Arid tract nysus and Jenysus to Lake Serbonis, on the confines of Aegypt, ASIA. they belonged to the Syrians. The latter tract CHAP. III, was three days' journey in extent, and utterly destitute of water. From every part of Hellas, and between Jealso from Phoenicia, earthen vessels filled with wine Lake Serwere twice every year imported into Aegypt, and bonis. yet not a single jar was to be seen there; for every demarch was obliged to collect all the vessels in his own town, and forward them to Memphis, where the people filled them with water, and conveyed them to the arid tract of three days' journey already described. This plan was first adopted by the Persians after they had become masters of Aegypt, in order to render the country easier of access. 4 3 circumci The Syrians in Palaestine, like the Phoenicians, Practice of learnt the practice of circumcision from the Aegypt- sion." ians. Herodotus saw in their country some of the Pillars of pillars of Sesostris, on which were engraved the Sesostris. usual inscription, together with the aidoia, an hiero 5 glyphic signifying that they had been conquered with very little trouble." 6 CYPRUS has already been described amongst the Cyprus. islands. The sixth satrapy, which included Aegypt and Libya, is described in another place. or Babylonia and Mesopotamia, anIrak-Arabi swering to and Algezi IX. BABYLON and the rest of ASSYRIA were included IX.Assyria, in the ninth satrapy, and paid yearly one thousand talents of silver and five hundred young eunuchs. This Assyria of Herodotus lay due east of the previous satrapy, and appears to have included the country on the Euphrates and Tigris, and to have comprised Mesopotamia and Babylonia, thus answering to the modern provinces of Algezirah and Irak-Arabi." tration and desolation described by Nehemiah in the two first chapters. of this history, cannot but impress us with the conviction, that even supposing that anything could have attracted Herodotus to Jerusalem, there was nothing for the traveller to record, but a ruined city and a brokendown people. 1 iii. 5. 6 Ibid. 2 iii. 6. 3 iii. 7. 5 ii. 106. 9 When Herodotus speaks of Assyria, and the great cities which it contained, (i. 177, 178,) it is clear from the context that he means Babylonia, and when (vii. 63) he is describing the equipment of the Assyrians, he evidently means the inhabitants of Mesopotamia. rah. ASIA. Assyria Proper, or Kurdistan, was included in the CHAP. III. Armenian satrapy. rians by the by the Bar The Assyrians were so named by the Barbarians, Inhabitants but by the Hellenes were called Syrians. They Greeks, and occupied a part of upper Asia,' and after the destrucAssyrians tion of their chief city of Nineveh on the river barians. Tigris,23 the celebrated Babylon became their capital, and the chief seat of government; and everything that Herodotus says further of this country and its inhabitants has reference only to Babylon and the Babylonians. Great importance of 4 The Babylonian territory was sufficient to prothis satrapy. vide subsistence for the king of Persia and all his army during four months of the year, whilst the rest of Asia was only able to meet the requirements of the remaining eight. The power and wealth of the Babylonians were therefore, in the opinion of Herodotus, equal to one-third of all Asia. It was indeed the most important of all the satrapies. It brought daily to Tritantaechmes, the governor of the satrapy, a full artaba of silver-a Persian measure equal to one Attic medimnus and three choenices. Beside this the satrap had eight hundred stallions and sixteen thousand mares, in addition to the horses used in war; and he kept such a number of Indian dogs, that four large villages were exempted from all taxes and appointed to provide them with food.3 Very little rain fell in Assyria, but the want of 3 The silence of Herodotus respecting Nineveh would render any account of the recent extraordinary discoveries by Layard and others out of place in the present volume. It will therefore be sufficient to say, that till a recent period, a few shapeless mounds opposite Mosul on the Upper Tigris were all that tradition could point out as remaining of Nineveh; but that within the last ten years the excavations conducted by Dr. Layard and M. Botta have brought to light the sculptured remains of immense palaces, not only at the traditional site of Nineveh, namely, Kouyunjik and Nebbi-Yunus, opposite to Mosul, and at Khorsabad, about ten miles to the N. N. E.; but also in a mound eighteen miles lower down the river, in the tongue of land between the Tigris and the Great Zab, which still bears the name of Nimroud, all of which extensive ruins are considered by Dr. Layard to represent the site of ancient Nineveh. We hope to be able to enter at greater length on this subject in a future companion volume, on the geography of the Bible. 4 i. 178. 5 i. 192. 2 ASIA. ary growth water was supplied by the Euphrates, which in ancient times inundated the country like the Aegyp- CHAP. III. tian Nile, but Queen Semiramis having prevented the overflow by the erection of stupendous mounds, or dams, along its banks,' the land was henceforth irrigated by the hand and by engines. The entire Numerous territory, like Aegypt, was intersected by canals, the canals. largest of which could be navigated by ships, and stretched from the Euphrates to the Tigris. As re- Extraordingards the productiveness of the soil, it was better of corn. adapted for the growth of corn than any other land with which Herodotus was acquainted; for though the country was comparatively destitute of trees, and possessed neither the fig, the vine, nor the olive, yet the grain flourished so gloriously, that the harvest generally produced from two to three hundred-fold. The blades of wheat and barley also grew to full four digits in breadth, and Herodotus is afraid to mention the height of millet and sesame, as he is certain that those who had never been to Babylonia would disbelieve his statements. The Babylonians used no other oil but that which they extracted from this sesame. Palm trees grew all Palm trees. over the plain, and most of them produced fruit from which bread, wine, and honey (or sugar) were made. The fruit of what the Greeks call male palms was tied upon the female palms, in order that the gall-fly (ves) in the former might ripen the latter, and prevent the fruit from falling before reaching maturity; for these palms had flies in the fruit just like wild fig trees.* 3 Assyria, or rather Babylonia, contained many 1 i. 184. 2 Babylonia is no longer able to sustain a large population, for as the canals have ceased to carry off the superfluous waters of the Tigris and Euphrates, these rivers annually overflow all the tracts adjacent to their lower courses, and convert them into immense swamps and marshes. 3 The fly in question is a cynips, or one of the genus which by penetrating and breeding within plants, produces on them what are called gall-apples. Hasselquist observed it in the Levant, and has described it under the name of Cynips Ficûs. He seems to think that it does the fruit more harm than good. Linnaeus has also described this fly, entitling it from its ancient appellative Cynips Psen. Larcher's Notes to Herod., Mr. Cooley's Additions, vol. i. p. 184. 4 i. 193. ASIA. large cities, but Herodotus only describes the most CHAP. III. celebrated and the best fortified, namely, Babylon, Babylon the Which after the destruction of Nineveh on the Tigris became the seat of government.' only city described. ruins of Babylon near Hillah. Before entering upon Herodotus's description of Site of the this magnificent city, it will be necessary to glance at the modern state of the ruins.2 On the river Euphrates, and about 50 miles south of Bagdad, stands the town of Hillah. The road between Bagdad and Hillah lies through a level but uncultivated plain, though the dry beds of numerous canals and the fragments of bricks and tiles strewed everywhere around are proofs of its former different state. Nine miles north of Hillah, at the village of Mohawill, the ruins may be said to commence; and about five miles north of Hillah, and on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, the traveller approaches the great mounds of ancient Babylon. The latter at first The sight appear to be natural hills, but a closer ex- Mujelibe is the loftiest of these gigantic mounds, and the Haroot and Maroot of Arabian tradition.3 1 i. 178. 2 My authority for the following statements are Mr. Rich's First and Second Memoirs on the Ruins of Babylon; Major Rennell's Remarks on the Topography of Ancient Babylon; and Sir Robert Ker Porter's Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Babylonia, etc. Comp. also Heeren's account of the Babylonians in his Asiatic Researches. 3 According to this tradition, the angels in heaven, having expressed their surprise that the sons of Adam should continue in wickedness after the repeated warnings from the prophets, were directed by God to select two of their number to be sent on earth as judges. Haroot and Maroot were accordingly chosen, but subsequently fell in love with a beautiful woman and solicited her favours, and as a punishment for their crime were condemned by God to be hung up by the heels until the day of judgment in a well invisible to mankind, but which the Arabs believe still exists at the foot of Mujelibe. See Sale's Koran, and Kinneir's Geographical Memoir of Persia. It is an oblong square composed of sun-dried bricks, ASIA. consolidated into huge sustaining masses by the in- CHAP. III. tervention of reeds and slime. It is 140 feet high, and its sides face the four cardinal points. The side to the north and that to the west each measure about 550 feet along their bases; whilst those to the south and east are each 230 feet. The summit presents an uneven surface, and the entire mass seems to have been a platform upon which some great buildings were formerly erected. The interior is full of ravines and holes, which are literally garrisoned by the wild beasts of the desert, and the loathsome smell which issues from their dens is sufficient to deter the traveller from attempting to enter. Ren- Erroneousnell erroneously supposed that this pile was the an- by Rennell cient temple of Belus, but no such pyramidal succes- temple of sion of towers as Herodotus describes could ever Belus. have surmounted it, or otherwise a slight elevation at least would have been found towards the middle of the summit, whereas it there sinks in a deep hollow. It seems to have been the citadel of the great palace, which we shall next describe. ly supposed to be the "the pa At 2250 feet south of Mujelibe is the second hill, El Kasr, or named El Kasr, or "the palace." This is a grand lace." heap of ruins, forming nearly a square of about 700 yards in length and breadth,' and rising about 70 feet above the general level. The bricks of which it is constructed are of the very finest description, and not sun-dried like those of Mujelibe, but baked in the furnace and ornamented with inscriptions. Each brick is placed with its written face downwards on a layer of cement, which scarcely exceeds the twentieth part of an inch in thickness; but at the same time the whole mass is so firm, that Porter experienced considerable difficulty in chipping off a 1 This was its condition when visited by Rich in 1811, but even in the seven years which intervened between this visit and that of Porter, the everlasting digging in its apparently exhaustless quarries for bricks of the strongest and finest material had been sufficient to change its shape. Indeed these incessant depredations, which must have been going on for ages, have not only altered the minor features of the place, but have kept the whole surface in so decomposed a state, that at every step the feet of the traveller sink into dust and rubbish. Porter. |