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. Semitic. § 3. BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. 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 Diala, 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 Môssul. On the Tigris stood Nineveh (Ninua, “the Palace," Nivos) surrounded with huge walls. The ruins lie opposite the present Môssul. 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 (Expid. Scient, en Mésopotamie) 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, Assur. 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. Owing to the astronomical skill native to the nations of the Euphrates valley, their chronology is throughout less uncertain than that of other ancient nations, and became quite correct at an early date. The oldest dates rest on the authority of Berosus, who wrote at the time of Alexander. The Assyrian monuments furnish exact dates from 9091 B. C. 3000. Beginning of Babylonian civilization, originating perhaps in a people of Turco-Tatar descent (Sumir and Akkad?). Before 2500 B. C. the Semitic people of the Babylonians (Chaldeans) coming probably from the S., invaded and conquered the country, taking to themselves the civilization which had then developed, and with it the cuneiform writing. Foundation of several states in the southern part of the country. About 2000. Old Babylonian or Chaldean Empire. Babylonia, for some 300 years a dependency of the neighboring empire of Elam (Elymais, Susiana), regained its independence. Babylon became the centre of the united empire. Berosus mentioned the following dynasties as ruling in Chaldea: Chaldean (Nimrod, Chedorlaomer) dynasty about 2001-1543. Arabian dynasty, about 1543-1298. Dynasty of forty-five kings, about 1298 to 772. Reign of Pul about 772 to 747. Under the third dynasty Chaldea was subordinate to Assyria. 1500-606 (625). Assyrian Empire. About 1500 Assyria became an independent power alongside of the Babylo1 Rawlinson, Manual, p. 28. nian (Chaldean) empire, whence it seems to have derived its population and its civilization. For several centuries it was involved in constant warfare with Babylonia and its other neighbors with varying fortune. The chronology falls into three periods. I. 1500 to the capture of Babylon, about 1250. II. 1250 to the accession of Tiglath-Pileser, 746. III. From 745 to the fall of Nineveh, 606 (625). Of the kings of the first period little is known. The second period began with the reign of Tiglathi-Nin (Ninus?). Tiglath-Pileser I., a warlike king, reigned about 1130 and fought in Syria and Babylonia. Historical materials are scanty until 909, then the inscriptions 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-izir-pal I.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. Vul-lush III. 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 state with Assyria. 1 Rawlinson. 2 Formerly called Asshur-idanni-pal. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, II. 246, note 10. 3 Duncker, II. 17. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften, etc. Ménant, Annales, Lenormant, Lettres Assyriologiques. Smith, Assyrian Discoveries. etc. 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 V. (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. 632. His son Cyaxares (Uvakhshatara) continued the struggle, which was, however, soon interrupted by the 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-emid-ilin), 626-625, son of Sardanapalus V. After a long siege, 606 (625?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 Be 1 The date is doubtful. Herodotus implies a date as late as 607–600. rosus (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 (Fire Great Monarchies, II. 391, note 5), and Lenormant (Lettres Assyriologiques, I. § 12, esp. pp. 84, 85. lonia the whole of northern Mesopotamia on the right bank of the Tigris, the rest falling to the share of Cyaxares,1 who had already subjugated Armenia and the Iranian portions of the kingdom of Assyria. The Grecian story of the effeminate Sardanapalus (Ctesias in Diodorus, II.) is the counterpart of their tales about the masculine Semiramis. According to this story, Sardanapalus, on the fall of the city, burns himself upon a magnificent bier, 400 feet high, which burns for 15 days. This story seems to be an application of the myth of the god who burned himself and rose from the flames, whom the Semitic peoples associated with Istar (Astarte), and whose nature they confounded with hers.2 605 (625)-538. (New) Empire of Babylon. After the Assyrian conquest of Babylonia, about 1250 (see p. 14), the latter country continued subject to Assyria, with intervals of independence, until the successful combination of Nabopolassar and Cyaxăres destroyed the power of Assyria. Babylon then took the lead among the nations of the East, rivalled by Media alone. 605-561. Nebuchadnezzar (Nabu-kudur-ussur), son of Nabopolassar, during the reign of his father defeated Necho, king of Egypt, at Carchemisch on the Euphrates (605), conquered Syria, destroyed Jerusalem (586), and subdued Tyre (585). Enlargement and adornment of Babylon (on the east bank of the Euphrates). Construction of a bridge over the Euphrates, and of a new palace, with the "hanging gardens" which tradition assigns to Semiramis. Erection of the Median wall from the Euphrates to the Tigris. Magnificent water works. The reservoir at Sippara (Sepharvaim). After Nebuchadnezzar, rapid decline of the dynasty, which became extinct in 555. 538. Babylon (last king Nabonētus, or Nabunahid, reigning in conjunction with his son Bel-shar-ussur, the Biblical Belshazzar) taken by Cyrus. Babylon a Persian prov ince. § 4. PHOENICIANS AND CARTHAGINIANS. Semitic. (Down to the war of the latter with the Romans.) Geography. Phænicia (Þorín, Phonice) is the Grecian name of Canaan (see p. 7), and was derived from the tribal name poivi. In the narrower sense the name denotes the strip of coast, 5-14 miles wide and 150 miles long, which lies N. of the country of the Philistines and the Hebrews and W. of Mt. Lebanon. This strip was inhabited by three tribes: 1. Sidonians, i. e. "fishers" (cities: Sidon, Zor, called by the Greeks Tyros); 2. Arvadites (city: Arvad, in Greek Arados); 3. Giblites (cities: Byblus or Gebal, and Berītos). Religion of the Phoenicians. The god Baal (Bel, of the Babylo 1 For the Median Empire, see p. 25. 2 Duncker, II. chapter i.; also III. 265. |