnomon, with one longer and one shorter arm. It added to the inconvenience of this long straggling form, which made a rapid concentration of the forces of the Empire impossible, that the capital, instead of occupying a central position, was placed somewhat low in the longer of the two arms of the gnomon, and was thus nearly 1000 miles removed from the frontier province of the west. Though in direct dis- tance, as the crow flies, Babylon is not more than 450 miles from Damascus, or more than 520 from Jerusalem, yet the necessary détour by Aleppo is so great, that it lengthens the distance, in the one case by 250, in the other by 380 miles. From so remote a centre it was impossible for the lifeblood to circulate very vigorously to the extremities. The Empire was on the whole fertile and well-watered. The two great streams of Western Asia — the Tigris and the Eupbrates—which afforded an abundant supply of the invali- able fluid to the most important of the provinces, those of the 1 This authority is proved by the l i. 20: Aŭtos dpuhoas on yootds Tape- march of Nebuchadnezzar through the géveto dià a ûs ép ń u ov eis Babu- region. (Beros, ap. Joseph. contr. Ap. Awra.) 456 CHAP. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. two streams to the right and to the left of the town. The right branch, which carried commonly about two-thirds of the water, proceeds by a tortuous course of nearly forty miles, in a direction a very little west: of south, to its junction with the Dizful stream, which takes place about two miles north of the little town of Bandi-kir. Just below. that town the left branch, called at present Abi-Gargar,which : has made a considerable bend to the east, rejoins the main stream, which thenceforth flows in a single channel. The course of the Kuran from its source to its junction with the Dizful branch, including main windings, is about 210 miles. The Dizful branch rises from two sources, nearly a degree apart,* in lat. 33° 50'. These streams run respectively south-east and south-west, a distance of forty miles, to their junction near Bahreïn, whence their united waters flow in a tortuous course with a general direction of south, for above a hundred miles to the outer barrier of Zagros, which they penetrate near the Diz fort, through a succession of chasms and gorges. The course of the stream from this point is south- west through the bills and across the plain, past Dizful, to the place where it receives the Balad-rud from the west, when it changes and becomes first south and then south-east to its junc- tion with the Shuster river near Bandi-kir. The entire course of the Dizful stream to this point is probably not less than 280 miles. Below Bandi-kir, the Kuran, now become “a noble river, exceeding in size the Tigris and Euphrates,” 9 meanders across the plain in a general direction of S.S.W., past the towns of Uris, Ahwaz, and Ismaili, to Sablah, when it turns more to the west, and passing Mohammerah, empties itself into the struction has been accurately described / 6 Geographical Journal, 1. s.c. by Sir H. Rawlinson in the Geographical ! ? Bandi-kir is erroneously called Journal, vol. ix. pp. 73-76. Bundakeel by Macdonald Kinneir (Per. • Hence called the Chahar Dangah sian Empire, p. 87), and Bendergbil by (four parts) by the historions of Timur, Mr. Loftus. (Chaldoa and Susitnu, Map while the left branch is called the Du ! to illustrate journeys.) The word is Dangah (two parts). See Pétis de la formed from kir, “ bitumen," because in Croix, tom. ii. p. 18. the dyke at this place the stones are 3 Geographical Journal, vol. ix. p. 74. cemented with that substance. (Geo 4 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol, i graph, Journal, 1. s.c.) i. p. 196 ; Geogruphical Journal, vol. ix. This is the estimate of Col. Chesney. p. 67. į (Euphrutes Expedition, vol. i. p. 197.) .Bahreïn means “the two rivers." ; • Geographical Journal, vol. xvi. p. 52, 458 Chap. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. east of the Susa ruins, which absorbed the Shapur, a small tributary of the Dizful stream, and ran into the Kuran a little above Ahwaz.13 The remains of the old channel are still to be traced ; 14 and its existence explains the confusion, observable in ancient times, between the Kerkbah and the Kuran, to each of which streams, in certain parts of their course, we find the name Eulæus applied. 15 The proper Eulæus (Ulai) was the eastern branch of the Kerkhah (Choaspes) from Pai Pul to Ahwaz; but the name was naturally extended both northwards to the Choaspes above Pai Pul 16 and southwards to the Kuran below Ahwaz." The latter stream was, however, known also, both in its upper and its lower course, as the Pasitigris. On the opposite side of the Empire the rivers were less con- siderable. Among the most important may be mentioned the Sajur, a tributary of the Euphrates, the Koweik, or river of Aleppo, the Orontes, or river of Antioch, the Litany, or river of Tyre, the Barada, or river of Damascus, and the Jordan, with its tributaries, the Jabbok and the Hieromax. The Sajur rises from two principal sources on the southern flanks of Amanus, which, after running a short distance, unite a little to the east of Ain-Tab.18 The course of the streamı from the point of junction is south-east. In this direction it flows in a somewhat tortuous channel between two ranges of hills for a distance of about 30 miles to Tel Khalid, a remark- able conical hill crowned by ruins. Here it receives an im- portant affluent—the Keraskat—from the west, and becomes suitable for boat navigation. At the same time its course changes, and runs eastward for about 12 miles; after which the stream again inclines to the south, and keeping an E.S.E. direction for 14 or 15 miles, enters the Eupbrates by five mouths in about lat. 36° 37'. The course of the river measures probably about 65 miles. - --- 13 Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, pp. ! ULAI. 424 431. 16 Plin. H, N. vi. 31. 14 Jbid. pp. 424, 425. 17 Arrian, Erp. Al. vii. 7. 15 See an article by the author on / 18 For a full account of the Sajur, see this subject in Smith's Biblical Dic Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. livnary, vol. iii. pp. 1586, 1587, ad voc. p. 419. CHAP. I. THE KOWEIK — THE ORONTES. 459 The Koweik, or river of Aleppo (the Chalus of Xenophon "'), rises in the hills south of Ain-Tab. Springing from two sources, one of which is known as the Baloklu-Su, or “ Fish River,” 20 it flows at first eastward, as if intending to join the Euphrates. On reaching the plain of Aleppo, however, near Sayyadok-Koï, it receives a tributary from the north, which gives its course a southern inclination; and from this point it proceeds in a south and south-westerly direction, winding along the shallow bed which it has scooped in the Aleppo plain, a distance of 60 miles, past Aleppo to Kinnisrin, near the foot of the Jebel-el-Sis.21 Here its further progress south ward is barred, and it is forced to turn to the east along the foot of the mountain, which it skirts for eight or ten miles, finally entering the small lake or marsh of El Melak, in which it loses itself after a course of about 80 miles. The Orontes, the great river of Syria, rises in the Buka'a- the deep valley known to the ancients as Cæle-Syria Proper -springing from a number of small brooks, which flow down from the Antilibanus range between lat. 34° 5' and lat. 34° 12'. Its most remote source is near Yunin, about seven miles N.N.E. of Baalbek. The stream flows at first N.W. by W. into the plain, on reaching which it turns at a right-angle to the north- east, and skirts the foot of the Antilibanus range as far as Lebweh, where, being joined by a larger stream from the south- east,” it takes its direction and flows N.W. and then N. across the plain to the foot of Lebanon. Here it receives the waters of a much more abundant fountain, which wells out from the roots of that range, and is regarded by the Orientals as the true “head of the stream.”4 Thus increased the river flows 19 Anab. i. 4, § 9. ? Mr. Porter himself regards this 20 Ainsworth's Travels in the Track spring as the proper source of the of the Ten Thousand, p. 63; Chesney, Orontes. (Hundbouk, p. 575.) vol. i. p. 412. Xenophon remarks that 3 Geographical Journal, vol. vii. pp. the Chalus was “full of large fish” (atný. | 99, 100; vol. xxvi. p. 53; Hindbook of ρης ιχθύων μεγάλων). Syria, p. 576. Col. Chesney erroneously 21 See Chesney, vol. i. pp. 412, 413, places this fountain "at the foot of the and Porter, Handbook of Syria, vol. ii. pp. Anti-Lebanon." (Ephrutes Expedition, 610), 611. vol. i. 1. s. c.) See Chesney, vol. i. p. 394, and com- It is called the Ain el Asy, or “Foun- pare the excellent map in Mr. Porter s tain of the El Asy” (Orontes), and is Hundbook of Syria, from which much of perhaps the same with the Ain ot Num- the description in the text is taken. bers xxxiv. 11. 460 CHAP. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. northwards for a short space, after which it turns to the nortli- east, and runs in a deep clefts along the base of Lebanon, pursuing this direction for 15 or 16 miles to a point beyond Ribleh, nearly in lat. 34° 30'. Here the course of the river again changes, becoming slightly west of north to the Lake oi Hems (Buheiret-Hems), which is nine or ten miles below Ribleh. Issuing from the Lake of Hems about lat. 31° 43', the Orontes once more flows to the north-east, and in five or six miles reaches Hems itself, which it leaves on its right bank. It then flows for twenty miles nearly due north, after which, on approaching Hamah (Hamatlı), it makes a slight bend to the east round the foot of Jebel Erbayn, and then entering the rich pasture country of El-Ghab, runs north-west and north to the “Iron Bridge” (Jisr Hadid), in lat. 36° 11'. Its course thus far has been nearly parallel with the coast of the Mediter- ranean, and has lain between two ranges of mountains, the more western of which has shut it out from the sea. At Jisr Hadid the western mountains come to an end, and the Orontes, sweeping round their base, runs first west and then south-west down the broad. valley of Antioch, in the midst of the most lovely scenery, to the coast, which it reaches a little above the 36th parallel, in long. 35° 55'. The course of the Orontes, exclusive of lesser windings, is about 200 miles. It is a con- siderable stream almost from it sonrce. At Hamah, more than a hundred miles from its mouth, it is crossed by a bridge of thirteen arches. At Antioch it is fifty yards in width,10 and runs rapidly. The natives now call it the Nahr-el-Asy, or “Rebel River," either from its running in an opposite direction 5 From 200 to 400 feet in depth. / bridle-path along the bank of the (Porter, Hand' ook, 1. 8. c.) Orontes winds through luxuriant shrub- 6 Chesney, vol, i. p. 395. beries. Tangled thickets of myrtle, i Dean Stanley says the scenery here oleander, and other flowering shrubs, has been compared to that of the Wye make a gorgeous border to the stream." (Sinai and Palestine, p. 400). Colonel (Handbook, p. 602.) Only a little south Chesney speaks of “richly picturesque 1 of the Orontes, in this part of its course, slopes ;" “striking scenery ;" “steep was the celebrated Daphne. and wooded hills;" “ banks adorned & Porter, Hanibook, p. 576. with the oleander, the arbutus, and, 9 Burckhardt, Trace's in Syria, p. other shrubs.' (Euphrates Expedition, ! 143. vol i. p. 397.) Mr. Porter says, " The 10 Porter, p. 603. Chap. I. : THE KARA SU – THE LITANY. 461 to all the other streams of the country," or (more probably) from its violence and impetuosity. 12 There is one tributary of the Orontes which deserves a cursory mention. This is the Kara Su, or “Black River," which reaches it from the Aga Denghis, or Bahr-el-Abiyad, about five miles below Jisr Hadid and four or five above Antioch. This stream brings into the Orontes the greater part of the water that is drained from the southern side of Amanus. It is formed by a union of two rivers, the upper Kara Su and the Afrin, which flow into the Aga Denghis (White Sea), or Lake of Antioch, from the north-west, the one entering it at its northern, the other at its eastern extremity. Both are con- siderable streams; and the Kara Su, on issuing from the lake, carries a greater body of water than the Orontes itself,'3 and thus adds largely to the volume of that stream in its lower course from the point of junction to the Mediterranean. · The Litany, or river of Tyre, rises from a source at no great distance from the head springs of the Orontes. The almost imperceptible watershed of the Buka'a runs between Yunin and Baalbek, a few miles north of the latter ; 14 and when it is once passed, the drainage of the water is southwards. The highest permanent fountain of the southern stream seems to be a small lake near Tel Hushben, 15 which lies about six miles to the south- west of the Baalbek ruins. Springing from this source the Litany flows along the lower Buka'a in a direction which is generally a little west of south, receiving on either side a number of streamlets and rills from Libanus and Antilibanus, and giving out in its turn numerous canals for irrigation, which fertilise the thirsty soil. As the stream descends with numerous windings, but still with the same general course, the valley of the Buka'a contracts more and more, till finally it terminates in a gorge, down which thunders the Litany-a gorge a thousand feet or 11 This is Mr. Porter's explanation 14 Porter, landbook, p. 575. The (Hind ok, p. 576.) elevation of the watershed above the 1: So Schwarze, as quoted by Dean sea-level is about 3200 feet. Stanley (Sinui and Palestine, p. 275.) 15 Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 13 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. 10; Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. p. 395. 1 i. p. 398. 462 Char. I. : THE FOURTH MONARCHY. more in depth, and so narrow, that in one place it is actually bridged over by masses of rock which have fallen from the jagged sides.16 Narrower and deeper grows the gorge, and the river chafes and foams through it, gradually working itself round to the west, and so clearing a way through the very roots of Lebanon to the low coast tract, across which it meanders slowly, 18 as if wearied with its long struggle, before finally emptying itself into the sea. The course of the Litany may be roughly estimated at from 70 to 75 miles. The Barada, or river of Damascus, rises in the plain of Zebdany—the very centre of the Antilibanus. It has its real permanent source in a small nameless lake 19 in the lower part of the plain, about lat. 33° 41'; but in winter it is fed by streams flowing from the valley above, especially by one which rises in Jat. 33° 46', near the small hamlet of Ain Hawar.20 The course of the Barada from the small lake is at first towards the east; but it soon sweeps round and flows southward for about four miles to the lower end of the plain, after which it again turns to the east and enters a romantic glen, running between high cliffs, 21 and cutting through the main ridge of the Antilibanus between the Zebdany plain and Suk—the Abila of the ancients.” From Suk the river flows through a narrow but lovely valley, in a course which has a general direction of south-east, past Ain Fijeh (where its waters are greatly increased),23 through a series of gorges and glens, to the point where the roots of the Anti- libanus sink down upon the plain, when it bursts forth from the mountains and scatters.24 Channels are drawn from it on either side, and its waters are spread far and wide over the Merj, which it covers with fine trees and splendid herbage. One branch 16 Porter, p. 571; Robinson, Lator p. 558). Compare Robinson, Later Re- Researches, p. 423. searches, p. 487. 17 Ibid. pp. 386, 387. 21 Porter, p. 557. 18 Chesney, Euphrates Erpedition, 22 On the proofs of this identity see vol. i. p. 398. Robinson, Later Researches, pp. 480-484. 19 Porter, p. 557. The elevation of 23 Porter, p. 555; Robinson, p. 476. the plain of Zebdany is about 3500 The quantity of water given out by feet. this fountain considerably exceeds that 20 Col. Chesney makes this the proper carried by the Barada above it. source of the Barada (E phrates Erpedia | 24 See the excellent description in tion, vol. i. p. 502). Its true character Dean Stanley's Sinusi and Palestine, p. is pointed out by Mr. Porter (Hanubook, 402. Chap. I. THE JORDAN. 463 passes right through the city, cutting it in half. Others irrigate the gardens and orchards both to the north and to the south. Beyond the town the tendency to division still continues. The river, weakened greatly through the irrigation, separates into three main channels, which flow with divergent courses towards the east, and terminate in two large swamps or lakes, the Bahret- esh-Shurkiyeh and the Bahret-el-Kibliyeh, 25 at a distance of sixteen or seventeen miles from the city. The Barada is a short stream, its entire course from the plain of Zebdany not much exceeding forty miles.? The Jordan is commonly regarded as flowing from two sources in the Huleh or plain immediately above Lake Merom, one at Banias (the ancient Paneas), the other at Tel-el-Kady, which, marks the site of Laish or Dan. But the true highest present source of the river is the spring near Hasbeiya, called Neba- es-Hasbany, or Ras-en-Neba.? This spring rises in the torrent- course known as the Wady-el-Teim, which descends from the north-western flank of Hermon, and runs nearly parallel with the great gorge of the Litany, baving a direction from north- east to south-west. The water wells forth in abundance from the foot of a volcanic bluff, called Ras-el-Anjah, lying directly north of Hasbeiya, and is immediately used to turn a mill. The course of the streamlet is very slightly west of south down the Wady to the Huleh plain, where it is joined, and multiplied sevenfold,4 by the streams from Banais and Tel-el-Kady, becoming at once worthy of the name of river. Hence it runs almost due south to the Merom lake, which it enters in lat. 33° 7', through a reedy and marshy tract which it is difficult to 25 Porter, in the Bibliotheca Sacra, | Robinson, Later Researches, pp. 390 and April, 1854, pp. 329-344; Robinson, 406; and Porter, Handbook, pp. 436 and Later Researches, pp. 450, 451. 445. I Mr. Porter estimates the course of! 3 Robinson, p. 378; Porter, pp. 451, the Barada, from the place where it 452; Lynch, Narrative of an Expedition leaves the mountains to the two lakes, to the Dead sea, p. 315. at 20 miles. (Handbook, p. 496.) Its • Dr. Robinson estimates the volume course among the mountains seems to be of the Banias source as double that of of about the same length. the Hasbeiya stream, and the volume ? These sources have been described of the Tel-el-Kady fountain as double by many writers. The best description that of the Banias one. (Later Re- is perhaps that of Stanley (Sindi and I searches, p. 395.) Palestine, pp. 336-391); but compare 464 CHAP. I THE FOURTH MONARCHY. penetrate. Issuing from Merom in lat. 33° 3', the Jordan flows at first sluggishly south ward to “ Jacob's Bridge,” passing which, it proceeds in the same direction, with a much swifter current, down the depressed and narrow cleft between Merom and Tiberias, descending at the rate of fifty feet in a mile, and becoming (as has been said) a sort of “continuous waterfall.” 8 Before reaching Tiberias, its course bends slightly to the west of south for about two miles, and it pours itself into that “sea” in about lat, 32° 53'. Quitting the sea in lat. 32° 42', it finally enters the track called the Ghor, the still lower chasm or cleft which intervenes between Tiberias and the upper end of the Dead Sea. Here the descent of the stream becomes compara- tively gentle, not much exceeding three feet per inile; for though the direct distance between the two lakes is less than seventy miles, and the entire fall above 600 feet, which would seem to give a descent of nine or ten feet a mile, yet, as the course of the river throughout this part of its career is tortuous in the extreme, the fall is really not greater than above indi- cated. Still it is sufficient to produce as many as twenty-seren rapids,or at the rate of one to every seven miles. In this part of its course the Jordan receives two important tributaries, each of which seems to deserve a few words. The Jarmuk, or Sheriat-el-Mandhur, anciently the Hieromax, drains the water, not only from Gaulonitis or Jaulan, the country immediately east and south-east of the sea of Tiberias, but also from almost the whole of the Hauran." At its mouth it is 5 Robinson, Researches, vol. iii. p. 340. ! & Col. Wildenbruch, in Geographical & See Col. Wildenbruch's account in Journal, vol. xx. p. 228. Compare Porter, the Journal of the Geographical Society, Handboo', p. 427; Lynch, Narrative, p. vol. xx. p. 228; and compare Lynch, i 311; Petermann, in Geographical Journal, Narratire, p. 311; Porter, Handbook, ! vol. xviii. p. 103; &c. p. 427. Col. Chesney exactly inverts 9 The 70 miles of actual length are the real facts of the case. (Euphratesi increased by these multitudinous wind- E pedition, vol. i. p. 400.) ings to 200. (Geographical Journal, vol. The fall between the lakes of Merom xviii. p. 94, note; Stanley, Sinui and and Tiberias appears to be from 600 to! Palestine, p. 277.) The remark of the 700 feet. The direct distance is little | English sailors deserves to be remem- more than 9 miles. As the river does bered—“The Jordan is the crookedest not lere meander much, its entire course, river what is." (Journal of the Asiatic can scarcely exceed 13 or 14 miles. Ac. Society, vol. xviii, p. 113.) cording to these numbers, the fall would! 10 Stanley, p. 276. be between 43 and 54 feet per mile. Porter, Hund'sook, p. 321. Char. I. THE JARMUK-THE ZURKA. 465 130 feet wide,la and in the winter it brings down a great body of water into the Jordan. In summer, however, it shrinks up into an inconsiderable brook, having no more remote sources than the perennial springs at Mazarib, Dilly, and one or two other places on the plateau of Jaulan. It runs through a fertile country, and has generally a deep course far below the surface of the plain ; ere falling into the Jordan it makes its way through a wild ravine, between rugged cliffs of basalt, which are in places upwards of a hundred feet in height. The Zurka, or Jabbok, is a stream of the same character with the Hieromax, but of inferior dimensions and importance. It drains a considerable portion of the land of Gilead, but has no very remote sources, and in summer only carries water through a few miles of its lower course.13 In winter, on the contrary, it is a roaring stream with a strong current, and sometimes cannot be forded. The ravine through which it flows is narrow, deep, and in some places wild. Throughout nearly its whole course it is fringed by thickets of cane and oleander, while above, its banks are clothed with forests of oak. The Jordan receives the Hieromax about four or five miles below the point where it issues from the sea of Tiberias, and the Jabbok about half-way between that lake and the Dead Sea. Augmented by these streams, and others of less importance from the mountains on either side, it becomes a river of considerable size, being opposite Beth-shan (Beisan) 140 feet wide, and three feet deep,14 and averaging, in its lower course, a width of ninety with a depth of eight or nine feet.15 Its entire course, from the fountain near Hasbeiya to the Dead Sea, including the passage of the two lakes through which it flows, is, if we exclude meanders, about 130, if we include them, 260 miles. It is calculated to pour into the Dead Sea 6,090,000 tons of water daily.16 - - - 12 Porter, Handbook, p. 321. Mr. Porter is the authority for this entire notice of the Hieromax. He is far more accurate than Col. Chesney. (Ex- phrates Expeditioary, vol. i. p. 401.) 13 Porter, Handbook, p. 310; Biblical Dictionary, vol. i. p. 909. VOL. II. 14 Chesney, vol. i. p. 401; Irby and Mangles, p. 304; Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, p. 345. 15 Petermann, in the Journal of the Geographical Society, vol. xviii. p. 95. 16 Chesney, I. 8. c. 2 h CHAP. I. THE LAKES. 467 racter. Its ordinary length is about nine miles, and its width three or four; but in winter it is greatly swollen by the rains, and at that time it spreads out so widely that its circumference sometimes exceeds fifty miles. Much salt is drawn from its bed in the dry season, and a large part of Syria is hence sup- plied with the commodity. The lake is covered with small islands, and greatly freqnented by aquatic birds-geese, ducks, flamingoes, and the like. The lakes in the neighbourhood of Damascus are three in number, and are all of a very similar type. They are inde- terminate in size and shape, changing with the wetness or dry- ness of the season; and it is possible that sometimes they may be all united in one. The most northern, which is called the Bahret-esh-Shurkiyeh, receives about half the surplus water of the Barada, together with some streamnlets from the outlying ranges of Antilibanus towards the north. The central one, called the Bahret-el-Kibliyeh, receives the rest of the Barada water, which enters it by three or four branches on its northern and western sides. The most southern, known as Bahret- Hijaneh, is the receptacle for the stream of the Awaaj, and takes also the water from the northern parts of the Ledjah, or region of Argob. The three lakes are in the same line-a line which runs from N.N.E. to S.S.W. They are, or at least were recently, separated by tracts of dry land from two to four miles broad. Dense thickets of tall reeds surround them, and in summer almost cover their surface. Like the Bahr-el-Melak, they are a home for water-fowl, which flock to them in enor- mous numbers. 8 By far the largest and most important of the salt lakes is the Great Lake of the South—the Bahr Lut (“ Sea of Lot”), or Dead Sea. This sheet of water, which has always attracted the - -- 3 Chesney (Euphrates Ecpedition, vol. the Journal of the Geographical Society, i. p. +13). vol. xxvi. pp. 43-46, and in the Journal * Only one lake is recognised by the of Sacred Literature, vol. iv. pp. 246-259. early travellers and map makers. Even s See Mr. Porter's Handbook, p. 497. Col. Chesney, writing in 1850, knows 6 See the map of Syria attached to apparently but of one. (Euphrates Ec- the Handbook, and likewise to Dr. Robin- prodition, vol. i. p. 502.) The three lakes son's Later Researches, ad fin. were, I believe, first noticed by Mr.. : Porter, Hand muli, p. 496. Porter, who gave an account of them in Ibid. p. 497. 2 h 2 Chap. I. THE DEAD SEA AND SEA OF TIBERIAS. 469 possible, in some seasons, to ford the whole way across from one side to the other.15 The peculiarities of the Dead Sea, as compared with other lakes, are its depression below the sea- level, its buoyancy, and its extreme saltness. The degree of the depression is not yet certainly known; but there is reason to believe that it is at least as much as 1300 feet,16 whereas no other lake is known to be depressed more than 570 feet.17 The buoyancy and the saltness are not so wholly unparalleled. The waters of Lake Urumiyeh are probably as salt and as buoyant ;18 those of Lake Elton in the steppe east of the Wolga, and of certain other Russian lakes, appear to be even salter.19. But with these few exceptions (if they are exceptions), the Dead Sea water must be pronounced to be the heaviest and saltest water known to us. More than one-fourth of its weight is solid matter held in solution. Of this solid matter nearly one-third is common salt, which is more than twice as much as is con- tained in the waters of the ocean. Of the fresh-water lakes the largest and most important is the Sea of Tiberias. This sheet of water is of an oval shape, with an axis, like that of the Dead Sea, very nearly due north and south. Its greatest length is about thirteen, and its greatest width about six miles.20 Its extreme depth, so far as has been ascertained, is 271 fathoms, or 165 feet.21 The Jordan flows into its upper end turbid and muddy, and issues forth at its southern extremity clear and pellucid. It receives also the waters of a considerable number of small streams and springs, some of which are warm and brackish; yet its own water is always sweet, cool, and transparent, and laving everywhere a shelving pebbly beach, has a bright sparkling appear- 15 Seetzen, Works, vol. i. p. 428; vol. 1 Geographical Journal, vol. xiv. p. cxvi.) ii. p. 358; Lynch, Narratice, p. 199; i 18 Compare Geographical Journal, vol. Robinson, Researches, vol. ii. p. 235. x. p. 7. 16 Setting aside a single barometrical 19 The waters of Lake Elton (Ielton- observation—that of Von Schubert in skoë) contain from 24 to 28 per cent. of 1857—all the other estimates, however i solid matter, while those of the “Red made, give a depression varying between 1 Sea" near Perekop contain about 37 per 1200 and 1450 feet. (See Mr. Grove's 1 cent. The waters of the Dead Sea con- note, Bülical Dictionary, vol. i. p. 1175.) | tain about 26 per cent. 17 The lake Assal, on the Somauli 20 Porter, Handbook, p. 418; Stanley, coast, opposite Aden, is said to be de- i Sinai and Palestine, p. 362. pressed to this extent. (Murchison, in 21 Lynch, Narrative, p. 95. 470 Chap. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. ance.22 The banks are lofty, and in general destitute of ver- dure. What exactly is the amount of depression below the level of the Mediterranean remains still, to some extent, un- certain; but it is probably not much less than 700 feet.23 Now, as formerly, the lake produces an abundance of fish, which are pronounced, by those who have partaken of them, to be “de- licious.” Nine miles above the Sea of Tiberias, on the course of the same stream, is the far smaller basin known now as the Bahr-el- Huleh, and anciently (perhaps) as Merom.? This is a mountain tarn, varying in size as the season is wet or dry, but never appa- rently more than about seven miles long, by five or six broad.* It is situated at the lower extremity of the plain called Huleh, and is almost entirely surrounded by flat marshy ground, thickly set with reeds and canes, which make the lake itself almost unapproachable. The depth of the Huleh is not known. It is a favourite resort of aquatic birds, and is said to contain an abundant supply of fish. The Bahr-el-Kades, or Lake of Hems, lies on the course of the Orontes, about 130 miles N.N.E. of Merom, and nearly the same distance south of the Lake of Antioch. It is a small sheet of water, not more than six or eight miles long, and only two or three wide," running - in the same direction with the 22 Porter, in Biblical Dictionary, vol. i. | for the assumption. Merom is mentioned p. 676. but in one passage of Scripture (Josh. 23 Schubert estimated the depression . xi, 5-7); and then not at all distinctly of the Sea of Tiberias at 535 Paris feet l as a lake. Josephus calls the Bahrein (Reise, vol. iii. p. 231); Bertou at 230:3 ! Hulch the Semechonitis. metres, or about 700 feet (Bulletin de la 3 See the remarks of Col. Wildenbruch Société de Geogr. Oct. 1839). Lynch, in in the Journal of the Geographical Society, his Narrative (ed. of 1852), Preface, p. vol. xx. p. 228. vii, calls it 312 feet; and hence pro • Dean Stanley gives the dimensions bably Stanley's estimate of 300 (Sinai of the lake as 7 miles by 6 (Sinai and and 'Palestine, p. 276). Mr. Porter, in Palestine, p. 382); Col. Chesney as 7 1860, calls it 700 feet (Biblical Dic- | miles by 3; (Euphrates Expedition, vol. tionary, vol i. p. 676). Mr. Ffoulkes, in i. p. 399, note); Mr. Porter as 4! miles the same year, says it is 653 feet (ibid. į by 3} (Hand rook, p. 435); Dr. Robinson p. 1130). It is to be hoped that a as from 4 to 5 geographical miles by 4 scientific survey of the whole of Pales (Researches, vol. iii. p. 430); Mr. Grove tine will be made before many years į as 3 miles in each direction (Biblical are over, and this, with other similar Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 333). questions, finally settled. 5 See above, p. 464, notes .Lynch, Narratire, p. 96. 6 Chesney, vol. i. p. 400, 9 This has been generally assumed ; ! - Pocock gives the dimensions of the but there are really very slight grounds Lake of Hems as 8 miles by 3 (Descripë CHAP. I. THE SEA OF ANTIOCH. 471 course of the river, which here turns from north to north-east. According to Abulfeda ® and some other writers, it is mainly, if not wholly, artificial, owing its origin to a dam or embankment across the stream, which is from four to five hundred yards in length, and about twelve or fourteen feet high. In Abulfeda's time the construction of the embankment was ascribed to Alex- ander the Great, and the lake consequently was not regarded as having had any existence in Babylonian times; but traditions The Sea of Antioch, from the East. of this kind are little to be trusted, and it is quite possible that the work above mentioned, constructed apparently with a view to irrigation, may really belong to a very much earlier age. Finally, in Northern Syria, 115 miles north of the Bahr-el- Kades, and about 60 miles N.W.W. of the Bahr-el-Melak, is the Bahr-el-Abyad (White Lake), or Sea of Antioch. This sheet of tion of the East, vol. i. p. 140); Col. Researches, p. 549), or about 6 miles Chesney makes them 6 miles by 2 (Eu- by 3. phrates Expedition, vol. i. p. 394). Dr. Tabu'æ Syriæ, ed. Köhler, p. 157. Robinson says the lake is "two hours · Robinson, Later Researches, 1. s. c. n length by one in breadth" (Later | 472 Chap. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. water is a parallelogram,1º the angles of which face the cardinal points: in its greater diameter it extends somewhat more than ten miles, while it is about seven miles across." Its depth on the western side, where it approaches the mountains, is six or eight feet; but elsewhere it is generally more shallow, not exceeding three or four feet.12 It lies in a marshy plain called El-Umk, and is thickly fringed with reeds round the whole of its circumference. From the silence of antiquity, some writers have imagined that it did not exist in ancient times ;13 but the observations of scientific travellers are opposed to this theory, 14 The lake abounds with fish of several kinds, and the fishery attracts and employs a considerable number of the natives who dwell near it.15 Besides these lakes, there were contained within the limits of the empire a number of petty tarns, which do not merit parti- cular description. Such were the Bahr-el-Taka, 6 and other small lakes on the right bank of the middle Orontes, the Birket- el-Limum in the Lebanon, and the Birket-er-Ram 18 on the southern flank of Hermon. It is unnecessary, however, to pursue this subject any further. But a few words must be added on the chief cities of the Empire, before this chapter is brought to a conclusion. The cities of the Empire may be divided into those of the dominant country and those of the provinces. Those of the dominant country were, for the most part, identical with the towns already described as belonging to the ancient Chaldæa. Besides Babylon itself, there flourished in the Babylonian period the cities of Borsippa, Duraba, Sippara or Sepharvaim, Opis, Psittacé, Cutha, Orchoë or Erech, and Diridotis or Teredon. 10 Chesney, vol. i. p. 396. tamia, p. 299. 11 These dimensions, given by Rennell 13 Chesney, vol. i. p. 397. (Illustrations of the Expedition of Cyrus, i 16 Famous for its abundant fish. p. 65), seem to be approved by Mr. | (Chesney, vol. i. p. 395 ) Ainsworth (Trarels in the Track, p. 62, 1 1Robinson, Later Researches, p. 548. note), who himself explored the lake. i 18 Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xvi. 12 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. p. 8; Lynch, Official Report, p. 110. i. p. 396. This is probably the ancient Phiale, is Rennell, Illustrations of the Expedi- ! which was believed to supply the foun- tion of Cyrus, p. 65. | tain at Banias. (Joseph. B. J. iii, 10, 14 Ainsworth, Researches in Mesopo- $ 7.) 474 Char. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. on the Khabour; Harran on the Bilik; Hamath, Damascus, 25 and Jerusalem, in Inner Syria; Tyre, Sidon, Ashdod, Ascalon, and Gaza, upon the coast. Of these, Susa was undoubtedly the most important; indeed, it deserves to be regarded as the second city of the Empire. Here, between the two arins of the Choaspes, on a noble and well-watered plain, backed at the distance of twenty-five miles by a lofty mountain range, the fresh breezes from which tempered the summer heats, was the ancient palace of the Kissian kings, proudly placed upon a lofty platform or mound, and commanding a wide prospect of the rich pastures at its base, which extended northwards to the roots of the hills, and in every other direction as far as the eye could reach.27 Clustered at the foot of the palace mound, more especially on its eastern side, lay the ancient town, the foundation of the traditional Memnon, who led an army to the defence of Troy.? The pure and sparkling water of the Choaspes 3-a drink fit for kings 4—flowed near, while around grew palms, konars, and lemon-trees," the plain beyond waving with green grass and golden corn. It may be suspected that the Babylonian kings, who certainly maintained a palace at this place, and sent high officers of their court to “ do their business” there,? made it their occasional residence, exchanging, in summer and early autumn, the heats and swamps of Babylon for the comparatively dry and cool region at the base of the Lurish hills. But, how- ever this may have been, at any rate Susa, long the capital of a kingdom little inferior to Babylon itself, must have been the first of the provincial cities, surpassing all the rest at once in size and in magnificence. 26 Damascus, though destroyed by ! x. 31, $ 2. Tiglath-Pileser II., probably soon rose 3 Geographical Journal, vol. ix. p. 89. from its ruins, and again became an im Herod. i. 188; Plutarch, De Eesil. portant city. | p. 601, D; Athen. Deipnosoph. ii, p. 27 For a good description of the 171. Milton's statement- situation of Susa see Loftus, Chaldæu i “There Susu by Choaspes' amber stream, and Susiana, p. 347. Compare the The drink of none but kings," Journal of the Geographical Society, vol. is an exaggeration : for which, however, ix. pp. 68-71. there is some classical authority. (So- i Herod. r. 53. Strabo ascribes the linus, Polyhist. § 41.) foundation to Tithonus, Memnon's 5 Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiani, I. s. c. father (xv. 3, § 2). 6 Dan, viii. 2. * Diod. Sic. ii. 22; iv. 75; Pausan. ? Ibid. verse 27. 478 Chap. I. THE FOURTH MONARCHY, ancient, powerful, and well-orginised kingdom upon her borders, with clains upon that portion of her territory which it was most difficult for her to defend effectively. By sea’ and by land equally the strip of Syrian coast lay open to the arms of Egypt, who was free to choose her time and pour her hosts into the country when the attention of Babylon was directed to some other quarter. The physical and political circumstances alike pointed to hostile transactions between Babylon and her south- western neighbour. Whether destruction would come from this quarter, or from some other, it would have been impossible to predict. Perhaps, on the whole, it may be said that Babylon might have been expected to contend successfully with Egypt- that she had little to fear from Arabia--that against Persia Proper it might have been anticipated that she would be able to defend herself—but that she lay at the mercy of Media. The Babylonian Empire was in truth an Empire upon sufferance. From the time of its establishment with the consent of the Medes, the Medes might at any time have destroyed it. The dynastic tie alone prevented this result. When that tie was snapped, and when moreover, by the victories of Cyrus, Persian enterprise succeeded to the direction of Median power, the fate of Babylon was sealed. It was impossible for the long straggling Empire of the south, lying chiefly in low, flat, open regions, to resist for any considerable time the great kingdom of the north, of the high plateau, and of the mountain-chains. - - - ? See above, p. 453. 3 For the naval power of Egypt at this time, see Herod. ii. 161 and 182. Chap. II. • CLIMATE OF SUSIANA. 479 CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS. ..... Hledíov Tepibolov, čvda te molloi 'Ακρόκομοι φοίνικες επηρεφέες πεφύασιν Και μην και χρυσοίο φέρει χαριέστερον άλλο, Υγρής βηρύλλου γλαυκών λίθον, ή περί χώρον Φύεται, εν προβολής, οφιώτιδος ένδοθι πέτρης. Dionys. Perieg. 11. 1009-1013. "Έστι δε χωρέων αύτη απασέων μακρώ αρίστη των ημείς ίδμεν Δήμητρος Kapròv ékpépelv.-HEROD. i. 193. The Babylonian Empire, lying as it did between the thirtieth and the thirty-seventh parallels of north latitude, and consisting mostly of comparatively low countries, enjoyed a climate which was, upon the whole, considerably warmer than that of Media, and less subject to extreme variations. In its more southern parts—Susiana, Chaldæa (or Babylonia Proper), Philistia, and Edom—the intensity of the summer heat must have been great; but the winters were mild and of short duration. In the uniddle regions of Central Mesopotamia, the Euphrates valley, the Pal- myrêné, Cæle-Syria, Judæa, and Phoenicia, while the winters were somewhat colder and longer, the summer warmth was more tolerable. Towards the north, along the flanks of Masius, Taurus, and Amanus, a climate more like that of eastern Media prevailed," the summers being little less hot than those of the middle region, while the winters were of considerable severity. A variety of climate thus existed, but a variety within somewhat narrow limits. The region was altogether hotter and drier than is usual in the same latitude. The close proximity of the great Arabian desert, the small size of the adjoining seas, the want of mountains within the region having any great elevation, and I Supra, pp. 284-289. See vol. i. p. 211. 3 The average elevation of the Mons Masius is estimated at 1300 feet. (Ains- 480 CHAP. II, THE FOURTH MONARCHY. the general absence of timber, combined to produce an amount of heat and dryness scarcely known elsewhere outside the tropics. Detailed accounts of the temperature, and of the climate generally, in the most important provinces of the Empire, Baby- lonia and Mesopotamia Proper, have been already given, and on these points the reader is referred to the first volume. With regard to the remaining provinces, it may be noticed, in the first place, that the climate of Susiana differs but very slightly from that of Babylonia, the region to which it is adjacent. The heat in summer is excessive, the thermometer, even in the hill country, at an elevation of 5000 feet, standing often at 107° Fahr. in the shade. The natives construct for themselves serdaubs, or subterranean apartments, in which they live during the day, thus somewhat reducing the temperature, but probably never bringing it much below 100 degrees. They sleep at night in the open air on the flat roofs of their houses. So far as there is any difference of climate at this season between Susiana and Babylonia, it is in favour of the former. The heat, though scorching, is rarely oppressive ; 9 and not unfrequently a cool invigorating breeze sets in from the mountains, 10 which refreshes both mind and body. The winters are exceedingly mild, snow being unknown on the plains, and rare on the mountains, ex- cept at a considerable elevation." At this time, however- from December to the end of March-rain falls in tropical abun- dance ; 12 and occasionally there are violent hail-storms, 13 which worth, Researches in Mesopotamia, p. 29.) Persian Empire, p. 107. Some of its peaks are of course consider ? This is the temperature of the ser. ably higher. Amanus is said to obtain ! dauts at Baghdad, when the tempera- an elevation of 5387 feet. (Chesney, I ture of the open air is about 120°. (See Euphrates Expeditiun, vol. i. p. 384.) | vol. i. p. 28.) The greatest height of Lebanon is 10,200 & Kinnier, l. s. c. feet (Nat. History Rerieu, No. V. p. 11); 9 Mr. Loftus says: “ The temperature its average height being from 6000 feet was high, but it was perfectly delightful to 8000. Hermon is thought to be not! compared with the furnace we had much less than 10,000. (Porter, Hand recently quitted at Mohammerah." 100?, p. 455.) (Chaldæa and Susianı, p. 307.) + See vol. i. pp. 28-30 and 210-212. 10 Loftus, pp. 290, 307; Kinneir, p. 5 Loftus, Chaldæa and Susianu, p. 332. ! 106. For the great heat of the region in 11 Kinneir, p. 107. ancient times, see Strabo, xv. 3, § 10. 12 Loftus, p. 310; Kinneir, I s. c. • Loftus, pp. 304, 311, &c.; Kinneir, ! 13 Kinneir, 1. s. c. CHAP. II. CLIMATE OF SYRIA.. 481 inflict serious injury on the crops. The spring-time in Susiana is delightful. Soft airs fan the cheek, laden with the scent of 'flowers; a carpet of verdure is spread over the plains; the sky is cloudless, or overspread with a thin gauzy veil; the heat of the sun is not too great; the rivers run with full banks and fill the numerous canals; the crops advance rapidly towards perfection; and on every side a rich luxuriant growth cheers the eye of the traveller. 14 On the opposite side of the Empire, in Syria and Palestine, a moister, and on the whole a cooler climate prevails. In Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon there is a severe winter, which lasts from October to April ;15 much snow falls, and the thermometer often marks twenty or thirty degress of frost. On the flanks of the mountain ranges, and in the highlands of Upper and Cæle- Syria, of Damascus, Samaria, and Judæa, the cold is considerably less; but there are intervals of frost; snow falls, though it does not often remain long upon the ground ; 16 and prolonged chilling rains make the winter and early spring unpleasant. In the low regions, on the other hand, in the Shephélah, the plain of Sharon, the Phænician coast tract, the lower valley of the Orontes, and again in the plain of Esdraëlon and the remark- able depression from the Merom lake to the Dead Sea, the winters are exceedingly mild ; 17 frost and snow are unknown; the lowest temperature is produced by cold rains 18 and fogs, 19 which do not bring the thermometer much below 40°. During the summer these low regions, especially the Jordan valley or Ghor, are excessively hot, the heat being ordinarily of that moist kind which is intolerably oppressive.20 The upland plains and mountain flanks experience also a high temperature, but 14 “Nowhere," says Mr. Loftus, “have | i. p. 533. I seen such rich vegetation as that io Ibid. p. 534; Robinson, Researches, which clothes the verdant plains of vol. ii. p. 97; Grove, in Smith's Biblical Shush” (p. 346). “It was difficult to | Dictionuiry, vol. ii. p. 692; Josephus, ride along the Shapur," writes Sir H. B. J. iv. 8, $ 3. Rawlinson, “for the luxuriant grass 1: Chesney, l. s. c.; Grove, p. 693. that clothed its banks; and all around 18 Seetzen, vol. ii. p. 300; Corre- the plain was covered with a carpet of spondance de Napoléon, No. 3993. the richest verdure." (journal of the 19 Grove, 1. s. c. Geographical Society, vol. ix. p. 71.) 20 Robinson, Rescarches, vol. iii. pp. 15 Chesney, Euphrates E.cpedition, vol. | 221, 282, &o. VOL. II. 2 1 482 CHAP. II, THE FOURTH MONARCHY. there the heat is of a drier character, and is not greatly com- plained of; the nights even in summer are cold, the dews being often heavy ; 21 cool winds blow occasionally, and though the sky is for months without a cloud, the prevailing heat produces no injurious effects on those who are exposed to it.22 In Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, the heat is of course still less; refreshing breezes blow almost constantly; and the numerous streams and woods give a sense of coolness beyond the markings of the thermometer. . There is one evil, however, to which almost the whole Em- pire must have been subject. Alike in the east and in the west, in Syria and Palestine, no less that in Babylonia Proper and Susiana, there are times when a fierce and scorching wind prevails for days together—a wind whose breath withers the herbage and is unspeakably depressing to man. Called in the east the Sherghis, and in the west the Khamsin, this fiery sirocco comes laden with fine particles of heated sand, which at once raise the temperature and render the air unwholesome to breathe. In Syria these winds occur commonly in the spring, from February to April ; 3 but in Susiana and Babylonia the time for them is the height of summer. They blow from various quarters, according to the position, with respect to Arabia, occu- pied by the different provinces. In Palestine the worst are from the east, the direction in which the desert is nearest ; in Lower Babylonia they are from the south ; 6 in Susiana from the west or the north-west.? During their continuance the air is darkened, a lurid glow is cast over the earth, the animal world pines and droops, vegetation languishes, and, if the traveller cannot obtain shelter, and the wind continues, he may sink and die under its deleterious influence. 21 Grove, I. s. c.; Robinson, vol. ii. p. • Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 86; 99. Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, p. 241. 22 Robinson, 1. s. C. s Beaufort, vol. ii. p. 223. 1 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. Loftus, l. 8. c. ? Kinneir, 1. s. c. ? Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. ! 8 See Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie, i. p. 578. pp. 7, 8; Burckhardt, Trarels, p. 191; 3 Wildenbruch, as quoted by Mr. | Chesney, Euphrates Expeditivit, vol, i, Grove in Smith’s Biblical Dictionary, pp. 579, 580. vol, ii. 1). 692. 364. 484 CHAP. II. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. called gonga, which have the taste of barley-cakes. Palms, too, grow in the country, and apples, and fruit-trees of various kinds.” 14 Wheat, it will be observed, and barley are placed first, since it was especially as a grain country that Babylonia was celebrated. The testimonies of Herodotus, Theophrastus, Strabo, and Pliny as to the enormous returns which the Baby- lonian farmers obtained from their corn lands have been already cited. No such fertility is known anywhere in modern times; and, unless the accounts are grossly exaggerated, we must ascribe it, in part, to the extraordinary vigour of a virgin soil, a deep and rich alluvium; in part perhaps to a peculiar adap- tation of the soil to the wheat plant, which the providence of God made to grow spontaneously in this region, and nowhere else, so far as we know, on the whole face of the earth.16 Besides wheat, it appears that barley, millet, 17 and lentils were cultivated for food, while vetches were grown for beasts, and sesame for the sake of the oil which can be expressed from its seed.18 All grew luxuriantly, and the returns of the barley in particular are stated at a fabulous amount.19 But the pro- duction of first necessity in Babylonia was the date-palm, which flourished in great abundance throughout the region, and probably furnished the chief food of the greater portion of the inhabitants. The various uses to which it was applied have been stated in the first volume,20 where a representation of its mode of growth has been also given.21 In the adjoining country of Susiana, or at any rate in the alluvial portion of it, the principal products of the earth seem to have been nearly the same as in Babylonia, while the fecundity of the soil was but little less. Wheat and barley returned to - 14 Berosus, Fr. 1, $ 2. 15 See vol. i. pp. 31, 32. 16 Niebuhr says strikingly on this subject : “ Woher also kommt das Ge- treide? Es ist eine unmittelbare Aus- stattung des menschlichen Stammes durch Gott; allen ist etwas gegeben; den Asiaten gab er eigentliches Korn, den Americanern Mais. Dieser Um- stand verdient ernstliche Erwägung ; er ist eine der handgreiflichen Spuren von der Erziehung des menschlichen Ge- schlechtes durch Gottes unmittelbare Leitung und Vorsehung." (Porträge über alte Geschichte, vol. i. p. 21.) 17 Millet, which is omitted by Be- rosus, is mentioned among Babylonian products by Herodotus (i, 193). 18 Herod. I. s. c.; Strab. xvi. 1, $ 14. 19 Three hundred fold. (Strab. I. s.c.) 20 See p. 35. 21 See p. 34. CHAP. II. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 485 the sower a hundred or even two hundred fold.22 The date- palm grew plentifully,23 more especially in the vicinity of the towns.24 Other trees also were common,25 as probably konars, acacias, and poplars, which are still found scattered in tolerable abundance over the plain country.26 The neighbouring moun- tains could furnish good timber of various kinds ; 27 but it appears that the palm was the tree chiefly used for building28 If we may judge the past by the present, we may further suppose that Susiana produced fruits in abundance ; for modern travellers tell us that there is not a fruit known in Persia which does not thrive in the province of Khuzistan. Along the Euphrates valley to a considerable distance-at least as far as Anah (or Hena)—the character of the country resembles that of Babylonia and Susiana, and the products cannot have been very different. About Anah the date-palm begins to fail, and the olive first makes its appearance. Further up a chief fruit is the mulberry.3 Still higher, in northern Mesopotamia, the mulberry is comparatively rare, but its place is supplied by the walnut, the vine, and the pistachio-nut.* This district produces also good crops of grain, and grows oranges, pomegranates, and the commoner kinds of fruit abundantly. Across the Euphrates, in Northern Syria, the country is less suited for grain crops; but trees and shrubs of all kinds grow luxuriantly, the pasture is excellent, and much of the land is well adapted for the growth of cotton. The Assyrian kings cut 22 Strab. xv. 3, § 11, I Kinneir, Persian Empire, p. 107. 23 Ibid. xvi. 1, $ 6. Among the fruits expressly mentioned 24 The sculptures of Asshur-bani-pal, are lemons, oranges, grapes, apricots, representing his wars in Susiana, con melons, cucumbers (Loftus, pp. 313, tain numerous representations of palm 314), and the Arab khozi, or “ Arab trees- particularly by towns. See es nut” (ib. p. 307). pecially Pl. 49 in Layard's Monuments ? Ainsworth, Researches, p. 49. of Ninereh, Second Series. 3 Ibid. p. 48. 23 The Assyrian sculptures represent 1 Pocock, Description of the East, vol. at least two, if not three, other kinds of į ii. p. 168. trees as growing in Susiana. (See the - Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. Monuments, Second Series, Pls. 45, 46, i. p. 107. and 49.) Mr. Porter, speaking of the lower 26 Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, pp. valley of the Orontes, exclaims—" What · 270, 346; Ainsworth, Researches, p. 132; a noble cotton-field would this valley Geograph. Journal, vol. ix. p. 70. make!” (Handbook, p. 619). And again 21 Ibid. vol. ix. pp. 57, 94, 96, &c. he says of the tract about the lake of 28 Strab. xv. 3, § 10. Antioch: “ The ground seems adapted CHAP. II. MINERAL PRODUCT 487 itself, and is in general request for hedging:19 The fig-mulberry (or true sycamore), another southern form, is also common, and grows to a considerable size.20 Other denizens of warm climes, unknown in Northern Syria, are the jujube, the tamarisk, the elæagnus or wild olive, the gum-styrax plant (Styrax officinalis), the egg-plant, the Egyptian papyrus, the sugar-cane, the scarlet misletoe, the solanum that produces the “Dead Sea apple” (Solanum Sodomæum), the yellow-flowered acacia, and the liquorice plant.21 Among the forms due to high elevation are the famous Lebanon cedar, several oaks and junipers,22 the maple, berberry, jessamine, ivy, butcher's broom, a rhododen- dron, and the gum-tragacanth plant.23 The fruits additional to those of the north are dates, lemons, almonds, shaddocks, and limes. 24 The chief mineral products of the Empire seem to have been bitumen, with its concomitants, naphtha and petroleum, salt, sulphur, nitre, copper, iron, perhaps silver, and several sorts of precious stones. Bitumen was furnished in great abundance by the springs at Hit or Is,25 which were celebrated in the days of Herodotus ;26 it was also procured from Ardericca 27 (Kir-Ab), and probably from Ram Ormuz,28 in Susiana, and likewise from the Dead Sea.29 Salt was obtainable from the various lakes which had no outlet, as especially from the Sabakhah,3u the Bahr-el-Melak,' the Dead Sea,” and a small lake near Tadmor 19 Porter, p. 404; Hooker, 1. $. c.; i believes that he has found a mention of Grove, in Bib. Dic. vol. ii. p. 668. bitumen from Hit as early as the reign 20 Hooker, B. D. ii. p. 684; Chesney, of Thothmes III. in Egypt. (See the vol. i. p. 512. author's Herodotus, vol. i. p. 254, note“, 21 Hooker, pp. 684-688 ; Chesney, 2nd edition.) vol. i. pp. 535–537. 27 Herod. vi. 119; Journal of the Geo- 22 As the Quercus Cerris, the Q. Ehren- | graphical Society, vol. ix. p. 94. bergii or castanæfolia, the Q. Toza, Q. 28 Geograph. Journal, 1. s. c. Libani, and Q. munnifera; the Juniperus 29 Strab. xvi. 2, § 42; Tacit. Hist. v. communis, J. fatidissima, and others. | 6; Plin. H. N. v. 16. (Hooker, p. 688.) 30 Supra, p. 466. 23 Ibid. pp. 683, 689. I Supra, p. 467. 24 Ibid. p. 684; Chesney, vol. i. pp. ! ? The ridge of Usdum at the south- 455, 480, &c. western extremity of the Dead Sea is a 25 These springs continue productive mountain of rock-salt. (Robinson, Re- to the present day. They have been ! searches, vol. ii. p. 482.) A little further well described by the late Mr. Rich. | to the north is a natural salt-pan, the (First Memoir on Babylon, pp. 63, 64.) ! Birket el Khulil, from which the Arabs 26 Herod. i. 179. Sir G. Wilkinson obtain supplies. The Jews say that the 488 CHAP. II. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. or Palmyra.3 The Dead Sea gave also most probably both sulphur and nitre, but the latter only in small quantities. Copper and iron seem to have been yielded by the hills of Palestine.5 Silver was perhaps a product of the Anti-Lebanon. It may be doubted whether any gems were really found in Babylonia itself, which, being purely alluvial, possesses no stone of any kind. Most likely the sorts known as Babylonian came from the neighbouring Susiana, whose unexplored mountains may possess many rich treasures. According to Dionysius," the bed of the Choaspes produced numerous agates, and it may well be that from the same quarter came that “beryl more precious than gold,” 8 and those “highly reputed sards,” 9 which Babylon seems to have exported to other countries. The western provinces may, however, very probably have furnished the gems which are ascribed to them, as amethysts, which are said to have been found in the neighbourhood of Petra,10 ala- baster, which came from near Damascus," and the cyanus, a kind of lapis-lazuli,12 which was a production of Phænicia.13 No doubt the Babylonian love of gems caused the provinces to be carefully searched for stones; and it is not improbable that they yielded, besides the varieties already named, and the other unknown kinds mentioned by Pliny,14 many, if not most, of the materials which we find to have been used for seals by the ancient people. These are, cornelian, rock-crystal, chalce- Dead Sea salt was anciently in much 5 Deut. viii. 9. Compare Euseb. H. E. request for the Temple service. It was / viii. 15, 17. known to Galen under the name of 6 Silver has been found in the Anti- “Sodom salt" (äres Lodounvoi, De Lebanon in modern times. (See Burck- Simpl. Med. Facult. iv. 19). Zephaniah hardt, Travels, pp. 33, 34.) (ab. B.C. 630) mentions“ saltpits' in ? Dionys. Perieg. II. 1073-1077. this neighbourhood (ii. 9). & Ibid. 11. 1011-1013. 3 Chesney, vol. i. p. 526. Salt was 9 Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 7. “ Sarda procurable also from the bitumen-pits landatissima circa Babylonem." at Hit (Ainsworth's Rescarches, p. 85) 10 Ibid. xxxvii. 9. and Ardericca (Herod. vi. 119). 11 Ibid. xxxvii. 10 ($ 54). 4 Balls of nearly pure sulphur are 12 See King, Antique Gems, p. 43. found on the shores of the Dead Sea not Some have regarded the Cyanus as the unfrequently. (Anderson, in Lynch's sapphire, Official Report, pp. 176, 180, 187, &c.) 13 Theophrastus, De Lapid. 55 (p. Nitre is found according to some travel 399, ed. Heins.). lers (Irby and Mangles, pp. 451, 453); 11 As the Bucardia (Phin. H. N. but their report is not universally xxxvii. 10, $ 55), the Mormorion (ibid. credited. (See Grove, in Smith's Biblical $ 63), and the Sagdi (8 67). Dictionary, vol. iii. p. 1183 d.) CHAP, II. WILD ANIMALS. 489 dony, onyx, jasper, quartz, serpentine, sienite, hæmatite, green felspar, pyrites, loadstone, and amazon-stone. Stone for building was absent from Babylonia Proper and the alluvial tracts of Susiana, but in the other provinces it abounded. The Euphrates valley could furnish stone at almost any point above Hit; the mountain regions of Susiana could supply it in whatever quantity might be required; and in the western provinces it was only too plentiful. Near to Baby- lonia the most common kind was limestone ; 15 but about Had- disah on the Euphrates there was also a gritty, silicious rock alternating with iron-stone,16 and in the Arabian Desert were sandstone and granite.17 Such stone as was used in Babylon itself, and in the other cities of the low country, probably either came down the Euphrates,18 or was brought by canals from the adjacent parts of Arabia. The quantity, however, thus con- sumed was small, the Babylonians being content for most uses with the brick, of which their own territory gave them a supply practically inexhaustible. The principal wild animals known to have inhabited the Em- pire in ancient times are the following:—the lion, the panther or large leopard, the hunting leopard, the bear, the hyæna, the wild ox, the buffalo (?), the wild ass, the stag, the antelope, the ibex or wild goat, the wild sheep, the wild boar, the wolf, the jackal, the fox, the hare, and the rabbit.19 Of these, the lion, leopard, bear, stag, wolf, jackal, and fox seem to have been very widely diffused,20 while the remainder were rarer, 15 Ainsworth, Researches, pp. 90, 91. 16 Id. Travels in the Track, p. 82. 17 See above, vol. i, pp. 25 and 38. 18 Xen. Anab, i, 5, $ 5. 19 Most of these animals are men- tioned in the Inscription of Asshur-izir- pal, which records the results of his hunting in Northern Syria and the adjacent part of Mesopotamia. (See above, p. 90.) Those not found in that list are mentioned in Scripture among the animals of Palestine. 20 Lions are represented in early Babylonian reliefs (Loftus, p. 258). They are found at the present day in Susiana (Loftus, p. 332), in Babylonia (ib. p. 264), on the middle Euphrates and Khabour (Layard, Ninereh and its Remains, vol. ii. P. 48; Nin. and Bab. p. 295); and in Upper Syria (Chesney, vol. i. p. 442). Anciently they were common in l'alestine (Judg. xiv. 5 1 K. xiii. 24; xx. 36; 2 K. xvii. 25; &c.). Bears were likewise common in Palestine (1 Sam. xvii. 34 ; 2 K. ii. 24; &c.). They are still found in Hermon (Porter, p. 453), and in all the wooded parts of Syria and Mesopotamia (Ains- worth, in Chesney's Euphr. Exp. vol. i. p. 728). The other animals mentioned are still diffused through the whole | region. 470 CHAP. II. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. and, generally speaking, confined to certain localities. The wild ass was met with only in the dry parts of Mesopotamia and perhaps of Syria, the buffalo and wild boar only in moist regions, along the banks of rivers or among marshes. The wild ox was altogether scarce ;3 the wild sheep, the rabbit, and the hare 4 were probably not common. To this list may be added as present denizens of the region, and therefore probably belonging to it in ancient times, the lynx, the wild cat, the ratel, the sable, the genet, the badger, the otter, the beaver, the polecat, the jerboa, the rat, the mouse, the marmot, the porcupine, the squirrel,5 and perhaps the alligator. Of these the commonest at the present day are porcupines, badgers, otters, rats, mice, and jerboas. The ratel, sable, and genet belong only to the north ;7 the beaver is found nowhere but in the Khabour and middle Euphrates;8 1 Xen. Anab. i. 5, $ 2. The frequent | vol. i. p. 40), parts of Mesopotamia mention of the wild ass by the Hebrew | (Chesney, vol. i. p. 728), Syria (ibid. p. poets (Job vi. 5; xxiv. 5; xxxix. 5; Is. 533), and Palestine (Lynch, Narratice, xxxii. 14; Jerem. ii, 24; Hos, viii. 9 ; p. 218). &c.) seems to imply that the animal 3 See above, vol. i. p. 513; vol. ii. p. 211. came under their observation. This • The hare is sometimes represented would only be if it frequented the upon Babylonian cylinders. We see it Syrian desert. either lying down, or carried in the * ? As in Susiana (Ainsworth, Re hand by the two hind legs, much as we searches, pp. 86, 137), Babylonia (supra, 1 carry hares now-a-days. Hare sitting, from a Babylonian Hare carried in the hands, from cylinder. a Babylonian cylinder. 5 This list is given on the authority which lived in the Euphrates. (Chesney, of Mr. Ainsworth (Researches, pp. 37 vol. i. p. 589; Ainsworth’s Researches, 42), with the two exceptions of the p. 46.) But they failed to procure a wild-cat and the badger. These are specimen. added on the authority of Sir H. Raw- ! Ainsworth, in Chesney's Euphr. linson. E.cp. vol. i. p. 728. 6 The officers of Colonel Chesney's | Chesney, vol. i. p. 442; Layard's expedition are said to have seen several ! Nin, and Bub. p. 296. times some kind of crocodile or alligator CHAP. II. . BIRDS. 491 the alligator, if a denizen of the region at all, exists only in the Euphrates. The chief birds of the region are eagles, vultures, falcons, owls, hawks, many kinds of crows, magpies, jackdaws, thrushes, blackbirds, nightingales, larks, sparrows, goldfinches, swallows, doves of fourteen kinds, francolins, rock partridges, gray par- tridges, black partridges, quails, pheasants, capercailzies, bus- tards, flamingoes, pelicans, cormorants, storks, herons, cranes, wild-geese, ducks, teal, kingfishers, snipes, woodcooks, the sand- grouse, the hoopoe, the green parrot, the becafico, the locust- bird, the humming-bird (?), and the bee-eater. The eagle, pheasant, capercailzie, quail, parrot, locust-bird, becafico, and humming-bird are rare; 10 the remainder are all tolerably com- mon. Besides these, we know that in ancient times ostriches were found within the limits of the Empire, though now they have retreated further south into the Great Desert of Arabia. Perhaps bitterns may also formerly have frequented some of the countries belonging to it,12 though they are not mentioned among the birds of the region by modern writers.13 There is a bird of the heron species, or rather of a species between the heron and the stork, which seems to deserve a few words of special description. It is found chiefly in Northern 9 See Mr. Ainsworth's account of the occasional visitant of the Belka, the Mesopotamian birds in his Researches, rolling, pastoral country immediately pp. 42-45; and com pa re the list in Col. east of the Dead Sea (see his Report on Chesney's work, Appendix to vol. i. pp. the Birds of Palestine, published in the 730, 731. Proceedings of the London Zoological 10 The capercailzie or cock of the Society, Nov. 8, 1864). wood, and two kinds of pheasants, fre 12 Mr. Houghton believes the bittern quent the woods of northern Syria, to be intended by the kippôd of Scrip- where the green parrot is also found occa ture, which is mentioned in connection sionally (Chesney, vol. i. pp. 443 and 731). with both Babylon (Is. xxxiv. 11) and Eagles are seen on Hermon (Porter, p. Nineveh (Zeph. ii. 14). See Smith's 453), Lebanon, and in Upper Syria (Ches Biblical Dictionary, vol. iii. Appendix, ney, vol. i. p. 731); locust-birds in Upper p. xxxi. Syria (ib. p. 443) and Palestine (Robin 13 The bittern was not observed by son, vol. iii. p. 252); the beca fico is Col. Chesney or Mr. Ainsworth. Nor only a bird of passage (Chesney, vol.i. p. is it noticed by either Mr. Loftus or 731); the humming-bird is said to have Mr. Layard. Col. H. Smith says he was been seen by Commander Lynch at the “informed that it had been seen on the southern end of the Dead Sea (Narrative, ruins of Ctesiphon” (Kitto, Biblical p. 209); but this fact requires confirma Cyclopædia, ad voc. kippôd); but I find tion. no other mention of it as a habitant of 1 Xen. Anab. i. 5, § 2. According these countries. to Mr. Tristram, the ostrich is still an! 492 CHAP. II. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. Syria, in the plain of Aleppo and the districts watered by the Koweik and Sajur rivers. The Arabs call it Tair-el-Raouf, or “the magnificent.” This bird is of a grayish-white, the breast white, the joints of the wings tipped with scarlet, and the under part of the beak scarlet, the upper part being of a blackish- gray. The beak is nearly five inches long, and two-thirds of an inch thick. The circumference of the eye is red; the feet are of a deep yellow; and the bird in its general form strongly resembles the stork; but its colour is darker. It is four feet high, and covers a breadth of nine feet when the wings are spread. The birds of this species are wont to collect in large flocks on the North Syrian rivers, and to arrange themselves in several rows across the streams where they are shallowest. Here they squat side by side, as close to one another as pos- sible, and spread out their tails against the current, thus forming a temporary dam. The water drains off below them, and when it has reached its lowest point, at a signal from one of their number who from the bank watches the proceedings, they rise and swoop upon the fish, frogs, &c., which the lowering of the water bas exposed to view.14 Fish are abundant in the Chaldæan marshes, and in almost all the fresh - water lakes and rivers. The Tigris and Euphrates yield chiefly barbel and carp ; 15 but the former stream has to w also eels, trout, chub, Babylonian fish, from the Sculptures. shad-fish, siluruses, and many kinds which have no English names.26 The Koweik contains the Aleppo eel (Ophidium masbacambalus), a very rare variety ; 17 and in other streams of Northern Syria are found lampreys, bream, dace, and the black-fish (Macropteronotus niger), besides carp, trout, chub, and barbel.18 Chub, bream, and the 14 See Mr. Vincent Germain's descrip- ! 16 See Mr. Ainsworth's list in Col. tion in Col. Chesney's work, vol. i. pp. ' Chesney's work, vol. i. p. 739. 731, 732. i 17 Ainsworth, Researches, p. 45. 15 Chesney, vol. i. p. 108. 18 Chesney, vol. i. p. 414, CHAP. II. REPTILI REPTILES - DOMESTIC ANIMALS. DOMESTIC NIMALS 493 ime to the e nd silurus are taken in the Sea of Galilee.19 The black-fish is ex- tremely abundant in the Bahr-el-Taka and the Lake of Antioch.20 Among reptiles may be noticed, besides snakes, lizards, and frogs, which are numerous, the following less common species- iguanoes, tortoises of two kinds, chameleons, and monitors.21 Bats also were common in Babylonia Proper,22 where they grew to a great size. Of insects the most remarkable are scorpions, tarantulas, and locusts.23 These last come suddenly in countless myriads with the wind, and, settling on the crops, rapidly destroy all the hopes of the husbandman, after which they strip the shrubs and trees of their leaves, reducing rich districts in an incredibly short space of time to the condition of howling wildernesses. If it were not for the locust-bird, which is con- mon. Locusts, from a cylinder. stantly keeping down their numbers, these destructive insects would probably increase so as to ruin utterly the various regions exposed to their ravages. The domestic animals employed in the countries which com- posed the Empire were camels, horses, mules, asses, buffaloes, cows and oxen, goats, sheep, and dogs. Mules as well as horses seem to have been anciently used in war by the people of the more southern regions—by the Susianians at any rate, 24 if not also by the Baby- lonians. Sometimes they were rid- den; sometimes they were em- ployed to draw carts or chariots. Susianian mule (Koyunjik). They were spirited and active ani- mals, evidently of a fine breed, such as that for which Khuzistan 19 Robinson, Researches, vol. iii. p. 261. Commander Lynch speaks of five kinds of fish-all good-as produced by this lake (Narrative, p. 96); but he can only give their Arabic names. 20 Chesney, vol. i. pp. 395 and 397. 21 Ainsworth, Rescurches, p. 46, 22 Strab. xvi, 1, $ 7. 23 Chesney, vol. i. p. 444. 24 See the sculptures of Asshur-bani- pal, which represent his campaigns in Susiana, especially those rendered by Mr. Layard in his Monuments, Second Series, Pls. 45 and 46. 494 CHAP. II. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. is famous at the present day.25 The asses from which these mules were produced must also have been of superior quality, like the breed for which Baghdad is even now famous.26 The Babylonian horses are not likely to bave been nearly so good; for this animal does not flourish in a climate which is at once moist and hot. Still, at any rate under the Persians, Babylonia seems to have been a great breeding-place for horses, since the Susianian horses (Koyunjik). • stud of a single satrap consisted of 800 stallions and 16,000 mares. If we may judge of the character of Babylonian from that of Susianian steeds, we may consider the breed to have been strong and large limbed, but not very handsome, the head being too large and the legs too short for beauty. The Babylonians were also from very early times famous for their breed of dogs. The tablet engraved in a former volume,” which gives a representation of a Babylonian hound, is probably of a high antiquity, not later than the period of the Empire. Dogs are also not unfrequently represented on ancient Babylonian stones and cylinders. It would seem that, as in 25 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 449, note. 26 Ibid. p. 472. 1 Herod. i. 192. Compare the 300 stallions and 30,000 mares, which Se- leucus Nicator kept in the Orontes valley, near Apamea. (Strab. xvi. 2, $ 10.) 2 See vol. i. p. 235. 3 Cullimore, Cylinders, No. 63; La- jard, Culte de Mithra, Pls. xviii, 8; xxxvii, 2 ; xxxviii. 1; &c. CHAP. II. BEASTS OF BURDEN. 495 Assyria, there were two principal breeds, one somewhat clumsy and heavy, of a character not unlike that of our mastiff, the other of a much lighter make, nearly resembling our greyhound. The former kind is probably the breed known as Indian,4 which was kept up by continual importations from the country whence it was originally derived.5 Babylonian dog, We have no evidence that camels were em. from a ployed in the time of the Empire, either by the Babylonians themselves or by their neighbours, the Susianians; but in Upper Mesopotamia, in Syria, and in Palestine they had been in use from a very early date. The Amalekites and the Midianites found them serviceable in war; & and the latter people employed them also as beasts of burden in their caravan trade. The Syrians of Upper Mesopotamia rode upon them in their jour- neys. It appears that they were also sometimes yoked to chariots, though from their size and clumsiness they would be but ill fitted for beasts of draught. Buffaloes were, it is probable, domesticated by the Babylo- nians at an early date. The animal seems to have been indi- Oxen, from Babylonian Cylinders. genous in the country, 10 and it is far better suited for the marshy regions of Lower Babylonia and Susiana 11 than cattle of the ordinary kind. It is perhaps a buffalo which is repre- * Herod. 1. 8. c. $ Ctesias, Indica, $ 5. 6 Judg. vii, 12; 1 Sam, xxx, 17. ? Gen. xxxvii. 25. & Ibid. xxiv. 61 ; xxxi, 17. Isaiah xxi. 7. 10 Among the beasts hunted by the Assyrian kings are thought to be wild buffaloes. (Supra, p. 91.) 11 On the buffaloes of these districts see Loftus, Chaldæu and Susiana, pp. 94, 392; Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 566; Ainsworth, Researches, p. 137. 496 CAAP. II. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. sented on an ancient tablet already referred to,12 where a lion is disturbed in the middle of his feast off a prostrate animal by a man armed with a hatchet. Cows and oxen, however, of the common kind are occasionally represented on the cylinders, 13 where they seem sometimes to represent animals about to be offered to the gods. Goats also appear frequently in this capacity ; 14 and they were probably more common than sheep, at any rate in the more southern districts. Of Babylonian sheep we have no representations at all on the monuments; but it is scarcely likely that a country which used wool so largely 15 was content to be without them. At any rate they abounded in the provinces, forming the chief wealth of the more northern nations.16 12 Supra, p. 489, note 20. The tablet ! &c.; Lajard, Pls. xxxvi. 13; xxxvii. 1; is figured by Mr. Loftus, p. 258. xxxviii. 3; &c. · 13 Cullimore, Cylinders, Nos. 36, 91, 1 15 See below, p. 570. 92, 138; Lajard, Culte de Mithra, Pls. 16 See the Assyrian Inscriptions, pis. xiii, 7; xvi. 1; xviii. 5 ; &c. sim. Compare Gen. xxix. 3; Job. i. 3; 14 Cullimore, Nos. 26, 29, 49, 52, xlii. 12. Char. III. THE BABYLONIANS. 497 · CHAPTER III. . THE PEOPLE. “The Chaldæans, that bitter and hasty nation."—Habak. i. 6. The Babylonians, who, under Nabopolassar and Nebuchad- nezzar, held the second place among the nations of the East, were emphatically a mixed race. The ancient people, from whom they were in the main descended—the Chaldæans of the First Empire-possessed this character to a considerable extent, since they united Cushite with Turanian Blood, and contained moreover a slight Semitic and probably a slight Arian element. But the Babylonians of later times — the Chaldæans of the Hebrew prophets ? — must have been very much more a mixed race than their earlier namesakes—partly in consequence of the policy of colonisation pursued systema- tically by the later Assyrian kings, partly from the direct influ- ence exerted upon them by conquerors. Whatever may have been the case with the Arab dynasty, which bore sway in the country from about B.c. 1546 till B.C. 1300, it is certain that the Assyrians conquered Babylon about B.c. 1300, and almost certain that they established, an Assyrian family upon the throne of Nimrod, which held for some considerable time the actual sovereignty of the country. It was natural that under a dynasty of Semites, Semitic blood should flowly freely into the lower region, Semitic usages and modes of thought become prevalent, and the spoken language of the country pass from a Turanian or Turano-Cushite to a Semitic type. The previous Chaldæan race blended, apparently, with the new comers, and See above, vol. i. pp. 44, 45. ! When the term is used, it designates the ? The prophets very rarely use the people of the capital: the inhabitants word “Babylonian," I believe it is of the land generally are “Chaldæans." only found in Ezek. xxiii, 15 and 17.) 3 See above, pp. 58, 59. VOL. II. 2 K CHAP, III. THEIR PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 499 We possess but few notices, and fewer assured representa- tions, from which to form an opinion of the physical charac- teristics of the Babylonians. Except upon the cylinders, there are extant only three or four representations of the human form 8 by Babylonian artists, and in the few cases where this form occurs, we cannot always feel at all certain that the inten- tion is to portray a human being. A few Assyrian bas-reliefs probably represent campaigns in Babylonia ; ' but the Assyrians vary their human type so little, that these sculptures must not be regarded as conveying to us very exact information. The cylinders are too rudely executed to be of much service, and they seem to preserve an archaic type which originated with the Proto-Chaldæans. If we might trust the figures upon them as at all nearly representing the truth, we should have to regard the Babylonians as of much slighter and sparer frames than their northern neighbours, of a physique in fact approaching to meagreness. The Assyrian sculptures, however, are far from bearing out this idea; from them it would seem that the frames of the Babylonians were as brawny and massive as those of the Assyrians themselves, while in feature there was not much difference between the nations. Foreheads straight but not high, noses well formed but some- what depressed, full lips, and a well-marked rounded chin con- stitute the physiognomy of the Babylonians as it appears upon the sculptures of their neigh- bours. This representation is not contradicted by the few speci- Babylonian men, from the Assyrian sculptures. mens of actual sculpture left by themselves. In these the type approaches nearly to the ADALO 29 & The most important work of this | vol. iii., which, however, is perhaps kind is the representation of a Baby- rather Cushite than Semitic; 2, the lonian king (probably Merodach-adan- man accompanying the Babylonian akhi) on a black stone in the Britishhound (Layard, Nin. and Bab p. 527); Museum, which will be found engraved and 3, the imperfect figures on the frieze at p. 560. Other instances are—1, the represented below, p. 552. warrior and the priest in the tablet Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, from Sir-Pal-i-Zonab, given at p. 7 of Second Series, Pls. 25, 27, and 28, 2 K 2 500 CHAP. III. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. More Ba Assyrian, while there is still such an amount of difference as renders it tolerably easy to distinguish between the productions of the two nations. The eye is larger and not so decidedly almond-shaped; the nose is shorter, and its depression is still more marked; while the general expression of the countenance is altogether more commonplace, These differences may be probably referred to the influence which was exercised upon the physical form of the race by the primi- tive or Proto-Chaldæan element, an influence which appears to have been considerable. This element, as has been already observed, woman, was predominantly Cushite; and there is from the same. reason to believe that the Cushite race was connected not very remotely with the negro. In Susiana, where the Cushite blood was maintained in tolerably purity-Ely- mæans and Kissians exist- ing side by side, instead of blending together 11 — there was, if we may trust the Assyrian remains, a very decided prevalency of a negro type of counte- nance, as the accompany- ing specimens, carefully copied from the sculptures, Susianians (Koyunjik). will render evident. The head was covered with short crisp curls; the eye was large, the nose and mouth nearly in the same line, the lips thick. Such a physiognomy as the Babylonian appears to have been would naturally arise from an intermixture of a race like the Assyrian with one resembling V 10 Supra, p. 497. That the Elymæans were Semitic seems 11 For the separate existence in Su to follow from Gen. x. 22. In the word siana of Elymæans and Kissians, see “Kissian " we have probably a modifi. Strab. xvi. i, § 17, and Ptolemy, vi, 3. i cation of " Cushite." 502 Chap. III. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. quently, hond hairless. resented by the Besides their flowing hair, the Babylonians are represented frequently with a large beard. This is generally longer than the Assyrian, descending nearly to the waist. Sometimes it curls crisply upon the face, but below the chin depends over the breast in long, straight locks. At other times it droops perpendicularly from the cheek and the under lip. Fre- quently, however, the beard is shaven off, and the whole face is smooth and hairless." The Chaldæan females, as represented by the Assyrians, are tall and large-limbed. Their physiognomy is Assyrian, their hair not very abundant. The Babylonian cylinders, on the other hand, make the hair long and conspicuous, while the forms are quite as spare and meagre as those of the men. On the whole, it is most probable that the physical type of the later Babylonians was nearly that of their northern neigh- bours. A somewhat sparer form, longer and more flowing hair, and features less stern and streng may perhaps have charac- terized them. They were also, it is probable, of a darker com- plexion than the Assyrians, being to some extent Ethiopians by descent, and inhabiting a region which lies four degrees nearer to the tropics than Assyria. The Cha'ab Arals, the present possessors of the more southern parts of Babylonia, are nearly black ;3 and the “ black Syrians,” of whom Strabo speaks, seem intended to represent the Babylonians. Among the moral and mental characteristics of the people, the first place is due to their intellectual ability. Inheriting a legacy of scientific knowledge, astronomical and arithmetical, from the Proto-Chaldæans, they seem to have not only main- tained but considerably advanced these sciences by their own liar character to the Babylonian hair, i always beardless. We cannot suppose do not make it descend below the them to have been always, if indeed shoulders. They generally represent it | they were ever, eunuchs. Nanarus, a as worn smooth on the top of the head, Babylonian prince, is said by Nicolas of and depending from the ears to the Damascus to have been “right well shoulders in a number of large, smooth, shaven” (Kate&vpnuévov Eů nána, Fr. 10. heavy curls. (See the woodcut, p. 499.) 1 p. 360). 15 Here again the Assyrian artists · Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, tone down the Babylonian peculiarity, | Second Series, Pls. 25, 27, and 28. generally representing the beard as not 3 Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, p. 285. much longer than their own. * Strab. xvi. 1, $ 2. | The priests upon the cylinders are 5 See above, vol. i. pp. 100-104, CHAP. III. THEIR LEARNING. 503. efforts. Their “ wisdom and learning” are celebrated by the Jewish prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel ; 6 the Father of History records their valuable inventions ;' and an Aristotle was not ashamed to be beholden to them for scientific data. They were good observers of astronomical phenomena, careful recorders of such observations, and mathematicians of no small repute.10 Unfortunately they mixed with their really scientific studies those occult pursuits which, in ages and countries where the limits of true science are not known, are always apt to seduce students from the right path, having attractions against which few men are proof, so long as it is believed that they can really accomplish the end that they propose to themselves. The Babylonians were astrologers no less than astronomers; 11 they professed to cast nativities, to expound dreams, and to foretell events by means of the stars; and though there were always a certain number who kept within the legitimate bounds of science and repudiated the astrological pretentions of their brethren,12 yet on the whole it must be allowed that their astronomy was fatally tinged with a mystic and unscientific element. In close connection with the intellectual ability of the Baby- lonians, was the spirit of enterprise which led them to engage in traffic and to adventure themselves upon the ocean in ships. In a future chapter we shall have to consider the extent and probable direction of this commerce. 13 It is sufficient to observe in the present place that the same turn of mind which made the Phænicians anciently the great carriers between the East and 6 See Isaiah xlvii. 10: “Thy wisdom , p. 101, note ? and thy knowledge, it hath perverted Plin. II. N. vii. 56; Diod. Sic. ii. thee." Jerem. I. 35: “A sword is upon | 30, $ 2. the Chaldæans, saith the Lord, and I 10 Strab. xvi. 1, $ 6. upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and 1 Isaiah xlvii. 13; Dan. ii. 2; Diod. upon her princes, and upon her rise ! Sic. ii. 29, $ 2; Strab. I. s. c.; Vitruv. men." Dan. i. 4: “ The learning of the , ix. 4; &c. Chaldæans.” 12 Strabo (1. s. c.), after speaking of i Herod. ii. 109. It is uncertain, the Chaldæan astronomers, says-por- however, if the Semitized Babylonians, 1 ποιούνται δέ τινες και γενεθλια- or the early Chaldæans, are the people λογείν, ους ού καταδέχονται οι intended by Herodotus. Tepoh. But, in reality, astrology was * See the famous passage of Simplicius | the rule, pure astronomy the rare ex. (ad Arist. De Calo, ii. p. 123) quoted at į ception. length in the first volume of this work, i 13 Infra, ch. vi. 504 CHAP. III THE FOURTH MONARCHY, West, and which in modern times has rendered the Jews so successful in various branches of trade, seems to have charac- terized the Semitized Babylonians, whose land was empha- tically “ a land of traffic,” and their chief city “a city of merchants.” 14 The trading spirit which was thus strongly developed in the Babylonian people, led naturally to the two somewhat opposite vices of avarice and over-luxuriousness. Not content with honourable gains, the Babylonians “coveted an evil covetous- ness," as we learn both from Habakkuk and Jeremiah. The “shameful custom” mentioned by Herodotus, 16 which required as a religious duty that every Babylonian woman, rich or poor, highborn or humble, should once in her life prostitute herself in the temple of Beltis, was probably based on the desire of attracting strangers to the capital, who would either bring with them valuable commodities or purchase the productions of the country. The public auction of marriageable virgins 17 had most likely a similar intention. If we may believe Curtius,'strangers might at any time purchase the gratification of any passion they might feel, from the avarice of parents or husbands. · The luxury of the Babylonians is a constant theme with both sacred and profane writers. The “daughter of the Chaldæans" was“ tender and delicate,”19“ given to pleasures," 20 apt to “dwell carelessly."21Her young men made themselves “as princes to look at-exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads "22— paint- ing their faces, wearing earrings, and clothing themselves in robes of soft and rich material.2 Extensive polygamy pre- vailed.24 The pleasures of the table were carried to excess. Drunkenness was common. Rich unguents were invented.25 14 Ezek. xvii. 4. Compare Isaiah | tiuntur." 19 Isaiah xlvii, I. xliii. 14. 20 Ibid. ver. 8. ?! Ibid. 15 Habak, ii. 9; Jerem. li. 13. 22 Ezek. xxiii, 15. 16 Herod, i, 199. See on this custom 23 Nic. Dam. Fr. 10. the remarks of Heeren, (Asiutic Na 24 Dan, y, 2; Nic. Dam. Fr. 10, p. tions, vol. ii, p. 199, E.T.) 362. 17 Herod, i. 196; Nic. Dam. Fr. 131. 25 Q. Curt. I. s.c. “ Babylonii maxime 18 Q. Curt. Hist. Alex, v. 1 (p. 112, ed. in vinum, et quæ ebrietatem sequuntur, Tauchn.): “Liberos conjugesque cum effusi sunt.” Compare Xen, Cyrop. vii. hospitibus stupro coire, modo pretium 5, § 15; and Habak. ii. 5, 16. flagitii detur, parentes maritique pa 26 The Babylonian unguents were CHAP. III. THEIR VALOUR. 505 The tables groaned under the weight of gold and silver plate. 27 In every possible way the Babylonians practised luxuriousness of living, and in respect of softness and self-indulgence they certainly did not fall short of any nation of antiquity. There was, however, a harder and sterner side to the Baby- lonian character. Despite their love of luxury, they were at all times brave and skilful in war; and, during the period of their greatest strength, they were one of the most formidable of all the nations of the East. Habakkuk describes them, drawing evidently from the life, as “bitter and hasty," and again as “ terrible and dreadful—their horses' hoofs swifter than the leopard's, and more fierce than the evening wolves.”28 Hence they “smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke” 29 — they “made the earth to tremble, and did shake kingdoms " 30 — they carried all before them in their great enterprises, seldom allowing themselves to be foiled by resistance, or turned from their course by pity. Exercised for centuries in long and fierce wars with the well-armed and well-disciplined Assyrians, they were no sooner quit of this enemy and able to take an aggres- sive attitude, than they showed themselves no unworthy succes- sors of that long-dominant nation, so far as energy, valour, and military skill constitute desert. They carried their victorious arms from the shores of the Persian Gulf to the banks of the Nile; wherever they went, they rapidly established their power, crushing all resistance, and fully meriting the remarkable title, which they seem to have received from some of those who had felt their attacks, of “the hammer of the whole earth.”! The military successes of the Babylonians were accompanied with needless violence, and with outrages not unusual in the East, which the historian must nevertheless regard as at once crimes and follies. The transplantation of conquered races—a part of the policy of Assyria which the Chaldæans adopted- may perhaps have been morally defensible, notwithstanding the celebrated by Posidonius (Fr. 30). Com- | pare Herod. i. 195: Meuupionevoi râv to owua. 27 Nic. Dam. Fr. 10, p. 363. 28 Habbakuk, i. 6-8. 29 Isaiah xiv, 6. 30 Ibid. ver. 16. i Jerem. 1. 23. Compare the “Mar- tel” given as a title to Charles the conqueror of the Saracens. 508 Chap. III. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. indicative of religious feeling, and implying real faith in the power of the gods to protect their votaries. The people gene- rally affected similar names-names containing, in almost every case, a god's name as one of their elements.20 The seals or signets which formed almost a necessary part of each man's costume, 21 were, except in rare instances, of a religious cha- racter. Even in banquets, where we might have expected that thoughts of religion would be laid aside, it seems to have been the practice during the drinking to rehearse the praises of the deities.22 We are told by Nicolas of Damascus that the Babylonians cultivated two virtues especially, honesty and calmness.23 Honesty is the natural—almost the necessary—virtue of traders, who soon find that it is the best policy to be fair and just in their dealings. We may well believe that this intelligent people had the wisdom to see their true interests, and to under- stand that trade can never prosper unless conducted with integrity and straightforwardness. The very fact that their trade did prosper, that their goods were everywhere in re- quest,24 is sufficient proof of their commercial honesty, and of their superiority to those tricks which speedily ruin a com- merce. Calmness is not a common Oriental virtue. It is not even in general very highly appreciated, being apt to strike the lively, sensitive, and passionate Eastern as mere dulness and apathy. In China, however, it is a point of honour that the outward demeanour should be calm and placid under any amount of provocation; and indignation, fierceness, even haste are regarded as signs of incomplete civilisation, which the disciples of Con- fucius love to note in their would-be rivals of the West. We 19 As Nabu-kuduri-izzir, which means 22 Dan. v. 4: “They drank wine, and “ Nebo is the protector of landmarks;" praised the gods of gold, and of silver, Bel-shar-izzir, which is “Bel protects of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. the king," and Evil-Merodach (Ilu 23 Fr. 131. 'Aokovo: dè udalota ev- Merodach), which may be “Merodach | Búrnya kal åopynolar, Nicolas speaks is a god." of " Assyrians;'' but the context makes 20 As Belibus, Belesis, Nergal-shar it clear that he means "Assyrians of ezer, Shamgar-nebo, Nebu-zar-adan, Babylon." Nabonidus, &c. &c. 24 See below, ch. v. p. 570. 21 Herod, i. 195. CAAP. III. THEIR CALMNESS. 509 may conceive that some similar notion was entertained by the proud Babylonians, who no doubt regarded themselves as infi- nitely superior in manners and culture, no less than in scientific attainments, to the “ barbarians” of Persia and Greece. While rage boiled in their hearts, and commands to torture and destroy fell from their tongues, etiquette may have required that the countenance should be unmoved, the eye serene, the voice low and gentle. Such contrasts are not uncommonly seen in the polite Mandarin, whose apparent calmness drives bis European antagonist to despair; and it may well be that the Babylonians of the sixth and seventh centuries before our era had attained to an equal power of restraining the expression of feeling. But real gentleness, meekness, and placability were certainly not the attributes of a people who were so fierce in their wars and so cruel in their punishments. Chap. IV. BABYLON 511 clear and definite notion. One explorer 6 only has come away from the country with an idea that the general position of the detached mounds, by which the plain around Hillah is dotted, enables him to draw the lines of the ancient walls, and mark out the exact position of the city. But the very maps and plans which are put forward in support of this view show that it rests mainly on hypothesis ;? nor is complete confidence placed in the surveys on which the maps and plans have been constructed. The English surveys, which have been unfortu- nately lost,s are said not to have placed the detached mounds in any such decided lines as M. Oppert believes them to occupy, and the general impression of the British officers who were employed on the service is that “no vestige of the walls of Babylon has been as yet discovered.” For the size and plan of the city we are thus of necessity thrown back upon the reports of ancient authors. It is not pretended that such reports are in this, or in any other case, deserving of implicit credence. The ancient historians, even the more trustworthy of them, are in the habit of exaggerating in their numbers; 10 and, on such subjects as measurements, they were apt to take on trust the declarations of their native guides, who would be sure to make over-statements. Still, in this instance we have so many distinct authorities-eye-witnesses of the facts—and some of them belonging to times when scientific accuracy had begun to be appreciated, that we must be very incredulous if we do not accept their witness, so far as it is consentient and not intrinsically very improbable. According to Herodotus," an eye-witness,12 and the earliest 6 M. Oppert. See his Ecpédition scientifique en Mésopotamie, tom, i. ch. viii. pp. 220-234. ? This is particularly observable with respect to the French suvant's “outer wall,” which has really no foundation at all in the topography of the country. 8 A survey of the principal ruins was made and has been published by Captain Selby; but the more elaborate plans of i Captain Jones, which included all the neighbouring country, have been mislaid, and are not at present available, 9 Selby, Memoir, p. 3. 10 On the numerical exaggerations of Herodotus, see the author's Essay pre- fixed to his Herodotus, vol. i. pp. 82, 83, note 4, 2nd edition. 11 Herod. i. 178. 12 I think no discerning reader can peruse the account of Babylon and the adjacent region given by Herodotus (i. 178-195), without feeling that the writer means to represent himself as having 5.12 CHAP. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. authority on the subject, the enceinte of Babylon was a square, 120 stades (about 14 miles) each way—the entire circuit of the walls being thus 56 miles and the area enclosed within them MO R.EUPHRATES TEL-EL-KURAINER EL.KHIOR NIL CANAL LZARIYEN ABOU-SEZZOUN ELOUL QOUTAN TEL.CHEITHEH ZIYARETALIUEN. HASSAN TEL.CHAZALEM HINDI YEH CA L.WARDIYEH TEL SAID EH CANAL TEL.EL.MAUT TEL SAIN HILLA TEL-EL.CHAZAIL TEL-M REHISSEN TAHMASIA CHERIFEN DOLAB ELOH ARXEH o 360 STADES BIRS.NIMRUD 25 EUPHRATES EL-MAHDI ABO STADES TEL-FIDOS MUKHATTAT HINDIYEH CANAL 0 EL-HADEBAH DURAIR Chart of the country round Babylon, with the limits of the ancient city, according to Oppert. falling little short of 200 square miles. Ctesias,13 also an eye- witness, and the next writer on the subject, reduced the circuit seen the city and country. Thus the which no modern critic has impugned. question of whether he was an eye-wit- 13 Ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 7, $ 3. ness or not depends on his veracity, | 514 514 THE FOURTH MONARCHY, CHAP, IV. are said to have had vaulted roofs, wbich were not protected externally with any tiling, since the climate was so dry as to render such a protection unnecessary.21 The beams used in the houses were of palm-wood, all other timber being scarce in the country; and such pillars as the houses could boast were of the same material. The construction of these last was very rude. Around posts of palm-wood were twisted wisps of rushes, which were covered with plaster, and then coloured according to the taste of the owner. The Euphrates ran through the town, dividing it nearly in half.? Its banks were lined throughout with quays of brick laid in bitumen, and were further guarded by two walls of brick, which skirted them along their whole length. In each of these walls were twenty-five gates, corresponding to the number of the streets which gave upon the river; and outside each gate was a sloped landing-place, by which you could descend to the water's edge, if you had occasion to cross the river.3 Boats were kept ready at these landing-places to convey passengers from side to side; while for those who disliked this method of conveyance a bridge was provided of a somewhat peculiar construction. A number of stone piers were erected in the bed of the stream, firmly clamped together with fasten- ings of iron and lead ; wooden drawbridges connected pier with pier during the day, and on these passengers passed over; but at night they were withdrawn, in order that the bridge might not be used during the dark. Diodorus declares that besides this bridge, to which he assigns a length of five stades (about 1000 yards) and a breadth of 30 feet, the two sides of the river were joined together by a tunnel, which was fifteen feet wide and twelve high to the spring of its arched roof. The most remarkable buildings which the city contained were the two palaces, one on either side of the river, and the great temple of Belus. Herodotus describes the great temple 21 Strab. xvi. 1, $ 5. 3 Ibid. 180. Ibid. 186. | Strab. I. s. c. nepl tous Otúnous Diod. Sic. ii. 8, § 2. 6 Jbid. 9, $2. orpédovTES &K Tñs Karáuns o xovía Tepee · Herod, i. 181.' . Compare Strab. xvi. TIDécouvelt' &tare Portes' Xpouası ka- | 1, $ 5, where the temple is called “the taypápovo 1, K.T.A. ? Herod. i. 185. ' tomb of Belus." CHAP. IV. GREAT TEMPLE OF BELUS, 515 as contained within a square enclosure, two stades (nearly a quarter of a mile) both in length and breadth. Its chiet feature was the ziggurat or tower, a huge solid mass of brickwork, built (like all Babylonian temple-towers) in stages, square being emplaced on square, and a sort of rude pyramid being thus formed, at the top of which was the main shrine of the god. The basement platform of the Belus tower was, Herodotus tells us, a stade, or rather more than 200 yards, each way. The number of stages was eight. The ascent to the highest stage, which contained the shrine of the god, was on the outside, and consisted either of steps, or of an inclined plane, carried round the four sides of the building, and in this way conducting to the top. According to Strabo the tower was a stade (666 feet 9 inches) in height; but this estimate, if it is anything more than a conjecture, must represent rather the length of the winding ascent than the real altitude of the building. The great pyramid itself was only 480 feet high; and it is very questionable whether any Babylonian building ever equalled it. About halfway up the ascent was a resting-place with seats, where persons commonly sat a while on their way to the summit.' The shrine which crowned the edifice was large and rich. In the time of Herodotus it contained no image; but only a golden table and a large couch, covered with a handsome drapery. This, however, was after the Persian conquest and the plunder of its principal treasures. Previously, if we may believe Diodorus,º the shrine was occupied by three colossal images of gold-one of Bel, one of Beltis, and a third of Rhea or Ishtar. Before the image of Beltis were two golden lions, and near them two enormous serpents of silver, each thirty talents in weight. The golden table—forty feet long and fifteen broad—was in front of these statues; and upon it stood two huge drinking-cups, of the same weight as the serpents. The shrine also contained two enormous censers, and three golden bowls, one for each of the three deities. '1 8 *Hv dè arupauis tempéywvos de óttas | univdov. (Strab. 1. s. c.) 9 Herod. I. 8. c. 10 Diod. Sic. ii. 9, $ 5. 11 Ibid. $$ 6.5. 2 1 2 516 Chap. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. At the base of the tower was a second shrine or chapel, which in the time of Herodotus contained a sitting image of Bel, made of gold, with a golden table in front of it, and a stand for the image, of the same precious metal. Here too Persian avarice had been busy; for anciently this shrine had possessed a second statute, which was a human figure twelve cubits high, made of solid gold.13 The shrine was also rich in private offerings. Outside the building, but within the sacred encla sure, were two altars, a smaller one of gold, on which it was 'customary to offer sucklings, and a larger one, probably of stone, where the worshippers sacrificed full-grown victims.14 The great palace was a building of still larger dimensions than the great temple. According to Diodorus, it was situated within a triple enclosure, the innermost wall being twenty stades, the second forty stades, and the outermost sixty stades (nearly seven miles), in circumference.15 The outer wall was built entirely of plain baked brick. The middle, and inner walls were of the same material fronted with enamelled bricks, representing hunting-scenes. The figures, according to this author, were larger than the life, and consisted chiefly of å great variety of animal forms. There were not wanting, however, a certain number of human forms to enliven the scene; and among these were two—a man thrusting his spear through a lion, and a woman on horseback, aiming at a leopard with her javelin—which the later Greeks believed to represent the mythic Ninus and Semiramis.16 Of the character of the apart- ments we hear nothing ; but we are told that the palace had three gates, two of which were of bronze, and that these had to -be opened and shut by a machine.17 But the main glory of the palace was its pleasure-ground- 12 Herod. i. 183. The Chaldæan | Curtius knows. however, of only one priests told Herodotus that the gold of enclosure, which corresponds to the the image, table, and stand, weighed innermost wall of Diodorus, having a altogether 800 talents. circuit of twenty stades. According to 13 Herod. I. s. C. Curtius, this wall was 80 feet high, and 14 The great altar was also that on its foundations were laid 30 feet below which a thousand talents' weight of the surface of the soil. (Hist. Alex. frankincense was offered annually at the Magn. v. 1.) festival of the god. (Herod. I. s. C.). 16 Diod. Sic. ii. 8, § 6. 15 Diod. Sic. ji. 8, § 4. Quintus 1: Ibid. $ 7. CHAP. IV. THE HANGING GARDENS. 517 the “ Hanging Gardens," which the Greeks regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world.18 This extraordinary construc- tion, which owed its erection to the whim of a woman,19 was a square, each side of which measured 400 Greek feet.20 It was supported upon several tiers of open arches, built one over the other, like the walls of a classic theatre,21 and sustaining at each stage, or story, a solid platform, from which the piers of the next tier of arches rose. The building towered into the air to the height of at least seventy-five feet, and was covered at the top with a great mass of earth, in which there grew not merely flowers and shrubs, but trees also of the largest size. Water was supplied from the Euphrates through pipes, and was raised (it is said) by a screw working on the principle of Archimedes.? To prevent the moisture from penetrating into the brick-work and gradually destroying the building, there were interposed between the bricks and the mass of soil, first a layer of reeds mixed with bitumen, then a double layer of burnt brick ce- mented with gypsum, and thirdly a coating of sheet lead. The ascent to the garden was by steps. On the way up, among the arches, which sustained the building, were stately apart- ments, which must have been pleasant from their coolness. There was also a chamber within the structure containing the machinery by which the water was raised. Of the smaller palace, which was opposite to the larger one, on the other side the river, but few details have come down to us. Like the large palace, it was guarded by a triple enclo- 18 Strab. xvi. 1, $ 5. xâs oi apòs TOUTO Tetayuévou (xvi. I, 19 See below, ch. viii. $ 5; compare Diod. Sic. v. 37, $ 3). It 20 Diod. Sic. ii. 10, $ 2. is more probable that the water was 21 Ibid. WOTE Thu apbookiy elvai really raised by means of buckets and Deatpoeid. pulleys. (See above, vol. I, p. 40+.) i Diod. Sic. ii. 10, $ 5. Quintus * 3 Diod. Sic. ii. 10, $ 5. Curtius says that the trunks of some of 4 Strab. I. s. C. 'H 8' &vwTÁTW otéyn the trees were 12 feet in diameter. (Hist. προσβάσεις κλιμακωτάς έχει. Alex. Magn. v. I.) Strabo relates that s Alaitai Bao ihikai. Diod. Sic. ii. 10, some of the piers were made hollow, and $ 6. filled with earth, for the trees to strike • Ibid. For representations of As- their roots down them. But few trees syrian “hanging gardens," see vol. i. have a tap-root. pp. 229, 585. This garden at Babylon ? This is the explanation given of | must, however, have been far more Strabo's κοχλίαι, δι' ών το ύδωρ άνογον complicated and more stately. εις τον κήπον από του Ευφράτου συνε. Η 518 Chap. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. sure, the entire circuit of which measured (it is said) thirty stades.? It contained a number of bronze statues, which the Greeks believed to represent the god Belus, and the sovereigns Ninus and Semiramis, together with their officers. The walls were covered with battle-scenes and hunting-scenes, vividly represented by means of bricks painted and enamelled. Such was the general character of the town and its chief edifices, if we may believe the descriptions of eye-witnesses. The walls which enclosed and guarded the whole-or which, perhaps one should rather say, guarded the district within which Babylon was placed—have been already mentioned as remarkable for their great extent, but cannot be dismissed without a more special and minute description. Like the “ Hanging Gardens,” they were included among the “ world's seven wonders," 10 and, according to every account given of them, their magnitude and construction were remarkable. It has been already noticed that, according to the lowest of the ancient estimates, the entire length of the walls was 360 stades, or more than forty-one miles. With respect to the width, we have two very different statements, one by Herodotus and the other by Clitarchus and Strabo. Herodotus 12 makes the width 50 royal cubits or about 85 English feet, Strabo and Q. Curtius reduced the estimate to 32 feet. There is still greater discrepancy with respect to the height of the walls. Herodotus says that the height was 200 royal cubits, or 300 royal feet (about 335 feet English); Ctesias made it 50 fathoms, Diod. Sic. ii. 8, $ 7. bestias multiplici venatione trucidan- e dapatáteis Kal Kurhyia, Diod. Sic. / tis :” to which the author adds the 1. s. c. This statement of the subjects remark, “nec enim apud eos pingitur of Babylonian ornamentation is so com vel fingitur aliud præter varias cades et pletely in harmony with the practice of bella." the Assyrians that we cannot doubt its 9 Supra, p. 512. truth. War-scenes and hunting-scenes 10 Strab. xvi, 1, $ 5. are decidedly those which predominated 11 The statement of Pliny (H. N. vi. on the walls of an Assyrian palace. (See 26), which Solinus copies (Polyhist. c. vol. i. p. 344.) It is curious to find the 60), may perhaps not rest on data dis. same habits continuing in the same tinct from those of Herodotus. These regions as late as the time of the Em writers may merely soften down the peror Julian. See Amm. Marc. xxiv, 6, cubits of Herodotus into feet. where we hear of a “diversorium opa 12 Herod. i. 178. cum et amanum, gentiles picturas per 13 Strab. I. s. C.; Q. Curtius, v. 1. omnes ædium partes ostendens, Regis CHAP. IV. THE WALLS OF BABYLON. 519 or 300 ordinary Greek feet; 14 Pliny and Solinus 15 substituting feet for the royal cubits of Herodotus, made the altitude 235 feet; Philostratus 16 and Q. Curtius,”? following perhaps some one of Alexander's historians, gave for the height 150 feet; finally Clitarchus, as reported by Diodorus Siculus,18 and Strabo,19 who probably followed him, have left us the very moderate estimate of 75 feet. It is impossible to reconcile these numbers. The supposition that some of them belong properly to the outer, and others to the inner wall,20 will not explain the discrepan- cies—for the measurements cannot by any ingenuity be re- duced to two sets of dimensions. The only conclusion which it seems possible to draw from the conflicting testimony is, that the numbers were either rough guesses made by very unskilful travellers, or else were in most cases) intentional exaggerations palmed upon them by the native ciceroni. Still the broad facts remain — first, that the walls enclosed an enormous space, which was very partially occupied by buildings;2 secondly, 14 Ap. Diod. Sic. ii, 7, $ 3. first to suggest it. (See his article on 15 See the passages quoted in note 11.1 Babylon in Dr. Smith's Biblical Dic- Pliny and Solinus make the royal foot tionary, vol. i. p. 150.) On the whole, exceed the common one by the same however, the view appears to him not amount (3 fingers' breadth) by which to be tenable. Herodotus regards the royal as exceeding 1 Without reckoning the late and the common cubit. absurd Orosius, who gave the wall a 13 Philostr. Vit. Alex. Tyan. i. 25. breadth of 375 feet (Hist. ii. 6), or the 1. Q. Curt. I. s. C. blundering Scholiast on Juvenal (Sat. 16 Diod. Sic. ii. 7, $ 4. x. 171), who reversed the numbers of 19 Strab. xvi, 1, $ 5. Pliny and Solinus, for the height and 20 This is M. Oppert's view. (See breadth, it must be said that there are his Expédition scientifique en Miso- really four different estimates for the potamie, tom. i. p. 225.) The author of height, and three for the width of the the present work was, he believes, the walls. See the subjoined table. Estimates of Height. Estimates of Width. ... .. Herodotus (200 royal cubits) Clesias (50 lathoms) .. .. Pliny (200 royal feet).. Solinus (ditto) .. Pbilostratus (3 half-plet Q. Curtius (1011 cubiis) Clitarchus (50 cubits).. Strabu (ditto) Feet. 3351 300 235 235 S 150 150) 75 Feet. .. (50 royal cubits) .. 85 (unknown) (50 royal feet) (ditto) .. .. (less than a plethron) (32 fert).. (unknown) (32 leet) .. .. .. 32 2 See Arist. Pol. iii. 1. Toiaútn 80 i news' hs ye paoly éanwavías Tpíany ίσως έστι και Βαβυλών, και πάσα ήτις ήμέραν ουκ αίσθέσθαι τι μέρος της πό- trepaypaohu éxel hardov Ovous ņ 16- | news. Compare Jerem. li. 31. CHAP. IV. PRESENT STATE OF THE RUINS. 521 it with the besom of destruction." 14 "The glory of the king- doms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency,” is become “ as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha.” 15 The traveller who passes through the land is at first inclined to say that there are no ruins, no remains, of the mighty city which once lorded it over the earth. By and by, however, he begins to see that though ruins, in the common acceptation of the term, scarcely exist—though there are no arches, no pillars, but one or two appearances of masonry even-yet the whole country is covered with traces of exactly that kind which it was prophesied Babylon should leave.16 Vast “heaps” or mounds, shapeless and unsightly, are scattered at intervals over the entire region where it is certain that Babylon anciently stood, and between the “ heaps ” the soil is in many places composed of fragments of pottery and bricks, and deeply impregnated with nitre, in- fallible indication of its having once been covered with buildings. As the traveller descends southward from Baghdad he finds these indications increase, until, on nearing the Euphrates, a few miles beyond Mohawil, he notes that they have become continuous, and finds himself in a region of njounds, some of which are of enormous size. These mounds begin about five miles above Hillah,' and extend for a distance of above three miles ? from north to south along the course of the river, lying principally on its left or eastern bank. The ruins on this side consist chiefly of three great masses of building. The most northern, to which the Arabs of the present day apply the name of BABIL 3—the true native appellation of the ancient city is a vast pile of brick- work of an irregular quadrilateral shape, with precipitous sides 14 Isaiah xiv. 23. 15 Ibid. xiii. 19. | the name Mujelibe to the central or · 16 Jerem. li. 37. “And Babylon shall Kasr heap (Layard, Nin, and Bab. p. become hea ps.” Com pa re 1. 26. 505). " Layard, Ninereh and Babylon, p. 502. + The final syllable in Babyl-on is a 2 Six thousand yards (nearly 3, miles), Greek nominatival ending. The real according to Captain Selby. (Memoir un name of the city was Bab-il, " the the Ruins of Babylon, p. 4.) Gate of the God Il," or “the Gate of 3 This is the Mujelibé (" the over God." The Jews changed the name turned ") of Rich (Memoirs on Babylun, to Babel (22), in derisive reference passim), and Ker Porter (Travels, vol. ii. to the “confusion of tongues.'' pp. 339-349). The Arabs now apply i 522 Chap. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. furrowed by ravines, and with a flat top. Of the four faces of the ruin the southern seems to be the most perfect. It ex- tends a distance of about 200 yards, or almost exactly a stade, and runs nearly in a straight line from west to east. At its INSIDE PS View of the Babil mound from the Kasr. eastern extremity it forms a right angle with the east face, which runs nearly due north for about 180 yards, also almost in a straight line. The western and northern faces are appar- ently much worn away. Here are the chief ravines, and here s Oppert, Expédition scientifique, tom.| i. p. 169. & Rich made the length of the south side of Babil 219 yards (First Memoir, p. 28); M. Oppert (1. 8. c.) makes it 180 mètres (197 yards). Oppert, 1. s. C. 8 Rich, 1. s. C. Compare M. Oppert's plan of the ruin. Ker Porter's 230 feet (Travels, vol. ii. p. 340) is an extra- ordinary misrepresentation. CHAP. IV. THE KASR-THE MOUND OF AMRAN. 525 difficult to obtain a specimen entire. In the dust at the foot of the walls are numerous fragments of brick, painted, and covered with a thick enamel or glaze. Here, too, have been found å few fragments of sculptured stone, and slabs containing an account of the erection of a palatial edifice by Nebuchadnezzar.“ Near the northern edge of the mound, and about midway in its breadth, is a colossal figure of a lion,” rudely carved in black basalt, standing over the prostrate figure of a man with arms outstretched. A single tree grows on the huge ruin, which the Arabs declare to be of a species not known elsewhere, and regard as a remnant of the hanging garden of Bokht-i-nazar. It is a tamarisk of no rare kind, but of very great age, in consequence of which, and of its exposed position, the growth and foliage are somewhat peculiar. · South of the Kasr mound, at the distance of about 800 yards, is the remaining great mass of ruins, the mound of Jumjuma, or of Amran. The general shape of this mound is triangular, but it is very irregular and ill-defined, so as scarcely to admit of accurate description. Its three sides face respectively a little east of north, a little south of east, and a little south of west. The south-western side, which runs nearly parallel with the Euphrates and seems to have been once washed by the river,11 is longer than either of the others, extending a distance of above a thousand yards,12 while the south-eastern may be 800 yards, and the north-eastern 700. Innumerable ravines traverse the 3 Layard, p. 506; Rich, p. 25; Ker! Ker Porter, vol. ii, p 371. M. Op- Porter, vol. ii. pp. 365, 366. | pert calls it a trapezium (p. 157), but * Layard, p. 507; Oppert, tom. i. p. ! his plan is, roughly speaking, a triangle. 143. Rich says it is shaped like a quadrant 5 As the frieze discovered by Mr. ' (p. 21). Lavard (Nin. and Bab. p. 508), of which 10 Layard, Nin. and Bub. p. 509, note. a representation is given below (p. 552), 11 See the author's article on “ Baby- and one or two fragments recovered by lon” in Dr. Smith's Biblical Dictionary, the French. vol. i. p. 151. Compare Oppert, Expédi- 6 See the author's Herodotus, vol. ii. tion, tom. i. p. 157. p. 480, 2nd edition. Compare Oppert, 12 Rich says the length is 1100 yards, Erpédition, tom. i. p. 149. and the greatest breadth 800 (p. 21). i Layard, p. 507; Oppert, tom. i. p. 1 M. Oppert calls the greatest length 500 148. According to the latter author, 1 mètres (547 yards); but his own plan the length of the lion is four mètres, or shows a distance of 600 mètres (656 13} feet, and its height three mètres, or yards). Capt. Selby's map agrees nearly 9 feet 10 inches. with Rich, * Oppert, pp. 147, 148. 526 CHAP. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. w mound on every side, penetrating it nearly to its centre. The surface is a series of undulations. Neither masonry nor sculp- ture is anywhere apparent. All that meets the eve is a mass of debris; and the researches hitherto made have failed to bring to light any distinct traces of building. Occasional bricks are found, generally of poor material, and bearing the names and titles of some of the earlier Babylonian mo- narchs; but the trenches opened in the pile have in no case laid bare even the smallest fragment of a wall.13 Besides the remains which have been already described, the most remarkable are cer- tain long lines of rampart on both sides of the river, which Plan of the mound of Amran, according to M. Oppert, ling in outside the other mine die outside the other ruins, enclosing them all, except the mound of Babil. On the left bank of the stream there is to be traced, in the first place, a double line of wall or ram- part, having a direction nearly due north and south," which lies east of the Kasr and Amran mounds, at the distance from them of about 1000 yards. Beyond this is a single line of ram- part to the north-east, traceable for about two miles, the direction of which is nearly from north-west to south-east, and a double line of rampart to the south-east, traceable for a mile and a half, with a direction from north-east to south-west. The two lines in this last case are from 600 to 700 yards apart, and diverge from one another as they run out to the north-east. WAWA KOLL 13 See Layard, Nin, and Bab. p. 509. See the plans of Rich, Ker Porter, and Selby, which all mark very dis- tinctly the double line in question. Capt. Selby's survey makes the two lines not quite parallel, and gives both of them a slight leaning to the west of | north. M. Oppert's plan represents them very meagerly and untruly. 2 M. Oppert has only a single line here, but a double line is shown by all the other authorities. The true direc- tion of the line was for the first time given by Captain Selby. ABOUT 201 SLICHT. TRACE OF A BED OF AN ANCIENTA TO SUPPOSED SUR OR RAMPART TERLAL NIL can T ON ARANCE MODERN 150 FASQUA G ALOW FLAT RIDCE HAVING THE AP OF A ROAD WAY. MOUNDS OF BRICK WORK. R VER ANCIENT BANKS ABOUT 25 * HES NIL OR EARTHEN ANS MOUNDS EL A MEARAH ISHY CROUND NO Ild FLAT PLAINDA DYRFACE COVERCO WITH NITRE 210 OF LOW MOUNDS QHWAISH HA OR RAM PARTE A ANNANA BROAD RAM PART 3 ABOVE VILLACE 19 AN MOUND 2001 COW.PAT BIOGE OF NYHE T E S CUA TOMAS EE TARJETA wens MOIHEI CANAL BARN ANAL WO flotte LARI SQUA ABOUT 28 o SHILLAH. DATE TROVES GARDENS * 2112 PENS I General chart of the ruins of Babylon. 528 CHAP. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. The inner of the two meets the north-eastern rampart nearly at a right angle, and is clearly a part of the same work. It is questioned, however, whether this line of fortification is ancient, and not rather a construction belonging to Parthian times. A low line of mounds is traceable between the western face of the Amran and Kasr hills, and the present eastern bank of the river, bounding a sort of narrow valley. in which either the main stream of the Euphrates, or at any rate a branch from it, seems anciently to have flowed. On the right bank of the stream the chief remains are of the same kind. West of the river, a rampart, twenty feet high, runs for nearly a miles parallel with the general line of the Amran mound, at the distance of about 1000 yards from the old course of the stream. At either extremity the line of the ram- part turns at a right angle, running down towards the river, and being traceable towards the north for 400 yards and towards the south for fifty or sixty: 6 It is evident that there was once, before the stream flowed in its present channel, a rectangular enclosure, a mile long and 1000 yards broad, opposite to the Amran mound; and there are indications that within this enceinte was at least one important building, which was situated near the south-east angle of the enclosure, on the banks of the old course of the river. The bricks found at this point bear the name of Neriglissar. There are also, besides these ramparts and the great masses of ruin above described, a vast number of scattered and irregular heaps or hillocks on both sides of the river, chiefly, however, upon the eastern bank. Of these one only seems to deserve distinct mention. This is the mound called El Homeira, “the Red,”—1 hich lies due east of the Kasr, distant from it about 800 yards,-a mound said to be 300 yards long by 100 wide, 3 This is the opinion of Sir H. Raw- | other. But the position of the frag- linson. M. Oppert regards the work as ments which remain sufficiently indi- Babylonian. cates that the work was originally con- + So Capt. Selby. See his Map, Sheet I. tinuous. 5 The line has several gaps, more See Capt. Selby's plan, which is the especially one very wide one in the only trustworthy authority for the ruins middle; through which no fewer than on the right bank. five canals have passed at some time or . Ker Porter, Travels, vol. ii. p. 353. CHAP. IV. QUAY OF NABONIDUS. 529 and to attain an elevation of 60 or 70 feet. It is composed of baked brick of a bright red colour, and must have been a building of a very considerable height resting upon a somewhat confined base. Its bricks are inscribed along their edges, not (as is the usual practice) on their lower face. The only other ancient work of any importance of which some remains are still to be traced, is a brick embankment on the left bank of the stream between the Kasr and the Babil mounds, 10 extending for a distance of a thousand yards in a line which has a slight curve and a general direction of S.S.W. The bricks of this embankment are of a bright red colour, and of great hard- ness. 11 They are laid wholly in bitumen. The legend which they bear shows that the quay was constructed by Nabonidus. Such then are the ruins of Babylon—the whole that can now with certainty be assigned to the “ beauty of the Chaldees' excellency” 12 — the “ great Babylon ” of Nebuchadnezzar. 13 Within a space little more than three miles long and a mile and three quarters broad are containel all the undoubted remains 14 of the greatest city of the old world. These remains, however, do not serve in any way to define the ancient limits of the place. They are surrounded on every side by nitrous soil, and by low heaps which it has not been thought worth while to excavate, but which the best judges assign to the same era as the great mounds, and believe to mark the sites of the lesser temples and the other public buildings of the ancient city. Masses of this kind are most frequent to the north and east. Sometimes they are almost continuous for miles; and if we take the Kasr mound as a centre, & Ker Porter, I. 8. c. Captain Selby perfectly correct. makes the height 65 feet (see his Map, 11 Oppert, Expédition, tom. i. p. 184. Sheet I.). M. Oppert calls the mound 12 Isaiah xiii. 19. 13 Dan. iv. 30. “ very lofty” (très élevé), but he gives 14 As we do not know what position no estimate of its height. (Expedition, in the city the Royal quarter occupied tom. i. p. 183.) (for we must not press the ev urow of 9 Ker Porter, vol. ii. p. 354. Herodotus), we cannot say with absolute 10 This embankment is placed too low certainty that the city contained even in the very imperfect chart of the ruins, such groups as, for instance, those east which the author drew for the first and north-east of Babil, or again those edition of his Herod tus (vol. ii. p. 571). on the west bank opposite the quay of He owes an apology to M. Oppert for Nabonidus. It is of course highly pro- having found fault with his emplace bable that these and all other neighbour- ment of the work. Capt. Selby's survey | ing mounds formed a part of the ancient shows that in this point M. Oppert was ſ town. VOL. II. 2 M 530 CHAP. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. and mark about it an area extending five miles in each direction (which would give a city of the size described by Ctesias and the historians of Alexander), we shall scarcely find a single square mile of the hundred without some indications of ancient buildings upon its surface. The case is not like that of Nineveh, where outside the walls the country is for a considerable distance singularly bare of ruins.15 The mass of Babylonian remains extending from Babil to Amran does not correspond to the whole enceinte of Nineveh, but to the mound of Koyunjik. It has every appearance of being, not the city, but “the heart of the city”16—the “Royal quarter"17_outside of which were the streets and squares, and still further off, the vanished walls. It may seem strange that the southern capital should have so greatly exceeded the dimensions of the northern one. But, if we follow the indications presented by the respective sites, we are obliged to conclude that there was really this remarkable difference. It has to be considered in conclusion how far we can identify the various ruins above described with the known buildings of the ancient capital, and to what extent it is possible to recon- struct upon the existing remains the true plan of the city. Fancy, if it discards the guidance of fact, may of course with the greatest ease compose plans of a charming completeness. A rigid adherence to existing data will produce, it is to be feared, a somewhat meagre and fragmentary result; but most persons will feel that this is one of the cases where the maxim of Hesiod" applies—léov ģucov navTÓS—“the half is preferable to the whole.” The one identification which may be made upon certain and indeed indisputable evidence is that of the Kasr mound with the palace built by Nebuchadnezzar.19 The tradition which has attached the name of Kasr or “Palace” to this heap is con- 15 See above, vol. i. p. 250. 16 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 491:-"Southward of Babel for the distance of nearly three miles there is almost an uninterrupted line of mounds, the ruins of vast edifices, collected together as in the heart of a great city. 17 M. Oppert (Expédition scientifique, Maps) calls the whole mass of ruins from Babil to Amran the “cité royale de Babylone." 18 Hes. Op. et D. 1. 40. 19 Berosus, Fr. 14. CHAP. IV. IDENTIFICATION OF SITES. 531 firmed by inscriptions upon slabs found on the spot, wherein Nebuchadnezzar declares the building to be his “Grand Palace.”l The bricks of that part of the ruin which remains uncovered bear, one and all, the name of this king; and it is thus clear that here stood in ancient times the great work of which Berosus speaks as remarkable for its height and splendour. If a con- firmation of the fact were needed after evidence of so decisive a character, it would be found in the correspondence between the remains found on the mound and the description left us of the “greater palace” by Diodorous. Diodorus relates that the walls of this edifice were adorned with coloured representations of hunting-scenes ;4 and modern explorers find that the whole soil of the mound, and especially the part on which the fragment of ruin stands, is full of broken pieces of enamelled brick, varied in hue, and evidently containing portions of human and animal forms." But if the Kasr represents the palace built by Nebuchad- nezzar, as is generally allowed by those who have devoted their attention to the subject, it seems to follow almost as a certainty," that the Amran mound is the site of that old palatial edifice to which the erection of Nebuchadnezzar was an addition. Berosus expressly states that Nebuchadnezzar's building “adjoined upon” the former palace,' a description which is fairly applicable to the Amrand mound by means of a certain latitude of interpretation, 1 According to M. Oppert, several 1 5 Layard, Ninereh and Babylon, p. 507: pavement slabs found on the Kasr | Oppert, Erpédition scientifique, tom. i. mound bear the following inscription : lpp. 143-145. Portions of a lion, of a “Grand palace of Nebuchadnezzar, horse, and of a human face, have been king of Babylon, son of Nabopolassar, distinctly recognised. king of Babylon, who walked in the 6 M. Oppert agrees on this point with worship of the gods Nebo and Merodach, Mr. Layard and Sir Henry Rawlinson his lords.” (Expédition, tom. i. pp. 140-156). See the Expédition scientifique, tom. i. i M. Oppert (Expéilition, tom. i. pp. p. 149. 157-167) argues that the Mound of ? Layard, Ninereh and Babylon, p. 506. Amran represents the ancient “hanging The bricks are all laid with the inscrip gardens." But his own estimate of its tion down cards, a sure sign that they area is 15 hectares (37 acres), while the have never been disturbed, but remain area of the “hanging gardens ” was less as Nebuchadnezzar's builders placed than four acres according to Strabo (xvi. them, 1, $ 5) and Diodorus (ii. 10, $ 2). 3 Berosus, Fr. 14. Baoimela . . . år 8 Beros. 1. s. c. IpookaTerkevare το μέν ανάστημα και την ετέραν πολυ τοις πατρικοίς βασιλείοις έτερα βασίλεια Télelav mepioody Yows av ein néyeiv. & xóueva a út ñv. M. Oppert wholly * Diod. Sic. ii. 8, $ 6. omits to locate the ancient palace. 2 M 2 534 CHAP. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. the Euphrates with the palace. Herodotus expressly declares that the temple of Belus and the royal palace were upon opposite sides of the river, 21 and states, moreover, that the temple was built in stages, which rose one above the other to the number of eight.22 Now these two circumstances, which do not belong at present to the Babil mound, attach to a ruin distant from it about eleven or twelve miles—a ruin which is certainly one of the most remarkable in the whole country, and wbich, if Babylon bad really been of the size asserted by Herodotus, might possibly have been included within the walls. The Birs-i-Nimrud had certainly seven, probably eight stages, and it is the only ruin on the present western bank of the Euphrates which is at once sufficiently grand to answer to the descriptions of the Belus temple, and sufficiently near to the other ruins to make its original inclusion within the walls not absolutely impossible. Hence, ever since the attention of scholars was first directed to the subject of Babylonian topo- graphy, opinion has been divided on the question before us, and there have not been wanting persons to maintain that the Birs-i-Nimrud is the true temple of Belus," if not also the actual tower of Babel, whose erection led to the confusion of tongues and general dispersion of the sons of Adam. With this latter identification we are not in the present place concerned. With respect to the view that the Birs is the sanctu- ary of Belus, it may be observed in the first place, that the size of the building is very much smaller than that ascribed to the Belus temple ;3-secondly, that it was dedicated to Nebo, who ?1 Herod. i. 180, 181. spoke favourably of them in his lec- 22 Ibid. tures (Vorträge, vol. i. p. 30). Recently This opinion was first put forward they have been maintained and co- by Mr. Rich. See his First Memoir on piously illustrated by M. Oppert (Erpé- Babylon, pp. 51-56; Second Nicmoir, pp. dition scientifique, tom. i. pp. 200-216). 30-34. His views were opposed by ? So Ker Porter, vol. ii. p. 317; Hee- Major Rennell in an article published ren, As. Vat. vol. ii. p. 174; Oppert, in in the Archæologia, London, 1816. They Dr. Smith's Biblical Dictionary, vol. iii. were reasserted and warmly defended p. 1554. • by Sir R. Ker Porter in 1822 (Trarels, * Rich, measuring the present ruins, vol. ii. pp. 316-327). Heeren adopted ! supposed that the dimensions of the Birs them in 1824, in the fourth edition of would correspond sufficiently with those his Reflections (Asiatic Nations, vol. ii. of the Belus temple (First Memoir, p. 49); pp. 172-175); and about 1826 Niebuhrbut Sir H, Rawlinson found, on tun- CHAP. IV. DIFFICULTIES-SITE OF TEMPLE OF BELUS. 535 cannot be identified with Bel ,4 and thirdly, that it is not really any part of the remains of the ancient capital, but belongs to an entirely distinct town. The cylinders found in the ruin by Sir Henry Rawlinson declare the building to have been “ the wonder of Borsippa ;"5 and Borsippa, according to all the ancient authorities, was a town by itself- an entirely distinct place from Babylon. To include Borsippa within the outer wall of Babylon,' is to run counter to all the authorities on the subject, the inscriptions, the native writer, Berosus, and the classical geographers generally. Nor is the position thus assigned to the Belus temple in harmony with the statement of Herodotus, which alone causes explorers to seek for the temple on the west side of the river. For, though the expression which this writer uses' does not necessarily mean that the temple was in the exact centre of one of the two divisions of the town, it certainly im- plies that it lay towards the middle of one division-well within it-and not upon its outskirts. It is indeed inconceivable that the main sanctuary of the place, where the kings constantly offered their worship, should have been nine or ten miles from the palace! The distance between the Amran mound and Babil, which is about two miles, is quite as great as probability will allow us to believe existed between the old residence of the kings and the sacred shrine to which they were in the constant habit of resorting. Still there remain as objections to the identification of the great temple with the Babil mound the two arguments already nelling into the mound, that the original | was originally within Babylon, i.e. base of the Birs tower was a square within the outer wall, it afterwards, of only 272 feet. Thc Belus temple was when the outer wall was destroyed by a square of 606 feet. Darius Hystaspis, came to be outside To meet this argument, M. Oppert the town and a distinct place. But it has invented the term Bel-Nebo, for is at the time of Cyrus's siege, when all which there is absolutely no foundation. the defences were in the most perfect s See the author's Herodotus, vol. ii. condition, that Berosus makes Cyrus p. 485, 2nd ed. “march away” from Babylon to the o See Berosus, Fr. 14; Strab. xvi. 1, siege of Borsippa. 7; Arrian, Fr. 20; Justin, xii. 13; 9 Εν δε φάρσεϊ εκατέρω της πόλιος Steph. Byz. ad voc. &c. &TETEIXIOTO év u é o w (Herod. i. 181). i As M. Oppert does. See the plan, Compare the expression of Arrian (lớp. Alex. vii. 17):–0 vào Too Bi- & M. Oppert endeavours to reconcile λου νεώς εν μέση τη πόλει ήν των his view with that of the later geo Βαβυλωνίων. graphers by saying that though Borsippa p. 512. 536 CHAP. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. noticed. The Babil mound has no appearance of stages such as the Birs presents, nor has it even a pyramidical shape. It is a huge platform with a nearly level top, and sinks, rather than rises, in the centre. What has become, it is asked, of the seven upper stages of the great Belus tower, if this ruin repre- sents it? Whither have they vanished ? How is it that in crumbling down they have not left something like a heap towards the middle? To this it may be replied, that the destruction of the Belus tower has not been the mere work of the elements-it was violently broken down either by Xerxes, or by some later king,lº who may have completely removed all the upper stages. Again, it has served as a quarry to the hunters after bricks for more than twenty centuries ; 11 so that it is only surprising that it still retains so much of its original shape. Further, when Alexander entered Babylon more than 2000 years ago, 10,000 men were employed for several weeks in clearing away the rubbish and laying bare the foundations of the building. 12 It is quite possible that a conical mass of crumbled brick may have been removed from the top of the mound at this time. The difficulty remains that the Babil mound is on the same side of the Euphrates with the ruins of the Great Palace, whereas Herodotus makes the two buildings balance each other, one on the right and the other on the left bank of the stream. Now here it is in the first place to be observed that Herodotus is the only writer who does this. No other ancient author tells us anything of the relative situation of the two buildings. We have thus nothing to explain but the bald statement of a single writer —a writer no doubt of great authority, but still one not wholly infallible. We might say, then, that Herodotus probably made a mistake - that his memory failed him in this instance, or that he mistook his 10 Arrian says by Xerxes (TOŪTOV TOY | fore in after times have been thought to VEūv Eépens KUTÉOKAyev, 1. s. c.). So have destroyed it, though the destruc- Strabo (xvi, 1, $ 5). But Herodotus tion was by a later king. seems to have found the building intact; 11 Rich, First Memoir, p. 31; Layard, and his visit must have fallen in the Nineveh and Babylon, p. 506; Loftus, reign of Artaxerxes. Xerxes plundered Chaldæa and Susiana, p. 18. the temple (Herod, i. 183), and may there- 2 Strab. 1. s. C. Compare Arrian, I. s.c. CHAP. IV. BELUS TEMPLE PROBABLY BABIL. 537 notes on the subject.13 Or we may explain his error by supposing that he confounded a canal from the Euphrates, which seems to have anciently passed between the Babil mound and the Kasr 14 (called Shebil by Nebuchadnezzar) with the main stream. Or, finally, we may conceive that at the time of his visit the old palace lay in ruins, and that the palace of Neriglissar on the west bank of the stream was that of which he spoke. It is at any rate remarkable, considering how his authority is quoted as fixing the site of the Belus tower to the west bank, that, in the only place where he gives us any intimation of the side of the river on which he would have placed the tower, it is the east and not the west bank to which his words point. He makes those who saw the treachery of Zopyrus at the Belian and Kissian gates, which must have been to the east of the city,15 at once take refuge in the famous sanctuary,16 which he implies was in the vicinity. On the whole, therefore, it seems best to regard the Babil mound as the ziggurat of the great temple of Bel (called by some “the tomb of Belus”) 17 which the Persians destroyed and which Alexander intended to restore. With regard to the “hanging gardens,” as they were an erection of less than half the size of the tower,18 it is not so necessary to suppose that distinct traces must remain of them. Their débris may be confused with those of the Kasr mound, on which one writer places them. Or they may have stood between the Kasr and Amran ruins, where are now some mounds of no great height. fin.) 13 Herodotus did not always take | was the Belus temple-tower. For there notes. He appeals sometimes to his is not the shadow of a doubt that the recollection of the numbers mentioned • tomb of Belus” and the temple of to him by his informants. (See ii. 125.) Belus” are one and the same building. 14 See the plan, p. 539. (Compare Strab. xvi. 1, § 5, with Arrian, 15 Town-gates are named in the East | vii. 17, and both with Herod. i. 183, ad from the places to which they lead. (Rich, First Memoir, p. 53.) The Kis 18 The hanging gardens were a square sian gates led to Susiana, which was of 400 (Greek) feet each way; the Belus towards the east. The Belian probably tower was a square of 600 feet. The led to Niffer, the “city of Belus.” (See area of the one was 160,000 square feet; above, vol. i. p. 118.) Niffer lies south that of the other 360,000, or considerably east of Babylon. more than double. 16 Herod. iii. 158. Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. v. 1:4"Super 11 As by Strabo (1. 8. c.). When M. | arce vulgatum Græcorum fabulis mira- Oppert identifies the Babil mound with culum pensiles horti sunt." The arx of this tomb, he is really admitting that it Curtius is the palace. 538 CHAP. IV. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. Or, possibly, their true site is the modern El Homeira, the remarkable red mound which lies east of the Kasr at the distance of about 800 yards, and attains an elevation of sixty- five feet. Though this building is not situated upon the banks of the Euphrates, where Strabo and Diodorus place the gardens, it abuts upon a long low valley into which the Euphrates water seems formerly to have been introduced, and which may therefore have been given the name of the river. This identi- fication is, however, it must be allowed, very doubtful. The two lines of mounds which enclose the long low valley above mentioned are probably the remains of an embankment which here confined the waters of a great reservoir. Nebu- chadnezzar relates that he constructed a large reservoir, which he calls the Yapur-Shapu, in Babylon,3 and led water into it by means of an “eastern canal”—the Shebil. The Shebil canal, it is probable, left the Euphrates at some point between Babil and the Kasr, and ran across with a course nearly from west to east to the top of the Yapur-Shapu. This reservoir seems to have been a long and somewhat narrow parallelogram, running nearly from north to south, which shut in the great palace on the east and protected it like a huge moat. Most likely it communicated with the Euphrates towards the south by a second canal, the exact line of which cannot be deter- mined. Thus the palatial residence of the Babylonian kings looked in both directions upon broad sheets of water, an agreeable prospect in so hot a climate; while, at the same time, by the assignment of a double channel to the Euphrates, its floods were the more readily controlled, and the city was preserved from those terrible inundations, which in modern times have often threatened the existence of Baghdad. The other lines of mound upon the east side of the river may either be Parthian works, or (possibly) they may be the remains of some of those lofty walls6 whereby according to 2 Strab. xvi. 1, $ 5; Diod. Sic. ii, 10,1 $ 1. 3 See the translation of the Standard Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, which is ! given in the Appendix, Note A. See Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana p. 7. 5 This is the opinion of Sir H. Raw. linson. So M. Oppert (Expédition scientia fique, tom. i. p. 195). CHAP. V. ARTS AND SCIENCES. 541 CHAPTER V. ARTS AND SCIENCES. Τούτό γε διαβεβαιώσαιτ' άν τις προσηκόντως, ότι Χαλδαίοι μεγίστην έξιν εν αστρολογία απάντων ανθρώπων έχουσι, και διότι πλείστην επιμέλειαν εποιήσαντο Taútys rîs Dewpías.-Diod. Sic. ii. 31. That the Babylonians were among the most ingenious of all the nations of antiquity, and had made considerable progress in the arts and sciences before their conquest by the Persians, is generally admitted. The classical writers commonly parallel them with the Egyptians;' and though, from their habit of confusing Babylon with Assyria, it is not always quite certain that the inhabitants of the more southern country—the real Babylonians — are meant, still there is sufficient reason to believe that, in the estimation of the Greeks and Romans, the people of the lower Euphrates were regarded as at least equally advanced in civilisation with those of the Nile valley and the Delta. The branches of knowledge wherein by general consent the Babylonians principally excelled were architecture and astronomy. Of their architectural works two at least were reckoned among the “Seven Wonders,"? while others, not elevated to this exalted rank, were yet considered to be among the most curious and admirable of Oriental constructions. In astronomical science they were thought to have far excelled all other nations," and the first Greeks who made much progress in the subject confessed themselves the humble disciples of Babylonian teachers." i Herod. i. 93: ii. 109; Diod. Sic. ii. 1 29, $ 2; &c. The “ walls” and the “hanging gardens.” (Strab. xvi. 1, $ 5.) Compare Q. Curt. Hist. Alex. Magn. v. 1, § 32; Hygin. Fab. § 223; Cassiodor. Variar. vii. 15. 3 Q. Curtius says of the bridge over the Euphrates, “ Hic quoque inter mira- bilia Orientis opera numeratus est.” (Hist. Alex. Magn. v. 1, $ 29.) 4 Diod. Sic. ii. 31. See the heading to this chapter. • Hipparchus, who, according to De- 542 Chap. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. In the account, which it is proposed to give, in this place, of Babylonian art and science, so far as they are respectively known to us, the priority will be assigned to art, which is an earlier product of the human mind than science; and among the arts the first place will be given to architecture, as at once the most fundamental of all the fine arts, and the one in which the Babylonians attained their greatest excellence. It is as builders that the primitive Chaldæan people, the progenitors of the Babylonians, first appear before us in history; 6 and it was on his buildings that the great king of the later Empire, Nebu- chadnezzar, specially prided himself. When Herodotus visited Babylon, he was struck chiefly by its extraordinary edifices ;8 and it is the account which the Greek writers gave of these erections that has, more than anything else, procured for the Babylonians the fame that they possess and the position that they hold among the six or seven leading nations of the old world. The architecture of the Babylonians seems to have culmi- nated in the Temple. While their palaces, their bridges, their walls, even their private houses were remarkable, their grandest works, their most elaborate efforts, were dedicated to the honour and service, not of man, but of God. The Temple takes in Babylonia the same sort of rank which it has in Egypt and in Greece. It is not, as in Assyria, a mere adjunct of the palace. It stands by itself, in proud independence, as the great building of a city, or a part of a city: 10 it is, if not absolutely larger, at any rate loftier and more conspicuous than any other lambre (Ilistoire d'Astronomie ancienne, tom. i. p. 184), “laid the foundation of astronomy among the Greeks," spoke of the Babylonians as astronomical ob- servers from a fabulously remote an- tiquity. (Proclus, in Tim. p. 31, C.) Aristotle admitted that the Greeks were greatly indebted for astronomical facts to the Babylonians and Egyptians. (De Celo, ii, 12, $ 3.) Ptolemy made large use of the Babylonian observations of eclipses, Sir Cornewall Lewis allows that “the Greeks were in the habit of attributing the invention and original cultivation of astronomy either to the Babylonians or to the Egyptians, and represented the earliest scientific Greek astronomers as having derived their knowledge from Babylonian or from Egyptian priests." (Astronomy of the Ancients, p. 256.) He considers, indeed, that in thus yielding the credit of dis- covery to others, they departed from the truth; but he does not give any sufficient reasons for this curious belief. 6 Gen. xi. 2-5. ? Dan. iv, 30. & Herod. i. 93, 178-183, See above, p. 92. 10 Herod. i. 181. CHAP. V. BABYLONIAN ARCHITECTURE. 543 edifice: it often boasts a magnificent adornment: the value of the offerings which are deposited in it is enormous : in every respect it rivals the palace, while in some it has a decided pre- eminence. It draws all eyes by its superior height and some- times by its costly ornamentation; it inspires awe by the religious associations which belong to it; finally, it is a strong- hold as well as a place of worship, and may furnish a refuge to thousands in time of danger. 11 A Babylonian temple seems to have stood commonly within a walled enclosure. In the case of the great temple of Belus at Babylon, the enclosure is said to have been a square of two stades each way,12 or, in other words, to have contained an area of thirty acres. The temple itself ordinarily consisted of two parts. Its most essential feature was a ziggurat, or tower, which was either square, or at any rate rectangular, and built in stages, the smallest number of such stages being two, and the largest known number seven.13 At the summit of the tower was probably in every case a shrine, or chapel, of greater or less size, containing altars and images. The ascent to this was on the outside of the towers, which were entirely solid; and it generally wound round the different faces of the towers, ascend- ing them either by means of steps or by an inclined plane. Special care was taken with regard to the emplacement of the tower, either its sides or its angles being made exactly to con- front the cardinal points. It is said that the temple-towers were used not merely for religious purposes but also as observa- tories, 14 a use with a view to which this arrangement of their position would have been serviceable. Besides the shrine at the summit of the temple-tower or ziggurat, there was commonly at the base of the tower, or at any rate somewhere within the enclosure, a second shrine or chapel, in which the ordinary worshipper, who wished to spare himself the long ascent, made his offerings. Here again the orna- 11 Herod. iii. 156. 12 Ibid. i. 181. Aúo otaðiwy távon, έδν τετράγωνον. 13 When Herodotus speaks of there being eight stages to the tower of the temple of Belus at Babylon, he pro- bably counts the shrine at the top as a stage. Note his words: év 8€ TÝ TEXEU- Taip múpyy vnds & TEOTI Méyas (1. s. c.). 14 Diod. Sic, ii, 9, § 4. 544 CHAP. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. mentation was most costly, lavish use being made of the pre- cious metals for images and other furniture.15 Altars of different sizes were placed in the open air in the vicinity of this lower shrine, on which were sacrificed different classes of victims, gold being used occasionally as the material of the altar. The general appearance of a Babylonian temple, or at any rate of its chief feature, the tower or ziggurat, will be best gathered from a more particular description of a single building of the kind; and the building which it will be most convenient to take for that purpose is that remarkable edifice which strikes moderns with more admiration than any other now existing in the country, and which has also been more completely and more carefully examined than any other Babylonian ruin 3– the Birs-i-Nimrud, or ancient temple of Nebo at Borsippa. The plan of this tower has been almost completely made out from data still existing on the spot; and a restoration of the original building may be given with a near approach to certainty. Upon a platform of crude brick,' raised a few feet above the level of the alluvial plain, was built the first or basement stage of the great edifice, an exact square, 272 feet each way, and probably twenty-six feet in perpendicular height. On this was erected a second stage of exactly the same height, but a square of only 230 feet; which however was not placed exactly in the middle of the first, but further from its north-eastern than its south-western edge, twelve feet only from the one and 15 Herod. i. 183. Ibid. ? See Rich, First Memoir, pp. 34-37; Second Memoir, pp. 30-32; Ker Porter, vol. ii. pp. 306-316; Layard, Ninereh and Bubylon, p. 495; Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, p. 27; Oppert, Expédition scientifique, tom. i. p. 200. 3 See the Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. xviii, art. i., where a full account is given by Sir H, Rawlinson of the labours by which he discovered the true plan of the building. M. Oppert's speculations in his Expédition scienti- fue (tom. i. pp. 200-209), which rest upon no original researches, and con- tradict all the dimensious which Sir H. Rawlinson obtained by laborious tun- nelling and careful measurement, are no doubt ingenious; but they can scarcely be regarded as having any scientific value. 4 M. Oppert believes this "platform " to have been part of a lower stage which would have been found by re- moving the soil at its base. This is perhaps possible, but at present there is no proof of it. 5 Sir H. Rawlinson excavated only to the depth of 17 feet. The assignment of 26 feet to this stage rests upon the ascertained fact that both the second and the third stage were exactly of this height. (Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. xviii. p. 19.) CHAP. V. THE BIRS-I-NIMRUD. 545 Birs-i-Nimrud, near Babylon. thirty feet from the other. The third stage, which was im- posed in the same way upon the second, was also twenty-six feet high, and was a square of 188 feet. Thus far the plan had been uniform and without any variety; but at this point an alteration took place. The height of the fourth stage, instead of being twenty-six, was only fifteen feet. In other respects however the old numbers were maintained; the fourth stage was diminished equally with the others, and was conse- quently a square of 146 feet. It was emplaced upon the stage below it exactly as the former stages had been. The remaining 6 It will be found hereafter that this ! for the diminution of height at this fourth stage was that of the Sun, and point, since thereby would be effected a that it was probably covered with thin saving of more than two-fifths of the plates of gold. This would give a reason gold. VOL. II. 2 N 546 CHAP. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. stages probably followed the same rule of diminution ?--the fifth being a square of 104, the sixth one of 62, and the seventh one of 20 feet. Each of these stages had a height of fifteen feet. Upon the seventh or final stage was erected the shrine or tabernacle, which was probably also fifteen feet high, and about the same length and breadth. Thus the entire height of the building, allowing three feet for the crude-brick platform, was 156 feet. The ornamentation of the edifice was chiefly by means of colour. The seven stages represented the Seven Spheres, in which moved (according to ancient Chaldæan astronomy) the seven planets. To each planet fancy, partly grounding itself upon fact, had from of old assigned a peculiar tint or hue. The Sun was golden, the Moon silver; the distant Saturn, almost beyond the region of light, was black; Jupiter was orange;' the fiery Mars was red; Venus was a pale Naples yellow; Mercury a deep blue. The seven stages of the tower, like the seven walls of Ecbatana,'' gave a visible embodiment to these fancies. The basement stage, assigned to Saturn, was blackened by means of a coating of bitumen spread over the face of the masonry ; 11 the second stage, assigned to Jupiter, obtained the appropriate orange colour by means of a facing of burnt bricks of that hue; 12 the third stage, that of Mars, was made blood-red by the use of half-burnt bricks formed of a bright red clay ; 13 the fourth stage, assigned to the Sun, ap- pears to have been actually covered with thin plates of gold; 14 7 The upper portion of the Birs is in dation for this colour, as for that of too ruined a condition to allow of the Mars and Venus, was probably the verification of these estimates. They | actual hue of the planet. follow as deductions from the ascer 10 Herod. i. 98. See above, p. 269. tained dimensions of the lower stages, 11 Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. and especially from the proved fact, xviii, p. 12. that the alteration in the height of the 12 Ibid. p. 19. 13 Ibid. pp. 9 and 20. fourth stage was not accompanied by "These plates of course do not re- any change in the rate of diminution of main in situ. The evidence of their the square, original employment is to be found, $ Capt. Jones's measurement with the 1. in the mutilated appearance of the theodolite makes the present height of present face of this stage, which is the building above the alluvial plain 153 “ broken as if with blows of the pick- feet. If then the plan of the temple as axe” (As. Soc. Journ. p. 20); 2. in sumed in the text be correct, it has lost statements made by Nebuchadnezzar less than three feet of its original height. | that the walls of his temples were often 9 Or "sandal-wood colour” (sandali, “clothed with gold;" 3. in the parallel Pers.; oavoapókirov, Greek). The foun- ornamentation of Ecbatana (Herod. i.98) 548 Chap. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. the fifth, the stage of Venus, received a pale yellow tint from the employment of bricks of that hue;15 the sixth, the sphere of Mercury, was given an azure tint by vitrifaction, the whole stage having been subjected to an intense heat after it was erected, whereby the bricks composing it were converted into a mass of blue slag ; 16 the seventh stage, that of the Moon, was probably, like the fourth, coated with actual plates of metal." Thus the building rose up in stripes of varied colour, arranged almost as nature's cunning arranges hues in the rainbow, tones of red coming first, succeeded by a broad stripe of yellow, the yellow being followed by blue. Above this the glowing silvery summit melted into the bright sheen of the sky. The faces of the various stages were, as a general rule, flat and unbroken, unless it were by a stair or ascent,18 of which however there has been found no trace. But there were two exceptions to this general plainness. The basement stage was indented with a number of shallow squared recesses, which seem to have been intended for a decoration.19 The face of the third stage was weak on account of its material, which was brick but half-burnt. Here then the builders, not for orna- ment's sake, but to strengthen their work, gave to the wall the support of a number of shallow buttresses. They also departed from their usual practice, by substituting for the rigid perpen- dicular of the other faces a slight slope outwards for some distance from the base 20 These arrangements, which are appa- rently part of the original work, and not remedies applied subsequently, imply considerable knowledge of architectural 13 As. Soc. Journ. pp. 21, 22. 1. s. c.) and the analogy of the fourth 16 Ibid. pp. 6, 7. This vitrifaction of stage. See note ". the upper portions of the tower has 18 Sir H. Rawlinson believes that given rise to the belief- as old as Benja- staircases occupied most of the north- min of Tudela-that it had been struck eastern face or true front of the building. by lightning, and so destroyed, whence 1 (As, Soc. Journil, vol. xviii. p. 19.) he and others argued that it was the 19 Ibid. p. 13. Similar recesses adorn true tower of Babel. But the vitrifac- ! the great Temple-tower at Nimrud (see tion seems really to have been the work, vol. i. p. 316), and many buildings of of man, and its object was to produce a Nebuchadnezzar (Loftus, Chaldea and blue colour Susianı, p. 246, &c.). 17 This is a conjecture, grounded upon 20 Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. the parallel case of Ecbatana (Herod. ' xviii. p. 10. 550 Chap. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. existing ruin is prolonged in an irregular manner; and it is imagined that this prolongation marks the site of a vestibule or propylæum, originally distinct from the tower, but now, through the crumbling down of both buildings, confused with its ruins. As no scientific examination has been made of this part of the mound, the above supposition can only be regarded as a con- jecture. Possibly the excrescence does not so much mark a vestibule as a second shrine, like that which is said to have existed at the foot of the Belus Tower at Babylon. Till, how- ever, additional researches have been made, it is in vain to think of restoring the plan or elevation of this part of the temple. From the temples of the Babylonians we may now pass to their palaces—constructions inferior in height and grandeur, but covering a greater space, involving a larger amount of labour, and admitting of more architectural variety. Unfortu- nately the palaces have suffered from the ravages of time even more than the temples, and in considering their plan and cha- racter we obtain little help from the existing remains. Still, something may be learnt of them from this source, and where it fails we may perhaps be allowed to eke out the scantiness of our materials by drawing from the elaborate descriptions of Diodorus such points as have probability in their favour. The Babylonian palace, like the Assyrian and the Susianian," stood upon a lofty mound or platform. This arrangement pro- vided at once for safety, for enjoyment, and for bealth. It secured a pure air, freedom from the molestation of insects, and a position only assailable at a few points. The ordinary shape of the palace mound appears to have been square ;" its eleva- tion was probably not less than 50 or 60 feet. It was com- • Herod. i. 183. I 19 As the sides of the platform were ; M. Oppert attempts this restoration i perpendicular, the only places at which (see his Plates, E sai de Restuuration de l it could be attacked were its staircases. la tour des sept Planètes), but accom- 1 The square shape of the Kasr plishes it in a manner which is very mound is very decided. See the plan, unsatisfactory. supra, p. 521. Assyrian platforms were * Supra, vol. i. pp. 278-280. in general rectangular (supra, vol. i. p. 9 See the author's Herodotus, vol. ij., 280). pp. 207, 208, 2nd edition. Compare 12 It is difficult to reconcile the state- Loftus, Chaldæa and Susiana, pp. 343-345. ments of different writers .as to the CHAP. V. BABYLONIAN PALACES. 551 posed mainly of sun-dried bricks, which howerer were almost . certainly enclosed externally by a facing of burnt brick, and may have been further strengthened within by walls of the same material, which perhaps traversed the whole mound.13 The entire mass seems to have been carefully drained, and the collected waters were conveyed through subterranean channels to the level of the plain at the mound's base.14 The summit of the platform was no doubt paved, either with stone or burnt brick-mainly, it is probable, with the latter; since the former material was scarce, and though a certain number of stone pavement slabs have been found,15 they are too rare and scat- tered to imply anything like the general use of stone paving. Upon the platform, most likely towards its centre,16 rose the actual palace, not built (like the Assyrian palaces) of crude brick faced with a better material, but constructed wholly of the finest and hardest burnt brick laid in a mortar of extreme tenacity,17 with walls of enormous thickness, 18 parallel to the sides of the mound, and meeting each other at right angles. Neither the ground plan nor the elevation of a Babylonian palace can be given; nor can even a conjectural restoration of such a building be made, since the small fragment of Nebu- chadnezzar's palace which remains has defied all attempts to reduce it to system.19 We can only say that the lines of the height of the Babylonian mounds, which is laid bare. (Rich, First Memoir, p. 24; have seldom been ascertained scienti Ker Porter, Travels, vol. ii. p. 359, 360; fically. Rich estimates the Amran mound Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 506.) at 50 or 60 feet (First Memoir, p. 21); It See above, p. 524. M. Oppert at 30 mètres (Expédition, 15 Oppert, Expédition scientifique, tom. tom, i. p. 158), or nearly 100 feet. The i. p. 149. These pavement slabs were exact height of the Kasr mound I do square, about 20 inches each way. not find estimated; but Rich says that 16 The existing remains of building one of its ravines is “ 40 or 50 feet are situated towards the centre of the deep" (First Memoir, p. 23). I assume Kasr mound. (See the plan, p. 524). it therefore to be higher than the Am 17 Rich, p. 25; Ker Porter, vol. ii. p. ran mound; and I imagine that both 360; Layard, Ninereh and Babylon, p. 506. attain, in places, an elevation of 80 or 18 The existing walls of the Kasr are 90 feet. Of this height I conceive that eight feet thick. (Rich, 1. s. c.) at any rate not more than 30 feet can 19 Layard, Nin, and Bab, 1. s. c. “I be assigned to the debris of the actual sought in vain for some clue to the palace, and that the remainder must be general plan of the edifice.” Even M. the height of the mound or platform Oppert, who is seldom stopped by a on which it stood. difficulty, can only venture to represent 13 Such walls seem to occur wherever | the building as a huge square covering the internal structure of the Kasr mound not quite one-fourth of the mound. 554 CHAP. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. to produce an artificial imitation of a mountain. For this purpose several tiers of arches were necessary; and these appear to bave been constructed in the manner of a Roman amphitheatre, one directly over another, so that the outer wall formed from summit to base a single perpendicular line. Of the height of the structure various accounts are given, while no writer reports the number of the tiers of arches. Hence there are no sufficient data for a reconstruction of the editice. Of the walls and bridge of Babylon, and of the ordinary houses of the people, little more is known than has been already reported in the general description of the capital. It does not appear that they possessed any very great architectural merit. Some skill was shown in constructing the piers of the bridge, which presented an angle to the current and then a curved line, along which the water slid gently.10 The loftiness of the houses, which were of three or four stories," is cer- tainly surprising, since Oriental houses have very rarely more than two stories. Their con- struction, however, seems to have been rude; and the pillars especially-posts of palm, sur- rounded with wisps of rushes, and then plastered and painted 12 -indicate a low condition of taste and a poor and coarse style of domestic architecture. The material used by the Babylonians in their constructions seems to have been almost entirely brick. Like the early Chaldæans, 13 they employed bricks of two kinds, both the ruder 5 Berosus, Fr. 14; Diod. Sic. 1. s. c.; Q. Curt. I. s.c. 6 This is, I think, the meaning of Diodorus, when he says that the appear- ance was that of a theatre. ("Eoti 8' ο παράδεισος .... τας οικοδομίας άλ. λας εξ άλλων έχων, ώστε την πρόσ- οψιν είναι θεατροειδή.) i Curtius and Diodorus both make the height that of the walls of Babylon, which the former, however, estimates at 150 and the latter at 300 feet. Curtius places the garden on the palace mound ("super arce"), which would imply for the actual structure of the garden a height of not much more than 90 or 100 feet. & M. Oppert attempts a reconstruction of the ground plan (Expédition, maps and plans). He makes the stages nine in number, and each of smaller size than the one below it. 9 Supra, pp. 514 and 518-520. 10 Diod. Sic. ii. 8, $ 2. 11 Herod, i. 180. 12 Strab. xvi. 1, $ 5. See above, p. 514, 13 Supra, vol. i. p. 71. CHAP. V. · BABYLONIAN BRICKS. 555 sun-dried sort, and the very superior kiln-baked article. The former, however, was only applied to platforms, and to the interior of palace mounds and of very thick walls, and was never made by the later people the sole material of a building. 14 In every case there was at least a revêtement of kiln-dried brick, while the grander buildings were wholly constructed of it.15 The baked bricks used were of several different qualities, and (within rather narrow limits) of different sizes. The finest quality of brick was yellow, approaching to our Stourbridge or fire-brick ; 16 another very hard kind was blue, approaching to black ;17 the commoner and coarser sorts were pink or red, and Babylonian brick. these were sometimes, though rarely, but half-baked, in which case they were weak and friable.18 The shape was always square; and the dimensions varied between twelve and fourteen inches for the length and breadth, and between three and four inches for the thickness,19 At the corners of buildings, half-bricks were used in the alternate rows, since otherwise the joinings must have been all one exactly over another. The bricks were 14 As it was by the early Chaldæans. ' 17 Ibid. p. 62. Compare As. Soc. (See vol. i. pp. 74, 75.) | Journal, vol. xviii. p. 6, note 15 The walls of the Kasr, which are 18 As. Soc. Journal, vol. xviii. p. 9. eight feet thick (Rich, First Memoir, p.' 19 Compare Rich, First Memoir, p. 61; 27), are composed of burnt brick through :Sir H. Rawlinson, in the Journal of the out their whole breadth. Asiatic Society, vol. xviii. p. 8; and M. . 16 Rich, p. 61. Oppert, Expédition, tom. i. p. 143. 556 Cuar. V. TIJE FOURTH MONARCHY. always made with a mould, and were commonly stamped on one face with an inscription.20 They were, of course, ordinarily laid horizontally. Sometimes, however, there was a departure from this practice. Rows of bricks were placed vertically, separated from one another by single horizontal layers. This arrange- ment seems to have been regarded as conducing to strength, since it occurs only where there is an evident intention of sup- porting a weak construction by the use of special architectural expedients. The Babylonian builders made use of three different kinds of cement.22 The most indifferent was crude clay, or mud, which was mixed with chopped straw, to give it greater tenacity, and was applied in layers of extraordinary thickness. 23 This was (it is probable) employed only where it was requisite that the face of the building should have a certain colour. A cement superior to clay, but not of any very high value, unless as a preventive against damp, was bitumen, which was very gene- rally used in basements and in other structures exposed to the action of water. Mortar, however, or lime cement was far more commonly emploved than either of the others, and was of very excellent quality, equal indeed to the best Roman material.24 There can be no doubt that the general effect of the more ambitious efforts of the Babylonian architects was grand and imposing. Even now, in their desolation and ruin, their great size renders them impressive; and there are times and states of atmosphere under which they fill the beholder with a sort of admiring awe,25 akin to the feeling which is called forth by the 20 The stamp on Babylonian bricks is | Sir Henry Rawlinson in one of the always sunk below the surface. It is of stages of the Birs-i-Nimrud (Journil of a square or rectangular form, and oc- As. Society, vol. xviii. p. 10.) curs commonly towards the middle of 29 Rich, First Memoir, p. 62. one of the two larger faces. The letters 23 At the Birs, the red clay cement are indented upon the clay, and must used in the third stage has a depth of consequently have stood out in relief two inches. (As. Soc. Journ. p. 9.) upon the wooden or metal stamp which 24 On the excellence of the Babylonian impressed them. M. Oppert observes mortar, see Rich, p. 25; Layard, Ninecch that the use of such a stamp was the and Babylon, p. 505, first beginning of printing (“un com 25 See Rich, First Memoir, pp. 35, 36. mencement d'imprimerie,' Expedition, Compare M. Oppert (Expedition, tom. i. p. 142). The stamped face of the brick p. 200), who says: “Le Birs-Nimroud was always placed downwards. apparaît bientôt après la sortie de Hillah 21 This arrangement was found by comme une montyne que l'on croit pou- СНАР. У. BABYLONIAN MIMETIC ART. 557 contemplation of the great works of nature. Ride and inarti- ficial in their idea and general construction, without architec- tural embellishment, without variety, without any beauty of form, they yet affect men by their mere mass, producing a direct impression of sublimity, and at the same time arousing a senti- ment of wonder at the indomitable perseverance which from materials so unpromising could produce such gigantic results. In their original condition, when they were adorned with colour, with a lavish display of the precious metals, with pictured representations of human life, and perhaps with statuary of a rough kind, they must have added to the impression produced by size a sense of richness and barbaric magnificence. The African spirit, which loves gaudy hues and costly ornament, was still strong among the Babylonians, even after they had been Semitized; and by the side of Assyria, her colder and more correct northern sister, Babylonia showed herself a true child of the south-rich, glowing, careless of the laws of taste, bent on provoking admiration by the dazzling brilliancy of her appearanre. It is difficult to form a decided opinion as to the character of Babylonian mimetic art. The specimens discovered are so few, so fragmentary, and in some instances so worn by time and ex- posure, that we have scarcely the means of doing justice to the people in respect of this portion of their civilisation. Setting aside the intaglios on seals and gems, which have such a general character of quaintness and grotesqueness, or at any rate of formality, that we can scarcely look upon many of them as the serious efforts of artists doing their best, we possess not half a dozen specimens of the mimetic art of the people in question. We have one sculpture in the round, one or two modelled clay figures, a few bas-reliefs, one figure of a king engraved on stone, and a few animal forms represented on the voir atteindre immédiatement et qui į et demie; tout-à-coup le brouillard sem- recule toujours. Mais Perfet est bien ble se déchirer comme un rideau, et fait pus saisissant quand l'atmosphère, et entrevoir la masse colossale du Birs- c'est le cas à la pointe de jour et vers le Nimroud, d'autant plus intéressante que soir, est obscurcie par le brouillard. 'son aspect nous frappe de plus près et Alors on ne voit rien pendant une heure d'une manière completement inattendu." 558 CHAP. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. same material. Nothing more has reached us but fragments of pictorial representations too small for criticism to pronounce upon, and descriptions of ancient writers too incomplete to be of any great value. The single Babylonian sculpture in the round wbich has come down to our times is the colossal lion standing over the prostrate figure of a man, which is still to be seen on the Kast mound, as has been already mentioned. The accounts of travellers uniformly state that it is a work of no merit-either barbarously executed, or left unfinished by the sculptor 3—and probably much worn by exposure to the weather. A sketch Lion standing over a prostrate man (Babylon). made by a recent visiter and kindly communicated to the author, seems to show that, while the general form of the animal was tolerably well hit off, the proportions were in some respects misconceived, and the details not only rudely but I See above, p. 525. pert calls it "très-peu digne de Baby- ? Ker Porter calls the figure one “of lone,” and speaks of its “ valeur minime very rude workmanship” (Trarels, vol. , comme æuvre d'art." (Expédition, tom. ii. p. 406). Mr. Layard says it is i. p. 148.) “ either so barbarously executed as to i 3 So, besides Mr. Layard (I. s. c.), M. show very little progress in art,"' or Thomas, who accompanied M. Fresnel else “left unfinished by the sculptor." ! (Journal asiatique, Juin, 1853, p. 525), (Ninereh and Babylon, p. 507.) Mr. and M. Oppert. Loftus speaks of it as “roughly cut." | • Mr. Claude Clerk, now governor of (Chaldæi and Susiana, p. 19.) M. Op- the Military Prison, Southwark. CHAP. V. MODELLED FIGURE IN CLAY. 559 incorrectly rendered. The extreme shortness of the legs and the extreme thickness of the tail, are the most prominent errors; there is also great awkwardness in the whole repre- sentation of the beast's shoulder. The head is so mutilated that it is impossible to do more than conjecture its contour. Still the whole figure is not without a certain air of grandeur and majesty. The human appears to be inferior to the animal form. The prostrate man is altogether shapeless, and can never, it would seem, have been very much better than it is at the present time. Modelled figures in clay are of rare occurrence. The best is one figured by Ker Porter, which represents a mother with a child in her arms. The mother is seated in a natural and not ungraceful attitude on a rough square pedestal. She is naked except for a hood, or mantilla, which covers the head, shoulders, and back, and a narrow apron which hangs down in front. She wears ear-rings and a bracelet. The child, which sleeps on her left shoulder, wears a shirt open in front, and a short but full tunic, which is gathered into plaits. Both figures are in simple and natural taste, but the limbs of the infant are - somewhat too thin and deli- Mother and child (found at Babylon). cate. The statuette is about three inches and a half high, and shows signs of having been covered with a tinted glaze. AKO 3 Travels, vol. ii. pl. 80, fig. 3. 560 Char, V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. TO { The single figure of a king, which we possess 6 is clumsy and ungraceful. It is chiefly remarkable for the ela- borate ornamentation of the head-dress and the robes, which have a finish equal to that of the best Assyrian specimens. The general proportions are not bad; but the form is stiff, and the drawing of the right hand is pe- culiarly faulty, since it would be scarcely pos- sible to hold arrows in the manner represented.? The engraved animal forms have a certain amount of merit. The figure of a dog sitting, which is common on the “black stones,"8 is drawn with spirit; and a bird, sometimes regarded as a cock, but more re- sembling a bustard, is · touched with a delicate == hand, and may be pro- Figure of a Babylonian king, probably Merodach- nounced superior to any Assyrian representation 23 iddin-akhi. 6 This figure is engraved on a large fingers; and the thumb does not touch black stone brought from Babylon, and the arrows. now in the British Museum. It probably' & The dog probably represents a con- represents the king Merodach-iddin-akhi, stellation or a star-perhaps the Dog-star. who warred with Tiglath-Pileser I. about The type is a fixed one, and occurs on B.c. 1120. (See above, pp. 77, 78.) i seals and gems no less than on the “ black ? The artist has somewhat improved stones." (See Ker Porter, vol, ii. pl. 80, the drawing of this hand in the wood- fig. 2; Lajard, Culte de Mithra, pl. xlvi. cut. In the origina more is seen of the figs. 23 and 24; pl. liv. B, fig. 15.) Chap. V. ENGRAVED ANIMAL FORMS. 561 of the feathered tribe. The hound on a bas-relief, given in the first volume of this work, is also good and the cylinders exhibit figures of goats, cows, deer, and even mon- keys,10 which are truthful and meri- torious. (See next page.) It has been ob- served that the main characteristic of the engravings on gems and cylin- Figure of a dog (from a black stone of the time of Mero- ders, considered as dach-iddin-akhi, found at Babylon.) works of mimetic art, is their quaint- ness and grotesque- ness. A few speci- mens, taken almost at random from the admirable col- lection of M. Felix Lajard, will suffi- ciently illustrate this feature. In onell the central Figure of a bird (from the same stone). position is occu- pied by a human figure whose left arm has two elbow-joints, while towards the right two sitting figures threaten one another with their fists, in the upper quarter, and in the lower two See vol. i. p. 235, No. II. The date ! represented, p. 562, and the quaint draw- of this tablet is uncertain; but Sir H. ing of a monkey playing the pipe, are Rawlinson is on the whole inclined to given by M. Lajard (Culte de Mithra, pl. regard it as Babylonian rather than liv. B, No. 8, and pl. xxix. No. 7) from Proto-Chaldæan. cylinders in the collections of the Duc 10 For the goats and cows, see above, de Luynes and the Bibliothèque Royale. p. 495. The exquisite figure of a deer " Lajard, pl. xxxiii. No. 5. VOL. II. 2 o 562 CHAP. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. nondescript animals do the same with their jaws. The entire drawing of this design seems to be intentionally rude. The faces of the main figures are evidently intended to be ridiculous; and the heads of the two animals are extrava- gantly grotesque. On another cylinder 12 three nondescript ani- mals play the prin- cipal part. One of them is on the point of taking into his mouth the head of a man who vainly tries to escape by flight, Another, with the head of a pike, tries to devour the third, which has the head Animal forms (from the cylinders). of a bird and the body of a goat. This kind intention seems to be disputed by a naked man with a long beard, who seizes the DE 41 ecil fish-headed monster with his right hand, and at the same time Grotesque figures of men and animals (from a cylinder). administers from be hind a severe kick with his right foot. The heads of the three main monsters, the tail and trousers of the principal one, and the whole of the small figure in front of the flying man, are exceedingly 0000 0000) oooo 0000) 10000 10° 000 12 Lajard, pl. xiii. No. 5. CHAP. V. GROTESQUE FIGURES. 563 quaint, and remind one of the pencil of Fuseli. The third of the designs 13 approaches nearly to the modern caricature. It is a drawing in two portions. The upper line of figures 14 re- presents a pro- cession of wor- shippers who bear in solemn state their offer- ings to a god. Men and monsters (from a cylinder). In the lower line this occu- pation is turned to a jest. Non- descript ani- DU KUN IKEA mals bring with Serio-comic drawing (from a cylinder). a serio - comic air offerings which consist chiefly of game, while a man in a mask seeks to steal away the sacred tree from the temple wherein the scene is enacted. It is probable that the most elaborate and most artistic of the Babylonian works of art were of a kind which has almost wholly perished. What bas-relief was to the Assyrian, what painting is to moderns, that enamelling upon brick appears to have been to the people of Babylon. The mimetic power, which delights in representing to itself the forms and actions of men, found a vent in this curious by way of the graphic art; and “the images of the Chaldæans, portrayed upon the wall, with vermillion,” i and other hues, formed the favourite adornment of palaces and public buildings, at once employing the artist, gratifying the taste of the native connoisseur, and attracting the admiration of the foreigner.2 13 Lajard, pl. xxix. No. 1. Ezek. xxiii. 14. 14 The upper line has been omitted, 1 ? Ibid. ver. 16. “As soon as she saw as containing nothing quaint or gro- | them with her eyes she doted upon tesque. ¡ them.” 2 o 2 566 CHAP. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. From the mimetic art of the Babylonians, and the branches of knowledge connected with it, we may now pass to the purely mechanical arts, -as the art by which hard stones were cut, and those of agriculture, metallurgy, pottery, weaving, carpet-making, embroidery, and the like. The stones shaped, bored, and engraved by Babylonian artisans were not merely the softer and more easily worked kinds, as alabaster, serpentine, and lapis-lazuli, but also the harder sorts,- cornelian, agate, quartz, jasper, sienite, loadstone, and green felspar or amazon-stone. These can certainly not have been cut without emery, and scarcely without such devices as rapidly revolving points, or disks, of the kind used by modern lapidaries. Though the devices are in general rude, the work is sometimes exceedingly delicate, and implies a complete mastery over tools and materials, as well as a good deal of artistic power. As far as the mechanical part of the art goes, the Babylonians may challenge comparison with the most advanced of the nations of antiquity--they decidedly excel the Egyptians,20 and fall little, if at all, short of the Greeks and Romans. The extreme minuteness of the work in some of the Babylonian seals and gems raises a suspicion that they must have been engraved by the help of a powerful magnifying-glass. A lens has been found in Assyria ; 21 and there is much reason to believe that the convenience was at least as well known in the lower country.22 Glass was certainly in use,23 and was cut into such shapes as were required. It is at any rate exceedingly likely that magnifying-glasses, which were undoubtedly known to the Greeks in the time of Aristophanes, 24 were employed by the artisans of Babylon during the most flourishing period of the empire. Of Babylonian metal-work we have scarcely any direct means of judging. The accounts of ancient authors imply that the 19 It is difficult in most instances to 21 Supra, vol. i. p. 390. decide from the cylinders themselves 22 We shall find below that, on astro- whether they are Babylonian or As nomical grounds, the possession of lenses syrian. We must be chiefly guided by by the Babylonians is to be suspected. the locality where they were found. It * 23 The Babylonian mounds are covered is believed that cylinders have been with fragments of glass. (Layard, Vin. found in Babylonia of all these ma- ! and Bab. p. 507.) terials. 24 Aristoph. Nu). 746-748, ed. Bothe. 20 See King's Ant. Gems, p. 127, note. CHAP. V. METAL WORK. 567 Babylonians dealt freely with the material, using gold and silver for statues, furniture, and utensils, bronze for gates and images, and iron sometimes for the latter. We may assume that they likewise employed bronze and iron for tools and weapons, since those metals were certainly so used by the Assyrians. Lead was made of service in building;? where iron was also employed, if great strength was needde. The golden images are said to have been sometimes solid,' in which case we must suppose them to have been cast in a mould; but undoubtedly in most cases the gold was a mere external covering, and was applied in plates, which were hammered into shape 5 upon some cheaper substance below. Silver was no doubt used also in plates, more especially when applied externally to walls, or internally to the woodwork of palaces ;? but the silver images, ornamental figures, and utensils of which we hear, were most probably solid. The bronze-works must have been remarkable. We are told that both the town and the palace gates were of this material, and it is implied that the latter were too heavy to be opened in the ordinary manner. Castings on an enormous scale would be requisite for such purposes; and the Baby- lonians must thus have possessed the art of running into a single mould vast masses of metal. Probably the gates here mentioned were solid : 10 but occasionally, it would seem, the Babylonians had gates of a different kind, composed of a number of perpendicular bars, united by horizontal ones above and below, Gate and gateway (from a cylinder). as in the accompanying woodcut. They had also, it would appear, metal gateways of a similar character. i See Daniel, iii. l; v. 4; Herod. i. 181-183; Diod. Sic. ii. 8, 8 7; 9, $ 5. Herod. i. 186; Diod. Sic. ii. 10, $ 5. 3 As in the piers of the great bridge. (Herod. I. s. c.) + Herod. i. 183. 5 pupňaata. Diod. Sic. ii, 9, S 6 Supra, p. 548. ? Nebuchadnezzar states frequently that the walls of his buildings are * clothed with silver.” & Herod. i. 179; Diod. Sic. ii. 8, $ 7. They are said to have been opened by a machine. (Diod. Sic. I. s. c.) 10 Like those made by Herod the Great for the Temple (Joseph. Bell. Jud. v. 5, § 3), which required 20 men to close them (ibid. vi. 5, § 3). We have no certain representations of Babylonian town-gates; but those drawn by the Assyrians are always solid. 1 This gate and gateway are repre- sented upon a cylinder figured by La- jard. (Culte de Mithra, pl. xli. fig. 5.) 568 CHAP. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. The metal-work of personal ornaments, such as bracelets and armlets, and again that of dagger-handles, seems to have resembled the work of the Assyrians 12 Small figures in bronze were occasionally cast by the Baby- lonians, which were sometimes pro- bably used as amulets, while perhaps more generally they were mere orna- ments of houses, furniture, and the like. Among these may be noticed figures of dogs in a sitting posture,13 much resembling the dog represented among the constellations, figures of men, grotesque in character, and figures of monsters. An interesting specimen which combines a man and a monster, was found by Sir R. Ker Porter at Babylon.15 The pottery of the Babylonians was of excellent quality, and is scarcely to be distinguished from the Assyrian, which it resembles alike in form and in material. The bricks of the best period were on the whole better than any used in the sister Bronze ornament (found at country, and may compare for hard- Babylon). ness and fineness with the best Ro- man. The earthenware is of a fine terracotta, generally of a light red colour, and slightly baked, but occasionally of a yellow hue, with a tinge of green. It consists of cups, jars, vases, and other vessels. They appear to have been made upon the wheel,17 and are in general unornamented. From 13 See the figure of a king (supra, p. ! 560). The bracelets have the almost invariable rosette of the Assyrians (supra, vol. i. p. 490). The dagger- handles are like those figured vol, i. p. 460, first woodcut. 13 Ker Porter, Trarels, vol. i. p. 425. 14 See above, p. 561; and infra, p. 574., 15 See the Travels, vol. ii. pl. 80, fig. 4. 1 6 Birch, Ancient Pottery, vol. i. p. 144. Compare the specimens of Assy. rian pottery represented in the first volume of the present worx (pp. 86- 389). 1. Birch, 1. s. c. Ca ky, Y. POTTEET-CLISS represeswiss cheers sites that the Sites were chea . L ai numir vis with the picks seem to live brez used for w a s the birerded or pittti less acl required bere the groues va saal. Thin ja wire dio is use, with statent ban. It is conjectar tot scenes wae tares mar bare eta intrciusi ai te sies as tardes to the rises; but ritter the crizers Cortse eriaat romains er run this suppositivi. The ouls osatution hitäerte che red consists in a del band tens to hare been carriti nuri come exttle rus's in an in r ete sir!. The rass sumetimes have the handles; but they are pain and smil, auuing nating to th: beauty of the resseis. Occasionally the whole ressel is ganel with a rich Llue cuivar. et OAV Vases and ing (from the cylinders). Vases in a stand (from a cylinder) Vase with handles (found in Babylonia) The Babylonians certainly employed glass for vessels of a small size 21 They appear not to have been rery skiltul blowers, since their bottles are not unfrequently misshapen. They generally stained their glass with some colouring matter, and occasionally ornamented it with a ribbing. Whether they were able to form masses of glass of any considerable size, whether they used it, like the Egyptians,” for beads and 18 See Lajard, pls. xxxiii. fig. 1; xxxv. fig. 3; and liv. A, fig. 9. 19 Birch, Ancient Pottery, vol. i. p. 148. • 20 See above, woodcut, No. 2, where both vases are thus ornamented. 21 Several small glass bottles were found by Mr. Layard in the mound of Babil. (Ninereh and Bhagen, p. 503.) Broken glass is abundant in the rubbish of the mounds generally. (Rich, Först Jlemoir, p 29; Ker Porter, Trunreis, vol. ii, p. 392.) "Wilkinson, Ancant Ewyptians, vol. iii. p. 101. 570 CHAP. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. bugles, or for mosaics, is uncertain. If we suppose a founda- tion in fact for Pliny's story of the great emerald (?) presented by a king of Babylon to an Egyptian Pharaoh,23 we must con- Babylonian glass bottles. clude that very considerable masses of glass were produced by the Babylonians, at least occasionally ; for the said emerald, which can scarcely have been of any other material, was four cubits (or six feet) long and three cubits (or four and a half feet) broad. Of all the productions of the Babylonians none obtained such high repute in ancient times as their textile fabrics. Their carpets especially were of great celebrity, and were largely exported to foreign countries.24 They were dyed of various colours, and represented objects similar to those found on the gems, as griffins and such like monsters.25 Their position in the ancient world may be compared to that which is now borne by the fabrics of Turkey and Persia, which are deservedly preferred to those of all other countries. Next to their carpets, the highest character was borne by their muslins. Formed of the finest cotton, and dyed of the most brilliant colours, they seemed to the Oriental the very best possible material for dress. The Persian kings preferred them for their own wear; 26 and they had an early fame in foreign countries at a considerable distance from Babylonia. 27 23 Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 5. 24 Athen. Deipn. v. p. 197; Arrian, Exp. Al. vi, 29. 25 Athen. I. s. C. 26 Arrian, 1. 8. C. 27 The “goodly Babylonish garment" coveted by Achan in Palestine shortly after the Exodus of the Jews (Josh. vii. 21) is indicative of the early celebrity of Babylonian apparel. CHAP. V. SCIENCE - ASTRONOMY. 571 It is probable that they were sometimes embroidered with delicate patterns, such as those which may be seen on the gar- ments of the early Babylonian king (figured page 560). Besides woollen and cotton fabrics, the Babylonians also manufactured a good deal of linen cloth, the principal seat of the manufacture being Borsippa.28 This material was pro- duced, it is probable, chiefly for home consumption, long linen robes being generally worn by the people.29 From the arts of the Babylonians we may now pass to their science-an obscure subject, but one which possesses more than common interest. If the classical writers were correct in their belief that Chaldæa was the birthplace of Astronomy, and that their own astronomical science was derived mainly from this quarter, it must be well worth enquiry what the amount of knowledge was which the Babylonians attained on the subject, and what were the means whereby they made their dis- coveries. On the broad flat plains of Chaldæa, where the entire celestial hemisphere is continually visible to every eye,and the clear transparent atmosphere shows night after night the heavens gemmed with countless stars, each shining with a brilliancy unknown in our moist northern climes, the attention of man was naturally turned earlier than elsewhere to these luminous bodies, and attempts were made to grasp, and reduce to scientific form, the array of facts which nature presented to the eye in a confused and tangled mass. It required no very 28 Strab. xvi. 1, $ 7. I cracy of the later Greeks, which in his 29 Herod. i. 195. own mind seems to have rested on a I See Plat. Epinom. p. 987; Hipparch. conviction that the lively intelligent ap. Procl. in Tim. p. 71, ed. Schneider; Greeks could not have been so indebted Phænix Coloph. ap. Athen. Deipn, xii. as they said they were to “the obtuse, p. 530, E; Diod. Sic. ii. 31; Cic. De Dir. uninventive, and immovable intellect of i. 1: Plin. H. N. vi. 26; Manil. i. 40 Orientals.” (Astronomy of the Ancients, 45; &c. The late Sir Cornewall Lewis pp. 290, 291.) questioned the truth of this belief, and **? Compare Cic. De Div. I. s. c. “Prin- asserted that “the later Greeks appear / cipio Assyrii, ut ab ultimis auctoritatem to have been wanting in that national repetam, propter planitiem magnitudi- spirit which leads modern historians of nemque regionum quus incolebant, cum science to contend for the claims of their ! cælum ab omni parte patens atque own countrymen to inventions and dis- apertum intuerentur, trajectiones mo- coveries.” But he failed to adduce any tusque stellarum observitaverunt.' sufficient proof of this strange idiosyn- 572 CHAP. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. long course of observation to acquaint men with a truth, which at first sight none would have suspected—namely, that the luminous points whereof the sky was full were of two kinds, some always maintaining the same position relatively to one another, while others were constantly changing their places, and as it were wandering about the sky. It is certain that the Babylonians at a very early date 3 distinguished from the fixed stars those remarkable five, which, from their wandering pro- pensities, the Greeks called the "planets,” and which are the only erratic stars that the naked eye, or that even the tele- scope, except at a very high power, can discern. With these five they were soon led to class the Moon, which was easily observed to be a wandering luminary, changing her place among the fixed stars with remarkable rapidity. Ultimately, it came to be perceived that the Sun too rose and set at different parts of the year in the neighbourhood of different constella- tions, and that consequently the great luminary was itself also a wanderer, having a path in the sky which it was possible, by means of careful observation, to mark out. But to do this, to mark out with accuracy the courses of the Sun and Moon among the fixed stars, it was necessary, or at least convenient, to arrange the stars themselves into groups. Thus, too, and thus only, was it possible to give form and order to the chaotic confusion, in which the stars seem at first sight to lie, owing to the irregularity of their intervals, the difference in their magnitude, and their apparent countlessness. The most uneducated eye, when raised to the starry heavens on a clear night, fixes here and there upon groups of stars : in the north, Cassiopeia, the Great Bear, the Pleiades-below the Equator, the Southern Cross-must at all times have impressed those who beheld them with a certain sense of unity. Thus the idea of a “constellation ” is formed; and this once done, the mind naturally progresses in the same direction, and little by little 3 The cosmogony of the Babylonians, | The planetary character of the five gods, as described by Berosus, has the air of Nin, Merodach, Nergal, Ishtar, and a very high antiquity about it. In this Nebo, belongs even to Proto-Chaldæan document the “five planets" are dis- times. (See above, vol. i. pp. 131-142.) tinctly mentioned. (Beros. Fr. 1, $ 6.) CHAP. V. ASTRONOMY. 573 the whole sky 4 is mapped out into certain portions or districts to which names are given--names taken from some resemblance, real or fancied, between the shapes of the several groups and objects familiar to the early observers. This branch of practical astronomy is termed “uranography” by moderns; its utility is very considerable ; thus and thus only can we particularise the individual stars of which we wish to speak;5 thus and thus only can we retain in our memory the general arrangement of the stars and their positions relatively to each other. There is reason to believe that in the early Babylonian astronomy the subject of uranography occupied a prominent place. The Chaldæan astronomers not only seized on and named those natural groups which force themselves upon the eye, but artificially arranged the whole heavens into a certain number of constellations or asterisms. The very system of uranography which maintains itself to the present day on our celestial globes and maps, and which is still acknowledged albeit under protest?– in the nomencla- ture of scientific astronomers, came in all probability from this source, reaching us from the Arabians, who took it from the Greeks, who derived it from the Baby- lonians. The Zodiacal constellations, at 95 any rate, or those through which the Top of conical stone, bearing sun's course lies, would seem to have had figur this origin; and many of them may be distinctly recognised on of constellation stars” * Excepting certain insignificant por- ! 6 Sir John Herschel observes that a tions which intervene between one con- ' proper system of constellations is valu- stellation and another. The stars in ! able " as an artificial memory." (Out- these portions are called “unformed lines of Astronomy, p. 181, note.) ? Astronomers are said at the present 5 The letters of the Greek alphabet day to "treat lightly or altogether to are assigned to the several stars in each disregard " the outlines of men and constellation; a to the largest, B to the monsters which figure on our celestial next largest, and so on. Thus astro globes; and the actual arrangement is nomers speak of “ B Virginis," “ Pis said to cause confusion and incon- cium," " & Lyræ," and thereby indicate venience. (Herschel, 1. s. c.) But the to each other distinctly the particular terminology is still used, and a Leonis, star about which they have something B Scorpii, &c., remain the sole expres- to say. (See Fergusson's Astronomy, p. sions by which the particular stars can 232.) be designated. 574 THE FOURTH MONARCHY. CHAP. V. Babylonian monuments which are plainly of a stellar character. 8 The accompanying representation, taken from a conical black stone in the British Museum, and belonging to the twelfth century before our era, is not perhaps, strictly speaking, a 0 0 0 no 0 Babylonian Zodiac (?) zodiac, but it is almost certainly an arrangement of constella- tions according to the forms assigned them in Babylonian urano- graphy. The Ram, the Bull, the Scorpion, the Serpent, the Doy, & The stellar character of such monu- | where the male and female sun and the ments as that engraved above is suffi- crescent moon are clearly represented. ciently indicated by the central group, CHAP. V. ASTRONOMICAL ACHIEVEMENTS. 577 from the truth with respect to the relative distance from the earth of the sun, moon, and planets. Adopting, as was natural, a geo- centric system, they decided that the Moon occupied the position nearest to the earth ; 13 that beyond the Moon was Mercury, beyond Mercury Venus, beyond Venus Mars, beyond Mars Jupiter, and beyond Jupiter, in the remotest position of all, Saturn.14 This arrangement was probably based upon a know- ledge, more or less exact, of the periodic times which the several bodies occupy in their (real or apparent) revolutions. From the difference in the times the Babylonians assumed a corresponding difference in the size of the orbits, and consequently a greater or less distance from the common centre. Thus far the astronomical achievements of the Babylonians rest upon the express testimony of ancient writers—a testimony confirmed in many respects by the monuments already de- ciphered. It is suspected that, whea the astronomical tablets which exist by hundreds in the British Museum come to be thoroughly understood, it will be found that the acquaintance of the Chaldæan sages with astronomical phenomena, if not also with astronomical laws, went considerably beyond the point at which we should place it upon the testimony of the Greek and Roman writers. 15 There is said to be distinct evidence that they observed the four satellites of Jupiter, and strong reason to believe that they were acquainted likewise with the seven satel- lites of Saturn. Moreover, the general laws of the movements of the heavenly bodies seem to have been so far known to them that they could state by anticipation the position of the various planets throughout the year. In order to attain the astronomical knowledge which they seem to have possessed, the Babylonians must undoubtedly have employed a certain number of instruments. The invention of sun-dials, as already observed,16 is distinctly assigned to them. 13 Diod. Sic. ii. 31, $ 5. I occupied the attention of Sir H. Rawlin - ** The arrangement of the great 'son. It is to be hoped that he will give temple at Borsippa already described, is to the world, before many months are a sufficient proof of the statement in the past, the results of his studies. They text. cannot fail to be highly interesting. 15 The astronomical tablets discovered 16 Supra, p. 576. in Mesopotamia have now for some time VOL. II. 2 p . 578 Ckap. V. THE FOURTH MONARCHY. Besides these contrivances for measuring time during the day, it is almost certain that they must have possessed means of mea- suring time during the night. The clepsydra, or water-clock which was in common use among the Greeks as early as the fifth century before our era,17 was probably introduced into Greece from the East, and is likely to have been a Babylonian inven- tion. The astrolabe, an instrument for measuring the altitude of stars above the horizon, which was known to Ptolemy, may also reasonably be assigned to them. It has generally been assumed that they were wholly ignorant of the telescope.18 But if the satellites of Saturn are really mentioned, as it is thought that they are, upon some of the tablets, it will follow—strange as it may seem to us—that the Babylonians possessed optical instruments of the nature of telescopes, since it is impossible, even in the clear and vapourless sky of Chaldæa, to discern the faint moons of that distant planet without lenses. A lens, it must be remembered, with a fair magnifying power, has been discovered among the Mesopotamian ruins.19 A people ingenious enough to discover the magnifying-glass would be naturally led on to the invention of its opposite. When once lenses of the two contrary kinds existed, the elements of a telescope were in being. We could not assume from these data that the discovery was made; but, if it shall ultimately be substantiated that bodies invisible to the naked eye were observed by the Babylonians, we need feel no difficulty in ascribing to them the possession of some telescopic instrument. The astronomical zeal of the Babylonians was in general, it must be confessed, no simple and pure love of an abstract science. A school of pure astronomers existed among them;1 but the bulk of those who engaged in the study undoubtedly pursued it in the belief that the heavenly bodies had a mysterious influence, not only upon the seasons, but upon the lives and actions of men-an influence which it was possible to discover 17 See Aristoph. Acharn. 653; Vesp. 93, 827. 18 Sir G. C. Lewis went so far as to · deny to the Babylonians, in general terms, the use of any instruments what- soever. (Astronomy of the Ancients, pp. 277, 278.) 19 See above, vol. i. p. 390. i Strab, xri. 1, $ 6. 580 CHAP. I THE FOURTH MONARCHY. tables showing what aspect of the heavens portended good o evil to particular countries.? Curiously enough, it appears tha they regarded their art as locally limited to the regions in habited by themselves and their kinsmen, so that while they could boldly predict storm, tempest, failing or abundant crops war, famine, and the like, for Syria, Babylonia, and Susiana they could venture on no prophecies with respect to othe. neighbouring lands, as Persia, Media, Armenia. A certain amount of real meteorological knowledge was pro bably mixed up with the Chaldæan astrology. Their calendars like modern almanacks, boldly predicted the weather for fixed days in the year. They must also have been mathematicians to no inconsiderable extent, since their methods appear to have been geometrical. It is said that the Greek mathematicians often quoted with approval the works of their Chaldæan prede cessors, Cidên, Naburianus, and Sudinus. Of the nature and extent of their mathematical acquirements no account, however, can be given, since the writers who mention them enter into no details on the subject. To gúvodov náoas às &K TOû teplé 1 χοντος γεννωμένας περιστάσεις ωφελί- Ι μους τε και βλαβερές ου μόνον έθνεσι και τόποις, αλλά και βασιλεύσι και τους τυχουσιν ιδιώταις. : Lists of these two kinds have been found by Sir H, Rawlinson among the tablets. & Columella, xi. 1, $ 3. 9 Strab. xvi. 1, § 6. END OF VOL. II. LONDON ; PRINTRD BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMYORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS. house puso at was contra con cose, s omo wewe