stored to his throne. Under his grandson Josiah (640-609), the country was ravaged by Scythians.

Religious reaction against idolatry (Jeremiah). Reformation of the worship of Jehovah, according to the book of the law of Moses which was rediscovered in the Temple (622). King Josiah fell in the battle of Megiddo (609) against the Egyptian king Necho (Neku).

The Kingdom of Judah subject to the Egyptians, and, after the defeat of Necho at Carchemish (605), to the Babylonians. Jehoiakim endeavored to revolt, but was put to death. His son, Jehoiachin, was carried into captivity with many of his subjects by the Babylonians (597). An attempt on the part of the last king, Zedekiah, to regain independence was unsuccessful in spite of Egyptian assistance. Jerusalem was besieged (588-586); an Egyptian army advancing to its relief was defeated and compelled to retreat.

586. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, captured Jerusalem. Destruction of the city and burning of the Temple. Many of the Jews were slain; those who were left were carried into the Babylonian captivity. (The prophet Ezekiel.)

537. The Jews sent back to Palestine by Cyrus. Rebuilding of the Temple (Zerubbabel), which was not completed, however, until the time of Darius I. (516). The Jews subject at first to the Persians (538-332), then to Alexander the Great (332-323), afterwards to the Ptolemies (323-198), finally to the Seleucid kings of Syria (198-167).

167-130. Emancipation of the Jews by the Maccabees, or Asmonæans, after a struggle lasting nearly fourteen years. Leaders: the priest Mattathias, and his five sons, especially Judas Maccabæus.

A great-grandson of Mattathias, Aristobulus, assumed the title of king (105). Under his successors, strife between the Pharisees and Sadducees.

63. Pompeius, called in to help the Pharisees, made the Jews tributary to the Romans.

40. Herod (the Great), son of the Idumæan Antipăter, recognized by the Roman Senate as dependent king of Judæa.

Birth of Christ (four years before the beginning of our era?).

6 A. D. After a short reign of the three sons of Herod, Judæa became a part of the Roman Province of Syria. (Two Tetrarchies, however, remained independent: Galilæa, until 32 A. D.; Perca, until 33 A. D.)

41-44. Judæa again a dependent kingdom under Herod Agrippa I., a grandson of Herod the Great; then a Roman province again. Agrippa II. was made king over a small portion in dependence on Rome.

66. Revolt of the Jews against the Roman supremacy, ending in the

70. Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus,

A large part of the Jews assembled in Jerusalem for the observance of the passover perished by starvation and the Roman sword; many thousands were taken captive to Rome. (The historian Josephus.) 132-135. Another uprisal of the Jews, under Hadrian, on account

of the foundation of the colony, Ælia Capitolina, on the site of Jerusalem, wherein more than half a million perished. Dispersal of a great part of the survivors; nevertheless a considerable number remained in Palestine.

§ 3. BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. Semitic.

Geography: Babylonia,1 called by the Hebrews Shinar, is the country lying between the Euphrates and Tigris, and stretching from the point where these rivers approach one another, about 350 miles from their mouth, to where they empty into the Persian Gulf by several arms, as Pasitigris (now Shatt-el-Arab). In the neighborhood of the present village of Hillah stood Babylon (in the Babylonian form, Babilu, called by the Hebrews Babel, i. e. gates or dwelling of the god Bel), a huge rectangular city, situated, since the time of Nebuchadnezzar, on both banks of the Euphrates, about thirty-four miles in circumference (Clitarchus; Herodotus gives about forty-five miles), and surrounded by two brick walls of unusual thickness and height. The city was large enough to afford a refuge to a great number of the inhabitants of the country during incursions of nomadic tribes, and contained fields of considerable extent, woods, and gardens. In Babylon: (a.) The temple of Bel (Tower of Babel), a huge square building of brick, consisting of eight diminishing stories rising in pyramidal form. It is said to have been originally 600 feet high.2 (b.) Two Palaces, the one on the east side of the Euphrates having the Hanging Gardens, the construction of which is wrongly ascribed to Semiramis, and which were terraced pleasure grounds.

Assyria (Asshur) is bounded on the N. by the highlands of Armenia, on the E. by the plateau of Iran, on the S. by the Diăla, a branch of the Tigris, and on the W. by the Tigris itself. The smaller region called Assyria by the Greeks lay within this territory, between the Tigris and its branch, the Great Zab, which flows into the Tigris below the present Môsul. On the Tigris stood Nineveh (Ninua, "the Palace," Nivos) surrounded with huge walls. The ruins lie opposite the present Môsul. Oldest residence of the kings, Asshur; afterwards founded, Calah; founded by Sargon, Dur-Sarrukin (Khorsabad).

Religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians. The religion of the Semitic peoples, with the exception of the Hebrews, was a worship of nature, wherein divinity was conceived as the personified force of na

1 See Kiepert, Atlas Antiquus, Tab. II.

2 According to Oppert (Expéd. Scient. en Mesopotamie) the temple of Bel is to be sought in the ruins of Burs-Nimrud (on the site of old Borsippa). Rawlinson (The Five Great Monarchies of the East) disputes this, because Borsippa was a separate village lying outside the walls of the capital until the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and finds the Tower of Babel in a great quadrangular ruin, called Babil, by the Arabs, on the east bank of the Euphrates in Babylon.

ture in human form, male and female. Among the gods of the Babylonians the oldest was El, among those of the Assyrians, Asshur. The third, Bel (Baal), the "Lord of all," appeared as the creative, but also the destructive force in Nature. The goddess Belit or Baaltis (in Herodotus Mylitta), the queen and mother of the gods, is the fruitful and reproductive principle, the goddess of love, fertility, and birth. Her opposite is Istar, the goddess of war and destruction. Confused with Belit is the goddess who brings alternately life and blessing, death and destruction (like the Ashera-Astarte of the Phonicians and Carthaginians). In Babylon there was a complicated system of star-worship.

The Chaldeans, or caste of priests, in Babylon, possessed some astronomical and astrological skill. This name was properly that of the Semitic population of Babylonia, but western writers applied it chiefly to the priests.

Civilization. An exact system of weights and measures, which was used far outside the borders of Babylonia. Cuneiform writing, a system of characters formed by the gradual abbreviation of hieroglyphics. Magnificent structures of brick. System of canals for the irrigation of the country, and for the regulation of the yearly overflow of the Tigris and Euphrates. Important manufacturing industries and extensive commerce.

Chronology. An astronomical system and a mythical history closely resembling the Biblical account of the creation and deluge (epic of Izdhuber). The inscriptions give many names; but few dates are satisfactorily established before 900 B. C.

4000-731.

pire.

Old Babylonian (so-called Chaldæan) Em

4000-3000. Civilization, originating, perhaps, in a non-Semitic people (Sumir and Accad?), was adopted, with the cuneiform writing, by a Semitic people, who came, probably, from the S. Independent, hostile cities: Ur, Erech, Larsam; Agade (Accad?), Babylon. Sargon, 3800, reached the Mediterranean, Hammurabi united Babylonia.1 2300-2076. Supremacy of Elam (Elymais, Susiana), a non-Semitic

kingdom E. of Babylonia (the second dynasty of Berosus 2). Kudurnanchundi; Chedorlaomer (Gen. xiv.).

About 2000. Babylonia, after 300 years, again independent. About 1900. Assyria settled by emigrants from Babylonia (Nimrod?).

1525-1257. Cassite kings of Babylonia (the Arabians of Berosus). 1500-710. Constant wars with Assyria. Final subjugation of Babylonia after the revolts of Merodach-Baladan.

1 Delitzsch (1884); Smith (1877) gave 1700 and 1750.

2 Berosus, at the time of Alexander, compiled from Babylonian records a history in which he mentioned the following dynasties (dates from Delitzsch). Ante-diluvian, ten kings, 432,000 years. Post-diluvian: I. Eighty-six kings, 33,091 years. II. Eight Median tyrants, 224 years (2300-2076). III. Eleven kings. IV. Forty-nine Chaldæan kings, 458 years (1983-1525). V. Nine Arabian kings, 245 years (1525-1257). VI. Forty-five kings, 526 years (1257-731).

1900-608 (605). Assyrian Empire (p. 12).

Colonized, probably, from Babylonia (Gen. x.), Assyria gradually grew into a powerful rival of the mother-state. The chronology falls into five periods. I. 1900-1500. II. 1500-1300. Wars with Babylonia, ending in Babylonian overlordship. III. 1220-930. Assyria again independent. IV. 930-626 (?). Brilliant epoch. V. 626 (?)-608 (605). Fall of the empire.

1900-930. Of the first three periods little is known. Tiglath-Adar I., about 1310, conquered Babylonia, but Assyria was soon subjugated. Tiglath-Pileser I., 1115-1105, conquered from Bagdad and Babylon to the Mediterranean. 930-626 (?). Brilliant epoch of Assyrian history. The inscrip

tions become frequent, full, and exact. It was a time of expansion, conquest, and great activity in architecture, sculpture, and literature. Among the kings may be mentioned : 886-858. Asshur-natzir-pal.2 (Sardanapalus). Military expeditions to Zagros, Armenia, Babylonia, Syria. Erection of a palace at Calah. His son,

858-823. Shalmaneser II., fought with Ahab in Syria and subjugated Jehu.

810-781. Ramannirari captured Damascus and made Samaria and Philistia tributary. His wife Sammuramit (Semiramis).

A tradition of later growth reported by the Greeks (Diodorus on the authority of Ctesias) connects the establishment of the Assyrian supremacy over almost the whole of western Asia, the building of Nineveh and Babylon, with the names of the king Ninus and his consort Semiramis. Both Ninus (son of the god Bel) and Semiramis (daughter of the goddess Mylitta) are mythical creations, into whose reigns tradition has condensed the deeds of a long series of warlike rulers, so that no achievements were left for their successors, and these from Ninyas down appear as effeminate weaklings. Ninus is unknown to the Assyrian monuments, and Semiramis first appears in the ninth century. On the other hand we know that a goddess answering to Istar-Belit was worshipped in Syria under the name of Semiramis.

Medo-Persian bards seem to have changed the divinities Bel and Istar-Belit into heroes, and have formed the names Ninus and Ninyas from the name of the city Ninua (Nineveh).3

745-727. Tiglath-Pileser II. (identical with the king Pul men

tioned in the Bible) (see p. 13) made Babylonia, which was at that time divided into several states, western Iran, Armenia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judah and Israel, subject to Assyria. 727-722. Shalmaneser IV. suppressed the revolt of the Phoenician cities and the Kingdom of Israel.

722-705. Sargon (Sarrukin) conquered Samaria and destroyed the Kingdom of Israel (see p. 10). He received tribute from Arabia, Egypt, and Cyprus, suppressed revolts in Armenia, Media, and Babylonia, and united the latter with Assyria (710).

1 Delitzsch.

2 Formerly called Asshur-idanni-pal. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, II. 246, note 10.

3 Duncker, II. 17. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften, etc. Ménant, Annales, etc. Lenormant, Lettres Assyriologiques. Smith, Assyrian Discoveries.

Residence: Dur-Sarrukin, now Khorsabad, not far from Nineveh. His son, 705-681. Sennacherib (Sin-akhi-irib) retained his hold upon Babylonia in spite of repeated insurrections, but was unsuccessful in his wars with Egypt and Judah, and lost the supremacy over Syria. Fleet in the Persian Gulf. Foundation of Tarsus. His son,

681-668. Esarhaddon (Asshur-akh-iddin) suppressed a new revolt of the Babylonians, reconquered Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Judah, and a part of Arabia, and in 672 conquered Egypt from the Ethiopians, entrusting the government to 20 governors, most of whom were natives (see p. 6).

Assyria at the height of her power. One of his sons was made viceroy of Babylonia, the other,

668-626. Asshur-bani-pal (Sardanapalus), defended Egypt, at first with success, against the kings of Ethiopia and native insurrections, but lost it in 653 by the revolt of Psammeticus (see p. 6). On the other hand he strengthened the Assyrian power in Syria, Arabia, Cilicia, as well as in Babylonia, where his brother had revolted, conquered the Kingdom of Elam, and received tribute from Lydia. Erection of magnificent palaces. Foundation of a library at Nineveh. Highest development of Assyrian art. About

640 (650). Revolt of the Medes. Of the Medes little is known until they were attacked by the Assyrians about 830 B. C. About 710 their resistance was broken and their country was soon subjected to Assyria, and so continued until about 640. Phraortes (Fravartis), son of Dejoces. (Dahyâvka), a petty chief among the Medes, revolted but fell in battle.

633.

His son Cyaxares (Úvakhshatara) continued the struggle, which was, however, soon interrupted by the

632. Irruption of Scythian tribes which had wandered about western Asia, plundering as they went, as far as the borders of Egypt, for 28 years it is said, though 8 is the more probable number. After Cyaxăres had rid the country of them, he made another attack on Assyria, which had been much weakened by the Scythians. For the purpose of destroying the Assyrian kingdom, Cyaxăres allied himself with the Chaldean Nabopolassar (Nabu-habal-usur), Assyrian governor of Babylon since 625, who had made himself independent. Desperate struggle with the Assyrian king Sarakos (Asshur-ebil-ili), 626-608 (625?), son of Sardanapalus V. After a long siege, 608 (605? 1) Nineveh was taken and destroyed; as the enemy broke into the city, Sarakos set fire to the royal palace and perished in the flames with his wives and treasurer. End of the Kingdom of Assyria. Nabopolassar united with Baby

1 The date is doubtful. Herodotus implies a date as late as 608-605. Berosus (as reported by Abydenus and Polyhistor) gives 625. The former date is advocated by Clinton and Duncker (History of Antiq., III. 266-292), the latter by G. Rawlinson (Five Great Monarchies, II. 391, note 5), and Lenormant (Lettres Assyriologiques, I. § 12, esp. pp. 84, 85). Delitzsch, 608.