ASSYRIA'S AGE OF SPLENDOUR
Tiglath-pileser IV, the Biblical Pul--Babylonian Campaign--Urartian Ambitions in North Syria--Battle of Two Kings and Flight of Sharduris--Conquest of Syro-Cappadocian States--Hebrew History from Jehu to Menahem--Israel subject to Assyria--Urartu's Power broken--Ahaz's Appeal to Assyria--Damascus and Israel subdued--Babylonia united to Assyria--Shalmaneser and Hoshea--Sargon deports the "Lost Ten Tribes"--Merodach Baladan King of Babylonia--Egyptian Army of Allies routed--Ahaz and Isaiah--Frontier Campaigns--Merodach Baladan overthrown--Sennacherib and the Hittite States--Merodach Baladan's second and brief Reign--Hezekiah and Sennacherib--Destruction of Assyrian Army--Sack of Babylon-- Esarhaddon--A Second Semiramis--Raids of Elamites, Cimmerians, Scythians, and Medes--Sack of Sidon--Manasseh and Isaiah's Fate--Esarhaddon conquers Lower Egypt--Revolt of Assyrian Nobles--Ashurbanipal.
We now enter upon the last and most brilliant phase of Assyrian civilization--the period of the Third or New Empire during which flourished Tiglath-pileser IV, the mighty conqueror; the Shalmaneser of the Bible; "Sargon the Later", who transported the "lost ten tribes" of Israel; Sennacherib, the destroyer of Babylon, and Esarhaddon, who made Lower Egypt an Assyrian province. We also meet with notable figures of Biblical fame, including Ahaz, Hezekiah, Isaiah, and the idolatrous Manasseh.
Tiglath-pileser IV, who deposed Ashur-nirari IV, was known to the Babylonians as Pulu, which, some think, was a term of contempt signifying "wild animal". In the Bible he is referred to as Pul, Tiglath-pilneser, and Tiglath-pileser.[503] He came to the Assyrian throne towards the end of April in 745 B.C. and reigned until 727 B.C. We know nothing regarding his origin, but it seems clear that he was not of royal descent. He appears to have been a popular leader of the revolt against Ashur-nirari, who, like certain of his predecessors, had pronounced pro-Babylonian tendencies. It is significant to note in this connection that the new king was an unswerving adherent of the cult of Ashur, by the adherents of which he was probably strongly supported.
Tiglath-pileser combined in equal measure those qualities of generalship and statesmanship which were necessary for the reorganization of the Assyrian state and the revival of its military prestige. At the beginning of his reign there was much social discontent and suffering. The national exchequer had been exhausted by the loss of tribute from revolting provinces, trade was paralysed, and the industries were in a languishing condition. Plundering bands of Aramaeans were menacing the western frontiers and had overrun part of northern Babylonia. New political confederacies in Syria kept the north-west regions in a constant state of unrest, and the now powerful Urartian kingdom was threatening the Syro-Cappadocian states as if its rulers had dreams of building up a great world empire on the ruins of that of Assyria.
Tiglath-pileser first paid attention to Babylonia, and extinguished the resistance of the Aramaeans in Akkad. He appears to have been welcomed by Nabonassar, who became his vassal, and he offered sacrifices in the cities of Babylon, Sippar, Cuthah, and Nippur. Sippar had been occupied by Aramaeans, as on a previous occasion when they destroyed the temple of the sun god Shamash which was restored by Nabu-aplu-iddina of Babylon.
Tiglath-pileser did not overrun Chaldaea, but he destroyed its capital, Sarrabanu, and impaled King Nabu-ushabshi. He proclaimed himself "King of Sumer and Akkad" and "King of the Four Quarters". The frontier states of Elam and Media were visited and subdued.
Having disposed of the Aramaeans and other raiders, the Assyrian monarch had next to deal with his most powerful rival, Urartu. Argistis I had been succeeded by Sharduris III, who had formed an alliance with the north Mesopotamian king, Mati-ilu of Agusi, on whom Ashur-nirari had reposed his faith. Ere long Sharduris pressed southward from Malatia and compelled the north Syrian Hittite states, including Carchemish, to acknowledge his suzerainty. A struggle then ensued between Urartu and Assyria for the possession of the Syro-Cappadocian states.
At this time the reputation of Tiglath-pileser hung in the balance. If he failed in his attack on Urartu, his prestige would vanish at home and abroad and Sharduris might, after establishing himself in northern Syria, invade Assyria and compel its allegiance.
Two courses lay before Tiglath-pileser. He could either cross the mountains and invade Urartu, or strike at his rival in north Syria, where the influence of Assyria had been completely extinguished. The latter appeared to him to be the most feasible and judicious procedure, for if he succeeded in expelling the invaders he would at the same time compel the allegiance of the rebellious Hittite states.
In the spring of 743 B.C. Tiglath-pileser led his army across the Euphrates and reached Arpad without meeting with any resistance. The city appears to have opened its gates to him although it was in the kingdom of Mati-ilu, who acknowledged Urartian sway. Its foreign garrison was slaughtered. Well might Sharduris exclaim, in the words of the prophet, "Where is the king of Arpad? where are the gods of Arpad?"[504]
Leaving Arpad, Tiglath-pileser advanced to meet Sharduris, who was apparently hastening southward to attack the Assyrians in the rear. Tiglath-pileser, however, crossed the Euphrates and, moving northward, delivered an unexpected attack on the Urartian army in Qummukh. A fierce battle ensued, and one of its dramatic incidents was a single combat between the rival kings. The tide of battle flowed in Assyria's favour, and when evening was falling the chariots and cavalry of Urartu were thrown into confusion. An attempt was made to capture King Sharduris, who leapt from his chariot and made hasty escape on horseback, hotly pursued in the gathering darkness by an Assyrian contingent of cavalry. Not until "the bridge of the Euphrates" was reached was the exciting night chase abandoned.
Tiglath-pileser had achieved an overwhelming victory against an army superior to his own in numbers. Over 70,000 of the enemy were slain or taken captive, while the Urartian camp with its stores and horses and followers fell into the hands of the triumphant Assyrians. Tiglath-pileser burned the royal tent and throne as an offering to Ashur, and carried Sharduris's bed to the temple of the goddess of Nineveh, whither he returned to prepare a new plan of campaign against his northern rival.
Despite the blow dealt against Urartu, Assyria did not immediately regain possession of north Syria. The shifty Mati-ilu either cherished the hope that Sharduris would recover strength and again invade north Syria, or that he might himself establish an empire in that region. Tiglath-pileser had therefore to march westward again. For three years he conducted vigorous campaigns in "the western land", where he met with vigorous resistance. In 740 B.C. Arpad was captured and Mati-ilu deposed and probably put to death. Two years later Kullani and Hamath fell, and the districts which they controlled were included in the Assyrian empire and governed by Crown officials.
Once again the Hebrews came into contact with Assyria. The Dynasty of Jehu had come to an end by this time. Its fall may not have been unconnected with the trend of events in Assyria during the closing years of the Middle Empire.
Supported by Assyria, the kings of Israel had become powerful and haughty. Jehoash, the grandson of Jehu, had achieved successes in conflict with Damascus. In Judah the unstable Amaziah, son of Joash, was strong enough to lay a heavy hand on Edom, and flushed with triumph then resolved to readjust his relations with his overlord, the king of Israel. Accordingly he sent a communication to Jehoash which contained some proposal regarding their political relations, concluding with the offer or challenge, "Come, let us look one another in the face". A contemptuous answer was returned.
Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle. Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home, for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? But Amaziah would not hear. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh [city of Shamash, the sun god], which belongeth to Judah. And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to their tents.
Jehoash afterwards destroyed a large portion of the wall of Jerusalem and plundered the temple and palace, returning home to Samaria with rich booty and hostages.[505] Judah thus remained a vassal state of Israel's.
Jeroboam, son of Jehoash, had a long and prosperous reign. About 773 B.C. he appears to have co-operated with Assyria and conquered Damascus and Hamath. His son Zachariah, the last king of the Jehu Dynasty of Israel, came to the throne in 740 B.C. towards the close of the reign of Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah. Six months afterwards he was assassinated by Shallum. This usurper held sway at Samaria for only a month. "For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead."[506]
Tiglath-pileser was operating successfully in middle Syria when he had dealings with, among others, "Menihimme (Menahem) of the city of the Samarians", who paid tribute. No resistance was possible on the part of Menahem, the usurper, who was probably ready to welcome the Assyrian conqueror, so that, by arranging an alliance, he might secure his own position. The Biblical reference is as follows: "And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land."[507] Rezin of Damascus, Hiram of Tyre, and Zabibi, queen of the Arabians, also sent gifts to Tiglath-pileser at this time (738 B.C.). Aramaean revolts on the borders of Elam were suppressed by Assyrian governors, and large numbers of the inhabitants were transported to various places in Syria.
Tiglath-pileser next operated against the Median and other hill tribes in the north-east. In 735 B.C. he invaded Urartu, the great Armenian state which had threatened the supremacy of Assyria in north Syria and Cappadocia. King Sharduris was unable to protect his frontier or hamper the progress of the advancing army, which penetrated to his capital. Dhuspas was soon captured, but Sharduris took refuge in his rocky citadel which he and his predecessors had laboured to render impregnable. There he was able to defy the might of Assyria, for the fortress could be approached on the western side alone by a narrow path between high walls and towers, so that only a small force could find room to operate against the numerous garrison.
Tiglath-pileser had to content himself by devastating the city on the plain and the neighbouring villages. He overthrew buildings, destroyed orchards, and transported to Nineveh those of the inhabitants he had not put to the sword, with all the live stock he could lay hands on. Thus was Urartu crippled and humiliated: it never regained its former prestige among the northern states.
In the following year Tiglath-pileser returned to Syria. The circumstances which made this expedition necessary are of special interest on account of its Biblical associations. Menahem, king of Israel, had died, and was succeeded by his son Pekahiah. "But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired against him and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house, ... and he killed him, and reigned in his room."[508] When Pekah was on the throne, Ahaz began to reign over Judah.
Judah had taken advantage of the disturbed conditions in Israel to assert its independence. The walls of Jerusalem were repaired by Jotham, father of Ahaz, and a tunnel constructed to supply it with water. Isaiah refers to this tunnel: "Go forth and meet Ahaz ... at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field" (Isaiah, vii, 3).
Pekah had to deal with a powerful party in Israel which favoured the re-establishment of David's kingdom in Palestine. Their most prominent leader was the prophet Amos, whose eloquent exhortations were couched in no uncertain terms. He condemned Israel for its idolatries, and cried:
For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me and ye shall live.... Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.[509]
Pekah sought to extinguish the orthodox party's movement by subduing Judah. So he plotted with Rezin, king of Damascus. Amos prophesied,
Thus saith the Lord.... I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. I will break also the bar of Damascus ... and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir.... The remnant of the Philistines shall perish.
Tyre, Edom, and Ammon would also be punished.[510] Judah was completely isolated by the allies who acknowledged the suzerainty of Damascus. Soon after Ahaz came to the throne he found himself hemmed in on every side by adversaries who desired to accomplish his fall. "At that time Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah ...came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him."[511] Judah, however, was overrun; the city of Elath was captured and restored to Edom, while the Philistines were liberated from the control of Jerusalem.
Isaiah visited Ahaz and said,
Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.[512]
The unstable Ahaz had sought assistance from the Baal, and "made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen".[513] Then he resolved to purchase the sympathy of one of the great Powers. There was no hope of assistance from "the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt", for the Ethiopian Pharaohs had not yet conquered the Delta region, so he turned to "the bee that is in the land of Assyria".[514] Assyria was the last resource of the king of Judah.
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up and save me out of the hand of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir[515] and slew Rezin.[516]
Tiglath-pileser recorded that Rezin took refuge in his city like "a mouse". Israel was also dealt with.
In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria. And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.[517]
Tiglath-pileser recorded: "They overthrew Paqaha (Pekah), their king, and placed Ausi'a (Hoshea) over them". He swept through Israel "like a hurricane". The Philistines and the Arabians of the desert were also subdued. Tribute was sent to the Assyrian monarch by Phoenicia, Moab, Ammon, and Edom. It was a proud day for Ahaz when he paid a visit to Tiglath-pileser at Damascus.[518] An Assyrian governor was appointed to rule over Syria and its subject states.
Babylon next claimed the attention of Tiglath-pileser. Nabonassar had died and was succeeded by his son Nabu-nadin-zeri, who, after reigning for two years, was slain in a rebellion. The throne was then seized by Nabu-shum-ukin, but in less than two months this usurper was assassinated and the Chaldaeans had one of their chiefs, Ukinzer, proclaimed king (732 B.C.).
When the Assyrian king returned from Syria in 731 B.C. he invaded Babylonia. He was met with a stubborn resistance. Ukinzer took refuge in his capital, Shapia, which held out successfully, although the surrounding country was ravaged and despoiled. Two years afterwards Tiglath-pileser returned, captured Shapia, and restored peace throughout Babylonia. He was welcomed in Babylon, which opened its gates to him, and he had himself proclaimed king of Sumer and Akkad. The Chaldaeans paid tribute.
Tiglath-pileser had now reached the height of his ambition. He had not only extended his empire in the west from Cappadocia to the river of Egypt, crippled Urartu and pacified his eastern frontier, but brought Assyria into close union with Babylonia, the mother land, the home of culture and the land of the ancient gods. He did not live long, however, to enjoy his final triumph, for he died a little over twelve months after he "took the hands of Bel (Merodach)" at Babylon.
He was succeeded by Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C.), who may have been his son, but this is not quite certain. Little is known regarding his brief reign. In 725 B.C. he led an expedition to Syria and Phoenicia. Several of the vassal peoples had revolted when they heard of the death of Tiglath-pileser. These included the Phoenicians, the Philistines, and the Israelites who were intriguing with either Egypt or Mutsri.
Apparently Hoshea, king of Israel, pretended when the Assyrians entered his country that he remained friendly. Shalmaneser, however, was well informed, and made Hoshea a prisoner. Samaria closed its gates against him although their king had been dispatched to Assyria.
The Biblical account of the campaign is as follows: "Against him (Hoshea) came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt,[519] and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
"Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years."[520]
Shalmaneser died before Samaria was captured, and may have been assassinated. The next Assyrian monarch, Sargon II (722-705 B.C.), was not related to either of his two predecessors. He is referred to by Isaiah,[521] and is the Arkeanos of Ptolemy. He was the Assyrian monarch who deported the "Lost Ten Tribes".
"In the ninth year of Hoshea" (and the first of Sargon) "the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes."[522] In all, according to Sargon's record, "27,290 people dwelling in the midst of it (Samaria) I carried off".
They (the Israelites) left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven (the stars), and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.... And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth (Cuthah) made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharites burnt their children in fire to Adram-melech and Anam-melech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
A number of the new settlers were slain by lions, and the king of Assyria ordered that a Samaritan priest should be sent to "teach them the manner of the God of the land". This man was evidently an orthodox Hebrew, for he taught them "how they should fear the Lord.... So they feared the Lord", but also "served their own gods ... their graven images".[523]
There is no evidence to suggest that the "Ten Lost Tribes", "regarding whom so many nonsensical theories have been formed", were not ultimately absorbed by the peoples among whom they settled between Mesopotamia and the Median Highlands.[524] The various sections must have soon lost touch with one another. They were not united like the Jews (the people of Judah), who were transported to Babylonia a century and a half later, by a common religious bond, for although a few remained faithful to Abraham's God, the majority of the Israelites worshipped either the Baal or the Queen of Heaven.
The Assyrian policy of transporting the rebellious inhabitants of one part of their empire to another was intended to break their national spirit and compel them to become good and faithful subjects amongst the aliens, who must have disliked them. "The colonists," says Professor Maspero, "exposed to the same hatred as the original Assyrian conquerors, soon forgot to look upon the latter as the oppressors of all, and, allowing their present grudge to efface the memory of past injuries, did not hesitate to make common cause with them. In time of peace the (Assyrian) governor did his best to protect them against molestation on the part of the natives, and in return for this they rallied round him whenever the latter threatened to get out of hand, and helped him to stifle the revolt, or hold it in check until the arrival of reinforcements. Thanks to their help, the empire was consolidated and maintained without too many violent outbreaks in regions far removed from the capital, and beyond the immediate reach of the sovereign."[525]
While Sargon was absent in the west, a revolt broke out in Babylonia. A Chaldaean king, Merodach Baladan III, had allied himself with the Elamites, and occupied Babylon. A battle was fought at Dur-ilu and the Elamites retreated. Although Sargon swept triumphantly through the land, he had to leave his rival, the tyrannous Chaldaean, in possession of the capital, and he reigned there for over eleven years.
Trouble was brewing in Syria. It was apparently fostered by an Egyptian king--probably Bocchoris of Sais, the sole Pharaoh so far as can be ascertained of the Twenty-fourth Dynasty, who had allied himself with the local dynasts of Lower Egypt and apparently sought to extend his sway into Asia, the Ethiopians being supreme in Upper Egypt. An alliance had been formed to cast off the yoke of Assyria. The city states involved Arpad, Simirra, Damascus, Samaria, and Gaza. Hanno of Gaza had fled to Egypt after Tiglath-pileser came to the relief of Judah and broke up the league of conspirators by capturing Damascus, and punishing Samaria, Gaza, and other cities. His return in Sargon's reign was evidently connected with the new rising in which he took part. The throne of Hamath had been seized by an adventurer, named Ilu-bi´di, a smith. The Philistines of Ashdod and the Arabians being strongly pro-Egyptian in tendency, were willing sympathizers and helpers against the hated Assyrians.
Sargon appeared in the west with a strong army before the allies had matured their plans. He met the smith king of Hamath in battle at Qarqar, and, having defeated him, had him skinned alive. Then he marched southward. At Rapiki (Raphia) he routed an army of allies. Shabi (?So), the Tartan (commander-in-chief) of Pi´ru[526] (Pharaoh), King of Mutsri (an Arabian state confused, perhaps, with Misraim = Egypt), escaped "like to a shepherd whose sheep have been taken". Piru and other two southern kings, Samsi and Itamara, afterwards paid tribute to Sargon. Hanno of Gaza was transported to Asshur.
In 715 B.C. Sargon, according to his records, appeared with his army in Arabia, and received gifts in token of homage from Piru of Mutsri, Samsi of Aribi, and Itamara of Saba.
Four years later a revolt broke out in Ashdod which was, it would appear, directly due to the influence of Shabaka, the Ethiopian Pharaoh, who had deposed Bocchoris of Sais. Another league was about to be formed against Assyria. King Azuri of Ashdod had been deposed because of his Egyptian sympathies by the Assyrian governor, and his brother Akhimiti was placed on the throne. The citizens, however, overthrew Akhimiti, and an adventurer from Cyprus was proclaimed king (711 B.C).
It would appear that advances were made by the anti-Assyrians to Ahaz of Judah. That monarch was placed in a difficult position. He knew that if the allies succeeded in stamping out Assyrian authority in Syria and Palestine they would certainly depose him, but if on the other hand he joined them and Assyria triumphed, its emperor would show him small mercy. As Babylon defied Sargon and received the active support of Elam, and there were rumours of risings in the north, it must have seemed to the western kings as if the Assyrian empire was likely once again to go to pieces.
Fortunately for Ahaz he had a wise counsellor at this time in the great statesman and prophet, the scholarly Isaiah. The Lord spake by Isaiah saying, "Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners.... And they (the allies) shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory."[527]
Isaiah warned Ahaz against joining the league, "in the year that Tartan[528] came unto Ashdod (when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him)". The Tartan "fought against Ashdod and took it".[529] According to Sargon's record the Pretender of Ashdod fled to Arabia, where he was seized by an Arabian chief and delivered up to Assyria. The pro-Egyptian party in Palestine went under a cloud for a period thereafter.
Before Sargon could deal with Merodach Baladan of Babylon, he found it necessary to pursue the arduous task of breaking up a powerful league which had been formed against him in the north. The Syro-Cappadocian Hittite states, including Tabal in Asia Minor and Carchemish in north Syria, were combining for the last time against Assyria, supported by Mita (Midas), king of the Muski-Phrygians, and Rusas, son of Sharduris III, king of Urartu.
Urartu had recovered somewhat from the disasters which it had suffered at the hands of Tiglath-pileser, and was winning back portions of its lost territory on the north-east frontier of Assyria. A buffer state had been formed in that area by Tiglath-pileser, who had assisted the king of the Mannai to weld together the hill tribesmen between Lake Van and Lake Urmia into an organized nation. Iranzu, its ruler, remained faithful to Assyria and consequently became involved in war with Rusas of Urartu, who either captured or won over several cities of the Mannai. Iranzu was succeeded by his son Aza, and this king was so pronounced a pro-Assyrian that his pro-Urartian subjects assassinated him and set on the throne Bagdatti of Umildish.
Soon after Sargon began his operations in the north he captured Bagdatti and had him skinned alive. The flag of revolt, however, was kept flying by his brother, Ullusunu, but ere long this ambitious man found it prudent to submit to Sargon on condition that he would retain the throne as a faithful Assyrian vassal. His sudden change of policy appears to have been due to the steady advance of the Median tribes into the territory of the Mannai. Sargon conducted a vigorous and successful campaign against the raiders, and extended Ullusunu's area of control.
The way was now clear to Urartu. In 714 B.C. Sargon attacked the revolting king of Zikirtu, who was supported by an army led by Rusas, his overlord. A fierce battle was fought in which the Assyrians achieved a great victory. King Rusas fled, and when he found that the Assyrians pressed home their triumph by laying waste the country before them, he committed suicide, according to the Assyrian records, although those of Urartu indicate that he subsequently took part in the struggle against Sargon. The Armenian peoples were compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of Assyria, and the conqueror received gifts from various tribes between Lake Van and the Caspian Sea, and along the frontiers from Lake Van towards the south-east as far as the borders of Elam.
Rusas of Urartu was succeeded by Argistes II, who reigned over a shrunken kingdom. He intrigued with neighbouring states against Assyria, but was closely watched. Ere long he found himself caught between two fires. During his reign the notorious Cimmerians and Scythians displayed much activity in the north and raided his territory.
The pressure of fresh infusions of Thraco-Phrygian tribes into western Asia Minor had stirred Midas of the Muski to co-operate with the Urartian power in an attempt to stamp out Assyrian influence in Cilicia, Cappadocia, and north Syria. A revolt in Tabal in 718 B.C. was extinguished by Sargon, but in the following year evidences were forthcoming of a more serious and widespread rising. Pisiris, king of Carchemish, threw off the Assyrian yoke. Before, however, his allies could hasten to his assistance he was overcome by the vigilant Sargon, who deported a large proportion of the city's inhabitants and incorporated it in an Assyrian province. Tabal revolted in 713 B.C. and was similarly dealt with. In 712 B.C. Milid had to be overcome. The inhabitants were transported, and "Suti" Aramaean peoples settled in their homes. The king of Commagene, having remained faithful, received large extensions of territory. Finally in 709 B.C. Midas of the Muski-Phrygians was compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of Assyria. The northern confederacy was thus completely worsted and broken up. Tribute was paid by many peoples, including the rulers of Cyprus.
Sargon was now able to deal with Babylonia, which for about twelve years had been ruled by Merodach Baladan, who oppressed the people and set at defiance ancient laws by seizing private estates and transferring them to his Chaldaean kinsmen. He still received the active support of Elam.
Sargon's first move was to interpose his army between those of the Babylonians and Elamites. Pushing southward, he subdued the Aramaeans on the eastern banks of the Tigris, and drove the Elamites into the mountains. Then he invaded middle Babylonia from the east. Merodach Baladan hastily evacuated Babylon, and, moving southward, succeeded in evading Sargon's army. Finding Elam was unable to help him, he took refuge in the Chaldaean capital, Bit Jakin, in southern Babylonia.
Sargon was visited by the priests of Babylon and Borsippa, and hailed as the saviour of the ancient kingdom. He was afterwards proclaimed king at E-sagila, where he "took the hands of Bel". Then having expelled the Aramaeans from Sippar, he hastened southward, attacked Bit Jakin and captured it. Merodach Baladan escaped into Elam. The whole of Chaldaea was subdued.
Thus "Sargon the Later" entered at length into full possession of the empire of Sargon of Akkad. In Babylonia he posed as an incarnation of his ancient namesake, and had similarly Messianic pretensions which were no doubt inspired by the Babylonian priesthood. Under him Assyria attained its highest degree of splendour.
He recorded proudly not only his great conquests but also his works of public utility: he restored ancient cities, irrigated vast tracts of country, fostered trade, and promoted the industries. Like the pious Pharaohs of Egypt he boasted that he fed the hungry and protected the weak against the strong.
Sargon found time during his strenuous career as a conqueror to lay out and build a new city, called Dur-Sharrukin, "the burgh of Sargon", to the north of Nineveh. It was completed before he undertook the Babylonian campaign. The new palace was occupied in 708 B.C. Previous to that period he had resided principally at Kalkhi, in the restored palace of Ashur-natsir-pal III.
He was a worshipper of many gods. Although he claimed to have restored the supremacy of Asshur "which had come to an end", he not only adored Ashur but also revived the ancient triad of Anu, Bel, and Ea, and fostered the growth of the immemorial "mother-cult" of Ishtar. Before he died he appointed one of his sons, Sennacherib, viceroy of the northern portion of the empire. He was either assassinated at a military review or in some frontier war. As much is suggested by the following entry in an eponym list.
Eponymy of Upahhir-belu, prefect of the city of Amedu ... According to the oracle of the Kulummite(s).... A soldier (entered) the camp of the king of Assyria (and killed him?), month Ab, day 12th, Sennacherib (sat on the throne).[530]
The fact that Sennacherib lamented his father's sins suggests that the old king had in some manner offended the priesthood. Perhaps, like some of the Middle Empire monarchs, he succumbed to the influence of Babylon during the closing years of his life. It is stated that "he was not buried in his house", which suggests that the customary religious rites were denied him, and that his lost soul was supposed to be a wanderer which had to eat offal and drink impure water like the ghost of a pauper or a criminal.
The task which lay before Sennacherib (705-680 B.C.) was to maintain the unity of the great empire of his distinguished father. He waged minor wars against the Kassite and Illipi tribes on the Elamite border, and the Muski and Hittite tribes in Cappadocia and Cilicia. The Kassites, however, were no longer of any importance, and the Hittite power had been extinguished, for ere the states could recover from the blows dealt by the Assyrians the Cimmerian hordes ravaged their territory. Urartu was also overrun by the fierce barbarians from the north. It was one of these last visits of the Assyrians to Tabal of the Hittites and the land of the Muski (Meshech) which the Hebrew prophet referred to in after-time when he exclaimed:
Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword.... There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.... (Ezekiel, xxxii.)
Sennacherib found that Ionians had settled in Cilicia, and he deported large numbers of them to Nineveh. The metal and ivory work at Nineveh show traces of Greek influence after this period.
A great conspiracy was fomented in several states against Sennacherib when the intelligence of Sargon's death was bruited abroad. Egypt was concerned in it. Taharka (the Biblical Tirhakah[531]), the last Pharaoh of the Ethiopian Dynasty, had dreams of re-establishing Egyptian supremacy in Palestine and Syria, and leagued himself with Luli, king of Tyre, Hezekiah, king of Judah, and others. Merodach Baladan, the Chaldaean king, whom Sargon had deposed, supported by Elamites and Aramaeans, was also a party to the conspiracy. "At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah.... And Hezekiah was glad of them."[532]
Merodach Baladan again seized the throne of Babylon. Sargon's son, who had been appointed governor, was murdered and a pretender sat on the throne for a brief period, but Merodach Baladan thrust him aside and reigned for nine months, during which period he busied himself by encouraging the kings of Judah and Tyre to revolt. Sennacherib invaded Babylonia with a strong army, deposed Merodach Baladan, routed the Chaldaeans and Aramaeans, and appointed as vassal king Bel-ibni, a native prince, who remained faithful to Assyria for about three years.
In 707 B.C. Sennacherib appeared in the west. When he approached Tyre, Luli, the king, fled to Cyprus. The city was not captured, but much of its territory was ceded to the king of Sidon. Askalon was afterwards reduced. At Eltekeh Sennacherib came into conflict with an army of allies, including Ethiopian, Egyptian, and Arabian Mutsri forces, which he routed. Then he captured a number of cities in Judah and transported 200,150 people. He was unable, however, to enter Jerusalem, in which Hezekiah was compelled to remain "like a bird in a cage". It appears that Hezekiah "bought off" the Assyrians on this occasion with gifts of gold and silver and jewels, costly furniture, musicians, and female slaves.
In 689 B.C. Sennacherib found it necessary to penetrate Arabia. Apparently another conspiracy was brewing, for Hezekiah again revolted. On his return from the south--according to Berosus he had been in Egypt--the Assyrian king marched against the king of Judah.
And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with the princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.... Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?
Sennacherib sent messengers to Jerusalem to attempt to stir up the people against Hezekiah. "He wrote also letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand."[533]
Hezekiah sent his servants to Isaiah, who was in Jerusalem at the time, and the prophet said to them:
Thus shall ye say to your master. Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.[534]
According to Berosus, the Babylonian priestly historian, the camp of Sennacherib was visited in the night by swarms of field mice which ate up the quivers and bows and the (leather) handles of shields. Next morning the army fled.
The Biblical account of the disaster is as follows:
And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and four score and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.[535]
A pestilence may have broken out in the camp, the infection, perhaps, having been carried by field mice. Byron's imagination was stirred by the vision of the broken army of Assyria.
The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars of the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen; Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed on the face of the foe as he passed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved--and forever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
And there lay the rider distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail; And the tents were all silent--the banners alone-- Thelances uplifted--the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Asshur are loud in their wail, And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.
Before this disaster occurred Sennacherib had to invade Babylonia again, for the vassal king, Bel-ibni, had allied himself with the Chaldaeans and raised the standard of revolt. The city of Babylon was besieged and captured, and its unfaithful king deported with a number of nobles to Assyria. Old Merodach Baladan was concerned in the plot and took refuge on the Elamite coast, where the Chaldaeans had formed a colony. He died soon afterwards.
Sennacherib operated in southern Babylonia and invaded Elam. But ere he could return to Assyria he was opposed by a strong army of allies, including Babylonians, Chaldaeans, Aramaeans, Elamites, and Persians, led by Samunu, son of Merodach Baladan. A desperate battle was fought. Although Sennacherib claimed a victory, he was unable to follow it up. This was in 692 B.C. A Chaldaean named Mushezib-Merodach seized the Babylonian throne.
In 691 B.C. Sennacherib again struck a blow for Babylonia, but was unable to depose Mushezib-Merodach. His opportunity came, however, in 689 B.C. Elam had been crippled by raids of the men of Parsua (Persia), and was unable to co-operate with the Chaldaean king of Babylon. Sennacherib captured the great commercial metropolis, took Mushezib-Merodach prisoner, and dispatched him to Nineveh. Then he wreaked his vengeance on Babylon. For several days the Assyrian soldiers looted the houses and temples, and slaughtered the inhabitants without mercy. E-sagila was robbed of its treasures, images of deities were either broken in pieces or sent to Nineveh: the statue of Bel-Merodach was dispatched to Asshur so that he might take his place among the gods who were vassals of Ashur. "The city and its houses," Sennacherib recorded, "from foundation to roof, I destroyed them, I demolished them, I burned them with fire; walls, gateways, sacred chapels, and the towers of earth and tiles, I laid them low and cast them into the Arakhtu."[536]
"So thorough was Sennacherib's destruction of the city in 689 B.C.," writes Mr. King, "that after several years of work, Dr. Koldewey concluded that all traces of earlier buildings had been destroyed on that occasion. More recently some remains of earlier strata have been recognized, and contract-tablets have been found which date from the period of the First Dynasty. Moreover, a number of earlier pot-burials have been unearthed, but a careful examination of the greater part of the ruins has added little to our knowledge of this most famous city before the Neo-Babylonian period."[537]
It is possible that Sennacherib desired to supplant Babylon as a commercial metropolis by Nineveh. He extended and fortified that city, surrounding it with two walls protected by moats. According to Diodorus, the walls were a hundred feet high and about fifty feet wide. Excavators have found that at the gates they were about a hundred feet in breadth. The water supply of the city was ensured by the construction of dams and canals, and strong quays were erected to prevent flooding. Sennacherib repaired a lofty platform which was isolated by a canal, and erected upon it his great palace. On another platform he had an arsenal built.
Sennacherib's palace was the most magnificent building of its kind ever erected by an Assyrian emperor. It was lavishly decorated, and its bas-reliefs display native art at its highest pitch of excellence. The literary remains of the time also give indication of the growth of culture: the inscriptions are distinguished by their prose style. It is evident that men of culture and refinement were numerous in Assyria. The royal library of Kalkhi received many additions during the reign of the destroyer of Babylon.
Like his father, Sennacherib died a violent death. According to the Babylonian Chronicle he was slain in a revolt by his son "on the twentieth day of Tebet" (680 B.C). The revolt continued from the "20th of Tebet" (early in January) until the 2nd day of Adar (the middle of February). On the 18th of Adar, Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, was proclaimed king.
Berosus states that Sennacherib was murdered by two of his sons, but Esarhaddon was not one of the conspirators. The Biblical reference is as follows: "Sennacherib ... dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch (?Ashur) his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer (Ashur-shar-etir) his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia (Urartu). And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead." Ashur-shar-etir appears to have been the claimant to the throne.
Esarhaddon (680-668 B.C.) was a man of different type from his father. He adopted towards vassal states a policy of conciliation, and did much to secure peace within the empire by his magnanimous treatment of rebel kings who had been intimidated by their neighbours and forced to entwine themselves in the meshes of intrigue. His wars were directed mainly to secure the protection of outlying provinces against aggressive raiders.
The monarch was strongly influenced by his mother, Naki'a, a Babylonian princess who appears to have been as distinguished a lady as the famous Sammu-rammat. Indeed, it is possible that traditions regarding her contributed to the Semiramis legends. But it was not only due to her that Esarhaddon espoused the cause of the pro-Babylonian party. He appears to be identical with the Axerdes of Berosus, who ruled over the southern kingdom for eight years. Apparently he had been appointed governor by Sennacherib after the destruction of Babylon, and it may be that during his term of office in Babylonia he was attracted by its ethical ideals, and developed those traits of character which distinguished him from his father and grandfather. He married a Babylonian princess, and one of his sons, Shamash-shum-ukin, was born in a Babylonian palace, probably at Sippar. He was a worshipper of the mother goddess Ishtar of Nineveh and Ishtar of Arbela, and of Shamash, as well as of the national god Ashur.
As soon as Esarhaddon came to the throne he undertook the restoration of Babylon, to which many of the inhabitants were drifting back. In three years the city resumed its pre-eminent position as a trading and industrial centre. Withal, he won the hearts of the natives by expelling Chaldaeans from the private estates which they had seized during the Merodach-Baladan regime, and restoring them to the rightful heirs.
A Chaldaean revolt was inevitable. Two of Merodach Baladan's sons gave trouble in the south, but were routed in battle. One fled to Elam, where he was assassinated; the other sued for peace, and was accepted by the diplomatic Esarhaddon as a vassal king.
Egypt was intriguing in the west. Its Ethiopian king, Taharka (the Biblical Tirhakah) had stirred up Hezekiah to revolt during Sennacherib's reign. An Assyrian ambassador who had visited Jerusalem "heard say concerning Tirhakah.... He sent messengers to Hezekiah saying.... Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?"[538] Sidon was a party to the pro-Egyptian league which had been formed in Palestine and Syria.
Early in his reign Esarhaddon conducted military operations in the west, and during his absence the queen-mother Naki'a held the reins of government. The Elamites regarded this innovation as a sign of weakness, and invaded Babylon. Sippar was plundered, and its gods carried away. The Assyrian governors, however, ultimately repulsed the Elamite king, who was deposed soon after he returned home. His son, who succeeded him, restored the stolen gods, and cultivated good relations with Esarhaddon. There was great unrest in Elam at this period: it suffered greatly from the inroads of Median and Persian pastoral fighting folk.
In the north the Cimmerians and Scythians, who were constantly warring against Urartu, and against each other, had spread themselves westward and east. Esarhaddon drove Cimmerian invaders out of Cappadocia, and they swamped Phrygia.
The Scythian peril on the north-east frontier was, however, of more pronounced character. The fierce mountaineers had allied themselves with Median tribes and overrun the buffer State of the Mannai. Both Urartu and Assyria were sufferers from the brigandage of these allies. Esarhaddon's generals, however, were able to deal with the situation, and one of the notable results of the pacification of the north-eastern area was the conclusion of an alliance with Urartu.
The most serious situation with which the emperor had to deal was in the west. The King of Sidon, who had been so greatly favoured by Sennacherib, had espoused the Egyptian cause. He allied himself with the King of Cilicia, who, however, was unable to help him much. Sidon was besieged and captured; the royal allies escaped, but a few years later were caught and beheaded. The famous seaport was destroyed, and its vast treasures deported to Assyria (about 676 B.C). Esarhaddon replaced it by a new city called Kar-Esarhaddon, which formed the nucleus of the new Sidon.
It is believed that Judah and other disaffected States were dealt with about this time. Manasseh had succeeded Hezekiah at Jerusalem when but a boy of twelve years. He appears to have come under the influence of heathen teachers.
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.... And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever.[539]
Isaiah ceased to prophesy after Manasseh came to the throne. According to Rabbinic traditions he was seized by his enemies and enclosed in the hollow trunk of a tree, which was sawn through. Other orthodox teachers appear to have been slain also. "Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another."[540] It is possible that there is a reference to Isaiah's fate in an early Christian lament regarding the persecutions of the faithful: "Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword".[541] There is no Assyrian evidence regarding the captivity of Manasseh. "Wherefore the Lord brought upon them (the people of Judah) the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom."[542] It was, however, in keeping with the policy of Esarhaddon to deal in this manner with an erring vassal. The Assyrian records include Manasseh of Judah (Menasê of the city of Yaudu) with the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Ashdod, Gaza, Byblos, &c, and "twenty-two kings of Khatti" as payers of tribute to Esarhaddon, their overlord. Hazael of Arabia was conciliated by having restored to him his gods which Sennacherib had carried away.
Egypt continued to intrigue against Assyria, and Esarhaddon resolved to deal effectively with Taharka, the last Ethiopian Pharaoh. In 674 B.C. he invaded Egypt, but suffered a reverse and had to retreat. Tyre revolted soon afterwards (673 B.C).
Esarhaddon, however, made elaborate preparations for his next campaign. In 671 B.C. he went westward with a much more powerful army. A detachment advanced to Tyre and invested it. The main force meanwhile pushed on, crossed the Delta frontier, and swept victoriously as far south as Memphis, where Taharka suffered a crushing defeat. That great Egyptian metropolis was then occupied and plundered by the soldiers of Esarhaddon. Lower Egypt became an Assyrian province; the various petty kings, including Necho of Sais, had set over them Assyrian governors. Tyre was also captured.
When he returned home Esarhaddon erected at the Syro-Cappadocian city of Singirli[543] a statue of victory, which is now in the Berlin museum. On this memorial the Assyrian "King of the kings of Egypt" is depicted as a giant. With one hand he pours out an oblation to a god; in the other he grasps his sceptre and two cords attached to rings, which pierce the lips of dwarfish figures representing the Pharaoh Taharka of Egypt and the unfaithful King of Tyre.
In 668 B.C. Taharka, who had fled to Napata in Ethiopia, returned to Upper Egypt, and began to stir up revolts. Esarhaddon planned out another expedition, so that he might shatter the last vestige of power possessed by his rival. But before he left home he found it necessary to set his kingdom in order.
During his absence from home the old Assyrian party, who disliked the emperor because of Babylonian sympathies, had been intriguing regarding the succession to the throne. According to the Babylonian Chronicle, "the king remained in Assyria" during 669 B.C., "and he slew with the sword many noble men". Ashur-bani-pal was evidently concerned in the conspiracy, and it is significant to find that he pleaded on behalf of certain of the conspirators. The crown prince Sinidinabal was dead: perhaps he had been assassinated.
At the feast of the goddess Gula (identical with Bau, consort of Ninip), towards the end of April in 668 B.C., Esarhaddon divided his empire between two of his sons. Ashur-bani-pal was selected to be King of Assyria, and Shamash-shum-ukin to be King of Babylon and the vassal of Ashur-banipal. Other sons received important priestly appointments.
Soon after these arrangements were completed Esarhaddon, who was suffering from bad health, set out for Egypt. He died towards the end of October, and the early incidents of his campaign were included in the records of Ashur-bani-pal's reign. Taharka was defeated at Memphis, and retreated southward to Thebes.
So passed away the man who has been eulogized as "the noblest and most sympathetic figure among the Assyrian kings". There was certainly much which was attractive in his character. He inaugurated many social reforms, and appears to have held in check his overbearing nobles. Trade flourished during his reign. He did not undertake the erection of a new city, like his father, but won the gratitude of the priesthood by his activities as a builder and restorer of temples. He founded a new "house of Ashur" at Nineveh, and reconstructed several temples in Babylonia. His son Ashur-bani-pal was the last great Assyrian ruler.
THE LAST DAYS OF ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA
Doom of Nineveh and Babylon--Babylonian Monotheism--Ashur-banipal and his Brother, King of Babylon--Ceremony of "Taking the Hands of Bel"--Merodach restored to E-sagila--Assyrian Invasion of Egypt and Sack of Thebes--Lydia's Appeal to Assyria--Elam subdued--Revolt of Babylon--Death of Babylonian King--Sack of Susa--Psamtik of Egypt--Cimmerians crushed--Ashur-bani-pal's Literary Activities--The Sardanapalus Legend--Last Kings of Assyria--Fall of Nineveh--The New Babylonian Empire--Necho of Egypt expelled from Syria--King Jehoaikin of Judah deposed--Zedekiah's Revolt and Punishment--Fall of Jerusalem and Hebrew Captivity--Jeremiah laments over Jerusalem--Babylonia's Last Independent King--Rise of Cyrus the Conqueror--The Persian Patriarch and Eagle Legend--Cyrus conquers Lydia--Fall of Babylon--Jews return to Judah--Babylon from Cyrus to Alexander the Great.
The burden of Nineveh.... The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.... He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face.... The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.... Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brick-kiln. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off.... Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?[544]
The doom of Babylon was also foretold:
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth.... Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans.... Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them.... Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.[545]
Against a gloomy background, dark and ominous as a thundercloud, we have revealed in the last century of Mesopotamian glory the splendour of Assyria and the beauty of Babylon. The ancient civilizations ripened quickly before the end came. Kings still revelled in pomp and luxury. Cities resounded with "the noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear.... The valiant men are in scarlet."[546] But the minds of cultured men were more deeply occupied than ever with the mysteries of life and creation. In the libraries, the temples, and observatories, philosophers and scientists were shattering the unsubstantial fabric of immemorial superstition; they attained to higher conceptions of the duties and responsibilities of mankind; they conceived of divine love and divine guidance; they discovered, like Wordsworth, that the soul has--
An obscure sense Of possible sublimity, whereto With growing faculties she doth aspire.
One of the last kings of Babylon, Nebuchadrezzar, recorded a prayer which reveals the loftiness of religious thought and feeling attained by men to whom graven images were no longer worthy of adoration and reverence--men whose god was not made by human hands--
O eternal prince! Lord of all being! As for the king whom thou lovest, and Whose name thou hast proclaimed As was pleasing to thee, Do thou lead aright his life, Guide him in a straight path. I am the prince, obedient to thee, The creature of thy hand; Thou hast created me, and With dominion over all people Thou hast entrusted me. According to thy grace, O Lord, Which thou dost bestow on All people, Cause me to love thy supreme dominion, And create in my heart The worship of thy godhead And grant whatever is pleasing to thee, Because thou hast fashioned my life.[547]
The "star-gazers" had become scientists, and foretold eclipses: in every sphere of intellectual activity great men were sifting out truth from the debris of superstition. It seemed as if Babylon and Assyria were about to cross the threshold of a new age, when their doom was sounded and their power was shattered for ever. Nineveh perished with dramatic suddenness: Babylon died of "senile decay".
When, in 668 B.C., intelligence reached Nineveh that Esarhaddon had passed away, on the march through Egypt, the arrangements which he had made for the succession were carried out smoothly and quickly. Naki'a, the queen mother, was acting as regent, and completed her lifework by issuing a proclamation exhorting all loyal subjects and vassals to obey the new rulers, her grandsons, Ashur-bani-pal, Emperor of Assyria, and Shamash-shum-ukin, King of Babylon. Peace prevailed in the capital, and there was little or no friction throughout the provinces: new rulers were appointed to administer the States of Arvad and Ammon, but there were no changes elsewhere.
Babylon welcomed its new king--a Babylonian by birth and the son of a Babylonian princess. The ancient kingdom rejoiced that it was no longer to be ruled as a province; its ancient dignities and privileges were being partially restored. But one great and deep-seated grievance remained. The god Merodach was still a captive in the temple of Ashur. No king could reign aright if Merodach were not restored to E-sagila. Indeed he could not be regarded as the lord of the land until he had "taken the hands of Bel".
The ceremony of taking the god's hands was an act of homage. When it was consummated the king became the steward or vassal of Merodach, and every day he appeared before the divine one to receive instructions and worship him. The welfare of the whole kingdom depended on the manner in which the king acted towards the god. If Merodach was satisfied with the king he sent blessings to the land; if he was angry he sent calamities. A pious and faithful monarch was therefore the protector of the people.
This close association of the king with the god gave the priests great influence in Babylon. They were the power behind the throne. The destinies of the royal house were placed in their hands; they could strengthen the position of a royal monarch, or cause him to be deposed if he did not satisfy their demands. A king who reigned over Babylon without the priestly party on his side occupied an insecure position. Nor could he secure the co-operation of the priests unless the image of the god was placed in the temple. Where king was, there Merodach had to be also.
Shamash-shum-ukin pleaded with his royal brother and overlord to restore Bel Merodach to Babylon. Ashur-bani-pal hesitated for a time; he was unwilling to occupy a less dignified position, as the representative of Ashur, than his distinguished predecessor, in his relation to the southern kingdom. At length, however, he was prevailed upon to consult the oracle of Shamash, the solar lawgiver, the revealer of destiny. The god was accordingly asked if Shamash-shum-ukin could "take the hands of Bel" in Ashur's temple, and then proceed to Babylon as his representative. In response, the priests of Shamash informed the emperor that Bel Merodach could not exercise sway as sovereign lord so long as he remained a prisoner in a city which was not his own.
Ashur-bani-pal accepted the verdict, and then visited Ashur's temple to plead with Bel Merodach to return to Babylon. "Let thy thoughts", he cried, "dwell in Babylon, which in thy wrath thou didst bring to naught. Let thy face be turned towards E-sagila, thy lofty and divine temple. Return to the city thou hast deserted for a house unworthy of thee. O Merodach! lord of the gods, issue thou the command to return again to Babylon."
Thus did Ashur-bani-pal make pious and dignified submission to the will of the priests. A favourable response was, of course, received from Merodach when addressed by the emperor, and the god's image was carried back to E-sagila, accompanied by a strong force. Ashur-bani-pal and Shamash-shum-ukin led the procession of priests and soldiers, and elaborate ceremonials were observed at each city they passed, the local gods being carried forth to do homage to Merodach.
Babylon welcomed the deity who was thus restored to his temple after the lapse of about a quarter of a century, and the priests celebrated with unconcealed satisfaction and pride the ceremony at which Shamash-shum-ukin "took the hands of Bel". The public rejoicings were conducted on an elaborate scale. Babylon believed that a new era of prosperity had been inaugurated, and the priests and nobles looked forward to the day when the kingdom would once again become free and independent and powerful.
Ashur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.) made arrangements to complete his father's designs regarding Egypt. His Tartan continued the campaign, and Taharka, as has been stated, was driven from Memphis. The beaten Pharaoh returned to Ethiopia and did not again attempt to expel the Assyrians. He died in 666 B.C. It was found that some of the petty kings of Lower Egypt had been intriguing with Taharka, and their cities were severely dealt with. Necho of Sais had to be arrested, among others, but was pardoned after he appeared before Ashur-bani-pal, and sent back to Egypt as the Assyrian governor.
Tanutamon, a son of Pharaoh Shabaka, succeeded Taharka, and in 663 B.C. marched northward from Thebes with a strong army. He captured Memphis. It is believed Necho was slain, and Herodotus relates that his son Psamtik took refuge in Syria. In 661 B.C. Ashur-bani-pal's army swept through Lower Egypt and expelled the Ethiopians. Tanutamon fled southward, but on this occasion the Assyrians followed up their success, and besieged and captured Thebes, which they sacked. Its nobles were slain or taken captive. According to the prophet Nahum, who refers to Thebes as No (Nu-Amon = city of Amon), "her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they (the Assyrians) cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains".[548] Thebes never again recovered its prestige. Its treasures were transported to Nineveh. The Ethiopian supremacy in Egypt was finally extinguished, and Psamtik, son of Necho, who was appointed the Pharaoh, began to reign as the vassal of Assyria.
When the kings on the seacoasts of Palestine and Asia Minor found that they could no longer look to Egypt for help, they resigned themselves to the inevitable, and ceased to intrigue against Assyria. Gifts were sent to Ashur-bani-pal by the kings of Arvad, Tyre, Tarsus, and Tabal. The Arvad ruler, however, was displaced, and his son set on his throne. But the most extraordinary development was the visit to Nineveh of emissaries from Gyges, king of Lydia, who figures in the legends of Greece. This monarch had been harassed by the Cimmerians after they accomplished the fall of Midas of Phrygia in 676 B.C., and he sought the help of Ashur-bani-pal. It is not known whether the Assyrians operated against the Cimmerians in Tabal, but, as Gyges did not send tribute, it would appear that he held his own with the aid of mercenaries from the State of Caria in southwestern Asia Minor. The Greeks of Cilicia, and the Achaeans and Phoenicians of Cyprus remained faithful to Assyria.
Elam gave trouble in 665 B.C. by raiding Akkad, but the Assyrian army repulsed the invaders at Dur-ilu and pushed on to Susa. The Elamites received a crushing defeat in a battle on the banks of the River Ula. King Teumman was slain, and a son of the King of Urtagu was placed on his throne. Elam thus came under Assyrian sway.
The most surprising and sensational conspiracy against Ashur-bani-pal was fomented by his brother Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon, after the two had co-operated peacefully for fifteen years. No doubt the priestly party at E-sagila were deeply concerned in the movement, and the king may have been strongly influenced by the fact that Babylonia was at the time suffering from severe depression caused by a series of poor harvests. Merodach, according to the priests, was angry; it was probably argued that he was punishing the people because they had not thrown off the yoke of Assyria.
The temple treasures of Babylon were freely drawn upon to purchase the allegiance of allies. Ere Ashur-bani-pal had any knowledge of the conspiracy his brother had won over several governors in Babylonia, the Chaldaeans, Aramaeans and Elamites, and many petty kings in Palestine and Syria: even Egypt and Libya were prepared to help him. When, however, the faithful governor of Ur was approached, he communicated with his superior at Erech, who promptly informed Ashur-bani-pal of the great conspiracy. The intelligence reached Nineveh like a bolt from the blue. The emperor's heart was filled with sorrow and anguish. In after-time he lamented in an inscription that his "faithless brother" forgot the favours he had shown him. "Outwardly with his lips he spoke friendly things, while inwardly his heart plotted murder."
In 652 B.C. Shamash-shum-ukin precipitated the crisis by forbidding Ashur-bani-pal to make offerings to the gods in the cities of Babylonia. He thus declared his independence.
War broke out simultaneously. Ur and Erech were besieged and captured by the Chaldaeans, and an Elamite army marched to the aid of the King of Babylon, but it was withdrawn before long on account of the unsettled political conditions at home. The Assyrian armies swept through Babylonia, and the Chaldeans in the south were completely subjugated before Babylon was captured. That great commercial metropolis was closely besieged for three years, and was starved into submission. When the Assyrians were entering the city gates a sensational happening occurred. Shamash-shum-ukin, the rebel king, shut himself up in his palace and set fire to it, and perished there amidst the flames with his wife and children, his slaves and all his treasures. Ashur-bani-pal was in 647 B.C. proclaimed King Kandalanu[549] of Babylon, and reigned over it until his death in 626 B.C.
Elam was severely dealt with. That unhappy country was terribly devastated by Assyrian troops, who besieged and captured Susa, which was pillaged and wrecked. It was recorded afterwards as a great triumph of this campaign that the statue of Nana of Erech, which had been carried off by Elamites 1635 years previously, was recovered and restored to the ancient Sumerian city. Elam's power of resistance was finally extinguished, and the country fell a ready prey to the Medes and Persians, who soon entered into possession of it. Thus, by destroying a buffer State, Ashur-bani-pal strengthened the hands of the people who were destined twenty years after his death to destroy the Empire of Assyria.
The western allies of Babylon were also dealt with, and it may be that at this time Manasseh of Judah was taken to Babylon (_2 Chronicles_, xxxiii, II), where, however, he was forgiven. The Medes and the Mannai in the north-west were visited and subdued, and a new alliance was formed with the dying State of Urartu.
Psamtik of Egypt had thrown off the yoke of Assyria, and with the assistance of Carian mercenaries received from his ally, Gyges, king of Lydia, extended his sway southward. He made peace with Ethiopia by marrying a princess of its royal line. Gyges must have weakened his army by thus assisting Psamtik, for he was severely defeated and slain by the Cimmerians. His son, Ardys, appealed to Assyria for help. Ashur-bani-pal dispatched an army to Cilicia. The joint operations of Assyria and Lydia resulted in the extinction of the kingdom of the Cimmerians about 645 B.C.
The records of Ashur-bani-pal cease after 640 B.C., so that we are unable to follow the events of his reign during its last fourteen years. Apparently peace prevailed everywhere. The great monarch, who was a pronounced adherent of the goddess cults, appears to have given himself up to a life of indulgence and inactivity. Under the name Sardanapalus he went down to tradition as a sensual Oriental monarch who lived in great pomp and luxury, and perished in his burning palace when the Medes revolted against him. It is evident, however, that the memory of more than one monarch contributed to the Sardanapalus legend, for Ashur-bani-pal had lain nearly twenty years in his grave before the siege of Nineveh took place.
In the Bible he is referred to as "the great and noble Asnapper", and he appears to have been the emperor who settled the Babylonian, Elamite, and other colonists "in the cities of Samaria".[550]
He erected at Nineveh a magnificent palace, which was decorated on a lavish scale. The sculptures are the finest productions of Assyrian art, and embrace a wide variety of subjects--battle scenes, hunting scenes, and elaborate Court and temple ceremonies. Realism is combined with a delicacy of touch and a degree of originality which raises the artistic productions of the period to the front rank among the artistic triumphs of antiquity.
Ashur-bani-pal boasted of the thorough education which he had received from the tutors of his illustrious father, Esarhaddon. In his palace he kept a magnificent library. It contained thousands of clay tablets on which were inscribed and translated the classics of Babylonia. To the scholarly zeal of this cultured monarch is due the preservation of the Babylonian story of creation, the Gilgamesh and Etana legends, and other literary and religious products of remote antiquity. Most of the literary tablets in the British Museum were taken from Ashur-bani-pal's library.
There are no Assyrian records of the reigns of Ashur-bani-pal's two sons, Ashur-etil-ilani--who erected a small palace and reconstructed the temple to Nebo at Kalkhi--and Sin-shar-ishkun, who is supposed to have perished in Nineveh. Apparently Ashur-etil-ilani reigned for at least six years, and was succeeded by his brother.
A year after Ashur-bani-pal died, Nabopolassar, who was probably a Chaldaean, was proclaimed king at Babylon. According to Babylonian legend he was an Assyrian general who had been sent southward with an army to oppose the advance of invaders from the sea. Nabopolassar's sway at first was confined to Babylon and Borsippa, but he strengthened himself by forming an offensive and defensive alliance with the Median king, whose daughter he had married to his son Nebuchadrezzar. He strengthened the fortifications of Babylon, rebuilt the temple of Merodach, which had been destroyed by Ashur-bani-pal, and waged war successfully against the Assyrians and their allies in Mesopotamia.
About 606 B.C. Nineveh fell, and Sin-shar-ishkun may have burned himself there in his palace, like his uncle, Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon, and the legendary Sardanapalus. It is not certain, however, whether the Scythians or the Medes were the successful besiegers of the great Assyrian capital. "Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery", Nahum had cried."... The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.... Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold.... Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts[551]."
According to Herodotus, an army of Medes under Cyaxares had defeated the Assyrians and were besieging Nineveh when the Scythians overran Media. Cyaxares raised the siege and went against them, but was defeated. Then the Scythians swept across Assyria and Mesopotamia, and penetrated to the Delta frontier of Egypt. Psamtik ransomed his kingdom with handsome gifts. At length, however, Cyaxares had the Scythian leaders slain at a banquet, and then besieged and captured Nineveh.
Assyria was completely overthrown. Those of its nobles and priests who escaped the sword no doubt escaped to Babylonia. Some may have found refuge also in Palestine and Egypt.
Necho, the second Pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth Egyptian Dynasty, did not hesitate to take advantage of Assyria's fall. In 609 B.C. he proceeded to recover the long-lost Asiatic possessions of Egypt, and operated with an army and fleet. Gaza and Askalon were captured. Josiah, the grandson of Manasseh, was King of Judah. "In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he (Necho) slew him at Megiddo."[552] His son, Jehoahaz, succeeded him, but was deposed three months later by Necho, who placed another son of Josiah, named Eliakim, on the throne, "and turned his name to Jehoiakim".[553] The people were heavily taxed to pay tribute to the Pharaoh.
When Necho pushed northward towards the Euphrates he was met by a Babylonian army under command of Prince Nebuchadrezzar.[554] The Egyptians were routed at Carchemish in 605 B.C. (Jeremiah, xvi, 2).
In 604 B.C. Nabopolassar died, and the famous Nebuchadrezzar II ascended the throne of Babylon. He lived to be one of its greatest kings, and reigned for over forty years. It was he who built the city described by Herodotus (pp. 219 _et seq._), and constructed its outer wall, which enclosed so large an area that no army could invest it. Merodach's temple was decorated with greater magnificence than ever before. The great palace and hanging gardens were erected by this mighty monarch, who no doubt attracted to the city large numbers of the skilled artisans who had fled from Nineveh. He also restored temples at other cities, and made generous gifts to the priests. Captives were drafted into Babylonia from various lands, and employed cleaning out the canals and as farm labourers.
The trade and industries of Babylon flourished greatly, and Nebuchadrezzar's soldiers took speedy vengeance on roving bands which infested the caravan roads. "The king of Egypt", after his crushing defeat at Carchemish, "came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt."[555] Jehoiakim of Judah remained faithful to Necho until he was made a prisoner by Nebuchadrezzar, who "bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon".[556] He was afterwards sent back to Jerusalem. "And Jehoiakim became his (Nebuchadrezzar's) servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him."[557]
Bands of Chaldaeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites were harassing the frontiers of Judah, and it seemed to the king as if the Babylonian power had collapsed. Nebuchadrezzar hastened westward and scattered the raiders before him. Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiachan, a youth of eighteen years, succeeded him. Nebuchadrezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, and the young king submitted to him and was carried off to Babylon, with "all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained save the poorest sort of the people of the land".[558] Nebuchadrezzar had need of warriors and workmen.
Zedekiah was placed on the throne of Judah as an Assyrian vassal. He remained faithful for a few years, but at length began to conspire with Tyre and Sidon, Moab, Edom, and Ammon in favour of Egyptian suzerainty. Pharaoh Hophra (Apries), the fourth king of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, took active steps to assist the conspirators, and "Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon[559]".
Nebuchadrezzar led a strong army through Mesopotamia, and divided it at Riblah, on the Orontes River. One part of it descended upon Judah and captured Lachish and Azekah. Jerusalem was able to hold out for about eighteen months. Then "the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden." Zedekiah attempted to escape, but was captured and carried before Nebuchadrezzar, who was at Riblah, in the land of Hamath.
And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.... Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death[560].
The majority of the Jews were deported to Babylonia, where they were employed as farm labourers. Some rose to occupy important official positions. A remnant escaped to Egypt with Jeremiah.
Jerusalem was plundered and desolated. The Assyrians "burned the house of the Lord and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem", and "brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about". Jeremiah lamented:
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.... Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old....[561]
Tyre was besieged, but was not captured. Its king, however, arranged terms of peace with Nebuchadrezzar.
Amel-Marduk, the "Evil Merodach" of the Bible, the next king of Babylon, reigned for a little over two years. He released Jehoiachin from prison, and allowed him to live in the royal palace.[562] Berosus relates that Amel-Marduk lived a dissipated life, and was slain by his brother-in-law, Nergal-shar-utsur, who reigned two years (559-6 B.C.). Labashi-Marduk, son of Nergal-shar-utsur, followed with a reign of nine months. He was deposed by the priests. Then a Babylonian prince named Nabu-na´id (Nabonidus) was set on the throne. He was the last independent king of Babylonia. His son Belshazzar appears to have acted as regent during the latter part of the reign.
Nabonidus engaged himself actively during his reign (556-540 B.C.) in restoring temples. He entirely reconstructed the house of Shamash, the sun god, at Sippar, and, towards the end of his reign, the house of Sin, the moon god, at Haran. The latter building had been destroyed by the Medes.
The religious innovations of Nabonidus made him exceedingly unpopular throughout Babylonia, for he carried away the gods of Ur, Erech, Larsa, and Eridu, and had them placed in E-sagila. Merodach and his priests were displeased: the prestige of the great god was threatened by the policy adopted by Nabonidus. As an inscription composed after the fall of Babylon sets forth; Merodach "gazed over the surrounding lands ... looking for a righteous prince, one after his own heart, who should take his hands.... He called by name Cyrus."
Cyrus was a petty king of the shrunken Elamite province of Anshan, which had been conquered by the Persians. He claimed to be an Achaemenian--that is a descendant of the semi-mythical Akhamanish (the Achaemenes of the Greeks), a Persian patriarch who resembled the Aryo-Indian Manu and the Germanic Mannus. Akhamanish was reputed to have been fed and protected in childhood by an eagle--the sacred eagle which cast its shadow on born rulers. Probably this eagle was remotely Totemic, and the Achaemenians were descendants of an ancient eagle tribe. Gilgamesh was protected by an eagle, as we have seen, as the Aryo-Indian Shakuntala was by vultures and Semiramis by doves. The legends regarding the birth and boyhood of Cyrus resemble those related regarding Sargon of Akkad and the Indian Karna and Krishna.
Cyrus acknowledged as his overlord Astyages, king of the Medes. He revolted against Astyages, whom he defeated and took prisoner. Thereafter he was proclaimed King of the Medes and Persians, who were kindred peoples of Indo-European speech. The father of Astyages was Cyaxares, the ally of Nabopolassar of Babylon. When this powerful king captured Nineveh he entered into possession of the northern part of the Assyrian Empire, which extended westward into Asia Minor to the frontier of the Lydian kingdom; he also possessed himself of Urartu (Armenia). Lydia had, after the collapse of the Cimmerian power, absorbed Phrygia, and its ambitious king, Alyattes, waged war against the Medes. At length, owing to the good offices of Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and Syennesis of Cilicia, the Medes and Lydians made peace in 585 B.C. Astyages then married a daughter of the Lydian ruler.
When Cyrus overthrew Cyaxares, king of the Medes, Croesus, king of Lydia, formed an alliance against him with Amasis, king of Egypt, and Nabonidus, king of Babylon. The latter was at first friendly to Cyrus, who had attacked Cyaxares when he was advancing on Babylon to dispute Nabonidus's claim to the throne, and perhaps to win it for a descendant of Nebuchadrezzar, his father's ally. It was after the fall of the Median Dynasty that Nabonidus undertook the restoration of the moon god's temple at Haran.
Cyrus advanced westward against Croesus of Lydia before that monarch could receive assistance from the intriguing but pleasure-loving Amasis of Egypt; he defeated and overthrew him, and seized his kingdom (547-546 B.C.). Then, having established himself as supreme ruler in Asia Minor, he began to operate against Babylonia. In 539 B.C. Belshazzar was defeated near Opis. Sippar fell soon afterwards. Cyrus's general, Gobryas, then advanced upon Babylon, where Belshazzar deemed himself safe. One night, in the month of Tammuz--
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.... They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.... In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.[563]
On the 16th of Tammuz the investing army under Gobryas entered Babylon, the gates having been opened by friends within the city. Some think that the Jews favoured the cause of Cyrus. It is quite as possible, however, that the priests of Merodach had a secret understanding with the great Achaemenian, the "King of kings".
A few days afterwards Cyrus arrived at Babylon. Belshazzar had been slain, but Nabonidus still lived, and he was deported to Carmania. Perfect order prevailed throughout the city, which was firmly policed by the Persian soldiers, and there was no looting. Cyrus was welcomed as a deliverer by the priesthood. He "took the hands" of Bel Merodach at E-sagila, and was proclaimed "King of the world, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, and King of the Four Quarters".
Cyrus appointed his son Cambyses as governor of Babylon. Although a worshipper of Ahura-Mazda and Mithra, Cambyses appears to have conciliated the priesthood. When he became king, and swept through Egypt, he was remembered as the madman who in a fit of passion slew a sacred Apis bull. It is possible, however, that he performed what he considered to be a pious act: he may have sacrificed the bull to Mithra.
The Jews also welcomed Cyrus. They yearned for their native land.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.[564]
Cyrus heard with compassion the cry of the captives.
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (he is the God) which is in Jerusalem.[565]
In 538 B.C. the first party of Jews who were set free saw through tears the hills of home, and hastened their steps to reach Mount Zion. Fifty years later Ezra led back another party of the faithful. The work of restoring Jerusalem was undertaken by Nehemiah in 445 B.C.
The trade of Babylon flourished under the Persians, and the influence of its culture spread far and wide. Persian religion was infused with new doctrines, and their deities were given stellar attributes. Ahura-Mazda became identified with Bel Merodach, as, perhaps, he had previously been with Ashur, and the goddess Anahita absorbed the attributes of Nina, Ishtar, Zerpanitu^m, and other Babylonian "mother deities".
Another "Semiramis" came into prominence. This was the wife and sister of Cambyses. After Cambyses died she married Darius I, who, like Cyrus, claimed to be an Achaemenian. He had to overthrow a pretender, but submitted to the demands of the orthodox Persian party to purify the Ahura-Mazda religion of its Babylonian innovations. Frequent revolts in Babylon had afterwards to be suppressed. The Merodach priesthood apparently suffered loss of prestige at Court. According to Herodotus, Darius plotted to carry away from E-sagila a great statue of Bel "twelve cubits high and entirely of solid gold". He, however, was afraid "to lay his hands upon it". Xerxes, son of Darius (485-465 B.C.), punished Babylon for revolting, when intelligence reached them of his disasters in Greece, by pillaging and partly destroying the temple. "He killed the priest who forbade him to move the statue, and took it away."[566] The city lost its vassal king, and was put under the control of a governor. It, however, regained some of its ancient glory after the burning of Susa palace, for the later Persian monarchs resided in it. Darius II died at Babylon, and Artaxerxes II promoted in the city the worship of Anaitis.
When Darius III, the last Persian emperor, was overthrown by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., Babylon welcomed the Macedonian conqueror as it had welcomed Cyrus. Alexander was impressed by the wisdom and accomplishments of the astrologers and priests, who had become known as "Chaldaeans", and added Bel Merodach to his extraordinary pantheon, which already included Amon of Egypt, Melkarth, and Jehovah. Impressed by the antiquity and magnificence of Babylon, he resolved to make it the capital of his world-wide empire, and there he received ambassadors from countries as far east as India and as far west as Gaul.
The canals of Babylonia were surveyed, and building operations on a vast scale planned out. No fewer than ten thousand men were engaged working for two months reconstructing and decorating the temple of Merodach, which towered to a height of 607 feet. It looked as if Babylon were about to rise to a position of splendour unequalled in its history, when Alexander fell sick, after attending a banquet, and died on an evening of golden splendour sometime in June of 323 B.C.
One can imagine the feelings of the Babylonian priests and astrologers as they spent the last few nights of the emperor's life reading "the omens of the air"--taking note of wind and shadow, moon and stars and planets, seeking for a sign, but unable to discover one favourable. Their hopes of Babylonian glory were suspended in the balance, and they perished completely when the young emperor passed away in the thirty-third year of his life. For four days and four nights the citizens mourned in silence for Alexander and for Babylon.
The ancient city fell into decay under the empire of the Seleucidae. Seleucus I had been governor of Babylon, and after the break-up of Alexander's empire he returned to the ancient metropolis as a conqueror. "None of the persons who succeeded Alexander", Strabo wrote, "attended to the undertaking at Babylon"--the reconstruction of Merodach's temple. "Other works were neglected, and the city was dilapidated partly by the Persians and partly by time and through the indifference of the Greeks, particularly after Seleucus Nicator fortified Seleukeia on the Tigris."[567]
Seleucus drafted to the city which bore his name the great bulk of the inhabitants of Babylon. The remnant which was left behind continued to worship Merodach and other gods after the walls had crumbled and the great temple began to tumble down. Babylon died slowly, but at length the words of the Hebrew prophet were fulfilled:
The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it.... They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow: the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.[568]
FOOTNOTES
[1] Life of Apollonius of Tyana, i, 2O.
[2] Egyptian Tales (Second Series), W.M. Flinders Petrie, pp. 98 _et seq._
[3] Revelation, xviii. The Babylon of the Apocalypse is generally believed to symbolize or be a mystic designation of Rome.
[4] Nineveh and Its Remains, vol. i, p. 17.
[5] Ezra, iv, 10.
[6] The culture god.
[7] Langdon's Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, p. 179.
[8] Crete the Forerunner of Greece, p. 18.
[9] _The Scapegoat vol._, p. 409 (3rd edition).
[10] The Seven Tablets of Creation, L. W. King, p. 129.
[11] Ibid, pp. 133-4.
[12] The Races of Europe, W.Z. Ripley, p. 203.
[13] The Ancient Egyptians, by Elliot Smith, p. 41 _et seq._
[14] The Ancient Egyptians, p. 140.
[15] Crete the Forerunner of Greece, C. H. and H. B. Hawes, 1911, p. 23 _et seq._
[16] The Races of Europe, W. Z. Ripley, p. 443 _et seq._
[17] The Ancient Egyptians, pp. 144-5.
[18] The Ancient Egyptians, p. 114.
[19] The Ancient Egyptians, p. 136.
[20] A History of Palestine, R.A.S. Macalister, pp. 8-16.
[21] The Mediterranean Race (1901 trans.), G. Sergi, p. 146 _et seq._
[22] The Ancient Egyptians, p. 130.
[23] _A History of Civilization in Palestine, p. 20 et seq._
[24] Joshua, xi. 21.
[25] Genesis, xxiii.
[26] Genesis, xvi. 8, 9.
[27] _1 Kings_, xvi. 16.
[28] _2 Kings_, xviii, 32.
[29] Herodotus, i, 193.
[30] Peter's Nippur, i, p. 160.
[31] A Babylonian priest of Bel Merodach. In the third century a.c. he composed in Greek a history of his native land, which has perished. Extracts from it are given by Eusebius, Josephus, Apollodorus, and others.
[32] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 140, 141.
[33] The Religion of the Semites, pp. 159, 160.
[34] Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, M. Jastrow, p. 88.
[35] The Seven Tablets of Creation, L.W. King, vol. i, p. 129.
[36] Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria, M. Jastrow, p. 88.
[37] Cosmology of the Rigveda, Wallis, and Indian Myth and Legend, p. 10.
[38] The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, T.G. Pinches, pp. 59-61.
[39] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, T.G. Pinches, pp. 91, 92.
[40] Joshua, xv, 41; xix, 27.
[41] Judges, xvi, 14.
[42] I Sam., v, 1-9.
[43] I Sam., vi, 5.
[44] The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, R. Campbell Thompson, London, 1903, vol. i, p. xlii.
[45] The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, R. C. Thompson, vol. i, p. xliii.
[46] A History of Sumer and Akkad, L. W. King, p. 54.
[47] The Gods of the Egyptians, E. Wallis Budge, vol. i, p. 290.
[48] The Gods of the Egyptians, vol. i, p. 287.
[49] The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, vol. i, Intro. See also Sayce's The Religion of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia (Gifford Lectures, 1902), p. 385, and Pinches' The Old Testament in the Light of Historical Records, &c., p. 71.
[50] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 100.
[51] Maspero's Dawn of Civilization, p. 156 _et seq._
[52] Egyptian Myth and Legend, p. I _et seq._ The saliva of the frail and elderly was injurious.
[53] Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, E. Wallis Budge, vol. ii, p. 203 _et seq._
[54] _Brana's Popular Antiquities_, vol. iii, pp. 259-263 (1889 ed.).
[55] The Religion of the Semites, pp. 158, 159.
[56] Castes and Tribes of Southern India, E. Thurston, iv, 187.
[57] Omens and Superstitions of Southern India, E. Thurston (1912), pp. 245, 246.
[58] Pausanias, ii, 24, 1.
[59] Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, R.C. Thompson, vol. ii, tablet Y.
[60] Animism, E. Clodd, p. 37.
[61] _2 Kings_, xvi, 3.
[62] Ezekiel, xx, 31.
[63] Leviticus, xviii, 21.
[64] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 65.
[65] Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria, M. Jastrow, pp. 312, 313.
[66] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, T.G. Pinches, p. 81.
[67] In early times two goddesses searched for Tammuz at different periods.
[68] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 30.
[69] Early Religious Poetry of Persia, p. 35.
[70] Early Religious Poetry of Persia, p. 37.
[71] The Golden Bough (Spirits of the Corn and Wild, vol. ii, p. 10), 3rd edition.
[72] Indian Wisdom, Sir Monier Monier-Williams.
[73] A History of Sanskrit Literature, Professor Macdonell.
[74] Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, M. Jastrow, pp. 111, 112.
[75] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. xxxii, and 38 _et seq._
[76] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, T.G. Pinches, p. 94.
[77] The Religion of Ancient Greece, J.E. Harrison, p. 46, and Isoc. _Orat._, v, 117
[78] The Acts, xvii, 22-31.
[79] Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, vol. ii, p. 149 _et seq._
[80] Egyptian Myth and Legend, xxxix, _n._
[81] Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, J.H. Breasted, pp. 38, 74.
[82] Custom and Myth, p. 45 _et seq._
[83] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 108.
[84] Act iv, scene 1.
[85] Paradise Lost, book ix.
[86] Chapman's Caesar and Pompey.
[87] Natural History, 2nd book.
[88] Indian Myth and Legend, 70, n.
[89] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 202-5, 400, 401.
[90] Teutonic Myth and Legend, p. 424 et seq.
[91] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 164 et seq.
[92] Popular Religion and Folk Lore of Northern India, W. Crooke, vol. i, p. 254.
[93] When a person, young or old, is dying, near relatives must not call out their names in case the soul may come back from the spirit world. A similar belief still lingers, especially among women, in the Lowlands. The writer was once present in a room when a child was supposed to be dying. Suddenly the mother called out the child's name in agonized voice. It revived soon afterwards. Two old women who had attempted to prevent "the calling" shook their heads and remarked: "She has done it! The child will never do any good in this world after being called back." In England and Ireland, as well as in Scotland, the belief also prevails in certain localities that if a dying person is "called back" the soul will tarry for another twenty-four hours, during which the individual will suffer great agony.
[94] A Journey in Southern Siberia, Jeremiah Curtin, pp. 103, 104.
[95] Vol. i, p. 305.
[96] Adi Parva section of _Mahàbhàrata_, Roy's trans., p. 635.
[97] Jastrow's Aspects of Religious Belief in Babylonia, &c., p. 312.
[98] R.C. Thompson's trans.
[99] The Elder or Poetic Edda, Olive Bray, part i, p. 53.
[100] Babylonian Religion, L.W. King, pp. 186-8.
[101] The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, R. Campbell Thompson, vol. i, p. 53 et seq.
[102] Omens and Superstitions of Southern India, E. Thurston, p. 124.
[103] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 110.
[104] Beowulf, Clark Hall, p. 14.
[105] Ezekiel, viii.
[106] Psalms, cxxvi.
[107] The Burden of Isis, J.T. Dennis _(Wisdom of the East_ series), pp. 21, 22.
[108] Religion of the Semites, pp. 412, 414.
[109] Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 45 et seq.
[110] Langdon's Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, pp. 319-321.
[111] Campbell's West Highland Tales, vol. iii, p. 74.
[112] West Highland Tales, vol. iii, pp. 85, 86.
[113] If Finn and his band were really militiamen--the original Fenians--as is believed in Ireland, they may have had attached to their memories the legends of archaic Iberian deities who differed from the Celtic Danann deities. Theodoric the Goth, as Dietrich von Bern, was identified, for instance, with Donar or Thunor (Thor), the thunder god. In Scotland Finn and his followers are all giants. Diarmid is the patriarch of the Campbell clan, the MacDiarmids being "sons of Diarmid".
[114] Isaiah condemns a magical custom connected with the worship of Tammuz in the garden, Isaiah, xvii, 9, 11. This "Garden of Adonis" is dealt with in the next chapter.
[115] Quotations are from Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, translated by Stephen Langdon, Ph.D. (Paris and London, 1909), pp. 299-341.
[116] Beowulf, translated by J.R. Clark Hall (London, 1911), pp. 9-11.
[117] For Frey's connection with the Ynglings see Morris and Magnusson's Heimskringla (Saga Library, vol. iii), pp. 23-71.
[118] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 72.
[119] Langdon's Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, pp. 325, 339.
[120] Professor Oldenberg's translation.
[121] Osiris is also invoked to "remove storms and rain and give fecundity in the nighttime". As a spring sun god he slays demons; as a lunar god he brings fertility.
[122] Like the love-compelling girdle of Aphrodite.
[123] A wedding bracelet of crystal is worn by Hindu women; they break it when the husband dies.
[124] Quotations from the translation in The Chaldean Account of Genesis, by George Smith.
[125] Langdon's Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, p. 329 _et seq._
[126] The Burden of Isis, translated by J.T. Dennis (Wisdom of the East series), pp. 24, 31, 32, 39, 45, 46, 49.
[127] The Burden of Isis, pp. 22, 46.
[128] Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 137, and Herodotus, book i, 199.
[129] The Burden of Isis, p. 47.
[130] Original Sanskrit Texts, J. Muir, London, 1890, vol. i, p. 67.
[131] Original Sanskrit Texts, vol. i, p. 44.
[132] Adi Parva section of _Mahàbhàrata_ (Roy's translation), pp. 553, 555.
[133] Ancient Irish Poetry, Kuno Meyer (London, 1911), pp. 88-90.
[134] Translations from The Elder Edda, by O. Bray (part i), London, 1908.
[135] Babylonian Religion, L.W. King, pp. 160, 161.
[136] Tennyson's _A Dream of Fair Women._
[137] Greece and Babylon, L.R. Farnell (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 35.
[138] The goddesses did not become prominent until the "late invasion" of the post-Vedic Aryans.
[139] Greece and Babylon, p. 96.
[140] Jeremiah, xliv.
[141] _Jeremiah, vii, 18._
[142] Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 348, 349.
[143] _Jeremiah, vii, 17._
[144] Nehemiah, i, 1.
[145] Esther, i, 6.
[146] Isaiah, xiii, 19-22.
[147] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 173-175 and 192-194.
[148] Or Rimush.
[149] Genesis, xiv.
[150] That is, the equivalent of Babylonia. During the Kassite period the name was Karduniash.
[151] The narrative follows The Seven Tablets of Creation and other fragments, while the account given by Berosus is also drawn upon.
[152] The elder Bel was Enlil of Nippur and the younger Merodach of Babylon. According to Damascius the elder Bel came into existence before Ea, who as Enki shared his attributes.
[153] This is the inference drawn from fragmentary texts.
[154] A large portion of the narrative is awaiting here.
[155] A title of Tiamat; pron. ch guttural.
[156] There is another gap here which interrupts the narrative.
[157] This may refer to Ea's first visit when he overcame Kingu, but did not attack Tiamat.
[158] The lightning trident or thunderstone.
[159] The authorities are not agreed as to the meaning of "Ku-pu." Jensen suggests "trunk, body". In European dragon stories the heroes of the Siegfried order roast and eat the dragon's heart. Then they are inspired with the dragon's wisdom and cunning. Sigurd and Siegfried immediately acquire the language of birds. The birds are the "Fates", and direct the heroes what next they should do. Apparently Merodach's "cunning plan" was inspired after he had eaten a part of the body of Tiamat.
[160] The waters above the firmament.
[161] According to Berosus.
[162] This portion is fragmentary and seems to indicate that the Babylonians had made considerable progress in the science of astronomy. It is suggested that they knew that the moon derived its light from the sun.
[163] The Seven Tablets of Creation, L.W. King, pp. 134, 135.
[164] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, T.G. Pinches, p. 43.
[165] The Seven Tablets of Creation, L. W. King, vol. i, pp. 98, 99.
[166] _Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch_., iv, 251-2.
[167] Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, i, 3, 8.
[168] Isaiah, li, 8.
[169] Campbell's West Highland Tales, pp. 136 _et seq._
[170] The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, E. A. Wallis Budge, pp. 284, 285.
[171] Campbell's West Highland Tales.
[172] Nehemiah, ii, 13.
[173] The Tempest, i, 2, 212.
[174] Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, vol. iv, p. 176 et seq.
[175] From unpublished folk tale.
[176] Beowulf, translated by Clark Hall, London, 1911, p. 18 et seq.
[177] Beowulf, translated by Clark Hall, London, 1911, p. 69, lines 1280-1287.
[178] Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 260, 261.
[179] Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 8, 9.
[180] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. xli, 149, 150.
[181] Isaiah, li, 9.
[182] Psalms, lxxiv, 13, 14. It will be noted that the Semitic dragon, like the Egyptian, is a male.
[183] Job, xxvi, 12, 13.
[184] Psalms, lxxxix, 10.
[185] Isaiah, xxvii, I.
[186] Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, p. 204.
[187] Custom and Myth, pp. 45 et seq.
[188] Translation by Dr. Langdon, pp. 199 _et seq._
[189] The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, T.G. Pinches, pp. 118, 119.
[190] It is suggested that Arthur is derived from the Celtic word for "bear". If so, the bear may have been the "totem" of the Arthur tribe represented by the Scottish clan of MacArthurs.
[191] See "Lady in the Straw" beliefs in _Brand's Popular Antiquities_, vol. ii, 66 _et seq._ 1899 ed.).
[192] Like the Etana "mother eagle" Garuda was a slayer of serpents (Chapter III).
[193] Vana Parva section of the _Mahábhárata_ (Roy's trans.), p. 818 _et seq._, and Indian Myth and Legend, p. 413.
[194] The Koran (with notes from approved commentators), trans. by George Sale, P-246, n.
[195] The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, E. Wallis Budge (London, 1896), pp. 277-8, 474-5.
[196] Campbell's West Highland Tales, vol. iii, pp. 251-4 (1892 ed.).
[197] Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, p. 141.
[198] Adi Parva section of the _Mahàbhàrata_ (Hymn to Garuda), Roy's trans., p. 88, 89.
[199] Herodian, iv, 2.
[200] The image made by Nebuchadnezzar is of interest in this connection. He decreed that "whoso falleth not down and worshippeth" should be burned in the "fiery furnace". The Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, were accordingly thrown into the fire, but were delivered by God. Daniel, iii, 1-30.
[201] The Assyrian and Phoenician Hercules is discussed by Raoul Rochette in _Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres_ (Paris, 1848), pp. 178 et seq.
[202] G. Sale's Koran, p. 246, n.
[203] In the Eddic poem "Lokasenna" the god Byggvir (Barley) is addressed by Loki, "Silence, Barleycorn!" The Elder Edda, translation by Olive Bray, pp. 262, 263.
[204] _De Nat. Animal_., xii, 21, ed. Didot, p. 210, quoted by Professor Budge in The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, p. 278, n.
[205] Isaiah, lvii, 4 and 5.
[206] _The Golden Bough (Adonis, Attis, Osiris_ vol.), "The Gardens of Adonis", pp. 194 _et seq._ (3rd ed.).
[207] Daniel, iv, 33. It is possible that Nebuchadnezzar, as the human representative of the god of corn and fertility, imitated the god by living a time in the wilds like Ea-bani.
[208] Pronounce ch guttural.
[209] On a cylinder seal the heroes each wrestle with a bull.
[210] Alexander the Great in the course of his mythical travels reached a mountain at the world-end. "Its peak reached to the first heaven and its base to the seventh earth."--Budge.
[211] Jastrow's trans., Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 374.
[212] Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (1912), J.H. Breasted, pp. 183-5.
[213] Ecclesiastes, ix, 7-9.
[214] Ibid., xii, 13.
[215] Perhaps brooding and undergoing penance like an Indian Rishi with purpose to obtain spiritual power.
[216] Probably to perform the ceremony of pouring out a libation.
[217] Saxo, iii, 71.
[218] Ibid., viii, 291.
[219] The Elder Edda, O. Bray, pp. 157 et seq. See also Teutonic Myth and Legend.
[220] The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, E. Wallis Budge, pp. xl et seq., 167 et seq.
[221] The Koran, trans, by G. Sale, pp. 222, 223 (chap. xviii).
[222] Vana Parva section of the _Mahàbhàrata_ (Roy's trans.), pp. 435-60, and Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 105-9.
[223] Vana Parva section of the _Mahàbhàrata_ (Roy's translation), pp. 832, 833.
[224] Ea addresses the hut in which his human favourite, Pir-napishtim, slept. His message was conveyed to this man in a dream.
[225] The second sentence of Ea's speech is conjectural, as the lines are mutilated.
[226] _The Muses' Pageant_, W.M.L. Hutchinson, pp. 5 _et seq._
[227] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 107 _et seq._
[228] Vana Parva section of the _Mahábhárata_ (Roy's trans.), p. 425.
[229] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 141.
[230] Book of Leinster, and Keating's History of Ireland, p. 150 (1811 ed.).
[231] Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, pp. 58 _et seq._
[232] Pinches' The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 42.
[233] The problems involved are discussed from different points of view by Mr. L.W. King in Babylonian Religion (Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, vol. iv), Professor Pinches in The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, and other vols.
[234] Primitive Constellations, vol. i, pp. 334-5.
[235] Indian Myth and Legend, chap. iii.
[236] Professor Macdonell's translation.
[237] Indian Wisdom.
[238] "Varuna, the deity bearing the noose as his weapon", Sabha Parva section of the _Mahábhárata_ (Roy's trans.), p. 29.
[239] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 38-42.
[240] Early Religious Poetry of Persia, J.H. Moulton, pp. 41 _et seq._ and 154 _et seq._
[241] The Elder Edda, O. Bray, p. 55.
[242] The Elder Edda, O. Bray, pp. 291 _et seq._
[243] Celtic Myth and Legend, pp. 133 _et seq._
[244] Tennyson's The Passing of Arthur.
[245] Job, x, 1-22.
[246] The Elder Edda, O. Bray, pp. 150-1.
[247] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 326.
[248] The Religion of Ancient Rome, Cyril Bailey, p. 50.
[249] _The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great (Ethiopic version of the Pseudo Callisthenes)_, pp. 133-4. The conversation possibly never took place, but it is of interest in so far as it reflects beliefs which were familiar to the author of this ancient work. His Brahmans evidently believed that immortality was denied to ordinary men, and reserved only for the king, who was the representative of the deity, of course.
[250] Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, Morris Jastrow, pp. 358-9.
[251] The _Mahàbhàrata_ (Sabha Parva section), Roy's translation, pp. 25-7.
[252] A History of Sumer and Akkad, L.W. King, pp. 181-2.
[253] Genesis, xxxv, 2-4.
[254] The Religion of Ancient Egypt, W.M. Flinders Petrie, p. 72.
[255] Sabha Parva section of the _Mahàbhàrata_ (Roy's trans.), p. 29.
[256] Egyptian Myth and Legend, p. 214.
[257] Canto iv:--
[258] _1 Samuel_, xxiii, 9-11.
[259] _1 Kings_, xix, 19 and _2 Kings_, ii, 13-15.
[260] The Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt, John Garstang, pp. 28, 29 (London, 1907).
[261] _Herod._, book i, 198.
[262] Records of the Past (old series), xi, pp. 109 et seq., and (new series), vol. i, pp. 149 et seq.
[263] L.W. King's The Seven Tablets of Creation.
[264] Herodotus, book i, 179 (Rawlinson's translation).
[265] Isaiah, xlv, 1, 2.
[266] Herodotus, book i, 181-3 (Rawlinson's translation).
[267] History of Sumer and Akkad, L.W. King, p. 37.
[268] Herodotus, book i, 196 (Rawlinson's translation).
[269] Home Life of the Highlanders (Dr. Cameron Gillies on Medical Knowledge,) pp. 85 _et seq._ Glasgow, 1911.
[270] Translations by R.C. Thompson in The Devils and Spirits of Babylon, vol. i, pp. lxiii _et seq._
[271] Bridges which lead to graveyards.
[272] Genesis, xii and xiii.
[273] Genesis, xiv, 13.
[274] Ibid., xxiii.
[275] Ezekiel, xvi, 3.
[276] Genesis, xiv, 1-4.
[277] Ibid., 5-24.
[278] _Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters_, C.H.W. Johns, pp. 392 _et seq._
[279] Translation by Johns in _Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters_, pp. 390 _et seq._
[280] Matthew, ix, 37.
[281] Johns's _Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, &c._, pp. 371-2.
[282] The Land of the Hittites, John Garstang, pp. 312 _et seq._ and 315 _et seq._
[283] The Ancient Egyptian, pp. 106 _et seq._
[284] The Ancient Egyptians, p. 130.
[285] Struggle of the Nations (1896), p. 19.
[286] Note contributed to The Land of the Hittites, J. Garstang, p. 324.
[287] Genesis, xxvi, 34, 35.
[288] Ezekiel, xvi, 45.
[289] Genesis, xxvii, 46.
[290] Genesis, xxviii, 1, 2.
[291] Genesis, xxiv.
[292] The Syrian Goddess, John Garstang (London, 1913), pp. 17-8.
[293] Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, Macdonald & Keith, vol. i, pp. 64-5 (London, 1912).
[294] The Wanderings of Peoples, p. 21.
[295] Breasted's History of Egypt, pp. 219-20.
[296] A History of Egypt, W.M. Flinders Petrie, vol. ii, p. 146 _et seq._ (1904 ed.).
[297] A History of Egypt, W.M. Flinders Petrie, vol. ii, p. 147 (1904 ed.).
[298] The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, pp. 126 _et seq._
[299] His connection with Anu is discussed in chapter xiv.
[300] Ancient Assyria, C.H.W. Johns, p. 11 (London, 1912).
[301] _The Tell-el-Amarna Letters_, Hugo Winckler, p. 31.
[302] "It may be worth while to note again", says Beddoe, "how often finely developed skulls are discovered in the graveyards of old monasteries, and how likely seems Galton's conjecture, that progress was arrested in the Middle Ages, because the celibacy of the clergy brought about the extinction of the best strains of blood." The Anthropological History of Europe, p. 161 (1912).
[303] Census of India, vol. I, part i, pp. 352 et seq.
[304] Hibbert Lectures, Professor Sayce, p. 328.
[305] The Story of Nala, Monier Williams, pp. 68-9 and 77.
[306] "In Ymer's flesh (the earth) the dwarfs were engendered and began to move and live.... The dwarfs had been bred in the mould of the earth, just as worms are in a dead body." The Prose Edda. "The gods ... took counsel whom they should make the lord of dwarfs out of Ymer's blood (the sea) and his swarthy limbs (the earth)." _The Elder Edda (Voluspa_, stanza 9).
[307] The Story of Nala, Monier Williams, p. 67.
[308] Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 168 _it seq._
[309] The Burden of Isis, Dennis, p. 24.
[310] Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, p. 117.
[311] Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, T.G. Pinches, p. l00.
[312] The Burden of Isis, J.T. Dennis, p. 49.
[313] Ibid., p. 52.
[314] Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, p. 30.
[315] Vedic Index, Macdonell & Keith, vol. i, pp. 423 _et seq._
[316] Religion of the Ancient Babylonians, Sayce, p. 153, n. 6.
[317] Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, p. 30.
[318] Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 95.
[319] Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, pp. 63 and 83.
[320] When the King of Assyria transported the Babylonians, &c., to Samaria "the men of Cuth made Nergal", _2 Kings_, xvii, 30.
[321] Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, p. 80.
[322] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 13.
[323] Derived from the Greek zoon, an animal.
[324] The Hittites, pp. 116, 119, 120, 272.
[325] "The sun... is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." (Psalm xix, 4 _et seq._) The marriage of the sun bridegroom with the moon bride appears to occur in Hittite mythology. In Aryo-Indian Vedic mythology the bride of the sun (Surya) is Ushas, the Dawn. The sun maiden also married the moon god. The Vedic gods ran a race and Indra and Agni were the winners. The sun was "of the nature of Agni". Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 14, 36, 37.
[326] Or golden.
[327] The later reference is to Assyria. There was no Assyrian kingdom when these early beliefs were developed.
[328] Primitive Constellations, R. Brown, jun., vol. ii, p. 1 _et seq._
[329] In India "finger counting" (Kaur guna) is associated with prayer or the repeating of mantras. The counting is performed by the thumb, which, when the hand is drawn up, touches the upper part of the third finger. The two upper "chambers" of the third finger are counted, then the two upper "chambers" of the little finger; the thumb then touches the tip of each finger from the little finger to the first; when it comes down into the upper chamber of the first finger 9 is counted. By a similar process each round of 9 on the right hand is recorded by the left up to 12; 12 X 9 = 108 repetitions of a mantra. The upper "chambers" of the fingers are the "best" or "highest" (uttama), the lower (adhama) chambers are not utilized in the prayer-counting process. When Hindus sit cross-legged at prayers, with closed eyes, the right hand is raised from the elbow in front of the body, and the thumb moves each time a mantra is repeated; the left hand lies palm upward on the left knee, and the thumb moves each time nine mantras have been counted.
[330] Primitive Constellations, R. Brown, jun., vol. ii, p. 61; and Early History of Northern India, J.F. Hewitt, pp. 551-2.
[331] _Rigveda-Samhita_, vol. iv (1892), p. 67.
[332] Vedic Index, Macdonell & Keith, vol. ii, pp. 192 _et seq._
[333] Indian Myth and Legend [334] Pp. 107 _et seq._
[335] Primitive Constellation, R. Brown, jun., vol. i, 1. 333. A table is given showing how 120 saroi equals 360 degrees, each king being identified with a star.
[336] "Behold, his majesty the god Ra is grown old; his bones are become silver, his limbs gold, and his hair pure lapis lazuli." Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, p. 58. Ra became a destroyer after completing his reign as an earthly king.
[337] As Nin-Girau, Tammuz was associated with "sevenfold" Orion.
[338] Babylonian and Assyrian Life, pp. 61, 62.
[339] Herodotus (ii, 52) as quoted in Egypt and Scythia (London, 1886), p. 49.
[340] Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, L.W. King (London, 1896), pp. 43 and 115.
[341] Vedic Index, Macdonell & Keith, vol. ii, p. 229.
[342] Ibid vol. i, pp. 409, 410.
[343] Ibid vol. i, p. 415.
[344] Primitive Constellations, vol. i, p. 343.
[345] Custom and Myth, pp. 133 _et seq._
[346] Dr. Alfred Jeremias gives very forcible reasons for believing that the ancient Babylonians were acquainted with the precession of the equinoxes. Das Alter der Babylonischen Astronomie (Hinrichs, Leipzig, 1908), pp. 47 _et seq._
[347] Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 207 _et seq._
[348] A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, p. 93.
[349] _Babylonians and Assyrians: Life and Customs_, pp. 219, 220.
[350] Primitive Constellations, vol. ii, pp. 147 et seq.
[351] The Aryo-Indians had a lunar year of 360 days (Vedic Index, ii, 158).
[352] A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, p. 94.
[353] Twelfth Night, act ii, scene 5.
[354] Childe Harold, canto iii, v, 88.
[355] Genesis, x, 11.
[356] "A number of tablets have been found in Cappadocia of the time of the Second Dynasty of Ur which show marked affinities with Assyria. The divine name Ashir, as in early Assyrian texts, the institution of eponyms and many personal names which occur in Assyria, are so characteristic that we must assume kinship of peoples. But whether they witness to a settlement in Cappadocia from Assyria, or vice versa, is not yet clear." Ancient Assyria, C.H.W. Johns (Cambridge, 1912), pp. 12-13.
[357] Sumerian Ziku, apparently derived from Zi, the spiritual essence of life, the "self power" of the Universe.
[358] Peri Archon, cxxv.
[359] Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 197 et seq.
[360] Julius Caesar, act iii, scene I.
[361] Isaiah, xiv, 4-14.
[362] Eddubrott, ii.
[363] Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, pp. 289-90.
[364] Ibid., p. 236. Atlas was also believed to be in the west.
[365] Primitive Constellations, vol. ii, p. 184.
[366] Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, xxx, II.
[367] Isaiah, xiii, 21. For "Satyrs" the Revised Version gives the alternative translation, "or he-goats".
[368] Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 120, plate 18 and note.
[369] Satapatha Brahmana, translated by Professor Eggeling, part iv, 1897, p. 371. _(Sacred Books of the East_.)
[370] Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp. 165 et seq.
[371] Classic Myth and Legend, p. 105. The birds were called "Stymphalides".
[372] The so-called "shuttle" of Neith may be a thunderbolt. Scotland's archaic thunder deity is a goddess. The bow and arrows suggest a lightning goddess who was a deity of war because she was a deity of fertility.
[373] Vedic Index, Macdonell & Keith, vol. ii, pp. 125-6, and vol. i, 168-9.
[374] Ezekiel, xxxi, 3-8.
[375] Ezekiel, xxvii, 23, 24.
[376] Isaiah, xxxvii, 11.
[377] Ibid., x, 5, 6.
[378] A winged human figure, carrying in one hand a basket and in another a fir cone.
[379] Layard's Nineveh (1856), p. 44.
[380] Ibid., p. 309.
[381] The fir cone was offered to Attis and Mithra. Its association with Ashur suggests that the great Assyrian deity resembled the gods of corn and trees and fertility.
[382] Nineveh, p. 47.
[383] Isaiah, xxxvii, 37-8.
[384] The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, pp. 129-30.
[385] An eclipse of the sun in Assyria on June 15, 763 B.C., was followed by an outbreak of civil war.
[386] Ezekiel, i, 4-14.
[387] Ezekiel, xxiii, 1-15.
[388] As the soul of the Egyptian god was in the sun disk or sun egg.
[389] Ezekiel, i, 15-28.
[390] Ezekiel, x, 11-5.
[391] Also called "Amrita".
[392] The Mahabharata (_Adi Parva_), Sections xxxiii-iv.
[393] Another way of spelling the Turkish name which signifies "village of the pass". The deep "gh" guttural is not usually attempted by English speakers. A common rendering is "Bog-haz' Kay-ee", a slight "oo" sound being given to the "a" in "Kay"; the "z" sound is hard and hissing.
[394] The Land of the Hittites, J. Garstang, pp. 178 _et seq._
[395] Ibid., p. 173.
[396] _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, chaps. v and vi.
[397] Daniel, iii, 1-26.
[398] The story that Abraham hung an axe round the neck of Baal after destroying the other idols is of Jewish origin.
[399] The Koran, George Sale, pp. 245-6.
[400] Isaiah, xxx, 31-3. See also for Tophet customs _2 Kings_, xxiii, 10; Jeremiah, vii, 31, 32 and xix, 5-12.
[401] _1 Kings_, xvi, 18.
[402] _1 Samuel_, xxxi, 12, 13 and _1 Chronicles_, x, 11, 12.
[403] The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, pp. 201-2.
[404] Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, pp. 57-8.
[405] Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 121.
[406] Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, p. 86.
[407] At Carchemish a railway bridge spans the mile-wide river ferry which Assyria's soldiers were wont to cross with the aid of skin floats. The engineers have found it possible to utilize a Hittite river wall about 3000 years old--the oldest engineering structure in the world. The ferry was on the old trade route.
[408] Deuteronomy, xxvi, 5
[409] Pr. u as oo.
[410] The chief cities of North Syria were prior to this period Hittite. This expansion did not change the civilization but extended the area of occupation and control.
[411] Garstang's The Land of the Hittites, p. 349.
[412] "Burgh of Tukulti-Ninip."
[413] Article "Celts" in Encyclopaedia Britannica, eleventh ed.
[414] The Wanderings of Peoples, p. 41.
[415] _Crete, the Forerunner of Greece_, p. 146.
[416] Pr. Moosh´kee.
[417] "Have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistines from Caphtor (Crete)?" Amos, viii, 7.
[418] A History of Civilization in Palestine, p. 58.
[419] Pinches' translation.
[420] I Samuel, xiii, 19.
[421] A History of Civilization in Palestine, p. 54.
[422] _1 Kings_, iii, 1.
[423] Ibid., ix, 16.
[424] _1 Kings_, v, 1-12.
[425] Ibid., vii, 14 _et seq._
[426] Ibid., x, 22-3.
[427] Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 83-4.
[428] Finn and His Warrior Band, pp. 245 _et seq._ (London, 1911).
[429] Also rendered Ashur-na'sir-pal.
[430] A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, G.S. Goodspeed, p. 197.
[431] Discoveries at Nineveh, Sir A.H. Layard (London, 1856), pp. 55, 56.
[432] "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem." _Solomon's Song_, vi, 4.
[433] _2 Chronicles_, xii, 15.
[434] _1 Kings_, xiv, 1-20.
[435] _Ibid._, 21-3.
[436] _2 Chronicles_, xii, 1-12.
[437] _2 Chronicles_, xiii, 1-20.
[438] _Ibid._, xiv, 1-6.
[439] _1 Kings_, xv, 25-6.
[440] _1 Kings_, xv, 16-7.
[441] _Ibid._, 18-9.
[442] _Ibid._, 20-2.
[443] _1 Kings_, xvi, 9-10.
[444] _Ibid._, 15-8.
[445] _Ibid._, 21-2.
[446] Micah, vi, 16.
[447] _1 Kings_, xvi, 29-33.
[448] _Ibid._, xviii, 1-4.
[449] _1 Kings_, xx.
[450] _Ibid._, xxii, 43.
[451] _2 Chronicles_, xviii, 1-2.
[452] _1 Kings_, xxii and _2 Chronicles_, xviii.
[453] _1 Kings_, xxii, 48-9.
[454] _1 Kings_, viii.
[455] _2 Kings_, ix and _2 Chronicles_, xxii.
[456] _2 Kings_, viii, 1-15.
[457] The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, pp. 337 _et seq._
[458] _2 Kings_, x, 32-3.
[459] _Ibid._, 1-31.
[460] _2 Kings_, xi, 1-3.
[461] _2 Chronicles_, xxii, 10-12.
[462] _2 Chronicles_, xxiii, 1-17.
[463] _2 Kings_, xiii, 1-5.
[464] The Land of the Hittites, J. Garstang, p. 354.
[465] The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, T.G. Pinches, p. 343.
[466] _Nat. Hist_., v, 19 and Strabo xvi, 1-27.
[467] _The Mahabharata_: Adi Parva, sections lxxi and lxxii (Roy's translation, pp. 213 216, and Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 157 _et seq._
[468] That is, without ceremony but with consent.
[469] The Golden Bough (_The Scapegoat_), pp. 369 _et seq._, (3rd edition). Perhaps the mythic Semiramis and legends connected were in existence long before the historic Sammu-rammat, though the two got mixed up.
[470] Herodotus, i, 184.
[471] De dea Syria, 9-14.
[472] Strabo, xvi, 1, 2.
[473] Diodorus Siculus, ii, 3.
[474] Herodotus, i, 105.
[475] Diodorus Siculus, ii, 4.
[476] De dea Syria, 14.
[477] This little bird allied to the woodpecker twists its neck strangely when alarmed. It may have symbolized the coquettishness of fair maidens. As love goddesses were "Fates", however, the wryneck may have been connected with the belief that the perpetrator of a murder, or a death spell, could be detected when he approached his victim's corpse. If there was no wound to "bleed afresh", the "death thraw" (the contortions of death) might indicate who the criminal was. In a Scottish ballad regarding a lady, who was murdered by her lover, the verse occurs:
[478] Langdon's Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, pp. 133, 135.
[479] Introduction to Lane's _Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians._
[480] Tammuz is referred to in a Sumerian psalm as "him of the dovelike voice, yea, dovelike". He may have had a dove form. Angus, the Celtic god of spring, love, and fertility, had a swan form; he also had his seasonal period of sleep like Tammuz.
[481] Campbell's Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands, p. 288.
[482] Indian Myth and Legend, p. 95.
[483] Ibid., pp. 329-30.
[484] _Crete, the Forerunner of Greece_, C.H. and H.B. Hawes, p. 139
[485] The Discoveries in Crete, pp. 137-8.
[486] Religion of the Semites, p. 294.
[487] Egyptian Myth and Legend, p. 59.
[488] Including the goose, one of the forms of the harvest goddess.
[489] _Brand's Popular Antiquities_, vol. ii, 230-1 and vol. iii, 232 (1899 ed.).
[490] Ibid., vol. iii, 217. The myrtle was used for love charms.
[491] The Golden Bough (_Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_), vol. ii, p. 293 (3rd ed.).
[492] Herodotus, ii, 69, 71, and 77.
[493] _Brand's Popular Antiquities_, vol. iii, p. 227.
[494] Cited by Professor Burrows in The Discoveries in Crete, p. 134.
[495] Like the Egyptian Horus, Nebo had many phases: he was connected with the sun and moon, the planet Mercury, water and crops; he was young and yet old--a mystical god.
[496] Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 94 _et seq._
[497] Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, L.W. King, pp. 6-7 and 26-7.
[498] _2 Kings_, xiii, 3.
[499] _2 Kings_, xiii, 14-25.
[500] _3 Kings_, xiii, 5, 6.
[501] The masses of the Urartian folk appear to have been of Hatti stock--"broad heads", like their descendants, the modern Armenians.
[502] It is uncertain whether this city or Kullani in north Syria it the Biblical Calno. Isaiah, x, 9.
[503] _2 Kings_, xv, 19 and 29; _2 Chronicles_, xxviii, 20.
[504] _2 Kings_, xviii, 34 and xix, 13.
[505] _2 Kings_, xiv, 1-14.
[506] _2 Kings_, xv, 1-14.
[507] _2 Kings_, xv, 19, 20.
[508] _2 Kings_, xv, 25.
[509] Amos, v.
[510] Amos, i.
[511] _2 Kings_, xvi, 5.
[512] Isaiah, vii, 3-7.
[513] _2 Kings_, xv, 3.
[514] Isaiah, vii, 18.
[515] Kir was probably on the borders of Elam.
[516] _2 Kings_, xvi, 7-9.
[517] _2 Kings_, xv, 29, 30.
[518] _2 Kings_, xvi, 10.
[519] In the Hebrew text this monarch is called Sua, Seveh, and So, says Maspero. The Assyrian texts refer to him as Sebek, Shibahi, Shabè, &c. He has been identified with Pharaoh Shabaka of the Twenty-fifth Egyptian Dynasty; that monarch may have been a petty king before he founded his Dynasty. Another theory is that he was Seve, king of Mutsri, and still another that he was a petty king of an Egyptian state in the Delta and not Shabaka.
[520] _2 Kings_, xvii, 3-5.
[521] Isaiah, xx, 1.
[522] _2 Kings_, xvii, 6.
[523] _2 Kings_, xvii, 16-41.
[524] The people carried away would not be the whole of the inhabitants--only, one would suppose, the more important personages, enough to make up the number 27,290 given above.
[525] Passing of the Empires, pp. 200-1.
[526] Those who, like Breasted, identify "Piru of Mutsri" with "Pharaoh of Egypt" adopt the view that Bocchoris of Sais paid tribute to Sargon. Piru, however, is subsequently referred to with two Arabian kings as tribute payers to Sargon apparently after Lower Egypt had come under the sway of Shabaka, the first king of the Ethiopian or Twenty-fifth Dynasty.
[527] Isaiah, xx, 2-5.
[528] Commander-in-chief.
[529] Isaiah, xx, 1.
[530] The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, T.G. Pinches, p. 372.
[531] Isaiah, xxxvii, 9.
[532] Isaiah, xxix, 1, 2.
[533] _2 Chronicles_, xxxii, 9-17.
[534] _2 Kings_, xix, 6, 7.
[535] _2 Kings_, xix, 35, 36.
[536] Smith-Sayce, History of Sennacherib, pp. 132-5.
[537] A History of Sumer and Akkad, p. 37.
[538] Isaiah, xxxvii, 8-13.
[539] _2 Kings_, xxi, 3-7.
[540] _2 Kings_, xxi, 16.
[541] Hebrews, xi, 36, 37.
[542] _2 Chronicles_, xxxiii, 11-3. It may be that Manasseh was taken to Babylon during Ashur-bani-pal's reign. See next chapter.
[543] Pronounce g as in gem.
[544] Nahum, i, ii, and iii.
[545] Isaiah, xlvi, 1; xlvii, 1-15.
[546] Nahum, iii, 2, 3; ii, 3.
[547] Goodspeed's A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, p. 348.
[548] Nahum, iii, 8-11.
[549] Ptolemy's Kineladanus.
[550] Ezra, iv, 10.
[551] Nahum, iii and ii.
[552] 2 Kings, xxiii, 29.
[553] _Ibid._, 33-5.
[554] Nebuchadrezzar is more correct than Nebuchadnezzar.
[555] _2 Kings_, xxiv, 7.
[556] _2 Chronicles_, xxxvi, 6.
[557] _2 Kings_, xxiv, 1.
[558] _2 Kings_, xxiv, 8-15.
[559] Jeremiah, lii, 3.
[560] Jeremiah, lii, 4-11.
[561] The Laminations of Jeremiah, i, 1-7.
[562] Jeremiah, lii, 31-4.
[563] Daniel, v, I et seq.
[564] Psalms, cxxxvii, 1-6.
[565] Ezra, i, 1-3.
[566] Herodotus, i, 183; Strabo, xvi, 1, 5; and Arrian, vii, 17.
[567] Strabo, xvi, 1-5.
[568] Isaiah, xxiiv, 11-4.
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Myths of Babylonia and Assyria
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