manufactured. Naphtha and bitumen, or earthy oil and pitch, were produced in great abundance above Bab ylon, near the modern town of Hit: these served as substitutes for mortar or cement; and so lasting were they, that the layers of rushes and palm-leaves laid between the courses of bricks as a binding material, are found at this day in the ruins of Babylon, as perfect as if a year had not elapsed since they were put together. SECTION II.-Political and Social Condition of the Assyrians and Babylonians. DESIOTISM, in its most severe form, was established in the Assyrian monarchy, and in those by which it was succeeded. The king's will was the law; no code existed to restrict his judgments; and even ancient customs were set aside at his pleasure. He was the head of the church as well as the state, and claimed divine worship. His palace was crowded with as many wives and concubines as he chose to collect, and these were placed under the guardianship of eunuchs, an unfortunate race, first brought into use in Assyria. It is impossible to determine whether the priests, usually called Chaldeans, were a caste or an order; but it is most probable that, like the Egyptians, the Jews, and the Persians, the Babylonians had an hereditary priesthood. Their religion was the kind of idolatry usually called Sabian; that is, they worshipped the sun, the moon, and the starry host. In a later age, they added to this the worship of deified mortals, whom they supposed to be in some way connected with the celestial luminaries, just as Eastern monarchs of the present day call themselves "brothers of the sun and moon." Their supreme deity was named Báal, or Bell, which signifies Lord: the mixture of the astronomical with the historical character of the idol has rendered the Assyrian mythology complicated and obscure; and the double character of their deities generally, has brought confusion not only into mythology, but history; for many of the fabulous legends respecting Nínus and Semiramis are manifestly imperfect astronomical theories. Cruelty and obscenity were the most marked attributes of the Babylonian and Assyrian idolatry; human victims were sacrificed, and prostitution was enjoined as a religious duty. It had also much of the absurdity that belongs to the Brahminism of the present day; monstrous combinations of forms were attributed to the gods; their idols had many heads, and jumbled the limbs of men and the members of animals together; these had probably at first a symbolic meaning, which the priests preserved by tradition, but which was carefully concealed from the vulgar herd. The condition of women was more degraded in Bab'ylon than in any other Eastern country. No man had a right to dispose of his daughters in marriage; when girls attained mature age, they were exposed for sale in the public markets, and delivered to the highest bidder. The money thus obtained for beauty was applied to portioning ugliness. Debauchery and gross sensuality were the natural results of such a system, and these evils were aggravated by the habitual intoxication of every class of society. This dissolute people were as superstitious as they were depraved, and were the slaves of the Chaldean priests and jugglers. The Babylonians had made considerable progress in the mechanical arts, and in mathematical science: their astronomical knowledge was very extensive, but it was so disfigured by astrological absurdities as to be nearly useless. The arts of weaving and working in metal were practised in Babylon; the naphtha and petroleum furnished excellent fuel for furnaces; and the accounts given of their skill in metalfounding show that they had made many ingenious contrivances, which supplied their natural wants of stone and wood. The Babylonian language belongs to that class called Semit'ic, of which the Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac, are branches. They possessed an alphabetic character, and wrote on bricks and earthen cylinders. It is not certain that they possessed books, their country producing no materials from which paper could be manufactured. SECTION III.-History of the Assyrians and Babylonians. ASSYRIAN history, according to Grecian authorities, particularly Ctésias and Diodórus, is nothing more than traditions of the heroes and heroines, who, at some early period, founded a kingdom in the countries bordering on the Euphrates-traditions without any chronological lata, and in the ordinary style of Eastern exaggeration. The Assyrian history contained in the Holy Scriptures is that of a distinct nation of conquerors that founded an empire. This history is however confined to incidental notices of the wars between the Assyrians and the Israelites and Jews. Herod'otus briefly touches on the Assyrian empire; but his narrative, so far as it goes, confirms the narrative given in the Old Testament. We shall endeavor to deduce from all these sources the most authentic account of the Assyrian monarchy. The miraculous interruption of the building of Bábel led to the abandonment of that spot by the followers of Nim'rod, who appears to have been the first nomad chief that founded a permanent monarchy. He was the Ninus of profane history-a warrior, a conqueror, the builder of cities, and the founder of an empire. Tradition has based a long romance on these few facts, which it is not necessary to detail. The Assyrian empire appears to have been founded B. c. 1237, and Nineveh was its metropolis. Nínus chose for his principal queen Semiramis, the wife of one of his officers, to whose prudent counsels he is said to have been indebted for many of his victories. On the death of Nínus, Semir'amis assumed the administration of the empire as regent. She is said to have founded the city of Bab'ylon; but this is clearly erroneous. The additions, however, that she made to the city, and the stupendous edifices with which she adorned it, in some degree justified the tradition. Her wars were waged in the most remote countries; she is said to have conquered Egypt, and invaded Ethiopia, on one side, and to have attacked India, on the other. Semir'amis was succeeded by her son Nin'yas, who gave himself up to indolence and debauchery, keeping himself secluded in his palace and intrusting the entire care of the administration to his ministers His successors for several generations followed his base example; as the Assyrian monarchy gradually decayed. Leaving the traditions respecting Nínus and Semiramis, in which a few historical facts are quite obscured under a cloud of fables and astronomical allegories, we come to the portion of Assyrian history founded on the authentic records of the Old Testament. The Assyrians began to extend their empire westward beyond the Euphrátes in the reign of Pul (B. c. 771). He approached the confines of the kingdom of Israel, then ruled by the usurper Men ́ahem, and inspired so much terror, that his forbearance was purchased by a thousand talents of silver.* Tiglath-pul-as'sur succeeded to the throne (B. c. 747), and prepared to pursue the plans of conquest that Pul had sketched. He conquered the kingdom of Israel, and transplanted a great number of the inhabitants to the remote parts of his empire.† Invited by A'haz, king of Judah, he made war against the ancient kingdom of Syria, stormed its celebrated metropolis, Damas'cus, and removed the vanquished people beyond the Euphrátes. Shalman-as'sur was the next monarch (B. c. 728). He invaded the kingdom of Israel, took Samária after a siege of three years, and led the greater part of the ten tribes into captivity, supplying their place with colonies from other states. After the conquest of Israel, Shalman-as'sur invaded Phœnicia, and subdued all the principal cities except Tyre. San-her'ib, or Sennach'erib, was the next monarch. He led an army against Hezekiah, king of Judah (B. c. 724), and also attacked Egypt. His impious blasphemies against the God of the Jews were punished by the miraculous destruction of his army; and he returned home mortified and disgraced. A conspiracy was formed against him, and he was slain by his own sons. Assar-had'don-pul, the Esarhad'don of Scripture, and Sardanapálus of profane history, was the third son of San-her'ib, and was chosen his successor, in preference to the parricides, Adram-mel'ek and Sharez'er. The accounts given of this prince are so very inconsistent, that many have supposed that there were two of the name; but it is more probable that he was in the early part of his reign an active conqueror, and that he subsequently sunk into sensuality and sloth. He conquered the kingdom of Judah, and made some impression on Egypt; but, returning to Nin'eveh, he became the slave of intemperance, and thus disgusted the hardy warriors whom he had so often led to victory. The satraps of Média and Babylónia revolting, besieged Sardanapálus in his capital; and he, finding himself deserted by his subjects, and unable to protract his defence, made a huge pile, on which he placed his wives and his treasures; then setting it on fire, he threw himself into the midst of the flames (B. c. 717). Thus ended the Assyrian monarchy; and the supremacy of central and western Asia was transferred to the Babylonians. The KASDIM, or CHALDEANS, a northern nomad tribe from the mountain-chains of Tau'rus and the Cau'casus, appear to have been em† 2 Kings xv. 29. 2 Kings xv. 19. ployed as mercenaries by the Assyrian monarchs, and to have been stationed in Babylónia. As is not unusual in the East, these soldiers revolted against their masters, and prepared to carve out an empire for themselves. That they were a conquering horde which settled in the country, is proved by the express testimony of Isaiah. "Behold the land of the Chaldeans [Kasdím]; this people was not, until the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof.”* The chronology of the Babylonian Chaldeans commences with the reign of Nabonas'sar (B. c. 747), a remarkable era in history, because the introduction of the Egyptian solar year, during the reign of that prince, first supplied the Chaldeans with an accurate mode of measuring time. There is nothing worthy of note in the history of Nabonas'sar, and his twelve immediate successors. During their reigns, indeed, Babylónia appears again to have become dependant upon Assyr'ia, and not to have recovered its freedom until the general insurrection against Sardanapálus. Nabopolas'sar, or Nebo-pul-as'sar, became king of Bab'ylon soon after the overthrow of the Assyrian empire (B. c. 627). PharaohNécho took advantage of the distracted state of central Asia to extend his dominions to the Euphrátes. He gained possession of Car'chemish (Circésium), and induced the governors of Colé-Syria and Phoenicia to revolt against Nabopolas'sar. In the reduction of these provinces, the Babylonian monarch was greatly assisted by his son, Nebuchadnezʼzar or Nebo-kal-as'sar, who subsequently raised the empire to the summit of its greatness. Nebuchadnezzar obtained a brilliant victory over Pharaoh-Nécho, at Car'chemish (B. c. 604); and was about to follow up his success by invading Egypt, when he was recalled to Bab'ylor. in consequence of his father's death. Nitoc'ris was probably the queen of Nebuchadnez'zar. She seems to have acted as regent while the king was employed in foreign wars, and her name is associated with the splendid buildings erected in Babylon in this reign. Before invading Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the kingdom of Judah, and brought several of its princes to Bab'ylon as captives or hostages. Among these was the prophet Daniel.† Soon afterward the Scythians, probably some Tartar horde, invaded the Assyrian provinces, and the Jews embraced this opportunity of asserting their independence Nebuchadnezzar was then besieging in conjunction with Cyax'ares the Mede; but having taken and destroyed this ancient rival of Babylon, he marched against Jerusalem with a resistless force. The holy city was taken and plundered, its monarch slain, his son sent prisoner to Bab'ylon, and a new king appointed as deputy to the conqueror. The Jews again revolted, relying on the promised aid of the Egyptians, bu were once more subdued, and treated with barbarous cruelty. Their city was laid desolate, their lands wasted, and the bulk of the nation led into captivity. The conqueror then proceeded into Phoenicia, which he completely subdued; whence he advanced to Egypt, and plundered the lower valley of the Nile. It was after his return from this expedition, that Nebuchadnezzar erected the golden image in the plains of †Daniel ii. 1, &c. * Isaiah xxiii. 13. Dúra.* Toward the close of his reign, the impiety of Nebuchadnezʼzar was punished by a fit of lunacy; during which "he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws."t Evil-Mérodach succeeded, and after a short reign was murdered by his sister's husband, Neriglis'sar. But the young prince Belshazzar, was saved from the conspirators. He continued several years in obscurity, but did not profit by the stern lessons of adversity. At this time the power of the Medes had reached a formidable height, and the Babylonians summoned the kings of western Asia to aid in preventing its further extension. The Medes were commanded by Cyax'ares and his nephew Cy'rus. After a fierce engagement, the Babylonians were totally defeated, and their sovereign slain. Labosoar'chad succeeded his father Neriglis'sar (B. c. 555); but on account of his tyranny was dethroned, after a reign of only a few months, and the legitimate line restored in the person of Nébo-an-dal, called also Nabonádius and Labynétus, who took the surname of Belshaz'zar, that is, the "mighty prince of Bel." As he was a youth, the regency was intrusted to Queen Nitoc'ris. She completed the works which Nebuchadnez'zar had commenced, and is said to have connected the eastern and western banks of the Euphrates both by a bridge and a tunnel. To complete the last work, it was necessary to turn the river for a ime into a new channel; and for this purpose a lake and canal were constructed to the north of Bab'ylon. When Belshazʼzar assumed the reins of government, he deserted the prudent line of policy by which Nitoc'ris had delayed the fate of the tottering empire; not only abandoning himself to licentious pleasures, but provoking the hostility of the warlike Medes. Cyax'ares, the "Darawe'sh" (Dari'us), that is, king of the Medes, accompanied by his nephew Cy'rus, invaded Babylónia, and soon laid siege to the metropolis. Confiding in the strength of the walls, Belshazʼzar laughed his enemies to scorn; and while the enemy was still before the walls, gave a great feast in honor of his expected success. Cy'rus, on the same evening, sent a detachment to open the canal leading to the lake that had been dug by Nitoc'ris, ordering his soldiers, as soon as the water should be drawn from the bed of the river, to enter the city through the deserted channel. Meantime the revelry of the feast was disturbed by the supernatural handwriting interpreted by Daniel, announcing the impending destruction of the empire. Guided by the lights that gleamed from the chambers of revelry, the Medes penetrated into the very heart of the city, and attacked the guards before the palace. The guests within, startled by the clash of arms, flung the gates open to ascertain the cause of the tumult, and thus gave admission to the enemy. Belshazʼzar, in this hour of despair, behaved in a manner worthy of his illustrious descent: he drew his sword, and at the head of a few friends attempted to drive back the enemy; but, "flushed with success, and drunk with gore, whole multitudes poured in:" he fell in his own hall; and with him fell the empire of Bab'ylon (B. c. 538). • Daniel iii. 1, &c. † Daniel iv. 33. Daniel v. 1, &c. |